Suffocate In Spirit - Shadows of the Night 4

Chapter 31

Hi!

I'm back with another chapter and guys, it's super long! Enough said, enjoy the chapter. Let me know if you liked this one!

Lara

___________________________________________________

Chapter 31

I didn't really know what I was doing. My nerves had left me the moment I stepped out of my room in search for Giuliana. There was this need to tell her what I thought really happened. Come clean. She was someone I could trust. I mean, this was not the Circle, or a freaking meeting with the head vam-

I faltered in my steps.

Yeah. It wasn't.

And I was not going to think about him. Been down that lane, thank you very much.

And I had bigger problems, dammit. The ability to take someone else's magic and use it was very rare. It was severely punished by the Circle. I knew that much. Not knowing that I could do it seemed like the biggest; meanest joke the universe had played on me. Lately.

Hiding it, forgetting that it ever happened, would have been the smart thing to do, in my world. But I remembered the look of pride on Giuliana's face, and I just ... I wanted it to be real. For the past few weeks I had practically been living and breathing in lies and untruths. I just couldn't keep doing it. Not with Giuliana, and not if it could destroy my one and only real chance of having something coming close to a family. A place I could call home. A comfort zone in which I didn't have to keep running, anticipating the big bad to catch up from behind and make a mess of my world. It wasn't perfect, but sometimes I felt like this place could be my salvation.

In the past few days I'd been jostled from one training session to the next, but I was able to watch the Lumenis and their ways. It was a simple, peaceful life. A guarded life. And I was in the middle of it, a stranger washed up on their shores by chance. It was true that I wasn't here by choice, but if there was even a tiny chance of building a future here, finding some sort of peace – wouldn't it be worth it?

I was going to do it. For once, I was going to be completely honest – damn the consequences.

I gathered whatever determination I had left and walked through the arched doorways with straightened shoulders. The dark path of stone that wound its way through the mountain like a snake. My room was located on the outer wall of the mountain, where the first white-washed stone carvings began, and were human-carved structures met with natural stone. It was also a part of the mountain I was well familiar with. To get to Giuliana's room, I had to pass through what I'd come to call the great hall, then move on and turn left.

I remembered the way there. I also remembered that this was the furthest I'd ever gone. Apparently I hadn't convinced the Lumenis that I was trustworthy enough to see more of the mountain yet. It irked me, not only for the obvious reasons. There was a part of me burning to learn what kind of treasures the stone structures were hiding. I'd read enough books on magical theory to know the Lumenis were housing more than one library.

Torches flickered against the soft breeze that brushed through the holes perpetually. The smell of salt and water waned the farther I went, replaced by cool, damp air drafts.

I rounded another corner and almost ran into two witches. I muttered an unintelligible excuse and headed on, hoping they were also part of the raiders. Vincenzo and a handful of witches from what most likely was his inner circle regularly scouted the territory around the village, looking for leaks in the massive magical shield around their hideout. Giuliana was one of them. I would have to hurry if I wanted to catch them before they went out.