A Shift in Shadows [AUDIO]

A bloody heart. That has been my birthday gift every year from the warlock I once loved. He used me, so I left him. And found the love of my life. We shared a blissful life together until Sebastian destroyed it all with one sweeping declaration.

You will always be mine.

After failing in my attempt to get revenge and barely escaping. I find myself once again starting over with the support of my friends, and trying to let go of the past. When I meet the sweet and adorably innocent local werewolf, Andrei, I think I might finally have a real shot at finding happiness again. I should have known better.

Sebastian has found me and he’ll do what he always does—hurt those I love. But I have a secret. The dark magic I keep chained deep within my soul is a weapon just waiting to be unleashed. I could finally claim my revenge and protect everyone important to me. But my kind of magic is forbidden. And the price for using it may be my life.

Darkness was never something I feared. Quite the opposite, actually. It was something I sought out for comfort. To feel safe. When I was young, I believed I was the creature to be feared by everything that went bump in the night.

I thought myself invincible.

Almost four centuries of living taught me just how wrong I was. But even after I realized there were things even I had to dread, I still harbored no fear of darkness itself.
Until they took me.

And shattered my soul.

The room that currently served as my prison was so devoid of light that even with my exceptional night vision, I saw nothing. No shapes. No outlines. No hints of anything. No windows and no clocks, making time infinite.

That was one of the many ways they tortured me. And there were many.

“Ah, good. You’re awake,” a pleasant voice said in the darkness.

A snap sounded, and soft light filled the room. I blinked rapidly, trying to adjust my vision. Clear, light blue eyes met mine.

The warlock waited until I was focused on him. “How are you doing this beautiful evening, my love?”

“Fu-fu-fu—” Spasms ran through my cracked and dry throat before I could force the rest of my words out.

The vampires working for the warlock had already visited me for their nightly entertainment. One of their favorite games was to see how much pain I could handle before screams finally tore out of me. I’d choked down my cries as they shattered each finger bone. But I broke when they began crushing the bones in my legs.

My magic had healed the more serious injuries first, leaving my throat sore. Under normal circumstances, I would have healed myself within minutes, but my magic was running a bit low these days. The warlock sitting across from me made sure of that. In addition to the vampires essentially using me as a juice box, he had crafted a potion that made it hard for me to think and weakened my magic, all except for healing. He only wanted to break me, not kill me.

Sebastian always was a clever one.

When we’d been lovers, he’d used that cleverness to charm and entertain me. That had been so long ago; it was hard to remember a time when I had loved him instead of hating him with every piece of my broken soul.
It’s amazing how much can change in a century. Now Sebastian uses his spells to torture me in an attempt to bend me to his will.

I was fairly certain my stubbornness would outlast his cleverness, but my mind wasn’t exactly firing at all cylinders these days, so that might be wishful thinking.
Sebastian clucked his tongue and moved towards me. I tried to shift away, but they’d tied me too tightly to the metal table I currently laid on. Panic rose as I pulled against the ropes. Memories of being bound and powerless in my youth flooded my mind.

I reached for my magic even though I knew I would find nothing but emptiness. Sebastian gave me a small smile.
Gods, I hated that smile.

“I’m so sorry it had to play out like this,” he murmured. His eyes looked me over sadly, and I wanted nothing more than to claw them out. “I would have preferred to keep things between us a private affair. You would have come back to me eventually, I’m sure of it. But things are changing, and my hands are tied.”

He lifted a hand and stroked my cheek, fingers trailing down my jawline and brushing against my lips. I held perfectly still, biding my time.

“The others don’t know you’re here. They think I’m still looking for you. But I can’t hide you forever. And they will do far worse to you once they have you.” His thumb brushed gently over my bottom lip once more. “Agree to work with me, and this will all be over. I can protect you from them. You loved and trusted me once. We can put the past behind us and be as we once were. Together. Unstoppable.”

I snapped my teeth. He yanked his hand back with a glower, but not before I drew some blood. My tongue flicked over my lips, and I savored the sweet, coppery taste.

“I will never come back to you.” I sank every scrap of strength left in me into those words, my voice coming out strong and even.

Rage flashed across his features before the smooth, charming façade settled back into place. “I’ll see you soon.”

He snapped his fingers, and the lights went out.

I closed my eyes, not that it really mattered, and listened. Sebastian was gone, and my body relaxed as much as it could while bound this table. I had no idea when he’d be back. Sometimes he’d be gone for long stretches of time. He never participated with the vampires in their torturous games. But he was the one in charge, so he was responsible all the same. Sebastian had always preferred psychological torture over physical.

My ears picked up on a slight shuffling sound outside my door. The guards were probably bored. I don’t know why they bothered; no one had come for me, and it seemed unlikely anyone would do so now.

I wasn’t sure exactly how much time had passed, but Sebastian and his vampire cronies had kidnapped me on my last birthday. And he hadn’t mentioned my birthday again. There was no way he wouldn’t have brought it up and made some sort of perverse celebration around it. So, less than a year. My friends and family likely thought I was dead.

If only. Death would be a gift.

My heart ached every time I thought about them. They’d been so worried about me and my never-ending quest for revenge against Sebastian. They’d pleaded for me to stop, at least for a while, instead of continuing to throw my life away as I tried and failed to kill Sebastian for decades.

It was all for nothing. I had failed, and he had finally won.
All I could do now was continue to deny him until he finally lost his patience and killed me. Or until the vampires went too far and drained me dry in their games. I hoped Sebastian would at least leave my body somewhere to be found by my loved ones, but he was a vindictive enough asshole to deny them that.
I had started to drift off when I heard one of the guards gasp, followed by several thuds.

My eyes shot open. Bodies hitting the floor?
Two of the thuds sounded lighter than the others. I craned my neck to look in the direction of the door, even though I couldn’t see anything. A few seconds later, the door swung open, and light filtered in from the hallway.
The scent of a cool rainy night drifted into the room, and I went completely still.

Impossible. There was no way he was here.

I had finally gone insane, and my memories were fucking with me. Or I had drifted off to sleep and Sebastian was using his ability to weave dreams to mess with me.
Despite my disbelief, I couldn’t stop myself from inhaling that familiar scent. It’d been centuries since I’d smelled it, but I would never forget it.

“My apologies for taking so long, child,” Magos whispered quietly while cutting me loose from the steel table.

I said nothing as I studied him quickly and efficiently cut me loose. Last I’d seen him, his hair had been long and contained in tight braids. Now it was shaved close to his scalp. Other than that, he appeared the same as he had the day I’d saved his life by being a nosy child with very little self-preservation instincts.

“Are you real?” I whispered as he helped me stand.
His copper eyes burned bright with anger, making them stand out even more against his dark brown skin. “Yes, I’m real. I’m sorry I didn’t come sooner. Your family and friends have been looking for you. When I heard you were missing, I did my own investigating. Some old contacts claimed a shifter had been captured by a group of vampires aided by a warlock. I took a chance on it being you.”

Maybe I’d finally lost it and was hallucinating this conversation. I rolled my shoulders back and shifted my weight, savoring the ability to move. It felt real.
Hesitantly, I reached out and touched his arm, trailing my fingers down towards his hand. He held a sword with a slight curve. Mist still clung to it.

The tentative hope I’d been feeling settled deep within my chest at the sight of the blade.

This was real. It had to be.

“I take it you can’t shift or use magic?” His voice was gentle as he looked me up and down, but his face hardened the longer he looked at me. The torn-up tank top and underwear I wore left most of my flesh on display. There was no hiding the bite marks, cuts, and burns all in various stages of healing.

“No.” I shook my head vehemently before stopping and forcing myself to focus on his question. “No magic. No shifting. They dose me with a potion every morning to block that.” I licked my dry lips. “It clouds my thoughts, too.”

“I’ll get us out.” With slow but urgent movements, he led me to the door and out into the hallway.

Pain flooded my still-healing body with each step, and I latched onto that to help push back the fog that settled over my mind. We stepped over the headless bodies of the guards and continued down the dimly lit hallway.
The vamps hadn’t bothered to keep the house in any decent shape. The wood floor was worn, some lights were missing bulbs, and the ’70s-style wallpaper was peeling or completely missing in some areas. Random statues and paintings decorated the hallway. They’d likely killed or turned the owners ages ago and used this as a feeding house. My nose wrinkled at the stench of rot leaking from some of the other rooms. Furious shouts came from somewhere deep within the house.

“Stay behind me. And stay close.” Magos ran out the door and down the hallway.

I followed, trying to push away the questions bouncing around in my head. How much time has passed? Why had he come by himself and not gone to my friends and family if they were looking for me? Are they okay?
“Escape first. Ask questions later,” I mumbled. I didn’t have a clue where the exit was, but my intuition was adamant I should trust him.

Even if he was a vampire.

“Come on, Nemain! Move!” he called out in that melodious accent I’d never been able to place.
We soon reached the end of the hallway and turned around the corner, and my vampire rescuer shoved me to the side. I slammed into the wall. Magos was fast, but not fast enough. I bit back a scream as the blade that had been aimed at my heart buried itself in my shoulder instead. Pain erupted as it tore through flesh and bounced off bone, ripping free with more damage.

A growl rumbled out from my chest. They’d been slicing my flesh without any fear of retaliation for so long that they’d forgotten who I was. What I was capable of. It was time to remind them just who they’d been fucking with.
I ducked when the dagger-wielding vampire struck at my chest. A familiar heat spread through my muscles as I rotated until my back was against his chest. Grasping his hand, I pulled it back until his wrist snapped and he dropped the long dagger. I snatched it out of the air and slammed an elbow into his face. The vampire’s head snapped back, blood pouring from his nose. My arm flew in a move based on nothing but muscle memory and sliced through his throat. He gurgled as his hands clenched at his neck, trying to hold back the blood gushing out between his fingers.

My fist slammed into his face once more, and he collapsed to the floor. With one downward motion, I shoved the blade through his mangled neck. I rose as his head rolled away from his body.

I tried to focus on where Magos was and the rest of the vampires, but it was so hard to think. The fog that was ever-present in my mind thanks to Sebastian’s potion had lifted slightly during the fight, but now it was pressing back in. I gripped the blade harder and willed myself to stay here in this moment.

A loud crash from behind made me jump, and the lights went out. My back was against the wall, but all I could hear was my frantically pounding heart.

Panic rose as I struggled to stay calm, breathing becoming difficult as my lungs refused to expand. The fog’s pressure intensified, and my thoughts kept slipping away, replaced by doubts.

Maybe I’d been wrong. Maybe this was a trap. A new method of torture to break me.

I could still smell Magos, but too many other scents were present for me to pinpoint his precise location. My chest tightened further as I gripped the blade like it was the only thing keeping me anchored to this reality.

The sounds of bodies crashing into each other and snarls came from farther down the hall.

If this was real, I needed to get my shit together and help Magos, but I couldn’t convince my feet to move from where I was rooted against the wall. Someone grabbed my arm, and my body moved on pure instinct.

I broke his hold and threw a punch but missed. I froze and listened, trying to pinpoint his location. Got it.
I spun and kicked out with my right leg. He danced out of reach, and I couldn’t tell where he was. I shook my head, but whatever was in that potion made my head fuzzy. Focus, damnit.

Before I could throw another punch, my attacker grabbed me again but just as quickly released me.

My fist flew forward in his general direction only to be caught in someone else’s much bigger hand. I hissed as I tried to pull free until moonlight filtered in through the nearby window, as if a cloud had hazed by, allowing a glimpse into the night sky. I relaxed when I saw Magos in front of me, holding a very dead vampire in his other hand.

“It’s rude to assault the person rescuing you. I’ve taken care of the remaining vampires, but I’m sure more are on the way. Also, you should watch your language.” His face was turned away from me, but I was pretty sure he was grinning.

“You could have said something,” I muttered.
Although, given the bodies on the ground, it looked like he’d been busy taking out several more vampires while I’d been having a minor panic attack. I looked down and saw another vampire at my feet. Well, his headless body anyway.

Magos disappeared around the corner, and I ran after him, down the stairs and out the front door. A break in the clouds allowed the full moon to light up the sky.

I slowed, breathing in the crisp night air. I was free. Free. But then the adrenaline coursing through my body faded and shock settled in. Before I could process much more, Magos pulled on my arm, and we took off at a sprint once more.

He glanced over his shoulder at me. “I have a car on the other side of the gate at the end of the driveway. We just have to make it there, and then you can rest.”

I jerked my head in a quick nod and pushed my body to run a little faster as we fled into the night.

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