Urban Decay: Darkly Mine Season One

by Leona Windwalker

  Great, they were talking business, which sounded interesting and all, but it had Cindy’s eyes glazing over. That was not a good thing as she sat there, pouting.

  “I’ve got to go to the restroom,” Rusty said, getting up.” If you’ll excuse me.”

  “Wait, I’ll come, too,” Cindy called after him.

  “She probably thinks she’ll get him alone in a corner,” Mary muttered. She studied her nails, looking bored.

  “Ah, here comes Mom now,” Henry said.

  “You’ve outdone yourself this year,” Henry’s mother said.

  “Thank you, Patrice,” Mom said, placing a hand over her heart. “I’m just so glad it all came together. Now I can sit back and enjoy myself as everything looks well in hand.”

  By now, everyone was seated at their tables, our two moms among the last as they retook their places. The lights dimmed and the wait staff came to each table to light the tapers as Cindy reappeared, alone. A few minutes later, a few sommeliers began circulating, bringing the wine to the tables. Soon the first course, a spiced pumpkin soup, was served, along with a basket of freshly baked rolls. Cindy opened her mouth, but a quelling look from Rusty’s mother had her shift her attention to eating and not complaining. Rusty reappeared, taking his seat with a glum expression on his face.

  “Where were you?” Cindy asked him, her tone petulant.

  “I had to get some air,” he said, refusing to look at her.

  “You know, if you want me to be your fiancee, you’ll have to try harder than this,” she said archly, putting down her spoon.

  “Fiancee? Shannon whispered to me furiously. I’ve never heard of her before now. Were they even dating?”

  “I’m sorry, what?” Rusty asked her.

  “It’s a bit early to be discussing marriage, dear,” Rusty’s mother said. “This is your first date.”

  Rusty looked like he wanted to announce it was also the last, but he pressed his lips together firmly, then picked up his spoon and studiously began eating his soup.

  “Yikes,” Shannon whispered.” You can cut the tension at this table with a knife.”

  While the food was delicious, the pall Cindy cast over the table with her theatrics, and Mary’s portrayal of an utterly bored woman filled with ennui made the meal drag. I was never so happy in my life to have a meal end. The servers cleared the dishes and the band began to play. I jumped up, eager to escape the farce. I held my hand out gallantly. “Would you dance with me?” I asked Shannon.

  He smiled happily, his eyes twinkling. “I would! Though I don’t know any waltzes or anything.”

  “We’ll manage,” I said.

  “Aren’t you going to ask me to dance? He asked that Shannon guy, and they’re two men!” I heard Cindy say. With a long-suffering sigh, Rusty got up and escorted his date out onto the dance floor behind us. Our parents followed. I didn’t notice if they all stayed for every dance; it was enough that we danced until we needed to stop to grab a drink of water. Shannon drank his down as quickly as he could without appearing rude, then asked Rusty where the men’s room was.

  He left, and I watched as couples came and went from the dance floor. By the third song, I began wondering if he’d gotten turned around somewhere. It was the appearance at our table of a harried-looking matron that made my guts roil with fear. She leaned in between Mom and Dad, hissing, “We’ve got a problem. A major one. Someone’s not only dumped out the thank you gifts Father Christmas was to hand out to the largest donors during the speech, but they’ve taken the suit along with the empty sack.”

  “What?” Mom asked, shock writ large across her face. “Why would someone do that?”

  No. He wouldn’t, would he?

  “Roy,” Henry whispered, having the same thought. I jumped up, running towards the bathroom, pushing my way across the dance floor without concern for those in my way, so desperate was I to reach Shannon’s last known location by going the shortest distance. I took the stairs downstairs two at a time, Henry and Rusty hot on my heels.

  “Boys, wait up!” I heard Dad call after us. I didn’t spare a backward glance as I kept going at breakneck speed. Flinging open the men’s room door, I was greeted by the sight of a very startled man that I didn’t know washing his hands.

  “Shannon?” I called out, leaning down to see if any of the stalls were occupied. The man gave me a scandalous look.

  “Did you see anyone else in here?” Rusty asked him.

  “Just an old fashioned looking Santa lugging out his gifts. You’d have thought they would have given him a changing room and kept the gifts there, too.”

  “How long ago was that?” I demanded.

  “He was leaving as I went in, so about ten minutes or so ago?”

  I spun around to go take a look outside, almost knocking Rusty’s father down in the process. “Sorry, sir.”

  “Anything?” he asked, concern lacing his words.

  Rusty told him what the man had said. I made it to the front door and dashed outside. No Father Christmas in sight. The paps were all gone as well, so there was no one to ask.

  I sank onto the ground, no doubt lingering in my mind now. Roy had made good on his word. He’d shown us all up alright, infiltrating one of the most significant events of the year under all of our noses, and made off with Shannon.

  I shook with fury. He was going to pay for this. I opened my mind, pouring out my feelings of helplessness, my grief, my rage into the link. I felt Arrakus rouse, a feeling of purpose sweeping over him, spilling into me.

  “I found a rag in the trash in there. It smells sweet, which is what drew my attention to it. Made my head swim.” Henry’s father, my mind dimly registered.

  “If he used that on Shannon, he’s probably dead,” Rusty’s father replied. “God, I can smell that from here. Someone find a bag and tie that up inside.”

  “Zip it inside my purse,” Mom said, thrusting out her gold lamé clutch.

  I glared at the dirty, offensive item. It was too much. He couldn’t be dead! He simply couldn’t. Images of Shannon smiling up at me as we danced tonight, Shannon laughing as he splashed me in the pool, Shannon with his head bent over his book as we studied, all flickered through my mind like a kaleidoscope, mixed in with flashes of that other young man with dark curly hair. He was on the boat, he was surfing, he was caressing my face…that one did me in as his face and Shannons became one. I threw my head back and cried out, “Beeelllovvveddd,” my own voice eerily merged with that of Arrakus’. My grief was his and his mine, and it was a palpable, tangible thing.

  “Shit, what was that?” Rusty asked.

  A phone pinged and Henry’s father look startled. “Excuse me, let me just check this. In case it’s Roy,” he added.

  “Well,” my dad asked while I watched them dumbly.

  I felt as if I was swimming, a black hole rapidly approaching me. I idly pondered if I was about to pass out as I noticed the dark edges of the hole looked real, encircling the tableau before me right here, entirely visible to me, and seemingly only me.

  “It’s my brother,” Henry’s father replied. “He says he just got the strangest text from Roy. It said, ‘sitting at the dock of the bay.’ Nothing else, just that.”

  The darkness turned inside out, and I thought I smelled fear and blood. Then my vision sorted itself out, and everything appeared normal again.

  “He’s at the dock,” I said. “You mentioned a project. Could he have known about it?”

  “Yes, my brother was drawing up ideas for how we could regenerate the area.”

  “He said he’d get us all,” Rusty’s father said. “Murdering someone there would definitely frighten off investors, maybe make the human city councilmen nervous enough to delay permissions significantly.”

  I didn’t give a flying fuck why he chose the docks. I just wanted to get to them, to reach Shannon before it was too late. I refused to accept it might already be. A scream echoed in my mind and I stood up, my blood running cold. “Get me ther
e now.”

  20

  I stumbled out of the car, ignoring everyone else who spilled out after me. I could feel Arrakus, taste his angry satisfaction, his fear, and his worry. His emotions tugged at me like a beacon, though unlike those of mortal men, I couldn’t feed on them. These emotions were not like water. They were chains, anchoring me to him.

  “Where is he going?” I heard Rusty call out.

  “He’s following his Bond,” I heard someone shout in reply. “Arrakus is here. I can feel him, but he’s not talking to me.”

  He wasn’t talking to me right now either, not in words or images, just pure emotion. I ran faster than I ever had before, rushing around the corner of the building before us. There, by the water’s edge, was a dark, lumpy shape. As I drew closer, I could see it was the crumped form of my lover, an enormous velvet bag trimmed with fake white fur in a heap beside him. I raced to him, falling to my knees, frantically checking him over. I sobbed, feeling how cold his skin was. His breathing was shallow, his pulse thready.

  Rusty’s father made it to us first. “He gave him too much. Try to keep him breathing until we can get an ambulance here,” he told me.

  I sobbed, my tears freely flowing down my face, dripping down onto Shannon’s and running down the side of his face. He blinked, eyes struggling to focus. “Rii-ver,” he wheezed. “Don’t… leave… me.” His eyes rolled back into his head.

  “No, no, no!” I cried, frantically placing my ear over his mouth, praying to still feel breath.

  “He’s still breathing, son, I can see the puffs of white in the air. It’ll be okay, the ambulance is on its way.”

  “There’s no sign of Roy.” This from Henry. “They’re still looking, though.”

  A feeling of satisfaction washed over me.

  “I think Arrakus has him,” I whispered, unwilling to distract myself from watching the love of my life breathe.

  “I don’t think he’s going to make it,” I heard Rusty’s father say softly.

  A splash in the water. Brrring.Brinngggg beeelovveddd.

  He knew what Rusty’s father had been brave enough to admit. Shannon was going to die here. I looked at the water. Arrakus’ form rose from the sea. This time, he looked most like a Kraken with two fin-like wings skimming the water behind him. Cthulu indeed, I thought idly.

  Could I do this, though? If I did, he’d Make him, just as he had Father, so very, very long ago. He’d know the taint we all bore, have to endure it in himself.

  I leaned down to kiss his lips, wishing I had been able to tell him about us, to find out what his wish would have been like I had with Michael and those before him. I saw now that I had been selfish, hiding this, never asking permission for the reveal. Now, I’d never know what his choice would have been. I lifted my lips from his in terror; no warm breath had met my own. I moved my head to his chest. I heard a slow thump. Not quite unsalvageably dead yet, then. I scooped him up and jumped into the water, determined to do yet one last selfish thing with respect to him.

  I tuned out the cries behind me on the dock. All that mattered was getting him to Arrakus. Arrakus reached out for us with his long appendages, pulling us to him. Wrapping them about us, he submerged us. An inky blackness met my gaze. He swam ever closer to it, and my lungs burned from the lack of oxygen. Then we were in the Void and there was nothingness.

  I spluttered. “Where are we?” I asked Arrakus.

  Evvvverrrryyyywherrre.

  He let us go, and we hung there, suspended, Shannon’s head lolling. Arrakus manifested a claw and cut through Shannon’s shirt. He touched his chest, placing a sucker there.

  Yooouuu givvvve.

  I give what?

  Arrakus removed his tentacle and curled himself into a ball, morphing into the man-shaped form I’d first seen him as.

  “LLLiiiffeee. I taaake. Yooouuu givvve.” He held up his hands in the same manner as when we fed, only he placed them on either side of my head. Instead of feeling drained, I began to feel too full, as if I was about to overflow. It was excruciating. My body locked up; I couldn’t make myself move as every inch of me screamed in agony as each and every nerve ending lit on fire. Arrakus grabbed my hands, placing them on Shannon’s chest.

  “Pppppourrrr…”

  I immediately envisaged myself as a jug of water filled to overflowing and being tipped to let the excess out. A glow surrounded Shannon’s body and his head snapped up, his eyes opening impossibly wide, the light shining from within like dancing flames. He opened his mouth as he gasped, sucking in air. The light spilled from his nostrils, and his mouth as I continued to pour. He shrieked, prompting me to pause in hesitation.

  “Mmmmore…” Arrakus said, showing me the curly-haired man from his memory. This time, he was on the beach, and it looked as if he had drowned. His wooden craft lay shattered on the shore beside him, his fishing companion sprawled face-down further away. Arrakus showed me himself doing just as I was, and his love screaming from the agony of his cells becoming corrupt with UnLife. He stopped, and the transformation failed, Arrakus’ uncertainty ending with his lover irretrievably dead. I looked at the light dimming from Shannon as this played out, grief roiling within me.

  No! I would not fail! I poured more into him. It still wasn’t enough. Arrakus had made me powerful with the Bonding, but I was still young and not as strong as I needed to be, not yet.

  “Help me,” I begged Arrakus.

  He cut my pants away, and I knew what was coming next. “Go ahead,” I told him. He manifested his two arms as tentacles then again, wrapping one around me, slipping the other to drip its oils against my pucker. He moved the tip inside, then withdrew. I felt a very human feeling head press against me, then it was pushing its way inside. Christ, he was huge even as mostly human in form. He wrapped the other tentacle around my cock now, jacking me off. As he thrust, I felt him push some more of himself inside of me, and in turn, I was able to feed more of myself into Shannon. I bent my head over him, slanting my mouth over his, and kissed him, swallowing his renewed screams. Time lost all meaning. I could feel Arrkus fucking me, the pleasure and pain filling me with waves of ecstasy. I could sense Shannon now, feel what he was feeling. It was heady. Then I tumbled as the light tore my mind apart, Arrakus coming with a roar and filling me with his seed. Shannon fell from my grasp, and when I came back to myself, I saw him there, looking about in frightened wonder.

  “Is this heaven?” he asked me. “Oh, God, I went to hell, didn’t I?” he cried, spotting Arrakus.

  This was not going well at all.

  Arrakus shifted back to his winged titan form and grabbed us unceremoniously.

  Hold your breath!” I shouted to Shannon. “We’re about to be underwater!”

  I didn’t have time to see if he heeded me or not. As soon as I ended my last sentence, we were through the hole, tear, portal, or whatever it was and back in the frigid, dirty water.

  I recoiled as I spotted Roy then, his mouth open in rictus, his insides on the outside. His intestines were wound around the pier pilings, and I fought the urge to vomit. Arrakus beat his wings and pushed up upwards. Our heads broke water, then his tentacles were gently depositing us on the dock.

  “Mmmmine.”

  He said nothing else, disappearing under the water. Shannon and I both stared at the spot, trying to process what had just happened.

  “I saw Roy,” I said, finally. “He’s under the dock. He won’t be hurting anyone ever again.”

  No one said anything, and I realized it was awfully quiet and had been from the second we landed on the dock. I looked around, wondering what was up. Everyone was down on one knee, heads bowed. Not facing the water, but ringed around Shannon and me.

  “What’s going on?” I asked.

  “I’d like to know that, too,” Shannon added.

  “My princes, all shall be explained.”

  “Why is your dad calling us princes?” Shannon asked me.

  “Hell if I know,” I replied.

&n
bsp; “This isn’t a nightmare, is it? I was kinda hoping it was,” Shannon murmured.

  “I’m afraid not, my prince.”

  “Dad, please cut the prince crap. It feels weird.”

  “Well, becoming an actual royal instead of just a royal pain in the ass hasn’t changed him a bit,” Rusty said, getting up. “Can we all go now? I bet they’re cold and they’re wet.”

  “Best take them to the ambulance and let them check both of them out,” Henry’s father said.

  I looked then, only now noticing the ambulance with its lights off parked just beyond. The crew stood, staring slack-jawed. I pitied them, then. I hoped they wouldn’t be killed to keep the secret of the monster from the deep they’d seen.

  “Yeah,” one of the paramedics said. “Um, we can do that.” He hurried toward us. “Fucking weirdest call I’ve ever been out on,” he said. “I feel like I walked into the sequel of The Rocky Horror Show.”

  Shannon giggled at that. “It’s just a step to your left…”

  I smiled then, happiness at hearing his feeble joke settling my jitters. If he could make jokes now, he’d be okay. I was sure of it.

  They gave us the all-clear, our hearts beating as they should and our breathing normal. A lot of money then changed hands.

  “No one would believe us anyway,” the one said, the man who’d made the Rocky Horror reference. The other man agreed. They both got back into the ambulance and drove off.

  “I’ll contact the hospital administrator when we get home and have that report and call out scrubbed,” Dad said.

  Henry’s father nodded. Rusty’s father sighed in resignation, then signaled his mutual agreement.

  “What about Roy? He’s still down there,” Shannon spoke up.

  “And he can stay there until he washes up or someone else finds him,” Henry’s father said. “Best thing we can do is say he tried to kidnap you, but failed, and he ran away.”

  “And we didn’t call the police why?” Shannon pressed.

  “Oh, they’ll be a police report in place,” Rusty’s father said. “They’ll issue an APB on him. “He walked away, pulling his phone out and tapping the screen. He then began to press buttons on the side of the phone.