Darkly Rising (Dark Island Series Book 3)

by J. D. Matheny

  She shook her head against his chest then pulled away. “It’s not so much that, it’s that I’m scared of what we’ll find if I’m right. Kai has been gung-ho on this building project of his. Initially I thought it was just a little one room cabin, something for the boys to hang out in, but now I’m worried that it’s something more. It’s the one place that keeps popping into my head where he might be, but if that’s the case, why would he be there? And maybe Dennis and Jenny went somewhere else and Kai is there alone, but what if he isn’t?”

  Thomas let the words soak in as he stared out the rear patio door as if trying to see what was out there. If Sophie was right, it was a troubling thought. “First he draws those pictures of his dreams. Now you think maybe he’s building what he saw. Is that the gist of it?”

  Her eyes began to glisten as tears sprung up and she only nodded her head.

  James stared back and forth at the two of them like they’d both lost their marbles. “You two chatty Kathy’s want to let me in on your little secret?”

  “On the island I told you about, there was the temple. Daucina the island God’s temple. Sophie thinks that maybe Kai is building his own little temple out on the back property.”

  “Jesus. All teenagers feel like they’re something special but that’s something different, isn’t it? His own temple? If that’s true, then I’d say our fears are pretty well on the mark.” James looked back at Thomas only, avoiding Sophie’s eyes.

  “Sis,” said Thomas, looking back at her, “we need to know. We need to find out exactly what’s happening out there, and I don’t think we should wait.”

  Sophie stood back, looking back and forth between her brother and the old man who her brother had befriended as a coconspirator in this mess. “Fine. But nobody gets hurt, especially Kai. We all keep our heads.”

  She turned to grab her coat, then Thomas and James followed her out of the rear door and through the backyard.

  Kai, Jenny, and Dennis’s still unconscious form remain huddled together next to the front steps of the temple, the flickering orange light bathing them in a soft glow and casting dancing shadows along the stone wall behind them. Their eyes are all closed, lost in the vision that Kai has managed to bring to life from Dennis’s memories.

  Beyond the shutting of eyes, the similarities in their features end. Dennis’s large jowls sag with the droop of his head and tilt of his chin, a tiny river of saliva winding its way down to drip onto his sweater. No expressions cross his face to indicate that the invasion of his mind goes noticed.

  Jenny’s countenance is noticeably different from the slackened look of her father. A wide range of emotions play out on her pretty face. The joy and surprise of seeing her mother, so real she could be standing before her now. The sadness she recognizes in her mother’s eyes and voice, as if she’s resigned to a life devoid of freedom and happiness. The anger she feels toward her father and the way he so obviously controls and manipulates her sweet and beautiful mother. Her expressions twist and tighten in response, full of pain and longing.

  Beside her, his giant figure hunched down, yet still towering over her, Kai’s demeanor is wholly different. What started as a lesson to Jenny, a way to confront her with her father’s dark secrets and break his hold on her, has become a trap that he didn’t prepare for. Instead of breaking a hold and separating daughter from father, he’s found that his nemesis has something in common with him that brings the two closer. The man he hated only a fleeting time ago has become a figure he feels a kinship with. His face plays out only with expressions of greed and desire as he witnesses firsthand the control and power the man exhibits over his woman. He is lost in it, and he needs more.

  Dennis glances over at his wife on the drive home only to notice that she’s lost in thought and staring out the passenger side window.

  ‘Thinking of him’ he tells himself. ‘The handsome waiter who dared to lay a hand on my wife. Who put her under this spell that she’s lost in.’ He looks over at her again and his anger grows. She belongs to him. For all intents and purposes, as the man of the house and the spiritual leader of the family, she is his property. He decides he would rather burn his property to the ground rather than see it pass on to somebody else.

  “It was a lovely evening, wasn’t it?” he asks her.

  Finally, the spell is broken, and she looks over at him. “Yes, dear. The dinner was quite good.”

  Her eyes look sad, and that angers him more. If anybody should be sad, it’s him. “And the service was very good, wouldn’t you agree?”

  She only stares at him. She senses a trap and she won’t willingly walk through it. Her attention moves to the road ahead and she remains quiet.

  “How could it not be,” he says, marching forward. “Look at you. You’re the perfect vision of an angel. Truly, the most beautiful and desirable woman I’ve ever known.”

  He reaches up with his right hand to rub at her neck. She acknowledges the compliment with a slight smile and allows the rubbing to continue. But it doesn’t continue long. Rather, he uses his grip on her neck to pull her head down into his lap. She offers little resistance.

  “We’ve got ten minutes until we’re home. Make good use of the time.” She does, and as she does so, he pictures the waiter. He imagines the act that is occurring to have happened not in the car, but right there in the restaurant where the waiter would have to watch. Let the man covet his wife all he wants, as long as he sees something he can never have. Only one man gets this, and he gets it when he wants it. He almost unleashes himself into her mouth then but forces himself to wait. The power he feels is intoxicating, but he knows it can be better. He can have more control then this.

  When they walk through the front door of their modest home, Julia removes her coat and heads toward the master bedroom.

  “I’m tired,” she says quietly as she walks.

  But he doesn’t accept such a pitiful excuse. “You’re not too tired and I’ve not finished yet.”

  He smiles at the way she resigns herself as she looks down at the ground and waits for direction. Instead of steering her toward the bedroom, he leads her to the back door and out into the rear yard and toward the pool.

  “Dennis, I really don’t want to swim. It’s late. I’m tired.” Yet she walks along willingly, offering no further resistance beyond those simple words.

  “Jenny and the sitter will be asleep. Her bedroom is above ours. I don’t wish for your screams to wake them up.”

  They pass through the gate and step to the edge of the pool. There he turns toward her and begins to disrobe her, letting her dress fall in a silky puddle to the ground. He works the hook to her bra and that falls away as well. Then the panties, sliding them down her long legs. He steps back to admire her. The way the moonlight makes her already stunning body look completely flawless. He knows that no other man will ever possess that body and the knowledge makes him rage with desire.

  Once undressed, he leads her down the steps into the pool. The air is warm and the water with it. It is like stepping into a tropical breeze. He turns toward her, and she stands before him obediently. He pulls her toward him, bites softly at her neck, not enough to leave a mark. He grabs at her hips, pinches her nipple hard enough to make her gasp. Pulling her legs up from the pull floor to wrap around his waist, he walks them to the edge of the pool and pushes her against the wall.

  “Guide me in,” he whispers to her. And when she takes him in hand and directs him into the sweet spot between her legs, he whispers again, “not there.”

  She tenses. “Dennis, please, I don’t like that.” But in the end, she acquiesces to his demands and tries not to cry out when he pushes forward, less than gently.

  “I can have you any way I want you,” he speaks into her ear. “I can do with you whatever I wish.” Her only responses are whimpers, a sound that drives him mad with lust. “But you’re not thinking of me. You’re thinking of him, or one of your other boys. I know there are more. I see your eyes wander.” />
  He moves more vigorously as he speaks, getting rougher. He sees that with her lips clamped together she doesn’t wish to attempt a response.

  “You don’t have to admit it, I know it. God has removed the scales from my eyes. I see into the dark hearts of people. You are no different!”

  He realized then that the hot drips running down his face are not from the water splashing up with his animalistic movements. Why is he crying? But he knows why. He loves her, and the fact that she betrays him breaks his heart. He thinks again that no man shall have what is his. He’d rather burn his property than let another man have it.

  He reaches around to grab her hair in his meaty hands. Then he pulls her head below the water.

  At first, he sees little reaction on her face. It takes a second before the realization kicks in. Her eyes widen. She tries to lift her head up toward the blessed air, but he holds tight. It isn’t difficult. With her laid out in the water, she has no leverage. He watches her eyes, much darker in the water and moonlight then the normally bright green, as they track him and stare at his face.

  “Can you see me tears? Can you see how much you wound me?” He keeps her hair in a tight grip, though he can feel that she no longer struggles against him.

  He watches curiously. He sees her mouth open wide and her chest expand, taking in a deep inhalation. Then the struggle returns, her body jerks and twists, but only for a few seconds, then all is calm. Her eyes remain locked on his and he stares back, waiting to see if there is more.

  There isn’t. He lifts his eyes to the Heavens. Even though he’s thought of this moment many times before, he can’t bear to look at her face. ‘If only she’d remained true to me!’ He screams out in a silent declaration.

  He pushes her gently away and watches through blurry eyes as she bobs gently in the water, staring lifelessly up at the light of the moon.

  The rush! The power! Kai stares down through Dennis’s eyes and looks on that exquisite porcelain face with a mix of both anguish and lust. Those sea-green eyes were bursting with the spark of life only a moment ago but now they are dulled and hold no more judgement for him. He’ll never look at those eyes again and see the hints of betrayal of yearning of another. There will be no further signs of sadness or exasperation.

  But they will also hold no more love or beauty for him. He can sense Dennis’s thoughts at that moment as if he were living through the act of murder himself. The shame and deep sense of loss, overshadowed only by the immense thrill of domination and power to take. He could have allowed her to live, but she would have learned nothing of it. After all, he’d given her lessons before and yet, she still didn’t completely submit, and submission was vital. Otherwise, how could he trust her?

  Kai understood all of it. He was suddenly aware that he shared something with Dennis that he never recognized before. The same thing that drove them against each other was also a kinship between them. What a strange thought it was. The man was pitiful and no more than a speck of dirt to him, but in that one thing he was willing to admit they shared something.

  He looked down at his hands, but they weren’t his hands. These hands were old and thick, ugly looking despite the well-manicured nails. They were still his hands, the preacher’s. He looked around the pool, felt the cool water lapping at his belly, and wondered what more he could do here. The desire to return to his own time and see how Jenny responded to this new knowledge was overpowered by the desire to remain, just for another minute or two, and see what he could do. What would happen if he chose to leave the pool and return to the house? Would it all fade like a dream? Could he live Dennis’s past life indefinitely until he chose to return? Would it change anything?

  The possibilities could be endless! His power could be endless. Perhaps he had no limits. He was a god, wasn’t he?

  But these things could be explored right now. Jenny would be waiting, and he must deal with the father.

  A small, desperate wheeze cuts through his thoughts, followed up by a gurgle and sputter. His eyes snap down to the peaceful face floating in the water, but it no longer holds the serene look of death now. The eyes are alight again, and a hand rises to probe at her throat. Another cough issues forth, harsher and stronger this time, sending globules of water arcing up from her mouth.

  Kai stared at Julia’s face in horrified fascination. He watches her struggle to gain air, those eyes still looking frantically up at the sky.

  Fascination quickly turns to anger. This bad business should be done already, but here she is, still trying to vex him! He moves toward her, no longer understanding if his thoughts are his own, or if this is just Dennis’s emotions, true to what they were in that distant moment.

  Kai wants to stop to think this through, but he feels himself propelled forward on a rollercoaster ride that he cannot control. He sees the edge of a precipice before him, dropping off to some dark place outside his vision, yet he cannot slow his approach.

  I’m just a passenger. I’m not at the controls. He realizes the truth of it and for the first time he can really recall, he’s truly scared. I’m not in control of this. What am I doing!?

  Then the preacher’s emotions wash over him again in a tidal wave of fervor and domination. The meaty hands reach out once again for the pale, reddened throat and take a firm hold. Green eyes snap to his, staring back now in fear and panic and a deep sense of betrayal. His hands tighten relentlessly and her gasps for air are quickly stifled, like shutting a door against the noises of the outside world. Her once angelic face is no longer a thing of enviable beauty. Now it is a puffy, distorted mask of pain and torture. The eyes bulge and the tongue pushes between her tightened lips.

  He’s crying again, hot tears dripping down through his beard. It doesn’t stop him from pushing her face down below the suddenly icy water.

  36

  “Kai! Oh my god, Kai!” Sophie burst through the trees and out into the clearing where Kai bent over the running creek. Thomas was right behind her, while James followed at a distance, huffing and puffing.

  Her voice cut down through the fog of memory and reverberated through his skull, pulling him up from a dark pit. Julia’s face morphed before him, the years melting off, as if she were aging in reverse. The slight hint of laugh lines smoothed out. She looked like Julia still, but not quite. The meaty fingers didn’t look like the preacher’s anymore. They were his own; long, brown, and smooth.

  Kai looked down at the contorted face submerged just below the surface of the water, seeing clearly through his own eyes now. He stared uncomprehendingly at the dull green eyes, dark and lifeless where once they were bright and youthful. His gaze trailed down once more to his hands, embedded in the smooth pale flesh, still squeezing. He yanked them back. His slack face began to come alive with understanding.

  “Jenny?”

  Grabbing the lifeless body by the shoulders, he yanked her up from the frigid water and gave her a shake. Her head lolled from one side to the other and her eyes continued to stare off into some distance far off place that he couldn’t see.

  “I don’t understand.” He looked back over his shoulder to see the preacher, moving slightly now, but still slumped against the temple’s stone wall next to the steps, alone. “No. No it can’t be.”

  Hands grip his shoulders. “Kai, what happened? What have you done?”

  He watched on in a daze as uncle Tommy pulled Jenny from his arms and laid her out on the ground beside him. Her skin was so white. She looked cold. Tommy put an ear to her mouth, listened intently, then checked her neck for a pulse. Uttering a quick curse, he pushed down on Jenny’s chin to open her mouth, then began CPR. Kai watched on, feeling as if he were still in that other dream world. Hands shook at his shoulders.

  “Kai! Look at me, Kai.”

  “Mom?” He met her eyes, saw how wide and panicked they were. He’d never seen his mother in such a state. “Mom, I don’t know what happened. It wasn’t supposed to be like that. I was in control.”

  He watched as
Sophie slumped down to the ground, looking at him as if he were a stranger. Tommy was in front of her, pumping at Jenny’s chest. Jenny’s body, her eyes, showed no sign of life.

  Tommy pumped away furiously. “Sis, did you bring your phone? We need to get an ambulance here!”

  “No . . . no, I left it at—”

  Just then a crash filled the air, then another. Sophie screamed, and Thomas threw himself over the top of her out of instinct. “What the fuck was that,” he yelled. He looked across the creek to see James standing on the bank, his arm outstretched, a snub-nosed pistol held out at length. Then he looked back to see Kai lying back on the ground, two trails of steam rising up lazily into the chill night air.

  “He had to be destroyed,” James said, his voice croaking. “You saw what he did. God, you all saw it.” The gun dropped down from his hand and landed with a splash in the water.

  Suddenly, the night seemed to flee as a powerful light exploded from the doorway of the small temple. Kai sat up, reaching to probe at the two holes in his chest. He looked down slowly, regarding his chest with a detached curiosity. Then he pulled his shirt up and over his head, flinging it to the side.

  Sophie screamed and pushed up at Thomas. “Get off me! Kai!” She pushed herself up to her feet and grabbed his arm, looking at the two holes in her son’s chest. Surely, he would collapse, any moment now, she’d have to watch her only child die at her feet.

  But he didn’t collapse. He didn’t even seem to bleed. Her eyes fixated on the gaping holes and all she saw was darkness. She watched then as Kai wiped at his wounds and surveyed his hand, then turn his head toward her to smile. His eyes were like dark whirlpools, spinning and churning.