A Toiling Darkness

by Jaliza Burwell

“Used to what?” I wanted to watch him squirm a little. Beings were created in different ways. The ‘natural, born this way’ way. The ‘this is my fate’ way. And my personal favorite, the ‘I’ve been cursed’ way.

  He shifted from foot to foot, not disappointing me. He was embarrassed. “This world.”

  I flipped through all the possibilities of his existence and narrowed it down to just one. He was still in human form, there was energy but he most likely couldn’t cast any magic even with an amulet to draw his energy out, he wasn’t of the night, the time of day probably did nothing to restrict him. And he knows jack-shit about this world, so it wasn’t like he grew up as a hunter or anything. He was just a normal human up until very recently. A couple of weeks tops, I think. An answer dawned on me and I didn’t want it to be true. I really didn’t want it to be.

  I looked him over once again, but from a different perspective. He was still weak, but he was growing every second. His strength was more than just physical. It was deep in there. I focused so hard I nearly missed the small sound. Just a tiny little clanking noise. Chains. A sound I only heard once before. Goosebumps broke across my arms.

  “You used to be human.” I forced a smile as it all dawned on me. Figuring out just what he was, how could I not laugh? So I laughed just a little bit. It sounded nervous to me, but apparently he thought I was teasing him or something. If only he knew. I felt my mask wrap itself around my face, protecting my emotions and hiding all my thoughts. It was instant. I went from laughing, with a small smile on my lips to an empty face, devoid of everything. The man blinked in a flurry of confusion at my sudden change. “Wow, you’re a very rare kind. How could I not tell?”

  “Tell what?”

  “It’s been a while…I nearly forgot about your kind.” I ignored his question, trying to stay grounded in the present and not the past that was trying to creep up on me. He flinched at the words.

  I stepped towards him and when he didn’t move, walked up to him and reached out, laying my hand flatly against his chest. The response from inside him drew an inaudible sigh from me. It was there—a slight brush of his soul. There were chains wrapped around the poor thing, tethering it to his body. The soul was slumped over right now but when it felt me, it began to stir, recognizing something. I could sense its stare as it blinked awake and took notice of my presence. Then the soul jerked completely awake, the chains clanging from the abrupt movement. The noise was loud but only I could hear it. I don’t even think the stranger heard it. Maybe felt it. No, no maybe about it. He felt it alright. Every movement his soul made was probably tearing him apart inside.

  I hope someone, somewhere, shreds your false immortality from you.

  I remember some woman saying that a long time ago. I only smiled at her and said if they could kill me, I would welcome them with open arms. Now I was staring at a slauve created just for me. Someone, somewhere really wanted me dead.

  Was this someone’s idea of a joke?

  This man was a slauve, rare beings who died, their souls tied to their bodies until they achieved what their master wanted. Only higher beings could create one and even then, only a select few. It takes too much life force and magic to succeed.

  And a slauve was incapable of killing me. I’ve already established that two hundred years ago. They just didn’t have the juice for it. As far as I was concerned, no one had the juice to kill me.

  The slauve flinched as if something hurt him. I smiled, it coming out feeling fake. “And you died very recently. Who did you piss off?”

  He backed off, out of reach, his face constructing itself into a mask. He swallowed and looked back down at the body. I carefully kept my own face empty of any emotions. The slauve didn’t really understand his situation yet. He was only a fledgling flopping around, learning the ropes still. If he did understand everything about who he became, then he would know to listen to his soul as it screamed and snarled at me, yelling for my death. This slauve was created just for me.

  How…interesting.

  “So you’re not really twelve are you?” he asked.

  I shook my head. “No, I’m not.”

  “What are you?” He glanced at the body and back at me.

  “I’m not a being of the night either if that is what you’re thinking.”

  Beings of the night were things that did go bump in the night like the bloodborn at our feet. They were the ones people told stories about around campfires; vampires and werewolves were not just lore and they were barely the skin of what really existed in the dark. They were also restricted by the sun. Just a little bit of sun was detrimental to their life. I had no such complication. Our relationship involved me providing the darkness for them to use. That was it.

  I kicked the body lightly with the toe of my laced-up boots, my expression still blank. Having a half-crazed and starving bloodborn in the city was rare. Most bloodborns were more civilized than this one. They didn’t want to risk angering their king.

  “Then what?” he asked again, frowning as he watched me toe the bloodborn some more. He was determined to put a label on me, to stick me in some kind of category. I was surprised he wasn’t attacking me outright instead of trying to have a decent conversation. The reaction from his soul told me enough to know he was meant to kill me.

  “If you want to survive in this world, then don’t go around asking others what they are. You’ll get yourself killed.”

  He went silent. Not just with his voice, but with his whole body. He went completely still, still enough for me to think he wasn’t there.

  Did he use that talent to hide himself before attacking the bloodborn? I was tempted to ask him about it. I shook my head, the less he knew and understood about himself the better for me.

  The slauve moved. Faster than my eyes could keep up with.

  There was a whisper of disturbed air and then he was behind me. With one arm, he pinned both of mine behind me. His other arm snaked around my neck and he lifted me off the ground, blocking my airway with his forearm.

  “It will be easy to snap this little neck of yours,” he whispered into my ear. Even though his words were harsh, I knew he had no intention in killing me. If he meant what he said, he would have just snapped my neck the moment he touched me. This meant two things. First, he wasn’t listening to what his soul was trying to tell him. Even I could hear the thing inside him, snarling at me, blaming me for putting it in this position. Second, this man cared. He cared too much and didn’t want to hurt me, and so was trying to scare me instead. What he didn’t know was that I feared very little, including him.

  I choked and clawed at his arms for a moment. He only tightened his grip, believing it would be that simple. I finally laughed at his naïve thoughts and before he could process the sound, I was standing off to the side, a few feet away.

  Misting is a favorite move of mine. Your body goes weightless for mere moments and when you’re back in your skin, you can be a few feet from where you once stood. The little move wasn’t a talent of mine personally. But I took it and turned it into one of my own, and now I can mist up to half a mile away. When I wanted to do longer distances, I simply used the darkness. Shadows are what I’m best at manipulating, I can make them do anything I want, attacking, shielding, and even making a sort of portal to travel through. With that, I can end up on the other side of the city. Of course, in this form, I could only travel a couple of times using that method before I needed some rest. My power pool was just as stunted as my height.

  I wasn’t ready to run away yet, so I only misted to the other side of the roof, putting distance between us. The look on the slauve’s face was priceless.

  He snapped his head around as he searched for me, completely confused until he spotted where I went.

  “What? How?”

  “You have some nerves of steel, slauve. Did you believe snapping my neck would end my life?” I allowed my voice to reveal that I wasn’t just a little blonde-haired child with big blue eyes. I allowed the wrath I kept
locked away to fill me up, take me over and overwhelm him. He stood there, frozen. Not out of fear. That puzzled me even more.

  I understood fear since that was an emotion everyone felt when they met me and yet he didn’t feel this. Not only was he naïve about our world and thick-headed about his situation, but he was also impervious to what I was capable of and didn’t even know enough to feel scared. Frustrated and confused, I filled the air with darkness, engulfing us both.

  Then I escaped. I’m sure we were going to meet again.

  The last thing I expected when I came here was to find a little girl who, in some way, came off as ageless. It was the best way to describe her. So tiny and young, and old enough to be called ageless.

  I stared at the spot where the little girl was just standing. Then I stared at the thing I killed. The vampire. I swallowed past the rock in my throat, my mouth completely dry. No, vampires couldn’t exist. Could they? I glanced back at where that little girl stood and glared, hoping pure will would somehow miraculously make her reappear. Who the hell was she?

  I felt torn. I needed to dispose of the body and yet I wanted to chase after that little girl, learn more about her. Get underneath that cold exterior of hers.

  She was so small and thin. Her clothes made her look like she belonged on a shelf in one of those porcelain doll shops. And her expression…I shuddered. So empty. Her touch too. Her fingers were so cold, even through my black shirt. I couldn’t wrap my head around it. A little girl, as empty as the vast universe we existed in. And the space around her. It was like she kept a barrier around her. Even though it was clear she had long blonde curls, and her skin was Snow White white, and she looked like she should glow in the dark, it ended up being the exact opposite. The darkness liked her, congealed around her, and purred when she used it to disappear.

  Something in me stirred, bringing my whole body to discomfort, just like the same feeling I got when she touched me. I wanted to chase after her, to wrap my hands around her tiny little neck and then just squeeze until she stopped kicking and clawing. Obviously that wasn’t going to work though. How did she just disappear?

  Those dark thoughts made me want to punch something. Where were they coming from?

  What have I become?

  Chapter Two:

  I fumed, my mind erratic as I tried to get the slauve out of my head along with the pesky little memories he conjured up. The only thought keeping me grounded was the fact that he thought he actually had a chance at killing me and that was pretty damn funny. As if. My long life taught me enough tricks to survive, and I wasn’t going to let a man who couldn’t even see past my appearance ruin that. Besides, I wasn't killable in the first place. At least no one knows how to kill me, not even me.

  My anger guided me through the maze of the city and to an abandoned warehouse refurnished into a bar specifically for anyone who wasn’t quite human. Normally, I would let the pulse of the city calm me with its constant chatter, but now all I could think about was the impending danger closing in on me. Someone out there finally made a move against me and I needed to figure out who. Otherwise, I was going to have pesky bugs looking for me and I’ve been enjoying the peace I’ve found. I needed to end this before things escalated.

  The bar was the perfect place to start. Beings came here to be who they are without the scrutiny of human eyes. They could let go of their human form and just be themselves, and at this particular place, they could do this without getting into a fight. Rheems City’s very own Switzerland. No humans allowed. No conflict either.

  If a human approached, they would fall under the effects of a defensive ward that sends them away. They would get a sudden urge to want to go the club a couple blocks down the road and they would too, as long as no beings caught them outside the bar and they became a late night snack. That’s only happened a couple of times since I moved into this city.

  The bar itself was old fashioned, looking just like a tavern in the Middle Ages. Everything was made out of expensive wood like the cherry wood chairs, mahogany tables, and the bar counter made of teak. All the shelves holding the liquor were made out of some kind of white wood. Nothing was made out of metal to avoid allergies. Almost forty percent of the population was allergic to some kind of metal and the owner made sure they could come here and not worry about it.

  The moment a being came into the bar, they were expected to conduct themselves properly and respect the owner’s number one rule of ‘No Fighting.’ If they broke the rule, they had to deal with the owner who was also the bartender—a wispy man whose existence was a little questionable. His presence was strong but sometimes it seemed like he was fading away.

  When I walked in, the bar went a couple shades darker and completely quiet as every patron took in my presence. The place wasn’t very busy yet with only a few beings scattered around, all eyes on me as they watched for my mood. I scowled and everyone looked away except for a leggy blonde who was sitting with an older gentleman.

  Her eyes were big and dark, twinkling with secrets, and right now were filled with disbelief as she stood up. Her magic was kept tight around her, the only thing it was telling me was that she was a witch. The older man who was yanking on her arm was probably her mentor. The man pulled on her until she sat back down and whispered something into her ear. A warning if nothing else. A warning against me.

  Everyone here knew me as Darkness, but they didn’t realize what that really entailed. They just knew I was something big and badass, despite my size. I went to great lengths to make sure they thought this way. Only one person in the city knew who I truly was and Kay was good at keeping his mouth shut. He owed me at least that much. Others could guess or speculate, maybe even approach me to try and verify it—at least until I put them in their place. I wasn’t anyone’s prey.

  I ignored their harsh whispers and made my way to the bar. I don’t tolerate ignorance very well. When I first moved here a couple months ago, only two days passed before word got around to not mess around with me and the teasing stopped. A being who looked like a seven foot tall hairy bison tried to pit his strength against my powers and now everyone wondered how I made the three hundred pound man disappear. I guess they never thought to look in his closet. They would find him hiding in the corner, his mind broken and his body frozen with fear. It was his fault for seeing me only as prey. I wasn’t prey, not for anyone.

  Little girl, shouldn’t you be suckin’ on your mama’s tits instead of in a place like this. Hows about you come play with me, I’ll keep you safe from the big bad meanies.

  Sorry, my dad told me to stay away from pedophiles, I had told him. Now look where he was. Stuck in a nightmare and slowly dying in some nasty closet that didn’t show up on any blueprints for his house. I locked him up with the rest of his dirty secrets.

  Two guys moved away when I approached, freeing up the seats near where I was going to sit. I smiled and hopped up onto the stool, turning my attention to the owner. There were plenty of nasty rumors surrounding him—like turning others into dust with just a look. I’ve yet to see it but the rumors circulated enough to make troublemakers second-guess themselves before they tried to start anything. He was the owner, the bartender, and the enforcer of his little pub. He’s had plenty of time to spread rumors about himself. He doesn’t deny any of them either.

  Today, his face seemed a little longer, his eyes wary. His blonde hair was slicked back into his usual ponytail, showing off his feminine features. On most days he was brimming with confidence. Tonight, instead of the straight and proper posture he normally held, his small shoulders were slumped. There was a little splash of blood on his long sleeve shirt. He saw that I spotted the blood and rolled the sleeves up to hide it, revealing his thin wrists and hairless arms. He seemed especially distant today, as if just a small breeze was all it was going to take to blow him away.

  Someone must have caused trouble in his bar tonight and he must have done something heavy duty to make them go away if he looked like this. He seemed exhau
sted when he was usually overflowing with power to back up the rumors he liked to encourage. His appearance made me wonder what it was exactly that he could do to instil such good behavior in a bar filled with beings who liked to eat each other. Even those with extreme rivalries knew to back off in here.

  “Darkness, I thought you said you were skipping out while Lord Kay ran his tournament?” Baron asked. His name described his position in the bar perfectly.

  Kay was a really powerful and ancient magic user who basically led the beings in this city. He learned to cheat death during the Middle Ages and has been avoiding it ever since. We were both members of the False Immortality club and neither of us figured out how to kill each other yet. He was also a very old companion…probably. I do hate him most of the time, so it was hard to say.

  The magic user started an underground tournament for all beings to enjoy themselves and since it wasn’t something I was fond of, I was planning to leave tonight. There were plenty of beings I'd rather not meet and Kay invited most of them to the city for a few weeks. If they knew who I was, they would try very hard to kill me and that just wouldn't be a fun time. I would have made it out tonight if I wasn't so easily distracted by the view. Then the slauve showed up. I shouldn’t have stopped to stare at the city lights before I bounced. Shiny things really do distract me too easily.

  Now I needed to find that slauve’s master. Otherwise the sluave was going to keep finding me like a honing missile and it’ll never end until I was dead. Or I guess I could still skip out, let him try to keep up with me. No. Priorities were important. Right?

  “I’ve been delayed,” I replied, not bothering to expand. “Is Seeker around?

  He nodded towards a door at the back of the bar. It led into a small room used for special guests. “Taking his dinner right now.”

  “Another hooker?”

  “No, a drug dealer.”

  “More trash,” I mumbled, and waited until someone disappeared into the room a few minutes later and came back out carrying a shrivelled carcass. The body was mummified, all wrinkled skin and bones. The leftovers disappeared out the door next to the one Seeker was in.