THE COLLECTOR-The Confrontation
The road burned beneath Elena’s motorcycle.
Flames curled around the wheels as the machine slowed to a stop in the middle of an empty highway.
The night air suddenly grew cold.
The fire around her dimmed.
From the darkness ahead, something began to form.
Smoke gathered into a tall shape.
Then the Shadow stepped forward.
But tonight he didn’t appear as a monster.
He looked human.
Tall.
Calm.
Handsome in the unsettling way people who hide darkness often are.
The man Elena once loved.
The man she once trusted.
Elena’s flames flared brighter.
“You stay away from him,” she said.
Her voice carried the growl of the Collector beneath it.
“He can never know the truth about who you are.”
The Shadow tilted his head slightly, studying her.
A faint smile crossed his face.
“Elena…”
“You always were stubborn.”
Fire ran through the cracks of her skeletal form.
“I’ll make sure he never finds out.”
For a moment the Shadow said nothing.
Then he stepped closer.
His voice softened—almost amused.
“You still don’t understand.”
The darkness around him stirred.
“He was mine too.”
Elena’s flames surged violently.
“Don’t say that.”
The Shadow’s eyes glowed faintly in the night.
“Why do you think I chose you?”
Silence fell between them.
For the first time since the hospital night…
Elena hesitated.
The Shadow continued calmly.
“You had no faith.”
“No prayers.”
“No illusions about heaven.”
He stepped closer until the fire from Elena’s body reflected in his eyes.
“You were perfect.”
Elena’s voice dropped to a whisper.
“You used me.”
The Shadow smiled again.
“I chose you.”
Behind them, the highway wind howled.
Far away…
in a quiet house across town…
Leo woke suddenly from a dream.
Fire.
A motorcycle.
Two voices arguing in the dark.
And a strange thought forming