Darkness Rising

by Cate Farren

  Celia punched Loki in the face. He reeled back from the impact, his head exploding in fire and gristle upon impact. Dracula’s bat form fluttered away, dodging fiery blasts from Saskia, and changed back into his humanoid appearance. He couldn’t allow Celia to enter the fight, not yet. She was only a child.

  And yet I did ask her, if it came to it, to go nuclear.

  Loki didn’t regenerate. His headless body, leaking blood, fell to the floor. The shapeshifters near him appeared shocked. Saskia had a fireball in her hand, staring down at the fallen Lord of Chaos with puzzlement.

  “What happened?” Celia asked. She looked at Dracula, grief and bewilderment written all over her. “Did I kill Loki?”

  Dracula ignored his enemies still in the room and approached his fallen enemy. Loki was indeed dead. His life blood was pouring all over the lecture theatre stage, staining the wooden boards forever.

  Saskia pushed her way forward and kneeled down by the body. Dracula considered ripping her head off while she was still in shock, but he needed to know what was going on as well. The witch could wait.

  “You’re just faking, right?” Saskia asked. She prodded Loki’s chest, expecting him to stand up any minute now. “You can’t die like this. This is...this is wrong.”

  “It does seem rather easy,” Dracula admitted.

  Saskia shook her head. “He can’t die this way. He has to see his child born.”

  Dracula tensed. He remembered Clover telling him that her friend was carrying Loki’s child. He couldn’t allow that child to be born. If there was any chance it turned out to be like his father, then this cycle of war would start up again some day.

  I’m sorry for this.

  Dracula pounced, sinking his fangs into Saskia’s neck. She screamed in pain, but he latched on, wrapping his arms and legs around her so she couldn’t escape. The blood was glorious, full of rich, potent dark magic. It fuelled him more than anything he’d eaten in such a long time. He reminded himself to eat more witches in the future. Zelda might be upset, but she loved him. She’d see his way in the end.

  The other shapeshifters came at him. They dragged him away, blood spilling from his mouth. Saskia fell face forward onto her dead lover’s chest, seemingly unconscious. Dracula pushed the shapeshifters away from him, toppling them like dominos. He ran for Saskia again, grabbing her in his arms, feeding from her once again.

  “No...” Saskia mumbled, pushing against him. “No...”

  She screamed, a battle cry that could shatter the heavens. A halo exploded from her body, electrifying Dracula. He felt his hair burning before he pulled away from her, still desperate for her blood, yearning for it even.

  Saskia wiped at the grizzly wound on her neck. She took in Dracula and said, “You...you can’t have me.” She looked at the shapeshifters, standing around, confused. She pointed towards the vampire. “Envelop him. Kill him.”

  They leapt towards Dracula as one. He laughed. The witch’s blood had made him feel even more invincible than he was. He changed into his shadow form and sliced through them like a razor, cutting them up. In a few seconds there was none left, just a pile of body parts and odds and ends.

  Saskia stepped back, shaking her head. “No. It doesn’t end this way.”

  “You’ve got nothing left,” said Dracula. He couldn’t help but be smug. “Loki is dead and you have nothing. Let me kill you.”

  The witch looked towards the ceiling and grinned. “Oh yeah. I forgot about them.”

  Dracula looked up. There were hundreds of flies crawling around the ceiling rafters.

  “You can join in now,” Saskia invited them. “Avenge Loki.”

  The master vampire had a second to formulate a plan before the swarm of flies changed into humanoids and plummeted towards him.

  Chapter 51

  Jared continued to hold his own as the bullets flew. He could feel every one of them as they hit his telekinetic barrier. They felt like pin pricks against his skin, no more than an inconvenience. As time wore on, it felt like hours, he was starting to tire immensely. Occasionally a bullet got through. One tore through his shoulder. Another whizzed past his ear. He didn’t have the strength for this. He’d hardly used this power and so hadn’t built up a tolerance. Pretty soon he and Clover would be a shredded mess on the carpet.

  “So you want a traditional white wedding and all that jazz?” he asked.

  Clover smiled and said, “If we get out of this alive we’ll just elope in Vegas if you want.”

  “No way. I want a traditional white wedding now too.”

  “You’re just an old romantic.”

  A bullet got through the barrier. It tore through his stomach and he lost control. He fell back into Clover’s arms, his blood pooling all over her hands.

  No...

  The firing stopped. Jared looked up to see the shapeshifters staring at him in shock. One of them tried to fire their weapon but nothing happened. He laughed, despite the pain in his stomach. They’d ran out of bullets.

  “Luck is with us today,” Clover whispered.

  The shapeshifters strode forward, brandishing their useless guns like clubs. Jared pushed aside the pain and leapt to his feet. He could take them on like this, a proper fight. He was an ancient vampire, the oldest one alive. Beating down a few measly shapeshifters in hand to hand combat was child’s play. Besides, he had the love of life and her sword to aide him. Clover was lethal with that thing. He had personal experience with how she could expertly swing a sword.

  The first shapeshifter tried to punch him. Jared dodged and Clover swung her sword, beheading it. He grinned as the others all charged as one. He beat them, dodged their moves, and Clover decapitated them. They worked together, two hearts as one. They fought with an amazing synchronicity that felt organic and real and it made him love her even more. This was how it should be. This was how the future would be should any enemy come at them. None of their foes, not even Loki, had a chance.

  The last enemy fell. Clover stabbed it in the heart, just to be sure. She wiped her brow, her hand coming off with sweat and blood. She was grinning from ear to ear despite the bullet wound in her stomach and the wolf bite on her shoulder.

  “That was fucking awesome,” she admitted.

  They were both covered in blood, and tired, and there were possibly more shapeshifters out there, but he didn’t care. He pushed Clover against the wall, kissing her frantically, with passion and urgency. He wanted her right there and then, quickly and violently.

  “I love you,” he spat, pushing himself inside her.

  She laughed and said, “Love you too.”

  He thrust hard, quick. She dug her nails into his neck and he scraped his fangs teasingly, playfully, across her neck, drawing blood. She clenched, gripping his penis tighter between her walls. He groaned as the pressure released and he came inside her. She screamed as her orgasm came too, almost gouging flesh from his back as she gripped so tight. When it was all over he kissed her, gently this time.

  “That was sweet,” she said.

  He smiled and took her hand. They ran along the corridor, together. They took out any enemy they came across, swiftly and brutally. They’d traversed dimensions and death and time itself to be together. Nothing could harm them. Nothing could come between them.

  Their joy was halted with fatal reality when they turned a corner and found an open door. It was some sort of dining hall, though small. Inside was the largest piles of ashes they’d found so far. Some of them were piled five-feet high. There were several shapeshifter corpses, rotting away back into the earth, but it didn’t matter. Hundreds of vampires had been massacred in here.

  Clover shook her head. A tear rolled down her cheek, mingling with the blood of the shapeshifters they’d killed.

  “Not every vampire in the world was here, right?” she asked him.

  “No,” he answered. “But a lot of them were, the more important ones, the ones who kept order, the ones who dealt with things to make sure the younger
vampires didn’t go around killing people. How will the vampire societies around the world cope now? There’ll be chaos and infighting and...”

  He had to hope there were smarter vampires left who could take over. Not all young vampires were blood crazed imbeciles. Some were smart. Some could make sure their society didn’t crumble. But what about the others? What about the vampires who didn’t know about deals made with blood banks or local councils? What about the vampires who were just waiting for a chance to go out killing people again? They had to end this now. Dracula needed to remind the vampires of the world that things must carry on as normal.

  And if the vampires ignored him then the other supernatural races would finish off what Loki started.

  The vampires would be powerless against a Fey army.

  “Stop looking so glum.” Clover kissed him. “Let’s go find Loki.”

  They were about to head out when he noticed something shining in the corner of the room. He walked towards it, cautious, ready for a trap, but for some reason his senses told him what he was seeing was benign.

  “Jared?” Clover called. “What are you doing?”

  He reached his hand out. “There’s something here...”

  The air shimmered in front of him. Gable Trent, Darin, and Sutton appeared. They seemed to be frozen in motion, or time. He couldn’t be sure. They weren’t moving, that’s for sure, though he could swear he could see their eyes reacting to him.

  “What happened to them?” Clover asked.

  “Some kind of powerful spell,” said Jared. He waved his hand in front of Sutton’s face and her eyes reacted. “Could Saskia do something like this?”

  “I suppose. I wouldn’t put anything past her.” She looked up into Gable Trent’s eyes and said, “But is she powerful enough to freeze him?”

  Jared couldn’t leave them like this. They were his friends and family. Besides, he needed them. Who was more powerful than Gable Trent in a battle? He’d seen the Prime Demon in action. He was terrifying.

  Here goes.

  He punched Sutton in the face so hard she crashed into the wall. She staggered to her feet, her hand to her cheek, giving him the filthiest of looks. Jared wanted to hug her, but he was a little bit afraid for his life.

  “What was that for?” Sutton demanded. “You could have...Wait a minute, you broke the spell. How did you do that?”

  “I was going to kiss you, but that would be disgusting,” said Jared.

  He turned to the frozen Darin and punched him. He woke up too. When he tried the same on Trent it didn’t work. The Prime Demon remained stubbornly frozen.

  “You might have to use every ounce of strength you possess,” Sutton suggested.

  Jared closed his eyes and thought back to the time Sheriff Trent had ordered his son Darin to kill them. Both he and Clover had almost died in the battle. It was a long time ago, and they’d been forgiveness on both sides, but Jared still held a little resentment for it. It made him furiously, murderously angry.

  He screamed. Jared’s fist collided with the sheriff’s face. Trent’s hands shot out and grabbed him by the throat, squeezing.

  “We need to find Celia,” the Prime Demon stated. He let go of Jared and started forward. “She’s with Dracula and she’s in danger.”

  Jared, Clover, Darin, and Sutton ran after him. The way the sheriff ran with such urgency gave Jared pause. Maybe it was already too late.

  CELIA HAD A SPLIT SECOND to make her decision as the dozens of shapeshifters dropped from the ceiling. Loki was dead. The vampires in the building were dead. She had to protect Dracula now. It was the right thing to do.

  And the demon part of me really wants to let rip with my powers.

  The shapeshifters overwhelmed Dracula. She couldn’t see him any more, but she could hear him, fighting, pushing. Saskia was over near the door, ready to make her escape. It was now or never.

  “Be proud of me, Dad,” she whispered.

  She thanked Gabriella for her training before she let the fire overtake her. The last thing she saw as she exploded with nuclear fire was her father. He was with Darin, Clover, Sutton and Jared, entering the lecture theatre just behind Saskia. It was far too late to stop the process happening inside her.

  “DAD!”

  Chapter 52

  The next two seconds happened in a blur. One minute Clover was entering the lecture theatre behind Gable Trent and the next there was a sound unlike nothing she’d ever heard. It reminded her of the sound spaceships made when blasting off, a gush of deafening decibels that could wake the dead. It was followed by a flash of light and heat so intense it could explode the sun.

  Celia...

  A barrier wrapped around them. White hot fire gushed around her and the others, travelling down the corridor like a living thing. The thick, concrete walls cracked and exploded around them. Clover screamed as Saskia stared at her inside their bubble, intense concentration on her face.

  “I can’t do it!” Saskia screamed. “I’m not powerful enough to hold it back!”

  The white flames continued to pour past the barrier, which was flickering and destabilizing. Saskia wasn’t nearly powerful enough. If she let go then they were all dead, burnt away to ash as they were never even here.

  “Can you take magic from me?” Clover shouted.

  Saskia looked unsure. “Maybe. I don’t know.”

  “She can,” Trent affirmed. “Do it!”

  Clover nodded and grabbed hold of Saskia’s hand, giving her strength, power. Jared, Sutton, Darin, and Gable Trent put their hands on her, literally giving her strength. It worked. Saskia grinned as the bubble around them seemed to stabilize. A few seconds later the fire stopped and there was an almighty crash as brick and stone collapsed. The whole underground lair was falling apart right on top of them; thousands and thousands of tons or rock.

  TOREN AND WYNN WERE engaged in glorious battle with the fake Prime Demons as the nuclear fire headed their way. As the Fey princess beheaded and chopped and dismembered all she could think was; this is way too easy. Real Prime Demons would present a much better challenge. This is child’s play!

  One of the Prime Demons managed to slap her across the face as she sulked. Toren swung her sword around, but the creature ducked and charged at her stomach. One of its horns impaled itself inside her flesh. It wasn’t deep, but it was enough to send her in a rage. She beheaded it quickly as the others turned to her, their turn to enter the battle.

  Toren staggered back as the basement shook around them. The temperature started to heat up. She put her hands to her stomach to stop the bleeding, pouring magic into it. The wound healed itself quickly, but she could still feel damage done to her insides. It was agony.

  The rock under her feet sent a message to her. Nature was warning her to protect herself.

  “Something is coming!” she cried.

  The heat intensified as the open lift shaft exploded with white hot flames. Toren leapt towards Wynn and covered them with a shield as the fire erupted and swept over them. The shapeshifters were incinerated instantly, their forms melting away into the flames like shadows being consumed by the light. It was quite beautiful in an apocalyptic way.

  “What’s happening?” Wynn asked.

  Toren kept her psyche close to nature, siphoning off magic. She was still weak from her trip to Loki’s dimension and being gutted by the Prime Demon. If she lost her focus now they’d both be dead.

  “I know you can’t speak,” said Wynn. He gripped her hand, giving her comfort and strength. “Know that I love you, okay? Even though you scare me when you’re the Black Fey I know that deep down you care. Keep us alive.”

  She beamed as the last vestiges of the Black Fey vanished from within her.

  “WHY ARE YOU SO FUCKING heavy?” Lovisa screamed.

  She was dragging a comatose Adrian down the 199 steps, or the church steps. Each bump made her think he was getting a serious head injury, but she had to move quickly. She had to get help for those inside.
>
  Quite how she’d gotten him this far she had no idea. After waking up she’d grabbed hold of Adrian and started pulling him up the steps to the back entrance. It was a long way to go, even steeper than the 199 steps. There were no guards outside, and so she’d just waltzed out, taking Adrian with her.

  “I wish you’d wake up,” she willed him. “Please.”

  Lovisa wasn’t sure why she was awake. She thought the spell had killed her. She’d even had this odd dream about waking up in Heaven and meeting her grandmother, who berated her for being such a useless succubus. At the time she’d accepted it. Then she’d woken up, finding Adrian beside her. At first she’d thought he was gone, but his heart was just beating so slow he appeared to be dead.

  The ground shook. Lovisa lost her balance and started to tumble down the last few remaining steps, taking Adrian with her. When they hit the bottom she felt her ankle twist on the pavement.

  “Fuck...”

  She tried to stand up but couldn’t. She screamed in frustration.

  A trio of teenage boys were standing watching her. They were recording her on their cell phones.

  “I’m posting that on YouTube!” one of them said, laughing.

  Lovisa stared at them with hatred and said, “Give me your phone right now or I swear I will hobble up to you and rip off your testicles.”

  The boy tossed his phone. There was no signal.

  “It doesn’t work,” she told them.

  The ground shuddered again. Lovisa looked up the steps to see Whitby Abbey engulfed in flames so hot they were white. The fire speared into the sky like a geyser, evaporating the rain clouds that were gathering. A flash of wind and hot air blasted over them, knocking everyone to the ground.

  This is not good.

  “Have you got a car?” Lovisa demanded.

  They pointed to a small red Mini, parked nearby.

  “Good,” said Lovisa. “If you want to live you’ll get us in that car now and drive as fast as you can!”