Darkness The Diary of Samantha Owen
Page 7
The uncertainty absorbed me, leaving me without words for the first time in a long time.
“I have not lived so many years because someone put me to sleep,” I said finally with a neutral voice.
“Well, it is not that awful,” he said coming closer, “you still have a long life in front of you.”
“I know, but who would want to do that? And why?”
“When we get to the Kingdom we will go to speak with Kenneth, maybe he will have an answer to that. He deals with a lot of wizards.”
I stayed quiet for a while, meditating about the recent conclusion. Maybe that was the reason for the great sexual tension that I felt when I was with Eric. I knew that I felt love for him, but I mean the impulse that comes over me when he sits close. I have been sleeping almost my entire life. I exclaimed this loudly in my mind. I glanced at Eric and he was slightly blushing. He looked down when I looked at him.
“Oh!” I said in a low voice. I never remembered that Eric could read thoughts.
“I am sorry,” I said in a scatter brained fashion. “Before I go to sleep I always remember our first kiss in the semi-darkness,” I said after a small pause.
“I do too,” he smiled roguishly. “I should add that as far as I can see, your conclusion is correct. It is natural and earthly that the body and mind need each other. For as long as we live, sex is always present. I cannot imagine how you feel missing the comforting warmth of passion at your age.”
“If you like you can see for yourself,” I sneakily said.
He looked at me with half closed eyes.
“You can see my thoughts, right?”
“You shouldn´t do this,” he said without saying anything else.
I accepted. Then he embraced me strongly making us fall onto the soft grass in which we stayed lying looking up to the sky. I continued to hold him and leaned my head on his chest to feel the beat of his heart. That sweet sound brought me peace. Meanwhile, he started to caress my back smoothly.
“I still have more unanswered questions.”
“Go ahead my precious one.”
“How did we get here, by airplane?”
“No,” he said as he turned so that we could see each other. We vanish ourselves. It consists in closing your eyes and seeing in your mind the image of the place that you want to go to and when you open them you are there. It is that easy, much faster than an airplane.
“And that is it? You just take a few seconds?”
“Exactly! I consider it to be a great quality.”
In that instant the sky turned to a dark grey. The wind started to lift and I had the sensation that something wasn´t right.
“Let´s go!” Eric shouted, as we got up and ran to the house. They had come for me.
Chapter 6
Elizabeth found herself alone on the chair, in the middle of a cold room with cement walls. She had spent twelve hours a day, every day in this room, for the last sixty years. She was no longer afraid, she didn´t feel the cold floor under her feet. The metal door on the right opened with a loud squeaking noise allowing a dim red light to enter the room. A young man entered, with a varied step and with his head covered by a sack. One of the gorillas that was under Ian´s command let go of him, letting him fall at the girl’s feet.
She did not look at him. She just closed her eyes and waited. Two minutes later the door opened again and a tall grey silvery faced being entered. His body was similar to a human one, except for his uncovered torso which on the opposite side had great silver wings. His eyes were black. He entered peacefully and rested his hands on the back of Elizabeth´s chair.
The young man was frightened, he didn´t know what that being was and the girl who was in front of him didn´t seem to be scared at all.
Are you ready? A throaty voice came from the being, he hadn´t lifted his voice, yet the sound was damaging to the human ear.
“I am ready, my lord,” she answered with neutral vehemence, <
“Today my dear daughter, I want you to practice with the element that gives warmth to the homes of the despicable beings such as the one you have at your feet.”
The girl lowered her gaze until she met the fearful eyes of the young man.
“Fire is a great help in many occasions,” Ian continued with a deathly tone. “It will help you when the cold looms over you,” finally he leant down and whispered to Elizabeth that only she might hear, “Burn it”.
He stood up straight, looking at the human with disdain. He couldn´t bear them, but soon his suffering would be over. He would not see them again. The thought made him feel satisfied with himself.
The young man with fair brittle hair looked intently at his gaze on him and noted how the fire overcame his soul. His stare intensified until little by little the young man noted how his body was getting hotter. It was a similar sensation to having a fever, although it increased with each moment. Until all of a sudden he started to burn, bringing screams of pain from him. He tried with all his might to rid himself of the ropes that constrained his wrists and be able to leave running. However, in a few instants the flames reached the ceiling, and the screams of pain were no longer heard. The boy was dead, they knew it.
Satisfied with this Ian went to the door and shouted to someone who was outside to remove the body from the room. He turned to Elizabeth and dedicated the best words he had ever said to her.
“Well done. You are improving, you are nearly there.”
<
She had spent years training her ability to manage all the elements with her thoughts alone. To begin with it was difficult, but now she no longer needed to train. She could use them at her whim and was only waiting for the day in which she could come up against her hateful sister and annihilate the human race.
At the same time that the telephone fell onto the chair beside Ian, the housekeeper, John, knocked on the lounge door to being some news to his master.
“Come in John, what do you have for me?” his voice was firm by peaceful. He made a gesture so that he would come in front of him.
“My lord, a message has arrived from our informer from within the Counsel. It is said that Samantha has been found and that tonight she will be taken to the kingdom.”
The pale face of the tall being became a picture of rage and fury.
“They have been able to find her and our trackers not”, he shouted loudly, Elizabeth was used to it. John looked at him passively as he spoke. “Tell Robert to send a squadron to wherever they are. Block her from arriving to the kingdom. If anyone manages to make contact with the wizard they will know that Elizabeth is real, that she doesn´t just appear in her dreams. If she manages to hold one single blade in her hands the whole mission will be endangered,” he got up with great energy and went towards the door. “Elizabeth get going, you know what to do. John, tell our contact in the Kingdom that if she manages to get to the kingdom to keep her under vigil. I want no more failures, this is our final battle.”
This said, he disappeared through the tall doorway followed by John, ready to prepare the weapons for the imminent fight. He believed that the center of the city was a good place to defeat once and for all the sons of the night, every being hidden in the shadows that tried to protect the humans. He knew that this was the perfect moment to finish off humanity.
When Ian left, Elizabeth closed her book. She left the lounge and went towards the stairs that were on her left. She climbed them slowly thinking about what she wo
uld make her sister think in that moment. Her room was dark, decorated in pastel yellow tones that she would never have chosen. It was small and it was the only place in the whole world that belonged exclusively to her. She sat on her bed with her legs crossed and closed her eyes in order to get into Samantha´s mind.
At that moment, the Kingdom was quiet and somber, more so than usual. The streets were deserted and nobody dared to take a walk under the alarm of a new attack from the wanderers. Although the majority, the defenders of the Earth and of life still lived there. However, a small minority had moved to the principal cities. If you looked at the Kingdom from the heights of the skies, very small roads and paths could be seen leaving the city to enter into the forest. Many believed that they were escape routes, but Kenneth knew the truth. He cursed the empress under his breath, as he filled a rucksack with provisions and weapons. He wanted to be prepared for the battle. He was sure that in less than a month it would happen, but he didn´t decipher where the place was that he had seen in his visions. He went round in circles from the kitchen to the lounge; he went up and down the stairs hiding weapons anywhere he could, just in case he needed them. After coming back up the stairs to the secret basement for the third time, he felt dizzy and had to sit down, leaning against the side of the armchair. He was exhausted; he had not sleep in nights trying to figure out his visions. That morning he had heard the news that Samantha would arrive to the kingdom this very evening. From that moment he decided to put himself into action and organize everything that he would need to take to his modest house in the human dimension. But he could not leave just yet, he was waiting to see the princess and speak with her before he left; he should confirm to her that her sister really did exist and that it would not be easy to fight against her.
Sometimes he thought that his decision to leave and not help in the battle was selfish; until he remembered the moment in which Venice had thrown him out of the palace in such a nasty way. After centuries at her side, she had banished him without listening to his opinions, nor paying attention to his visions. He had been replaced by a new counsellor called Morgan. He loathed pronouncing his name, even in his head. Kenneth was convinced that Morgan was the fallen wanderer’s informant and that he had made the roads that started in the forest that led directly to the place, with the view of defeating the empress and the Counsel if the occasion should arise.
He got up again with renewed energy and set about finishing what he had started. He did not wish to live his last days in that house, alone, in the middle of a war. When he hid his suitcase, he sat down on his inviting sofa, waiting for Samantha. He knew that very quickly, she would look for him.
“Hello Niv, what news do you have for me?” Hearing the calm voice, the witch bowed until touching her knees with her forehead. She felt a great respect and admiration for her master. Phoenix is the only immortal wizard, or he was until the meddling witch discovered the secret of his eternal youth. The young and beautiful witch remembered that day with a mixture of feelings and sensations. She had served Phoenix for years after finishing her apprenticeship as a witch in his great castle; she had the opportunity to leave, but didn´t. She helped him in everything she could that the wizard allowed her to, until, fed up of searching in the drawers and hiding herself in unexpected places so as not to be discovered, the recipe of immortality appeared before her eyes. She grasped it with great care and enthusiasm when she found it, until after reading it she decided that it could not be real. That same day she spied on her master, decided to find the solution to death once and for all: she was greatly surprised when she saw Phoenix attending humans and sons of the night for consultations which seemed absurd and of little importance, but she was surprised beyond belief when she saw him taking the thread of life for the first time, a small thread of light from a human. It seemed the most ingenious idea in the world, and she started to lament that she had not thought to do it herself.
Nonetheless, there she was again finding herself at the service of the greatest every known wizard. The very same day she discovered this, she left without intentions of ever returning, but after a few years the astute wizard found her and unmasked her trick, making her his slave, destined to work for him the rest of her life.
“Yes, my master. A young son of the night came to see me, he wanted me to cast a spell with this stone,” she gave it to him with trembling hands and with her head hung after having straightened up to speak to him. In the light the beauty of his face could be seen, as white as marble. There were a few locks of his fair hair coming out from under the hood he was wearing. His profound brown eyes looked at the dark and gleaming floor as though there was nothing else better in the world.
Phoenix, intrigued, took the stone delicately. He was much taller than the witch he had before him, his well-formed body did not fit with the typical vision you would have of a wizard. In this occasion he was dressed with a black Italian suit jacket, prime quality with exquisite cuts, it highlighted his white hair. He thoroughly examined the stone; it had belonged to him centuries ago. It was a gift from his first and only love; he had lost it in a trip to Paris from the French Alps in 1502. The horses of his carriage were for some reasoned startled, causing them to overturn in the middle of a bridge in such a way that the stone he carried in his pocket had fallen into a wide river. He had not seen it again, until then. It brought back great memories.
“The boy wanted to contact you for some reason, but I distracted him,” the nervous and indecisive witch proceeded, seeing that her master did not say anything.
“Do not worry,” he assured her, “I don´t know how he found it, but it won´t be so easy for him to find me. Who was it?”
“He said that his name was Gabriel, yes, Gabriel Shepard,” she said with a grain of confidence that little by little diminished.
“Thank you Niv, you may leave.” The witch returned home, content that the moment had passed, she picked up her things and left. She did not want people to see her in that town.
Phoenix entered his office with the stone still in his hand. He did not want to meet Gabriel, but he was willing to find out who he was and what he wanted of him.
Chapter 7
We ran towards the house, fleeing from that blanket of black clouds that were above us. I thought that we had left behind those who were pursuing us, but as we arrived to the main door of the house a monster, more than two meters tall, with no face, the same as the one who had attacked me only two nights ago leapt on me squashing my chest against the hard ground, leaving me unable to breathe. I saw how Eric continued running until the fallen one bit my neck. I felt a great pain invade my whole body. I screamed with all my might to free myself from the monster. It instantly disappeared. I no longer felt its weight upon me, I could breath. I got up with Eric’s help and started to run after him again. We were heading towards the east side of house. I looked behind and saw how more beings ran after us. I turned again to look forward to see Gabriel fighting with against them; they became ashes instantly. They didn´t bleed, like me. At that moment I noticed how a liquid flowed abundantly from my throat. I stopped abruptly and put my hands to my neck. Looking at them, I saw that they were completely covered in blood. I felt faint as I put my hands on my knees with the palms up to be able to see them properly. I was in a state of shock as I watched how Gabriel and Eric fought. With every moment, more disgusting creatures without faces arrived and I felt like I could do nothing. At some point that I can´t quite remember, Eric stopped fighting and came for me. He lifted me up and when I regained consciousness we were entering in through a hidden door at the back of the house. They closed it with force while I looked at them perplexed. The pain had calmed and I noticed that my eyelids were heavy. A second later I collapsed.
When I opened my eyes I found two faces examining me in detail.
“How are you?” they both said at the same time. Their faces were the picture of concern.
“Fine” I declared. I tried to sit up but my arms failed and I landed on the
ground again.
“We should wait here for a while. She has lost a lot of blood,” Gabriel said dryly. He tended to speak as though I wasn´t there and that annoyed me.
“Rest a little, then we will go to the kingdom,” Eric said with worried eyes.
I tried to tell him that I was fine, not to worry but my eyelids closed again before I could speak.
<
“Little sister, we will see each other soon,” she said with a devilish smile on her face. “I will end you and be free at last. You don´t know how happy I feel,” she continued smiling and I was certain that what she was saying was true.
“Why do you want to kill me?” I asked her confused. And her answer froze my blood.
“Because I hate you and all that you represent, I am better than you and soon you will see that for yourself.”>>
I opened my eyes wide and sat upright at once. I noticed how my shirt stuck to my back from the sweat and I had a strange sensation in my mouth, as though I had sucked iron.
“It is the blood,” Eric told me, answering my question, “it got to your mouth.”
He gently helped me to get up.
“You have been sleeping for a couple of hours, you should feel better.” The coldness of Gabriel´s voice brought me round properly.
“I am fine, thank you,” I abruptly replied, although I didn´t know where I was.
I was unable to see anything apart from a dim shimmer of light which appeared to be a tunnel. Eric who was in front of me clicked his fingers and suddenly the place was filled with smooth blue tones that filled the great tunnel whose end could not be seen.