Page 28 of To Dwell in Shadows
Pain.
Anger.
At first, Sam felt each emotion separately, but soonthey gelled together. Their increasing speed made him gasp. He tore his hand away, trying to stop the flood of images.
But they didn’t stop.
The faces returned, more urgently this time. As if each soul demanded to be seen, to be heard. Sam felt the damage this man had done—not just in the moment, but across the lifetimes of his victims.
The agony and relentlessness of the impressions soon made Sam double over. The imprint of this man’s lust and need for power was as devastating as it was lasting.
Sam’s body began to ache. A violent urge swelled inside him, an impulse to harm himself. If there had been a knife in the room, he might have dragged it across his skin. Shadows gathered around him, but their attempt to soothe only intensified his inner turmoil.
He shook his head violently, trying to dislodge the pain. But it kept coming, wave after wave, until he collapsed to his knees.
“Stay with it, you’re doing well,” Borias commanded. “Tell me what he’s done.”
“Abuser. Rapist,” Sam gasped out. “He abused children. Many, many children. Girls. For decades.”
“Excellent. And you have the feelings of all those victims inside you now?”
“Yes,” Sam cried, his body trembling. It was difficult to hear Borias through the sounds of crying and screaming pounding in his head.
“Take all those feelings and send them out through your hands. Deliver them back to him. Make him feel everything!”
Sam struggled to inch closer to the man, still on his knees. Every movement was agony. He could feel not only the pain of the victims, but the echo of it rippling outward—their families, their children, and even generations yet to come.
Finally, Sam got close enough to clutch the man’s ankle.
With excruciating effort, he tried to transmute the pain into something else—a shadowy haze, thick enough to smother the manin the very torment he had created. But all he could summon were thin, flickering wisps of vengeance.
He gritted his teeth and moved his hands up to grip the man’s leg, envisioning dark jets of shadowy smoke pouring from his own body, seeking entry into the man’s flesh. But that wasn’t effective either.
“Borias, I can’t… It’s still within… ”
“Concentrate. This is what you were born to do.”
“It’s too much… ”
“Keep trying. His victims deserve it.”
Sam squeezed the human’s knees, using all his inner strength to project what he was feeling outward. But still, there was no relief. “I can’t expel it back. Please. It’s agony.”
“Take a break. Let me finish,” Borias said.
Sam fell back onto the floor.
Through half-lidded eyes, he watched as Borias simply tapped the man’s chest. Instantly, the human began to wail. Tears streamed down his face, his body convulsing as he broke into violent sobs. He screamed for forgiveness, shrieking apologies as every ounce of suffering he had inflicted came crashing back on him.
Boris watched him with a satisfied look before turning to Sam.
“The feelings will pass in a moment, Samael,” Borias said gently. “Vengeance will soon be fulfilled.”
Sam tried to sit up, but Borias touched his shoulder and said, “No. Just rest. Observe the process.”
Sam lay on the floor, consumed by helplessness and a crushing sense of ineptitude. What felt like hours passed before the man in the chair finally stilled. He slumped forward, as if he had died all over again, slack and unresponsive when Borias nudged his shoulder.
Borias sighed. “Now, what to do with you, hmm? You’re certainly not worthy of the Afterworld, but I hesitate to let you reincarnate so soon.” He circled him with a contemplative look. “Are you prone toseasickness? I hope so. Perhaps a few voyages sailing onPurgatorywill make you more redeemable.”
