
Hunted By Shadows
Fountain A. Gidado · Completed · 143.1k Words
Introduction
Enter Kieran Braut, a centuries-old hunter bound by ancient magic to destroy demons before they can establish permanent footholds in the human realm. Cursed to feel every death he causes, Kieran has sworn off working with humans after his last partner's betrayal cost innocent lives.
But this isn't just another demon incursion. Someone is systematically weakening the barriers between dimensions, and Seattle is becoming a supernatural battleground. As Sam's visions grow stronger and more dangerous, she realizes her psychic gifts aren't natural—they're the result of demonic blood passed down through her family line.
Kieran needs Sam's unique abilities to track the portal locations, but her demonic heritage makes her both the key to stopping the invasion and the perfect vessel for the demon lord trying to cross over. With each use of her powers, Sam becomes more connected to the demon realm, slowly losing her humanity.
Chapter 1
The concrete is still warm with blood.
I crouch in the alley behind Pike Place Market, pressing my fingertips against the stain where victim number four died three hours ago. The familiar chill of death echo preparation runs up my spine, and I close my eyes, opening myself to the psychic residue that clings to violent endings.
"Um, Sam? This is really gross," Tyler whines behind me. "Can't you just, I don't know, look at the crime scene photos like normal investigators?"
I ignore my assistant and let the death echo hit me.
Ice water floods my veins. Claws tear through flesh like paper. Inhuman snarls fill the air as something massive pins a struggling woman against the brick wall. Her final scream cuts through the night, terrified, desperate, hopeless. But underneath the victim's terror, I taste something else. The killer's satisfaction. A hunger that feels ancient and intelligent.
The vision ends and I gasp, yanking my hands back from the concrete.
"Jesus, Sam, you're white as a sheet." Tyler's voice carries that familiar mix of fascination and revulsion. "What did you see?"
"Help me up." I extend my hand, legs shaky from the psychic drain. Tyler pulls me to my feet, his college-boy strength surprising for someone who looks like he survives entirely on energy drinks and ramen.
"So?" He bounces on his toes, notebook ready. "Serial killer? Psychopath with a knife fetish? Ooh, maybe it's one of those guys who thinks he's a vampire!"
"It wasn't human." I dust off my jeans and examine the alley with fresh eyes. The death echo always reveals details the crime scene techs miss. "Look at the claw marks on the wall."
Tyler squints at the brick. "Those could be from a knife. Or like, really long fingernails."
"Eighteen inches long?" I trace the gouges with my finger. They start at shoulder height and rake down to the pavement. "And look at the spacing. No human hand made these marks."
"Okay, so maybe it's a really big dog. Or a bear. Do we have bears in Seattle?"
I want to shake him. "Tyler, the victim was found with her throat torn out, not bitten. And bears don't arrange bodies in ritual positions."
"Ritual positions?" His pen freezes over the notebook. "You didn't mention ritual positions."
Because I haven't told him what I really saw. The death echo showed me more than claws and screams. I saw the killer's face, or what passed for one. Yellow eyes that burned with hellfire. Skin like charred leather. And when it finished killing, it arranged the woman's body with careful precision, whispering words in a language that made my blood sing with recognition.
But Tyler doesn't need to know that. He already thinks I'm half-crazy, and he's not entirely wrong. Normal people don't see the last moments of violent deaths by touching bloodstains. Normal people don't hunt things that go bump in the night through Seattle's darkest corners.
Then again, normal people don't have twin brothers murdered by demons.
"Sam?" Tyler waves his hand in front of my face. "You're doing that thousand-yard stare thing again. Are we dealing with some kind of cult?"
"Something like that." I pull out my phone and snap photos of the claw marks, making sure to capture the angle and depth. "I need you to cross-reference the locations of all four murders. Look for patterns, occult symbols, underground tunnels, anything that connects them besides the MO."
"Already on it." Tyler's chest puffs with pride. "I've been mapping the crime scenes while you were doing your... whatever you call this psychic detective thing. All four locations form a perfect square around the Pike Place Market area."
I stop mid-step. "A square?"
"Yeah, look." He pulls out his tablet, showing me a map of downtown Seattle with red pins marking each murder site. "Four corners of a square, with Pike Place right in the center. That's not a coincidence, right?"
The pattern makes my stomach clench. Four sacrifices to anchor a summoning circle, with the market—one of Seattle's most spiritually active locations—as the focal point. This isn't random killing. It's preparation.
"Tyler, I need you to research any missing persons reports from the past week. Focus on people with unusual backgrounds; psychics, mediums, anyone involved in the supernatural community."
"The supernatural community?" Tyler's eyebrows climb toward his hairline. "Sam, you're starting to sound like one of those conspiracy theorists who thinks the government is run by lizard people."
"Just do the research." I start walking toward my car, parked on Western Avenue. "And see if you can find any connection between the victims and tech companies. Specifically quantum computing or dimensional research."
"Dimensional research?" Tyler scrambles to keep up with my longer stride. "What the hell is dimensional research? Are we talking about parallel universes now?"
I unlock my Honda Civic and slide behind the wheel. "We're talking about people who think the barriers between worlds are thinner than they used to be."
Tyler climbs into the passenger seat, shaking his head. "I swear, Sam, sometimes I think you actually believe this stuff. Like you really think demons and ghosts and whatever else goes bump in the night are real."
If only he knew. I've been hunting the supernatural for three years, ever since something with glowing red eyes tore Danny apart right in front of me. Every case brings me closer to finding his killer, and every death echo shows me more of the hidden world that exists parallel to normal life.
But Tyler is just a college kid who needed a job that paid better than minimum wage. He doesn't need to know that monsters are real, or that his boss is one paycheck away from losing her mind to the darkness she hunts.
"I believe in following the evidence," I say instead. "And the evidence says our killer isn't human."
Tyler pulls out his phone and starts typing. "Okay, missing persons with supernatural connections. Do I include people who've been to psychic readings, or are we talking full-blown crystal-wielding witches?"
"Cast a wide net. Anyone who's ever dabbled in the occult, visited a medium, or claimed to have psychic abilities." I start the engine and pull into Seattle's late-night traffic. "And Tyler? This stays between us. If word gets out that I'm looking into supernatural angles, I'll lose what's left of my credibility with the police department."
"Your secret's safe with me." Tyler grins and taps his temple. "Besides, who would believe me? 'My boss thinks demons are real and she solves crimes by touching dead people's blood.' They'd have me committed."
I wish I could laugh at the absurdity, but the death echo is still fresh in my mind. The killer's satisfaction wasn't random violence or mental illness. It was the pleasure of a job well done, a ritual completed successfully.
Four sacrifices in a perfect square around Pike Place Market. Whatever summoned those claws is just getting started.
"Tyler, one more thing." I glance at him as we drive through the empty streets. "If anything weird happens during this investigation; and I mean anything, you run. You don't try to help, you don't stick around to see what happens. You just run."
"Define weird." Tyler's fingers pause over his phone screen. "Are we talking about finding more claw marks, or like, actual supernatural encounters?"
I could tell him the truth, that I've been fighting things that shouldn't exist for three years, that my psychic abilities make me a magnet for supernatural trouble, that working with me puts him in more danger than any college kid should face.
Instead, I turn onto Pine Street and head toward my apartment. "Just promise me, Tyler. If things get dangerous, you run."
"I promise." But his voice carries that stubborn note I've learned to recognize. Tyler might act like a scared kid, but he's got more backbone than he lets on. Which means I'll have to be extra careful to keep him away from whatever I'm about to uncover.
Because the death echo showed me something else, something I haven't told Tyler or anyone else. When the killer finished arranging the victim's body, it looked directly at the spot where I was crouching tonight. Like it knew I'd be there. Like it was leaving a message specifically for me.
The hunt is just beginning.
Last Chapters
#88 Chapter 88 Found Family (Tyler POV)
Last Updated: 2/2/2026#87 Chapter 87 Shard Purge (Sam POV)
Last Updated: 2/2/2026#86 Chapter 86 Fragment Hunt (Sam POV)
Last Updated: 2/2/2026#85 Chapter 85 Partial Manifestation (Echo POV)
Last Updated: 2/1/2026#84 Chapter 84 Pedro's Ascension (Kieran POV)
Last Updated: 2/1/2026#83 Chapter 83 Fragment Quest (Sam POV)
Last Updated: 2/1/2026#82 Chapter 82 Fifth Portal Surge (Sam POV)
Last Updated: 2/1/2026#81 Chapter 81 Grid Blackout (Marcus POV)
Last Updated: 2/1/2026#80 Chapter 80 Rescue Dilemma (Kieran POV)
Last Updated: 2/1/2026#79 Chapter 79 Seal The Gateway (Sam POV)
Last Updated: 2/1/2026
You Might Like 😍
Bound by Fate, Freed by Choice
Her escape leads her to Alpha Rowan, the commanding leader of the Blackwood Pack, who offers shelter, protection, and an unexpected chance at a new life. But Rowan’s fierce and jealous fiancée sees Lyla as a threat, and the pack’s charming Beta is drawn to her quiet strength.
As a dangerous attraction simmers between Lyla and Rowan, they begin to unravel a dark web of secrets that implicates Kaiden and threatens both their worlds.
With her hidden power awakening, Lyla must navigate treacherous loyalties, face the alpha who shattered her, and decide: Will she follow the destiny fate forced upon her, or claim the love and strength she has chosen for herself?
Rise of the Banished She-Wolf
That roar stole my eighteenth birthday and shattered my world. My first shift should have been glory—blood turned blessing into shame. By dawn they'd branded me "cursed": cast out by my pack, abandoned by family, stripped of my nature. My father didn't defend me—he sent me to a forsaken island where wolfless outcasts were forged into weapons, forced to kill each other until only one could leave.
On that island I learned the darkest edges of humanity and how to bury terror in bone. Countless times I wanted to surrender—dive into the waves and never surface—but the accusing faces that haunted my dreams pushed me back toward something colder than survival: revenge. I escaped, and for three years I hid among humans, collecting secrets, learning to move like a shadow, sharpening patience into precision—becoming a blade.
Then, under a full moon, I touched a bleeding stranger—and my wolf returned with a violence that made me whole. Who was he? Why could he wake what I'd thought dead?
One thing I know: now is the time.
I have waited three years for this. I will make everyone who destroyed me pay—and take back everything that was stolen from me.
After the Affair: Falling into a Billionaire's Arms
I’d appreciate all your support, thank you so much!
From first crush to wedding vows, George Capulet and I had been inseparable. But in our seventh year of marriage, he began an affair with his secretary.
On my birthday, he took her on vacation. On our anniversary, he brought her to our home and made love to her in our bed...
Heartbroken, I tricked him into signing divorce papers.
George remained unconcerned, convinced I would never leave him.
His deceptions continued until the day the divorce was finalized. I threw the papers in his face: "George Capulet, from this moment on, get out of my life!"
Only then did panic flood his eyes as he begged me to stay.
When his calls bombarded my phone later that night, it wasn't me who answered, but my new boyfriend Julian.
"Don't you know," Julian chuckled into the receiver, "that a proper ex-boyfriend should be as quiet as the dead?"
George seethed through gritted teeth: "Put her on the phone!"
"I'm afraid that's impossible."
Julian dropped a gentle kiss on my sleeping form nestled against him. "She's exhausted. She just fell asleep."
The Vampire Prince's Hybrid Bride
The Dragon's Last Fae Queen
“Prince? Dickhead? Asshole? Or stalker?” A slow, dangerous smile curved his lips. “Maybe I should show you the one title I want you to use.” Before I could react, his hand closed around my chin, tilting my face up. His lips crashed into mine, hard, claiming, breath-stealing. When he finally pulled back, his voice was a rough whisper against my lips. “You could call me yours… because you are mine.”
A pack of their own
The Family Books 1-3 (A Mafia romance)
The saint to my sinner. with her innocent eyes and devilish curves.
A Madonna that was meant to be admired but never touched.
Until someone took that innocence from her.
She left.
The darkness in my heart was finally complete.
I avenged her, I killed for her, but she never came back.
Until I saw her again. An angel dancing around a pole for money.
She didn’t know I owned that club. She didn’t know I was watching.
This time I won’t let her escape.
I will make her back into the girl I knew.
Whether she likes it or not.
2/ Judge and Jury- I can’t stop watching her.
I’m not even sure I want to.
Taylor Lawson, blonde, beautiful, and totally oblivious to how much dangers she’s in.
She’s also the one juror in my upcoming murder trial that hasn’t been bought.
The one who can put me behind bars for a very long time.
I know I should execute her.
After all that’s what I do.
I am the Judge.
I eliminate threats to The Family.
And Taylor is a threat.
But I don’t want to kill her.
Possessing her, making her love me seems like a much better plan for this particular Juror.
3/ Rags and Ritches-
The CEO's Unspoken Love
Before I could answer, he moved closer, suddenly looming over me, his face inches from mine. I felt my breath caught, my lips parting in surprise.
"Then this is the price for speaking ill of me to others," he murmured, nipping my lower lip before claiming my mouth in a real kiss. It began as punishment but quickly transformed into something else entirely as I responded, my initial rigidity melting into compliance, then active participation.
My breathing accelerated, small sounds escaping my throat as he explored my body. His touches were both punishment and pleasure, drawing shudders from me that I thought he felt reverberating through his own body.
My nightgown had ridden up, his hands discovering more of mine with each caress. We were both lost in sensation, rational thought receding with each passing second...
Three years ago, to fulfill the wish of his grandmother, I was forced to marry Derek Wells, the second son of the family that had adopted me for ten years. He didn't love me, but I had secretly loved him all along.
Now, the three-year contractual marriage is about to end, but I feel that some kind of sentiment has developed between Derek and me that neither of us is willing to admit. I'm not sure if my feelings are right, but I know that we can't resist each other physically...
Mates: Regrets and Redemption
With my heart in pieces, I sought solace in the last place I expected—my Alpha's arms. One night turned into a dangerous entanglement, and now my Alpha refuses to let me go. As the Alpha’s obsession grows, I'm caught in a web of desire and fear.
Curtis, the boy I once loved, still holds a promise I made, but the Alpha’s powerful presence pulls me deeper into his world. Should I forgive Curtis and keep my word, or should I risk everything for a chance at something wild and unpredictable with the Alpha who won’t take no for an answer?
“There are no limits between us,” he chuckled, the mirth sparkling in his gorgeous eyes. “And all of this stems from the night you gave me both pain and pleasure. I’m simply returning the favor.”
He took two steps forward, and I stepped back. “But…” The memory of what I had done filled me with fear, and I knew I had to get out of there. “I…”
“No, Firecat.” He placed an index finger on my lips. “This will take your mind off that son of a bitch.” His strong hands pulled me by the waist until I felt his hard manhood.
The Game of Claiming
A drunken bet becomes their private game: win the maid.
The rules?
Don’t let the others know you’re falling for her.
And never, ever let her leave.
But each brother plays differently—
The eldest buys her obedience.
The second steals her breath.
The third corners her in the dark.
The youngest ruins anyone who touches her.
Lila isn’t sure if she’s a player in their game… or the prize they’ll destroy each other to claim
HER ALPHA, HER SAVIOUR
Kane Hellboud, charm and wealth personified, wanted only me in exchange for her treatment. No cameras, isolation, or noose-like rules were part of the deal. Behind his smile? Cold, violent possessiveness that destroyed our fake marriage.
Most of all, I didn’t know the supernatural walked among us, hiding in the cracks of ordinary life. Not until Abel Stone stepped into mine—dark-eyed, sharp-tongued, and oozing dangerous promises. He’s my new boss. He shouldn’t make my skin tingle or my pulse race. I shouldn’t feel this primal pull, this illogical recognition that tugs at something deep in my bones.
Around him, lights burst, electronics fry, and something ancient in me awakens.
Kane feels it. His grip tightens, punishments turn brutal, and he hides the truth of what I am.
Trapped between two powerful men, I’m no prey, no pawn—no helpless victim.
Prisons burn. Monsters bleed. As for me? I'm the storm in skin—deadly beyond suspicion.












