Flirting with the dark, p.5
Flirting With the Dark, page 5
“You listen to me,” he said, voice low, rough, urgent. “If it gets to this truck, you climb out that door”—he nodded toward the passenger side—“and you run into the forest. As far and as fast as you can. Don’t look back. Don’t wait for me.”
Rowan’s blood turned to ice. “No. Elias, I’m not leaving you—”
“You will,” he growled softly. “Because if that thing gets me, it’s just a moment lost. But if it gets you... the dark wins.”
Lightning flashed—revealing the figure closing another few feet.
Rowan’s breath caught.
It was close enough now for her to see its eyes.
Two pale orbs.
Empty.
Hungry.
Focused entirely on her.
“Elias...” she whispered, gripping his shirt.
He leaned closer—foreheads almost touching, breath mingling with hers.
“If it reaches us, I’ll hold it off long enough for you to escape,” he murmured. “But Rowan—listen to me.”
“I am,” she said, voice trembling.
His fingers slid down to her jaw, steadying her.
“Don’t do anything stupid.”
“What counts as stupid?”
“Trying to save me.”
Her heart cracked. “But I—”
He didn’t let her finish. “Rowan.”
His voice dipped, deep and full of a meaning that made her throat tighten.
“You are my only priority. My only vow. Do you understand that?”
Her chest ached.
She nodded once.
Another step.
The figure was no more than twenty feet away now.
The truck suddenly jolted—
A shadow slammed into the side, rocking the entire vehicle.
Rowan gasped. “What was that?!”
Elias’s eyes snapped to the rearview mirror. “It brought seekers.”
Shapes darted between the trees behind them.
Dozens.
Rowan’s breath faltered. “We’re surrounded...”
Elias exhaled slowly—one steadying breath before the storm truly hit.
“Move to the passenger door,” he whispered.
“What are you going to do?”
His eyes darkened—not with fear, but with something fierce and dangerous.
“I’m going to make sure you survive this.”
Before she could protest, the figure lunged.
Not forward—
but upward.
It soared into the air with unnatural speed, landing on the hood of the truck with a sickening thud that shook the entire frame.
Rowan screamed.
Elias grabbed her waist, pulling her down as the windshield spider-webbed under the impact.
The figure pressed one elongated hand to the glass.
Cracks spread.
A thin line split.
Elias snarled under his breath—a sound not entirely human.
“Rowan,” he rasped, “when I say run... you run.”
She clutched his arm. “Elias—”
“Look at me,” he said, grabbing her chin gently, forcing her eyes to his.
“I will find you. No matter what. But right now—run.”
The figure’s hand punched through the windshield.
“Elias—!!”
He shoved the passenger door open with his shoulder—
lightning illuminating the sheet of rain outside—
and shouted:
“RUN!”
CHAPTER ELEVEN
Rowan hit the ground running—
but the dark ran faster.
Cold rain slapped her skin like needles as she bolted into the woods. Branches whipped at her arms, mud sucked at her boots, and her lungs burned, but she didn’t look back.
Couldn’t.
Elias had told her not to.
Elias had begged her not to.
“Don’t be stupid,” he had said.
“Don’t try to save me.”
But every step she took away from him made her chest ache like something was tearing itself free inside her.
The storm swallowed her.
Lightning fractured the sky.
Shadows moved between the trees—too many, too fast.
Seekers.
Rowan stumbled over a root, catching herself on her hands. Mud soaked her jeans, cold water splashed her palms, but she pushed herself up again.
“Keep going,” she whispered to herself. “Keep—going—”
The charm at her throat throbbed—harder now, steady, like it was alive, like it was urging her to run faster.
Behind her, the forest exploded with sound.
Glass shattered.
Metal crumpled.
Something roared—deep, furious, not human.
Elias.
Rowan’s breath hitched. She turned—
Just enough to see a shadowed shape soar through the air and crash into a tree, splintering it in half.
Elias.
He was still fighting.
Rowan took a step toward him—instinct, panic, fear—
Then stopped.
His voice cut through the storm like a blade:
“ROWAN, RUN!”
She flinched hard, tears mixing with rain.
But she obeyed.
She ran deeper into the forest, branches grabbing her clothes, the night swallowing her whole.
The trees grew denser, the darkness heavier, and her breath came sharp and ragged. Every sound echoed like a threat—her own footfalls, the storm, the distant snarls.
Then—
A low creak.
Not from a tree.
From the darkness ahead.
Rowan skidded to a stop, chest heaving.
Something stood between the trees.
Not moving.
Not human.
“Elias...?” she whispered, hope choking her.
Lightning cracked.
The flash revealed pale, hollow eyes.
Not Elias.
Rowan stumbled backward—but the creature didn’t approach. It just stared at her, head tilting slowly, like it was... curious.
Like she was something it had never seen before.
Her fingers tightened around the charm.
It pulsed once.
Twice.
The creature hissed—quiet, almost confused—and stepped back.
The charm was protecting her.
Rowan swallowed hard and turned to run—
And slammed into a solid body.
Strong arms grabbed her shoulders instinctively before she could fall.
Rowan gasped, jerking her gaze upward—
“Elias?”
He was drenched, muddy, breathing hard. A cut ran down the side of his face, and shadows still curled faintly around his arms. His eyes glowed in the darkness—brighter than before, edged with something wild.
But he was alive.
He steadied her. “Are you hurt?”
“No—are you?” she whispered.
He didn’t answer.
He just looked at her—really looked—like the sight of her standing there stole something vital out of him. Relief, terror, something else she didn’t have a name for.
Then he pulled her into him abruptly—arms around her, chest heaving against hers.
Rowan froze.
Elias had never touched her like this.
Not urgently.
Not desperately.
Not like he’d run through hell to reach her.
“Don’t run from me like that again,” he rasped against her hair.
“I was doing what you said,” she whispered, breath trembling.
“I know.”
His voice cracked.
“And I hated it.”
Her heart lurched.
He held her tighter—for a moment.
Then he let go, stepping back just enough to search her eyes.
“We have to move,” he said softly. “More of them are coming.”
Rowan nodded.
Elias offered his hand.
Not a command this time.
A choice.
She took it without hesitation.
He pulled her close to his side and began leading her through the trees, fast but careful, guiding her around pitfalls, shielding her from branches—every movement protective, controlled, tense.
But the storm wasn’t done with them.
A distant howl echoed behind them.
Another to the left.
A third, closer.
Rowan’s grip tightened on Elias’s hand. “How many are there?”
“Too many,” he said. “But not enough to stop us.”
Lightning flashed ahead—
Revealing a long, ancient-looking path cut through the forest floor, stones half-buried in moss and roots.
Elias exhaled sharply. “There.”
“The sanctuary path?” Rowan asked.
“Yes.”
He glanced behind them.
“We’re close enough now that the dark will hesitate to cross.”
She swallowed. “Meaning...?”
“We’re safer,” he said.
Then quieter:
“For now.”
Another howl ripped through the woods.
Rowan flinched, stepping closer to him instinctively. Elias stopped walking and turned to her.
“Rowan,” he murmured, fingers brushing her jaw in a fleeting, trembling touch, “I need you to trust me a little longer.”
Her breath hitched.
“I do.”
His eyes flickered—dark and soft at the same time.
“Then whatever happens next... stay beside me.”
Before she could answer—
Something crashed through the underbrush behind them, furious and fast.
Elias grabbed her waist, pulling her forward.
“Run!”
They sprinted down the ancient path, shadows crashing through the forest behind them—
And ahead, through the lightning, Rowan saw it:
A stone archway glowing faintly in the rain.
The sanctuary.
But they weren’t the only ones running toward it.
Something dark and ancient was racing them.
CHAPTER TWELVE
The sanctuary wasn’t a building.
It was a threshold.
The stone archway rose from the forest floor like a monument carved by giants — cracked, moss-covered, humming with a faint light that pulsed like a heartbeat.
Rowan felt her own heart sync with it for half a second. A pull deep in her chest... like gravity. Like recognition.
“Elias—”
But she didn’t get to finish.
Branches snapped behind them like gunfire. A heavy, guttural snarl cut through the storm — not one seeker, but something bigger. Older. Furious.
The first dark-born.
Elias’s hand clamped around her waist. “Move!”
They sprinted. Mud splashed beneath their boots. Rain blurred their vision. Lightning split the sky in violent strokes. The archway’s glow grew brighter with every step.
Closer.
Closer.
Elias kept himself between Rowan and the threat behind them — always shielding, always watching every shadow, every flicker of movement.
Rowan grabbed his arm. “It’s gaining—”
“I know.”
“What if it reaches us before—”
“It won’t.”
“How do you know?”
He didn’t hesitate.
“Because I won’t let it.”
She swallowed the fear closing her throat. Elias didn’t sound confident — he sounded determined, dangerous, ready to tear reality apart before he let anything touch her.
The forest exploded behind them.
The dark-born crashed through the trees — taller than she’d seen before, moving with terrifying speed. Its hollow eyes locked onto Rowan, ignoring Elias entirely.
It wanted her.
Only her.
Rowan’s legs burned. Her breath shredded in her throat. She stumbled—
Elias caught her instantly, pulling her upright with a strength born from panic and something deeper.
“Don’t stop!” he yelled.
“I’m—trying—”
“You’re doing more than you think.”
The archway blazed brighter as they neared.
But the dark-born lunged.
Rowan’s scream tore out before she could stop it.
Elias spun around her, grabbing her shoulders, pushing her through the archway first—
The instant her foot crossed the threshold, everything changed.
The forest quieted.
The shadows recoiled.
The air hummed warm against her skin.
Rowan stumbled into a clearing lit by soft, ancient light — the sanctuary center, ringed by stones engraved with symbols she didn’t recognize but somehow... felt.
Elias wasn’t behind her.
“Elias?” she gasped, spinning.
He stood just outside the archway — on the other side of the threshold — facing the dark-born alone.
“Go back!” she cried. “Get inside!”
He didn’t.
He couldn’t.
The dark-born slammed into him with brute force. Elias hit the ground hard, rolling through mud, snarling with a sound that barely belonged to anything human.
“Elias!”
He dragged himself to his knees, shadows rippling violently under his skin. The creature lunged again—
And Elias roared back, shoving it away.
“Rowan—stay inside the sanctuary!”
Her heart splintered. “I’m not leaving you!”
“You can’t come out yet!” he yelled, struggling to his feet. “The sanctuary needs your light to open fully. Stay there — and focus!”
“Focus on what?!”
“On your power!”
Lightning flashed behind him, illuminating the chaos: the dark-born towering over Elias, the forest trembling under its weight, the storm twisting around them.
Rowan’s pulse hammered. She grabbed the charm with shaking fingers and closed her eyes.
Think.
Feel.
Find the light.
Her heartbeat thundered.
Her mind raced.
She thought of:
Elias dragging her out of the diner.
Elias holding her against him in the forest.
Elias telling her he wasn’t supposed to feel anything for her — but did.
And something inside her opened.
Her chest burned — but not painfully.
A heat spread through her shoulders, her spine, her hands.
Light surged beneath her skin, rushing upward, outward—
The sanctuary stones answered.
They glowed.
Brightly.
Blazing with white-gold light.
Rowan gasped as power shot through her like a pulse, lifting her hair in a soft breeze.
The charm flared — brighter than ever — and every stone around her lit in response.
Outside the archway, the dark-born recoiled violently, screeching in fury as the sanctuary’s light seared its shadowed form.
Elias staggered to his feet, eyes wide as he stared at Rowan with something like awe and relief tangled together.
“Rowan,” he breathed, voice shaking.
Another pulse left her chest.
The light struck the dark-born like a tidal wave, knocking it back into the trees. Seekers scattered, fleeing the flare like smoke under wind.
The storm itself bent away.
Rowan dropped to her knees, breath shattered.
The light dimmed.
Not gone — just settling.
Elias stumbled through the archway, collapsing beside her.
Rowan reached for him instinctively. “Are you—”
He grabbed her hand first.
His breathing was rough, chest rising and falling in sharp, trembling motions, but he was alive. His fingers closed around hers like she was the only thing tethering him to earth.
“Don’t ever do that again,” he rasped.
“What—run? I was doing what—”
“No.”
His eyes met hers — raw, intense, unguarded.
“Don’t ever risk yourself for me.”
She wanted to argue.
She wanted to yell.
She wanted to hold him.
Instead she whispered:
“You’d do the same.”
He closed his eyes for a second, jaw tightening. “That’s the problem.”
Rowan swallowed. “Elias... what happens now?”
He opened his eyes again, still gripping her hand like it was something fragile and precious.
“Now?”
He glanced at the glowing stones around them.
“We let the sanctuary protect you.”
“And you?”
His gaze softened — painfully.
“Me?”
He reached up, brushing a wet strand of hair from her cheek.
“I stay with you. As long as I’m allowed to.”
Rowan’s heart twisted.
Allowed by what?
By whom?
Before she could ask, the sanctuary’s light rippled through the clearing — a warning or a welcome, she couldn’t tell.
But Elias did.
His expression darkened.
Not fear.
Recognition.
“Rowan,” he murmured, voice threading with something ancient.
“The sanctuary... it’s waking too.”
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
The sanctuary didn’t glow. It breathed.
A soft ripple of light shimmered across the moss-covered stones circling the clearing. The air thickened, warm and humming — like the forest itself was turning its attention toward Rowan.
Elias rose slowly from the ground, still breathing hard, still battered, but now holding Rowan’s hand as if he couldn’t bring himself to let go.
“Elias,” she whispered, “what’s happening?”
He scanned the shimmering stones with a wary, reverent stare.
“The sanctuary is reacting to your presence. To your awakening.”
“That’s good... right?”
He didn’t answer immediately.
Which was never a good sign.
“It’s powerful enough to protect you,” he said finally. “But it’s also ancient. Old magic doesn’t always behave kindly.”
