Hunting Shadows (Shadow Series #3) (31 page)

Days turned into weeks and we began to realize that we couldn’t stay
holed up in
the motel forever. We needed to continue on with our lives, whatever that meant.
It was daunting to step out into the real world but I was ready to face my future
and whatever it brought.

Chapter Twenty-Four

“Morning,” Simon said as he turned off the alarm clock. “Time to wake up.”

I groaned as I burrowed my head under the covers. Morning had come too quickly and
the last thing I wanted to do was go to class.

My sleepiness vanished when I felt Simon’s hand moving beneath my shirt and stroking
my stomach. I was wide awake when I felt his hand move higher until he was caressing
my breast and teasing me with his fingers.

I pulled my head from out of the covers. “I’m awake,” I said breathles
sly as my body reacted
to his touch.

“Hmm, I can see that,” he teased as his fingers continued to arouse me. My breath
caught in my throat when he lifted up my shirt and replaced his fingers with his mouth.

“I’m going to be late for class,” I protested weakly, but that didn’t stop me from
archi
ng my back to encourage him. He didn’t need much encouragement
and soon there was nothing between us except the heat of our feverish bodies as we
explored each other with our hands and mouth
s
.

I never fel
t more complete as when he was
deep
inside me and I pushed against him impatiently, wanting it harder and faster. He
complied and soon we were nothing but a tangle of arms and legs as we strained together,
our bodies sweaty as we gasped and moaned until we exploded together.

“Now I’m really going to be late for class,” I grumbled after I had
caught my breath. Simon was partly
lying
on
top of me
and he just grinned and kissed me thoroughly until I was breathless again.

“Some things are worth being late for.”

“Sure, sure,” I groused but I couldn’t stop the smile from spreading across my face.
It was tempting to lie in bed all day with Simon but I forced myself to sit up. “I’m
going to take a shower.”

He leaned over
and kissed my hip, an action that had my body tingling all over
again
. “Any visions last night?”

I nodded. “The same one as before.” I had been having a vision of a girl being smothered
to death and as jarring as it was, I was getting more and more used to my visions.
It
helped t
hat it was a means to an end. I needed the visions to stop vardogers from overtaking
humans.

I thought about how much life had changed in the past few months
as the hot water sluiced down my body in the shower
. I was back at Maxwel
l and
the semester was almost over. Simon and I ended up having to do a lot of make-up
work to catch up
on
bu
t the school administration had been
sympathetic since my father had died, and I had explained how Simon had taken time
off to help me through it. Fortunately, nothing more had come out of the grisly scene
at the barn
in Connecticut
and the case had been closed.

My aunt’s house ended up going to my grandmother. I had been too preoccupied with
everything
going on
to remember that
my aunt
had told me
her mother
was still living
.
It turns out
that
she had been
another victim of my father and had been held hostage by vardogers under his orders.
I felt guilty
that I had never tried to find her
but she reassured me that she hadn’t been physically harmed. Emotionally, she was
trying to come to terms with so much. Not only did her daughter and son both die,
but she learned that her son hadn’t been the person she
had
thought he was for a long time. I kn
ew it would take her a while
to come to peace with
what had happened, but she
welcomed my mother with open arms. My mother was now living with her in my aunt’s
house and I visited them frequently. I think they were helping each other
heal
and I was relie
ved that my mother wasn’t
left alone while I finished school. Otherwise, I would have ended up moving her into
my apartment.

Marcus was still mourning
the loss of Jenny, as all of us
were.
I was relieved that the rumors about my involvement in her death had died down
and Marcus, along with Jenny’s family,
had scoffed at the
mere
suggestion
of it
.
I wished that I could tell Marcus
what had really happened, about how she had saved my life before crossing to the
other side. She had been pivotal in
helping me defeat
my father and I wanted everyone, especially Marcus, to know how brave and amazing
she had been. But it was better that he didn’t know. It would be too much for him
to handle, and even without me telling him the truth, he already knew how brave and
amazing she had been.

Sarah and Grant had cautiously accepted Simon although I knew Grant still had problems
thinking of Simon as his cousin. I just hoped with time they would realize that Simon
was as human as the rest of us.

Marie had contacted me and I was relieved she was okay. She had been incredulous w
hen I told her about Ryan, and her incredulity
quickly turned into anger. But I explained to her how he had sacrificed himself when
it
had
mattered and she was able to make peace with everything that had happened. We promised
to keep in touch
,
although I wasn’t sure if that would actually happen.

Ryan’s death
was bittersweet. I could never forget his betrayal but he had lost his l
ife trying to protect my mother. I had a feeling that he had done it for me, to show
me that he cared, and I felt the loss of his camaraderie and guidance as a seer. My
feelings for him had gotten muddled in the process, but I knew it was nothing compared
to wha
t I felt for Simon. It had more to do with
the circumstances
we found ourselves in
and the closeness we were forc
ed into because of the situation
,
rather
than real feelings.
But Ryan had become a friend, and even with his duplicity, I chose to remember the
good things about him. I still kept his mother’s iridium medallion he had given me
in my jewelry box. It was a memory of someone who had helped me when I had needed
it the most.

I still wasn’t sure about the full strength of the palladium an
d iridium disk
. I hadn’t encountered any situations where
I had needed it since the vardog
ers I had faced
in the past few months h
ad been of the ordinary
variety
. But I was sure
that
I would need i
t in the future and I always kept
it close.
Even though my father was gone, there were still rumblings of vardogers joining forces
and I knew it would only be a matter of time until they found a new leader. I would
be ready for them.

Amazingly, I had confirmed
that I no longer needed iridium to destro
y vardogers but I still wore an iridium charm
to show my solidarity with other seers. My grandmother had promised to introduce
me to other seers
in the future
and I was looking forward to it.

Even though
I had decided to embrace
my calling, that
did
n’t mean there was
n’t
room
in my life for anything else
. I would live the life that
Ryan had found so hard to attain
—
a balance between the supernatural world and the world everyone else lived in.

I took a longer shower than I had planned on since I had gotten lost in my thoughts
and I rushed to get ready for class. Simon took a quick shower after me and I still
couldn’t g
et over how handsome he was when he was dressed with
his wet dark hair slicked back.

“Ready?” he asked.

“Yup.” I grabbed my bag and was careful to be quiet in the hallway. Sarah didn’t have
class until the afternoon and I knew she would still be sound asleep.

There was
a nip in the air when we stepped outside
,
even though it was the beginning of April
,
and I shivered slightly.

“Cold?” Simon asked. He slipped an arm around my waist before I could answer and pulled
me close.

“I can’t believe graduation is right around the corner,” I
said as I snuggled into his side
. “Actually, with everything that happened, I can’t believe I’m still graduating.”

“That just shows how brilliant you are,” Simon said. “A superhero and a super-student.”

I groaned and rolled my eyes. “No more of the superhero stuff. I get enough of that
from Sarah nowadays. She thinks I’m Wonder Woman reincarnated or something.”

Simon grinned. “Just think
—
in a couple of months we’ll be on our own.”

Simon and I planned to move to New York City after graduation. He could pursue his
music and I had a few job prospects
lined up
there. It was close enough to
my mother and grandmother so
I could visit
them
often since it was still hard for me to be apart from my mother. Besides, with the
millions of people that lived in New York, I was sure I would encounter
plenty of vardogers to pursue
.
And that was my real purpose in life.

I stopped in my tracks when I caught sight
of a girl walking ahead of us
. Flashbacks of my vision crowded my mind and I felt a rus
h of adrenaline run
through me.

“It’s her,” I said softly as I nodded towards the girl. “The one from my vision.”

Simon gave me a small smile. “Here we go again.” There was no rancor or hesitation
in his tone. He had been by my side countless times as I tracked vardogers and their
victims
,
and
he
had
been pivotal in helping
me
become stronger. Not only did I feel safer with him around, but
it gave me strength to know
I wasn’t alone.

We
moved in sync as we trailed the girl from my vision.
The
trepid
ation
was still there, but there was anticipation as well. This was my calling and I would
spend my life fulfilling i
t. The fact that the person
I loved was by my side made the decision to dedicate my life to destroying vardogers
even easier. I could face anything with Simon beside me.

He took my hand in his and squeezed it. “Ready?”

“Ready,” I answered, squeezing his hand in return. And I was. Ready for a life with
Simon and ready for a life
hunting shadows.

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