The Pack - Shadow Games (5 page)

It hurt to know that. Sam and McNaire had
been willing to die for me too. For different reasons maybe, but it
didn't matter. It didn't feel right that I was putting so many
people in danger. All because of my selfish desires to fit in. To
be a wolf. Sam would have loved me even if I never shifted. But I
couldn't live with myself.

I wrestled with my own thoughts for most of
the morning. Calder spoke to me, trying to lift my mood, but I
ignored him for the most part. And even as he pointed out all of
the strange new things his world had to show me, the wonder of it
all was gone now. All that was left was a sense of homesickness,
clawing at my stomach as we made ourselves seen.

But by midday, I was done living inside of my
own head. Maybe it was the feeling of the sun on my back, or maybe
it was Calder's increasing desire to see me happy, but I finally
cracked a smile at something he said. I couldn't even remember what
it was, and I only understood half the joke since I would have had
to have grown up in his world to get it all, but it was enough to
snap me out of my funk. It was enough to pull me out of my own
headspace.

Now Calder and I walked side by side through
town as the Thiea's sun set. Radiant sparks of light exploded over
head like tiny fireworks as we walked. I stared up at it all with
wide eyes of wonder, lost in its beauty.

"Fae fire," he explained. "It happens at
dusk. Magic in the air glows under the dying rays of the sun."

"It's so beautiful," I said as I watched the
sky light up with the magical light show.

"Are you hungry?" he asked as we walked by a
bakery.

The sweet smell of fresh bread filled my
nose. My stomach grumbled. "Sure, I can eat."

The smell was almost overpowering as we
walked through the doors. But what was worse was that I could no
longer see the fae fire outside. I felt a bit silly, but I tapped
Calder on the shoulder. "Can I wait outside? I want to watch the
sky some more."

Calder looked over me and towards the door. I
could see the hesitation in his eyes, but when the smile spread
across his face, I knew I would get what I wanted.

"Promise me that you will not wander from the
storefront. I am not supposed to leave you alone."

I nodded vigorously and practically bounced
out of the door and into the cooling night air. The sun was nearly
down now and the fae fire had changed colors from incandescent
oranges and reds to more muted but far more mesmerizing blues and
greens.

I paced back and forth in front of the store
as I watched the lightshow above my head.

I smiled up at the sky as I thought of the
past two days. I'd had lunch with a handsome vampire. He bought me
shoes and I got my hair done. Now we were about to eat dinner under
an enchanted sky. In any other circumstance, this would have been
the best date I'd even been on.

But when I craned my neck too far back, the
collar bit into my shoulders, a constant reminder that no matter
how much I was enjoying the moment, I was still a prisoner here. If
it hadn't been for that, I might have lost myself in the moment. In
an odd way, the collar was keeping me grounded. Every time the
metal choker touched my skin, a vision of Sam would pop into my
head.

Voices from behind me caught my attention as
I stared into the sky. It wasn't the voices themselves that peaked
my interest, but what was being said. Or rather, the fact that I
couldn't understand the words that were being spoken. I turned
around and looked at a cluster of half a dozen vampires huddled in
the shadows behind the bakery and the building next door.

Why couldn't I understand their words? I
thought that was what the language enchant was supposed to fix.

One of the group caught me staring and they
scattered. All but one of them anyways. A large vamp with sunken
eyes and bulging muscles slowly and deliberately walked towards me.
His hair was spiked and colored blue. As he walked, electricity
seemed to arc from the tips of his hair.

I backed up towards the bakery, but as I
turned towards the door, I noticed a second vamp from the blue
hair's group had moved between me and safety. My pulse quickened as
the men closed in on me. I caught a glint of metal in the hand of
one of the vamps as he approached.

Was that a knife?

With nowhere to go and the men closing in on
me, I did the only thing I could think of. I screamed.

"Calder! Help!"

The vampires charged as I screamed. The blue
haired vamp raised the knife above his head as he closed with me. I
dropped to my knees and threw my arms above my head. There was
nothing else I could do. This was it.

I heard a grunt and a thump as something hit
the dirt. A second later and something far heavier slammed to the
ground. I opened my eyes just in time to see the head of the blue
haired vamp roll past me, his hair spikes flashing and sparking
wildly, with his face a mask of shock. Three feet away lay the rest
of him, a headless corpse in the dirt, still clutching the dagger
in his hand as his blood seeped into the ground.

I turned to see the other vampire sprinting
away as fast as he could down the street, but something flashed
through the air and a scream pierced the night as he fell to his
knees, hands grasping for something buried in his back.

What the hell is going on?

Calder stepped out of the shadow of the
bakery door and walked calmly across the street to retrieve his
short sword. It had buried itself into a wooden post. The gleaming
blade was marred with blood, which he wiped off on the jacket of
the headless body in the road. He slid the sword back into its
sheathe and walked in my direction.

"Go inside and stay there Miss Olivia. I will
return in a moment," said Calder as he walked right by me and
towards the vampire down the street who was trying to crawl
away.

I ran to the bakery door but before I went
inside, I turned around to see Calder pull a small knife from the
back of the crawling vampire. He kicked him over with his boot and
dropped a knee into his chest. It looked like they were talking but
I couldn't make out the words at this distance. I slipped inside
when I saw Calder stand up and head my way.

When he walked into the bakery, I couldn't
help but throw myself against him. My arms wrapped around his body
and I pressed my head into his shoulder. I couldn’t stop shaking
and the warmth of Calder's body against my own was chasing away the
chill that was spreading through me.

"Thank you Calder. They were going to kill
me."

Hiss hand ran through my hair before resting
on the back of my head. He pulled me close and relief flooded
trough me.

Calder will keep me safe.

But even as I had that thought, guilt spread
through me. A voice in my head told me to push myself away from my
vampiric knight but I couldn't. This felt right.

"They wouldn't have killed you. They were
going to take you."

I lifted my head from Calder's shoulder. "How
do you know that?"

"I asked the wounded one in return for his
life. They were going to bring you to their Lord. He would have
killed you."

My thoughts flashed back to Sam and the
vampires in the woods. "Lord Morescu?"

Calder shook his head. "These ones used
weapons. This was Lord Sammael. He likes to attack from the shadows
instead of seeking honorable confrontation."

"I would have been dead either way. You saved
me."

Calder rubbed my back before leading me to a
table. He sat me down then took the seat across from me. "Tell me
what happened."

I told Calder everything I saw. He watched me
intently most of the time, but I caught him looking over my
shoulder towards the door more than once. I glanced behind me, but
no one was there. When I finished my story, it was his turn to
talk.

"Call me faster next time Miss Olivia. There
are only a few reasons to mask a language like you described and
none of them are good." He stood up and held out his hand like a
gentleman. "We need to return to the castle. It is not safe out
here any longer."

My pulse quickened as I took his hand. I
tried to tell myself that it was because of fear, but fear didn't
make my knees weak and my nipples pucker. I couldn't keep lying to
myself. I was falling for Calder.

"Stay close to me Miss Olivia and keep an eye
on the shadows. They will try again."

As we left the bakery and stepped out into
the night, I grabbed Calder's hand and held it tightly. He looked
confused for a moment and his body tensed at my touch, but when he
saw my smile he relaxed. His hand wrapped around mine and squeezed
gently. My body tingled.

I could die tonight,
I thought as we
walked hand in hand towards the castle.
Killed on a world I
wasn't born into.

Half way to the castle and I started to
relax. Maybe they had given up. I dropped my guard as my attention
waned. What was I doing? I couldn't have feelings for Calder. I
loved Sam. It didn't matter if he wasn't here right now. I couldn't
just latch onto whoever was closest to me.

I was almost too late before I noticed the
man in the shadows to my left. I didn't even have time to scream
before long fingers wrapped around my arm. I squeezed Calder's hand
in fright but that was enough. I heard the sound of his sword slide
from its sheathe and the movement of air above my head as the blade
swung in an arc above me.

The vamp who grabbed my arm staggered
backwards clutching his face. Calder pulled me closer and whispered
quickly into my ear. "Run and do not look back Miss Olivia. Make
for the gate."

"But..."

"Listen to me and run!" Calder pushed me away
and my legs pumped as fast as they could as I made a beeline for
the massive wooden gates. A noise above me made me look up. A
vampire jumped from the roof of a building, his eyes glowing red as
he fell towards me. He would have caught me if not for a sword
flying through the air.

With a sickening thud, Calder's short sword
bisected the leaping vampire and he fell to either side of me. The
sword hit the ground and slid through the dirt before coming to
rest against the base of a tree. I turned around and looked for
Calder, but all I could see was a group of vampires closing in on
the spot where I'd left him.

I couldn't leave him. I didn't care about the
King, but Calder had saved my life. More than that, he had been
nice to me when he didn't have to be. He had spared Sam and my
father. I had to do something.

Calder's sword. I ran and grabbed it before
rushing right back to where he had left me. As I moved closer, I
could see him now. A dozen vamps in dark cloaks had surrounded him.
Three were sprawled on the ground but the rest had formed an ever
shrinking circle around Calder. His silver armor was stained with
blood and he held a pair of small daggers in his hands as he turned
in circles and swung at anyone who got too close.

I knew I should have stopped and ran the
other way. This was suicide. But I couldn't keep running.

Instead, I lowered my shoulders and held the
sword out in front of me as I charged towards the group while
screaming at the top of my lungs.

My shoes weren't made for running. While
still yards away from the group of vamps, one of the straps on my
sandals ripped apart from the strain and I lost my balance. I fell
to the dirt and the sword flew from my hand before landing a few
feet short of the group. The gathered vampires laughed and a few of
the black cloaks broke off to collect me.

I struggled to my feet but my ankle wouldn't
support my weight. All I could do was watch as the vampires
approached, but it turned out that watching was all that Calder
really needed me to do.

With the group around Calder distracted by my
sudden appearance, he struck quickly. In a flash of silver and red
I watched as four vampires dropped together, each clutching their
open throats. Calder had moved so fast I hadn't been able to follow
his strikes. And he wasn't done yet. His hands shot out from his
sides and the pair of knives he was holding flew from his
fingertips before embedding themselves in the chests of the final
two stunned vampires.

With the six around him taken care of, Calder
ran towards the three closing on me. In one swift movement he
scooped his sword up without slowing down and threw it, end over
end, at the group approaching me. The blade hit home and the
monster in the middle of the approaching group fell forward with a
gasp as the sword plunged into his back.

His buddies turned but it was too late.
Calder was airborne with his arms outstretched. His razor sharp
fingertips cut through the soft skin of the neck of one of the
vamps. He tucked into a ball and rolled across the ground before
popping to his feet and reversing directions.

The last vamp standing had a fighting chance.
Face to face with Calder, I watched as the two traded blows, each
blocking and redirecting the deadly strikes away from their own
bodies. But Calder was faster. While the vamp in the black robe was
busy watching Calder's quick hands, Calder lashed out with his foot
and caught the robed vampire in the knee. It bent in a way a knee
was never meant to move and the man dropped to the ground. He was
done fighting.

We didn't wait around to question the
survivors. Calder picked up his sword then helped me to my feet.
When he saw I couldn't walk, he picked me up in his arms and held
me as I wrapped my hands around his neck.

"You should have kept running Miss Olivia.
That could have gone badly."

I pushed my head against Calder's shoulder
and held onto his neck a little tighter. "I couldn't just leave you
alone."

"Well, I appreciate the assist. But trust me
next time."

"Okay, I will." I pulled my head away from
his shoulder. "And Calder?"