Hunting Shadows (Shadows 3)

I never felt 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 that 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 Maxwell and the semester was almost over. Simon and I ended up having to do a lot of make-up work to catch up on but 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 knew 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 relieved 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 when 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 life 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 what I felt for Simon. It had more to do with the circumstances we found ourselves in and the closeness we were forced 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 and iridium disk. I hadn’t encountered any situations where I had needed it since the vardogers I had faced in the past few months had been of the ordinary variety. But I was sure that I would need it 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 destroy 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 didn’t mean there wasn’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 get 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 rush 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 trepidation was still there, but there was anticipation as well. This was my calling and I would spend my life fulfilling it. 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.