Shadow Embraced (Haven Academy Book 1) [Completed]

Chapter 30

I drag my feet past the rows of pews. This may be another nightmare for all I know. The wooden floorboards creak beneath my weight with each step. Flashes of lightning illuminate the stained-glass window. I keep expecting the girl and priest to be here, but I'm alone. I don't even know where Klein is.

The only sounds come from outside. Loud flapping, getting closer. There's something out there, and I don't want to find out what it is.

As I near the altar, I see a body lying on it, motionless. It looks as if she's asleep. As if the centuries since her death were only a bad dream. Curls of long red hair frame her pale face and even with her mouth closed, her fangs are visible. She looks so peaceful.

She wears a chain around her neck. Attached to the chain is a silver claw, caked in dry blood. On impulse, I reach for it. The claw is warm in my hand. Throbbing.

In a flash of lightning, I see what's hanging above the girl. Pinned to the wall, like some unholy crucifix, is another body – human – held in place by the dozens of rusted swords rammed into it. The body dangles at awkward angles, as if every bone beneath his rotting flesh has been broken. The ragged gaping holes in the middle of his head stare down upon the girl as if in judgement. I stumble backwards, suppressing a scream.

"Isn't it magnificent?" Klein says.

I turn to face him. He stands in the centre of the room, his eyes focused on the still body of the girl.

Another winged creature flutters by outside.

"Do you know how special she was?" he says, moving toward me. Each step looks as if he's gliding. "She was like you. A true Dhampir."

"What do you want?"

"That little trinket in your hand." His gaze moves to the necklace I'm holding. "What you hold is the blood of the Strigoi. Even though it's vampire, it still holds untold power in just a tiny drop."

I grasp it tighter. "I won't let you have it."

A smirk spreads across his face. "You don't have a choice."

My body doesn't listen to me. I start walking toward him, my hand rising to offer him the claw.

Shadow growls within my core and my body quakes. Instead of help me to fight him, I feel her pushing my hand towards him.

As Klein reaches out to take the claw, I feel rage boiling up inside me. The hand my demon controls rockets out and grabs him. Grasping his control ring, my possessed hand yanks it. "Mine," the one word escapes my lips.

He lets out an anguished scream as he takes his eyes off me and grabs the bloody stump where the ring – and finger – used to be.

No longer in his control, but still under Shadow's, I toss aside the mangled finger and feel a smirk spread across my face. The claw, speckled with fresh blood, glows within my hand and pulsates with heat. Not having the time to worry about what it's doing, I wrap the chain around my wrist.

His smile, now gone, is replaced by a furious scowl. I don't want to know how he's still on his feet after losing a finger. In a swift movement, he appears in front of me. Raising his hands, a flaming sword appears, made of pure white light.

"You just couldn't be a good girl, could you?" He thrusts the weapon towards me.

I jump backwards, but the blade connects with my arm, slicing a scolding hot slit across it. Even though I'm not the one in control of my own body, it doesn't mean I'm not immune to the pain flooding through me from that small cut.

He lunges at me again, intent on killing me.

I drop to the ground, dart up close to his body and drive a fist into his ribcage. He staggers, dropping the light weapon. As soon as it leaves his hands, it disintegrates, becoming nothing.