Shadow Of Death

Shadow Of Death
Amy Blankenship

Blood Bound Book #8
Within the heart of the Demon War nothing can be taken for granted as it sends the destinies of those involved into a most dangerous and seductive form of chaos. One man finds out that strangers can collide in the dark for a moment of blinding passion, only to be separated by the cold hand of fate without even a name to help in his hunt for her. Another man will find that when the Shadow of Death becomes a stalker, the most seductive of enemies can quickly become his strongest ally… even if it’s against his will. And can the heart of one soul mate keep the two men who love her from killing each other?

Shadow of Death

Blood Bound Series Book 8

Amy Blankenship, RK Melton

Copyright © 2012 Amy Blankenship

Second Edition Published by TekTime

All rights reserved.

Chapter 1

Chad and Trevor were currently participating in the battle of the century, one that only few could survive and walk away without serious injury… a glaring contest.

Finally Chad gave in and blinked his eyes, “I told you Trevor, there’s nothing wrong with me. Trust me, if I had any supernatural powers I would use them on you right now. Even Ren says I’m still completely human and I don’t have any side effects.”

Chad looked away from Trevor and set his gaze on Ren, “Come on, back me up on this.”

Ren shrugged but ignored Trevor knowing it would be Storm's decision whether Chad was off the hook or not. “I don’t feel any kind of power coming from him… zilch. He’s still human as far as I can tell. Kriss said that he might heal faster than normal… at least for a while.”

“So we don’t know if his resurrection is permanent?” Storm asked enjoying the comic relief of Chad and Trevor's argument. It was amazing at the things that seemed to entertain him lately.

Ren shook his head playing along with Storm’s train of thought, “It’s really hard to say. The only way we’ll know for sure is if he’s killed again and comes back to life.”

Chad took a step back from the group and held his hand up, “Don’t even think about it. I’m not a lab rat and I kind of like the fact that I’m breathing.”

Storm’s lips twitched but he held it in for Chad’s sake. “Then we can safely assume he isn’t going to sprout wings and fly off.” He lost the little war with the suppressed smile when Chad looked at him like he’d lost his mind.

“Please tell me your joking,” Chad stared at him hard because when Storm said something like that most people took it seriously.

Deciding not to answer that question, Storm turned his attention to Trevor who was also giving him an odd look. “I see no reason why Chad has to stay at the castle if he doesn’t like it here. Have any clues turned up yet on why he was targeted in the first place?”

“NO, and I’ve had wolves watching and going over his apartment every day but the murderer hasn’t shown his cowardly face,” Trevor answered. “The wolves would have smelled a demon if it were still sneaking around. But still, I don’t think he needs to go back there. It’s obviously not a safe place.”

“Will you stop talking about me like I’m not standing right here? I’m a grown man and can take care of myself,” Chad narrowed his eyes on Trevor. “You can’t still be planning revenge for my death when I’m not dead.”

“You were dead,” Trevor shot back. The two men squared off in another staring contest.

“Let’s make a deal,” Storm laughed at his own private joke. “Micah and Titus, along with most of the pack are living at Night Light. There’s a lot of extra room in that huge club and, you already work with most of them at the station anyway. If you don’t want to stay here, then why don’t you agree to live there with the wolf pack?”

“Sounds good to me,” Trevor said confidently. “It’s not as safe as living here at the castle, but it’s a step up from living someplace where a murderer can just walk in and kill you.”

“Who died and made you the boss of me?” Chad nearly yelled at Trevor.

“You did dummy,” Trevor smirked at how easy that one comeback was.

Chad frowned at the thought of going from lab rat to stray puppy. “What gave you the idea they would even want me there?”

“Your sister,” Trevor sighed dramatically, using his trump card for all it was worth. “Actually, Envy threatened to burn down your apartment if she caught wind of you ever going back there to live alone.”

“What?” Chad made a face at his partner, “You’re making this up as you go… aren’t you?”

“Envy didn’t think you would like to live with her because of all the action going on at Moon Dance right now. It’s been hectic over there since they started getting ready for their annual Halloween bash and renovating the place at the same time. So, they all got together and talked about it… and since Night Light is shut down for the time being, it’s kind of become the main hang out for all of the cops. They figured you’d feel right at home.”

Chad resisted the urge to growl at the three men who seemed to be ganging up on him. He was starting to feel like he was being babysat, but at this point he was willing to do just about anything to get away from the castle. He’d swear they’d put him under a microscope if he agreed to it… it was a weird feeling to say the least. He was the only human living in this castle yet he was the one being treated like the freak.

“Come on Trevor, I’m sure Evey is bored. She can give us a ride to see Envy and while I’m having a chat with my sister… maybe you can introduce Devon to your very interesting car,” Chad said with a glare then strode out of the office.

Trevor watched him go before looking over at Ren, “You know… if Evey hadn't grown on me, I’d be extremely pissed at you right now.”

Ren smirked, “Just be good to her. She loves you.” He laughed when Trevor rolled his eyes and followed Chad out the door.

*****

Angelica looked down into the entrance of the subway then up at the sun knowing she was going to miss it due to the fact that she was getting ready to go underground. She’d needed to get away from the castle… to be alone for a little while and actually work. Syn had been very helpful as a partner for the last week… but for her own sake she needed a little bit of separation right now.

While she had to admit that she enjoyed Syn’s attentions, when she’d woken up earlier and he wasn’t there, she’d started looking for him. It was a bit of a wakeup call… she’d never looked for anyone like that in her life and here she was… craving him.

She was high strung enough as it was with all the sexual tension sizzling between them… the last thing she needed was for it to be her fault that she started depending on him for company. To make matters worse, she’d had another dream right before leaving the castle. She shouldn’t have let it bother her, but since it was only the third dream she’d ever had in her life… it bothered the hell out of her.

The other two dreams had been nightmares about a creepy little demon girl and a city of blood… but not this one. She’d been making love… it was as if she’d opened her eyes in the middle of the dream to find herself laying under a man on a bed of moss and looking out at a waterfall that emptied into a lagoon only inches away from her.

Turning her head to see the man deep inside her… she’d locked eyes with Syn and jerked herself from the dream.

Unable to completely deal with how the dream had made her feel, she’d gone to Ren’s office and searched his maps, picking the hottest spot of demon activity. She’d also packed an overnight bag with every intention of getting a hotel room for the night and snuck out of the castle with no one being the wiser. Just for one night… to remind herself that she would be just fine alone.

Glancing over her shoulder one more time to make sure she wasn’t being followed, Angelica started down the steps into the subways that ran under LA. This was one of the places she had avoided so far due to the fact that anything could be down here ready to pounce. But Ren had marked this area on the map as a hot spot and as far as she could tell, it wasn’t coming from the street. That left one other place it could be… underground.

She frowned when she saw a large man coming up the stairs toward her and moved a little closer to the wall to avoid him. However, the man must have been in a foul mood because he purposely bumped into her, almost causing her to lose her footing and fall the rest of the way down the steps. The people walking by didn’t seem to notice and her frown deepened when one of the subway cops approached her.

“Are you all right Miss?” the officer asked wondering if she was high. “I saw you stumble and almost fall… do you need any help?”

Angelica’s frown deepened and she looked back up the steps at the large man that had bumped into her. No one seemed to see him, yet people walked around him as though he were there.

“No,” she said softly, “I’m fine.”

The officer nodded and kept going but Angelica narrowed her eyes before looking back down into the dimly lit station. Syn had taught her how to hide her own energy so whatever she was tracking wouldn’t know she was coming. Considering an invisible demon had just plowed into her and kept going… it seemed to be working just fine.

She frowned again wondering why she had the gift of seeing the grumpy demon plain as day when other humans couldn’t. Deciding to deal with her identity crisis later, Angelica readjusted the strap of her overnight bag on her shoulder and continued on down toward the strongest source of demon activity.

Michael had been taking a walk through town making up his mind about what to do for the Moon Light Masquerade. He thought briefly about dressing up in costume but it didn’t really appeal to him. Finally, he decided the best thing to do was to purchase a mask from The Witch’s Brew, dust off his finest clothes he still had from the seventeenth century, and go as himself.