deadly night shade

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The Acolytes
Shade smiled when two men appeared at the steps of his porch in the city. “Gentlemen,” he said with a crooked smile.

“Master,” one of them said with low bow.

“You’ve come for what reason?” Shade questioned as he bolstered himself against the railing of his porch.

“We want to be in your cult of warlocks,” the other said with another bow.

“I don’t have a cult. Be gone,” Shade said as he turned to enter his house.

---

“The sword is gone,” Frostgem whispered.

“I know,” Windfire replied. She was cuddling with a throw pillow, crying onto it.

“Cheer up,” Frostgem patted Windfire supportively.

“No,” Windfire replied.

Ravenwater shook his head, “We’ll fix this.”

“There’s nothing to fix,” Windfire muttered.

“How can you say that?” Shadowstorm asked.

“He took a vow of blood. If he betrays us, he dies,” Windfire said somberly.

“She’s right,” Emberstrike admitted.

“So there’s nothing to worry about. Wake me up when Halloween rules around,” Windfire said quickly. “Now, leave…”

“How could you say that? We’re not leaving you here to die!” Shadowstorm hissed.

“I just did. Now leave,” Windfire’s tone was sharp enough to persuade her cousins to leave her alone in her room.

“How could she say that?” Shadowstorm asked angrily.

“She was in love with a man who was taken from her. Excuse her for being a little bitter,” Ravenwater said quickly, trying to calm Shadowstorm.

“But she wants to just die,” Frostgem muttered.

“Put yourself in her position. Wouldn’t you want to die?” Ravenwater asked.

“This isn’t what was supposed to happen,” Emberstrike whispered, shaking her head solemnly.

“Not everything goes as we plan,” Ravenwater said, leaving them to go into his room.

---

Shade stared down into the cauldron. He frowned when all he could see was Windfire lying on her bed. “Windy,” he whispered as he reverted back to his old self. “I’m sorry…” he cried as his eyes welled up with tears. “So so sorry…” he sobbed.

She turned from her side onto her back. He blushed watching her intently. “God, you’re gorgeous,” Shade admitted as he bit his lower lip. “I wish I wasn’t such a coward. I might actually have the courage to face you…”
He continued staring at the gorgeous woman who continued leaving him abashed and almost speechless, “But this and what I’m going to be doing are the only things I can do to see you without having to face you…”

“And what might they be?” an acolyte asked from behind him.

Shade turned around and glared at the two men who were in his room without consent. “Why the hell were you eavesdropping? And why are you in my house?”

The other acolyte spoke, “If you were having a conversation we would have been eavesdropping, but you were having a soliloquy, so we were like an audience to your soliloquy in the theater.”

Shade rolled his eyes, “Why the hell are you up here?”

“We want to work more closely with our new master,” one spoke.

“And what do you want me to do?” Shade crossed his arms over his chest and glanced back and forth between the two men. “I told you there’s no cult.”

They advanced closer to Shade, “We want some real orders. We want an initiation.”

One of them looked into the cauldron, “Who’s the sexy woman?”

Shade stirred the liquid in the cauldron, messing up the scrying, “My fiancé.”

“She’s into evil guys, eh?” the man who saw Windfire asked slyly.

“You could say that,” Shade retorted, glaring at him.

“Fiancé, I heard you,” the one said quickly, trying to hide his interest in Windfire, the witch that Shade was obsessed with.

“What do we have to do?” the terse one asked.

“I don’t know,” Shade shrugged, “I didn’t plan an initiation because I don’t want a cult.”

“We’ll surprise you,” one promised.

“What are your names?” Shade asked, regretting asking right after he did.

“I’m Rich,” one replied and motioned toward the other, “And this is Roy.”

“Well, go do whatever.”

---

deadly night shade 3