I watched as his form partially dissolved, tendrils of darkness spreading throughout the building. It was still strange to see him like this, part solid man, part living shadow. The blood sample that had matched me with him had changed my life forever.
Varkolak reformed beside me minutes later. "It's secure. No one has been here in years."
"Good." I tried to sit up and winced as pain shot through my arm.
He was beside me instantly, his cool fingers gently examining the ritual cut. "The wound is still fresh. It needs to be cleaned."
I nodded weakly. "There might be supplies somewhere."
While he searched the abandoned outpost, I closed my eyes and tried to make sense of everything that had happened. Just three weeks ago, I'd been fishing for crustations by the great sea, dreaming of something more than my crowded colony life. Now, a shadow creature from the East and I, partially bonded, fled from those who wanted to kill us for uniting our bloodlines.
"Found something." Varkolak returned with a dusty first aid kit. He opened it carefully, revealing antiseptic that had somehow survived the years.
I hissed as he cleaned the wound. His touch was gentle despite his intimidating appearance.
"The ritual," I said quietly. "How much did it change me?"
His dark eyes met mine. "Not enough for them to track you by blood. But enough that you're no longer fully human."
The words should have terrified me. Instead, I felt a strange sense of belonging. All my life, I'd been an outsider, an orphan dreaming of parents I'd never known, of a home I'd never had. Now I existed between two worlds, belonging fully to neither.
"Is that why I feel so weak?"
Varkolak nodded. "Your body is adapting. You need rest."
He found blankets in a storage locker and made a makeshift bed on an old couch in what must have been a break room. I sank gratefully onto it, my body aching with exhaustion.
"You should sleep," he said, moving toward the door.
"Wait." I reached out, grabbing his hand. "Stay. Please."
Something flashed in his dark eyes. After a moment's hesitation, he sat beside the couch, his large frame making the old furniture seem small.
"I won't leave you," he promised.
I drifted off to sleep with his cool hand in mine, feeling safer than I had any right to.
Morning came with pale light filtering through dirty windows. I awoke feeling stronger but still tender, as though my very cells were rearranging themselves. Varkolak was no longer beside me, and for a moment, panic gripped my heart.
"You're awake." His voice came from across the room where he stood examining old papers.
"What are those?" I asked, slowly sitting up.
"Records. This wasn't just any outpost." He brought several folders over. "This was a research facility studying human-monster bonds."
My heart skipped. "Like ours?"
"Exactly like ours." His expression was unreadable. "They were documenting successful offspring."
I took the folders with trembling hands. Inside were photographs, medical charts, and birth records of children born to human and monster parents. Children that seemed healthy, normal even, despite their mixed heritage.
"Someone wanted these records hidden." Varkolak's voice was tight. "Someone has been lying to both our peoples."
I flipped through the pages, stunned. The children in the photographs appeared to have inherited traits from both parents, some more human, others displaying more obvious monster characteristics. But they existed. They were real.
"Why hide this?" I wondered aloud. "This could bring peace between our kinds."
"Or it could threaten those in power." Varkolak's shadow form rippled slightly, betraying his agitation. "Those who benefit from keeping us separate."
