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Prologue

First Meeting

She was sitting on her bed staring at her altar, or more specifically at the small curtain above her altar. It hung over a hook that had been there since before this room had been her mother’s, and she hadn’t liked it so she had covered it as soon as she had gotten the room. She had no idea what the hook had been for but it looked like it may have held a small picture at one time. The paint around the hook was slightly darker as if something had blocked the light from bleaching the paint any.

She hadn’t been able to sleep and so she sat staring at the curtain for—how long? She glanced over at the timer candle and noticed that while she had been staring at the curtain the candle had burned four coloured lines lower. Each coloured line represented a quarter hour and after each set of four there was a double line, after which the pattern started over again. She had been staring at the curtain for an hour or more, which surprised her. ‘I must have been sleeping,’ she thought to herself. ‘I must be more tired than I realised, to be staring at the same spot for over an hour.’

She shook herself and closed her eyes for a second but was unable to fall asleep. There was a stranger in her room, someone that she didn’t recognise.

She opened her eyes and looked back up at the curtain. Instead of the curtain, however, she saw a tall man standing in front of the altar, standing and looking down at her with a haughty expression on his face, an expression that said quite plainly, ‘I am more powerful than you.’

She shivered.

“I am Dark Lord Delaney,” the stranger proclaimed. “Will you submit to my power willingly?”

“NO! I will not!”

She felt someone powerful and evil slam into her mind shield and push through the barrier like it wasn’t there at all. A wave of pain passed through her body. She gasped and tried in vain to pull away when the man reached over and grabbed her by the arm, digging long fingernails into her flesh and tearing her skin. He threw her to the floor, sat on the bed and used her body as a foot rest.

:So, you defy me?: he mindshouted, sending waves of agony streaming through her body and magic channels.

“Y-yes I d-defy y-you D-Dark w-One. Y-you w-will n-never h-have m-me, n-n-never,” she stuttered between gasps and screams as waves of agony and terror swept through her lean body, making her shake and her teeth chatter. She tried to raise her hands and move aside to remove his feet from her stomach but she couldn’t even move an inch because of the terrible pain. “N-no n-not n-never. I w-will n-never s-submit t-to e-evil.”

Kicking her in the stomach he said, “You are already mine even if you won’t serve me willingly. You are under my power.”

“N-no n-never!” she screamed.

He sent more waves of pain through her body and pulled her to a sitting position by her hair. He clasped a necklace around her neck, brutally snapping all the chains that held symbols of protection or anything that might give her even the slightest bit of shelter from his power.

He pressed his index finger into her throat and drew it down, causing a thin line of red to appear on her skin; she shivered in fear and pain.

“Now you know my power—our powers. Will you submit to me? Will you join the dark side and take all the power we can give you?”

“Never,” she gasped, shaking because he was still pulling off her necklaces and bracelets of protective charms and sacred talismans.

He looked at his fingers, smirked and rubbed them together. They were slightly red from his handling the light charms. Her arms were red also, from where the chains touched her skin while he held them, before he carelessly snapped them. He then put all the charms and talismans that he had taken from her into a small silk pouch. Silk was the only material that would insulate him from the touch of the many charms of light that she had been wearing. He would deal with them later, away from her, where no one would see his weakness, the weakness that handling charms of light brought about in him, in all creatures of darkness.

“I will take these, you won’t need them anymore. Not that they would help you anyway. My symbol can never be removed save by my own hand and I can draw power from anyone who wears one of my pendants. You will feel ill soon. You will be unable to use your magic and if you tell anyone about me or betray me in any way the pendant will burn you, and I will be able to tell. You will pay for your defiance. I will draw from you until you are unconscious or until you submit to me,” he said and grabbed her by the arms, digging his fingernails in. Standing up, he flung her violently onto the bed in a heap, causing her to scream, though she tried to get comfortable immediately.

He turned away and sent waves of pain coursing through her body as he walked over to the curtain and, moving it aside, hung a small picture of him behind it. He let the pain ease and turned to her. "The picture will be there for you, if you change your mind blow on the picture, I will come for you. You will be punished for your defiance,” he laughed pitilessly. “Either way, willing or unwilling, you will join me. Oh, and I forgot—you will have nightmares informing you of whatever use I decide to put your power to."

He spun back and pulled the curtain off the wall, shredded it with his fingernails and turned back to her. “You will show some respect. Don’t cover the picture.”

She screamed as a burst of pain shot through her body and when she could see again he was standing in front of the servants alcove. “Bye, little cat,” he whispered, and stepped into the alcove. There was a flash of not quite light and another burst of pain. His humourless cold laughter echoed through the room for several seconds after the alcove was empty.

When she could think again, after the pain had left her, she struggled to her feet and went over to make sure that he really had gone.

Of Delaney himself there was no sign, although there was another small curtain and a scrap of paper with a note on it.

The note:

You are less than worthless. All attempts to hide me from your servant will fail—darkness calls to her. Cover the picture if you wish, it will make no difference. The powers of darkness are greater than you will ever be able to imagine.

Signed, Your Master

The paper drifted from her limp fingers to the floor. Before it hit, however, it burst into flame and all that could be seen of it was ash dust. She staggered back to her bed and fell into it laying there unmoving. ;I better put that curtain up before Letana comes in tomorrow morning,; she thought to herself.

Disdainful laughter echoed in her head and that was what she fell asleep to.