Darkness Rising

by Cate Farren

  "Sorry."

  He'd never even thought about aliens before. His life had been pretty much weird enough as it was.

  There are aliens. There are fucking aliens, and Loki wants them all dead too.

  "Loki now controls half the Milky Way galaxy," said Jane. "Pretty good for a fallen angel."

  The only angel in his life, the only good thing, was Clover. She was bound to be dead now, though he couldn't be sure. She was half shapeshifter. Maybe Loki had allowed her to live? They didn't know how long her lifespan would be. She could still be alive.

  She would've moved on. Married someone else. Had children and grandchildren and great grandchildren. She could have hundreds of ancestors running around.

  She could be happy.

  "What happened to Clover?" he asked.

  He wasn’t sure what he wanted to hear the most; was she happy, or had she been pining for him for three thousand years? Either way the Clover he knew and loved was long gone.

  Then he remembered what his mother had said before he’d passed out. Clover was dead.

  No. I must have misheard her. Clover can’t be dead.

  “This might be hard to hear,” said his mother quietly.

  “I need to know,” he insisted.

  "Trent killed her a very long time ago. I'm sorry."

  "What?" Jared exclaimed, uncomprehending. This had to be a sick lie. "Gable Trent would never do that! He’d never kill her! After what we went through in the hell dimension he grew to love her as a daughter. There's no way he would hurt her."

  He couldn’t envision a situation where Trent would kill Clover. Maybe once upon a time, when they’d been enemies, but not now.

  Now was three thousand years ago...

  “What changed?” he asked. “Did Trent go back to be being evil again?”

  "Clover had cancer. She was in pain and she wanted to die. It killed Gable to do it, but it was what Clover wanted."

  "No..."

  The thought that something so mundane and normal could take away Clover almost killed him. She was meant to die of old age, happy, or killed in battle while protecting those she loved. Cancer was anticlimactic, an insult. She must have been in so much pain. He was glad she had someone she cared about to ease her pain, but he wished she could’ve lived. One day they could’ve been reunited again. All she had to do wait.

  Jared asked, “I just assumed that shapeshifters didn’t get cancer or even ill.”

  “They don’t,” said Jane. “A group of Fey who existed on blood magic created a powerful spell that was meant to kill the shapeshifters." Jane looked away, as if reliving some awful memory. "The spell failed spectacularly. It gave the shapeshifters a migraine for a few days while attacking those of the enemy who were part human, giving them an incurable form of magical cancer. Trent killed Clover to stop her suffering. It was...it was bad. Really bad.”

  He nodded, crying. Trent had sacrificed the girl he thought of as a daughter to save her from a life of unendurable pain. He was glad. His Clover didn’t deserve that.

  But she's still dead. My Clover is still dead.

  He couldn't imagine a world without Clover in it. It was desolate.

  "Is there anyone left?" he asked, wiping at his eyes. He could mourn later. Right now he needed to know what remained of his friends and family. He needed to know whether it was just his mother and him versus the world. "Or are they all dead?"

  "There's some of the people you knew left, but...it's been a long time," said his mother. "We're all different now. We've seen too much and sacrificed too much to ever be the same we once were." She laughed, sounding bitter and defeated. “But of course we soldier on. What else would we do? To give up would be to admit Loki has finally beaten us.”

  She didn’t look or sound hopeful. She did look beaten. Maybe she was trying to convince herself more than him.

  Clover is dead and everyone I ever knew is either dead or shells of their former selves.

  "I wish you'd never brought me back,” he whispered, more to himself than to his mother. “What kind of world is this to live in?"

  He got out of bed and stormed to the door. It was locked. He pulled on the handle but it wouldn’t budge. It must have been locked with magic, otherwise he would’ve been able to rip the door off its hinges using his vampire strength. Was he a prisoner, or was this to protect others just in case he snapped?

  He turned back to her and demanded again, “What kind of world is this to live in?”

  "It's the world we have," his mother said. "Or did have."

  He sank down, his back to the door, and closed his eyes. He could picture Clover in his mind and imagine she was still here, waiting for him. She wanted to get married and have children and pretend his death had never happened.

  Imagination could be a cruel torment.

  He opened his eyes. "How have you stayed alive all this time? How have you escaped the purges and the genocides?"

  "It wasn't easy,” Jane admitted. “I had help for a while, but when I saw things were heading beyond my control I left our dimension behind. I had to protect you."

  So that's how you survived. You left our home dimension behind.

  "You abandoned them," he accused her angrily.

  "I had to protect you!" Jane protested. "You are everything to me."

  "What is so special about me that I need to be protected?"

  "You're my son."

  He stormed up to her, anger and grief and hatred making him want to hit her. But she was his mother. As much as he despised her right now he could never harm her.

  "I don't want to live in a world without Clover in it," he stated. "You should've just left me as a pile of ashes."

  His mother was crying as she said, "I did everything to protect you."

  "What was the point?"

  "Surviving is the point. Living to fight another day is the point."

  "What can we do about Loki? There must be trillions upon trillions of shapeshifters now. How can we fight that?"

  Jane was about to answer when the door unlocked. A tall man with long brown hair, stubble, and curiously familiar eyes and cheekbones entered. Jared couldn't keep his eyes off him.

  Who is this?

  "We have a major problem." The man seemed startled when he saw Jared. "Oh. You're awake."

  "Who are you?" Jared asked him.

  The newcomer stared at Jane before saying, "You haven't told him?"

  "I hadn't gotten around to it yet," said Jane.

  "Then I'll tell him, Grandmother," said the man.

  Grandmother?

  Jane sighed, wiped her eyes, and said, "Son, when you died...Clover was pregnant with your child."

  Chapter 14

  "It's a boy!"

  Clover smiled and gazed down into the eyes of her perfect baby. She’d never felt love like it. It was like she’d been waiting her entire life for this one pure moment.

  Jared laughed. “I can’t believe I’m a dad!”

  She looked up at Jared. His fangs were out. The blood that had escaped her during the birth was making him hungry.

  Or is he looking at our son like he’s his next meal?

  She clutched the baby tighter. “Keep away from him!”

  “I made him,” said Jared. “I can kill him if I want.”

  Clover screamed.

  SHE WOKE IN A SWEAT, flying out of bed. Breathless, she searched her room, knowing in her heart there had to be a baby here somewhere. She was sure of it.

  "No," she whispered.

  She'd been having the same dream for a year now, ever since she ended up here. She'd give birth to a boy and then Jared would try and kill him. Everything about the dream felt real, from the pain of the birth to the love she felt for her child. How could it not be real? How could she feel something for a baby that was merely a dream?

  It seemed so long ago now that she'd lost her real child. She thought she'd dealt with the pain. Maybe her dreams were a way of telling her she needed to properly deal
with her loss.

  "I need to see Celia," she said, nodding.

  Celia Trent housed the soul of Clover and Jared's unborn child. She'd always felt a closeness with the sheriff's daughter. Maybe seeing her would make her feel better?

  She looked down at her stomach, for a second thinking she could feel something kicking down there.

  Could I be pregnant?

  She laughed at the absurdity of it. She couldn't be pregnant. She hadn't had sex in over a year. Even then she and Jared had used protection.

  But...

  There was a polite knock on her door. Clover could sense it was Loki. Amid the screams coming from other patients and the smell of boiled cabbage and the turmoil in her own head she could always sense him.

  He pushed the door open and peered in.

  “How are we today?” he asked.

  “Stupid dreams,” she admitted. “Stupid dreams.”

  He entered and closed the door behind him. “Never ignore dreams. They’re trying to tell you something.”

  “This one is telling me that I’m pregnant.”

  The long stare he directed her way made her pause.

  “What?” she asked.

  “You are pregnant,” he confirmed.

  His words wouldn’t sink in.

  “You’re doing a lousy job of trying to convince me to come over to your side.” He laughed, as if the very idea was absurd, but he didn’t leave. Clover said, “Get out.”

  He cleared his throat and said, “Your father had a witch put a spell on you, to freeze the growing embryo inside your body.”

  “Why would he do that?”

  “You aren’t in a fit state to have a child right now. Even you should realize that.”

  “Just go. Please.”

  He turned and left, closing and locking the door behind him. Clover sat on her bed, feeling so many conflicting emotions she thought she was going to explode. She knew Loki had told her she was pregnant just to prove he always told her the truth and to turn her against her father. It was obvious. Yet she did feel betrayed by her father. He had no right to magically freeze her baby. He had no right to mess with her body without her permission. It was wrong and sick.

  I might not even be in here if I had Jared’s baby to look after.

  She screamed and began ripping apart her room. Everything was too much. She could feel her unborn child inside her now, wanting to be free. She could feel Loki, being nice. She could still see the look on her mother’s face as she murdered her and the feel of the flames and Karen’s dead eyes and the betrayal of everyone she’d ever cared about.

  A carer tried to to jab a needle into her arm. She elbowed him in the face and ran for the door, but two more carers blocked her way.

  “They froze my baby!” Clover screamed. “They have to...”

  The carers sighed. One of them said, “You’re too far gone to have a baby.”

  “You all know?” she demanded.

  Clover’s moment of shock allowed the needle to be pressed into her arm. She felt the world swim away and turn black in an instant.

  "HOW DID SHE FIND OUT?"

  "I think one of the carers told her."

  "You were supposed to make sure that didn't happen!"

  "Magically freezing babies and vampires. What have you gotten me into, brother?”

  “Samantha...”

  Clover heard her aunt walk away as she came to. She was strapped to her bed. The lighting was subdued. She could smell essential oils. Her father was sat cross-legged on the floor, looking up at her. He tried to smile but he was in too much pain.

  Good.

  “How are you?” he asked.

  She refused to answer him. He didn’t deserve to be acknowledged.

  “I’m sorry about you being strapped down,” he said. “We didn’t want you to hurt yourself. We thought...we thought...”

  “I wasn’t going to kill myself,” said Clover. “I’d never do that.”

  “You wrecked your room. You had to be sedated.”

  “We all know there was a very good reason for that.”

  It suddenly occurred to Clover that she was in a different room. The dimensions were all different here. It smelled different, despite the aromas of lavender and other oils her father had sprayed around the place. She liked her old room. It had started to feel like home.

  “I killed her you know,” she said.

  He seemed confused. “Killed who?”

  “I killed Mom.”

  The confession shocked her, but she was glad she said it. It felt freeing, unburdening herself of the awful truth. She didn’t care if she hurt her father any more.

  “What are you saying?” Duck Young asked, his voice quavering.

  “I killed Mom. I’d do it again if I had to. She deserved it.”

  “You’re not in your right mind. Let me...”

  She struggled against her bonds, staring at him with such venom he shrank back. Right now she hated him with such passion she could feel the chaos of her genes warring with her human side. The shapeshifter part of her wanted out and she was going to allow it free reign. She was going to enjoy this.

  “She murdered Karen, right in front of her baby daughter,” spat Clover. Her father’s reaction was priceless. He didn’t know this. “And then she murdered Jared, right in front of me. So I killed her. I killed Mom, and I burned the place down. I don’t regret it. I’ll never regret it.”

  “Clover...”

  She knew her face was changing rapidly. She could feel it. One second she was herself and then her mother and Karen and Jared. It felt glorious to break free like this. It was like she was living as her true self for the first time ever.

  “You’re having another episode,” said Duck Young. He sounded scared; for her, or by her? Clover couldn’t be sure. “Please listen to me. I’m your father.”

  “You’re not my father,” she told him. She savored the devastated look that crossed his face. “My father is Carla. I’m half shapeshifter. Isn’t that obvious?”

  He pulled himself to his feet, staring down at her in horror. She’d expected this extreme reaction to the revelation, but it still stung.

  “Somehow I always knew,” he admitted. “Somehow...”

  “You’re not my father,” she told him again. “So I shouldn’t be too hurt that you froze my baby without telling me. But I am hurt. I’m hurting so much I want to kill you too.”

  She really did want to kill him. It was like an impulse.

  He shook his head. “Clover...”

  “But I won’t kill you. I’ll let you live, knowing your own daughter hates you.”

  The door opened behind him. Loki stepped in, still in his disguise as Ben the carer. He appeared as jovial as ever.

  “I think you should leave,” Loki ordered. “You’re upsetting her.”

  Clover smirked. “No. Let him stay if he wants.”

  DUCK YOUNG AND BEN got in his car. They started the engine and drove away. Duck Young switched on the radio to some country and western station. He grimaced.

  "That was fun," said Duck Young.

  "Where are we going now?" asked Ben, now in his true Loki form.

  Duck Young's face morphed into Clovers'. "I want to see the Primordial Womb."

  "Don't betray me, Clover. I won't like that."

  Clover stared ahead as she drove her father's car. She didn't answer him.

  Chapter 15

  "Did you growl just then?" Lovisa asked.

  "The wolf inside me is finding this very claustrophobic." Adrian avoided the eyes of an air stewardess as he gripped the armrests on his seat. He felt he could tear them from their sockets. "I'm having trouble keeping him inside."

  "Look at me. Hold my hand. Focus on my voice. You'll be fine."

  Adrian had gotten several suspicious looks from TSA agents and other passengers, but he'd managed to board the plane without much effort. He was still sweating like he'd run a marathon, and his entire body was trembling. He wasn't s
ure how much longer he could hold out. For the first time he was glad of his good looks. The airline crew were too busy undressing him with their eyes to notice he was on the edge.

  "I always wondered why weres never travelled on planes," Lovisa pondered. "Maybe this is why."

  "Weres like to stay where they are, near home. It's an instinct thing and nothing to do with air travel." He thought about something Chanda once told him. "Though now that I think about it, when Chanda and her family moved here from India they did come by several cruise ships. Maybe weres don't like flying after all."

  This was a huge mistake. He should never have consented to this. He'd have rather been packaged up in a cargo container on a freighter than have to endure this. He'd never felt anything like it. Even the first time he changed into a wolf wasn't this painful or traumatic. It felt like the wolf literally wanted to rip its way out of his body.

  "He's coming out...I can't control him..." He gripped the elbow rests harder. The seatbelt strained against his chest, tight. They were in business class, so at least he had leg room. "I want to change. He wants to me to change."

  "The wolf is you," Lovisa whispered, her hand on his arm.

  He shook his head. "Then I can't control myself."

  "Come on. I know something that will help you."

  The remove seat belts sign came on. Adrian ripped it off, feeling a little better with the pressure off his chest. It did no good to calm the wolf.

  "You have drugs to knock me out?" he asked, trying not to laugh.

  She grinned. "It's called the Mile High Club, and I think it's time you became a member."

  Adrian decided to play dumb. “What’s the Mile High Club?”

  Lovisa raised her eyebrows. "Meet me in the bathroom,” she whispered. She was playing along now. He could feel her heart beating harder. “Don’t dally my wolf.”

  Her voice slid across his senses as he felt her leave the seat next to him. He took a deep breath, counted to thirty and followed. How could he not? She was irresistible, and this might be the perfect cure to tame the wolf.