Burned In Shadows Read online

  “First, I’d like to say welcome to Jes and Belinda. You two are formidable additions to the team.”

  Royce quickly interjected as usual. Bells didn’t know if he was truly that stupid, or truly that arrogant. He was wearing his diesel jeans and a white tee-shirt that said, “Suck It,” in stark black letters. The men usually dressed for work in their standard uniforms of black BDU’s and grey shirts. But today must have been casual wear day because all the men were dressed as if they were lounging.

  “Dude, don’t forget their super-secret code names or the infamous decoder ring.” He reached into his pocket and gave both women a Ring Pop. Hers was pink, and Jes’ was green. What a dork, she thought to herself, but it was sweet too. He had that effect on her a lot lately. There were times Belinda couldn’t stand him, and other times she wanted to crawl into his lap and rest her head on his shoulder. He looked supremely pleased with himself as he went on about absolutely nothing. He smiled, and his entire face lit up with mischief. He was up to something, and as usual no one would know what until it happened. Royce Zarides was sex on a stick times ten. His funny sense of humor and active imagination is what took him over the top. The combination was deadly to her female parts. The captain was hot, but if you were to take Royce’s charming personality, then add in his panty dropping swag. Dravaggio paled in comparison. His charm was dark, and his voice was seductive, but Royce seduced you with his entire being. He walked, talked, and he fucked sex. She knew that whatever Royce had to give was darker than what Dravaggio would offer. The girl he’d brought to the building a couple of weeks back, was unable to walk or speak right. Her voice had carried through the walls into her quarters late into the night, and again in the early morning. Jealous much? Yeah, she was totally jealous. Utterly and quite perplexed at her emotions for him. With Royce and Ronin she ran hot and cold, at the same time.

  “Okay, let me introduce you to the real Shadow Unit.” Royce walked around the room and stood behind Hawke. He had black hair, black eyes, and hard lines, chiseled into a finely tuned killing machine. He was a water dragon from House Tatsu and Clan Kuzuryu, and his real name was Ryu. He constantly chewed gum but somehow managed to look hot while doing it. Hawke was always dressed in tight grey shirts with his black BDU’s, but today he was wearing sweats and a hooded sweatshirt, still chewing his gum. He ignored Royce’s comment and sighed loudly, popping a bubble inside his mouth. Hawke, like Ronin was the quiet one.

  “Meet Fiyah… not fire, but Fiiiiyaaah.” Royce said in a sing song voice. The guy was a regular joker at all times.

  He walked to Adam’s chair next. He was GQ, complete with stylish loafers and a perfectly cut suit. He was the public face of Shadow Unit. The pretty boy who was able to warm his way right into the hearts of the press. Copper brown hair and warm whiskey eyes, Adam was not hard to look at. His face was all sharp angles with strong, aristocratic bone structure.

  “Meet half pint. We’d call him full pint, but he can’t seem to stomach more than half.” Jes laughed, and Bells tried to hold hers in. Everyone knew he was Vampiri, and he was from a Royal house. He just wouldn’t say which one. Adam’s hair was pushed back from his face, by a pair of dark shades. He reached his arms above his head and stretched. It was his way of ignoring Royce while watching Jes. He had it bad, and the poor guy had no idea he’d never have a shot with her friend. He’d been slowly trying to make his move, and Jes ignored him at every turn. Whether she did it on purpose, Bells didn’t know, but she was always polite about letting him down.

  Next up was Gabe, the Golden God as Jes and her joked behind his back. He kept his blonde hair short and watched everyone with his eerie eyes. They were a champagne color, pale but vivid with a subtle orange tinge. He was wearing cargo pants and a white tee-shirt that threatened to rip at the seams.

  “Meet sunshine, his eyes will light any dark passage at any given time.” Gabe moved his chair out of the way as Royce stood behind him and spread his arms wide. Oh lord, what was he going to do now?

  “Gabe will come out, tomorrow, bet your bottom dollar that tomorrow Gabe will shine. Just thinking about tomorrow, cleans the cobwebs and the sorrow.”

  The entire room burst into laughter, except for Gabe. He looked over his shoulder at Royce, and keeping his voice low he said.

  “Sarcasm is anger’s ugly cousin. It’s not my problem you don’t like yourself.” He looked serious, but Bells couldn’t tell, some days the two were best of buds, but other days they were at each other’s throats.

  A grim look passed over Royce’s eyes for a second and was quickly masked with mirth. He was hurt but only for a second. Or he’s got a remarkably adept poker face.

  “Not my fault you can’t get laid Gabe.” Royce shoulders shook as he laughed. “Dude, I totally rhymed right there.”

  Next he walked over to Dravaggio and pulled out his phone. He scrolled through it for a second, looked up at both women and winked. He was searching for something. When he found it the corners of his mouth tilted up in a grin.

  “And this, dear ladies is JT,” his finger hit the button on his phone and on came Justin Timberlake’s Sexy Back.”

  The room was silent for a moment and with valid reason. The captain was known for his temper. There were times when you were able to tell when he would explode, other times, not so much. Since joining the members of the Shadow Unit, Belinda only witnessed him out of control once. That was the day he’d called off the search for Draven. It hadn’t been pretty either, but the incubus was going to anger management counseling and it seemed to be helping a little. His nostrils flared as he took in air. His fingers drummed to the tune of the music, and even Royce took a cautious step back.

  “I believe Justin stole that from me.” He drawled with a lazy grin on his face. The other team member’s stifled their laughs with coughs as Royce was momentarily silent. He recovered quickly and moved to Dietrich next. D sat across from her with his shades still in place. For all she knew, he was sleeping. He looked comfortable in his baggy jeans and Whiz Khalifa tee that said, “Wake up Drunk Go to Sleep Fucked up.” His beautiful sienna skin had a strong reddish-orange undertone. She remembered that skin and how it looked next to her own. She needed to clear her head before she thought back to a time that was long forgotten.

  “I would say he’s the ghost with the most, but that would imply he’s better than me.” Royce winked. Dietrich didn’t move a muscle, nor did he think the joke was funny. Instead, he kicked his leg out and pushed against the table, trying to cause Royce to fall into the wall behind him.

  “That wasn’t nice, meat head,” Royce said as he walked to the head of the table. The others at the table were waiting for the explosion, these two fought at every turn, verbal and physical ones. Pissing contests for who was the biggest prick as far as she was concerned. D wasn’t interested in her, but made sure to annoy Royce at every opportunity. If the twins knew the real reason he was acting that way, well things would go south real quick.

  “Are you done?” Dravaggio asked in a tired voice. There was a slight urgency to the captain’s tone, and Royce seemed to take the hint and returned to his seat.

  “Now that that’s done, I’ll move forward if it pleases you.” The captains voiced dripped with authority. It soaked up the attention of every person in the room including Bells. His way with words was legendary in the panty department. Here in the conference room it commanded acknowledgement and respect.

  The lights in the building flickered on and off momentarily. Which was nothing new, but something didn’t feel right. A few seconds later alarms began blaring, and the men were on their feet and headed for the door.

  “You two stay here,” Ronin said to Belinda and Jes. Who was he to tell her to stay put? She and Jes was able to fight like the rest of them. Together, they’d take on almost anyone.

  The room immediately emptied as the men headed for the basement. Someone had broken into Marcus’s cell. Ellie, who manned the front desk would h
ave noticed an intruder, so how did someone get past her? The lights were out, and the red flashing of the alarm system was dull and annoying.

  “Let’s go check on Faith, she’s probably scared.” Jes calmly walked from the conference room feeling her way down the corridor of the hall. With her new found power and strength, maybe she was able to see in the dark, maybe she couldn’t. But she didn’t seem to have a problem navigating her way down the hall towards the front of the office. So Bells took that as a good sign. Faith and the receptionist sat behind the desk. Her niece didn’t seem worried, but she looked a bit concerned.

  “Everything okay here sugar?” Jes asked her daughter.

  “Yup, lights just went out mommy.”

  Bells looked over her shoulder to the front entrance. No one had entered through that way. Must be a faulty alarm, wards had been set in place after the debacle of the last assignment. Dravaggio said as much. He’d made sure that everyone was scanned into the security system’s main frame with their body signatures. Silent alarms would go off if anyone was in any area of the building they didn’t have access to. That was everyone including Ann.

  “Let’s get them to one of the other rooms just in case.” Belinda said motioning for them to follow her.

  Jes nodded, and the secretary who hadn’t utter a word, followed them to the back where other offices were located. Bells pulled the door open and ushered them all in. Once Faith and the secretary where inside she closed the doors and turned to her friend. They needed to see where the rest of the team had gone off to.

  “Let’s see what the racket’s all about.”

  They both made their way back to the stairs leading down to the holding cells. The entrance to the stairwell was bathed in a faint red glow at each interval on the stair’s landing leading down. Which meant every other flight was covered in darkness. Visibility wasn’t hard for her, but the red did throw off her sight a bit.

  “Can you see anything?”

  “Yeah, I can make out the stairs and of course the exit signs, why? Can’t you?” Jes asked. Well she saw something, but her friend obviously saw more. Funny thing about being immortal, they weren’t truly immortal. Long lived, yes, but they bled and died with the best of them. Jes stood silently waiting for her to answer.

  “Of course I can see.” No reason to say otherwise. If something was coming at them, she’d see it. You sure? She wasn’t about to doubt herself or her skills. They began taking the stairs two at a time. Their steps were light and silent. She couldn’t hear anything as she and Jes took the stairs to its bottom. It wasn’t quite the bottom as the building was set on top of a hive of sorts. It was a system of caves and passages that led to other things. Dravaggio had given them an overview of what lay beneath the building, but it was high-level information. Nothing too detailed as they didn’t have access to the lower-levels.

  The sounds of men shouting at the bottom on the other side of the door told her they were in the right area. There was scuffling and loud grunts and fists connecting to bones.

  “Let’s go.” Jes said over her shoulder.

  The door banged open and a dark figure in black fatigues had a dead weighted Marcus over his shoulder barreling through the door, knocking Jes down. He railroaded Bells into a side wall and kept going.

  “Stop!” Jes yelled. She jumped to her feet and made a beeline for the stairs. Bells got to her feet and went after her in pursuit. This day just kept getting better and better.

  Chapter 3

  Adrenaline pumped viciously through her body as Jes took the stairs three at a time. Marcus was escaping, it didn’t matter that he was on the shoulder of a man dressed in black. And how very bad-guy of him to have a mask over his face, and what the fuck for? Keeping his identify must have been key for this little mission he was on. She shouldn’t be surprised; the leader of the Red Sun Organization obviously wanted his puppet back. She was gaining on the masked man, and he didn’t seem to mind. The Cocky bastard! Just because she was a female, men felt she was weaker, inferior to their intelligence and strength. Well wasn’t he in for a surprise. Her legs pumped harder as they both reached the top of the landing at the same time. The door wasn’t a pull but a push. Dummy. Guess he thought he’d be able to pull it open and instead pulled the door off its hinges.

  Jes used his fumble to her advantage and kicked out with her foot and pushed him, Marcus and the door forward into the hall. His head made a silent thump against the metal. What a fucking douche! He didn’t drop Marcus either. Neanderthal was going to try and take her down with one arm. Did he think he would best her just because she was a girl, and he was a man? Bring it! Jes thought to herself. She didn’t give him time to think, she reached forward with her right hand while thrusting him in the chest with her open palmed left hand. He shot backwards again, and she yanked with her right clasping onto Marcus’ dead weight body. The intruder must have knocked him out because Marcus wasn’t moving. With her new found strength, she was able to yank him from the other guys grasp. The man clad in black was quick to recover. He was up and in her face seconds after she knocked him back. He reached out and grabbed her by the throat pressing inward. This did nothing but piss her off more. Why did it seem like she was always fighting for her life? He brought her closer as he tried to choke the life from her. Her skin tingled with power and her canines elongated. Canines? When the fuck did she get Dracula teeth? No time to figure that out now. Darkness was threatening to cloud Jes’ brain, but there was also that buzzing noise in the back her head. Something was happening, and she didn’t know what it was. So many changes had already taken hold of her physically and mentally, it was hard to keep up at times.

  Everything was still brand new to her, some days she knew herself other days she didn’t. It was the days she didn’t that scared her. Tonight was one of those days as her mouth filled with teeth she’d never had before. The mood changing eyes she’d dealt with, the inhuman super strength, no problem, but fangs? Fangs were not on her list of fashionable attributes to have. The intruder currently trying to squeeze the life out of her, stilled. The air was agitated with his aggressiveness, but beneath it was doubt. Doubt? He doubted himself, and she was going to exploit his weakness to her advantage. Jes brought her hands up between his arms and pushed down with all her strength. It loosened his grip on her neck and she backed up, taking large gulps of air. His head tilted to the side, and he examined her. She boldly met his eyes and stared into eyes that looked identical to Oliver’s eyes when they’d gone black.

  Great she was dealing with one of those strong-psycho –silent- killing types. Those estranged men who never had the pleasure of sleeping with a woman or being around one for that matter. She hated she even had time to acknowledge that. Ronin said never let her guard down. Not now, not ever again. Her scars may have been physically gone, erased from her body, but the memories lingered. She was still a damaged fucked up shell of a woman, more now than before with the loss of her mate Draven.

  A flash of green caught her eyes as the masked man stared at her for long moments. He was walking closer, one hand outstretched as if he would help her. His body language said he was sorry, but the air in the room was still filled with male testosterone and the anger that clung to it. Who was this man? As he reached slowly toward her, Jes took her chance. She reached forward as if to take his hand. Closer.....Closer...... Contact! She pulled him down to the concrete floor and put her boot to his throat and pressed. He struggled, grabbed at her boot and twisted. Pain exploded in her ankle and spread up her leg, but she quickly recovered and fell full straddle on top of him. Squeezing hard with her thighs, she latched onto his side and began to choke him. The masked man struggled and coughed, wrestling his head back and forth for what seemed like hours. When his body went lax beneath her thighs, she loosened.

  Deep breaths sustained her shaking body. She was so amped up on adrenaline she didn’t think she’d come down. Her fangs were still making their debut appearance when Bells finally m
ade it to the top of the landing. She was doubled over and trying to catch her breath. Damn had she gotten faster? What seemed like minutes must have happened in a shorter span of time.

  “Dude, you fucking have fangs now?” Bells questioned breathlessly.

  “Um, yeah. I guess I do now.”

  “Is he dead?”

  “No he’s out… I think.” She was about to get off the body, but she wanted to see who the intruder was. He was large, but she was used to seeing large men, she sparred with two giants every day. She bent forward and pulled off the mask and froze. The shock of what she discovered hit her full force. All the air from her body dissipated in a cloud of heartfelt confusion and sadness. She’d had dreams about this moment, nightmares even. Every single time the outcome had always been the same. Even in her nightmares the ending was what she wanted. Something was seriously wrong with this picture, and from the loud explosion of breath that Bells let rip from her chest, Jes knew she wasn’t dreaming.

  Why? Why would he do this to her? Where had he been for the past six weeks? They’d looked for him, the entire team had searched that warehouse from top to bottom and found nothing. Not even a body. She wanted to shout with victory and scream in agony, all in the same breath, but nothing came out. Exposed, powerful emotions bombarded her senses. She was shaking and her vision blurred. The sound that left her throat was loud and laced with pain and fury. Fury at herself, fury at him. She felt foolish and elated at the same time. Why was he here, and like this?