Shadowstalker (Book Two)

Prologue

As the former assassin rounded the corner for what felt like the hundredth time, Terraiyah Dawnbringer couldn't help but note how difficult it was to observe a suburban human neighborhood without drawing suspicion. If the elderly woman in the green house gave Terra one more dirty look from behind the safety of her horrid pink drapes, they would soon be a pile of ashes on her living room floor.

How she longed for a tall building to be situated somewhere near Diana's home. She had been walking up and down the block for over two hours now.

When the front door to the house suddenly opened, Terra took refuge behind a wooden telephone pole and sighed in relief. Finally. Cutting things rather close, aren't you, Endymion?

Terra edged around the side of the wooden pole to see Endymion and Diana saying their farewells to Diana's parents before getting into their black automobile to drive away into the unknown.

Madaera, have mercy upon them. Knowing Diana would likely want to see her parents, Terra had swiftly flown ahead to make sure no harm fell upon her and Endymion. If Terra had been hunting her friends, they'd already be dead. The ways of the Shadowstalker were not easily forgotten.

With her charges finally out of sight, Terra instinctively looked to the skies. No sign of pursuers—yet. How long before her former colleagues came to call on the Selenes? Diana might have gotten away, but her parents were still in very grave danger. One of them had carried the Moonshadow legacy within their blood. Lady Edea will most likely want them taken into custody, perhaps even hoping their incarceration might draw Diana out of hiding. Terra needed to act fast if she was going to protect them.

With haste she crossed the street, making her way towards the Selene residence. The sudden but familiar twinge in her heart caused Terra to stop in the middle of the road to look up into the clouds.

As I expected. Edea must have dispatched Zeltair soon after she reached Lay'Volas. Always the swift hunter, her dear brother.

Terra folded her arms behind her back and continued to stand in the street. Within moments Zeltair dropped to the ground, and with a quickpush of a button, contracted his flameflyer into a polearm ready for battle.

"I see you've wasted no time, Din'issi," Terra said with a smile. "I'm afraid you have already missed Endymion."

As usual, Zeltair's expression was mostly void of emotion and hard to interpret. "I had hoped Lady Edea was mistaken, but I see that was in vain. Why do you shame the Dawnbringer with this madness, Dina'ssia?"

"Is it madness to hold life sacred?" she replied, shaking her head at the notion.

"Sacred?" Zeltair repeated the word like a curse. "You would hold the life of a Moonshadow as such? And one that carries the seed of desolation within her womb, no less. If you are truly my Dina'ssia, you would have ended such a blasphemous threat the moment it was discovered."

"You would have me kill a young mother and her child?" Just saying the words made Terra's heart ache with a sorrow that would never subside. "Have we not brought enough death to this world, Zel? I would brave the Dark Depths to hold Taeva and Tallo again. I will not take that joy from Diana." At the memory of her children, Terra felt tears begin to form in the corners of her eyes,but she quickly forced them away.

A small amount of pain filled Zeltair's emotionless eyes as well. Though he barely showed it, he felt the loss of her twins almost as much as she. "I will forever grieve with you, Dina'ssia, but you must not tarnish their memory by saving these creatures. They must be brought to justice."

"Is it justice to murder without proof of guilt?"

"She carries Endymion's child," Zel replied, surprised by her question. "Is that not proof enough?"

"Not for me," she declared vehemently.

"Then you have truly dishonored yourself, Terraiyah."

There would be no reasoning with her brother. Of that, she had no doubt.

Terra swiftly prepared for what was about to be unleashed. Within the hands she kept behind her back, Terra formed a swirling ball of fire. She almost did not have enough time to react as Zeltair engulfed his staff in flames and twirled it towards her face. She separated the ball into two and threw one at her brother's chest to catch him off guard,hoping to throw him off balance. With all the force she could muster, Terra threw the second orb of flames high into the sky.

Zeltair stretched out his hand towards Terra and she mirrored his gesture. Like two scarlet-haired reflections, they negated each other's magical abilities—the defensive gift of their twinned souls.

Fully expecting the counter, her brother swiftly punched his fist hard into her stomach and Terra winced at the sudden pain. With the wind knocked from her lungs, Terra fell to her knees. With her concentration broken, Zeltair regained the use of his magic and began preparing an attack of fire. Through the pain, Terra looked to her brother and twisted her mouth into a smug grin.

Zeltair only appeared confused for the moment it took torealize the immediate danger, then tore his attention from her and looked up. The fires of Terra's sneak attack finally reached their intensity threshold and came crashing down upon them. With no time to react, the explosion sent the two fire mages careening in opposite directions. Terra's body slammed into a bare oak tree standing in the Selenes' front yard.

When she was able to right herself and open her eyes, Terra's vision filled with the charred, smoking, crater in the middle of the street.

Ignoring the intense pain in her skull, Terra lifted her head to survey the area.

Zeltair was nowhere to be seen.

Her attack hadn't been near powerful enough to vaporize her twin, which meant he had fled the battle to continue his pursuit of Endymion and Diana. Zeltair must have figured out that Terra had only been attempting to delay him.

Honestly, she had hoped to incapacitate him for a time, so her friends could put a considerable distance between themselves and the Shadowstalker.

Terra sighed and let her body fall limp. Nerrosar, hear the cry of your daughter's heart and send your emissaries to watch over them. She had tried her best to give Endymion and Diana a fighting chance, but now, they were on their own. 

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