CHAPTER 12:SEEING BLACK

The night air was dense, thickened by a mist that clung to Daggers Port like a living thing, wrapping around each streetlight, blurring the shadows and making every corner seem a little darker. I pulled my coat tighter against the chill, feeling an odd shiver that wasn't from the cold. It was more a sense of foreboding, something old and familiar, and it unsettled me. I'd been here before, in the shadows, but tonight felt different. Wrong.

The streets were quieter than usual, the typical thrum of city life replaced by an eerie silence that seemed to press in on me, amplifying every echo of my footsteps. Daggers Port was always a place of secrets, but tonight, it felt as though the city itself was holding its breath.

I heard it before I saw it—a low, panicked murmur echoing from a nearby alley. The sound cut through the silence like a blade, its urgency drawing me toward it. I quickened my pace, my instincts kicking in as I neared the corner. As I peered around the edge of the building, I froze, my breath catching.

Two figures were in the alley, one backed against the wall, the other looming over him, a dark and ominous presence. I could only see glimpses of the man being held, his face twisted in fear, but it was the attacker that made my blood run cold. He was tall and still, his head tilted in a way that suggested he was savouring the other man's terror. His eyes—those were what struck me the hardest. They were pools of darkness, an unnatural black that seemed to swallow the light around them. It was as if his gaze was a void, something that defied all that was human.

The man being pinned gasped, his voice a strangled plea. "Please let me go...I won't do it again"

The attacker only tightened his grip,draining all life from the man, his face expressionless, his dark eyes unblinking. There was a familiarity in the way he moved, a precision and strength that felt unsettlingly familiar, yet my mind resisted the memory, holding it at bay as I tried to make sense of the scene.

"Stop!" I called out, my voice echoing down the narrow alley.

The attacker's head turned toward me slowly, deliberately, as though he'd known I was there all along and had been waiting for me to reveal myself. And in that moment, the fragments of memory I had been trying to keep at bay shattered, leaving only one possibility. A single name.

Sebastian.

I took a sharp breath, my world narrowing as the implications sank in. Sebastian. The same man I had mourned, the one I had once loved, the one I believed dead. His face hadn't changed, but his eyes, those eyes that once held so much warmth, were now vacant, reflecting nothing but a chilling darkness. It was like seeing a ghost—or worse, a monster in his skin.

He seemed to recognize me too. For the briefest moment, there was a flicker, a spark of something in his gaze, but it vanished as quickly as it appeared, leaving only that black void. And then, just as suddenly, he let go of the man he was holding,the body went limp, slipping from his attacker's grasp to slump lifelessly onto the cold, unforgiving pavement .

"Sebastian," I whispered, almost afraid to say his name aloud, as though it might shatter whatever thin thread of reality I was clinging to.

He didn't respond, but his gaze lingered on me, cold and calculating, a stark reminder of how much he had changed—how far he'd gone from the man I once knew. For a long, tense moment, we stood locked in that silence, the weight of our shared past bearing down on us both.

Then, with a suddenness that left me breathless, he turned and slipped into the shadows, his form melding with the darkness as if he belonged there. I took a step forward, instinct pushing me to follow, to demand answers, but something held me back, a deep-rooted fear that I was no longer dealing with the man I remembered.

As the last trace of him disappeared, I let out a breath I hadn't realised I was holding. The man he'd attacked was lifeless on the ground and offered a grim rebuttal.

I pulled out my phone, my hands shaking as I dialled for backup. When the dispatcher answered, I found myself hesitating, unsure of what to say. How could I even begin to explain what I'd just seen? The rational part of me wanted to dismiss it, to tell myself it was a trick of the light, a figment of my imagination. But deep down, I knew the truth. That was no ordinary attacker, and that was no ordinary man. 

"This is Detective Lily Howard at Daggers Port. Requesting immediate backup… possible homicide," she said, forcing her voice to sound steadier than she felt. She hesitated, tempted to mention what she'd seen. But how could she? Black eyes? Sebastian vanishing? They'll think I've lost my mind. The thought sent a chill down her spine. She swallowed her words, "Possible suspect heading east on foot. Tall, male, dark clothing… potentially dangerous."

I hung up, my mind racing. I needed to stay grounded, to focus on the job, but all I could think about was Sebastian—the impossibility of his survival, the blackness in his eyes, and the coldness in his stare. This wasn't just a case anymore. It was personal, a dark echo from my past that refused to stay buried.

As I leaned against the wall, trying to steady my breathing, my phone buzzed in my hand. I glanced at the screen, expecting an update from the station, but my heart sank as I saw the caller ID. Liam.

I answered, my voice barely a whisper. "Liam?"

"Mother?" His voice was frantic, strained with worry. "It's Lucas… we're at the hospital. His… his eyes, Mother. They're black. Purely black."

A cold dread settled over me, heavier than anything I'd felt in years. My world tilted as I processed his words, every fibre of my being filled with fear. The darkness I'd seen in Sebastian's eyes—the same darkness Liam was describing in Lucas' eyes. This wasn't just about the past; it was about my family, my life, my world being dragged into a nightmare I barely understood.

"I'll be right there," I managed, my voice breaking.

As I hung up, I felt the weight of everything pressing down on me, the echoes of old memories mixing with the present in a dizzying spiral. I didn't know what I was up against, but one thing was clear: this fight was no longer just mine. It was coming for all of us, and I would have to face it head-on, no matter the cost.

I pushed off from the wall, forcing my legs to move as I made my way back to my car. The mist still hung heavy in the air, each step echoing in the silence, as though the city itself was waiting, watching. I'd spent my career hunting shadows, solving mysteries, finding the truth. But tonight, the shadows were hunting me, and I could feel their cold fingers closing in.

The question now wasn't just who or what Sebastian had become. It was what I was willing to do to protect the people I loved from whatever darkness he had brought with him.

  THE END