Dark King Rising

by Alledria Hurt

  He let out a breath he didn't know he held.

  No wolf. No wall. No demise.

  Kevin walked into the open space and then through the door standing just beyond it.

  Above him, he thought he heard a whisper. A prayer. Under his breath, he said, "Amen."

  A narrow hallway, barely two Kevins wide, stood beyond the door. A constant murmur played through it.

  "The gibbering hallway," Kevin said as he looked down its length. In the floor, spaced out and creating the carpet, were mouths. Each had long teeth and from his reading grasping tongues. Luckily, they weren't very large. He could step across each of them without lengthening his stride. With them so small, they could hardly hope to gobble down one of his legs, much less two. Maybe that was supposed to be a comforting thought but he didn't want to lose a foot to any of those things.

  The mouths mumbled and grumbled as he started forward. He stepped across the first of them and it screamed. The others joined in the chorus until the whole hall was one large shriek. Kevin put his hands over his ears and kept going. He stepped across three more before he realized they were getting bigger. Where there had been space to step around them, the edges were disappearing. He had to hop over the next.

  Suddenly, the wall behind him leapt forward. It pushed the mouthy carpet up in a hump and thrust forward again. The mouths collected against it and that muffled some of the shrieking but not enough. Kevin moved faster, throwing himself across several mouths and almost losing a slipper in the floor.

  This was not in the book.

  He reached the center of the hall marked only by a portrait of twins which looked a great deal like Marie. He didn't get a chance to study it because the wall kept moving. He stepped on a lip and teetered there before throwing himself forward. A tongue slithered against his torso as he came across another. He was nearly to the doors at the far end.

  At the end, the largest mouth sat with its lips gaping wide.

  Kevin skittered to the edge and stopped there. He needed to settle himself for the jump, but he wasn't quite ready when the wall pushed him forward. He landed on one foot and the tongue snaked up to grab his other. He fell forward as it yanked him down. His leg disappeared partly into the floor and he held on with his fingertips against being dragged down completely. First went the slipper and the tongue held on by the knob of his ankle and the sock. Kevin kicked the tongue, trying to force it to loose him. It gripped tighter. He commando crawled as hard as he could away from it, but it refused to let go. Before him, the doors clicked open and sat faintly ajar.

  So close.

  "I have to make it." He dragged himself forward and kicked back as hard as he could. The tongue tightened around the sock and slid. Wiggling from side to side, Kevin kept moving forward, stretching the tongue out of the mouth. Then it got the sock. It slithered away with its prize and Kevin didn't wait for it to establish a new grip. He crawled on his hands and knees to the door waiting for him. He rolled inside and kicked the door shut with his sockless foot. It echoed.

  Lying there, Kevin panted. He looked as if he had been in a bloody fight and sweated like he had just run a marathon.

  "I see you made it."

  He opened his eyes to find Mephisto standing over him. The doppelganger smiled down at him. Of course. Kevin closed his eyes and let himself breath.

  "I should be very upset with you, my boy. After all, you owe me an assistant."

  The conversational tone only made Kevin more certain he dreamed. Mephisto was the darker, angrier part of himself. He would hardly be mellow about losing someone close to him. Not like Kevin was who took most things in stride.

  Kevin sat up, and then got to his feet. The floor was a little chilly under his bare foot, but he wasn't going to show discomfort in front of this other him.

  "My boy?"

  "What would you have me call you? You are many things to me; perhaps the strongest of them is father."

  "How am I your father?"

  "She could never have dreamed me without you. Therefore, I should thank you for creating me. Without you, there is no me."

  "You're welcome," Kevin said with a shrug. He looked everywhere but at the face that was his own. The sight was too strange without a mirror surrounding it. "Why am I here?"

  "You know why."

  The note of amusement in the creature's voice made him uncomfortable.

  "The voice."

  "Exactly, my boy. And unlike my friends, I'm more than willing to bargain."

  This wasn't in the book either.

  "Bargain how?"

  "I think you're an intelligent man. We are after all the same person. Therefore, I will offer you the voice for doing one thing for me."

  "And what is that exactly?"

  "Say the name of the woman you killed."

  Kevin ticked. The woman he killed? Who had he killed? Sylvia wasn't his fault. He couldn't claim that one, but there was another.

  The burnt caramel scent and what was it...hair? Her screams filtered down to him through time. She shrieked his name. Her familiar voice cried over and over for mercy. He pressed his hands to the side of his head as if that would distill the sound into something he could truly remember. It was a she and she was familiar. Who had it been?

  Who was he accused of killing?

  "Rebecca."

  Her name dropped from his lips like dead fruit and Mephisto chortled.

  Rebecca. In the box. With fire. The details tumbled back to him unbidden. Tears sprung up in his eyes.

  "Rebecca. Oh my god."

  In her office, writing in files. He had entered because the door was unlocked and the box had been there when he needed it to be and she was burning and he had lit the match. She screamed. His wife's friend. A woman he had known from dinner parties and nights out. How could he have done that? His knees unhinged dropping him to the floor where he held his body up on his hands.

  "Rebecca."

  He wept. He could see her through the seam in the box as she tried so hard to get out while the flames crept higher and she coughed in the smoke. What had he done?

  "We did that together. We make quite a good team."

  Kevin coughed then slapped his hand over his mouth to keep his innards inside. The smell of burning candy and flesh mingled in his nose and he sneezed.

  How had he done it? How could he have? Rebecca knew him. Trusted him. Cared for him. And certainly he had felt the same for her in a distant way.

  Without knowing how he got there, he was grabbing the shoulders of Mephisto shoving him backward into the far wall and striking as hard as he could. Mephisto laughed.

  The fury drove him but it couldn't keep him. It petered out under the laughter. His fury had no effect. Kevin sank to his knees and covered his face with his hands.

  "You wanted it. Now it's done. Nothing left to worry about," the Jester consoled. "She'll be happy without her standing over her shoulder."

  "What do you mean?"

  "We do everything for them."

  Shaken as he was, Kevin thought nothing made sense. Least of all the words coming out of his counterpart.

  "It's time for you to go. You've done as you were meant. Take the voice and leave."

  The golden box descended from the ceiling and hovered just in front of Kevin's covered eyes. Kevin made no attempt to take it.

  "Your payment is before you. Take it and be gone."

  If Kevin noticed, he made no move. Instead his shoulders shivered.

  "Are you going to cry over her now?" Mephisto asked. "It's hardly an appropriate time. Your beloved awaits."

  At the mention of Marie, Kevin uncovered his eyes. He stared hard at the Jester who only spread his hands in a gesture of helplessness.

  "I can do nothing against her. You have the voice, which she will be seeking. Take it and go."

  Kevin swiped the box out of the air and it somersaulted before landing several feet away.

  "What are you not telling me?"

  "There is nothing more
to tell. It no longer matters what you do. All is ordained. The cards dealt. Worry over it no longer. Take the voice to her. It is what she seeks."

  Getting up from his place, Kevin made his way to the box and picked it up off the ground. It felt light in his hands as if it weren't made of gold and carried the breath of a creature who would be a god. The Jester watched him move and when they locked eyes made no move to stop him. Kevin stalked to the door and opened it. A bird flitted by. Above him, blue sky domed. White puffy clouds moved lazily across the horizon. So beautiful as to be perfect. He turned and looked at his counterpart.

  "When I return, it will be to destroy you."

  "I look forward to that day, my boy."

  The door shut between them and Kevin opened his eyes. The cell had not changed, but he felt a weight at his throat.

  "The voice." All the power manifested in words.

  CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE

  Monday morning, 9 a.m., Marie sat in the back of a courtroom waiting for the arraignment of her husband on the charge of murder. Naomie, standing in the place of the defense, waited with her briefcase open. She read the headlines of the local newspaper while she waited. Marie could hardly concentrate which made reading out of the question. Ray, undoubtedly, waited for a phone call as to how the whole thing turned out. Detective Placard sat in the back of the room and occasionally cast glances at Marie who did everything she could not to look at him. Maybe he would read the guilt on her face if she did.

  Kevin was led into the room in a county jail uniform which made him look much skinnier than he truly was. He appeared to have wasted away in those hours of his imprisonment. Marie raised a hand to him and he tried to smile back, giving her a little wave with his cuffed hands. The judge, honorable justice Croket, looked down from the bench and said,

  "What's the complaint?"

  "The People are seeking murder in the first degree," said the bailiff. The prosecutor, a man in a dove gray suit, came forward.

  "Because of the severity of the charges, the people seek remand, your honor."

  "And the defense."

  "We're asking that he be released into the custody of his wife," Naomie said. "She's here to take him home."

  "The wife has other duties and can hardly be expected to stay with him 24 hours a day. He's a possible flight risk as well with wealthy family."

  As if that were their cue, Mr. and Mrs. Ellis came into the courtroom. He wore a suit and her a sundress, but they both looked as if they should have been standing on a yacht in the Hamptons. Marie sank a little in her seat willing them not to see her.

  "So you want him locked up and you want him turned loose?" the judge asked. "We'll split the difference. Bail is set 100,000 dollars."

  "Just tell us who that needs to be paid to, your honor," Mr. Ellis said.

  "I'll talk to you in a moment, Mr. Ellis," said Naomie. "I accept the bail."

  The prosecutor said nothing else, but waited for Kevin to be ushered out of the room. Marie watched him go with longing. She wanted so much to talk to him. To see him out of that jumpsuit and in his regular clothes. Naomie came out from the courtroom floor and went to the Ellises.

  "Good morning. I see you got my message," she said.

  "We did indeed. Thank you so much for calling us. We might never have heard if it was left up to some people."

  "I'm sure that wouldn't have been the case. However, there is the small matter of Kevin's bail."

  "It certainly is a small matter," Mrs. Ellis said. "We'll have him out before lunch."

  "Maybe a little after, it takes a while to do the paperwork."

  Finally unwilling to just sit there and eavesdrop, Marie approached the group. The Ellises turned frosty eyes on her, but she wasn't looking at them. Her eyes were on her friend.

  "What will happen now?"

  "He'll be taken to holding while we get someone to pay his bail and then he's a free man until they get enough to arrest him again or his trial comes up on the docket, which could take a long time." Naomie put one arm around Marie and squeezed her. "Everything will be all right. Kevin is fine and he'll be out before you know it."

  "You two are friends?"

  "Yes. She's the reason I took Kevin's case."

  "Well, we'll be seeking better representation for him as soon as possible," said Mr. Ellis in an offended tone.

  "If Kevin wants different representation, that's fine, but it is his call." Naomie batted not one eyelash at it. "I unfortunately have other matters to attend to in court today, so I will be seeing you a bit later."

  Left alone with her in-laws, Marie tried not to fidget. No matter how well she did, she always felt out of place next to them.

  "I suppose you were not going to call us to tell us our son was in jail?" asked Mrs. Ellis.

  "I honestly thought it would be better if I handled things rather than bother you, but I suppose my friend knew otherwise."

  "We'll be paying his bail and taking him home. You can run along now."

  "I'm not your help, so I won't be taking your suggestions about what to do. Thank you," Marie said. "I'm going to see Kevin. If you want to pay his bail, that's fine with me, but I'm hardly just going to stand by and let you take him somewhere he doesn't want to go."

  Though she had the disturbing thought that maybe Kevin would want to go with his parents. They hadn't called the cops on him. She walked out of the courtroom with her head held high just the same. Kevin was her husband. Things would be fine between them.

  Several hours and lots of money later, Kevin walked out into the sunshine with his parents to one side and his wife to the other. He still looked pale and drawn as if he had caught sick while locked away. He also refused to talk, a development which gave both his wife and his mother fits of fear. Was he traumatized? Perhaps he needed to see a doctor? Marie reached out and took his hand. He looked at their joined hands and then at her, finally he smiled. He drew her close and kissed her forehead.

  "Kevin, I'm sorry."

  He said nothing, but held her there against his chest.

  "Kevin darling," said Mrs. Ellis. "It's time for you to come home with us." She tried to pull him away but he stood stock still. Marie looked up and he was staring at his mother. "Come along now, dear," his mother said. "Your father and I have a room all made up for you."

  Kevin said nothing, but he shook his arm out of his mother's grip.

  "Talk to me," his mother said. "Surely you can say something."

  "I want to go home." Each word came out clipped and over pronounced, but his intent was clear. Marie thought she felt a vibration in the air when he spoke, but it might have been her imagination.

  "We'll go home, Kev," Marie said. "You can rest and eat and everything will be just fine."

  He looked down at her and sighed.

  "We paid your bail, she didn't," his father said.

  Then Kevin turned and walked away, hunching his shoulders and hands shoved in pockets. Marie didn't scurry to catch up, but she did take a moment to look at the pair they left behind. She didn't hate them. Maybe they hated her. Either way, Kevin wanted little to do with them. She could only really guess why. His parents were things they didn't talk about.

  They reached the edge of the complex of buildings and Marie slipped under Kevin's arm. Together again. The nagging doubt he would be angry with her hadn't quite dissipated but felt less strong.

  "What's the matter, Kevin?" she asked. "Your voice sounds funny." That seemed the best way to phrase it. He stopped there on the pavement and looked down at her. His voice sounded funny, his eyes looked a little wild. Everything about him said he'd been on a tear, but alcohol wasn’t allowed in jail. He smoothed his hair with shaking hands and apparently thought better of whatever he intended to say because he walked on. They rounded the building and came to the parking lot.

  Their car sat in a spot off by itself. In the passenger seat, Marie had thrown a paperback. It didn't seem like the thing to do to be reading during her husband's arraignment. Whe
n she unlocked the car, Kevin picked up the paperback, glanced at the cover, and then tossed it into the back seat. With a shrug, she got in on the driver's side and started the car.

  Kevin snored loudly before they made it to the house. At the house, Marie nudged him none too gently in the ribs. He snorted and opened one eye.

  "We're home," she said. He nodded and got out. He let himself into the house while she closed up the car. With his back hunched like that, she wondered if he had been hurt. She didn't know much about prison, except what came on television, but that proved more than enough to frighten her. Kevin didn't belong with hoodlums and criminals. He belonged on stage in front of an adoring crowd. That was his living. Marie walked in the front door he left standing open and sighed when she saw him asleep on the couch. He planted face first in a pillow. At least he had been so good as to take his shoes off first. They were tumbled together on the floor at the foot of the couch.

  "He probably didn't sleep all that well," she said. "I'll just leave him alone."

  Naomie and Ray were coming to dinner. Partially to check on Marie. Partially to check on Kevin. And partially because strange things kept popping up in their dreams.

  Investigating the fridge, Marie huffed. It wasn't bare but close. The store simply hadn't been on her mind all that much lately. Well, she would do that today, while her husband slept.

  She didn't sneak out of the house, but she did take care of how much noise she made. Better to let him sleep. He'd be in better spirits for company if he wasn't exhausted.

  In the store, she found herself switching between possibly making eggplant parmesan or Kevin's favorite, fried chicken with mashed potatoes. In honor of his recent release, she decided to go with the fried chicken. More labor intensive, but it would be a bigger hit. She stood in the produce section picking out potatoes when a chill traveled up her arms to the spot between her shoulder blades. It felt like eyes boring into her back. She turned slowly trying to make it look natural. A man shrouded in darkness stood five feet away. A woman with a shopping cart passed through him and walked on. Marie blinked. Still there. She opened her mouth to say something, but the apparition motioned for her to be quiet. Around her, others went about their business.