Lord of Shadows (A Paranormal Romance Book): Blackness Falls

by Shania Tyler

  “Monrel is not us,” Mason said in a calm voice. “His shadow is different. His darkness is different.” Mason had to assume that or everything he believed would be questioned.

  “You’re delusional,” Malcolm said, walking toward him. “Vampires live in the dark. Monrel delivers darkness. It is what we are, Mason.”

  Mason looked away. “There was a time when vampires walked in the day and we didn’t drink blood . . .”

  “Myth!” Malcolm scoffed. “But you believe what you want. You always will.”

  Mason stared at his cousin’s averted head and decided their meeting had gone on long enough. He took the last few steps toward Malcolm and held up one of his hands.

  Malcolm looked at the bottle of liquor in his hand. “What’s that?”

  “It’s our brand of brandy from Trasco, cousin. Remember when we would steal this from the kitchens when we were young?”

  Malcolm considered the bottle. “I remember. We got whipped for our drunkenness.”

  “Never stopped us from finding more anyway.” Mason chuckled.

  Malcolm nodded. “Well, I hope you enjoy it.”

  Mason frowned. “By myself? No, Malcolm, you and I are going to drink it together, just like the old times.”

  There was hesitation in Malcolm’s eyes. “I . . . don’t have any cups.”

  Mason’s brow rose up. “This is your home, is it not?”

  Malcolm froze.

  Mason brought out showed his other hand and revealed two glasses. “No worries. I brought my own.” He then moved to the table that Malcolm had placed his lantern on and poured the brandy. Once he was done, he handed over one cup to Malcolm.

  Malcolm stared at the cup and then at Mason. “How do I know you haven’t poisoned it?”

  Mason frowned and drained his own cup of liquor. Then he went back over to the table, poured another cup, and pointed it in Malcolm’s direction. “May there be no hard feelings, no matter the outcome of this war, because like you said, you and I should not be fighting. We are family.”

  The cup hovered between them.

  Malcolm shook his head and said, “It’s much too early in the night to drink.”

  “We’re celebrating. There are no rules on that.”

  “I can’t, Mason. I’ve already had too much—”

  “I thought it was too early to drink. Now, you’ve already had liquor?” Mason asked.

  “This week,” Malcolm quickly said. “I’ve had too many spirits this week. You may drink it if you will, but I—”

  “Drink the brandy, Malcolm.” Mason’s jovial voice had flattened. He shoved the cup into Malcolm’s hand.

  Malcolm considered the cup, looked at Mason, and then walked over to the table and sat it down. “I won’t be bullied by you, Mason, much like you did all those years ago.” He lifted his chin.

  Mason had the truth. The food, all of it, was laced and his cousin had known. “I never bullied you.”

  Malcolm nodded quickly. “You’re right. You were just always . . . stronger and tougher than me, I suppose. Everyone thought you’d be the head of the family.”

  “Well, look at us now. Me, a fugitive, and you, the family’s chosen leader despite the fact that you haven’t the gift.”

  Malcolm’s jaw tightened before he strolled past Mason. “Lock up whatever door you came in before you leave.”

  Mason left the house without a word.

  * * *

  Kelly woke to a knocking at the door. She turned over to find that Mason wasn’t in bed and wondered when he’d left. They’d fallen asleep simply holding on to each other and Kelly had drifted off to sleep quickly. He’d been so tender with her after the incident of last night, which only confirmed what she’d told him on the night he’d bathed her.

  He was not who he thought he was, but before they’d fallen asleep, she had forced him to drink from her. He’d skipped the other day and she knew him to need blood at least every other day—more when he was active.

  The knocking returned, followed by a voice. “Kelly?” It was Noel.

  “One minute.” She dressed quickly and opened the door.

  Noel held a dress in his hands. “I already told the inn’s maids to bring you what you will need to bathe. I will meet you downstairs.”

  Kelly was done quickly and Noel walked her out of the inn and down the road. The city was calmer in the early night and there were only a few people about, mostly shopkeepers and workers.

  “Are we taking a carriage to Theo’s family’s house?”

  “No, we’re going someplace else. And we’re almost there.”

  They crossed the street, walked another block, and then turned a corner.

  Kelly spotted their destination then. A very thin, very old, and very tall building stood at the corner of the road ahead. “What is that?” she asked him.

  Noel turned to her, “The House of Walls.”

  Kelly spotted Theo’s carriage before he stepped out of it and was surprised when a well-disguised Mason also alighted.

  He winked at her, but made it clear she couldn’t come near him. She belonged to Theo.

  They all walked up the four steps that led to the front door and Noel knocked.

  A young vampire answered the door and his power oozed through the opening. He looked as though he’d been sleeping as his blue eyes hovered over the group before he asked, “What do you want?”

  “Fairman Mossem,” Theo began. “We are here to see the House of Walls, of course. It is a great attraction and my youka desperately wanted to see it.”

  Kelly gave him a shy smile.

  Mossem asked. “You don’t know? Only those with the council's permission are allowed to enter the house.”

  “What?” Theo asked in outrage. “Since when? The House has always been open to the public.”

  Mossem started digging in his ear, looking completely uninterested. “Well, it’s not anymore. Since that traitor stole that key years ago, they’ve locked it up tight. You know who I’m talking about.”

  They all knew who he was talking about. Mason was standing right there.

  Theo said, “You’re a Fairman. You are supposed to be neutral.”

  “My neutrality costs.”

  Theo shook his head and motioned his head at Noel, who proceeded to pull a small sack out of his pocket. He dropped it into Mossem’s palm.

  Mossem frowned at the sack, but once he opened it, he looked more alert than ever. “These real?”

  “I am Theo of the House of Heron. You tell me.”

  Mossem blinked and then put on a charming smile. “I thought I’d heard your name before. Now I remember.”

  Theo rolled his eyes and they proceeded into the house.

  “Everyone wash your hands.”

  Two basins were by the door, and they took turns using the soap and pouring the water to make themselves clean.

  Kelly had no idea why they needed to scrub their hands to look at walls, but went along with it.

  Once they were out of the hall, they entered the first floor’s inner chamber.

  The walls were a plain blue and on a stand in the middle of the room sat a lantern. There was only one window.

  Mossem started off in a monotone voice that reminded Kelly of the bored tour guide at the zoo when she was a kid, “These walls are from the House of Shadesea, goddess of the fairies and the giants. Any of you either of them?”

  Kelly raised an eyebrow.

  Mossem shrugged. “I’m supposed to ask.”

  Kelly thought it odd how the smallest and largest of the species had the same blood.

  It was then that she noticed the long rod in his hand. The rod was painted like a rainbow and when he touched the wall with it, Kelly had to blink.

  Images appeared. The imprint of tiny fairies rose from the blue along with a forest and then they began to move and dance. Some fairies on other walls were hoping from one flower to another while others flew past tall trees, flying from one wall to the next, forci
ng Kelly to spin in a circle.

  At one point, she moved too fast, but Mason was there to catch her.

  “I’ve got you,” he whispered in her ear.

  Kelly stood up and continued to survey the room in amazement. The giants came forth and the fairies faded away.

  But only she showed any sign of astonishment . Theo had his arms crossed and was looking out the window while Mason simply tracked Kelly covertly. Mossem appeared to have fallen asleep leaning on his rod. The only other person who seemed slightly interested was Noel, but he too looked reserved.

  “Let’s keep moving,” Theo said.

  Mossem woke, nodded his head and they all walked back into the hall, but then began climbing up a stairwell that seemed to go on forever.

  The next floor was white, and it was Mason’s touch that activated it.

  Black imprints of people rose their arms to put the sun in the sky and to bring it down at night.

  Mason studied the drawing, touching over some of the people as though he’d known them. One person, in particular, caught his eyes. It looked to be a little girl. She ran with her hair blowing in the wind and Mason’s eyes followed her. But when she got to the doorway, instead of moving over to the next wall, she simply disappeared.

  Kelly touched his shoulder and he patted her hand before moving away.

  No one else had seen the moment, since everyone else’s eyes had been drawn to the more explosive action, like the collapse of Seocan’s temple, and not the image of a running little girl.

  “These walls are from Melina,” Mossem announced on the next floor. The walls remained black, since no one had the gift of Hindsight or Foresight, and as Theo seemed a bit impatient, they moved on.

  The green floor was House of Orry and Noel brought it to life.

  “Let’s move along,” Theo said.

  Noel said, “You guys go.”

  “Fine,” Theo said. “Come on.”

  Orange was Chakra, the fertility goddess; red was for Isda, goddess of the dragons; and yellow was Heron, Theo’s family.

  “Can’t you at least touch it?” Kelly all but whined. She’d seen some really cool stuff in Asea, but the House of Walls was by far the coolest.

  Theo sighed and touched the yellow wall.

  Kelly smiled at the people who vanished and would reappear on another wall. It was like watching the biggest game of Where’s Waldo?

  “Come on,” Theo said.

  The last room was purple.

  “These walls are from the House of Jinn,” Mossem said.

  Now understanding why she’d washed her hands, Kelly reached out and slowly leaned toward the wall.

  Nothing happened.

  She touched it again.

  She touched it with both hands and started to slide her hands up and down.

  “All right,” Mossem said. “That’s enough. You’re obviously not a healer.”

  Kelly swung to him and said, “But I am a healer. I’ve healed an entire army!”

  “Kelly,” Mason warned.

  She shut her mouth then.

  Mossem frowned. “How is that possible? The Evaness have no healers yet.”

  “Yet?” Theo asked.

  Mossem shut his mouth, too.

  Kelly shook her head, growing more confused by the minute. “Okay, we need to go back downstairs, and I need to touch all those walls I didn’t touch before. I could be of Melina’s line.”

  “But that wouldn’t make sense,” Mason said. “Melina is sight.”

  Kelly shook her head. “Maybe . . . I see something in people. Their pain or something.”

  He frowned. “It doesn’t work that way.”

  “Then what am I?” she shouted.

  Theo turned to Mossem. “What do you mean by ‘yet’? Are the Evaness planning to allow elves into the temples this year?”

  Mossem lifted his hands. “I don’t know.”

  Theo went to him, but was stopped by an invisible wall.

  Mossem grinned. “I can’t be hurt, remember?”

  “Tell me what you know!” Theo shouted.

  He and Mossem went back and forth for a while. When Noel finally caught up to them, he joined in, but no one seemed concerned about Kelly. She’d wanted to know who her family was. Now.

  Mason grabbed her into his arms. “It’s going to be all right,” he told her. “We’ll figure this out together.”

  Kelly hugged him and pressed her ear against his chest, hearing her own blood pumping in his veins. It was encouraging. And she realized that even if she never knew who her parents were . . . this was her family. Mason was her new family.

  He rubbed her back and kissed her hair.

  Kelly sighed, listening to the thumping, but then she heard another thumping. There was a rhythm floating to her other ear.

  She broke slowly from Mason’s hold and began to search the room for the source of the noise, hearing it more clearly than the argument taking place between Theo, Noel, and Mossem. She walked back out into the hallway and up the staircase, but ran into a wall. There was no door, but the thumping was loud.

  “What are you doing?” Mossem asked, joining her in the hall. The others stood behind him, but Mason was at her side.

  “I hear a noise on the other side of this wall,” she whispered.

  Mossem looked skeptical and said, “I thought you were a youka.”

  “I am,” she said.

  “Who are you? Really?” Then Mossem looked around at everyone. “Who’d you bring here?”

  “That’s what we aim to find out,” Theo said, still obviously upset.

  Mossem turned back to Kelly and then proceeded up the stairs. He then touched his rod to the wall and a door appeared. “After you,” he said to Kelly in challenge.

  Kelly looked at the knob that stuck out of the plain wooden door. Everything about it seemed so normal except for the fact that it had appeared out of nowhere.

  She touched the knob and then turned it.

  Mossem sucked in a breath, but said nothing.

  Kelly pushed the door open and was greeted by completely dark room. It looked like an empty storage attic space and when Mossem lit the lantern at its center, Kelly’s suspicions were confirmed. The walls were plain brown wood with no wallpaper. Nothing.

  She asked Mossem. “Is this the House of Fairmen?” Maybe that’s what she was.

  Mossem shook his head. “Fairmen are wanderers. We have no home. We have no blood ties. We are chosen for that purpose and until our term is up, it remains that way.”

  “Then what’s up here?” she asked and looked around to everyone else for an answer. Everyone remained silent. “What is this place?”

  “Touch the wall,” Mossem instructed.

  Kelly turned back toward the wall and lifted her hand. Then she slowly leaned forward and touched the wall.

  The wall vanished and the entire room became a large, black space. There was a black floor, but no walls or ceiling and she quickly turned around to make sure she wasn’t alone.

  Everyone was with her, they were all looking around as well, the only light came from the lantern.

  Theo asked Mossem. “Where are you taking us?”

  “I’m not taking us anywhere,” Mossem said hoarsely. “She is.”

  Just then, a bright light flashed.

  She heard the men hiss, but then they were silent and the light moved around the black room. It was large and settled down into the far horizon right before grasslands and deserts appeared. The ground moved swiftly under them and then trees grew and flowers dotted the ground.

  “Oh, my gods,” Noel whispered, his mouth agape. “You can’t be.”

  “Can’t be what?” Kelly asked.

  The ground stopped in a field of wildflowers and then a large body of water appeared yards away and a red dolphin jumped out of the water and splashed back into the ocean.

  The call of wild animals had Kelly turning in another direction and she watched different creatures appear. Horses and birds
flying through the sky. Some of the creatures she recognized, but many she didn’t.

  Then the ground moved again, and they were standing on a beach.

  Kelly looked down at the sand underneath her feet and jumped when a face appeared in the sand. And then a woman rose from the beach and ran over to a man who was emerging from the sand. There were seven figures in total, all naked and perfect.

  “Those are the gods,” Theo whispered.

  Kelly watched them for a moment and then turned and almost jumped when a large man walked by her, almost crushing her, though she was sure he couldn’t have. A giant. Fairies floated by as well. And then she watched as two women and two men appeared standing before her. One couple were vampires and the other were elves, though the vampires looked nothing like they did now. Their teeth were not sharp and there seemed to be something else missing.

  The scene quickly shifted away, and they were dropped into a landscape at night.

  There were brown buildings in the backdrop and a golden palace stood before them.

  “This is Hatash,” Mason said. “And this must be more recent times, because I see no women.”

  Kelly looked around and nodded. There were only men walking around the dark city but then she watched the ground move and something formed from it. She remembered that all the women lived in Salani while the men lived in Hatash.

  She then realized how far from her Mason was and reached a hand out to him.

  He stepped forward and took it with a soft smile.

  They all watched as the woman grew from the dirt and became solid. Her hair and body were red and she walked up the long stairway to the palace entrance without being seen by anyone passing by.

  “Who is that?” Kelly asked Mossem.

  Mossem confessed. “I’ve never been in this room before, but I can guess.”

  She gestured encouragingly.

  “Asea.”

  The scene moved to a lavish bedroom in the palace and the red woman crawled into the bed of a man and seduced him.

  Kelly’s cheeks flushed.

  Theo cleared his throat and turned away. She noticed all the men had. Mason’s eyes were closed, but his hand tightened in hers, reassuringly.