Available Darkness: Season Two (Episodes 7-12)

by David Wright

As her foot tapped a thousand times on the carpet waiting for Greg to return and tell her what was going on, Hannah expected her other inner voice to chime in with more doomsaying. But that voice was uncharacteristically quiet, and had been since their arrival a few hours earlier.

  The door finally opened and Greg said, “We’ve gotta go. The Agency wants us in Washington immediately.”

  She wasn’t sure if it was the look in Greg’s eyes or a simple fear of the unknown, but Hannah felt as if she were about to be strapped into a ride without escape.

  “Washington? For how long?”

  “Washington State, not D.C. My division is headquartered up there. As for how long, I don’t know,” he said.

  “But what about the shop? I need to call Jenny and update her.”

  “Jenny’s not expecting you back until next week, so we can wait until we arrive before doing anything else or making any other decisions. OK?”

  “OK,” Hannah said. “Why are we going to Washington? Did something happen with John?”

  “I don’t know. Nobody’s saying much, but they were insistent that we leave immediately, and they wouldn’t insist unless they thought you were in danger.”

  **

  They drove to a private airfield where a small private Agency jet waited.

  They sat with another agent, Agent Henry, a tall Marine-looking black man with a black suit, and a granite jaw, and no trace of a smile.

  They rode in silence as Hannah tried to calm her jangling nerves, both from the flight, and all that was happening so quickly. The world was a web of confusion around her, each second seemed another sliver of proof that everything was wrong and nothing would be right, not ever again.

  She drew long breaths, in and out, over and over, holding heaves at the top of her inhale as she gently dug her fingers into her thighs and lightly bounced her heels against the floor. Through every mile of her fear, Hannah tried to find the voice. But her inner whisper, that other voice that had led her down this path, was silent.

  You sure had a lot to say before!

  I know you’re there because I’m here.

  Why won’t you answer me?

  If something happens to me, then it happens to you, too. And if something happens to US, it’s all your fault.

  Hello?

  Even after Greg started speaking, Hannah’s whisper stayed silent through his story.

  “How are you doing over there?” Greg asked, friendly.

  “Fine,” Hannah said. “I guess.”

  “I’m sorry about all of this.” He looked at the clouds outside the window rather than her, but it was hard for Hannah to doubt the thick apology lining his voice, despite his many lies.

  She was tempted to answer his sorry with an, “It’s OK,” but she was far from OK, and didn’t feel obligated to protect his feelings. So she said nothing.

  Greg’s eyes held the clouds as he spoke. “I didn’t plan for any of this.”

  Hannah stared down at her hands in her lap, still silent.

  It was hard to separate truth from its opposite. There was so much of Greg to love, but impossible to know what was real. The meaning of true had softened since truth told with bad intent was sometimes worse than a lie.

  Hannah thought back on the years of Greg’s countless compliments; the many times he practically sang gospels about how lucky he was to have a girl like her in his life. He would compliment how she looked, the way she smiled, and how she could just turn any handful of flowers — from garden to bucket — absolutely beautiful. He would stare into her eyes and steal glances at her face and body, desire kissing Hannah through the length of his gaze. Greg always went out of his way to make her happy, like the way he slipped notes into her lunch bag, which she often found stuck to the bottom of her see-through microwavable containers. At first she would only see them as she finished her lunch, but Greg had done it so often Hannah was now trained to look first.

  The hardest part about their flight, besides heading into the next chapter of her nightmare, was that every affectionate gesture, kiss on the cheek, or midnight nibble now seemed somehow premeditated or possibly insidious, down to the day they met.

  Clouds thinned, and snowy ground and city came into view below. Greg continued staring out the window. Agent Henry was reading Popular Science

  As Hannah sat there, something jarred what felt like a memory, or perhaps a glimpse from a remembered dream, loose in her mind.

  They were standing on the beach, the warm sunshine kissing her skin, the cool, salty breeze blowing his long hair. His eyes met hers. She asked what he was thinking about. He was always so quiet and so distant in thought. Usually he would answer “nothing,” even though she never believed him. This time, however, he said something different. “You. It’s weird. I never really felt like there was something missing from my life. I never felt like I was waiting for the right person to come along. But now I realize just how empty I was before I met you. And how even though I didn’t know it, I was waiting for someone — you, Hope.”

  A chill ran down her spine as she was snapped back to reality by Greg’s voice asking, “Are you OK?”

  “I’m fine,” Hannah said as she realized the jet was landing. “I guess.”

  **

  They took a truck from the airfield to a nondescript office park with a 12-story mirrored building that seemed like a thousand other such buildings she’d seen back home and along the way on their drive. Yet, Hannah was draped in an overwhelming sense of déjà vu.

  There was something about the office park, or the building itself, or …

  Hannah swallowed, realizing it wasn’t the park or the building or anything else.

  It was John.

  Her inner whisper came back.

  “He’s here.”

  “You sure you’re OK?” Greg asked, pulling the car into a space in front of the building.

  “Positive,” Hannah said.

  * * * *

  CHAPTER 4 — Abigail

  Abigail stood frozen in horror after she killed Katya. She panicked, not knowing where to go or what to do. She had now murdered four innocent people, five if you counted Karen McKenna, which, of course, Abigail did.

  I’m a monster.

  Abigail thought about calling Larry, telling him what had happened, but the thought of his probable response was terrifying. He would be furious, and worse, afraid of her, too. She could feel his fear after she’d killed the family down the street and set their house on fire. Larry would never hurt her feelings by saying so out loud, but part of him had to be wondering when she would kill him. Abigail wouldn’t be surprised if Larry started locking his door when he went to sleep.

  I wouldn’t trust me.

  Abigail tried calling out to John in her head. He might understand, and be able to tell her what to do next.

  John?

  John, please, I need you.

  Abigail wondered if their connection was broken, or if he were simply too busy to respond. Tears streamed down her face as she stared at the remains of her only friend.

  “I’m so sorry,” she said, lying on the floor beside Katya, hugging her corpse.

  Suddenly, Abigail felt someone in her head.

  John?

  “No,” the voice said. It was Talani.

  “You made me kill her!” Abigail screamed. “She’s dead.”

  “Dead?” Talani said, seeming surprised. “What happened?”

  I did what you said. And then when I tried to save her, to turn her, you were gone. You left me! Now she’s dead!

  “Oh God, Abigail, I’m so sorry.”

  Why did you leave? Why?

  “Our connection broke. I couldn’t feel you anymore. I didn’t do it on purpose, I swear. I thought you had pushed me away.”

  Abigail said nothing, just stared at Katya’s body, wishing she could reverse the energy and put breath back into Katya. She would gladly surrender her own life to bring Katya back.

  She was nice. She shouldn’t have die
d. I should have.

  “It’s not your fault.”

  Yes, it is!

  “No, Abigail. You were trying to help her — trying to share your gift.”

  Gift? You call this a gift? It’s a curse! I wish John had never brought me back.

  “You don’t mean that, Abigail. You’re just scared.”

  I do mean it. I don’t want to live like this. I don’t want to be a monster.

  “You’re not a monster. You’re just with the wrong people. They don’t understand you. It’s not their fault. It’s not that they don’t love you. They just can’t understand you.”

  John understands me. We’re the same.

  “But he’s not there, is he?”

  It’s not his fault. He has to work.

  “Sounds like my father. Always working. Never had time for me. I never would’ve been turned if he had been home when the man tried to kill me.”

  What man? What are you talking about?

  “It was a man who lived next door to us. He knew my parents were never home. He came over and tried to … touch me. I fought back, and he stabbed me. Sixteen times before he left me for dead. I crawled out onto the street. An old woman saw me. She called an ambulance once she stopped screaming. I died as I was being wheeled into the hospital. Then someone brought me back.”

  Who?

  “A woman who happened to be at the hospital when I was brought in. She snuck into my room and brought me back. She saved me. Now I’d like to save you, Abigail. I want to offer you a place with others of your kind.”

  There’s more? How many?

  “There are four of us who are like family. But there are even more out there, an entire community of people like us. Like you.”

  All vampires?

  “No, not all of them. But all are different, and all are people you can feel safe to be yourself around. People who won’t look at you as the monster you’re not. Come, Abigail, please. Let me introduce you to them.”

  I don’t know.

  “Listen, Abigail, I won’t speak ill of your friends. But I will ask you if they are there when you need them most? Where are they now?”

  Talani had a point, even if it hurt Abigail to see it.

  Larry and John were off fighting monsters, or whatever it was John was doing for the government. What was to say he would ever have time for her? If she was losing control of her vampire abilities, how long was it before she hurt Larry, or someone else John cared about? Abigail thought of John’s love, Hope. What would happen once they were reunited? Would John try to become human again? If so, surely they’d have no place for an out-of-control vampire child in their life or home.

  What was I thinking? That we could all be one big happy family?

  She felt so foolish.

  Everyone would be better off without me.

  “You don’t need to be alone,” Talani reassured Abigail from inside her head. “Come, meet my family. You can decide if you want to stay. If not, I’ll bring you back home.”

  OK, Abigail thought back, though she wasn’t sure she really had a home to go back to, not once Larry found out about Katya.

  Abigail grabbed her coat and was about to head out the door, but stopped, realizing she had no money. She grabbed Katya’s purse and dug for her wallet, phone, and credit cards. She took them all, shoving them into her coat, then headed out to find the voice in her head.

  **

  Abigail walked to the corner gas station, called a cab, then took the taxi downtown following the directions Talani fed her mind. She arrived at a cyber café located at the far end of a strip mall with a grocery store, bar, bank, and few other places, all closed. The café was small, lined with a dozen or so surfers, all sitting at cramped desks, lining each wall and running down the small shop’s center aisle. Most of them seemed to be playing some sort of car game or another.

  Near the shop’s rear sat an old black woman in a bright pink floral dress, looking up from behind a larger desk with a computer and register. In front of the woman sat a romance novel, face down and open to the center, a long haired man’s bare chest gleaming from the front cover.

  “Ask for me,” Talani had said. “Edith will bring you to the back room.”

  Abigail approached the old woman, nervous, feeling as if she were doing something criminal by asking for Talani.

  “Hi,” Abigail said, her quivering voice betraying her timidity. “Is Talani here?”

  The woman eyed Abigail up and down, as if trying to determine if she belonged there. The woman, probably Edith, nodded then pointed to a door behind her. “In there,” she said.

  “Thank you,” Abigail nodded, then went to the shop’s rear and tried the doorknob. At first, it didn’t budge.

  Edith pushed a button behind her desk and the door clicked unlocked. It was only then that Abigail spotted the shotgun sitting on a shelf under the desk, within easy reach of Edith.

  What kind of place is this?

  Abigail turned the knob and slipped through the doorway and into a narrow hall with another three doors on either side, and one at the end with tinted glass leading outside. Abigail spied a camera above the rear door with two lenses, one aimed at the door below it and the other directly at the door she’d just come through.

  Before Abigail reached the end of the hall, one of the doors opened, and a thin, black girl with long, dark hair and a stylish, black coat and dress stepped out, studying Abigail. She seemed maybe 16.

  “Abgail?” the girl said, her voice the same as the one in Abigail’s head.

  “Yes. Talani?”

  “Good to meet you,” Talani smiled, a big, genuine-looking smile, walking toward Abigail and reaching out to pull her into a hug, as if they were long-lost friends freshly reacquainted. Abigail pulled back out of instinct, forgetting she was harmless to a fellow vampire. Talani smiled, and Abigail relaxed into her embrace. Her newest friend wore the scent of a faint but sweet perfume which Abigail instantly liked.

  “Come,” Talani said, “there’s someone I want you to meet.”

  Talani led Abigail through the door she’d just come out of and into a small storage room piled high with cardboard boxes. Abigail looked around, confused, seeing no one.

  “Just back here,” Talani said, leading Abigail back past the boxes and through a doorway leading to a second storage room, also filled with boxes. Talani opened a door which spilled out into a much larger room, the boarded up storefront next to the cyber café . Is this some kind of secret place that you can only get to by passing through their security in the cyber café ?

  The room was lit by a solitary candle sitting in the center of a table in the eye of the room. Several folding chairs surrounded the table as if it were a regular meeting place of some sort. At the table sat a short, blonde-haired woman with medium length hair who looked to be in her mid-30s. She wore thin, round, red-framed glasses. “This is Judith,” Talani said. “She saved me.”

  “Hi,” Abigail said, standing at a distance and waving.

  “Sit,” Judith said in a friendly voice, waving her hand at the other chairs at the table.

  Abigail sat across from Judith. Talani took a seat to Abigail’s immediate right. Abigail looked around, “What is this place?”

  “A special sort of meeting place,” Judith said. “Talani tells me you’re one of us? A vampire?”

  “Yes,” Abigail said.

  “And so young,” Judith responded with a sigh. “Who turned you?”

  Abigail felt protective, and didn’t want to give John’s name. “A man who saved me after I was shot,” Abigail said.

  “And where is he now? Why is he not taking care of you?”

  “He was, but he has a busy job,” Abigail said. “He has to travel a lot.”

  “Yes,” Judith said. Abigail thought she might have heard the slightest hiss behind it. “I heard he works for our enemy.”

  Abigail wondered how she knew that. Abigail hadn’t told Talani. The girl must’ve been poking around in her
head and found out about John. Abigail felt a chill run down her spine, afraid she’d made a bad mistake meeting Talani.

  “He’s not a bad man,” Abigail said, shifting nervously in her seat.

  “It’s OK,” Judith smiled. “I’m not interested in persecuting your friend. We all make our choices, and who is anyone to judge another’s decisions until they’ve walked in their proverbial shoes?”

  “Good,” Abigail said, fidgeting, uncertain what she should say and feeling like she might have offended the woman, though she had no plans to apologize.

  “It’s OK,” Judith said. “You’re among friends now. We run a meeting for our kind here twice a week at 8 p.m. on Mondays and Fridays.”

  “What kind of meeting?” Abigail asked.

  “Support, Abigail. We offer a place for outcasts to come and feel accepted. It’s sort of like church, but without a false God to pray to.”

  “Oh,” Abigail said, not sure what else to say. She was feeling uncomfortable and wished she had called Larry rather than following Talani’s call.

  “Show her the place,” Talani said.

  “Oh, I don’t know,” Judith said.

  Abigail wondered what place Talani was talking about.

  “You have to!” Talani pleaded, for the first time sounding like a teenager instead of the authoritative voice Abigail had somehow grown almost used to hearing in her head.

  Judith met Abigail’s eyes, “Would you like to see something only five others on Earth have ever seen?”

  “OK,” Abigail said, shifting in her seat, uncomfortable behind the thick curtain of uncertainty.

  Judith held her hands out in front of her, cupping them as she muttered and whispered into her palms. Abigail could barely hear the words, and what she could hear made no sense. It was a language, that much she knew, but nothing she’d ever heard — and yet it seemed vaguely familiar.

  A dim light was born in Judith’s palms, then began to glow brighter as an image hovered above them. The image jumped and flickered, like video looking for reception, until it cleared enough for Abigail to see the rich, green mountains, a waterfall larger and bluer than any she’d ever seen in pictures, and something flying high in the richly purpled sky. As the image closed in on the something in the sky, Abigail saw that it wasn’t a bird, but rather the impossibility of a Pegasus instead.