Lost in Shadow (A Shadow Walkers Ghost Novel) Page 7

  Pausing, she wasn’t sure she’d be able to manage Colin on her own, but if she didn’t do something, somebody else would show up to kill him or she’d be back in reality on her way to the loony bin for sure. Best not to think about it too long or she’d run screaming from the dungeon; she’d wanted an adventure—looked like she was going to get more than she bargained for.

  Trying a number of keys, precious minutes passed before she found the right one. Unlocking the manacles, she winced, seeing his raw and bloody wrists. Reaching out to try and catch him, she knocked over the stool, Colin fell to the ground.

  “Oof, I hear somebody, hold milady.” Colin motioned to the right where a shadow was moving on the stairs. Getting to his feet, he swayed. Shaking his head as if to clear it, she watched him move silently down the dim corridor, past the other cells. How could he get up, let alone walk with the injuries he’d sustained? Was she imagining him here? Turning around to look in the cell, Emily heard muffled grunts and scuffling. Colin staggered back dragging a scruffy-looking man who appeared to be dead but hopefully was only unconscious.

  “Wretched boot licker for the Day Walkers.” Colin curled his lip, sides heaving with the effort as he threw the body into the cell and slammed the door shut.

  Confused, she looked at him, eyebrows raised to her hairline.

  “This human, scum of the earth from looking at him, found out what a Day Walker is, wants to be one, and therefore spends his time playing errand boy for them, hoping to get a shot from Dayne. Immortality is a powerful motivator.”

  “Sorry…Day Walkers? Dayne? Immortality? I know it’s Halloween, but seriously, this is so not amusing in the least. What are you going on about? What the hell is a Day Walker?” She stamped her foot, hands on her hips and glared up at Colin, even as the term came back to her—that whisper she had heard.

  “Lass, we don’t have time.” Dragging her by the arm, Colin headed away from the stairway deeper into the dungeon.

  “Wait, we’re going the wrong way, the exit is the other way.” Pulling away, she cocked her head, listening. “I hear footsteps; Day Walkers or whatever the hell they are, are coming.” Emily’s voice was high, almost a squeak.

  “Lass, it will be all right. We’ll take the tunnel.” Colin choked out, staggering against the wall. He was white as a sheet, his skin grey and clammy under the grime mixed with his caked on blood.

  Colin needed medical attention; biting her lip in concentration she put her arms around his waist so he could lean on her.

  “Maybe this isn’t the best time to tell you—I’m a bit claustrophobic.” Emily’s lip trembled as she tried to put on a happy face. It came out as more of a grimace.

  “Don’t be afraid. The tunnel runs under the street to the water, called the Nor Loch. Once we get out we’ll find an inn. I need to rest and contact someone who can help us.” Colin stumbled, wincing. He led them to a corner in the dungeon, far away from the hallway…their only path of escape.

  Puzzled, Emily was more than a little ready to give in to a major meltdown when she saw him pushing on a gargoyle’s head set into the stone. Astonished, she gaped as the wall swung open revealing spider webs, darkness and the smell of damp stone drifting up to her nose. Open-mouthed, she stopped short, blinking, causing Colin to trip.

  “Bloody hell,” he spat.

  “Sorry, I…I was surprised.”

  “’Tis okay lass, help me up.” Colin sighed.

  Helping him stand she took a moment to catch her breath. Moving slowly they started down the steps—into the yawning darkness.

  Chapter 8

  Okay, hold it together. It’s a hallway without lights. Don’t think about being underground in a stone tunnel with no windows, no light, or no way out if it collapses.

  Emily could handle elevators if there weren’t too many people on them while large crowds gave her more trouble. She’d learned to manage situations that set off her internal alarms. When she was seventeen, she flew to Alaska with her mom and had a major panic attack. The plane was large with two seats, then five and then three. She was in the middle of the five-seater row when all of a sudden the walls started closing in. She couldn’t breathe, the seat pressed against her, people were too close, and her whole body started tingling, throat closing up, bile rising—she was going to throw up, had to get off that plane now.

  Pulling shut the heavy stone door; they were thrown into total blackness. The tunnel was narrow, and they had to turn sideways to move forward. It was slow going. She smelled the earthen floor, wet stone, and the smell of the past. Almost like the scent of an old library or musty attic. Roots brushed against her face, water trickled down the walls…and the sound of rustling was all around them. The darkness was dense, heavy, pressing in on her from all sides. It was so dark she couldn’t see her hand in front of her face. Clammy and sweaty, she tried not to fall to pieces.

  “Please tell me that noise isn’t rats or some giant crocodile getting ready to eat us.” Emily’s voice sounded thin and reedy. She was starting to see spots. How was that possible in total blackness? Well, at least it was something to see.

  This wasn’t good, it was the first sign she was getting ready to faint.

  “We have to keep going. You can do this Emily. The ones after us will be wondering how we escaped. ‘Tis only a matter of time before the entrance to the tunnel is discovered.” Colin wheezed.

  She couldn’t faint, not now. Colin would fall again, further injuring himself slowing them down and they’d get caught by these mysterious Day Walkers. She couldn’t imagine what would be done to them if they were caught but it couldn’t be good from the urgency in his voice, the injuries on his person. As scary as he could be, if something scared him, it must be pretty damn bad.

  Her arms trembled supporting his weight. Her hands were sweaty, and she reeked of fear. Wanting to calm her, to reassure her it would be okay, he soothed, “Lass, hold tight to me. Nothing will harm ye down here. There are no crocodiles in Scotland so don’t worry about being eaten by one. I know Yanks have those legends about the sewer systems in New York and other cities, but no worries here in Scotland.”

  Gods, he wanted to stop, take her in his arms to comfort her, stroke her hair, and tell her nothing would ever hurt her. To tell her he would slay whatever dragons appeared in order to protect her.

  He berated himself, stop acting like some whipped boy being led around by the nose and move on. She would betray him like Abigail. He didn’t have time for her emotional breakdown; he had to get her out and find a safe place to rest before the Day Walkers caught up to them. She thinks she’s scared now, wait until a group of those bastards show up cutting you down in front of her.

  Taking a deep breath was unwise. Coughing up a lung from the pain, he waited. A moment passed, he started again.

  “Emily, there may be rats down here, but if there are, it means there is a way out. Rats aren’t going to be trapped; where you find vermin, you find a way to food, water, and an exit. They aren’t paying attention to us. Put them out of your mind. Focus on my voice. Listen to me—I’ll get you through this. Close your eyes…”

  “But…I can’t see…anything,” Emily stuttered. “Right, that sounded silly.” She took a deep breath. “I’m closing my eyes.”

  Her voice sounded so small and helpless; this brave woman was putting her trust in him. When was the last time a woman had trusted him? How long had it been since he’d let a woman get close. It had been ages since he held someone close, told them he’d protect them from whatever monsters plagued them. Could he do it again? She seemed so vulnerable with those eyes that looked into his very soul. His groin tightened thinking about her full pink lips. She had a habit of biting her bottom lip when she was nervous or worried.

  “Close your eyes. I’ll tell you a story to take your mind off of the tunnel. I won’t let go Emily, I swear it,” he promised her.

  “Growing up, my brother and I played with some of the village boys. Dougal was a couple of year
s younger than me, his family had moved from Skye to our village. The lad was always trying to keep up with us, tagging along, chasing after us everywhere we went. One day, we were up at Drummond Keep. It’s a ruined keep where we all liked to play King of Scotland, fight wars, you know, stuff boys do. There was a section leading down to the dungeon with a verra narrow opening covered by bars.

  “Think of being walled up inside a wall, nothing but a tiny opening covered with bars to see out. We used to lock up our ‘prisoners’ there and pretend the barred door locked. ‘Twas Dougal’s turn to be locked up as the prisoner. We told him to stay there while we went outside to negotiate his terms for release. Never meant to forget about him, but being boys, we were distracted by a stag, went chasing after it, forgetting all about Dougal. It had started to thunder, lightning, and rain, and Dougal, getting scared, pushed the door to get out. A crack of lightning hit the stone, knocking a piece of the keep loose and a large stone fell, barring the door. The poor lad was trapped all night and the next day until we realized we hadn’t seen him in a while and went looking for him. When we got him out, he didn’t speak for a week, after that he could never abide thunderstorms or small, enclosed spaces.”

  “The poor guy. I can relate. Thank you for telling me. I’m exhausted. How far is it until we’re out of here?” Emily whispered. His reply was cutoff as the ground seemed to shift beneath their feet. The vibration turned into a rumbling, building to a roar as dirt rained down. Colin pulled her into his arms, diving into the darkness taking her with him. He cushioned her landing, taking most of the fall on his back.

  Coughing in the cloud of dust enveloping them, Emily tried to get her hands under her to push herself up.

  “Lass, I don’t mind you grabbing my leg but that’s my stomach you’ve got your elbow buried in. I canna breathe.” He grunted.

  “Oh gosh, I’m sorry. Are you OK? Hope I didn’t hurt you.”

  Trying to stay still while she patted him all over, her hand landed on his cock. She snatched it away as if burned, mumbling an apology. “Well lass, if I knew it’d only take a little bit of dirt to get you to take liberties with my body; I’d have caved in the tunnel myself when we started down the stairs. Shall I let you slide your hand under my kilt to see if I’m wearing any drawers? Satisfy your earlier question?”

  “Oh, you pig!” Emily huffed.

  He heard her inhale a lungful of dust, the rest of her retort cutoff as she coughed. Emily frantically reached out, grabbing his arm, “I’m going to faint.”

  One minute she was talking, the next passed out cold. He laughed to himself, it would serve him right, after more than four hundred and fifty years of immortality, to die of suffocation underneath the ground during the one time he was powerless. The Fates had a twisted sense of humor.

  She’d gone down so fast, he sensed it, being too black to see his hand in front of his face. His bloody eyesight was back to human levels. Catching her, lowering her gently to rest on his body, he assessed her for any damage, running his hands over her body. She had strong arms and legs, with a soft stomach. Gingerly touching her neck, he could feel the slow but steady beat of her pulse. Satisfied she would live, he ran his hands through her hair, letting it flow across his forearms, so soft, like silken thread. Colin touched her scalp, no cuts he could feel, ran his fingertips across her brow, tracing her features.

  The woman had no idea how mesmerizing he found her, even now, surrounded by dirt and stone, he could faintly smell her scent. Leaning closer, he inhaled deeply, ignoring the burning in his ribs, brushing his fingers across her lips. He shifted to make her more comfortable, she’d panic when she came to, realizing they were truly trapped. It was his fault. Somehow he’d get them out of here; she deserved that much from him.

  Feeling around, they were trapped by the cave-in, a wall of debris blocked the way they came—good for keeping Day Walkers out, not so good for escape. Ahead of them, stone had fallen, heavy chunks he could move with his powers, but injured and powerless? It was going to hurt like hell to move them, not to mention not causing another bloody cave-in during the process.

  He heard her breathing change. “Welcome back lass, how are you feeling?” Colin rumbled in a low voice.

  Trying to move off him, he stilled her in his arms. “Easy now, take a few minutes before sitting up.”

  “Usually I’m sore when I faint. You’re very warm. Did you know you smell like leather and wool and the ocean?” She sounded groggy as she spoke, breath tickling his chest. “I’m sorry. I dreamed the tunnel caved in and we were trapped…” she trailed off.

  “Wait a minute, dirt floor, wet. It wasn’t a dream; we’re trapped under God knows how much stone and dirt. We’re going to die down here, aren’t we?”

  He heard her hyperventilating, trying to scramble to her feet. Pulling her tighter into his arms, her heartbeat racing he did the only thing he knew to do—spoke in low tones, the same he’d use to soothe a skittish horse or wounded animal, whispered nonsense into her ear to slow her heart, calm her.

  “Shh, easy. I will get us out of here. Take deep, even breaths, and focus on breathing. In and out, nice and slow. I’ve got you, lean on me, I willna let you fall.”

  He heard her breathing slow. She wrapped her arms around his waist, sobbing as she buried her face in his chest.

  “I keep thinking about being trapped underground, suffocating to death.” Hiccupping, her voice was muffled by his shirt. He stroked her hair, her back, letting her sob. The poor lass had reached her breaking point. She was squeezing his injured ribs so hard he feared she’d break another one. But he didn’t want to move her, liked her curled up to him, seeking his warmth, letting him hold her.

  Abruptly letting go, he sensed movement in the air, she reached up to find him, cupping his jaw.

  “I’m sorry, you helped me and I’m hurting you.”

  His voice soft, low, he caressed her with words. “I want you next to me. Let me keep you warm.”

  “And I’ve ruined your shirt; it’s all wet from me crying all over it.” She wailed.

  Colin started chuckling, he couldn’t help it. The laugh rumbled up, rusty from disuse as he threw his head back and roared,

  “You’re worried about a few tears ruining my shirt, lass? I think the knife and sword slashes, broken bones, filth and blood took care of the ‘ruining part’; your tears washed some of the muck out.”

  “How can you laugh? I’d be curled up in a ball screaming from the pain.”

  “No time for pain in battle. You lock away the pain; do what needs to be done. Otherwise, you end up dead. Many tried over the years. Though today, a bloody Day Walker might have a fighting chance to kill me seeing as how I’m in such fine fighting shape.”

  “Wait a minute…I’ve heard Day Walkers mentioned before—what are they?”

  Freezing, Colin knew no one outside of Walkers and their minions knew about them; he’d only just mentioned them to her, how did she know? Was this some kind of new trap the Day Walkers had dreamed up?

  “How do you know about Day Walkers? What do you know?” He tried not to scare her, keeping his tone even, listening for a lie.

  “Kat, she’s my best friend, we were walking down High Street window-shopping when I heard something…it sounded like a voice carried on the wind or in the wind, barely a whisper, it said beware the Day Walker…he comes for you.”

  “Did your wee friend hear this voice too?” Curiosity laced his voice. By the gods, he hoped she was mistaken, hoped it wasn’t some kind of warning. Rawlins was the worst of the Day Walkers, gods help her if he was the one after her…but why would he be?

  “Nope, she thought I was hearing things. It sounds crazy, but that’s the only way I can describe it. What is a Day Walker? Why do I need to beware? And why is one coming for me? Also, Immortality? Dayne? I need you to tell me what’s going on,” Emily finished.

  “Slow down, lass. There’s time enough for me to answer all your questions.”

  “I’m
not usually the kind of person to keep things bottled up. Normally, I get mad, blow up, and calm down just as quickly. That’s me, Emily the even-keeled.”

  He could almost hear her grin as she told him she had a fearsome temper. Shifting his weight, he willed himself to think of cold showers, dying, anything to take his mind off the fact Emily fit perfectly to him, hip to hip, her round perfect ass was under his hands, he moved one up to her back, the other clenched into a fist at his side. Of course he’d be hard as the stone surrounding them, telling himself to think about freezing cold water or anything else but her body, he decided to answer her questions…if she was his soul mate, she deserved to know…well maybe not all of it, but enough.

  “First, where is your friend Kat? Won’t she be worried and looking for you?”

  Sighing, Emily told him about the trip with Kat and the ransacked hotel room. She continued, telling him what happened to Kat, how she saw a man who disappeared after pushing Kat down the steps, breaking her leg, so she had to go home early. She finished by telling him she’d decided to stay, finish the trip she’d always dreamed of, and find out who he was. “So no, she won’t be looking for me. I asked her not to call, to focus on getting better, told her I’d call when I left for the airport though if I don’t check in, she’ll be calling the cops, worried about me.”

  Not wanting to frighten her, Colin forced himself to breathe normally. Rawlins had to be after her. There was no way Rawlins could know about the curse, was there? “Before I begin this long drawn-out tale, why did ye pinch yourself when you helped free me?” He was curious, wanting to know what made her risk her own well-being to help him.

  “I thought maybe I was dreaming—simply imagining all of this. When I pinched my arm, I knew it was real. I couldn’t leave you chained to the wall or let that awful man hurt you.”

  Her sigh blew against his collarbone, sending chills down his spine. The scent of peaches and sunshine warming his frozen heart. “Hmm, it’s a valid thought, lass. Come closer to me, you’re shivering; it’s verra cold down here.” Colin pulled Emily closer, slowly stroking her hair.