Page 26 of From the Shadows
Only then did Zzaran collapse into a bloodied heap.
“Fuck,” Diego ground out. “I had no idea your kind was so powerful, Borne.”
“We’re not,” he admitted. “Zzaran is only a level below Asmodeus in terms of power. Do you have any idea what we’ve done? We just took out a prince of Hell.”
“Whatever. As long as he’s dead.”
Borne frowned. “He’s not. I mean, not really. His corporeal body was killed, but that only forced Zzaran’s essence back to Hell. It’ll take a while, probably like a thousand years, for him to regrow a new one. During that time, he’ll be on the run from anything that wants to take his place, but he’s most definitely not dead. He’s goingto want revenge when he’s back to full power.” Then he chuckled. “But at least you’ll be here when he reappears, Diego.”
And that reminder of his accursed eternal life took the shine off any victory.
As soon as they got back to the house, Jeremy had descended on Diego, his little hands everywhere, checking for the injuries. Fortunately, vampires healed quickly, because if he’d seen what Zzaran had done to Diego, he would have gone into meltdown.
“When I was younger, I stole a candy bar from a gas station,” Shay announced.
Diego jerked his head up. He’d forgotten he was walking with Shay. Even still, the change in topics was enough to give him whiplash. “What?”
He shrugged. “I saw it on the display. Six thick ounces of milk chocolate with raisins and almonds. I asked my mom to buy it for me and got a resounding, ‘Hell, no’ as my answer. Only, I craved it and couldn’t stop thinking about it, so I grabbed it and jammed it into my jacket. I was, like, five at the time. When we got home, I tried to take it to my room, but Mom saw it sticking out of my pocket. After a round of yelling, I admitted what I’d done. Mom left the groceries on the table and dragged me back to the place where she made me apologize to the owner. I was humiliated.”
Had Diego missed some part of the story? He didn’t want to say anything that would make Shay upset. “I’m sorry.”
Shay snorted. “Don’t be. I did something wrong, and Mom made sure I paid for my transgression.” He stopped in the hall, then turned to Diego. “My point is, you’ve been paying for your sins for hundreds of years. You can’t be punished forever. It’s not as if you had control, right? In any court of law, that would be temporary insanity. When you got back to your right mind, you took what you thought as a curse and made it into something good and decent. Everyone here admires you for your strength and courage. Dig deep and find a shred of that for yourself.” He squeezed Diego’s hand. “It’s time to let it go, Diego. If, for no other reason, than you need to help us take care of the vampires who did this.”
Was Shay right? Had Diego been punishing himself longenough? He never forgot what he did, and he used that horror to drive himself to do the right thing. Maybe he was honoring the memories of those he’d killed by saving people now.
“I… maybe you’re right.”
Shay smirked. “I always am.” He tugged on Diego’s hand again. “Let’s go honor the dead by protecting the living.”
And Shay’s words, the same thoughts as Diego, propelled him along as he steeled his heart and mind for whatever was about to happen.
Chapter 8
It seemedthat Diego’s frustrations were worming their way through the rest of the team too. All of them were edgy, quick to snap. Even Jeremy, normally a ray of sunshine, was churlish when it came to his shifter training, going so far as to tell Shay he sucked. Then his eyes widened and he hugged Shay, begging forgiveness.
Shay didn’t blame Diego, though. This vampire coven, or whatever they were, had been wreaking havoc and the teams’ nerves were fraying. In the past month, there were two more parties that had been slaughtered, their bodies ripped apart and drained of blood. This last one had been more graphic and debased than the others. Heads of the victims were found bobbing in punch bowls, with the deep-red liquid mixing with the fruity beverage. Cups had been filled with the mixture, and it seemed as though they’d drank them. Worse still, their bodies had been defiled by being stripped down and arranged in a variety of sexual poses. They’d tried to keep Shay from seeing the pictures, but he’d insisted.
And instantly regretted it.
Shay thought he was ready to be part of the team. To help them out, even if it was only in a supporting role. He’d never been so wrong. He’d rushed for the nearest bathroom,where he promptly expelled his breakfast. Diego and Borne tracked him down and helped to clean up the mess, and then Diego had lifted Shay as if he was nothing and took him to his bed with orders to rest. He’d been drifting off when his door cracked opened, then closed. A few seconds later, the soft hiss of a snake occupied the pillow next to Shay’s.
“Thank you, Jeremy,” he whispered before drifting off to sleep.
When he woke up several hours later, Jeremy was still in snake form, laying atop Shay’s head, while Diego sat by his bedside, his chin touching his slowly rising and falling chest. Shame flooded Shay at the memory of what he’d done and how foolish he now felt. The team saw the gore firsthand on a regular basis, and he couldn’t handle the photographs. They protected Jeremy, and now they were doing the same for Shay.
He wished he had listened. Those images were seared into his mind and would never go away. He flashed back to his own trauma with Mick. His body wracked with pain while his erstwhile lover brought the bat down again and again, the thudding sound filling Shay’s ears. The scream that could only be in his head, because no one could have ignored it, right? How Mick had been yelling, telling Shay how fucking useless he was, how he should be goddamn grateful that he even looked at Shay’s scrawny ass.
How one more swing smashed into Shay’s face, driving him into darkness.
Shay thought Mick was a monster—and he was—but what Diego and the team dealt with? They were the real creatures of the night. He couldn’t hold back the whimper, and Diego’s head snapped up, his eyes locked on Shay.
“You’re awake,” he said softly. “How are you feeling?”
What word would fit in there? He wouldn’t say he was okay, because he wasn’t. That one face—a young girl, maybe eight or so—kept surging in his memories, her headless corpse showing in full color that Shay wasn’t ready for this life.
“Guess you were right,” Shay whispered, clenching his hands into fists. “This isn’t a place for me.”
Diego reached for Shay and squeezed his hand. “Nah, I waswrong. This place is a lot… friendlier since you arrived. You took this ragtag group and actually helped solidify it into a family.” He leaned closer. “Before you, we didn’t really do anything together beyond missions. Each of us had our own things, and that’s what we did. Then you came along, and we all sat down to a meal together nearly every day. We found projects to do that had us working together. That snake house in the back? That’s because of you. It gives Jerm a chance to see what living as a wild snake is like, but still keeps him within a safe distance of the house.”
