Nameless: The Darkness Comes

by Mercedes M. Yardley

  “So if you’re not such a bad guy, why don’t I see you around more? Come stop by the house or something after all of this is done.”

  He smiled for real, then, and it was beautiful. Suddenly I caught myself thinking that if I were ever to see an angel of light, it would have to look like this: the face of somebody I loved looking so delighted.

  “Oh, you sweet girl. You don’t know how happy that makes me. You don’t know how it feels. It almost hurts. Yes, it does hurt. Thank you, but I can’t.”

  “Why can’t you?” I knew the answer before I even asked.

  I’ve heard despair before, but I’ve never heard a voice created from it. My body grew cold. I wanted to kick the door down and run screaming from the bowels of the house.

  “Because I’m trapped here, Luna. We’re all trapped here. This is where we go when we misbehave. This is where we stay until we are dealt with. I was sent here for befriending your father. Now that I have given you the true name, my torment will come quickly.”

  His hair fluttered, and I realized my hands were shaking. “Can’t you take it back? Pretend you didn’t tell me?”

  “Of course they already know. You can see what’s happening. They’ll be sending somebody for me immediately. You need to leave.”

  The edges of the picture began to blacken and curl. I dropped the picture reflexively. My father’s eyebrows shot up.

  “They’ve come. Run!”

  The picture burst into flames and I watched in horror as the little boy began to burn on my father’s lap. The book charred. My father’s face melted and distorted, his mouth opening in a scream I knew I’d remember until the day I died, and probably even after that. I leapt to my feet and tried to stomp the flames out.

  “Go, Luna!”

  It was no good. The flames ran across the carpet like they were following a trail of gasoline. They zipped up the walls and the curtains began to burn. I threw my arms over my face and backed toward the door. The wretched screaming finally cut through the panicked fog of my brain, and I realized I couldn’t save him. I couldn’t save my father when I was a child, and now I couldn’t save this creature who was wearing his skin. I’d like to blame it on the heat and the black smoke that was making me cough, but my eyes were full of tears when I finally ripped the blue door open and ran outside.

  Chapter Twenty-Nine

  There was no longer a charred and burning little girl in the room, and I was undeniably grateful for that. I was still trying to get over seeing a charred and burning demon-father in the last room. Mouth was right: this place was awful. I wanted nothing more than to get out, and burn this place to the ground. Seemed like there was an awful lot of that going on.

  “Hey,” said a voice. I dashed for the yellow door. The knob turned easily in my hand, but the door itself was stuck.

  “Hey, Luna. I’ve been looking for you everywhere.” The first voice was back.

  “I’m not listening,” I shouted and braced my combat boot against the wall. I pulled on the door as hard as I could but it still wasn’t opening. Unreal.

  “Luna, let me help you,” the voice said and a hand rested on my shoulder. I whirled around and slapped it off.

  “Don’t touch me, demon,” I shouted. I was surprised to find tears rolling down my face, but I was too angry to care. Reed Taylor’s gorgeous green eyes looked shocked, and then concerned, but I’d seen enough in this house to know it wasn’t him.

  I gave the door a good kick, then another and another. I dug my feet into the floor and yanked on the doorknob with all of my weight, leaning back while I did so.

  The door stuck for another second, and then swung smoothly open, spilling me onto the ground. Reed Taylor reached to help me up, and I smacked his hands away.

  “Don’t touch me. I don’t want you ever to touch me.”

  He stood back and shoved his hands into his pockets. “Luna, I think…I think maybe this place is too much for you.”

  I slowly climbed to my feet, wiping the dust and grime off of my jeans while I tried to calm myself down. It wasn’t working.

  “You think this place is too much for me? Really? This place is Hell, in case you haven’t noticed. And I don’t know what you did to be sent here, demon, but I’m almost sorry for you. I just saw what happened to my father—no, he wasn’t my father. But I think he wasn’t lying when he said they were friends.” I was talking to myself, now. That’s it. I’d lost it. It wasn’t a big, scary demon that had done it, either, but the sight of the demonic wearing the faces of two of the men I had loved the most. Next I’d see Seth coming after me with an axe. My shoulders slumped.

  “Luna,” Reed Taylor said, and pulled me close. He even smelled the same as the real Reed Taylor, and that made my eyes tear up again.

  This is most likely the last time I’ll ever be so close to Reed Taylor. And it isn’t even him, it’s something else.

  I leaned my head against his shoulder and took a deep breath. Then I stepped out of his arms.

  “Luna, are you all right?”

  The punch to his jaw took him by surprise. His hand flew up to his face. I kneed him in the groin then, and he doubled over with a sound that would have made me cringe if he had been a real human. I kicked him in the head, and he curled up on the ground.

  “Wh-what…” he asked, but that was all he was able to get out.

  Hey, you don’t grow up with a crazy dad and not learn how to take a few swings on the playground. “If you ever pretend to be Reed Taylor again, I will find a way to kill you, demon. You should have stuck with the burning girl.”

  “Luna,” he whispered, and I kicked him in the stomach one last time for good measure.

  “Leave me alone.”

  I turned my back on the crumpled body that looked like Reed Taylor. My eyes were dry now. I stepped resolutely through the yellow door and locked it behind me.

  Chapter Thirty

  Man, kicking Reed Taylor Demon in the head felt good. It revved up the anger in me, and I had a feeling that anger more than anything else was going to save my life today.

  The room was different than the others. It was large and cavernous, made completely of stone, both the floors and the walls. A mist blew through it like we were down at the dock. Come to think of it, it smelled alive, like forest and trees and something older than time.

  I didn’t like it. I didn’t like it at all.

  There was a chuckle that made the hair on my arms stand up. I recognized it immediately.

  “Mmm, Luna,” the voice purred. This was my least favorite demon trick ever, I swear. It got old, fast.

  “Mmm, Sparkles. Where are you hiding, you coward? Are you saying you’re afraid to face little ol’ me?” I batted my eyes. “I’m flattered. I didn’t realize I was such a powerhouse.”

  The voice laughed, and I had to admit it was creepy. It bounced off the stone walls with a sick echo that made me want to drop to my knees and cover my ears. It knew this, I was sure. Demons know all of the tricks. They know all of our human reactions, but I wasn’t going to give her what she wanted.

  “Listen,” I said, and sighed dramatically. “It’s been a long day. I was attacked by mutant starfish and a necklace that would most likely turn my skin green if it didn’t suffocate me first. I’ve been staggering around in this little funhouse of yours and, really, I just want to go home and get something to eat. Seriously, I’m starving. So let’s get the show on the road already. Come be vanquished, or whatever. Or just hand Lydia over nicely. I have things to do.”

  It felt like the ground moved under me. It didn’t shake like an earthquake, but it felt something more like…water. Like something swimming beneath the surface. My eyes narrowed.

  “What makes you think I’ll give her up?” A voice whispered in my ear. It was genderless, emotionless, but somehow I could feel the loathing and hatred spreading under my skin like a disease. I jumped and spun toward the sound, but again there was nothing. That was ticking me off.

  “What
reason do you have to keep her? You never loved her. Just give her back to Seth and everything’s cool, yeah?” My eyes slid over the stone walls. There was a shadow in the far corner that looked a little darker than usual. Could she be hiding there? Did she have Lydia? It was tough to see through the mist. And what is mist doing inside a creepy horror house, anyway?

  Oh yeah, being creepy and horrifying.

  Silence. Which was also creepy and horrifying. I couldn’t wait to bound away from this place as fast as my legs could take me.

  “You’ve gotta admit that being a mom sort of cramps your style.” No answer. I slid one foot ahead of me on the unstable floor. I swear it sank under me slightly like I was walking on mud. I kept my eyes firmly on the corner. “I mean, how boring is it to be married, right? A husband. A yowly baby. Why not let her go and then you can go away? Go back to...” I swallowed hard. “Reed Taylor or whoever it is that you want to go back to. I won’t fight you for him, you know. In fact, I just kicked his lookalike’s butt out there in the other room. He’s yours, if you want him.”

  There was something in the corner, I knew it. The knob on the yellow door behind me rattled back and forth. There was a pounding on it, and I heard the demon using Reed Taylor’s voice scream angrily through the door. I nearly had to close my eyes, but I kept inching ahead into the mist.

  “See, Sparkles? There he is, now.” Another muffled shout, and some vehement cursing through the door. My salty old grandfather would have blushed at the words coming out of his mouth. “And he’s sounding delightfully demonic. You two will be perfect together. Now give me my niece!”

  The ground roiled. That was the only way to put it. The stone rolled like waves on the sea, and I was knocked completely off my feet. This was an alarming development. It felt solid enough that it forced an angry sound out of me when I landed, but when I tried to scramble back up, it was like trying to walk on water.

  “Sparkles!” I was alarmed to hear how unhinged my voice sounded. “Quit playing and give Lydia back to me.”

  “You’ll never get her back.”

  The same chilling, whispered voice. It wasn’t Sparkles.

  It was her demon.

  “What do you want with her, demon? She’s just a little girl. She has nothing to offer you. Besides, you have Sparkles, who is certainly the most evil person I’ve ever met. What more do you need?”

  The ground bobbled again, and I fell down, knocking my chin on the hard stone with a crack that I felt more than heard. Lights danced in front of my eyes. I held onto the floor and tried to ride the wave out until I could stagger to my feet.

  “The girl means nothing.” The voice sounded much louder, and I pressed my ear to the cold floor. Was it coming from beneath me?

  “So why not give her back?”

  “She quiets the mother.”

  The floor slid under my feet, and I realized what was going on. Whatever I was having a conversation with was literally swimming underneath the stone. How could this be? But then, why would I even ask such a question? I stood up, careful to keep my balance.

  “The mother? Sparkles?” I snorted. “That’s a good one. Like she cares.”

  Now that I was watching for it, I could see a long, serpentine shape coiling and writhing under the rock as it traveled from one side of the room to the other. The thing looked huge. Enormous. My mouth went dry. How was I supposed to conquer this thing?

  “You know not our ways, human. You are nothing.”

  I was tired of hearing that. “Listen, keep Sparkles but give me Lydia. She doesn’t quiet the mother. The mother is a selfish cancer who exists only to make others miserable. Congratulations, you snagged yourself a real winner. Lydia has no part in it, so hand her over.”

  “I shall not.”

  “Do it, demon.”

  “Do not command me!”

  The ground sank dangerously under me, and I was buffeted by waves of stone. I covered my head with my hands, but I still got clocked in the temple hard enough to leave blood running down my face. Was that going to scar?

  All right, that did it.

  “Demonic entity Tsofea, I call you by name. I command you, using your true name, to give me back the child.”

  There was a roar that sounded like it was being wrenched out of a thousand tortured beings. The serpent under the floor rocked and contorted into shapes bizarre enough to twist my stomach, but still it didn’t break through the stone. The mist became thicker, more dense, coating my body with a layer of fog. I had to pull it from my mouth and nose as if it were made of spider webs. The coldness pierced my bones and made me shiver, but the fire in my eyes kept me warm enough to keep yelling. I felt an intense pressure on the Tracing, which nearly floored me, but I wasn’t going to give in without a fight.

  “Tsofea, give me the child. I command you!”

  It screamed, a surprisingly high and piercing shriek that jammed into my ears like somebody had kicked a pencil through them. I fell to my knees, clasping my hands to my head, my own scream torn from my throat in agony. It joined with the thousand other voices of the bellowing demon, blending alongside the many souls it had captured. This unexpected intimacy enraged me so much I ground my teeth together to muffle the sound until I finally managed to stop screaming. I pulled my hands away from my ears and saw they ran red with blood.

  The demon still convulsed, making it impossible to stand, but I saw that the shadow in the corner of the wall was actually a small hole. The shrieking and bucking of the floor brought a few broken stones tumbling to the ground, and the hole widened. I crawled across the floor, thrown here and there, cracking my head and knees and elbows on the rock. I was scraped and bruised and bloody, but I was almost to the hole. I could see darkness outside. I could hear the snarling and howling of what sounded like wolves. And even more importantly, I could hear faint cries that I was certain were Lydia’s.

  Chapter Thirty-One

  I wasn’t stupid enough to think I could shout out the demon’s name a time or two and have it collapse at my feet. But it was certainly hurting enough that I could scramble through the ragged hole in the stone and escape that ancient room. Their names have power. Exactly how much, I wasn’t sure. But it was enough, at least for now.

  I used both hands to pull my body through, and then I got to my feet on the other side of the hole. The ground still heaved and hoisted under me, but I leaned against the wall while I got my bearings.

  “Lydia?” I called. “Sweet Girl?”

  The cries were faint, but they were definitely her. I looked around in shock. Instead of the nice, postage-stamp sized backyard I had expected, I was standing in the middle of what looked like the Black Forest. Not to mention it was suddenly the middle of the night when it should have been closer to 3:00 p.m. How could this be?

  I needed to stop thinking about it before my mind broke. Demons liked the dark and dreary, anyway. My priority was Lydia. Nothing else mattered.

  I ran toward the sound, my hands out in front of me to protect my graceful self from running headlong into branches. The trees were spiny black shadows in the darkness. Great, even the trees look like demons here.

  “Lydia, it’s Mama Luna! I’m coming for you, sweetheart.”

  I was going to kick Sparkles in the face when I found her. Then I was going to knock her down, sit on her chest, and punch her in her bitter, twisted mouth until I was too tired to punch anymore. Then I’d spit on her. When I was done, I would start all over again, and then take Lydia and go home. Sparkles won’t be more than shreds of meat by the time I’m through with her. She’d never come after Lydia again.

  The Mark pulsed and seared with my thoughts. It almost felt good. It did feel good.

  In the back of my mind, something that strangely sounded like common sense was warning me that physical assault might not be the best way to go about this, especially if Lydia ended up with her biological mother due to my family’s questionable mental state. But I never was big on listening to that certain part o
f my mind. Get bent, common sense. I have some revenge to wreak.

  I was almost there. Lydia sounded only a few feet ahead of me. The thick night was getting even blacker, and the tiny sliver of moon disappeared behind a cloud. Fantastic. I couldn’t see a thing, freezing in the paranormal fog, and I was getting more creeped out by the second. The Mark on my back ached even more, growling like an angry stomach.

  They’re here.

  Something zipped past me in the trees, zig-zagging its way easily through the brambles and branches that repeatedly caught me up. Something else rustled the leaves overhead. I knew they weren’t birds or innocent little woodland animals that would come cuddling up to wayward princesses and dashing princes. They were dark and sinister and evil. They were attracted to the Mark, and I was afraid they were also attracted to the innocence that was Lydia.

  My legs pumped harder. I was racing disaster in the woods. If I got it to her first then everything would be okay, I kept telling myself. I needed to believe it.

  I found Lydia in a little clearing. She sat on the dead, leafy floor, her pigtails haphazard and her face covered in dirt and tears. Her yellow sundress looked out of place in the menacing, freak-of-nature woods. She looked like goodness personified. She looked like bait.

  “Lydia,” I called out, and her head turned my way. She held her pudgy arms out to me. They were covered in filth or blood, I couldn’t tell, and the sudden surge of anger I felt made me want to snap my teeth on somebody’s throat. I didn’t care if it was a trap. Didn’t care what the darkness was planning. I needed to get to my sweet girl.

  “Lydia, I’m here.”

  A dark shadow that smelled of must and sweat darted in front of my legs. I actually stumbled on the darn thing. If it was that close to physical form, I’d better be ready for anything.

  “Get back, demon. You can’t have her.”

  It grinned at me, its teeth wrapping most of the way around its head, and then it dropped to all fours. It ran awkwardly, and then the gait straightened into something smooth and loping. Its ears pulled back and its toothy face opened into a snarl.