The Book Of Shade (Shadeborn 1) (17 page)

Novel watched her with a conflicted look, but Edvard just nodded.

“Smart lady, my wife,” he chuckled. “She has made great sacrifices, in her time, for the ones she loves. Remember that as your time unfolds.”

“I’ll try,” Lily stammered, feeling like a great weight had been dropped into the pit of her stomach.

“Can’t you tell us more?” Novel tried with a hoarse desperation in his voice. “I need to know how these events come about.”

Edvard shook his head. “I can say no more on the matter. Even if I wanted to, old friend, the parameters of this meeting prevent me. Just know that I’ll be here to guide you both, in my own way.”

A crashing sound surprised them all, and Eva leapt from the table in shock, knocking the whole thing over. Novel cried out as Edvard’s spectre disappeared, but Lily was already looking to where Salem had smashed into the auditorium. His fine clothes were ripped down the front, wide red slashes in his skin bleeding onto the carpet.

“Eno!” he shouted, “he’s out of his cage!”

The older shade dropped to his knees with a huff.

“Where is he?” Novel demanded, flying with a burst of gravity towards his injured father.

Salem gave his son a nasty look as he spat a mouthful of blood onto the ground.

“Out for a run, of course,” he gasped bitterly in reply.

The Hunt

“Where would he go?” Lily asked as she and Novel stood looking around on Old Mill Lane.

“They’re attracted to young prey,” he mused, his eyes falling on her suddenly. “Students!” Novel exclaimed, shaking her a little by the shoulders. “Where do they go, Lily? What’s the busiest place in town?”

“Guttersnipes,” Lily replied instantly. “Everyone goes there to finish the night off. It’s not far from here.”

She started walking immediately in the direction with Novel in tow. He paced beside her a moment, then suddenly put his hand on her arm. She kept walking.

“You shouldn’t be out here,” he breathed. “I want you to-”

“Not listening,” Lily said, walking on.

Novel pulled on her elbow, but as she shifted it out of his grip she felt a small gust of air smack him off. He walked in parallel with her and huffed out an annoyed breath.

“You’re not strong enough for this,” he said through gritted teeth.

“I never will be, if I don’t use this stuff outside of practice,” she reasoned, though she knew for the most part he was right. There was something else spurring her on. “That’s two of your friends that have told me to look after you. I’m not leaving you alone out here.”

Rain was gradually starting to spit at them as they neared the busy streets that were filled with the pubs and bars of Piketon. Smokers caught out by the weather were dowsing their cigarettes and running back inside, leaving the streets empty, save for the odd security guy poking his head out of the door. There were no signs of life under the many golden streetlights, only the huge full moon shining down through gaps in the heavy clouds.

“He won’t be at full strength,” Novel said, looking up into the raining sky. “Now, where would he be hiding…”

“There’s an alleyway,” Lily said with a pointing finger. “Baptiste was here once. He came out of nowhere… there’s loads of shadows to hide in.”

“Show me,” Novel ordered, not even sparing a moment for his usual disdain of Lily’s contact with his MC.

As they approached the corner of the Guttersnipes building, Lily could already hear the low hum like that of a dog preparing for a scrap. Eno was here somewhere, but the lights on this side of the block were always out, leaving the werewolf a perfect place to lie in wait for the moment when some drunk teen rushed out here to be sick. Drunken young people were the perfect lone target to snap up and devour. Lily looked around, then held out her hand and sucked in a deep breath.

The thin, spaghetti-like strand of lightning she had previously managed was about the width of a pencil this time. It was laughable, never enough to threaten the wolf into action, but as it extended into the alleyway the buzzing line of electricity gave them just enough light to see where he was hiding. His eyes reflected green against the dim light, and he might have only been a stray dog, except for the fact that Lily caught the edges of his elongated limbs and furry outline in her wavering light. Rain poured heavily on them all as Novel stepped up, his own hands raised to the sky.

Eno growled, but he was cowed by the presence of a truly superior being.

Novel sent a whip-crack of air towards the wolf that punched him square in his long, sharp jaw, sending him backwards as he whined like a puppy. Lily jumped at the ferocity of the illusionist’s hands as he cast another humming field of something invisible, and threw it straight at the wolf. The huge sphere was made of gravity, or rather a lack of gravity, and it picked Eno up as though he was encased in an invisible dome. The werewolf thrashed against his prison as Lily watched the raindrops bounce off its clear walls.

“Let’s get him back quickly,” Novel whispered, his chest heaving. “Whilst we still have the rain preventing witnesses.”

The floating wolf was an eerie sight in Lily’s vision as she and Novel reached the small, dark park that led back to the Theatre Imaginique. She was soaked through her hoodie and shivering a little, but a tiny glow of satisfaction welled in her chest.

“Good thing we got to him in time,” she mused.

“Eno’s not been out hunting for decades,” Novel said with a sigh. “I expect he couldn’t really remember what to do. It makes me wonder why he broke out in the first place. It’s just not like him, not at all.”

Lily was nodding, but as the theatre at the end of the dark lane came into view, her hand flew out to stop Novel speech and steps. Under the dim lanterns that marked the theatre’s big double doors, a wealth of shadowed figures had collected. Novel let one hand loose with a flick, and all the streetlights in the park went out. He lowered Eno to ground level, the wolf now peacefully subdued in his gravity prison, and receded into the shadow of a huge pine tree with Lily following him. They watched together as the shadowed figures congregated in conversation.

There were a half dozen of them wearing dark, hooded cloaks that shielded them against the rain. Some of them had put their hands on the theatre walls, as though they were feelings its old bricks for something inside.
Shadehunters.
Lily knew without being told what they were, and some deep instinct in her gut was trembling at the very prospect of the hooded crowd. Some other wild instinct also told her to stand up and destroy them. She tried to force that one back down, but the urge to fight them was perfectly on par with the fear she felt.

“We can’t get past them,” Novel whispered. “We’ll have to wait until they move on.”

“Can the hunters feel the magic inside the theatre?” Lily questioned, watching as more of them attended to its outside walls.

“Yes, but remember it isn’t just our power that the Imaginique’s been exposed to,” Novel added, “there are charms and books inside containing the Sewards’ voodoo chants. Lady Eva keeps all sorts of accoutrements in her chamber for her clairvoyance, and Dharma’s giving off the siren call practically all the time.”

“A siren,” Lily replied. “That makes sense.”

“With only Salem inside, his shade energy is lost within the mix.” Lily felt Novel rest one arm around her shoulder. “It’s all right,” he whispered. “We just need to wait.”

She leaned into his touch and put her shoulder against his chest, feeling the impossible warmth of him despite his soaking wet frame. The rain had let up a little whilst they were lurking half-concealed by the trees, and Lily turned to watch Novel’s face in the shadow of the moonlight. His pale eyes flickered between the pack of hunters and her, long breaths escaping from the gap in his lips. He tightened his grip on her shoulder as one of the hunters raised their voice and she slowly freed the arm crushed against his stomach and wrapped it around his back. Lily closed her eyes and took a deep breath, her heart pounding as she waited desperately for the hooded pack to make the decision to move on.

The decision never came. In the sky above, the clouds broke open enough to shine a single shaft of moonlight onto Lily’s face, forcing her to open her eyes again. A sudden tense sensation locked her muscles in fear as a great, high-pitched wolf howl emanated from the other side of the tree. Lily watched in terror through the branches as the shadehunters turned at once, heading back up the lane and directly towards the park. Novel watched them carefully, holding Lily all the tighter, then closed his eyes for a brief moment.

“Forgive me,” he whispered.

A thump and a sudden manic scuffling of paws told Lily that Novel had let Eno loose. The wolf rounded their tree as Novel guided them even farther back into its leaves, and Eno’s keen eyes saw the hunting pack approach. With a furious growl, the werewolf smashed straight into them, teeth and claws clashing against the first cloaked man. He took him down and attacked him with a cacophony of vicious noises that Lily wasn’t ever likely to forget. She clung to Novel fervently as he gently used his gravity skills to part the branches, ready for them to start climbing away amid the carnage. Leaves and thinner twigs were silently bent away for them to walk through, huddled together like two hostages trying to escape a bank job.

Lily felt a sickness growing in her stomach as she heard the crunch of bone. The shadehunters were not prepared to encounter a werewolf, but it hadn’t stopped them from taking on the fight. When she glanced back, she could see them removing great spears and stone daggers from their belts, piling as a pack onto Eno’s thin furry frame and stabbing at him as he devoured the body of their cohort, who already lay beneath him. Eventually, one of the dagger blows found its target, and Eno wailed loudly in pain. He leapt off the body and Lily couldn’t help but glance upon its half-eaten state. She looked away again in horror, desperately trying not to cry out and attract the hunters to their slow but secret escape.

Eno ran for it, down through the main boulevard of the dark park and the hunting pack immediately gave chase, leaving the corpse of their associate splayed in a bloody pool for all to see. Novel whisked Lily away sharply and they ran the length of Old Mill Lane back to the theatre, hand in hand with every footfall. The illusionist grabbed her around the waist and flew straight up to a window that opened for him, bursting into his bedroom and dropping her gently to the ground. The window slammed shut behind them both as thunderous footsteps came up the stairs to the third floor. Salem and Baptiste were primed for a fight, shocked to find two soaked shades in a heap beside Novel’s bed.

“Where’s Eno?” Salem asked.

Novel shook his head. “It was him or us,” he said with a sad sigh. “We can only hope he kills them all before they find a way to-”

He choked on his own words, sitting down on the edge of his bed as he coughed out violent, empty breaths. Lily was curled on the floor, shaking and desperately trying not to think of the mangled body that the werewolf had left behind. It was like nothing that she had ever seen, no X-Rated horror movie could ever have prepared her for the true sight of a vicious and bloody death. When she thought of Eno battling the hunters, she wasn’t even sure which side she wanted to win. It would be better if none of it was happening at all, and if she’d never entered the world of these supernatural beings, she knew that she wouldn’t be feeling the crippling tightness that her heart roared with in that moment.

Novel rested a hand on her shoulder and she put her own up to grasp it, once more igniting the flickers of the flame that had encased them earlier that night. The flame was strong and warm around her cold, wet fingers, and even through the trauma of the night, it comforted her to know that Novel was there. Lily waited, holding onto the illusionist until her heart was calm and level and, when she looked up, she found that Salem was watching their enjoined hands. He gave a little smile that was totally inappropriate to the situation.

“You did the right thing son,” he said.

Novel grimaced. “No. I did the only thing I could. The two are not the same, Salem, as well you know.”

Baptiste rushed to the window and peered out with his keen, dark eyes. “He might run for miles,” the elegant man mused, “and keep them at bay for a few days at least.”

“But now that they know there are non-humans in Piketon…” Lily began, looking up at Novel’s face. She watched the flame burning on her own shoulder, amazed by its total lack of destruction to her hair or clothes.

“This isn’t the time to make the plan,” Novel replied. “Go about your business you two,” he added snappily at Salem and Baptiste. “We’ll talk after I’ve rested.”

Baptiste looked as though he wanted to protest the idea, but he bowed his head after a hesitant moment. He and Salem left together, already beginning a whispered conversation as Novel pursued them and shut the door behind them. He picked Lily up from the floor by her torso, and looked down at her as she steadied herself on his arms. The thought of all that blood kept thundering to the front of her mind, making her sway with a queasy, trembling stance.

“I should get home,” she mumbled, feeling too weak to move even as she said it.

Even as she attempted to take a step, Lily felt her feet gently coming away from the ground, rising just a few inches to be eye to eye with Novel. He led her to the edge of his bed and the covers came away on their own.

“Lie here a while,” he said gently.

The bed was soft, and too tempting to resist, whatever conflict Lily may have felt in her mind. She felt her body hit the mattress and gratefully curled up on one of Novel’s dark pillows. He was saying something else to her, but the moment Lily’s head was laid on the satin pillowcase, she found herself fading into the exhausted blackness that awaited her. She was even too tired to worry about nightmares before sleep captured her traumatised thoughts, dissolving them faster than it took her to notice them.