+Chapter 45+

Mason stopped to glance back at her and this broke Mari out of her shock, forcing her to move. She walked up timidly behind him, noticing Kade and Lucien for the first time.

Both of them stared at her with inscrutable looks but she didn’t have the presence of mind to pay attention to it, more focused on the fact that she would have to somehow kill the monster.

Kade took the lead, “Try using a little fire,” He suggested, fighting the urge not to step between Marion and the Shadow. He knew she could handle herself but his possessiveness hardly listened to reason.

Mari nodded resolutely, determined to do this. She clapped her hands, a sigh of relief when they both lit on fire and with a slash of her hand, a wave of fire went in Lucien’s direction.

The South King lithely jumped out of the path of the red-hued fire, “I’m almost hurt that you mistook me for the monster.”

Mari started to clutch her hands to herself in horror only to stop herself in time, “I’m sorry!”

“It’s fine,” Kade said with a straight face, a twitch in his lips. It would have been preferable if the aggravating South King caught on fire but unfortunately here they were. He also noted that they were yet to focus on training her aim, too busy getting her to even be able to produce flames, aiming was far too advanced.

“Try again,” He urged, “There’s a lot of space in the warehouse, you’re free to let loose.” He encouraged her, darting a look at Lucien who returned his look with a glare, his lips pressed in a grim line.

Mason watched this all unfold from a distance, pleased that he would get a chance to experience this first hand. Although he couldn’t tell his sister about any of it yet, there was no reason to hold back if she already knew about Mari.

Mari tried again, this time the fire hit its target, the Shadow too big of a target to miss in the first place. The creature let out a piercing wail when the little wave of fire touched it’s hind legs, a dent made in the appendage. It didn’t bleed and it went silent after the fire fizzled out, its black eyes fixed on Mari now.

“I didn’t know they had vocal chords,” Lucien said curiously, moving closer although he had nearly gotten flamed.

Neither did Kade but he didn’t mention it, staring intently at the Shadow’s wounded leg. He always thought that they were invincible as nothing could break their skin, they could only be chased off like wild animals encroaching on a farm.

“A fireball now,” He directed to Marion. There was no other research to be done, all they needed to confirm was that witch fire truly affected Shadows and he had gotten enough proof.

After saying that, he turned around and walked to the wall, giving Marion a wide berth. The others quickly followed his actions, giving the wide-eyed witch enough space.

Marion knew exactly how to do what Kade said she should do but she was wary about missing again so she moved close, more confident now that she knew that her innate ability would do all the work for her.

She found herself staring in the Shadow’s eyes as she did this and she half expected to feel guilt for taking a life but there was nothing to be guilty about, the Shadow’s eyes were empty, it was almost like she was staring at her own reflection.

She instinctively knew that there was nothing inside the Shadow. She knew nothing about magic but the fire running though her veins told her that the creature was just a mass of a dark spell, nothing more. Shadows weren’t living things.

This made it easier for her to scrunch up a fist and punch out, a ball of fire enveloping the Shadow. This time, it didn’t make a sound, silently evaporating to nothing in the wake of the fire.

When she put out the fire, the Shadow was completely gone, not even charred remains were left behind. She puffed out an accomplished sigh and placed her hands on her waist, turning around to look at the werewolves who were already coming over.

Mason still kept his distance but Kade came right up to her while Lucien inspected the fading wisps of black the shadow left behind even as it completely disappeared in front of his eyes.

“You did great but the Shadow won’t always be chained down for you,” Kade was saying.

Marion’s shoulders drooped at his words as she thought of all the work she still had to put in.

“But you’ve earned the afternoon to yourself,” He quickly added when he noticed her expression fall. “You can head back with Mason.” He dismissed her.

Lucien remained crouched on the ground like he expected the Shadow to pop back into existence, he made no signal to show that he had heard his his words, remaining focused even as Marion walked across the length of the warehouse to meet up with Mason.

Kade waited until the silent rumble of the car they came in faded away before speaking, he leaned against a pillar, his arms crossed. “I’m calling off the deal.”

This caught Lucien’s full attention, the werewolf King shot to his feet, amusement in his piercing blue eyes. “What?” He asked to make sure he had heard correctly.

“I said I’m calling off the deal…” This time Lucien chuckled, visibly entertained by this outcome.

“Why? You weren’t exactly losing.” He leaned forward, very curious.

Kade just turned away, uninterested in giving any information to Lucien. The crafty Southern King didn’t need to know that he called their awful deal off not because he was scared of losing but the fact that winning also held consequences for him. If he won, he would also have to keep his distance from Marion and that wasn’t going to be happening.

“No reason,” He muttered, walking off first. He could feel guilty about throwing Marion to the devil that was Lucien but he wasn’t exactly a better option.