Shadow Hunt by Erin Kellison Page B

restrain him while Slight screws the shadow.”
    Ellie grasped a handle in the fireplace tool set and tightened her grip on it.
    “Sweet cousin,” Zander said, distracted as Ellie had hoped, “Slight may be House now, and I will accord him the benefits his new station deserves. However, restraining the fiancé of the woman he intends to fuck is not one of them. I’ll watch from here, thank you.”
    “Now you get prudish?” Mathilde laughed. “Should I remind you—?”
    “I remember our time together very fondly,” Zander said.
    Mathilde turned her attention back to Slight. “We’ll have to tie him up.”
    Ellie dragged her gaze over to Zander to pinpoint his position and to see if he was in any way alerted to the fact that she was about to crush his skull.
    She found him closer than she’d anticipated. He had a slight smile on his face, an eyebrow raised as he met her gaze. Oh, shit, he knows.
    He leaned forward, reaching behind her, and bumped her hand with another handle.
    Ellie looked down. She’d grabbed the fireplace broom.
    He was handing her the poker.
     
     
    Cam felt his mind coming apart; he’d been fighting it for a while, but the sensation had gotten worse in Martin House. There was too much Shadow here; he couldn’t think. Creatures moved in and out of his vision. His heart was wild with fear and dread and sickness on behalf of Ellie.
    He was sliding into madness, a dark shroud overcoming his thoughts. He didn’t know what he was becoming—a monster, certainly. He didn’t know how much control he had.
    Slight was attempting to haul him backward, to one of the free chairs, where they would tie him up. And then what?
    Rather than think of the answer, Cam’s mind slipped, darkness and Shadow rushing him. He let go of himself, and let Shadow clobber him. Again, he witnessed the eddies and devils of magic that precluded a spell or an attack.
    Cam twisted his wrist, broke Slight’s hold, and disarmed his attacker. The black blade dropped, spinning to the floor. It was too easy.
    Mathilde.
    Cam turned to murder the bitch who dared touch Ellie’s soul.
    But Ellie was there before him, shoving a brass poker into Mathilde’s chest.
    “You forget,” Ellie said into Mathilde’s shocked eyes. “I come in two parts. And both of them are deadly.”
    The shadow, released from its thrall, took on the radiance of its diamond-flecked skin again. It gleamed with beauty and magic and power as it stood, strode through the flesh-and-bone Ellie, and rammed the poker into Mathilde to the hilt.
    Mathilde’s knees gave way, and she fell forward onto the floor. Gunnar Martin’s daughter and heir. Yeah, well, they were all going to die anyway.
    Cam watched as the shadow turned, intent on Slight, who’d backed into the center of the room. That other mage, Zander, had a self-satisfied smirk on his face.
    He’d been second in line for Martin House, and now was first. Another debt to be paid. This time, a big one.
    Ellie’s shadow prowled forward, the sinuous lines of its body priming to strike, but Ellie held it back. Cam looked over, wondering why.
    “You’re up,” Ellie said.
    Oh. I’m supposed to kill now.
    Cam saw the Shadowy waterfall rush of Slight’s dive for the black knife. Saw the arc he’d take upon standing to slice at Cam’s throat. The Shadow swirl of a spin. A cloudburst of a kick. Cam saw it all.
    He avoided the blade of the knife and struck at Slight’s breastbone, which shattered, the mage’s heart sending weak vibrations into Shadow as he fell to the floor.
    Cam looked sadly over at Ellie, who was now witnessing what he’d become: a monster of Shadow, the kind Segue fought.
    Then he turned back to Slight, taking hold of the back of his head and his jaw, and broke the bastard’s neck.
    An ocean of magic poured down on Cam so that he couldn’t breathe and didn’t want to, not anymore. All of his senses were buffeted by a storm of nightmares and uncertainty. Shadow had taken over his