A Walk Amongst Shadows (Book 2)

I hastened my pace once I had gotten out of the city. While I was certain Aris had not been the one to harm the man back at the apothecary, I was not so certain that the shadow walker who had harmed him wouldn’t also harm me too. But from the moment I stepped foot out of the city I could feel the hairs on the back of my neck standing on end. Something was off. I looked around wildly unable to shake the feeling that I was being watched. Unlike the night I had gotten lost in the city, I didn’t hesitate to call out to Aris. I felt a chill down my spine and felt breath on my neck from a whisper.

“He was mine,” the voice hissed.

I felt the air leaving my lungs as I was met with a powerful jab into my ribcage that knocked me onto the ground.

“HE WAS MINE!” Eloise screamed as she pinned me down to the ground, thumbs digging into my throat, effectively cutting off my air supply.

I clawed at her hands. From the moment my skin made contact to hers I became a vacuum, sucking out as much life as I could from her body. She shrieked and let go of me, falling to her side. But she recovered quickly, and before I could even sit up, she kicked me, hard, in the ribs. I felt one crack and a wave of nausea and dizziness washed over me.

“YOU BITCH!” she yelled once more. I felt the pain in my side subsiding as my body healed. “YOU-cuh-″ I heard her sputter.

When I looked up, I saw blood spraying from her mouth. I watched as she grabbed at her throat. An inky curtain of blood was pouring over her hands from a thin line that stretched across her neck. I heard her gurgling as she choked and fell to her knees.

“That’s quite enough of that.” I heard his voice clear as day. I watched as the long black fingers that had slashed her throat returned to the ones that so often held my own.

“Really? You’re going to let her choke?” I heard another voice ask. “You’ve gotten soft brother.” I watched as Stellan knelt beside her. “You can thank me later,” he said to her as he calmly placed his hands on either side of her head and in one quick motion snapped her neck. Her body immediately went limp.

I screamed as I crawled away from her body and shot up onto my feet. “You killed her!” I felt my face flush as my breathing became even more labored. “W-what have you done?”

Aris was in front of me in an instant. He put his hands on each of my shoulders. “Look at me,” he said in a soft steady voice. “Everything is fine, Eloise is okay.”

“B-b-but you-”

“We sent her home kid,” Stellan snapped.

“She’s back in the shadow realm,” Aris explained, “shadow walkers can’t be killed, remember?”

I nodded.

He looked me up and down. “Are you hurt?”

I shook my head. “I w-was. But I’m fine now.” I exhaled sharply, trying to steady my breathing.

“What happened?” he asked.

“I was leaving the city and she just attacked me!”

“What did you do?” Stellan asked, his tone suggesting it was my fault.

“Nothing!” I rounded on him, annoyed.

“Did she say anything?” Aris asked, ignoring Stellan.

“She kept saying the words ‘he was mine’, I don’t know.”

He looked thoughtful for a moment. “What had you been doing before you left the city?”

“Just working in the apothecary, I had just finished up with a patient and was heading home.” I paused, it was suddenly crystal clear. “She must’ve been the one they were talking about…” they both stared intently at me waiting for me to continue. “The man I had healed had been brutally attacked, he was near death when I got to him. The others kept talking about it being the work of shadow walkers…” I trailed off.

Stellan began to laugh. “Oh man, you did mess up,” he chortled, “you took one of El’s men.” He shook his head.

“I don’t care what she did!-” Aris reared on him, but Stellan interrupted.

“I know, I know, she still defied orders. I’m just saying, Rose is lucky she is…who she is.” He flashed me a look. “I’d still stay out of her way if I were you.”

“Come on Rose,” Aris put an arm around my shoulders, “let’s go home.”

Stellan bid us both goodnight and told me he was glad I was alright before vanishing with a wink.

“What about the body?” I asked, turning back to look at where Eloise had fallen. Only, there was no Eloise. Just a red stain in the dirt where she had bled out.

“Like I said, back in the shadow realm,” he pivoted me back around and ushered me forward toward home.

“Do shadow walkers kill each other often?” I asked, as I saw the bloody scene of Eloise’s slit neck flashing before my eyes.

“It’s certainly not uncommon. Normally it only comes to that when there are arguments between us.”

“Have you been killed then?”

“Only a handful of times…mostly by Stellan’s hand actually.”

I raised my eyebrows. “I thought you were friends.”

He chuckled. “We are. It used to be a sort of game between us.”

“You’re joking.”

He laughed and shook his head. “Afraid not. For the record, I’m currently in the lead with the most kills after that night in Naog’s end.”

I laughed in spite of myself. “Does it not hurt?”

“Oh, it hurts terribly,” he answered sarcastically.

“I see, you’re both insane!” I teased.

“We prefer the term competitive.”

I shook my head. “Unbelievable…” I muttered under my breath. “So, Eloise just woke up in the shadow realm then?”

He nodded. “Just like waking up from a dream. Though, I imagine she’ll be furious with the lot of us.”

“You said she defied orders…”

He hesitated. “Yeah, father has ordered that we keep you safe.”

I felt my heart sink. “We?” I knew Aris was told to keep me safe back in the village, but an order to all shadow walkers?

“Our time together caused quite a stir in the shadow realm. Many of my siblings became interested in you and father didn’t want any harm to come to you at the hands of one of his own.”

“Why would they want to hurt me?” I asked. Feeling the all too familiar sinking sensation in my chest.

“They don’t all want that. But you’ve seen for yourself how some of us feel about mortals.”

“They don’t like that he’s taken an interest in me,” I concluded.

“I think that’s what father feared. So he made sure it wouldn’t happen.”

“What happens to Eloise then?” I found myself oddly concerned for her wellbeing. Aris seemed to share my concern.

“I have no idea.”

“Well, what usually happens when shadow walkers disobey orders?”

He raised his eyebrows. “I’ve never seen anyone disobey father before.”

I felt myself tense. “Shouldn’t someone at least check to see if she’s okay?”

“The woman that just attacked you?” He sounded incredulous.

“Well yeah,” I started, “I mean, I don’t particularly like Eloise, but I can’t say I want her to be hurt…” I trailed off.

Aris chuckled. “I’m sure Stellan is with her as we speak.”

“Really?”

“Yeah, they’ve always been a bit of a pair. One is never too far from the other.”

I smiled, feeling a little bit better.

It took the remainder of our walk home for me to relax. While life magic works wonders on the physical body, it does little to ease emotional distress. My body was strong but fear still lingered within me. Even as I laid in bed, I felt shaky and on edge.

“Being attacked like that is enough to shake anyone up,” Aris comforted. “It also doesn’t help that this is the first time you’ve been attacked since leaving the village. Near death experiences will do that to you.”

“Did it happen to you?” I asked. “Or does becoming a shadow walker fix everything for you?”

“I wish,” he scoffed. “But unfortunately, no. We all must suffer through just like mortals. I think being so fragile when I first turned is part of what made me so dangerous,” he reflected.

“How long did it take for you to change that?” I inquired, hoping it wouldn’t take me centuries to move past Windsle.

“A lot longer than most,” he cringed. “But I highly doubt it will be the same for you,” he assured. “I mean, already you’ve come so much further than I had when I was in your shoes.”

“I suppose it helps that I survived,” I joked, awkwardly.

He smiled warmly at me. “Nah, you’re resilient Rose. A lot more than you give yourself credit for.” As much as I appreciated his words and desperately wanted to believe them, I couldn’t help but feel weaker than ever.

“Can you do what Stellan did to me that night in the city?” I asked.

Aris made a face. “What on earth are you talking about?”

“I was so scared that night. But he made me feel...less so.” I thought back to the way I had nearly melted into Stellan, blissfully unaware of the danger I was in.

Aris shook his head. “He didn’t take your fear away, he just distracted you from it.”

“So?” What did it matter if I were distracted, so long as the fear subsided?

“So, it’s dangerous. Do you remember back in the village when I told you about people paying a high price for a taste of life magic?”

I nodded.

“That’s why.”

“What people get addicted to it or something?”

He nodded. “I don’t want to see you fall into that same trap. It won’t help you in the long run.”

“Show me.” I sat upright in bed.

He glared at me.

“Please? Just this once?” I asked sweetly, “I just want to be able to fall asleep.”

“Rose I-”

“Please?” I sounded like a child.

Aris furrowed his brow and sighed. “Come on,” he said as he made room for me to snuggle against him. I curled up beside him, suddenly feeling excited. He put an arm around me and stroked my hair, much as he always does. I waited and waited, but felt nothing.

“When are you going to start?” I whispered.

“Shh,” he made no motion. “I already did, the idea is to be subtle, remember?”

I didn’t believe him. Surely, I would’ve noticed something by now.

“Just relax,” he added.

“Well, If I could do that I wouldn’t nee-” I felt my head lull heavily to the side. So it is working.

“That’s what I thought,” I heard him say warmly as he kissed the top of my head. I felt warm and lax, like my whole body was made of a soft clay.

“T-Thisss is dan-jrousss,” I heard myself mumble as I slumped heavily into him.

“Night Rose,” His words were the last thing I remember hearing before giving into a most welcome night’s rest.