Walking Among the Shadows: Awakening: Revised Edition (29 page)

I quickly returned my
consciousness back to my body and jumped out of bed, running around Jaffrey’s
place like a chicken with its head cut off. I was trying to find a way out but
couldn’t find one clue. I became enraged at my failure and started throwing
things everywhere and screaming at the top of my lungs. The images of my family
being mutilated at the hands of the Shadows kept flashing in my head, enraging
me even further. I felt like my skin was on fire with the anger coming from
inside me. I wanted out of this place and I would tear a hole in the middle of
this temple to make that a reality. Before long I could sense Jaffrey standing
behind me, watching me like I’d just lost my mind.

“Aiden! What are you doing?”

“I need to get out of here,
now! My family is in danger!”

“How do you know that?”

The question stopped me in my
tracks. Do I tell him about my secret ability? I wanted to, but something
inside me gave me pause and warned me against revealing this to him. As much as
I admired this man and owed so much to him, I still couldn’t trust him. The
wounds left by Jason’s betrayal were still too fresh.

“I can feel it! The energy
inside me is telling me they are in danger!”

“Aiden, our powers don’t work
that way anymore. Baraqu haven’t been able to foresee the future for thousands
of years. You are hallucinating! Relax and stop destroying my home!”

“I can’t! Let me out of here
Jaffrey, or I swear I will burst out of here by any means necessary. I’d rather
die than sit here knowing my family is in danger and I did nothing to stop it.”

“Aiden, it is dangerous to
allow you to leave.”

“So, I am a prisoner here?”

“No, you are not; it is for
your own protection that I keep you here.”

“I don’t need protection—my
family does. Jaffrey, let me out of here now!”

I was hysterical and could
barely see clearly from the tears and sweat falling on my face.

“Let me out!!!”

“Stop! Stop now, Aiden! I will
release you but if I do this you must promise me you will return. Your training
is not complete and I refuse to let you leave without a promise that you will
complete your training with me. Again you must be blindfolded when you return
here; I can’t risk my location being compromised. The power is awakening inside
you and it is only a matter of time before you figure out where I am. In order
for our kind to continue I must remain a secret and invisible to the eyes of
the Shadows. But this is not the only term of my agreement of releasing you.”

“Anything! Jaffrey, just let
me go, please!” I begged.

“You must admit to the one
thing you refuse to feel.”

“What are you talking about?”

“You know exactly what I’m
referring to.”

As much as I wanted to play
dumb, I knew exactly what he meant. Jason; he wanted me to admit after almost
being murdered by him, watching him attack my mother, after the betrayal of
loving him to find out he was my worst enemy, after being forced to destroy
him; he wanted me to admit that I still felt love in my heart for that man,
that I felt remorse about taking his life.

“Jaffrey, you know I can’t do
that.”

“You can’t or you won’t?”

“I can’t. Why would you make
me admit that? What kind of game are you playing?”

“This isn’t a game, this is
life and death. If you go out of this place with that lie stuck in your heart I
fear this will be the last time I see you alive. You can’t live a lie, whether
it’s right in front of you or hidden. Lies will weaken you, distort your
perception, and lead you down a path of destruction and failure. Truth and acceptance
is the only way to release the last shackle you have on your mind.”

I fell to my knees at that
very moment, tears streaming down my face. I knew Jaffrey was right and if
there was one thing I’ve learned here is that my belief in myself was my greatest
weapon and my worst enemy. Carrying this lie and anger was not going to help me
and I felt that whatever I was to face tonight was going to be formidable and I
would need every ounce of faith in myself to defeat it. But what he was asking
of me was world-shattering. I didn’t want to but as the tears kept pouring from
my eyes and my heart ached at the pain it felt, I had no other choice but to
face this emotional tsunami inside my chest. As much as I wanted to dismiss
what I felt for Jason, I couldn’t. He was dead and gone and I still found
myself thinking about him— the times we talked, all the games he took me to,
the way he made my mother feel, and how his presence made us feel complete as a
family. It was because of him that I was able to focus and win that first game
of the season and it was his belief in me that pushed me to want to do better.
I wanted to make him proud and deep inside I wanted him to be my real father
instead of the man that lay in the ground dead for over a decade.

Yes, I admit that I traded in my father for
Jason, that I turned my back on his memory for my enemy. I admit and accept
that I allowed my enemy to share a bed with my mother  and I let my guard down
when I should have been more vigilant. I am just as guilty as Jason in this
betrayal and I am just as responsible. I had a father and his memory deserves
more than what I gave him. And today as I kneel in pain at the acceptance of my
failure as a son and brother, I admit that I still love Jason and I am sorry I
had to kill him.

S
uddenly
I felt a cool breeze across my face and when I looked up and opened my eyes I
found myself kneeling on the beach behind my grandparents’ home. I could see
the house from where I was and all of the lights were out besides the glow of
multiple vehicle headlights shining from the driveway. I knew the Shadows were
already there and waiting for me to arrive.

Let’s not keep them waiting.

With everything I’d learned
about Shadows from Jaffrey, I was almost certain that they already knew I was
there. Over the centuries they’ve become masters at hunting the Baraqu and I
was no exception. Yeah, they knew I was near so trying to sneak in would be a
waste of time. I thought about it for a half minute and decided to just walk up
to the front door and meet them head on.

I prayed that because it’s
been so long since they’ve hunted a fully functional Baraqu, they may have
forgotten how and left their pet witches at home. Because if they haven’t, this
could get very interesting. As serious and dangerous as this night was, I was
uncommonly calm and relaxed as I hurried up the beach towards the house. I felt
focused and confident in my ability to fight my adversaries, and then  it
dawned on me.

What if I hadn’t admitted my
guilt and feelings about Jason? The doubt and self- deception would have caused
a chain reaction through my body and my mind would not be as clear nor would I
be as focused. As annoying as Jaffrey was, I had to admit that his training was
spot-on when it came to preparing someone for battle as a Baraqu. To go up
against a foe as powerful and skilled as a Shadow, there can be no room for
doubt. Was I one-hundred-percent sure any of us would survive tonight? Hell no!
But I was one-hundred-percent sure I would give my all and I had the skill and
power to up our chances of survival.

They had the upper hand of
being here first. But I had the advantage of purpose.  A purpose that I
believed was greater than my life. That purpose was family and the love I had
for them. Most of all I had the purpose of protecting Sarah, my reason for
taking this path down a road unknown. Tonight was my coming-out party to the
Order of Shadows and I aimed to misbehave. After tonight I would make sure that
even the thought of touching my family would bring a waking nightmare to all my
enemies.  They took my father from me, they made us fall in love with a man who
planned to mutilate us in our own home, and now they have invaded my
grandparents’ home, holding my family hostage to lure me out. They may have
thought that this was the best course of action. I was going to show them they
miscalculated on all fronts. I would not show mercy nor would I give quarter to
those that would harm the people I love. Tonight I would become a terrorist of
terrorists.

I finally arrived at the front
driveway and there were at least twenty armed men in full tactical gear
standing out front with their guns aimed at me. One of them stepped forward and
began speaking.

“Identify yourself!”

I remained silent. I just
stood there looking at them and watching this dark opera unfold. I could tell
these men would not hesitate to fire on me regardless of my status as a minor.
I felt a surge flow through my body as I began to concentrate on saving my
family trapped inside the house behind them.

“Identify yourself, I won’t
ask again! If you don’t speak we will open fire! Who are you?”

I wanted to remain silent, but
I was on a mission not just to save my family but to send a message. So I
decided to oblige him.

“Aiden, my name is Aiden Storm.

“Fire!”

His order was obeyed without
hesitation. The sonic crack of hundreds of bullets flying through the air was
deafening. Any other time the sudden order and sound would have broken my
concentration and startled me, but this man giving the orders was no Shadow, he
was just a puppet, a hired mercenary doing their bidding. He had no idea who
and what he was facing. The Shadows made the first move and they underestimated
me. First big mistake. Being the good student that I was, I took Jaffrey’s
advice on ending confrontations in three moves or less. First move, they opened
fired. Second move, I teleported all twenty men to where I was standing right
in the path of the bullets they just fired at me and I teleported myself  to
where they were standing out of harm’s way. The switch was so fast they had no
time to yell or gasp in terror at their deaths coming at them at 2300-feet per
second. I didn’t even stay to see them drop as I quickly turned and moved
towards the front door.

I could hear them all dropping
to the ground as I opened the front door and entered the dark house. I didn’t
want to linger because I had no idea what else my family’s captors had in store
for me and also watching people die wasn’t my idea of a must-see experience.

I knew I had no choice but to
take the lives of those that were here tonight, but I wasn’t sure I was proud
of it. I was only seventeen and I wasn’t a hardened gangster nor was I a
teenage soldier recruited and trained by a third world warlord. No, I was Aiden
Storm from Deerfield, Illinois, a boy who once was a nerdy introvert and now
possessed powers beyond the comprehension of 90 percent of the world’s
population. Thrust in a war that has gone on for thousands, maybe even millions
of years between two factions of the most powerful beings on this planet. I
wasn’t ready but I had no choice but to get ready because unless I acted my
entire family would be killed tonight.

The darkness in the house was
thick, sickening, and familiar. It was the same darkness that had invaded our
house when Jason revealed himself. The Shadows were near; I could feel the air
of fear and depression being blown through the darkness. I was on their turf
now and I wasn’t prepared to fight them in the darkness, so I decided to take
control of the electricity in the house to see what was around me. I was only
able to get the lights to flash on for about ten seconds, but it was long
enough for me to see what I was up against. I was surrounded by six cloaked
Shadows and in the corner stood a very strange man. He was a black man but not
African American. He seemed foreign by the way he wore his dreadlocks, maybe
Haitian or from some other island in the Atlantic. Then it hit me as the lights
slowly dimmed. He was Kashaptu, a warlock brought here to bind me so that the
Shadows could kill me. Cowards! They didn’t have the guts to face me fairly.
Then I heard the hissing of one of these evil Shadows trying to speak. Similar
to Jason but still unique.

“You are a fool to face us,
Baraqu. We are the masters of this realm and your kind are just a dead species
too stupid to know when your time has ended.”

Oh, so this asshole not only
came to kill me but he came to gloat, too? Arrogant piece of shit! I should
have been terrified at what I was facing but I felt no fear, just determination
to save my family. If I was going to be bound by that warlock hiding away in
the corner, I was going to have to fight with everything I had. A physical
confrontation with six Shadows was suicide even for the most skilled fighter
but if I was to go out I was determined to take a few of them with me.

Then the warlock began
chanting something in a language I’d never heard before. He kept repeating the
same phrase over and over again:

“
Usella MitutiIk kalu
Baltuti, Usella MitutiIk kalu Baltuti.
”

I took a step back, preparing
for the first strike from one of the cowards waiting in the dark for this
warlock’s binding spell to take effect. Jaffrey explained to me how it feels to
be bound.

He explained the vibration and
rhythm you feel inside immediately stops, you break into a cold sweat, and your
entire body becomes cold all the way to your bones. It’s hard to move
effectively and the process of mind-and-hand coordination is hindered. He said
it takes full effect after the binding spell is repeated six times. But the
strange thing is I was sure he had chanted that strange phrase six times and
the effects he described had yet to happen. I still felt the surge of my power
flow through my body. As a matter of fact the surge was increasing and I felt
invincible. Then the first strike came. A glowing claw slashing through the
darkness towards my face.

As quickly as the claw
appeared, I made the Shadow that it belonged to pay for it. I simply snapped my
fingers and he immediately burst into flames. His screams filled the entire
house like the sound of multiple people burning in the same fire. I could hear
the other Shadows scream at the Warlock,

“Bind him! Bind him!” And him
replying in a heavy Caribbean accent, “I did! I don’t know what’s going on!”

I could sense their panic as
they cowered away from their burning comrade into the darkness. Their fear was
like an energy shot to my powers and I quickly started pursuing them in the
darkness without fear. I could hear them moving away in the darkness, trying to
find a way out of the mess they’d gotten themselves in. Run cowards, I thought.
None of you will leave here alive. I felt a shadow moving towards the door
behind me leading outside. I quickly turned and sent an electrical charge from
my hands to the door handle and as soon as the Shadow reached for the handle he
was instantly shocked and thrown across the room; slamming so hard into the
wall that it exploded into a black mist that disappeared into the darkness. I
could still hear the warlock chanting his spell despite the obvious—that it had
no effect on me. Maybe he hoped that eventually it would and before his hopes
became a reality I quickly manipulated the elements and created a  huge safe
that quickly formed around the warlock. Before I sealed him inside, I sucked
all the air out of the safe like a vacuum and shut the door. Then to finish him
off I heated the steel safe till it turned white with heat, cooking him alive
inside. I could hear his muffled screams of pain as he burned, banging on the walls,
hopelessly trying to find a way out. His screams were quickly silenced by me
crushing the safe with just a clap of my hands and then making its flattened
form dissipate like dust in the wind.

I know that was gruesome but
what they were planning to do to my family did not invoke thoughts of cotton
candy and fluffy bunnies. Like I promised before, they would never forget this
confrontation and in order for that to become a reality I would have to be just
as ruthless as they were; like I said, no mercy or quarter.

The other four Shadows met
their deaths in equally imaginative ways. The last Shadow’s demise was my dark
opera’s finale. I decided to trap him in a glass bubble and opened a portal to
the Mariana Trench where I dropped him in the deepest part of the world’s
oceans. He could reflect on his way down before the pressure crushed him—his
life’s choices, namely the choice that made him put his claws on my family.
Once I closed the portal I was expecting the lights to come back on so that I
could find my family. But the darkness remained, which would mean there was
still a Shadow in the house. I decided to enhance my eardrums so that I could
possess superhuman hearing and listen in the darkness for the Shadow’s
whereabouts. I started moving towards the kitchen, listening for any sound that
would give away the Shadows position. It was surprising how fluid my actions
and responses were that night. Everything  came second nature, like breathing.
I didn’t even have to think hard on my responses, they just came
instantaneously. Jaffrey was one hell of a teacher. As hard as his training
was, I now understood its intensity and the reason for it. And I also
understood why one Baraqu could threaten the entire Shadow order. We were
absolute badasses!

Then I heard something move
behind me in the kitchen. Then it was above me, then behind me again. It was
fast and didn’t move like the other Shadows. I could feel its violent intent
and it was searching for the best angle to attack. It was way too fast for me
to pinpoint its location and the kitchen was too small for me to effectively
fight whatever this thing was, so I backed out into the family room. But I
noticed it didn’t follow me. I could now make out its shape while it stood
floating in the kitchen doorway that lead into the family room. It was
definitely a Shadow, but much smaller and faster. There was an ominous feeling
that illuminated from it. It was angry and filled with hate. It felt personal
and directed towards me, not the Baraqu, but me as Aiden Storm. To this Shadow,
this was personal and I was temporarily distracted by the aura of hatred and
violence it created in the room.