Kissed By Shadows Novels & Stories

The tiny flame trembled between her fingers. "I turned on the gas before you got here," she whispered, almost giddy. "So, Mallory... how about you stay my punching bag in the next life, too?" Her smile widened, and I felt my head droop. The room started to blur. Suddenly, flames erupted before my eyes. I smashed the coffee cup against the floor and grabbed a broken shard, dragging it across my thigh hard enough for the pain to cut through the fog. I was bleeding badly, but I still managed to shove Irene away and limp toward the door.

If he wanted to play games, she’d raise the stakes until he couldn’t breathe. The city lights blurred her reflection as she whispered, almost like a vow, “If I can’t have you no one will.” Outside, thunder rolled in the distance, low and unsteady—like the warning of a storm that hadn’t yet broken.

For a moment, the smoke cleared—and Maya saw its face. Her own face stared back. Not the Maya in a torn coat, but a Maya with eyes like empty stars, a crown of black glass on her head. “Who are you?” Maya whispered, out of breath. “I’m the part of the story you tried to erase,” the shadow said. Her voice was Maya’s, only colder, more perfect. “I’m the ‘No’ to your ‘Yes.’ I’m the hunger you tried to call love.” The shadow stepped closer. The black chains pulsed with a sick light.

"I am the part of you that Killian rejected. I am the shame your children were born into. As long as you remember the mud, I am eternal." Killian lunged, a silver-veined blur of fury, but his claws passed through the woman as if she were made of smoke. The shadow didn't retaliate with teeth. She simply looked at him with those lightless grey eyes, and I felt Killian’s heart rate spike through the bond. "Killian, stop!" I screamed. "She’s a psychic parasite! She’s feeding on the regret you still carry for that night!" "I am the truth!" the shadow shrieked, her form expanding until she filled the chamber with a cold, lightless void.

"I can hold the darkness at bay and move the shadows at my will. I can protect you, but I cannot keep you without your choice." The veins of the cavern still glowed purple. making her feel Asif she was in another world, she opened her mouth to speak...Her voice was barely a whisper "What...What are you?" "I am shadow" He said simply "I am bound to the law of my kind, the laws I made. But for you, I broke it. You...Affect me in ways I have never experienced"

Her pulse hammered, adrenaline and desire mixing into a dangerous cocktail. “Together,” she whispered, voice trembling. “Together,” he echoed, lips brushing the shell of her ear. His hands tightened slightly around hers, grounding her, anchoring her, even as the shadows threatened to pull them apart. The west wing surged. The shadows formed shapes—faces from memory, hands from nightmares, twisted fragments of people they had loved and feared. The room seemed alive, hungry for them, testing their bond. Ava’s grip on her father’s shoulders faltered for a heartbeat. The shadows reached for her, tugged at her arms, at her hair, whispering impossibilities: “Leave him. Fail. Join us.”

As the sun began to set, casting a warm golden hue over campus, Charlie, Maya, Ethan, and Liam gathered in their secret hiding place, the old abandoned hedge garden behind the science building. The air was thick with anticipation; they had been waiting for this moment for weeks. The four friends had been diligently gathering information about the plot against the werewolf king, and now they were ready to share their findings with Jessica.

"What exactly did you see? Who—what—came from the east?" The scout's eyes darted nervously as if he feared even speaking the name. His hands trembled as he clutched at my sleeve, his breath ragged. "Shadows. Not like any shadows I’ve seen before. Dark... like the void itself. It moves in whispers and nightmares, and it... it takes what it wants." He swallowed hard, his throat working. "It’s not human, Lady Cassia. It’s something far worse."

Liora, drawing close to Niamh, reassured, "Remember, these are but manifestations. By understanding and accepting them, we can dissipate their power." Isolde, squaring her shoulders, declared, "Then let's face them. Accept them. And prove that our unity, our shared purpose, is stronger than any doubt or fear." As the guardians began their confrontation, the shadows voiced their insecurities, echoing the guardians' deepest fears and doubts. Yet, with each acknowledgment, with each acceptance, the shadows began to waver, their forms becoming less defined. Elysia, facing her shadow, whispered, "I accept my fears, my uncertainties. They're a part of me. But they don't define me."

"I was the one who kissed and held you that night. I was the one who saw you first, Miranda. It was me you kissed that night of our Foundation Day." "W-What? Y-You mean..." I nodded and smiled. "Oh sh*t Xyle!" she cursed and cried. I kissed her once more. Under the beam of illuminating light. I will never hide my love for her anymore. The shadow has gone. She will be my light that will shine brightly until the last day of my life. "Min elskede, my beautiful wife." *** “I will love the light for it shows me the way, yet I will endure the darkness because it shows me the stars.” —Og Mandino Kiss in the Shadow is written & translated by Mar Mojica The End