The Bloodshade Encounters & The Songspinner (Shadeborn Book 2) Read online

  “That’s your solution?” she demanded. “Lies on top of lies? Why am I not surprised? Perhaps when I tell them my husband is dead, it won’t have to be entirely untruthful!”

  She lunged for the knife Alexander had been cutting his meat with, and came down on him like a rock-fall, wild and heavy. The young man panicked, his eyes rushing to and fro as the shine of the blade slipped in and out of his vision. He wrestled fervently to get Charlotte back on her feet and out of his way, the two of them tumbling off his chair and onto the floor in the fracas. A woman possessed with scornful vengeance, Charlotte found herself atop the man who’d betrayed her and took her moment, pinning him down with the knife pressed tightly to his throat.

  “I could have loved you, you know,” she spat.

  Alexander closed his eyes, as if accepting the end of his life.

  “God preserve me!” Charlotte screamed.

  Her lover stood and dusted off his shirt as she floated in mid-air beside him. Alexander had never been all that good at gravity magic but, when the need arose, his instincts helped him to focus all the better. At other times in his life, Alexander had had no fear of the odd human making wild accusations that he was a demon or a witch, but in the town of Salem, these things were taken much too seriously at present. He let Charlotte drop to the floor where she connected with the boards head first, knocking herself unconscious in the fall.

  Alexander needed a plan. He had left his family in Virginia quite some time ago, travelling from place to place in search of pretty girls and good living, of which he supposed he would never have his fill. Knowing that he would stay youthful and strong for many centuries to come, the young shade was consumed by hubris and often got himself into trouble. A plan would be handy now, when he needed to escape a town full of witch-hunters before they trussed him up like a chicken and sent him up the gallows ladder. He wasn’t sure that his skills with gravity would be enough to survive a lengthy hanging, and the thought sent him reeling with despair.

  He burst out into the town square, where the bodies of the five accused witches had been cut down from the gallows, his stomach wrenching at the thought that he would be next if he couldn’t make himself vanish before Charlotte opened her big mouth. She had been a pretty little lover for a time, but her sudden pregnancy wasn’t the sort of thing Alexander Cross hung around for. Hung around. The young shade could hardly breathe as he stood in the square, wondering what was best to do.

  That was the moment when the most beautiful girl in the world strode up to the gallows.

  Alexander watched in fascination, his sharp blue eyes captivated by the sight of the vision before him. She wore all black in the baking August heat, the sun beating down on her as though it would defy her very presence in its glow. Her hair was as raven as her black lace dress, cascading down her back like a great obsidian river, exposed to the elements and unashamedly so. Was she in mourning? She was provocatively dressed, if she was. The young woman reached the steps of the gallows, observing the structure still caked in dirt and filth from the hanging the day before. She extended her pale fingertips to touch the wood, and gave a smile with lips as deeply red as blood.

  Not in mourning then, Alexander decided.

  “Come here, boy,” she said, her voice carried across the square by an unseen breeze. “It’s rude of us not to make introductions.”

  Alexander wasn’t sure if he wanted to make introductions or not, but his whole body drew him nearer to the girl and her funereal presence. He took slow steps to arrive before her, studying her strange, morbid attire and her amused look as he approached. She was petite, a full foot shorter than his impressive frame, and she stepped a little closer to appraise him better. The girl faltered a moment in her approach, stopping to lift the point of her dainty black shoe. The spongy remains of a half-smoked cigar lay crushed beneath her sole.

  "There's a saying in Salem town," Alexander said with a grin, "that when a woman steps on a cigar, the next man she looks upon will be her husband."

  The dark beauty gave him a wry smile.

  "Do you think the same rules apply to shades?" she inquired.

  A fellow shade. Alexander had not seen one in quite some time. He was not as talented as most of his kind with his powers, so he preferred to rule over impressionable humans instead. He remained motionless in his surprise, half-grinning and hoping she didn’t mistake his hesitance for idiocy.

  “What is your house, young one?” the beauty added.

  She had called him young, so this girl was older than her perfect porcelain skin suggested. He was tempted by the very improper sight of her collarbones, following the faint veins on her chest down to the place where her dress obscured his view. He licked his lips and swallowed, wanting to reply in his best, most charming voice.

  “I’m Alexander Cross,” he said, giving her a bow. “We were the Cross house of England some years ago, but I am of the American contingent now.”

  The beautiful temptress nodded, her rouged lips parting in amusement.

  “My name is Evangeline,” she answered, “of the French house of Novel.”

  The Water Portal

  Evangeline walked only half a step ahead, but it was enough to tell Alexander that he wasn’t expected to speak. He watched the curves of her torso and the sway of her hips as the dark beauty led him away from the town, out into the surrounding farmlands. In their walk, Alexander had a chance to consider her name: Evangeline Novel. The Novels were likely to be the most ancient of shade houses, and they laid claim to being direct descendants of the first shadeborn to ever cross into the human world. The Novel tradition dictated that all family members to bear the name had to be highly trained and ferociously skilled with all magic from an uncommonly young age, which would explain Evangeline’s amusement at walking up to the gallows. Alexander was willing to bet this petite figure could have wiped out the whole settlement if she had wished to. He found that he was both excited and terrified by that idea.

  When they were far enough from the sleepy morning eyes of Salem Town, Evangeline stopped and offered Alexander her hand. He took it without thinking, electrified by the prospect of her touch, and suddenly found himself ascending into the air. He tried to use his own gravity to aid the flight, but Evangeline was evidently in charge of their course. Her fingertips barely even connected with his own as they flew, forcing him to reach for her constantly, lest he plummet into the endless trees below. Alexander had never bothered to explore the summer forest west of the town, but now he rather wished he knew where he was going, so that he might have a slim chance of finding his way back if the need arose.

  They landed with sharp precision in a place where a batch of trees opened up to form a clearing. Evangeline let her quarry drop first, only a foot or two off the ground, and Alexander landed with a splash. He looked up at her in revulsion as the cold pond-water crept into his shoes and started soaking up the legs of his trousers. Evangeline too landed in the water, but the pond seemed to part at her will, leaving her long dress unscathed as she stood in a dry hole she’d created in the middle of the flow. Alexander willed himself to do the same, but the most he could manage was a small, rumbling wave that sent a few frogs leaping out of his way.

  Evangeline’s perfect lip curled.

  “You’re a bit late mastering water, aren’t you?” she said, clearly amused.

  “Did you ever consider you might be early?” Alexander replied.

  The dark beauty giggled at him and waved her hand, leaving them both in a pocket of dry land amid the pond-water. Alexander wanted to ask what this madness was all about, but the girl before him was far too serious and severe to have brought him to a deserted frog pond for no reason. He let her lead once more as she carried them deeper into the water, the ripples parting to form a new path with every step. They were only a few feet forward when the pond-water suddenly stopped co-operating.

  “Something wrong with your skills, my lady?” Alexander said with a grin.

  Evangeline s
hot him a dark look, but she was still smiling.

  “This is supposed to happen,” she explained. “I have a friend living in these parts. This is how I find her.”

  The trim lace figure raised her arms to her sides and pushed forward with her chest, a sight which Alexander was consumed by, at first. It took him several moments to realise that a great deal more water in the pond had shifted, leaving a column of liquid in the very centre untouched. Either Evangeline had left it there on purpose, or the remaining water was impervious to shademagic. Alexander didn’t like the idea that impervious things existed, so he opted for the former choice. He stepped forward and peered into the column, surprised to find it far clearer and more reflective than the previous pond had been.

  “What now?” he asked.

  “We pass through it, of course,” Evangeline answered.

  Again she waited for him to take her hand, but Alexander felt a surge of impetuousness at the thought of once more being led like a child. He leapt into the water, feet first, and found himself falling straight through it, as though the liquid had never been there at all. There was no wetness for him to pass through, for the whole thing was an illusion. Now, he found he was tumbling through blackness beneath the earth as he struggled to get command of his own gravity before he met the floor.

  He was a bit late, landing with a dull thump on the hard, stone ground at the exact moment that his powers kicked in. The gravity soothed a little of the blow, but the young shade’s legs and feet were burning from impact as he stood and regained his balance. Evangeline, who had obviously been expecting the drop, landed gracefully at his side. She titled her head to look up into his face, one long finger rising to trace across his jaw. A curious look overcame her dark eyes.

  “I’m not sure if that was courage or stupidity,” she mused, “but it amused me all the same.”

  “Would you mind telling me where we’re going now?” Alexander asked.

  “But of course,” Evangeline said, bowing her head. “If you’ll pardon my candour, I’ve noticed that you could use a little assistance in the power department.”

  Alexander puffed out his chest, ready to defend himself, but the young woman held up a tiny hand.

  “No sense in denying what we both see is fact,” she clipped. “It’s not your fault, my dear, the House of Cross is terribly badly bred. They don’t make strong connections with the blood. All the same, I don’t like to see a shade in need. I want to help you.”

  She didn’t say it in a magnanimous way, and Alexander didn’t like the pitying frown in her lower lip, however delicious it appeared. He already knew she was at least fifty times more powerful than him, so the last thing he needed was a reminder of his shortcomings. How could she possibly help him? What could be so special about this cavern that it could override his own blood?

  “I suppose I could consider a little more power,” he replied stiffly.

  “Of course you could,” Evangeline agreed, already starting to walk away.

  His eyes had adjusted to the darkness during their talk, but Evangeline’s black-lace form still vanished into the shadows if she walked too far ahead of him. Alexander kept close behind her as she led him to a place where small orbs of light were settled in the cavern roof, giving enough of a glow to stop him from walking into the walls of the tunnel they now traversed. Had she been a human girl, Alexander thought this would have been the perfect time to give her a fright and wrap her up in his arms, but he had a feeling he might lose those arms if he tried such a move under these circumstances. Still, the desire for Evangeline’s body was burning under his skin, whatever reservations he had about her superior skills.

  Once in a while, Alexander had to calm his shock at the sight of faces in the walls. They weren’t the actual faces of people, just illusions caught between the light and the rocks, yet the farther they walked into the tunnel, the more Alexander felt their hollow, shadowed eyes were following him. A new voice echoed through the tunnel suddenly, forcing him to choke on the hitch in his own breath.

  “Well, well. What have you brought me now, shade daughter?”

  Gifter

  The tunnel opened into a grotto where thousands of the small, light-giving orbs were plastered to the ceiling like a cobblestone wall. The combination of so many dim spheres gave the whole space an eerie blue glow that reflected down into a clear-water river, which Evangeline was quickly approaching. Alexander watched her float effortlessly across the trickling underground tide, but he chose to leap the few feet across it instead. There was no sense in showing her just how shaky his levitation was, especially since the ‘friend’ that she had mentioned was now watching him too.

  Once he had crossed the thin strand of river, Alexander had a better chance to observe the new figure in the glow. She had no legs to speak of, rather a wisp of smoke that grew from her waist where she stood some seven feet tall. Her upper half was thick but curvaceous, a golden waistband marking the point where her body faded away to smoke. The upper section was barely covered by a fitted black waistcoat, revealing numerous patches of skin that were a sparkling shade of blue, not unlike Alexander’s bright eyes. From some angles, the light orbs above made it look as though the woman was made of ice, but the closer he got, the more Alexander thought her skin seemed to be as hard as glass.

  “Gifter,” Evangeline said, bowing her head to the huge figure.

  “Mademoiselle Novel,” the creature replied.

  Gifter’s voice could have been forged from shadows. She spoke through glossy white lips, set into a face with bright coral eyes, and her hair fell in silver ringlets around high cheekbones that cut a fierce wedge under those eyes as she grinned. Alexander had never seen a creature of such aspect before, though he had encountered many supernatural things on his journey across the Americas thus far. The fact that he didn’t know what manner of thing Gifter was left an uneasy knot in his stomach, but he couldn’t stop staring at the tall figure, even through his state of fear.

  There was neither pupil nor white to her gaze, only that swirling coral-red liquid, which filled the orbs between her eyelids to the brim. Alexander was certain that she wasn’t blind by the way she locked her gaze upon him, but he found it hard to know what emotions lay beyond her opaque look.

  “Do they not bow where you come from, boy?” Gifter asked.

  “Oh,” Alexander stumbled, inclining his head to the woman. He didn’t like the feeling of exposing the back of his neck to her, and a cold shiver passed over his skin when he did so. He bolted upright again as soon as he could.

  “This is Alexander,” Evangeline explained politely. Even she seemed less confident in Gifter’s presence, for some of the smugness in her smiling, rouged lips had faded. “He’s been living in the middle of Salem Town. I assume you know of the trials up there at present.”

  “A witch hunt,” Gifter said, nodding. She toyed with a curl of her silver hair. “I can feel the blood seeping into my walls as it runs downstream from the gallows.” She considered Alexander again. “You poor child. Have they found you out?”

  “Not yet,” Evangeline added swiftly, “but they will. He exposed his powers to a human girl this morning.”

  “How could you possibly know that?” Alexander asked, a sudden rage burning in his throat. She had come to meet him at the gallows deliberately then, but the question remained as to why he had become a target for this pair of vixens.

  “Eyes in the walls,” Gifter chuckled, putting a finger to her long, thin nose and tapping just the once.

  Once again, Alexander’s gaze roved to the cave walls where the shadows played tricks, making faces appear in the rock. As a handsome young wanderer, he had gotten himself into many awkward situations in the last few years, and become well-practised in running away from them all with his essentials still intact. Now, as he stood before the two females, Alexander realised he may have stepped out of his depth on this one. The magic here was complex and unfamiliar. He didn’t even stand a chance against Evangelin
e if things turned ugly, let alone against the giant blue spectacle that was grinning at him, like she was ready to plate him up for dinner.

  There was only one solution: play along until the chance arose to escape. Alexander turned to address Gifter directly, forcing his stance to look cool and unaffected.

  “Evangeline said something about power?” he prompted.

  “Ah,” the glassy giant crooned, “You would like a gift!”

  The figure glided backwards, raising her hands to the roof of the grotto, where the light orbs sat. Within moments the spheres stuck to the cave ceiling started to detach themselves, glowing brighter as they descended into the lower atmosphere one by one. A particularly dazzling ball of orange light passed Alexander by and he just caught sight of its spindly legs and bug-eyed face. They were like fireflies, though much larger and brighter than any variety he had ever seen, and they were sentient enough to follow Gifter’s thin hands as she guided them into formation.

  They grouped themselves to form a sphere, which hung like a lantern beside Gifter’s head, as a series of objects came into view behind her. She removed some covering cloths from a few items in turn: a jewellery box, a mirror and the empty frame of a window. The window surprised Alexander the most, for he had thought only shades knew the value of keeping an empty window frame handy. As Gifter leaned forward to explore the contents of the jewellery box, Alexander noticed something that he rather wished he hadn’t. In the silver-framed mirror that was propped by her side, Gifter did not have a reflection.

  There were only two kinds of creatures who didn’t have a reflection in a mirror. Alexander was fairly certain that Gifter was no vampire, but the other option of what she might be was too terrifying to contemplate. He tried to convince himself that it was a trick of the light, because of where he was standing, but when Gifter turned with a small glass bottle in her hands, the mirror showed him the bottle with no fingers wrapped around it, and no body beyond. Gifter, with her glass-blue skin and her voice made from darkness, was a sworn enemy to the shadeborn.