Page 102 of Corrupt Shadows

Glass showers the stone ground, fractured pieces glimmering light as my shadows move around me in wisps of glittering black. I grab a piece, then hiss through my teeth when I stab the glass into my leg. Stinging pain pulses into my thigh. The instinct to cover the cut has never been stronger, but I force myself to not touch it, allowing the blood to drip onto the ground.

I pull the shard of glass out and slice it into my other leg. I can barely sit up by the time enough blood pools, and I smother my hands and fingers in it until they’re coated.

My fingers glide along the smooth black frame, and I whisper the final words of the incantation under my breath. The mirror shudders as the pools of blood flow together and form a dark vortex that swallows my shadows. I close my eyes, and vibrations of the trembling wall and ground reverberate through my body.

Resisting the exhaustion proves more arduous than ever, yet when I open my eyes again, the blood has permeated the mirror and is staining the opposite side. I reach forward. My fingers pass through the mirror, and a chill from the Human Realm hits me.

Lorcan’s warning screeches into my thoughts as I go to walk through the mirror. “Run.”

The door flings open, and Ezra’s black glare fixates on me. Blood coats his clothes as he grimaces, stepping inside the room in his human form. A wound runs from his neck down to his shoulder, and I notice another longer cut on his leg. Lorcan runs in behind him, three large gashes slashed across his torso.

Fuck.

I fall through the mirror, just as Ezra reaches out to grab my ankle. His fingers graze my skin, and I land on the carpet. My powers hum as I catch my breath, then quickly stand, staring at them both through the glass. Shadows erupt from my body, shaped like vipers as they attack through the mirror. Ezra’s hand is part of the way through, and my death magic rises through my body. I squeeze my eyes shut as it explodes out of me. Windows shatter, the magic circling my body in a protective dome. The mirror cracks, then fractures into a thousand pieces. Lorcan’s and Ezra’s faces distort as the glass disintegrates, and a few larger shards fall onto the ground.

I clamp my hand over my mouth and hold my breath. It’s far too quiet now, and my eyes adjust to the brightness of the Human Realm, unmuted in its coloring. I grab the sides of my head, the room spinning around me as I fall to my knees.

Eventually, I climb to my feet and look outside. I amble out of the building, dissociating with each step. A hundred thoughts run through my mind, but I can’t focus on a single one.

It’s snowing here too, I realize, the frosty air nipping at my bare arms. I slowly make my way back to the manor, the emptiness aching my chest.

A fluttering sounds from the living room, and relief floods through my body. Gomez. Every limb feels like lead as I drag myself through the cold foyer toward the living room. My magic fizzles, sparking gently under my skin. I wonder how the fuck I’m going to make it home. I can’t shadow-walk properly, and even if I could, my magic is depleted.

“Gomez!” I shout, my voice raspier than I was expecting, but he doesn’t come to me. “Seriously? I’m dying over here,” I joke, then push open the door.

Gomez clings to Rosa, her arms wrapped around him tightly, and tears fall thick and fast from her big brown eyes. “Don’t come closer,” she begs, and I spot a figure in my peripheral vision.

Slowly I turn my head, then freeze.

I haven’t seen those eyes since I was eighteen, when I still called the man dad. Edward stares at me, and my gaze travels his arms to the gun he’s pointing at Rosa and Gomez.

He tilts his head, his wrinkles more pronounced now and his glare colder than ever. “We’ve been looking for you,” he spits, then tightens his grip on the gun. “Daughter.” He somehow makes the word sound more disgusting than it is. Footsteps shuffle behind me, and I glance over my shoulder. The remainder of Lorcan’s brothers stand behind me, with a pastor from the Order and Aiden, who looks terrified.

Edward snarls. “Where’s the demon?”

I open my lips to answer, but the brothers step into the room, pushing past me. One answers in my place. “Trapped. She broke the portal after using it.”

Another brother speaks, this one with shoulder-length hair and eyes that match Lorcan’s. “He won’t be able to get out.”

“Good.” Edward turns the gun on me. “It seems you’ve trapped the only one who could have helped you.”

The end… for now.