I was up all night, unable to sleep. So I crept outside, and attempted to find the man from the last night. I needed answers. And even if he wasn't the one who had killed Hunter's mother maybe I could ask him more about shadows. I didn't know much about my origins. Just that I grew up in the forest and survived for 15-20 years. I had lost count of exactly how many, but 17 was a rough estimate.

I shook my head and continued walking as the sun began to peek over the thick forest canopy and shine down on the town. As I walked by, I noticed no guards at the gates. Strange. They have had two there ever since-

Ever since Jeffery died. Ever since I killed him. I approached the gates to investigate. I saw a weird shape in the tree line just outside the village. I heard a strange sound as I exited the gates and stalked towards the forest. It sounded like...drinking. And it was coming from outside the gates. I pulled out a dagger. The sound stopped. I jumped the corner, holding a knife to the creature that hovered over two dead bodies in front of me.

I opened my mouth to scream but whatever it was was already on top of me with a hand over my mouth. My dagger had fallen out of reach. It was obvious this creature was a shadow as its sharp fangs pierced my neck. I tried to scream again but to no avail. I managed to kick off the shadow and send him flying back. I grabbed my dagger and turned around. I was facing the man from last night as he stared at me, a hungry look in his eyes as he peered at my wound that was bleeding heavily.

"W-who are you?" I asked, my voice more shaky than I wished.

The man sneered at me and licked his lips. He was silent for a second. Before speaking in his surprisingly attractive voice.

"Ah. So it is true. There IS a ShadowLord living among the human."

"ShadowLord? What's that!? And what do you mean 'it is true?' "

"So many questions youngling" he cooed. He approached me and I tightened my grip on the dagger in my hands to the point my knuckles turned white.

"Relax. We're the same. I know what you are. Fellow shadow, why are you scared of me? I won't hurt you."

I knew it shouldn't have been, but his words were almost soothing. I let my guard fall and I lowered the knife. He slowly made his way behind me.

"I'll tell you what you want to know. Just put down the weapon" he whispered.
He pried the dagger from my fingers as I stood still.

"Ok. Now tell me what I want to know." I demanded. He chuckled and wrapped an arm around my waist.

"What you want to know can be answered simply if you just trust me and come with me" he hissed

I instantly pulled away and turned to look him in the face. He had a grin on his face.

"That's going to be a problem. See, I don't trust you" I spat

"If thats the case then," he held the knife behind his back as he approached
"then you must die" he hissed as he tried to stab me. I shifted and he ended up stabbing my shoulder, creating yet another large wound.

I screamed and reached a hand up, blood running between my fingers. He stabbed again but I dodged and fell to the ground, sweeping with my feet. He swiftly jumped back, my attempt failing. Blood dripped everywhere as I threw a punch at him, my fist hitting his jaw. I left my side exposed, and he took the chance. He stabbed me and I fell to the ground. Just as he raised the dagger for a finishing blow, a voice yelled at him to stop. The man cursed and bolted.

The last thing I saw was Hunter, Rose, Celeste and some other guy running towards me as the world blurred and faded to black.

I woke up in a strange place. The walls were a tan color and the ceiling and beds were white. I sat up, only to immediately regret my decision when a sharp pain shot through my stomach and shoulder. My head pounded and I grunted a little at the sting. Then I noticed someone next to me as they began to stir. Hunter, of course, was by my side. He opened his eyes which widened upon seeing me awake.

"Oh my majors Irene! Never do that again! What were you thinking going up against an armed shadow!? As if they weren't dangerous enough! I-"
He stopped himself.
"Sorry. I just....am glad to see you ok. You lost so much blood, you've been out for a week. It gave me a heart attack when I though you had died."
His eyes glanced over the bite on my shoulder before his eyes widened again and he turned away.

"Hunter are you okay?" I asked.

"Y-yes. I-I-I j-just." He cleared his throat still looking away, "you need some clothes"

It was then that my slow as ever mind realized that I was, in fact, almost completely undressed, nothing but my undergarments on. Luckily the sheets covered most of me, but part of my torso was still exposed. I immediately looked around. A pile of clothing was on the table next to my bed. I quickly threw on the shirt and pulled on the shorts, ignoring the pain.

"Ok, I am decent now" I mumbled, heart still racing from the uncomfortable situation.
Hunter turned around and smiled hesitantly.

"Well uhhh. I- wait, aren't you in any pain? If you're not that great but-"

"Yeah, im in some pain" I cut him off.
"But I'll function"

I tried to walk to him but the pain overtook me and I fell forward.

'gee, what's with me falling constantly' I asked myself mentally. Then I scolded myself and told myself to be worrying about falling. All this ran through my head so fast. I didn't know that my mind could think that fast.

Hunter caught me and helped me sit back on the bed.

"I think its best if you rest" he said seriously.
I nodded and stilled. Hunter's eyes shifted over to the part of my shoulder that showed. The bite could be seen. It was black around it with the veins in close proximity turning grey.

"Im worried. What does a shadow's bite do? No one is known to have survived a shadow attack past three days later. And they are typically in a worse state than you are right now. Why did you live?"

I just stared at him. I didn't even know exactly what a shadow bite does. It hurt like hell, but what did it do? Will it kill me? Am I immune because I'm a shadow? Is that why I didn't die?

My thoughts were so intense that my mind started spinning and I had to lay back down. Hunter flinched when I did but quickly regained his composure.
I looked into his eyes before closing mine. Why was I so tired? After a few moments of silence he spoke.

"Hey, Irene?"
I opened my eyes.

"Yes Hunter?"

"I need to go. My shift starts soon. Will you be okay by yourself?"
I nodded and added a small smile.

"Yes, why wouldn't I be?"
He smiled and stood up. He leaned over and kissed my forehead.

"You get some rest now okay?"

And with that he left. I guess he hadn't noticed the look on my face when he bent over and kissed me. My mind was now a whirl of half-thoughts as I scolded myself and mentally told myself to calm down.

I did eventually. But now I had nothing to do except sleep. My internal clock had already been altered in the past few days. I now found it a struggle to fall asleep with the sun out. But I did eventually fall into slumber.

I woke up hours later. I looked out the window to see the sun low in the sky. I was still groggy from my long nap, but I needed to get up. I needed to move. I couldn't stand staying in a bed for more that I already had.

I didn't even hesitate before throwing off the sheets and standing up. There was soreness in my side but I was able to push through it. It wasn't nearly as bad as earlier. I wanted to check on the injury so I lifted the edge of my shirt to reveal a dried-over wound about 3-inches long. It didn't feel as bad as it looked.

I dropped the fabric of my shirt as I heard the door open. A nurse came in with a silver tray baring food and a drink. She was a plump woman with brown hair and hazel eyes. She saw me standing and nearly dropped the tray. She set it down quickly before trying to force me onto the bed.

"You should be resting! Im not sure how you managed to stand this early on. It'll take another week until you can walk around!"

A week? I wouldn't be able to stay here that long. Not without something to do. The nurse left me to eat after she gave me one last putting glare. I barely touched the food, knowing that it wouldn't sustain me much longer, no matter how much I ate.

I was up all night again. When the sun peeked over the horizon and shone through the window onto the wall in front of me, I managed to fall asleep.
I awoke likely just after midday, after roughly 8 hours of sleep. I awoke to Hunter, yet again, at my side. He smiled at me and I smiled back, despite how unsettling it was to think that he may have been watching me sleep.
I sat up and he reached underneath the chair on which he was sitting. He showed me three books.

"I thought you might get bored in here" he said handing me the books
"So I thought I might get you at least something that you can do while you're in here"

"T-thank you" I stuttered taking the books from him.

"No problem. So how are you feeling? Any less pain?"
I nodded.

"Significantly less pain than before. Im feeling better. Though I do wish I could go outside more" I pouted.
He chuckled in response.

"Maybe some day soon. A few more days and you should be able to leave the infirmary."

"Are you not tired?" He asked a few minutes later. I shook my head.

"Not really. I slept most of the day so Im not really tired right now," I answered.

"Mmmm. Ok. Well I still recommend trying to get some sleep as of tonight. But before I go, the bite?"
I winced. I had forgotten all about the blackened infection.

I pulled down the sleeve of my shirt to reveal the bite. It had a wider radius now, the black nearly reaching my neck. The veins in surrounding areas, so my neck and further down on my arm faded from dark grey to their natural tones. The sight of it freaked both me and Hunter out.

"Its worse than it was yesterday. The nurses have already been trying to find medicine for it but haven't come across anything yet to heal a bite"

I could tell how hard this was on him. His eyes glazed over slightly. This was how his mother had passed. And he was re-living the nightmare now with me. After some silence between us, we said goodnight then he left.

As I shifted onto my side in an attempt to fell asleep, I felt a stone cold object under me. I sat up and threw off the sheets. To my surprise, I found the necklace. The blue gem was freezing cold as I lifted it up. I held it in the little light that shone, watching the stone reflect the light of the moon. I made the mistake of falling for the tempting feel of the gem again and put on the necklace. As the cold stone heated up I fell asleep. And what I saw that night was definitely not just a dream.