Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters or the stories, LJ Smith does (who is writing again, YAY!). I'm not making money or anything. It has been so long since I've put a new story out that I've forgotten how to write one of these things.
Final Game
Chapter 1 - Out of the Shadows
Pain. In the beginning there was pain.
The searing pain of birth, of wrenching his essence from the shadow. A separation of blisters, heat and scorching light, before which he was not allowed to fade but must instead take on form. Bound as a shadow man.
All of this he knew, just as any shadow man would know. Though until this moment, he had never considered himself in the singular.
"Julian?" a frail girl observed him with expectant eyes.
The runes compelled him to reply, just as they had compelled his formation. "As you name me, mistress." He bowed.
She frowned.
He watched her curiously, the knowledge that was the common heritage of any shadow man informed him that her behavior was unusual for a summoner. He wondered if it was unusual in a way that would make his escape easier or harder.
"Don't you recognize me?" there was a slight quaver to her voice.
"I recognize you as my mistress." He shrugged.
"Have you never seen me before?" she whispered, seeming to struggle for the words.
"No." Julian wandered the room with his eyes, observing his surroundings. He had already dismissed his summoner as incompetent. He would free himself with time.
Next Chapter - Walking the Lines
A/N: I've had this story finished for forever, but I kept on wanting to make additions. That's the problem with finishing stories before posting them, then you don't want to let them go. But since L.J Smith is writing again and, apparently, updating older series (a new book in Vampire Diaries!) I thought that I'd better put this thing out there before she (please god) writes a fourth Forbidden Game book and makes this story completely AU. Because that's the reaction that we all had at the end of Forbidden Game, wasn't it? That feeling of utter disbelief that the story had ended that way. Surely, surely, that wasn't really the end?