Chapter 16: Chapter 16

Adrian

When Vivian left me, the music around became a cacophony of mindless laughter and screeching violins. I could not hear the orchestra anymore.

Instead, my mind had become a single, terrifying void that came with the absence of Vivian’s scent. She did ask to excuse herself, but deep down, I knew there was more to her movement.

I pulled my mind away from her absent, concentrating on the other dancers that had taken the dancefloor. It only took a moment, and my mind travelled back to Vivian.

There was a lot attached to her sudden leaving, and from the way my chest tightened, it was not something good.

I scanned the room quickly, my wolf prancing in my head as my vision blurred at the edges.

The moon wasn’t yet full, but my rage was. And if what I thought was right, things might probably have to go bloody.

My eyes caught Lady Cordelia, face smug, head tilted, as she fanned herself gently with that knowing smirk that tells me that she’s watching me.

When I saw Edmund, he was standing by the refreshment, his mask reflecting nothing but the candlelight.

Then a thought hit me so hard I almost staggered.

The maze.

I frowned. Vivian might be doing the worst again.

Her first night here when the being attacked her flashed through my head and every hair on my skin stood.

I had warned her. I told her that there were things beyond the shadows. I had warned her that the shadows of this land was not empty.

Ignoring the protocol of the ton, I shoved past a group of startled Earls and burst through the French doors into the night.

The cold air of the night hit me hard, as opposed to the heat from the candles inside.

I felt a small warmth in my eyes, like a sizzle, and my sense exploded.

The smell of damp earth, mingled with the ancient stone of the maze and the acrid, rotten stench of something that didn’t quite belong to the natural order of things hit my nostrils.

What has Vivian done?

I sniffed again, scanning the maze that seemed empty, even when it wasn’t, and the smell came heavier.

This wasn’t a wolf smell, nor was it that of a man. It was the smell of a disturbed grave.

And then I picked it.

Ghouls.

The currency of the village was superstition. There were tales of the Unspoken that rose from the moors when the veil was thin.

I do dismiss them as peasant fears, but as I reached the entrance of the hedge maze, a scream pierced through the night.

Vivian’s.

I did not breathe. I did not think. My legs moved.

The maze was a labyrinth of shadows, the high yew walls closing like the rib of a giant. I rounded a corner and staggered to a halt, what I sighted tightening my chest.

Vivian was backed against a dead-end, the silver gown she wore torn at the helm, mask barely hanging on. Before her stood a nightmare.

It was a shambling horror of grey flesh and elongated limbs, eyes glowing with a sickly, necrotic light.

Sorcery. Dark sorcery.

Behind it stood what I assumed was a lady in a red cloak, her movement jerky like a marionette, and the voice from beneath the hood sounding like a discordant rattle.

“Adrian,” Vivian cried out my name, her eyes wide in a terror that made my heart sink.

“It’s not real… It can’t be real! Please tell me I’m dreaming. These things… they don’t exist!” She cried.

Even before death, Vivian clung unto the logic of the world where she came from. She looked for mirrors, for wires, and for a rational explanation for the roth that stood before her.

I warned her before. Here, around us, before her, the dark and evil had teeth.

“Back away, “ My growled, my voice no longer human.

The creature turned towards me, jaws unhinging to reveal rows of jagged, yellow bone. The woman in the red cloak covering her hair pointed a wooden finger at me.

“The duke of the moonlight,” the beast hissed. “The beast who would play at being a man. You cannot stop the roth, Northbrook. That mirror demanded a secret, but the biggest of all secrets was her.”

Before I could blink, the beast lunged.

My transformation happened before I could even think. It wasn’t the slow, agnoizing shift that happens at the peak of the full moon.

This was faster; an explosion of fur and bone. The silk of my cravat fell on the grass, replaced by a thick mane of silver fur.

I met the creature mid-air.

It was a blur of grey and silver. As I slammed the beast against a wall, l felt it’s cold, dead flesh beneath my claws.

It was strong, possessing a mindless, unnatural strength, but it wasn’t a werewolf at all. It wasn’t even a rogue one.

It had no soul to fight with.

As the beast trashed between my grasp, I sunk my teeth into its neck, the bitter taste of bile filling my mouth.

I shook the beast like a rag doll until the light in its eyes flickered out. Letting go of the beast, it dissolved into a heap of ash and foul smelling cloud of smoke.

As I turned to the woman in the red cloak, I stilled. She was already fading, her form disintegrating into little grains that blew away in the night wind.

Then I slowly turned to face the one whom I came to rescue, expecting her to scream and run off.

She was backed against the wall, shaking so violently that I could hear her teeth chattering. She stared into my eyes, her arms wrapped around her.

“Adrian?” she hushed.

I didn’t respond. I didn’t know if she had allowed the bond. And using telepathy to speak to her might just complicate things.

I lowered my head instead.

She reached out, her hands tiny against my huge form, resting on the coarse fur of my snout.

“Adrian,” she hushed again.

Then I heard voices. I ran.