A half-hour later, the sun was fully set, and the moon shone behind the clouds casting a soft glow along the path I took back to the main section of town, in hopes of grabbing a bus ride home or possibly to the shop to help Jules with the paperwork. I sent her a text offering but hadn’t heard back yet.
Adjusting my earbuds, I turned up my music since I was closer to town. I figured I was safer now that I was under the city lights and out of the trees, but I soon realized I was wrong.
Shadows darted in front of me, but out of sight quicker than humanly possible. Without conscious thought, my hands lit up and moved in front of me defensively. Turning slowly, my eyes searched for the shadows, but instead I saw a man picking up speed, making his way toward me.
My eyes remained on him, trying to make out his facial features, but the shadows appeared once more, distracting me. I glanced between the moving, potentially not-real figures and the stranger, trying to decide just how crazy I had officially become.
Lowering my hands, I silenced my music to focus on my surroundings and reached for my phone when both the shadows and the man slowed down. I took two steps backward and flipped open my phone, but before I could press the speed dial, I was engulfed in darkness.
Something pricked at my skin and coldness seeped into me, but what scared me most were the hard hands that wrapped around my arms, yanking me from the shadows as they dissipated into the night.
This isn’t real, I chanted in my head over and over again.
My very cynical subconscious chose that moment to remind me that moving objects with my mind and glowing hands weren’t supposed to be real, either. My subconscious could be a bitch sometimes.
Struggling against my attacker’s hold, I recalled all of the action films I’d seen and hoped they had been good for something.
Stomping my heel down on his foot, I spun around, and raised my knee to his groin before backing up, but it did nothing to the stranger before me. He was barely fazed by my measly attack as his onyx eyes met mine.
“Oh, Raegan. Why do you fight me?” the man’s voice cooed.
The accent was one I’d never heard before, and it chilled me to the bone that he knew my name.
“It’s time to come home,” he whispered, suddenly right in front of me even though he had been at least ten feet away just a second before.
“Leave me alone,” I shouted as I shoved my palm into his nose.
His responding snarl wasn’t a normal human sound and caused my body to freeze in fear.
He raised his arm up, striking my cheek with the back of his hand while the other wrapped around my arm again, more than likely leaving bruises. His face immediately blanched as he realized what he’d done. “You insolent child! Now they’re going to be upset I marked you. Whatever. They’ll get over it as long as you come with me.”
Who the hell is “they”? I wondered as I struggled to get free of his tight grasp. His skin was a deep russet color, and his eyes were black like the shadows that were swirling around me once more.
“Leave her alone,” another voice sneered from somewhere behind me.
“This doesn’t concern you, Elf,” the man holding on to me spat as he turned us in the direction of the new arrival.
The man in front of me was ridiculously tall, at least six-and-a-half feet, with the most striking honey-brown eyes I’d ever seen. The golds and browns seemed to swirl as he narrowed his gaze at us.
“I don’t have time for games,” the newcomer announced as he brushed his dark bronze hair back behind his ear that I was pretty sure was pointier than should be normal but wasn’t positive in the darkening night.
He snapped his fingers and, just like that, my attacker was gone along with the shadows. Before I knew it, I was alone with the man I thought had saved me, but I couldn’t be sure yet.
We stared at each other without speaking or moving. Afraid of being zapped out of existence, I waited for him to make the first move or me to finally find my lady balls and scream like hell.
“Hello, Raegan. I’m Enzo, and it’s time to come to Shadow Veil.”
