Shards

Chapter One- Ebony Obscurity (Part I)

                                                                     Chapter One- Ebony Obscurity 

A squeak penetrated the still night air. I nuzzled deeper into my pillow, mentally willing the interruption of my sleep to go away. Then the sound came again. This time the squeak was louder. More penetrating. I opened my eyes and peered into the darkness. Nothing.

Nothing but my tidy room and my open window. The open window that had been closed when I went to sleep…

In an instant, my eyes snapped wide open. I sat up in bed and glanced around my room. My wild eyes landed on a figure crouched in the corner of the room. It was huge and muscular, looking like a menacing bear. Just as I was about to scream, it moved out of the shadows and into a stream of moonlight. 

It was my dog. I let out a breath of relief as I recognized his burly shoulders and flowing white coat. He suddenly let out a thunderous growl.

“Bear-bear, it’s okay,” I said to my dog. “Everything’s fine.”

He growled his disagreement.

Without warning, an arm wrapped around my neck. I attempted to scream, but couldn’t draw in the breath to do so. My heart pounded against my chest, seeming to want to burst out of my ribcage and escape the assailant. I glanced around wildly, desperate to catch sight of my attacker. But I could see nothing but the forearm of my assailant as he pressed me against his chest and pulled me from my bed.

Once he had me away from my bed, he threw me to the floor. The air was knocked out of my chest as I slammed into the thick carpet. He was powerful. I had experienced this kind of power before, felt it many times as I rough-housed with shifters and werewolves. But I had never felt threatened by this power. Not until now.

I rolled onto my back and tried to remember some of the martial arts I had been trained in. I kicked out into the darkness with both of my legs; it was no use. They struck nothing but blackness.

I finally managed to gasp in a breath. Just as I was about to scream for help, a foot come crashing down on my chest. The air went whooshing back out of my lungs, and I felt the sickening snap of bone within me.

I was defeated. I was smart enough to know that, even in my panic. I looked up, and as he stepped into the moonlight, I was finally able to get a good look at my attacker. He was just a kid. No more than twelve, maybe thirteen. Black hair shaded part of his forehead, and his sharp featured face was drawn with seriousness. But the one trait that stood out to me was his eyes; they were a luminous golden color, a hue I had never seen before in the eyes of any Shadow.

The boy leaned over my prone form and drew back his fist. I stared into his eyes, unwilling to give him the satisfaction of flinching away from his gaze. His fist flew down toward my head. And the moonlight dissipated into endless ebony obscurity.

My eyes snapped open. I wanted to scream, to allow my lungs to express my terror. But I was frozen, completely still other than a violent quivering.

“Allai, you’re okay.” The accented voice held a somewhat tired tone, one that suggested he had repeated this phrase many times.

I blinked. I was staring up at a pale face topped with a mess of strawberry blonde hair that made him instantly recognizable.

“Luke,” I gasped out.

“That’s me,” he said, his Irish accent sweetening his words.

I looked away from him and surveyed my surroundings. This was an entirely instinctual thing to do, an action that had been pounded into my head by my father from a young age. Always check for danger.