Shadows of Darkness by Stephanie Rowe Page A

low howl broke through the night, and he crouched, resting the fingertips of his right hand on the earth. The dirt was cold and wet, laced with rocks and the remains of the living creatures who had died there over the centuries. For a moment, he hesitated, his skin crawling at the idea of returning to that state that had once consumed him.
    Then, directly across from him, he saw two glowing red eyes. As he watched, the shadows formed, taking the shape of a wolf. Two more sets of eyes appeared. The wolves spread out, encircling him on the three sides that were exposed, their upper lips curled in a deadly snarl.
    He took a deep breath and calmed his mind, reaching out with his preternatural senses to touch them. He felt their evil, just as before, but this time, he looked for more. He searched for what they were...alive? Ghosts? Demon creatures? He sensed a life force within them, and knew then that they were linked to the living, even if they were not alive themselves.
    He smiled, that slow, predatory smile that he'd worn for so many centuries. Where there was life, there could be death, at least when he was involved. He shoved his right hand deeper into the earth, and he took from it. He took life. He took death. He took every last breath from the earth. The dirt around his hand turned black and rotten as the earth died from his touch. His hand began to glow a bright white. Energy hummed down his arm, and his muscles went taut as he raised his head to look at the wolves.
    They appeared to be swathed in a crimson hue now, and he knew his eyes were as red as theirs. The hunger inside him clawed to get free, but he kept a tight grip on it, refusing to allow it to claim his mind. He pulled his hand out of the dirt, and as he did, it vanished, disappearing from sight so that all that remained visible was the silvery, shadowy remains of his forearm, fading into nothing, an invisible weapon.
    But his hand was still there, and it was deadly.
    Levi stared at the wolves, waiting. His back was pressed against the rock, so that nothing could edge behind him and slip inside. His instincts howled with the urge to attack, but he fought it off, struggling to remain in control of the assassin within him. He waited. He would not strike first. He would not become like he used to be .
    All three wolves attacked simultaneously. Levi hit the first one in the chest, and sucked every last bit of life from it in one hit. It howled in agony, and for a split second, he felt its life spiraling away from it. It wasn't an animal, but something else, a man who had once been alive, and now was truly, forever, gone. For a split second, anguish filled Levi for the man that he'd just killed, who had somehow become trapped in that hell, and then the other two latched onto him with their teeth. Poison leached into him, and his arms shriveled where their teeth were embedded. Levi cuffed the one holding onto his left arm, sucking the life out of it instantly. It shrieked and vanished, but the third one was still holding on.
    He went down on his knees, fighting against the wave of weakness. He was slow, so much slower than he had once been. He fought to stay conscious as the wolf sucked his life force out of him, preying upon him exactly as he'd preyed upon so many others. Was Maya right? Was he the same? Was this what he would have become if he'd stayed with Merk?
    The wolf was clamped down on his right forearm, making it impossible for him to reach it with his hand. He jammed his left hand into the dirt and sucked energy from the earth. His hand glowed and he jerked it out, pressing his finger between the shadow wolf's eyes.
    It held his gaze for a moment, and he felt himself falling, sucked into their depths. His heart seemed to stop as he recognized what was coming for him. Merk.
    Then, just as he was losing the grip on his mind, the wolf dissolved with a howl of outrage.
    Levi collapsed to his knees, weakness pervading his body as he scanned their surroundings