Shadow's Touch

by T. M. Hart

  “Take her,” the Black Queen instructed. “Do with her as you will. She is your reward.” Her eyes were fevered with excitement. Although her words and stance were those of someone coolly in control, her eyes belied her. She was a shark frenzied by the scent of blood.

  At her words, Zagan began to stand on his broken legs through determined will alone. The Contessa yanked on the whip which remained coiled around his neck in an unrelenting hold. Unable to remain upright with the pressure she exerted, he collapsed again to his knees.

  Every muscle in his big body swelled and shook with the ferocity of his rage. His tenuous grasp on sanity was slipping, and the violence of his fury was visible as the tendons in his neck stood in stark relief against his skin.

  The Contessa made a tsking noise. “Look at what you’re doing to my pet, princess.” She toed Zagan with her boot. “He’s going to be completely broken. I won’t get to have any fun with him.”

  I found my voice. “Please. Please, you can do anything to me, just don’t hurt him anymore. Take him away from here and let him be.”

  The Contessa turned serious, her words a hiss. “Give me your Light. Release it to me.”

  My head swam from the pain, from the nearness of the Umbra, from the agony of seeing Zagan breaking before my eyes, but somehow the impossibility of what she was asking slammed into me.

  How does one person simply hand over their soul, their very self, to another. That was what she wanted. To give her my Light, was not even possible.

  Why did she not simply kill me? My Light would be released then. She could have it. Why was she asking it of me? It was not something I could do!

  When nothing happened, The Contessa’s temper rose. “Take her,” she screamed at the Umbra. Then she pointed at me. “If you move, I will have his head.”

  Again, Zagan fought the magic coiled around him, and a roar shook the night. Bolts of red lightning erupted in a cataclysm of energy.

  Tears slid down my cheeks. I was drowning in his emotions. I didn’t want this for him. Then and there I vowed I would destroy The Contessa. She could have chosen no greater torture for him. She was breaking him, taking him to a place from which he would never return.

  I tried to will my Light free, but nothing happened. “You can have it! It’s yours! Just don’t do this to him!” I was desperate to free Zagan. I would have given her anything. But I didn’t know how to give her what she asked.

  She said nothing, and the Umbra dropped the black robes they wore. It was clear that there would be no negotiating. She would accept no promises. Either I released my Light to her, or the Umbra would have their way with me and Zagan would be forced to watch.

  I looked away from him. Not wanting him to see the fear in my eyes.

  From behind, I felt two icy fingers slip between the lace of my panties and the flesh of my hips. It was a deliberately slow, lascivious act as the Umbra slid the cotton down my thighs. I cringed at the touch, feeling more defiled and filthier than I ever had or ever would. All the while, the one in front of me wrapped my hair around his fist, forcing my face up to him.

  I was going to be sick. Again, a scream built in my solar plexus, and again I swallowed it, refusing to make this any worse for Zagan.

  When I look back at that moment, I realize that it wouldn’t have made a difference had I pierced the night with my cries. Zagan had reached his limit. He made one final attempt, successfully standing and loosening the binding encircling his neck. But The Contessa gave another yank on the whip handle causing him to fall to his knees once more and the binding tightened.

  I felt Zagan’s emotions hit a mind shattering crescendo before blanking into nothing.

  A different kind of fear and panic surged through my veins. It was the kind you experience when you realize . . . it’s too late.

  I searched for Zagan. Sitting there in the muddy earth under a black sky that wept rain, he was lost.

  And finally, the binding around his neck dropped. It was no longer needed. Dark shadows engulfed him. His eyes were fully black, and inky glyphs had appeared on his skin. They slithered across his flesh like live tattoos, like an evil lover’s caress.

  But what completely broke me. What finally made me understand what I had to do, was the defeat I found in his heart.

  Up until that point he had fought. He had raged and roared. He had tried to get to me. His large body had been bulging with violence. Now he sagged where he sat, taking in shallow breaths, consumed by darkness and a black heart.

  He was lost to me. The Contessa had broken him. I had broken him. And he had slipped away from this world.

  In losing him, I lost any will I had possessed. The moment he was gone. Destroyed. I stopped trying to fight.

  And that was how I did it. I simply let go. I sacrificed my Light, and in doing so, I sacrificed myself.

  A silent explosion lit the night. The very earth rocked and shook. Invisible energy pulsed through the clearing in a tsunami of force. The two Umbra about to violate me were sent flying as if struck in the gut. Their dark forms became airborne—arms, legs, and heads flung forward while their midsections hurtled into the sky. The surrounding trees were blown away in concentric rings, like matchsticks being scattered.

  All of my Light, my strength, my power, my soul—coursed in a direct pulse toward Zagan. The amount of Light that erupted from him was like that of a nuclear blast. His upper body was lifted from the ground as the power hit his chest. His back bowed.

  I was blinded for a moment, my pupils shot. And the shock of raw Light engulfed The Contessa. I could not hear her in the silence—as all sound was being sucked into the vortex of power that was funneling into Zagan—but I knew she screamed in untold agony before she vanished in a swirl of shadows.

  It was the end for me. I could not live without my Light. It was my essential self. And I hoped it had been enough to save Zagan. I hoped it had been enough to bring him back.

  I closed my eyes and surrendered.

  Once the energy transfer was complete, the intense light was extinguished, and blackness tore through the sky once again. There was no moon, no stars. Just the battering rain.

  I sagged, collapsing to the ground. From where I lay, I could see that Zagan too had collapsed. The swirling shadows which had surrounded him began to drift my way. I realized that without my Light, they would infect me. I knew I was to die at any moment. I hoped I did before the shadows reached me.

  But I was not so lucky. I felt the dark caress of malevolence as the shadows traced over my bare skin. They slid in with such ease. There was no resistance and I became consumed with darkness.

  Except . . .

  In complete darkness, the tiniest of light is powerful. A single ember does not shine amidst the brilliance of the sun. But in the darkest of nights, it will blaze, setting your world afire.

  Somewhere deep inside, a tiny spark flared. There was a pull. The spark was connected to another. This shared energy was a tether that kept me grounded. It kept me from disappearing completely. But I needed more.

  On its own, this energy was not enough to ward off the invading shadows. I had to find the source of this Light. The ember was directing me to relief . . . to reprieve.

  I clung to the tiny spark with all the will I possessed. The need to tend to the small bit of light was the only direction I could follow.

  I picked myself up. And I left Zagan. I left myself there on the cliff . . . to seek salvation.

  Annotation

  How I ended up at Elijah’s cabin, I didn’t know. That time was lost to me. The details were something I would learn somewhere down the road.

  Besides, the time I spent lost, was not what would matter. Not what would haunt me for the rest of my days . . . It was what came next.

  I was about to do things. Things that would hurt others. Unforgivable acts. Cardinal sins.

  And I would have to pay. There would be no absolution for me. At least not until I lost everything.

  Oh, yes. I sti
ll had more to lose. So much more than I ever thought possible.

  But that . . . is another story.

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