The Dark Rising

by Lacey Weatherford

  “Really?” I asked, my eyes moistening at his compliment.

  “Really.” He reached out to place his weathered hand over the top of mine, giving a gentle squeeze. “Are you ready to do this?”

  I extended my arm. “I am.”

  He moved to a cupboard and pulled out a small bag filled with fluid and some sterile tubing.

  “I’m actually going to give this to you through an I.V. instead of a shot. After I pondered it over, it seemed the better way to go since it would circulate things faster,” he explained while he set up the equipment. When he was finished, he injected the contents of the syringe into the bag.

  He wrapped a large band around my upper arm and had me pump my hand into a fist. Then he pushed and patted, looking for a good vein to use.

  I thought about the veins that stood up off of Vance’s strong forearms. Hex could've probably hit them blindfolded.

  “Okay, big stick,” he warned, and I felt the sting into my skin right before a flash of blood showed at the top of the needle.

  “Good, good,” he muttered, and he pulled the sharp part out, leaving the plastic catheter in my arm. Then he hooked the primed I.V. tubing to it.

  He adjusted a small roller and a slightly cold fluid began to seep inside of me. After watching it for a minute, he straightened up again.

  “Looks good,” he said, the nervous anticipation showing on his face.

  “So, now what do we do?”

  “We wait. This ought to go in pretty quickly.” He checked the tubes over again.

  “You know if this works it'll be like we're relatives,” I said with a grin. “In a mutated blood sort of way, that is.”

  He laughed before he reached around me to squeeze my shoulders in a giant bear hug.

  “I couldn’t think of anyone else I'd rather have as a mutated blood granddaughter.”

  Chapter 19

  “How're you feeling?” Hex asked with concern after a couple of minutes had passed.

  “Normal, I guess,” I answered with a slightly nervous laugh while I watched the constant drip of fluid going into my arm. “Is that good?”

  “I think so,” he replied and he smiled encouragingly. “No reaction is better than a bad one, right?”

  We were both nervous, but it was understandable. A lot was riding on this little experiment of ours.

  The contents of the bag were soon emptied. Hex removed the I.V. and covered the site with a Band-Aid, telling me to hold some pressure on it.

  “Okay, so we're going to sit on this overnight. You need to let me know if you notice anything strange or out of the ordinary. In the morning we'll see how things are. I'll do some labs then to check if the new cells are attaching to yours or just floating in your blood stream,” he explained.

  “What difference does that make?” I asked, curious.

  “If the cells bind with yours they can mutate together making these powers, if you get any, permanent. If they're only floating along it might generate powers which could eventually wear off after a while, flushing from your system. It would be bad if it were to happen during an attack of some sort, so it's crucial we have the results before we confront Vance.”

  “Yes, definitely a good thing to know,” I replied, agreeing whole heartedly.

  Hex disposed of the items we'd used and we headed back out to the main living quarters.

  “So how did you discover you had these powers?”

  “It happened by accident, honestly,” he began. “My mom had always filled my head with stories of me having jinn blood, but I never really believed her. I couldn’t prove on any level the jinn actually existed. Everything written about them was handed down from myth or legend. My scientific mind refused to accept that. I still don’t, really. I can’t prove they exist, but I can prove I do have magic which resembles what they’re supposed to have. That along with my mother’s claims, I just sort of dubbed myself as jinn offspring.”

  “Does your mom know about your powers?”

  “No, she'd passed away before I discovered them. I was already living here when I had my first experience with it. I'd been working out in the training room and thought of something I needed to do in the lab, and poof! I was instantly there.” He laughed at the memory. “Of course I scared myself nearly to death! I couldn’t figure out what happened. I tried to do it again and I successfully rematerialized back to my previous location.

  “After that I began to experiment with distances and popping into people’s head. I discovered the speed just as a byproduct of the other experiments.”

  “What's the farthest distance you've ever skipped?” I asked, truly curious about his ability.

  “Somewhere in the vicinity of thirty feet,” he replied with a shrug. “Even though it isn’t a great distance, one can cover a lot of ground at thirty feet per second. I evaporated myself all the way to town one day. It took me a fraction of the time.” He laughed. “It was great!”

  “What does it feel like?” I was in awe.

  “For me, there's a brief sensation of being completely weightless for a moment and then I feel like myself again. My skin tingles a little after reforming, but it's not unpleasant, kind of like a cool breeze passing over.”

  “That’s interesting,” I replied, thinking a cool breeze would almost always be welcome in Louisiana.

  I sat down on my soft cot before turning to pull the light blanket up and Hex made his way over to his side of the room, flipping out the lights as he moved.

  “Hex?” I called out softly.

  “Yes?” he replied.

  “Thanks for everything you're doing for me.”

  He was silent for a moment before he spoke.

  “It's been my pleasure, Portia,” he said.

  I tossed restlessly on the cot during the middle of the night, having only slept for a couple of hours. I couldn’t get Vance out of my mind. My heart was breaking over our separation and the physical ache inside me seemed worse with each passing day since our previous little encounter.

  I knew the magical wards of Hex's kept Vance from using our physical pull to find my location, but I was certain he was still very near, searching.

  After I escaped, I'd been able to cover a fair distance from the shack where Cat held me. What I didn’t know was how far away from here Hex found me. Had I fallen close by? Was Vance still at that place? It hadn’t seemed much like an actual dwelling, but he could’ve been there when I'd seen him in the vision.

  I sighed, remembering the heated kiss from that night, letting my eyes close as I imagined myself lying in bed with him. I wished it could really be so. My heart felt lighter at the very thought, relaxing me. A curtain in the window of my imagination stirred as a cool breeze blew over my skin, causing a slight chill which gave me little goose bumps.

  Opening my eyes, looking next to me and I could even see him lying there. I sighed softly over the mental delusion I was creating, instinctively moving closer to the vision of his sleeping form, knowing the heat of his skin would warm mine. I reached an arm out over his bare chest and snuggled up against him. He felt so real.

  I realized at this point I must be dreaming now. I had a second of fear flash through me when I thought of my last dream encounter with him, but this was completely different.

  Confident in the training Hex had been giving me, I used the mental techniques to check for any intrusions. My mind was my own—there was no one in my head. I let out a breath of relief, which I hadn’t been aware of holding, and embraced my delusion once more.

  I could see Vance plainly, lying in front of me, relaxed in sleep just the way I remembered him being on many nights we'd lain like this.

  The dim moonlight washed over the angles of his features and I trembled slightly as I reached up to stroke those handsome masculine planes. If this was a dream, I didn’t ever want to wake up.

  The moment I touched him, his hand shot up grabbing my wrist in a painful grip. I gasped in surprise at the movement, his strong fingers locked a
round my arm, before glancing back to his face. His red glowing eyes were open, looking straight at me.

  “Portia?” his voice, thick with sleep, said in question.

  “Yes?” I replied breathlessly, hoping my dream wasn’t about to turn into a nightmare again.

  “How'd you get in here?” He narrowed his gaze at me.

  I was confused. “I … I don’t … I’m dreaming,” I said, not knowing how to answer him.

  “Dreaming?” He lifted his eyebrows slightly.

  I nodded and he released his grip a little. I reached up to stroke his cheek once more.

  He made a low sound in his throat and he moved so he was leaning over me. He looked at me for a moment, running his hand over the side of my face and into my hair. Then he dropped his head down and kissed me passionately, sliding his strong arms around my body.

  I almost sobbed, this dream felt so real. I wrapped my hands about his neck, tangling my fingers into his hair, trying to pull him even closer.

  Please don’t wake up! I thought to myself. I missed him so much that just being able to touch him like this was more than I could've ever hoped for.

  The heat of his body radiated through my clothing to my skin beneath, and his mouth left mine to trail kisses over my cheek and down my throat. Caught up in the moment, I moved my head naturally to the side to give him even better access.

  His teeth grazed me, suddenly lengthening into uneven fangs and I gasped, trying to push him away. He lifted from me slightly, his face contorting into his full demon features.

  “What're you doing?” I asked, shoving harder.

  He rolled off me and I threw the covers aside, jumping out of the bed. I backed away, up against the wall while he sat there staring at me.

  “Portia, come back,” he said, but his eyes watched me like a hunter stalking its prey.

  I couldn’t move for a moment choosing instead to glance around the room. It was plush, well furnished, and one I was completely unfamiliar with.

  “This is a dream … right?” I said looking back at him.

  He hesitated only a moment before answering. “Yes it is.” He tossed back the covers to expose the rest of his muscled frame, clad only in boxers. “What else could it be?”

  He left the bed, moving slowly toward me. The dream shifted again at this point and his face suddenly morphed into his normal features. His blue eyes sparkled in the moonlight.

  “It’s okay, baby,” he said softly. He continued to move slowly, noiselessly, toward me as if he were trying not to frighten me.

  Moving was not an option. I was paralyzed with fear. He appeared normal, but nothing else did. This was definitely a bizarre dream. I needed to wake myself up, but I couldn’t stand to leave him. Not yet. Not when he was looking like my glorious Vance. I knew our dreams together in the past had been very real in emotion and feeling. Maybe that was what this was.

  “Are you in my dream, for real?” I asked him when he moved up close, pinning my body up against the wall with his. His hands moved down my bare arms to lock his fingers together with mine.

  “You tell me,” he said, and he slowly moved his head back and forth so his lips were brushing lightly over mine. “It’s your dream.”

  I could hear my heart thundering in my ears, beating at a rapid pace while my mind was trying to wrap itself around the confusion.

  He continued brushing his lips lightly, sensually, back and forth across mine as he watched me with those bright, blue eyes. Releasing my hands, his fingers trailed their way back up over my arms and up my neck until his palms were placed on either side of my face.

  “Don’t fight it, Portia. You need me, and I need you,” he said, in a voice husky with desire right before he dipped his head in to kiss me. I didn’t fight him, giving in willingly to the kiss, but I didn’t close my eyes and neither did he.

  He moved his hands toward the back of my head, running his fingers through my disheveled hair, and I lifted my hands to rub over his sinewy shoulders.

  It was then I realized what was bothering me. I couldn’t hear his thoughts. He was blocking me! I slid my palms down and flattened them against his solid chest, pushing him away from me so I could look at him fully.

  “Why’re you blocking your thoughts from me?” I asked, searching his face.

  “Why are you blocking yours?” He lifted an eyebrow slightly.

  I was blocking him? Hex’s training was working!

  Suddenly everything clicked into place. “This isn’t a dream!” I cried out shoving him hard away, scurrying to another corner of the room. My eyes found the door but he was between me and it. I quickly looked around for something that could be a suitable weapon. He turned toward me and this time his face instantly flashed back to his demon features.

  “No, I don’t think this is a dream. Though I’m a little confused with how you ended up here in my bed,” he laughed slightly and his gaze traveled in a path from my head to my toes. “Not that I’m complaining. You're even hotter than I'd remembered, and that's saying something. How’d you get here, Portia?” he asked, stalking closer to me.

  I was backed into a corner, literally. There was nothing left to do except to fight him. Lifting my hand I shot an ice shard at him.

  He deflected it easily with a wave of his hand, shattering it into a billion pieces against the opposite wall. He jumped toward me with an animal-like grace, grabbing both of my wrists and pinning them to my sides.

  “Let me go!” I shouted and my body bucked beneath his, struggling to get away.

  “All in due time,” he replied, leaning in closer to me. “You don’t really want to leave, do you?” He looked at me with an intense stare. He leaned in like he was going to kiss me again, but I twisted my head away from him.

  “This works too.” He flicked his tongue out, licking slowly up the side of my face. I tried to twist farther away, but he just pushed me harder up against the wall.

  “Don’t fight it. You aren’t getting away from me this time.” His tone was harsh and his eyes flashed. “I've needed a taste of you for days now and I intend to have one.”

  “Vance, please don’t do this!” I begged, continuing to struggle. He released my hands, jerking me hard up against him. I started to push out, then suddenly found myself restrained by some type of magical force, completely unable to move.

  “There now. That’s better, isn’t it?”

  Tears began to roll down my face.

  “Don’t cry,” he added, almost compassionately. He reached up to brush my tears away with the pads of his thumbs. “I can’t help myself, you know.” He searched my eyes. “This is all your fault. Whenever I’m near you my blood feels like it starts to boil and all I can think about is how much I want you. And when you're gone, my insides feel like they’re slowly being eaten away by some unseen force. You've completely bewitched me.” He placed a small kiss against my cheek before he continued speaking, his lips still moving against my skin. “It’s all I can think about—the feel of you in my arms, your scent, and your taste.” His head slid lower as he slowly moved toward my neck.

  “I don’t hold the power you’re craving anymore,” I said quickly, in a last ditch attempt to stave him off.

  He lifted his head back to stare at my face. “You mean the Awakening?” he asked.

  “Yes. They removed it from me the same as you.” Not that it slowed him down much. He seemed as strong as ever. “My blood's not going to give you what you need,” I added, trying to reason with him.

  “Oh sweet Portia,” he said, reaching out to stroke my face, smiling a patronizing smile. “You never really understood me, did you?”

  “Wha … What do you mean?” I stammered slightly.

  He rubbed his palms down my arms, grabbing me by the hands and lifting them. He kissed each one before he moved his gaze back to me.

  “It was never about the power with you. It was all about the taste. From the very first time my teeth sank into you that night you rescued me from the demon
imposter, it was all about your taste. I felt your life force filling me up from the inside out and I loved being able to hold your very essence inside me.”

  I sucked in a breath sharply. “You remember,” I whispered and fresh tears sprang to my eyes.

  “Yes, Portia. I remember every second of our lives together.” He continued to stroke my face.

  “For how long?”

  He shrugged slightly. “Sometime after the Awakening was removed.”

  I was both elated and devastated. While I was thrilled he remembered his life, having his memories was not affecting him at all like I hoped it would.

  “Vance, if you remember then how could you possibly be involved in all of this? Listen to your heart and try to remember the way you used to feel!” I pleaded. “This isn’t you! Attacking innocent people and killing them was never your way! Please try to remember!”

  He shook his head. “No baby. All this time I've just been fighting my true nature. I can’t count the nights I used to lie awake trying to overcome the desire I had to taste you one more time. You’d lay in my arms so helpless and unaware while I ached for you. The thirst was overwhelming, but I managed to control it.” I felt a tremor move over his body. “Then the whole Awakening thing happened. Being able to drink from you was the best gift I’d ever been given. It was intoxicating. But then that stupid woman had to come along and mess everything up. I felt it when she sunk her teeth into your skin that night and I knew I would kill her for it. You’re mine! You belong to me!” he said in a threatening voice and he pushed closer to me. “No one else will ever drink from you again.”

  I began to shake uncontrollably. “Vance, I don’t have the Awakening anymore. If you try to drink from me like you used to, I'll die.”

  “I’m sorry.” He wrapped his arms around my body, closing every inch of distance between us. “You know, Mayla says if you die it will break this crazy connection between us and the pain will stop.”

  “She's lying to you!” I spat out. “They're trying to use you! If you kill me then all of the Awakening will be able to pass to you. It won’t release our bond at all; it'll only make it worse. You’ll live for centuries … alone with the pain.”