The Nightling: Darkness Within

by Danae Ayusso

  Glad someone was.

  “This has to be one of the most eventual and awkward first dates in history,” I commented with a sigh.

  Giovanni stopped fighting with Cross for a moment. “It could be worse, Sis. He didn’t have to meet your parents,” he pointed out. “So that’s a plus, right?”

  True.

  “Do you have a phone on you?” I asked.

  Tybalt gave me a look but offered me his cell phone.

  “Mamma should still be up since the monster she married is playing cards until well past midnight,” I said, dialing Mom’s cell phone then requested a facetime call.

  After four rings, it picked up.

  “Hello?” Mamma asked, suspicious.

  I smiled. “Hey Mamma,” I said with a smile. “I just wanted to call and check in on you.”

  Her face filled the screen and she smiled wide. “It is late, I was worried when an unknown number called. Is everything okay… Who is that you are sitting on?” she demanded.

  Giovanni joined us and tears flooded his eyes when he saw her. “Mamma looks the same as she did when we were kids,” he said with a smile.

  I nodded my agreement.

  “This my date: Tybalt Lykourgos,” I introduced, leaning to the side so we were both in the shot.

  “Buonasera,” Tybalt greeted with a thick Italian accent.

  Mamma eyed him. “He is not Italian,” she scoffed.

  Okay, I shouldn’t have done this.

  “No, he is Greek,” I informed her. “Be nice, Mamma.”

  Cross snatched the phone from my hand. “But I am full-blooded Italian,” he said with a thick accent.

  Mamma laughed. “But queer as they come, huh?”

  He gasped, as if offended. “How did you know?”

  “Because my precious son would have eaten you up,” she purred.

  I looked at Giovanni with wide eyes. “Did Mamma know you were mostly gay?” I asked.

  Giovanni nodded then followed Cross so he could see Mamma. “Yeah, she was always trying to hook me up, but only pure blooded Italians were good enough for her kids. Could you imagine if she discovered you were in a very strange three-way-relationship with a Russian vampire and a Greek werewolf?”

  My eyes widened. “Vanni!” I hissed.

  Tybalt chuckled, shaking his head. “You look much like your mother. Thank you for allowing me to meet her, even if my diva brother is now monopolizing her attention… Cross tends to do that. He really enjoys Italians.”

  Alder was laughing, watching the entire ordeal with a smile on his face and tears of amusement flooding his eyes.

  Apparently this wasn’t that odd in his opinion.

  “Giada, I will text you my number,” Cross said. “Call any time, if you need anything at all. I simply love spending time with beautiful Italians that love to gossip.”

  Lovely.

  “Tell my daughter to call me tomorrow so she can tell me all about her date and new friends,” Mamma said, loud enough that I could hear her.

  Cross dramatically rolled his eyes. “Of course she will, but not if I call you first to tell you all about my birthday and how it was a great disappointment until they came… Your son is going to get my size forty-eight up his ghosty ass if he doesn’t stop flirting with my man!” he warned.

  My eyes widened.

  Tybalt’s eyes were just as wide. “Cross!” he hissed.

  Mamma chuckled, to my surprise. “Yes, my adorable little boy is nothing but trouble. It should have been his middle name, but I am assuming he is keeping an eye on his baby sister while she’s on her date?”

  Wait, that isn’t right.

  ‘Your mother is a Child of Light, even if she is not a devoted practitioner, she is no stranger to the otherworldly,’ Andrei said, trying to calm me down. ‘Giada asked specifically if your brother was tending to you when I could not when I checked in with her the first dozen times. She knows more than you realize.’

  I want to see mia mamma.

  ‘In Usk?’

  No. Here. Can you help me arrange for Madre to come to Seattle without that monster?

  ‘I will think about it.’

  That was better than a straight out no.

  Thank you

  ‘It is not thank-worthy.’

  Just having you think about it is worthy of my thanks.

  ‘Stop trying to guilt me into apologizing.’

  I smirked. I would never.

  ‘Liar.’

  Maybe.

  Cross tossed Tybalt his cell phone. “I like her!” he said with a smile.

  I shook my head. “She is mia mamma.”

  “Yes, and?” he asked as if it didn’t matter. “Do you have any idea how hard it is to find beautifully cultured Italians in America that don’t look and sound as if they fell out of a shitty mob movie or the Jersey shore? They wouldn’t know Italian if it bit them in the ass.”

  I chuckled. “Yeah, I know. That is Vanni’s complaint as well, always has been. If you two would stop fighting for a half of second, you might realize you both have a lot more in common than just the amused blond sitting between you,” I scolded.

  Of course, my parental warning caused Cross and Giovanni to start arguing in Italian with me and then each other.

  It was mildly amusing.

  “Piove sul bagnato,” I groaned, throwing my hands up in frustration.

  “Sei ancora innamorato di lui?” Giovanni demanded.

  Cross threw his hand up in Giovani’s face and bobbed his head. “Casper, take your sexy dark ass and that attitude elsewhere.”

  “Or you’ll what?” Giovanni demanded. “Bewitch me like you did Alder?” retorted, bobbing his head like Cross simply to mock him.

  There was a collective gasp from the others, but I didn’t know what that meant exactly.

  Cross’s eyes widened.

  Giovanni covered his mouth with his hands.

  Apparently that wasn’t public knowledge.

  “Crocifisso!” Tybalt shouted, picking me up by the hips then set me down on the couch before getting to his feet. “That’s what you did to Alder? You bewitched him?!” he demanded, hurrying over to them.

  Alder shook his head. “You just had to say something, didn’t you?”

  Giovanni cringed. “Sorry, it just slipped out. I’m so sorry.”

  “If you weren’t so damn cute I’d be mad,” Alder said, patting the couch next to him. “Might as well join me, Vanni. Those two are going to be going at it for a while. Sorry, Shawn, for making your date even more awkward.”

  Dismissively I waved his concern off.

  The abusive vampire in my head, my ghost brother chaperoning my date and strong-arming a Necromancer to join us, inadvertently calling myself a prostitute, a few times, my mother trading me in for a flamingly divafied warlock…

  Yeah, this date couldn’t get more awkward if I tried.

  So of course I would give it a gold star effort!

  “How is it possible to bewitch a Necromancer?” I asked the obvious.

  Randolfr shook his head, irritation clearly evident in his expression; obviously he was mad that one of his kind, a fellow necromancer, was subjected to something at the hands of a warlock. “Those reliant on blood don’t consume the blood of those possessing blood magic; witches and warlocks, and a few others that the demons could tell you about since they are practically extinct, their magic is in their blood. When those reliant on blood consume that pure form of blood magic, it causes a blood bond, a tie of sorts, between the one that ingested it and the source. It isn’t something that is encouraged, for obvious reasons, and in modern society it is outlawed due to the past and the uprisings and enslavement that ensued. If that’s what the warlock was doing intentionally, death would follow at the hands of his own adopted brother that’s a Marshal.”

  My eyes widened and I looked over at the two arguing; one was yelling in Italian and the other Greek.

  Alder rolled his eyes. “It wasn’t blood,” he
assured us. “It was even more devious.”

  I didn’t understand what that meant.

  Giovanni smirked. “They call it safe sex for a reason, Alder, especially when you’re letting a moody diva like that throw it in you,” he reminded him.

  “Minor details,” Alder said with a chuckle, shaking his head.

  Yeah, I wasn’t nearly as amused.

  I raised my hand, still not understanding what they were talking about.

  “The Queen liked Alder to be catcher,” Giovanni clarified for me and I lowered my hand, still not getting it.

  “Huh,” I huffed. “Neither reminds me of the baseball type,” I said. “No offense.”

  The two arguing stopped and looked over at me before they started laughing.

  Giovanni sighed. “Tops and bottoms… I’ll explain later, but I’m pretty sure you don’t want to know the details.”

  “Fair enough,” I said, making a face.

  ‘I have no comment.’

  I’m still mad at you for the crap you pulled, for the assault I asked you not to do again and yet you did without giving it or my feelings a second thought.

  ‘This sudden mean side of you I am not sure I like.’

  My eyes widened. Me, mean? You tried to get me to puke all over my date, more than once, then inflicted, again, unimaginable physical pain on me because you didn’t like my company! Don’t you dare turn this around on me, Andrei.

  ‘Again, I do not like this side of you.’

  It’s a good thing it is now the only side you will ever get to see from now on!

  His only response was an amused chuckle.

  Yeah, I couldn’t lie to save my life. And unlike my brother and the women in my family, I didn’t possess an evil streak.

  Where are you?

  ‘Do you miss me?’

  No, I’m suspicious of your absence.

  ‘With good reason.’

  I’m not amused.

  ‘How could you be when that is your date? He has completely forgotten you are even here. If I were your date I would hang on every word that left your lips, each breath you exhaled I would greedily inhale just to be closer to you, to take a part of you within me where we could become one for just a moment, and I would watch everything you did with religious devotion… That is, if I were your date.’

  There was no way he just said that! And I knew he was messing with me simply because he could.

  It’s a good thing I’m not your date because something would have tried to eat me by now and you would have tucked tail and ran… Stop laughing. That didn’t come out right.

  ‘And yet I was contemplating dropping everything in order to do just that.’

  Perv.

  ‘Only when you make it so easy to amuse myself with. Are you not enjoying your date?’

  Yes and no, but mainly no now. I was hoping for more, someone that wouldn’t forget I was in the room, as you pointed out, but I guess I’m not worthy of such attention.

  Andrei groaned. ‘Pity is such an unbecoming thing for a Princess to possess. If the puppy was not worthy of being on your arm this evening, he would not be. If he did not possess an overabundance of decency you would not have left with him this evening. As much as I hate to say it, especially when it pertains to a puppy, your date is slightly worthy of you. He is merely distracted by the fact his warlock brother bewitched his onetime necromancer boyfriend with his sperm.’

  My eyes widened.

  ‘It is not a discussion I long to get into, ever, but especially with you. I was unaware it was even possible, and something to never again mention for obvious reasons.’

  There was so many things wrong with this conversation, and I was praying to the Goddess that it’d end so I could attempt to salvage this anything but romantic date. Sure the night was exciting and had proven to be educational in a sense, and I knew it was only getting started when an all too familiar, and unwanted, feeling flooded me…

  It was a feeling that I knew wouldn’t end well for anyone, especially me.

  ‘I am sorry you are miserable on your date.’

  “No you’re not,” I said, getting to my feet and went over to the railing and looked below to the dancing patrons that were none the wiser to the entertainment they were that evening. “You say it as if you mean it but I know you don’t. You’re merely trying to get on my good side again because you want something or want me less paranoid of you and your intentions since you’re up to something.”

  ‘It truly scares me that you know me so well.’

  I shook my head, not in the mood for him. “It is a curse, to be sure.”

  ‘For once, we agree on something.’

  “I fear it’ll be the only thing we ever agree on,” I said and he chuckled.

  ‘I will arrange for your mother to visit and the monster will not follow.’

  My eyes widened. “Really? Wait, am I going to die? Is that why you are conceding so readily?”

  He chuckled. ‘No. I am not conceding in the least. I have been working on arrangements in order to bring your mother to Seattle to check on you. It is not merely a flight or road trip endeavor. Because of the monster that you will not allow me to disembowel and the leash he has on your mother, I have to get him out of the picture, temporarily as it may be, so she can visit without him knowing.’

  Are you serious?

  ‘Yes. I have been speaking with Giada in regards to the arrangements, acting as your boss so she is none the wiser. Regrettably, it will be a few weeks still before everything is in place and she can visit. By then, the guest room you snooped around in will be completed for her.’

  I wiped away the tear that stained my cheek; the moments when Andrei wasn’t an insufferable jerk made him special and so much more in my eyes…

  Until he does something like tries to get me to puke on my date or assaults me with invisible daggers and hot branding irons.

  There truly is no happy medium with him.

  You might want to focus that renovation thing towards the kitchen. Mamma will want to cook, and that kitchen is not Italian friendly. I wouldn’t even want to make tea or coffee in it. Ew. It reminds me of the ghetto fabulous one that wasn’t so fabulous but was overly ghetto in my apartment in South Seattle.

  Andrei sighed. ‘I did not think of that. As you wish.’

  “Really?” I asked, suspicious.

  ‘Yes. I do not cook and Luka would never consume anything other than blood and expensive liquor. If you long to have a kitchen that will rarely be used, it will be done. You have asked for very little when it comes to materialistic things.’

  “Because you refuse to give me what costs you nothing and means very little to anyone but me. It is easier to throw money at me or my simple requests than it is to simply be nice.”

  ‘Yes, and your point is what?

  I chuckled, shaking my head. “Exactly, Andrei. You made my point for me without even trying. Bravo.”

  ‘Tone noted.’

  “I would be suspicious if it weren’t. Where are you? Are you putting yourself in danger again because you’re being a foolish, stubborn boy?”

  Andrei groaned. ‘Nyte. It is not going according to plan, hence why I am entertaining myself with you and your date. I was following up on a lead in regards to the threat that targeted us. It is proving to be a false lead and that is frustrating.’

  Failure wasn’t a good look for Andrei, and he sounded beyond annoyed by it. Where the threat was, I wasn’t sure, but running off in typical Andrei fashion by himself to try to be the hero has once again proved to be his downfall.

  “Was it a false lead in order to distract you or pull you one direction or another?” I asked the obvious. “Or perhaps to pull you away from something or someone?”

  His only response was a growl.

  “And to think that I’m just an ignorant little girl in a new, scary world, and yet the vampire that holds the key to my freedom isn’t thinking things through properly and is chasing his tail, in essenc
e. Funny how that works.”

  ‘Tone noted.’

  “And appreciated.”

  ‘Not really, but I will allow it for now. I suppose your insightful deduction would only be possible coming from the daughter of a cop.’

  That was true.

  ‘Stay within the protection of your date, his kin, and guards. You are safe with them.’

  So Andrei kept saying, but I didn’t feel safe with them.

  How sad was it that even in the company of Necromancers, Necrowolves, Demons, Warlocks, Werewolves, and Dragons I didn’t feel safe, and yet when in the company of the one holding me hostage I did?

  ‘I am honored.’

  “You would be, you annoying creature,” I grumbled, causing him to chuckle. “There is no doubt you and Luka are siblings.”

  ‘I have no comment on that.’

  “Stay out of my head, it’s rude.”

  ‘Nyte. What are you looking for?’ Andrei asked.

  “Other than my dignity and the annoying vampire that turned me against my will that I know is up to something even if he denies it?” I rhetorically asked. “I’m looking for yet another uninvited guest to my first date,” I said as if it were obvious. “Why did you allow me to go out?” I asked the obvious. “You were more than capable of keeping me in, even if you went out, so why did you allow it?”

  ‘I was trying to be nice.’

  “No you weren’t,” I corrected. “Regardless of what you say about Tybalt, you were merely trying to pacify me. You put stipulations on my date. I had to stay within his care, the protection of his guards… You knew where we were going, didn’t you? And that there would be security all over because of Cross’ higher opinion of himself and the crown he thinks he should wear and the one that Tybalt does in a sense?”

  There was silence.

  “That’s what I thought,” I huffed. “You aren’t nearly as slick as you think you are.”

  ‘Again, a differing of opinions.’

  “One we will forever disagree on,” I agreed.

  Below, something caught my attention, something no one else seemingly saw.

  Standing in the middle of the dancefloor, not moving, smiling, or partying like everyone else, was a man that was looking up at me. At first glance he appeared normal, human even, but when I looked again the truth was revealed and it was one I wish I was none the wiser to.