Page 24 of Soul of Shadow
“What’s that?”
Elias reached the doorway to the dining room. He shoved Charlie forward with his freakish strength. She toppled to the floor, nearly landing atop Elias’s limp human body.
“I am in this town to carry out a mission.” His shadow form leaned against the doorway, blocking any hope she had of escape. “And two sets of eyes are better than one.”
Charlie blinked. This was the last thing she had expected. “You want my help?”
“I do.” It was so strange to watch his mouth move and see only darkness within. “Like I said before, I didn’t kill those boys, and I didn’t make the markings on those trees. I’m here to find out who did.”
“You want to… rescue them?”
“Good gods, no.” He snorted. “I don’t give a damn about those boys. I’m here for one reason and one reason alone, and that is to find the creature making those markings on the trees. And if I happen to find the boys along the way, fine. All the better, really, because I’m sure they’ll be almost dead with fright. But no, I’m not looking for them. I don’t concern myself with fragile human life. Not anymore.”
Her eyes looked past his shadowy figure, at the empty hallway beyond. “And if I say no?” she asked.
“Oh, that’s very simple,” he said. “If you say no, you die.”
She looked up at his face, which was stretched into a dark-tinted smile. He appeared quite serious, and quite happy about it, too.
“How do you know,” she asked, “that, if you let me go, I won’t just run to the police and tell them exactly what you are?”
Elias laughed, a sound like thunder rumbling in the distance. “Who would believe you?” he asked. “But, very well—if you need extra incentive, I have it for you: keep my secret, or I’ll drain the life out of every person you love.”
“Excuse me?”
“You heard me,” he said cheerfully. “If you say a word about what you saw here tonight, I will come for everyone you love in this town. I will come for them one by one, and I will murder them in their sleep. Understood?”
The deal was easy to understand—she would give him that. And she didn’t really think that she had any choice in the matter. So.
“If I agree to the deal,” she said, “will you let me go unharmed?”
“Of course.” He swept out an arm, as if welcoming her to walk by.
She stayed on the floor for several more heartbeats. She looked at Elias’s body, wondered what he could possibly want from her, what a weak mortal girl could do to assist an otherworldly being. A thousand questions burbled within her, questions she couldn’t even believe she was entertaining, and yet what choice did she have? How could she deny what had taken place right before her very eyes?
One thing was clear: Elias Everhart was not to be trusted. He might havesaidhe’d let her go without hurting her, but how could she know he wasn’t lying?
She would have to play this very carefully.
“I’ll agree to your terms,” she said, “under one condition.”
“And what is that?”
“I want proof.”
“Proof?”
“Yes. That what you’re saying is true. That all the Nordic myth stuff is real. I want proof.”
He tilted his head. “Seeing me walk through a wall isn’t proof enough?”
“No,” she said. “It’s proof that you’re not… human. Not fully human, anyway. But it doesn’t mean that anything else you’ve said is true.”
Elias stared at her for a long time. It was hard to read his expression, given that he was made of shadow, but he seemed to be searching her face, as if debating whether or not she deserved to know.
“Fine,” he said at last. “But are you sure you want to do this? Because once you see, you cannot unsee.”
“Once I see what?”
