Desired by Shadow (A Shadow Walkers Novel) Read Online Free PDF

prospered while regular folk struggled…whoring, gambling, drinking and smuggling. The same debauchery was still popular and even more profitable today.
    “Ready to hang, pirate?” Captain Rawlins Huntington stood at the door to his cell.
    “Robert will suffice. My offer stands. Simply leave your post unattended for a few minutes, ensuring the cells of my men and I are unlocked, and I’ll make you rich as kings. What say you?” He would gladly give his entire fortune to free them all.
    “How it must rankle the great pirate to be brought so low by a mere woman. If only you could keep your wick in your breeches, you might still be sailing the seas. Though I’m sure Her Majesty’s Navy would capture you soon enough. I don’t need your bloody fortune. It will be celebration enough when the lot of you hang.”
    How the whole death-anniversary thing worked he hadn’t a clue other than the twenty-four hours. It was as if that day was overlaid on the current moment in time. No one but those who were present could see it or experience it. For Robert it played out the same every year, it couldn’t be changed—and he’d bloody well tried, hundreds of times over the ensuing years. Well, there was one way…hell no, not going to happen, so forget about it. Bollocks.
    “Suit yourself. I’m ready; shall we?” He adjusted his clothing. It never ceased to amaze him how he could be wearing jeans one moment then be back in his pirate attire every year. No mobile phone, keys, wallet, nothing. It was all exactly as the day he died. Made getting home a chore. You couldn’t dematerialize as your powers were gone for a full day so you had to find another way. Robert usually had one of his men waiting at the castle to retrieve him. After hundreds of years, he had this bloody inconvenience down pat. Stretching, he stood and moved to the door of the cell.
    Walking out into the early-morning light, he blinked after the darkness of the dungeon. He’d relived this hundreds of times yet every year he got a lump in his throat seeing his men all nod to him. Afterwards, he’d done the best he could to take care of the families, providing them with gold and employment as needed. There had only been one family he’d lost track of and couldn’t find. To this day, he had descendants of those same families working for him. It was a sick joke of the fates to have Rawlins still in the picture causing trouble, and as a Day Walker no less. He wondered—was the man standing before him the same jerk of today? He didn’t think so but it made his head hurt to try and figure it out. If he ever had a civil conversation with Rawlins before he beheaded him, he’d ask.
    Day Walkers were the darkness to the Shadow Walkers light in the fight for humanity. They existed to destroy humanity. He and his brethren were sworn to save every last person. The enemy was ruled by Dayne, a god and a mean sonofabitch to boot, and while Robert also reported to a god, at least the guy wasn’t quite as unpredictable. Robert swallowed hard. Every year on the anniversary of his death, he had to relive it to signify his rebirth as a Shadow Walker. Fuck me, couldn’t Thorne have simply had them light a candle or say a prayer of thanks? Thorne was the god of shadows. It was he, in the darkness of the Shadow realm, who offered Robert the choice to become a Shadow Walker. Wanting to take care of the families his crew left behind, wanting revenge, he gladly made the bargain, accepting the curse, swearing to protect humanity from the Day Walkers and became immortal, keeping his soul—for the soul is the energy life force within. It is all that remains behind if we refuse to move on to the next realm.
    The crowds jeered, screaming obscenities, throwing lettuce and other less savory things at him as they marched him to the scaffolding. Looking around, he was always pleased to see such a large turnout. Get through this next dodgy part, and it will all be over. He hated being