16 Shadows
Although the lights went out in the library, the room didn't exactly plunge into darkness. The stained glass windows still let in a bit of daylight, but it wasn't bright enough to read by. Shadows moved across the floor with the students milling around, looking for friends and empty seats to sit on as they waited for the backup generator to kick in.
Two figures moved together behind the stacks, forming one large shadow as their individual forms merged. Hunter and Ash had locked in an embrace, bodies pressed against each other, their hands caressing each other's necks, and tousling each other's hair, oblivious in their passion to the world around them.
Another shadow crept along the floor, moving silently away from the stacks where the lip-locked couple remained. Celia scurried away on her hands and knees, giggling like a naughty child who had seen something she shouldn't have.
Further away, the librarian at his desk looked at his watch. Five minutes had gone by and the generator still hadn't kicked in. Lightning streaked across the sky, and he wondered if perhaps something had gone wrong with the power supply.
***
[This feels so good] Hunter thought, as his tongue twined with Ash's and his hands ran up and down her back. Her tongue seemed to flick a switch of pleasure inside of him. The sweet honeyed feeling covered him entirely, and every small touch when he connected with her seemed to squeeze drips of sensual gratification from his brain, transmitting signals of warm pleasure to every shooting nerve in his body.
So little from her was doing so much for him. And yet, he felt that if he touched the skin beneath her clothes, his heart would stop from too much pleasure. This, so much of this, already felt like it was on the verge of too much. And he didn't want to stop.
[I feel so alive] Ash thought as she clung to Hunter's neck. She sucked on his bottom lip and felt joyous sparks bursting all over her body. As she felt his hands run up and down her back, she felt a tingling sensation run through the length of her spine. Kissing him felt wild and dangerous, like running through a storm. His kiss was blue lightning and she was a lightning rod: the power that ran through from him to her was hers to keep and do with what she wished and she wanted to keep taking.
***
Outside the library, in the campus, the power was still out. The morning was dark, but it wasn't particularly unnatural for that time of year. Isabelle was talking to a teacher when she suddenly shuddered.
"Are you alright?" The teacher asked.
Isabelle closed her eyes, feeling something cold pass through her body. Something more than just cold air.
"Y-yes, I'm fine," she replied, after a moment.
Isabelle wasn't sure why, but she could sense that something bad was coming.
***
In the woods, living shadows crept from tree to ground to rock.
A normal shadow is made when a body intercepts rays from a source of light, casting a dark figure on a surface. But these living shadows were unconnected to anything solid. They were darkness in and of themselves. And they whispered, low and breathy, "The blood is calling. The blood is calling. Free the Master, the blood is calling."
Beneath the ground, the ancient eyes blinked, and a single finger twitched on its decrepit right hand. The ground above it seized in a seismic shock and the living shadows flocked in a circle over the heaving ground.
"The Master. The Master. The Master," the shadows whispered.
The right hand became still and the ground stopped shaking. The blue mouth exhaled a single breath of air and a light wisp of a shadow escaped into the earth. It burrowed upwards a hundred feet and sprouted through the cold earth. It floated past the chanting shadows and barreled into the direction of Saint Blaise's Academy.
***
After 20 minutes, the power finally came back on in the campus.
Hunter and Ash pulled away from each other, just as the overhead lights went back on. They were both breathing heavily and staring at each other. Hunter's hands were on Ash's waist and Ash's hands were on his shoulders.
"I want you," Hunter whispered.
"I know. I can tell," Ash whispered back.
Hunter bent down to kiss her again, but Ash ducked her head into his chest. Hunter pressed his cheek on to her hair. They stood together, embracing, as they both slowed to catch their breath.
The wisp darted just over their heads and soaked in their whispered words. As quickly as it came, it shot away just as fast. Neither Hunter nor Ash even noticed it.
"A few nights ago, I gave you something of mine. I know you kept it. Maybe it's somewhere in your room."
Ash listened quietly as Hunter spoke.
"If you can find it, bring it with you after class. I'll text you after swim practice and we can meet."
Ash looked up at him. "How do you have my number?" she asked.
"I'm the man," he answered, a self-satisfied smile on his face. He kissed her quickly on the nose.
Ash flinched. Hunter smiled indulgently in response. He let go of her waist and turned to walk away.
"Later, okay?" he called out to her, without looking back. Ash nodded silently but didn't respond to his words.
She stood quietly, watching him walk away.
Everything was happening so fast. Last week Hunter was outside of her circle, now suddenly they were sucking each other's faces in the library like they were lovers.
Ash wasn't going to complain, but she also wasn't sure she wanted to tell anyone either. It was all too strange and so sudden. She didn't know where to begin or how to even explain herself.
Even as Ash thought about keeping the kiss with Hunter a secret from her friends, Celia was already on her way to tell Isabelle about what she had seen in the library. Not only was she going to tell Izzy what she saw, she was more than excited to tell her exactly what she had overheard.
