Shadow Games Page 7

  “Katelyn what is it?”

  I finally looked at Tarin, fully, face to face. “Nothing.”

  “Don’t have to be a truth sayer to see how much you’re lying to me.” Tarin threw back at me, sounding upset.

  Men! Fucking shadow demons! “Try getting shot multiple times and not feeling your best.” I fired off unhappily. That wasn’t a lie. It was actually a diversion from the truth. I couldn’t get Asha to give up anything to me. But I could feel her fighting me for reign and control. That had never happened before.

  “You said, you got all of the bullets out!” Tarin roared at Arlow who was standing at the foot of my somewhat makeshift bed by the look of it. A sheet lay across me and I could see I’d already seeped blood onto it, the mattress lay in the middle of a desolate and plain room. Dust and dirt collected in the far corners. There were no windows and one doorway.

  “I did.”

  “Well maybe you missed a bit.” Tarin said overly angry at Arlow.

  “No I did not, there were no fragments.” Arlow said back at him crossing his rather strong looking biceps over his chest. “Truth is in the body and it’s healing, feeling is a good sign, even if it is discomfort. It means, there’s not much damage that she can’t overcome.”

  “What do you fucking care anyway?” I muttered back at Tarin dropping my eyes down to his arm which was still on my uncovered arm. He moved his hand off me then. Okay, I still hadn’t gotten over the whole trying to kill me thing, and now getting shot while he appeared to be just fucking dandy and hot, and handsome and worried. I thought looking at him frowning at me, his pale blonde hair curtained his face, the start of stubble growing along his angular jaw.

  “I care.” He said solemnly. Making me feel very alone with him, just him, in his gaze.

  “And yet,” I started “You try to kill me, you tie me up, and suddenly I come to, to find out I’ve been fucking shot! While you mister fucking hot and dangerous, look like you just missed a couple hours of beauty sleep!”

  He smirked at me then and focused all of his attention on me so that my skin heated up and I felt my face flush. “You think I’m hot and dangerous huh?”

  “Jesus the ego.” I muttered.

  He smiled at me giving me a glimpse of fangs for good measure and I felt my body betray my forced anger and annoyance at his inappropriateness. Heat pooled in me and I knew it wasn’t over between us, no matter what I tried to tell myself. How fucking hopeless was I around this demon?

  “Excuse me, but now’s not the time for….this.” We looked over at Arlow. I’d forgotten he was there. He waved a hand back and forth between us. “Blind people could feel what you two have for one another. It’s raw and that makes it strong. I’m susceptible to feeling through the Asha Vahisita when in close proximity to her.”

  “Well Asha’s not here right now, it’s just me, Katelyn.” I ground out at him. Arlow had the decency to look a little surprised at my outright rudeness at him.

  “Desire is desire, however you dress it.”

  “So what happens now?” I asked ignoring absolutely everything Arlow wasn’t saying but was implying. It was too much to take in and work through. Tarin was too much to work through and my life since I’d know him was more than enough to get through. I just couldn’t handle more than what I had on my plate at the moment. Especially feelings and sensations I’d never really had the pleasure in enjoying, experience and wanted before.

  “We can’t stay here for long, I’m afraid they’ll track us and find us too fast.” Arlow stated at me as I winced trying to pull myself upright. He walked around to the side of my shitty bed.

  “So we can’t stay here in this hovel because a crazy ass vampire woman wants to snatch you up. Righteo, well then the answer is we split the fuck up and all the crazy follows you, I ditch you’re sorry ass.” I turned to look at Tarin then. “And I ignore all of you fuckers and go back to my life as I know it!” My head throbbed at the temples. Great a fucking tension headache to top off all the crap that I was already going through.

  “You need to rest, you’ve been through a lot.” Tarin said in a soft voice at me as I closed my eyes. The urge to cry and scream at him was building in my throat. I felt messed up, in more ways than one. In my head I pictured a kitchen clean and normal one moment, blood spattered and unrecognizable the next. I pinched the bridge of my nose and felt Tarin’s hand on mine again. I shrugged it off.

  “Don’t fucking touch me.”

  “Katelyn.”

  “I’ve had enough.” I muttered as my eyelashes became wet and hot. Stupid girl emotions. I looked at him then, “Ever since you walked into my life, it’s all been out of control. And I’m the only one here getting hurt.” I stared at him hard. What I didn’t say was the hurt wasn’t purely physical. But I didn’t think Tarin deserved that much detail from me. He should want it, and he would have to earn it if he was ever going to get that kind of depth from me. What was I thinking?

  “Katelyn, I…” He paused like a lump was caught in his throat.

  “She’s right, you’ve done the most damage to the host of the Asha Vahisita here. You’ve done all you should do. I can look after her now.” Arlow said speaking up. Tarin’s eyes narrowed like an animal readying for a fight with it’s prey as he swiveled up into a crouch position beside me, on the balls of his feet, tense, angry and ready. How he turned such a simple movement into fluid grace, was beyond me. If I didn’t know any better I’d assume it was a somewhat protective gesture from Tarin. But my mind was foggy and focus was hard to come by. I couldn’t read him. Still didn’t want to.

  I was already feeling too much. Since waking up, it was like a wave of emotional torrents cursing and crashing through me, mixed with pain. And then there was Asha, trying to pull me down into her, trying to grab at my insides and drown me in this emotion.

  Our scales had tipped and were evening out, things had been changed between demi-god and human host, I don’t know how. It might have had something to do with the trauma of being shot in her form and having to allow my form as Katelyn to heal it. I couldn’t say for sure. It occurred to me then, what the root of all my problems was, other than Tarin directly. The binding, if I was even bound, whatever the fuck that meant, then it had to be that!

  “She’s not going anywhere until she’s well enough to move.” Tarin growled at Arlow. “You can run away and hide if you like, but Katelyn will be fine here, with me looking out for her.”

  “You’re looking out for me?” I half laughed at him. “What a Joke Tarin, you’re the demon who dragged me through this sorry existence of a life, who’s done nothing but ensure I am in danger and constantly hurting.”

  “Katelyn, there is only so many times I can say sorry, and that you can go over this again and again.” He said looking back at me, his face softer than it had been when he’d been glaring Arlow down.

  “Really Tarin? You think my right to vent my frustration, anger and anything fucking else I want out on you because you once tried to kill me – unsuccessfully I might add, has an expiration date?”

  “What did you mean by constantly hurting?” He asked me curiously.

  I saw the movement of Arlow as he paced at the end of the mattress. I watched as something flickered across his face and looked back at Tarin. I felt the air drop in temperature and the tension that radiated off Arlow back at Tarin, was like bee stings on my skin. I saw a muscle twitch in Tarin’s jaw was he feeling it too?

  “Oh fuck no.” I muttered in time to watch Arlow charge Tarin.

  17

  They tumbled backwards, head over body and over each other again until they smacked in a mangled heap into the wall where arms moved and wrapped around the other as quickly as they the other one’s opponent could manage. I hadn’t figured unicorns for being angry creatures as such. But then wasn’t Arlow’s whole job to protect the truth sayer? He’d left me with the impression it was his existence in life, his life mission to guard me.

  I tried to twist and
watch the silent action that consisted merely of a few grunts here and there and the sound of clothes rustling as the two males wrestled each other into holds and out of them again. Who knew fights of strength could be lethally quiet? Part of me knew I should get them to break up the fighting, but honestly, most of me, more of me, didn’t really care to do anything. Let them fight it out, take each other out. One less problem in my life to deal with right?

  Tarin grunted and struck a punch to Arlow before head butting him sharply, causing the black man to groan and grab his forehead as Tarin back up and away from him panting heavily.

  “Did you bind the Asha Vahisita to the mortal?” Arlow panted at Tarin angrily.

  “No, I bound Katelyn to me.” Tarin replied gruffly flicking his hair back out of his face. “And I did it so she wouldn’t die.” His eyes flicked over to me.

  “And in return, you bound the Asha Vahisita to the mortal vessel.” Both Tarin and I looked back at Arlow before I turned my attention back to Tarin. I had no idea what the fuck was going on.

  “Is that the only reason?” I asked him back. Tarin held my gaze.

  “He’s got a taste for her blood, the same thing that courses through you but is a gift from the Asha Vahisita.” Arlow said breathing heavily and pushing back upright. “He doesn’t know what he’s done and he doesn’t care that he’s done it to you.” Tarin growled and jumped up ready to go Arlow again.

  “Stop the fighting, already. Haven’t you had enough?” Tarin stopped moving but kept his line of sight on Arlow.

  “I care what happens to you.” He said looking down at me again. “I do.” He looked back at Arlow full of distrust. “What did you mean I bound Asha to Katelyn? How can I bind her if she already exists in her?”

  “He’s right, I was born a truth sayer. How is a binding different to that?” Arlow slapped his hands together and looked from one of us to the other like we were just so damn naive and stupid.

  “How did you bind her?”

  “Spoken words and blood.” Tarin answered him and as soon as he said it, I knew exactly the moment he’d bound me. He was talking about the night he’d first bitten me.

  “An agreement?” Arlow asked him and Tarin nodded his head in response.

  I thought we’d been making small chat before getting into some serious sexual release. His fangs sinking into me, had been an orgasm builder like no other I’d ever experienced. I suddenly felt incredibly stupid. I flicked the cotton sheet from me. I had a need to move, to want to move, to be away from him again. I also needed clothing.

  “Katelyn, you shouldn’t move.” I waved Tarin off. I’d always prided myself on being a smart girl. I might not have had much else going for me, but I considered myself smart, particularly savvy when it came to my business of espionage. And now, I just felt, hollow. I’d never seen any of it coming that much was true. “Katelyn, you need to take it easy and rest.” Tarin said hovering around me as I pushed up off the Matress.

  I could see the wounds in my legs, well, the blood that had seeped around the cotton strips tied around my legs anyway. They left a basic wound like outline in the make shift bandaging.

  “I have a fucking demi-god living in me.” I grunted and stood up, if not somewhat shakily at first. “I’ll be just fine, thank you.” At full height, in a standing position I felt my muscles stretch and pull and twinge around my bullet hole injuries. I ignored the odd sensation of the muscle tears. Or that I was without a bra and a top on. Modesty really wasn’t my scene.

  I flicked my chin at Arlow. “Go on, explain the whole binding thing.” Arlow sighed heavily and nodded his head slightly. He looked back at me and seemed to hesitate again.

  “Well for starters, the Asha Vahisita, is no demi god. Rather a god.” My eyebrows just about flew off my face as his words came out and I registered them.

  “A god?” I whispered as my voice failed me and my mouth went dry.

  “As in an all powerful, all encompassing god of wrath, vengeance, mercy and all that is true in this world and the next.” Arlow said back at me as my right leg started to twitch and bounce uncontrollably. I put a hand forcefully on my quad and pressed down on it. Tarin walked over to me and slid an arm around my shoulders.

  “How do you know that to be the case?”

  “Because my purpose is to protect the Asha Vahista.”

  “From what?” I asked dropping my hand and straightening back up and feeling somewhat grateful for the solid feel of Tarin beside me. “I keep hearing that, but what does a damn god, have to fear?” I slowly folded down again towards the mattress, standing it seemed took a lot of energy I wasn’t sure I had and Tarin pulled the cotton sheet back over my naked form. “Especially if very few people know it’s living rent free inside of me?”

  “Fear, deception, lies, deviation, false idols, those would destroy all the Asha Vahisita stands for.”

  “You’re loosing me.” I muttered settling in back onto my make-shift bed again, this time with Tarin behind me, so I could rest against him. “What does Asha stand for? Don’t you know?” I half twisted, winced and asked Tarin.

  “No. Asha never gave me an idea that she had a manifesto.”

  “How can you not know? You’re the vessel.” Arlow said back at me, his eyes darting to Tarin’s arms sliding around my sheet covered waist and back up to my face. I glanced down at them too and decided, it was okay. Maybe even felt nice to have his arms around me. Maybe. Maybe I just wouldn’t tell him that. “Have you not by your own admission carried the Asha Vahisita your whole life?”

  I was beginning to have a bad feeling. Call it distrust, instinct or just generally being pissed off with the world at large, but I was sick of Arlow withholding information from me. He seemed to know a lot more than he was letting on and the whole answering a question with a question technique, well Tarin had patented that behavior hadn’t he? And look where that had lead me with him. I didn’t need more mystery or action or anything but answers.

  “Is it just me,” I said tilting my face towards Tarin but looking straight at Arlow, “Or do you also get the impression that Arlow isn’t being entirely forthcoming with me?”

  “I get that impression.” Tarin responded his breath close to my face. I tried not to enjoy the warmth radiating from him to me. If I did I might just end up in bed with him also naked under the sheet and then doing a lot more than holding me against the hardness of his body.

  “Want to start again?” I said directly at Arlow. “Or do you just want me to guess your connection to Asha and you can tell me if I’m hot or cold.” Arlow’s face looked grimly at me. I took that as a sign he didn’t want to talk.

  “You’re a unicorn, a supposedly mythical creature built on truth. There’s only ever one of you at any one time in this plane of existence. Much like the Asha Vahisita is a god of truth. If I didn’t know any better, I’d say you were related to Asha. I just can’t figure out if it’s as her child or her would be lover, if you know, you were ever allowed to do the deed. I know that much, because like you so eloquently put it, I have housed the Asha Vahisita my whole life, and in the last week I’ve learnt more than I could ever imagine, about the blood of the god that runs through my veins. And I’m beginning to think, Tarin is the least of my worries if all he wants is a little of my blood to drink during sex.”

  Arlow remained statue, eyes narrowed on me and glowering. I appeared to have hit a nerve. Score one for the truth-sayer. I’d unnerved the fucking unicorn, reading him when he’d least expected it. It was like a personal attack that he couldn’t fucking stop. “Maybe there’s only one unicorn at a time because, you’re horn,” I said pointing to his ornate knife on purpose “Is designed to pierce the truth. Which really makes me think you’re an assassin of some kind. A family kind? How am I doing so far?”

  “Hot.” Arlow replied. We stared at each other. I grinned. So there it was, the truth of the matter of our real connection. Tarin’s arms loosed around me and slid back from holding me slowly. Arlow hadn
’t figured that one being of truth would be able to read the other, or more correctly, that I, the mere mortal vessel housing the truth sayer would be able to get a read on him.

  “You’re no better than a fucking black widow that eats and kills her own kind.” He said slowly moving as I sat holding myself upright in the bedding so he could get out from behind me.

  Arlow shrugged his shoulders loosely. “What family doesn’t have it’s problems?”

  “What’s you’re problem with your family? With Asha? Who is she to you?” I followed on with quickly. Stalling and buying Tarin time to get untangled from me before Arlow became too aware of what we were doing.

  “My sire.” Arlow replied.

  I nodded my head, I thought as much, his parent god. Because he would want to live up to the myth that unicorns were protectors of truth, when someone else supposedly wanted to kill her first. Tarin, the vampire female, they’d come across like they wanted to kill Asha and despite it being a trap to lure Arlow out of hiding, which had worked, he’d still wanted to save Asha first. For purely selfish reason, because he wanted to be the one to kill her. Not anyone else. He wanted to kill his maker, his mother. That was why he didn’t care about sex or anything else.

  “You want to kill your maker. That’s why you came to my rescue back at the mental asylum, that’s why you pulled bullets from my flesh. Because no one else has a right to kill her, that’s reserved for you.”

  “Red hot.”

  “Well then,” I said eyeing the way Arlow shifted weight on his feet back and forth.

  “I’d say we have a problem. Can’t let you kill her, because I don’t want to die for your petty family dysfunctions.” Arlow’s body tensed, and he began bouncing between his feet, rocking back and forth form side to side like a boxer readying for a fight.