Shadow Falls: A Sensual Werewolf Romance (The Wolves of Shadow Falls) (5 page)

The immortal bitch had disappeared without a trace along with her pack and my family. The mine was empty, the walls the stripped of the drawing they once depicted. It was as if they were never there. There was simply no trace of my family left behind for me to follow. Storm and I were baffled. Where could they have gone?

Aislen and the kids had been missing three weeks now. I had my mother buried in the plot next to my father’s grave. Finally they were together again, reunited in death. The trail had gone cold in the search for my family. Storm moved into the house with me and we worked together to try and make sense of what had happened. The days dragged on as the trail got colder and colder. By this time I had read enough books on vampires to know that killing one was extremely difficult let alone one that was millenniums old. I had grossly underestimated the enormity of Despina’s power and it was going to take more than two slighted wolves to defeat her.  As much as I loved Aislen, I was afraid it was not enough to break her free from her captor.  The house was a constant reminder of what was at stake. The smell of my son’s blanket, the soft white teddy bear that my daughter loved and Aislen’s picture were like fuel to my soul, egging me on. I cradled the piece of crystal that laid on my chest, almost praying into the rock for a miracle.

Storm seemed distracted and after catching him several times, staring at the open window with a pensive look on his face, I finally inquired about his sudden change. When he looked at me, his eyes were heavy with tears; his expression deep with sorrow as though he had just found out a loved one had recently died. “What was or is her name?” I asked assuming that it had to be a woman. I knew his expression, because I wore it before. “Aislen” he replied, his voice breaking as he answered. “Is she alive?” I continued, reaching out to touch his shoulder, “I don’t know” was his broken response. It was difficult for him to speak without bursting into deep sobs, so I refrained from pressing him further. I was certain that when he was ready to open up about this mystery women that clearly meant a lot to him, he would.   The way his eyes looked as he mentioned her name, made me realize that we had much more in common than I thought. I wondered if the vampire that kidnapped my family was responsible for the pain Storm felt.  In the weeks following the disappearance of my wife and kids Storm and I had grown close.  We were like brothers now.

The rain was beating heavily on the roof and it sounded like little rocks crashing into the shingles. It was difficult to sleep with such a disturbance. The wind howled as it blew. Lightning flashed frequently brightening up my room as though it were sunlight. The thunder roared. This was the third sleepless night for me. Each time I attempted to close my eyes, a branch would knock against the window or a night owl might hoot, denying me the peace I needed for a restful sleep.  It had been raining like this, every night, for weeks.  In fact ever since Aislen and the kids were taken, it rained constantly, day in and day out. I was sure if I slept, I would awaken to a town submerged in flood. Fortunately, the infrastructure of the landscape of the town would not allow for such a disaster to take place.

As I tossed and turned in my bed, I was haunted by visions of Aislen, crying and reaching out to me.  Each time she appeared the crystal around my neck glowed brighter and brighter almost blinding me as I gazed into its light.  I tried concentrating on the images.  First she would appear sad, she was trapped in some type of cage and my children were not with her.  Then she would be standing on the edge of a cliff overlooking the ocean below. She would look down as the foamy waves crashed violently into the rocks below for a long time before jumping to her death. In all the visions she was either trapped or dying and my children were not present in any.  I began to sob thinking about how little the time was that I spent with them. They had not even started to speak properly. William called me daddy just weeks before they disappeared. I missed my daughter and the way she used her huge eyes to manipulate me. I found humor in the way she would look at me when she wanted something, as though if she could make me go get it for her.  I missed the soft caress of Aislen’s touch, her tender lips and warm smile.  It was killing me that I could not be with her.  I had to think, the answer was hidden somewhere in my mind, I just could not put a finger on it.

The morning broke and Storm was at his usual spot brooding over a cup of coffee. In his hand he held a copy of the Shadow Falls “Voice”; it was the daily newspaper that circulated throughout the town. The headline read
“MAYOR DISCOVERS SECRET TOMB
”.  The headline seemed to lack any appeal to Storm, who after a short time of reading the paper, folded it and placed it under his cup of coffee to double as a coaster.  “Let me see that a minute” I asked carefully slipping the document out from under his coffee.  The story went on to say that the Mayor, during an excavation at an abandoned site a few miles out into the baron skirts of the town, uncovered an old coffin burdened with chains.  There was no explanation as to why the Mayor was excavating the piece of land, but it did go on to say that the coffin was now being kept at a special room in the town’s library, under the heavy protection of guards.  The second I read about the coffin, I knew I had seen it before. The description bore an uncanny resemblance to the one I saw in Despina’s images; the one that she tried unsuccessfully to hide from me. I knew the answers I was looking for were locked away inside that coffin and I had to get to it.

“We have to get to that coffin!”
I said to Storm, who looked at me with a baffled expression on his face.

“Why…what coffin, what does it have to do with anything?” he asked.

“It has everything to do with finding Despina and rescuing my family”
I replied, now more sure of myself.

I knew from the images I had seen that she was terrified of what was in that coffin and if my suspicions were correct, that coffin held the key to destroying her.  I had to be certain that it was the same coffin

“Okay and how do you propose we get in there to see it?”
Storm asked,
“I’m sure the place is swarming with guards, who no doubt have guns”
he continued.

He was right, I needed a plan. We could not just waltz in the building pass the guards.  Then the idea hit me!  We would have to go as wolves, Storm, would have to go outside to create a diversion, luring the guards outside.  I was sure they could not pass on the opportunity to shoot a wolf.  When the guards were safely out of the way, I would go in.  The plan was simple but dangerous; once again I was asking my friend to risk his life for me.  Storm knew what he had to do, the minute he lured the men far enough, he would shift back to human, pretending to be a victim of an attack.  In the meantime, I would get to the coffin and uncover Despina’s dark secret. After weeks of having nothing but visions of a troubled Aislen and trail that was as cold as the winter winds, I had found hope.

For the moment the plan seemed to be working, the guards were gone and I was free to enter the room that held the coffin. The crystal around my neck began to glow, the closer I got to the coffin, the brighter the rock shone, until it was as if a force from inside was pulling the stone towards the coffin.  The crystal lifted off my chest, suspended in the air, pulling away from the chain around my neck that kept it close to me and pointed towards the ancient box.  I morphed back to my human form.  It seemed that the crystal was drawn to whatever was inside the coffin.  There were large metal chains crisscrossed over the face of the box, but no lock.  There were no key holes about the object just a strange carving at the top that looked like branches of a tree spiraling into an unusual shape.  I took the crystal off my neck and it flew out of my hand and landed on top of the spiral engraving.  The crystal began to melt and the light ran through the grooves like liquid filling up the image.  Suddenly there was a loud explosion and my heart sank, I turned to look at the doorway “storm” I cried.  He must have been shot.  I had to make sure.  I abandoned the coffin, leaving the room in search of storm.  I ran into the woods as a wolf and caught the scent of a wounded storm.  He had been shot in the foot, but he was healing.  The bullets squeezed out of his wound landing on the wet ground below him. Storm looked at me, inquiring about the coffin and I sent him my images.  Storm had let the guards on a wild goose chase so we had a little time to return to the room.  When we got there, our jaws crashed to the floor.  The coffin was open; the chains had been broken into a million pieces.  The room was filled with a white cloudy smoke that almost made us choke.  It was difficult to see.  Storm had almost disappeared and I could not recognize anything around me.  Then Storm cried out in a strident voice
“Kasha”!

To be continued

Look out for the next installment of The Wolves of Shadow Falls series; Book Two: Revenge

If you enjoyed
Shadow Falls: Book One
then you may also enjoy 
The Fallen: An Erotic Paranormal Fantasy
available at
Amazon.com