Unhidden (The Gatekeeper Chronicles Book 1) (8 page)

I didn’t really have much of a choice; therefore, I shook my head very slowly in the negative. “No,” I whispered, waiting for the other shoe to drop.

His eyes closed briefly, and an odd expression of sadness and relief crossed his face so quickly I thought I might have imagined it. When he opened his eyes a moment later, though, any humanity I had seen in them was gone. They were filled with merciless malice. A sneer crossed his full lips, and I felt unexpectedly hurt to see it on his face.

Anticipating violence, I casually shifted into a fighting stance.

“Take her,” he said seemingly to no one in particular, but I could feel that prick at the back of my neck.

Turning around, I saw dark forms detach themselves from the shadows, like grease oozing down a wall. I immediately placed my back to the wall where I could keep a view of Mr. Tall-Dark-and-Handsomely-Insane as well as whatever was about to come for me. As I did so, I slipped my right hand under my peasant top and pulled a handgun fitted with a silencer from my waistband, sliding off the safety and chambering a bullet.

New York had some of the toughest gun laws in the country, and I followed them all. I had licenses for all my guns, a permit to carry a concealed weapon, and I didn’t keep any assault weapons within state borders. I was happy to comply with the law because it also meant it was harder for the criminals to access illegal weapons. Sure, the more powerful scum of the city could manage to skirt the laws, but only a relatively small handful could manage it. As a result, I didn’t come up against such powerful assault weapons very often, which was one of the benefits of living in New York.

I couldn’t yet get a good look at what was coming for me, although I was pretty sure it didn’t need an assault weapon to be lethal.

What emerged from the shadows were not human, but they also weren’t like the ghouls I had fought in Mexico. They were less substantial, like living extensions of the shadows they had crept out of. Any details or features were obscured by the darkness around them. What they lacked in physical presence, they more than made up for in psychic. The unseen was almost always more terrifying than the seen.

My feet felt like lead posts drilled into cement as insidious, cold tendrils burrowed into my mind. How could I fight off something as insubstantial as shadows? I was used to fighting for my life in all sorts of extreme situations, but never against an enemy like this. I didn’t know anything about these things to give me an advantage. They were going to kill me, and I would never know why. Doubt and fear began to creep in through the cracks in my armor, feelings I had thought I conquered long ago, though perhaps had only shelved for a time.

One of those shadow demons reached out a long, clawed hand toward me, snapping me out my pity party. My weapon was up in a flash, more out of instinct than purposeful defense. What good would bullets do against shadows?

Rather than fire, I dove to the side, away from the reaching claw, dropped into a roll, and sprung back to my feet directly in front of their master. In response, handsome-evil-guy reached over his shoulder for what I now recognized to be a sword hilt, but I was faster.

I dropped again and took out his legs with a sweep kick. As he fell to his knees, I came up behind him, wrapping my arm around his neck and shoving the end of my Glock into his temple. His shadow minions rushed forward, but he halted them with a raise of his hand.

“I’ve had about enough of this shit. I want answers, and I want them now!” I snarled, pressing the gun harder into his temple. “Who are you?”

With an almost amused tone, he responded, “There was a time you wouldn’t have needed to ask that question. My name is Zane Shayde. I am the High Commander of Lord Gabriel Marduk, our Protector and Savior. I have been dispatched to bring you back to Urusilim, preferably alive, but dead will do just as well.”

With false calmness, I leaned down and whispered in his ear, quoting one of my favorite lines from the movie,
Philadelphia
. “‘
Now explain it to me like I’m a four-year-old.’
Everything after your name sounded a lot like gibberish to me.”

“I’m not here to explain anything to a traitor such as you,” he spat with contempt. “I would just as soon slit your throat and have done with it, but our Lord may have some use for you yet. However, if you were to resist, you may give me no choice in the matter.”

“I think you must be mistaken. I don’t know who Lord Marduk is or what Urusilim is, but I am not playing your games. Take your friends here and leave before you get hurt.”

The sound of a thousand nails scratching across a dusty blackboard emerged from the two shadowy forms standing ahead of us. It pierced my senses like an ice pick to the eardrum. The sound blew through the self-denial I hadn’t even realized I had been clinging to. I had been in denial for days, trying to explain away what had happened in Mexico in a military fashion, never really stopping to accept or internalize what I had experienced. I had seen, but I hadn’t really believed … until now. This wasn’t a physical enemy I understood and could fight with traditional human weapons. I shivered with the knowledge that I was in way over my head.

Zane chuckled, “You will learn soon enough that this is no game, traitor.”

I never really did well with fear. It seemed to be a useless emotion at best and a dangerous one at worst. I had a natural coping mechanism that quickly transformed fear into anger. And anger I could do something with.

I snarled between clenched teeth, “I am most certainly no traitor. I fought for my country in more wars, skirmishes, and covert missions than I can count, so don’t you dare accuse me of betraying what I love.”

“
What you love
?” he repeated, his voice becoming soft and distant, as if trying to grasp a wisp of a memory. His hands slowly lifted to the arm I still had wrapped around his throat, and he held my forearm with a gentleness I never would have expected from him. He slowly began to rub my sensitive skin in an almost thoughtless way, as though it was something he had done a million times before. I squeezed my eyes tight and bit back a gasp at the sensation, but the fine hairs on my arms responded, and my heart sped up a touch.

“I’m not talking about your service in this world,” he continued in that soothing voice. “I am talking about what you did to our world. There are some that will never forgive you, those who would be content to allow you to stay lost to us. Others want you found to exact retribution. And still others believe you were in the right and look to you as a symbol for their cause.”

I blinked in utter confusion, my mouth opening and closing, though no sounds would emerge. I had so many questions that I wanted—needed—to bombard him with, but all that came out was a weak, “What are you talking about?”

That was all it took to set him off again.

In one fluid motion, Zane shot up, breaking out of my chokehold, which had been flagging anyway given the distraction of the conversation, not to mention his touch. He spun to face me and forcibly pushed me back against the brick wall of the alley, my gun flying from my hand. I realized in that moment that I had never really had him dead to rights. Given the strength and physical prowess he had just demonstrated in that one simple move, he could have avoided my chokehold or broken free from it fairly easily. He had allowed me to put him in that position and had held back his shadow demons from clawing me to ribbons when they could have had me. The question was why.

Rational thought quickly fled as he pressed his body against mine, holding me firmly in place. He towered over me by at least a foot. Immobilizing me might not have been his only objective though. He pushed his leg between mine and pressed even closer, holding my wrists above my head. I fought against his grip, but I couldn’t be sure whether I gave it my best effort.

That snarl was back in his voice, his hot breath on my neck, as he bent his head closer to my ear. “You dare question me, traitor … destroyer of worlds? I could have my shadow demons split you from neck to groin while you slowly die trying to stuff your steaming entrails back inside your worthless carcass.” Zane’s body was saying something entirely different from his words.

This guy was a serious lunatic and all the more dangerous for it. I needed to get him back to a more stable frame of mind.

“Zane,” I said gently. He stiffened at the sound of his name on my lips, or at least the parts of him that weren’t already stiff did. “I know you could easily hurt me, and I know you haven’t yet. I’m sorry I don’t know what you’re talking about. There’s a lot about my life that I don’t remember, but I would like for you to help me understand. Maybe, if you explain it to me, we can work this out, and we can both walk away from this in one piece.”

His body relaxed against mine, his voice shifting again to a softer tone. “Gods, how I’ve missed you,” he breathed.

He nuzzled my neck, his breath searing my skin. Then his lips pressed against that sensitive spot behind my ear, sending a shiver along my spine that had nothing to do with fear. He felt my reaction and took it as an invitation, his mouth moving along the column of my neck. I struggled, trying to free my wrists from his iron grasp, but it only caused him to press harder against me.

His presence was overwhelming, and his effect on me was terrifying. Were my struggles meant to escape or to move against him more provocatively? How was it possible that I didn’t know the answer to that question?

He kept speaking to me as if he knew me … intimately. Did he know me from before my car accident? Did we go to high school together? Maybe we dated once upon a time. What the hell was I thinking? I didn’t go to high school with a guy who could command shadow demons, for cripes’ sake!

Maybe he was lying about knowing me. I certainly couldn’t trust him to tell the truth when he was there to kill me … or seduce me…, I couldn’t really tell what his plan was at this point. My goal was to kill him or, at the very least, capture and torture him for answers, but maybe I should just rip his clothes off and take him right there in the filthy alley. If I was being completely honest with myself, the thought wasn’t entirely unattractive.

He ground himself against me, and my brain almost short-circuited as I felt his desire through his leather pants. He pulled away from my neck, looking into my eyes. We were almost nose-to-nose, and I was shocked at what I saw. His expression was filled with desire, longing, sadness … and recognition. He did know me, but from where?

His hands came free from my wrists and moved down the length of my arms, causing my skin to catch fire. They slid to my shoulders and grazed gently against my chest above my breasts, which were now heaving slightly as my breathing increased. His eyes raked across my body, and he made a soft moaning sound.

I took advantage of the moment and threw a right hook, hitting him squarely in the temple. He staggered back, giving me enough freedom to lift my knee and nail him in the groin. He doubled over with a grunt, his face turning blood red, glaring up at me with eyes that held murderous intent. That had brought him back to his senses—or away from his senses, depending on how you looked at it.

I pushed off the wall, attempting to make a run for it; however, his shadow demons had his back. They closed in on me immediately, pressing me back to the wall as I tried to avoid their striking claws. Their screech came again, painfully piercing my brain as ice flooded through my body. I realized the noise was speech.

Careful, girl. Marduk would be greatly displeased with us if we let anything happen to the mage. We have worked too hard and come too far to allow you to destroy this alliance. Marduk might need you, but we do not.

When it stopped speaking, I found myself doubled over, clutching my head. The silence in my mind washed away the agony, and I was able to straighten, although it felt as if frost coated my brain. The creature had given Zane the time he needed to recover, and before I could react, Zane was on me again.

“You dare try to manipulate me, you harlot? You will never sway me from my commanded duty! I will make you regret your treachery.” His long, nimble fingers closed around my neck and began to squeeze.

My eyes widened in shock and fear, but I was unable to do more than squeak with the increasing pressure on my larynx. I clawed at his hands and face, trying in vain to get him to relax his grip. Finally, my thumbs found his eye sockets, and I pushed. The soft orbs gave way beneath my fingers, but only for a brief moment. He pulled his head back and turned away from me so I lost contact, yet his grip on my neck never wavered.

My flailing arms grew heavy, falling limply at my sides. I tried to get them to obey me, but they were like immovable lead weights. My legs buckled, and Zane followed me down to the ground.

His face became fuzzy as blackness crowded in at the edges of my vision. I had always thought I would go out in a blaze of gunfire. I had never expected I would be throttled by a hot guy in a grimy back alley only a few blocks from my apartment.

Fear crept in then, like an uninvited rodent scurrying silently into a house after dark, burrowing its way behind the walls.