Darkness Rising

by Cate Farren

  They helped her put Adrian in the backseat as the ground continued to tremble. It took less than thirty seconds, but during that time the temperature was getting hotter and hotter. Lovisa looked back as one of the boys started the engine. Fire was erupting from the 199 steps. Whitby Abbey was now a pile of white flames, spreading outwards like a flood. It wasn’t travelling as real fire should, almost as if some external force was trying desperately to hold it back. But it was spreading outwards. Soon the whole city would be in flames.

  “What’s going on?” the driver asked as the car started. “Is it terrorists?”

  “Just drive!” Lovisa screamed.

  She had no time to think about her friends in Dracula’s lair. They were dead. She had to save Adrian and these humans if she could.

  The car sped around a corner, continuing its journey. Lovisa looked back to see the buildings near the 199 steps exploding into the air, carried aloft by flames. She heard people screaming. She saw bodies being engulfed by the fire. It was like a scene from hell itself.

  “Faster!” she screamed.

  Lovisa hugged Adrian’s comatose form to her chest as Whitby was engulfed by fire. She closed her eyes, thinking about the good things in her life. The only thing she could think of was that she was alive. All her friends were dead. Thousands of humans and vampires were currently being turned to ash.

  She kissed Adrian’s head and whispered, “I love you.”

  The car screeched to a halt. Lovisa screamed for them to drive, her throat raw with anger and grief.

  “It’s stopped,” said the driver. “Look.”

  She looked. The explosions had stopped several blocks back. On one side was scorched earth, red and seeping with smoke. Nothing remained, not even a single brick. On the other was a cobbled road and tourist shops, quaint and peaceful and normal.

  Lovisa cried. They’d made it.

  DANIEL PUT HIS HAND on Valeriu’s shoulder. The vampire hadn’t moved since he’d murdered the shapeshifter that killed his family. He sort of knew how he’d felt. He’d watched his own family grow old and die decades ago. It was something you never forgot.

  “We have to go,” Daniel insisted. “More will come.”

  “I’m the only one left,” Valeriu said. He was emotionless. “The only one...”

  “Then live for them. Live for them.”

  Valeriu nodded and stood up. He smiled and kissed Daniel on the lips, surprising him. It was a good kiss. Daniel hadn’t been kissed like that since the first time he met Lachlan. The Fey king had been that passionate once upon a time before his duties as a monarch overwhelmed him.

  Daniel blushed and said, “I’m in a relationship.”

  “You’re miserable,” Valeriu stated. “I saw that the moment I first saw you and imagined you with your clothes off.”

  “The king of the Fey is...”

  “The king of the Fey is a usurper, and a useless usurper at that.” Valeriu kissed him again, taking the time to nibble on his bottom lip. Daniel felt his senses shattering. “There. I feel better now. Let’s go.”

  Daniel hesitated, for a moment flabbergasted. It was the only word he could use to describe how he felt at that exact moment. He didn’t feel he was cheating on Lachlan. He didn’t consider Lachlan one little bit. As far as he was concerned his relationship with the king was over the moment he first hit him.

  What is wrong with me? It’s like I’m so desperate for love that I’ll fall for a guy just because he kisses me.

  He had a moment to consider how indecisive his feelings were when the the room shuddered. The walls started to crack and the floor began to move of its own accord. There was a snap of intense heat and a rumbling, like the waking of a vast subterranean monster.

  “What’s that?” Daniel asked.

  Valeriu looked worried. “I don’t plan on sticking around to find out.”

  The vampire prince smiled sadly and vanished. Daniel started forward, wondering what the hell happened.

  His cadou! He can teleport!

  Daniel’s last thoughts as the supernatural fire consumed him were about Jared.

  THE FIRE CONTINUED to spew forth from her every pore. It wasn’t painful, just the opposite. Celia felt contentment and joy, like this moment was the culmination of each wonderful thing in her life. This was what she was meant to do. She was a Xaphan demon and a Xaphan demon was supposed to do this, to breath supernatural fire across the world, to turn everything to ash, to destroy. Everything should be fire.

  The whole world needs to burn!

  Celia pushed away those fiery desires. She knew they were wrong. Xaphan demons were meant to protect people, use their fire to help. She knew that. So why did she want to burn the world? Why did the thought of seeing the whole planet consumed bring her such happiness?

  She had to stop. She had to stop now before it was too late.

  “Celia, you are strong enough,” a voice whispered.

  A shadowy figure was walking towards her through the white hot flames. Celia knew in her heart that it was her birth mother.

  “I need everything to burn!” Celia screamed.

  “You understand,” said her mother. She walked up to Celia. “You understand that a Xaphan demon is there to protect. But we also have an urge to destroy. Some of us in the past gave in to those urges and that’s why we were hunted down.”

  Her mother looked so much like her; green eyes and short black hair and a kind smile that beamed with sincerity. Celia didn’t remember her, or remember her adopted mother all that much either, but she knew love when she saw it.

  “I don’t want to do it,” Celia insisted. “I’m not sure I can stop it.”

  Her mother said, “Think about what you love and what you can’t afford to live without. You’ll know what to do. I trust you.”

  She couldn’t see them through the fire, but she knew her father and brother were out there somewhere, still alive. If she kept this up they’d die and she’d never see them again.

  “Dad,” she whispered. “Darin.”

  “Keep them alive,” her mother whispered, her image fading away. “Keep them alive.”

  Celia nodded, knowing what she had to do. The shapeshifters and Loki were dead. She didn’t need to do this any more. All she had to do was pull the fire back into herself.

  How do I do that?

  She nodded, imagining her body as a normal, human girl. The fire started flowing back towards her, re-entering her body. It tried to fight back, again and again, but she was more powerful. She controlled the fire, not the other way around.

  “I can control it!” Celia screamed, laughing as the fire returned to her. “You can’t make me destroy any more!”

  Celia fell backwards as the room was emptied of fire. She smiled, knowing she’d saved her family, and fell asleep.

  SASKIA WAS ABOUT TO lose control of the magical bubble when the fire suddenly vanished. She collapsed to the ground, utterly spent. She didn’t think she could perform magic ever again.

  And I did it to save Clover and all her friends.

  She looked up. She could see the sky, covered in ominous black clouds. Celia’s fire had burnt right through to the surface.

  I fucking saved Clover.

  I’m supposed to hate her.

  Look at her, lying there, staring at me. She doesn’t know what to say.

  “Thank you,” said Clover.

  Saskia shook her head and looked away. She didn’t know what to feel. She should have let them die. Loki would’ve wanted that. They could have finally gotten rid of all his enemies at once.

  He’s going to hate me and I’ll have nobody.

  CLOVER STIRRED, PULLING herself to her feet. She shivered, hugging herself, as cold air came in from above. Jared kissed her, thankfully okay too. Trent, Darin and Sutton appeared unharmed. The bullet wound in her stomach ached, but it wasn’t bothering her as much as it should. It was healing quite rapidly.

  “Celia!” Trent cried, charging forward.

/>   He pushed past Saskia, running for his daughter. She was kneeling down amid a melted hollow in the rock. The girl’s eyes were wide open and staring straight ahead, as if reliving the horrors she’d just performed. Not a hair was out of place on Celia’s head. In fact, her hair had changed color. It was now white, like the hot fire she’d created just moments ago.

  “Celia?” Trent demanded.

  The girl nodded. “I’m fine. I pulled it back before...” She burst into tears. Her father picked her up in his arms. “Dad...”

  Trent kissed her on the head and nodded towards Clover. It was time to go. It was over.

  It’s finally over. Loki is dead and...

  Something felt wrong. She would’ve known if Loki had died. Yet she didn’t feel it. Was it just denial, or was it something more?

  “You okay kid?” Darin asked.

  “I want to go home,” Celia insisted.

  Darin smiled. “Then let’s go and...”

  Darin exploded in a burst of ash. Celia screamed.

  Saskia laughed. “It looks like I have some magic left in me after all. Enough to kill all of you and make Loki happy.”

  SHERIFF Gable Trent roared and turned into his true demonic form. He dropped Celia and charged at the witch, wanting to cause her as much pain and suffering as possible. He knew how to inflict pain and this time he would enjoy every minute of it. He would gore the bitch and eat her alive.

  Saskia laughed and flitted to the side. He crashed into the wall, stumbling through the pile of ashes that was once his beloved son. She fired a spell at him, showering him with an acid rain that caused his skin to sizzle and melt.

  "You bitch!" he screamed, turning back to her. "I will hunt you down and lock you up in the same cage I put Loki in and I will torture you for a billion years!"

  Saskia sighed. "You won't be doing that."

  Clover ran at her. She swung her sword. Saskia used a spell, exploding the weapon. Clover screamed as the fingers of her right hand were taken with the sword, leaving nothing but bloody stumps behind.

  A weeping Sutton charged, catching Saskia unawares. The witch took the blow to her face and kicked out. Jared came at her from the side, grabbing her by the neck. Sutton came in to bite her neck before there was another flash and Sutton too exploded into ash.

  Saskia laughed maniacally. “The baby! It’s giving me the power of Loki!”

  Jared flitted into his shadow form and hacked at her. One of Saskia’s ears were sliced clean off. She continued to laugh as Trent came at her too, Clover on the other other side, nursing her bleeding hand and what remained of her fingers. They circled her.

  “I’ve killed them all,” Saskia declared. “And I have the power of Loki. You can’t touch me.”

  “I’m going to destroy you,” Trent promised.

  “Now that Loki is dead you have nobody,” said Jared viciously.

  She shook her head. “Don’t you get it? Loki isn’t dead. He tricked you with a decoy yet again.” She looked at Clover. “You know that, deep down.”

  “Is she telling the truth?” Trent demanded.

  “She is,” said Clover sadly. “Deep down...deep down I know for certain that Loki is still alive.”

  Trent growled. “Why? Why didn’t he come here himself? Why?”

  “He has better things to do,” said Saskia. “Much better things.”

  Jared sighed and said, “Tell us what he’s up to.”

  Saskia laughed again. She sounded insane as she said, “Your Mesmer is working, but he didn’t tell me where he was going. I can’t tell you a thing.”

  They came at her again. Saskia whirled to the side and threw Clover against the wall, knocking her out. Jared fired out a telekinetic blast at her. She pulled up a shield just in time and fired back a fireball. Jared exploded into ashes.

  Trent didn’t react as he said, “You killed them all.”

  “Jared and Sutton will come back,” said Saskia sadly. “But Darin won’t. He’s gone forever. I murdered your son.”

  She grinned and fired another spell at him. Trent dodged to the side and ran at her before realizing he felt something coming behind him. He turned just in time as a whirling blade of energy exploded into the side of his head. He screamed in pain as light consumed him. He felt one of his horns snap. The agony was immense, the worst he'd ever experienced in his long life.

  The witch kicked him in the face and ran. Trent fell to the floor, feeling his energy fade.

  She can't have that much power...

  He passed out, thinking only of the day Darin was born. That was a good day.

  Chapter 53

  Clover woke, Saskia’s insane laughter still rattling around her brain. She looked around, taking in her surroundings. She was in some kind of cheap hotel room. The curtains were orange and the wallpaper a maudlin turquoise. It was warm, though, and the bed was comfortable. She had a feeling she’d been asleep for a while.

  “Welcome back sleeping beauty,” said Trent.

  He was sitting on a ratty old armchair in the corner of the room. He looked dejected, a man consumed by misery. His eyes were red raw from weeping.

  “How long have I been asleep?” she asked, pulling herself out of bed. She felt stiff. “Did I miss anything?”

  Trent laughed bitterly. “You’ve missed so many things.”

  “I’m sorry about Darin. He was a good guy.”

  The sheriff looked away, fighting back the tears. She walked over to the window and pulled open the curtains. She gasped in shock. She was still in Whitby. She could see the crater where Whitby Abbey and an area a mile around it had been consumed by fire. There was nothing left. It was like a whole section of the town had been scooped up. The sea itself had flowed in, reclaiming what had been destroyed.

  “We were lucky Celia controlled herself,” said Clover.

  “She hasn’t talked much,” said Trent. “She felt every death that her fire consumed. She says...she says she killed one thousand and fifty-four people.”

  Clover didn’t know how to respond to that. Celia had saved their lives, but a part of her thought it had been unnecessary. Did Celia really have to let go like that? Did she need to destroy half the town just to kill a few dozen shapeshifters?

  “I know what you’re thinking,” Trent admitted. “And I feel it too. She feels it too. She wishes she had more control.”

  He joined her by the window as they looked out on the devastation Celia had wrought. They watched as ambulances and police cars drove around the streets. There was a small tent city nearby, housing people who had most likely lost their homes. She saw people begging and crying and it broke her heart.

  “Who did we lose?” she asked.

  “Dracula is gone for good. Celia’s fire burned him away completely. Nothing can regenerate from that.” He looked sad for a moment before saying, “Jared’s creator, Daniel, is dead. And Darin. Darin is dead.”

  She gripped his hand, giving him her support.

  Trent continued. “Sutton and Jared are currently regenerating. Sutton might take a month or so, but Jared is almost back to normal. He just needs a little time.”

  Clover breathed a sigh of relief. She’d known that Jared and Sutton could survive death, but seeing them die like that had been a blow. For just a fraction of a second she’d imagined she’d never see Jared again.

  “Toren and Wynn are fine. Unscathed.” He tutted, as if he didn’t really care. “Valeriu is alive, but rest of his family is dead. I’m shedding tears for them, really.” He laughed. “Good riddance.”

  Clover wasn’t sure what to feel about Valeriu. He’d backed them up during the mission to Loki’s dimension, which meant he could be trusted. He must be in agony right about now.

  “What about Adrian and Lovisa?” she asked, feeling anxious.

  “Lovisa is fine, but Adrian is in some sort of coma. I’m not sure there’s anything we can do for him.”

  She looked away, watching the clouds boil and move. Adrian had meant a l
ot to her. In another universe they may have ended up together. She had loved him in her own way, and she was glad he’d met someone who could love him properly.

  No. He’s not dead yet. There’s a chance.

  “So we lost, basically,” Clover stated.

  Trent said, “The database on Dracula’s Cloud said there were one thousand and forty-two vampires inside his base. They’re all dead apart from Valeriu. A further sixty vampires, a coven of twenty witches, an incubus, and a werewolf family were killed when Celia exploded and took out some of the town. The government called it a terrorist attack at first, but after what happened next...”

  “What happened next?” Clover asked.

  “The end of the world as we know it.”

  He didn’t elaborate. He just walked over to the TV set, switched it on, and used the remote to turn the channel to BBC News. Clover sat down on her edge of the bed and watched in utter horror.

  Chapter 54

  Fifteen hours ago

  Rani was bored. The chanting was getting on her nerves. She was hungry. The weather was chilly. Even her clothes were starting to chafe, standing there all that time. Her feet ached. She felt like an idiot.

  “Are you going to sulk all day?” Alyssa whispered, a prim look on her face.

  “I said I’d do this,” said Rani. “I’ll do it, okay?”

  “You haven’t even recorded anything for your vlog yet.”

  “When something interesting happens I will.”

  Alyssa grinned and pointed through the crowds. A well known pop singer was getting out of a black car.

  “Is that who I think it is?” Rani asked, suddenly excited.

  “He’s an environmentalist,” said Alyssa. “He said he’s be here on on Twitter.”

  Rani grinned. “You should’ve told me!”

  The celebrity stayed for five minutes and left. Rani recorded a few glimpses of him, hoping it would gain her likes. Her Twitter post got a thousand shares within thirty seconds.

  Sweet.