Chapter 67 Back

Chapter 67 Back
Hallie paused at the doorway, her hand resting on her small bag. The shadows hummed beneath her skin, eager, restless. They could feel the pull of the Empire, the call of their home.
"Ready?" she asked.
Seth took her hand, his fingers warm and steady around hers. "Ready."
Hallie closed her eyes and called to the shadows.
They came eagerly—rising from the corners of the apartment, from the darkness beneath the bed, from the spaces between the floorboards. They curled around Hallie's ankles, her waist, her shoulders, and then reached for Seth. Black tendrils slithered up their bodies, enveloping them in a cocoon of living darkness.
Seth's breath hitched. He couldn't help it—the instinct was still there, buried deep beneath months of trust and love. The shadows that covered him felt too much like the ones he had spent years fighting. His heart rate spiked. His free hand twitched toward where his blade would have been.
Then Hallie squeezed his fingers.
I'm here, her grip seemed to say. You're not alone.
Seth exhaled slowly and let the shadows take him.

In seconds, the world shifted.
The cramped warmth of their Parisian apartment fell away, replaced by an immense, vaulted darkness. Seth blinked, his eyes adjusting to the perpetual twilight of the Shadow Empire—that strange, muted glow that came from no visible source, like the last moments of sunset stretched into eternity.
The shadows deposited them at the edge of the Imperial district, and for a moment, Hallie dared to hope.
Everything looked as she had left it.
The obsidian towers still pierced the bruised twilight sky, their spires intact, their surfaces gleaming with that strange, inner darkness. The bridges arched gracefully over canals of liquid starlight, their railings carved with the ancient symbols of the Empire. The gardens of shadow-blooms swayed gently in a breeze Hallie couldn't feel, their silver and violet petals unfurled like silent screams.
It was beautiful. It was untouched. It was exactly as it should be.
And it was completely empty.
"Where is everyone?" Seth's voice was low, tense. His hand found the small of her back, a grounding pressure. "Hallie, where are the shadows?"
She didn't answer. Couldn't. She was already reaching out with her senses, casting her awareness across the deserted streets, the silent plazas, the hollowed halls of the palace.
Nothing.
The shadows that should have been everywhere—flowing between buildings, curling around lampposts—were gone. Not hiding. Not waiting. Simply... absent. As if the entire Empire had been drained of its essence, leaving behind only the hollow shell of a civilization.
Hallie's heart began to race.
"Something's wrong," she whispered.
"I can see that."
"No." She turned to face him, her grey eyes wide with a fear she rarely showed. "Something is terribly wrong. The shadows—they're not just gone. They've been taken. Pulled away by something stronger than my connection to them."
Seth's jaw tightened. "Soren?"
"I don't know. Maybe. But this—" She gestured at the empty city. "This takes power. More power than he should have after I defeated him."
They stood in silence, the unreal quiet pressing against them like a weight. No whispers of passing shadows. No distant murmurs of dark speech. No movement except the slow, perpetual sway of the shadow-blooms.
Hallie reached out to the shadows beneath her own skin—the ones that were part of her, bound to her blood and her will. They stirred sluggishly, as if waking from a deep sleep.
Where is everyone? she demanded silently.
The shadows pulsed with something that felt like fear.
Gone. Taken. 
Who took them? she inquired. 
Silence. The shadows didn’t know.
Hallie's blood turned to ice. "Seth. We need to find Bram. Now."
She grabbed his hand and ran, her boots silent on the obsidian streets, her shadows streaming behind her like a bridal train.
The palace loomed ahead, dark and silent.
And somewhere inside, answers waited—whether she wanted them or not.
The palace doors swung open at Hallie's touch, groaning on hinges that hadn't been oiled in weeks. The throne room beyond was draped in shadow—not the living shadows that once bowed and whispered, but ordinary darkness, flat and empty. Their footsteps echoed on the obsidian floor, too loud in the suffocating silence.
Bram was waiting for them.
He sat on the throne—their father's throne—slouched with a casual arrogance that made Hallie's skin prickle. His grey eyes, so like her own, tracked her as she crossed the room. When his gaze shifted to Seth, his lip curled almost imperceptibly.
"Sister." Bram spread his arms in welcome, though he made no move to rise. "I wondered when you'd remember us."
"Bram." Hallie stopped before the dais, her voice tight. "What happened? Where are the shadows?"
Bram tilted his head, feigning confusion. "What do you mean? The Empire is as it has always been."
"The streets are empty. The shadows are gone. Every single one of them." Hallie stepped closer, searching his face for any crack in the facade. "Don't pretend you haven't noticed."
Bram shrugged, a lazy roll of his shoulders. "Perhaps they're busy. With their lives. Their families. The things people attend to when they're not being summoned by their queen." His tone sharpened on the last word. "You've been gone a long time, Hallie. People move on. Even shadows."
Hallie felt the accusation like a slap. "I came back as soon as I heard something was wrong."
"Did you?" Bram rose from the throne, descending the dais steps with deliberate slowness. "Or did you come back because your Slayer boyfriend convinced you to play hero again?"
Seth stepped forward, his jaw tight. "Cut the crap, Bram. Tell us what's happening."
Bram's eyes flicked to Seth, cold and dismissive. "The Slayer speaks. How quaint."
"Bram." Hallie's voice was sharp. "Please. If you know something— is it Soren? Is he back?"
"Maybe." Bram's smile was thin, mocking. "Maybe the usurper has returned to reclaim his throne. Maybe he's gathered the shadows to his side, and soon we'll all be kneeling to him again." He spread his hands. "You should go investigate. I'm sure you'll figure it out. You always do."
Hallie stared at him, searching for the brother she had trained beside, fought beside, trusted despite her better judgment. She saw only a stranger wearing his face.
"Come on," Seth said quietly, touching her elbow. "We're not going to get anything useful here."
Hallie wanted to argue, to demand answers, to shake Bram until the truth fell out. But Seth was right. Bram was playing with them—enjoying their confusion, their fear, their desperation.
She turned and walked out without looking back.

The city was a graveyard.
Hallie and Seth searched for hours, moving through streets that should have been teeming with life. They pushed open doors to houses and shops, finding everything in place—furniture, belongings, the detritus of daily existence—but no people. No shadows. No signs of struggle or flight. It was as if everyone had simply vanished into thin air.
"This doesn't make sense," Seth said, emerging from an abandoned cinema. "Where could they all go?"
"I don't know." Hallie pressed her palms to her eyes, exhaustion settling into her bones. "Bram knows something. I could see it in his face."
"But he's not going to tell us."
"No." She dropped her hands, her gaze sweeping across the empty plaza. "He wants us to figure it out ourselves. Or he wants us to fail."
Seth was quiet for a moment. Then: "We should look for Soren."
Hallie turned to face him. "What?"
"Bram suggested it. Not because he wanted to help—but maybe because that's the answer. If Soren is behind this, he's the one we need to find." Seth took her hands. "You asked the shadows before. Ask them again. See if they can lead us to him."
Hallie hesitated. The shadows beneath her skin were still sluggish, still fearful. But they were also eager to serve, desperate to prove their worth after so long without her command.
Help me, she thought. Help me find Soren.
The shadows stirred. Images flickered behind her eyes—a path through the Empire, a place she had never seen, a darkness deeper than the one that surrounded them.
Follow, they whispered. We will show you.
Hallie opened her eyes. "They know where he is."
Seth nodded, his expression grim. "Then let's go."
They walked into the darkness, the shadows guiding their steps, and Hallie tried not to think about what they would find at the end of the path.