Walk Into The Light - Shadows of the Night 6

Chapter 32

Hey,

I hope you all had a great weekend! In this chapter Alexander will ask a certain question, and I would like to know how you would answer it (if you were in Anna's shoes). Let me know! This chapter's song is "Familiar" by Agnes Obel.

Have a great week!

Lara

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Chapter 32

I gulped in air, feeling its slow burn down my system, then took another gulp, if just to get rid of the other sensations. Sensations I was fighting. I stared at him, carried forward by a magnetic pull, just like the first time we'd been this close.

The blue in his eyes were in motion and for once they were more than just an encrypted message I couldn't read. He looked like he was ready to get into my innermost sanctum, even if he had to let me in his own sanctum too. As if he hadn't just turned me into something I never wanted to be. Like he truly cared how I felt.

He was too close and he was breathing hard, his chest still almost touching mine. I wanted to get away from him as fast as I could. I wanted to kiss him and hold on tight and never let go. I wanted answers and, dammit, I wanted-

No.

This was not the time and not the place. I needed time and space, but first I wanted answers. Yeah that's exactly what I needed.

"Are you not going to ask, Anna? Or could it be that you are too afraid and still too human to ask what really matters?" His voice was low, intimate – a challenge he wanted me to accept and tackle head on.

What really matters? Damn you Alexander.

"Do you know what it feels like to be a witch?" I shook my head. "No, of course you don't. Ever since I was born, I've lived and breathed elemental magic. Now I no longer have that connection. Sorry, if I need a little time to adjust!"

"Then adjust, Anna. Survive. Adapt. And become who you must in order to live," he said softly.

"You're talking about survival like it's a new hobby you expect me to pick up within a few days. I won't ever be able to wield magic again. I will never see the sun again, or feel it on my skin. Do you even know what that means?"

"Then look up into the night sky and you will find the moon shining. Moonlight is nothing but a reflection of sunlight. It is the same coin, but merely a different side. You are trying to distract and procrastinate, in order not to look at the one thing you should look at closely. You still have not asked the one question that matters Anna."

I stared at him for a long moment. A cacophony of voices in my head told me to turn around and run as fast as I could. But that would be giving up, confirming just what Alexander said. He was wrong. I wasn't procrastinating.

"So tell me, what is the one question I should be asking?"

"No matter if witch or vampire – if you survive, what, Anna, are the things you cannot live without?"

Sound trickled through the night air, a sharp whisper tearing through the space between us. There was a small change in Alexander's body posture that in truth equalled a major shift in his whole attention. The ripple was minuscule, the sound almost imperceptible, but it was there.

Another vampire. Another presence. Somewhere downstairs something or someone had moved.

Alexander vanished, drifting into the folds of the night with an ease I secretly admired. That left me alone. Without real answers and even more questions.