The glass vial felt cold in my hands. Too cold. Like it was made from winter itself. I held it up to the candlelight in my room. The liquid inside was clear as water, but I knew better. This was death in a bottle. Death meant for Vanessa.
"Are you sure about this?" I whispered to the shadows in the corner.
The darkness moved. It always moved when the Shadow Council was listening. A voice came from nowhere and everywhere at once. Cold. Ancient. Hungry.
*"You doubt us now, child?"*
I shook my head quickly. "No. Never. I just... what if something goes wrong?"
*"Nothing will go wrong. You will deliver the poison. The wolf girl will drink. She will die. Simple."*
But nothing was ever simple with the Shadow Council. I learned that the hard way over the past months. Every favor they gave me came with a price. Every spell they taught me took a piece of my soul. Every power they shared made me more theirs and less mine.
