and creatures that didn't belong in daylight. Arielle Vale had always felt more comfortable in that tw

ewalk. The streetlamp above her flickered, casting long shadows across the sidewalk, stret

permanent smirk, had kept her cleaning long past midnight. She hadn't complained. She never did. Not because she was

r problems than a hand

wn to half a loaf of bread, one egg, and a bottle of tap water sh

omething buzzed just under her skin tonight. Like static in h

ai

e fourth floor were dark. Still, she felt it - a prickle on the back of he

stairwell. Paint peeled from the walls like old skin. A couple screamed on the second floor

with silence and cold. She

th

ttered. Power

-scented ones she kept for nights like this. Its soft glow t

enve

chen table - a black wax seal on mat

't left

ine things. Arielle lived with her feet on the ground and her head ducked low

ad locked

iled serpent wrapped around a rose, thorns digging into its own flesh. There w

oke th

written in flawless calli

re inside you. It is

ure. No e

blood ran cold. She didn't know why, but h

pro

ished, plunging her into darkness. Her breath

adows

way. These moved with purpose.

mooth, drifted through the

t be afraid,

fr

room. Inside her head. It

you?" she

d amused. "We'll

ckered to life, banishing the shadows. The candle reignited i

ng had ever

*

od before a map etched into the stone wall - not of

g," one of his

"Let her. I en

peak. No one questi

burned blue. His long coat whispered behind him like a shadow with secrets. The

she was yet. What power flowed dormant through he

s ever

ist - the same as the wax seal - and whispe

iel

dn't sleep. She lay in bed, staring

ng had

ow what - or who -

could

n her