Possession ＆ Shadows – The Accalia Series Book 1 & 2

Jasmine Pov

” So, who are we supposed to meet?” I asked dad. He has an annoyed look on his face, though I can feel it’s not directed at me. It’s for whoever we must go see. He didn’t answer. Instead, his eyes were blank, which told me he was linking to someone.

” How are you feeling?” Samael asked as he put his hand on my face. I can tell he was trying to avoid the subject. I inhaled his scent. Something I have been doing more often than I realized. It was a calm that came from not only him, but his wolf. It just felt so….. right. However, it didn’t take a mate bond to see he was trying to change the subject.

” I’m feeling fine. Now will you tell me who we are going to go see? Who has this stone?” I asked them. Dad looked at me with his purple eyes that held many emotions. Sadness. Regret. Anger. Samael opened his mouth to say something, but dad beat him to it.

” We are going to see some people I used to be friendly with. We had a falling out, but I left them in charge of protecting the stone. Getting there isn’t the problem. It’s what will happen when we get there that I am concerned about”, dad explains, and I nod. I can feel he isn’t telling me everything. I hopped out of the hospital bed. I was feeling back to full strength now that Lunar had healed me.

” I’m coming” I said to them, to which they both looked at each other. Dad was clearly trying to keep me from going but I can tell Samael was advocating on my behalf, which was something I didn’t think he would do, but I was grateful all the same. They stayed in their debate for a few minutes before dad stormed off with a low growl, making it clear Samael was getting his way. Florida finished checking me to make sure I was in tiptop shape before I walked out with Samael behind me. I let him lead, since I had no idea where he was going.

” You’re coming with us. Your Rynyxon will just have to accept it”, Samael said, and I nodded. I could feel a bit of sadness coming from him and I knew it was because he didn’t like fighting with my dad. Especially since I could tell dad loved him as his own.

” Why is he so against who we are going to meet?”I asked him. He took a moment to ponder as we ended up walking to his office.

” It’s not my story to tell, but I’m sure he will tell you in good time. The journey to the realm we are going to will drain much of our energy, so we will relax today. Tomorrow, we will travel. You will need your rest” he said. Before I could respond, Ava and Harmon came into the room.

” Well,” he says to them while sitting at his desk. He pulls me in his arms, and I stay in his grasp.

Ava hands him a file. This is everything we were able to dig up. I hope it’s helpful”, she says. He takes the file and opens it with one hand. I take a look at it, and I can see the file is about Xavier.

” What is this?” I asked him, afraid he was going to try to leave again to kill Xavier without me. Finding out that Xavier not only arranged my mother’s death, but my best friends as well, was taking its toll on my state of mind. The more I thought about it, what I saw in the past, the more I wanted to break down and cry or just go kill Xavier myself. I don’t want to put anyone else in harm’s way.

” We know Xavier is a demon, but my gut tells me there is something bigger at stake. I have a feeling he isn’t posed, but the demon born into this world in human form, with his abilities still intact. I had them dig up this file for me. He may be my cousin, but there really isn’t much I know about him other than the fact that his mother was my aunt. She died when he was born. It didn’t make sense until now. Regular wolves are not equipped for birthing demons or demon wolves”, Samael explained, and I nodded, processing the information. They continued to talk but my mind could only drift back to Xavier. I found myself being so lost in my head until I realized I was diving into my subconscious.

I opened my eyes to find myself at a dessert. I had no idea where I was. Only that the sun was hot. The ground was covered in sand that seemed to stretch out for miles. What is this place?

” I call it the Oasis,” a voice said from behind me. I turned around only to come face to face with Xavier. I get in a fighting stance, calling on Lunar’s strength, but Lunar is gone. What the fuck?

” You” I sneered, backing up slowly. He reached out to grab me but missed as I tripled over and fell over a rock.

” Why do you resist me?” he asks, his eyes mocking me as he smiles.

” Geez let me guess, you not only ruined my life. You killed those who were closest to me. Am I supposed to fucking embrace you?” I asked him sarcastically as I stood up, brushing the sand off myself, my eyes never leaving his in case he tried to make another move.

” Such a nasty mouth you have developed, little mate. Do you kiss your mother with that mouth? Oh wait…” he says, fakely putting his hand over his mouth in realization. I’m not sure if it was because of what he said, or because I wanted him dead, maybe both, but I recklessly charged him with the intent to kill. He vanished in smoke before I could reach him. I looked around me, but he was gone. I could hear his voice in my head.

” I don’t have long, so I will make this short. You have already seen the lengths I will go to get you all to myself. I have no problems with killing anyone closest to you. Maybe I’ll start with my dear cousin, or your killer father. Maybe I’ll decapitate your little sister and make you watch as I do it.” He threatens and I can’t help the tears that well up in my eyes.

‘” In the coming weeks there will be the Blood Moon. On this day, you will embrace our prophecy and come to me willingly, ready to make your wolf accept me, or I will use my army to destroy everyone you love until only you and I are left standing.” he says, and I can feel a chill on my body. I turned around only to see black smoke covering the sun, and the day turned to night. The smoke leaves the sun, and I can now see the moon, blood red. I realized this was the same vision I had before. Just as before, I saw the dead bodies of my loved ones, only now the dessert changed itself. I was back at Xavier’s palace. Just as before, I saw Xavier’s body dead on the ground. I walked towards him, completely not understanding what was happening. If Xavier is dead, who killed everyone?

I looked down and saw that my clothes had been changed to a white wedding-like dress. It was stained with red spots. Stained with blood. I looked at my hands and they started to shake. They, too, were covered in blood. I walked backwards. Not sure what to do.

Did……Did I do this?

I looked back up only to see a dark figure standing over Xavier’s body. This figure had on white robes. The figure pulled his hat back and I saw it was Xavier. I wiped my eyes, unsure what I was seeing.

If Xavier is dead, how is he also alive?

The white-robed Xavier looked at me. His eyes were blood red. The smile on his face was enough to give me many chills. The dead Xavier suddenly sat up, blood caked all over his face. His eyes were pure yellow.

” HELP ME”, I heard him shout in my head towards me. Just what the fuck was I seeing?

” NO”, the white-robed Xavier yelled and shot some sort of black ball of mist towards him, covering him completely. The white-robed Xavier then looked at me.

” You will meet me on the day of the blood moon. Or face the consequences” he demands, and I scream as he shoots that same ball of black mist towards me, closing my eyes. When I open them, I am still in the same spot between Samaels arms as he is reading Xavier’s file. It was like nothing changed, but I knew the threat was real. Even with our mate link closed, he was still able to reach me.

” Jasmine, are you okay?” I heard Lunar ask in my head. She was pacing around, and I felt…. fear?

” Not really. What happened?” I asked her.

” I don’t know. One minute, I was listening to our mate. Next, I couldn’t feel you. I was still in your mind, but you were not in your body. I can’t explain it,” she said.

” I think I know what happened,” I told her. Astral projection is something I did one night while with Xavier. I didn’t know what I was doing at the time, but I know what it was now. Xavier was so powerful; he was able to control what I was seeing during my astral projection. The first time it happened, Xavier and I were just having sex, though I thought it was a dream. I hadn’t realized he was controlling the scene the whole time. I do now. I explained what happened and Xavier’s threat. Once I was done, I could hear her growl in frustration. I told her about Xavier, who was dead, but then suddenly sat up yelling, to help me.

” What do you think it means?” I asked her.

” I’m honestly not sure. Not even Isa had nightmares such as yours. This is all new to me. I will need to speak with the goddess” she says before retreating to the back of my head. As she retreats, I tune back into the conversation.

” Make sure you bring me the reports. That is all” Samael says to which Harmon and Ava nod and leave. I watched Ava’s retreating form. She intentionally avoided my eyes. What is up with her? I wasn’t the only one who noticed it.

” Did something happen between you and Ava?” Samael asked me when they were well without earshot. I turned to him, so we were face to face.

” No. I have barely spoken to her since I came here. Maybe she is upset”, I tell him, and he nods.

” Ava can be stubborn and cautious about people she does not know, but you are sisters. She will need time. You are the one who saved her life after all”, Samael said, and I nodded, making a mental note to talk to her.

” Now tell me. What is wrong with you? While they were here, I felt something off with you.” he asks me, looking into my eyes with his burnt orange ones. I’d never get over his beauty, but now was not the time to think about such things. I debated with myself whether or not to tell him. He might know if I lied to him though. I thought of something fast.

” Just thinking about how dangerous Xavier really is. I saw some signs, but I never really wanted to believe he was evil at his core. He has done so much.” I told Samael and he just hugged me tighter. I can feel my eyes watering.

” I would never let anything happen to you, beauty. I love you” he says, and I gasp in surprise.

” Y…. you love me?” I asked to make sure I heard it right. He smiled and kissed my head.

” Of course, I love you, beauty. From the moment my eyes landed on you when you were born, I have loved you. I smiled at him. I opened my mouth to say it back… I want to say it back…..

Why won’t it come out? Samael gave me a small smile.

” It’s okay if you can’t say it back right now. I know you love me too. I know your heart is still hurting from Xavier. Just know, I will never try anything with you until you are ready, but I just wanted you to know” he said, kissing my head. I nod. He is right. I can’t say it back right now, but I am glad he knows. I still need time to heal my heart, even though he has filled half of it already.

” Go and get some sleep. It’s late and we have a big day ahead of us’ ‘, he tells me, and I let go of him to go to my room, blowing a kiss at him. He fake catches it, which causes me to laugh a little before I head to my room. I sensed something as I closed the door. Right before I can brace myself, I’m thrown to the floor. Before I can react, the person is on top of me with their hands around my neck, choking me. I struggle but they are strong. The room is dark, but I can make out the person on top of me.

” Hello, you bitch” the voice of the person I least expected to be here said. I struggled against him. I thrashed, but he was just too strong for me, and I felt so weak.

” Jasmine?” I heard Samael knocking on the door. He would have felt my distress somehow.

” H. e…. l… p” I squeaked out as I looked into the eyes of my soon-to-be murderer. Samael burst into the room and turned on the lights. When the lights were on, there was no one on top of me, and my own hands were on my own throat, squeezing.

” Jasmine” he said, kneeling at me, pulling me to him. I was shaking. I jumped out of his arms, panting, looking around.

” He is here. He is here. He was just choking me?” I said frantically. Samael stood up and put his arms on my shoulders, with worry on his face.

“Who is here?’ he asked me. I told him and his eyes widened.

” That’s impossible,” he said and pulled me close. He took a deep sniff. Wolves can smell if someone new has been in a room.

” No one but you are here,” Samael said, looking at me.

“No. no… no. He was just right on top of me. He was choking me; He was going to kill me.” I panted. I heard smirking from the bed and saw him sitting there, propped on the bed looking at me with a smirk.

I backed away from Samael and pointed to the bed.Copyright Nôv/el/Dra/ma.Org.

“He… He is right there” I told Samael. Samael looked at the bed, then back at me in confusion.

” Jasmine, there is nothing on the bed,” he said, and I looked at him. Samael couldn’t see him. When I looked back at the bed, he was gone. No trace of him was in the room at all. I started shaking as I slid down the wall onto the floor. Samael just bent down and pulled me up in his arms. He picked me up bridal style as if I weighed nothing.

” I think the stress of everything that has happened lately is starting to eat away at your psyche. If you want, I can leave you here with Harmon and Ava. Your father and I can get the Amethyst stone by ourselves.” Samael said as he took me to his room. He laid me on the bed. I was not feeling great. Especially after what just happened. What was happening to me?

” No” I told him, trying to gather up my now drained strength. I didn’t want to be left behind. I don’t know why, but I feel like going with them is something I am meant to do.

” I am coming. You’re right. I think I am hallucinating from the stress. It was bound to happen sooner or later”, I told him, trying to make a light joke of it. He goes to the bathroom and comes back with a cool cloth, putting it on my head.

” It is okay. Rest. I will be right here next to you, I promise” he said. He went to the dresser and tossed me one of his shirts. It was a huge black t-shirt. I stripped off my clothes and changed into a t-shirt. I was glad he didn’t want to leave me alone to go get my own clothes from my room. Honestly, I was not sure I could sleep in there ever again. He turned around to give me privacy. When I was done, he gave me a look that was half concerned, half lust filled. He undressed himself down to his boxers, and even through my current situation, I couldn’t help but admire his ridiculous hot body. I was sure this was the mate bond. To be honest, I was glad about it at that moment.

It took my mind from my attacker. As I looked at Samael getting into bed, I couldn’t help but think. I can’t believe he was my mate this whole time. The mate bond was doing wonders to make me focus only on Samael. As if he knew what was happening, he laid down and held out his arms to me. I lay on his chest, listening to his heartbeat as he stroked my hair lightly, inhaling my scent. Not too long, I could feel he was asleep, and my mind went to the attack.

I told Samael what he wanted to hear, but I know I am not crazy. Just because Samael couldn’t see him, does not mean he was not there.

” You’re not crazy. I saw him too”, Lunar said, and my eyes went wide.

” But that’s impossible. He can’t be here. How is he here?” I asked Lunar, but she was just quiet. I could feel her wondering the same thing.

How was he here?

It was impossible and yet, I can’t deny what I’ve seen and felt.

Darnell was here!

And I was the only one who could see him