Page 51 of Midnight Reign
“What now?” Zephyr mutters behind me.
I kneel down slowly beside Zaiah, who looks barely conscious. With one hand on his chest and another extended towards the creature, I speak directly to it. “Now you’re going to help him. Whichever one of you possessed him can leave his body now.”
There’s a collective intake of breath from the crowd as they watch in amazement.
The shadow vibrates for a moment before extending what might be considered an appendage towards Zaiah. It touches him lightly, and instantly, his body starts convulsing.
“Addy!” Corvus exclaims, stepping forward as if to pull me away from whatever I’ve started.
But before he can reach me, Zaiah’s eyes snap open, and the shadowy form withdraws from Zaiah’s body and merges with the shadow at my feet.
“What is she doing?” Corvus whispers to Zephyr.
“Controlling the shadows…” he croaks. “The shadows are her servants.”
“What?” Corvus snaps.
“Fucking hell,” Zephyr breathes out as he kneels next to me and takes my hand.
I smile at him, and he returns it, but it’s shaky.
Turning my attention back to Zaiah, I pull my hand from Zephyr’s and lay it on the djinn’s chest. “You okay?”
“Yeah,” he rasps. “But I wasn’t in danger. It used me to get to you.”
His eyes bore into mine and I nod, understanding. “I know. I’m sorry.”
“Addy, what is going on?” Ignatius says, crouching next to me.
I stand up and help Zaiah to his feet, pulling him to me for a hug before I let him go and look at the men surrounding me.
You tell ‘em, sis.
“I’m accepting my destiny.”
22
ZAIAH
The world spins for a second,and I steady myself on Addy’s shoulder. Her strength surprises me; there’s a certainty in her grip that wasn’t there before. It’s like she’s a different person, someone who has stepped through the veil of uncertainty into a realm of power she was meant to hold.
I throw a glance at the others—Corvus with his jaw clenched tight enough to shatter bones, Zephyr looking like he’s calculating the odds of all this turning to shit, and Ignatius, whose fiery eyes now burn with something akin to reverence.
“What destiny?” Corvus demands. His voice is the whip crack in the silent tension that wraps around us.
Addy looks each of us in the eye before she speaks. She’s changed, something older and darker swims beneath her surface now. “My destiny is not just a regular Vesper or a regular vampire. I’m something more. A lot more. I’m tied to Crimson Shadow in ways I’m only just beginning to understand. But I know this is right.”
My throat is raw from whatever had possessed me, aching to get to her. I feel nauseous from the darkness, the void that tried to take over my soul. “Tied how?”
Ignatius reaches out, an unspoken question lingering in the touch he places on Addy’s forearm.
“We are sisters. Same dad, Randall Black, and different mothers. I’m not sure why she is in my head, my consciousness, but when Randall stabbed me in the heart to open that portal, he was trying to kill her. Her sacrifice will tear the fabric between the worlds down.”
“But it didn’t work,” I say.
Addy’s gaze is steely as she nods. “No, it didn’t. Because of her—because of what I am—I survived.”
“You mean you can control the creatures that have been attacking students?” Ignatius asks, his voice laced with disbelief.
