Page 5 of Darkness Defined

I stared up at the ceiling in search of divine intervention. When none presented itself, I unlocked and opened the door. On the other side was my mother, a full foot shorter than me, and tapping her foot impatiently.

“Why did you let him in?” I asked heatedly.

She inspected the room before deigning to answer, most likely searching for signs that we’d been fooling around, despite the very clear no fooling around rules. “Frankly, I was hoping it would help you pack faster. Though I see that hope was in vain.”

I blinked, taken off guard. “What? I thought you didn’t want me to go?”

She let herself into the room and walked over to the bed, where she placed three stacks of clothes in the open suitcase before sitting down in the now empty space. “Oh, sweetie, you know I love you, but truth be told, we both know I can’t handle your powers. You need proper schooling with people like yourself. While you’ve done great blending in with the humans around here, you aren’t one. You should be spending more time with your own kind.”

I shook my head. “Mom, demons tend to be solitary.”

“But not you, Lexi. You’re social and vibrant, always have been. Or at least you were until…” Her face twisted as she looked at the door Daniel had walked through shortly before.

I was fully prepared to launch into yet another defense of my decision to continue dating Daniel over the years when she continued.

“This school opening has been the best thing that could have happened. Just think, if we had never joined the Arminius Community Forum, then we wouldn’t have even known about the special classes and you would’ve had to wait another year, maybe even two, before you could enroll. The world hardly knows anything about Shadow Demons. This is your chance.”

“The world knows to fear us. Half of the supernatural community here won’t go anywhere near me since the Rebellion, and that ended ten years ago. I was eight for crying out loud. What did they expect me to do?” The words tasted as bitter as they sounded.

“I know it hurts, sweetie, but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t learn about your powers. You still face the same risks that all untrained demons do. Alexi, if you lose control…” she trailed off. We both knew how dangerous that could be.

“I won’t. I’m not some newbie who just learned they had powers. I’ve been practicing for years.” I reached out and gave her hand a quick, reassuring squeeze. “You made sure of that.”

She heaved a sigh. “But is it enough? What about your potential? We don’t even know what you’re fully capable of. What sort of world will open up to you once you start learning more?”

“Honestly, I’m probably close to peaking. I bet I’m years ahead in study from the rest of the class. After all, I’ve read every resource book on Shadow Demons we could find.” Not that there had been many, or that they’d been easy to find, in a world that had no clue supernaturals existed.

“Lexi, I can’t help but feel you’re making an argument not to go at all.”

Her hand settled on mine and I realized I’d steadily been unpacking as we talked. I groaned in despair.

“You were so excited about this last week and now it’s like you’re dreading it.”

I looked over at her, taking in the tight ringlets of sandy blonde hair falling around her petite face that was nothing at all like my own jet black. My heart hurt more at the thought of leaving her here alone than it did at the idea of never seeing Daniel again. My mother was a lovely woman, and it was a shame she’d never remarried. I knew why though. She’d loved my father more than anything, and when he’d left her with nothing more than a swollen belly, she just couldn’t move on.

I’d never seen so much as a picture of him before. But from what she said, I was the spitting image of a man that had stolen her heart eighteen years ago. It must be true, because I didn’t look a thing like her. Except for my eyes, those were definitely hers—a bright green that shone like spring.

“I’m going to miss you,” I finally said.

“I know, honey.” She lifted her hand to cup the side of my face. “But I’m only a call away. I’ll be fine. My goal has always been to see you succeed, and you can’t do that here.” She released me and placed another stack in the case, smoothing out the wrinkles on top. “Now, Alexi Roman, I need you to dig deep and be the strong person I know you are.” She stood up and gave me a hug.

Her arms wrapped tightly around me, and I carefully returned the embrace. Demonic strength had not been a fun thing adjusting to growing up.

“Enough of this.” She pushed me away, surreptitiously wiping a tear. “You need to stop dawdling and finish packing. Orientation is in a week and you still have to collect your things from the community center.”

“Yes, mom.” With a smile, she patted my cheek and left me to my task. I turned back to my mess of folding.

I don’t need much, it’s just school after all. It’s not like I expect to meet the love of my life.

Now that I was focusing, the suitcase steadily filled. It was hard to believe that, in just a few days, I’d be in Austria at a prestigious university for the supernatural. I briefly considered packing my poster of Arminius University, but dismissed it as childish. After that, it was official. Everything worth packing was.

I flopped onto the bed, causing it to groan in protest and reached to feel beneath. When my fingers brushed a binding, a smile spread across my face. I promptly pulled it out and settled back against the wall. The book was one of the few my mother had found over the years. By some miracle, she’d known what my father was and had known to look out for the same traits in me. That knowledge had saved both of our lives.

As I thumbed through the worn pages, I couldn’t help but wonder if Shadow Demon’s antisocial nature was a product of our own making or biological. Hopefully, this new school—class really—could finally answer those questions. While I wasn’t exactly enthusiastic about Vera Scry being the one to lead it, since she was the reason the supernatural world feared people like us in the first place, it was better than nothing.

I stopped on a page with an illustration of a shadowy woman reaching toward a knight in full armor. The passage on the other side described the scene.

The darkness itself took shape and reached out. Eyes blacker than night drank my soul. Such a creature could put fear into the evilest of man or beast. Would that my Light had not abandoned me. That cursed torch with the power to beat back this monster and preserve my essence.