Shadow Reign (Shadow Puppeteer Book 2) (5 page)

Her fingers looped around my wet locks and I shoved her hand away from my hair. “I get to choose where you’re taking the blood and you’ll stop when I tell you to.”

She smiled, reminding me again what I was agreeing to. Those teeth were going to hurt.

“Fine,” she said, moving within my comfort zone again.

I slid away from the bed and wall. If she was going to bite me, it would be in the center of the room with no bed or wall to get shoved up against. She gladly followed and her eagerness pissed me off. There was too much room for doubt. Tons of things could go wrong, but in the end, I had to believe I was stronger than her persuasion.

Bliss needed to know where I was. I’d deal with whatever he wanted when the time came, but right now, I needed someone in my corner. I offered my arm and she took it. Her fingers wrapped around my pale skin. As much as I wanted to be ready for this, I just wasn’t.

She licked along my wrist, tracing a vein with her dry tongue. My heart raced as I braced for the bite. When her teeth sunk into my skin, I groaned. The pain was sharp. Not even the attack from the wolves could compare to this. This was acute, making my nerves crawl.

Her pupils went black as she watched my face. I had to keep it together. It was just a little blood and it was dripping down my arm. The suckling noises made me sick. The nerves in my arm pulsed as if my heart was a pump serving her desires.

She was a dangerously large leech, capable of draining me. I should hate her, but the contact was disarming. Her desire poured into me. The pleasure mixed wonderfully with pain. It felt like acid was burning through my veins. I caught my breath, determined not to fall into her escalating desire. I needed a razor. I needed the pain to help override the emotions around me, but losing
more
blood was a bad idea.

“You’re done,” I said.

I didn’t try to pull away and risk her tearing my skin. She withdrew her teeth and flicked her stained tongue over her lips. I had to turn away. My arm pulsed with pain and the wound didn’t immediately congeal.

“Your message, Belen McKnight, for the guard of the Unseelie court.”

It was hard to focus on a message when my heart drummed in my ears. It was lucky that she stopped. At this point, I missed her mouth and that notion made me sick. Her persuasion was strong.

“Tell Bliss where to find me,” I said.

She frowned. “You think the guard will come here looking for you?”

Yes, actually I did. “Are you going back on our fair trade?”

She laughed all the way to the door, letting the beads clink back and forth behind her. My mind was restless, but my body was exhausted. I wanted to sleep, but dreaded those moments of rest when my mind wandered.

Where did I spend those dark hours of sleep while I lay in my grave? Something was there, dark and pressing, but it remained just out of my reach. I couldn’t sleep and risk those memories returning. Now wasn’t the time to deal with them.

I paced the small room a few times before noticing the folded white card sitting on the pillow.

I
fiddled with the note, tempted to leave it unread. Now that I was clean, weariness was starting to set in. Running on adrenaline was making my insides feel toxic. Still, as much as I wanted to, I couldn’t ignore the note. Utan had great penmanship for something from the underworld. The instructions were simple. Come outside when you’re dressed.

Why in the world did I think I was going to have a chance to rest and adjust to the new situation? Actually, I hoped Bliss wouldn’t make me wait longer than a few minutes before he popped in, gave me some weapons, let me kill Kelaino, and then got us out of here. Being clean gave me a little energy, but my shoulders, legs and now my wrist ached. I couldn’t let Utan see the bite mark.

I didn’t want to touch my grimy clothes, but I grabbed the part of my shirt that was still fairly clean where the coat covered it and ripped a section. The tub of water looked murky, but I dipped my wrist in and used the cloth still sitting inside to scrub the wound. It hurt and fresh blood colored the water, but it was better than Utan smelling the sith on my skin.

More blood welled around the wound as I carefully dried it off and wrapped the fabric around my wrist. It wasn’t fancy and Utan would notice, but at least it would keep him wondering. I wasn’t ready to deal with him. There was no way the night could get worse.

I stopped in front of the pile of clothes and dug Katrina’s jacket out, then pulled the pin off the collar. It was the diablo symbol, a blood red D with a spiked tail. I pinned it to my shirt. It was a show of defiance, but I didn’t care. I already died twice, if I counted going into that weird world after D’s spirit. There was so much to learn and so little time.

My fingers tingled. Everything was overwhelming and I still needed to hold on. If something happened to me, I wouldn’t be able to protect Rex and his wolves. I’m sure Rex wouldn’t like knowing I thought he needed protection since he aspired to be the alpha of his pack. He wasn’t my only concern. I needed to find D and Jose.

There was a pair of soft leather shoes by the door and I slid them on. I liked my high boots, they made me feel girly, but these didn’t have heels which would help with the sneaking around. I tied them tightly, then stretched the aches from my body.

Everything inside me said stay in the room, but I wasn’t a little girl. I couldn’t hide from my problems because lately, they came looking for me. Proceed with caution came to mind as I crossed through the beaded doorway. My skin was sensitive to the brush of the beads. Even my head felt heavy. Maybe she took more blood than I thought.

The tunnel was long and fairly dark if not for the firelight that pressed between other beaded curtains. It wasn’t enough light to see by and the hall grew very dark just beyond the small signs of life. Utan wasn’t waiting, which was both a relief and a minor setback. I didn’t want him sneaking up behind me.

The beads brushed apart for the will-o-wasp that stopped just over my head. Her light wasn’t nearly as bright as the firelight, but her glow did press the dark back. A few months ago, I would have welcomed this, but now, I needed the dark. It was becoming as much of a blanket as the blade I longed to have in my hand.

I always stood up for myself, but this desire for violence was startling. The will-o-wasp rose a few inches higher, possibly feeding off the energy that rolled through me. If she followed, I wouldn’t have the element of surprise.

“Go back in the room,” I ordered. It felt odd talking to a ball of light. She brightened and fluttered a little higher. “I’ll be fine, go back inside.”

She was hesitant at first, which showed a large sign of intelligence. Embarrassment heated my face. She witnessed the intimate exchange between the sith and I when she took my blood. I refused to think about it now. What was done was done with witnesses and all. I just didn’t want to trust another creature to keep the secret.

She slid back through the curtain and for one moment, the firelight was alluring. The room was small but with one exit, could quickly become a trap. I craved the fire and the bed, even if I didn’t want to sleep. The mere thought of sleep drew those ghostly screams to the forefront of my thoughts.

My chest clenched. I murdered people. I was responsible for their death. How could I believe I was protecting Rex, when I was so destructive?

Again, I had to stop that train of thought. If I broke down now, I wouldn’t be able to help anyone. Rex was a fighter, but I wasn’t so sure about D.

I pulled the patch from my eye the minute I cleared the last doorway with light. It wasn’t much light, but from my past experience, I didn’t want to risk the headache, though I did want to see my face in a mirror and I’d need light for that.

She’s so bloody
.

I squeezed that ghostly thought from my mind, but major injuries brought pieces of me to the surface like a puzzle. My arm turned porcelain after the doppelganger attack. What would my face look like?

There was time to ponder that question when Rex wasn’t in danger. With werewolves so rare, I hated to think the species might die off. Maybe after this, Rex would take D, and I wouldn’t have to worry about him.

The darkness didn’t last long and the first stretching rays of torchlight pierced through my right eye, making me nauseous. I slid the patch back on and slowed my steps when I heard the low rumble of voices. I’d recognize Utan’s manner of tone anywhere. The muscles in my shoulders ached in sympathy.

If their hearing was anything like mine, they’d know I was here, so I didn’t even try getting closer to the corner. I could make out their words from where I stood, even though they were talking low.

“We discussed this. You weren’t going to bring her back to the mountain,” Rose hissed.

“I had no choice.”

“You could’ve let her drop,” Rose offered.

Utan’s tone was cold. Curiosity got the best of me and I closed the distance as I closed in and peaked around the corner. He had Rose boxed up against the wall. Her leg rested between his and I felt nauseous watching them. This morbid conversation excited them.

“If she didn’t die after an explosion and a near drowning, what makes you think a fall would do it? She’s here now, and Kelaino will challenge the both of you. We can’t afford for anything to go wrong, especially with that
thing
I just brought back to the mountain, in the equation.”

Thing? That’s what he thought I was? The hairs on the back of my neck rose. It was the other comment that sparked my interest, though. Utan didn’t believe Rose was Kelaino’s real daughter. The silence that followed the statement said Rose caught that as well.

“If it wasn’t for that stupid wolf, she’d be buried in the ocean. I’m glad he’s suffering. I’d make it worse if Kelaino would allow it.” Rose said.

Rex was suffering? I grabbed for my blades and brushed nothing but my hips. Grrr. I couldn’t fight the anger that made every vein in my body feel toxic with the sith’s venom.

Utan caught her chin and tilted her face. I pulled back around the corner, listening to them kiss. The wet sound of tongues in motion should’ve disgusted me, but I had bigger problems. I worried my bottom lip with my teeth until I tasted blood. It was bitter and metallic and did nothing to calm my resentment. I took harassment from the school yard bullies, but this was a different field all together. With Rex involved, I couldn’t jump into this hotheaded. I couldn’t ruin my chances at Kelaino, by attacking Rose.

“I just don’t know about her. I think she might be the one,” Rose said.

That blew my mind. Rose admitted she wasn’t Kelaino’s real daughter. I was completely fooled by her act.

Utan growled. “She’s not. Her baby was stuck in a car that sunk in an icy river. That baby is a frozen block with no way to get out of the car. It’s not her, okay. It’s just some other freak who is surprisingly powerful. Kelaino wants me to train it in combat. What do you know about her?”

“Approach her with caution. What I saw back at the asylum…” she trailed off.

“What did you see? What happened?” he was completely consumed by her statement.

So was I. I wanted to know how it looked from her perspective because in my head, what went down was violent. The Free-String Walkers were still screaming in my head. I pushed my broken nails into the wall and the immediate pain cleared my head. Those ghostly emotions were getting the best of my receptive mind.

“We shouldn’t talk about it here. Just be cautious with her. She’s a ticking time bomb,” she warned.

The long pause that followed made me nervous. I retreated down the hall, wanting to make it to my room before he did. I barely touched the beads when firelight played over my hands.

“Were you waiting long?”

I felt self-conscious enough without speculating how long I lay in the grave growing soft. Utan was fully dressed in an outfit similar to my own, except his shirt was sleeveless and more masculine in the fact that a small piece of fabric around his neck didn’t fold over and button like my shirt did.

“You smell like fresh blood.”

My left wrist ached and I clenched my hand. His eyes roamed over my body until he noticed the black material wrapping my wrist.

“What did you do?”

He stepped towards me and I braced myself for what was coming. I didn’t expect him to actually pull the fabric from my wrist to look at the wound. If he did, I wasn’t feeling up to lying.

“Let’s keep this in the training room,” I said.

He stopped, too stunned that I actually talked to him. “I think that’s a great idea.”

He had to know I was weak, but going a few bouts with him was what I needed. Maybe I’d be so exhausted after this that I wouldn’t hear the screams, or when I closed my eyes, I wouldn’t have images of that night in the asylum playing behind my eyelids.

Utan turned his back on me, despite Rose’s warning, and started walking. I was grateful for his torch, because I didn’t want to stumble into the wall with the eye patch on, and I didn’t want to take it off and show that I could see in the dark. Keep them guessing was my best approach. They were both cautious of me, which meant I had a great deal of power.

The shades, the spirits of the dead, weren’t something I wanted to tangle with. They helped me out of tricky situations, but the anger in which they killed made me sick. I was responsible for them, in some way, though I wasn’t sure what it was I did to call them.

The halls began to look familiar. Little things stood out, like the number of mineral clusters on one wall or both. Now that I wasn’t so stressed, I actually noticed that the halls had very different smells, which meant certain creatures were using them to cross. He brought us back to the tunnel where I saw him talking to Rose. Her scent still lingered here.

“This is my training room. I will train you in a number of combats,” he informed.

He waited to the side, wanting me to cross through the beads first. I attempted to lower my metaphysical shields to feel if Rose was inside, waiting for me, but they wouldn’t budge. With the patch over my eye, I couldn’t see auras either. I felt vulnerable without these senses, and more so, I didn’t have a blade to defend myself. This was too soon, though. Rose wouldn’t be stupid enough to attack me and risk Kelaino’s anger.