Sixty-Four ◑ The Shadows

The temperature in the room dropped. The walls and the floor hummed with a strange power that made her skin prickle. Lucille could feel the surroundings constricting, reducing the world to just the three of them in this small chapel.

Cade swung straight at Agnes as though Lucille wasn't there, emanating pure rage with just a hint of mockery, like he was sure he could take her down with one blow.

Lucille had to acknowledge that this was probably true.

He still had a portion—if not all—of Keiran's power. He was stronger than them, stronger than anything they'd ever faced.

The swirl of black energy accumulating around his body told her as much. It was reminiscent of Dimitri's power, which made her hesitate. However, she would be damned if she let her friend get hurt by him again.

Lucille stepped forward as Cade started to drive his furled, shadow-enclosed hand towards Agnes, who let out a scream and raised her arms to protect herself. His speed was remarkable. It reduced his movement into a mere blur, but Lucille matched it. Exceeded it, even. She snatched his wrist before he could bring his fist to Agnes's face.

The smoky tendrils around his hand exploded into a puff of black that descended over Lucille's skin. It left a searing, tingling sensation that made her draw breath sharply, but she didn't let go.

Instead, she summoned some of her own magic, the same red fire that she'd used to free the ghosts.

The crimson light broke through the mass of black and scattered it, soon crawling over Cade's arm.

His dark eyes went wide, his jaw going slack as he watched the red flames dance along Lucille's hand. His skin began to sizzle, the little burn holes oozing out an oddly tar-like blood.

"Go, Agnes," she said firmly, gritting her teeth as the dark blood trickled down onto her own hand, leaving a trail of pain in its wake. "Go!"

Lucille's stomach turned at the sight and the feel of it, all slimy and sharp like congealed acid. She wanted nothing but to let go, but Agnes was still clambering to her feet and struggling to stay at a safe distance. Lucille braced herself for the long haul, to keep her grip on him even with the pungent gunk spilling out of his flesh.

But before she could truly hold on, he yanked his wrist off her grip and kicked her in the abdomen.

Pain wracked her entire body, particularly around her ribs. As far as she could assess, nothing was broken, but the impact of the kick and her sudden fall on the floor knocked the breath out of her. The back of her head collided against the wood, her tailbone erupting in pain. She inhaled, the fine particles of dust swirling around her as she landed.

"No!" Agnes screamed. She scampered towards Lucille, but she ended up cowering in her spot as Cade poised for another strike.

Lucille tried to get on her feet, but her legs were shaking so violently that she couldn’t lift her weight off the floor. Black spots were dancing in her eyes, obscuring her vision. The floor was moving in waves under her body. Once he took a step forward, she fell on her elbows once more. Something hard and cold was pressing at her right side, and after a quick glance, she saw that it was her golden knife. She quickly took it and pointed it at him, but her grip was so unsteady that the blade was hardly threatening.

"Oh, you'll be needed all the help you can get, alright," he taunted, then he raised his foot to stomp on her leg.

She swept her legs out of the way, her hands trembling so bad that she couldn't hold up the knife much longer. His boot-clad foot thudded on the wooden floor, and he smiled at the booming sound it created.

However, it wasn't what concerned Lucille at the slightest.

As soon as the soles of his boots touched the floor, the entire chapel groaned. Quite literally groaned. The walls quivered with a low rumbling sound. The wooden floor creaked. The debris scattered around were once again disturbed.

A nauseating kind of dread filled Lucille's chest. She couldn't say for sure, but she had a feeling that Cade had this whole house under some sort of a binding magic, that he had a strange control over it like he had with the ghosts.

As though to reinforce his theory, Cade's entire form shifted as the atmosphere changed. It looked like a mirage in the desert, or a glitch.

"Agnes, run!" she yelled as his whole appearance became a smear of colors. "Go!"

Agnes propped her arm on the floor and tried to lift herself up, but she could only drag herself across the wooden surface while getting away. She was still hesitating, watching Lucille with wide, scared eyes like she was afraid of leaving her.

Cade's image was a smear of colors now, and Lucille decided to take advantage of it. She clenched her hand around the carved hilt of her knife, jumped to her feet, and attacked.

The heart. She was aiming for the heart. She was aiming for a quick blow that would end this all.

She was well out of practice, but the sudden rush of adrenaline propelled her forward. However, Cade was also swift. When the gleaming tip of the blade got close enough, he swerved to avoid it, taking a step forward.

The knife drove straight into his shoulder with a wet squelch.

Lucille pulled it out hurriedly to take a better aim, drawing a steady stream of normal blood, but before she could push the blade back, Cade seized her wrist and snapped it easily as though it was a twig.

A loud scream escaped Lucille’s lips, guttural and almost primal. Heat shot up from her wrist to her entire arm, coursing through her veins like injected poison. The knife fell to the floor, its tip burrowing into the wooden surface. Time seemed to have slowed down to make way for her and the excruciating pain in her hand, but it moved extremely fast when Cade squeezed her broken wrist tightly and took advantage of her momentary weakness to fling her entire body across the chapel.

Wind whooshed in her ears. For a second she felt weightless, almost free, but then she felt gravity taking hold of her. The first thing that hit her was the hard, unforgiving planks of wood that used to be the altar. Sharp pain invaded her spine, reverberating to the very tips of her toes. She wanted to scream, but her breath was knocked out of her. The back of her head collided on the floor, and just like that her vision went black.

Agnes was crying in the background, a mere muffled sound mixed with the ringing in her ears. “No!”

*Don’t pass out,* Lucille told herself firmly as she swung in and out of consciousness. She was in a precarious state right now, at the very brink of something dark. *Stay awake for Agnes.*

Her mouth was dry. Her skin was cold, numb. She couldn’t even tell where her limbs were. Her eyelids kept fluttering closed, but she fought to stay in the moment. Slowly, she forced herself to open her eyes as she laid on the floor, as limp as a rag doll.

Cade was watching her, one again wearing a smug smile on his face. His burnt arm had completely healed. The bleeding holes in his skin was gone. The only evidence that she'd hurt him were the droplets of blood on the floor. The knife was upright by his feet as he walked, but to Lucille’s horror, he wasn’t heading towards her.

He was approaching Agnes, his steps small and leisurely but somehow more threatening.

“Please,” Agnes begged him, sinking to her knees as she shuffled to meet him. She kept glancing at Lucille, her eyes filled to the brim with tears. “Please don’t hurt her. Take me. Take me instead.”

“I think it might be a little late for that,” Cade replied in a matter-of-fact tone. “You had your chance.”

With that, he raised a palm, which was immediately engulfed in that swirling black energy. Agnes whimpered in terror at the sight of it, hugging herself as she sobbed.

She was helpless now. Helpless if Lucille wouldn’t do anything.

The pain in Lucille’s body was nothing like she’d ever known, but the pain of losing Agnes with her watching would be unbearable. She wouldn’t be able to live with herself.

So, even with the hot searing sensation gripping her frayed nerves, she propped her elbow on the floor and pulled herself up.

The movement caused Cade to glance at her. It was a fleeting look, a mere flick of the eyes, but she knew that it would only take a millisecond for her to change things.

Summoning all her strength, she swung her good arm and let out all the fire she’s been holding back—all the pain and all the rage.

Bright red flames erupted from her hand and shot straight to Cade.

He staggered back, clutching the left side of his face, which was now covered in red fire. Pungent smoke filled the air. The entire half of his body was now catching fire. Bits of his flesh started to fall off his body, landing on the wooden floor with muffled thumps and small splatters of blood.

Lucille started to get up, to go to Agnes so they could let Cade die, but he wasn’t dying like she though. He wasn’t even close.

As though her hit was nothing but a mild nuisance, Cade summoned a ball of black smoke and aimed it at Lucille.

And just then, Agnes shot between them, running as fast as she could to shield Lucille.

The tangle of shadows whizzed into her body. She landed on the floor with a soft thud, limp and seemingly lifeless.