Darkness (Darkest Nightmares Book 1)

by Elizabeth Knox

  I rein in my thoughts thinking about Bhellatrix, otherwise known as Trix. The name was fitting, since she always had a few tricks up her sleeve. She’s also a massive drama queen and has been for ages, that’ll never change, though. Trix is the first one I’ve heard from. I look in my texts and for more voicemails but don’t see and from Mist or Gunther. I can only hope that they’re on their way to Norvka right now. I’ll need all of them, and yes this means Gunther too. Trix will just have to put her big girl panties on and get over it.

  I take my legs over the side of the bed and sit up, raking my hands through my hair, brushing it out of my face. In that moment the bathroom door opens, steam envelops around her body, almost as if she is a piece of art on display - all I can see is her.

  Haven is naked, wet hair falling down her shoulder. Darkness may have seen parts of her, but I sure as hell haven’t. I now know the answer to the question I had nights ago. I had wondered at what point the tattoos stopped, they start from the top of her neck and go all the way down to her feet, even spreading over what I can see of her pussy.

  I can’t help but wonder if her inner lips are inked as well. The only part on her body that isn’t covered is her sternum and I can’t help but wonder why that’s the only part of her that is exposed.

  “See something you like, sweetheart?” she purrs with a hint of sarcasm as she walks over to me, dropping the towel she holds in her right hand. She straddles me on the bed, sitting down right over my crotch.

  “I see a few things I like, but we’ve got work to do.” I grab ahold of her hips and toss her beside me on the bed, her luscious tits bouncing in my face as I move her. Fuck. I hate that there’s work to be done. I stand up, stretch my arms and roll my shoulders, readying myself for this day as much as I possibly can. It was bound to be a long one.

  “Where’s Darkness at? He’s not gonna say no to all of this?” she pouts, moving her hand along her body like a decadent dessert. Inside of my mind he laughs, commenting about how the girl needs patience. I have no doubt he’s going to get another taste of her soon. As for me, I need more than to just fuck her. I can’t help but wonder if my mind is playing tricks on me and if it’s just Darkness that wants her. I guess that’s the downside to having two different entities within one body. He craves her, and it’s obvious. I want her, but in a different way. I just need to take my time with her and see how things work out.

  I walk to her doorway and head to go downstairs, knowing that we need to get work done. There isn’t time to waste, so we wouldn’t. I remember as much as I can from the night before and head straight into the dragon shifter’s office. To my surprise, there she is with the dreamwalker girl.

  “Have you slept?” I ask her, knowing that she needs to be well rested if we’re going to be able to be successful in opening a portal to Norvka. We need to have safe passage, and this is the most guaranteed way that we can do this.

  “Yes, a few hours and I will be able to get the job done,” she states firmly. I nod and walk over to the couch that sits across from the fireplace. There weren’t any other areas I could lay down, so I bring my body down against the plush cushions and look up at the girl.

  “I’m unsure if you’ve ever experienced a dreamwalk before, so if you haven’t, I will tell you of what may happen.” I let her speak, even though I have been through a dreamwalk before. She goes on to tell me that I will feel everything when she enters my dream, that I will be able to walk alongside her, and she will act as a guide. She will be there, a mist filled figure able to get the knowledge that she needs to open a portal to Norvka.

  Out of the corner of my eye I see Haven pop into the office. She walks over to the couch and sits on the floor below me, staring right at me. Something in that stare tells me she’s worried. I just wonder if she’s worried about me, Darkness, or both of us.

  “Are you ready?”

  “Yes...uh, what’s your name?” It seemed silly for me to not know her name. I knew other things about her, so her name should be something I know. Sometimes it doesn’t always work out like that, though.

  “Fern.” She smiles, walking over to me she places her hands on both sides of my face, closing her eyes and speaking softly in a language I am not privy to know. The lights in the room go out and then come back to life a few moments later, signifying the strength of the magic she possesses.

  I relax my body to the sound of her voice. It sounds so harmonious, relaxing and peaceful. I feel calmer than ever before. Taking in a deep breath, I give her full access to my mind but not before I make sure to conceal the parts of me that I am not ready to share with others. Those are to be kept hidden away in the farthest corners of my mind.

  Chapter 14

  Breathing dreams like air.

  - F Scott Fitzgerald

  Fern

  I enter his mind and the first thing that I see is nothing, absolutely nothing.

  It is black as night, darkness encompasses everything. I feel completely blind and then I feel it… some sort of presence which tells me instantly that I am not alone.

  I turn my body, spinning in circles, trying to pinpoint the location of this being, but it is useless. It’s way too dark to see anything. That’s when my instincts take over. I can just use some of my fairy magic to conjure up a small little glow from my hands. Even though it is dark, I close my eyes to focus on what I am going to do.

  Within seconds, I let off a purple hue of color into the abyss which is this man’s mind. It goes up into the air somewhat like a firework, giving me the light, I so desperately seek to find his core memories.

  I walk maybe two feet when I feel that same dark presence breathing down my neck. I’m not scared per se, but I absolutely hate being confronted by the beings that make a person a supernatural in the first place. They’ve always given me the willies, even being a paranormal myself.

  It’s happened before in the past where they’ve encountered me during a dream walk. One time I was in a shifter’s mind. There are two parts to a shifter. The man and the beast. The man part of the shifter needed to remember something that he long forgot, so I entered his mind fully intending on getting it for him but as soon as I was in, BAM, confronted with the sabretooth tiger. It was not a pleasant experience to say the least. The tiger tackled me onto the ground and started attacking me, almost eating my face off in the process until I used my soothing and calming voice to let him know I was not here to cause him harm.

  It took a while, even with his tiger still believing I was a foe. I was able to put a barrier between the tiger and I, buying myself time to be super tedious and patient with him. Eventually it worked out and he trotted off, leaving me alone to do what I had come to do in the first place.

  I just stand in the same spot, trying not to spook whatever is standing behind me. I get a feeling that it didn’t want me here and I am perfectly okay with that, as long as I can finish what I came here to do in the first place. This being may not have known me very well, but I always get the job done. This isn’t about me, it’s about helping people and I would never fail at that.

  “Who are you and what the fuck are you doing here?” A voice growls at my back. The voice is deep and gravelly. If I was anywhere but here I’d probably run away scared because let me be honest, I am afraid of my own shadow half the time. Being a fairy, I have no combat experience. I help living beings, not hurt them. It just isn’t in my nature to fight. I crave to mend and help others, it is truly in my heart.

  “I promise I am not here to hurt either of you, I am just here dream-walking and I need to pinpoint a location, so I can create a portal. As soon as I am done, I’ll leave and never come back. I promise.”

  “Fairy?” the voice spits out. It isn’t harsh or aggressive, simply a statement although it was laced with disgust. I take it he and I are of two completely different ends of the paranormal spectrum.

  I nod my head, turning around to get a look at whom it is I was speaking to. I don’t want to be rude. As soon as I turn to t
he direction of the voice, I see nothing but darkness once again, the black shade surrounds me.

  “Can you help me?” I ask, after taking a deep breath. My voice is calm, not showing an ounce of fear. Like I said before, this is weird for me. Instead of being utterly afraid, I feel a kinship towards this being. It wasn’t sexual or passionate, just a link somewhat like I would have with family, if I had any.

  I see bright green eyes open, looking directly at me. The only thing I see is the bright eyes, surrounded by blackness.

  “I will take you there but as soon as you get what you need, I want you gone. Do I make myself clear?”

  “Yes. Perfectly clear,” I reply, wanting to be out of this man’s head as soon as possible.

  I feel a strong grip grab at my forearm and a tug pulling me. Even though I have my little purple orb, I can’t make out one single detail of this being, so I just go with the flow, trying to keep up with his quick pace. We walk for a couple of minutes until I come upon a bright blue glowing ball. This is exactly where I needed to be.

  “Thank you,” I say to him in a barely-there whisper.

  “Don’t thank me. Do what you need to do. If you’re not out of here in three minutes I will kill you... And I assume you know what happens if you are killed while dreamwalking.”

  I gulp at his words, hearing them echo inside of my own mind and I shake my head back and forth, letting him know that no, I don’t know what would happen to me in the outside world.

  “If you perish in dreamwalking, you die in the outside world. I would be very, very careful whose mind you peer into little fairy.” He tsks at me, then the darkness is gone, my orb lighting up the sudden space around me. I let out the pent-up breath I have been holding the whole time he was dragging me here, taking a few short breaths to calm myself.

  Now it’s time to get some work done, I think to myself as I rub my hands together.

  I walk toward the bright blue light. I can see threads of swirling colors surrounding it, indicating that the being inside of this paranormal’s mind led me straight to the core memories. I’m looking for a specific color, pastel green to be exact. That color shows locations in a mind, but only the important ones, the ones which hold significant meaning. There are other threads of non-important places, but I know to skip right to the good stuff. I’ve been around the block quite a few times to know what to look for.

  I pick up one of the threads and examine it. It’s not the castle he described to me before I began his dreamwalk, instead it’s of the bar that we know so well. I see the brick building with the neon lights that show Sanctuary and I quickly put the thread back. If it’s not placed back to its original place in a timely manner, the location could be lost to a person. The last thing I wanted was for that to happen.

  “Shoot,” I say to myself out loud. I almost forgot to say the place I am intending to open a portal to. Norvka, I think to myself, instead of a thread coming forth, my body is instantly transported into a memory.

  I am standing in a grand great hall, with golden banners that flow down the castle walls. It’s stunning, unlike anything I have ever seen before. I may have only been here for a moment, but I can tell how far I’ve gone back in time, and I really didn’t want to leave this era. Everything is so simple, there is no technology or cars. This is my dream world. I just start spinning in circles laughing, feeling like a Disney princess. I know this is not what I came here to do, but I just can’t resist.

  Dreamwalking is the best thing about being a fairy, or at least I think it is. It let me escape reality and live vicariously through someone else which I very much needed sometimes. It may have been only for a moment, but it is a release, an escape it to an unknown world and I need it sometimes.

  I dance around in circles for a few minutes before walking up to strangers, as if they could communicate with me. I know they can’t, but it was fun to pretend. I realize it’s time to get serious after frolicking around.

  I look around for the man whose mind I am currently dilly-dallying in. I see him talking with a man who is sitting on the glorious throne like chair. I can’t see the man sitting on the chair, but I can see...Je-...Jett, yes that is his name. How could I forget such a simple name? The name is fitting, a simple name for a man from a simple time. He looks the same and yet somehow, he looks different. I just stare, attempting to figure out what makes him so different in this reality opposed to the one we are in now and then I notice his eyes.

  They are softer, not as harsh and they were most definitely not green. He moves towards the left and I come face to face with the man who is occupying the chair. A man who serves to take my breath away.

  He might have been the most handsome man I have ever seen in all my life. I can’t help the connection I feel towards him even if this man is most likely dead. I approach him slowly, giving a little bow. I mean come on, this man is a king, he deserves a semblance of respect. I approach and as I get closer he becomes even more beautiful. How is this even possible?

  “If only I were alive during this time,” I say out loud, basically swooning at a man who would never be mine, even if I was living in this time. He’s royalty, and I am anything but that. I’m practically on top of him when I get the urge to reach out to caress his cheek. In that split second, I am once again transported.

  How is this possible? This has never happened before. I notice I am in some sort of dungeon. There are metal bars keeping me locked in. I grab ahold of the bars, shaking them, screaming out into nothingness and to no one. Then I realize, I am dreamwalking, I’m not really trapped.

  I turn around and see a man chained up to the wall and I let out a loud gasp. The poor thing. I approach cautiously, not sure if this is Jett’s memory or something else entirely.

  “Why are you yelling?” I jump at the man’s scratchy voice. It sounds like he is in dire need of water, like he hasn’t drunk anything in ages.

  I lift my hand to the man’s face, his weight is held up but the chains on the wall, his head bowed down onto his chest. I can’t help but try and give him comfort. I am an empath after all, it’s in my nature.

  “Who are you?” I ask softly.

  He lifts his head and I take a step back in shock and give a little gasp. I glance, looking over him and under the ragged clothing, the scruff that covers his face I can recognize the man, just based from those piercing blue eyes.

  This is the man from Jett’s memory, and not just any man.

  This is the king.

  “My name is Ecbert and you are in my very own personal hell.”

  “How am I here?” I say out loud pacing back in forth in the small dungeon, glancing at the man in chains every few minutes. I couldn’t wrap my head around any of this. I have been in memoires, seen people’s past but never have I been transported to another’s mind. It didn’t seem possible, but clearly it is. I must have done something wrong.

  “I’m so sorry. I don’t know how I got here. It was an honest mistake, I will take my leave now,” I quickly spurt out.

  He lifts his head and just peers at me, swallows hard and then says, “Do... do you think you can get me out... of these?” I know what he means, the chains.

  I look down towards the chains restraining Ecbert’s ankles, taking a good look at them, all the while thinking about what to say in response to this man about being in his personal hell, I mean come on., this man who literally just moments before took my breath away with his perfectly polished hair and clothing, with his regal good looks.

  I still can’t get over it, I was wishing I would be alive during the same time as he was and BAM, now I am in his presence. My mind is literally boggled so I decide just to remain quiet… for the moment. I run though different ways to ask him what he meant in the politest way but no matter what I come up with it sounded nosey.

  The chains are old fashioned, seeming easy to pick. But who knows, I’ve never actually picked a lock before.

  I tend to keep my very long blonde locks up and out of my face, so ha
ving a crap load of bobby pins in it is a must. Those little baby hairs. Ugh. They irritate me to no end. I don’t even think I remember the last time I just let it flow down my back. I’m getting to the point where I am about to cut it. It’s too long, too heavy, and a hassle to get a brush through. It reaches down to back of my knees. People tend to look at me weird because of how long it truly is.

  “Can you tell me what you mean by this being your hell?” I say in a calm voice, finally able to find my words, while pulling a few bobby pins out of my hair, pulling them this way and that way, bending the metal just the way I needed them. I squat down and give the ankle cuffs my full concentration.

  Ecbert clears his throat, responding to what I said in a husky voice “What I told you. It’s exactly what it sounds like. I have been in this place…” I look at him and see he is just shaking his head back and forth, eyes closed. “Let’s just say it’s been a very long time”

  After working for a few minutes, and an awkward silence, I finally get one of the cuffs free. “YES!” I shout out loud, full of glee, jumping up and giggling slightly. The man jumps at my shouting and I instantly feel terrible.

  “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to startle you by shouting.” I truly mean it too. I wasn’t thinking, I just couldn’t hold in my excitement. It just kinda burst out of me. I crouch back down to and start working on the next cuff when I hear him say “Do it again... please.”

  “Hmm?” I respond questioning what he means?

  “Laugh. Please laugh again.”

  “It doesn’t work like that silly. You can’t just put me on the spot like this.” He doesn’t respond to me, so I continue to work on his left ankle.

  It comes undone in a matter of seconds. I give myself a mental pat on back.

  “Okay, the ones on your ankles are off. Let’s see what we can do about the ones on your wrists,” I say as I stand up.

  I go to reach my arms up in order to get to the locks, but I am just too short, even standing on my tiptoes does absolutely nothing. I let out a breath of frustration, slumping my shoulders in defeat.