Shadow’s Sinner

Chapter Eleven

The moment she sat up and turned her head to look at me full-on, I could feel my anger rise to the surface, threatening to break out and tear everything down around us.

It’s irrational, I know that.

The purple bruise that blooms on her cheek makes me want to kill someone, bleed them dry, and watch the life leave their eyes for putting a mark on her.

The only one allowed to leave marks on her is me.

I stop in my tracks at that thought, pondering the feelings that are churning in my stomach and head.

She’s mine.

I think she’s always been mine, but the universe must have had other plans.

Or did it? She ended up in my clutches like a lamb to slaughter, but does it really need to end that way?

I glance back behind me, seeing the wooden cage sitting in the forest's darkness, catching a glimpse of her pale skin shining under the moonlight.

She’s clutching the wooden slats, rattling them for dear life, hoping they will give way and set her free.

I imagine it’s my arms around her, holding her tight, threatening to devour her whole instead of that cage.

My mind flicks to the task ahead, and I’m unsure I can complete it.

Watching the life bleed out of a sacrifice is therapeutic to me, but knowing it will be her under my blade makes me somber.

The last time I felt this sadness was when my mother was the one in the ring.

When my mother pleaded for me to save her, it broke my heart.

What will it do to me when I hear the cries for help coming from Lakelyn?

She shouldn’t fucking be here.

I turn back and trudge through the forest looking for my disciples.

When I find them, they’re huddled around a large fire near the sacrifice pit.

Creeping up quietly behind them, I hear their chatter about the girls that they brought here, one bragging about how they managed to convince them to come to this phony camping trip.

A voice pipes up in front of me, and it makes me pause.

The disciples around him still, staring at me wordlessly as the man in front of me continues to speak.

“I told Lakelyn that this was an eighteenth birthday gift for her, said that it would do her good to go camping with a group of girls.

I even told her it would be relaxing for them all.”

Mr.

Wren starts cackling like a hyena.

“I still can’t believe she actually bought it.

She should know better.

I would never let her go camping in the middle of nowhere without a chaperone.

She must think I’m stupid, and for that alone she deserves to be here.”

I fist my hands at my sides, resisting the urge to reach out and strangle the ungrateful man before me.

Taking a deep breath to calm myself, I clear my throat, and Mr.

Wren whips around like his robe is on fire.

The look on his face is priceless and makes me wonder if he pissed himself in fear.

“M-master Simon.

Sir, I didn’t know you had made it back just yet from your hunt. Welcome.”

He bows before me, spreading his arms wide behind him in some grand gesture.

“Hello, Disciple.

I couldn’t help but overhear your conversation.

Please, why don’t you elaborate some more on why Lakelyn is here with the other sacrifices? I thought we had discussed this previously.

She should not be here, Mr. Wren.”

The threat in my voice makes him tremble before me.

He stutters, his words panicking, and I have no idea what the hell he’s trying to say, making him guilty in my eyes.

“Speak clearly, Disciple, or you will be on the other end of my blade.”

“Master, there are things that you just don’t understand.”

He wrings his hands in front of him as he looks at me like a kid who was called to the principal's office.

“Lakelyn is—”

Mr.

Wren is cut off by screaming coming from across the field at another cage.

A disciple is tugging one of the girls by her hair across the cold ground.

They kick the door of the cage open and fling her inside.

She lands on the ground with a thud like a rag doll, screaming and crying for her God that will never save her.

I turn back to Mr.

Wren and he’s nowhere in sight.

Turning in circles looking for him.

I see him fleeing to the opposite side of the field, his robe flapping behind him.

Letting out a huff, I tilt my head back looking at the moon shining bright, taunting me.

It’s almost time, and it makes my hands sweat with nerves.

The crackling of the fire ahead brings me peace as I try to make sense of the emotional turmoil inside of me.

Looking down at the brand on my hand, I rub my fingers over it, thinking back to happier times.

A time when I had a mother who would help me make sense of the chaos in my mind.

When I had a father who was in charge, shouldering the burdens instead.

A time when I wasn’t tasked to destroy families for the sake of my own.

“Master Simon.”

A disciple, whose name I don’t care to remember, calls for me across the fire.

He nods up to the moon, pointing as though it were a beacon.

“It’s time, sir.”

Shoving my hands into my pockets, I turn on my heel heading back towards the wooden cage that houses my little shadow.

When I get there she’s curled up in the corner, shivering under my cloak, breathing deeply as though asleep.

She must sense that I’m here, because her eyes pop straight open, staring directly into mine.

The green of her irises sparkling under the moonlight makes my insides twist.

She sits up wrapping her hands around her knees waiting for me to say something, anything.

I can feel her nerves coming off of her in waves as I unlock the door to her cage swinging it open.

Holding out my hand to her, I beckon.

“It’s time, Little Shadow.”