Chapter 76 A Familiar But Not So Unfamiliar Presence
Vanessa
So much for not spending another damn night, now I've spent three fucking days.
Well, at least I think it’s day three here already...
Time moves strangely when you’re locked inside a stone room with a slitted space excuse for a window, so the time of the day is barely measurable, except the hunger and the thirst that had been inflicted upon me.
Melissa has only come in two more times since that day, and both times, she brought a small piece of stale bread and a cup of water - barely enough to keep me alive, which in retrospect, is probably the point.
My wrists are still bound by the shadow tendrils, now mixed with magic suppression that seep into my bones like poison, causing a slow ache to spread through every muscle in my body.
Also, every time I try to reach for my power, something slams down on it like a heavy lid, sealing it shut and out of reach.
The first time I tried, it felt like someone shoved a heat-coated knife into my chest. The second, up to the fifth time weren't any different, so after that, I stopped trying so hard.
As much as the tendrils will allow me, I lean back against the damp stone wall and close my eyes, considering my next plan of action.
As much as I try and fail, I'm not going to give up. Xander's face comes into view and the bond pulses once, as if trying to remind me he's still here with me.
The magic suppression didn't completely block the connection between us, so I only feel bits and pieces of his emotions, and I know he's definitely coming for me, but I won't wait here and sit idly like some damsel in distress. I'm Vanessa fucking Collins!
Still...
Fuck, I miss that idiot so much.
The room smells like mildew and rust. The sound of water dripping somewhere in the distance reaches my ears, each slow drop echoing through the corridor outside.
Lyra hasn’t returned since the first night and that's the part that worries me the most.
Because if she isn’t checking on me, it means she doesn’t need to.
Magical surveillance?
My throat burns with dryness as I swallow at the thought. I shift slightly, wincing as I feel pressure seep through my ribs. My body keeps getting weaker, feeling like it'll shut down anytime soon, and the magic suppressing my power isn’t helping.
Fuck this, I'm trying this again...
I take in a lungful of much needed breath, and I exhale, then close my eyes, slowly, carefully.
I reach inward toward the warm energy that normally lives beneath my skin.
For a brief second, I feel it.
A spark.
Hope stirs inside me as this is the furthest I've gone in days.
The second one happens again, this time, a little bigger.
Then the shackles flare cold, and sudden a bout of pain explodes through my arms.
“Ah—!” I jerk forward, gasping as the dark magic crushes the spark instantly, the energy disappears like it was never even there to begin with.
Okay,” I whisper hoarsely. “That still didn't work.”
My breathing comes in short bursts as the pain fades, pressure blooms inside my chest and in the next instant, wetness trickles down the side of my face. I think it's sweat at first, but it takes me a full minute to realize that they're my tears.
Anger, hurt, frustration and a deep sense of longing all merge into one and I just let the dam break open.
This isn't how my life was supposed to go. What did I ever do to deserve this? I just...want to live...
Minutes pass.
Or maybe hours, even, and I lay there, wallowing in self-pity, mourning the once happy life I had dared dreamed to have as a child... before everything shattered.
But eventually, exhaustion pulls my eyes closed.
And somewhere in that hazy space between waking and dreaming, something changes.
The air shifts uncomfortably. It's subtle at first, just a faint ripple across the surface of the room, but my instincts react before my mind does - I sit up slowly.
The corridor outside the cell remains empty. Nothing moves, nothing changes, but the feeling lingers.
There's someone out here. I scan the shadows beyond the bars and call out tentatively.
“Hello?” I croak, my voice echoing weakly down the hallway.
No one answers, obviously, but still, that strange presence remains, like a stranger standing quietly in the next room.
I narrow my eyes at the corridor.
“Melissa?” I try.
Nothing.
This could be a new trick she's trying to play with me. I wouldn't put it above her anyway. Her obsession with my mate has clouded her head so much it's pathetic, really. She blames me for having her stripped of her power and position in the pack, but everyone knows it's not her first time trying ro sabotage his relationships.
This situation of mine right now? It's the perfect one for her unhinged revenge plot. I at least get a kick out of seeing her miserable since she can't touch me... yet.
The presence shifts again, snapping me out of my thoughts of Melissa. It feels closer this time.
A faint ripple brushes across my senses, my pulse quickens.
Whoever this presence is, they’re standing directly outside the cell now. I don't see them clearly, but a faint silhouette comes into view.
I stare at the doorway, confusion twisting through my chest.
“This isn’t even funny,” I mutter.
A distorted voice carries through the air. Panic seizes my bones at the sound.
No, it can't be–
“When is she going to be ready?” he asks, a note of impatience in his voice as it echoes in the empty corridor, his shadow floating through the air, like he's being projected to appear.
"In a few days or two weeks at most. The time is approaching faster than expected, and we need to move fast. She won't take it kindly if she has to wait another century for it," Lyra replies.
As if acknowledging her words, the tendrils on my body tighten and glow faintly with dark enchantments.
I wonder if they know I'm actually hearing them and seeing them partially?
“I can't believe I have to do this to her,” the figure's voice tinge with a note of guilt, and sadness.
I don't need to see Lyra to know that she's rolling her eyes at him right now.
"You made your choice a long time ago, now you deal with whatever outcome it brings." Then she's gone, silent as the wind.
The figure reaches toward the barrier magic surrounding the cell, his hand passes through it like mist.
“Not yet,” he says quietly, watching me for a long moment. Then he sighs and turns on his heels.
With that, his form fades slowly into the shadows.
Vanishing completely.
Now, what the fuck was that all about?