Shadow Assassins (The Second Realm Trilogy) (4 page)

As she headed back to her dormitory, she thought over why she stayed here. It was only because of Dirk that she even bothered to keep up her studies. She hated that vampire at first. Both a history teacher and part of the council that kept the school running, Dirk had always been surrounded by female students vying for his attention. For some reason, he fixated on Dante, without her having asked him to. He took an interest in her safety and her studies and she didn’t know why. She would also never admit it to him directly, but she was thankful for how he pushed her to keep going, despite how she was always one of the oldest people in her classes or how the others treated her for being half-demon. His belief in her was the only confidence she had in herself, sometimes.

Dirk had recently said he had to take care of some business on the First Realm, or “normal Earth” as it was called. He wouldn’t tell her what it was when she asked. She could only hope that he would be back soon. It just wasn’t the same around here without him.

The First Realm, normal Earth,

Moonlight Hills

Two days had passed by quickly. The Shadow Assassins kept themselves busy with their normal duties. Kaydee stopped by Midnight Manor, the central home of the Order of the Moonlight and alerted one of the Council of Ten that the Shadow Assassins would be unavailable for assistance while they were on assignment. Kaydee was always the representative of the Shadow Assassins, when it came to needing someone who wasn’t confrontational. She was also the only one who wasn’t thoroughly creeped out by the Council of Ten, the ten male and female vampires that ran the daily affairs of the vampire coven they dealt with. The Council of Ten were no ordinary vampires. With higher authority than the rest of the sophisticated, arrogant vampires that took residence in the manor, the Council had little patience to deal with
humans.
Humans were beneath them, or so they said. Despite the bad attitude, the Council of Ten were also rumored to have powers beyond what the other citizens within the Order possessed. Dark powers. As the least confrontational of the group, Kaydee was their go-to ambassador between the Assassins and the Council.

Now Kaydee stood with her four companions in the same uniform that the others were. Like Evangeline, she wore a form fitting black
tank top, but she wore black jeans like Kaleb. The dark uniform made more sense at night, when the dark clothing would give them more camouflage in the city. Evangeline and the men insisted on sleeveless shirts for mobility, despite how it left their arms uncovered.

Beside Kaleb, Marco had traded his jeans for worn cargo pants similar to Evangeline’s. He was stuffing the many pockets full of weapons. Evangeline was doing the same. Unlike her companions, Kaydee wasn’t pocketing knives or other bladed weapons. While the city had been founded by vampires, there was still a human police force to deal with, so the team tried not to fight with weapons like guns that made noise or could leave evidence behind. Of course, guns didn’t stop rogue vampires as neatly as a silver knife did, so they tended to favor the blade over the bullet. That was, except for Marco, who preferred the bullet over anything else.

Kaydee didn’t see how he could carry a gun as though it were just another part of his uniform. She abhorred violence thoroughly. Ironic, considering what her co-workers did, but she didn’t usually fight. She was usually busy playing nurse, as the healer of the group. When she did fight, she usually restrained, instead of injuring. Violence turned her stomach. The most she carried on her in terms of weaponry was a silver-bladed pocket knife and that was more for utility than it was combat.

She felt the stare of Dirk the vampire on her as the others gathered weapons from the large fire proof weapons safe the doctor kept in a large room of Fyrn manor. They’d had to wait for him to arrive after nightfall.
Pesky vampire nature,
he called it, having to avoid the daylight. It wasn’t a problem in the Second Realm, apparently, where his classrooms were sheltered from the sun and he could be most active at night. In the First Realm, however, he had to wait until nightfall to join the Assassins, where he stood beside them, watching.

“You aren’t arming yourself?” he asked her, his voice curious and polite.

She smiled nervously. “I don’t fight like they do.”

“Do you know what kind of threat we might face?” Kaleb asked, his chameleon eyes reflecting gray once again, this time from the darkness of his shirt.

“Little to none,” Dirk replied, his gaze skipping over to the shape shifter. “Don’t worry, you’re in good hands with me. I will open a portal to Moonriver Academy, the school I teach at. The students there may be rowdy, but when you’re with me, they will respect you enough to keep away. King Emeralde’s knights haven’t reached our happy home yet, so there won’t be any fighting. This is, as I mentioned, just a preview of where you will be staying.”

Kaleb nodded, but he didn’t seem any more relaxed than before. “We arm ourselves wherever we’re going. Doesn’t mean we don’t trust you, it just means that we’re being careful.”

Dirk nodded as well. He glanced over at Marco, who had picked up a handgun. “Oh, I suppose I should warn you that your modern weaponry doesn’t work as well over in the Second Realm.”

Marco paused in loading the handgun he held. “It doesn’t?”

The vampire shook his head and settled back against the wall. “No. The Second Realm was created with what is known as the Rule of Absolute Separation. This means that certain things, like weaponry from the modern age and general technology will not work according to what you are accustomed to. Your weapon will misfire and injure your companions before it will shoot an enemy. In the case that you get it to work well, no one makes ammunition for weapons like guns in the Second Realm, so once you're out, you'll have a blunt object to injure with at your disposal, rather than a long-range weapon.”

Marco frowned and put the gun back into the safe it had come out of. “Thanks for the advanced warning.”

Kaleb looked over at the vampire again. “So I guess things like walkie-talkies and cell phones are also out of the question?”

Dirk let out a small laugh that was still polite, even though it was directly aimed at Kaleb. “Yes. There is no cellular service in the Second Realm, after all and as for walkie-talkies, they follow the same Rule of Absolute Separation. Any foreign object coming in from the First Realm, or this world, will not be able to function properly, if it
is mechanical or requires electricity. There’s a theory that states that, with all the magical energy in the Second Realm, most electronics are fried upon entry. There is, however, no real evidence to prove such a theory.”

Evangeline closed one of the many pockets on her cargo pants and faced Dirk. “So what’s a portal?”

Dirk answered her question as the four Shadow Assassins and Dr. Fyrn followed him outside the manor. He had asked for a spot where no curious eyes could be watching them, so the doctor led everyone to a spot outside the manor, near where a cluster of trees led into a forest, on the manor’s vast acreage. Dr. Fyrn lit up the darkness around them with a small camping lantern he held. The light bounced as they walked, creating moving shadows that followed them.

“Portals are doorways between here and the Second Realm. Normal humans with no magical powers cannot open these portals. Even if someone else opened the portal for them, normal humans cannot cross over. Again, the Rule of Absolute Separation at work. The Second Realm was created by and is inhabited by those who have magic in their blood. Because of this, the four of you can cross over with me, but the good doctor...”

“I’ll be waiting for your return,” Dr. Fyrn spoke up quickly, from behind them.

Dirk smiled and nodded, continuing with his explanation. His voice was smooth and he sounded just like the teacher he was, not so much lecturing as demystifying what they didn’t know. “When the Second Realm was still fairly new, there were portals that were always open to visitors who crossed frequently between realms. This was mostly for people escaping religious persecution, or for those who had left families behind. Over time, these portals were closed up. Now, it takes immense power to open a portal back up, and usually, portals are regulated. The Emeralde Kingdom regulates their portals and where they open and close, and Moonriver Academy regulates our own. Most vampires cannot open a portal, but I am not most vampires.”

It was with a quick wink at the ladies that Dirk stepped forward. His heavy boots crunched over the undergrowth of the forest as he moved, his hands stretching out in front of him. Around his neck was a golden chain, the pendant a heavy, uncut amethyst. As he stretched his arms out, the purple stone around his neck glowed with a bright white light.

“Whoa,” Marco gasped. “Does anyone else feel that?”

He didn’t see, but somehow felt, the others nod. After the white light had come from the amethyst, a surge of energy burst forward in all directions; a shock wave, of sorts. The magical energy hit each of the Shadow Assassins physically, as if they had just been sucked underwater by an invisible wave. As they gasped and a gust of wind hit them, the space in front of them began glowing with the same white light.

“I would move if I were you,” Dirk called over the wind.

The Shadow Assassins and the doctor scrambled back. As they did, the white light began taking shape in front of Dirk. It sank into the ground and began to shape itself, forming a sort of archway, like the space found beneath a door. As the light began to settle, tree roots slithered up from the ground, forming around the white archway, giving it shape. The final result was a doorway made of branches and vines, as if a tree had popped up out of the ground to guide them. The white light glowed in the space between, lighting up the night.

“This, my dear Evangeline, is a portal.” With that, Dirk stepped back. The light on the amethyst died down.

Marco stepped forward, squinting from the light. “So we just go through?”

“Not quite yet.” Dirk reached into the pocket of his leather jacket and pulled out a large glass vial. “Everyone in the Second Realm speaks a different language. Some speak English, especially at Moonriver Academy, but this is just to avoid confusion. This potion here will help you understand all foreign tongues of the Second Realm as your own native language. Locally,
it’s called
mage speak
and is usually just a spell cast by a magic user. I, however, am only a vampire, so I requested that I receive this drink to give to you
.
Drink this, all of you. Just a sip. And be warned, it probably will not taste pleasant.”

Marco stepped up first. He tipped the vial to his lips and jumped back, as if electrocuted, once he had tasted the concoction.

“Not pleasant? Try
putrid.
” he said, holding back a gag. “Shoot it back quick, guys.”

Kaleb shot back a small sip, then Evangeline and Kaydee. Each reacted similar to Marco, as they got a taste of the liquid in the vial. Individual flavors were present, like spearmint, citrus and pepper, but blended together, the concoction was too confusing for them to sample accurately in terms of taste, just blending together in a general sense of
unpleasant.

“That stuff really sticks to your throat,” Evangeline said with a cough. “Sticky and sweet and bitter all at once.”

Dirk smiled apologetically. “Sorry. Like I said though, it is usually cast as a spell. Capturing it in a potion form is...a little trickier. It may take a while for the potion to take effect, so if you hear some foreign words spoken by some people, wait a little longer and it should start translating effectively.”

“Thanks, I think.”

He smiled as Marco made a face. In a more serious voice, he said, “Alright, now that we’re all prepared, how about we—”

He cut himself off abruptly and turned his head to the side, as if he had heard something.

“What is it?” Kaydee asked. She didn’t like the look on his face, the sort of fear and dislike.

“We have to move quickly, my friends,” he said, too fast, too nervous.

“Why? What’s wrong?”

“No time to explain, just--”

He was cut off again, this time not by his own will, but by a sort of laughter sound echoing through the trees. The laughter was far from merry. Darkness was in that laughter. Violence was in that laughter, the kind of violence that came from a being that enjoyed killing. It sounded feminine, but it was also so distorted that it could have been from a man.

“What is that?” Kaydee asked, her pale green eyes widening.

The vampire let out a curse in a foreign language they didn’t recognize. The potion hadn’t started working yet, but they didn’t need a translation to understand him. They could feel something dark. Something evil had just entered the forest, something they couldn’t see.

“Dr. Fyrn, you should get inside,” Kaleb said cautiously.

The doctor didn’t seem to mind being given an order from his own employee. “Will you all be okay?”

Dirk nodded. “They’re in good hands, Doctor. Your safety is what I’m worried about. Go, now!”

“Good luck to all of you,” the doctor said as he backed off. Worry was shining bright in his eyes as he left them, and it seemed as though he didn’t want to leave at all. He had been around his team long enough to recognize when danger was going to hit, though, and he didn’t have the type of powers they did to protect himself.

“Come back safely!” he added as he returned to the mansion.

“S’salia shrinda majine,”
a soft, feminine whisper hissed through the forest. The voice trilled over the words in an elegantly foreign tongue, curving each syllable gently, despite the foreboding feeling the words carried.

“What?” Marco asked, unable to understand the stream of words.

“Get through the portal!” Dirk cried. “Go, now! I will be with you!”

Before they could cross over, they were hit with another shock wave. Similar to the one that had hit when the portal opened, this one was more violent and knocked them off their feet. Along with the sudden movement came the sensation of being pushed under icy water, far more violent and chaotic than the previous shock wave.