Shadow Touched (Shadow Roamer #1) (3 page)

FIVE

When Stella woke up, she knew, could feel in her blood, the sun was up and climbing the sky, but had to frown when she found her room was still pleasantly dim. Sitting up she took in the curtains, which looked too light to be the reason for this, and then climbed out of the bed for a closer inspection. It was the glass of the windows. It somehow absorbed and softened the harsh sunlight. Well, that was certainly practical.

Looking out over the city she realized it was probably close to noon already, and then, seeing the dots mingling below,
had to shake her head. She couldn’t believe that she had never noticed the Tower before.

Under the hot spray of the shower
Stella let the water pound her neck and leaned her forehead against the cool shower tiles. She hadn’t panicked yet. All that talk about her not being human, about getting killed…the memories of her attackers…the four weeks threat…and she hadn’t panicked. Her brain probably hadn’t caught up yet or it would have told her to run as fast and as far away from these crazy people as she could. Right? Except…she didn’t think them crazy. Although everything Nero had told her had sounded madly insane, it had rung true inside of her. After everything he said, she should be scared for her life, so it confused her like hell that she felt relieved and, yes, even excited instead.

Okay, so she
was scared because of the four-weeks/sword-of-Damocles thing, but she also wanted to learn more about the world she had been thrust into. About the world she apparently belonged to. Sighing Stella made a pact with herself, to wait with the panicking to see what this day would bring.

After finishing her hot shower she came back into the room to find underwear, a pair of sweatpants and a tank top waiting for her on the bed. A note lay beside the clothes.

Morning, I hope you slept well.

Meet me on the 15
th
floor when you’re ready.

Nero

Well, he was indeed a man true to his word. Looked like training would start today. An unconscious smile curving the side of her mouth, Stella got dressed and followed his instructions, taking the elevator to the lower floor.

Whereas the floor of the patroller
’s living quarters was homey and totally comfy looking, this one was brighter regarding the lights and clean and sweaty at the same time. Seeing all sorts of treadmills lined up to face the windows and other training equipment she had no idea how to use, immediately gave her the feeling of having stepped into a gym, which probably wasn’t that far off the mark given her reason for coming here. People mingled about, chatting or pushing their limits, but she couldn’t find Nero among them.

Further in the back
rounded walls made out of some very modern, posh-looking kind of frosted glass created a more private area, so Stella decided to try her luck there. Noises and voices drifted to her, grunts, thuds, muffled approval and advice. When she reached the doorway, she stopped in her tracks and just stared.

She had found him alright. He was dressed only in a pair of black sweatpants, his feet and chest bare
, revealing muscled shoulders and a toned body, the kind of which she had never seen in real life before. His dark hair was tousled from his hands having run through it a time too often, and his almost black eyes focused on the man in front of him in a way that tugged at her lower belly. That kind of determination - add a healthy pinch of heat to it and that look could be a damn sexy thing to be on the receiving end of.

Mentally slapping
herself to get a grip – though she couldn’t fault her mind for the lapse really, since what healthy woman wouldn’t appreciate the sight in front of her – Stella took in Nero’s opponent. He was dressed in black as well, his build leaner and a bit taller than Nero, his hair cropped short, so short she was sure it would make a raspy sound when running a hand over it. His eyes held humor and arrogant challenge as he watched Nero closely.

The both of them were light on their feet, moving like a blur that had her stare in awe and reminding her of martial artists she had seen on television.

“They are nice to look at, aren’t they?”

Stella almost jumped, so transfixed on the men in the center of the room, that she hadn’t even taken much notice of the other people standing on the sidelines, although she had certainly heard them on her way here. The woman beside her was beautiful with big eyes and a wide mouth, and tall, easily reaching five-eleven feet. But her most stunning feature was her hair. Long and thick and dark with a hint of deep, rich blue in it, Stella was sure it would cascade down to her hips, if it weren’t tamed and kept in a multi-layered braid.

Her gaze flicked back
to the men and Stella smiled. “Sure are.”

The
roamer turned to her, a kind and yet alert curiosity in her eyes. “You must be Stella. Nero told us about you and your adventures last night. Wish I could have been there to see you spit a reptile in the face. I would have paid for that!” Her smile was honest and wide. “I’m Ombra, a member of Nero’s patroller team. The guy he’s fighting is Trevas, our macho slash joker around here.”

Ombra
motioned her chin towards a man and a woman on the sideline. The man was a bear of a man and the woman was on the short side for a roamer as far as Stella could tell but looked ethereally beautiful with hair that shimmered a silvery hue. “And over there are Scuro and Nebbia.”

“Interesting names.
I mean, they’re not exactly common.”

Ombra
rolled her eyes. “Oh yeah, roamers do like to use words from all kind of languages as long as the meaning has something to do with shadows. Just like yours.”

Stella frowned. “Mine has nothing to do with shadows.”

“Sure it has.” Her eyes twinkled. “A star lights the night, creating shadows.”

The others had noticed her presence by now as well, resulting in the end of the simulated fight
, and came closer to greet her. All of them were in clothes suited for training and wore curious and friendly smiles. Greetings were exchanged, hands shaken and jokes made, and Stella found herself quickly feeling at ease and laughing as well.

“So, you guys fight the creatures of the
dark ,huh?”

Nero smiled, doing something to her belly, and the fact that he was rubbing away a healthy sheen of sweat from his bare chest wasn’t helping her at all. “
We
fight them. The sooner you consider yourself as one of us, the better.” Following Nero’s lead the group dropped on various comfy chairs and a couch in the corner of the room. “But to answer your question, yes and no. We make sure everyone stays on their side, especially during the twilight hours, when humans still mingle about and the stuff of their nightmares is waking up. Other than that, we also have to walk a fine line between justice and, well, basic food chain.”

Her eyes darted around the group.
“Which means what exactly?”

Scuro
, who really started to remind her of a bear inside and out with his slow but powerful movements and friendly eyes, shrugged his shoulders apologetically. “Any human foolish enough to walk the streets at night does so at his own peril. There is only so much we can do.”

It was logical, and she couldn’t blame them for that.
Her gaze went back to Nero. “Those creatures of the night? Do they all look like the ones I met?”

“No. There are four big groups of demons
.”

His eyes moved to
Nebbia, who picked up the conversation immediately, her voice sure and strong, her dark eyes a striking contrast to her silvery hair. “Demons of prey, of sleep, of blood and of the mind. The ones you met belonged to the first group and like their meal to be warm or even alive. They come in different shapes and sizes, looking like a cross between humans and animals of prey, like bears, snakes, cats or wolves.”

“Wolves?”

Ombra smiled knowingly, “Yes. What human myth and popular literature know as werewolves are not some cute hotties who turn into fluffy wolves, but demons. And warm human flesh is their favorite treat.”

“Huh.”
Charming.

Lips curving, Nero continued, “Demons of sleep are basically parasites, who live off of human energy that’s released while dreaming until their prey wastes away. Demons of the mind operate in the same way, but on the waking mind. It’s what humans call ghosts and poltergeists.”

“So let me guess, demons of the blood are vampires?”

“Yeah, they need blood to survive and don’t know when enough’s enough and end up drinking their victim to death.”
Nero leaned forward, his elbows on his knees, his dark eyes on her, “Now that we covered the basics about the demons, wanna know more about our skills?”

A pleasant thrill went through her.
“You bet.”

After hours of
training, of a mix of theory and practice, Stella knew for sure that all of them were some damn good fighters, Nero was a born leader and Nebbia a hell of a good teacher. And they loved each other like family.

Since the shadows were their home, Nero had dimmed the lighting and the glass windows had turned dark, letting only a fraction of sunlight spill into the room so that it wasn’t pitch black, but rather filled with a multitude of shadows.

Then she had watched the roamers use the darkness around them, to move with them, to cloak themselves with and to trick the others – and then shocked her by using them as a weapon as well, much like a sword. After the little show off, the team had split into two groups. While Ombra, Scuro and Trevas fought and trained with each other, Nero and Nebbia tried to teach her basic moves in the martial arts and to get a feel for the shadows surrounding her.

Feeling them was no problem for her, since it was what had always soothed her while walking through the almost empty streets at night. The shadows felt like a cool and yet warm blanket for her soul.
A balmy breeze supporting her.

Since Nero had seen her unconsciously pull the shadows towards her when she had been attacked by the reptiles
, he wanted her to do so again. Unfortunately
that
part was easier said than done and soon the exertion had her sweating, until Nebbia had the idea that Nero should attack her, simulating the situation when Stella had been successful in pulling the shadows to her.

The problem was, seeing Nero half
naked, having him come at her and touch her – even if it was to throw her on the ground or some such – didn’t make her feel frightened
at all
, but something else entirely. Needless to say, her first day she didn’t really had any success to show other than feeling completely tired but strangely happy at the same time.

When Nero
finally announced the end of their session, Trevas and Ombra joked some, yanking each others’ chains in a friendly manner Stella had already gotten used to, and the team made plans for their nightly patrol before all of them filed out of the training room towards the elevators.

Since the others got out one floor beneath them,
Stella and Nero rode on in silence to theirs – until her stomach growled.

Blushing she bit her lip, “Yeah, guess I’m quite hungry by now. Who am I
kidding, I’m dreaming of a nice hot shower, followed by a nice steak.”

When he looked at her in a funny way, she tensed, “What?
I haven’t had any breakfast at all and it’s…” Stella looked around for a clock and threw up her arms laughing, “I don’t know what time it is, but it feels like we’ve been doing this all day.”

Nero blinked
as if coming out of a trance. “Yes, the sun will soon set and we’ll have to go out patrolling. “ His voice trailed off, his brow furrowed briefly before he cleaned his throat and looked back at her. “So, you eat human food?”

Huh? “W
hat else should I eat?”

The doors pinged open and they went out
. It was her turn to frown after him. “Wait a second. What do
you
eat?”

They stepped into his apartment, which was only dimly lit. The windows still tai
nted that darkly hue to soften the harsh light of day. Now that the sun was low in the sky, the room darkened slowly.

Nero walked toward his comfy
couch, but didn’t sit. God, he looked yummy, all broad shoulders and predatory kind of gait. Then he turned around to look at her, his eyes intense and touched with something wicked. “Blood.”

For a second, her mind only registered images of warm flesh, skin on skin, tongues dancing and fangs glistening and bodies writhing – ripped right out of her paranormal-romance-fed imagination. She almost had to actually shake her head to clear it. “B
ut didn’t you say that only demons of blood take blood?”

Hands in the pockets of his sweatpants, Nero nodded, his eyes still on her
, watching her reaction, watching her. “Yes, they do. But they don’t stop once they’ve opened a vein. We do.”

Stella had to swallow. His scent, dark and a little sweaty, and his deep voice weren’t helping her at all as far as concentration went.
“And from whom?”

“F
rom humans and demons from time to time. But mostly from each other. Couples drink each other, especially shadow bound once since for them other blood stops to be sufficiently nourishing.”