This was not my first party and I had witnessed the power of Shadows to manipulate and encourage teens under the influence before. But never had I seen such a collection of evil, save for the other night when they attacked me. Usually they appeared in partners or groups of three or four. Not clustered groups of twenty and thirty at a time, feeding the atmosphere with their dark presence.
Their slithering, black bodies weaved back and for across the ceiling, spreading their malevolence and evil in a thick cloud of angry dissension. The tension in the atmosphere settled on the dancing crowd slowly, filling my nostrils with sulfur and death. I choked on the intensity of the evil, watching as the crowd turned from their victory party to angry shouting and physical violence. Two boys from my class shoved each other violently, while others around them shouted their approval. Even Tristan turned from me to watch the fight destroy Lincoln’s living room with a sinister smile twisting his expression.
I moved to Seth’s side, desperate to fix the situation. The deadly blade I concealed against my thigh burned and itched with the desire to be used. Seth’s infuriated gaze settled on me and with a nod of his head, I followed him silently out the door.
“What do they want? I’ve never seen them like this before!” I demanded breathlessly.
The clear Nebraska winter sky sparkled with Stars from one horizon to the next and the ice cold air was a fresh and cleansing. I looked desperately upward at the Stars overhead as if they could feel my fear, wanting nothing more for them to collectively light up together and banish the Darkness from this planet forever. Death by a million suns seemed perfectly befitting for the evil lurking around this planet…. If only there was a way to protect humanity at the same time.
I knew there was an infinite battle to fight, a war that would go on until the end of time, but those were my friends inside, they were people I loved and cared for. The Darkness had just made this personal.
“I think they’re taunting you….” Seth confirmed what I feared.
A loud crashing sound resounded into the crisp, frozen night and I shuddered from all the possibilities that could be taking place inside.
“We need to draw them outside,” I announced, turning from Seth to unsheathe my blade modestly. It was smaller than ones I trained with before, just convenient enough to hide under a mid-thigh denim skirt and black leggings. Although I realized now how impractical the skirt was if I intended to take this fight to the sky.
“Are you ready to fight?” Seth asked calculatingly from a few feet away. His eyes narrowed against me and I knew he was trying to decide if I was ready to face them or not.
“Are you ready to let this continue?” I countered, gesturing with my chin toward the sound of increased violence and mayhem.
“Are you comfortable in the sky?” Seth’s eyes blazed into golden beams of light and I noticed his hands twitching with the anticipation of battle.
“I’d do better on the ground,” I admitted. I could fly, or at least I had flown before, but never in battle, never when the lives of others depended on me. Never when my own life depended on my ability.
“Ok, I’ll draw them out and herd them behind that line of trees. I’ll be right behind them, but you’ll have to initiate contact. I’ll use light to get them out of the house, but hold off with yours until the very last second, otherwise they’ll scatter. Except that….”
“Except that what?” I prompted, afraid I already knew the answer. Another crashing-breaking sound echoed into the still night around us and I jumped from the nerves skittering around my quickly heating blood.
“Except I have this bad feeling that they came here specifically for you….” Seth turned to me, placing a strong hand on my arm and squeezed. His golden eyes shimmered in the darkness and his body had a haze of light reflecting off the snow. “Stella, there are not enough to kill us inside the house, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t more…. out there. Remember everything we’ve gone over in training. Do not get distracted; focus on the constant movement of your sword.”
I struggled to swallow but managed to nod my head so that he knew I understood.
“Ok, I’ll meet you behind the trees,” Seth smiled warily as if he had fought a thousand battles before tonight. “And Stella?”
I sucked in my bottom lip and waited for more instructions.
“I’ll be there to protect you. No matter what, I will be with you,” Seth squeezed my arm again and then jogged up to the house.
With the confidence I had in Seth I somehow willed my feet to move away from the house and toward the tree line. I sucked in a deep, frozen breath and picked up my pace through the snow covered field. Lincoln’s property was big enough that if we could get the Shadows behind the tree line, we would be out of sight from the house and the party that was quickly growing aggressively violent and out of control.
I picked up my pace and willed my jitters under control. I knew bravery and courage stirred my blood, but this was my first battle, the first time I would use my powers in an offensive attack against the Darkness. Adrenaline surged in my heart and suddenly excitement pounded in my pulse, beating against my eardrums and throbbing in my throat.
I was a born Warrior, bred for this purpose. The Darkness belonged under my submission and the evil that haunted my friends deserved retaliation.
Behind the tree line I breathed deeply, quieting the brilliant glow of my true nature and readying myself for the attack. I focused on blending into the obscurity of the dark night, not that I wanted to be invisible, but the temptation to glow with the brightness of the sun pricked at the back of my neck. I closed my eyes for a moment, letting the frozen night settle over me.
I flung my arms across my chest, popping both of my shoulders into place and then I readied my stance and steadied my sword. I swung it out in front of me, letting my hands remember the fluid motions I had been practicing and then stilled so that I would be prepared for what would come next.
The first shrill cry sounded from near the house and I felt the presence of Darkness move toward me like lightning. Another screech piercing the quiet night and the hairs on my neck stood straight as I waited. Quickly the scent of sulfur and burning flesh filtered over me and I barely had a last moment to prepare myself before the shrieking Shadows appeared like a hundred bats startled from a cave.
They swarmed over me, breaking the tree line and poised for attack, moving stealth like through the night sky if it weren’t for their pungent smell that infested the air around me. There were obviously more Shadows waiting in the tree line. I froze, confused for a moment because Shadows did not make organized attacks like this. A bright, golden light followed them and as their keen eyesight found me alone on the battlefield, I pulled myself together and released the inner most part of me, the goodness and light that violates everything they are, and became the Star I was born to be.
The Shadows that were swooping down at me instantly retreated from my light and burned them, but only for a minute. The same way their ice cold evil tore at my flesh, my light injured them igniting the scent of more sulfur, more burning flesh. Soon the little demons braved my burning glow and moved through the air to attack me. I twisted my wrist into a constant unbroken motion of attack, stepping forward through the snow and lashing out at the evil surrounding me.
I connected with the first Shadow in a sickening slice of demon flesh. The Shadows moved lithely through the air, so I expected their skin to be more wispy or…. cloud-like. But my weapon connected with actual flesh and as the blade sunk deeper into the Shadow, I was sprayed with fowl smelling black goo. I shuddered violently, wiping at my face before lifting my sword again. The Shadow I struck did disappear into the night once it was successfully destroyed but hundreds more had filled its place and I had to work to focus on anything but the rotting smell of slime covering my arms and face.
I swung out in dance-like movements, fluid and fast. I realized now why a longer sword was more practical, but worked with what I had. Seth was across the field, his body glowing in the night and moving nimbly with his efforts to kill. The inhuman screams squealed with each demon’s life and the temperature of the winter night dropped drastically lower with their evil presence affecting everything around them.
I was not without injury as the Shadows attacked from every angle, and every direction. Their ice cold tendrils cut away at my flesh from behind and my back felt as though I had been given forty lashes medieval-torture style. The backs of my legs felt too exposed to the Darkness as well, as they were sliced and cut. The coldness of Evil seeped through my blood as my injuries remained untreated, but the warmth of the light inside me stayed the damaging effects and the adrenaline coursing through my boiling blood helped keep me focused and alert.
A guttural sound came from across the field and my eyes lifted off my attackers to Seth as he fought skillfully from a few yards away. My arms swung out in imperfect and awkward but deadly motions as I watched him take one demon after the other. His sword was smaller than normal too and so he was sprayed in the decaying ooze of evil, the black tar-like blood spotting his ethereal glow as he lit up the sky around him.
I turned back to my opponents as they lessened their attack, their efforts futile against our light and our swords. Even as they attacked us the light from within us singed and burned at their flesh, likewise my own skin, and blood felt iced over and slow from the damaging effects of their deadly flesh against mine. Still I fought on, counting each demon’s death as a victory.
Even though there had been hundreds of them, they never stood a chance against us; but blinded by bloodlust and Darkness they attacked relentlessly and now they lay at our feet fading into nothing, their sticky black blood spatter speckling the snow.
With one last, awkward plunge I finished off the last of the Shadows near me. I dropped my arm to my side and winced when the reality of pain settled on me. It wasn’t an effort that would go down in history books but I had survived my first fight. And I would live.
Seth still battled a dozen of the last of the Shadows and I decided to suck it up and help him, although he was much more practiced than me. His blade swung around him without pause or hesitation in beautiful graceful motions, not letting one Shadow passed his defenses. His sword instinctively knew when to whip around his back or plunge forward into the air surrounding him. My mouth dropped a little at the master-level of skill he seemed to command. He was my Warrior and nothing would get passed him.
I gave a heavy sigh, not wanting to give up watching him to throw myself back into battle, and took a step forward when something caught my eye. I swung my head to the tree line that hid our battle from the humans inside Lincoln’s house. In the obscurity of darkness I thought I saw two shadowy figures watching us. I stared longer, waiting for the apparitions to disappear and if they had been Shadows they would have. But these figures stayed perfectly still, taking in our skill and watching Seth as he finished the last of the evil off. A gray, fuzzy hue surrounded them and it was the only reason I could see them through the tree cover. A shiver of anxiety worked its way from my toes to my hair line and I had just decided to pursue them when they stepped back out of my visibility completely.
