Page 19 of Necromance
I felt it then.
A presence. Heavy. Unseen. The air around us thickened, pressing against my skin like damp wool. My candle wavered in an unseen draft, the flame shrinking as though suffocated by something unseen.
“There’s a man there,” he murmured. His voice was low, almost thoughtful, but there was an edge to it. “And he doesn’t look too friendly.”
I stiffened, shifting my weight, trying to see what he did, but the hall remained empty to my eyes. A ghost, then. One unwilling to show himself to me.
“Can you recognize him?” I asked, already knowing the answer.
Lucien shot me a look.
I exhaled, feeling foolish. Of course he wouldn’t. He could barely recall his own name, let alone anyone else who might have once walked these halls.
He studied the space ahead of us. “Stay here,” he said finally. “I’ll try to speak to him.”
Before I could protest, he was already moving forward, his presence strangely solid, the fabric of his dark coat whispering against the silence.
I held my breath, watching as Lucien approached the unseen specter. The moment he stepped further downthe corridor, the air around me grew colder, and a faint prickle ran up my spine.
Lucien stopped a few paces ahead. Though I couldn’t see who he was speaking to, I sawhim. The tension in his shoulders. The way he tilted his head slightly.
Then, without warning, the candle in my hand guttered violently, the flame extinguishing with a sharp hiss.
The hall plunged into darkness.
The darkness pressed in, thick and suffocating. The air around me turned frigid, stealing the breath from my lungs.
Then, movement.
A scraping sound, low and grating, like nails dragging along stone. My pulse kicked up.
“Lucien?” I called, my voice barely reaching him where he stood.
A sharp crack echoed through the corridor. The floor beneath me shifted. I staggered back, my boots scuffing against the uneven stone. My candle fell from my hand, rolling across the floor as a sudden force shoved me from behind.
I gasped, stumbling forward. Cold fingers, not real fingers but something unseen, something clawing, wrapped around my wrist, yanking me toward the shadows.
A presence swelled before me, oppressive and wrong. It hated me. I could feel it in my bones, a crawling, venomousrage sinking into my very marrow.
A whisper curled against my ear, though I couldn’t make out the words.
And then—I was falling.
A sharp cry ripped from my throat as my feet left the ground. I was pulled backward, something unseen dragging me toward the darkness at the end of the hall. My arms flailed, trying to grasp onto anything, but there was nothing.
Just as my back nearly hit the cold stone floor, something warm caught me.
Strong hands. A solid presence.
Lucien.
I gasped as his arms wrapped around me, stopping my descent in one smooth motion. He pulled me upright, twisting so that I was behind him in an instant. The air around us boiled. A low, guttural snarl echoed through the corridor. The unseen force lashed out, a violent burst of energy rushing toward us.
Lucien turned, pushing me behind him further. He didn’t flinch as the darkness struck, slamming into him like a physical force. For a heartbeat, I thought it might take him, too. That whatever had grabbed me would drag him down just as easily.
The air shuddered. Whatever had attacked me hesitated.
Lucien took a step forward. Another. The unseen force recoiled, the oppressive presence slipping back intothe shadows. The pressure lifted. The darkness receded, leaving only the flickering remnants of my spilled candle.
