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  SHADOWED

  (Legend of the Ir'Indicti #2)

  By Connie Suttle

  For Walter and Joe, for the usual reasons.

  And for Sarah S.

  Thank you.

  Shadowed, e-edition

  Copyright © 2012 by Connie Suttle

  All rights reserved

  This e-book is a work of fiction. Names, characters and incidents portrayed within its digital pages are entirely fictitious and a product of the author's often warped imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental. This book, whole or in part, MAY NOT be copied or reproduced by electronic or mechanical means (including photocopying or the implementation of any type of storage or retrieval system) without the express written permission of the author, except where permitted by law.

  A note about the locations in this book:

  Cloud Chief, Oklahoma is a real ghost town, located near Cordell, Oklahoma. All of the land is now privately owned and the Cloud Chief community portrayed in this book is fictitious in nature.

  Other books by Connie Suttle

  (Legend of the Ir'Indicti Series)

  Bumble

  Shadowed

  Target*

  Vendetta*

  Ir'Indicti*

  (Blood Destiny Series)

  Blood Wager

  Blood Passage

  Blood Sense

  Blood Domination

  Blood Royal

  Blood Queen

  Blood Rebellion

  Blood War*

  Blood Redemption*

  *Forthcoming

  Chapter 1

  "Dude, you can't let it bother you." Sali glanced sideways at Ashe as they walked away from school. Three weeks. Three more miserable weeks of school before summer break. Ashe had been taunted (again) by Chad and Jeremy as they drove away from Cloud Chief Combined in Jeremy Booth's new car. Jeremy's parents had given him an early graduation gift and both boys boasted about the shiny, red automobile whenever possible. Granted it wasn't the sports car Jeremy had bragged he'd get, but it was a new car, nonetheless.

  The Grand Master had recently approved Mr. and Mrs. Booth's application to adopt Chad Daniels into their family, although it was unheard of for shapeshifters to adopt a werewolf child. Ashe knew it would mean trouble the moment the Grand Master's signature came back on the required paperwork. That meant that somehow, Chad would likely end up with a new car, too.

  Ashe and Sali were finishing eighth grade and Ashe would turn fourteen in a few weeks, with Sali's birthday a month after that. Jeremy and Chad had gone back to calling Ashe empty, though everyone knew about the bat. The tiny, insignificant, mostly embarrassing bumblebee bat that was Ashe's alter ego.

  "If they knew what else you could do, man," Sali kicked at a stray clump of dirt, sending the offending clod and a trail of brown dust sailing into the field beside the road.

  Only a narrow, graveled lane ran through Cloud Chief, enabling the residents to drive to and from scattered rural homes or away from Cloud Chief and onto a nearby county road. No humans knew that Cloud Chief was anything other than a ghost town, hidden away on a western Oklahoma prairie. Ashe's vampire father and Nathan Anderson, Cloud Chief's other vampire resident, helped keep it that way. They were aided in their efforts by concealment spells a traveling witch placed around the community every year.

  "Dad says we can't tell anyone about the misting," Ashe grumbled. Ashe could turn to mist in a blink, becoming invisible to everyone. Not only was he undetectable to the werewolves who had keen scenting ability, he could sail right through the smallest of cracks and could somehow travel through solid surfaces if he wanted. It was a bit disorienting if he did that, so he kept it to a minimum.

  "Yeah. My dad says the same," Sali kicked at another clump of dirt, but this one disintegrated when he made contact instead of rolling into the field as the last one did. "What do you think you'll get for your birthday?"

  "Mom still says no on the cell phone," Ashe had resigned himself to living without any sort of communication technology for another year. He and Sali desperately wanted cell phones. Their parents said fifteen was the magic age for that bit of technology. "I think I might get a new tablet, though."

  "Not the same," Sali grumped. "Marco might come home after school's out in Austin," he added. Sali's older brother attended the University of Texas, studying engineering.

  "For how long? Is he gonna work for Mr. Winkler again?"

  "I think so. Mr. Winkler pays for Marco's classes and gives him extra money for working over the summer with his security company. Wish I could do that." Ashe watched Sali closely. Sali was back to being envious of his older brother, it seemed. William Winkler was a security magnate with a nationwide company that provided armored car services, guards and electronic security for banks and other businesses. Ashe had been quite impressed with the Dallas Packmaster when he'd met him more than a year earlier.

  "Come on, Mom pays us for working at Cordell Feed and Seed."

  "Yeah. But it's not the same as working security for Mr. Winkler."

  Ashe didn't point out that neither he nor Sali had turned fourteen yet—they were much too young to work for Mr. Winkler's company. Sali's werewolf had grown, though. He was quite impressive when he turned, now. Ashe had also grown—he was barely under six feet tall but still quite thin. Aedan, his father, smiled whenever Ashe's mother suggested that he would be as tall as his dad.

  "The good news is that we'll be ninth graders next year and Chump and Wormy will be in college," Ashe said, squinting in the bright afternoon sunlight. He had sunglasses, but Principal Billings didn't allow anyone to bring personal items to school. The Principal had also suggested uniforms for the students, but there hadn't been enough support from parents for that to be pushed through at a school board meeting.

  Ashe had used nicknames for Chad and Jeremy—he was careful to say them only when he was away from the young werewolf and his shapeshifter best friend-turned-brother. Weldon Harper, Grand Master for all werewolves, had approved Chad's adoption after lengthy consideration. Ashe would never forget the circumstances surrounding Chad's mother's death; she'd attempted to kill him, Sali and their mothers after compulsion was laid by Dark Elemaiya.

  Ashe often wondered about the Elemaiyan race—he was of the Bright Elemaiya, but still knew next to nothing about that part of his ancestry. When he'd asked his father if there was anything written about them, Aedan immediately directed the conversation to other topics.

  "Yeah. They'll have to find someone else to insult at college. I hope it's somebody bigger and badder," Sali muttered, referring to Chad and Jeremy.

  "And Mrs. Booth is so nice," Ashe said.

  "She makes good cookies," Sali agreed.

  "Dude, are you hungry again?"

  "Well, duh."

  "I think there's microwave popcorn in the pantry," Ashe offered.

  "That might get me through till dinner," Sali grinned. Both boys took off running toward Ashe's house.

  "Mom, we're home now," Ashe said over the phone as the microwave dinged across the kitchen. Sali waited impatiently in front of the kitchen appliance while Ashe phoned his mother at Cordell Feed and Seed. "How are sales?"

  "I wish we could enlarge the store, that's how busy we are, and I'm running out of everything," Adele Evans sighed. "And I wish you and Sali were old enough to drive. I could use your help right now."

  "Mom, I could get Sali and me there in a few minutes," Ashe offered. He could. All he had to do was turn to mist and fly to Cordell.

  "Ashe, you know your father wouldn't like that."

  "Yeah." Ashe sounded so hopeful for a moment, causing Sali to look up from the freshly popped bag of popcorn he was devouring. The young werewolf watched as Ashe's fac
e fell when his mother rejected the idea. Misting was the safest way to get anywhere and Ashe's parents wouldn't allow him to use it.

  "Hon, you could be placed in danger because of that," Adele cautioned.

  "I know." Ashe's day had definitely gotten worse. First the taunting and now this.

  "Ashe, don't be depressed about that. Look, I have to go. I'll bring chicken and dumplings home from Betsy's." Ashe hung up when his mother did.

  "Dude, that sucks," Sali said sympathetically, holding the popcorn bag out to Ashe. Sali had vacuumed up more than half the bag in the space of a few seconds. Waving the nearly empty bag away, Ashe slumped onto a barstool at the kitchen island. The house wasn't even a year old—the last one had been blown up by Paul Harris, the former English teacher for Cloud Chief Combined—with a little help from the Dark Elemaiya. The Anderson home had also been destroyed; Paul Harris was prejudiced against anyone that wasn't werewolf and Nathan Anderson, being vampire, was a prime target.

  Aedan Evans and Nathan Anderson, the community's two remaining vampires, rebuilt afterward. Aedan had built a larger home this time, giving Adele the spacious kitchen she wanted and a deck outside the solarium. Ashe liked the kitchen, too; windows lined the walls facing east and north, but the north window was wide and curved at the top, overlooking the sink. Just as before, the garage was through the kitchen door on the west side of the house. Ashe and his parents had spent the past year replacing personal items destroyed in the blast. The loss of his library grieved Ashe the most; he was still struggling to find copies of favorite books that had gone out of print.

  "Come on, dude, let's watch TV," Sali pulled Ashe toward the door leading to the lower, underground level of the house. They clumped downstairs and settled on the sofa in the media room. His mind wandering instead of focusing on the program Sali had chosen, Ashe wished he were anywhere except where he was.

  * * *

  "This is all that's left?" Bill Jennings, Director of the Joint National Security Agency and Homeland Security Office glanced up at his assistant. Six names on a piece of official letterhead had been passed to the aging Director. Bill was two months away from retirement and the president and other high-ranking officials were already vetting candidates to fill his position.

  Bill shook his head at the list of children still living. Another piece of paper resting under his hand listed the names of the dead. There were nearly seven hundred of those and he still wasn't sure they'd gotten information on all the children involved. He worried about many other children listed as missing—had they been abducted? How could he explain these things to the president, let alone someone coming in to take over his job? Bill sighed heavily. "Where are they now?" he asked.

  "These six," Vince Jordan, Bill's assistant, tapped the paper containing the names of the half-Elemaiyan children still living, "are relocated, but we've seen how unsuccessful that has been in the past. You know where the seventh one is, through Mr. Winkler."

  "Yes. I do know where the seventh one is," Bill agreed. His once dark hair was now completely white and had thinned over the years. His brown eyes now required glasses to clear fading vision. His face, too, he barely recognized in the mirror most mornings. When he had time to examine it, that is. Wrinkles and lines—that's mostly what Bill saw when he looked.

  Winkler, the werewolf security mogul who provided the government with facial recognition software and other security measures, being what he was, still appeared quite young. Most people would think him thirty or so, although Bill knew the Dallas Packmaster was more than one hundred years old.

  "Do you think, sir," Vince mused aloud, "that we might put these six," he tapped the paper again, "where the seventh one is?"

  * * *

  "Director, what do you need?" William Winkler saw Bill Jennings' phone number displayed on his cell before answering right away.

  "I have an unusual request," Director Jennings said. "I need your help. And the help of a few folks in Oklahoma."

  Chapter 2

  "I think it would only be for a short while, and there's always compulsion afterward," Winkler spoke with Weldon Harper on his cell. He had to get the Grand Master's permission first and then obtain permission from the Head of the Vampire Council before calling Director Jennings back with an answer.

  "We need the support of the community, too, don't forget that," Weldon pointed out.

  "I think most of the community would agree. There might be a couple of holdouts."

  "True. I can override those. I realize those kids are in danger—how many are there?"

  "Only six families, Grand Master. One family has an older child that's eighteen from the mother's first marriage. The child the Elemaiya are after is sixteen. The other families have children ranging from fifteen to seventeen. That seems to be the age the Bright Ones are taking them."

  "I'll allow this and have a word with a couple of people in Cloud Chief," Weldon said. "Do you want to contact Wlodek, or shall I?"

  "I'll let you handle that," Winkler said. "And I'll arrange for temporary housing inside the community. If we're lucky and can place those families in Cloud Chief, maybe the summer is all we'll need to throw the hunters off their trail."

  "I hope the same thing; I'm not sure how those kids might fit into a paranormal school, although I'll instruct the Principal to allow it if necessary."

  "Understood, Grand Master. Perhaps Bill will have something else worked out by that time. What I still don't know is whether those families understand exactly what we're dealing with." Winkler blew out a frustrated sigh.

  "Will they understand werewolves and vampires? Not to mention shapeshifters," the Grand Master said dryly.

  "There's that," Winkler agreed. "I'll talk to Bill again. Let me know what Wlodek says."

  "I'll leave a message—he's asleep at the moment. Do you think Ashe Evans might be able to help with those children? He's the same, except for his parents."

  "Yeah. Those other kids don't have a vampire father." Weldon snorted a laugh at Winkler's comment. "Or a mother that flies whenever there's a full Moon," Winkler went on, grinning. "I have to go. I'll call Bill and get back with you."

  "Good enough." The Grand Master terminated the call.

  * * *

  "Charles!"

  Charles nearly dropped the stack of files he carried two floors below Wlodek's private study. Wlodek, Head of the Vampire Council, and his staff occupied a rather large manor house in England, hidden in the countryside of Kent. Wlodek seldom shouted—Charles could hear a near-whisper from the ancient vampire while standing on the ground floor of the spacious home. Dropping the files on his desk, Charles sped through the house, up two flights of stairs and stood in Wlodek's study in less than three seconds without a hair out of place.

  Wlodek studied his personal assistant before saying anything. Charles was eternally curious and loved information of any kind. His hazel eyes held a question as he, in turn, studied Wlodek. Wlodek's official title, Sanguis Rex, was seldom used. Instead, he was addressed as Head of the Council or Honored One. It gave the illusion at times that Wlodek's vote was only one of nine. The Council (and Charles) knew that he often made decisions on things that never reached the Council for a vote.

  "Charles, make arrangements to send this amount to William Winkler in Dallas," Wlodek handed over a slip of paper.

  "Might I inquire what this money is for?" Charles displayed no emotion, although three quarters of a million dollars was quite a large sum to be sending the Dallas Packmaster, who held sufficient wealth of his own.

  "Temporary housing," Wlodek replied. "And if we're lucky, information on half-Elemaiyan children that might make fine turns one day. When they're of sufficient age, of course."

  Charles knew not to blink or to show shock, surprise or any other emotion to the Head of the Council. "Of course, Honored One," Charles replied. "I'll have it done immediately." Turning quickly, Charles almost disappeared, he moved so swiftly.

  "Good," Wlodek muttered and went b
ack to sifting through a pile of requests.

  * * *

  "I've received a transfer of funds for temporary housing. What do you think that means?" Winkler asked the Grand Master over the phone. "Seven hundred fifty thousand. That's a lot of temporary housing."

  "Wlodek never does anything in half-measures, or generally anything at all unless there's something that will benefit the vampire race in it somewhere," Weldon Harper grumbled. "We just don't know what that is at the moment. Doesn't matter. Tell Director Bill he can bring the families to Cloud Chief for the summer. How quickly can you get those prefab homes in place?"

  "I've already made arrangements; all we have to do now is inform the community that they'll be hosting humans during the summer." Winkler didn't really want to be the one to make that announcement.

  "I'll leave that to you," Weldon said, causing Winkler to grimace. Grateful that the Grand Master couldn't see the face he'd just made, Winkler said, "I'll get on that immediately," and hung up.

  * * *

  "What's going on?" Sali slid onto a cafeteria bench beside Ashe. Principal Billings' announcement on the intercom had interrupted their last class of the day. Billings seldom used the intercom for announcements, and the device had crackled and grumbled as the principal instructed all students and faculty to gather in the cafeteria. In Ashe's opinion, it was likely from lack of use. Benjamin Billings preferred to bellow at wrongdoers and anyone he suspected of wrongdoing. This time, the electronic intercom was used instead and all students were instructed to attend an unscheduled general assembly. Tables had been hastily folded up and shoved against a wall, leaving benches and chairs for seating inside the recently constructed school. The old school building had been destroyed a year earlier by a tornado.