Shadow Born: A Joseph Hunter Novel: Book 1 (Joseph Hunter Series)

my anger to settle. “I’m retired from that life, Xander. No more guns. No more magic.”
Let’s pause right there for a second so I can explain a few things in a huge information dump.
When I was at the ripe, barely-legal age of eighteen, a special military academy, Militus University, recruited me. With no other future other than prison in sight, I accepted the opportunity. There, I met Xander and Callie, and we learned about our innate abilities to use magic.
You see, at one point in our violent history, some humans could access magic willy-nilly. With the advancement of technology, magic fell obsolete. However, within a small percentage of the population, the dormant magic will awaken—usually during a stressful event in a person’s life. Spent magic leaves an aura that can be traced.There are more universities apart from Militus, and they all have recruiters that spend their lives searching for auras of spent, unpracticed magic. Unlearned magic is not only extremely dangerous physically, but addicting and can corrupt the user, driving them insane. Magic users make up a high percentage of the mentally ill and homeless populations around the world, even if they had attended a university.
The universities are created for Nephil—the offspring of fallen angels and humans. Most gods in any pantheon are Nephil. Zeus, a Nephil. Ra, a Nephil. Each Nephil keeps an eye on their respective universities for a person of great talent. If recognized, the Nephil will offer that person a pact in exchange for services. You see, the Nephil can’t directly interfere with the events in this world. So, to counteract that, they have Acolytes—those they have made pacts with—and Cursed—those who wish to follow them forever and do their bidding. The Acolytes have access to the Nephil’s unlimited well of power, so they don’t have to draw on their own, lesser life force to use magic.
To really make it easy to understand, the Nephil each choose one person a year and pretty much make them a super hero if that person agrees to do some shady shit.
At nineteen, I received a pact from the Nephil, Hephaestus. Hephaestus allowed me access to his power in exchange for my services. Well, since moving out of Sacramento, I had stopped using my magic and I had stopped reporting to him. Abandoning the conditions of a pact equaled death. So, not only did I avoid using my old fire-hands to hide from Callie’s killers, but to hide from my big, bad Nephil patron who was no doubt looking for me, as well.
And… we’re back.
Xander sat silenced for a minute, legs crossed and eyes fixed on me. He was never one to look away, no matter how long a stare. After drinking from his coffee mug, he asked, “Can you still access it? The magic? Or has it gone?”
I shook my head. “I don’t know. I haven’t tried in five years.”
“Hephaestus know where you’re at?”
I shrugged. “Don’t know.”
“And your guns?”
I coughed. “Buried from the world.”
Xander nodded. “You can recoup them?”
“Why are you here?” I asked, glaring at him. “If it’s not to scold me, then why are you in my house?”
“I found a lead,” he said, as simply as stating that the sun shined.
My heart accelerated with that development. “To them?” I asked, sitting back down on the table and leaning forward with my elbows propped on my thighs.
“To Callie’s murderers,” Xander confirmed. “It’s nothing substantial, but it’s an actual lead.”
My throat constricted. For two years after her murder, I had done nothing but terrorize the streets of Sacramento, searching for something that would point me toward her killers. I’d found nothing. Xander had helped too, using his position and resources to find answers—but he hadn’t found anything either. After two years, I had retired from my search and moved outside of Sacramento, closer to the Delta, to protect Mel.
“How?”
“A vampire. We brought her in for questioning about some young men that have gone missing over the past few years. She’s suspected of kidnapping them, holding them prisoner as food. When one dies, she repeats the process with a new one.”
“A single vampire didn’t kill my wife,” I said, shaking my head. “You know that.”
Callie had possessed too much power for a lone vampire to murder her. She hadn’t received a pact from Militus University, but she had impressed the Nephil who overlooked that school. They referred her to Demeter, and she had imbued Callie with her power through a pact. My wife could not only alter her own appearance and heal herself and others, but she had the ability to conjure thorns and vines, to wield them like weapons—and she did so with terrifying efficiency, as if Demeter herself fought through her.
“No,” Xander said. “A single vampire didn’t.” He cleared his throat. “But to this day, I show all my detained suspects a picture of your wife. When the vampire saw Callie, she reacted strangely—unlike anyone else ever has. Since the start of the interrogation had started, she hadn’t stopped flapping her mouth. But at the sight of Callie, she shut up quick.”
I chewed on my lip. “Why?”
Xander shrugged. “Looked scared to me. She stopped answering questions, clamming right up. Said she would only talk to you. That’s all I have. That’s the lead.”
“Where is she now? Did you kill her?”
He shook his head and smirked. “Thought the timing a little strange. I mean, this gal was a little too easy to capture after years of eluding us. Then we arrest her the day before the seventh anniversary of Callie’s…” Xander coughed, covering his lips with a fist.
“Death,” I finished for him. “You can say it.”
“Yeah, well… I thought I’d let you know, give you a chance to talk to her. I’m not asking you to join the organization, Joe. Just providing you an opportunity to gather some information.”
“How are you holding her?”
Xander finished his coffee in one go. “You’ll have to wait and find out.”
I covered my face with my hands and thought about it. What would I