CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
I’m thankful for classes today.
I sit in Metamagic and drum my fingers against my notes.
Testing. Testing.
I bolt upwards so hard and fast I almost fall out of my chair, enough for the professor at the front of the room to raise an eyebrow. “Ms. Fairchild?”
“I’m fine,” I smile.
But the voice comes again inside my head, as loud and clear as if it were my own.
Testing.
Another voice comes through. It’s Leo. It works, Ava. Now piss off.
Lily’s voice next. Working for me.
Ana?
“Working,” I say aloud, which lands me another look of confusion from the poor professor.
So yeah, the emergency telepathy works. Yay, though I don’t know how cool I am with Ava poking around inside my head, or vice-versa. There’s a safety built into the spell, but still.
I almost wish I hadn’t seen what was on the back of that photo in Darkwood’s chambers. It links him with this whole Mortis thing when I was hoping he was just, well, the Professor.
Ultimately, two scenarios arose with that picture. One, Damien and his friends went looking for Victor Mortis, to flush him out maybe, and they succeeded, fucking him off. Which means someone else is responsible for the murders at Lumina.
Two, and maybe the more disconcerting scenario, they never found Victor Mortis and he’s here at Lumina growing more powerful with every kill, slowing chipping away at anyone who could stand in his way. Or maybe there was a battle and Damien lost, forcing him to return to Lumina to lick his wounds?
Too many possibilities.
But it still doesn’t say anything as to Darkwood’s purpose in all this. I don’t know which side he’s playing for. I don’t even know if I can trust him.
When he summons me to his quarters, I know I must be subtle. Should I choose to bring this up, it can’t appear deliberate. I need to use my actual brain for once.
A hellish wait follows before another note of summons appears on my bedspread later that afternoon.
We have our first training session in the lower levels of the castle, swapping spells and turning a poor defenseless wall rather ashen with our efforts, but we’ve got a long, long way to go.
There’s tension in the Academy. It’s obvious. From the dining room to stairs, the halls and pockets between, everyone seems on edge.
The journey to the Professor’s chambers is almost becoming perilous, what with his shadowy surprises and murderer, or Morits, or who knows what other fucked-up shit is lurking around here.
Standing on his doorstep, my threefold knock disrupts the silence of the hallway. As usual, I try to read his face once he pulls the door open. His strict expression isn’t new to me. There is, however, a different quality in his gaze tonight. I can’t put my finger on it just yet, but I can definitely read some wicked purpose at play.
I step in and remove my coat, placing it on the dining table and standing prone before him, my master.
He stands in front of me, observing my body in the detached, cold way a doctor might.
A surgeon, I think, already tensing at the pain I know is to come.
“You must brace yourself, my pet,” he advises, his tone somewhat friendly in contradiction to his gaze. “For tonight, you’ll get the first taste of the true power of Shadowcraft.”
“I will…?” I mutter, a touch of doubt in my voice.
“Yes,” he confirms, a sparkle of excitement lighting in his eyes. “Tonight, you will test your powers on someone you hold dear.”
It’s a short fucking list. I’m hoping Cassandra isn’t here again, not that we’re friends by any stretch of the imagination. In fact, she’s gone quite out of her way to avoid me at any opportunity. I’ve barely seen her.
“Oh?” I gasp, swallowing my own saliva.
His eyes drop to my chest and rise back. “Your friend Sabrina…has she ever told you her sexual fantasies, her deepest desires?”
Sab?
Fuck.
“No,” I speak, hoping to hell this doesn’t involve her somehow. “We don’t really talk about things like that.”
“Not even a little?”
I shake my head, because it’s true. Yeah, she might throw around the odd detail about someone she’s seeing, but Sab is vanilla as they come. Or at least I think she is. The way Darkwood is smiling is forcing me to think otherwise.
He sneers, his tone turning serious. “Well, let me inform you her most predominant desire is disturbing to say the least.”
Double fuck.
I swallow again before another thought arises. “Wait, how do you know what Sabrina fantasizes about?”
He shakes his head slowly. “Ah, my little lamb. You have so much to learn.”
Has he been inside her head too? Is no one safe from his fucking meddling?
No consent. No permission. He just barges on in and makes himself at home. That is the most disturbing element of this whole thing. I still don’t know what to make about him mentally stalking me all these years, and why? That never got clarified.
The thought of him inside Sabrina’s head, stroking himself off over her fantasies…it reignites the jealously I’ve worked so hard to suppress since our games started.
“You’re not curious?” he remarks, the excitement vaporizing from his stare and his voice alike.
“No,” I confirm his suspicion. “Sabrina can fantasize about fucking mermen for all I care. I’m not going to judge her.”
He frowns, curling his fingers into a fist before stretching them out again. “This is not about judgement, Ana. You need to know what her darkest fantasy is so you can better understand the power it has on her. You need to know her levers. This is where Shadowcraft comes in.”
“How?” I stammer, losing patience.
His smile lifts ever so slightly. “Tonight, you’ll share consciousness with her as she indulges in this fantasy. That’s the power of Shadowcraft, my pet—the power you need to grasp before fully comprehending its potential.”
“You’re not serious, are you?”
“Deadly, I’m afraid.”
I tense again. I don’t even know what this means, only that I want to keep Sabrina out of it.
The Professor steps closer. “Your friend wishes to be taken against her will. She dreams of being incapacitated, fucked brutally by strangers until they tear apart every hole she has. That is what she dreams of at night, my pet. That is what she masturbates to, working two fingers inside herself.”
I shake my head. “No, no, that’s not right. Sabrina wouldn’t think like that.”
Another step closer until his scent envelops me. “She can only come when they finish her off—a screwdriver in her throat, strangulation… I’m afraid that’s where her fantasies lose their cohesion.”
“No.” I practically shout it.
“Yes!” Darkwood cries back, anger sending his voice an octave lower.
I swallow my next words, hanging my head meekly but still unable to reconcile what he’s telling me.
It’s only a fantasy, I tell myself. She would never want that for real…would she?
Darkwood extends his hand and I’m slammed into the wall by forces unseen, the thump forcing air from my lungs in a punctuated gasp. I glance left and notice the picture frames from the dresser are missing.
I rise up the wall until my feet hover several inches off the ground. The Professor approaches me with slow, steady footsteps. He stabs a finger into the boney plane between my breasts.
“I will prove this to you, my pet, and you’re going to be punished for doubting me,” he threatens, removing his finger. I drop to the floor. “You’re going to share consciousness with your whore friend while she’s fucked against her will. You’re going to share everything. Creaturae umbra et vespera.”
Slivers of fear slice through me at the sound of that incantation. I don’t know the exact spell, but it’s sure as fuck not for making cupcakes. These creatures, shadow creatures, are corporeal. I’ve found myself under their cold grip, at their mercy, and now Darkwood wants to summon more?
I sense their presence in the room, the shadows within me stirring with excitement. Threads of inky blackness slide across the floor behind Darkwood. More creep through the cracks in the wall and dance through the air before merging into irregular shapes. They grow in size, multiply, and move away from him, heading for the edge of the room.
I stare at what he has summoned wondering what the hell I’m going to witness tonight. Shadows hover and eye me with hunger, darting across the room. They shift closer, almost humanoid now.
One of those shadows nudges my shoulder, sending waves of cold energy pulsing through my system. I gasp as my body is jerked upwards. Chest jutting out, my eyes snap shut as a wisp of blackness creeps into my ear. I feel the icy grip of that shadow in my head, my mind drifting away from Lumina.
No, but I can’t stop the disconnect.
I rise, lifting.
I see the castle from above and the endless forest beyond, the world blurring, Darkwood’s words echoing in my thoughts.
“You’re going to share consciousness…you’re going to share everything.”
The world pulls into focus and I realize I’m in Sabrina’s room. There’s her infamous poster of Jon Bon Jovi in a bathtub on the wall, foam covering his crotch. I never saw the appeal, but she’s always had a thing for classic rock stars.
There’s a photo of us pinned to a board on the wall where I’m pretending to strangle her, old concert ticket stubs and dusty sports ribbons from her high school days. Otherwise, it’s like any other college room with its popcorn ceiling and sea of strewn clothing.
Sabrina herself is lying on her back on the bed, blanket pulled up to her neck. Her chest rises and falls in a slow, gentle rhythm.
Oh, Sab. What the hell am I doing here?
Shadows begin to pour across the floor, from the air vents, cracks in the wall—everywhere. They swim to where Sabrina lies prone, tiny threads of smoke dissolving in their wake.
Get up! I scream, no longer wanting any part of this, but I’ve got no voice, no body.
A wave of cool air flows past me as the blanket covering Sabrina is pulled away, floating to the floor. Her slender body is naked in front of me apart from her tiny, baby blue thong.
Sabrina! I’m shouting. Move!
Nothing.
One shadow coils around her neck, another sliding down her chest. It circles a nipple while two more shadows run up her legs. They disappear under her thong, the thin material stretched upwards until it snaps and is drawn free by another shadow, her bare pussy in full view. The shadow on her chest rolls her nipple, the other two working on spreading her legs apart.
No.
Sab’s eyes flicker, but she remains asleep. Her lips part, a lustful moan leaving them as I begin to mirror her consciousness. I feel what she feels, the cold touch of the shadows running up my inner thighs, the pressure around my nipples increasing. My legs scissor apart in time with my friend’s, lifting into the air.
We’re exposed, vulnerable…ready to be defiled by whatever foul creatures come hither.
A fourth shadow swoops down from the ceiling and centers around Sabrina’s pussy, tendrils of black peeling back her labial folds. There’s pressure over my clit, goosebumps rising all over my body as the sensations begin to intensify.
This is wrong. So wrong.
A thin thread of that shadow pushes through my folds, a familiar voice storming my thoughts.
I want him to be brutal. To touch me cruel. To take what he wants and not give a fuck whether I like it or not. Six feet, broad shoulders, beard… No short-ass, bald motherfuckers. A seedy bar on the Interstate. I’m all alone in the middle of the night, listening to the blues. There are red blotches on the counter from the spotlights overhead. I’m standing between two stools, my fingers loose around a glass of whiskey. He walks in. I look at him over my shoulder. Neither of us utters a word. He approaches me and bends me over the counter.
Damn, Sabrina.
I thought I knew you.
I don’t even have the time to reflect on the magnitude of my mistake. A force rolls us over. Through half-open eyes I find we’re hovering a good six inches from the bed, ass in mid-air, shades of red light washing around the room. A pair of red lips lands on my shoulder blade, the sensation of a hard length along my slit making me whimper. One of the shadows slides up and down our pussy, the remaining three dancing over our back.
Sabrina is semi-conscious now, but a shadow has gagged her—stuffed itself into her throat so all she can do is wheeze, her eyes widening with panic.
He bites into my shoulder.
At this, sharp teeth sink into our flesh, our folds, splitting around the inky blackness. A moan flies out of our mouth as our insides cling to that hard length.
We’re so fucking wet.
I drift, separating myself from her.
I’m looking at Sabrina from the left, her body shivering and nipples erect. She puts her right hand over her breasts and squeezes hard, another wheeze following. A shadow plunges into her and disappears, before withdrawing over her ass.
He pounds my cunt fast and hard. He slaps my ass because I’ve been a bad girl. He makes me pay for it like the useless bitch I am.
Two more shadows float over her ass cheeks and become paddles. They fall over the big rounds of her ass at the same time, solid. Sabrina’s poor body jerks with each strike, throat choking and wheezing out sound. Pleasure or pain…somewhere in the no man’s land between.
I feel it too, our consciousnesses still connected, the sweet reminder of Darkwood’s huge hand swinging down against my ass.
Even in the bloody wash of light around us, I see the way Sabrina’s buttocks glow and burn, her skin broken.
He holds on to my hips and whispers into my ear how he is going to end me, but not before he fucks my brains out. Not until he fills me with cum.
At these words a wave of excitement sweeps over me so intense and powerful I wonder if I even know Sabrina at all. The more I hear her thoughts, the more I don’t recognize her. Hearing her talk about being objectified, treated like a worthless slut…it’s insanity.
I start to drift back towards her body, to shift into her consciousness again fully.
No, no! I scream, but I can’t stop it.
One with Sabrina again, the shadows take hold of our ankles and pull us down to the bed until we are on our knees.
I look back and see the shadows join into a single, humanoid figure devoid of face or features.
We reach back, but the shadow takes our hands and twists them cruelly against our spine, a foot lifting overhead and pressing down onto the back of our skull, forcing our face into the pillow.
We try to scream, but it’s muffled by the pillow, by that shadow still choking us from inside-out.
Shadowy hands separate our buttocks.
I hear Sabrina now, unsure.
Wait. Please, she begs.
The shadow doesn’t wait. It forces itself into her poor, virginal ass—buries its full length into her rectum until the scream that follows is one I know will haunt me for all eternity.
I try to leave, to get through to Darkwood.
Let me out.
But it’s no use, Sab’s ass is pounded over and over, each thrust driving her deep into the mattress.
She can barely breathe, struggling to comprehend what is happening.
I feel her terror, her fear, but perhaps more disturbingly, I feel how turned on she is by it all, by this horror.
Let me out! I shout internally, but there is no response.
Something comes underneath our throat and presses back.
A blade, as solid and deadly sharp as the real thing.
No!
It drags itself slowly right to left, the cut deep, our voice losing pitch as our vocal cords are severed. Blood flows hot and fast from the wound as the knife is drawn away and the relentless fucking continues.
We grow lightheaded, the shadow stiffening and releasing somewhere deep in our ass, the knife driven into our back and pulled free—the pain incredible.
Again, we’re stabbed. Stabbed and fucked and stabbed and fucked over and over while we bleed out, choking on our own blood, blind against the pillow.
And there, right at the point where the shadow’s cock pulls free of our broken ass, lifting the knife high to drive it once more into our body, right as death itself seems imminent, right as Sabrina is to find her dark release, I cannot take a single second more.
ENOUGH.
I come to back to the Professor’s chambers on my hands and knees, reaching involuntarily for my throat but finding no mortal wound there.
The vision of Sabrina, the consciousness we were sharing…it’s all gone.
I hold my throat trying to find regular breathing. I’m covered in a cold sweet, my skin clammy and sallow.
The fuck, Sabrina. Seriously.
But who are you to judge? I tell myself. After everything you’ve done here, the debauchery still to come? You think you’re any better. And Darkwood? He’s sick and you know it.
I notice the Professor’s black boots in front of me. I sit back and pull myself up, taking a moment to regain my composure even though I can’t seem to shake myself out of this lightheadedness.
There’s a look of surprise on Darkwood’s face as he observes me. “Why?” he says.
I shake my head. “That’s not the Sabrina I know. I didn’t want to…I couldn’t…it’s cruel.”
He approaches me. “Cruel?”
Fuck this. “Yes,” I snap, shoving him—not that it has any effect. I wipe away a renegade tear. “Why did you make me do that? What purpose does it serve other than to get you off?”
That surprise is replaced by anger. He crouches in front of me. “Deep down, your friend wants to be violated. You just don’t have the stomach to see it through.”
“Bullshit!” I shout, my own anger growing at being forced into this. “How is this helping my powers? How is this training? Tell me!” I scream.
His cheeks pull in, eyes narrowing.
“I’m out of here,” I tell him, standing and taking my pea coat and not even bothering to put it on as I reach for the door. The prospect of staying in his chambers tonight has lost its appeal.
With a twist of his hand, I’m spun around to face him, dropping the coat. The anger in his eyes is…chilling. They’ve lost their familiar glow—that welcome shade of green is gone and replaced by nothing but infinite black.
“Did you just turn your back on me, little lamb?” he asks.
Enough of this. “Fuck you.”
One more twist of his hand and an invisible noose forms around my neck, tightening. But if he thinks I’m going to roll over and take this shit, he’s got another thing coming.
I cross my arms over my chest and throw them out to the side. Darkwood’s thrown back, the force around my neck disappearing as he rights himself.
“You stupid b—”
But I don’t allow him to get it out, drawing power from deep within me, from the shadows, and firing a bolt of dark energy right at his torso.
He deflects, but only just, forced back again. He growls, tossing his arms forward and exhaling through gritted teeth.
I’m ready.
I whisper fast, redirecting his blast right back at him twice as strong.
He doesn’t have time to prepare a counterspell, thrown back a good ten feet into the wall behind him, arms splayed as he drops to the ground.
The power inside me thrums as I stand there breathing hard, my body nothing but dark energy.
He starts to laugh, dragging himself from the ground and dusting himself off. “You see, my pet? Do you see now?”
I reach down for my coat again, once more for the door handle. I twist it and step back, part of me rebelling against my decision to flee like this.
I look back one last time, Darkwood still laughing to himself.
Why doesn’t he destroy me? Why doesn’t he fight back?
But he seems more amused than anything, which only pisses me off more.
He treats me like this and thinks what exactly? That I’m going to run back into his arms, beg him to take me?
No.
Not tonight.
Tonight he can fuck his hand for all I care.
We’re done.
I look away and leave, slamming the door behind me.