Cassandra's POV
I wake up screaming.
My body feels like it's been torn apart and put back together wrong. Every muscle aches. My skin burns like I've been set on fire.
I'm lying in a bed that's not mine, in a room I don't recognize. Soft sheets, dark walls, and windows that show the city lights far below.
Where am I?
Then I remember. The contract. The red smoke. Lucian's face changing into something monstrous.
I bolt upright, and the world spins. Silver lines glow on the walls—patterns I shouldn't be able to see but somehow can. They pulse like heartbeats, like they're alive.
"You're awake."
I jump. Lucian sits in a chair by the window, watching me. He looks human again—no wings, no glowing eyes. Just a beautiful man in an expensive suit.
But I know the truth now.
"What did you do to me?" My voice comes out as a croak.
"I activated what was already inside you." He stands and walks closer. "Your bloodline carries ancient power, Cassandra. It's been sleeping in your blood for generations. The contract woke it up."
I look down at my hands. They look normal, but when I touch the nightstand, frost spreads from my fingers across the wood.
I gasp and pull back.
"You're changing," Lucian says calmly. "The process takes time. Days, maybe weeks. But when it's complete, you'll be powerful. Protected."
"I didn't ask for this!"
"You signed the contract."
"You tricked me!" I swing my legs out of bed, standing on shaky feet. "You didn't tell me what it would do!"
"Would you have signed if I had?" His silver eyes pin me in place. "Your mother had days to live. You were desperate. I gave you exactly what you needed."
The mention of Mom hits me like a punch. "Where is she? Is she okay?"
"She's fine. The hospital received payment for her treatment. The best doctors are with her now." He checks his watch. "You've been unconscious for six hours. She's probably wondering where you are."
I need to see her. Need to know she's safe.
"Take me to the hospital. Now."
Lucian's jaw tightens. "That's not wise. You're not stable yet. Your power could—"
"I don't care!" I'm shaking with anger and fear. "You did this to me without asking. The least you can do is let me see my mother!"
He stares at me for a long moment, then nods. "Fine. But I'm coming with you. And if your power starts to surge, we leave immediately."
"Deal."
The car ride is silent. I sit as far from Lucian as possible, watching the city blur past. My hands won't stop shaking. Every time I blink, I see those silver lines on the walls, like the world is covered in glowing spider webs.
What's happening to me?
At the hospital, Lucian follows me to Mom's room. The nurses don't stop us—they actually smile and step aside like we're expected.
How much power does this man have?
Mom is awake when I enter. She looks better than she has in months—color in her cheeks, sitting up in bed. Relief floods through me.
"Cassandra!" She reaches for me, and I rush to her side. "Oh baby, I was so worried. I heard about what happened at work—"
"It's okay, Mom. Everything's going to be okay." I hug her carefully, afraid I might hurt her. "The doctors are going to fix you. You're going to get better."
She pulls back, looking at my face. Her expression changes. "What happened to you?"
"What do you mean?"
"Your eyes." She touches my cheek gently. "They're different. They're... glowing."
I turn to the window, catching my reflection in the dark glass.
She's right. My eyes have silver flecks in them that weren't there before. They shimmer in the light like metal.
"I'm fine," I lie. "Just tired."
Mom's gaze shifts past me, and her face goes pale. "You."
I turn. She's staring at Lucian, who stands in the doorway.
"Hello, Margaret," he says quietly.
Mom's hand grips mine so tight it hurts. "What did you do to my daughter?"
"I saved her life." Lucian steps into the room. "And yours."
"You had no right—" Mom starts, but a coughing fit cuts her off.
I help her sit back, panic rising. "Mom, don't strain yourself—"
"Cassandra." She grabs my hand when the coughing stops, her eyes fierce. "Listen to me very carefully. This man is dangerous. Whatever he promised you, whatever deal you made, you need to break it. Now."
"I can't. The contract—"
"There's always a way out." She glares at Lucian. "Tell her. Tell her how to break it."
Lucian's face is unreadable. "The contract is binding. There's no breaking it without consequences."
"What consequences?" I demand.
Before he can answer, the lights flicker.
The temperature in the room drops so fast I can see my breath.
Mom's heart monitor starts beeping wildly.
"No," Lucian breathes, his eyes going wide. "They found you already."
"Who found me?"
The window explodes inward.
Glass flies everywhere. Mom screams. I throw myself over her as something dark and massive crashes into the room.
When I look up, three creatures stand among the broken glass. They're made of living shadow, tall as men but wrong—too many limbs, too many teeth, eyes like empty holes.
One of them looks right at me and smiles.
"The Contractor," it hisses in a voice like nails on stone. "The Master wants you."
Lucian moves faster than I can see. Darkness explodes from his hands, hitting the nearest creature. It shrieks and dissolves into smoke.
"Cassandra, get your mother out of here!" he shouts.
But I can't move. I'm frozen, staring at the monsters.
One of them lunges at Mom.
Something inside me snaps.
Light—pure, burning white light—bursts from my hands. It hits the creature mid-leap, and it screams as it burns to ash.
The third creature hesitates, then runs. It crashes through the broken window and disappears into the night.
Silence.
I'm standing in the middle of the hospital room, hands still glowing, staring at the ash on the floor where a monster used to be.
"What..." I whisper. "What were those things?"
Lucian is breathing hard, darkness still swirling around his fingers. "Void spawn. Servants of the entity I told you about." He looks at me with something like awe. "You shouldn't have been able to do that. Not yet. Your power shouldn't be active for days."
Mom makes a small sound. I turn to her, and my heart stops.
She's staring at me with tears running down her face.
"I knew this day would come," she whispers. "I always knew."
"Mom, what—"
"Your father." She reaches for me with shaking hands. "Your father wasn't just a librarian, Cassandra. He was like you. Like Lucian. He had powers." Her voice breaks. "And twenty years ago, he died fighting those creatures. He died stopping them from destroying the world."
The room tilts. "What?"
"I tried to hide you." Mom is crying now. "I tried to keep you safe, to give you a normal life. But it was always in your blood. Always waiting."
Footsteps pound in the hallway. Security, nurses, doctors—everyone rushing toward the room with the broken window.
Lucian grabs my arm. "We need to leave. Now. Before they see too much."
"I'm not leaving my mother—"
"She's protected." His grip tightens. "I put wards on this room the moment I paid for her treatment. Nothing can hurt her here. But you—you're the target now. Those things came for you, and more will follow."
Mom nods frantically. "Go, baby. Go with him. Let him teach you how to survive."
"But—"
"I'll be fine." She squeezes my hand one last time. "Your father would be so proud of you. You're stronger than he ever was." She looks at Lucian. "Protect her. Or I swear, I'll find a way to make you suffer."
Lucian almost smiles. "Yes, ma'am."
He pulls me toward the window—the broken one where the monsters came through.
"We're going out that way?"
"It's faster."
Before I can protest, he wraps an arm around my waist and jumps.
We fall six stories, and I scream the whole way down.
But we don't hit the ground. Darkness catches us, soft as a net, and sets us down gently in the alley.
Lucian releases me and starts walking. "Come on. We need to get you somewhere safe."
I stand there, shaking, trying to process everything. My father had powers. My mother knew about monsters. I just killed something with light from my hands.
"Cassandra." Lucian looks back at me, and for the first time, I see something almost like kindness in his eyes. "I know you're scared. I know this is too much, too fast. But those creatures won't stop coming. They want your power. They want to use you or kill you. And the only way you survive is if I teach you how to fight back."
"I don't want to fight."
"Neither did your father." His voice is soft. "But he did anyway. Because some things are worth fighting for."
He holds out his hand.
I look at it, then at the hospital where Mom is safe but I'm no longer welcome.
I take his hand.
"Where are we going?"
"To meet the others," Lucian says. "The ones who've been fighting this war for centuries. The ones who'll help train you." He starts walking, pulling me along. "Welcome to the Shadow Court, Cassandra Vale."
Behind us, I hear sirens. Police, probably, responding to the attack.
Ahead is darkness and danger and a world I never knew existed.
I'm terrified.
But I'm also curious.
And somewhere deep inside, where the light came from,
I feel something I haven't felt in a long time.
Power.
Maybe being powerless was worse than being a monster.