Book Shadows Novels & Stories

I am what you could be," the shadow said. "What you should be. Unlimited. Unchained. Free." "Free to destroy everything I love." "Free to stop pretending you are something you are not." The shadow circled me. "You chain yourself with mercy. With compassion. With love. But those chains make you weak. Vulnerable." "They make me human." "You are not human." The shadow's smile was cruel. "You are Shadowborn.

I whispered, hot tears pooling rapidly along my cheeks. The sharp click of the doorknob turning instantly paralyzed me with fear. Hearing the heavy, distinct footsteps of the monster approaching the bed, I renewed my frantic struggles against the ropes. "I wouldn't even bother trying that if I were you, my love," Archie murmured smoothly. When I snapped my head in his direction, I was met with a sickening, triumphant grin. He looked genuinely amused by the sight of me lying there completely defenseless.

I whispered back, leaning my head against his shoulder. Adrian Cross had tried to weaponize our secrets, believing that our shame would be our ultimate undoing. But looking out at the thriving, unbreakable family we had forged—a family that now extended all the way to a conservative living room miles away—I knew the absolute truth. The shadows had never been our prison. They had simply been the chrysalis from which we emerged, finally ready to blind the world with our light.

They snap, one by one, each fracture a lightning strike to my soul. Stop! The meadow dissolves. The chamber rushes back. The machines explode. Veyra is thrown against the wall. Ryland shields the twins, his roar swallowed by the blast. I collapse, gasping, my skin raw but clean. The silver veins are gone. But the screen still bleeds—the shadow is here. The city shakes. The Architect’s laughter echoes through the streets. *You can’t kill a shadow, he whispers. *But you can bleed for trying.

She was screaming in the fire ball and I could smell burning flesh and I knew that it was actually hurting her but then she raised her arms up and the shadows appeared from behind her and approached me with significant force and knocked me off my feet and I dropped the fireball. I got back up and the shadows were surrounding me and I couldn't see the witch anywhere and I used the wind element to force the shadows to move. They fought against it but I put more power behind it forcing them to move and they retreated. I wasn't scared of them anymore. And now I knew that I could fight the shadows as well. And now they knew that. I wasn't as weak as I was. But now they knew that I had training. I

The truck sped across the muddy beaten path full of tire tracks from other vehicles. Lukas stared at the bright sky. Even if it was morning, the fact that the things they fight in the shadows existed made the world a dark one that no sunrise could ever illuminate. Back when he was living in ignorance, everything was colorful but when he was pulled into a battlezone where incarnated nightmares are the belligerents, everything just becomes black and white. And he thought that the Moro rebellion was dark enough. This conflict, simply known in the documents as the Shadow War, had made him see everything.

KAREN’S POV The shadows shouldn’t have failed. I kept replaying that thought as I stood by the window, fingers digging into the sill until the wood cracked beneath my nails. Below me, the courtyard shimmered with moonlight, silver dust coating the stones like frost. My shadows—my loyal, obedient creations—had never failed before. They were supposed to be silent, invisible, efficient. But this time, they came back in pieces, ripped apart by a force I didn’t even understand.

Ray stepped back, muttering something about needing a nap, and I slipped inside. The scent of parchment and old wood welcomed me. I walked past tall shelves and dusty corners, making my way toward the far end of the room. Elder Nyra had told me about the Book of Shadows. Said it held secrets about the moon and its connection to me. I had searched for it throughout the years but could never find it. I might as well check. I was scanning the shelves when I heard them. Voices. Two girls. Just behind the next aisle. “We have to go,” one said. “If we get caught—”

Liam is quick to pull me flush against the wall of the cinema building, shielding me from the hysteria with his body. “It’s a Shadow attack!” Someone shouts, their words causing my body to freeze and blood to run cold. Peering over Liam’s shoulder, I spot two shadows, their tall frames standing at nearly seven feet towering over a she-wolf whose body sported deep, bleeding gashes. The Shadow with long flowing black hair and crimson eyes sneers, licking the blood of the she-wolf from his claws with a forked tongue. “Who would have thought Ottawa would be easy to enter once all the snow began to melt?” His companion chuckles out, his voice distorted with a gurgling.

But this time it didn't lead me the way it had the first time. Instead, the light suddenly began to flip every single book on the shelf. It came almost like a thick rush of wind, sharp and sudden, and I had to step back quickly to stop myself from being hit by the books flying off the shelves one after the other. The sound of them hitting the floor filled the entire room, loud and fast and relentless. Then just as quickly as it had started, it stopped. Everything became completely calm. Quiet. Still. When I looked down at my feet, the Book of Shadows was right there.