Heart of Darkness

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Heart of Darkness Page 8

by Claire Marta


  Thoughts preoccupied with worry, I exit the carriage when it reaches my house. Paying the driver, I walk briskly for the front door. The sound of music floats from the living room as I slip inside. Not wishing to disturb my brides, I take the steps to the upper floor two at a time. Renfield will be packing. If Dorian isn’t at the Club tomorrow evening, I’ll call upon him at his home.

  A scream vibrates through the building from below.

  Racing down the steps with inhuman speed, I’m in time to witness a hammer striking down with an ominous bang. Beneath its blow, Madeline goes rigid. Surprise, agony, disbelief flickers in the depths of her eyes as the wooden stake pierces her heart. Mouth gaping, she falls. Skin blackening, it caves inward crumbling to fine powder.

  The dozen masked men give a laugh at her demise. Sick satisfaction burning in their gazes.

  “Let’s get this done quickly. We have much work ahead of us,” one of them tells the others. Large silver cross in his hand, he has Crina backed into a corner.

  I know that voice.

  Rage rises within me in an unholy tidal wave. A roar leaves my chest, shaking the very foundations of the building itself. In a blur, I’m before him. The surface of the crucifix sears into my palm as I close my fingers around it.

  “You think I fear this?” I sneer, lips peeling up to reveal my fangs, ripping it from his grip before flinging it across the room. “I commanded men and armies, before you even existed, in the name of your God.”

  Terror swims in his eyes, the only thing I can see of him beneath his disguise. “Demon!”

  Crina hisses, flying at the others, claws out, her lovely countenance twisted with grief and agony. Snatching up the nearest one, she dangles him off the floor. His eyes bulge, a gurgling sound escapes from his lips. Pale hand grasping his throat she latches her mouth to his neck. Gulping, slurping, she feeds hungrily.

  Renfield appears in the doorway, barring their exit, an axe in his hand, trapping them when some turn to flee.

  A living embodiment of vengeance, I fall upon them one at a time. They want a monster, and I will give them one. Blood decorates the floor. Throats are ripped out. Claws tear through fragile flesh. Screams of mercy rise, but I do not heed them.

  A mournful cry has me turning in time to see Crina fall under the weight of a sword. Cleaving through flesh and bone, it takes her head from her shoulders. She’s dust before she even hits the ground.

  Wrenching my fangs from my victim’s neck, I toss his corpse toward her killer. The last man standing. At his feet, the bodies of his comrades lay like broken children’s dolls.

  “Harker,” I hiss the name out through blood stained lips.

  Tugging the mask from his face, the young man stares me down with his foolish courage, his sword ready to strike me down. “You’re a monster. An abomination and I won’t let you have Mina.”

  “She’s mine. She loves me.”

  “No. She’s just under your influence. What she feels for you isn’t real. It’s me she loves.”

  My chuckle pulses with malevolence. “Foolish child. You should never have come after me.”

  Keeping the tip of his blade pointed directly at my chest, Jonathan circles me. “It never said you’d be this strong.”

  His muttered words prick my interest. “Who?”

  “The thing that’s been helping Van Helsing.”

  The confession sets my mind tumbling with terrible possibilities. Have I been betrayed? They have knowledge that should not be theirs. Has a creature such as myself joined forces with them? One of my bloodlines?

  “A creature of darkness? A vampire?” I question. The whisper of metal descending teases my ears. In one fluid movement, I dodge, swiveling to disarm him and pin the young man easily to the wall.

  Eyes burning red with unholy light, my stare bores into his. “You will tell me.”

  He struggles helplessly, but my strength is far greater. “No…it feeds on living flesh not blood…he keeps it fed to insure their pact.”

  Not a vampire, something else.

  Mina.

  She’ll be in danger. I will not leave her behind. I’d promised her we’d stay in Whitby, but now that is not possible. With enemies lurking at every corner, it’s time to flee to other lands.

  “Renfield, open up the cellar below the house. It is a fitting resting place for these vermin. Gather their bodies and leave them there to rot.”

  No one knows of its existence but us. A place my brides used for their day sleep. Somewhere to keep the unfortunate souls we use as food.

  My manservant obeys without a word, taking the axe he’s carrying with him. He’s done well this evening and will be rewarded. I’ll provide for him and the family I will urge him to have. His sons will follow in his footsteps. My minions loyal only to me. Eyes and ears to learn my enemies’ secrets.

  Fisting Jonathan’s hair, I drag him toward the fireplace in the library. The flames glow merrily, bringing warmth to the room. I have the perfect punishment for him in mind. Something slow and horrifying.

  “Let me go, you fiend,” he snarls, fingernails clawing at my wrist.

  “You brought this on yourself,” I tell him as I reach for the handle of the metal poker that lies within the fire.

  Horror grows as he stares transfixed.

  Lifting the white-hot end to the surface, I bring it round for him to see. “I have lived for far longer than you can ever have imagined. There were many punishments for criminals when I was a man. As master of my kingdom, I dealt out justice as I saw fit.”

  Struggling with earnest now, I know Jonathan has finally realized what I mean to do.

  “No, please God, no,” he begs.

  Where was his mercy with my brides? They saw them as nothing more than monsters. I feel nothing when I force him to his back, pinning him to the floor with a knee on his chest. Grasping his wrists in one hand, I jam the hot metal into his left eye.

  Jonathan’s shrieks, mingling with the hiss of sizzling flesh, are music to my ears. Not wanting it to cool too quickly, I give his right eyes the same attention.

  “Vladimir, what in blazes has been happening here?”

  Glancing over my shoulder, I find Dorian Grey taking in the carnage around me from the doorway. Instead of wearing a look of shock, all I can see is concern written over his angelic features. I note the bloodstain on the front of his jacket, the red marring the expensive material.

  Leaving the boy blinded and whimpering, I rise to my full height. “I was attacked.”

  “Help me. Please help me,” Jonathan sobs pathetically. “He’s a monster.”

  Dorian pulls a face ignoring him. “I can see that. In fact, I was set upon too as I was leaving my house. Luckily Henry Jekyll had the foresight to warn me beforehand. We have a common enemy, Vladimir.”

  “Perhaps we do.” I murmur.

  Noticing the stain on his jacket front, he pulls a silk handkerchief from his pocket and dabs at it with a frown. “Westenra and his league of hunters. We need to rally against them. Destroy them before they try again.”

  “Unfortunately, I have a trip planned. A last-minute adventure around Europe.” I lie. The urge to protect Mina at all cost races through me. How far can I really trust Dorian?

  “When will you be back?” He enquires all too innocently.

  Noticing Jonathan trying to squirm away on his belly like a worm, I press my foot to his spine, keeping him from escaping. “I’m not sure. When the mood strikes me. I saw Victor earlier this evening. He’s not well. Would you check on him for me?”

  Dorian’s attention tracks my movement, a trace of a smirk curving his mouth. “Of course. Then I’ll leave you to your entertainment. There are others of the Hellfire Club who will be in danger and might require aid. Take care of yourself, my friend. Contact me when you return.”

  I tilt my head in farewell. “And you, Dorian.”

  Listening to him leave, I remain still, ready for another attack. When nothing ensues, my shoulders relax
. We need to be gone from this place quickly. Staying in England will only bring danger to my door. Other hunters will come to investigate when the ones I have killed do not return to report in. It’s time to disappear where they cannot find us.

  Crouching on my haunches, I once more grasp the locks of Jonathan’s hair. “Now to finish with you. Your friends’ deaths might have been quick, but I have something very different planned for you. Madeline and Crina will be avenged for what you did to them. Your suffering will be greater than you can ever imagine for ending my brides.”

  Renfield shuffles through the doorway to retrieve the first of the corpses. Taking the dead man’s wrists, he heaves him along the floor in the direction of the cellar. Jonathan slithers like a snake as I drag him behind me in the wake of the blood being left smeared over the wooden floor.

  The passageway leading below the house is hidden and narrow. Renfield pauses to allow me to descend the steps first. Brackets in the walls house candles that he’s lit to provide dim light. The soil behind the dense stone brings a chilliness to the long rectangular chamber. It smells like death, a rancid residue of its last living occupants. Two coffins lay open side by side in a corner.

  Tampering down the sadness they bring, I fling my prisoner against the stone floor.

  Beady eyes gleam at us from the dark.

  Rats.

  They’re always hungry. Happy to pick clean the bodies of our victims when we’ve been done with them in the past and now they will feast.

  The boy murmurs something low and hurried over and over in a chant. A prayer. Does he think his God will save him now? He’s been forsaken. No heavenly rays will touch him down here so close to hell.

  Closing the shackles over his wrists, I chain him to the solid wall. They rattle as he crawls around on his knees, vulnerable, weak, what’s left of his eyes nothing but ugly burned flesh. A few days down here and his skin will become sickly, pallid. It makes me wonder how long he’ll last. A week or more? In any other circumstance, I would consider observing, but that’s out of the question with everything that has occurred.

  “Forgive me for leaving you Mr. Harker, but I have a prior engagement with Miss Murray. We will soon be wed, and I promised I wouldn’t be away from her too long. After this set back, I must arrange for us to leave the country as soon as possible,” I inform him solemnly.

  “Van Helsing will not let you damn her soul.” His voice is hoarse and trembling.

  Attention slicing to the furry vermin squeaking in the shadows, my will filters into their minds. I will leave Jonathan Harker blinded and chained in the bowels of this cellar with no escape. The rats will feast on his flesh as well as the other hunters who tried to murder me.

  “He knows you covet her,” he continues as the hungry horde of creatures stampede toward him whiskers twitching. “Knows you’ve marked her to become one of your dark disciples…” His words trail off in a scream as hundreds of tiny bodies scramble over him to feed.

  Dread sweeps through me, merging with a sense of foreboding. Hand rising to clutch the locket around my neck, I turn on my heels and race for the house above to the sound of his shrieks.

  Chapter 13

  An orange glow lights the dark on the horizon as the carriage speeds across the fields toward Mina’s home. Even at this distance, I can see the eerie shadows cast by the mob standing in a semi-circle at the front of the building. Burning torches raised, their angry voices are loud and raised.

  “No!” The word is torn from the center of my being in desperation.

  Taking the first train from London, I’ve travelled fast as if the Devil himself is snapping at my heels. Flinging the carriage door open, I leap, transforming in mid-air. Any thought of Renfield and the horses he commands by their reins forgotten.

  Paws hitting the grass my fluid lupin muscles power me like a streaking black bullet toward the scene. Feminine screams fill my ears. The shrill, high, sound of my name vibrates through the burning cottage.

  It pierces my mind like cruel talons. This will destroy me. I’ll never be able to recover if I lose my beloved twice.

  Ramming into the first few hunters, I split them in two with my jaws and claws. Screams erupt around me. When more advance with knives and guns, I partially transform.

  “Mina!” My shout is inhuman through my wolf-like snout. Standing up on my muscled fur covered legs, I snarl at the men who stand between and my beloved. I can sense Lucy within the walls of the cottage. Her desperation to save Mina from the flames. With all her vampiric speed and strength, something prevents her.

  The air is filled with the smell of burning wood and billowing plumes of thick smoke.

  Fire.

  It’s the only thing I truly fear. The one element that can destroy me.

  “Miss Murray will not become your concubine. A wanton succubus her soul condemned to damnation.” Van Helsing’s voice carries clearly from where he stands in the center of his fold. “The cleansing fire will set her free while sentencing your minion to her own fate. Your taint will not touch the pure of heart. God stands with us tonight in our work.”

  My eyes glow crimson as I bare my fangs. “You do not know what you meddle with you fool.”

  Distracted by another terrified shriek, I turn my head in its direction. A stupid mistake. Pain erupts through my chest. Curling a clawed hand around the handle of the wooden stake, I’m fully aware it’s barely missed my heart.

  “I condemn you to hell, Demon of the pit!” the old man bellows, brandishing a hammer.

  Snatching him up by his throat, I glare menacingly into his shocked face. “I am Dracula. Prince of my kind. Their master. If you think a mere mortal such as you can end me, think again. The night is mine to command, and you will all pay for what you have done here!”

  Tossing him into the crowd, I let the powers of darkness within me free. A mass of small writhing bodies descends from the heavens. The bats set upon the men in a cloud of tiny beating wings. Focusing upward I call on the storm and rain. Command them to unleash their fury. The rain starts to pour, lightening streaking across the sky, while thunder booms, making the ground shake.

  Men run in terror from the cottage and down toward the cliffs and beach, Van Helsing among them. Dismissing them my attention turns to the cottage engulfed in flames.

  I’m barely aware of Renfield and the carriage drawing up beside me.

  Yanking the stake from my chest, I hiss at the discomfort transforming to my human form. Blood spills from the wound before it has a chance to heal, streaming down my shirt front with the rain.

  Paying it no heed, I plunge in through the open door of the building into the interior. Fear tries to suffocate me, but I shove it down. Black smoke fills my lungs, the heat making my eyes water. Its intensity scorches my skin.

  “Mina?” I call out over the roar.

  “Vladimir! Help us! Please help us!” Terror echoes through her shout.

  Upstairs.

  Heart pounding in my chest, I fight my way through the maze of flames, toward the stairs, relieved to find them still intact. A crash sounds behind me. With a quick glance, I discover part of the wall has caved in from the fire and storm.

  Knowing I don’t have much time, I take the steps two at a time.

  I spy Lucy, a silver net keeping her pinned to the ground, pitiless flames licking along her legs and sending the limbs to ash. Mina is beside her. Wrists shackled together, her night dress is ripped, revealing the creamy swell of her breasts. With desperate actions, she tries in vain to put out the blaze seeking to devour her adored friend.

  A gaunt figure stands before the chaos, blocking my way. The beggar from outside the hotel. I recognize the coat he wears, the hood obscuring his features.

  “Out of my way,” I command in a snarl.

  “Not so fast, brother.” The flaming torch clutched in his hand is thrust my way, driving me back. As he shoves his hood up, I at last peer into a hideous visage. Flesh is missing in places, exposing tissue and bone
beneath.

  “Radu?” I question, recognizing my younger brother’s resemblance with what hasn’t been ravaged by decay.

  “Surprised to see me after all this time?” he sneers through thin bloodless lips.

  “How is it possible after all these decades?”

  “You’re not the only one damned. A curse cast upon me by a witch after I’d slaughtered her village.” He spits, hatred clear in his narrowed gaze. “Death spat me out at the moment of my passing. Forever rotting, hungering for living flesh. When I learned of your existence, I set it upon myself to finish the job the sultan’s assassins failed to achieve. My hate for you has been the only thing fueling me through the centuries.”

  “Vlad…” Hope shines brightly from Mina’s stare. Unwavering and trusting. Unable to save Lucy, she weeps openly for the loss of her lover.

  Shifting his gaze, Radu leers at her with a knowing look. “Once I send you to hell, I’ll feed on the peachy flesh of your dark-haired whore.”

  Hissing I bare my fangs, eyes red with my fury. Charging I ram into him with all my rage. He won’t have her. They stole my beloved from me once before. I will not allow it a second time. Flames lick at my flesh, blackening and blistering with their agonizing touch.

  Pummelling my fists into my brother’s rotting body, we trade blow after blow. The devil can take him. This is my world. My domain. He manipulated Westenra and Van Helsing to hunt me. There will be no forgiveness. Judgement is passed.

  A cracking noise becomes deafening, the floor caving in beneath us, sending the upper floor shattering downward carrying us with it. I’m blinded by a wall of heat and pain. Mina’s scream is cut short.

  The inferno intensifies even with the storm waging outside. As the dust and smoke settle, I frantically search for Mina, even as parts of me burn, the agony near driving me to madness. Radu shrieks impaled by a beam of wood, clawing powerlessly at it while the fire consumes him.

  Ebony hair catches the corner of my eye.

 

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