Authors: Julieanne Lynch

Tags: #urban dark fantasy, #prophecies, #gothic fantasy, #new adult, #blood and shadows, #vampires and undead, #betrayal and revenge

Within The Shadows (29 page)

“
Good. Then let’s do this. Not that I’m ready, but . . .
Yeah . . . Let’s do this!”

As soon as I
made that affirmation, Antoine grabbed me by the hand, and led me
towards the back of the car. We had parked close to a grass verge
on the side of a hill. Below the masses of rocks and boulders was a
river. On closer inspection, it seemed like a very long way down. I
did not want to risk being killed in a fall, but the odds were
against us. It was either go downhill, or back to the now growing
convoy of cars.

Antoine
pointed in the direction of the slipway, and like animals, we
crawled towards it. Silently, the pair of us moved across the
tarmac that stopped inches from the grass. He gently pushed me over
the edge, and followed, keeping a firm look out. To the far left, a
black hummer approached. The group of men standing around soon
stood at attention.

The vehicle
came to a stop on the other side of the checkpoint. Its doors
opened, and two larger-than-life men got out. They scanned the area
before one of them moved back to the vehicle, and opened the rear
passenger door. I could not believe my eyes when out stepped the
same hunched-over silhouette I had seen when I had been taken to
the Shadow World.

Xavier.

Holy shit!
He had been behind this whole kidnap thing. I knew it when I heard
his name spoken by the man in the car, and seeing him here brought
it home to me. I really had to get away from here.

Xavier
pointed to the direction of the car, and panic set in. I knew it
would be only minutes before they realised I had gone, and then the
hunt would be on. This was not how I had imagined my place of
sanctuary to be. Then again, when all things were considered, it
made quite a change from running from Alex and Atarah.

Antoine held
me close to him as he shielded me from view. I lowered myself
further down the face of the embankment, and finally began the
decent down to the riverbank. I did not look up once. I kept on
moving, concentrating on my footing, making sure I made no
noise.

Not too far
behind me, Antoine lowered himself down. His movements and his
control were much more elegant than mine, and he seemed to make
effortless progress, whereas I stumbled, and cut myself more often
than actually accomplishing anything.

As we
approached the lower end of the embankment, I heard yells, confused
shouting, and then all hell broke loose. From the ridge of the
slipway, two men looked down at us, and pointed. They watched as I
finally made solid ground, and hid behind a thorn bush. Antoine, on
the other hand, stood up, and bowed like some actor at the end of a
theatrical performance. He turned, and smiled at me, winking as he
pulled out the gun, and fired a shot into the air.

“
Jesus, are
you like frigging crazy?” I yelled at him as I tried to shelter
myself from the now growing audience.

“
What’s life
without a little entertainment?” he asked as he brushed grass and
grit from his clothes.

“
Err . . . I think I’d prefer something a little low key for
once.”

“
Yes, I’m sure you would, but, dear little Giselle, I’m not
one for sitting in and reading, although I do find that
entertaining. However, as you can see . . .” He pointed to the men
clambering downhill, heading straight for me. “I thrive on these
kinds of situations.”

From both of
his hands, I could see a glow building up to form full-blown balls
of flames. He held them effortlessly in each hand, and with a
devilish twinkle in his eye, he laughed and shouted, “Showtime!” as
he threw the flames at the dry grass.

Within
seconds, the flames had engulfed the entire embankment. The inferno
spread uphill quickly. I smiled as I watched the men retreat back
up the hill, and found myself looking at Xavier. His face was just
as I had imagined it to be. He was old and ugly. His eyes were
hollow holes in his head. He was truly death himself.

I stood
close to Antoine, trying to avert my gaze from the horrific
apparition at the top of the embankment. “So? What now?” I asked,
scratching the back of my head.

“
Now, sweet
Princess, we run.”

Without any
hesitation, I took his hand, and we ran along the river bank,
ducking under the overgrowth of the trees, running further and
further into the dense forest as the fixed stare of Xavier’s eyes
faded, and all that was left was Antoine, myself, and my unborn
child.

What seemed
like an eternity were actually only minutes. Out of breath, I
stopped running, and panted as a stitch attacked my side. Antoine
smiled at me as he stood by a tree, and placed his back up against
it. He was immaculate. There were no signs of sweat on his brow,
while I, quite the opposite, looked a mess. My hair stuck to my
chin as I tried to get back some of the breath I had lost in our
run.

“
We can’t
hide here all day, you know,” Antoine remarked as he took a swig
out of a small tin canister.

“
Yeah . . . Just give me a minute,” I panted.

He looked
back in the direction we had come, and raised an
eyebrow.

“
What is it?”
I asked.

“
I dare say
things are going to get pretty messy.”

“
What do you
mean?”

“
They’re close, Giselle. We cannot outrun them, but if I
were to, say, do this.” He clasped his hands together, and muttered
something under his breath. The ground around us began to shake.
From a distance, I could hear the screams and shouts of the men
hunting us.

“
What was that?” I wondered, amused.

“
That was a little something I picked up from Bylun. The old
man is quite the master of destruction,” he laughed.

“
Right, so . . . what do we do now? Obviously, we can’t stay
here. Where do we go?”

He walked
over to me, and placed his hands on either side of my head. He
looked deep into my eyes, and I saw a flicker of something I had
seen in Leonid. He smiled at me before he kissed me on my
nose.

The area
around me began to spin. Dizziness interrupted my concentration,
and left my head reeling from the speed with which we spun. I could
barely hear him when he spoke softly, his voice echoed in my mind
as I drifted off to a world far from there.

“
Now, sweet
Princess, you sleep.”

Acknowledgments

First and
foremost, I’d like to thank my wonderful husband
Sean who has encouraged me endlessly on this journey and
has proven time and time again just how much he is my knight in
shining armor. There are of course my beautiful children – for whom
my dreams know no bounds and I do all this for them. My mother and
father for their dedication and support, who knew that one day I
would see my dreams realized – I love you. My two sisters who have
been a constant source of honesty and love – thank you.

My wonderful team of beta readers: Summer,
Mary, Jessica B, Jessica S, Trudy & Joy – you are a true
blessing.

My wonderful
editor, Nancy Medina who has worked her magic – you are amazing
lady. And last but not least, you my wonderful readers. You
are
the reason I am still here. Thank
you!

About
Julieanne Lynch

J
ulieanne was born and raised in
Northern Ireland. She currently resides there with her husband and
five children, where she works on her Shadows World novels and
other series full-time. Before becoming a writer, she considered a
few different career paths, a rock star being one of them. She
studied English Literature and Creative Writing at The Open
University, and considered journalism as a career path. However,
she decided writing was the way for her and is thankful for each
day she lives her dream.

Julieanne’s
YA series, the Shadow World novels, so far contains Within the
Shadows & Escaping Shadows, the third instalment, Fighting
Shadows is being written. It follows the war between vampires and
shadow creatures. Giselle Bergman, an 18-year old human girl who
falls victim to a scheme by one of her closest childhood friends,
and embarks on a journey that sees her become the center of a
battle between good and evil.

Other books by this author

Please visit your favorite ebook
retailer to discover other books by Julieanne Lynch:

The Shadow World Series

Within the Shadows

Escaping Shadows

Fighting Shadows (coming 2015)

The Loralee Quinn Mysteries

The Taken

The Storm (coming 2015)

The Rage (coming 2016)

The Rose Chronicles

Stone Cold (coming 2015)