Shadows of Fate (Shadow Born) by Angela Dennis Read Free Book Online Page B

kept driving, unwilling to ask, her gut warning her it was bad.
    “Xavier’s dead.”
    A wall of ice erected around her heart. Brenna went numb. For a moment she lost touch with reality. Xavier was her partner. They had been together for years. She had misheard. She had to have. The wounds the demon had given him weren’t fatal. Yes, they had weakened him, but that’s all.
    No. Xavier had a sick sense of humor. He was probably pissed at her for changing partners and this was his payback. Once they were at the station, he’d be there and everything would be fine. Then she’d knock his teeth out.
    Her hands shook on the steering wheel. She barely felt Gray’s hand on her arm. “Pull over and let me drive. I’ll tell you the rest on the way.”
    She kept driving. If she pulled over that would make it real. It wasn’t real. Couldn’t be.
    “Brenna, pull over before you wreck.” His tone brokered no argument.
    The vehicle coasted to a stop at the side of the road. Brenna slipped from the driver’s seat then fell back against the door. She couldn’t move. Gray came around and stood in front of her.
    “Get yourself together.” His words were like a slap in the face. “You can’t help Xavier, but you can find the bastard who killed him.”
    That pulled Brenna up short. “He was murdered?”
    Gray nodded. “Seraph said Xavier was the latest victim of the Kenaz killer.”
    “Oh God.” Anger scorched her blood. He would have died horribly, his body barely recognizable. “Where did they find him?”
    “Someone shipped him to Taskforce headquarters.”
     
     
    IRT Headquarters was one place a hunter’s safety was assured. A refuge the outside world had been unable to touch. Until now.
    Brenna made her way through the maze of tunnels. She felt bereft, not just at Xavier’s death, but because her sanctuary had been compromised by it. Someone had invaded their haven and marked it with the corpse of one of their own.
    She stopped just shy of the reception area. The icy shell that sheltered her heart threatened to crack and overwhelm her, but she held steady, taking deep breaths, shutting her emotions down.
    She had been through worse. Had lost more. Suffered more. She would get through this. Gray waited until she was ready.
    It was quiet as they stepped from the tunnels into the front hall. Lucy slipped from her glass cave. The gargoyle was a Jill of all trades. She had spent twenty years passing as a human coroner. Now she played the dual roles of receptionist and medical examiner for the IRT. She didn’t mind the extra workload. Gargoyles didn’t need much sleep.
    Lucy waved for them to follow. She puttered down a white tile passageway away from Brenna’s office. Brenna could already smell the latex from the investigator’s protective gear. It made things far too real.
    One foot in front of the other , she told herself as she followed Gray and Lucy down the winding corridor. She wasn’t a fan of murder scenes. They brought back memories better left stuffed behind years of repression. The desire to flee always came back with suffocating force.
    But this was Xavier. Her friend. Her partner.
    Seraph had said his test results were concerning, but she had just done a job with him and he had been more than capable. Whatever had taken him down was more powerful than they had imagined.
    A murmur of voices trickled through the hall, Seraph’s above the rest. She was perhaps the only one there who knew him well enough to recognize the pain in his tone. This was difficult for him. Xavier had been like a son.
    They arrived at the mail room. Lucy left them, taking a different exit. The small square space was filled to the brim with men and women dressed like overstuffed pillows, the latex of their suits mixing with the strong scent of blood and ash. They circled around a box, approximately three feet tall and wide, covered with shiny gold and black wrapping paper. The lid lay to the left, a large black bow plastered to