Page 5 of Cast in Shadow
Emerson ground his teeth, his jaw flexing with the movement. “I was really hoping it wasn’t true.”
“What, that I’m still alive?” I snapped.
He flinched. At least, I was pretty sure he did. The expression was only there for a fraction of a second before it was buried beneath his scowl. “Lexa,” he bit out.
So, he did know. It wasn’t really a surprise, but it still grated.
Lexa—short for The Lexa Loroud Agency—was a shadow organization tasked with taking down rogue paranormals. To most of the supernatural community, it was just a rumor, and we went to great lengths to make sure it stayed that way. Of course, there were people who knew the truth, or who had seen enough to believe the rumor. Most of them knew enough to keep their mouths shut, but clearly not all.
“Who I do or don’t work for is none of your business,” I said, giving my head a little shake.
The muscles in his neck were pulled tight. “Yes, it is.” He closed the short distance between us, his heat soaking into my skin as his big hands wrapped around my arms and pinned mein place. He dipped his head to meet my eye. “Lexa is dangerous, Senna.”
No shit. It was built to be dangerous.
“This is the last time I’m going to say it, Emerson. Let me go,” I ordered, but he only stared in response, his deep blue eyes boring into me like he was searching for something.
My magic was right there beneath my skin, a steady hum of energy that was silently daring him to push me too far. I let a trickle of it break loose. Just enough to send a message.
His brow knitted. He moved slowly, releasing my arms while staring at me like he had no idea who I was. “What happened to you?” he asked, his voice barely above a whisper.
As if he didn’t know.
“You.” I gave into the urge to shove him again, but he didn’t budge. “You happened to me.”
“Youleftme, Senna.” He shook his head on a humorless chuckle. “You faked your death. Why?”
Rolling my shoulders back, I braced for the fight we should have had a hundred and thirty years earlier. “Because I knew what you were planning. I saw you that night.” I shoved him again, putting some of my magic behind it this time, if only so I could escape to the middle of the room rather than letting him box me in with the counter at my back.
He stumbled back, and I slipped past him. “Saw me what?”
I spun, and even though the last thing I wanted was to relive that moment, I threw his own words back at him. “She’s nothing. Just a pretty little plaything.” Saying the words aloud was like tearing open an old wound. Everything in me wanted to shove him again, to drive him back and inflict some measure of pain. But I knew if I put my hands on him again, I might not be able to drag myself away. “I’ll take care of her.”
He blinked once, twice, and jerked back as if I’d slapped him. “The night of the fire?” Surprise shifted to anger and his blue eyes became an ocean of warning. “You followed me?”
“Jesus, Emerson. That’s what you care about? Yeah, I followed you.”
And he would never know how much I regretted it.
So many times, I’d wondered what would have happened if I hadn’t witnessed that betrayal. What if I hadn’t heard Theloneus, his closest friend, telling him it was time to either bring me into the fold or take me out before the others stepped in? And when Theloneus questioned why he was hesitating, what if I hadn’t heard those cruel, dismissive words?
She’s nothing. Just a pretty little plaything. I’ll take care of her.
Would I have been allowed to live in my blissful ignorance for a few more days? Maybe weeks? Until he eventually did as the Brethren commanded.
He backed up and sank down on one of the worn wooden dining chairs, shaking his head. “Everyone thought you were dead.”
“That was the point. You told me what happened to the witches that got tangled up with the Brethren. Whether it was you or them, I was dead either way.”
Emerson was an original demon, one of eleven primordials who were dragged through the veil into the human realm thousands of years ago by an unknown force. It should have been impossible. The Alius was like an anchor, and the veil’s energy was a near-impenetrable barrier, keeping all demons trapped in their realm for eternity.
At least, that was how it was supposed to work. According to books. In reality, no one really knew for sure.
As ruthless immortal creatures with millennia of experience in the human world, Emerson and the rest of the Brethren could carve swaths of death and destruction through our world,and for a time, they did. But somewhere along the line, they’d shifted from being predators to protectors. Sort of.
Instead of hunting fragile humans for sport, they started taking out other powerful beings who sought to destroy or control us.
They were almost the good guys in that way, but however noble their intentions, they didn’t change the fact that every witch that had ever worked with them had met a tragic end. Either the Brethren pushed them too hard, didn’t protect them when they needed it, or they took them out themselves when the witch’s power grew beyond a certain point.
