Shadow Touch (8 page)

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Authors: Erin Kellison

BOOK: Shadow Touch
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Ellie entered first. The painting of the magical world leaned against the wall, one corner of its canvas cut from the frame and hanging forward in a curl. Nevertheless, the forest was once again alive with gorgeous promise. A man, the one with the long chin, lay on the floor at the painting’s base, his head craning toward the door as he gasped, “Help!” And her naked shadow, opaque and glossy in her solid state, straddled him. Her expression was ugly as she held a box cutter to his throat.
“You hurt the painting,” her shadow snarled.
Cam and Laurence entered and both circled around to view the damage and her shadow monster. Cam held a hand behind his back, as if he concealed something. He stood straight, almost rigid, like one of the soldiers. His skin had gone pasty pale, but he didn’t watch her shadow. Cam kept his eyes on Ellie.
“Now is as good a time as any, Ellie,” Laurence said. “I won’t hold her any longer.”
Any moment her shadow could draw the blade across the man’s throat.
Ellie shook her head. “I’m not strong enough for her anymore.” Years ago maybe, but even then . . .
“Please, Ellie,” Cam begged. He looked ill.
The man on the floor snorted through tears and snot. His face was flushed, sweat glistening. “Help me!” he screamed, though the movement sent a trickle of blood down his neck.
Gran would be so sad, so disappointed that it had come to this.
Ellie lifted her gaze to Laurence. “I’m not nearly strong enough, but I’ll try.”
Cam swayed on his feet, breathing relief. He must really care. His arm dropped to his side, and Ellie saw that he held a gun.
A shiver swept her as the reason for it popped into her mind. She hadn’t considered that he might have been planning to stop her shadow in the only way possible. By stopping
her
.
Laurence opened his palm toward the couple struggling on the floor in an invitation. “Quickly.”
Ellie knew what he meant. She had an idea from Cam’s kiss about how this would work. There was no way she could be passive about this merging. She had to take control herself.
She walked toward her panting shadow, whose eyes were wide and wild. With a gulp, Ellie lowered her body, crawling into the same crouch as her dark self. Her knees found the same bend, her thighs the same grip on the man’s trunk. Her hand on the blade.
Rage filled her, a tornado of it filling her mind. The painting. The beauty of forever. Pure seduction. Pure bliss. Freedom.
And this man was going to take it from her? He would die.
Ellie tried to pull the blade away, but it was her shadow that gripped it. Ellie’s flesh and blood hand came away clenched, but empty. Her shadow didn’t even signify her presence in the struggle. Ellie was nothing to her. Anger was paramount.
Ellie looked up at Laurence. If he was going to do something, he’d better get on with it.
Laurence’s hand was outstretched toward her, his lips moving as if casting a spell, concentration in the flex of his features.
A wave of warm air hit Ellie. Her vision blurred as the room warped. Her heart had been beating in fear, but the tempo doubled, layered with overwhelming emotion, a sea of it that drowned her mind. All she knew was the fury that ruled her shadow and a pricking of her flesh. The pricks became a fierce itch, the same intense tingling as sleeping limbs waking, then a burn sizzled her skin, blood, and bones. Something fusing within her.
The pain grew until Ellie screamed, contracting her limbs to curl into a fetal ball. No relief. She threw her head back, the force of it rolling her from the man’s body. The man scrambled back, wiping at his face and nose, cursing and spitting.
And that’s when Ellie knew that she and her shadow were one.
One.
She clambered up, dazed at what had occurred. The forever painting was safe,
thank God,
the horrible man alive. She shook with raging emotion—still raw, still powerful,
could kill him,
but it seemed she had mastered her shadow after all.
She was in charge.
With a huge sigh of relief, and an uncertain smile thrown toward Cam, Ellie relaxed.
Everything was going to be okay. Finally. And really, it hadn’t been so very hard.
Kill.
Her shadow wrenched free of her, taking the blade, and launched itself into the air toward the man on the floor.
Ellie lunged after—
No!
—reaching to restrain her dark self, who halted in the middle of her strike.
A loud pop, gunshot, almost made Ellie lose her hold. She looked in the direction of the noise, at Cam, who held a smoking gun pointed at her.
Cam?
Ellie held her shadow aloft as Laurence had earlier, her shadow clawing toward her target. Ellie dropped to her knees as her shadow dimmed.
At the edge of her vision, the blade clattered to the floor.
And the floor rushed up to smack her into oblivion.
Chapter 4
“It’s a flesh wound, Cam,” Laurence said, kneeling at his side. “She’ll be fine.”
“She’s bleeding, you son of a bitch,” Cam answered, his only dress shirt pressed to her shoulder. The rest of sweet Ellie was slack, her head turned to the side, lips parted as if asleep while warm blood flowed from her wound. The reality of what he had done made him sick. “Does that look like fine to you?”
Live, baby, live.
Cam couldn’t believe he’d fired, but what else could he have done? She’d seemed to be okay, her shadow and body together as one, but then the shadow had leaped out of Ellie like a black jungle cat after its prey. And unlike that soldier yesterday, Cam knew that shooting the shadow would do nothing. To stop her, he had to fire on Ellie herself.
The angel had obviously failed.
Come on, honey.
“You weren’t even aiming to kill,” Laurence said.
Thank God for Segue training. The first couple weeks, he’d been a terrible shot. Only lately, with Jose’s insistent derision, had he gotten any better. But Cam had never expected to use the skill.
Never.
He was a scientist.
Segue sucked. Worst place to work. He quit.
Laurence chuckled. “I don’t think there’s any quitting for you, but I’ll allow that your job description just got a lot more difficult.”
No, Cam was pretty damn certain. He was taking Ellie and getting them both the hell away from here. He could handle her shadow. Of course, her shadow would probably be pissed as all get-out at him. He didn’t care.
Footsteps had Cam raising his head to the door. Marshall pelted inside, his own piece in his hand. With all this angel business, no wonder Marshall hadn’t wanted to know anything.
“I shot Ellie,” Cam confessed, voice breaking. Fuck. Now he was going to cry like a girl.
“You shot her?” Marshall glanced at Shelstad, who’d backed up to the wall. He pulled out a cell phone and requested immediate medical aid. Then he got down on the floor on the other side of Ellie.
“It was warranted,” Laurence said when Marshall was finished examining her. “Cam did what he thought he had to do to stop the shadow from killing Lenny, who was attempting to steal the painting.”
Marshall observed the damage to the painting and whistled. “Thorne is going to be pissed. I’ll have to take Shelstad into custody”—he glanced over at the man still sniveling in fear—“Don’t try to run. There’s nowhere to hide.”
Cam kept the pressure firm on Ellie’s wound, though the blood flow seemed to have diminished. He wasn’t taking any chances.
“Should I keep Ms. Russo unconscious until we decide what to do with her?” Marshall asked Laurence. “Her shadow is a menace. Does The Order have a facility that can deal with her problem?”
Poor Ellie. Cam shook his head, wishing he could stroke her hair, but too scared to let up on her shoulder.
“No,” said Laurence. “I think she’ll be all right on her own.”
Cam looked up in surprise. “But . . . how do we keep this from happening again? If you hadn’t stopped her shadow, Shelstad would be dead.”
There was no good way out of this. Drugs? Constant sedation?
“I didn’t stop her shadow,” Laurence said. “Ellie did.”
Cam shook his head, no. “I saw the shadow freeze mid air, just like in Ellie’s room.”
“That was Ellie.”
“What happened?” Marshall asked.
Cam ignored the question. It seemed he’d gone stupid again. “Ellie stopped her shadow.”
“Yes,” Laurence said. “The merging was successful. I’d hoped they would be completely unified, but clearly that was not meant to be. Nevertheless, Ellie has proven that she can master her dark half.”
Lots of words were coming out of Laurence’s mouth—the angel sure loved to talk—but Cam only understood one thing. If his hands hadn’t been occupied, he’d have wrapped them around the angel’s throat.
“You mean I shot her for no good reason?”
 
 
Ellie was sleepy and comfortable, but the bed was softer than she was used to and the room smelled sharper than home, in a clean way, so she cracked her eyes to see where she was. Looked like some kind of a hospital room, not that she’d ever visited one in person.
A blur of movement—had to be her shadow—but no . . . suddenly Cam was leaning over her. He had such pretty green eyes, but just now they were bloodshot.
“How are you feeling?” he asked. His voice sounded gravelly.
“Fine.” She guessed. Her mouth was so dry. And well, actually, her shoulder kinda ached. And her other arm was cold. She lifted it to find what looked like an IV. “What happened?”
“He shot you,” her shadow said bitterly.
A flash of his distressed expression, the smoking gun, and Ellie’s mind cleared. She glanced at her shadow, who was darkening fast, a look of recrimination on her face.
No, it wasn’t like that.
Ellie pulled her shadow up short, and with a snap that stabbed at her shoulder, they were one again. It was a strange sensation, full of intensity.
Well, actually, it
was
like that.
Tears welled at the deep down hurt. He’d shot her down like a dog. Lifted a gun and put a bullet in her. She’d liked him, trusted him, and he
shot
her? Yeah, she was mad. She should be mad.
“I’m so sorry,” he said, clearly miserable. “I didn’t know you had your shadow under control. I was afraid that she’d—that you’d—kill him.”
That’s right. She’d controlled her shadow. Was controlling her even now.
Ellie grinned, suddenly breathless with excitement.
Look at me, Gran!
“I saw her leap, and I just—”
“It’s okay,” Ellie said. She would have laughed her happiness but her shoulder hurt too much. “I understand. I put you in an awful situation.”
“No, you didn’t.
Laurence
did. He warned me that I might have to . . .” Cam shook his head. “. . . but I didn’t actually think . . . Can you ever forgive me?”
Poor man was torturing himself. And on such a good day.
He’d thought her shadow was going to do the worst, and he’d stopped her. Way deep down in her gut, it still hurt that he’d pulled the trigger, but . . .
“I’m glad you did,” she said. And she was.
It meant she could trust him. It meant if her shadow ever got too strong for her, if her shadow ever got away, someone would do what had to be done. It was a safe feeling, and she hadn’t felt safe since Gran died.
Safe was good.
“You’re glad?” Cam held her cold hand. His warmth made the rest of her warm up too. It was kinda like magic.
“Yeah,” she said. “Makes me worry a little bit less, ya know?”
She could see from his eyes that he didn’t get it. Sometimes the brilliant scientist was a little slow. That was okay. She’d take him anyway. If he’d have her, that is.
Ellie looked over at the door as a man entered. Tall. Handsome features. Direct gaze. She knew him to be Adam Thorne, from her pre-trip online research about Segue.
Cam squeezed her hand, his body tensing. “Don’t listen to a word he says.”
Mr. Thorne’s mouth twitched into a half smile. “Ms. Russo,” he said, “it’s so good to see you awake. Are you in any discomfort?”
Ellie was a little, but because of Cam’s warning, she shook her head no.
“Good,” Mr. Thorne said. “My employees get the best care always.”
“She doesn’t work for you,” Cam grumbled. “And neither do I.”
“Employee?” she asked. Didn’t she have to work for Thorne to be considered one of those?
“Don’t go there, Ellie,” Cam said. “You don’t want to know. I’ve already submitted my resignation.”
Thorne made a face of mock consternation. “I didn’t receive any resignation.” When Cam huffed, Thorne continued speaking, his words directed at Ellie. “You, and Dr. Kalamos for that matter, have had a glowing recommendation from a very trusted source. I don’t think you can do much better than The Order.”
That had to be Laurence, who’d put her together. He must have thought she could handle her shadow just fine now. With a little work, maybe she could.
“She doesn’t want a job,” Cam said. “We’re leaving Segue.”
Thorne gave Cam a full grin before turning back to her. Thorne was enjoying himself as much as Cam was protesting.
“You have a unique gift in your shadow,” Thorne said, “and I can’t think of a better place than Segue to explore your ability and put it to use.”
“This place is a nightmare,” Cam ground out.
Thorne looked at Cam. “Actually, I was thinking of an alternate location. Cam can head up the facility. I’ll see that he gets excellent access to Shadow for his own studies, and you for yours.”
Ellie glanced over at Cam. That didn’t sound too bad.
“And you can be together,” Adam finished.
“We’d be together anyway,” Cam shot back. He gripped her hand. “Don’t listen to him.”
Together. She liked the sound of that.
A sensation grew inside Ellie, like a balloon of happiness expanding in her chest and threatening to burst. She’d never felt like this. So good she just might cry. Must be joy, so her shadow was happy too.
She licked her lips again, wishing for a drink. She smiled back at Thorne—she couldn’t help it—though she made Cam’s scowl deepen.
“Could you give us a minute to talk it over?”

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