Darque Wants

by Diana Steele

  “Again?” he asked, quickly glancing round the train carriage to see whether many people were watching them. It had only intended to be a quick, comforting kiss to show Thena he was there for her, not a full on public display of affection.

  She nodded. She was intrigued too. Was there more to this that they had yet to see?

  The artefact breaks into three pieces. Lord Carnarvon picks up two, the unknown man runs off with his.

  Quick footsteps racing through the sand as the man races away.

  His hand clutches at the artefact.

  Thena wrapped her arms around Dorian’s neck and sat up for more, tilting her head into it and slipping her tongue into his mouth, no longer aware of their surroundings.

  The artefact sat on a desk; the same unknown man at that desk, reading a newspaper and having a cup of coffee.

  Then, the desk is empty, the artefact gone.

  The man is lying dead on the floor, blood everywhere.

  Thena jumped back from the kiss with a jerk at what they had seen. “He…he died?”

  “That was a lot of blood,” Dorian whispered, his eyes wide.

  “Do you think…do you think he was murdered?”

  “For the artefact?”

  “Kiss me again,” she begged, crashing their lips together once more.

  Inside the offices of Harvey Jenkins Snr, four men are standing in front of his desk. He is holding the artefact in between his finger and thumb.

  “This piece on its own is not enough!” He is agitated and angry. “I need more. The powers are too reduced. I need that other piece, do you hear me? I need it! You have to get it! I don’t care what you have to do! Kill him and take it!”

  Then, those same men, only this time, in the house of the man from the tomb, the body still on the floor, the blood still everywhere as they search around every corner of the house, ransacking it; upsetting draws, sending papers flying, searching all over the place for the artefact, growing increasingly desperate.

  “It’s not here,” one of them announces. “He must have hidden it somewhere.”

  Dorian and Thena broke from the kiss and stared at one another in amazement.

  “Harvey’s father had that man killed,” whispered Thena.

  “Yeah. He actually ordered it himself. He actually said kill him.”

  “All because of the artefact.”

  “People are prepared to kill for it, it would appear,” Dorian frowned. “That’s what power does to people. It drives them crazy. It becomes an obsession. It drives otherwise ordinary men to commit foul acts.”

  She squeezed his hand. “Harvey Jenkins Snr and Montgomery Shackleton are really no different, are they? They’re both prepared to kill for the artefact. To kidnap, to murder, to steal, to do whatever needs to be done to get their hands on it.”

  “Yes.”

  “Both of them have ordered the deaths of others in order to get the pieces.”

  “That’s right.”

  “We can’t let them,” said Thena flatly.

  “What?” Dorian blinked, looking at her. “We…we don’t have a choice. Deme-“

  “Deme wouldn’t want me to let such a powerful artefact fall into the hands of a psychopath,” Thena interrupted. “And surely you don’t want that?”

  “Well no, I don’t,” Dorian admitted. “But…I don’t see any other way. I don’t know how we can do it.”

  Thena thought about it for a moment, then shook her head. “Neither do I. But…even if we give it to him in order to get Deme back, we can’t let him keep it. We can’t just allow this to be the end of it.”

  “No, no, I completely agree.”

  “It’s just…two powerful. He already has one piece, if he gets ours too…”

  “In the wrong hands, something like this could be totally devastating.”

  “And Montgomery Shackleton is definitely the wrong hands. That’s agreed then, is it?” asked Thena, looking at him for confirmation. “We’re going to do everything in our power to stop him.”

  “Agreed,” said Dorian with a smile, gazing at her proudly.

  That settled, they tried to spend the rest of the journey thinking about something else, although it was incredibly difficult with everything that was going on. Thena stared out of the window and watched the countryside whizz past, then Dorian got them both a couple of coffees and a muffin, determined to make her eat despite her insisting that she wasn’t hungry.

  “You need to,” he urged. “I’ll share it with you.” He sliced it in half and offered her a bite, even raising it up to her lips for her. “Please.”

  Thena sighed and relented, knowing that Dorian was only trying to help, and glad of it. She was relieved when they finally pulled up into Dorchester station though; just wanting to get the whole thing over and done with, despite having still several hours to wait until their meeting in the park at midnight. They had the entire day at their disposal, and she wasn’t quite sure how they were going to spend it.

  To her complete surprise, John Delaney was on the platform waiting to meet them off the train.

  Her and John had met at the museum and had dated for nearly two years. She was fairly sure he’d wanted her to marry him at some point, but Thena’s heart had never really been in it. For the longest time, she believed that there was no such thing as love, and that dating John was what she’d have to settle for in life. She’d been more concerned with her work and moving onwards and upwards with her career than relationships and falling in love. Until she’d met Dorian.

  Things between her and John hadn’t exactly ended particularly well, which was why she was so surprised to see him waiting for them.

  She cleared her throat and awkwardly walked over, sensing that Dorian was hanging back behind her, also aware of the tension between the three of them.

  “John…what are you uh…” Doing here.

  “Thought I’d come meet you,” he shrugged.

  More to the point, how did he even know what train they’d be on for certain? Had he just been waiting there all morning? Would he have continued to wait all day until they’d arrived? A shiver shot down Thena’s spine. How creepy.

  “I heard all about the kidnap, obviously,” he continued. “I want to help in anyway I can.”

  “Well uh…that’s um…that’s good of you, John, but…I’m really not sure there’s anyway you can help. I mean, it’s pretty simple really. We just have to go and meet them tonight. It’ll be fine, really.”

  “Deme’s been really supportive to me the past few weeks, since you ran off with lover boy here.”

  She could hear the spite and bitterness in his voice, creeping through despite the pleasant exterior he was attempting to put on. It was just a front. He was still as angry about the breakup as previously, it would appear.

  “Yeah, she’s always liked you,” said Thena. It was true. Deme had even encouraged them to stay together, not trusting Dorian initially. “Still, I honestly don’t think there’s anything you can do.” She was a bit reluctant to involve him given their history together and how awkward things were between him and Dorian.

  “What’s this kidnapping all about though?” continued John, nothing if not persistent. “Why would anyone want to take Deme? What has she ever done to anyone?”

  “I…it’s…complicated,” answered Dorian, being purposefully vague.

  “What do you guys know about it?” John demanded. “It must be something to do with you two. It is, isn’t it? I’m not some kind of idiot, you know. They contacted you first. Did they ask for something? Have you got to give them money or…is it something else? I can help, I can take it for you, it might be dangerous.”

  He was rambling on and on like some kind of mad man, and it was slightly disconcerting. Thena had only realised how slightly mentally unhinged John was when she’d split up with him and he’d hurled a cup across the wall in an unpredictable display of anger. The way he was acting now was probably all something to do with the breakup still, she reas
oned. He had taken it very badly.

  “It’s not going to be dangerous,” she insisted. “We’ll be fine. And now um…we really should be going. Dorian and I have a lot to do today before we meet the kidnappers.” That wasn’t true in the slightest. They hadn’t actually planned anything specific; she just wanted to get away from John before he could ask them more prying questions about the kidnapping that they couldn’t avoid, but as she moved to walk away, he grabbed her by the forearm and tugged her back.

  “Wait a second. I was just wondering actually, Thena…whether you’d like to go for a drink with me. After all this is over.”

  Thena was flabbergasted. She couldn’t believe his nerve. He’d practically just asked her out right in front of Dorian, with no shame about it at all. She blushed and glanced quickly at Dorian, embarrassed on his behalf. He seemed a bit shocked too, but not angry or annoyed in anyway. She turned back to John.

  “Listen,” she began. “You don’t seem to be getting this but…me and you? We’re finished. We’re not going to get back together. I love Dorian and I’m with him now. How I feel about Dorian…it makes me wonder whether I ever loved you at all. I honestly don’t think I did, and I’m sorry to have to say that aloud but…I think it’s about time you heard a few home truths.”

  And with that, she linked Dorian’s arm and walked off, leaving the station without looking back at John’s darkened eyes and reddened features.

  “I can’t believe I just…spoke out like that,” she giggled into Dorian’s shoulder.

  “Yeah, you were pretty bold,” he chuckled.

  “Well, it’s just…him asking me out like that. I couldn’t believe he’d done it.” She shook her head, still in shock. “I suppose it was the final straw.”

  “I suppose so,” Dorian agreed quietly, leading her to the taxi rank. They would head back to Thena’s flat first, to dump their bags, then decide what to do with the rest of the day.

  Meanwhile, still inside the station, John was standing with his phone pressed to his ear, making a call.

  “Yes, sir,” he spoke quietly into the mouthpiece. “I’ll be there in five minutes.”

  *****

  The office was a small, square room with nothing but a single desk in the window and a chair on either side. It was very obviously rented, in a tall block just on the outskirts of the town centre, where lawyers and businessmen hired private rooms on an hourly basis to meet with their clients in consultation.

  That was all this was, really, a consultation between an employer and his employee, but for John it was so much more than that. He had always been fearful of Montgomery Shackleton, ever since the moment he’d started working for him some three years previously. John was fresh out of the Navy with an injury in his spine that meant he couldn’t return to active service, and nothing very much to do with his life, feeling despondent and directionless. His old commander had introduced him to a friend of his in the government, and that mutual friend had introduced him to Montgomery Shackleton. Apparently Shackleton had seen some kind of potential in John, and had offered him a job.

  His CV had been faked, and John Delaney’s old background erased, a new one created that landed him the position at the Dorchester Museum. When the arrival of the Tutankhamen Exhibition was delayed by eighteen months, John expected to be reassigned to some other position, but Shackleton was patient. He had waited all his life to get his hands on the artefact and he wasn’t going to pass up the opportunity for a few months of waiting. And so wait they did. It was John’s job to search through the collection in the hope of finding the artefact.

  He had never expected the complication of falling in love.

  His feelings for Thena weren’t a fabrication and they certainly weren’t part of his job description, but they arose nevertheless, and they only grew deeper and more intense the longer they were together.

  Then Dorian showed up on the scene and took everything away from him.

  Initially, Shackleton was angry that he had been able to retrieve so little information from the exhibition, but then he discovered that Dorian was in possession of one of the artefacts, and everything changed. Suddenly, John was Shackleton’s golden boy, and party to all kinds of secret information and one on one meetings, getting showered with the attention he’d always craved.

  By that time though, Thena had already left him for Dorian. He couldn’t get close to them anymore, couldn’t get his hands on what his boss needed, and he was angry and bitter over the breakup. The kidnapping of Deme had been a last resort, and not one that he was particularly keen on, but he understood the motives and that it was a necessary evil to get their hands on the artefact.

  “We’re so close, Delaney,” cooed Shackleton with excitement in his eyes as they sat opposite one another in the small office space. “So close I can taste it.”

  “Yes, sir,” said John quietly, simply showing that he was listening.

  “All my life I’ve been searching, the whole of my adult life ever since Carnarvon died and now…once we get this missing piece, we’ll become even stronger. The two pieces together will give us greater power, then all that remains is to find the third and final piece of the artefact. I know it’s still out there, Delaney, and I won’t rest till I’ve got it.”

  “Neither will I, sir.”

  “And you shall be rewarded for your loyalty, my dear boy, I assure you.” He reached down into the desk and opened up a drawer on his left hand side, taking out decanter of whiskey. He poured out two glasses and pushed one across the table towards John, who gratefully took it and had a sip. “We drink to our future success,” announced Shackleton, then went quiet, his mind wandering. “Future…future…” he mumbled. “I wonder…”

  John watched him carefully, not wanting to interrupt and face a severe telling off if he spoiled Shackleton’s great mind from turning.

  “I don’t suppose, Delaney,” he began. “You know what type their artefact is?”

  “I…don’t know what you mean, sir,” John mumbled nervously. “Sorry.”

  Montgomery Shackleton smirked, and then slipped his hand into his inside pocket, bringing out his third of the broken artefact. “Each piece provides the holder with a different visionary power,” he explained. “This one is present. It enables me to see what my colleagues, enemies, fellow businessmen and politicians are talking about and doing right at this very minute. When used correctly – placed with personal items or things that people have touched – it can offer me a distinct advantage in the political field.”

  “I can well imagine it, sir,” nodded John, his eyes widening. He had known, of course, that the artefacts gave the owner some kind of mystical power akin to the one Dorian and Thena claimed to have ‘naturally’, but he didn’t know the full extent.

  “The other two provide the sight of the past and the sight of the future. Can you imagine what I could do with all three? What ultimate power I would have?”

  “I can, sir,” John nodded again.

  “And you don’t know which one they have?”

  “I don’t, sir, I’m sorry. They won’t tell me anything about what they get up to…”

  “Very well. We’ll have it in our possession soon enough anyway and then we can find out for ourselves. Still, I fear I’ve said too much,” he sighed and narrowed his eyes, staring across the table at John with an element of suspicion. “I can trust you, can’t I, Delaney?”

  “Of course you can, sir,” John answered immediately. “With everything.”

  “It wouldn’t do for any of this to get out, you see, my dear boy. I’ve used this piece,” he patted it fondly. “To help with important decisions during my career. It has guided me, helped me. I have ordered the deaths of others to get my hands on it and keep my hands on it, and to track down the remaining two pieces. I have killed for it and would kill again. Are we clear?”

  There was a barely concealed threat behind Shackleton’s eyes and John picked up on it immediately. There was to be no betrayal. “Abs
olutely clear, sir, yes sir.”

  “Good. Because I would do anything to protect it. This piece and the others along with it, belong to my son when I retire, and I will recommend he takes you on into his service too, so that you may keep your position and benefit from the new powers we will wield.”

  “Thank you, sir.” John bowed his head respectfully.

  “Now, did they indicate to you that they were intending on handing over their precious…necklace?” Shackleton asked, getting down to business.

  “Well, like I said, they would barely tell me anything, sir, but Thena did say that it would all be over by tonight and that they’d get Deme back so, by that I assumed they were willing to cooperate with your demands, sir.”

  “Good. Very good. I want you to stay away, tonight.”

  “But sir – “

  “Do not question me, Delaney. I still need you undercover. I don’t want her to know that you work for me. Not yet. There’s something else I may need you to do first…depending on how much they already know.”

  John ceased his protests and nodded solemnly. “Anything, sir.”

  ***

  After a brief respite back at the flat and a quick cup of tea to rejuvenate themselves, Dorian and Thena rapidly formulated a new plan, and they were off out again before very long, heading to the library in the town centre to spend the day embroiled in some research. They needed to find out some more about the guy who first stole the piece all those years ago back in the tombs of Tutankhamen.

  “Let’s split up,” Dorian suggested when they arrived. “We can cover more ground that way.”

  “Yeah, good idea,” Thena agreed, leaning in to give him a kiss on the lips. “I’ll look through all the old newspapers, you go straight to the computers and look online.”

  “Meet up in two hours or sooner if one of us finds something?”

  “Mmhm. Good luck.”

  “You too,” Dorian smiled and disappeared off to the computer section of the library, where dozens of monitors were lined up in a row available for anyone to get online, access e-mails, utilise the printers etc.