A villain's secret

Chapter 13: The only good guest, is a dead one

Nox POV
Present day

Nox did nothing to hold back the darkness when it's shadowy limbs begun to grow. Until it's twisted body was bursting out of every mental restraint he had.

An angry screech echoed in his brain- or maybe it echoed through the room, and that was why the walls rattled so violently. His whole world had been swallowed by darkness as the light disappeared, consumed by the shadows that bled into the room from every dark corner. Something crashed and shattered in the kitchen followed by sounds of more destruction as the hum of dark power filled the air. Nox stood there for a moment barely processing anything that was happening. Strange blue eyes held his gaze as darkness threatened to tear apart everything in its way. He hated those eyes.

Someone was screaming his name, the words blurry in his ears. But he didn't care.

Without any of his own power left after his last fight, Nox only had his shadows and his sword. More than enough to enjoy killing the man in front of him.

Nox's entire body was rigid, his locked jaw aching against the pressure of grinding his teeth. In this state it wasn't easy to turn his mind to shadows, to let go of the rage that was grounding him to his body, but soon enough his hands begun to change. His body grew light and he turned to black. He merged with the evil, formless and invisible.

Moving through his shadows, his surroundings rippled like the surface of a grey lake, somehow that made everything around him clearer, every book no matter where it was and every speck of dust was his to assess. Time was slower in the shadows, his movements painfully sluggish in this world but in reality he was moving faster than he could throw a knife. The faint feeling of his body was still there, his limbs flickering like smoke when he commanded them to move forward through the air thick like mud.

When the scent of the stranger's fear grew heavy and the man was close enough for Nox to gut with one strike of his blades, Nox blinked back into his body, the warmth of his blood flooding his veins once more.

Snakes made from the darkness coiled their long inky bodies around his limbs, wrapping around his arms and winding all the way down to his legs. They hissed and spat at the man as Nox stood towering above him, so close he could see silver reflected in the man's wide eyes- eating him from the inside out. Nox took in the man, assessing every detail. The clothes he wore were meant to look common but it was clear the smooth un-ripped fabric was made by a master seamstress. His hands were mostly smooth and clean- apart from a few callouses around his fingers. There wasn't a hair out of place around the man's eagle like features- someone obviously used to a life in the inner rings, perhaps even the centre ring itself.

Standing there, inches from the man, Nox didn't know why he'd stopped. Why the man's exposed neck wasn't already squeezed between his fingers.

That was when he felt her. Small hands pressed against Nox's abdomen trying to push him away; Nox refused to budge, standing as tall and unmoving as a wall.

Lillian's body was wedged between him and the other man, the only thing that kept him from pummelling the blue eyed stranger into the dirt under Nox's boots.

She must have jumped in front of him before Nox had transformed back into his body. He hadn't seen or felt her but it wasn't a surprise considering the state he was in.

Lillian tried to push Nox back again, her face scrunched in anger as she threw all of her weight against him. He could barely feel it as she tried harder to shove him away, her small delicate fingers not even able to bruise his skin, and it was almost enough to make him smile at the futile efforts. Over the years he'd faced men and women built like buildings, all of them with impressive training, and none of them had ever come close to bringing Nox down. And yet, Lillian who had as much strength as he had in his smallest finger, was fighting against him as if she might actually succeed. Darkness chuckled with delight, it's screaming wails of anger turning to teasing howls as it encouraged her violence toward Nox.