Shadow Touched (Shadow Roamer #1) Read Online Free PDF Page A

group. “Which means what exactly?”
    Scuro , who really started to remind her of a bear inside and out with his slow but powerful movements and friendly eyes, shrugged his shoulders apologetically. “Any human foolish enough to walk the streets at night does so at his own peril. There is only so much we can do.”
    It was logical, and she couldn’t blame them for that. Her gaze went back to Nero. “Those creatures of the night? Do they all look like the ones I met?”
    “No. There are four big groups of demons .”
    His eyes moved to Nebbia, who picked up the conversation immediately, her voice sure and strong, her dark eyes a striking contrast to her silvery hair. “Demons of prey, of sleep, of blood and of the mind. The ones you met belonged to the first group and like their meal to be warm or even alive. They come in different shapes and sizes, looking like a cross between humans and animals of prey, like bears, snakes, cats or wolves.”
    “Wolves?”
    Ombra smiled knowingly, “Yes. What human myth and popular literature know as werewolves are not some cute hotties who turn into fluffy wolves, but demons. And warm human flesh is their favorite treat.”
    “Huh.” Charming.
    Lips curving, Nero continued, “Demons of sleep are basically parasites, who live off of human energy that’s released while dreaming until their prey wastes away. Demons of the mind operate in the same way, but on the waking mind. It’s what humans call ghosts and poltergeists.”
    “So let me guess, demons of the blood are vampires?”
    “Yeah, they need blood to survive and don’t know when enough’s enough and end up drinking their victim to death.” Nero leaned forward, his elbows on his knees, his dark eyes on her, “Now that we covered the basics about the demons, wanna know more about our skills?”
    A pleasant thrill went through her. “You bet.”
    After hours of training, of a mix of theory and practice, Stella knew for sure that all of them were some damn good fighters, Nero was a born leader and Nebbia a hell of a good teacher. And they loved each other like family.
    Since the shadows were their home, Nero had dimmed the lighting and the glass windows had turned dark, letting only a fraction of sunlight spill into the room so that it wasn’t pitch black, but rather filled with a multitude of shadows.
    Then she had watched the roamers use the darkness around them, to move with them, to cloak themselves with and to trick the others – and then shocked her by using them as a weapon as well, much like a sword. After the little show off, the team had split into two groups. While Ombra, Scuro and Trevas fought and trained with each other, Nero and Nebbia tried to teach her basic moves in the martial arts and to get a feel for the shadows surrounding her.
    Feeling them was no problem for her, since it was what had always soothed her while walking through the almost empty streets at night. The shadows felt like a cool and yet warm blanket for her soul. A balmy breeze supporting her.
    Since Nero had seen her unconsciously pull the shadows towards her when she had been attacked by the reptiles , he wanted her to do so again. Unfortunately that part was easier said than done and soon the exertion had her sweating, until Nebbia had the idea that Nero should attack her, simulating the situation when Stella had been successful in pulling the shadows to her.
    The problem was, seeing Nero half naked, having him come at her and touch her – even if it was to throw her on the ground or some such – didn’t make her feel frightened at all , but something else entirely. Needless to say, her first day she didn’t really had any success to show other than feeling completely tired but strangely happy at the same time.
    When Nero finally announced the end of their session, Trevas and Ombra joked some, yanking each others’ chains in a friendly manner Stella had already gotten used to, and the team made plans for their nightly patrol