Born in the Shadows (In the Shadows Series Book 1) (21 page)

Well, it looked like he might not be completely alone in this after all.

“We, huh? Does that mean you are joining me?”

Matthew nodded and Armand smiled, before closing the space between them and embracing Matthew. “Thank you, cousin.”

In a rush of wind, Matthew shadow walked them from the concrete jungle of suburbia to the overgrown brush that grew around a small cabin. The rough-hewn logs were badly weathered; the tin roof orange with rust and the vegetation of the wood was encroaching on the front porch. No windows and a single door made it light tight and the perfect place to spend the day.

Matthew unlocked the padlock on the door and opened up the cabin. Armand’s heightened vision showed that the inside was much better preserved than the outside. The walls and floor were bare but clean. A cot sat in one corner, a small table and a chair in the other. A few cupboards were mounted on the wall over a large metal basin next to a wood stove. That appeared to be the extent of the kitchen in the place.

He looked into the other room but found it nearly empty, the only objects in the room two metal hooks on metal chains that hung from the rafters. He didn’t need the light on to see the brown stains that covered the floor and walls of the room. Even though the stains were old, he could smell them, as if they were still fresh. The scent of blood tingled in his nostrils and he could smell the distinct odour of deer, rabbit, squirrel, raccoon and a few others he couldn’t quite recognize.

“This used to be an animal trapper’s cabin. He used that room to skin the carcasses and dry them.”

“This place is perfect.”

“Perfect for what?”

“Our plans. This isn’t about just hurting the Zopyros clan anymore. I am not on a suicide mission and I’m not going to let the Council punish me for what has happened. It should be my right to get revenge any way I want. The Council has kept our kind on a leash for too long. Things need to change and I plan to be the one makes it happen.”

“How?”

Armand lifted his shirt and pulled out the manila envelope he taken from the Zopyros manor and had stuffed in the waistband of his pants. “I have some ideas. But we are going to need more help. I need you to scout others who think the way we do. The ones who are just as sick of the laws as us.”

“How do you plan on convincing them that they should join us? Defying the Council is a death sentence,” Matthew reminded him.

Armand gave an arrogant laugh. “It’s only a death sentence because the Council says so. If they are brought down, their laws no longer apply.”

“It will be difficult to find Shadow Walkers willing to take them on.”

“Not when they see what I have to show them. Our kind forgets that the Council is made up of Shadow Walkers just like us. The older generations can bleed just as easily as the young ones.”

Matthew’s eyes narrowed and he could feel the younger male probing his thoughts but Armand blocked him out. He didn’t need to know what exactly Armand was planning, not yet. He would try to talk him out of it, call him crazy for thinking it would work. But Matthew didn’t know how resourceful he could be, especially when it was something that would be this fun.

He said a silent prayer of thanks that Fate had led him into that study. The information he had found there had been priceless. Information about the Council and their minions handed to him on a silver platter. It was child’s play to come up with his plan after that.

Now it was just a matter of putting things in motion. Matthew would find new recruits while he took a quick trip across the Atlantic and then he would show everyone just how much he could change things.

Chapter 12

Gabe was relieved when he finally found the door to the lounge. When Cordelia had kicked him out, he had stormed out the door and down the hall. After a few angry strides, he realized he had no idea where he was going. He had decided on returning to the lounge, because it had a bar and was the only room he was fairly sure he remembered where it was located.

Turns out fairly sure was actually barely right. This place was too fucking big. After a few wrongs turns, one of which led him to the laundry room of all places, he had finally found the staircase to the great hall.

He made a beeline to the bar and pulled out a bottle of whiskey, pouring himself several fingers and a generous thumb. He needed to drink away the feeling of being a complete asshole and that was going to require an extremely large quantity of liquor.

He felt sick about what happened with Cordy. He shouldn’t have yelled at her. He had been angry, partly from sexual frustration but mostly because her words had hurt him. And the reason they hurt so much was that every single one of them was true.

He was a selfish son of a bitch. He had offered himself to her because he wanted that feeling again. The more he thought about the rush he got from her bite, the more he wanted it. Christ, maybe Cordy had been right and he was addicted to it.

All she saw was some junkie jonesing for another hit instead of the caring man he wanted to be for her. Yep, he was a top of the line son of a bitch. He should do what she said and leave this place right now, just slink off into the night and forget that any of this happened.

But he wouldn’t because he was weak. His hormones might be all screwed up because of her being a Shadow Walker but his heart knew the real deal. He knew it would be impossible to forget Cordelia and what he felt for her. 

He had also given his word to Nicky that he would stay and he wouldn’t break that promise. Then again, what use was he anyway? Nicky said she needed him but with the turmoil inside of him, he felt like he was doing more damage than good. She might be better off without him around, worrying about him creeping on her at every turn, begging for a bite.

The thing was she was right about him being selfish. There was something about being here and being with these people that eased his soul. For the first time since he had lost his mother, he felt like he was where he was supposed to be.

Just like all good discoveries, he had not realized something was missing in his life until he found it. It was a bit of a shock to realize that finding out vampires existed would be what did it.

Gabe was pulled out of his thoughts at the sound of someone coming into the room and he turned to see Demetri standing there.

“Hey, I didn’t expect to find you here.”

Gabe lifted up his glass in salute. “Just grabbing a drink.”

“Sounds like the right idea to me.”

Demetri joined him at the bar, pouring himself a healthy glass. He held it up in a toast.

“Here’s to one fuck up of a night.”

“I can drink to that.”

The crystal sang as they touched the glasses together and both men downed the liquor before going for round two.

Demetri sat down on the stool next to him, swirling around the amber liquid in his glass.

“It shouldn’t have been her. I wish to hell anyone else had been in the hall when he came in. Not that I could pick someone to take her place, it’s just that Olivia was too kind. Anyone else would have been suspicious of him coming inside but not Olivia. She always believed the best in everyone, friends and strangers alike. She was a great woman.”

“I wish I had a chance to know her better,” Gabe said and he meant it. Anyone who could inspire as much love as he’d seen from everyone tonight was a person worth knowing.

Demetri just nodded, his eyes affixed on his glass, lost in his own thoughts. Gabe let him be, knowing that there were no words he could offer that would help.

Sure there were the common platitudes that people offered in these kinds of situations but everyone knew they were empty words. Demetri didn’t seem like the kind of guy who needed to be patronized with those bullshit lines.

“There is going to be an investigation into what happened tonight. Isaac is going to want to get your statement,” Demetri finally spoke after a few minutes of silence had passed.

“Who’s Isaac?”

“He’s the Enforcer. He works for the High Council. He’s the Shadow Walker version of a police force.”

“You have just one guy policing all of you?”

Demetri chuckled. “When you meet him, you’ll understand why we only need one of him.”

“I’ve got no problem talking to him. Anything to make sure he gets that Armand guy and makes him pay.”

Demetri nodded his head in approval before topping up both their glasses. “So, I gotta ask, since the self hatred is pouring off of you in waves, what the hell did you do?”

Gabe cursed silently. He kept forgetting that he was hanging around a bunch of mind readers.

“It’s nothing,” he said, trying to brush it off but Demetri just raised an eyebrow in skepticism. “All right, all right. I pissed off Cordelia and now I feel like an asshole. Which makes me sound fucking pathetic considering all the bad shit that happened to you guys tonight. Just forget I said anything, I don’t need to be putting my shit on your shoulders when you are dealing with much heavier stuff.”

“Hey, I’d rather be talking about your problems instead of thinking about Olivia. Distractions are good at times like these. So what did you do to piss her off?”

He thought about trying to blow Demetri off with another excuse but he figured that wouldn’t work. And if the guy wanted to take his mind off his own shit, who was Gabe to deny him? Besides, maybe getting some input from another Shadow Walker would help him sort out what to do about Cordelia.

Gabe gave Demetri the short version of what had happened upstairs, avoiding any mention of the hot and heavy action part of it, wanting some things between him and Cordelia to stay private.

Demetri sat back and seemed to let the story settle in his brain before shrugging his shoulders. “I wouldn’t sweat it so much. Just apologize and things will be fine.”

Gabe snorted and downed some more whiskey. He could feel the alcohol finally beginning to warm his belly and soften the harsh light and angles of the room.

“Easy for you to say.”

“If she told you she’d never feed from you again, would you still be here?”

Gabe didn’t even have to think about it. “Yes.”

“Then just tell her that and you guys will be good.”

“You didn’t see how pissed off she was at me. I don’t know if she’ll forgive me.”

“Look, even without being changed into a Shadow Walker, Cordy has been through a lot. Two men have tried to kill her in the last two weeks. She left behind her old life and gained a brand new family that is now being attacked. It’s a hell of a lot for anyone to take. Then add in the emotional rollercoaster that is becoming a Shadow Walker and you got nuclear-bomb-level emotions ready to go off. Unfortunately you were in the blast zone when she went off so you got the full force of it.”

He hadn’t thought about it like that and it made him even angrier with himself. He should have been offering her a platonic shoulder for support, not pawing her like a fucking animal and then trying to use her to get himself off. Nothing said stand-up guy like preying on a woman when she was vulnerable.

“She’s definitely never going to talk to me again,” Gabe lamented and Demetri rolled his eyes.

“What are you, sixteen? Grow a pair, man. Okay sure, you acted like a complete jackass.”

Gabe winced. “Thanks for that.”

Demetri clapped him on the shoulder, grinning widely. “Just hitting you with the truth, man. The point is, despite acting like a jackass, she’s not going to be pissed at you forever. Just give her some space and time to cool off. Shit’s going to be crazy here the next few days so that should be easy. Oh, and best not to offer her your vein again. That seemed to
really
piss her off.”

“Asshole.”

“Got it in one,” Demetri said smiling broadly.

Gabe watched the liquid swirl around his glass and thought about what Demetri had said. He knew that the man was right but the thought of giving her space had the ball of anxiety growing in his gut.

The image of Cordy sitting next to Zeke at the pool, laughing at whatever stupid thing he had said flashed through his mind. Yep, bad feeling all around.

“She doesn’t have any interest in him.”

Gabe’s head shot up and he pinned Demetri with an angry glare. “You need to stay the fuck out of my head.”

Demetri held up his hands in defence. “I can’t help it. You’re radiating a crazy combo of jealousy and desire with a territorial-vibe kicker. It’s pretty easy to guess what is going through your mind. Plus Mary totally blabbed about your convo at the pool earlier.”

“So does that mean you are going to blab about this to her?”

“Hell yeah.”

Gabe glared at Demetri who just shrugged his shoulders. “Hey man, after all the shit that came down tonight, a little light-hearted gossip is good for the soul.”

Gabe thought back to cleaning up Olivia’s blood and he realized that worrying about what happened with Cordy had erased that horrific memory from his thoughts for a little bit. Hell,
he
was traumatized and he had barely known the woman. If his screwed up love life could bring some amusement to the people who had known her then he was more than willing to be the butt of the joke.

“All right, I’ll be your entertainment if you tell me how you know that Cordy doesn’t have any interest in Zeke.”

“Because I read her thoughts to see if she did.”

“I thought you guys didn’t do that.”

Demetri shrugged his shoulders. “I’m like her big brother now so I needed to know if I had to give him the whole ’You hurt her and I’ll kill you’ speech. Thank God she doesn’t have any interest in him ‘cause that bastard has two hundred years on me and a hell of a left hook that he has no problem using liberally.”

Gabe felt as if a thousand pound weight had been lifted off his shoulders. He also couldn’t stop grinning like an idiot.

Demetri looked him up and down before shaking his head and laughing. “Damn, you’ve got it bad, man.”

“No arguments here,” Gabe said before tossing back the last of his whiskey. He set the glass down on the bar and then raised his arms to stretch and he couldn’t help yawning widely.

“Want me to show you to a room where you can crash for the day?”

“Sounds good.”

The sooner he went to sleep, the sooner he would wake up to a new night and hopefully by then Cordy would be willing to accept his apology.

***

Cordelia descended the main staircase at sunset, reluctant to leave the safety of her room. When she was behind those walls, she could pretend that everything that happened last night was just a dream. She could imagine that when she went out that door, Olivia would be alive, Gabe wouldn’t be mad at her and everyone would be happy.

Unfortunately, she couldn’t deny reality forever. Anne had knocked on her door a little bit before sundown and told her that they would be having Olivia’s funeral as soon as the sun set. She had gotten dressed reluctantly, not ready to face anyone but knowing she had no choice.   

She found everyone in the conservatory gathered around the glass sliding doors that led out to the back garden. She hesitated in the doorway, studying their black clothes and sombre faces.

Anne had a death grip on a white handkerchief, twisting the fabric tight between her hands while Demetri stood next to her, a reassuring arm around her. Nicky was at the windows, staring out at the darkness, his mind far away from the conservatory.

Giovanni was adjusting the pink lily he pinned on the lapel of his jacket and Cordelia couldn’t help but smile. It was Olivia’s favourite flower and the older man wanted to make sure it sat perfectly.

Marcus was stone faced and Gabe stood next to him, dressed in a black suit he must have borrowed from Marcus, judging by how tight it was in the shoulders and how the cuffs of the pants hit above his ankles.

Mary stood off by herself, arms crossed protectively over her chest, eyes on the floor. Her anger was palpable and it surrounded her like a dark storm cloud. It was that anger that terrified Cordelia more than anything and kept her in the doorway. If that anger was turned on her, she knew that she would break. She knew she deserved it but she could not face it. Which made her a coward on top of a murderer.

Mary’s head came up and she looked to the doorway, their eyes meeting and holding. As Cordelia stood there holding her breath, Mary unfolded herself and walked over to stand before her. Cordelia braced herself for the tirade of hate that she knew she deserved but Mary simply embraced her.

They held each other in silence as there was nothing that needed to be said. There was no blame here, just the sharing of their mutual grief. Mary pulled back and linked her arm with Cordelia’s and, at her urging, they joined the rest of the group.