The Nightling: Darkness Within

by Danae Ayusso

“Hey!” I complained. “The vampire thing kind of makes me one.”

  Giovanni shook his head. “Sis, that’s another term for a hooker.”

  My eyes widened. “How do you know so much about prostitutes?!” I asked in a panic.

  The look he gave me made Alder laugh.

  “Reading and boredom?” my brother offered with a shrug.

  Why I bother, I’ll never know.

  Alder sighed, shaking his head. “Vanni, you don’t understand. This Queen I have a history with, a sorted history, one I haven’t forgiven them for.”

  Dang, I was hoping he’d come with us.

  ‘He will, just give it time.’

  How do you know?

  ‘Because Alder is one of the purest souled creatures to ever exist. You are in good company with him.’

  Interesting information and it might be helpful.

  Tybalt joined Giovanni and Alder on the other side of the private dining room. “Come on. It’d surprise the hell out of the Queen if you showed up with a smile and on the arm of a handsome ghost. It’d drive the Queen crazy.”

  Giovanni smiled wide.

  Alder shook his head. “I hate how much I want to do just that, but it’s beneath me.”

  “But is it beneath the Queen?” Tybalt countered with a smirk.

  Alder wasn’t amused and glared at him.

  “I won’t know anyone there,” I said softly, looking at my hands and the gloves I needed to put back on. “What if I touch someone or do something I shouldn’t? You understand more than I do about what I am, what I can do… Perhaps the Goddesses put us together in order to protect those with her blessing? Even if you are no longer a High Priest of the Goddess, you are still and will forever be a Herald of the Goddess. We have to stick together, don’t we?”

  Tybalt’s eyes widened and he looked between me and Alder. “Shawn is a Herald of the Light?” he asked in disbelief.

  We both shrugged.

  “Doesn’t being a Child of Blood negate that blessing?” Tybalt asked, curious.

  “In theory,” Alder said.

  “The Goddess answered my prayer when we first met,” I said, looking to Tybalt. “When you were knocked out by the Shifter and I was impaled on the fencing. The obelisk you smashed into was going to crush you to death and I prayed for the Goddess to save you, and she did. The vegetation pulled you to safety and held the massive granite up until you were out of the way. Andrei was not happy I asked the Goddess to save a Child of the Moon, but I couldn’t handle not trying to save you even if it meant giving up my soul to do it,” I whispered the latter, looking away from them.

  Giovanni sat on the other side of me. “Sis, it’s okay. You were her Herald when you had a pulse and you still are now that you don’t have one.”

  I rolled my eyes. “I have a pulse,” I grumbled under my breath. “I think,” I said, checking to see if I had one; it was slow, but my heart was beating. “I have a pulse. If you’d stop talking and would listen you’d hear it.”

  A smile filled his face.

  Alder headed from the private dining room. “Let me change real fast then we’ll head out,” he said.

  Giovanni’s eyes sparkled and he got up and hurried after Alder.

  “Perv,” I grumbled under my breath.

  Tybalt sat down and coaxed me by the chin to look at him; his eyes were glassy with unshed tears. “You saved my life?”

  I nodded.

  “Why didn’t you tell me until now?” he asked, tenderly caressing my cheek with the back of his finger.

  “I didn’t do it in order to be rewarded, I did it because I knew you deserved to live,” I said, my voice meek.

  The way he was looking at me no one had ever looked at me like that before, and it flooded my stomach with butterflies and made it hard to breathe.

  ‘Let us just hope you do not puke on him.’

  My eyes widened.

  Why would you say something like that?!?! Oh no, now I’m going to puke.

  “Shawn?” Tybalt whispered with a smile. “Ignore Andrei, he’s being rude.”

  “How did you know?” I stammered.

  “The look you got on your face is the look you get when he’s putting his nose where it doesn’t belong,” he said as if it were obvious. “I suppose he got what he wanted though.”

  My brows pulled together. “I haven’t puked on you yet, and I’m pretty sure that’s what he wanted.”

  Softly he chuckled. “Thank you for not puking on me, but that isn’t what I meant. I was going to ask your permission to kiss you since your brother wasn’t here and Alder stepped out, because I understand. You don’t have to explain your past or the boundary violation issues you have because of it, but just know that I will never violate them and will always ask permission before doing anything. Okay?” he whispered, wiping away the tear that rolled down my cheek.

  No one had ever offered that before, and no one ever wanted to bother with being a gentleman.

  “I’m going to hug you,” I said then wrapped my arms around his waist and hugged him tight, burying my face against his shoulder so he didn’t see me lose it.

  It was, without question, the most romantic thing anyone had ever offered to do for me.

  Tybalt wrapped his arms around me and rested his head against mine and just held me while I struggled to compose myself before making a fool of myself when I met his queen.

  ****

  Alder drove us to the docks in the shipping district. I sat in the backseat with Tybalt, my knees bouncing wildly, fighting the urge to puke. If it weren’t for Tybalt holding my hand, his thumb softly caressing the inside of my wrist, I would have puked all over. Alder looked extremely out of his element and ready to turn and run, but he was adorable in his slacks, dress shirt, suspenders, bowtie, and fedora. Giovanni liked the geeky look, and I think Alder knew so he dressed purely for his benefit.

  The location we went to wasn’t giving me warm, fuzzy feelings since it appeared deserted and was dark. It wasn’t where I expected to meet a Queen. It was just a slab of asphalt skirting dark water, and the only thing there was an abandoned looking corrugated metal building.

  There were no other cars parked outside. No lights. No sounds. It was eerily desolate.

  It was a weird place for a Queen to be, wasn’t it?

  “Are you alright, Shawn?” Tybalt asked, opening the door for me then offered me his hand.

  I took it and carefully got out of the car so not to show more inside boob than what was appropriate. “Yeah, I just didn’t expect something so dark or,” I shrugged, “dirty for a Queen. That’s all.”

  Alder snorted. “Please don’t say that to them. We’ll never hear the end of it and next century they’ll demand a palace to hold their birthday gala.”

  My eyes widened.

  “This is a birthday party?!” I asked in a panic. “I didn’t bring a gift!”

  They chuckled.

  “I’m the gift,” Giovanni informed me, spinning around the parking lot, swaying as if he were listening to music. “This is going to be amazing. The playlist leaves much to be desired, but I’m diggin’ the 80’s set.”

  I looked between the others before giving my dancing brother a look.

  It was eerily quiet, there wasn’t music, and I was way out of my element and shouldn’t have left the protection of the church.

  ‘Calm down. Take a few deep breaths, close your eyes, and allow yourself to relax. Listen to your beating heart. Allow that soft thump-thump to lull you to your safe place.’

  Ugh, what? Why are you overly supportive of me being out all of a sudden?! I demanded, suddenly paranoid.

  Andrei sighed. ‘It is complicated right now. I need you to stay within the protection of your puppy and those he considers kin.’

  That didn’t sound good, and in typical Andrei fashion he was going to bark directives with a soft tone so it causes my guard to slip.

  Something happened, didn’t it?

  ‘More than one crown
was targeted,’ he conceded. ‘I am not barking directives at you, I am merely requesting that you make a conscious effort to stay safe. The sun will be up in five hours, you must return before then.’

  Okay. Warning acknowledged.

  What if they ask why I’m so clingy?

  ‘You are incapable of lying, this I know to be true, so do not attempt to deceive those required to protect you.’

  What aren’t you telling me?

  ‘Much. You will figure it out eventually, especially since the one you are celebrating their birthday has an ear for gossip and loose lips.’

  You tell me so I’m not surprised.

  ‘You are very demanding.’

  You have no idea.

  ‘I am starting to get one. More than our crowns were targeted, however the other boasts success.’

  My eyes widened.

  I should head back now-

  ‘Nyte. Enjoy your date. You look beautiful, Solnyshka.’

  I’m going to die! Why else would you compliment me?!

  Softly Andrei growled. ‘Very well. Get home now before you die.’

  That was the overbearing jerk I was used to!

  “Shawn, you okay?” Alder asked, waving his hand in front of my face.

  I jumped, startled. “What? Why do you ask?”

  Tybalt shook his head. “Was this a bad idea?”

  I struggled to swallow the lump that formed in my throat. “I have to stay in your protection before I head home to beat the sunrise,” I said with a shrug. “I’ll be safe with you two.”

  ‘Only tell them if it is needed. It is inside information that cannot be made public.’

  Now you tell me.

  Softly he chuckled in my head. ‘I tell you things often and yet, more often than not, you disregard them.’

  That was true, but it wasn’t consciously done. Andrei just refused to tell me the importance of things, or how to vampire.

  That’s my main complaint.

  He refuses to tell me how to be a vampire.

  ‘Because you are the worst possible vampire ever sired. How do I teach someone to be the opposite of what they are destined to be?’

  Uh, what?

  ‘Enjoy your date. We will fight when you are home, safe.’

  Ugh! You are so annoying.

  ‘Something you appreciate, even if you will not admit it yet.’

  That, I was certain, I would never appreciate.

  “I was trying to calm myself and open my third eye or something,” I said, making a face, and continued to look around. “My brother hears music, is dancing and enjoying life even if he lost his at such a young age. Andrei told me to find my center, but my center is right there dancing in the middle of an empty parking lot. Giovanni’s always been my center, in all of his dancing, singing glory.”

  Alder nodded his understanding with a small smile, but I clearly saw the look of unfathomable sadness that was clearly visible in his eyes.

  Tybalt took my hand in his and gave it a reassuring squeeze. “Just relax, breathe, and with a clear mind you’ll see everything this world has to offer you. You already see what no one else does, Shawn. Even before your rebirth into this new, exciting world, you saw things that others didn’t. I know you did, so don’t deny it.”

  My mouth closed because I was about to do just that.

  Giovanni told me to never tell anyone of the weird stuff I saw that no one else seemingly did. Our white lashes and skunk stripes already made us standout, the fact we were considered heathens since we were Pagans and didn’t worship their precious Christ, our natural musical ability made others envy us, not to mention my love of numbers and being in AP math classes throughout my schooling, add it all together and it got me called a freak by many people growing up when Giovanni wasn’t there to defend me. Adding seeing stuff to the list of weird stuff would have caused them to lock me up in Eastern State Hospital.

  “Nothing is as it appears in this world, Shawn,” Tybalt reminded me in a soft voice. “You are amazing, gifted, and so unbelievably beautiful inside and out. Those monsters you ran from, they weren’t worthy of knowing of your gifts and blessing. They weren’t worthy of even knowing you.” He took my hands in his then rolled them over before kissing the inside of each of my wrists, where the gloves weren’t covering. “You are beyond words, Shawn of Forgotten Park Cemetery, and I am honored that you said yes.”

  Alder hurried over to us. “Tybalt, give me a moment with Miss Shawn, please?” he asked, taking me from my date by force. “I need to explain a few things about her gift before we take her into the middle of a crowded club filled with mythical creatures. Okay?”

  Uh, okay. Obviously I did something wrong.

  ‘You did not.’

  You sure?

  ‘Yes.’

  Tybalt nodded. “Of course, I didn’t think of that. I’ll be over here, and I promise not to eavesdrop.”

  The look Alder gave him made Tybalt chuckle.

  “Take your glove off and hold onto my wrist,” Alder instructed. “We need a distraction, and I know the perfect thing to do just that, and I’ll need your bond with said distraction.”

  Slightly suspicious, but mainly curious, I did as instructed then wrapped my hand around Alder’s wrist.

  “Goddess of Wisdom and Goddess of Light,” he chanted under his breath, “Bless this Child of the Moon with your gift of sight. Through shadows and darkness, the veil has been breached, allow this Spirit Shadow to be seen-”

  “No,” I interrupted, covering his mouth with my free hand. “No. Not like that, Alder.”

  He gave me a look. “I’m scared to ask how then.”

  I offered a smile that quickly fell; he should know better, all Children of Light know better than to ask something of the Goddess for selfish reasons. “Aiutati che Dea ti aiuta,” I said, speaking softly, and Alder looked at me curiously. “Da chi mi fido, mi guardi Dea, da chi non mi fido guarderò io,” I prayed, closing my eyes. “Goddess I ask of you not to grant this request tonight out of selfishness. Rather, I beg of you to allow me to share the honor and power of the Goddess, of you, with these friends this night. Your honor and power has bestowed upon me the greatest of gifts; my Spirit Shadow. Goddess I ask of you to honor this Child of the Moon with your blessing of sight for the night so he may have the privilege of having his life, for a single moment, illuminated by the soul of Giovanni Zuan Salvatori just as mine is. Protection of heart, protection of soul, Goddess grant me your protection this night, grant me this request to share a shining example of your power with this of Child of the Moon.”

  Alder gasped and it caused me to open my eyes and regard him. “Shawn, it doesn’t-”

  “Would you stop twerking on me?” Tybalt complained with an amused chuckle.

  Alder and I both looked across the parking lot to where Tybalt and my brother were.

  Giovanni stopped in mid-booty shake and looked over his shoulder to the amused werewolf he was entertaining himself with. “Holy shit. You can see me?”

  Tybalt nodded. “And hear you. It’s a pleasure to meet you, Giovanni.”

  My brother looked from me and Alder to Tybalt. “Damn. That means I can’t rub up on you anymore.”

  “Vanni!” I scolded.

  “What?” he innocently asked, batting his lashes. “You have amazing taste in men, Sis. Very nice. Can I see you naked, too?” he asked, turning to Tybalt then wagged his brows. “It’s only fair since my baby sister has.”

  I shook my head in resignation.

  My brother has turned into a creepy, horny eighteen-year old that apparently wants to hump every guy I meet.

  It’s very, very disturbing.

  Alder turned me to face him; his complexion was extremely pale. “Shawn, what did you just do?” he whispered.

  I shrugged. “Asked for Tybalt to be able to see my brother tonight. That’s what you were going to ask, wasn’t it?”

  Absently he nodded. “But not like that. I was going to cast a blessing.”


  The look I gave him made him roll his eyes; disapproval. “The Gods and Goddesses do not answer prayers when is it selfish in nature. None of them do. Even the Dark Father, a creature that gives selfish an entirely new meaning, ignores the prayers of those that ask selfishly,” I said as if it were obvious. “You should know that, you were a High Priest of the Light. This outing, this date, I’ve waited my entire life, well, since hormones kicked in, to have a picture perfect date with a nice guy that actually wants to spend time with me. But it wouldn’t be possible if it weren’t for my brother. As juvenile as he’s been acting, it’s a front. He’s trying to keep from snapping at me because of the cut of my dress,” I said, motioning towards my chest. “And I know it’s really grating on his nerves that we can’t touch or hug outside of dreams. He just wants to protect me like he always has, but I think it’s more than that. I think he’s tinged with a bit jealousy that his life was taken by the Goddess without reason, and mine is just starting with my rebirth into the dark.”

  Alder shook his head and wiped away the tear that rolled down my cheek for me. “Shawn, you can’t go around invoking the Goddess like this.”

  “I know,” I agreed. “But Vanni has been my rock since this entire ordeal started, not the vampire ordeal, rather the ordeal of living without him. As stupid as it sounds, I really need my big brother’s support right now otherwise I might hide in the bathroom all night.” I cringed; it was a very real possibility with me.

  He gave me a look. “You have no idea, Shawn, how powerful you are. You saved Tybalt’s life by simply asking the Goddess to save him because he was innocent in your eyes. And without question or sacrifice, without a blood bond or entwined soul, that prayer was answered immediately in a way that I’ve never heard of! You ask of the Goddess and she responds without delay or question. That isn’t normal, Shawn.”

  That wasn’t what I thought he was going to say.

  “I don’t mean to,” I promised. “It just kind of happens.”

  “You are, quite possibly, the most powerful Child of Light ever created,” Alder warned. “The Goddess will not look kindly upon the vampire that took her chosen vessel, her Herald, from her… Luka isn’t your Maker, is he?” he surmised, just realizing it.