A Toiling Darkness

by Jaliza Burwell

  As I strolled in the same direction, a commotion broke out as a mother cried out, searching for her little girls. The others around her looked at her with pity and relief as they located their own children. The words were unsaid but it was clear in their expressions: Better her than me.

  One look at the mother and I knew who her kids were. She looked just like them.

  Well this sucks.

  When some of the parents were reassured that their children were safe, they decided to organize a little search party to try and find the two missing girls. They had to at least pretend they were concerned when all they wanted to do was take their children home and gossip about what happened at the park. To talk about how this little safe haven was now tainted with death. I could feel it in the air. Whichever girl shrieked like that was now dead, leaving behind waves of death energy.

  I reached the tree line and spotted Kalen’s tall figure only a couple of feet away. He was looking down, his face blank. His body was still, filled with tension as he examined whatever was on the ground. I approached carefully, not wanting to cause him to erupt with the anger he was trying so hard to hold back.

  My eyes traveled down to the ground, finding what had Kalen so stiff and clarifying who I thought made that noise. At his feet was the little girl with brown pigtails—the one who was running away from the other girl who wanted to tickle her. One of the pigtails was still tied up but the other had been pulled out. Her arm was bent at a bad angle, suggesting it was broken, and her mouth was slack. Her eyes were wide with terror, still registering the pain caused by whoever took her life away. Red angry lines dotted her neck and along her cheek. Whoever did this made her suffer first. The child was strangled to death, probably smacked around a little first.

  She wasn’t going to screech in laughter any more as she ran away from someone trying to tickle her. She wasn’t going to ever laugh again.

  “I should have sensed this.” Kalen’s voice was gruff with his grief. “I know when those things attack humans.”

  “Well those things you speak about didn’t do this,” I said. I didn’t like his attitude since I was considered one of those things and so was he. He needed to accept that, though now was probably not the time to point that out. I knew for a fact no beings were in this area. I could feel them, well except for Kalen. For some reason, I just couldn’t sense him when he was nearby. Maybe it had to do with that weird stillness thing he does or maybe because he was created to be my hunter.

  He spared me a glance, barely keeping himself together. The air around him thickened with anger. “No human would do this. Look at her!”

  I did. I took in her small frame, her delicate bones and the pale white skin. If you took away the horror on her face and the weird position she was sprawled in, you would simply think she was napping or something.

  “Humans are capable of doing exactly this.” I kept my voice low. I knew well what humans were capable of doing. “No being did this. If they did, there wouldn’t be a body to find. She wouldn’t even have had a chance to make a noise.”

  He fell silent, staring at me, his fists clenched and eyes wide. I looked around wondering where her older sister was. Did she run away or get taken? Was she hiding right now, hoping to evade the horror that took her little sister away? I reached out briefly to see if the other girl was hiding in the woods. I found nothing but critters. The humans were still out in the light, so I couldn't sense them. The mother was going to be devastated. She came here with two little girls and was most likely going to leave with none.

  “I can’t believe those words came out of your mouth,” he whispered, drawing me back to my immediate surroundings.

  “What words?” I scrunched up my eyebrows. Had I said something weird?

  “That there wouldn’t be a body to find or that she wouldn’t even have had a chance to scream. You said it with the most emptiest face I’ve ever seen. Does this even bother you? She’s just a child.”

  “I. Am. Not. Human.” I bit out each word slowly, growing impatient. “You don’t even know me to make a statement like that.”

  “Oh, I think I’m learning enough about you. You’re a heartless little brat who only likes to sit on the sidelines while others suffer. This isn’t even bothering you!” He pointed to the body.

  You have nothing inside of you. Nothing. You’re just this empty shell, making yourself go through each day simply because you can’t die. That’s no way to live.

  I almost growled at him, hating those words. Heartless. What a word. Did he even know how heartless I could really be?

  Instead of giving in to my anger, I shrugged. I didn’t even know what should be bothering me. I saw death on a daily basis. Some would even argue that I was on really good terms with Death. I always tell them I met Death before and he was even scarier than me. I have a very short list of those I feared and Death was second to the Consort. The only difference between them was that Death didn’t differentiate who died, nor did he really care how. He just wanted their souls while the Consort aimed at the most creative way to kill their victims.

  “We should leave,” I suggested, glancing around. The humans would be here soon.

  “I can’t just leave her here. And where is the other one? I thought her sister was with her.”

  I risked touching him and tugged on his arm until he looked away from the girl and at me. There was such pain in his eyes—a grief I’ll never fully understand. “Let the police handle the problem. This is between the humans. It has nothing to do with us.”

  “It has everything to do with me.”

  “Why? Because someone died while you were nearby?”

  “Because I could have protected her! Why didn’t I sense this?”

  “You can always sense when someone is dying?” I asked.

  He shook his head. “Only if a being is the one causing the death.”

  That’s a weird prerequisite to have.

  “Can I ask what your orders are?” I carefully held back the wave of excitement for the new tidbit of information. Instead I made my expression look impatient. It was easy to do since I didn’t want to be here when those humans finally decided to check this area over.

  He paused, taking a deep breath as his mind switched gears. His eyes grew empty as he recited the orders, sounding like a robot. “First and foremost, I need to find a woman and kill her for the wrongs she has done. While looking, if I come across beings who bring injustice to humans, then to end them.”

  Just like I thought. He was meant to kill me and it also explained why he was able to find the bloodborn who killed the guy in the alley. He sensed it. And he was probably already in the area because he was honing in on me, even if he still doesn’t realize it. I shook the dread inside of me and pointed to the body, keeping my expression neutral. “She was killed by a human. You know your instincts are telling you this. This wasn’t done by a being. Otherwise you would have known something was wrong before you heard her scream. You would have sensed them.”

  He stayed quiet as voices came from the park. They were looking in this area now for the girls. We needed to leave before we got caught and were forced to answer uncomfortable questions.

  “Can you trust me enough to understand that staying here right now is not in our best interest?” I asked and grabbed his wrists. My small hands couldn’t even wrap around them properly. He looked down at me and stayed quiet. “If you stay here, you won’t be able to help that other girl. You’ll just be thrown into jail for who knows how long.”

  “Fine.” He clenched his teeth and nodded. I shook my head, wondering if he was always going to be so trusting or if he lived long enough, would he grow as uncaring and passive as me.

  I hoped not. His passion was part of his charm.

  Since I had his permission, I was able to teleport both of us out of the area. I pulled us into a dark shade of a hedge maple, thought of a more peaceful, public area and enjoyed the cold sensation of the shadows as it came alive and wrapped around us. Kal
en’s arm jerked uncomfortable with the foreign feeling and then we were weightless, the laws of gravitation not applying to us as we moved.

  We stood in the shade of a large tour boat that floated next to a large wooden dock. The boat rocked gently with the waves that sloshed against the dock and left behind small puddles of water at our feet. I had teleported us to the harbor on the south side of the city. New Rheems stood on the other side of the water, all the tall steel buildings acting as a contrast to the rest of the historic city. It was one of the reasons it was called New Rheems instead of North Rheems. The business district has become an imposing force against the old harbor, proof of the future’s encroachment. The harbor itself was filled with life. Large boats made their way in and out, yelling at each other with their horns. Small yellow taxi boats zipped around in the water as people paid for rides across the harbor or for a little tour. A gentle breeze tickled my skin, bringing with it the smell of brine and seaweed.

  I brought us here, to a public place, to prevent any fights but there was only us two at the end of the dock. There were others around, just not close enough to keep us in check if we decided to fight. It was all up to Kalen. I knew I wasn’t interested in fighting anymore. I went through a very long phase of fighting and I was done with it now. These days, I only fight to stay alive instead of going out to look for it. I expected them still, I couldn’t help it. There was always a possibility of fighting between any two beings. It could be something as serious as being forced to do it like with Kalen or over the simple fact of looking at someone funny.

  There was a very basic rule that most beings followed. If you couldn’t handle yourself, then don’t look them in the eye.

  I looked up at Kalen now as he briefly glanced around and took in what I just did. He ignored the charm of the area and focused on me after only a couple seconds.

  “Why did we have to run?” he asked. “Why did you bring me with you?”

  “I’ve seen it all too many times. A child dead only leads to chaos filled with quick irrational judgments. That group would have seen us and turned into a lynch mob.”

  “You could have left me.”

  “Probably should have,” I grumbled and then sighed. “I couldn’t risk them hurting or taking you. You have information I want.”

  Kalen raised his eyebrows. “Then ask.”

  “Do you like McLaren’s Burgers?”

  “McLaren’s…What is that?” he asked, completely confused by the question. He was definitely not from this city. Anyone local knew the place.

  “A great burger joint. Best burgers in the city.”

  “And…you want to go eat some with me?”

  “Their fries are good too.”

  “A date?” He cocked his eyebrow.

  I laughed. “Not in this decade. What about hotdogs? Do you like hotdogs?”

  He turned to me, completely suspicious now. Good.

  “Do you like to drive? Ride a bike? How about running?”

  “Is this an interview?”

  “You said ask, so I’m asking.”

  “I doubt my personal life is a concern of yours.”

  “Really? Are you sure? I’m always interested in how humans like to live.” I smiled.

  “Aren’t there more…I don’t know, more important questions to ask?”

  “You know, you haven’t answered a single question yet.”

  “Maybe because your questions are childish,” he said with a glint in his eyes. He was totally amused now.

  “Well, I’m not living a complete lie.” I shrugged and when I moved closer to him, he stepped back. Still so untrusting.

  “So is that the kind of information you want? Just some basic, personal bio stuff?”

  “Who’s your master?”

  His whole body grew still. “From one extreme to the other,” he muttered.

  “I like to cover all my bases.”

  “I can’t tell you and even if I could, I wouldn’t.”

  “Why not? You easily told me what your orders were. I thought that was nice of you by the way. Could’ve just told me to scamper off, instead you answered me seriously. And yet you can’t tell me who put this curse on you? Tell me, maybe I can help you.”

  “Look…Darkness, I don’t get what you’re about and even though I’m curious, I don’t have time to find out. I get the sense that you want something from me, but right now I need to find who killed that little girl.”

  “I told you, a human did. It has nothing to do with you.”

  He stepped towards me, his expression twisted in anger. “It has everything to do with me. That little girl is dead and her sister is missing.”

  “Still nothing to do with you. A human killed her. Not a being.”

  “A being has to be involved.”

  “Why are you so damn determined to blame a being?”

  “Because it is! I can feel is.” His anger was barely contained now.

  “Instincts?” I asked thoughtfully. “Those have to be some damn good instincts.”

  “I’m going to find her and you aren’t going to stop me.”

  “Actually, I can and I’m willing. You’ll only get yourself killed and I need you alive for now.”

  Kalen pulled out a ten inch silver blade. He pulled it so fast that I ended up missing where it came from. To think he was hiding that on him the entire time gave him brownie points. He was more prepared than I thought.

  My eyes trailed along the sharp edge of the blade. Magic dripped off the tip and dissolved into the air. Only a witch could make a blade like that and from the looks of it, it could do some serious damage. The sun glinted off the blade making it reflect the light into my eyes. I blinked against the glare and got ready for a fight. No one but me could see his knife. He faced away from the public’s eye and held it in a way so that only I could see it.

  “Is that supposed to scare me?” I asked, unimpressed with his little show. He handled the blade well, moving it about in a graceful way as it sliced through the air.

  I’ll slice and dice you until your only one inch squares. I bet you can’t come back from that.

  I did. Took a couple of years, but I did.

  A blade was just not going to kill me.

  “No, it’s supposed to kill you.” His voice wasn’t as completely empty as he wanted it to be and he grimaced, knowing he failed. Ah, he didn’t have the nerve to hurt me. How…different. He fought with himself and the blade disappeared behind his back. His body slowly relaxed as he released a sigh. “I don’t understand what it is about you.”

  “I can say the same about you.” The tension I didn’t know I had in my neck and shoulders left. I knew exactly what it was about me.

  I was the woman he was supposed to kill if he wanted to release his soul.

  I’ve done a lot of bad things that probably pissed off a lot of beings. I could come up with at least twenty beings who wanted me dead and that was only a second’s worth of thinking. I knew there was a reason I kept this form for so long. Otherwise I would be fighting someone off every day.

  But with Kalen, there really was something about him I couldn’t understand. Something that sang to me like a calming lullaby, keeping back the rage within me. Around him, I didn’t need to work so hard in controlling it. He was relaxing, whatever that word meant.

  A boat horn went off, loud and obnoxious, as the occupants on it cheered, excited to get out to the Atlantic Ocean for a whale watching expedition. Kalen jumped a little at the sudden noise. He blinked and watched the boat as it moved out into the ocean.

  “Why here?” Kalen asked, this time looking around carefully. The place really did have its charm. This side of the harbor was older, the history etched in the docks and buildings surrounding the area. Vines were growing alongside the rusty brick buildings and trees larger than those in the park towered around the area in different spots.

  “Why not?” I sat down on a nearby wooden bench and just watching the view. Kalen’s backside to be more speci
fic. He was a nice view. I couldn’t even figure out where he was keeping his blade.

  He turned and gazed at me for a few moments before shaking his head, perplexed. He always seemed confused about something or another. What went on in that mind of his?

  Whatever it was, I was unfamiliar with it, which is saying something. I thought I saw everything I needed to see and Kalen just kept proving me wrong in small ways. He didn’t have the fear or anger that I was used to, making it harder to read him properly. His belief in humans was another amazing trait. He believed so much in those I couldn’t even look at without distaste.

  “I have to go. I need to find who killed that girl.”

  I resisted the urge to shake him and instead huffed. “Fine. Just don’t get yourself killed yet.”

  He smirked, making himself look boyish and nodded. While he made his way down the dock, a group of women stopped and turned to watch as he walked away. Their eyes were definitely on those jeans and how they hugged him perfectly.

  By the time he made it near the end of the dock and turned north, I decided to follow him. What better way to find information than to follow the man who has it all? I stayed to the shadows, keeping them tight around me and just followed him around the city.

  Chapter Five:

  For about two hours, Kalen just wandered the streets in no particular order. He did manage to help in some very weird situations.

  He helped a mother with her groceries while she held onto her crying baby to comfort it. She looked so exhausted and tired, but when she smiled in gratitude she was beautiful despite her rundown appearance.

  He talked with a fae child and showed the child where his home was. The fae mother was so happy with his help. She treated him to one of those shaved ice-cream cones, except she made it on her own with her powers.

  He also talked to humans as if it was the easiest thing for him to do. It probably was too. They told jokes and laughed while slapping each other on the back. To them, he was just one of the guys in a matter of seconds.

  You know we aren’t normal. I’m a fire wielding crazy ass elemental fae and you’re…well, you. We don’t get that. We don’t get to be friends with the humans. I’m okay with that though. Are you?