Darkest Whispers (Eternal Shadows Book 2) Read online

  Darkest Whispers

  Kate Martin

  Copyright © 2014 Kate Martin

  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including information storage or retrieval systems without the written permission of the author, except for within reviews, wherein brief quotations are permitted.

  This book is a work of fiction. All names, characters. places, and incidents are either a product of the writer's imagination or used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events or locales is completely coincidental.

  Cover design by Steven Novak

  novakillulstration.com

  ISBN: 1500220760

  ISBN-13: 978-1500220761

  Dedication

  No writer can function without great critique partners—and I have the very best. Patricia Tighe and Sara J. Lyon stood by me through the entire editing process of this book, letting me rant and worry and rejoice as necessary. They kept me sane, and this book is better because of them both.

  And for Anna, who read the final draft and “fangirled,” reigniting my own enthusiasm for this world and its characters.

  And finally, to the readers who have stuck with Kass and Rhys through this journey, and to those who are just meeting them for the first time—Thank you.

  Chapter One: A Sturdy Branch

  I had grown to love the feel of the wind whipping past, whistling against my ears and sweeping my hair back into a tangled mess. The trees were a green blur, yet I knew exactly where each one ended and another began. I hopped easily over roots and fallen branches, laughing with the scent of evergreens and summer flowers filling my throat. The sunlight was scattered by the leaves above, and I could actually enjoy the warmth on my usually cold skin. I felt powerful and strong. A feeling I hadn’t experienced in months.

  My legs powered through the forest, my whole body charged by something I couldn’t explain. The marks on my neck had healed, and though they itched, and the scars made me remember things I would rather forget, I could finally run without pain lancing through them. Even the locket-shaped burn on my back stayed quiet as my arms pumped back and forth, urging me faster.

  Nothing could ruin this day for me. It was my first time so far from the cabin where the General had hidden the family all summer. My first time truly exploring the woods of New Hampshire—though I might have crossed into Massachusetts without knowing it.

  And the scent of fresh earth was quickly closing in on me.

  I made one last half-hearted attempt to remain out of reach, zigging and zagging between the trees and under low branches. To my right, an old tree groaned and fell to the ground with a thundering crash, and I laughed so hard I tripped.

  I never hit the ground. Hands grabbed my waist, twisting me around and lifting me back to my feet. The thick trunk of a tree appeared at my back, and lips pressed against my own. I threw my arms around Rhys’s neck, pulling him closer until his strong body melted against me. He kissed me breathless, but only because I still insisted on breathing all the time.

  “For a minute there I thought you were actually trying to avoid me,” he said, mouth still against mine.

  Stealing another kiss, I wrapped one leg around his, ensuring he couldn’t get away. “It feels good to be outside. And away from Cade’s oh-so-fun lessons.”

  “You certainly seem to be learning a lot.”

  “I do my best to be a good student. Is there anything you’d like to teach me?” I wove my fingers into his soft black hair and gazed into the blue eyes I dreamed about every night. Sometimes in this life, sometimes in others.

  Rhys made a show of looking thoughtful. “I bet I could come up with something.” He kissed my neck, which always sent tingles straight to my knees. Thank god I had a tree and a five-hundred-year-old vampire to hold me up. His hand wandered up from my waist to brush my collarbone, then the chain around my neck that held the sixpence from his human years. I closed my eyes, wanting to absolutely lose myself in him.

  Then the wind shifted, and the all too familiar scent of steel and gunpowder swept between us. Rhys tensed against me, and I had only enough time to draw a single breath before the tree at my back shattered. Debris hit my back as Rhys tossed me away from danger, using his own body as my shield. I found my feet at the last second, digging my heels into the ground to steady myself, and listened carefully, desperately, for even the slightest rustle of leaves, but there was only silence. Nothing dared move. A huge chunk of tree trunk was missing, bits of bark and wood littering the forest floor. I saw no attacker. But I could smell him.

  “Stay here,” Rhys said. He took off, heading west, into the light of the sun.

  I waited for the inevitable bang, the incredible crash that would surely erupt through the woods when two old and powerful vampires clashed.

  Instead, a bird in the branches above me took flight, and the scattered sunlight went dark.

  The air shifted. Crap, he was coming after me.

  My next thought vanished, shattered by the force that pounded me into the ground. The earth gave beneath my back, cool and hard enough that it hurt. Sparks of pain rained along my body, but though I had braced for the worst, nothing else came. When I cracked an eye open, expecting a disapproving expression from a face that wore it as comfortably as most people wore smiles, I instead found myself face to face with those stunning blue eyes I loved so much. His hair covered in bark and leaves, Rhys knelt above me, one hand on either side of my head, acting as a living shield. Looming over him was the dark shadow I had failed to dodge, one hand pressed firmly against Rhys's back.

  “Well, can't say I'm impressed with either of your performances," Cade said. "I’ve torn out your heart, Rhys.”

  In one whirling instant Rhys released me, shook off the debris, and turned on Cade. “Have you lost your mind? You could have killed her!”

  Cade shrugged, the hand he'd placed so precisely, poised to tear out Rhys's heart from behind, falling back to his side. “I would not have actually harmed her, just as I have not harmed you.”

  “That hurt, Cade.” Rhys rolled his shoulders, stretching out his back. “You barely pulled that punch.”

  “I knew you could handle it. Had you not stepped in the way, Kassandra would have received half that force.”

  Rhys grumbled in his native language—as he usually did when he wanted to say things that were less than nice. I couldn't understand a word of it, but I was beginning to think I would ask him to teach me. Or maybe I would remember the language once I fully remembered my past life as Bryn. Who knew.

  Cade offered me a hand up, and I took it, warily. Rarely did Cade offer me anything that wasn't about to turn into a lesson on vampire life. “Really, Cade, I'm not that interesting. You don't have to seek me out on your day off.”

  "We don't have days off," he said, serious as ever. One of these days I was going to find his sense of humor, wherever he had hidden it, and I was going to force feed it back to him.

  “We should.” I dusted myself off. “It feels like we've been training non-stop. Can't I have one day alone?”

  “You were not alone.”

  “You know what I mean.”

  “Rhys may not always be around to protect you.”

  The way he said it gave me a chill.

  “It was not my intention to disturb you today,” Cade continued as if he hadn’t just completely turned our afternoon upside down, “but something has come up.”

  That caught Rhys's attention, and his ritualistic cursing stopped. “What came up?”

  “It would be best if we discussed it elsewhere.” A mo
ment passed where neither of them said anything. They just stared at each other as though they could communicate without something as common as human speech. I knew it was nothing more than a long history together that made it possible, nothing supernatural, but it still gave me the shivers sometimes. Especially when the grave expression on Cade's face made its way over to Rhys's as well.

  “What?” I said, unable to take the silence and the not knowing. “What happened?”

  Cade turned to me, all that darkness suddenly gone from his grey eyes. “You are another matter entirely. Though I think you will not object to the assignment.”

  “Assignment?” Out of the frying pan and into the fire. Cést la vie. Couldn't anything in my life be simple? Normal? No?

  Cade's hands were clasped behind his back. “How do you feel about returning home?”

  Home. I hadn't realized just how much I wanted to be back there until I was. Until I stood on that front porch, gazing up at the windows I had peered out as a child, and the steps I knew every pock and every chink of.

  I stared at the door I had walked through thousands if not millions of times. The brass handle shone in the morning light, begging me to grab it and push. But I didn’t. Home didn’t smell right.

  Anne had been sent away. Somewhere safe, Rhys had assured me. With so many attacks, it was better not to have humans around. The only mortals inside were feeders. Brody and Millie had come back a few days earlier to check things out. They had given their report, and so Cade had passed down the verdict.

  But despite the world knowing about vampires, I had to play human. The past weeks I had spent all my energy on learning to be a good vampire—faking humanity would be a challenge. Yet, there I stood. On my own front step, suitcase at my feet, and completely unwilling to step into my old life.

  I wasn't ready to go inside.

  I pulled my phone from my pocket and hit the speed dial. Sara answered almost immediately.

  “Kassandra Amelia Thomas."

  “Sara Elizabeth Tigree."

  “Ugh. I hate it when you call me that.”

  “Then don't start it.”

  “But your name has such a nice cadence to it.”

  “Shut up,” I said. “Guess what?”

  “What?”

  “I'm home.”

  “Home? Really? I thought you had to stay at the rehab place a while longer.”

  “Change of plans. They let me out for good behavior.” I grinned at Rhys, who was walking up the stairs to the house, looking un-amused by my analogy. “I'm itching to do something fun. Want to meet me somewhere?” I stuck my tongue out at Rhys, making it clear that he should have been amused. He went inside without a word, but I thought he smirked.

  There was a short silence, followed a very audible sigh. “I'm sorry, Kass. I can't. My parents are dragging me to this safety conference today, and by the time we get back it will be almost dark and . . .” She didn't say it, but I heard it all the same. The dark held monsters.

  “Oh,” I said, hoping my disappointment sounded normal. “That's okay. I get it. A safety conference, huh?”

  “Yeah, a lot of people are going. With everything that's been happening and all, it's hard to know who to trust.”

  There was something in her voice, something that stirred the new instincts deep within me. Fear. “What do you mean?”

  “Haven’t you been watching the news? Haven’t you seen what’s happening?”

  “Well . . . no, actually. I didn’t have a television all summer, though I’ve heard about the attacks.” Random vampire attacks, mostly tied to feedings. Or at least, that's what everyone had told me. I was beginning to think they'd left stuff out. On purpose.

  “People are turning up dead, and others are missing. Some of them turn up a few days later only they’re those bloodsuckers themselves. They come back and kill their families. I know we've talked about this before. I know a vampire saved you at the party, but, Kass, you can’t trust any of them. It’s too dangerous. If you let them get too close . . . they could turn you against everyone.”

  I knew I couldn't approach, not yet. I knew she would call me and make plans as soon as she was able, but I had to see her anyway. Had to see for myself that she was alive and well.

  So I was stalking my best friend. Well, maybe not stalking. Watching in a creepy way? I'd hidden myself in the shadows and everything.

  I so needed to get my life in order.

  After my phone call, Rhys had disappeared somewhere. Probably with Cade. Boredom had turned to worry fueled by my inventive imagination. I needed answers. So, I'd waited for Sara’s family to arrive home, just before sunset. They had all filed within the house quickly, locking the doors that had been lined with holy relics and silver. Her father had even sprinkled what I could only guess was holy water over the front steps. Who had given this safety seminar? Not anyone who had the faintest clue it seemed.

  Sara popped her head out the side door once, letting their dog out and remaining to watch. Her hair, normally highlighted with some color of the rainbow, had been turned completely blonde. Why the change? I wanted to walk right over there and ask, but I couldn't. Because no one—no human—was supposed to be out after dark.

  Just when I convinced myself to go home, to cease my not too normal need to simply see a friend, I realized I wasn't alone. Someone else watched from the other side of the street, in the shadows created by the street lights and trees. A salty, wet scent—like the ocean—wafted through the air.

  Concentrating, I peeled away what I could of the shadows with my enhanced vision. Hair the color of the sand I could smell, and the clear absence of a pulse. Vampire hearts pulsed a bit more after feeding, I had discovered, and when we got hungry our hearts really struggled to beat. This one's struggle vibrated with an audible hum. When she turned her flashing blue eyes towards me, locking her gaze with mine; her fangs had extended, ready to feed.

  Sara called her dog to come back inside.

  “Stay away from her,” I said, softly enough that Sara would never hear, but the vampire would.

  “Want her for yourself?” The other vampire kept to the shadows, but her gaze flicked over Sara, and she took a deep breath, smelling the air.

  I knew how enticing Sara's scent was. Especially when hungry. “Leave.” It was a foolish order, a shot in the dark, but I had to take it. Shifting my weight, I prepared to use all the skills Cade had literally beaten into me.

  Another deep breath, and then a sigh. The vampire took a step back. “As you wish, your highness.” Looking none too happy about it, she glided backwards deeper into the shadows, and eventually out of sight.

  “Rhys?” I came through the front door after making sure Sara was safely back within her house. Not caring to move at a human pace, I raced up the stairs. His scent appeared, coming from my room. I pushed my door open with far too much force. The knob thwunked against the opposite wall, but didn’t lodge itself there. Luckily.

  Rhys sat on my bed, the window behind him wide open. “Is something wrong?”

  I needed to go about this logically. In some order that would make sense. “Did you hear everything Sara and I talked about this morning?”

  “I tried to give you some privacy.”

  “But did you hear?”

  He very visibly thought before answering, sitting like a marble statue for a long moment, then suddenly coming alive with defeat. “Yes. I heard.”

  “Is it true?” Shutting the door, I walked towards him.

  “Vampires killing humans? Yes. Vampires taking humans and turning them into vampires? Unfortunately, also yes.”

  “And sending them back to slaughter their own families?”

  “Again, yes.”

  “Why wasn’t I told?”

  “You had other things to worry about.”

  “What does that mean?”

  “You didn’t need to be concerned with anything other than recovering.”

  “You can’t shelter me forever,” I said. “
Sara completely caught me off guard and I ended up looking like an idiot.”

  He sighed, closed his eyes for a moment, then looked at me again. “You’re right. I’m sorry.”

  I opened my mouth for my next argument before my brain decoded what he had said. I paused. “That’s it? I win that easily?”

  “Your point is valid."

  I had been all geared up for a fight. Now my frustration had no outlet. Damn. I quite literally shook it off, then sat next to Rhys on my bed. We were both quiet for a long while.

  “The VFO is really giving everyone a run for their money, aren’t they?” I said. The Vampiric Freedom Organization. Funny, they didn’t afford me much freedom. They were always trying to kill me.

  Rhys shifted his hand to cover mine. “They are quite serious in their attempts, yes.”

  “And they’re really sending people back after their own families? How could they do that? How could the people do that? I mean, I know it’s hard in the beginning, but I managed to get through a day at school without killing anyone.”

  “You had time to adjust, and ways of controlling yourself. These people, these new vampires, they are being left unfed from the moment they are turned. By the time the VFO deposits them back in their homes they have no thought other than the desire for blood.”

  “That’s terrible.”

  “Yes, it is. It’s why we must stop them.”

  “We might be better off not helping from the shadows. Maybe let everyone know that some vampires aren't out to eat them?”

  “There is one more factor we have to take into consideration.”

  “And what’s that?”

  “Hunters.”

  “Excuse me?”

  “Vampire Hunters. We have had problems with them in the past.”

  “You’re kidding, right?”

  “Why would I joke? Vampires are real, why do you find the idea of hunters so unlikely?”