Page 16 of Claimed By Night

“What you doin’?” the sprite asks, eyeing me suspiciously.

“Ensuring that I haven’t been sold a bill of goods,” I answer without looking up at him.

“What the fuck’s that mean?”

“We’ll soon find out,” I respond as I hold my hands above the angel’s back and allow the shadows to rise up within me, invoking the power of my magic. Tendrils of dark energy erupt from my fingertips and surround the still girl.

Reveal your true form.

But my magic is buttressed against something that surrounds her. As I push against whatever this reinforcement is, my magic seems to dissipate, growing weaker. I summon more of my shadow forth, but it simply dispels once it reaches whatever invisible barrier envelops her. Though I can’t see the forcefield, I can feel it. My magic can feel it.

“I don’t understand,” I say aloud, anger consuming me.

“What’s there to understand?” the sprite responds as Thoradin appears beside him with another of my legion, Gurdis, beside him. I look up at them and shake my head.

“What perplexes you, liege?” Thoradin asks.

“She has a magical barrier,” I explain as I study the unconscious girl, trying to ascertain just how powerful she is.

“Her veins are swimming withAtacomite,” Gurdis says.

“Yes, but that’s not the reason she’s unresponsive,” I respond, shaking my head because my power should be strong enough to force the girl to respond. I then face the sprite, who leans over Gurdis’ shoulder to inspect the girl. “Unless there’s nothing for her to respond to,” I announce, my eyes narrowing on the sprite.

“What d’you mean?” the creature asks.

“If the angel has no wings, there’s no amount of my Shadow Magic that could make them appear,” I say.

It takes the sprite a moment or two to understand what I’m getting at. Once he does, his eyes go wide and he begins shaking his head, holding up his hands in obvious supplication.

“I dunno why yer magic ain’t workin’ but I’m tellin’ you what I saw. This angel got her wings. Maybe she be too high onAtacamitean’ it be gettin’ in the way o’ your little spell…”

“She’s not.Atacomitehas nothing to do with it,” I interrupt. “And it’s not alittle spell,as you put it. Shadow Magic is hardly little nor can it be categorized asspells.”

“Give it some time,” the sprite says, but he appears nervous. “I can prove to you that you’re thinkin’ be wrong.” He nods emphatically. “You’ll see. Besides, it ain’t like yer jist gonna leave her here, are ya?” He glances around and seems to become frightened by his surroundings.

The Shadow Realm is hardly safe, littered as it is by bloodthirsty creatures and the undead. Were I to leave the sprite and the girl here alone, they would undoubtedly be killed within a half hour, at most.

And even I’m not that horrible.

CHAPTER SIX

BARON

One Hundred Years Earlier

Mortal Realm

The darkness embraces me, rocks me in its dark cradle.

“Arise my chosen one,” a melodic, sweet voice interrupts the nothingness of my slumber.

“Arise my champion of darkness, of shadow.”

Then the peace, warmth, and tranquility of the void is lost to me as a chilling cold takes its place, enveloping me with the breath of ice.

“Arise my Revenant,” the saccharine female voice continues, beckoning me forth. I am unable to deny her whisper, to resist her compulsion.

I can feel again. And all I feel is a chill that emanates from deep within me. My chest is heavy, constricted.

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