Shadow Games Read online

  “Which by definition of our agreement means you actually haven’t delivered all that I require.” Her circled around the opposite side of me. As I kept moving in a circular motion to him.

  “So before you even knew that, you thought you’d what? Put in a little fail safe and bind me to you before we even started the job? What gave you the right?” I fired at him angrily.

  “You’re agreement.” He said simply, like that was all there was to it. I circled him and he followed my lead and started circling me back around the other way.

  “Do you have any idea what you’ve done?” I seethed at him.

  “More importantly,” He said watching me closely, “Do I care?” That was all it took for me to charge at him. It was the intended red flag to a bull. But of course, he was expecting just that reaction from me.

  It actually took me four swings at him to land a blow. As he ducked and weaved, matching me and my frustration and anger grew at him. In the end I resorted to the rather dirty, underhanded tactic of grabbing a handful of his hair as it swung out from behind him. Yanking on it and pulling his face upwards, I threw a right hook in, repeatedly, three times in super fast succession.

  Tarin’s head jerked as it tried to snap back from each of the blows I delivered to it. But I had his hair in my hands, keeping his face exposed at an awkward angle. He raised his leg and kicked out at me in the stomach, causing me to stagger backwards off balance. A handful of blonde hair still in my hands as he let out an angry growl of pain.

  “Just let me talk to Katelyn, I know she’s in there.” He panted at me, trying to sear my eyes to his with a silent plea. I threw a left right combination at him, hard and fast and clipped his chin, splitting it open.

  Tarin glared at me as I came back towards him. Again he kept up his hands defensively, but merely danced around me. Avoiding the angry impact that I wanted to make on him.

  “You don’t get it. Katelyn isn’t here. I am.” I resorted to what I knew would work for me. I looked like I was going to throw a punch when in fact I kicked out at his leg, kicking the inner soft spot of his thigh and causing him to stager off balance a few steps, but he still remained upright.

  “Well you’re just a bitch.” He muttered back at me and I delivered a solid round house kick to his ribs that momentarily winded him.

  “Says the guy who tried to kill us.” I replied dancing on the balls of my feet, my fists raised and pulled in tight

  “Tends to bring out the hello nasty side in any girl. She said, you deserve what you get. So I’m just going to make sure you get it.” I shot out a straight jab at him but he deflected my blow at the last second. “Playing hard to get, just makes you more attractive.” I smiled at him.

  “Fuck you.”

  “I don’t think so.” I said trying again and finding his deflection was rather effective, even as he panted heavily. I was all set to go to town on his mid section when we both heard Shaye Armadel step back into the bedroom.

  “Dinner’s ready.” Shaye Armadel announced. I paused and turned to look at him. He was watching both of us. “So wash up, no blood at the table, goes for both of you.” He said waving a pointed finger between us before disappearing back down the stairs again.

  I looked over at Tarin, his face was beginning to swell from the blows I had landed on him and he had blood on him. I was satisfied for now. “Saved by distraction. This will be continued, you can fucking count on it.” I muttered dropping my boxing stance and watching as he did the same. I turned on my heel and headed down the stairs quickly.

  The thing that people don’t realize about boxing is, in the movies, a fight scene looks like it goes on for ages. But the reality is, unless you’re trained to withstand the endurance required to triumph in one, it’s trying as fuck. Already my arms felt like they weighed like lead. I walked into the bathroom and turned on the basin taps. Which was weird part of being a demi-god in a human vessel. Had to be careful about how far I pushed the body I was in.

  Delivering a powerful punch takes as much energy as it does to receive the powerful blow. And I wasn’t sure I was up to full strength just yet. Because the last time, the only time Katelyn had let me off the leash, was when she was fourteen. Since then, she’d kept me dormant inside her, rather deliberately. I like Katelyn, a lot. We could work well together when required. And she had a strength of mind, heart and body that none of her previous incarnations, bloodlines had.

  I saw Tarin in the bathroom doorway from the corner of my vision as I watched my taped hands under the water. “I don’t get it,” I said glancing sideways at him. “Why you had to do it, she thought there was something between you two.” I said splashing water onto my slightly sweaty face. “She couldn’t figure out what it was, but it flitters across her whenever she thinks about you.” I turned off the basin taps and turned around.

  Tarin moved into the bathroom and walked over to me. His eyes darting over my face, and studying my eyes. It was like he wanted to say something, but it wasn’t for me, it was for Katelyn. I jerked back from his presence and shoved past him. This whole being two in one body thing was really irritating. No, scratch that, Tarin was irritating.

  4

  Walking into the kitchen, I noted Shaye was already sitting down at the small, narrow, plain wooden table. There were flat, square wooden stools around the table and a plate of pasta at either end of it. Tarin again walked in a few seconds after me. Clearly he wasn’t going to go anywhere.

  “Asha,” Shaye said pointing to one end of the table. “Tarin,” He said pointing to the other end of the table that was set. I walked around Shaye and the table to my place setting.

  “Asha?” Tarin muttered softly, sitting down at his end.

  “Well calling me Katelyn would just be a little too creepy.” I fired back at him sitting down on the stool and pulling it in to the table. “Given what I am.” He glanced at me and looked at Shaye for the explanation.

  “Katelyn’s an Asha Vihishta.”

  Tarin frowned. “I thought those were, male.”

  “I’m rather indifferent about gender.” I studied the pasta and the place setting and where I was. It reminded me of a time, long ago in a far off place.

  Shaye Armadel looked at me. “It’s pasta,” He said at me and I rolled my eyes at him.

  “Wasn’t born yesterday.” I said picking up the fork beside the bowl.

  “Well, technically, weren’t you? How exactly does it work that you two inhibit the same body but only one of you gets to come to the front and play?” Tarin asked before shoveling a mouthful of pasta into himself. I stared at him hard. “Just making conversation.” He replied forking another lot of pasta.

  “Fine, if we’re going to play nice and make conversation.” I said unwrapping one of my hands. “Then you can tell me more about who wants me dead.”

  “You first,” He said with his mouthful.

  “I’m her blood heir, I’ve been passed down and on from one being to another until I became Katelyn’s bloodline.” That made Tarin gag a little on his food. He reached for a glass of water. I smirked. “Yes, so when you’re drinking her it’s like we’re having sex.” I said to him waving a hand between us.

  Tarin sculled the entire glass of water and shook his head. “Damn.” He muttered putting the glass back down.

  “Yeah, you never knew bitch could taste so good, did you?” Tarin wiped his mouth with the back of his hand and kept his head bowed, concentrating on looking at his dinner.

  “So how old are you?” Shaye asked me.

  “Older than Katelyn. I’ve been around for at least forty thousand years, but after a while, you loose track of time and keeping count.” I looked around us. “How the mighty had fallen over the millennium. This is definitely not a lifestyle some one of my nature has ever had to endure before. I’ve been through various times in this world. This time, the decade Katelyn and you all live in, appears to be the dullest of the dull.”

  “So if you’re her bloodline, come to life
, so to speak, what happens to Katelyn then? Where does she go?” Tarin asked forking more pasta and not making eye contact with me.

  “Why don’t you tell me about who wants me dead first.” I forked a bit of pasta and spun it around and around.

  “I can’t.” He said watching me still.

  “You mean, won’t.”

  “Can’t because I don’t know.” I put down the fork and glared hatred at him. A demon was so very unbecoming, what the hell had Katelyn been thinking of when she’d hooked up with him?

  “Let me get me this straight. You tried to killed us, because someone you don’t know who wanted us dead and you what? Just thought you would do it blindly? Or did they pay you?” I saw a muscle in his jaw flinch. “They paid you. You tried to kill us for money. Lamest of the lame excuses ever and not even original.”

  I was going to pick up the fork again when I saw utter conflict filter across his face as he looked down at his food and before he knew it, I was upon him. I reached out and grabbed his wrist. In surprising him, I was able to get a gateway into reading him. His normal conflict and blocking presence were offline long enough for me to get into him. Problem was, the minute I touched him, he damn well knew what I was doing.

  “Hey! No fighting at the dinner table.” Shaye Armadel said at me.

  “Let go of me.” Tarin ground out trying to wring his wrist out of my grasp as I leaned across the entire table holding it. I was surprised that he wasn’t writhing around in agony because my touch when seeking out the truth, was known to be painful.

  “No, you tried to kill us not because of the money, but you were paid for it, but that wasn’t the reason behind it.” Tarin tried to wrestle his hand out of my grasp, but my grip was like an iron claw trap. It wouldn’t release him any time soon. Maybe Tarin was strong enough to withstand the pain of my touch.

  “You had to, you felt you had to at least,” I kept on holding his wrist looking in his eyes as he dropped the fork from his other hand and tried to pry my hand off him. He was too panicked to concentrate on blocking me. Maybe it was saving him from turning into a flayed mess, that might want to otherwise claw at his skin from having me touch him.

  “Stop it!” Maybe I was losing my touch.

  “Asha let him go.” Shaye yelled at me as we both watched his brother squirm and try to thrash his way out of my grip, that would not weaken and release him.

  “Because someone has something over you, they’re holding something on you and you felt pushed to have to go through with it. To make good on killing Katelyn.”

  “Let me go!” Tarin yelled at me, thumping his hand down on mine as I continued to read him.

  “Asha!”

  “And they scare you, and not much scares you. ”

  “Swear if you don’t let me go I don’t care who the fuck you think you are I’ll fucking hit you.” Tarin ground out trying to yank my hand and his off the kitchen table, without luck.

  “Asha stop it!” Shaye yelled at me, leaning towards me.

  I looked across at him. “Don’t you dare touch me.”

  “Asha, just let him go and Tarin will tell you what you want to know, right Tarin?” Shaye said looking pleadingly at his brother, who’s face was going red from trying with a lot of might, to get out from under me.

  “Go to hell. Both of you.” He panted, still trying to pry up a finger of mine without luck. I wasn’t sure if he meant me and Shaye or me and Katelyn.

  The thing was the more Tarin panicked, the more open his thoughts became to me and the more information I got out of him. He was freaking out about what I was doing and getting out of him because those that had put him up to it freaked him out. And not without good reason.

  “So you thought the only way to get rid of them from your life again was to do what they wanted, to comply with them. They threatened you. They threatened to make what happened to you when you were fourteen look like a day in the park.” At that point, I felt Shaye Armadel’s hands on me as he tried to pull me back and apart from Tarin. I had to give it to Tarin, he had some smarts about him. I felt him clamp down on his past memories hard and fast. But not before I got a bit of what he feared.

  Tarin’s eyes bore into mine and he stopped struggling, but kept his hands on mine. “Please, don’t.” He said softly.

  I let go of his wrist and he pulled back and away from me, stumbling over the kitchen stool, to get clear of the table. I shook Shaye Armadel off me and straightened up at my end of the table.

  “You didn’t want to.” I said across the table, looking at him. Tarin was still taking steps away from the table. He was reacting like he was in shock.

  “No.” The word was a whisper that came out of his mouth and he turned and stalked from the kitchen quickly. Again with Tarin I wasn’t sure if he meant Katelyn or for what had happened to him in the past. He was back to a swirling mix of neither here nor there, all conflict. That and he was raging with anger, that much I could get off of him.

  I was left with Shaye Armadel looking at me in puzzlement. “Do you know what happened to him when he was fourteen?”

  Shaye looked ashen and dropped into his stool heavily. “Yeah, Peyton and Tarin were captured by court of Vampires.” Shaye pushed out his stool and without looking at me.

  He stood up and paused. “What exactly are you doing here Asha?” He turned to ask me. “You saved Katelyn, You wanted to hurt my brother, congratulations you just about ripped his heart out with what you just did here. Maybe you should just go back to where you came from now. You’re work here is done isn’t it?” He stepped back from the table. “I better go check on him.”

  “You don’t get me, I understand that.” I said at him as he moved away from the table. “But that instinct you have, as small as it may be, to go comfort and protect your little brother right now, that’s me for Katelyn. That’s why I’m here.” Shaye nodded his head “The only difference between us is, I can manifest her and my power and feeling on it.” Shaye glanced away and walked off out of the room in search of Tarin.

  I sat back down and mulled over what I was feeling. Katelyn was making me feel something akin to remorse for Tarin. I focused on the other bit of information I’d gotten out of him.

  That those that had set him up to do their bidding, were not necessarily the ones who wanted us killed, they like Tarin were just messengers in a bigger scheme of things, that was why he couldn’t tell me who had put out the order to kill Katelyn and me. Because he hadn’t seen the boss player’s face or gotten a name. Those that had issued the orders were just the middle men in the scheme of things and Tarin was a tool they had wanted to use.

  5

  I could hear the sound of the boxing bag being hit, repeatedly. “I’m going to take Tarin with me and,”

  “No you’re not. He doesn’t go anywhere until I’m done with him.” I cut Shaye off with. “Besides, if the cops are already staking out his house waiting for his arrival, don’t you think they’ll be tracing you’re every move? You’re his brother after all. It would be quite natural for someone on the run to go to all those he is related to and familiar with.”

  Shaye put his hands on his hips. “He’s no safer with you.”

  “I thought you said you were on my side.” Shaye shrugged his shoulders loosely. “We don’t even know that you’re actually bound, I mean, what does that even mean? Has anything happened to show you that you’re bound to him?”

  “You are so on his side, you little liar. Must be a shadow demon thing, to be such brilliant liars all the time.” I scoffed back at him.

  “Guess I’m on his too. He’s my brother after all.” I rolled my eyes and started unstrapping my second hand. “Besides, you got your answer about why he tried to kill you. What more do you want?” I rolled up the mangled tape into a ball and put it on the table.

  “Maybe those who want me dead, to be found out and dealt with, duh. Can’t have a hit hanging over me once they find out I’m not dead.” I turned towards him. “and I have to ensur
e Tarin isn’t going to try that again. So pick your side Shaye because if it comes down to it and Tarin’s against me living, then he’s in for a hell of a fight, what you saw here tonight, is nothing.”

  “and I thought it was demons who liked to fight.” He said shaking his head and walking off again. “I’ll talk to him, see what he says.”

  “It’s fine, I got this.”

  Shaye looked at me dubiously. “I think I better play mediator between you two.”

  “It’s fine.” I muttered and started heading towards Tarin and the boxing bag area of the ground floor. I watched him for a few minutes. He’d tied his hair back in a loose knot at the base of his neck. He’d taken his shirt off and was covered in a sheen of sweat. His muscles defining with each movement he made in hitting the hanging boxing bag. I could see how women might think of him as pretty and attractive when he was in this state of male anger. He looked strong and fierce which suited him all to easy.

  “Why did you do to me?” I asked walking towards him.

  He eyes remain permanently on the boxing bag. Ignoring me. I frown. “Are you holding out on me shadow demon?”

  Tarin stopped hitting the bag and turned to face me. Sweat looked delicious on him. “You like her.” Tarin looked back at the boxing bag and stilled it again. Why was I thinking sweat looked delicious on him?

  He dropped his hands and looked at me again. “I’m not telling.”

  “Why not?”

  His blue eyes blazed with a new hunger in them. “Because you have Katelyn and I want her.” He stepped towards me cautiously. “So let her go and I’ll break the binding, that’s the new deal.”

  We walked towards each other. Between the two of us, we had plenty of ego to go around. But ego as outrageous as his was, usually made me want to pound his head into the concrete ground under us. But I found now, watching the way his bare chest moved as he breathed heavily, that I didn’t want to do that with him.

  “It amuses me that you think you’re in any kind of power position here to negotiate with, when you know nothing of what you’re up against, in me.” I wanted to do something else with him. Preferably as he was or completely naked.