Will.My thoughts drifted to him, and I swallowed back the wave of panic that rose in my throat. Had they kept their word? Was he safe? Was he back in the human world, away from all of this madness? I had to believe he was. I had to believe mysacrifice meant something. That it wasn’t all for nothing. Gods, I hoped my rash decision to escape wouldn’t affect him negatively.
I needed a plan. If I made it out of this shit show alive, I’d get Will and we’d go into hiding.
Finally, when I could no longer hear the distant shouts of the guards, I dared to move. I carefully brushed the leaves off my body, wincing as I stretched out my cramped muscles. The night was bitterly cold, the chill seeping through my torn dress and into my bones, but I forced myself to stand.
I needed to keep moving before they circled back.
I stumbled through the forest, half-blind in the dark, every snap of a twig making my heart jump. My lungs burned, but I kept running, pushing my legs to move even though they felt like lead. I didn’t know how far I’d gone or if I was even heading in the right direction. All I knew was that I couldn’t stop.
The trees thinned, and up ahead, I saw a glimmer of light.A village?Relief surged through me, giving me a burst of energy I didn’t know I had left.
I sprinted toward the clearing. The distant lights grew brighter, and I could see the outlines of small houses and a flickering lamppost.
Almost there. Just a little farther.
Maybe—just maybe—someone there would help me.
I stumbled into the village,my feet dragging through the uneven dirt path. The chill had seeped into my bones, my limbs heavy and shaking with exhaustion. Every part of me ached. My feet were raw and bleeding. My dress was torn to shreds. I must have looked like something dragged out of the depths of hell.
Dread quickly overshadowed my relief. I had no idea where I was or if this place was even safe.
The village was practically a ghost town, the buildings leaning like they might collapse with the next strong breeze. A few feeble lights flickered behind cracked windows, but every door I knocked on stayed firmly shut. I couldn’t blame them. If I saw someone like me—disheveled, panicked, and wearing a dress that looked like it had been mauled by wolves—I wouldn’t open the door either.
As I moved toward the village center, I spotted a small group of men huddled together. Desperation gnawed at me. I needed to find a way out of here, back to the human world, back to safety.
Taking a deep breath, I approached them. They stopped talking as I drew near, their eyes narrowing as they turned to face me. The leader, a tall man with greasy hair and a cruel smirk, stepped forward, looking me up and down like I was a piece of meat.
“Well, well, well. What do we have here?” he drawled.
I wrapped my arms around myself, trying to cover as much of my exposed skin as possible. My voice was a shaky whisper, and I hated how weak I sounded. “I–I need help. I’m being followed. I just need to get to the nearest tear in the Veil, back to the human world.”
The men exchanged looks of dark amusement. The leader’s smirk widened as he took a step toward me, and the rest of the group followed suit. They were surrounding me now, their intentions clear.
“We can help you with that,” he said, his tone dripping with false kindness.
I took a step back, my heart hammering, but it was too late. They had formed a tight circle around me, caging me in. The leader moved closer, his fingers brushing over my arm. Ishuddered and bit back a whimper. Every instinct screamed at me to run, but there was nowhere to go.
“Please... I just need—” The words caught in my throat as he grabbed a fistful of my dress, tearing it further. The sound of fabric ripping was like a gunshot in the silence, and panic surged through me.
“Stop!” I begged, my voice breaking. They didn’t listen. They were getting rougher now, hands grabbing at me, tearing at what was left of my dress. I tried to shove them away, but there were too many of them, and they were too strong.
I was trapped.
Terror clawed at my throat as their touches became more forceful. I was about to scream when a deafeningwhooshsounded behind me, like a gust of wind that came out of nowhere. The next thing I knew, one of the men was flying through the air, his body slamming into the side of a building with a sickening crunch.
Everything froze. The remaining men turned, their faces pale with shock. I whirled around, my eyes widening when I saw the thick, dark clouds rolling toward us, swirling like a living storm.
The Shadow.
In the blink of an eye, he was upon them. The leader barely had time to draw his knife before The Shadow’s dark tendrils wrapped around his throat and lifted him off the ground. The sickening snap of his neck echoed through the still night. Blood sprayed through the air, warm droplets hitting my face as The Shadow moved through the men like a reaper, each kill swift, brutal, and efficient.
My heart pounded, but it wasn’t only from fear. The lethal grace with which he moved was impossible to look away from. He was a storm given form, a nightmare brought to life, and yet... he was saving me.
The last man tried to run, but The Shadow caught him by the back of his neck. There was a flash of crimson in the darkness, then the man crumpled to the ground, lifeless eyes staring up at the night sky.
It was over in seconds. Seven men lay dead at my feet, and The Shadow stood amid the carnage, his dark clouds swirling around him. He turned toward me, his gaze hidden behind that veil of darkness, but I could feel the intensity of it burning into me.
Every nerve in my body was alight with fear, adrenaline, and something else—something I didn’t want to acknowledge.
