by C C Morgen
“IN THE SHADOWS I’M STILL HERE
I DREAM OF YOU NEXT TO ME BEFORE YOU DISAPPEAR
NOW YOU ARE GONE…
YOU ARE GONE WITH ALL I HOLD DEAR”
—OCEAN PRINCESS
Crimson Black
A Dark Fantasy Romance
C. C. Morgen
Crimson Black Copyright © 2017 by C. C. Morgen. All Rights Reserved.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means including information storage and retrieval systems, without permission in writing from the author. The only exception is by a reviewer, who may quote short excerpts in a review.
Cover designed by C. C. Morgen
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
C. C. Morgen
Visit my website at www.ccmorgen.wordpress.com
To my best friend Nattalie—
Thank you for helping me get through this project. It was long hard road girlie, but you were there to motivate me and kept asking for those chapters every week until this story was completed. Thanks to you I found my long-lost dream. My fingers are no longer hiding under my ass girl. These dreams are going on paper
CONTENTS
CONTENTS
ALPHARD’S STORY
CHAPTER I
CHAPTER II
CHAPTER III
CHAPTER IV
CHAPTER V
CHAPTER VI
CHAPTER VII
CHAPTER VIII
CHAPTER IX
CHAPTER X
CHAPTER XI
CHAPTER XII
CHAPTER XIII
CHAPTER XIV
CHAPTER XV
AMPHIS STORY
CHAPTER XVI
CHAPTER XVII
CHAPTER XVIII
CHAPTER XIX
CHAPTER XX
CHAPTER XXI
CHAPTER XXII
CHAPTER XXIII
CHAPTER XXIV
CHAPTER XXV
AUTHOR NOTE
ALPHARD’S STORY
FOREVER BEYOND REGRET I sit here on this dark throne imprisoned in my deepest, darkest of thoughts. I imagine the life I’ve lived has become my source of regret and torment. It’s not yet my burden to bear, yet being here has become my place of solace with the truth of what I am.
This seat is heavy with tragedy. The history of betrayal my family endured remains in the cracks of the gilded mold. I can no longer hide the feeling in my heart, the source of all my misfortune. It has been centuries since I last felt human before being reborn into a Harpy.
This immense pain in my chest aches as if I’m being squeezed by sadness to the point of shattering like glass. It continued to rip me apart as the past rushed in all at once, haunting the corners of my memory. Remembering was a curse and my enemy. As much as I begged the ninth heavens, my memories would not re-write themselves. This was my personal hell. Every vivid moment of the first blood I tasted from my victims entered my mind and etched its grievance on my awakened heart.
Although nothing ached more than my failure as a mother. My heart mourns every second, replaying my daughter’s recent death in my mind. Re-living the misery of watching her disintegrate before my eyes. If only I hadn't fallen so deep into the pit of darkness, her life would have been much different. Now there’s only regret. She is gone and now I’m without cause in this evolving modern world. All I’ve experienced has molded me by the pure rage that my legacy created as the Dark Princess of the three clans.
My mother stands in the distance grieving at the sight of me. The breath I take is shakened, the tears that swell my eyes; it’s all overwhelming. I’ve become speechless, yet I’m filled with the anger of a mother scorned with bad luck. It has cursed me with losing everything that was once so precious.
What have I done to deserve such a cruel fate? I wish things would have happened differently, yet I contradict myself with the good memories far beyond my reach and the love I felt before becoming the heir.
I imagine a large mirror before my eyes. Its frame molded with the skulls of my victims painted in black as my soul. The image in the mirror reflected my innocence as a child before being consumed by the darkness which was destined…
CHAPTER I
Remembrance
THINKING BACK OVER THREE THOUSAND YEARS AGO, to the days of my youth. My birth into this world was a blessed moment for my mother Celaeno. Even though she was the darkest soul among her other siblings, she had long wished to have an heir to succeed the throne and to share that special bond between mother and child. She envied others who shared a connection to their kin; actually, that wasn’t the only thing she envied.
It was the desire for a love she could never feel again; she allowed her heart to blacken from the light that filled the world with joy, happiness, and love. By becoming a Harpy and the Queen of the three clans, she could never genuinely love again in her lifetime. Becoming a Harpy was the one sacrifice she had to make to gain a power so immense it was comparable to a God’s. That, and immortality. The price to pay was to let go of love and become consumed by the hate and darkness that would inevitably take its place.
My mother and her two sisters’, Aello and Ocypete, made the sacrifice long ago to Hades, the God of the Underworld. It granted them the title, Angels of Darkness, and became tormentors of the Gods. They saw them as seductive creatures and appeared as angels with beautiful silk crimson black wings that allured and deceived their victims. They brought misery and suffering to the Gods, Demigods, Fae, Demons and the mundane. Their number of victims rose throughout many of the dimensional realms based on a binding contract.
Vengeful beings of all kinds would often seek the help of a Harpy to fulfill their deepest or darkest desires. They made contracts with them to achieve unspeakable acts that few would have the courage to follow through on. Some were acts of revenge, others were just to fulfil simple pleasures, such as freedom. When the agreement was proclaimed in blood and oath, it was the duty of the Harpy no matter the cause to succeed that contract. In return, many were in their debt until it was settled; most of the time it was just a favor that needed to be satisfied when a Harpy came to collect. If they refused to give, their lives were taken along with everything they loved with no sympathy. It was a simple price for a justified agreement of getting what they wanted. However, due to my mother’s fierce reputation, no one ever dared to deny payment for a contract.
But even with all the power and immortality, loneliness was the hardest to endure. Hades granted my mother and her sisters’ the privilege to have children, but for the sole purpose of carrying along the bloodline. They would have to transition to become a Harpy. Their kin had to accept the same sacrifice to become members of the clan.
Although, my mother withheld from having children for many ages. Her role as Queen was a huge responsibility to keep the clans united within a rule. This was to maintain harmony and not have rogue Harpys wreaking havoc against the other realms. It was her duty as Queen to keep them in line, so there was no time to bear children. There was just too much at stake when she shouldered that much responsibility.
Her sisters had multiplied their clan, giving birth to countless children, building an army that was unstoppable and deadly. They all vigorously trained to be the head of their families. They had their strength in numbers to conspire to take the throne for themselves. This left my mother insecure and worried about my life among the clan. When she chose after a while to conceive me in secrecy that is.
My mother, the Dark Queen, chose not to keep me in her kingdom. After my
birth she sent me to the mundane world to live with a family in the northern region among the Norse clan. Where they gathered in the cold mountains of a vast green forest where villages below the summit touched the ocean and ice.
I remembered the odor of burning coal from the fire my brother Thor used to mold weapons and hammered iron next to our small isolated hut. He worked as a blacksmith and became known for wielding a large heavy hammer that only his strength could carry. His green eyes expressed how gentle he was despite to his muscular build. He was once a warrior that fought alongside his father before he became a blacksmith and lived a peaceful life here in the mountains with his family.
My new mother, Frigga, was a strong woman against enemies but had a gentle soul for children. She had the soul of a wise woman which reflected in her dark eyes. She was our teacher when we learned about the different realms and the creatures that roamed the forest, ocean, and the Underworld. Her love for knowledge was her livelihood, and her strength was her love for us. She could not have children of her own. Thor, Loki, and I were all fostered in her care and protection, but we all saw her as our mother, regardless.
Loki was always the trickster of the family; shape-shifting into a creature or as a villager he’d memorize during our visits to deliver Thor’s weapons. We traded for supplies we could not find in the cold mountains. His thick black hair and dark eyes amplified his devious nature from the moment he came into this world. His passion was for jokes, tricks, and deception, which he thrived on to make life more interesting by his standards. We could never tell the difference when he shape-shifted into a character since he had the ability to connect with the mind and soul of the person or creature he impersonated. That was his power as a Demigod. It was the gift to create full authenticity of his character. Unfortunately, it annoyed the rest of us who wanted to have a peaceful living at home.
We lived a quiet life in the forest near a peak that enclosed us in isolation from the unwanted eyes of the outside world. The morning mist was like the fresh scent of clouds that rolled over the mountain. I enjoyed the silence while it lasted until the age of my sixth birthday when I was disturbed by whispering voices entering my mind. The whispers were from the trees of the forest. It gusted in through the window like the wind, with several voices trying to talk all at once. The trees echoed with fast whispers that became high pitched. My ears had become overwhelmed with sounds. The forest spoke so loudly it was earsplitting.
The words were unclear in my mind, so I didn't understand what they were saying at first. I didn’t know what was happening. All I felt was the noise penetrating my eardrums, making the pain unbearable. I ran outside from my bed into the snow and dropped to my knees in the ice, sending chills up my body. I held my hands tight against my ears trying to block the sounds rushing in. The voices became louder and louder until I screamed for them to stop.
My brother Thor ran from the shop and lifted me into his arms, holding me tight as I cried. Frigga hurried over. I'd see her lips move, but I couldn’t hear what she was saying over the loud voices of the woods. My vision faded and soon enough I fell into a deep sleep.
Frigga had enchanted my ears, so the sounds would sooth in and not all at once. It took a little for me to hear my brothers’ voices again and my mother’s sweet gentle words that filled my heart with love. Frigga explained the gift that had awakened inside me in a way a child would understand. I had the ability to hear the voices of nature. I understood animals of all kinds, trees, flowers, insects, and all Fae no matter the language spoken, I would understand. The voices of entities were now clear words in my mind. I understood creatures and Gods, and I learned to connect with them and hear them without error.
It was a difficult gift to control throughout my childhood, but in time I heard things without a problem, and I focused my attention on what I wanted to listen to from my surroundings. Eventually, I spoke to everything that spoke and they could understand me as well.
My education from Frigga opened my eyes to the magical world and all the creatures that carried many types of gifts. Some were darker in nature than others such as Vampires, Werewolves, the distinct Demon creatures that roamed the Underworld, and Harpys. She taught me about the nine realms of existence. Where we existed was known as the third realm of the mundane which always aged in time. Many higher dimensional beings entered this realm to sway the scales of mortals.
The fourth was time, where past, present, and future was one. Some had access to the fourth realm which meant they could have unlimited entry to various times in the mundane world simultaneously. Frigga explained mortals known as seers linked their mind to the fourth realm abilities and predicted the future.
The fifth realm and up were higher beings that didn’t exist in time and were granted unlimited life, extraordinary gifts, and power. Frigga, Thor, Loki, were from the fifth realm of the Gods and Demigods. Then I learned about the ninth realm which our kind called it the ninth heaven; the highest reach to the border of heaven itself where all is divine. Beings aware of the realms always thanked the ninth heavens for the things they experience and receive in their life.
When I became eight years of age that’s when I met my trusted friends. I remembered it as clear as day how we’d met so long ago. My gift had heightened, and I controlled it better without the use of Frigga’s enchantment.
I discovered one day, while strolling through the wilderness for mushrooms for the evening soup, I heard voices in the distance. As I listened-in close to the sound and tone of the words, I noticed it wasn’t my native tongue. How they spoke, and their accents had an earthy dialect that reminded me of what my mother taught about Fae. They were close by, so I crept to see who they were. It was two boys near a stream, sitting and laughing to jokes I didn't understand from afar. When my eyes caught a better gaze, I noticed one had long dark silky hair that shined in the sunlight. He had it tied up with some silver-like bracelet he used to keep his hair in a ponytail. His skin almost pale as winter snow, wearing a black leather attire that contrasted with his complexion, making him seem lifeless with his vest, slacks and boots that shimmered in the light with a silver lining in the seams. The other boy was in plain slacks exposing his chest in the sun. His amber hair was like fire with intense energy in his gaze as they sat enjoying the warmth of the summer’s day.
I stepped on a twig by accident, startling them from their fun. They rushed to their feet pulling out their knives ready to attack, hunting with their eyes for any sight of threat. My mind raced, and I had to think about what to do next. I didn’t want to make the situation worse, but I had to do something before they saw me as an enemy. Then after breathing deep for courage I stepped into sight. I the pale dark-haired boy and noticed his pointed ears and his golden eyes that shimmered like diamonds. He was a Dark Elf based on what my mother described on the Fae that lived in the forest here. The other boy had beautiful deep gray eyes that appeared to glow as if he were a predator gazing at a prey.
They both captivated me, so I smiled and apologized for the intrusion. “I’m sorry for disturbing you.”
They cocked their heads looking at me.
“We can understand you!” The Dark Elf’s eyes widened with surprise. “Can you understand us?”
“Yes. I can understand you,” I nodded my head. “Excuse my intrusion, but I heard you two talking from afar.” I glanced at them both. “My home is nearby and was just picking mushrooms. I do apologize again from startling you.”
The other boy had a grin on his face “You didn’t startle us” He played it off and holstered his knife behind his back. “You understand us? How? You look human.”
The Dark Elf boy came closer and looked deep into my eyes as if he was peering into my soul with his. “She is not mundane… She’s something of a mix, but not human.” He dropped on one knee and he placed his right hand over his heart. “I am Alucard, milady, from the Dark Elf clan, son of the general to the Dark Elf army.” He greeted me in the traditional Elven way as a sign of respect. Aft
er that he was back on his feet and glanced at his friend. “The wolf boy over there is Edon.”
“I’m the first son of the supreme alpha of the Werewolves.” Edon stated with pride.
“How wonderful… To meet the prince of the wolves,” I gave him more pride to his large ego. “It’s a pleasure to meet you both. I’m Alphard. To explain how I can understand you and how you can understand me is the ability I’ve been gifted with. I can hear nature.”
“That’s a rare gift.” Alucard pointed out. “I’ve never known of someone with such a gift before, not unless you are one of the Gods.”
“Yes, it is even rare among the packs to learn of such a gift,” said Edon.
“Well, I can assure you, I am not a God.” I exposed the burns on my arms from being too close to the fire in Thor’s shop. “I burn and bleed just like any other mortal. What I am… I’m not sure. My mother won’t say who I am and what I am until I’m of age. I know I have this gift.”
“How old are you?” Edon came closer like he was more secure knowing I wasn’t human.
“I’m eight years of age.”
“I’m ten,” Alucard spoke out.
“I’m the same," Edon sniffed my hair. “You are from that family of Demigods that lives away from the village. My father told me we have a treaty with the Norse Goddess to let them live in peace within this forest.
“My clan made the same treaty to ensure your family’s’ safe passage within the Dark Elf territory,” Alucard stated. “It must be lonely to be in such isolation.”
“Oh no! I have my brothers and I love being this deep in the forest.” I whistled into the wind that carried like an echo through the leaves of the trees.
Suddenly, the wind blew a gust to answer my call. The birds flew from their nest circulating around us and the Fairies appeared from hiding in the branches of the trees and floated around me with illuminating colors of blue, green, and yellow. They lit up brightly around me and landed on my shoulders. The boys gazed at me with amazement as if I fascinated them at that moment. “Most of the creatures here have become my friends, so I’m never lonely.”
