Bri's brain was mash pit slam-dancing against her skull as she woke up. Her tongue tasted of chemicals and her skin felt dirty. She was so out of it she couldn't move her arms or legs. Everything around her was pitch black, and for a moment she wondered if she had even opened her eyes. She blinked; no, they were open, and she wasn't blindfolded, the room she was in was simply darker than moonless night. As her mind cleared, she began to remember the night in the cemetery, and all that had happened after. She had been chloroformed and hauled off. Bri groaned, and tried not to think about how feeble and helpless her voice sounded in the blackness. She felt a wall behind her, made of hard dirt or rock. She tried to move her limbs and found enough strength to move her leg. Yet when she did, the other came with it, and the same happened with her arms.
Christ, I'm tied up. Bri thought. A whimper of fear rose to her lips, but she stubbornly held it back. I won't cry. But I will be honest with myself: Bridgid, honey, you are up shit creek without a paddle. Shadow rose from his dormancy, his dry whispers swirling in her mind.
Don't let your guard down, child, he hissed softly. Do not panic. Neither will aid you.
"Oh yeah?" Bri pouted. "And just what do you expect me to do, tied up in a dirt hole? Besides, your meal ticket might be about to be killed, and I don't see you helping." Shadow rose from his home in her soul and appeared before her, a purple-black figure with no distinguishing features, which was how he got the name 'Shadow'.
"Things would be much easier on you, young one, if you would simply learn to trust me," he said, his voice now smoother and more human. Bri frowned.
"Again, why should I trust you?" Shadow made a vague movement that looked like he was shaking his hand.
"Have I ever harmed you, in the six years you have been alive?"
"The blood is harm enough."
"My need for your blood isn't out of harm. But I am unable to explain until you ask. Such is the law of my existence." Bri sighed.
"Fine. Why do you need my blood? And for that matter who and what are you?" Bri sensed Shadow smile as he sat in front of her. With nothing to do but trust Shadow, Bri listened to him as he began explaining.