Page 188 of To Ashes and Dust
Icy air swept across the room, and the equipment screens flickered again, the fluorescent lights flickered. The nurses and Johnson froze, their eyes drifting around them.
Darkness erupted, and the nurses screamed as black mist surrounded Cassie’s bed. Johnson and the staff fell back from it, their shrieks echoing off the walls.
Eris’ voice hissed in my ear once more, poisonous and triumphant. “I hope you’re ready, Lord of Shadows.”
Shadows consumed me, swallowing me until there was nothing. The floor disappeared from beneath me, and I slammed into stone. I grimaced, my bones rattling. The shadows receded. Stone walls surrounded me in a near perfect circle, a stone bed before me, and my heart lurched as I found Cassie lying on it.
“Cassie?”
I rushed to her side, her skin pale, her face peaceful, as if she were only sleeping. She didn’t move, her hospital gown replaced with white silk. My arms jerked up, invisible bindings lifting them, and I was torn from her.
Eris melted into view from the shadows on the other side of the stone bed. Her black gown billowed around her as she glided toward us, her onyx eyes wholly locked on Cassie.
“What are you doing?” I demanded, fighting against the bindings.
“What you asked,” she said, eyes remaining on Cassie. Eris lifted her grayish hands out before her, palms downward, and darkness poured out of them.
My chest heaved as it drifted down over her body. Eris lifted her onyx eyes to me, and she lifted her chin. Pain lanced across my wrist, and the air hissed through my teeth as I flinched. I jerked my gaze to my arm, to the wrist that now oozed blood.
Eris chanted something, words I didn’t recognize as the darkness pouring from her hands spilled out over the stone bed where Cassie’s body lay, the darkness climbing up my legs until it reached my wrist, and I gasped as it tore into the wound.
White hot pain shot down my arm. “What is this?”
“This is old magic. Dark magic long forgotten,” Eris whispered, her eyes falling back on Cassie. Words continued to flow from Eris’ lips, her voice echoing off the walls. Distant voices whispered from the shadows around us, speaking in ancient dead languages I couldn’t understand, their words and voices melding and mixing as they echoed what she spoke.
Eris’ hands lowered toward Cassie, and I instinctively tugged on the invisible bindings to get to her, to protect her from the unknown. The coiling shadows latched onto me tighter, and I felt the draw. The room spun as darkness pulled blood from my wound. It released me then, slithering back down my body and toward its mistress. Eris’ hand came to rest on Cassie’s forehead, her other hand laying on her unmoving chest.
Eris continued the chant, the whispers growing louder, the very air humming with icy power, the shadowy mist retreating from every corner as it converged above Cassie’s body. The shadows swept in, black mist slipping into Cassie’s parted lips and nose, as if she were inhaling it.
My heart lurched. What had I done? Why had I trusted Eris? What was she doing to her?
Eris’ smile turned wicked, onyx eyes lighting with something as she recited the words. The darkness disappeared into Cassie and her body lurched, muscles spasming before she went limp on the table.
Cassie’s chest expanded, a deep gasp drawing in a gulp of breath before she settled. Her chest rose and fell again, the color returning to her skin almost immediately. Relief washed over me, but the smile hadn’t faded from Eris’ face, and unease settled in my gut.
“What did you do to her?” I asked, my chest heaving as I pulled against the invisible bindings, desperate to get to Cassie, to feel her, to hold her.
“She is now as she was meant to be,” Eris said, rising to her full height, the shadows disappearing. She lifted her onyx eyes to me, that wicked smile tugging at the corners of her lips as she lifted her hand. “Be careful. She may be a bit... bitey.”
She snapped her fingers, and I plummeted through the stone, darkness swallowing me whole once more.
I slammed into wood floors, the shadows slithering back into the far corners of the room, our room. I jumped to my feet, eyes searching. Where had she gone?
The softest breath caught my attention, and I spun to our bed to find Cassie resting on the blankets, still clothed in white silk. Her chest rose and fell in a fluid motion, and I rushed to her bedside. I reached out reluctantly, afraid that this might be a dream or a trick. Had Eris truly saved her? Had she done something to her?
She is now as she was meant to be.
What did she mean by that? Had she healed her? Had she...
Oh Gods, had she changed her? I leaned over her, my eyes falling to her slightly parted lips. I couldn’t tell if she had fangs.
“Cas?” I whispered, reaching out to run a hand against her cheek. It was warm, and the bond danced between us, the tingle rippling across my hand where our skin met, and I could’ve wept for how wonderful it was to feel it, to feel her.
“Cas?”
She didn’t stir.
A loud bang shook through the house as the front door slammed open downstairs.
