Shadow Light (Beautiful Beings #3) (7 page)

Moore and I gazed at each other, perplexed by the goings-on of the small church.  A part of me wanted to rush the shadow and stop it from hurting again, but another part of me questioned the true identity of the young and wanton woman. 

Unaware of our presence, the shadow remained still a long moment, and seemed to recover from the interaction with the young woman.

Moore’s elbow nudged me in the ribs and I turned to find him gazing at the young man.  Following his gaze I saw the shell of the human being he’d once been.  All that remained was a shriveled body that sat back on the pew in an awkward pose of death.

“What’s going on?” I whispered.

The drained body lost its hold of the pew and slid to the floor, catching the attention of the dark and somber shadow who slowly approached it.  A sad and mournful chant came from the figure as he passed his hand from brow to belly and from shoulder to shoulder.

He turned his gaze toward the heavens, but halted.

We’d been spotted.

Chapter 8

Inheritance of a Legacy

H
e took one step toward us, then another.  My fingers flexed and clenched while the beating of my heart took on that of a seasoned warrior.  It was hard to tell if he was good or bad, angelic or demonic, but I wasn’t going to take any chances.  Of average height and build, he offered no true threat, but I also know of smaller, less intimidating demons who showed unusual ferocity when backed to a corner.

At my side, Moore tensed up just as much as I did.  I could feel his readiness.

Another step and my fingers instinctively reached for the crucifix at my neck.  There was something unfortunate and unpleasant about battling in a house of worship, but these types of battles didn’t always wait for the most favorable opportunity.

“Show yourself before taking another step,” I warned.  To make my intentions clear, I held my crucifix up to him.

The dark shadow turned to the glow of candles and pulled back the black hood that obscured his face, revealing the handsome but troubled face of a white-haired man.

“You are a demon hunter, are you not?” the man asked with a heavy British accent.  His eyes remained on my crucifix.

I nodded and jutted my chin up to him.  “And you?”

He appeared to be in the same age bracket as Dr. Kingsley, though perhaps a little younger.  Despite the shock of white hair, he had brilliant blue eyes that sparked with youthfulness. 

“Yes,” he said simply.  His eyes narrowed as he glanced at Moore with suspicion.

Could he see Moore’s true nature; the curse he lived with?  Would he be tempted to slay him before he showed any potential threat?  I wanted to jump forward, to explain, to defend and to justify, anything to stop this man from hurting Moore.

Unperturbed, Moore stood his ground, staring the older man down and showing no fear.

“What are you doing here?”  He adjusted the cloak around his shoulders and seemed offended by our presence.  “Are you Americans?”

“We’re from San Francisco.”  Moore’s voice boomed and echoed around the small chapel.

The man’s brow rose with interest, but he said nothing.

“We came here to find someone, or perhaps a group of people,” I said.  “Through a series of emails received in America, we found the name Shadow Light and we were hoping to find him.”

He nodded and his gaze remained steady, giving nothing away.  “And your search led you all the way to Italy?  Why are you so eager to find this shadowlight?”

I heard the low and impatient growl that harbored in Moore’s throat.  The incubi in him was surely working him up, and standing face to face with a new and strange demon slayer no doubt added to his strain.

Taking a determined step forward, Moore stood barely a foot away from the man.  “A portal’s been torn open and we think this Shadow Light might know how to shut it down.”

Hoping to shut him up before he went on, I stepped forward and put my hand to his arm, but he pulled away and went on.

“You say you’re a demon slayer.  Then you should know something about portals and the way demons go through them to get into this world.”

“And what makes you think I would know about such a thing.”  He glanced at me, his teeth clenched in annoyance.  “You have a professed demon slayer right there with you.  Doesn’t she know the workings of the portal?”

I could see we would lose this man’s cooperation completely if Moore continued to intimidate him.   “Sir, I apologize for my friend’s harsh ways,” I said as I stepped forward.  “Moore has been through a lot lately and this portal opening is testing his patience at every opportunity.  I may be a demon slayer, but I’ve never had to deal with a portal opening, at least not one of this proportion.”

His gaze remained hard and uncompromising.  Moore took another menacing step toward him, but this time I took a firm grip of his arm and pulled him back.  Standing between Moore and the British demon slayer, I tried to take the role of mediator.

“Please, not only do I not have the ability to close this portal, I’m also losing my ability to see demons at all.   In certain instances I can still smell them, but I otherwise have no sense of their presence.  This new influence, this new influx of demons since this portal opening is getting stronger and stronger, and the change is happening fast.”

“We also know that Dr. Kingsley had several communications with Shadow Light,” Moore interjected.

“Perhaps the answers you seek reside in this Dr. Kingsley.  Your hop across the pond may have been in vain.”

“Unfortunately, Dr. Kingsley is no longer with us,” I said.  “And his death has left the burden of mending this open portal to his nephew, Braxton.  We’ve come here with him in the hopes of helping him.”

The man’s expression changed dramatically at the mention of Dr. Kingsley’s death.  “Did you say his death?”

Feeling a shift in his emotions and deducing he’d known Dr. Kingsley, I nodded solemnly.  “He was killed by a demon.  It truly devastated everyone.  In addition to the loss of someone we all loved and cared about, we also have a batch of stronger demons to contend with.  Please,” I said as I reached out to him.  “Is there anything you can do to help us?”

He turned away, troubled by the news I’d given him.  For a long moment he faced the large crucifix behind the altar.  “Kingsley has a nephew,” he finally said in a small remote voice.

Frowning I gazed at Moore and he nodded.  “Yes,” I said.

“And he is now the gatekeeper?”

“Yes.”

Turning to face us, he shoved each hand in the other’s sleeve.  “Is he here?  In Italy?”

 Unsure of this man’s motives, I hesitated.

“If he’s been designated the next gatekeeper, it’s imperative I know about it.  You must take me to him and we have to move fast.”

Still reluctant, I gazed at Moore for guidance.

“Please,” the man said.  It was his turn to reach out for me.  “We really have to act quickly.”

“I don’t want to offend you, sir, but I can’t take the chance of putting Braxton in harm’s way.  Tell me what you know about the secret society Dr. Kingsley was a part of.  Tell me who this Shadow Light is.”

His grip tightened on my wrist, but not with aggression or anger, but with urgency and need.  “I will tell you everything, but please, let me find this nephew of Kingsley’s.”

Guarded and tense, I turned to Moore who nodded.  Seeing his clenched fists, I knew he was ready for any eventuality.

“You better take the lead, Moore.  I wasn’t really paying attention when you brought me here.”

The older man shot me a curious glance, but made no comment.  We followed Moore out and wove through the narrow streets.  Every street corner seemed to look like the last and before long I was completely disoriented.

“We’ve known this was urgent from the beginning, but why does this have you so worried?” asked the man as I tried to recognize the streets we passed.

The older man looked at me as he pulled his hood over his head.  “As the powers transfer, so do the responsibilities.  With Kingsley gone, a replacement much quickly be put in place.  Kingsley was raising this nephew, was he not?”

“Yes, Braxton lived with his uncle until his death.  I believe they spent a lot of time together and Dr. Kingsley tried to take a place in Brax’s life after the loss of his parents.”

“We just have to hope that he’s been grooming him for this.  Hopefully Kingsley considered what would happen if ever he died.”

“I’m not really sure whether he did or not.”

I suddenly wanted to find Braxton and fast.  “Are you sure we’re headed the right way?” I asked Moore.  With every step I felt the sense of urgency grow.

Before Moore could answer me, the small eatery we’d left Asher and Brax in came into view.

“Hey, where’d you guys run off to?” Asher said as he dropped the remnants of his pizza crust onto his plate.  “We wanted to wait for you before eating, but you guys never showed.  We saved you some pizza, but it might be a bit cold and…”

His voice trailed off and his eyes met with those of the hooded man who’d followed us in.  “Who’s your new friend?”

Brax looked up, his eyes searching for recognition as he looked into the blue eyes of the man.  He took another bite of his pizza, but it was clear his attention was entirely on the man in the cloak and not on his food.  “I know you,” he finally said.

The older man poked his hand out from under his cloak and held it out to Brax.  “And you must be Kingsley’s nephew.  I do believe I see a small family resemblance.”

Brax remained oddly cold and indifferent.  “You came to visit my uncle once.  You two spent hours in his study, talking.”

Nodding, the man let out a dark chuckle.  He pulled back the chair beside Braxton and sat down, his eyes pleased as he looked at the nephew he’d seen before.

“Who are you?” Brax said.

“Yeah,” Asher shot in with a defensive tone.  “Who are you?”

Moore and I stood, watching and waiting.

Suddenly unhurried and relaxed, the man pulled a slice of pizza from the large plate set in the center of the table and took a big hungry bite.  He chewed, slowly, languidly, as if he had all the time in the world.  “Never waste perfectly good pizza,” he said.

Watching him take another bite, I was suddenly famished.  The scent of spicy tomato sauce came to my nostrils and I sat down to take a large piece.

Pleased, this strange man who’d been so rushed moments earlier, looked at me with a grin.  “Bloody good pizza.”  He held up his slice to show me then glanced up at Moore who still stood, waiting.  “Pull up a chair and have pizza.”

“You made me race across town to get you to Brax,” he argued.  “And now you want me to sit back and eat some damned pizza.”

“Moore, please.  Give him a chance.” I reached up to grasp his fingers and soothe him.

“Who are you and what do you want with Brax… with us?”

“Please,” the man said.  “Sit down.  I will tell you everything.”

Chapter 9

Time to Mend

H
e finally introduced himself as Markus, though he offered little more in the way of information.  The pizza seemed to please him immensely, as though he’d not eaten in days, and while he questioned us on our trip to Italy, our appreciation of our surroundings and the people we’d met so far, he didn’t delve too deeply in our backgrounds, angelic, demonic, or otherwise.

There was no talk of the events Moore and I had witnessed at the small chapel, and he almost gave the appearance of a plain and rather ordinary man, hooded cloak aside.

I bit back a hundred and one questions, and I could see the guys were anxious to see the conversation elevate to something more profound, but Markus seemed intent on keeping the discussion light.

“Okay,” he said after an eternal amount of chewing on his last bite.  He clapped his hands free of any remaining flour and crumbs, in no way rushed to finish his thought.  “I think I may have something of interest to show you chaps.  What sort of transportation have you been relying on since your arrival?”

“We have a rental,” Moore said with some impatience and bitterness.  “A small rental.”

“Think you can squeeze me in?”

We left the small eatery and soon found out.

As it turned out, it was a tight squeeze, but we all managed to get into the car.  Markus took the front passenger seat and, with more finesse and just as much accuracy as any GPS, he guided us out of Velletri and onto the country roads of Italy.

Markus offered various comments on the expansive villas we passed and told us a bit about the history of the province of Latina, through which we drove.  But for all his chatter, there was nothing profound or pertinent… it was all interesting, but trivial.

Scrunched up between Braxton and Asher in the back seat, I gazed from one to the other as Markus continued his idle chatter.  Asher shrugged his shoulders, which cause a bit of a domino effect across the seat, and Brax simply stared at Markus as though preparing for an attack.

His face solemn, he reached for my hand and squeezed my fingers.  Though we lacked the liberty to speak aloud our doubts and suspicions, I could feel Braxton’s fear in his very fingertips.  He was unsure of this hooded man, this Markus who led us to undisclosed destinations.

I concentrated my gaze on the sceneries we passed, not so much in an attempt to enjoy the ride, but more to remember the roads we’d taken and the twists and turns.  Somehow I need to grasp something concrete, like where we were exactly and where we were going.  I couldn’t help but feel disturbed by the ignorance Markus kept us in and being able to itemize the various views gave me a bit of reassurance and a sense of security, however false that sense of security might be.

The makings of a small town began to creep through the picturesque countryside and soon we were driving through cramped streets and up to an imposing monastery.

“Impressive, is it not?” Markus said as he stepped out of the car and stretched his limbs.