Updated Nov 20, 2025 • ~7 min read
Liana made it halfway back to the main hall before the lights went out.
Not flickering. Not a power failure. One second the cathedral was blazing with light, and the next it was plunged into absolute darkness. The kind of dark that felt unnatural, heavy, like it had weight and texture.
Screams erupted from the main hall.
Liana’s mark flared hot enough to make her gasp, and through the bond she felt Kaelen’s instant, violent alarm. He was outside. Two blocks away. Already turning back.
Something was wrong. Very wrong.
She fumbled for her phone, but the screen stayed black even when she pressed the power button. Dead. Around her, other people were having the same problem—she could hear frustrated cursing, the sounds of people stumbling in the dark.
Then the temperature dropped.
It happened so fast that Liana’s breath misted in front of her face. The air went from summer-warm to winter-cold in seconds. Frost crept across the walls, glittering even in the darkness.
What the hell?
A sound split the air—high and sharp and wrong. Like metal tearing. Like reality breaking.
Liana ran.
She didn’t know where she was going, couldn’t see more than shadows in the darkness, but instinct drove her forward. Back toward the main hall. Toward Maya. Her best friend was in there, and whatever was happening—
The corridor ended in a set of double doors. Liana shoved through them and stopped dead.
The main hall was chaos. People were running, screaming, pushing toward the exits. But they weren’t running from nothing.
Things moved in the darkness.
Liana couldn’t see them clearly—they were shadow and smoke, barely substantial, but she could see what they did. They moved through the crowd like sharks through water, and wherever they touched, people collapsed. Unconscious or dead, Liana couldn’t tell.
On the platform, the Council members were trying to organize a defense. Magistrate Voss had her hands raised, light streaming from her palms, but it barely pushed back the shadows.
“Maya,” Liana whispered.
She plunged into the crowd, shoving past panicking bodies, searching desperately. The temperature kept dropping. Her fingers were going numb. One of the shadow-things swept past close enough that she felt it—a cold so deep it burned, and a hunger that had nothing human in it.
She ducked, rolled, came up running.
“Liana!”
Maya’s voice. Liana whipped around and saw her friend pressed against the far wall, surrounded by three of the shadow creatures. Maya had her hands up, trying to summon some kind of defense, but nothing was happening. She was terrified.
Liana didn’t think. She just moved.
She grabbed a fallen candelabra—heavy brass, ornate—and swung it at the nearest shadow. It passed through like the thing was made of smoke, but the creature recoiled anyway, hissing. Light. It didn’t like light.
“Maya, run!”
“I can’t—my mate—she’s here, I have to—”
One of the shadows lunged. Liana threw herself in front of Maya, the candelabra raised like a club, knowing it was useless, knowing they were both about to die—
And then Kaelen was there.
He moved like violence incarnate, fast and brutal and precise. His hands blazed with silver light—the same light that lived in his eyes—and where he touched the shadows, they disintegrated. Burned away like paper in a furnace.
He destroyed all three creatures in seconds.
Then he turned to Liana, his expression carved from stone. “You need to leave. Now.”
“There are people—”
“The Council will handle it. You’re not safe here.”
“I’m not leaving without—”
“She’s right there.” Kaelen jerked his chin toward the crowd, and Liana followed his gaze to see a young woman fighting her way toward them. She was small, Asian, with short dark hair and eyes that glowed the same way Maya’s mark did.
The moment their eyes met, the air between them ignited with recognition.
Maya made a sound like she’d been punched. “Suki.”
The woman—Suki—reached them, grabbed Maya’s hand, and the bond between them snapped into place so powerfully that Liana felt it through her own connection to Maya. Felt the relief, the joy, the terror.
“We have to go,” Suki said, her voice urgent. “This is just the first wave. More are coming.”
“First wave of what?” Liana demanded.
“Void Wraiths. They’re hunting the marked.” Suki’s eyes were wild. “The Council knew this would happen. That’s why they wanted us registered—so they could protect us. Or control us. I’m not sure which.”
Another sound split the air—that same reality-tearing shriek. The temperature dropped even further. Through the broken stained-glass windows, Liana could see more shadows gathering outside.
“Move,” Kaelen growled. He grabbed Liana’s wrist, and the contact sent a shock through her entire body—heat and light and too much sensation all at once. The bond roared to life between them.
For a second, they both froze.
His silver eyes met hers, and Liana saw her own fear and confusion reflected back at her. Felt his reluctance. Felt his absolute, bone-deep certainty that keeping her alive was the most important thing in the world.
“Don’t,” he said quietly. “Don’t look at me like that.”
“Like what?”
“Like you trust me.”
“I don’t have a choice.”
Something painful crossed his face. Then he was pulling her forward, through the chaos, Maya and Suki close behind. He moved with absolute confidence, cutting through the crowd, somehow knowing exactly where the shadows would be before they struck.
They made it to a side exit just as the main doors burst open and more Void Wraiths poured in. The screaming intensified.
“We have to help them,” Maya said, pulling against Suki’s grip.
“We can’t. Not without getting killed ourselves.” Suki looked at Kaelen. “You know where to go?”
He nodded once.
“Wait,” Liana said. “Where are we going? What is happening?”
“Questions later. Running now.” Kaelen shouldered through the exit door, checking the alley beyond, then gestured them forward. “Stay close. Don’t touch anything. If you see shadow, you yell.”
They ran.
The city was wrong. That was Liana’s first coherent thought as they sprinted through the dark streets. It was too quiet. Too empty. The streetlights were out. Every window was dark. And overhead, the sky was the wrong color—a deep purple-black, like a bruise, with clouds that moved against the wind.
“This is impossible,” Liana gasped as they ran. “What’s happening to the city?”
“The Veil is thinning,” Kaelen said without slowing. “The marks—the bond—they opened cracks. Made it easier for things to cross over.”
“Things from where?”
“The Void. The space between worlds.” He pulled her around a corner, into a narrow alley. “The prophecy didn’t just predict the bonds. It predicted a war.”
Liana’s blood ran cold. “What?”
“Later.” Kaelen stopped in front of an unmarked door, pressed his palm to it. Silver light flared, and the door swung open to reveal a staircase leading down. “Inside.”
“That looks like a horror movie waiting to happen,” Maya said.
“It’s a safe house. Protected. Warded.” Kaelen’s eyes flicked to Liana. “Trust me or don’t. But decide fast.”
Through the bond, Liana could feel the truth of his words. Could feel his determination to keep her safe, even though he didn’t want this bond any more than she did.
She stepped through the door.
The others followed, and Kaelen sealed it behind them. The moment the door closed, warmth rushed back in. Light bloomed—old-fashioned gas lamps lining the walls.
“We’re underground,” Suki explained. “The Wraiths can’t sense us here.”
Liana turned to Kaelen. He was standing with his back to the door, arms crossed, looking anywhere but at her. The bond pulsed between them, undeniable.
“You saved my life,” she said quietly.
“Don’t thank me.” His voice was rough. “I didn’t have a choice. The bond—” He cut himself off, jaw clenching. “We’re connected. If you die, I feel it. So keeping you alive is self-preservation.”
It should have stung. It didn’t. Because through the bond, Liana could feel the lie.
He’d been terrified. Not for himself. For her.
And that changed everything.
Reader Reactions