Shadowhunter in the Apocalypse

Reed ducked low this time. Instinct screamed, shadows snapping tight around his body in a desperate shell. Her strike slammed into it, the impact rattling through his bones. The wall of darkness cracked instantly, spiderweb fractures spreading across it before it shattered apart, throwing him back another few feet. His shoulder smacked against stone, pain flaring hot, but at least his spine wasn't snapped in half.

She stood in the middle of the cave, bare and unshaken, her skin almost glowing in the low light. There wasn't a mark on her. Not even dust clung to her body. The corpses that surrounded them made her perfection feel even worse, like she was flaunting it in the middle of filth. Her eyes stayed on him, steady and cruel, like a predator staring at a cub pretending to snarl.

Reed forced himself upright again. His shadow blade wavered, more smoke than steel now. His breaths came rough, blood still wet at the corner of his mouth. He spat again, wiped it with the back of his wrist, and forced his arms to steady.

"You're stubborn," she murmured, tilting her head. "That much I'll give you."

He barked a laugh, sharp and bitter. "You'll have to do better than that. I've been called worse."

Her smile widened. "Worse names don't matter when you're dead."

She blurred again.

Reed's heart kicked hard. He flung himself sideways, shadows bursting under his feet to throw him across the stone floor. Her hand slammed down where he'd been, a sharp crack splitting the rock. Dust shot up around her fingers, claws etched into the stone as if it were soft wood.

He rolled hard, came up on one knee, and slashed with his shadow blade. The strike carved across the air like black lightning. She twisted her body aside, fluid and precise, the shadow cutting past her cheek by inches. Her hair shifted with the breeze it left behind.

Reed didn't stop. His blade snapped apart into a dozen shards of darkness, whipping through the cave like knives. Each one curved toward her, seeking her body from a dozen angles.

The woman didn't even flinch. Her bare arm swept out in a blur, fingers snapping through the air. Each shard shattered into smoke the second it came close. She moved almost lazily, like swatting flies.

The last shard slipped lower, aiming at her leg, but her foot lifted effortlessly, heel snapping down. The shadow burst apart like it had never existed.

Her eyes gleamed faintly. "You think tricks will change the blood between us?"

Reed's jaw clenched. His vision blurred for half a second before he shook it off. The cave spun faintly. His ribs ached like fire every time he dragged in a breath. He knew he couldn't keep this up. His shadow was burning too fast, too unstable. If it collapsed completely, he was just a man in a cave with something far worse than human.

But stopping wasn't an option.

He steadied his stance, shadows creeping back up his arm, trying to hold shape again. His blade looked jagged, broken, but it was there. "If I'm going to die here," he rasped, "then I'll make damn sure you remember my face."

She tilted her head, lips curving in faint amusement. "Brave words for someone standing on broken bones."

Then she came again.

Her body flickered across the cave, faster than his eyes could track. Reed's shadow twisted desperately, pulling him backward. He barely avoided the strike, her claws slicing through the air inches from his throat. The sound of it cut sharp, like tearing silk.

He countered with a wild slash, pouring everything into the strike. The shadow blade flared brighter for a moment, a surge of desperate power running through him. The edge kissed her shoulder, cutting a thin line across her perfect skin.

Blood welled. Black. Thick. It dripped slow, heavier than it should have.

Her eyes snapped wide for the first time. She looked down at the mark, touched it with her fingertips, and stared at the dark smear across her skin. Then she looked back at him.

Her smile vanished.

"You dare?"

The words carried weight. The cave seemed to vibrate with them, dust sifting from the ceiling.

Reed swallowed hard but didn't lower his blade. His chest heaved, but a small flicker of satisfaction burned in him. He'd drawn blood. However small, however meaningless, he'd cut her. She wasn't untouchable.

"Guess I do," he forced out.

Her face shifted. Not rage. Not fury. Something colder. A mask dropping.

"Then I'll show you," she whispered. "What you cut when you touch me."

Her body shivered, skin rippling like water. Her perfect human shape trembled, then split. Her back cracked open, pale skin peeling back. Long, black limbs burst outward, glistening and sharp, stabbing into the stone floor. The sound was wet, bones snapping, flesh tearing.

Her human head tilted forward, hair hanging loose, as a second shape rose behind her. A spider's form, massive and glistening, her body stretching taller than Reed in seconds. The legs dug into the rock, claws screeching. Her skin tore apart fully, splitting like a shed husk, until the woman's body seemed like nothing but a mask draped across the monstrous figure beneath.

Eyes. Dozens of them. All black, all shining. They blinked at him in unison, reflecting his own broken body back at him from every angle.

Reed's stomach lurched. He staggered back a step before forcing himself still. His grip tightened on his blade, though his hands trembled.

Her voice came from everywhere at once, layered and wrong, both the woman's soft tone and something deeper crawling beneath it.

"You killed my children."

The words thundered.

"And you bled me."

Reed's mouth was dry, but he forced his voice to rise. "You're not the only one who can bleed."

Her laugh filled the cave, sharp and echoing, skittering like claws across stone.

"Then let's see how long you last when the prey stops running."

She lunged.

The entire cave shook. Stone cracked under her weight, legs stabbing deep into the ground as she bore down on him. Reed hurled himself sideways, shadows flaring to hurl him faster than his body could move on its own. Her leg smashed into the wall where he'd been, rock exploding outward in shards.

He didn't stop moving. His shadow spun around him, scattering into dozens of shards again. This time he didn't send them straight — they twisted, curving wildly in arcs across the cave, bouncing off stone, slicing from impossible angles.

Her legs whipped out, claws smashing them apart one by one. But two slipped through, one cutting across her flank, the other slashing a shallow line across her leg.

She hissed, the sound piercing.

Reed's vision swam, his body screaming, but he pressed. His shadow pulled into his chest, condensed, then burst outward again, forming a jagged blade larger than any he'd held before. It shook, unstable, but it gleamed with desperate hunger.

He charged.

Her claws came down, but he dove under, sliding across the stone, the shadow blade whipping upward. It bit deep this time, carving across her side in a long, ugly wound. Black blood sprayed, splattering across the cave floor.

She shrieked, the sound like steel grinding against bone. Her body slammed sideways, leg smashing into him mid-slide. The impact sent him flying, crashing into the wall again. His ribs screamed, something cracked deep inside, and blood poured from his lips.

He couldn't breathe. Couldn't see straight. The blade flickered in his hand, breaking apart into smoke.

The Nightmare Spider loomed above him now, bleeding but towering, her many eyes burning down into him.

"You will break," she whispered. "But first, I'll peel away what you are. I'll see what your blood hides."

Reed dragged in one broken breath. His vision was nearly gone, edges dark. His body screamed at him to stop. But his hand twitched, and shadows still crawled weakly across his fingers.

Not yet.

Not while he could still move.

Reed forced his arm up, even though it felt like lifting stone. Shadows clung to his fingers, twitching, trying to form a blade but breaking apart again before it could solidify. His breath rattled out of him, thick with blood, but his eyes stayed locked on hers.

The Nightmare Spider leaned closer, her human face splitting wider across the monstrous body behind it. Her lips curved, but there was no warmth in it — only hunger.

"Do you know what I taste when I devour the strong?" she whispered, her many voices overlapping. "Memories. Names. The weight of everything they've ever been. If I consume you… I will know what you are. I will know what you hide."

Reed's pulse hammered in his skull. Every instinct screamed at him to run, but there was nowhere left to go. His shadows flickered, thin as smoke, desperate but weak. Still, he pushed himself upright, dragging his body against the wall until he was standing again.

"You'll choke on me," he said hoarsely.

Her laughter scraped the stone. "Perhaps. But I'll enjoy the taste."

A leg shot down, piercing into the rock inches from his foot. The impact rattled his bones. Another leg struck beside his head, pinning him in place against the wall. Dust rained over his shoulders. He was trapped now, her body caging him in.

Her face leaned close, eyes glowing faintly, black blood still dripping from the wounds he'd given her. She whispered so softly he almost didn't hear it.

"Let me see the truth inside you."

The shadows around Reed's arm suddenly snapped. For a heartbeat, they didn't sputter — they roared, surging upward in a violent, jagged flare of darkness. The cave itself seemed to shiver as the air thickened.

Her smile faltered.

"…Ah," she murmured, eyes narrowing. "So there it is."