The Nightling: Darkness Within

by Danae Ayusso

  The same weird feeling from the cemetery was back but it was slightly different this time. It felt…

  Like home?

  A loud snap and crackle caused me to jump, startled, my head snapping towards the sound. Across from the bed the glow of soft golden light seemingly illuminated the room. The dancing white, pink and green flames in the hearth sent little rainbows across the black satin wallpaper covering the walls, the black velvet filigree pattern seemingly absorbing the playful light in a battle of wills, and it made me smile.

  I propped myself up on my elbows and looked around; I wasn’t in my bed at the shoddy studio apartment that I can barely afford the rent on. I was slightly disappointed, mainly because I’d have to return to the hole in the wall with the consignment store furniture when this was all over.

  The weirdest thing, of the very, very long list of weird things, was that I was slightly content for some reason.

  Usually when I woke from a dream after talking to Giovanni, I’d have to cry myself back to sleep or go dry-heave for twenty minutes in the bathroom.

  That time, I was okay. I felt as if he was still with me somehow and that maybe I wasn’t bitten by a vampire, buried alive, taken hostage and locked in a dungeon where I was bitten again and force-fed blood.

  If it was nothing more than a dream, why do I feel as if I’m wide-awake and should be bracing for when it hits the fan?

  That would have been a really good question to ponder, but instead I was laying there with a lopsided smile watching the black granite gargoyles carved into the mantle across the room hiss and snarl at me. The way the pink and green flames snapped and crackled inside the fireplace, how the reflection of light appeared to be licking at the burning black eyes of the gargoyles, amused me for some reason.

  I’m pretty sure I was stoned out of my mind.

  That could be the only explanation, right?

  A soft knock came at the door before it opened and a young woman entered carrying a tray with a tall crystal decanter on it with an empty glass. She closed the door behind her, and without a word from either of us, she walked across the room, sat the tray on the nightstand, and then went to the far wall and pulled the thick velvet curtains back. I hissed and cowered under the blankets as unnaturally bright white light poured in the tall windows.

  It didn’t burn… The sun hurts vampires, right? Wait, am I even a vampire?!?!

  I ran my tongue across the ridges of my teeth but nothing felt off or was sharp.

  That didn’t give confirmation.

  I slid my hand from under the covers and braced myself for the unimaginable pain that I thought should have accompanied being in the sun if I were a vampire.

  When the light didn’t burn or reduce me to ash, I poked my head from under the covers. My eyes eventually adjusted to the light from the moon shining through the aged leaded glass.

  Not the sun. Okay, that doesn’t answer the vampire question though.

  The young woman turned and headed for the doors.

  “Um… Thank you?” I called out.

  She stopped in mid-step and looked over her shoulder at me.

  The moment her eyes met mine, they widened.

  “I’m Shawn,” I offered, confused by her weird reaction.

  She continued to stand there gawking.

  I looked down to make sure I was clothed, and I was, but I wasn’t wearing anything that belonged to me.

  The silk two-piece set cost more than I’d make in a week at my crappy job.

  “Can you tell me where I am?” I asked the least important, but most obvious, question of the million that should have been running through my mind. “Or whose underwear I’m wearing?!”

  Absently she nodded.

  “Will you tell me?” I asked unsure when she didn’t say anything.

  Again, she nodded.

  Not entirely sure what to do or say, and effectively creeped out, I patted the spot on the side of the bed in case she was waiting for an invitation. She instantly turned on her heels and hurried over to the bed and obediently sat.

  The young woman was pretty, much prettier than I was, and it instantly made me hate her.

  When did I become so dark and petty?

  That wasn’t like me. Not that any of my strange behavior and actions had been the epitome of normal for me, but hating a complete stranger simply because she was prettier than me really wasn’t like me in the least.

  I was used to being the ugly duckling of the family. Mia madre was tall and beautiful, exotic looking with her strong Italian genetics, mio papà was handsome and brooding, again with strong Italian genetics. My brother was handsome and the center of attention and the life of every party. Even my terrifying grandmothers and great-grandmother stood out.

  What did I have?

  Besides my lashes and eyes, which were hereditary, my pale skin was freakishly light for being full Italian, and the freckles only Giovanni and I had, I was rather unremarkable.

  That was the least soul crushing way of putting it.

  I was plain and homely in every sense of the meaning; I knew it and had come to terms with it long ago.

  That’s why my sudden dark feelings and frame of mind was unnatural and unnerving…

  But not unnerving enough to pull me away from the thought of snapping the skinny, busty blonde’s neck the first chance I got.

  “What’s your name?” I asked, not really caring.

  All I kept picturing in my head was punching her in her perfectly sculpted nose, pulling her soft blonde hair, before sinking my teeth into her long, slender, tan neck.

  Not waiting for her to answer, I coaxed her head to the side, exposing her neck to me. My eyes moved over her smooth, tan skin, and I smiled when thin blue and red veins appeared beneath the mouthwatering canvas. Each place I caressed hummed with small prickly pulses and warmth, and the sweet ambrosia beneath called out to me.

  As if my body had a mind of its own, my gums started tingling and a hollow feel in my teeth was accompanied by what could only be described as thickening. My lips parted with longing and I started salivating.

  The siren-like call of what I was assuming was blood was driving me mad with hunger and longing, its whispered words seemingly caressed my burning soul and promised an offer of temporary release-

  ‘You are stronger than this.’

  “Yes, I am… I should be, but I’m really hungry,” I whined.

  ‘But of course.’

  “Jessica,” she whispered.

  “Huh?” I asked dumbfounded, her meek voice effectively pulling me from her neck, my teeth had already been pressing into the soft tan skin hiding my release beneath.

  They were so close to actually piercing her skin that it was almost funny.

  “My name, Mistress, is Jessica,” she said.

  “Oh,” I huffed, pulling away from her. “Shawn, not Mistress. Where am I?” I asked again, the siren-like call and the pangs of hunger it caused were all but forgotten.

  How can you feed off of something if you know its name? It was bad enough that it has a face but to actually know its name was just weird and borderline sociopathic behavior.

  “Home,” Jessica said, confusion more than apparent in her tone.

  “Uh no,” I corrected. “Home is the Glendale Apartments unit 142,” I said.

  She shook her head, her light blue eyes never leaving mine. “No, Mistress. This is your home now. Your belongings have been taken care of.”

  “Wait, what?” I demanded, and kicked out of the unbelievably soft bedding, and ignored the whimper building in my chest because I was no longer wrapped in their inviting, cottony embrace, then stormed across the cold wood floors to the doors. “Luka! Andrei!” I yelled, pulling one of the doors open and shrieked in surprise to find them both standing in the hallway, as if they expected this.

  Luka looked around me to the bed and the young woman sitting there looking at where I once sat. “Huh, well that was rather anticlimactic,” he complained, holding up a
folded hundred dollar bill and Andrei took it from him without a word and slipped it into his pocket.

  “Where in the heck am I?” I demanded, finally finding my voice.

  “Shh,” Luka hissed. “Here we like to use our inside voices,” he scolded. “Try it again,” he said, pulling the door closed.

  I screamed in frustration and darted across the room, moving faster than anything not born from the pits of sulfur and fire should ever move, and grabbed the decanter from the tray next to the bed and hurled it at the doors. The delicate crystal exploded on contact, painting the doors, wall and floor in the delicious, mouthwatering crimson nectar it once held.

  The doors flew open and Andrei stormed into the room, effortlessly floating over the bloody mess. “Now you listen here-” he hissed.

  “No, you listen here!” I shouted over him, and his eyes widened.

  Andrei obviously wasn’t used to being told no.

  “Where in the heck am I? Whose underwear am I wearing? No, better question, how did I get in them?! Where is my stuff?” I demanded. “Jessica said that you took my stuff from my apartment… Where is it? Better question, why? No, even better question, how in the heck did you even know where I lived?!” I shrieked before throwing the crystal stemware and tray at him.

  Andrei easily swatted them away before they could hit him in the face. “Are those really the most important questions that you want answered at this moment?” he countered.

  “Um, Brother?” Luka piped in from the doorway, raising his hand, sniffing wildly. “Did you neglect to notice that she somehow thralled the blood maiden… Wait, is this my goddamn AB Negative?” he choked then licked the blood dripping down the wall. “It is!” he whimpered. “You asshole! I want my money back,” he complained.

  Andrei looked from me to Jessica who was still sitting on the bed, absently staring at the spot where I once sat. “What did you do?” he whispered, and for the first time since meeting the controlling jerk, he appeared concerned.

  My mouth opened as if to answer him but I promptly closed it.

  He raised an eyebrow. “I will not ask again,” he warned.

  I folded my arms across my chest and jutted my chin out, taking a stand. “Go to Hades,” I snarled. “You don’t scare me,” I informed him, and it was only partially a lie.

  Andrei’s eyes widened and the corner of his mouth twitched in what I believed to be amusement.

  But with him it could be gas.

  Luka snorted. “Uh huh,” he scoffed.

  “Uh huh,” I agreed, never taking my eyes off of the beautiful amber-ribboned-cognac eyes of the man that expects me to jump when he tells me to simply because he tells me to.

  Andrei’s jaw clenched and his nostrils flared; a thrill ran through me.

  There is no way that I’m getting my way, it was too easy!

  And I was right.

  Way too easy.

  In a movement I wasn’t able to follow, I was thrown over his shoulder and he was heading from the room.

  “You are not scared of me… Us, whichever, then you do not need our protection,” he venomously informed me, heading down the hallway. “And since you obviously know it all, go back to your little hole in the wall, see if I care… Oh, that is right. You cannot, can you?”

  I didn’t know what that meant, but his tone made it more than clear that it would be a very painful lesson for me when I found out.

  Andrei continued to carry me through the church like that, one hand resting on my barely covered backside.

  “If you don’t move your hand, you’ll be getting a meeting with my foot to your balls, too!” I warned.

  “I look forward to your attempt,” Andrei said, sliding his hand down the back of my thigh, leaving it there.

  Okay, that is weird. He actually listened and respected my boundaries, for the most part… This guy is crazy! He has to be. And his annoying little brother is going to get his butt kicked from here to Usk and back when I get my hands on him.

  The shoulder I was slung over vibrated as he took the stairs.

  Luka followed with that ‘I told you so’ face that’s seemingly a constant on his slightly handsome face.

  My knee will wipe that smug smile off your face. Smirk all you want you annoying, Turd! You might be skinnier than I am but your brother is a lot hotter than you will ever be.

  The jerk carrying me softly snorted.

  When we reached the doors, Luka happily pulled them open.

  Andrei paused and looked from his brother to the open doors.

  “What?” Luka demanded. “You heard her, the annoying little girl doesn’t need us. Get rid of it!”

  “Don’t call me that!” I yelled, fighting Andrei in order to get at his annoying little brother.

  “Little Girl. Little Girl. Little Girl,” Luka taunted.

  “Don’t you ever call me that! Let go of me, now!”

  Andrei shook his head and loosened his hold on me.

  When he did, the fight I was putting up to get to his brother made contact where I wanted to make contact with Luka, and Andrei grunted when my foot connected between his legs.

  A menacing growl rolled from his chest before he tossed me outside into the cold night. I landed on the sidewalk on my backside, the skimpy silk panties offering very little protection as I bounced across the hard, dirty sidewalk.

  Owie. Owie. Owie. Road rash on my butt!

  “You seemingly know it all so enjoy all that this new world has to offer you, especially on a full moon,” Andrei venomously informed me, adjusting himself.

  Luka smiled wide before slamming the doors shut and locked them.

  “Ugh! I will enjoy it and I’m not coming back!” I shouted, getting to my feet, dusting myself off. “No, you know what?! I will be back you inhospitable, lying, murderous jerk!” I yelled and ended up screaming the last part of the hollow threat, causing those on the near deserted block to look at me.

  The unmistakable sound of metal bars sliding into place on the other side of the doors filled my ears.

  “Really?!” I yelled. “You think that’ll stop me? I’ll be back with the cops and a dozen priests. Heck, I’ll look up vampire hunters in the stupid Yellow Pages and bring them to your precious church! You will regret biting this little pale Italian,” I warned, my rarely heard accent flaring. “And you’ll really regret screwing up killing me!”

  “Whoa.”

  My head snapped to the side.

  It wasn’t possible.

  I was wide awake…

  It isn’t possible.

  I have to be dead or seeing things.

  There’s no way…

  He’s dead!

  “You have so many issues, Shawny. So many, many issues,” Giovanni informed me.

  How it was possible?

  I didn’t know.

  If it was because of being force fed vampire blood, thus turning me into one of the living undead, I was going to be so mad…

  Mainly mad because it would mean I’d have to thank Andrei for inadvertently giving me the greatest gift an unlucky girl like me could ask for; bringing her dead brother, in a matter of speaking, back and pulling him outside of her unconscious mind.

  “So many, many issues,” he said, shaking his head.

  I glared at him. “I’m the one that was thrown out on the streets in someone else’s underwear,” I pointed out.

  Giovanni nodded, pushing his hand through his curly hair. “True. I hate to admit it, but I’m a bit disturbed by that one, Sis.”

  “You and me both. How is this possible?” I asked. “Am I awake?” I asked, pinching myself. “Ow!”

  He gave me a look, the look I used to get from him growing up. “You are. It’s complicated, and something the vampire might have had a hand in. You… You’re causing a scene. This isn’t Usk. The cops around here will lock you up in a looney bin. Is that what you want?”

  “No,” I huffed and started down the sidewalk towards home. “How are you here? What did the
vampires do that caused this? I’m not complaining,” I assured him. “I miss you.”

  Giovanni sighed and walked with me. “I miss you, too. I promise you’re not dreaming, but you’re not awake either.”

  “How is that possible?” I asked the obvious.

  He shrugged. “I’m not sure. From what I understand, vampires are both alive and dead with a consciousness that is heightened compared to mortals.”

  I gave him a look. “I saw you before, but not like this,” I argued.

  “You saw me in dreams, in the unconscious mind,” he reminded me. “Those of light can see between the divide.”

  I groaned; that’s what bisnonna used to say.

  “I never wanted this for you, Passerotta, but some things you can’t prevent,” Giovanni said. “It’s like death. You can fight it, but you’ll ultimately lose. That’s the curse of all those that draw breath. Eventually that stolen breath will be taken back.”

  I nodded my understanding and agreement.

  “In retrospect, I might have overreacted a bit,” I conceded. “And I did kick him in the balls on accident… I’ll apologize to him for that, but not Luka. He can drop dead, again, for all I care.”

  He chuckled.

  “I shouldn’t have thrown a Luka style fit and threw blood at them. I shouldn’t have made a scene outside their church. And I suppose I shouldn’t have threatened to bring the cops back or vampire hunters if there are such a thing,” I said, making a face, and he nodded his agreement. “It was weird, Vanni. It felt like I had lost my mind and all control for a moment. I’ve never been like that before.”

  “Maybe you should be more often.”

  I gave him a look.

  “Don’t give me that look, Shawny. Mamma always gave me that look,” he complained.

  “I have a good reason to give it to you now, Vanni,” I pointed out. “You want me to invoke Bisnonna? Are you insane? As if being a vampire, if that’s what I am, wasn’t bad enough you want me to invoke that terrifying Italian?!” I asked.