Darkness Rising

by Cate Farren

  Clover winced. "That bitch."

  "She made our life hell. One day I was walking home on my own. You were at the dentists or something. Dana caught up to me and started on me about how I was thick and I only passed first grade because my mom was a teacher and then she kicked me. I was so scared, but then something funny happened. My mom stormed up, grabbed Dana by the arm, and dragged her back to her own home." Saskia laughed, and Clover couldn't help but join in. "Mom screamed her head off at Dana's mom, not giving her a moment to speak. That day my mother was my hero. Dana never bothered us again after that, did she?"

  "She got knocked up when she was fifteen and left high school. I hear she's in beauty school or something now and has three more kids."

  They sighed, feeling sorry for Dana. It didn't last long.

  "God I hated her," said Saskia.

  "I hope she's miserable," said Clover.

  Clover grasped Saskia's hand, and they walked away from the grave. The weather in this dimension was always the same, a solid room temperature. They missed rain and sunshine and clouded days.

  "So what now?" Clover asked.

  Saskia shrugged. "I have a thirst for magic now. Gran has taught me a lot, but I don’t need her now. I need to learn more on my own."

  Clover nodded, understanding. Perhaps it was for the best. Romily was an evil woman and a bad influence on Saskia. Perhaps now Saskia could concentrate more on magic that wasn’t reprehensible and evil at its core.

  Clover indicated for Saskia to stop. "Do you think you can get us out of here?”

  “I’m not sure,” Saskia muttered.

  “When I kill Loki we have to leave as quickly as possible. His children will hunt us down."

  "So you are planning on killing him. I thought you were his BFF now."

  Jessica was still by the grave, staring down at the overturned earth. She looked confused now, as if waiting for the dead to climb back up. Clover realized the shapeshifter probably had no concept of death.

  I should talk to her about that.

  "I thought many things," Clover admitted. The truth made her feel like a coward. "After what happened with my mom and Jared I was actually willing to believe in Loki. Can you believe that? Even while I was planning on searching out his plans and killing him I actually started to believe in him. He’s raw and vulnerable and he has a tragic past and it spoke to me. Shit, I was a fool. He wants to kill so many people and I'm not okay with that."

  "Me neither," Saskia admitted. She sighed. "But I don't think I'm powerful enough to leave this place. Not yet. I haven't even tried a teleportation spell, and even Gran said they were notoriously hard to do."

  Clover gripped Saskia's hand. "Then I'll help you. We have the time. Time runs differently in this place. We'll do this together."

  "Together."

  Chapter 32

  Sutton rolled her eyes. "Are you fucking with me?"

  "I'm not," Jared insisted. "Why would I?"

  The two of them were in the dining room, alone. It was early in the morning. Adrian and Lovisa's loud lovemaking had kept them up for most of the night. He hadn't had time to meet the couple and reveal he was alive just yet, but that could wait.

  "How long were you stranded there?" Sutton asked.

  Jared looked away, thinking. "I'm not entirely sure. It's hard to measure the passage of time when every day starts to blur into one long boring nightmare. I think it was a thousand years, give or take. I saw some Vikings pass by once, but they tried to kill me. It wasn't until the Spanish arrived in the 1500s that I managed to get a boat to England and civilization."

  He couldn't help but smile, thinking about that time spent with the natives. It was solemn, peaceful, and contemplative. He made lasting friends. He may have watched each one of them die of old age, but he'd always have a home with them. They knew what he was and they'd accepted him, made him family. Even their descendants respected him when he visited them at the Penobscot Indian Island Reservation.

  "What did you do for four hundred years in England?" she asked him. "Where were you?"

  "I kept myself busy," Jared revealed. "I learned languages and travelled and met some interesting people. Mostly, though, I was guardian of the British royal family's magical artefacts repository. It's a long story of how I got that job. Let's just say I saved a prince and leave it at that."

  "Did you fuck the prince?"

  "You've got a dirty mind. I didn't fuck that prince, or princess, but...I have dabbled."

  Jared couldn't help but laugh. He hadn't loved anyone else since Clover. Others had loved him, but he could never betray Clover. He had, however, taken on many lovers. Even he hadn't been able to keep himself celibate for such a vast length of time. He was sure Clover would understand - if he told her, anyway.

  Sutton smiled. "If I find out you're really Prince Harry's father I'm going to lose it."

  "It was a lonely time," he admitted. "I just had to wait until the day I died to reveal myself so I didn't change history."

  Sutton regarded him with her knowing glare. "I know you. You get restless."

  He had done a few things he shouldn't. He said, "Do you remember when you went to see Richard III at the Federal Street Theatre in Boston?"

  "That was a great performance. 1832 I think. I can't remember the exact date."

  "I was there. I was sat behind you during the entire performance."

  Sutton threw a fork at him. "You kept kicking my seat! I was almost on the verge of murdering you you know."

  "I couldn't keep still. I was bored stiff. I can't stand Shakespeare."

  He'd read the complete works of the Bard himself a dozen times or more. Back then there weren't that many fiction books out there that he hadn't read already. People had persuaded him that you had to read Shakespeare more than once to fully understand it. All it did was make Jared hate the man even more for subjecting him to such torture.

  "How many other times have you spied on me in the past?" Sutton asked. She'd finished her blood and was tapping her fingernails on the table. Jared could tell she was bored. Either that or her and Darin were up all night having sex. The two of them had been inseparable since they’d been reunited, despite the setback with the shapeshifters at the hidden vampire club

  Everyone is having sex but me.

  "A lot," he said. "I liked to see how you were doing. The royal family didn't stop me from leaving the repository when I wanted to, so I tried to keep in touch the only way I could. You've lived a colorful life."

  She sighed. "A long life."

  "Yeah. Being a vampire can feel like a life sentence sometimes. But I wouldn't change it for the world."

  She didn't ask about the vampire war, and Jared was glad she didn't. He'd kept out of it on purpose. He knew he could've changed things if he wanted, saved some of the ancient vampires or even Sutton's fiancé himself, but he couldn't bring himself to do it. The war was a massive event in the supernatural world. What would the world be like now if he'd intervened? Clover might not even have been born. Sutton might not have become a vampire and died a long time ago. The ancient vampires might have got off their collective asses and taken over the world. Things could be so different.

  "So did you spy on anyone else?" she asked.

  "I had a drink with my father when he was at university." Jared had to stop himself from getting angry. His father was dead now. The man couldn't harm anybody else. "I stopped him from raping some girl and I wiped it from his memory. I gave him quite the kicking I can tell you. Evil bastard."

  "Your father gives humans a bad name."

  Jared would never regret killing his father. The man was a sadist and he deserved it. He only regretted not getting away from the man sooner.

  "Do you remember my friend Bruce?" Jared asked. "He's at Harvard now. I haven't seen him in so long."

  Sutton smiled dreamily. "There's a picture of him in the dictionary under the term "hot black guy."

  "I was heading to see him at his family's house in S
witzerland when I came across a car that had swerved off the road and was hanging over the edge of a cliff. I pulled the people out before the car went over the edge. I rescued a young couple and their three-year old daughter. They turned out to be Bruce's aunt and uncle. He told me once that his aunt and uncle had almost died in a car crash."

  He didn't understand what this meant. Did that mean his death and return from the future were pre-ordained? Did that mean Loki was meant to win? The witches had said the future wherein Loki won was the right path, and that changing it could present serious consequences. What if he couldn't change a thing? What if him coming back in time set things in motion in the first place?

  "I'm scared to do anything," Jared admitted. "I don't want to change things too much, and I don't want to end up accidentally causing the future I came to prevent."

  "Stop moping," she accosted him. "Think to the future. You can be with dreary old Clover again."

  "Not if I can't find her, or Loki..."

  He refused to think that Clover was on Loki's side now. She would never aide him. She was too clever to fall for his manipulations.

  He stood up. "I need to walk. I feel restless."

  DARIN SAT DOWN BY THE table and poured himself a cup of blood. Sutton smiled pleasantly at him, though inside she was worried about Jared. She hadn't realized he was so old and had been through so much. It had changed him. He was a lot darker and more introspective than he'd ever been. There was still the old Jared in there, though, and she was determined to bring him out. She couldn’t lose him.

  "I still can't believe he's alive," said Darin. "Will you come back if you die too?"

  "Of course," said Sutton. "You can't get rid of me that easily. Being related to Dracula has its benefits."

  Her father had once told her that coming back from death was worse than dying itself. He seemed haunted whenever he spoke of it, which wasn't often. Dracula would rather talk about anything other than the many times that he'd died.

  “What does your father think of you being here?” Sutton asked.

  “He doesn’t have a say in what I do with my life.” Darin grinned and drank some blood. A drop dribbled down his square jawed face and she had to control her desire. “Besides, he was busy with other things when I left. The life of a town sheriff is full of peril.”

  “In Chapel Green it is. That place survives the apocalypse every other week.”

  She was being flippant, but she missed Chapel Green terribly. It may have been a small town, but it was her home. She’d felt at peace there for the first time since before she became a vampire.

  Darin smiled hesitantly, almost shyly, and said, “I really did miss you.”

  “Me too,” Sutton admitted. She indicated her hunky Indian bodyguard, standing towards the back of the room. “But not too much. I have that gorgeous hunk of man meat to look at every day.”

  “You’re such a shady bitch.”

  “And you love it.”

  Speaking of shady bitches...

  "Good morning Prime Minister," Sutton said snidely, watching her sister sit down at the table. She was already dressed like a businesswoman, make-up trowelled on like a drag queen with no restraint. Even her hair was perfect. "I didn't expect you to stick around this long."

  Stephanie poured herself a glass of blood. "I'm catching up with my siblings."

  "We all hate you," Sutton reminded her.

  Her sister smirked as she sipped her blood. "Roberto and I chatted well into the night. He was born after the unpleasantness, and so he doesn't despise me as much as you do."

  Sutton gritted her teeth, willing the hatred back down into her gut. She wanted to kill this bitch so badly it was like a physical pain.

  She betrayed me...

  "I can't believe you're the Prime Minister," said Sutton. Her eyes bore into her sister across the table. She kept her fists clenches unconsciously, a sign that she was ready to go in for the kill at any provocation. "I always thought you viewed the job as something of a curse."

  Stephanie was silent for a while. Sutton enjoyed the discomfort on her face like a glass of hot virgin blood.

  "I really had no choice in the matter," Stephanie mumbled darkly.

  Sutton said, "What do you mean?"

  Stephanie drank the last of her blood and stood up. Her face didn’t convey a single emotion. "After I stayed neutral during the war father promised not to kill me in exchange for a future favor. This is that favor."

  Sutton hadn’t known this. She's just assumed that her father had forgiven Stephanie for the simple fact that she was his precious daughter. It all made sense now. Dracula hadn't forgiven her at all. He'd just used her betrayal so he could take advantage of her in the future.

  Typical father. He always sees half a dozen steps ahead.

  "So he still hates you?" Sutton asked. She couldn’t help but be smug. She was enjoying learning all this new information.

  "He's forgiven me," Stephanie stated. She looked away, musing. "I just wish you would too."

  "I'll hate you until the day I see your corpse burning in the wind, and even then I'll still hate you. You were my sister and I loved you and you sided with them."

  Stephanie shook her head, anger evident in her eyes. "I didn't side with them! I sided with the man I loved. We stayed neutral through the whole thing. We hated seeing our families so..."

  Sutton launched herself across the table. She backhanded her sister across the face, slamming her against the wall. She pressed her hands against her throat, pushing as hard as she could. It would do no good. Her sister wouldn't feel a thing. Stephanie's cadou was a small, invisible shield that surrounded her body like a second skin when she was in danger. She was practically invulnerable.

  "Your lover's family tortured me and bled me dry!" Sutton raged. Darin was still sitting at the table, unsure what to do. She hated how confused and childlike he looked, like he didn’t know what to do. “They killed my baby and they killed my fiancé and they caused a war!”

  “Sutton...”

  “I’ll never forgive you. Never.”

  She let her go. Stephanie turned and walked away. Sutton screamed out her frustration and turned on Darin.

  “Do you have to be so weak?” she demanded. “You just sat there like you were enjoying the show!”

  “Sutton...”

  “Sometimes I forget you really are just a child, despite the fact that you’re a vampire.”

  She turned her back and him and stalked away. She needed to be on her own.

  ROBERTO CLAPPED DELIGHTEDLY as Jared turned from a bat into a dark furred wolf and then into a living shadow. It felt amazing to be able to change like this. It felt natural, like she should have been able to do this all his life. Now that he knew the extent of his abilities he felt free. It was glorious.

  Dracula nodded. "You're almost as powerful as I am."

  Jared was shocked back into his humanoid form as his grandfather stepped out of the shadows. He hadn't felt his presence at all.

  "I had to learn it all myself," Jared admitted. “But I did have a long time to practice.”

  He had his Penobscot native friends to thank for that, one of them in particular. If it hadn’t been for them he would’ve killed himself a long time ago.

  Jacy saved me. He taught me to love life and never give up.

  He pushed thoughts of his oldest friend aside. Things hadn’t ended well for Jacy.

  "You could've come to me earlier," said Dracula. His tone was dark, disapproving. "I could've helped you."

  "I came to you the very day my earlier self died for a reason. I didn't want to influence anything."

  Dracula sat down on the bench. They were in a small garden area with artificial lights to simulate sunshine. Machines pulled in air from aboveground. Birds sang from the trees. It even rained on occasion. You could almost imagine you were under the sun itself if it wasn't for the claustrophobic aura that seemed to permeate everything down here.

  "Why?" Jared asked. "Wh
y am I like this?"

  Dracula shrugged as Jared sat next to him. Roberto had wandered off to go and irritate the staff. He was sleeping with half of them and he'd only been here a few weeks. Jared loved Sutton’s brother to bits, but sometimes his ego could really get on his nerves.

  "I have my suspicions," Dracula admitted. He looked away, as if contemplating the universe. "But I can't share them with you."

  "I think I have a right to know," Jared demanded. "This is my life we're talking about here."

  "And I'm concerned with the life of every living thing on this planet, even the lowly humans." Dracula shuddered, as if it pained him just mentioning the word. "Just trust me when I say the universe has plans for you.”

  Chapter 33

  Saskia smiled as the robin landed on her hand. Nature has started to appear in this odd dimension. She had no idea how the birds and the insects had arrived, but they were here nonetheless. She suspected Loki was secretly bringing them here to make the place feel more natural. He may have been the big bad, but at heart he wasn’t a complete monster. She knew his story. She knew there was a deeply conflicted person inside him.

  The robin tweeted. Saskia stroked its back, gently, lovingly.

  "I love robins," she whispered.

  She grinned and turned the robin inside out with a spell. It chirped once before it fell to the floor, dead. She stamped on it with her foot and buried it with the puppy and the other animals she'd murdered with dark magic. She was getting quite good at killing things without so much as spilling a drop of blood. Her grandmother had taught her well.

  "How goes the spell?" Clover asked.

  Saskia almost jumped out of her skin. Clover could sneak up on her like a ninja. She didn't want her to know what she was doing to the animals. It was her way of coping. She'd never understand.

  "Watch this," said Saskia.

  She concentrated hard, pouring all her magic into it. A small portal the size of a ladybug appeared in the air in front of them.