A Toiling Darkness

by Jaliza Burwell

  I nodded, still looking in the direction Darkness went. “No, I understand. Go help her.”

  Chris hesitated before jerking his head. “If I can, I’ll come back. Just remember the meeting with the loc is tomorrow night. Truthfully I’m still suspicious. He seemed a little too willing to talk.”

  “Is it suspicious because you’re with me or because of me?” I asked, thinking about the distrust Darkness seemed to really have for necromancers. What was in their history? I knew so little about them. I knew so little about everything, in fact. Every choice I made always seemed wrong.

  Chris ran his hand through his hair and sighed. “Probably because of me. Like what Darkness was saying, we don’t exactly have a clean history. But then again, I don’t think anyone has a clean one. Especially Darkness.”

  “It doesn’t matter. Go to your girlfriend. Take care of her. I’ll take care of myself and I’ll go see the loc tomorrow.”

  “Just be careful.”

  Chapter 10

  I hated seers more than seekers. A lot more. They played with fate, gave out information that was probably better left alone. While seekers gain knowledge in the here and now, seers looked at the future and what can be, will be, or will never be. Asking one to do the other’s job just made them grumpy and maybe a little entertaining—as long as they didn’t go into a long rant about the differences between the two.

  I grinded my teeth as I glared at the door. I really did not like seers. Their possibilities aren’t always right.

  If it were, then Eithna wouldn’t be dead. She would still be alive and well, probably a lot more powerful than she was. Instead, when it mattered the most, she changed her so-called fate by talking to me. She told me about it once, how she helped an old seer and was repaid with a free reading. She was supposed to stay in Europe and find happiness through some little fae boy who needed a mother. She threw that possibility out the window by inviting me to America with her. Then a different outcome became reality. She was killed.

  It was tempting to just walk away. I was already standing here for a few minutes, glaring at the door, hoping it would implode on itself along with the entire apartment. The last seer I talked to was an old lady with pure white hair, sun-stained skin, and beady black eyes. I paid her a visit after Eithna died because she was the one who gave the reading to her. The old seer told me something I didn’t like, and I had hurt her in a fit of rage. It was a turning point for me in a way. It was where my decision to look like a child began to take form.

  She died because she met you. It is as simple as that. You killed her.

  Fuck you too, old hag.

  Ugh, I really did not want to talk to a seer. I can always just say screw it and leave. Just disappear. I didn’t have any attachment to this city.

  Kalen, dumbass. Don’t forget about Kalen.

  I almost growled.

  Was this visit going to be similar? Was something about me going to change again? I didn’t take well to changes, but I really needed to know who Kalen’s master was if I want to survive.

  When I knocked on the seer’s door, a small woman answered. She was only a couple of inches taller than me, but her short shorts and tank top were what ensured no one would mistake her for a child.

  “Yes?” she asked, pushing up her glasses and looking me over quickly.

  “I’m Darkness.”

  Her eyes widened. I just waited for her mind to work through my appearance. She swallowed nervously and stepped back to let me into her apartment. Her door opened right into a living room filled with knickknacks and books. The apartment was easily twice the size of mine. Her coffee table was covered in papers and textbooks with complicated science lingo I couldn’t even pronounce. Music played softly in the background—country music to be specific. That was different. Kids her age were more into techno music and the clubs catered to their interests with the hour-long songs and epileptic strobe lights.

  I was kind of surprised by this. Kay was besotted with a college student. From the looks of it, he was also supporting her. No other way she could afford to live here. This area was for the middle-class snobs who were doing really well. It was the first step into getting in with the rich. It wasn’t a place a college student could afford without help.

  I wandered around the living room, looking at her bookshelves burdened by all her textbooks. Her walls were decorated with photos, some of them scenery, others inspirational, but most of family and friends.

  A photo of her and Kay attracted my attention. It was a standard amateur photo of the two of them at a concert, his arm around her shoulders and hers around his small waist. He looked at the camera with a small smile, looking like a normal college boy. She was looking up at him, pure lust naked in her eyes.

  Was this why he threatened me? They had an intimate relationship and Kay was being protective of his little seer. Looking at her and at the picture, I just couldn’t believe their relationship was platonic. Lord Kay didn’t do platonic when the woman was someone as young and beautiful as she was.

  I knew this as a fact since him and me were two beings of the same coin. We thought the same, acted the same, and we both reveled in the chaos we created. I could think just like him if I wanted to. Not that I wanted to, at all. I just knew enough to know his relationship with this woman was definitely not platonic. I was a hundred and ten percent sure. And from this picture, I’d guess they’ve been together for at least a year now.

  “Kay is really something, isn’t he?” she asked, standing just behind me. There was pride in her voice. I turned to her and gave her a weak smile. I wanted to ask her how much she really knew about the man, but held my tongue. It wasn’t my place to meddle.

  “Yeah, he really is,” I replied, not sure what kind of reaction she wanted. “How did you guys meet?” When in doubt, just get them to talk about themselves.

  Even though I could feel her nervous energy as it washed over me, her eyes lit up. “At a specialties shop actually. I was looking for something to help with my divinations. I was listening to my iPod, rocking out to Chuck Berry and singing off key. Kay was there to pick up something he ordered and when he realized what song I was singing, he approached me. Our relationship took off from there.”

  “Chuck Berry, huh?” I trailed off. I have no clue who the guy was. “Is that a country singer?”

  “Huh?” She waved her hand. “Oh my God. No. I only listen to country when I study, helps me focus for some reason.” She shrugged, sounding just like a twenty-something. Of course she was trying to fake normalcy around me. It just wasn’t working. I could see the shaking in her small hands and the nervous glances behind those black frames.

  I looked back at the picture and was able to believe that there could be love in there. Maybe. Anything was possible with Lord Kay. “I hope for the best,” I murmured.

  She nodded and turned, motioning me to follow her. She led me to a bedroom she had fixed up to do her predictions in. She sat me down in a solid oak chair with a small round table separating us.

  “Kay called me. I was expecting you last night.” She stared down at her hands. The lights in her eyes were gone now. She didn’t have something to talk about to break the tension in the air. I got the impression she didn’t want me there, that I was intruding in on the life she was able to carve out for herself. I mentally shrugged, not caring too much. If I had to use her to get what I wanted, I was willing to do it.

  “I got distracted,” I replied and stared at her. It didn’t take long for her to start squirming.

  The woman was pale, really pale and I couldn’t decide if it was because she feared me or if it was just her skin tone. She wore black-framed glasses to hide her lovely brown eyes and her hair was pulled back in a simple bun with some curls escaping it. I only thought her eyes were lovely because of what were in them. They were filled with secrets of what will be; things she can’t even tell anyone. They made her look older.

  There’s a debate between seers about how much to tell some
one. If they told a person too much, it could change the future—and not always for the best. A classic example is telling someone they are going to die, even how they are going to die. So what does that person do? They try to prevent their death and maybe they are successful. But at was price? The price of the family that took their place? Was it worth it to save one life over the life of an entire family, taking away the future of the little kids and any potential they had. That’s what seers live with; knowledge that they want to tell someone but can’t because it could make the situation worse. That knowledge made up the secrets that filled the seer’s eyes and made her lovely.

  She shifted in her seat, looked up at me and then back down. Her throat worked as she swallowed.

  “I don’t do this a lot with others. Kay is still helping me get a handle on it all.”

  “You’re a seer-in-training?” I asked, finding it a little funny. I couldn’t prevent the small smile from forming.

  She nodded, shook out her hands a couple of times before settling them, palms up, on the table. Her movements were jerky and unpracticed. “Hands.”

  I cocked my eyebrows at her. She looked back down at her hands, her small shoulders slumping a little.

  “All I need are your hands. When you touch me, focus on what you want to know.”

  I nodded and put my hands in hers. Even though she was a small woman, her hands were still bigger than my own. She wrapped her clammy hands around mine, sighed, trying to relax and then closed her eyes.

  I thought about Kalen and who his master was.

  The seer started rocking, a small humming coming from deep within her throat. After a couple of minutes, she stiffened up before letting go so suddenly that my hands hit the table. She opened her eyes and stared blankly for a minute. I was tempted to wave my hands in front of her or throw something to see if she would react. I managed to sit there quietly and wait instead, sitting on my hands and rocking gently from side to side.

  After a few minutes ticked by, she blinked rapidly a couple of times as if trying to blink away the images she saw. She slumped back in her seat.

  “Akhlys, you’re Akhlys?” she asked.

  Akhlys was the name I went by when I was in my original form. There was a whole lot of baggage that went with that name, like El’s mentorship, Eithna’s death, and all the suffering I caused. That name represented a me who couldn’t control any of my rage and took it out on everyone.

  “I haven’t used that name in nearly two hundred years.” I readjusted myself in my seat, growing uncomfortable.

  “And yet that’s who Kalen searches for. You.” She cocked her head in wonderment, no longer nervous or uncomfortable. She even smiled a little, her body relaxing.

  Whatever she saw in my future, she liked. I frowned, already not liking the possibility she saw.

  “What did you see?”

  She smiled a little more, her eyes brightening. “You. Who you become, what you are going to do.”

  “Is there a key to go with your cryptic message?”

  “I can’t get specific. I just know that your finally going to open yourself up and you can finally begin the next phase of your life.”

  “Next phase? Like what?” What was there left? I’ve already lived so damn long, done everything there was to do.

  The seer shrugged. “That I do not know.” She cocked her head, a small curl falling into her face. She quickly wiped it away, never tearing her eyes away from mine. I tried not to fidget, feeling like I was in a line-up for some crime. She smiled again, bigger this time, showing off all her pretty pearly whites.

  “If you’re smiling, then you saw wrong. Nothing I’m capable of doing would make you look like you want to be my best friend.”

  Her smiled faltered, slowly replaced with a sad frown. “Akhlys—”

  “Don’t call me that!” I snapped, unable to stand the use of that name.

  Her lights flickered as my rage released a wave of power. It rolled out of me and dispersed into the air. I sat quietly, reigning the dark emotions back in. I forced the tension out of my body and tried to remain in control of myself. Not that I could calm down much, not here. Maybe I should go out to the docks. Enjoy the storm as it crashed around me, the rain pelting my face and wiping all the problems away. That would be really nice.

  “Okay….Okay.” She nodded frantically with wide eyes. Her throat worked as she swallowed, trying to recollect herself. “Darkness, you’re capable of more than just causing fear. Your future shows that.”

  “So what? In the future, I’m all sunshine and rainbows?” I laughed. My night was ruined so easily with the mention of my old name and I wasn’t above blaming her for it. The little conversation at the beach didn’t help any with my emotions. I felt like I was on a never-ending rollercoaster that just kept plummeting down into a gorge.

  The seer reached over and grabbed my hands. “No, not sunshine and rainbows, that’s not you. But it will get better.”

  “Enough!” I growled and stood up, taking back my hands and toppling the chair over. “I didn’t come here for a self analysis. I just want to know who Kalen’s master is.” I choked on the last couple of words. Emotions I haven’t allowed myself to feel for nearly two centuries were trying to come back. Useless emotions that wanted to chip away at my armor. I couldn’t, no, wouldn’t let it out. Not now.

  I took a deep breath and fixed the chair before settling back down. The seer sighed with relief, and leaned back, tucking some stray strands behind her ear. “I couldn’t figure it out. Whoever it is was able to block me out. He’s shielded from me and anyone else who tries to track him down in any way.”

  “Can’t you give me anything useful?”

  “Kay knows him. I got the impression he’s hiding because he fears Kay.”

  He also fears retribution by his own master. So Kay is the so-called master of the master. Kay had a lot of minions working underneath him.

  “Okay.” I nodded and stood up carefully, not really wanting to take my anger out on the chair again. See? I can prevent unnecessary casualties if I wanted to.

  The little bit of information the seer gave me was something at least, no matter how smalll. Unfortunately, Kay knew a lot of people. And a lot of people wouldn’t want to piss him off. And killing me was a sure fire way to piss him off.

  Good thing I was patient. I didn’t mind checking off Kay’s acquaintances one by one. In fact, I would get pleasure from it. First, I needed to talk to Kay. Again. When I turned to leave, she spoke again.

  “Darkness…when that small part of you tells you something, you should try listening to it. Even when it goes against everything you know.”

  “This is why I hate seers,” I mumbled. Even someone as young as her could see and learn more about life than, say, me, who has lived since the dawn of mankind. I must be seriously fucked up if even a child was telling me to listen to the little part of me I still can’t get rid of. What happens if I don’t listen to little old me?

  Do I even want to find out?

  Chapter 11:

  I made my way back to Kay’s place feeling like all I’ve been doing lately was running around. From Baron’s bar, to Kay, to a seer and now back Kay. What was next? A little trip down to hell?

  When I got to his business, it was packed with fighters and their teams waiting to go down into the arena. Groups of them stood outside, talking and joking around, and I could only guess the inside was just as busy and crowded. The showcase for the tournament was for tonight.

  Damn, how could I forget? I was beginning to feel dread in the pit of my stomach. Kay was going talk me into something I wasn’t going to like. I just knew it.

  Off in the distance, rumbling could be heard as the storm approached. Some groups of beings huddled together, talking in whispers. Others were enjoying the impending storm and the rest kept looking towards the building, probably wondering why they decided to hang outside.

  It wasn’t even that bad. Since the early morning, the humidity was
increasing. My hairs were standing on end with all the electrical charges in the heavy air. It was going to be a big storm. Normally I would find someplace high up when the weather got this bad and just enjoy it all. Too bad I was too busy tonight. Maybe after this little visit, I’ll spare some time.

  A small fight between two women broke out a few feet from me. They were screaming in a foreign language, cursing each other, and trying to stab each other with their wands. Some other men, dressed similar to them rushed over and pulled them apart, laughing. I recognized one of the men as a champion. He made these tournaments a career and most of the time, didn’t leave his opponents alive. He made the fight an art, making sure the other being suffered in the worse possible way.

  I should have left—should have and yet didn’t. A place like this attracted all the wrong kind of attention that I didn’t want to face. Not tonight at least.

  Just getting into the building was a pain. When I approached the front door, there wasn’t a line or anything, just a large man with bulging muscles and a clipboard.

  “Sorry, little miss, but this is no place for you.” He glanced down at me, giving me the once over and then writing me off as unimportant, or maybe he thought I was some lost child.

  “I’m not here for the showcase. I have business with Lord Kay,” I said, a little peeved. Tonight was just one big bad night and I didn’t need a dense grunt holding me back.

  “He ain’t told me about no appointment.” He looked down at the clipboard as if having it in his hands made him the most powerful being around. In a way, he was right. Everyone had to get passed him to get inside.

  I thought of just trying to squeeze past him, but the man was a mountain. There was nowhere to squeeze through, even for me. And I’ve slipped between legs a couple of times. His were just too chunky, like massive tree trunks.

  “Tell him Darkness is here,” I huffed, trying to stay calm.