Nick wrestled with what to do.  It was the night of the new moon and he should be returning to shadow land for regeneration and rejuvenation.  He could skip one new moon with limited consequences to himself, but more than that would be a problem.He guessed his captor was a shadow person simply by the way he was being treated.  It wasn’t as cruel and harsh as one would expect from a hunter who was simply waiting for him to leave his body on the new moon, so it could be destroyed before he returned.  Hunters had a sick way of thinking that, since the body was empty of the spirit because it was in shadow land, they weren’t committing murder by destroying it.  They failed to understand that a small part of the soul and the spirit were still connected to the body and not all was departed.  If that was the case, then the shadow walker would truly be dead.If he was correct and his captor was a shadow walker, then he should be return

The searing pain right down into his bones was far greater than Martin could have ever imagined.  He didn’t know what to do to relieve it.  It hurt to stand. It hurt to sit.  It hurt to lie down.  He wanted to scream the pain away but feared appearing weak in front of the king; especially since Nick was behaving in such a damnable stoic manner. What Martin didn’t realize was that Nick was in so much pain he was practically frozen by it. He couldn’t get his ribcage to work well enough to take in the amount of air that was needed to operate his vocal cords enough to protest the situation.  As terrible as it was being cramped and clamped to the wall while a hostage, he’d much rather be there than going through the trauma his body was experiencing after being pulled from the mundane side of the veil to shadow land. The doors of the castle anti-chamber burst open as the king’s physician and his assistant rushed to tend to the men.   Prep

Their zealous grumbles and complaints about having to pay for time with a used-up sex slave got the results they desired.  They watched as Vanessa’s limp body was unceremoniously hauled off to a pickup waiting behind the building and tossed onto the pile of other used up sex slaves.  It looked like they’d have to work fast to learn the route of the pickup.  It was clearly time to make a delivery. Ocilian offered to give them time with another slave, but they indignantly declined and made their exit.  Time was of the essence.  They needed to mix and mingle and ask just the right questions in just the right way to figure out the best and least dangerous way to rescue Vanessa.As luck would have it, Nick stumbled upon two of the men who’d went in with Vanessa before him.  His fingers dug into Martin’s forearm as he joked with them about getting worn out goods and listened to all they did to her.  Their patie

Other than the fact that it was an odd sensation, returning to the mundane side of the veil and re-entering her physical body was relatively easy.  She was surprised to see Nick standing next to her when she sat up.  “I thought your body was at Martin’s place.”“The king had it brought here by his guards when I asked for protection,” he explained.She looked at the empty spot where Alfred’s body should be.  “It’s gone!”Nick smiled as he pulled her to him. “The guards took it with them and put me in its place.  As it should be.”“Where did they take it?” she asked.Nick shrugged.  “I haven’t a clue and, to be honest, I don’t care.  If I ever lay eyes on him again, you’ll be having to hire a lawyer to defend me against murder charges.”She leaned her forehead against his chest.  “I know this is a