Sneak Peek

Shahara's anger went from zero to a hundred in a split second as she realized someone was still in there hurting innocent people, and before she could even think about what she was doing, Shadow was at her side and they were on their way to the other end of the hall. She hadn’t made it far down the hallway when the intruder stepped out of the room, forcing Shahara to quickly change her plan of attack. Fortune favored her since the intruder hadn’t noticed her right away, giving Shahara just enough time to pull out a quick teleportation spell, casting it a ways ahead of her. The portal opened up at the other end of the hall on the floor and before the intruder could fully raise his weapon, he stepped right into it and disappeared into the floor only to come out feet first right in front of Shahara. The intruder let out a loud grunt as his back slammed onto the floor and with all of Shaharah’s unchecked anger, she brought her foot down on his neck hard enough to hear his spine crack. Shahara kicked the now loose gun away from the intruder as he struggled to breath, unable to do much else with the damage Shahara caused to his neck.

“Find the rest of them and make sure they suffer just as much if not more” Shahara said to Shadow as he quickly faded into the wall. She turned back around to find Adrien's shocked face staring back at her.

“What?” Shahara asked.

“I had my doubts about the stories I heard about you and your former life, but I can see now there was no exaggeration” Adrien responded. Shahara was a little embarrassed at herself at that moment. She knew she had to do something to stop that man, but she really didn’t need to be quite that brutal. Hold habits do die hard apparently.

“That's not me anymore, at least I don't want it to be” Shahara said. “These are innocent kids though, and I will not stand by and let them be murdered for a cause they have yet to be exposed to.”

“Now that is more like the Shahara I once knew.”

“Do not try and be nostalgic with me, you’re only here because I need your help to finish this. You’ll get your turn to face my wrath once this is over” Shahara said pointing a bony looking finger from her prosthetic hand at him.

“It’s worth a shot” Adrien said. Shahara bent down and picked up the gun she had kicked away from the intruder and slung it over her shoulder. Shahara saw the odd glance Adrien was giving her and she instantly knew what he was thinking.

“I don’t fight fair, I fight to win” she said as she turned back around and headed down the hallway. She could hear the occasional screams as Shadow made his way through the building, eliminating intruders as he went. Shahara started checking every room for survivors but was constantly sickened by what she found in just about every room, so she stuck to slowly walking the halls as she made her way back to the council living quarters and conference rooms where she was most likely to find Abbey.

They were just about to a point where another hallway connected to this one at a tee when Shahara could hear movement in the other hall and a whispered voice saying something unintelligible from where they were. Shahara moved up against the wall and quickly poked her head around the corner to see what was going on. She had to quickly jump back as the man in the other hall had nearly seen her. He had his back against the wall halfway down the hall and was quickly looking from side to side, clearly frantic and a little on edge. ‘Where are you, son of a’ was about all Shahara was able to hear from the man's rumblings.

“I’ve got this one” Adrien said. Shahara looked back at him, her eyes no longer pure white, but back to their original pale green.

“I don’t think so” Shahara said as her eyes turned pitch black as she summoned Shadow within herself. She quickly sank into the floor and reappeared behind the man in the other hall. Before he even knew she was there, she reached out and twisted his neck hard enough to snap it, leaving his lifeless body to crumble to the floor like a rag doll. Shahara quickly unpossessed herself just as Adrien came down the hall.

“That's new” was all Adrien had to say after witnessing what Shahara had just done. Shahara reached down and once again grabbed the gun from the intruder only to toss it to Adrien this time.

“Start taking notes” Shahara said. “We’re almost to the council chambers, but we need to pick up the pace to make sure the rest are all right.”