Rising Dark (The Darkling Trilogy, Book 2)

by A. D. Koboah

  I could live, it communicated. It would save me if I gave Luna to it. It could live once more through Luna if I turned her into a vampire.

  I grimaced and faced away from it.

  Get away from me!

  The hand on my brow was withdrawn. Then I felt pain, pain in my mind as if a million shards of glass were imbedded in my brain. I screamed whilst cold, bitter laughter filled my mind.

  The underground chamber disappeared around me along with the pain and its cruel laughter. I opened my eyes and the chapel came into view, the sun streaming through the hole in the roof. The chains around me felt heavier. Weakened considerably by whatever the entity had done, I fell into darkness again, but this time it wound itself around me like a boa constrictor and I knew I would never escape it.

  Chapter 21

  The darkness began to recede, but it was still around me, keeping me from the living world and the pain consuming me. Then a voice broke through bringing awareness of a weakness that pressed down on me, keeping me bound in darkness.

  Wake up. Wake up!

  It was Mama Akosua. Would that wretched witch never leave me alone?

  She had what she wanted, I was dead. I must have been because it felt as though the string that kept me tethered to life had at last been cut. But it seemed as if that wasn’t good enough for her, she had to follow me to the afterlife to continue to torment me.

  But beneath the surface, there was a plaintive quality I had never heard before in Mama Akosua’s voice. That was probably what made me stir in response.

  Go away.

  Her voice came back louder and I heard stirrings of hope, but there was still that uncharacteristic vulnerability.

  All right, I will go and let you sleep while Luna dies slowly, and painfully, by your side.

  Panic boomed through my mind like a thunderbolt. Luna? Where? What happened? Tell me!

  There was no answer.

  The last thing I remembered was the chapel, the spirit and its vile proposition. What could Mama Akosua mean? What had happened to Luna?

  I continued to struggle against the weakness, trying to block out the rising panic so I could concentrate. It was an effort, but my eyes opened.

  The scent of blood attacked my senses, quickening me slightly, but making it difficult to focus on anything else. I saw nothing but darkness and then slowly, the inside of what must have been a cave came into view. One end of the cave led to a long, narrow corridor, the other was a pile of rock. I put together her words and the smell of blood at the same time I saw the hand sticking out of the pile of rubble. Not just any hand—the small brown one I had longed to hold for a month.

  A strangled cry escaped me, almost paralysing me with horror at what I was seeing and what it meant.

  Strangely, it was the witch’s presence that kept me from completely coming undone in that moment. I half-sat up, the small movement sending excruciating pain through me. My limbs were heavy and as useless as paper when I tried to move some of the rocks away from Luna. I tried to use my mind, but nothing happened. I was so frustrated I almost wept. She was buried under the rubble, buried alive, because I could still hear a faint heartbeat, along with trickles of blood from more than one source, slowly being drained out of her body. Luna was dying and I was too weak to help.

  Luna’s blood. Drink Luna’s blood.

  I recoiled from Mama Akosua’s voice and the repulsive suggestion, but it came back louder, sounding like a klaxon in my mind.

  Do it!

  She was right; there was no other option if I wanted to save Luna. I twisted my head to the hand covered in dust and chalk. Thankful she was unconscious, I bit into it. The blood seeped into my mouth, but the usual bliss and the overpowering pull that normally saw me sink until I completely lost myself, was absent today, I could only think of Luna and of how weak the flow of blood was, further evidence she was slipping away.

  What happened? I said to the witch. How could you let her be put in harm’s way?

  She remained silent. I pulled away from Luna’s hand, feeling strengthened enough to be able to get us out of the cave. I could hear voices outside now. I never thought I would be glad to hear Master John’s nauseating voice, but if he was there, it meant more blood, enough to give me back my strength and heal Luna.

  I clasped Luna’s hand and concentrated. The rubble shifted and then she was in my arms. I had to ignore the sharp pain that sliced through my gut when I saw her face: the blood, the eye swollen shut, purple bruising and puffiness around her jaw. The voices outside had grown silent at the sound of the shifting rocks. Then I heard Peter Holbert, Master John’s brother.

  “John, we have to go. It’s awake. We have to go!”

  I pictured myself outside and gathered the familiar weightlessness to me.

  The nothingness opened to me, but it felt as if I were throwing myself through a wooden door as I moved into it.

  We were outside.

  At first the sun took my breath away, its rays like a thousand needles in my eyes and skin. But then my surroundings came into view and I realised we were at the caves by the Mississippi bluffs. I focused on Master John, who was a few feet away from the entrance of the cave. He went completely white and staggered back, his mind locked on his memory of walking into Luna’s cabin and finding me waiting for him.

  I laid Luna on the ground and was upon him.

  I snatched him off his feet by the shirt as he began to scream. I tore into his neck, not bothering to spare him pain. I was vaguely aware of Master Peter mounting his horse and fleeing as I took savage gulps of his brother’s blood, irritated by his screams. They were making it harder to hear Luna and the heartbeat that was slowly weakening. He eventually quietened and only low moans escaped him. I would have loved to draw out the moment, torture him and make him pay for the countless crimes he had committed against Luna, and others like her, but I didn’t have the time.

  I let him fall to the ground, alive but incredibly weak. I would have to come back for him later, along with the others he had been with, and amend their memories so Luna would not face any reprisals for her daring rescue. I gathered her in my arms and brought my blood to her lips, praying the entire time. It seemed God hadn’t forsaken me, because her bruises slowly disappeared and I heard multiple cracking sounds as her bones knitted together. Her heartbeat quickened and her breathing grew stronger.

  As strength returned to her body, her mind also quickened, and in my weakened state, I caught glimpses of her surface thoughts.

  I heard the words she had spoken to Master John when I was on my knees trapped by the silver chains. Then I heard the words she had spoken in her mind as she glared down at me in contempt.

  Don’t listen to my words, Avery, listen to my thoughts. I loves you. Please, listen to my thoughts and know I’s gonna find a way to get you out of this.

  Pain bit into me and for a few moments, I could only stare at her beautiful face. I kissed her on her forehead.

  Somehow, she had done exactly as she had promised to do and had almost died in the process.

  Her eyes began to flutter open. I made her lapse back into sleep because if she awoke, and I looked into those raven eyes knowing she loved me, I would not be able to do what I needed to do.

  I took Luna back inside the cave where she would be safe. Then I went back to Master John.

  ***

  I did everything I could to tend to the aftermath of Luna’s actions, often with not so gentle nudges from the witch. I modified the memories of everyone involved so it appeared as if I escaped on my own, taking Luna as a hostage. I also made them believe I had been the one to fire at Luna’s pursuers so there would be no consequences for Luna, or any of the slaves in that area. When it was done, I returned to Luna. Thankfully, her mother faded away completely.

  The afternoon had died away and it would be dusk soon. Luna was still sleeping when I returned to the cave. I picked her up and walked to the little house I had built for her by the Mississippi bluffs. When
I got there the sun was setting. I sat in the grass outside the house and watched the sun sink beneath the trees. It was difficult not to be overwhelmed with emotion and I wept softly.

  In the distance I could hear two horses heading in our direction. I already knew who they were and that they were headed to the farmhouse. She was beginning to wake up. I looked down at her beautiful face, the face that had kept me in the wilderness, the Lodebar I thought I would never be free of. How could I give up all I had waited so long for?

  I pressed my tear-stained face against hers and kissed her gently on the lips for the last time. Then I disappeared inside the house. I removed her Bible from my coat pocket along with the gold chain and placed it on a table in the living room. I disappeared, leaving Luna to awaken outside her new home.

  I ran the rest of the way back to Louisiana, but when I got there, I did not enter the mansion. There was nothing there for me now.

  I went instead to the plains and spent the night there, thinking of the moment when I had come across her at the chapel. A few hours before dawn, I ventured back to Mississippi. She was in her new home. Jupiter and Father Geoffrey had stayed at the house with her. Father Geoffrey was asleep in one of the rooms upstairs. Luna was awake and sitting on the porch searching the night. Jupiter was asleep beside her. I was only there for a few seconds but, as if aware of my presence, she sprang to her feet and stepped off the porch, stopping after taking a few steps forward.

  I retreated from the house and returned to Louisiana, to the lake, haunted by Luna’s face, the feel of her touch, her lips against mine and all I had lost.

  A month later she married Jupiter. It should not have come as a surprise to me, but I was still devastated by the news. Every day the loss seemed even greater and I agonised over the thought of her with Jupiter. She loved me. I should have been the one to watch her walk down the aisle and place a ring on her finger.

  Each night I considered going to Luna and begging her to come away with me, but I only had to recall the chapel entity, its proposition, and the chain of human skulls around its neck. If Luna was mine, it would only be a matter of time before I turned her into a vampire, and to do so would mean giving her over to evil. So I lived with my loss and the memories of that precious month we spent together.

  Chapter 22

  I sought to bury my pain. I devoted my energies to the mansion she loved and began the long process of restoring it.

  But she was always there.

  Her memory walked the halls of the grieving mansion as well as the empty desolate chambers of my immortal heart. The moonlit field of flowers held a thousand images of her and she remained in the long hours that passed in silence each night. Although death would eventually claim her, the light she brought into my world would never die.

  Luna. My immortal beloved.

  A few months after she married, I found myself standing outside the house by the Mississippi bluffs. They were both asleep. I did what I promised myself I would not do when I set out for their home: I entered it, materialising in the living room. I looked around me at their warm homely living room and my loneliness overcame me. I moved to a chair near the fireplace. A book had been left on the chair and a shawl discarded casually over the back it. Tears filling my eyes, I picked up the shawl and pressed it to my face, inhaling her scent.

  I was startled by the sound of movement upstairs in the bedroom. All too soon I heard bare feet on a wooden floor moving toward the bedroom door and then out onto the landing.

  It was Luna. For a brief moment, I considered remaining where I was so I could see her face again, even for a second. But before she could reach the stairs, I let the shawl slip out of my hands and moved into the nothingness and out of the house. I reappeared in the trees and sped away, leaving the house far behind me.

  From then on, I took to watching her through the eyes of those around her. I mostly chose her mother, as she was the only one who saw Luna often, apart from Jupiter. And I did not wish to see her through his eyes because I knew I would see too much that would fan the flames of envy in my heart. So although there was the risk of her sensing my presence, I took to journeying to the Marshall plantation every week where I could observe Mama Akosua’s thoughts, hoping for a glimpse of Luna. Shortly after Luna married, I paid a visit to Mama Akosua’s master and placed the thought in his mind to free her. When he approached her with this, she refused her freedom and only asked for one day a week away from the plantation to visit Luna. This was enough for me to know she still considered me an enemy and would kill me given the opportunity.

  Thankfully, she was usually distracted after a day spent with Luna and relatively happy, her mind solely on her daughter and the time she spent with her that day.

  I stayed in the shadows, drinking in Luna’s beauty through her mother’s memories, thankful I had that connection to her, at least.

  One night, the witch was recalling the afternoon spent cooking with Luna when Jupiter entered her memories, which seldom happened.

  He walked into the kitchen and leaned over Luna’s shoulder to see what she was making. She turned to him and kissed him on the cheek before nudging him out of the kitchen.

  It was the first time I had seen him since the day I let Luna go. At the sight of him, I immediately felt the thorns of envy clutch at my heart.

  I was about to draw away from Mama Akosua’s mind when she did the strangest thing.

  She recoiled from the memory and then floundered for a few moments before skipping through a few other events that occurred that day until she came to one that featured only Luna. It was almost like someone saying the wrong thing to another and then tripping over their words as they tried to backtrack.

  Was it possible she knew I was spying on her? I couldn’t pretend to understand this tricky witch. I left her mind and retreated, vowing to stay away.

  But the following week, I was back at the Marshall plantation.

  As before, she behaved as if she was unaware of my presence. I did not know what game she was playing, but I played along, pretending to creep on the periphery of her thoughts. Whatever she had in store for me would be revealed soon enough.

  And so I continued to live, and although I had lost everything once more, I held on to grief, loneliness, and despair. And for as long as Luna continued to draw breath on this Earth, so would I.

  ***

  A busy town. A cold, grey jail cell. There were five people huddled together as if for warmth. Fear and despair peered at me out from faces drawn with tension. The youngest female, a mulatto with long, thick ebony hair worn in two French plaits, kept looking at the chain around her ankle. It was the first time she had ever been chained and the future suddenly seemed completely dark outside that jail. The older female watched her daughter in abject misery. An ex-slave, she was all too familiar with the chain around her ankle and of much, much worse.

  I was awake beneath the lake.

  The dream drifted back to its gossamer grave. Then I registered what had awakened me. A single word.

  Please.

  It could only have been uttered by one person. Mama Akosua.

  I recalled the details of the vision she had sent me. The young female looked to be about ten years old and her face was instantly recognisable, although there were subtle differences between her face and her mother’s.

  The baby. Luna’s baby.

  I was immediately out of the water and on the edge of the lake. The sun blazed its usual assault on my mind and body.

  Anxiety bound itself to me. The daylight meant it was unlikely I would get to the child before nightfall.

  I started running. As I reached the mansion, the knowledge came to me, probably from Mama Akosua, that they would not begin the journey back to Mississippi until the following morning.

  I stopped long enough to change clothes, pack a bag and take whatever money I kept at the mansion. I was anxious to get there as soon as possible, but knew that although I was faster than Julia, my speed would decrease as the
day progressed, so I saddled her up and rode north.

  ***

  The sun would be coming up in a few hours, so I should have been making my way back to Louisiana by now. Instead I stood outside the family’s home, my gaze on the window of the room Lina, Luna’s baby, shared with her brothers. It was proving to be an extremely emotional night as I stared at the house, knowing she was spending the rest of the night in her own bed, sleeping the dreamless sleep of an exhausted child. Her adopted parents were still awake in another room, talking in hushed tones, marvelling at the miracle that had seen them freed instead of on the long journey back to Mississippi and a life of bondage.

  I searched Lina’s memories as she slept and found that although they were poor, she was loved and cherished, and a little bit spoilt by her two brothers.

  My thoughts returned to the second heartbeat Onyx had mentioned so long ago, and it still had the power to make my stomach clench in anguish. I would never have children of my own. But I could find joy in Luna’s, in this precious child she’d had to give away.

  I was interrupted from my musings by movement inside her room, the rustle of bedcovers being flung back and then bare feet treading carefully across cold wooden floors. It was Lina, and although her mind was still clouded with sleep, her thoughts were on the window and something she wanted to see outside.

  I moved a few doors down, moving deeper into the shadows as she came to the window and opened it, looking out toward where I stood.

  Was it possible she had Luna’s gifts? I turned around and began walking away, keeping to the shadows. I had reached the next house when she spoke, her voice high and light though slurred with sleep.