It had been days since her incident, but Selene was still weak, and her right arm throbbed with a numbing coldness.

Jason took the time to take care of her, and in the beginning, it had been great to have him around her. But then she started noticing all the small things. And with each new discovery, her gut knotted together. He’d leave and come back with blood on his lips, but that was expected; it was the smell it carried that bothered her. The stench of it was overwhelming. Then there was the change in his eyes. They used to be so gentle and humble, but now they were hard and arrogant. More often than not, they were even blood red.

And whenever he touched her, her skin crawled. Something was wrong, but what?

“Are you all right?” he asked, clasping her hand. Selene nodded, pulling her hand away as gently as possible, using it to tuck a loose strand of hair behind her ear. “Stop it.”

There was that too. The way he talked to her had gotten dark and uninviting, always catching her off guard. “Stop what?” She hated feeling like a little mouse in a trap.

“Stop thinking what you’re thinking?”

“You’re in my head? Jason, don’t do that.”

“You never had any problems with Pietro doing it.”

Her eyes slanted. “How would you know?’

“I just know. Now stop thinking those thoughts; they’re starting to bother me.”

“Okay,” was the best response she could come up with. It seemed to placate him.

“Good.” Jason kissed her forehead as if she were a child. “I’ll see you later; I have some things I need to do.”

“Okay,” she said again. She watched him leave, watched his blond hair fall over his eyes, casting a dark shadow over his delicate features.  A chill went up her arm.

Selene listened for his footsteps to vanish down the hall before she locked the door.

“Ettore,” she said, stopping away from the door.

“You called?” Selene looked to her left and watched Ettore step out of the shadows. His black suit suited his character and seemed to make him look paler.

“I can always count on you to be watching…pervert,” she joked, leaning against her headboard.

“Oh yes,” he said, winking as he made his way to her.

“I need you to take me to Hekate. Has she moved in with the twins yet?”

“Yes, but I can’t enter there; she’s done a good job with the runes. She made Void and Vega make sure that place was impenetrable.”

“What about the rest of the apartment?”

“Oh, it’s fine, whenever you’re ready, darling.” Selene smiled at his chivalry as he turned his back to her and grabbed what clothes were lying on the ground. The blue shirt belonged to Jason, but the shorts were hers. It felt weird to be wearing one of his shirts considering how she was feeling about him, but she had to be quick. Next, she put on her combat boots and laced them up tightly.

“Selene?”

“What? Oh yes, let’s get going.” Slipping her hand into his, she let him lead her through the shadow realm where cold air greeted her.

***

Darkness filled her sight as Evida stood on a ledge and looked through the rainy night at the City of Seraphim. Her black hair stuck to the sides of her face as the rain pelted down. The rain made her feel heavy as it dripped off her nose, off her lashes and lips. Holding her hands up in front of her, she wondered when she had stopped feeling. Why had her Goddess taken all that was good from her? What was worse was she couldn’t even resent her, try as she might. The only thing she was capable of feeling was incomplete. But soon, the Goddess had promised her that she would be whole again, that she would be Queen.

Guilt rose within her as she thought of Negal. Negal had always pitied her, had cared for her as a mother would, and she was Nuri’s sister, a woman who lost her brother and her husband, and soon her throne. Could she really do that to her? A part of her said yes. Evida gave up a part of herself to get Nuri back, and Negal had kept him at bay, standing between their mother and victory; she was the reason Evida had remained incomplete for so long.

It was her fault. All her fault.

The thought rang through her mind, bouncing up the walls she had put up, silencing the music of all the hundreds of Reborns beneath her. A tear escaped from her, without her even realizing, blending in with the falling rain. It could have been just a stray drop from her bangs; it was most likely just that, but a part of her believed otherwise. It had been so long since she had cried that the feeling was unfamiliar to her. Where had the sadness come from? Searching inside herself, she couldn’t find where it emanated from. Forget it, she told herself; you cannot feel sadness anymore.

From behind her footsteps came someone, accompanied by a misleading flowery scent.

“It’s cold and wet out here, Evida. Of all the times to meet, why did you pick such a miserable day?” Evida turned around to look at the half-soaked Lilith, hugging herself in a red leather jacket, her trademark color, her yellow and green eyes slanted in annoyance.

“I like miserable days,” said Evida simply. She watched Lilith roll her eyes.

“You would. It’s a god-awful day. Evida, step away from the damn ledge; you’re unnerving me.”

“I like edges.”

“Oh for the love of—!” Lilith took a step forward, grabbing Evida’s arm, yanking her back. Thunder echoed through the air, catching Lilith off guard, making her flinch.

“Are you all right, Lilith?” Evida didn’t really care; anyone looking into her black and white eyes would see a blank expression. Lilith was one of them.

“As if you could care. I just don’t like stormy nights.” She let out an exasperated sigh. “What do you want?”

“Where is Jason?”

“He’s out Soul Drinking with his little groupies. They all hate me. Jason has told them very nasty things about me, all true, but still, they don’t trust me. However, I do have one on my side.”

“The one that looks like Selene?”

“Ironically, yes. She ‘loves’ Jason. It’s sickening. Of course, I can’t stand her; she’s like some lost puppy. The complete opposite of Selene.”

“Is she useful?”

“Very; that’s how I know he’s Soul Drinking. The darkness around those guys is making Selene ill. She’s been on bed rest for days. I made that observation myself.”

“Why are they Soul Drinking?”

“I thought that was obvious? Jason plans on killing Eris and taking over the Coven.”

If fear could grip her heart, it would have. She sought Shira through the Shadow Realm, quickly finding her with Negal. Negal…

Shira, come…

Why?

It concerns Eris…

Evida let the fear rise up within them and watched her strangely excuse herself from Negal. Negal waved her away, sparing her the saddest of looks.

“Evida?” asked Lilith, staring at her with ill-placed concern.

“I was calling Shira.”

“I thought we couldn’t trust her.”

“We can with this.” Shira appeared next to Evida, looking around. Lightning struck, and thunder followed it, vibrating through the air. Once again Lilith flinched. Shira stepped onto the ledge, her back to them.

“Well, what’s going on? What’s the big emergency?” asked Shira with her arms crossed, her eyes staring out past the rain, seeing more than the dreary day.

“Lilith says Jason plans on killing Eris.”

Only a Shadowling could spin on a wet ledge without fear of falling to their death, to face them with eyes wide open.

“He can’t.”

“We know he can’t,” began Lilith, “but we can’t really kill him. He’s too powerful, and all those voices in his head are driving him insane. Even with my Darklings, we don’t stand a chance against him and his little groupies. One of them equals five of us if we’re lucky, and I don’t have enough Darklings, and with Selene back, I can’t make more.”

“Do you have a plan?” asked Evida.

“I will. I can’t lose him.” A sound that sounded like a faint laugh escaped her voice, and Shira turned back to face the rain. “So this is what she meant, go figure.”

“Shira?” remarked Evida, confused by her reaction.

“I’ll stay by his side; I won’t let Jason kill him. I’d rather die myself.”

“You just might,” commented Lilith, picking at the dirt under her red nails.

“Then I’ll die. In the meantime, go figure how damn powerful that bastard is.” Shira eyed Lilith one last time, a look fueled with rage and despair, before vanishing.

“I didn’t see a point to that.”

“Shira will die for him. That was the point. And when he kills her, he will be one step closer to darkness.”

“When did you get so smart, Evida?” snickered Lilith.

With an even and emotionless tone that sent chills down Lilith’s spine, Evida replied, “The day I lost my soul,” before she vanished into darkness herself.