Into the Dark

Chapter 10

My heart dropped into the pit of my stomach when Kade's tension of the shoulders suddenly became noticeable.

His eyes widened and dipped into worry... fear. And his clenched fists tightened.

There was another clap of thunder and a flash of the eerie lightening when the lights flickered quickly and dimmed into a... red glow.

The room filled with the warm and terrifying color and my back hit a wall when I began to lose my balance.

The noise from outside had stopped and I was praying it was because the Freelancers had taken down whatever was out there and were also trying to figure out why the weather had suddenly changed.

But for whatever the reason, the silence didn't really last long. A low, menacing chuckle suddenly oozed from Xur's mouth as his head titled back.

His enormous wings stretched out behind him when he put his hands over his face and laughed louder.

And louder... and then louder.

His laugh became demonic... psychotic. He leaned so far back, I thought he'd break his back or at least fall.

But he didn't and I saw more fear paint Kade's pale face.

"Call him off, Xur!" he yelled ferociously at the gargoyle when his laughter didn't die down.

It didn't take a genius to figure out he was probably referring to Salazar. A knot formed in my stomach when the realization hit. If it were really Salazar, was he coming to take us all out and drain me of my blood for his own twisted purposes? Were we all practically dead?

My throat became dry with fear as my legs almost gave out from beneath me.

Xur's laughter died down slightly but not to the point where it no longer sounded as if he were going completely nuts.

"Call him off? He's my master and you want me to tell him what to do?" he asked, obviously amused by the order. His wings continued to expand and retract in a smooth pattern, casting dancing shadows on the wall, while his laughter finally came to a halt.

"I don't have a death wish like you, you know," he added quietly when the lights flickered again.

When another clap of thunder sounded and a flash of lightening accompanied it, the air in the room suddenly grew thin and it became hard to breathe. I tried my best to suck in deep breaths but my lungs felt as if they were already shriveling up and giving out. It became extremely hot to the point where I was sweating in massive amounts and me and Kade had to find something to lean against.

Xur, being unaffected, started laughing again. That's when I noticed something oozing up from the floor.

Black smoke.

It was only a small amount at first but then the cloud grew bigger and bigger to the point where it covered the whole floor and my feet. I tried to jump up onto a chair but it seemed to be pulling me against the floor. I couldn't walk or even lift a foot.

But soon, it retracted and slithered in lumps across the floor, towards the middle of the room. A small vertical cloud slowly rose from the floor and out of the corner of my eye, I saw Kade beginning to inch closer to me, not taking his gaze off the phenomenon in front of us.

By the time he reached my side, the cloud had risen to the height of a grown man, almost Kade's height, and began taking on the form of an actual body. First, the arms. Then the legs and slowly, the head.

I was completely frozen in horrified silence and almost didn't notice Kade leaning closer to my ear.

"Let me handle this. Don't get involved," he whispered, not bothering to suppress the plea in his voice. I quickly nodded my head obediently even though I had never planned to intervene. If the human shaped cloud in front of me was indeed Salazar, Kade didn't have to worry about me being the hero.