Shaedes of Gray: A Shaede Assassin Novel

Oh, wow, Ty. Thanks for the Encyclopaedia Britannica answer. I couldn’t believe I’d been so turned on a moment ago, when all I wanted now was to throw something at him. “Do you know of anything that could have come into my apartment this morning? Something invisible, with a mean streak?”

“Meaner than you?” Tyler’s frustrated smile drew a momentary twinge of guilt from the back of my ragged emotions. “Let me see what I can find out. I’ll meet you back here later tonight.”

“No!” I said with enough oomph to blow him across the room. I did not want to spend the evening deciding if clothes on or off was the best way to play with him. “Meet me at The Pit.”

His face fell a little. Well, too bad. “Fine,” he said. “I’ll meet you there around eleven or twelve.”

Eleven or twelve? Tyler was nothing if not punctual. Everything was changing.

Chapter 9

I never made it to The Pit. Strong arms, fast and stealthy, took me from the sidewalk, blindfolding me before I knew what was going on. I kicked and screamed and fought like hell, but I’d been bound by something that kept me nice and secure. The air around me became dense and fragrant as I recognized the presence of my kidnappers. Shaedes. Two of them. And from the tone of their voices, I got the impression that neither one of them was particularly fond of me at the moment.

“We should kill her now and do Alexander a favor.” Anya flat-out hated my guts for some reason, so I guess her role in my kidnapping wasn’t so surprising.

“Quiet, Anya. You’re not here to pass judgment.”

Raif? Seriously? I’d thought we’d grown closer during our nights of training. Since discovering I wasn’t an endangered species, I’d considered the possibility of connecting with someone. Raif had become that someone. He got me. And aside from Tyler, I didn’t have anyone else in my life. If he was party to this, I must’ve pissed him off, and that hurt. Returning the katana and disrespecting his king had clearly pushed his buttons just a little.

I couldn’t move, which was yet another new thing for me. New experiences just didn’t hold the appeal they used to. A length of cord bound me, the material of which I couldn’t identify. Soft like silk, and at the same time almost rubbery. No matter how I fought, I couldn’t wrench my wrists free. I focused on letting go of my corporeal form and becoming one with the shadows, but somehow the bindings kept me locked within my skin and restrained my unnatural strength. The cords had to have been woven with some sort of magic. They moved with even the slightest shift like elastic bands, yet were unyielding to my struggling wrists. They rendered me as helpless as a human bound with plastic zip ties or metal cuffs. Perish the thought.

I lay on the cold metal floor of what I assumed to be a van. Unable to see, I had only my senses of hearing and smell to aid me. The sweet scent of Shaede hovered around me, and it didn’t take long to discover that Raif and Anya weren’t the only ones there with me. Several scents I couldn’t place, though they were unmistakably of my own kind. I’d learned since being exposed to these Shaedes that each of us has a unique signature, and I knew Raif’s and Anya’s. I heard virtually nothing. My captors grew quiet as doors closed me in and the vehicle pulled out into traffic. The only sounds were the hum of the engine and the vibrations of each tire as they rolled over the road.

I had no doubt they were taking me to Xander. I assumed he’d been a little fired up by my dismissal, but all- out kidnapping hadn’t topped my list of possible retaliations. As we drove to who knows where, I tried to prepare myself for whatever punishments would be meted out. If Xander was mad enough—and I suspected he was—I could expect a severe ass kicking from Raif or Anya or both. I didn’t think an encounter with either one of them would leave me feeling like we’d bonded from the experience.

My thoughts drifted unbidden to Tyler. I wondered if he was waiting for me at The Pit. I wondered how long he’d stay before he went looking for me at the studio, and how long after that before he’d start scouring the city. Ty would go looking for me. I wasn’t wrong. Something had developed between us whether I wanted to acknowledge it or not, and he would track me down like a hound on the hunt. I just wished I didn’t have to worry about him losing his fool head in the process.

After what felt like forever, the vehicle came to a stop, and I took in a great gulp of air to steady my quaking limbs. The thought that I might leave this existence and pass permanently into shadow sent a wave of anxiety washing over me. I prayed I would die with a sword in my hand. I hoped I would leave this solid form with dignity and with the respect of my adversaries.

“I wish I could kiss Ty one more time,” I whispered.

The back doors of the van opened, and I was hauled out by several pairs of hands. My head bounced against the pavement, and my hips and legs followed suit as I was dumped on the ground. Someone standing above me snickered, and I connected the sound to Anya. Of course she’d be delighted to see me suffer.

Lifted as if I weighed nothing, they carried me through a door, and the familiar smells of a home drifted up my nostrils. We weren’t in a musty warehouse or unused residence like the town house. This place had a lived-in scent that lingered everywhere.

My head knocked uncomfortably a couple of times as I was towed up a flight of stairs. Again, my captors did not make much of an effort to see to my comfort. I could hardly blame them. But that didn’t mean I wasn’t crazy- pissed because of it.

They threw me down on a soft, cushiony surface. The blindfold was removed, and I felt the air shift as my kidnappers departed under the cover of shadow. It took a while for my eyes to adjust, even though the room was relatively dark.

The surrounding space boasted rich furnishings. Sporting an enormous bed, couches, chairs, a table, and a desk, it was a suite unto itself. Antique dressers and vibrant oil paintings decorated the walls. Doors led from the central room to other unknown places, waiting like dark chasms branching off from the main body of a cave. The smell of Shaede permeated my senses. New, fresh scents, and old as well, wafted around me, but the most prevalent scent in this room belonged to him.

“What shall I do with you, Darian?”

He startled me with his velvety voice; it trailed out to wrap me in its embrace. I hated him for his voice, for the way it made me feel, what it sparked in me. For that reason more than any other, I despised him.

I bucked my chin toward the ceiling. Screw you. I locked my defiant gaze with his when he came around to sit on the edge of a wing chair and face me.

“What are you going to do with me, Xander?” I asked.

He laughed and the sound touched every square inch of my body. Reaching out, his balmy fingertips crossed one of the raised welts on my face that had yet to go away. He turned on every light in the room, and I tucked my head against my shoulder, squinting. Pulling up my long sleeves, he examined the welts with interest, a sound not unlike a growl erupting from his chest. In my incapacitated state, he left me little choice but to accept the appraisal as he continued to search, lifting first my shirt over my belly and then my pant legs, blazing a path across my skin as he surveyed the damage done.

“Lyhtan,” he said through gritted teeth.

“Who?” I couldn’t help but ask.

“Not who,” he said, his voice soft. “What. A Lyhtan did this to you. When did it come?”

“This morning,” I said, loathing myself for letting my guard down. “What is it?”

“The Lyhtans are creatures of the light,” Xander explained, “and vicious, deadly beasts. But whereas you can pass into shadow at night, so can the Lyhtan move unseen in the day. They are confined to their corporeal forms once the sun sets.”

Oh, goody, more surprises. What next—aliens living among us? “They’re like us?” I asked, chagrined that I even had to ask.

“More like us than I’d care to admit. We’re cousins, in the true sense of the word. Both our lines were born to brothers, Artis and Rannan. They defied their father, as the legend goes.” Xander paced the room, and a thoughtful expression graced his face. “Kreighton was a foolish king and let fear ruin his kingdom. The brothers took brides