I sat there in the darkness, my heart pounding, the sound of his final breath still echoing in my ears. I didn’t need to look to know what I would find. His body was slumped beside me, cold and lifeless. The curse had claimed him, just as it had every other man who dared to love me.
But something was different this time. I felt it almost immediately—the air around me grew colder, sharper, as if the night itself had teeth. My skin prickled with the sensation of being watched, but there was no one here. No one but him… and me.
I swallowed the lump in my throat, refusing to let the tears fall. Crying wouldn’t change anything. It never did. But the curse… this curse was evolving. I could feel it wrapping tighter around me, suffocating me. For the first time, I wasn’t sure if it was finished.
The air crackled, and suddenly, I heard it. A voice. Soft, distant, but unmistakable.
“Not this time.”
I froze, my pulse quickening. The voice wasn’t his. It wasn’t anyone I knew. It came from everywhere and nowhere, like the whisper of a ghost. I stood, backing away from the body, my legs trembling beneath me.
“Who’s there?” I called into the darkness, my voice barely a whisper.
Nothing.
I took another step back, my breath quick and shallow. The presence—whatever it was—grew stronger. It pressed against me, making it hard to breathe, hard to think. I knew I should run, but my feet wouldn’t move. It was as if something was keeping me rooted to the spot.
Then, I saw it.
A shadow, darker than the night itself, rose from where my lover’s body lay. It moved slowly, deliberately, taking form—a shape, a figure. I couldn’t make out its face, but I could feel its eyes on me, burning into my soul. My skin crawled.
“Why?” I whispered, barely able to speak. “Why are you doing this to me?”
The shadow tilted its head, as if considering the question. When it spoke again, its voice was like a rasping wind, hollow and cold.
“Because you belong to me.”
A chill ran down my spine. I tried to back away further, but my body wouldn’t obey. I was trapped, frozen in place as the shadow moved closer. I could feel its presence inside my mind, unraveling my thoughts, twisting my memories. The faces of all the men I had lost flashed before my eyes, their deaths playing over and over again like a cruel joke.
“No…” I gasped, shaking my head. “No, I don’t. I never did.”
The shadow stopped, inches away from me. I could feel its cold breath on my skin, its darkness seeping into me, claiming me.
“You are mine,” it hissed. “You always have been.”
I shook my head, tears finally spilling down my cheeks. “Please… no more. Let me go. Let my child go.”
At the mention of my child, the shadow hesitated. The air around me shifted, just for a moment. But then, its voice returned, harsher, more menacing.
“You think you can escape? The child is mine too. Everything you love… belongs to me.”
Panic surged through me. I couldn’t let this happen. Not my baby. I had lost too much already, and I wouldn’t lose him too.
Summoning every ounce of strength I had left, I screamed. The sound ripped through the night, louder and more powerful than I thought possible. For a moment, the shadow recoiled, its form flickering, unstable.
But then, just as quickly, it regained control. It lunged forward, enveloping me in its darkness. I felt it consume me, pulling me into the void.
And then… everything went black.
I woke up hours later, alone. The sun was rising, casting soft light through the broken windows. My lover’s body was gone. There was no trace of him, no sign of the shadow. Only silence.
I touched my belly, feeling the faint heartbeat of my child beneath my skin. He was still there. Still alive. But something had changed. The darkness that had haunted me for so long was still there, lurking just beneath the surface.
It wasn’t over.
The curse wasn’t finished with me.
And I feared… it never would be.