Rising Dark (The Darkling Trilogy, Book 2)

by A. D. Koboah

  I was asking myself whether or not it was a waste of time being here when something changed. The air in the room seemed to quiver. I spun round in time to shimmer to the other side of the room before a large vase of gardenias I had been admiring only moments ago, smashed into the wall a foot away from where my head had been.

  I gazed at the smashed vase, at the scattered gardenias, water slowly sinking into the plush red carpet. I sighed and waited.

  Good evening, Mr Wentworth.

  The voice in my head was strong and clear. It could only be Ella’s.

  What is the meaning of this? You have Luna’s journal, so you know who I am and that I mean you no harm.

  There was nothing for a few moments, only the sound of the clock ticking, then her reply.

  Come on down to my study, Avery.

  “Said the spider to the fly,” I muttered before I let the room disappear in a swirl of red and black. I entered her study moments later.

  She was sitting on the sofa. She had a rosewood complexion, heart shaped face, high cheekbones and dark straightened hair that hung to her shoulders. A large painting of Luna hung above the fireplace, gazing at me as haughty and formidable on canvas as she had been in life. Ella studied me intently for a moment. Her thoughts were completely shielded from me, her gaze like that of a cat’s, full of mystery and cunning.

  “I painted that a few years ago,” she said finally. “I only had my visions of her to go on, so tell me. Is it a good likeness?”

  “What was the meaning of that little trick upstairs?”

  She smiled, but it didn’t reach her eyes, which were hard and cold.

  “I have been waiting to meet you for a very long time, but you’ve been so elusive I thought a demonstration was in order. A reminder, so to speak, of manners, and what I expect of you whenever you enter my home. There is no need for you to skulk around. Whenever you’re here, I would like at least a hello.”

  It wasn’t a request. It was a demand. Not for the first time I cursed that journal and the enquiring young men and women that came looking for me whenever they read it. I should take the opportunity to burn that damned thing now I knew where it was.

  She laughed, a soft mirthless sound that was as calculating as her gaze. She stood up and moved to stand by the fireplace. “As if I would let you do that?”

  I stared at her, trying not to let my surprise show. “Only Luna’s mother was ever able to read my thoughts.”

  “Not as well as you can read people’s minds. But I see enough.”

  “And you can shield your mind from me as well as Luna used to.”

  Her smile was triumphant. “Thank you. I have spent years preparing for our meeting.”

  “What do you want?”

  “I want to talk about Emily and the evil that has been haunting us.”

  Emily had been murdered by the chapel spirit five years ago. I sat down. It would come to this sooner or later.

  “How much do you know?” I said.

  “Enough. Why didn’t you try to stop it?”

  “I did try. I’ve never been able to stop it from killing them.”

  “I meant before that. Why didn’t you kill her when you knew it was trying to be reborn through her?”

  “I would never kill one of Luna’s descendants.”

  She smiled brightly, a smile that was glorious as well as utterly ruthless.

  “But you did once before.”

  Silence hung in the room.

  “I’m ordering you that from now on, you will kill them the moment you suspect it is trying to possess them.”

  I used my telekinetic power to spin her away from the fireplace and slammed her back into the sofa. She glared at me, her anger fierce but tightly reined. This was not a woman who liked to lose control.

  “You should be careful, Ella. Your powers may be impressive. But you’re not invincible and you’re definitely no match for me. Remember that.”

  She seemed to wither and abruptly seemed smaller and softer. Tears glimmered in her eyes.

  “We come from a line of powerful witches, but no, we’re not invincible, as Luna found out to her detriment. We let our emotions stop us from doing what must be done. If Luna had killed Simon back then, we would have been spared from all of this. I won’t make the same mistake.”

  Silence wreathed the room again. I got to my feet.

  “Good night, Ella.”

  I was relieved when I got outside to the frigid night air.

  I left the city, my mind as always weighed down by the problem of the evil entity taking away so much from me. Every time it killed one of them, it was as if Luna had died all over again. And what if it finally succeeded in possessing one of them? Was Ella right in ordering me to kill them before it achieved its goal?

  There were many questions but no answers, and time would soon run out for me and the family I had come to see as my own.

  Chapter 45

  A few months after my trip to New York, I began to receive numerous messages from Vanessa, one of Ella’s daughters. The calls had all been made to an unlisted telephone number, which only a few people had. At first, I ignored them. But when they persisted, I decided to pay her a visit.

  I kept a close watch on all the family now and knew a great deal about most of them. Vanessa was Ella’s eldest daughter. She had been a thin, sickly child, and incredibly whiny. I thought it was something she would grow out of, but she had carried it well into womanhood. Of all Luna’s descendants I had come across over the years, I found her to be the most irritating. She had a pinched face, large eyes and a high, grating voice. She also had an unhealthy obsession with being a size zero, like most of her fashion model friends, and her bones protruded painfully from the black clothing she always wore.

  She was in the family room when I materialised in her home, a cavernous but soulless apartment on New York’s Upper East Side. It was seven a.m. and she was standing by the mini bar with her back to me, pouring herself a glass of whisky.

  “Good morning,” I said cheerfully.

  She screamed and spun around, spilling most of the whisky on her shirt.

  I sat down as she put her hand to her chest and tried to catch her breath.

  “Isn’t it a bit early for that?” I asked, referring to the glass in her hand.

  She refilled it. “Where have you been? I’ve been calling you for four weeks now.”

  She moved to the table and put the glass down to snatch up some tissues. She dabbed at her blouse. When she reached for the glass of whisky, her brow furrowed when she saw it was not where she had placed it. She gasped when she glanced up and saw it in my hand. She glared at me.

  “What do you want, Vanessa?” I asked, as I took a sip.

  She continued glaring at me then sat down at her desk.

  “I want you to do something about Dallas.”

  “Who?” I asked even though I knew exactly who she was talking about.

  “Dallas, my daughter!”

  “Your daughter? Really? It’s hard to believe you have one, as you’re hardly ever here. And I have to ask, Vanessa. Why on earth would you give a child such a ridiculous name like Dallas?”

  She looked taken aback for a few seconds, then she scowled at me.

  “My mother said you would be difficult, but she won’t do anything about Dallas so you have to. She’s completely out of control. She has such scary temper tantrums and she says things. Things a child couldn’t possibly know. Mummy won’t do anything. All she says is that Dallas is special and I should let her be. But she’s impossible. She’s been sent home twice now from nursery, she’s...”

  As she rambled on I wished, and not for the first time, that alcohol had an effect on me. I became increasingly irritated as her voice rose higher and higher and she whinged and moaned. She was trying to shield her thoughts from me, but was doing a very poor job and I found it infuriating that thoughts of her lover, who was twenty-two, kept drifting into her mind. She was annoyed she had to be here beca
use Dallas had scared the last nanny away. Along with the grating voice, there was also loud banging which I had observed when I entered the house. It appeared to be getting louder.

  “What...what is that noise? That banging,” I asked, interrupting her in mid flow.

  “That’s her.” She leaned forward, her voice dipping into a whisper. “She’s been doing that for two days now. She won’t come down from her room or change out of her pyjamas. All because she can’t have a dress she wants. She’s driving me insane!”

  “If she’s that upset then get her the damn dress.”

  “Don’t you think I’ve tried? She doesn’t even want the dress, she’s just trying to upset me. She saw it in a magazine and has been like this ever since. I’ve looked for it, the only place I can find it is in some boutique in London. Do you expect me to go all the way to London for a dress?”

  That was the last thing she wanted to do. She had already stayed away from her lover for long enough. Out of sight was out of mind, and her husband would be back in a week.

  “You have to do something. She...she just...” Her voice trailed away.

  I couldn’t help but roll my eyes when I saw tears fall onto her cheeks and she became too choked with emotion to speak.

  “For God’s sake, Vanessa. Don’t be such a baby. She’s just a child. I’m sure even you are capable of handling a five year old.”

  “You don’t understand. She can move things just by thinking about it. And her rages, they’re not normal. You have to do something. You can do mind control, can’t you? That’s what I want you to do. Control her and make her behave herself.”

  I sighed inwardly. Now was the time I would have to start the theatrics which always became necessary at some point. Luna’s descendants seemed to get it in their heads that I would be their vampire buddy or something. Which made me wonder what on earth she had written about me in that damn journal.

  I materialised at Vanessa’s side. She jumped, completely scared as I loomed over her. She stiffened as I smiled, stroking her hair, letting my fangs lengthen. I also delved into her mind, heightening her fear and made it seem to her as if the room had suddenly become darker.

  “I don’t think you know who you’re dealing with, Vanessa. Rent a vampire to deal with your domestic issues? It doesn’t quite work like that. The only thing I deal in is death, unless that is what you want when you ask me to ‘do something’ about Dallas?”

  There was the longest pause as her fear swelled like a balloon. I waited for it to burst in a show of tears and hysterics.

  “Stop that!” she snapped. “Just...just sit down and quit messing with my vision or I’ll call my mother!”

  I sighed. The really tedious thing about these women is they don’t scare easily.

  “Sorry, Vanessa. I’m not a nanny, so I can’t help you.” I moved away to sit on the chair at the other side of the desk. You’ll just have to try being a mother. You do know what that is, don’t you?” I paused at the sound of a tiny voice coming from the other side of the apartment. “Well, maybe now is the time to find out. She’s calling you.”

  Vanessa jumped up. Ironically, she appeared as terrified as she should have been a moment ago.

  “Hurry, before she comes down here looking for you,” I said. “I haven’t had my morning meal yet.”

  Dallas screamed her name once more and it was pleasing to see Vanessa actually run out of the room as if her life depended on it.

  I sipped at the whisky. She really was so silly acting that way over a child. Curious as to how she would deal with Dallas, I sat back with a smile and watched through her eyes as she entered her daughter’s bedroom.

  A chuckle escaped me when I saw Dallas for the first time. She was the colour of deep mahogany, had beautiful eyes, long, dark sooty eyelashes and dimples. She wore a pink Barbie pyjamas set and her hair was in two bunches. She really was the cutest little thing, especially that adorable scowl on her face. She pushed a tray of cereal that had been placed on a small table toward Vanessa.

  “I don’t want this. I want ice cream and chocolate for breakfast!”

  “D-Dallas, you’re not having ice cream for breakfast. Now stop being silly and—”

  She jumped back when Dallas turned the tray over, spilling the cereal all over Vanessa’s trousers. I laughed louder.

  “Dallas! If you don’t stop behaving like a—”

  “Where’s my dress? I want my dress!”

  “Right, that’s it! No...”

  Vanessa’s voice trailed off when Dallas abruptly stopped and stood deathly still, her eyes locked on her mother. There was something very eerie about it and my laughter faded away. I leaned forward in the chair, experiencing the moment through Vanessa’s senses. The room she was in became charged and goose bumps ran up her arms as she looked down at her daughter.

  “Who’s downstairs?” Dallas asked.

  “N-no one. Clean up this mess before—”

  “Tell me who’s downstairs!” she screamed.

  The room they were in became charged with a dark energy. The knocked over bowl exploded at the same time that the glass of whisky in my hand shattered, showering glass and amber liquid over my grey suit. I stared at the glass fragments in my hand in shock and immediately delved into Dallas’s mind and soothed. Sleepy, she moved to her bed, climbed in and fell asleep instantly.

  When Vanessa came back downstairs she was shaking. She immediately went to her chair and put her head in her hands. I placed a fresh glass of whisky, filled to the brim, before her. She didn’t even look at me. She grasped the glass in both hands and drank half the whisky. She took a few gulps of air and then sniffed. Tears sprung to her eyes.

  “Please, you’ve got to do something. I can’t cope. She’s going to drive me insane.” I rolled my eyes, but feeling a little bit sympathetic now I’d seen Dallas in action, I patted Vanessa on the shoulder. “You have to talk to my mother. You have to make her bind Dallas’s powers so she can’t do things like that anymore. She scares me. Can you believe I’m scared of my own daughter?”

  “Yes, yes, all right. I will talk to Ella and insist she bind Dallas’s powers. And I think I’ll keep an eye on her from now on.” I moved away and paused at the door. “Go and get some sleep, Vanessa, you look dreadful. And another thing, your little boy toy has to go. He’s only interested in your money, anyway.”

  The last thing I saw before I disappeared was her tear-streaked face, round eyes looking up at me in surprise. Then I was outside looking up at Dallas’s bedroom window. Yes. Something definitely had to be done. She was far too young to wield such a deadly power. I would have to go and see Ella immediately. It wasn’t a good idea to pay a visit to Ella during the day when I was at my weakest. Especially since trying to insist on anything was as difficult with her descendants as it had been with Luna, particularly Ella. It seemed as if I would have to rely on charm to get her to bind Dallas’s powers. But charm didn’t work too well on Luna, and I doubted it would work on Ella.

  I let out a low sigh. Dealing with these powerful, headstrong women was becoming tiring and it was always so painful since they all looked like Luna in some way. And they seemed to get stronger with each generation. God only knew what Dallas would be like once she was older.

  I walked out into the streets of New York which were just beginning to come alive as morning fully came into being. My suit was totally ruined. It seemed like a nice day for a trip to London. Yes, seeing Ella could wait until after dusk when I was stronger. I could get to London before the shops closed for business to replace my suit and purchase a pretty blue and yellow dress for a very special little girl. I almost wished I could be there to see her face when she found it the following morning.

  Chapter 46

  A few months after that episode, I met Dallas in the flesh for the first time. I’d had a warning from Mama that morning and only knew I was to be at Central Park in New York at a set time.

  I arrived at the park, anxious and tense, having no i
dea what kind of trouble to expect. I became aware of Dallas almost immediately and my heart melted in an instant, my anxiety departing from me as I gazed at her, letting her thoughts drift toward me. She was nearly six now and standing about thirty metres away, alone as people—mainly families—moved gaily past her in the bright sunshine. Her face was a picture of complete alarm as she looked around her, breathing heavily.

  She was lost. The events of that morning floated through the noise and the crowds to where I stood. She had been with her nanny, a new one who had only been with her for a week. She had thrown a tantrum and slipped away when the woman’s attention was turned and walked through the busy streets to get to her favourite ice cream stand in Central Park. Now she was here, fear had set in and she stood on her own, completely overwhelmed, not sure how to get to the ice cream stand or how to get home. I wanted to go over to her and pick her up, letting her know she was safe and always would be so long as I lived. But I stayed where I was, tormented by the fact that I hadn’t been able to save any of the others before her, and when the entity finally came for her, I would be powerless to protect her.

  So I turned my back on the pitiful sight of the lost little girl and delved into the minds of two teenagers nearby, prompting them to approach her and stay with her. I took out my cell phone and made a short phone call to the bank, where Dallas had last been with her nanny.

  As I hung up, I became aware of the fact that Dallas had moved away from the two teenagers, her gaze focussed completely on me. I groaned inwardly as she began to head straight for me. I started to move away, keeping sight of her through the eyes of those around her. That was when she came to a halt. Her thoughts reached me. She intended to run out of the park into the busy road because she knew I would have to come and save her.

  I came to an abrupt stop. She broke into a run, heading straight for me.

  A few moments later, she appeared at my side, breathing heavily from the short run. I kept my gaze ahead as she stared up at me. Then she grasped my hand.