A/N: I own none of the characters, they all belong to L.J Smith. I only own the one Shadow Man I created.

This chapter was solely created by:

Artist: Thom Yorke

Song: Hearing Damage

Chapter Six: Fury

  Throbbing pain.

  Pulsating muscles set each molecular nerve afire. The very mold of his skull compressed and snapped back like a rubber band. It was agony as he strained to lift his head.

  The pain amplified.

  His hands flung to the hair on his scalp crushing the strands between his fingers. Threatening to rip the follicles straight from tendered skin. His limitations consumed him once more as his spine quivered under the weight. He was left to collapse back against the stone slab with an audible thud.

  Inwardly, he cursed. 

  Blinking once, twice, he gazed up at the contused rock with a furrowed brow. How had he gotten here? 

  Why was he here?

  "It'll take an hour or so for the sensation to pass." A shadowy figure detached from the cragged alcove,  their chuckle resonating in the hollowed entombment. The weathered cloak nearly swallowed them in darkness as they loomed over him.

  An Angel of Death as the tales of ancient lore foretold.

  A low choked grunt arrested his lungs. Through thick soot lashes, he peered up at the figure. The index of one finger twitched at the sheer proximity. 

  "Welcome back..." the figure whispered in a cool voice.

  The power within their voice was overwhelming. Like electricity that crackled through the air, raising the hairs on his skin. At last, a full breath was pushed through his lungs and cracked through the sealed skin of his lips. "Who..." His words faltered in a strangled croak. He cleared his throat to smooth its disuse as he tried again. "Who are you?"

  "I am what you are." the cloaked figure stated simply. Their breath carried a wintry chill that encompassed his being.

  How odd.

   However, the stranger's answer did naught to satisfy him. He loathed the fragility of his physical state confining him. Yet as he struggled to pull himself upright, a fiery wave of pain buckled him. "Argh!" he screeched, slumping into a fetal position with a curl of fists. 

  The tendons beneath his skin visibly shone from his ire.

  The shadow chuckled, laughter bellowing. "As I said, the sensation will pass. Patience, Shadow Man."

  As they laid a hand on one arm, he jolted. It was like ice spearing his skin.

  Gradually the pain receded until he was able to lift his head. One finger slowly unraveled from the other. He stared intently at the pale digits as he pulled himself up. He flexed them once, twice in disbelief. Leisurely he turned them over, the bed of his palm facing up with a series of tendons interlaced in a web of blue veins visible beneath moonstone.

  "... Where am I?" he asked, voice filled with unbridled wonder.

  "Ah." 

  The shadow sounded pleased having waited for the man to digest it all. "The right question. You are where your first creation took place centuries ago." Their frigid breath rolled against the nape of his neck as they moved in closer. "Time long before I took your place. After you were carved off the rune stave."

  "Rune stave." The name sparked a familiarity. He continuously heard the transition in his voice's coarseness from disuse, soften. "Rune stave, the name sounds... familiar. Why?"

  The shadow's voice twisted in disgust. "It should. You've been forced to live in a makeshift exile, since. Just as that insipid human intended. She carved you off the rune to end your life." They sighed, tsking. "You were taken from the world you were born into, betrayed by lies that led to your own death."

  "She?" A girl? A human girl?

  "Yes."

  "A girl killed... me?" It sounded, inane. Even as his mind tried to surface from the dark abyss of ... of what? It was a glimpse into an endless void. Slipping through his hands like water the more he tried to retain.  It was maddening.  Where had he been? How did he know her? Who was this girl?

  How had she done it?! He knew... he was powerful. He could feel the power hum through his veins like an electric current. Burning hotter than an inner flame at his core. Suddenly he was consumed by a white-hot rage that threw him to his feet. As if he'd unlocked the source of that power his eyes burned like liquid fire. He was ready to scourge the planets until he found... her. 

  "Who is she?" he said in a low, menacing tone.

  The shadow's smile remained concealed beneath his dark cowl, "You know her well, very well."

  A muscle feathered in the man's jaw.

"Used you, Shadow Man." he emphasized pointedly.

  "A Shadow Man...?" For a moment the rage simmered, albeit, momentarily as a barrage of raw memories pulled him under...

  Clawing.

  Blood-stained fingernails embedded with slivers of wood. Blood dribbled down his chin as he choked. The pain. It felt as if his flesh had melted into his bones. He screamed as glimmering eyes like blood-red rubies appeared. A wide mouth that stretched across a scaly face from a set of horns. Jagged teeth black as onyx. "You will be cruel to every maiden who seeks you. A trickster and mastery of games they will be unable to defeat you..."

  The last of the voice faded into the recesses of his mind, like nails on a chalkboard as he winced. "My first birth was orchestrated by the First Age."

  "The First Shadow Man." The Shadow nodded. "I made sure this time the process wasn't nearly as excruciating." The bemusement was clear in their voice as the man looked away.

  In the darkness, the shadow smiled cruelly. "You wanted to be with this girl because you... loved her."

  A dark thirst stirred as sheets of rock trembled and fractured at his feet. He would tear the world apart to find this human girl. A black fury consumed him once more coiling inside like a deadly cobra about to strike. "Love.

  The shadow shifted so their lips could hiss into his ear, "A poison to your mind."

  His eyes became slick pools of black as he snarled, "Poisoned."

  The shadow ground their hands into the slab with a slam of a fist. "I brought you back from death and carved your name back, old one. You've been resurrected back into existence by me. It is time to take revenge on what has been lost to you."

  "Eradicate." The timbre in the man's voice shook with the resonant stirrings of thunder.

  "Yes," the shadow chuckled darkly, "use the talents you were bred for. A game that ends with her death.

"My games." The reborn Shadow Man growled. "She'll be mine to devour."

  The shadow flashed a crooked, predatory smile. 

  And let my game, commence. 

"Now that the time has come, I assume you'd like to know where Jenny is

... Julian."

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