CHAPTER 24
REMMIE
Shade is ripped away from me so suddenly, I still feel the warmth of his touch on my body.
He hits the wall behind him with extreme force, leaving a large dent in the stone.
He falls to the floor, unmoving, and I can’t contain my scream.
Dalia laughs, deep and dark, as she walks over to Shades crumpled form.
“I keep telling you, pet. You will never escape me.” She says, nudging his side with her heel.
“Don’t you touch him.” I yell, starting to run towards them. I stop mid-stride, held back by a strange force. The damn shadows. Two hold both of my arms and a third grabs my waist, keeping me suck in place. They are surprisingly strong for ethereal beings.
"You see. You can’t win against me. I have been alive for a very long time.
You aren't the first witch to try and defy me. I will take your powers for my own, as meager as they are, and keep you with me forever. A lovely reminder to Shade not to cross me again.” Dalia picks up the discarded collar, dramatically dusting it off.
I do not want to become a soulless ghost, but the thought of Shade being under Dalia’s control again, I can’t handle it.
“Strap her back to the chair.” She commands her shadows. But they don’t move. Dalia’s back is to us, walking back towards Shade, who still hasn’t gotten up from the floor. I look to my right and the pale face of a young woman is staring at me.
When we passed them before, they didn’t even acknowledge us. Now she’s staring me right in my eyes. Her lips start to move. The sound is squeaky and barely audible. But because I am standing right next to her, I can hear when she’s finally able to speak. Her words freeze the blood in my veins.
“Help us.” She begs.
“How is this happening?” I ask, trying to contain my panic. The shadow speaks again, their voice as soft as wind.
“When I touched you, I remembered. Who I was. What I was. And that I’m not supposed to be here.” Her voice is no louder than a whisper.
When she touched me?
Hells, another light bulb moment.
My pendant.
Helena reminded me of it before I left her cottage.
Between that, the protection spell Helena placed on me and maybe a tiny bit of my own magic, this lady touching me and waking up makes sense.
It lets Shade out of my bakery. It helps keep me safe from magical attacks.
And it seems to be able to penetrate Dalia’s magic over these souls.
I just have to get ahold of Dalia’s pendant. The big gaudy ruby currently sitting on her chest. The source of all her power. If I can destroy it, would that free the shadows? Free Shade?
“I have an idea,” I whisper. “Can you let me go, please?” The shadows step away, and I can see them becoming Dalia’s blank servants again. How can someone be this cruel? This woman takes being a cheesy Disney villain to a whole new level.
I raise my arms up, as I’ve seen both Helena and Dalia do, and try to pull up any kind of magical power from deep within me. I probably look as silly as I feel.
Come on magic witchy powers. If you're in there, now's the time to come out.
When nothing happens, I lower my arms to my side and take a deep breath. Ok brute force it is.
I’ve never run track or played football in my life, but the way I plan to run and tackle Dalia would make any sports coach proud. Ready, set, go.
I take off running straight for Dalia, body slamming her onto the dusty concrete floor. She lets out a grunt as we both fall, hitting the ground hard.
That’s all the exercise I’m doing for the rest of the year.
I scramble up to my knees, crawling over to Shade, pulling his heavy body in my lap. “Shade!” I shake him and slap his face until his eyes pop open and he sits upright on his own, groaning.
“Fuck! I’m really tired of getting thrown on my ass. You witches will be the death of me.” Shade moans and I can’t hold back my relieved sigh.
There’s my demon. I want to toss my arms around him and never let go, but now isn’t the time. Dalia is getting back up and by the shifting air around her, I think she’s pretty pissed off.
“Listen, Shade. I need to destroy her pendant. It’s the only way to stop her.”
“I’m ready to be done with this mess. We have to finish that kiss from earlier. I’ll follow your lead, Sweetness. Let’s finish this.”
The moment I manage to stand on shaky legs, Dalia is back on me, pinning my arms down.
Damn she’s fast. I guess I spoke too soon.
She quickly overpowers me tosses us to the other side of the room, away from Shade, trying to keep us apart.
From the side, I can see him fighting to get past those eerie shadows.
I want to scream in frustration but I think she likes seeing me all railed up.
“See what all this love and mate business gets you? Nothing but a very unfortune and untimely death. Unless you want to become one of my shadows. It will be very fun playing with Shade in front of you.” Dalia spits her cruel words in my face.
“I’m not going to let you get away with this. You won’t keep hurting the man I love.” I yell, trying to buck my hips to get her off of me. But man, is she strong.
“Why would I care about love over power? I've lasted many years without it. They are my possessions nothing more.” Dalia sneered down at me and I see her ugliness underneath that coveted beauty.
Maybe one time in her life, she was just a woman.
Someone who genuinely smiled. Now her grin is nothing but proof of her black heart.
These are the times I wish I had longer legs.
I would use a movie-worthy action move to get her off of me.
Her pendant dangles right in front of my face, but with my arms pinned, I’m helpless.
Giving one final boost of strength and I manage to push her off of me, my arms and legs burning from my efforts.
“Oh, no you don’t, bubblegum.” Dalia laughs and she grabs my ankles pulling me backwards.
I claw at the floor but can’t stop myself from being dragged. She’s pulling me back towards that dammed zombie chair again and I don’t know how much more energy I have left.
Behind me, Shade roars out and the next moment I’m freed from Dalia’s grip.
I scramble to stand, whipping around to find Shade holding onto her by the throat.
Her legs dangle from the floor, Shades claws close to piercing her skin.
His other hand holds both her wrists in front of her and his tail is wrapped around her legs. He growls low and damn.
Get it together. This is not the time.
“All I would have to do is rip out your throat and this nightmare will be over.” Shade vibrates with anger and I have never seen this side of him before.
It doesn’t scare me, just makes me even madder.
Upset that he was pushed to this point. Mad that someone is forcing his normally gentle hands into violence.
But I am also proud of him for sticking up to this dark presence that had haunted him for so long and taken over his life.
“You wouldn’t kill me, pet. Death is just an extended nap for me. I’ve died before but somehow, I always come back.” She laughs but it comes out strained.
She must think we don’t know where her magic is stored. That the pendant she’s been openly wearing around her neck isn’t what we’ve been after all this time.
Dalias’ struggling intensifies, doubling her efforts to get out of Shade’s hold. His hands are suddenly pushed away by her magic, causing him to break the chain of her pendant with his claws. With her legs still bound by Shades’ tail, Dalia hits the ground, her pendant falling off.
It hits the floor, getting knocked away as they struggle against each other. Shade notices the red rock on the floor the same moment Dalia does and for a moment no one moves. Then everything restarts at once and its shouts and limbs flying as they both diving for the broken chain.
Thankfully, Shade is faster.
“No!” Dalia screams.
Shade picks it up, tossing it to me before Dalia can get to him. I manage to catch it and so soon as I hold it, the ruby starts to glow and vibrate- sending strange sensations up my arm. I can feel the magic in it. Old and in distress. Like it knows it’s been trapped for gods knew how long.
Time seemed to stop as I stared at it. Could I really break this? Would it truly end her? Then I think of my business, empty. And of Shade, collared in fear. Those poor souls, trapped to do her bidding. And I knew I couldn’t let any of it keep happening.
With as great of force as I could muster, I smash the pendant to the floor, shattering it into tiny pieces.
Dalia screams, “What have you done?”, as she scrambles over to where I stand, trying to put the glittering red pieces of her broken pendant back together.
They crumble further in her hands, which are suddenly turning wrinkled and grey.
Her once beautiful face has aged rapidly, the skin sagging off of her bones.
She grows older each second that passes and I’m in shock at the sight.
Shade runs to me, holding me tightly to him.
He brushes my hair back, searching my face for any pain, and I almost sag in relief when he smiles at me.
That smile makes all of this pain and sweat worth it.
Dalia’s form continues to wither, growing smalling and frail. Her clothes hang off of her shrinking frame and her mouth hangs open in a silent scream.
"She's losing all of her powers.” The shadow says, standing over their former master. More start to fill the room, surrounding Dalia as she wails on the floor.
“Her life was tied to that magical pendant.
With it gone, we can now be free of her.
Thank you." The shadow rasps. Their smokey form turning white until it completely dissipates. The other shadows follow the first in a mesmerizing haze of light, until it’s just me, Shade and whatever is left of Dalia.
Somehow, I can feel the magic draining from the room as Dalia gets older. Her hair, once an inky black, is now completely white. None of her former beauty remains. Shade sags against me and I struggle to keep standing. Good thing I wore my comfy shoes.
“I don’t know about you, but I am so ready to get the hells out of here.” Shade sighs. I smile up at him, loving his ability to try and laugh at a time like this. We turn to leave this horrible room when Dalia calls out one last time.
"Wait, Shade. You belong to me." Dalia screeches. Her gray wrinkled hand reaching out towards him. The last whisper of magic floating from her fingertips.
I look down at her. This witch tried to ruin me and enslave Shade all for her own selfishness. My mom taught me patience. My gran taught me acceptance. And Shade taught me love. I will make sure that the rest of my life is spent making my sweet demon smile.
"No.” I respond. “Shade is my mate. He belongs to me.”
"Hells. Why is that so hot? I don't deserve you, Sweetness." Shade smiled weakly.
"But here I am anyway. I wonder why that is."
"Because you love me?" He asks, teasing.
"Because I love you."
“Awe. My hero.” He jokes.
“Damn straight, I am.” I sigh.
“If it isn’t super obvious yet, I love you too, Sweetness.”
“I know.” I reply.
I’m grateful Shade is holding up better than I am. The boost of adrenaline from this whole ordeal is starting to wear off.
I feel like I’ve been alone for a long time, clinging onto the memory of all I’d lost. I buried myself in my bakery as a way to hide how much I was struggling, scared I no longer had a direction. Then this goofy, golden demon fell into my life and made me happy again.
And through all that fear and doubt, I came to rescue him. My mate needed me and I didn’t run and hide. Shade is safe. We are together. And we hold each other close, watching as the final embers of Dalias evil wither away into dust.