110. Out of patience
NIGHT AT THE BROOKS MANSION --
The Night Everything Went Wrong
The Brooks Mansion had never been this quiet.
Not even during storms.
Not even during the night Eleanor was brought in unconscious.
Not even when Maximilian had come home covered in someone else's blood years ago.
Tonight…
the silence was wrong.
Too heavy.
Too thick.
Too still.
Aiden couldn't sleep.
Chloe couldn't sleep.
Even Maximilian, who usually fell asleep instantly from exhaustion, kept turning, irritation rising in his veins like a warning pulse.
Something was prowling outside.
Something dark.
---
The Shadow That Shouldn't Exist--
It began with a whisper.
Not heard—
felt.
Across the walls, under the floorboards, crawling on the skin.
Aiden's room felt colder.
Breath clouding out like winter air.
From the corner of the room…
a shadow slid upward.
Not like a human.
Not like an animal.
Like smoke trying to form a shape but failing.
Aiden jolted up, heart hammering.
"Who's there?"
The shadow flickered—
and vanished.
Aiden rushed out of his room.
Just as another shadow sprinted across the hallway ceiling.
Chloe screamed from the next room—
high-pitched, terrified.
"AIDEN! MAX!! KYRON!!"
Maximilian and Kyron burst out of their rooms instantly, both half-dressed, adrenaline replacing their exhaustion.
But the shadow was faster.
It slipped between rooms, crawling, twisting, flickering through the walls as if solid matter didn't exist.
No one saw its face.
Because it didn't have one.
Only rage.
Dense.
Boiling.
Ancient.
---
Why It Came — The Side Story Behind the Monster --
The dark entity had noticed something earlier that day.
A lingering aura.
Thin. Weak. Fading—
but recognizable.
The same protective aura entity detected on Aiden…
The protective aura the entity had failed to erase 15 years ago.
The same aura that belonged to the child it was supposed to kill—
and failed.
The creature had been punished for that failure.
Tortured.
Bent into submission.
Forced to hunt again.
For years, its existence was nothing but torment.
But tonight…
it sensed him.
The child it failed to kill.
Her aura.
Weak—but present.
It waited all day, hoping the human child would lead it to her.
But Aiden did not.
No sign of her.
No sign of that impossible, forbidden girl.
The rage that swelled inside the entity twisted into agony.
It has delayed long enough.
It has been whipped, burned, broken for not completing a "simple task"—
KILL THE CHILD.
Tonight, it will not fail.
If the child wouldn't bring the girl…
it would drag the child out by force.
And then kill whoever tried to protect him.
---
The Massacre --
The shadow moved across the mansion with a speed that made the chandeliers tremble.
It passed through the servant wing first.
They never stood a chance.
One servant's neck snapped so sharply the bones cracked like dry twigs.
Another was pulled into the darkness, screaming only once before silence swallowed him.
A third had her chest torn open—
no weapon, no claws—
just the shadow cutting like a blade.
Ten servants died within minutes.
Brutally.
Violently.
Their blood pooling across the polished floor.
The entity didn't care.
All it wanted—
was the child.
---
✦ Terror at the Brooks Mansion
Chloe sobbed as she clung to Kyron's sleeve.
"Something is in the house—something is KILLING PEOPLE—"
Maximilian grabbed her shoulder.
"Chloe. Look at me."
His voice was firm, sharp, deadly.
"We are not dying tonight. Stay behind me."
Kyron armed himself immediately, his eyes scanning every corner with trembling rage.
Aiden's voice cracked:
"M-Max… it's after me."
Maximilian froze.
"What did you just say?"
"I—I saw it in my room. It—it felt like it wanted me. Only me."
Maximilian's blood ran cold.
He didn't understand why.
He didn't know the truth.
He couldn't know what Marcelline had used to heal Aiden.
But he felt it—
The danger was real.
Immediate.
Merciless.
The lights flickered.
Something crawled across the ceiling.
The temperature dropped so low breaths crystallized.
And then the worst part:
A low, guttural, inhuman whisper—
Right behind Aiden.
It knew exactly who it came for.
---
✦ The Entity… Steps Fully Into the Light
For the first time…
its shape materialized.
A silhouette of a man, but twisted—
torso too long, limbs too thin, jaw unhinged like a broken puppet.
It leaned forward, face inches from Aiden's.
Its voice was a scraping hiss:
"FoUnD..yOU."
Aiden stumbled backward.
Chloe screamed.
Kyron cursed.
Maximilian moved like lightning.
And the shadow lifted one long arm—
aiming straight for Aiden's throat.
The house shook.
The air suffocated.
Tonight was only beginning.
---