Novel & Cerita Kissed By Shadows

I looked around. Where did he go? Cassian turned sharply. Arielle. What? He pointed toward our daughter. Her shadow. I stared. Her shadow was moving independently. It stretched across the ground. Then it stood. A second version of my daughter emerged from it. Same face. Same body. But completely black. Our daughter screamed. Mama! I pulled her behind me. The shadow smiled. Hello. I raised my sword. What are you? The shadow looked at me. I am what she refuses to become.

The fireflies hummed around us, casting soft glows into the dark night. My hands slid lower, gripping her tighter. She gasped, her thighs tightening slightly around my waist. She looked into my eyes with disbelief. I pulled her closer, pressing our bodies together, pressing my forehead against hers, closing my eyes just for a moment. I lifted her higher and held her against me. The glowing water shimmered around us as I moved against her, slow and deliberate. She gasped sharply, her nails digging into my skin through my shirt. Her head fell against my shoulder slightly, lips parted, eyes fluttering shut.

Mom smiled at me, in awe. Thank god I'm not as big of a freak as I thought. Does every shadow weaver have a shadow womb? What is shadow kissed? "What does it mean to be shadow kissed?" I asked her. "That's what we call the children born of the shadow womb. It is rare to have one and even rarer for it to bare a child. The child that is born of a shadow womb is called shadow kissed, because they are grown with the shadows. Shadow kissed weavers have more control of the shadows and the dark, and tend to hold a powerful shadow with a powerful ability." Dad explained, calming down further, but I could still feel his disdain.

Curious, he entered to discover a young woman dusting the sofas. Having just completed her cleaning duties, Caitlin decided to give the sofas one final dusting. Mesmerized by her singing, Kane stood there listening attentively, almost as if he were under a spell. With a smile on his face, he approached her slowly, eager to catch a glimpse of the mysterious woman with such an angelic voice. Startled, Caitlin noticed a shadow looming over her and turned around. They found themselves face to face, and the smile vanished from Kane's face as he immediately recognized her.

Alexandra walked closely behind Aurora as they stepped into the club not wanting to lose sight of her. The interior view overwhelmed her and she almost had a sensory overload from all the things she was feeling at that moment. The music was very loud and the beats thumped hard making her skin vibrate. The dim flashing light casted dark shadows on the faces of the people dancing in the club. This was her first time entering inside a club before. She had always seen one from afar and it had been on her highschool bucket list to go to a club. She felt her inner child squeal from delight that she had finally crossed that off.

Fear sharpens into fury, molten and blinding. I reach. Not with hands. With instinct. With that strange internal pull that drags me into shadows night after night without permission. The darkness beneath my feet answers. Not violently. Not chaotically. It opens. Like a mouth welcoming breath. Like a path recognizing its traveler. The shadows gripping my legs falter. Just for a second. But one second is enough. I step. Not forward. Down. Into the shadow beneath me. The world snaps sideways. Sound tears apart into jagged fragments.

"Focus. Stay rooted. Predict its next move." She adjusted her stance, her feet shifting to maintain her balance as the shadow loomed over her. Each clash of their blades sent vibrations up her arms, but she stood her ground, her strikes growing more confident with each passing moment. The shadow swung high, and Bella swiftly ducked, using the momentum to spin and strike at its side. Her blade connected, causing the shadow to stagger, its form flickering like a candle in the wind. A triumphant grin spread across my face as I couldn't help but exclaim, "Yes! That's it! Use its aggression against it!"

As I approached the corner, I spotted the man leaning against a lamppost, his face obscured by the shadows. “Cassandra?” he asked, his voice low and rough. I nodded, keeping my distance. “You have it?” He reached into his jacket and pulled out a small, nondescript package, no bigger than a paperback book. “Same deal as always. No stops, no questions. Got it?” “Got it.” I stepped forward, taking the package from him. He lingered for a moment, his eyes scanning the street before nodding and disappearing into the shadows. I slipped the package into my bag and turned to leave, my heart already racing.

I could feel my breathing getting heavier, getting lost in his kiss. I never thought this experience would cause a person to be deaf, not hear other thoughts, other people except the beating of our hearts. I had forgotten my claw that I raised my hand, hoping to touch his soft and wavy hair, but as I was about to move, he broke our kiss, and he winced, feeling the pain. I gasped as I smelled blood that I immediately opened my eyes to scan his body where it came from. A drop of blood from his arm dripped on the floor of the cabinet, horrifying me that I hurt Ethan. ‘Amber!’ I said, panting and asking for help.

“No, not again.” But the shadows laugh. A soft, cruel sound that skitters across my skin like ice. “She used you well,” they croon. “Your anger tasted divine. Your jealousy… oh, a feast.” “Stop,” I hiss, but my voice is weak now. Weaker each day. The shadows shift, forming vague shapes, faces I once knew, faces I destroyed, faces I loved. Sebastian. Anton. Killian. Then Lyra. Her eyes are cold in the shadows’ mockery, nothing like the real Lyra’s burning, determined gaze.