Page 14 of Battle for the Shadow Prince (A Bargain with the Shadow Prince #2)

14

Candy & Shadows

ELOISE

I can’t blame Maeve for being angry. I’m the first person she’s ever performed CPR on, and I’m lucky she didn’t crack my ribs.

“I’m so sorry. I tried to stop him. I did.” I pull the afghan tighter around my shoulders and take another sip of healing tea from the mug she fixed for me. Then I give her a quick explanation of what happened in the dream, but it doesn’t seem to placate her. When she crosses her arms, I notice a slight tremble in her fingers.

“Never again.” She shakes her head. “I believe you. But you must realize how dangerous this is now.”

I run a hand down my face. “Yes. But he’s dying, Maeve. That cell she’s keeping him in, it’s torture. He’s my mate, and he told me to let him die. He wanted me to move on without him. I couldn’t allow him to give up on himself or us. I had to do something. My blood was all I had to give.” Without intending to, I’ve raised my voice. I shrink back with a sigh. “I couldn’t help it.”

Maeve chews her lip. “I’m sorry. I do understand why you did it, but I hope you understand why I can never help you again with this spell. I’ve watched you die now. Twice.” Her voice pulls thin at the end, and she swallows hard. “I just can’t.”

I nod. “I understand.” I draw her into a hug until the tightness in her shoulders eases. “The best part is I won’t need you to.”

She sits back in her chair. “Why not?”

“He told me how to find Cassius. I’m going to go to Chicago and convince him to help us. He isn’t beholden to a triune like Morpheus is, and Damien told me he’s his closest friend. I’m sure when he hears what condition Damien is in, he’ll do whatever it takes to free him.”

She frowns and adjusts her glasses. “When are you going to go?”

“Right away. I’ll try to get a ticket for tonight or tomorrow.”

“I wish I could offer to go with you, but my caseload is out of control. And I still need to follow up on your rejection of your inheritance. The account manager keeps pushing back on my notices. I’m going to have to escalate things.”

I wonder if it’s a good thing that Maeve can’t go to Chicago, considering everything that happened today and all the hours she’s put in training me. She’d burn herself out helping me if I asked and never complain. That’s why I think she needs a break from me. I’ve asked a lot of her lately. Too much.

I owe her one. More than one. At least one for every time she’s saved my ass.

“I’ll be fine on my own,” I promise. “Cassius is Damien’s most trusted friend. He told me in his dream that he trusts him to protect me. I won’t be in any danger. I’ll text you all the details after we meet.”

She nods and gathers her things into her arms. “I should go. You need to rest and recharge, and I need to work. I’ll see you when you get back?”

“Absolutely.”

I show her out, giving her one last hug before opening my laptop and searching for flights.

My stomach churns as I stand on the porch in front of 111 E Bellevue, the handle of my rolling carry-on bag in hand. It’s twilight, and I’m bundled in my puffer jacket against a bitter Midwestern cold snap. A trio of children dressed as witches walks down the sidewalk toward me, pumpkin baskets swinging from their elbows. Halloween. I’ve been so busy and distracted with surviving, I’d lost track of the date until I boarded the plane and spotted a pumpkin broach on the flight attendant. How is it already October 31 st ?

“Trick or treat,” the three sing in unison from the bottom of the stairs. Shit, I’m standing outside the door. They probably think I live here.

“Um…” I dig in my purse for some candy. I might have some mints or something. I find Purell. “Hand sanitizer?” I ask them, holding it up.

All three tuck their chins in and mumble, “No, thanks,” as they start for the open iron gate and their waiting parents.

The door to the house behind me opens. “How about Heath bars?”

I turn around to see a sophisticated black man in a turtleneck and slacks holding out a bucket of full-size candy bars. The girls squeal in delight, rushing up the flight of stairs to us to each take one and politely say thank you. Once they’re gone, the man’s warm caramel-colored eyes fall on me. Those eyes. They’re different from Damien’s but still appear lit from within, a characteristic I’ve learned is common in both shades and vampires.

“Cassius?” I ask.

“You must be Eloise.” His soft smile is welcoming but also confusing. We’ve never met.

“How do you know who I am?”

He gives a warm laugh. “Damien is normally a male of few words, but he was positively chatty when it came to talking about you. I’ve seen your picture.”

“Trick or treat!” A group of six boys, all dressed as Marvel characters, pushes past me to get to the candy. The parents wave to us, and we wave back.

Once they’re out of earshot, I whisper, “Damien’s in trouble. Is there somewhere we can talk privately?”

He nods and opens the door wider to reveal a foyer with ecru walls and a vase of white flowers at its center. I walk inside and he locks up behind us, turning off the porch light. “We’d better move to the back of the house.” He points his chin toward the living room and the hall beyond. “If they see lights on, they’ll keep ringing.”

“You live here? Aboveground?” I’d assumed he’d live like Damien did.

He tips his head toward the street. “I like the families in this neighborhood, human and otherwise. The windows are coated with a film that blocks out the UV light, and my bedroom has curtains. It’s a comfortable existence and one financed by the vampire coven I serve.”

He leads me toward the back of the house, turning off lights as he goes. I follow him, rolling my bag behind me, through a perfectly appointed living room and a white marble kitchen with top-end appliances. We stop in a cozy sitting area that ends in a wall of windows with a set of French doors. I find myself enchanted by the charming outdoor living space beyond, canopied in strings of white lights and a brick fireplace warmed by a roaring fire.

“You’ve come a long way,” he says from behind me.

At the sound of his voice, I start and turn around to face him. “I did. I hope you don’t mind my showing up like this. Damien gave me your address, but I could find no phone number to let you know I was coming.”

“I keep it private. But you’re welcome here. Any friend of Damien’s is a friend of mine.”

My cheeks heat, and I glance at the rug. “I’m more than his friend. I’m his mate.”

“Official then?”

I nod. “I’m here because Damien said he thought of you as a brother. He’s in trouble. We need your help.”

He takes a deep breath, his bright white smile fading slightly. “Damien is a brother to me. You came to the right place.” He hesitates as if searching for the right words and then breaks again into a welcoming smile. “Where are my manners? Would you like something to drink?”

“Anything is fine.” It’s not difficult to deduce he’s avoiding the part about helping. He hasn’t even asked what happened to Damien. I glare at him, wondering how much he already knows.

“Sparkling water?”

I nod, although in truth I feel like I need something stronger. The stress I’ve been under the past few weeks has given me a permanent ache in my shoulders. I roll them a few times and crack my neck.

He must notice because he says, “Would you like some vodka with that tonic?”

I blow out a fast breath. The truth is I’d love a drink, but as much as Damien trusts Cassius, I don’t know him, and this is no time to lower my guard. “No, thanks. I’ll take a lime if you have one though.”

He gives a low chuckle. “I do.”

He moves to the kitchen and starts filling two cut-crystal glasses. I turn back toward the outdoor fireplace and notice a book open on one of the end tables in the seating area.

“We can sit outside if you like,” he says. “Might be a little cold for you though. I don’t feel it the same way you do. There are blankets.”

I am drawn to the lovely space with its potted plants and blooming chrysanthemums, but he’s right, I’m only now beginning to warm up from the walk over. I nod toward the open book and furrow my brow. “I hope I didn’t interrupt your reading.”

He appears beside me, although I don’t hear him coming, and hands me one of the drinks. “On Halloween? I would have been interrupted either way. Truth be told, I knew it was only a matter of time until you sought me out. I’ve felt a disturbance down the shadows for weeks.”

“You can feel that something’s wrong?”

He takes a sip and stares at the fire crackling outside. “Sometimes. The shadows are like a web—connected, sensitive. Normally I can feel Damien and Morpheus as a soft vibration in the distance. Damien’s vibration has been irregular as of late.”

“Valeska took him. She’s holding him in a silo in Night Haven. She’s hired the Kim witches to spell the walls so that he’s always in daylight.”

His sigh turns into a groan, and he sets down his drink. “Then my worst fears are true. Give me your jacket. This conversation could take a while.”

I remove my puffer and hand it to him. He clicks on a lamp and gestures for me to have a seat, then leaves to presumably hang it up. I park my bag and sit, suddenly thankful for the soft armchair. I still haven’t fully recovered from being drained by Damien. I flop onto the overstuffed cushions, my limbs turning to jelly at the first opportunity. My head feels like I’m thinking through cream soup. Maybe I should have asked for coffee instead of sparkling water.

When Cassius returns, my heart gives a tender squeeze. “You move like him,” I say, glancing down into my drink. “Smooth, like your joints are just for show.”

He laughs, a twinkle sparking in his eyes, and sits across from me. “It’s a shade thing. These bodies are more for convenience than anything else.”

“Convenience? Don’t you mean camouflage? For fitting in among humans?”

“Even on Tenebris, this is our preferred state when we aren’t fighting. Easier to fit around a table. Our horns don’t bump into things.”

“Right. Damien mentioned something about that to me once.” I think back to that first day I entered his dream of the garden and how he’d mentioned that his humanlike form was considered more diplomatic on his planet. I take another sip of my drink and then really look at Cassius.

He has the type of burnt-umber skin that’s luminescent, remarkably smooth for a male, without a hint of a beard. His hair is cut short on the sides and back, a little longer on top. But when he shifts to pick up his drink, the movement is lethally fast. From the first moment I met him, I had the impression he was a gentler soul than Morpheus. Now I’m not so sure. My intuition tells me he’s kind but also capable. Fair but deadly when he needs to be. He’s exactly who I need. I bet he could have Damien out in an afternoon.

“I warned Damien that Valeska wouldn’t give up easily.” He lifts his drink and swirls the ice around the glass. “He swore she’d move on once she knew about the Gowdie curse, but when the vampire queen wants something, she will not be denied.”

“You… suspected this might happen?” It’s like taking a blow to the stomach. Damien hadn’t so much as mentioned Valeska to me. I had no idea she was a danger.

He nods. “Shades like us are the ultimate weapon to vampire kind. We can both feed from and be fed on by vampires, thrive in the dark but can survive the light, and our control of shadows makes us positively lethal here where their kind has no such power. When we mate, it’s for life, and a shade is fiercely loyal to his mate. It’s biologically determined. If the queen managed to force Damien to mate her, my brother could not fight the bonding. He’d become her tool, her weapon, until either she or he is slain. She knows this. Knows that if she managed it, he’d be her ultimate protector and assassin. She’s already grown Night Haven by swallowing up neighboring covens. With him by her side, no coven in North America would be safe.”

A dark pit forms in my middle. I already hated her. Knowing she is a megalomaniac, even to other vampires, only darkens my sense of her. “Then you’ll help me free him?”

Cassius takes another drink, this one longer, and scrapes his bottom lip with his teeth. “That is a more complicated question than you as a human could possibly imagine.”

“Explain it to me like I’m a toddler,” I say with more attitude than necessary.

He leans back in his chair, crossing one ankle over the opposite knee. “By the frustration in your voice, I’m guessing you’ve already tried Morpheus.”

“I have.”

“And he refused you.”

“He said he couldn’t risk starting a war with Valeska. His triune would never agree to it. It would put the entire Caspian line at risk.”

Cassius nods. “Alas, I’m afraid I’m in the same boat. I am now the commander of the Lamia coven, the largest vampire coven in the Midwest. The master here is nothing like Valeska. She and her mate are fair and benevolent, but she’s also a wise leader. Allowing me to act on Damien’s behalf could put her coven at risk. No one, Eloise, wants to pick a fight with Valeska right now. Her hive is too big and too powerful.”

“You say it’s too big of a risk, but if Valeska is truly that big and powerful and mating Damien would make her unstoppable, why wouldn’t every coven leader band together to make sure that doesn’t happen? Isn’t doing nothing just as risky?”

“While you might think so, vampire politics is a delicate and complex thing, and that type of strategic cooperation is almost unheard of among them. Vampire covens rarely form alliances. They form armies.”

Tears form in my eyes, and suddenly I can’t catch my breath. It’s like my last hope has been tugged like a rug out from under me. “You’re not going to help him, are you?”

“I didn’t say that.” He shakes his head, face fallen. “I said my master may not allow me to help as long as I hold my current position, and unfortunately, if I leave my current position, I become an option for Valeska. She could slay Damien and target me.”

“Fuck.” I blow out another breath and throw back the remainder of my drink. “So it’s hopeless?”

He holds up one hand. Shakes his head. “What I propose is that you come with me to meet the master of the Lamia coven. Together we can relay the risk that Damien’s capture means for her and the Chicago vampires. She and her consort are shrewd when it comes to these matters. It’s possible she’ll agree to use her political influence to pressure Valeska to give Damien up.”

I nod because my throat is too tight to speak. In my heart, I grip the last shreds of hope he’s handing me. But Valeska is the only vampire queen I know of. It’s hard for me to believe that the Chicago master will be any different. I cough a few times and find my voice. “When can we go?”

He smiles as if he’s relieved that I agree to his plan. “Tomorrow night. With it being Halloween, she is otherwise engaged this evening. I will take you to the Star tomorrow night.”

“The Star?”

“The Star of Lamia. It’s the subterranean world the Chicago vampires call home.”

“Is it safe? You should know the queen has a price on my head.”

“We will share your identity only when necessary. Once my master knows who you are, her priority will be to protect you, not hand you over.”

“Is it safe otherwise? I mean for humans?” Maeve was adamant that visiting Night Haven would be a death sentence.

“It’s safe. Our master forbids killing humans. We may feed on them, but we cannot harm them. And I will be there to protect you.”

I nod, resigned. All these questions, they are only to help prepare myself. Even if I had to descend into a passageway lined with barbs and broken glass, I’d agree to his plan. He’s my last chance at helping Damien. “Okay.”

“We’ll go at twilight.”

I place my empty glass down on the coffee table. “In that case, I should go. I haven’t booked a hotel yet.”

He stands. “I won’t hear of it. You must stay here tonight. Damien would never forgive me if I left you unprotected in the city, especially now that you’ve shared there’s a price on your head. You took an incredible risk coming here alone. This house is warded, and I have plenty of room. I insist.”

“Thank you.” I sense I can trust Cassius, and not just because he’s like a brother to Damien. There’s something about the shade that puts me at ease as equally as my meeting with Morpheus disturbed me.

He picks up my bag. “Then allow me to show you to your room. I must report to the Star within the hour, but I’ll be back by dawn. Make yourself at home and help yourself to anything in the kitchen. Vampires here don’t eat, but as Damien probably shared with you, shades do. You’ll find the pantry well stocked.”

With only the slightest tug of apprehension about trusting a veritable stranger, I follow the shade upstairs, committed to a plan to descend into a world of vampires tomorrow night.