Read Online Dark Awakening by Kendra Leigh Castle - Free Book Online
Authors: Kendra Leigh Castle
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simple trap. But how could he not have known he was being watched? He always sensed such things, always knew. However, he had never let himself get so preoccupied with a woman before, he thought with an unpleasant twist of guilt. Naturally, the one time he did, it could well cost him everything. Such had been the tale of his sorry existence.
It took all of Ty’s willpower not to bolt right then, to run off into the darkness in pursuit of whatever else hunted Lily, for he had no doubt that he or she would be far more formidable an adversary than this miserable wretch of a decoy. But business left unfinished was business that often came back to bite you in the end. His grip tightened on the vampire’s thin neck. On a whim, he yanked down the collar of the man’s moldering shirt. The mark there was dark against the pale and waxen flesh, and it confirmed what his gut had already told him.
The Shades did not constitute a bloodline. Humans would have called them a
gang
, though a vampire would have found that description ill-fitting at best. The Shades came from all walks of the underworld, though mainly from varying levels of the gutter, trained to be masters at their illicit trades. They were the aristocracy of thieves and murderers, both feared and respected by even the highbloods. This one seemed to have a dash of almost every lesser bloodline going, making for a fascinatingly intricate mark. But beside it, small and deceptively simple, was the telltale tattoo that was inked upon initiation into the Shades: a small black crescent moon. Blood did not create the mark of a Shade, but only death would remove it.
A voice from deep in his past returned to whisper from the depths of his mind:
“We’re all killers, Ty. Why not join us and be revered for it? It’s the only way a cat can live like a king.”
He pushed it away, locked it back in the recesses of his memory where it belonged. How disappointed the fledgling vampire who’d rejected that offer would be in what Ty had become, which was little different than all he’d denied, save for the dangerously thin veneer of respectability.
“You must have pissed off your masters terribly to be punished like this,” Ty said aloud. “And someone big must have hired them—assassination is still one of the most expensive services at the House of Shadows, yeah?”
He didn’t expect an answer, and he didn’t get one. No matter how far gone this vampire was, he wouldn’t tell. They almost never did. Bloody Shades.
“Peace, brother,” Ty said as the other vampire began to thrash beneath him, making a final attempt to throw Ty off and gain the upper hand. Or perhaps he just wanted Ty to end it for him. If that was the case, his wish was quickly granted. With a flash of a blade that Tynan had carried with him from his first life into this one, head and body were sundered.
And by the time the decaying body burst into flames seconds later, Ty was nothing more than a black blur, streaking into the night. Praying to a god he no longer believed in that he wasn’t too late.
Lily pulled into her driveway with no recollection of how she’d managed to drive herself home. The entire trip was like something out of a nightmare, her body on autopilot while all she saw in her mind was Ty’s burning eyes andgleaming fangs, and all she could hear was that unearthly voice telling her to run.
She’d nearly taken a detour dozens of times, wanting to head for anywhere but where he’d told her to go. What stopped her was what Ty had said about being responsible for losing people. She wouldn’t risk anyone else.
That didn’t mean she didn’t want to run… but there didn’t seem to be anywhere to run to.
Lily got out of the car, shaking like a leaf. Somehow, though, she made it to the front door, where she fumbled around with her keys for precious seconds, alone there on her quiet street. And, of course, she’d forgotten to turn on her porch light. Again.
“Come on,” she
It took all of Ty’s willpower not to bolt right then, to run off into the darkness in pursuit of whatever else hunted Lily, for he had no doubt that he or she would be far more formidable an adversary than this miserable wretch of a decoy. But business left unfinished was business that often came back to bite you in the end. His grip tightened on the vampire’s thin neck. On a whim, he yanked down the collar of the man’s moldering shirt. The mark there was dark against the pale and waxen flesh, and it confirmed what his gut had already told him.
The Shades did not constitute a bloodline. Humans would have called them a
gang
, though a vampire would have found that description ill-fitting at best. The Shades came from all walks of the underworld, though mainly from varying levels of the gutter, trained to be masters at their illicit trades. They were the aristocracy of thieves and murderers, both feared and respected by even the highbloods. This one seemed to have a dash of almost every lesser bloodline going, making for a fascinatingly intricate mark. But beside it, small and deceptively simple, was the telltale tattoo that was inked upon initiation into the Shades: a small black crescent moon. Blood did not create the mark of a Shade, but only death would remove it.
A voice from deep in his past returned to whisper from the depths of his mind:
“We’re all killers, Ty. Why not join us and be revered for it? It’s the only way a cat can live like a king.”
He pushed it away, locked it back in the recesses of his memory where it belonged. How disappointed the fledgling vampire who’d rejected that offer would be in what Ty had become, which was little different than all he’d denied, save for the dangerously thin veneer of respectability.
“You must have pissed off your masters terribly to be punished like this,” Ty said aloud. “And someone big must have hired them—assassination is still one of the most expensive services at the House of Shadows, yeah?”
He didn’t expect an answer, and he didn’t get one. No matter how far gone this vampire was, he wouldn’t tell. They almost never did. Bloody Shades.
“Peace, brother,” Ty said as the other vampire began to thrash beneath him, making a final attempt to throw Ty off and gain the upper hand. Or perhaps he just wanted Ty to end it for him. If that was the case, his wish was quickly granted. With a flash of a blade that Tynan had carried with him from his first life into this one, head and body were sundered.
And by the time the decaying body burst into flames seconds later, Ty was nothing more than a black blur, streaking into the night. Praying to a god he no longer believed in that he wasn’t too late.
Lily pulled into her driveway with no recollection of how she’d managed to drive herself home. The entire trip was like something out of a nightmare, her body on autopilot while all she saw in her mind was Ty’s burning eyes andgleaming fangs, and all she could hear was that unearthly voice telling her to run.
She’d nearly taken a detour dozens of times, wanting to head for anywhere but where he’d told her to go. What stopped her was what Ty had said about being responsible for losing people. She wouldn’t risk anyone else.
That didn’t mean she didn’t want to run… but there didn’t seem to be anywhere to run to.
Lily got out of the car, shaking like a leaf. Somehow, though, she made it to the front door, where she fumbled around with her keys for precious seconds, alone there on her quiet street. And, of course, she’d forgotten to turn on her porch light. Again.
“Come on,” she
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