Corin & Angelique (After the Fall of Night)

by Sherri Claytor

  “No harm done.” Angelique looked into his dark eyes, not entirely sure of his sincerity. She didn’t mention how irritated Tomes had been, thinking he had purposely stood them up. “You have our number. Just give Tomes a call when you’re ready to reschedule. He’s flexible. Or, if you’re out our way, you’re welcome to stop by the farm. I can’t guarantee you’ll catch him home without a call, though. He comes and goes a lot.”

  “I have a rather unusual schedule myself,” he replied. “So, are you here alone?”

  “No, my date is getting tickets. He’ll be back in a minute.” She motioned toward the booth, bringing her hand back to her nose as a rancid smell floated her way.

  Thinking that Louis Gomez might be giving off the odor, and not wanting to offend him, she pretended to scratch an itch before lowering her hand. Her gaze then drifted past him to a trashcan sitting a few feet away. She supposed the smell could be emanating from there.

  “Since you’re in good hands, I’ll be going. And I’ll be sure to get in touch with your brother real soon,” he told her. “Have a great evening.”

  Angelique observed his odd manner of walking as he left—practically slinking. Watching as he gradually blended in with the crowd around him and faded out of sight, she couldn’t help thinking him a phantom…not a man at all.

  * * * *

  “Angelique.” The sound of Corin’s voice caused her to jump. “Is something wrong?”

  “No. At least…I don’t think so,” she responded. “It’s strange…I just saw a man I met last night—Louis Gomez. He had expressed an interest in hiring Tomes. He was just here. We talked while you were getting the tickets.”

  Corin turned and scoured the area for any sign of the brute. The fact that the nightwalker had dared to make contact with her yet again vexed him to no end. It was apparent that the immortal knew of his affection for Angelique and that made the rival a real threat to her.

  “Tomes told me about him. What did he want?” Corin took a seat next to her.

  “He apologized for missing his appointment this morning. And I even hate to say this, because I know it’s going to sound crazy, but I’d swear he just disappeared…literally.”

  “I imagine you lost sight of him in the crowd. There are a lot of people here tonight.” Corin couldn’t tell her she was right, and that the nightwalker had probably dissipated into vapor. “Did he say anything else?”

  “Only that he’s still interested in hiring Tomes. I told him he could call to reschedule or just stop by the farm if he happened to be out our way.”

  “You gave him an open invitation?”

  “I’m not interested in the man, Corin. I’m just trying to ensure some work for Tomes. “The farm hasn’t been too productive as of late and Tomes needs the job.”

  “I had no idea. If you need—”

  “We’ll get by. We always do.”

  “I just want you to be careful when it comes to dealing with this guy. I don’t trust him.”

  “You sound like Tomes. I think you two have been spending way too much time together. Although…even I have to admit something peculiar about him.”

  “I want you to promise that you’ll call right away if he does happen to show up at the farm.”

  “I’ve already made that promise to Tomes. But should he come around, I’ll call one of you. Odds are I’ll probably reach you both with one call anyway. You’re practically joined at the hip lately.”

  “He is working for me,” Corin reminded her.

  “Don’t get me wrong, I’m glad he’s doing something, keeping busy. It’s good for him. And about Mr. Gomez, why don’t we put him, and everything else, out of our minds, and just have some fun. At least for tonight.” She took Corin’s hand and pulled him up. “The Ferris wheel awaits.”

  Getting in line, Corin kept an ever-watchful eye out for the nightwalker. He knew the fiend was there somewhere, watching their every move, no doubt following him since sundown. The clever creature spelt danger with a capital “D.”

  When they got on the ride and reached the top of the first turn, the immortal suddenly revealed himself in the crowd below, knowing Corin couldn’t do anything while trapped in the air with Angelique. And just as he’d suspected, the newcomer was the foreigner he’d met at Micky Joe’s Bar and Grill, only now he wore a long coat, showy, something Corin would have remembered.

  You were playing me.

  The immortal could have disguised himself, but he didn’t. It was obvious he wanted Corin to know who he was, instigating another challenge.

  Their eyes locked and time slowed to a crawl. A sneer contorted the nightwalker’s face while people moved around him in rapid time.

  “You’re not scared of heights are you?” Angelique asked.

  “No, I’m fine.” Corin pulled his eyes away from his adversary to respond. But when he looked back, his opponent had vanished.

  Where are you?

  Exiting the ride, Corin stayed mindful of their surroundings as they rejoined the crowd, spending the next two hours hopping from attraction to attraction. Claiming to have a worrisome knee, he avoided the funhouses and the many mirrors accompanying them, knowing that it might prove difficult to explain why he cast no reflection. Finally, with their tickets used up and satisfied that they’d seen everything, they headed for the exit. But just before reaching the gate, Angelique spotted a fortune-teller tent set back off the fairway, half-hidden in the background.

  “Look.” She pointed, insistent on having her fortune read.

  Corin, not caring for psychics, tried to persuade her otherwise, but she was determined. He followed her inside. It was quiet with no other fairgoers present. The interior, though open, was muffled and dim. He rotated a shoulder, feeling oppressed, as if someone had suddenly strapped a weight to his back. His gaze, drawn to the back of the tent, settled on a woman sitting at a small, round table. Half-shadowed, she stared their way. Her hair, long and white, was not synonymous with her visible age of no more than forty.

  “I am Madam Monicca,” she announced. “I am a seer. You have come for a reading?”

  The woman peered at Corin causing him to shift with unease. Her chilling eyes contained very little color, the lightest blue he’d ever seen. Her blank expression made him wonder if she saw beyond his façade—knew he wasn’t mortal, but rather, the living dead.

  * * * *

  “I would like a reading,” Angelique told the fortuneteller, noticing how the woman was focused on Corin. “And my friend as well.”

  Madam Monicca transferred her attention to Angelique. “I will read only you. I have nothing for your friend.” She offered no explanation.

  “What?” Angelique started to protest, but Corin stopped her.

  “It’s okay. I have no interest in this nonsense. You go ahead and I’ll wait outside.” He backed out of the tent, leaving Angelique alone with the fortuneteller.

  Uncomfortable with the negative atmosphere, Angelique muttered that she’d changed her mind and started to follow, but Madam Monicca called to her, prompting her to turn back.

  “Wait! I do have a reading for you.”

  “No thanks. I told you, I’ve changed my mind.”

  “There will be no charge,” she coaxed, stepping out from behind the table and moving her way. “Listen to me, child, I see things you cannot.” She now stood mere inches from her. “Let me see your hand,” the woman requested.

  Angelique, though mesmerized, wasn’t cooperating, prompting Madam Monicca to reach down and forcibly seize her right hand regardless of her unwillingness.

  “No charge,” she said again. Turning Angelique’s palm face-up, she traced the lines with her two middle fingers. “Yes. This is what I sensed. You are being drawn into a world of eternal darkness. I see you standing on the brink of a fall. Very soon you will be forced to choose between the day and the night.”

  “What?” Angelique wished she’d listened to Corin and bypassed the tent altogether. Attempting to pull her han
d away, the woman tightened her grip.

  “You may be fated, but a soul thrives within you, so hope remains. You walk with danger, but you will be given a choice. Just remember, my dear, that once lost, the light can never be rekindled. When the darkness has fully claimed you, it will be for all time. The day will become a thing of the past and you will be left to walk forever in the night.”

  With that eerily spoken warning, Angelique jerked her hand away and rushed out of the tent. Spotting Corin leaning against a nearby fence, she hurried over to him, and clutched his arm.

  “You’re upset. What happened?”

  “I’m not sure what to make of it. I tried to leave right after you did, but the fortuneteller stopped me, saying she’d do my reading for free. The next thing I knew, she was standing right in front of me. She grabbed my hand, babbling absurd gibberish, giving me the creeps.”

  Corin looked back at the tent. The fortuneteller stood in the entrance, staring their way.

  “She said something about the darkness claiming me, and having to choose between the day and the night. It was disturbing,” she went on, unnerved by the ordeal.

  Corin ushered her toward the gate. “I’m sure it’s all just part of her act. Don’t let this foolishness ruin your night.”

  “If that’s her act, I’d recommend a new one, effective immediately. It’s terrible to go in thinking you’ll get a fun, entertaining reading, only to have something so disturbing thrown at you. I just hope it doesn’t give me nightmares tonight.”

  Already a restless sleeper, that was the last thing she needed. Shuddering, she wasn’t certain what Madam Monicca had intended, but after tonight, there would be no more fortunetellers in her future. That she was certain of.

  * * * *

  Back inside the tent, Madam Monicca took a seat at the table, grabbed her deck of cards, and did a reading while traces of the girl’s essence were still fresh.

  She laid several cards out on the table, drawing back at the horror they revealed. It was even worse than she’d feared. The girl was being overtaken by darkness, but in that world of eternal night lurked not only one monster, but two.

  “God help this child.”

  With eyes fixed on the cards, she fell into a trance-like state, overcome by a vision. Two beasts faced off in a great hall adorned with precious metals and fine jewels, one light in color, and the other dark. The hands and mouth of the dark monster, smeared with blood, revealed him a savage killer. Sharing a connection with him, Madam Monicca could taste the blood in her own mouth and feel his insatiable thirst for more.

  Monstrous roars echoed as the two beasts turned on each other, engaging in a fierce battle. During this time, a young, dark-haired woman appeared in the hall, dressed in a pure white gown, a representation of innocence walking blindly into the midst of evil.

  The monsters ceased fighting upon sight of her and backed away, allowing her free passage between them. Each beast crouched low to the ground in the manner of bowing to royalty. But then, with no rhyme or reason, their actions suddenly changed, and they turned into hunters stalking prey. Much like a naïve lamb wandering through the blood-strewn gate of a slaughterhouse, she was heedless of the danger. However, before either had a chance to lunge, an apparition of a large wolf appeared at her side, protecting her from attack.

  “I am not afraid,” the young woman told the apparition, placing her right hand on its back and fading away with the phantom.

  The hall grew dark—a pit of doom. The monsters bellowed and resumed their fight, the clamor so intense that the structure fissured, raining down dust and stone in its collapse. Growing fainter and fainter, the scene then faded, and the vision ended.

  Madam Monicca dropped her head on the table, physically and mentally drained by the episode. She hated the unsettling trepidation that always followed such prognostic visions, but it was a gift she’d been born with and not something she could switch off at will.

  “Dear child, I must find you…warn you of the dark one I’ve just foreseen.”

  The sound of a customer walking in prompted her to lift her head. Her pale-colored eyes grew wide, falling on the tall, dark form of a man coming toward her. Only this was no ordinary man.

  “The dark monster,” the words escaping on a whisper.

  “You see too much, witch.”

  Madam Monicca released one horrifying shriek before he reached her, and then all grew silent. Dead silent.

  CHAPTER TWELVE

  The Staker

  “I’m sure this could come in handy.” Gordy turned the contraption over to Tomes. “A reengineered, battery-operated nail gun, along with wooden nails custom made from blackthorn, just as you specified. Now, be serious, what in the world do you plan on doing with the thing?”

  “Believe me, it’s better you don’t know.”

  “You’re probably right, especially if it’s something illegal. But, I’m paid, so it’s all good. Be careful though, that thing has some real force behind it. The way it fires them nails out, they’d cut right through someone.”

  “That’s what I’m counting on.” Tomes was even more pleased with the item after hearing it had the potential to be lethal. “How many nails will it hold at a time?”

  “It’ll hold eight.”

  “You do fine work, Gordy. Real fine work. When can you have some more of these blackthorn nails ready for me?”

  “You have fifty there.”

  “Well, I’m going to need another fifty,” Tomes informed him.

  “I’ll see what I can do. I may have enough blackthorn left to do one more batch. Just keep in mind, this stuff isn’t easy to come by, so you’d best not waste ‘em.”

  “I hear you. And the second batch, you think you can have them ready by tomorrow?”

  “Jeez, Tomes, nothing like laying the pressure on,” Gordy griped. “But if it can’t wait, I guess I can have Carl work on it. He’s pretty good with the machine.”

  “Great.” Tomes acted as if his demands were no bother at all. Of course, he and Gordy had been friends for a long time—since they were children.

  “I’ve been meaning to tell you how sorry I am about missing Louisa’s funeral. It couldn’t be helped. Are you holding up okay?”

  “The best any man could after such a blow. I have Angelique, and the farm.”

  “Tell your sister hi for me.”

  “I’ll do that.” Tomes turned when the bell on the door alerted them of a customer. “I’ll let you get back to work.”

  “Drop by tomorrow, sometime after two. The nails should be ready.”

  “Thanks for doing this, Gordy.”

  The man pretended to be shocked by his gratitude.

  “Very funny.” Tomes waved him off, heading out with his new weapon in hand.

  Since he and Corin had made no headway in locating the nightwalker’s lair, catching the immortal unaware in a daytime staking wasn’t likely. But with armament, he now had the means to face the monster at night, and maybe even live through it to see another day. The nails wouldn’t kill him, but Tomes was optimistic, anticipating the blackthorn would weaken him. He could then finish the newcomer off by the most error-proof means of death for a nightwalker—decapitation. So, with this devil it would be off with his head!

  Following Louisa’s murder, Tomes had grown obsessed with researching nightwalkers. He’d spent hours on end roaming the Internet, discovering all he could about the creatures. He never could have imagined how many types and races of vampires actually existed in the world. Still, regardless of race, status, or power, when it came right down to it, they were all nothing more than soulless, blood-sucking monsters.

  The information he’d dug up from the far reaches of the World Wide Web, and a few other unexpected places, he’d compiled in a green expandable folder. He kept it tucked away in the bottom drawer of his desk, pulling it out every available chance in his preoccupation with the material. Educating himself—learning the nightwalkers strengths and weaknesses—would g
ive him a greater chance of success when it came time to face the nightwalker.

  Tomes had been lucky enough to make contact with a professor of mythology, Dr. Nathanial Roberts, one night while checking out a new chat room he'd come across. He was unquestionably a believer in vampires and all things paranormal. There was something in his manner of speech that had led Tomes to trust him. He seemed to possess first-hand knowledge of the creatures.

  Discovering the professor lived less than three hours from Hixton, Tomes had set up a meeting, glad that the many hours he’d spent hunched behind his eye-boggling seventeen-inch screen had finally paid off. He needed guidance in the matter of facing his vampire foe, and Dr. Roberts was just the expert to give it.

  Tomes’s mental image of the man was spot on. Of later years, with bushy white hair, a neatly trimmed beard, and black wire-framed glasses resting midpoint on a slender nose, the professor invited him to have a seat at a table in the dining room. The doctor passed along some very insightful information during their lengthy, in-depth conversation regarding walkers of the night. They’d put their heads together and voilà, a new weapon was born—a device Tomes decided to call the “staker.” Luckily, Tomes had the means to make it happen—Gordy.

  After leaving the shop, Tomes headed to von Vadim Estate to wait for Corin’s return. He parked in the garage, at the back of the mansion, not wanting Angelique to know he was there when she dropped Corin off. With the way things were progressing, he wanted to keep her out of the loop, and hopefully, safe.

  Having some time to spare, and eager to test the staker’s performance, he set up a target outside the lanai using an old sheet of plywood he’d found in the garage. He loaded the weapon with eight nails and fired them off, surprising himself by the accuracy of his aim.

  “Wow.” He whistled. Gordy was right—the gun had some force behind it, completely slicing through the quarter inch panel from twenty feet away.

  He had just reloaded when the sound of a vehicle approaching captured his attention. Recognizing the distinct whine of the engine, he knew it was Angelique’s car. And quickly slipping around the side of the house to spy, he watched, unseen, from the shadows.