Darkness Rising

by Cate Farren

  “I have just enough magic left in me to perform one spell,” Toren explained. She caressed Valeriu’s smooth, pale face. “And your sacrifice is going to open the portal back home.”

  “Blood magic is profane and evil and...”

  “Necessary.”

  Toren pulled her sword back and prepared to plunge it into Valeriu’s abdomen.

  “Have you anything to say before the end?” she asked. “Any regrets?”

  He spat at her. “I have no regrets.”

  She thrust her weapon forward, but it collided with another sword. The clang of metal was so loud it echoed across the crater.

  “Stop,” Clover ordered.

  Chapter 46

  Dracula slammed the door behind him. He needed a little peace and quiet or this summit was going to kill him. Sometimes he hated vampires.

  “Hello,” a voice called.

  Celia Trent was sitting by his desk, embarrassed. She was reading one of his old diaries.

  “What are you doing in here?” he asked, curious.

  “I was bored,” she admitted. “And I miss my dad and brother. They’ve been gone for days.”

  He nodded and sat down on a chaise longue. He had a feeling in his gut that everyone on the expedition to Loki’s dimension was in grave danger but there was nothing he could do about it. He’d brought in some more witches but they couldn’t seem to follow the path that Zelda took. It was almost as if something was blocking them.

  “I’m worried too,” he admitted. “But they’re smart. They’ll come through.”

  Celia closed the book and came to sit down by him. Dracula sensed a deep intelligence and confidence in this thirteen-year-old girl. She was an old soul, just like him.

  “The vampires think I’m weird,” Celia admitted.

  “You are quite a rarity,” said Dracula.

  “They’re scared of me.”

  He’d warned the vampires not to upset Celia but apparently they hadn’t listened to him.

  “You’re probably the most powerful person I’ve ever encountered,” said Dracula. He knew he could speak to her as an adult. “You have the ability to blow up the entire planet if you so wished. They respect you, and are curious, but they’re also afraid.”

  “I don’t want to blow up the world.”

  “Don’t let them get you down.”

  He sighed heavily, wishing he could believe his own words. He hated the vampire summit. Every vampire in the world, bar the few that couldn’t be bothered, descended on Whitby every ten years. It was up to him to look after them. He only hoped Jared would relish the job more than he did when it was his time.

  How am I going to die?

  Who is going to kill me?

  “Why are you sad?” Celia asked.

  “I’m going to die soon,” he admitted.

  “I’m sorry.”

  He patted her on the head and smiled. “I’m sad, yes, but...I’ve had an interesting life, and I know I’ll be leaving the world in good hands.”

  “What about Loki?”

  “Who knows?”

  He wished he knew how the war would play out. In the past he’d been blessed with visions that gave him clues as to how events would proceed. In this case he saw nothing. Did that mean Loki won, or he himself died before there was an outcome either way?

  There was a loud knock on the door.

  “Damn it,” he said. “Doctor Rampesh is supposed to giving us a lecture.”

  “Can I come?” Celia asked. “What’s it about?”

  “He thinks he’s on the verge of creating a synthetic blood substitute.” Dracula winced. “Imagine such a thing. Disgusting.”

  Celia smiled. “Come on. You can sit next to me.”

  She took his hand and he led her to the lecture theatre. When it was over it was quite clear to Dracula that a blood substitute was years off, maybe decades. Still, every vampire in attendance viewed the research as pointless. So did Dracula.

  “It might be good,” said Celia.

  Celia was sat next to him in the lecture theatre as the vampires meandered away. The main event of the summit was scheduled for later tonight and Dracula was to give a speech. They were probably already bored.

  “What will?” Dracula asked.

  “Having a synthetic blood substitute,” Celia explained. Dracula waited for her to continue. He was eager for her input. “I know you take blood from blood banks, or you have willing humans who give blood, but this way you won’t have to hurt anybody. Vampires can’t live in the shadows forever. The less you hurt humans the better for you in the long run.”

  He nodded, agreeing with her. She was remarkably prescient. He’d often pondered on the ramifications of their society being revealed to the world. So far so good.

  “Do you want a job as my assistant?” he asked, only half joking.

  She laughed. “I might take you up on that.”

  He was about to suggest they leave when he noticed they weren’t alone. There was another vampire sitting a few seats away to their left. Dracula recognized him as Mick Givens. He ran a newsagent in Whitby and often kept himself to himself. He hadn’t been to a summit in over a hundred years, not since his immortal wife died.

  “Mick, it’s good to see you again,” Dracula called.

  When Mick turned to look at him Dracula felt cold. Something was wrong.

  He gripped Celia’s hand and whispered, “When I say run, run.”

  Chapter 47

  Clover glared hard at Toren, daring her to move. To her credit the Fey princess stayed exactly where she was. In this place, without her magic, they were equals. Maybe Toren had a few more centuries experience, but Clover had shapeshifter blood inside her. Shapeshifters were strong.

  “Move aside,” Toren ordered. She stared at Clover with penetrating hatred. “Or I will slice you in half.”

  “I won’t let you murder him,” said Clover.

  “Valeriu Groza is scum. Who will miss him?”

  “Keep out of this,” Trent warned. Valeriu continued to struggle uselessly in his massive arms. “We’re doing this for all of us.”

  She’d never been more disappointed in Trent. She thought she’d seen his light side. How could she ever forget he was a Prime Demon and dark at heart? Still, she didn’t want to hurt him. He still meant something to her.

  “There has to be another way,” Clover pleaded. The strain on her arm, holding Toren’s sword in place, was starting to sting. “We can’t resort to murder.”

  Toren grinned wickedly. “Perhaps you’d be more willing to help us if this vampire knew the truth about you.”

  Clover didn’t waver. Toren couldn’t know the truth. Even if she did she wouldn’t reveal it. She wasn’t that cruel.

  “What are you doing?” Trent asked. “Toren...”

  “Clover Kwon here has blood that can make vampires fertile,” said Toren.

  Clover felt her stomach lurch. How did Toren know?

  “She’s lying,” said Clover.

  “I don’t care,” said Valeriu. “I tasted the blood of Sutton centuries ago. I can have children if I so wished. Why would this information bother me?”

  “What about your sister?” said Toren. “Surely she wants children?”

  “She cares only about fame,” said Valeriu.

  Toren screamed and pushed forward. Clover held her ground, taking the strain, feeling the sword about to slip from her sweaty fingers. She had to hold on. She couldn’t allow this to happen, even now Valeriu knew the truth about her. It would be wrong.

  But what if he told his father or his vampire friends? What if they captured me and I lost my baby, just like what happened with Sutton? Would the vampires really war at a time when they were needed to combat Loki?

  The shapeshifter part of her would see Valeriu dead. Her human side would see him live. But what if letting him die was the right thing in the end? She could stop another vampire war. The world couldn’t cope with another supernatural war right after the last
one, even if they did win against Loki.

  I should kill Valeriu myself.

  Gable Trent snapped Valeriu’s neck and let him slip to the ground.

  “He’ll be out for a while,” said the demon. “We need to talk.”

  Toren screamed, “Let me perform blood magic and we can...”

  The Prime Demon stepped over the vampire’s body and peered down at the Fey princess. His growled and she dropped her sword. Her hands were shaking in terror.

  “If there’s no other way I will kill Valeriu myself,” Trent promised. He looked at Clover before settling his full malevolent gaze back onto Toren. “But for now we will look for another way.”

  “That vampire...”

  Trent thought for a moment before saying, “That vampire defied his family to come with us. He may be a conceited, egotistical piece of scum, but he does have some morals. We owe it to him.”

  Toren nodded and walked meekly away. Clover let out her breath, dropping her sword. She’d never felt so tense in all her life.

  “Thank you,” said Clover.

  The sight of Trent in his full demon form no longer scared her. She knew it should, but she knew the person he truly was now. She was a little ashamed she’d so recently doubted him.

  “Valeriu only has a short reprieve,” Trent stated. “If we can’t think of anything else we will sacrifice him.”

  She nodded. “I understand, but it won’t come to that. I have an idea.”

  THE ASSEMBLED GROUP stared at Clover as if she were mad.

  “Are you joking?” Sutton demanded.

  Clover’s answering glare was enough to convince them all she was deadly serious.

  “Is this even possible?” Trent asked Toren.

  The Fey Princess thought for a moment before saying, “I guess so. I haven’t done it before, but I think others of my race have.”

  “I trust Clover,” said Jared.

  They all nodded, even Valeriu, who had come to a few minutes ago. He kept glancing at Trent with what Clover could only describe as abject fear. It was a little disconcerting to see the smug vampire so cowed.

  “So how do we do this?” Daniel asked.

  “I take a little blood from all of you,” Toren explained. “It’s as simple as that really. Each of you has magic in you. Even humans have residual traces of magic in them, which is why I used them previously.”

  Clover offered herself up first. The ritual was painless. Toren used a small serrated knife with an ivory handle to slice into her palm. The blood that seeped out swirled into the air before turning into tiny magical particles, which then entered Toren’s head. The Fey princess smiled as the magic entered her body.

  “Is that it?” Clover asked, expecting more.

  Toren nodded. “You have...a lot of magic inside you. I’d forgotten that shapeshifters were so potent. You are created directly from the Primordial Womb after all.”

  Clover looked away, feeling embarrassed. She didn’t feel super powerful. How could she feel that confident when she was constantly beset by worries?

  They each took it in turn to give Toren some blood. When it was Lovisa’s turn the process made the Fey princess almost collapse.

  “What’s wrong?” Lovisa asked, sounding worried. “Did I do something wrong?”

  Toren bit her lip and said, “No. Nothing is wrong. It’s just...your blood has made me so horny that I’m struggling really hard not to orgasm.”

  Lovisa blushed. “I do have that effect on people.”

  Wynn was the last to offer up his blood. He smiled at Toren with adoration in his eyes. The two of them took the ritual slowly, almost sensuously. Clover found herself turned on by the whole process. It was like watching porn. It didn’t hurt that Wynn was a square-jawed, attractive Fey.

  And Toren is pretty hot too.

  Jared gripped her hand as Wynn and Toren stared into each other’s eyes. The two of them were completely, irrevocably in love with each other. Perhaps Wynn would be the one to tame the Black Fey?

  “We’re going home,” Jared whispered.

  She smiled back at him, but she wasn’t feeling his optimism. Her gut was churning with signs and portents. It was telling her they were too late.

  JARED COULDN’T KEEP his eyes off Valeriu as Toren tried to recreate the portal back home. Clover had told him what had happened. She didn’t trust him and neither did he. He was a Groza. They were about as duplicitous and untrustworthy as Loki. He had the power to do something about it.

  “I’m going to talk to Valeriu,” said Jared.

  “Don’t kill him,” said Clover. “But if there’s no other way...”

  “He has to see that revealing your secret would be way worse for him than it is for us.”

  He didn’t elaborate. He wasn’t sure Clover would approve of what he was about to do, but at least Valeriu would live.

  Valeriu glared at him as he walked over. “What is it?”

  “You know about Clover,” Jared stated.

  The prince smirked. “I don’t know how you managed to keep that secret.”

  “I can keep a secret, and so can my family. I’m not so sure about you.”

  Valeriu’s eyes widened in fear as Jared pushed him gently against the wall. He poured all his Mesmer ability into the prince. Within seconds the vampire was completely within his thrall.

  “If you tell anyone about Clover’s secret you will murder your own family,” Jared ordered him. “And then you will kill yourself. Do you understand?”

  He nodded. “Including the bastards?”

  Was that bastard siblings, or children?

  “Do you have siblings I don’t know about?” Jared asked.

  “No,” Valeriu admitted. “I have children. Even my family don’t know about them. I’d do anything to protect them. I...I love them.”

  “Then you know what you have to do to keep them safe. Say you understand.”

  Valeriu nodded.

  Jared pulled away, releasing the prince from his hold.

  “You didn’t have to do that,” Valeriu sneered. The hatred and shame on his face was palpable. Nobody had ever treated him this way before. “My children...”

  Jared ignored him and returned to Clover. He’d done what he’d had to do.

  “Why is Valeriu looking at you like he hates you?” Clover asked.

  Jared kissed her on the forehead protectively. “I’ve made an enemy for life, but that’s fine. As long as you’re safe from him he can hate me all he likes.”

  “My secret is safe?”

  He nodded, and pulled her into a hug.

  WHEN THE PORTAL FINALLY opened Toren couldn’t hold back her lust for power. The blood magic ritual had been bigger than anything she’d done before and it raged through her body. If she didn’t go through and start murdering shapeshifters any second she’d burst. Why had she never done anything like this before? The Black Fey of old never felt anything as orgasmic as this.

  Loki and his pathetic army will shudder before me.

  “You’re grinning like a supervillain,” Wynn whispered.

  “Your concern is touching,” she said. She ignored him. He was nothing to her now compared to the carnage to come. It was going to be legendary.

  She turned to face the portal. “See you on the other side. Don’t wait up.”

  THE OTHERS STEPPED through the portal, one at a time. Each of them looked somber, like they knew they were going back to something far worse than they’d left behind. When there was only Clover and Jared left she gripped his hand fiercely.

  “You need to be prepared,” she told him.

  He nodded. “Don’t worry. I am.”

  His confidence was a turn on. This new powerful Jared, older and wiser and scarred, was different from the boy she knew, but the same too. This was the man he was always meant to be, and she loved him more than she ever did. The universe thought splitting them up again and again would wound them, but it only made them stronger.

  They walked through
the portal together, straight into mass panic. The door to the council chambers was a blackened mess on the floor. Something had exploded it open with a magical fireball. The walls and ceiling were covered with more scorch marks, and the council table was split in two. Ash was floating in the air.

  Jared shook his head. “No...”

  She couldn’t see the others. They must’ve already made their way out of the room to see what was happening.

  “It’s vampire ash,” said Jared. He swirled his fingers through the air, catching the ash on his finger nails. “So much of it...”

  There was enough ash in this chamber for a dozen vampires. They must’ve barricaded themselves in here but the enemy had gotten through.

  We’re too late.

  Chapter 48

  “Hold there,” Adrian ordered.

  Clover snapped back to reality. There was nothing she could do to help these vampires now. She could help those that were left, including Dracula, if he was indeed still alive. Was this the death he had foreseen for himself, or was he out there right now, fighting to keep his home from being overwhelmed?

  Maybe this is his ash on the floor by my feet...

  She shook her head, refusing to think such fatalistic thoughts. The vampires were powerful, Dracula more so. So why was there so much ash? Why hadn’t they put up more of a fight? Why weren’t there any shapeshifter bodies?

  An explosion rocked the level above them. Plaster rained down and the floor shook violently.

  Lovisa and Adrian charged back into the room. Lovisa had gotten herself some sort of axe, and Adrian was now armed with a gun. Clover could see various weapons abandoned on the floor. They were probably wielded by the vampires.

  “Where are the others?” Clover snapped. She shook her hair, trying to get vampire ash out of it. “This place is dangerous.”

  “The battle is still ongoing,” said Adrian. He wiped at some ash on his beard. “I can hear it further along the corridor. We can still save some people.”