Devdan Manor (13 page)

Shade’s thoughts jumbled and stuck to the walls of her brain. They struggled to right themselves. The glue was strong. Thoughts fought and, one by one, they freed themselves. The struggle made them dizzy. Scenes were out of order.

Shade focused on something a little closer. The heinous design on the couch. It was pea green and had shapes placed in spots with no direction or purpose. It looked like vomit. Lavender wrapped around her nose. She was in Vayle’s apartment. It was daylight. Shade inhaled. Darkness had just given the world to the sun.

Shade shifted. Stabbing pain dug into her body. She bit her sore tongue to stop the whine. It didn’t work. The wounds had closed. The poison was still eating her. The sores threatened to reopen. She sat upright. They remained closed— so why didn’t it feel like it?

Vayle walked out of the kitchen.

Shade’s hand shot to her head. Her insides eased. Her hat and dark glasses were on. Damn, that hurt. She had moved her sore arm too fast.

The black fleece blanket tickled her skin.

“Where’s my shirt?” she asked.

“You expected me to leave you in that bloody thing?”

“So then, why are my pants gone?”

Vayle rolled his eyes.

“Do you have any idea how much blood you shed? I had to drop you in the tub and wash you after I closed the wounds. To fill up that tin tank with enough water to drop you in it meant more trips to the river then I would’ve liked. Why is it, little sister, you cannot control your actions?”

“I’m sorry.”

“I could kill you. You are not back one day and you’re already bleeding.”

“Sorry.”

“Stop apologizing. Stupid little Del’Praeli.” He went to the couch opposite hers. “If you apologize one more time, I will strangle you.”

Shade should curse him to dust for treating her like a darkling. She should remind Vayle he was the one who taught her Lifeblood to react instinctively. Instead, she wrapped the soft blanket tighter and stood. The fabric calmed the poison trying to reopen the wounds. Darkness hung in his apartment, creating a safe place for Shade to remove her hat and dark glasses.

She walked to the window.

The forest surrounded Raesul.

The punishment wasn’t the end of the world. She’d spent a lot of time in the forest as a darkling.

Shade raised her good arm, pulled Bria into her and passed it through her wrist, creating a black ball of silky smoke in her palm. It looked so calm. This serene orb held within it a sound only the one attacked could hear, a sound that would make their ears bleed. Opening Darkness and pulling its Bria into the body was useless if the Del’Praeli didn’t know how to mold it. For some reason, the Academy didn’t instill this into the darklings.

Vayle trained her as Lafeyette had taught him, in the forest. She pulled more Energy into the ball, making it bigger. Shade concentrated on the flow of Lifeblood, finding each warm pulsing gate located at each joint as well as her chest and forehead. Vayle called them Fykas— points that helped transform and transport the Lifeblood. What Fykas did was different for each body. They still didn’t know exactly what hers did.

The training sessions were arduous and painful. She loved them. It was the only time she felt powerful. The sessions, however, had reminded her how different she was.

Creating this ball was senseless. She couldn’t reabsorb the orb. It would be like attacking herself. She turned her palm to Vayle’s back. Shade had never been able to harm him with such a simple attack and didn’t expect to this time.

Vayle’s shield devoured the ball. He had tried teaching her to do that. It required using more Lifeblood then her half-human body could handle.

“That was pointless,” Vayle said as he sat on the edge of the couch to face her.

Her punishment could’ve been a lot worse.

Despite living off his parents’ vast wealth, Vayle didn’t have much furniture. His living room was a comfortable size but held only two couches. The doors to the bedroom blended in with his black painted walls when closed. The kitchen was open on the other side. His tall havel was empty except for enough bottled water to drown the village, twice. Why did he need an electric ice cabinet anyway?

She missed digging her toes into the velvety carpet covering only his living room floor. His apartment had many windows that brightened his place at sun up. The black curtains fought the sun in all the windows.

He had a nice view of the Main. Shade liked listening to Del’Praeli talking, Merchants shouting over one another— it was life.

She walked from the window to the pile of clothes on the glass table. She dropped the blanket and grabbed her pants.

“I have a question, Little Sie.”

Shade groaned as she pulled up the pants.

“Why do you refuse to wear a bodice to support those massiv
e breasts?”

She turned away as she zipped and buttoned the pants. He wasn’t supposed to ask questions like that.

“You try wearing one. They’re constricting and cut into my skin.”

Vayle chuckled. “Is Little Sie afraid of pain?”

Shade glared at him. Vayle continued to smile.

“Carrying that much weight must be a strain on such a little frame. The human males must love you. Doubt the females feel the same.”

She continued to
glare with her hands on her hips.

“Oh, how cute you are when you’re angry.”

“Like you’re so pure.”

He was no longer the antagonizing older brother. He became a predator. Shade held her ground and locked onto those vicious eyes.

“No, but I don’t play with my food.”

She reached for the button-up.

“Before you do that, here.”

She looked up in time to catch the blue bag. It held a collection of bodices in dark colors with attractive markings. To avoid seeing his expression again, she put one on.

It was the most comfortable clothing she’d ever worn. And, it fit.

“How did you know my size?”

Shade glanced at him. His face was comforting again.

“Tkeea.”

She put her shirt on and buttoned it.

“Bet she loves you now.”

“Tkeea always loved me.”

“You know, when a male buys a female underwear, he wants something in return.”

“I am not human.”

“No, but Del’Praeli hold many human customs.”

“True. By the size, the Merchant knew it was for you. You should have seen his face,” Vayle laughed. “How I wish I could’ve been there when Jon found out.”

Shade could have strangled him.

“You did this to me just to anger your parents.”

Vayle laughed harder. “I’m happy you’re home, baby sister.”

Why was it so hard for him to just call her Shade? He leaned to the side and pulled a piece of paper out of his pocket.

“Here, I figured you would need this.”

Shade took the receipt and flipped it over. She had

10,000 kroll to her name. About as much as she expected, minus five years of rent.

“Dad and Tkeea are still depositing in it.”

He nodded.

Dad and Tkeea were nowhere near Vayle’s parents financially. They were still well off and transferred some of their earnings to Shade every month, since no Del’Praeli would take on a half-breed as an apprentice. Del’Praeli and human currency were the same. She had no access to the bank account
Grandma set up for her in the human city. She should’ve thought about that before she left.

Auden is a Dark Fantasy Writer. As a kid, she created her own books by folding several construction papers in half and stapling them down the middle, adding her own illustrations. No matter how hard she tried, she couldn’t get away from writing. She holds a B.A. in English, a M.S. in Library and Information Science and she studied Creative Writing in England. She is a Research Assistant for Aubey LLC and currently lives in Brooklyn, NY. Her short stories, No Vacancy, Clipped Wings and Welcome to My World and her novella, Visible Through Darkness are now available through Amazon. The Sciell is her first novel.

Find her at:
http://audenstreasury.blogspot.com/

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Cover by Auden Johnson

Interior Image credit:
StapletonMcTavish