Awakens
The faint glow of the arcane crystals in Tiffany's lab bathed the room in pale blue light. The air hummed with psychic energy, vibrating against the walls like the faint echo of a heartbeat. Marco stood at the far end, his arms crossed, dark aura coiling around him. Tiffany moved among her instruments and vials, her eyes sharp and aware, sensing every ripple of tension emanating from him.
"Alpha," she said carefully, "the vampires have provided some useful information. Locations of… other Shadelings. There are clusters across the borderlands, near the Lost Swamp and along the fringes of Luna Azul territory."
Marco's eyes narrowed. "Clusters… meaning they've already been feeding and organizing themselves?"
The petite girl shrugged. "That I do not know. You know the nature of shadelings and how vampires use them. They could be feeding, or they could be covertly hiding and watching, biding their time and not wanting to be found. We want to recruit those that are of the second ilk. Intelligent, cunning and eager to learn and evolve." She gave another slight shrug. "The others we will kill."
He paused, Moas stirring within. "And if they refuse?"
Tiffany's lips curved slightly. "Then they become mine to deal with. The choice is theirs… in theory. But I assure you, Alpha, they'll see the benefit in joining us."
Marco let his hands fall to his sides. "Make sure we know every consequence. I don't want loose ends."
"Of course," Tiffany replied, her eyes glinting. "Every step will be calculated."
A group of Shadelings were in an underground bunker. Their forms fluttering in the sparsely lit space. Their transparent forms floating gently as they stood about seemingly lifeless.
They were listening. They had heard something, sensed danger, and all five of them had frozen to the spot. Just as they felt they were safe something seemed to fall over them. They struggled to move. The more the moved the more restrained they became.
It was an odd sensation for them, creatures incorporeal and capable of moving through solid objects, and now they were bound by something unseen.
Tiffany materialized before them, a ripple of water that formed a petite young girl. A broad smile on her face and her hands behind her back she spoke to them without ever opening her mouth. Her mind dove into theirs without warning or apology.
"I am Tiffany of the Silver Moon Pack and I come to you will a proposal. If you wish to live and be more, evolve, and learn, come with me. I will help you be a greater existence. If you do not wish to accept this opportunity I have no choice but to kill those I find useless and use the others in my experiments to understand your kind more.
"OH, if you doubt it is possible, allow me to introduce you to your possibilities."
As her words faded Stien and Cros appeared in front of her, between herself and the five Shadelings. They entered the space in their incorporeal forms but quickly changed to their corporeal forms. Tiffany almost instantly felt the awe and desire coming off of the five.
A small female Shadeling moved forward. Her eyes seemed intelligent and bright. They were also blue, not the normal black of a Shadeling.
"I am Ariel. I want to be smarter." She looked to Stien and Cros. "And I want to be solid"
Tiffany smiled and nodded. "Come with me Ariel. If you work hard you will have your desire and my protection." Tiffany paused her eyes flashed, and her posture changed ever so subtly. Danger seemed to cascade from her like a waterfall.
"You will always have to be loyal to me and my Alphas. Any disloyalty will result in a final death."
Ariel shivered and bowed. "I give my loyalty to you and to your Alphas."
Two Shadelings hovered near a far wall, their ghostly forms writhing like smoke caught in a draft. Stien and Cros, their desiccated features wrapped in tattered garments, stared at Tiffany and Marco with hollow, ancient eyes. Their forms seemed fragile, ephemeral, like dust taking shape—black tendrils at their edges drifting into nothingness.
Tiffany moved closer, holding her hand steady. "You have done well, but there is more within you. More strength, more intellect, more… control."
The Shadelings shivered at her words, though no cold wind stirred. Their incorporeal forms quivered as if aware of their own inadequacy.
"Watch," Tiffany murmured, extending her mind toward them in a wave of controlled psychic energy. Light rippled across the room as the Shadelings' forms solidified, fibers of shadow twisting into more defined, corporeal shapes. Their movements gained precision. Their hollow eyes brightened with intelligence, no longer mere receptacles of suffering, but minds capable of independent thought.
Stien reached toward an invisible surface, fingers elongating slightly as he tested his new form. Cros mirrored him, crouching, then leaping with unnatural grace.
Marco observed silently, hands clenched. Moas stirred within him, whispering: "They are not yours alone… yet."
Footsteps could be heard within the lab. Marco turned to see Tiffany's new assistant, Ariel. She had already surpassed both Stien and Cros. As they hesitated she advanced.
"Your data mistress." She bowed low. Left a stack of papers, looked at Marco a moment then, as if deciding he was who she thought him to be, bowed to his and returned from whence she came.
Marco was stunned a bit. She had just been brought in and she was so much more. Her stench was still there but it was different, it didn't assault the senses it was just different, and her striking blue eyes were even more vivid than before.
He looked to Stien and Cros before he spoke.
"How far has she advanced."
"She is already a good three levels above them and she can advance more. I told her to stop and allow her advancements time to stabilize. She will be training later if you wish to observe."
Marco nodded as Tiffany turned back to the other two.
Tiffany instructed Stien and Cros in their first controlled feeding exercise. A single vampire from the Water Caves was brought in—a willing participant for training.
"Approach with intention," Tiffany commanded. "Do not let instinct dominate. Feed only as much as needed. Observe control."
The Shadelings placed their skeletal hands inches from the vampire's forehead. Shadows stretched like fingers into his mind, pulling emotions, memories, and thoughts. The vampire shivered, and Tiffany corrected their subtle overreach. "Balance. Feed to grow, not to destroy. Draw negative energy, yes, but leave the soul intact."
Stien paused, withdrawing his tendrils. "Too much… it aches… I feel it anchoring to me."
"Exactly," Tiffany replied. "You feel the cost. That is why control is essential. Use focus, or you will be consumed by the very darkness you seek to wield."
Marco stepped closer, studying the Shadelings' feed. "Efficient… precise… but can they be tactical in the field?"
Tiffany nodded. "Yes. They were already intelligent. The more they practice the more they learn how to control their feeding. Ariel can already feed to full in a few seconds. She has also learned how to rip at the souk without actually consuming. Their loyalty will tie them to us—both mentally and strategically. They are mine to guide, but with your oversight, Alpha, we will create a unit that cannot fail."
Tiffany brought up a map of the borderlands. Red marks indicated vampire territories, faint black smudges hinted at Shadelings, either observed or a location given by a captive.
"Stien and Cros," she said, "your first mission is to scout. Identify other Shadelings who demonstrate independence, intelligence, and potential magical affinity. Those are the ones we recruit. The rest…" She glanced at Marco. "Leave them to me."
Marco's eyes darkened. "No mercy for unnecessary threats. Control and elimination. Understood?"
"Understood," Tiffany confirmed.
The Shadelings nodded, their forms stretching taller, more solid, more tangible. They moved to the shadows, ready to disappear into the night.
Marco looked to Ariel.
"And what of this one."
Tiffany didn't even look, she knew who he meant.
"She is with me. We will immobilize together. And if we need to act we will act."
Marco nodded his eye staying on the strange shadeling.
Marco turned away from the lab, gaze drifting to the far wall. Moas whispered from within:
"I want to tell my Ala of your duality."
"No!!!" Rage burst forth so quickly Marco almost spoke aloud. As he left the lab he felt two sets of eyes on his back. He knew Tiffany would sense the outburst, but Ariel sensing it too caused him to narrow his eyes.
He clenched his fists. The thought of Amber, the child, Moas and his needs, and the loyalty of the Shadelings all tangled in his mind. Outside, the first tendrils of dusk crept across the Silver Moon stronghold. The game was only beginning.