Author's Note: Alas dear readers we must now say a final adieu to Shadow and Holly. I'd like to give thanks to Paranormalcy and TinaX, my only reviewers but they have more than made up for the lack of other reviewers by their constant support and the sheer number of reviews they've submitted, both in this arc of Shadow's saga and the previous. Now it's time ladies and gentlemen, for the last epilogue of the trilogy
Shadow grinned, the familiar taste of blood in his mouth, almost unconsciously licking his lips, savouring the metallic tang of the iron.
Still grinning like a madman he beheaded the werewolf, looking disdainfully at what had been his lunch. Calmly he sat down at his desk, buzzing the intercom to the office's reception.
"Ash, could you please send someone to clean the office. And you'll have to find a different venue for my three o'clock, also could someone please rustle me up some new sandwiches, mine have been... bled on." That said Shadow sank back in his chair, the leather surface remarkably untouched by the arterial spray. Grabbing a tissue from a draw in his desk, dabbing at his split lip, the werewolf's uppercut had stopped just short of shattering his jaw but the surrounding tissue had been nowhere near as lucky, his own blood, the oh so familiar taste swamping his senses, was leaking into his mouth, forcing him to swallow periodically to avoid choking.
Shadow glanced at the clock, one pm, there was nothing in his schedule for at least half an hour, the rather aborted meeting having been intended to take up the time. He wondered if Holly was busy.
There was a knock on his door. "Come in." Beneath the desk two shotguns mounted on swivels were swung to face the entrance, the fingers tight on the trigger.
Nite entered, carrying a plate of sandwiches. Shadow relaxed. "Nite, this is unexpected, what brings you to my humble abode?"
The stoic werewolf nodded towards the sandwiches he'd just put down on the desk. Shadow laughed amiably although the humour never reaches his eyes, the steely gaze of the grey orbs seldom warmed by anything.
"Nite, you're a professional killer with a political reach I've come to envy, discard the subtlety and just tell me why you're here." That was one thing Shadow had taken care to cultivate over the last year, speaking bluntly and honestly. He found it put other politicians off, something about being against the spirit of the whole thing.
Nite paused for a small moment, "I've come to cash in a favour." There was a definite sense that he was choosing his words carefully.
"Fair enough, if anyone's bloody well earned it it's you." Shadow conceded, a slight smirk crossing his features. "Well go on then. Let's hear it."
"A... situation has arisen between two of the werewolf clans and uh..." Nite stopped as Shadow listened intently, noting the unusual worry in his fellow former escapee's voice. "There may have been a slight complication with the negotiations and... well..."
"Out with it Nite, I'm hardly going to judge."
"One of the werewolves may have found their soulmate." Shadow honestly couldn't see how this was a problem. "and it just may have been the alpha of the other clan's daughter, aforesaid alpha may have then put a hit out on the other werewolf, the alpha being an old-fashioned, cantankerous bastard."
"Ah, you want me to sort out the alpha?"Shadow questioned.
"No, I want you to protect the other werewolf."
"Very well, but after this the slate's clean I hope?" Shadow asked, more for the sake of rhetoric than confirmation.
"Naturally." Nite replied, understanding Shadow's need for some mild melodrama, there was only so long you could listen to other people talking bullshit before boredom or near-homicidal frustration, took over.
"So who will I be protecting exactly?"
"Uh...me."
Ten minutes later Shadow walked out of his office, escorting Nite to the building's 'safe room', nothing short of one of Shadow's own plasma guns would be able to get through the thick walls and doors, the carbon steel far too thick for an oxyacetylene torch to be of use.
That minor problem dealt with Shadow walked back up to his office to inform his secretary to cancel his calls. Ash nodded, still cheerful despite circumstances cruel conspiracies. The vampire slayer, one of Shadow's chosen four, was confined to a wheelchair where a werewolf had snapped her spine.
It had been the only mission the four had managed, Sally and Dan had bought it in the first two minutes, Ash and Nick had been lucky to escape with their lives. Still just because she'd been robbed of her legs didn't mean she was harmless. Beneath the desk two shotguns had been released from a strong grip, the swivel mounted guns deadly at short range.
Shadow glanced at the clock, he was bored and simply didn't have the patience to mediate yet another trade agreement. Still that was one of the miracles of being the boss, despite Shadow's huge independent streak, his ventures into politics had taught him the value of delegation.
So, with only minor guilt, he got Nick to cover his meeting, although it had taken a reasonable sized bribe to persuade him, not that Shadow minded. He made a point that his two former proteges were looked after. In one of those fantastic inevitabilities the two had begun dating, still tentatively by the time Shadow escaped but now with great fervour. More than once Shadow had been forced to simply walk out of the armoury to avoid an awkward situation.
Still, with his schedule free for the best part of two hours, Shadow turned his mind to having a bit of fun. He wondered what Holly was doing...
Holly was having a bad day. The deadline for the Mk9. PLR was coming up in less than a week, and, unless a miracle happened, as far as she could tell, there was no way to lower the weight any further without compromising the gun's integrity, and a gun that could be bent in half by an overly firm grip was no use to anyone.
Scowling furiously she grabbed her latest design plan and ripped it in half, scrunching the paper into a ball and tossing it in an already overflowing paper recycling bag, before returning her attention back to the blueprints she was currently sure of. This time she tried decided to go for a different tact, instead of trying to lower the weight she would try and increase the firepower. She pondered whether using a ruby as the centre piece for the focusing array would be a good idea. Typically it would be far too expensive, but the gun wasn't intended for mass production, only a few hundred would ever be created for Shadow and his employees. Grinning at finally making some headway, she wrote down the alteration. Holly went to grab the budget sheet, on the off chance the specs she'd just jotted down were over the exorbitant budget, when she felt warm lips on her neck, gentling biting into her neck, just enough to leave a rapidly fading mark, as strong arms enveloped her torso.
"Hey beautiful." The line was cornier than words could express, and cliched enough that you could probably trace it's origin back through the last two ice ages, but that didn't matter, Shadow meant every syllable and with that level of adoration no amount of cliches could spoil it.
She tilted her head back, giving better access to her neck as Shadow kissed his way up it, a romantic parody of the typical predator-prey relationship between the species. It was odd in a way that even she only thought of him as Shadow, one day she'd get around to asking him what his real name was; if he even remembered.
But none of that mattered as she turned around to bring her lips to his, questions could wait, the deadline could wait, she was sure she could persuade her boss to push the deadline back, somehow.
Nick sighed deeply, burying his head in his hands before noticing the stares from the negotiators.
Shadow owed him big for this. Really big. Although, considering everything Shadow had done for him and Ash since Shadow's escape, it was probably more of a case of him no longer owing Shadow.
There was something about the minutiae of a business meeting that left the logical mind faced with a choice between homicide or suicide. With great difficulty Nick quelled the impulse and returned his attention to the meeting he was mediating.
Elder Nyx stared down at her paperwork, her eyes glazed over. Sometimes, for example on the rare occaisions when the pile of requisition forms, overtime forms and health and safety assessments managed to stack over a metre high, she wished she was back in The Jail.
The Jail, even now that was what they called it, usually, the place had no names, was on no maps and as far as paperwork was concerned had never existed. Paperwork not existing, now there was a concept she could appreciate.
One of the communiques caught her eye.
To: Elder Nyx (Circle Midnight)
Cc: Elder Nite, Daybreak Council,
See me, my office, tommorow, 4pm.
From: Elder Shadow
Short and to the point, and exceptionally paranoid, the latter showing Shadow was more than equipped for life as an Elder, plus the prison break had earned enough kudos from the political prisoners that he would be an old man by the time he called in all his favours.
Holly had never seen Shadow quite so nervous before, though she wasn't surprised. Shadow, for all his combat prowess and cool headedness, had never been one for mixing with the public. Other fighters yes, but to her it seemed that he could never find any common ground to talk about. The resulting awkward silences were embarrassing all-round.
"I'll have the uh..." He was still staring at the menu, the waiter growing slowly impatient. "Uh... um... the uh... salad please."
Holly chuckled to herself, Shadow had never been one for fancy meals and so the menu for such an expensive restaurant must have seemed almost in another language.
"I'll have the O-negative." Holly said smoothly. She was also slightly tense, Shadow wouldn't have asked her here unless he was planning something. Still, patience was a virtue.
Thirty minutes later said virtue was running out, the meal had been quite good but Shadow silence throughout was starting to get to her.
"Uh... Holly?" asked an almost tentative voice.
"Yes?"
"Um... you know I'm going to get old right?"
Holly's 'well duh' expression spoke volumes.
"And you can choose not to?"
Holly's expression remained unchanged.
"I know I've got no right to ask but uh... would you be willing to... uh... grow old with me?"
Holly's eyes widened as the implications of what he was asking. "Of course I would." Making the commitment without a second thought.
"Thankyou. That makes this a lot easier. Holly; I'd like you to make me a vampire."
Author's Note: And voila, barring the one crossover I'm writing, that's it for Shadow's saga, please review.