I woke up the next morning, aching in pain. I never wanted to wake up. I wanted to go back to sleep and dream about Dimitri. I could dream about him forever and I'd be content. I opened my eyes to find Dimitri in the room with me along with Devon. Devon was tied down to a chair too with a cloth in his mouth.

I felt so happy to see Devon alive. I actually had tears of happiness in my eyes to see him alright. I felt safer with him there even though he couldn't do anything if Dimitri tried to hurt me.

I could tell Devon was also relieved to see me alive. I tried to communicate with him through our eyes, trying to tell him we could get through this.

"Now that Isabella is awake, we can continue." Dimitri (the Shadow) spoke with his cold, distant voice. "Both of you are going to watch me murder all these humans I kidnapped from Earth. And if any of you close your eyes, well I'm sure Isabella will know what will happen. Am I right?" He asked winking at me. I glared back but it took too much effort so I stopped.

I still felt really sleepy and tired because of the loss of blood, and because I needed food. I was so hungry. But even more than food, I needed water. I really needed water. The Shadow had to give me some if he was planning on keeping me alive. I think it was about 3-4 days that humans could last without water. After that, they'd die.

It had already been a whole day for me. Last night was when I last ate or drank anything.

I turned my head to look at Devon. I wanted to say something to him but I couldn't. Both of our mouths were shut tight with a cloth, preventing us from making any noise.

Dimitri had left the room before dragging in a human girl and once I got a good look at her, I realized who she was. My eyes widened in horror. It was Shauna. He couldn't hurt her. He couldn't. I couldn't watch this. I can't.

I looked to Devon and his eyes were wide in horror as well. "Eyes over here!" Dimitri snapped causing my gaze to snap to him. Shauna was crying causing Dimitri (the Shadow) to slap her.

"Shut up!" He growled at her before tying her down. He then brought out this weird looking knife that looked like a screw with small pointy blades jutting out. He was going to torture her with it. I couldn't watch. I really couldn't. I didn't care if he hurt me, I had to close my eyes.

And then I realized that if I closed my eyes, he might stop hurting Shauna and turn to me. Maybe I can save her life. I looked to Devon, I needed him to do the same.

Devon was looking at me now and with my eyes I motioned towards the Shadow. Devon nodded his head, showing me he understood I was saying something about the Shadow. I then closed my eyes for a few seconds before opening them again. I then looked at the Shadow and back to Devon, hoping he understood what I was trying to say. He looked confused for a few seconds before his eyes widened in understanding. He then faced forward and closed his eyes.

I faced forward as well and closed my eyes, hoping the Shadow would notice and come for us instead. And soon enough, before the Shadow could really hurt Shauna, it noticed our eyes were closed and yelled at us to open them. When we didn't listen, Dimitri (the Shadow) came towards me, untying me.

He then pulled me out of my chair and threw me onto the ground. I groaned in pain as I still had the huge cut across my back and all the other bruises and cuts. I felt so tired. But if I couldn't save Dimitri, I could at least try and save Shauna. I had to save her.

She was right behind me and I slowly sneaked my hand back and undid one of her hands, hoping she'd undo herself and run out of there. Dimitri then stalked towards me, before leaning down and picking me up by my shirt. He threw me hard against the wall. I cried out as I heard a cracking noise as pain shot up through my back. I noticed Shauna sneaking behind the Shadow and untying Devon. Once Devon was free, he grabbed Shauna and ran out of the room with her. I internally smiled knowing that I at least could save two people. It didn't matter if I died. I was just happy I could save Devon and Shauna.

"You never learn, don't you?" He growled out causing me to grin up at him. I knew I was going to die so I didn't care if I pissed him off.

"I guess I don't learn. Haven't you heard? Love makes you do stupid things." I spoke softly causing him to glare down at me in even more angry. "One thing I don't understand is why you Shadows hate love so much. Love is amazing." I didn't even know what I was saying anymore. I was in so much pain and it was taking a lot of effort to mask it when all I wanted to do was scream. I wanted to scream out all the pain. "It weakens you, doesn't it?" I grinned and Dimitri looked down at me with a hint of fear in his eyes. Fear that didn't belong to Dimitri. Fear that belongs to the Shadow. Dimitri reached down and grabbed me by my throat. He pressed me hard against the wall, but left enough room between his hand and my throat to let me breathe and talk. "You're scared aren't you? You're scared I have you figured out." I laughed softly, the pain inside me numbing as I took out the knife that the Shadow was going to use to kill Shauna. I had snuck it into my pants when he wasn't paying attention.

I then placed the knife against his neck read to kill him with one swipe.

"You do realize that if you kill me, you'll kill Dimitri. He's still in this body and you'll kill him." The Shadow said, trying to sound snug but I caught that slight shake to his voice causing me to smile.

"I don't care if I kill Dimitri. This is what Dimitri would want me to do." I spoke causing the Shadow to laugh at me.

"No he wouldn't. You know what, go on and try to kill me. Make Dimitri hate you for the rest of his life." The Shadow said causing me to grin again.

"Dimitri won't hate me. He'll love me. Just like I love him. He knows I'm killing him because I love him. Both of us want you gone. We both want the same thing." I said, as I fought to stay awake. I felt so exhausted and I could feel blood dripping down my face. I would have killed him already if my arm was longer and positioned in the right way. The Shadow thought I'd kill him if he moved but in reality I couldn't. If the Shadow finds out I can't kill him yet, then he'll move even farther away and end up killing me instead.

"You do realize that I took over Dimitri because he killed the last body I was in. So if you kill Dimitri, I'll just take over you." The Shadow said causing me to laugh as tears of pain fell down my face. I tried to shift my body ever so slightly. I needed to position my arm just right to get the perfect swipe.

"Dimitri killed out of hatred. I'm killing out of love and isn't love the one thing that can weaken and kill you? Isn't it?" I asked, smiling. "Trying to enter my body will kill you. You're welcome to try." I said as I slowly moved my arm, hoping the Shadow wouldn't notice. "And if you don't have a body to take over, you'll die. You're not strong enough to survive by yourself. If you did, you wouldn't have had to use Dimitri's body." I spoke just as the Shadow started choking me.

"You won't kill me! You can't!" He yelled as he pressed my neck harder and harder, completely cutting off my oxygen supply. I was in so much pain but I somehow mustered up the energy to move my arm to just the right position. And with all the strength left in my body, I brought the knife down and stuck it into his neck.

He cried out in pain, letting go of me. I fell down to the ground, clutching onto my neck as tears slid down my face. I felt so exhausted and was in so much pain, it honestly would have been better if the Shadow had killed me.

I noticed a black cloudy swirl leave Dimitri's body. I realized it was the Shadow leaving his body. I internally smiled as I crawled over to Dimitri, ignoring all the pain I was feeling. I grabbed his face in between my hands, tears dripping down my face as I leaned down and kissed him. I then pulled away and rest my head down on his chest as I sobbed.

Just then I noticed the black cloudy swirl coming towards me with a knife. "You might have defeated me but I'm not going to let you live." I heard the suddenly strong wind around me whisper, just as the knife came tumbling down and hit my back, lodging itself deep into my body. I screamed out in pain as I watched the Shadow slowly die away.

I clutched tightly onto Dimitri's shirt, as I screamed out in pain. I buried my face in his chest as I cried out in pain. Just then Devon and Kenneth ran in with a bunch of the castle guards, ready with their weapons. "Bella!" Devon yelled as he dropped his weapons and ran over to me. I started feeling really lightheaded and started seeing black spots. "Bella no! Keep your eyes open!" Devon yelled shaking me. "She's dying!" He yelled at someone. "And will someone check on Dimitri!"

"Devon." I whispered. "I... killed the... Shadow." I spoke my last word before the darkness took over.

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