The Bane of Light

Resurgence

A/N- Apologies in advance. I'm sorry I disappeared for so long my loves!

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Nightmares plagued my sleep. They did not come peacefully, nor stably, interrupting my slumber at random intervals and not allowing my body to truly rest. I screamed. I cried. I jolted awake. And then exhaustion would overcome me once more, my body collapsing into itself, and the cycle would begin anew.

Even with my shadows holding them at bay, my memories tormented me. Sometimes they were of my childhood, sometimes they were of my mothers last words to me, but more often than not, they were of the stark, golden eyes of Death, staring at me and simply waiting for me.

I never imagined myself to be unnerved by golden eyes, having spent years staring into those of the daementi twins, but I now realized that they were never truly gold, like Death's, but yellow. They were hollow and empty, lacking power, and even after years of staring at them, they had never seared themselves into my mind so potently, the way the eyes of Death had, after only a few moments of them connecting with mine.

Eulalia

I roused from my slumber, my body aching from the fetal position it had been crumpled into for the duration of the ride. Paris had been driving the entire time, diligently keeping his eyes on the back roads and secret gateways he had been steering us through, attempting to get us to Salem as quickly as we could afford without having us discovered. The winding, hidden roads added hours onto our travel, being much longer than the regular path.

As the car jostled on the road, as I attempted to blink away the heavy exhaustion from my eye lids. My gaze lazily focused on the blurry sight behind the car window, as rows and rows of snowy trees, leeched of color and blanketed in white, swam past the car. The whimper of pain that escaped my lips as I sat up was involuntary, and me cringe in embarrassment.

"You alright?" Paris asked me, reaching over and brushing the clean, soft hair off my temple. He had done several scrounging charms to get the lifelines worth of blood off me, and had spent the entire time afterwards running his fingers through the silky strands soothingly, as if appreciating it's new-found cleanness. Seeing me in the state I had been after my cell had proven to be traumatizing for Paris, and now he could not help but coddle and pet me, as if I would fall apart completely if he did not keep his reach on me at all times.

I enjoyed the way his warm hands, calloused from years of magical combat with a sword, brushed over my hair and skin gently, sending pleasant warmth down my arms.

I stretched up, wiggling my toes in my fresh shoes, and observed the black sigils on the white, rubber soles. Paris had charmed the high-top sneakers onto me, and then personally took the care to plant my feet into his lap and scribble water-repellent runes onto them with permanent marker. He did not stop till he was convinced that the shoes could withstand even the worst of winters. Again, he was coddling.

"I'm fine" I reassured him, attempting to stretch my body out, but cringing in pain at the action. My ribs were still bruised, and it hurt to move to suddenly. My hand throbbed, though the arm with the demon bite had numbed completely, slowly stitching itself back together, courtesy of Ibet's healing magic. I lowered my heavy eyelids, sleep creeping up on me once more.

Eulalia

I blinked my eyes open, jerking upright in my seat. I looked around in the car, and then finally out the window, attempting to locate the source of the strange noise. Something had woken me up. Something was calling to me.

I checked my shadows to see if it had been them, but they were sound asleep, sunk into the darkest bits of the shadow realm as they replenished their energy. Even if they had not been sleeping, I knew it was not them. Whatever was calling me felt different than anything I had ever heard or felt before.