Dark Heritage Trilogy

by Hoffman, Samantha

  Then I’d fall into darkness and never be heard from again.

  Andrew opened the door that was tucked away at the top of the stairs, and I stepped into a brightly lit room that was empty of everything but the barest of furnishings. A man stood guard near the door to the cellar, and one look at his heavily muscular and massive body told me that he was probably a werewolf like Finn, and would be impossible to beat in a fight, even if I knew how to defend myself.

  Andrew put his hand firmly on my lower back, and I tried not to flinch away from his touch. He pulled me closer to his side, and walked me across the room to another door that was already open, and I stopped in a large parlor room.

  The center of the room was dominated by a massive brick fireplace, and scattered around it were several pieces of vintage furnishings. A refurbished table made of mahogany wood sat in the middle of the cluster of furniture, and an old-fashioned tea set was perched on the edge of it. A woman in a maid’s uniform stood off to one side, and I could see the edges of her purple wings sticking out from her back.

  Andrew sat down on the couch and patted the cushion next to him. “Sit with me, Veronica. I have a proposition to make, and I imagine you’re probably quite famished. Have some tea and biscuits with me.” I looked at him before slowly sitting on the edge of the couch, as far away from him as possible. He frowned, but didn’t ask me to move closer.

  He just slid a cup of warm tea across the table, which I ignored. He sighed, almost sadly, and looked at me. “I’m not going to try and poison you, Veronica. I don’t have plans to drug you and abuse you. I’m going to take care of you.”

  “You abducted me,” I said, still ignoring the tea and biscuits. My stomach growled angrily at me, begging me to fill it with something, anything, but I couldn’t bring myself to eat the food he had offered me. I couldn’t be sure if it was safe to consume, and I didn’t want to take the chance. “You had your goons kidnap me. You attacked my friends and allies, and you expect me to trust you enough to eat what you’ve given me? I just woke up in your dungeon, in a prison cell! Are you out of your fucking mind?”

  He calmly waited for me to finish my angry outburst, and when I was done, he spoke. “No, I assure you I am perfectly sane, and I don’t expect you to trust me. However, if I can eat these biscuits”–he said, picking one up–“I think you probably can, too.” He bit down, chewed, and then swallowed.

  I waited a minute to see if he would try and spit it up or if he would fall to the floor in wild convulsions. When he didn’t, I fell on the biscuits like a rabid animal. They were dry and they crumbled in my hands as I bit into them, but I didn’t care. It felt like I hadn’t eaten in at least two days, maybe even longer, and right now the dry food tasted better than anything I’d ever had before because of it.

  Andrew watched me scarf down the food with a smile on his face. Ignoring him, I drained the cup of tea in front of me in four large gulps. It was steaming hot and it scalded my tongue and throat on the way down, but it quickly warmed my body from the inside out, and I felt myself begin to relax. I set the cup back down on the plate with a clang, and then leaned back against the couch.

  I was feeling much better now that I had something in my stomach and I was finally ready to listen to whatever psychotic plans he probably had for me. I didn’t feel quite as panicked as I had when I woke up, and now I figured that if he was planning to feed me and then calmly talk to me, he wasn’t planning on murdering me.

  He folded his hands in his lap and looked directly into my eyes. “Veronica, I’ve told you that my future plans include you, and I think you deserve to know why I need you. And I do need you; without your help, my plans have nothing to stand on. Only you are powerful enough to accomplish my goals.”

  “What are you going to do with me?” I asked, suppressing a yawn. I rubbed my eyes tiredly and sighed. “What’s so special about me that you can’t use someone else for your n-nef-nefarious plans?” I asked, aware that my words sounded funny.

  “You are the only necromancer to ever be brought back from the dead and continue to grow. That gives you a bond with death that is truly amazing, Veronica. It also makes you incredibly powerful compared to others of our kind. You’re the only one powerful enough to accomplish my goals with the chance of surviving. Anyone else would die before finishing.”

  “Finishing what?” I asked, yawning this time. Everything started to get hazy, and I shook my head to clear it.

  “I plan to use you to raise an army of fifty thousand zombies to help me in my acquisition of the world. All will bow before me, and none shall dare oppose me. Not with you by my side and an army in front of me. I will conquer the world, and I will finally be given the respect I deserve. I can rule this world like a king.”

  What he was saying should have sent shivers down my spine, but I was too busy staring at the empty cup of tea on the mahogany table beside me. It wasn’t until the room started spinning that I realized I hadn’t seen him take a sip of the tea.

  Oh, my god! What did he just slip me? Is it a drug or is it something much worse, like poison?

  When I jumped to my feet, everything lurched violently to the side, and I lost my balance, collapsing to the floor in a dizzy heap. I glanced up at Andrew, who was smiling down at me with a sick, twisted grin. “What did you give me?” I croaked. My stomach rolled, and I curled up on myself, hugging my knees to my chest to keep everything in its place.

  “Just something to knock you out long enough to give you a chance to relax and think about what I’ve told you. Don’t worry; the effects will wear off in a couple of days or so. You’ll be safe in your cell until then. Then, when you’re more calm, the two of us can talk about how you’re going to help in my plans.”

  A nearly silent moan escaped my locked lips, as everything went instantly black and the world slipped away from me.

  Chapter Nineteen

  “Veronica, wake up. Wake up, Darling.”

  My eyes felt so heavy that I couldn’t even force them open. All I could do was lie on the thin mattress beneath me that was probably full of lice or maggots or something equally disgusting, and listen to Andrew’s unsettling voice as he droned on and on and on. I wanted to cover my ears every time he said my name, but I couldn’t get my arm muscles to respond.

  “Veronica, I’m beginning to lose patience with you. I suggest you open your eyes and look at me when I’m talking to you.”

  It was a struggle, and it took every ounce of strength I possessed, but I finally managed to open my eyes. When I did, I wished I hadn’t. Andrew was seated in a chair right across from my cell, with his hands folded neatly in his lap, and an interested look on his face. From the looks of the newspaper at his feet and the coffee in his lap, he’d been sitting there for a while.

  I focused on the newspaper, searching for a date, and was surprised to find I’d been out for almost two whole days! Are there drugs out there that can knock someone out for two whole days? I thought they always wore off and had to be administered again. I would remember waking up and being drugged again, right? It’s not like I would have willingly taken them a second time.

  While Andrew sat there and watched me, waiting for me to do something, I searched my brain for memories of a second drugging. Either it hadn’t happened, or the drugs were keeping me from remembering, because I came up empty-handed. There were no feelings of terror or the feeling of being held down, and I couldn’t remember being tied down and injected with something.

  Another thought forced its way into my brain, and it just wouldn’t go away.

  What did he do to me while I was knocked out for almost two whole days? Ugh, what the hell do you think he did? My snide inner voice asked. What do men usually do to women after drugging them?

  Immediately I dropped my eyes to look at my legs. I was still wearing the same shorts I had been when I’d been abducted, and I couldn’t see any blood on my thighs, and there was no throbbing pain that I figured would happen after my first time. With a sigh, I
looked back at Andrew.

  My stomach growled angrily, and Andrew smiled. I finally noticed a tray of food on a table near his chair, and I shuddered. It was no doubt drugged, and even if I was starving, I wouldn’t allow myself to eat it. There was no telling what might happen to me after passing out again. Maybe he just hadn’t found the time to hurt me. I couldn’t be sure, which meant I would go hungry until I either died, or found a way to escape.

  Andrew set the tray of food just on the other side of the bars, within my reach, and nodded. “Eat. It will help you feel better.”

  “It’s drugged,” I accused, staring him in the eyes. “What did you do to me? You slipped something into my tea, and I was knocked out for almost two whole days. What did you do to me? And don’t tell me it’s nothing, because I’m weak, and hungry, and tired, and sore, and I know that you did something to me!”

  “I figured you would need something to help calm you down after my revelation, and this way I had two days to prepare for you, and you had two extra days of rest. Now that you’re awake and feeling better, I can give you a tour of this place.”

  I snorted. “I’m not going anywhere with you,” I said incredulously, looking at him. “There’s no way.”

  He sighed. “You can either accompany me by choice, or you can be dragged around by force. I have a werewolf upstairs that owes you a broken foot. Remember that. I’m sure he’d be all too willing to drag you around. So, which would you prefer?”

  I forced myself to get to my feet. It felt like every muscle in my body had been stretched out, and the ones in my legs cramped the second I put weight on them. When my left leg buckled out from under me, I collapsed, gripping to the iron bars of my cell for support. I hung my head and gathered my breath before attempting to move again.

  It was then that I realized my pendant was gone. When I looked back up at Andrew, ready to accuse him of stealing it from me, I saw that he actually had it in his hand. He leaned closer to the bars, and he waved it back and forth in front of my eyes. “I bet Nancy didn’t explain to you all the things that could be done with a pendant like this.”

  “You know Nancy?”

  “Knew. Past tense,” he said with a smile. “I assure you, she’s long gone. Buried six feet under to be precise.”

  My hands began to tremble, and my mouth went paper dry. Nancy was dead. Had Andrew killed her just because of me? Would she still be alive right now if I hadn’t ever gone to see her? Was Nancy’s death my fault?

  I let my head rest against the coolness of the iron bars, and surprisingly Andrew didn’t taunt me or mock me in any way. He just stood there and let the news sink in and hit home. He’s probably enjoying watching my suffering. Why would he rush me?

  I felt a sudden rush of intense guilt at the thought of Nancy. She’d been planning on leaving town and starting over somewhere else, and she’d stayed behind, just to wait for me. It was a favor to my dead mother, and I’d been the one to make her wait. She was right when she told me that I should have visited years sooner. If I had…

  I shook my head, banishing those dark thoughts from my mind. It wasn’t my fault that Nancy was dead; it was Andrew’s fault. If he wasn’t such an evil, deranged man, Nancy would still be alive, and I would still be back at the compound with Tanya, Annie, and Finn. I could be continuing my training, and I would be in a safe place, where I wouldn’t be able to accidentally hurt anyone with something I raised.

  “Well, this pendant will do more for a necromancer than just tell you whenever another supernatural being is near. It’ll also enhance your power.” He took his free hand and slipped it into the front of his shirt, pulling out a black pendant on a golden chain. “I can use my pendant to transfer some of my power to you, increasing your already vast power. Raising the army I need should be no problem, especially since I’ll be right there to guide you.”

  I gathered all the moisture in my mouth that I could, and spit at his feet through the bars. He took a quick step back, but a glob of saliva clung to the tip of his expensive looking leather shoes. When his eyes found mine again, the look in them was purely murderous. It took Andrew almost a full minute to fully regain his composure, and as I watched his features go from pissed to serene, I realized just how truly crazy he was.

  “I think you need a little bit more time to realize the situation you’ve found yourself in. It would be in your best interest to appease me. When you’ve cooled down, I’ll return and give you a guided tour of this place. In the meantime, eat what I’ve graciously given you, and get some rest.”

  Andrew left me alone in my dungeon cell with nothing but a plate of probably drugged food and several questions that still hadn’t been answered. Only a sociopath of some kind could manipulate their emotions like that. I’ll have to be more careful about what I say or do if I plan to make it out of here alive…

  *****

  Andrew came back for me a few hours later. When he saw the untouched food on the tray outside my cell, he frowned, but didn’t say anything about it. He just looked from the food to me, and plastered a completely fake smile on his face that sent shivers down my spine. “How about a tour of the place?”

  I forced myself to steadily meet his eyes, refusing to show how scared of him I was. “You thought I’d be out like a light when you came back down, didn’t you? I’m not going to eat anything else you give me, Andrew. I’m not going to make this easy on you.”

  His smile widened into something creepy and sinister. “You’ll wish you had.”

  He unlocked the cell door and slid it open while I resisted the urge to bolt for the nearest exit. I wouldn’t beat him up the stairs, and even if I somehow miraculously did, I wouldn’t know how to leave this place. I’d just get lost and end up going around in circles until Andrew caught and caged me again.

  He motioned for me to join him, and I stepped up meekly beside him. My best chance for getting out in one piece would be to act as humble and un-confrontational as possible. If he thought I was bowing to his will, he’d be more likely to make a mistake with me, allowing me a chance for freedom.

  Can I really pretend to be ok with this? Andrew’s not stupid. Crazy, but definitely smart. He’ll see through any form of flattery for manipulation. What can I do to help him lower his guard with me?

  When Andrew took the steps two at a time until he reached the top, he opened the door and held it open for me. As I passed him, I resisted the urge to roll my eyes and call him a gentleman. Somehow, I didn’t think my sarcasm would be appreciated. In a way, it was almost funny how my sarcastic nature only seemed to come out at the worst possible moments, like when I was being held against my will by a man that planned to use me like a pawn.

  Keep it together…you’ll get out of here eventually. Just keep your head down, your manners up, and your wits about you. Even if you can’t save yourself, someone else will save you. It’s not like the Council will just leave me–an incredibly powerful weapon–with Andrew. They’ll come for you eventually; just hang in there.

  Andrew put his hand on my lower back, banishing every thought from my mind, except for how gross his hand felt. It was large and clammy, and I could practically feel the sweat from his palm drenching the back of my shirt and dampening my skin. I had to repress another shudder, and I forced my head higher, trying to pretend it didn’t bother me as much as it really did.

  Andrew led me through his home, bypassing the parlor room where he’d taken me last time. I was glad not to have to stop in there, but I was more worried about where he was taking me. He refused to tell me, and he just shook his head every time I asked him.

  Finally, when we’d gone up another flight of stairs and down two hallways, he stopped us at an open door. He shoved me inside first, and followed closely behind. Cautiously, I took in the entire room quickly, noting the rows upon rows of bookshelves, the ancient furniture that resembled the parlor room, and the grand stone fireplace before me.

  How many fireplaces does one home need?

  “
What is this place?” I asked quietly.

  “This is my library. It’s also where your training will begin. While you’re here, I will teach you what it truly means to be a necromancer. I will teach you to raise an army, and to command power wherever you go. I will even teach you how to survive your death, by allowing you to possess another’s body with your spirit. Can you imagine having such a power? With it, you can never truly die; you can just move from one body to the next as they age and die, while your spirit remains immortal. Together, the two of us will be invincible!”

  With it, you can never truly die…

  Not if I banish your spirit, I thought to myself. An idea was forming in my mind. If I could convince Andrew that banishing a soul would be a useful thing to know, I might be able to get him to finish teaching me. Then, all I had to do was find a way to overpower Andrew, and I could banish his soul for good. Would he fall for it though? Could I really pretend to be interested in learning something that could be hazardous to him, or will he see right through it?

  Only time would tell.

  Chapter Twenty

  “So, what exactly is the plan?” I asked, sitting on one of the overstuffed chairs. As I crossed my legs and folded my arms over my chest, I noticed that Andrew watched my each and every move with a little too much interest. “Are you gonna teach me how to be more powerful, like Annie wouldn’t do? She thought I wasn’t ready to learn the real stuff,” I said, forcing myself to sound bitter. “She didn’t understand that I need to know this stuff.”

  Andrew smiled. “Yes, I am going to teach you. First, we’ll start off by seeing how much you already know. Can you banish a spirit?”

  He knows…