Shadow of Doubt: Part 2 (3 page)

It was bliss.

However, in that same moment the hairs
on the back of his neck rose. His arms around Aurora tightened in a
new way. They became protective.

A voice from behind him
split the night, “You think you can spend forever here, Erebus? You
think you can be satisfied with
this
?”

Chapter 2

Nanny

To Erebus, the voice grated like
fingernails on a chalkboard. To anyone else, it dripped of honey.
Outwardly, Erebus froze. Inside, fight or flight seemed to be
running circles around his entire body, screaming at him to make a
choice and make it fast.

Cautiously, he released Aurora but
still kept one arm protectively around her waist.

No Night Council, instead something
way worse. “Good evening, Nanny.” He heard the frost in his voice
as he turned to face her. She’d cut her pin-straight platinum
blonde hair very short. The last time he’d seen her, it’d been down
to her waist. Now it was shaved short, spiked up in front. Her blue
eyes seemed to have changed – once they’d seemed bright, now they
were cold as ice. His eyes travelled down her neck, then over her
leather jacket, tight jeans, and high leather boots. She was
dazzling, but he didn’t understand why he’d ever seen her as
beautiful.

“Aren’t you going to introduce me to
your little friend? You seem joined at the hip.” Nanny’s sensual
voice hid the sarcasm and implications only Erebus could hear. She
strolled forward, holding her arms out to him. “It’s been a long
time, darling.” She kissed him on the lips, forcing her tongue into
his mouth before he could stop her. It erased Aurora’s sweet taste
and left a bitter, salty one.

Erebus stepped away from her embrace,
trying to casually lean against the phone booth. His arm still
partly around Aurora’s waist, he leaned to pull her tightly to his
side. He wanted to shove Nanny away, but knew that was exactly the
kind of reaction she was trying to get from him.

“This is Aurora.” He looked up at the
sky, wishing it would swallow Nanny up. “Aurora, this is Nanganana.
She prefers to go by Nanny.” He felt Aurora stiffen against him as
he said Nanny’s full name. She obviously remembered the mythical
meaning of Nanny’s name.

“Hello, sunshine.” Nanny’s voice
sounded like an icicle that had just snapped. She nodded but didn’t
offer her hand. She crossed her arms and planted her boots squarely
in the soft, gathering snow.

“Hi.” Aurora’s throaty voice had a
hint of defiance in it. Erebus couldn’t help but grin. She was no
pushover, like a lawyer on the defence.

“What’re you doing here?” Erebus’
words came out stilted.

“Looking for you, of course.” Nanny’s
furious glare stayed trained on Aurora. “You left in such a hurry,
without bothering to say goodbye.” She glanced briefly at him and
pouted. She smirked as she brought her gaze back to Aurora. “It’s
taken me a while to find you.”

Erebus stepped in front of Aurora,
breaking Nanny’s stare. He had no intention of bringing up the past
in front of Aurora. He’d said enough this evening. “There was, and
still is, nothing to say.” Calm on the outside, he knew inside
everything was about to boil over. He couldn’t believe she had the
audacity to come back into his life.

He grabbed Aurora’s hand and turned to
go. “Have a pleasant evening.” He enunciated everything, like a
machine gun firing bullets.

“I will.” She smiled demonically. “Oh,
and ‘Bus-?”

“What?” He couldn’t control the
impatience he felt.

“Please let Janus know I’ll be staying
in the area. I’m low on funds.” She uncrossed her arms, resting her
hands on her hips, waiting for his response, her mouth
twitching.

Erebus sighed. This could only be
trouble. Janus was going to be pissed. He hated unrest between
Shadows.

He now had to double-worry about
Aurora’s safety. Nanny never did anything without a specific,
personal purpose. She didn’t want him with anyone, even for one
night. Aurora was now a walking target, with markers on the front
and back of her.

“Did you hear me, ‘Bus?” She hissed
his name.

“Yeah, you don’t need to tell me. I’m
sure Janus already knows. ’Night.” He pulled Aurora’s hand and
walked away without turning back.

Aurora must have sensed his urgency.
She walked swiftly and said nothing. Erebus watched her turn to
look behind them several times as they walked away.

They headed to the Ithaca Falls
parking lot in silence. She pulled her keys out and unlocked the
doors to her car. Erebus silently got into the passenger seat. A
sense of doom hung heavily over him.

“Who the hell is she?” Aurora said the
moment she slammed her door shut. She locked the doors.

Erebus wasn’t sure if she meant to
keep him in or danger out. “Nanny.”

“Yeah, I know
that
. What’s she to you?
She
really
hates
you. Or maybe obsessed is a better word.” Aurora crossed her arms.
Obviously, she had no intention of starting the car until she had
some answers. Lawyer-girl was questioning the witness.

“We met…a long time ago.” He really
didn’t want to talk about this. Not now and probably not ever.
Plus, Aurora had enough to digest already.

“She’s a freakin’ Shadow, isn’t she?”
Her voice rose, and he could see the accusation in her eyes, even
in the dark.

“Yeah.”
Shit! Can she stop badgering the witness
? Erebus rubbed his face with his hand.

“What kind of Shadow?”

“Pardon?” He looked at her, shocked at
the question. He was pretty sure he knew what she meant, but how
could she be so insightful, so quickly.

“What is she a Shadow of?”

Erebus’ heart slammed against his rib
cage. He held his breath.

Aurora sat waiting for him to answer,
jangling her keys.

He exhaled harshly. “She’s the same as
me.”

“I knew it! Did you share a phone
booth with her?”

“What? No. We can’t do that. It’s
impossible.” On the other hand, he’d never tried it, so he couldn’t
be sure. Aurora’s voice sounded like she was a parent asking a kid
if he’d slept around. Not asking the question straight out but
using a metaphor. This was only going to get worse. Erebus slunk
down in his seat, his knees hitting the glove
compartment.

“Well, if it’s physically not
possible, or whatever you call it, you’ve obviously shared
something with her.”

“It’s complicated.”

“Ha! You tried that line with me
earlier this evening.” She sounded mad, but there was something
else there, too. “Try me. Again. It seems you’re full of complex
complications tonight, but I think this one is pretty
simple.”

Erebus groaned. He’d already told her
one dark secret. This was nothing in comparison to that so he might
as well tell her everything now. A strange thought crossed his
mind. Janus was going to personally kill him for disrupting his
smooth-running operation. Between Janus and Aurora, Erebus had
nothing to fear from the Night Council. He made a fist and punched
his other hand.

“Who is she to you?”

There was no way Aurora would get
this. Erebus wet his lips. “Okay. Nanny also needs a pay phone as
her Shadow. It’s infrequent that two exact Shadows exist. It
doesn’t happen. Then the chances of the two of them meeting isn’t
very likely.” He scratched his head as he tried to think of a way
to explain things to her. “Then throw on top of all this rarity,
the two Shadows are the opposite sex.” This was not the moment to
bring up the high sex drive Shadows had. “I think, because of all
the rarity, we were drawn to each other.” It didn’t mean anything
to him now.

“Are you supposed to be with her?”
Aurora’s voice trembled.

“You mean, like destiny?” Erebus could
see her outline clearly in the dark.

She sat staring straight ahead, unable
to look at him. She nodded her head once.

He wanted to reach out and
touch her but held back. “Maybe, at first, but not anymore. We’re
the same type of Shadow, but we couldn’t be more opposite. Nanny’s
very hard. She appears to be sultry and seductive, but it’s only a
cover. Inside she’s shady. Darker than any other Shadow I’ve ever
met.”
Night Council
included
.

Aurora turned to him. He could see the
whites of her eyes, bright against her large pupils.

“This is so hard to explain. I’m
different than other Shadows.” He flicked imaginary lint off his
jeans. “We’re supposed to live for the moment, enjoy what we can
get and care only for ourselves. We’re not supposed to have
feelings, just physical cravings of lust and personal satisfaction.
Devotion and caring aren’t really something we’re supposed to be
into. Remorse and guilt are foreign to us.” He stared out the
window into the darkness, thinking about all the new feelings
Aurora had evoked inside of him. Love shouldn’t exist inside a
Shadow. Others would say it was impossible.

“You’re not like that.”

“I’ve always had trouble living up to
the expectations of the others.” How could he explain he didn’t
really care about his own physical and sexual gratification?
Somehow, deep down, he’d wanted, needed more.

“Shadows aren’t that different than
humans. Half of the world’s population thinks the same as you.” She
reached into her coat pocket and extracted the keys. “How or when
did you and Nanny meet?” She started the car and flicked the heater
on, her hand trembling as she cranked the knobs.

As much as he wanted, it took all his
strength to not cover her hand with his. He needed to tell her
everything before he’d allow himself to reach out.

“We met about fifteen years ago. She
found me when I lived in New York. I was going through a bit of a
low time.” He puffed out a breath. “It’s hard to explain. This is a
hard life. I am so different than the others. I often question what
my purpose is. The others are fine with living for the moment and
not making attachments to others. They go about their lives with no
problems. Me, I question everything. I find it very depressing.” He
sighed as the old weight settled back onto his shoulders. Since
meeting Aurora, he’d forgotten almost completely about the
desolation he lived with night in and night out.

“What happened with Nanny?” She
reached to rest her hand tentatively on his knee.

Her touch gave him courage. “I was
completely on my own at the time. I knew my handler, of course, but
for a number of years, I stayed away from other Shadows. Nanny
found me one evening in Central Park. I liked walking through the
park, and one night she was there, leaning against a tree, waiting
for me. We Shadows have this built-in radar, like we can sense each
other. It’s all interconnected somehow.”

“What did Nanny want? Did she search
you out?”

“I guess she’d heard about me from
another Shadow, or maybe my handler. I’m not sure. Anyway, she came
looking for me. Nanny pretended to be something she wasn’t. She can
be very convincing when she wants to be. She pretended to be
something she wasn’t, and stupid me didn’t realize it right off the
bat.” He dropped his head back onto the headrest, still angry at
himself for not seeing her true colors sooner. “I needed something
or someone and I thought… I thought… She could fill the void I had
no idea how to fix.” He couldn’t have been more wrong.

“How long?”

Erebus sighed, knowing he was going to
sound like an idiot. “Five years. We spent five years together.
Looking back on it now, I don’t know how I never saw through her.
She convinced me we were supposed to be together. That two of the
same should never be apart. I believed her because I wanted to. I
wanted it... Wanted to believe that was how it was supposed to be.
In the beginning, she was different. Or so it seemed. Or maybe she
was good. I don’t know.” He sighed, thinking about how he had never
really figured Nanny out. “She did take up a bunch of religions for
a while, passing through each one like they were a quest. I think
she finished with Yoga or Voodoo, or something. I never questioned
or followed along. I trusted her. She made me believe I was the
most important thing in the world to her.” He shrugged. “It’s
really sad. Her soul’s more lost than mine. It’s no wonder she
can’t find peace.”

“You never thought something was off?
That maybe she wasn’t right in the head? She’s pretty scary, and I
only met her for about five minutes.”

“It wasn’t until a few years together
I began to question things.”

“Like what?”

“She’d disappear for nights and then
come back, saying she’d been working or she needed a few nights
alone. I never raised an eyebrow because I too took time away to
think. I thought she might be more like me, since we were the
same.” He shifted in his seat. “Then, if I ended up at a party or
out somewhere, she’d show up and scrutinize everything I did. She
thought I was constantly cheating on her with mortals. She accused
me of the weirdest things.” He closed his eyes remembering their
final night together. “I finally found out the truth. She was the
one leading a double life.”