Dark Knight of the Skye

by Ray, Robin Renee

  “Your people?”

  “He changed me,” Arnaud claimed, trying to sit up.

  “Stay right there, partner,” Grady said, putting his foot down on his shoulder.

  “I have nothing left. I have failed, and will give you no more trouble,” he swore holding up his hand. “He will think me dead when I do not return with the others.”

  “Well, maybe the one,” D`nae said, looking back at the one that Tabitha had killed when they first were attacked.

  Arnaud smiled and lie back on the ground, actually laughing out loud. Grady looked at D`nae, who looked over at Tabitha, who in turn shrugged her shoulders.

  “He was an evil bastard, and whoever took him out deserves my thanks,” Arnaud said, sitting up with no one trying to stop him this time. Danny started sitting up about the same time, but had been listening to the whole conversation. They all watched as the man named Arnaud got to his feet and walked over to the corpse that just an hour earlier had been his companion in the attack. He squatted down and started going through his pockets.

  “Where is it, you son of a bitch?” he cursed through clinched teeth, as he rolled the body over.

  “What are you looking for?” Grady asked, as he and D`nae walked over to him.

  “A piece of paper that holds the name of the town in Colorado where the pig who threatened my family is waiting for you guys. It’s not here,” Arnaud said, standing up in frustration. “But I saw him take it!”

  “I have it,” Grady said, holding it out.

  “And you’d just give it to me like that?”

  “Yeah, but in return you could help us,” D`nae said. “I think he’s going to hurt my mother.”

  Arnaud became extremely still, avoiding her eyes.

  “Do you know anything about that?” she asked, placing her hand on his arm.

  “I’m sorry… he’s already sent them for her. She is more than likely already in Colorado.”

  “Will he kill her?”

  “Dinnae worry yersel, luv,” Danny said, making his way to the rest of them. “T’wull nae be lang, an ye’ll hae yer mither back.”

  “I have to call her. We could all be jumping to conclusions. She may be home right now, drinking a cup of coffee,” she laughed, then fell silent as tears filled her eyes.

  “Cum,” Danny said, taking her back toward the truck.

  Grady helped Tabitha to her feet and started in behind D`nae and Danny. Arnaud looked at the four and found himself at a loss for what to do. He looked down at the dead man at his feet and spit, then took off behind the others. He hung back by a tree, watching as they all climbed in the truck. D`nae slid over in the middle, leaving the door open, and all four sat there looking at him. Danny nodded his head once, causing Arnaud to turn around and look behind himself, then touch his own chest. When Danny smiled and nodded again, Arnaud practically ran and jumped in the truck, a grin plastered on his face. Danny cranked the motor to life and the five drove off, in search of a phone so D`nae could attempt to call her mother.

  They found a payphone at a gas station in a small town outside of Abilene. When D’nae dialed the number, she discovered that there was no answer, not even the answering machine was turned on, which was something D`nae’s mother always did when she was going to be gone for a period of time. D`nae’s heart overflowed with an unexplainable fear. Her thoughts kept going back to her landlady lying on the foyer floor with her head removed, staring back at her with that morbid frozen scream on her face, and D`nae kept wondering if her mother was lying on her kitchen floor, waiting to be found the same way by the next visitor.

  “We have to stop by Stamford. It’s not that far, and we’re moving north anyway. I have to know if they killed her, or if they took her,” D`nae said, gripping Danny’s shoulder.

  “Whaur dae we exit, Grady?”

  “Take the Anson turn, it’ll take us right into Stamford, but we have to move fast. Three hours and we’ll have to find a place for you guys.”

  “Tis the mither’s wain we’ll be fur thinin aboot noo,” he replied, looking in the review mirror.

  “I know D`nae is the child, Danny. She’s my friend, and I don’t like seeing her hurt, but we have to make this quick for other reasons.”

  “And you two don’t need to talk like I’m not sitting right here,” D`nae interrupted.

  “Ah wisnae meanin…”

  “I know what you meant, and I love you for it, both of you. I just need to make sure she’s not like the rest of them, ya know? I can’t have someone else finding my mother torn up like a discarded piece of trash,” she added, then broke down.

  “Nae luv. Please, dinnae cry ma sweet lassie,” Danny said, pulling her closer to him. “Tis a’ gaun tae be a’ richt. Ye hae me word.”

  They drove another hour before they turned into the small town of Stamford. The town was still and quiet, the only thing sound coming from the ambulance that sped past them as they drove down main street to her mother’s house. They took the center square downtown and D`nae’s level of anticipation grew. As they made their way down the street that her mother lived on, D`nae pointed to the house that she had once lived in. Danny pulled up in the drive and killed the motor. He looked back at her and squeezed her hand, then opened the door and the two got out. The others got out and made their way around to the back of the house, with Arnaud watching for any sign of those he had once helped as if he had always been with the ones he now walked behind. He waited out on the front lawn, while Danny and D`nae made their way up to the front door.

  “They’ve been here,” D`nae cried out, kicking open the door. “Mom! Mom, where are you?!”

  “Please, luv,” Danny called out going in after her. “She’ll nae be here.”

  “How do you know that?” she asked, spinning around glaring at him.

  “Tis nae smell o blad, ye’ll nae be fur finding nae ane here, luv.”

  “The dog, where’s the dog?” she asked, spinning back around. “Duchess!” She screamed and took off running through the house, with Danny not far behind.

  They were almost to the back door when Grady and Tabitha ran in through the already opened door. The screen was barely hanging by the bottom hinge, and the entire knob was missing from the wooden back door. D`nae just stood there, staring at it in a state of disbelief. Tabitha was walking up to her when they heard Arnaud yelling out front, and a single bark from a dog.

  “No, Arnaud!” D`nae yelled, dashing back through the house, praying that he hadn’t just snapped her mother’s dogs neck. When she and the others reached the front door, they found Duchess, sitting on top of Arnaud’s chest with him holding her back by the collar.

  “Is this what you were looking for?” he asked, blinking back up at them, right before Duchess snapped down on the side of his arm. “Get her off!”

  D`nae leapt off the porch and went for her collar, but the dog turned on her, taking a piece of flesh from a person she had known all of her life. Tabitha jumped down from the porch and growled deep from her belly, while going down on one knee, facing Duchess like a dominant female. Duchess lowered her head and bared her teeth, lifting the sides of her mouth with every sound that she made. Tabitha leaned forward on all fours and made a reverberating sound that everyone who stood on the ground could feel, and Duchess backed off tucking her tail, then tried to run. Tabitha’s hand darted out so fast that Duchess never had a chance. The dog wet as Tabitha pulled her back into her arms and started petting her. “She’ll come around. They frightened her.”

  “Why doesn’t she know me? I lived here when my mother got her,” D`nae asked squatting down next to Tabitha.

  “You smell like the rest of them, no offence,” she smiled in reply.

  “I had that coming, didn’t I?” D`nae smiled back. “Think she’ll remember me?”

  “Of course, but first she must deal with her own fear. We dogs never forget.”

  “Don’t call yourself that. Just because those bastards did, doesn’t mean anyone else ever wi
ll,” she said, reaching for Tabitha’s chin when Duchess tried to take a snap at her. “Duchess Creel, you better not bite me again.” Then she walked back over to the others, looking back once with her brows wrinkled at the dog’s behavior, wiping a tear from her cheek.

  Grady dabbed at the wound on Arnaud’s arm as Danny spread the map across the hood of the truck. He handed Arnaud the gauze and told him to hold it against the wound then walked over to join Danny, as D’nae did the same. “Cortez, tis a micht far fae whaur we be richt noo, but it won’t tak lang ance we get here,” Danny claimed pointing at Raton, New Mexico.

  “That’s right, then we skip over Eagles Pass, right into Taos. I think maybe we should change our direction here though, because I personally think he believes this is the way we’ll be coming,” Grady said searching the map for another way around the badlands and into Colorado.

  “Look, Alasdair couldn’t have taken my mother more than two days ago, and I believe if he wanted her dead, we would have found her that way. So, can we just get in the truck and look at this stupid map when we get to wherever we’re going?” D`nae snapped, walking over and yanking the passenger side door open. “Get in!”

  Danny and Grady jumped at the same time. “Fit’s a body tae dae?” Danny smiling at Grady, then walked around him patting him on the back and got into the driver’s side of the truck. Grady rolled up the map, watching as Tabitha picked up the big brown and black spotted pit bull that had calmed down almost completely. Arnaud slid into the middle of the back seat, and slid right out the other side when Tabitha got in with the dog. Grady started laughing and began to get in beside her, when the dog went wild, barking and trying to take a bite out of him. Arnaud was standing back, shaking his head, doing everything he could not to laugh out loud, but soon lost it when Tabitha looked over and winked at him.

  “Both of you, get in. She will behave herself as long as you both mind your manners,” Tabitha explained, stroking the dog’s ears.

  “I was getting in. She tried to get me, remember,” Grady said as he slowly got back in next to her.

  “Yes, but you did not have my permission,” Tabitha replied, causing D`nae to turn around in the seat.

  “And in such a short time. My mom’s going to love you, and I know she’s going to be just fine. He didn’t hurt me and he’s not going to hurt her.”

  Part 4

  Tammy, D`nae’s mother, lay covered from head to toe on the cold stone floor, as dead as the beast that slept in the king size bed not ten feet from her. The sun was setting and his body was taking on visible life once again. Alasdair rose, swinging his nude legs off the bed, and setting his bare feet onto that same cold floor. He lifted his head and stretched his back, before standing and raising his arms above his six foot stature. The light of the fireplace was just a dim glow of its former self, until he walked over and tossed a few pieces of wood onto the red hot coals. He picked up his black floor-length satin housecoat, and sat down in one of the two high back chairs at the foot of the bed and waited. The bottom of the cloth covering Tammy moved and Alasdair’s legs spread slightly as he leaned forward in the chair. It rose and fell at her chest and a moan escaped from her lips. Alasdair smoothed his thick red hair back on one side and push himself to his feet.

  He tied the sash on his robe closed, walking as if on air, then bent at the waist and ripped the cloth off of his newest creation. Her pale white skin was breathtaking, and shades whiter than most, because of how pale she was to begin with. Her arms were shackled at her sides and her ankles were firmly in place. Her shame showed on her face when she turned to look at him for the second time, only now she lay even more vulnerable; nude and no longer one of living. The brown of her eyes had lightened, but the haunting truth of her knowledge was still there.

  “Who am I, woman?”

  “What else can you do to me? Kill me? Been there done that, wanna cut me up now?”

  “Do not tempt me,” he hissed, thinking she was indeed her daughter’s mother. “She came by her mouth honestly.”

  “She was raised by strong women!” Tammy replied, dropping her upper back heavily to the floor.

  “You think acting like you do not care will make me have pity on you, don’t you?” he asked leaning way down as he walked around her head, looking down with his hair half covering his face.

  “Pity? I’m the fucking walking dead. I have two inch teeth in my mouth… like I said,” she sarcastically replied, turning her head to keep from looking back at him.

  Alasdair curled his hands into fists and stormed to the bed, yanked the bedspread off and threw it over her body.

  “Cover yourself, it sickens me to look at you.”

  “Guess you should have thought about that, huh?”

  “Do you know what I have planned for you? Do you really want to know your purpose in this little scheme of mine, woman?”

  “You have me here to trap my child,” she said trying to shake the cover off of her face.

  Alasdair went to the dresser on the other side of the bed and picked up one single key. He removed his robe and put on the pair of pants that were lying across the back of the chair. He slid on his slippers, then walked up to the head of the bed and pulled down on the golden chain, afterwards going back and kneeling down next to Tammy. He pulled the cover away from her arm and unlocked the iron shackle on her right wrist, continuing to do so until all her limbs were free.

  “If you try anything stupid, I will rip out your throat,” he explained, picking up his housecoat and tossing it back toward her, where she let it drop to the floor as she got to her feet. “Take it or go out nude, it is your choice.” Tammy quickly picked it up the moment she heard someone knock on the door.

  “Enter,” Alasdair proudly ordered, sitting down in his high back chair and crossing his legs.

  “He returned before dawn, my Lord,” Michael bowed.

  “And?”

  “He is dead. His remains held this blade, but he managed to write the letter four with his blood.”

  “What of Arnaud and the other one… Pete, or whatever his name is?”

  “They must be lost as well, my Lord,” he replied bowing further to the floor.

  “Good enough. Ready the yard, I wish to show Mrs. Creel the treat we have in store for her, then maybe she will see that she is not as all knowing as she seems to think that she is.”

  “All knowing? Just because I could see your past doesn’t make me think anything,” Tammy said, walking closer to the fireplace.

  “What do you see now?” he asked looking at her form in the light of the fire.

  “A scared little boy, inside of a raged filled man. Why does the past have to dictate your future, Alasdair?”

  “I never told you my name,” he said standing up. “How did you do that? Did Michael tell you?”

  “You had fire in your eyes when you thought of nailing me to that cross so they could find my burnt remains,” she turned to look at him. “Why have you changed your mind?”

  “Maybe I wish to use you in another way, or maybe I will change my mind again and place you there at the last moment,” he replied, stepping closer to her.

  “It doesn’t…” she paused, then collapsed to the floor gripping her stomach.

  Alasdair went to the golden chain and pulled it twice, then hurried back to her, lifting her like a child and sat her down in the chair he had been using. He pushed her hair back from her face. Her eyes opened just a slant, and she said, “Why?” He looked away. One knock sounded on the door and Michael rushed in with a tray that held a crystal pitcher, and two silver goblets. He set it down and backed out as fast as he had entered. Alasdair reached around and poured the thick warm red fluid into one of the cold goblets and lifted it to her mouth. Tammy turned her head, refusing his offer.

  “If you wish any chance of seeing your child, you will have to feed to survive,” he explained in a soft tone.

  “I would never allow my child to see me like this,” she replied pulling away
from his grip, closing the robe tighter.

  “There are worse things in this world,” he added, drinking down the offered blood. “You will soon find that out for yourself.”

  “Another threat, Alasdair. How long will it take to die if I don’t feed?”

  “You won’t have that long to worry about it,” he replied, sitting down the glass before standing and walking around to the bed. “You disappoint me. I thought you would fight the way that she did.”

  “You did not do this to my child or I would have known,” she said, turning in her chair to face him.

  “No, but she wanted to survive, and I allowed it.”

  “Allowed it,” she blurted out with a laugh. “And who are you to think so highly of yourself?” Then she doubled over in pain.

  “God enough to make your pain go away with the snap of my finger,” he snickered, snapping his finger.

  “Oh really,” she replied. She picked up the pitcher and drank, then slammed it back down splattering herself with the blood. “I’m no God, and I just eased it off fine, didn’t even have to snap my finger.” Then she too stood, but walked over to the fire with her back to him.

  He became so enraged that he slammed his fist into the wall, breaking through the stone into the bathroom on the other side. Tammy flinched but didn’t turn around. He grabbed his shirt off of the foot of the bed and walked out of the room, slamming the door so hard behind him that the picture that hung on the wall next to it fell to the floor. “Arrogant bastard,” she whispered, and then returned to her chair, wiping the sides of her mouth. A few minutes later, she was standing and backing into the wall behind her, as Alasdair stormed toward her with a bundle of white rope in his hands.