Shaedes of Gray: A Shaede Assassin Novel

It circled me like a stalking cat, placing one giant, clawed foot over another. A low, thunderous rumble erupted from deep within its throat, and its silver eyes glinted in the waning sunlight, a reflection of death incarnate. It studied me, tilting its head to the side. I danced in time with the pursuing creature, mirroring its every movement. Its presence came to me in a wave of heat, and rather than concentrating on a specific region of my body, it hit me full on, like a balmy tropic breeze.

Without warning, the beast leapt. It caught me off guard—I’d had no time to react, and I recognized something happening to me that shouldn’t. A shimmering light burst from my skin, and my corporeal form faded away. I had become one with the day and with the sun. Like my Lyhtan enemies, I had drifted into light.

My disappearing act confused my attacker, and it twisted in midair, landing sideways to its original target. I moved fast—faster than I ever had—and was gone in the blink of an eye. I appeared safely at the other side of the dais, where Delilah had regained consciousness. She thrashed about, consumed by madness, crying and screaming to no one but herself.

Adrenaline-infused shock burst through my veins, and my entire body began to shake. I crouched low, still partially melded with the rays of light, and tried to calm down while watching as the Enphigmale turned circles and sniffed the ground where I should have been standing. It threw its bullish head back and roared in frustration, but soon gave up its search and joined the others in the Lyhtan ranks.

We had four living, breathing gargoyles to contend with, and they were wild, hungry, and dangerous. Too many variables remained, preventing me from forming a rational plan of attack. And though I could elude an attacker, what about Ty? Was he even in his right mind? And who, if anything, controlled the Enphigmale?

A few more Lyhtans had fallen to the ravenous hunger of the attacking Enphigmale, but most of them had decided the time for sitting on the sidelines as spectators was over. “Betrayed!” one of them shouted. “Used!” said another. “The Oracle lied to us! Azriel tricked us!” The rage and confusion in their many-faceted voices rose to a din. “They brought us here to die!” Some passed into the light, appearing to me as nothing more than flickers in the rays of sun. My own body shimmered, fading in and out of corporeal form, a mirage of quavering light.

“See her!” A Lyhtan seethed and spit as it changed course from its hasty retreat, its shimmering form becoming solid. The others followed their comrade’s gaze, momentarily distracted from their flight. A collective screeching of voices reverberated through the clearing, giving even the feeding Enphigmale pause.

Oh. Shit. For some reason I felt like I had more to fear from these thinking, slavering creatures than I did the mindless beasts running ravenous through our ranks. And then the reason hit me—well, that and a half-ton bear.

Tyler knocked me to the ground, and my corporeal form returned completely. I looked up to see a wall of golden fur. Standing over me with all four legs braced apart, Tyler snarled at the creatures that stopped to gawk. He knew they wanted me too.

Lyhtan by day and Shaede by night, without the ugly exterior to keep me in hiding, I’d evolved into everything they wanted to be and more. It seemed like I was the hot commodity of the day, and as the Lyhtan army drew near, I appreciated just how sticky our predicament had become. We couldn’t fight four hungry, out-of-control Enphigmale while at the same time keeping the Lyhtans away as they sought to take me.

“I think we’re screwed no matter what, Ty.” I tried to twist so I could look into his face, but he pressed down like a mother hen, keeping as little distance between me and everyone else as possible. “Maybe we should run for it.” A coward’s exit, but considering the circumstances, I wouldn’t last long in a fight. “I think that bower’s a portal of some kind. All we have to do is get past Azriel. Whaddaya say?”

Tyler made his nervous-bear noises, I hoped because he was thinking over what I’d said. Escape was our best and only option, no matter how much I wanted to fight. His fur rippled from his chin to his backside, and his tensing limbs signaled that something was about to happen. Lying there, with nothing but a landscape of fur to stare at, I closed my eyes to better feel the circumstances.

In my mind’s eye, our fate was painted out for me in varying degrees of sensation. Like I’d been equipped with infrared vision or sonar, I recognized the shapes and positions of every creature in the clearing—and they were moving in on us.

The Enphigmale gnawed the bones of their Lyhtan kills at the edge of the clearing. Azriel, who had shied from his post, crept closer to where Delilah lay bound by locks of my hair. And the Lyhtans—who numbered exactly 230 —continued to close in on us, their many voices making them seem like an army of thousands. I sensed Tyler above me, his fragrance so close and so sweet, I wanted to cry. He wouldn’t leave me. He’d be the first to die, and my heart nearly broke as I thought about what they’d do to him before they laid their collective hands on me.

“Ty, run away,” I urged. “Don’t worry about me; they can’t hurt me. Just go before they tear you to pieces.”

He snorted, which I interpreted as either a burst of laughter or bear talk for Hell, no. I thought, Stubborn ass. I pushed at his stomach, and he pressed down harder in protest. Twenty yards, maybe a little more, were all I needed to clear the crowd of Lyhtans. Easy. I pressed my palms and the bottoms of my feet against his belly and chest. Gave a little, bending my arms and knees, took a huge breath, and forced my limbs to push and spring out at the same time.

Tyler flew away like he weighed nothing at all. He landed in the taller grass outside the clearing, and it rustled as he thumped to the earth and rolled, finally coming to a stop. Hope he’s not too mad, I thought. Or too hurt. And jumped to my feet.

“Look how strong,” a Lyhtan whispered as it crept steadily toward me.

“And see her skin in the light of day,” said another.

“We’ll take her and tear her apart in little pieces until we discover her secret!”

That didn’t sound good at all. I had no intention of being torn into pieces large, small, or any size in between. On the flip side, I had no idea how to escape the circling Lyhtans, whose segmented insect bodies jerked and twisted as they studied the object of their desire—a creature with their strength, minus a very big weakness.

Tick, tick, tick. Time sped away from me, thundering in my ears, chest, and soul. I counted the minutes until twilight, when at least a portion of my enemies would be vulnerable. Exactly twenty-five minutes and fifteen seconds . . . fourteen . . . thirteen . . . twelve . . .

I gave myself a mental shake. It was hard not to become wrapped up in the passing of time when it felt like it passed through me before breaking out on the world. I wouldn’t last twenty-five seconds, let alone an entire half hour. Searching for Delilah’s dagger, I patted my waistband and then my coat pockets, and felt a bulge. I’d completely forgotten about the contents of my pocket. I reached in, closed my fist around the bottled shadows, and smiled.

Patience is not one of my many virtues, but the situation demanded it, and I waited as the horde of Lyhtans came closer. The timing had to be perfect, and since I didn’t know how or even if the gooey black stuff would work, I had to try to take out as many of the bastards as I could. It was the only way we’d have a fighting chance.

Closer and closer, tick, tick, tick, the moment crept on with a sluggishness that only I felt. The Lyhtans could have been running at me, for all the difference it would have made.

The grass where Tyler landed began to stir. It was now or never, and so I pulled the bottle from my pocket and held it before me. Pausing, my fingers resting on the cork stopper, I considered my new circumstances. I had become one with the light—would I share in their fate?

Fifteen minutes and two seconds until twilight, but what did it matter now? My enemies were many, and I was only one woman with no weapon, no sword with which to strike them down. They would either have to be killed, or they’d do worse to me before they were done. If I died with them, so be it.

I moved quickly, and my foes slid toward me like an ice floe. Again, I reminded myself to put the amazement on the back burner, and I plucked the cork stopper from the thick glass bottle. I didn’t breathe. I didn’t blink. I didn’t move a muscle.

Tiny tendrils of the inky black stuff seeped out from the mouth of the bottle and slid to the ground like many cobras escaping a basket. Toward my feet the black threads crept, twisting and writhing near my ankles. But rather than continue their twining search, the dark strings paused, like a dog sniffing, at my feet and continued searching outward.

The first Lyhtan screams were terrible. With a languid slither, the sludgy shadows entwined their bodies,