Congregation Of Darkness (Full Moon Series Book 2)

by P. Mattern

  Cass shivered involuntarily, though he held his composure. It was a skillfully kept secret between the Noble brothers in regard to which of them in actuality had the worst temper. Even their closest friends, if questioned, would say Cass was the perennial hothead, the brother with the least impulse control, the one that would go crazy on you in a fight.

  But Cass knew differently. Although Lux was by far the slower to be provoked to wrath, Lux’s kind of crazy mad was crazy with a capital C. Extreme crazy. Crazy with a cherry on top

  And Cass began to get an inkling that Lux was about to unleash, on himself, Lux’s own twin ,that very special and particular brand of crazy .

  Lux gained enough proximity to Cass’s team of Fress and DeMarcus, who by then were moving toward the Crystal Caverns ,to cause a weather disturbance –a power he had picked up on a fortuitous landing on a gift-granting space. Lux then showed the opposite side of his Life-giving Card to the audience- it allowed him to take the life of TWO lesser members of Cass’s team, if he wanted to forfeit the ability to bring his own life back.

  Lux did- and Fress and DeMarcus were in short order vanquished and off the board.

  Cass began sweating profusely. Fearing Lux’s swift and merciless retaliation he had summoned Charley to join him for backup as he remained in the Labyrinth, unsure of what his next move should be. He had lost so many warriors on his team in such a relatively short period of time he was flummoxed. And then the unthinkable happened.

  The screens at the sides of the fireplace flickered on again-and Cass saw a creature that he’d never before seen in his history of playing World of Azglen appear at the mouth of the cave in the center of the Labyrinth, toss back it’s head and let out a cross between a roar, a bellow and a mind-numbing screech.

  It was the Sarangay-the Phillipino version of the Minotaur, and a sort of cousin of the Minotaur. It had a fearsome bull’s head with a hugely muscular body and large jewels attached to it’s ears. And it was challenging Cass.

  There would be debates for years on whether Cass had employed the right weapons and strategies in attempting to defeat the beast. Cass selected a flail this time with a very long chain and a spiked ball-later he would say he’d thought that the choice of that particular weapon would enable him to get behind the Sarangay and strangle it. The Sarangay chose a spiked club.

  It was universally agreed upon afterwards that Cass couldn’t have known how adroitly the Sarangay was able to move compared to the sluggish clumsiness of the Minotaur. And after the Sarangay easily dispatched Charley Rabbit, who had decided to sacrifice himself to buy more time for Cass, it roared again and catapaulted it’s body over Cass’s head and behind him, where it clubbed him laterally in the back of his neck until the spikes came through Cass’s throat, causing him to exsanguinate profusely, twitching lavishly on the big screens.

  The game was over. Cass had almost felt the mortal blow viscerally and was slumped in his grand chair as Lux stood and held his hands up in the air to declare victory in front of the roaring crowd. Tiny 3D holographic fireworks exploded several inches above the board game and both of the huge viewing screens also featured gorgeous fireworks displays.

  Though it took Cass a few private moments to get it together, he did arise again to shake Lux’s hand and raise it in victory. Only Mitzi could tell how deeply disappointed he was. And she wondered about the consequences for the Loser that Cass and Lux had agreed upon beforehand. All she could do in the meantime is stay by his side and try to comfort him in his extreme disappointment.

  After the conclusion of the Tournament, many toasts were raised to Carey and Kimbra, and the gathered partiers danced and snacked on colorful and exotic food and beverages into the wee hours of the morning.

  It was three in the morning after the last guest had departed when Mitzi and Cass received a knock on their bedroom door. When they opened it, they saw an ebuilent Lux and a smiling Pierre standing on the other side of the door. Lux was holding a shopping bag in his hand.

  Cass had a resigned expression as he let them in.

  “Okay ,Lux,” he said,”Lay it on me, whatever it is!”

  Lux looked thoughtful.

  “Well, I thought about having you clean my toilet with a toothbrush every day for a year. Pierre suggested that you might want to stroll down Lilly Street dressed as a hooker-but we decided that that act might impact your employment Ethics Code of Conduct at the University, so we abandoned that idea. I think you’ll appreciate the thought and creativity we put into thinking up an appropriate consequence for you.”

  Still smiling happily, with Mitzi looking on, Lux handed Cass the pink striped shopping bag he’d been holding.

  Cass reached in and pulled out first a hotpink sports bra, the type that T’ed in the back, then a fancier lacy padded bra in hot pink, and finally a demicup bra in a lighter shade of pink , as well as a set of hotpink bra extenders.

  “Um-thanks.” Cass said dubiously. “I can tell you guys really put some thought into this. And how long? What’s the duration of my forfeiture consequence?”

  Pierre was twisting his mouth from side to side trying not to laugh, but with his eyes dancing with merriment, Lux replied,”6 months-you have to wear at least one of them in public-under your regular attire of course! I highly recommend the sports bra since it’s-er-flatter, and you should be able to hide it under your clothes. Even when you’re teaching!” he finished jovially.

  Rather stiffly, Cass thanked Lux and Pierre and ushered them from the room. As soon as the door was completely closed loud laughter echoed in the hallway as Lux and Pierre let go, no longer able to contain their mirth.

  Mitzi sort of wanted to giggle herself, as she and her husband surveyed Cass’s new lingerie wardrobe.

  Wordlessly Cass stripped off the black teeshirt he was wearing and slid the hot pink sports bra over his head. It was so stretchy it fit.

  “Well, what do you think?” he asked her.

  Covering her mouth for a moment with her hand, lest he should see her smile, she shook her head.

  “No-I don’t think so. Not for tonight .” she reached down to pluck one of the other underthings up and held out the frou frou lacy padded bra to him.

  “This one instead, I think. Along with an extender.” She said matter-of-factly.

  Cass’s eyebrows shot upward in surprise and, with a gleam in his eye, he said in a shocked tone, ”Mitzi! I’m surprised at you!”

  But before she could respond, he hurried off to the master bathroom to do as she’d suggested.

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  Looz and her three daughters, Damaris, Kristina Marie and Nastina , lived at the opposite end of town from the cottage. Carey and Kimbra had been so exhausted after their marriage ceremony and the celebration at the World of Azglen Tournament Party that they had fallen asleep immediately afterward. Fress had gotten them up early so that they could meet the Mage Looz and they were still sleepy as they sat in the back of her SUV, each holding a steaming paper cup of coffee picked up along the way . Fress, completely awake and annoyingly cheerful, chatted incessantly as she drove.

  “Looz is my godmother ,kind of,” she explained. “She helped heal me once, and we became close. She is the only Mage living in town, and has immense powers. Every day wizards and warlocks seek her out for spells, talismans or advice. She is raising her three daughters in the Arts also, and they are all beautiful and accomplished girls. You will meet them also!”

  Carey brushed his hair, still damp from a cold shower that never completely woke him up, out of his eyes.

  “Is Looz married?” he asked,”Will we be meeting her husband too?”He was slightly hung over from drinking imported beer at the tournament, but kept exchanging secretive smiles with Kimbra and feeling little thrill bursts as he realized that they had really gotten married.

  Up in the driver’s seat, he could see Fress shaking her head in negative response.

  “Looz is a widow, Carey. A
recent widow .She lost her husband in a skirmish last year with a band of either Rogue Vampires or Hybrids-we’re not sure because no one on that particular patrol survived the attack.” Fress stopped at a stoplight and Carey and Kimbra heard her scrambling around in the front of the SUV, her right hand reaching down into a small built in cooler on the passenger side, located where one would expect a glove compartment would be.

  “Here!” she said, just as the light changed, handing back two small glass bottles that were the size of a ‘pony’ version of a soft drink.

  Carey took the bottles and looked at them curiously. They had metal, twist off caps . One was labled “Hemo” in commercial looking stylized writing, one was labled “Sanguo.”

  “It’s sort of a Vamp version of a soda pop!” she said cheerfully. “It will energize you-I think Kimra would like the ‘Hemo’-that’s the lighter red one-and the ‘Sanguo’ is yours, Carey!”

  Carey and Kimbra looked at each other as he twisted the cap off of the Hemo and handed it to her. She took a tentative swallow, then as her eyes opened in delight, took another sip.

  “This is really good!” she said in surprise,”-and carbonated! It tastes like grapefruit!”

  Fress’s musical laughter drifted back to them.

  “I thought you’d like it-it’s mostly plasma which has a citrusy bouquet, though it’s very nourishing.

  “And how do you like the Sanguo ,Carey?” she asked.

  Carey twisted off the cap and took a swig of the ruby colored liquid. Then hurriedly followed that with several deep swallows until the bottle was drained.

  “Curiously refreshing,” he quipped,”Tastes like a combination of cherry and acai-and it’s carbonated to boot-is it a particular type?”

  Fress laughed, ”Well they probably have a secret recipe for it-from what I understand it’s a combination of several blood types with antigens that add flavor. Sanguo’s my personal favorite!”

  Both Kimbra and Carey felt rejuvenated after downing the refreshments. Fress was at the far end of town and abruptly turned off the well traveled road into a large graveled area with an open iron gate. The ornate fencing around it spoke of another era, and the curlicued wrought iron lettering arcing over the entrance proclaimed it to be “PLEASANTVIEW.”

  Despite the name, it was obviously a graveyard.

  Carey was somewhat wierded out. And he could tell by Kimbra’s expression that she was feeling the same way.

  “Fress,um, I thought we were going to see the Mage…” he said tentatively.

  Fress , completely focused on maneuvering the SUV across the uneven terrain,continued to drive doggedly forward on a wide but unused looking overgrown dirt road so old that it looked as though it had once been paved with cobblestones.

  “This is where she lives,”Fress replied, still concentrating on her driving. As the challengingly bumpy road continued over a hill Carey saw that they were seemingly quite a distance from the entrance, and surrounded on all sides by weathered grave markers of all descriptions. There were praying angels, some of them missing noses or the tips of their wings, large squarish markers with rounded tops chistled with names and dates of birth and death. Some were concrete, but others were ornately carved veined marble in striking colors-alabaster veined with white, white marble veined with peach, and green marble veined with deeper green colors. They were carved in pillars and monolisks and spirals, commemorating the lives of those whose forgotten bodies lay beneath them.

  Kimbra, who was wide eyed and silent, said a single word quietly.”Beautiful.” And it WAS a beautiful place, in a wild sort of way. In spite of the tangled vines and brush overgrowing some of the graves, there were spring flowers growing between the markers, and the sun shone down in golden slanting rays like a benediction.

  After what seemed like an eternity, Fress pulled up in front of a squarish marble structure that looked like a mausoleum and turned off the SUV.

  “Well, we’re here!” she sang out.

  Carey and Kimbra stared at eachother. Kimbra was the first to find her voice.

  “Fress-are your friends, um, departed or something?”

  Fress turned around and smiled disarmingly.

  “No sweetie-they just like it here. It’s very quiet and no one is able to find this place without an invitation. She knows that we’ve arrived-she’ll be out to greet us in a minute!”

  Just as Fress finished speaking Carey saw a small , diminutive dark haired woman and three taller females appear around one corner of the marble structure, waving and smiling. They were all strikingly beautiful, with glossy blue black hair and thickly lashed and expressive dark eyes. The girls were young, and different heights, like stairsteps. The tallest one resembled an Egyptian princess, and wore a segmented turquoise and gold necklace at her throat.

  Fress opened the door of the SUV and jumped out, opening the door of the back seat and motioning Kimbra and Carey forward.

  “LOOZ!” she cried, bending to give the smaller woman a resounding hug and kiss.”And GIRLS!” she added excitedly, kissing each of them in turn,”How lovely you all are!”

  The girls blushed prettily as Fress introduced her charges.

  “I would like to introduce to you Mr. and Mrs. Carey Floyd-Carey and Kimbra-they were married just yesterday. “

  Carey reached to shake hands with the woman but found himself and Kimbra drawn into a three-way hug with Looz, who chuckled deep in her throat and seemed very pleased to meet them.

  After the hug, she slipped her small hands into theirs, pulling them forward toward the mausoleum.

  “Come with me.” She said, winking at Fress,”I have some wedding presents for you!”

  The side of the marble structure that apparently served as a home to the Mage and her family was open, and Carey and Kimbra were shocked to see that a rather large sitting room lay beyond. As soon as they were inside, a stone wall slid across the opening with a stone-on-stone rumbling sound, closing them within.

  “This space,” Carey couldn’t help saying, ”Is so large, but it looks so small from the outside! How can that be?”

  Looze chuckled as she poured tea from a large porcelain teapot into several gilded bone china cups.

  “It is an illusion. It gives us privacy, so that we can hide right here in the open. And it’s very quiet here. And magical…can you feel it?”

  Kimbra nodded.

  “Yes. It feels magical. And also protected somehow.” She added looking around her. Every inch of the indoor space was covered with soft and comfortable furnishings, everything was tassled or guilded, and the walls and ceilings were painted in trompe l’oeil to resemble a sky with sunlit cirrus clouds. Amazingly, the room seemed to have expanded to an even larger space since they had stepped in.

  They took seats on two overstuffed embroidered blue silk covered divans which curved like half moons and faced each other. Within a minute everyone was chatting and drinking hot tea.

  “Um, well then.” Looz said after a short interval, dabbing at her pretty full lips with a linen napkin.”Let’s get started now. Kimbra, I’d like to start with you first-can you switch seats with Carey and give me your hands please?”

  Kimbra did as Looz asked, a slight thrill of anticipation shooting through her unexpectedly. Looz held Kimbra’s hands loosely in her own on the small table between them, and closed her eyes for a moment as if listening for something.

  Everyone else in the room was still, aside from the sound of their quiet breathing.

  A few seconds later a slight electrical charge was felt in the air, and Looz’s eyes flew open. Immediately a series of strange adjustments took place in her eyes. Hew large kind, brown eyes seemed to separate mideye and slide into the corners of each eye in a manner like the nictating membrane lids of a reptile or bird slide back. Her eyes appeared to be a dark glassy bottle blue color with seemingly no irises or whites for a second or two and then that layer peeled back into the corners and gave way to a crystalline almost silver color that seemed to shi
ne incandescently from within and projected a myriad of hundreds of prismatic rainbows over Kimbra’s face and body and all over the wall beyond her. Looz opened her mouth and the voice that startled the onlookers was not Looz’s voice;it was crackling and authoritative and unidentifiable as either male or female.

  “ Kimbra Bingham, you are pure of heart and full of purpose. You have a destiny with your new husband, and you have felt that destiny. It fills your thoughts and speaks to you in your dreams. There are three full moons in your future that will determine your fate.

  By the first auspicious full moon you will save your husbands life, nearly losing your own, but you will prevail.

  By the second auspicious full moon, two years from now, he will save your life as you have saved his, and he will give you a babe .

  By the third full moon, 7 years hence, you will battle again to save your life and the life of your son. If you prevail, you will both be saved. If you fail, you will have to give up your offspring and husband to preserve their lives , and you will spend eternity as a concubine of a Fourth-Bitten.

  A gasp issued from Fress and Carey and the three girls sitting around the Mage as she reached up and with her long lacquered fingernails plucked out one of her glowing eyes, dropping it into a small rounded golden cage , snapping the sides of the cage upward together at the base of a golden finial, then placing the amulet on a golden rope chain . Leaning forward, she placed the amulet around Kimbra’s neck.

  “This is a weapon you will need-it can be used in the future to save a life from being extinguished-use it well and use it wisely, Kimbra. “

  Looz sat back in her seat ,closing her eyes, dimming the one remaining incandescent eye and hiding the black space where the other eye had been. The group watched as the dark blue lenses returned for a moment as the process reversed itself,and then were replaced by Looz’s large brown human eyes.