Page 44 of Walking in Darkness

Hands burning with the need to do something. The energy a scourge that whipped and compelled.

“Stay back, you psycho bitch,” the older one spat.

Her bravery boiled beneath the alarm, and she shifted on her feet, fighting the impulse to run.

I suddenly threw myself forward, and shock blazed through her when I grabbed her by both sides of her face.

At the connection, a chill streaked through my veins, a fiery cold that scorched me from the inside out. I nearly wept at her pain, which ricocheted through me, hot flames that charred my insides and made me feel as if I were being burned alive.

Still, a frigidness curled within it as the darkness of Faydor flickered and flashed in my periphery.

A barren plane. Vapors and mist. Shadows rose and lifted and swirled through the wiry elms. The night thick, the sky low. Evil prowled across the lifeless ground.

Lightning flashed at the same moment that thunder cracked.

The woman flailed and thrashed, trying to break out of my hold once she came to the realization that I was actually touching her.

“It’s okay, it’s okay, it’s okay,” I begged as I tightened, the plea tumbling from my mouth as I tried to peer deeper into her mind.

And it was there, the dark shadow that toiled in a misty pool on the dried, fractured floor of Faydor.

The Kruen formless as it swirled and writhed, as it fed vile lies into her mind.

Within it, a slew of her memories raced to infiltrate, to become one with mine.

A tiny girl sitting on the soiled carpet of her living room floor, brushing her doll’s hair. Her mother coming out of her room in a skimpy dress. Her hand running down the little girl’s head before she pressed a kiss to it and whispered, “Be a good girl. Momma needs to go to work.”

The child at the counter in a dirty kitchen, dishes piled high in the sink, standing on a chair as she poured herself a bowl of cereal. The sour milk that she forced down anyway since it would be the only thing she would get to eat.

Sleeping on the couch while she listened for her mother’s return.

How those nights grew longer and sometimes turned into days.

The loneliness.

The fear.

The isolation.

The hunger.

How she’d had to learn to survive on her own. But that survival had come at a great cost. Her dreams and confidence slowly chipped away, every opportunity tarnished and bashed.

“These streets are your destiny. They’re in your bones and in your blood.”

Venom dripped from the Kruen’s voice, already twisting the circumstance in its favor. Driving her toward her ultimate demise.

“Thadeo is gone. You can take that control and make his world your own. You always wanted to be better. To achieve something great. Now is the time to step up and take his place. There are plenty of girls you could guide. Become their master. Look at Sophie, shaking behind you. So pliable to mold. Make her yours. It’s time.”

Confusion bound her, her thoughts a whirl, the hope she’d had to escape this life flickering to life by the greed that was offered.

Yet her conscience fought against it. She thrashed as I tried to keep hold of her, and I focused on gathering the light.

Magnified it within me. That power that came from the ethereal. From a place I was sure I’d never truly understand.

It grew and grew while the Kruen continued its assault.

I let it go, and it flashed down my arms and through my hands. Her dark eyes widened in shock as she felt it pass into her.