Shadow Realms Read online

  Shadow Realms

  Book 1

  Kelly Carrero

  Copyright © 2018 by Kelly Carrero

  All rights reserved.

  No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

  Created with Vellum

  Contents

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Chapter 28

  Chapter 29

  Chapter 30

  Chapter 31

  Connect With Kelly Carrero

  Also by Kelly Carrero

  1

  Buzzing with adrenaline, I stalked through the dark alleyway, sizing up my first prey. The cold handle of the dagger in my hand a stark reminder of what I was trying to become.

  A killer.

  Vampires had once been thought to be a myth, but the truth was they were real. Well, not in the folklore sense anyway. Vampires had always existed in certain cultures and were almost extinct—until the demons latched themselves onto the weak minds of those desperate to become so much more.

  I blame those books and all those authors making vampires out to be sexy paranormal creatures that could love.

  Vampires didn’t love.

  They were evil creatures that fed on anyone with a heartbeat. Children, babies… They didn’t have a moral compass. They were animals. And they were being controlled by the demons inside them.

  And now, I was trying to walk the fine line between vampirism and humanity.

  I needed to feed just enough to gain a fraction of their abilities and infiltrate parts of the city that no one in their right mind would venture into.

  Yesterday, I wouldn’t have considered doing this. But today… I had no choice.

  The faction had ripped that life away this morning when they took my fifteen-year-old brother, Mason, from us. They pretended to be looking for a cure to end the madness of the bloodsuckers terrorizing our streets, but I had a feeling there was more to their plan than they led on.

  Mason must’ve tested positive for the cure during the mandatory urine samples they make all grade niners take on their first day of school, at the start of their coming of age—whatever that meant.

  And now, he was theirs, to do with as they pleased.

  No one could go against the faction. They ruled the free world. I scoffed internally. We didn’t live in a free world. We were ruled by them and the demons they were supposed to be protecting us from.

  Once a child was taken, that was it. They were gone. And we were supposed to accept it.

  Not me.

  I’d already lost one brother, I wasn’t going to lose a another. Especially to a governmental department that was shady as hell and many suspected were in cahoots with the vampires.

  My heart hammered against my chest as the woman ahead of me glanced over her shoulder, immediately picking up her pace the moment she laid eyes on me. Dressed in a short skirt and high heels, she wobbled on the cobblestone pavement, trying not to fall.

  I sucked in a sharp breath. It was now or never.

  Shifting the knife into a better position, I broke into a sprint, saying a silent prayer to my late mother, thanking her for forcing me into track at school all those years ago.

  The woman glanced over her shoulder again, her pupils dilating as the severity of the situation sunk in. A scream erupted from her throat as she broke into a run, but she was too late.

  Slamming my hand into her back, I shoved her against the brick wall and brought the knife up to her neck.

  “Please, don’t,” she whimpered, her lips quivering with fear.

  My heart ached for her. She was scared out of her mind, and rightfully so.

  “Shhh,” I said in the best calming voice I could muster, but it came out like a growl. “I’m not going to kill you. I just need…”

  I couldn’t say it out loud, but I didn’t need to.

  She knew exactly what I wanted, and she also knew that once someone tasted it, opened that part of their soul to the demon world, that was it. They were open for the taking.

  They gave you abilities but cursed you with bloodlust. Most gave in to their desires for power—the rush that came with the deed. But the bloodlust… That was something no one was able to control.

  I couldn’t let that happen.

  I needed enough to gain insight into their world, but not enough that it would be too late.

  I was walking a very dangerous path.

  But I couldn’t let them take my little turd of a brother. He was mine to torture, not some society who deemed it worth the loss of a few to potentially save the many.

  Lifting the knife, I brushed her raven locks to the side, rested the tip of the blade onto the skin on the side of her neck, and slowly pressed down until a drop of blood appeared.

  I wasn’t sure how much was enough, and I didn’t want to tempt myself by slicing down the length of her neck, being careful not to nick her major artery since I didn’t want to kill the poor girl.

  Blood pooled around the wound, beckoning me to devour her.

  Drawing in a deep breath, I closed my eyes and lowered my mouth to her neck, mimicking the action of the bloodsuckers.

  As that single drop of blood rolled onto my tongue, time seemed to stop.

  Within seconds, the woman’s life coursed through my veins, lighting up every fiber of my being until my mind, body, and soul were…alive.

  I needed more.

  As I pressed my teeth against her tender flesh, my eyes glazed over and a euphoric sensation spread through my soul, latching onto my essence, begging me for more.

  I had to stop. I couldn’t hand that part of me over to the underworld.

  Releasing her from my grasp, I opened my eyes and sucked in a sharp breath as I took in the new world before me. It was as if I’d been living in black and white and I was now seeing color for the first time.

  My ears pricked with sounds that had been hidden, allowing me to hear the hushed voices of people in nearby streets and the rustling of the garbage in the nearby dumpster as rats scampered through it, searching for food.

  I tilted my head back as the smell of her blood drifted into my nose, arousing my desire for more.

  My breathing became steady as my heart began to slow. Soon, it would only need to beat a couple of times a minute to sustain the blood flow to my brain.

  Lifting my gaze, I focused on the wall to the left of the woman’s head where the dirty, graffiti-covered bricks began to move, slowly protruding out, morphing into the demons that were trying to take over my soul.

  I squeezed my eyes shut. I would not look at them.

  But I had to. It was the only way I could find out where Mason was.

  Grounding myself, I forced my eyes open and was relieved to find the wall was back to normal. Seeing these anomalies was only the beginning, and if I didn’t find my brother in time, the demons wouldn’t disappear. I would transition into becoming part of their world, and once I was there,
they would never let me go.

  Shifting my focus to the woman, I was surprised by the regret at what I’d done pooling in my stomach.

  Vampires didn’t feel remorse, and I was sure the fledglings didn’t either.

  “I’m sorry,” I whispered, taking a step back.

  She turned around to face me, her body trembling with fear, not knowing if I had finished or if I was playing with her and she was taking her last breaths.

  I took another two steps back, trying to ease her fears.

  With tears streaming down her face, the woman slid down the wall, curling her knees up in front of her as sobs racked through her body.

  Ignoring her tears, I headed down the alley, careful not to look at the walls and the creatures within.

  But that didn’t stop them.

  I could see the demonic shadows out of the corners of my eyes, as they slipped through the alley, following me, determined to drag me into their demonic web.

  My phone buzzed in my pocket for the millionth time that evening, and I knew without looking it was my best friend, Ashley, checking to see if I was okay.

  Ignoring the call, I proceeded through the alley and turned onto the street. There were a few humans scuttling from a nearby apartment building to their car, but other than that, the street was empty, as it should’ve been with the current curfew in place—not that it stopped some people.

  “Come,” a demonic voice whispered beside me.

  I whipped my head around, but there was no one there.

  Chills ran down my spine as the wall began to morph, rippling as it slowly protruded forward.

  “Thisss way,” the whispering voice hissed from nowhere and everywhere.

  My phone rang again, and I absently reached into the pocket of my jeans and retrieved it, answering before I realized what I was doing. “Hello?”

  “Finally,” Ash said, a mixture of frustration and relief brimming over into her voice. “Do you have any idea how worried I’ve been, Kali?”

  “Uh, yeah, sorry,” I replied, stealing my gaze away from the wall. “I’ve been caught up.”

  There were a few moments of silence before she said, “I want to make sure you’re okay after…”

  “After Mason was taken?”

  “Yeah.”

  “I’m fine.”

  “Stop being a dick. This is me you’re talking to. I know you. And I know how far you’d go to get Mason back.”

  Ashley loved my little brother almost as much as I did. And she was right. I needed to stop lying to the one person I trusted more than anyone on this earth.

  “It’s already done,” I said, following the morphing bricks as they led me through the streets, further into the no-go zone the city had enforced.

  “What do you mean, exactly?” she asked with a catch in her voice. “Have you…?”

  “Yep.”

  “Holy shit,” she whispered to herself. “I know you always joked about doing this if anything happened to him or me, but… I didn’t think you’d actually go through with it.”

  “Well, I did. And now I’m following the demons to wherever they’re trying to lead me.”

  “Kali…” She paused for a few moments. “Be careful.”

  Ash knew there was no point in fighting my decision or trying to talk me down, because once I’d made up my mind, that was it. I always followed through.

  “I will.” I disconnected the call knowing full well that could’ve been the last time I spoke with my best friend.

  Strangely, I felt content. The old Kali had ceased to exist the moment they took Mason. Or maybe it was the blood running through my system allowing me to distance myself from those I cared about. But if that were true, I shouldn’t give a crap about finding my little brother. All I should have been thinking about was finding my next hit. Actually, I was pretty sure I should’ve been consumed with the effects of the blood as it slowly took over my soul, handing it to the demons.

  I experienced none of that.

  Terror-filled screams ripped through the night air, followed by a round of grunts and hissing, breaking me from my thoughts.

  I rounded the corner and froze as I stared at the masses of vampire fledglings crowded down at the end of a small plaza. There had to have been at least fifty tormented souls gathering around whoever was responsible for the screams.

  “Come,” the demonic voice whispered, reverberating down my spine, icy tendrils searching, luring me over to the dark side. “Join usss.”

  2

  My skin tingled with a mixture of anticipation and dread as I stared at the crowd of fledglings—on the edge, about to cross over, becoming one of the evil monsters terrorizing the streets. Like me.

  Another scream erupted from the center of the pack. Then a figure rose into the air, making me suck in a sharp breath as his presence seemed to absorb the attention of every single person in his vicinity.

  Vampire.

  Everything school had taught us to do if we came in contact with a vampire was telling me to run, but there was an even bigger part of me urging me to move forward. It was as if a magnet was drawing me toward the crowd, determined to drag me further into their demonic clutches.

  Every nerve hummed under my skin, compelling me toward them, and I had to remind myself I was doing this for Mason. I couldn’t back down, and I couldn’t allow myself to fall into their trap.

  The vampire’s gaze rose to meet mine, his head tilting to the side as he studied me, the lone person standing behind the pack. His deathly white skin pulled taut against his bones, and the tips of his fangs elongated over his lips. He was ready to feed, and by the way he looked at me, I hoped I wasn’t going to be his next meal.

  Vampires were nothing like the ones portrayed in stories of late. The earlier versions were correct, depicting them as the horrible monsters they in fact were, infecting the lives of those around them, taking what they wanted and discarding all humanity.

  My chest constricted into a lump of hate as I stared at the creature before me, studying me as if I were an anomaly, fighting the pull they clearly had over every single other person in this vicinity.

  I couldn’t let myself stand out. I needed to blend in.

  Holding his gaze, I strode forward, moving with intent, determined to never show the doubt that was consuming me.

  Something wasn’t right, and it wasn’t just the woman crying amongst the herd of fledglings. No matter how much I tried to figure out exactly what had me so worked up, I couldn’t.

  “Join usss,” the vampire hissed. “Drink from the offeringsss. Feed your desiresss.”

  I pushed my way through the crowd of hyped-up fledglings ready for their next meal. Adrenaline pumped through my veins, growing stronger with every step I took as I fought the urge to run away and instead continued forward for Mason’s sake.

  I owed it to him.

  He was the last of my family. My older brother, Finn, was dead to me, having already chosen to side with the monsters, and my father… We’d lost the last semblance of him to alcohol soon after our mother’s death. Now, he spent most of his days paralytic, passed out on whatever flat surface he could find at home.

  Home.

  That was a joke.

  I fought back tears stinging my eyes as I remembered how different it had been when Mom and Finn were at home. And now? Now it was just me and the empty shell of my father who wouldn’t even notice I’d gone.

  A woman dropped from the rooftop of the building to my right, landing with the stealth of a cat beside the vampire. She lifted her head, her red locks falling to the sides, framing her deathly white face. Unlike the vampire standing beside her, she had a beauty about her that was a rarity amongst her kind. Wearing jeans and a leather jacket, she looked as if she had come from a fashion shoot. But her eyes told a different story. They were black pools of death, ready to devour anyone who stood in her way.

  She stepped forward and grabbed the human woman cowering on the ground, lifting her into the air, hand
ling her as if she were the weight of a wet blanket.

  The human screamed as tears ran down her mascara stained cheeks, her lips quivering with fear of what was to come. She knew she was dead. Terror filled her eyes as she stared death in the face, choking on sobs that racked her body.

  Sorrow and empathy ripped at my heart as I watched her, knowing there wasn’t a damn thing I could do to help her. She didn’t deserve this. No one did. These monsters needed to be destroyed, but unfortunately, she was a by-product of war.

  “You!” the vampire woman sneered. She hopped off the podium, dragging the woman behind her as if she was nothing but an already dead piece of meat.

  Blood spilled from the grazes on the human’s hands, sending the fledglings into a hot mess of hungry predators. Only these people weren’t vampires, yet they were already acting on the instinct to drink more blood.

  I was still waiting for that part of me to kick in. It was only a matter of time. No one could stand against the demonic pull for long.

  She stopped in front of me and tipped her head to the side, studying me with morbid fascination that reminded me of an animal sizing up its prey.

  My heartbeat remained steady—even though I feared the vampire standing before me knew I wasn’t like the others, and I was going to wind up as another sacrifice for the masses to feed on to cement their new lives.

  The corner of the vamp’s lips tipped up, revealing her deathly fangs that were capable of ripping my throat out. “Feed.”

  Shit.

  Panic rippled through me. I’d only just consumed human blood, and I hadn’t planned on doing it again so soon. Once a fledgling fed with intent to become a vampire while someone else’s soul was already running through their veins, they were officially handing over their own soul to the demon world.