The Depths of Darkness

by Laurie Bowler

  “Well,” I slapped my hands together, “I’m involved now, aren’t I?”

  “And so am I as your protector,” he answered dryly.

  The sound of howling rattled the windows; the chandelier on the ceiling shook rapidly, and the crystals clanged together gently. The room was encased in darkness as Luke switched out the lights; the computer screen blinked rapidly with the documents. Seeing no choice, I whipped out my cell and snapped a picture of the three headed beast and the web page where the information could be found.

  Luke dove towards me, grabbed my hand and yanked me out of the seat. The papers flew to the floor; I spied one in particular that looked intriguing. I pulled back and grabbed it shoving it into my bra so I wouldn’t lose it.

  The mist appeared behind us; the whispering noise of someone using the vortex tunnels sounded around. It echoed across the house and rattled the animals outside who continued to howl piteously, their howling interrupted the birds who screeched and their flapping hurt my ears.

  Luke picked me up and continued to run through the house to the cellar where we’d entered and out the door; his feet made no noise as he effortlessly ran with me.

  My heart beat faster with exhilaration and fear, as the animals crowded around the main front door, tails wagging, their shadows creeping around the small areas creating hideous pictures. As I stared at their shadows, I realised a shocking discovery. Their heads joined at the neck, three heads, black, dark and dangerous, the race Matace had tried in vain to prevent from being brought alive was here. The race of the Cerberus was now upon us and his death had been to silence him. By whom would be the greatest discovery and the very thing they wanted to do was equally as great and worrisome.

  “Put me down,” I whispered when we’d run clear enough from the house, being as close as this to Luke was disconcerting and my pulse raced impossibly fast. “Please.”

  He stopped and checked the area before he gently lowered me to the ground, his eyes soft when he searched my expression, burning bright red with embarrassment when he read my thoughts accurately. His lips twitched as his hands gently stroked my cheek, flaming hotter than a fire could ignite itself, my skin burnt beneath his touch, my mind screamed ‘no’ but my body wanted other things.

  “Stop.” I shoved him away taking control of my inner feelings and allowing the rules to seep back inside me. “You know nothing like that can happen. And besides, you might get over excited and eat me.”

  Teasing him was far better than anything else I could have said; it seemed to work because he grinned back at me, his eyes still gently watching me.

  “You’re right,” he grinned. “And I’d better not eat you, the world is far more interesting with you in it, and I wouldn’t want to remain here without my good friend, now would I?”

  I smiled softly, the danger was miles away by now because he’d run far from the house. I wondered if I should tell him what I’d seen or wait until we were safely back at his house. The hill rolled by as we walked, silence between us, neither of us having any idea what to say to each other since our rather intimate moment previously.

  The sky gradually darkened, spraying shadows of ourselves as we continued to walk. The trees shook gently in the breeze that had picked itself up. Luke being a pure gentleman removed his jacket and placed it around my shoulders; his fingers lingered, or so I thought, longer than they should have on my collar bone, but his eyes were staring at the task at hand and he didn’t make contact with my own.

  The house loomed gently into view, or the complex as I still preferred to describe it. The darkness swelled out around us as Luke took my hand and led me over the small creek that rippled gently, the lamp lights swirling around in the water creating a magnificent view of the rippled and mirror image of the beauty of the grounds surrounding his home.

  “Luke,” I started, “I need to check some stuff on the internet.”

  “I gathered you might say that,” he said softly, “I’ve reconnected it anyway, I didn’t think you would back away from the idea of finding Matace’s murderer without a fight but next time,” he turned to me, “can you use the front door and not climb down the trellis? It wasn’t built to withstand weight of any kind and I have a feeling you’ve damaged it.”

  “Sorry,” I grumbled, “but if you weren’t such a task master and a jailer then I wouldn’t have had to do it, would I?”

  “A jailer,” he chuckled. “Hardly. But next time I might consider it,”

  “There won’t be a next time,” I said. “Can we go inside?”

  I shivered from the touch of his hand, the coldness of the air and the excitement of being close to me began to build itself again, something I was desperately trying to ignore for both our sakes. But he had other ideas, his hands teased me constantly by lingering for longer moments whenever he touched me, no matter how innocently.

  He took my hand, and I snatched it free from his grasp, hearing the faint mocking chuckle behind me I marched towards the front door, my ankle hurt and I swayed slightly from the pain but nothing could deter me from finding the answers that I needed badly enough.

  “Does it hurt?” he inquired beside me.

  “It's a little painful,” I admitted. “But I’ll handle it and plant a healing spell around the area later on when I’m alone inside my room.”

  “I thought you might say that,” he said. “Do you ever resort to normal stuff, you know like mortal medicine?”

  “Sometimes,” I answered honestly. “But it depends entirely on the situation and one like this needs me to be in top form which doesn’t include resting my ankle and waiting until the swelling goes down, which is the advice from any mortal practising doctor.”

  Luke’s house was quiet. The lights were out and there was an echo from the lack of furniture, although he wouldn’t agree. He seemed to like the displacement of the sparse furniture he had around the house, but nothing seemed to subside the echo or the feeling of emptiness from within, his ‘crypt’ as I still like to call it, was empty and full of sorrow of some kind.

  “I’ll leave you to it,” he said with his harsh voice disturbing my thoughts. “I need to go and do some things.”

  “In other words,” I coughed discreetly, “you need to eat?”

  “Hm...” he said, and marched away from me in the direction of his private suite which consisted of the entire top three floors of the complex he called home.

  I watched him as he disappeared round the top of the staircase, his back arched as he ran at a fast inhumane pace, his vampirism was dark and mysterious but something that was still forbidden for a witch to delve into.

  Entering his study, I immediately disengaged the piece of paper that was now screwed up from inside my bra, the handwriting was distinct enough for me to realise it was written by Matace himself.

  He’d written a time line of events, with names attached, one of those was Lilly. To my surprise, my own name had been scrawled beneath with the words, ‘Luke must protect her from the evil that prevails and will undoubtedly surround her and destroy her soul’. The icy fingers of fear crept up my spine, since I had no idea what was going on or happening around me. It was surely something Luke knew about or he wouldn’t have agreed to protect me and must have been privy to some kind of information from Matace.

  The time line seemed clear enough, with a map clearly documenting a small section of the forbidden woods in the forbidden vortex, the one where every witch was forbidden to enter because of the severe atrocities that lay inside. The same one I would be entering with or without Luke to decipher what and who belonged inside the cottage.

  The man at the bar I’d met earlier was written down, he had some more questions to answer. His name and details of particular aspects of the investigation that Matace had been secretly directing were all written down here and he hadn’t been honest with me earlier but had deliberately misled me.

  “What’s that?”

  Startled the paper dropped from my fingers and gently floated to
the floor; before it could land Luke had sprung towards it and grabbed it. His fingers clasped around it as he read it. His eye brows shot up in surprise, the same way his eyes rounded towards mine as I sat in the seat behind the desk, ready to face him and ask him questions.

  “You tell me,” I said bravely.

  “I don’t know why you’re asking for me to tell you anything,” he replied.

  “Don’t be like that Luke,” I snapped. “That note was written by Matace and it has something about me on there. So before you start lying to me again,” anger began to flare and my voice hitched up a notch, “tell me the truth; or do all vampires lie?”

  “My race,” he pounded on the desk in front of me, “is exactly like humans. We lie and cheat the same as humans do; there is nothing about us that could be assumed to be demoralising, aside from the fact that we drink blood to live.”

  “So if that’s the case, then you won’t have a problem in answering my questions then, will you?”

  “Go on,” he said carefully measuring his words and composing himself.

  “What is it Matace asked you to do to protect me?”

  “He approached me when I was working in my office; he asked for complete discretion and needed you to be protected.”

  “From what?”

  “He said it was an unknown force, a new race being built from the myths of time that no one expected to rise again and that your life was the key to survival.”

  “Why my life?” I asked, stunned at the new revelations.

  “Because of your heritage,” he sighed and slumped into the seat opposite me. His resignation of my questions clearly obvious in the way he’d managed to compose himself. “Do you know who you are? Do you realise your birthright?”

  “I don’t understand,” I said, “I’m adopted and my parents are mortals. My witch skills came as a surprise when I was younger, to me and my parents. It was something I dabbled into when I was reading some hocus pocus book,”

  He smiled, the slow soft smile I was becoming accustomed to, the one that told me I was being naive and didn’t have clue.

  “You know,” he said, “that’s one thing I’ve always liked the most about you.”

  “What?” I asked surprised.

  “The fact that you have no idea who you are or where you’ve come from,” he replied. “You're going to be shocked, and I want you to remember that I’m here to protect you.”

  “I’m waiting,” I breathed slowly. “Tell me everything you know.”

  He took a steady pause; I counted the seconds as the clock ticked slowly behind me. The lights shone softly across the room, creating a shadow over Luke as he sat across me, his face covered from my view as the shadow clung to him and pulled him backwards.

  “You were born in the highest of secrecy for the purposes of the realm, to become the last remaining high witch that could ever been made. Your blood line stems from frozen cells of the very first witches that stepped foot on earth.”

  “Do you mean Cerberus?”

  “Yes,” he said distractedly, “That’s exactly who I mean. Your blood was crossed with Matace’s because for you to be created superbly as they wanted, you had to be with the strongest blood line possible.”

  “But I don’t understand,” I said shaking my head, “Why would they want that for me?”

  “To stop the one thing everyone was most afraid of.” he answered kindly. “Your birth was surrounded by mystery, and you were born on a different realm millions of miles from here for your own safety and then quickly handed over to your adoptive parents who were sworn to secrecy.”

  “So they knew all along?” I asked, the feeling of sickness caused by the dreaded answer.

  “Yes,” he nodded, “Are you ok?”

  “Not really,” I said sadly. “But you know, it’s not every day you find out one of your natural parents is the same person who’s just been murdered and I’m some kind of weird cross breed nurtured in a lab and made to perfection. Only,” I paused, “I’m not perfect, am I?”

  He swiveled around in his chair, the moon cast a soft glow over his half covered face, I caught my breath at the pure magnificent beauty laid out before me, his eyes beautiful beyond my expectations, and his hair softly groomed around his face.

  The room darkened as the clouds covered the moonlight, and once again he was cast backwards into the shadows. It almost felt like a dream, a dream without reservations but with complete and total truth, no matter how terrifying and dramatic it seemed.

  I stood and looked out of the giant window, the trees swayed softly as the birds began to sing their last goodbyes. Somewhere in the distance an owl hooted and the creek trickled noisily, the sight of many leaves that paved a pathway across the grass. The dew twinkled back at me as the night fall began to set into place; it created a mysterious and yet wondrous world outside the window. My mind reeled over the events and the truth of my heritage and my birth right.

  “Luke,” I said softly, “Does that mean that Matace is my father?”

  He appeared behind me, his chest lightly brushed against my back as his soft inhuman breathing whispered softly against the skin on my neck. I shivered with the delightful feeling he aroused inside of me.

  “I’m afraid,” he admitted, “he is one of many of your fathers. But most likely he is one of the strongest ones inside your DNA; none of this was supposed to be revealed to you and I was sworn to secrecy.”

  “Then why tell me?” I asked softly enjoying the feel of having him so close behind me.

  “Because,” he swallowed, “you’re hell-bent on finding out who killed Matace and I can’t allow the discovery to come to light any other way but from me. I care about what happens to you and I care about the fact that many secrets have been hidden from you by people, including myself, for the sake of the realm.”

  I turned slowly to face him; my realisation of everything that was happening between us for once flowed freely. My eyes met his slowly as he gazed down at me, the longing was evident to see, making my heart pick up its pace and begin to pound uncontrollably.

  Gently he leant towards me, unknowingly my body yielded into his, as our lips touched, the brightness of the stars flowed easily beneath my closed lids, all thinking collapsed as did the sound of the creek and the hooting of the owls outside.

  Our kiss deepened passionately, our lips gently seeking each others, but almost immediately I pulled away. I knew the dangers that would unwittingly rear their heads for both of us should anyone find out I’d kissed a vampire.

  “We shouldn’t do this Luke,” I said unsteadily, my fingers clutching his shirt. “It's dangerous for both of us.”

  “Who’s going to find out?” he counteracted gently stroking my cheek.

  “Anyone who finds out will doom our fates,” I said. “We’ll both be destined to be exiled and most likely be apart from each other; where will that lead us?”

  “I will find you,” he answered gently. “Allow this to be for this one night Patty. Let me show you what love feels like; let me guide you through the forbidden path and let the walls drop.”

  “I can’t,” I whispered shakily. “I can’t.”

  I stepped away, backing myself against the pane of the window glass, feeling the coolness against my skin through my thin layered blouse. Luke stood in front of me, his indecision only added to my momentarily confused state of mind.

  “One day,” he said gently, “you’ll realise that we are meant to be. Whether we are supposed to be destined to live in exile I don’t know, but you will find out and I hope its sooner rather than later.”

  Rather than stand and argue with him, I turned and pushed past him fleeing to the safety of my room; his words echoed behind me torturing me and my already confused and hurt soul.

  Inside my room I flopped face down on the bed, my tears of pain surrounded me and soaked into the covers. My sobs were loud and grieving for the revelations of the story from Luke tonight about my past, and more importantly from the kiss
I’d shared so passionately with him. He is the one person who’d behaved admirably and told me the truth, the same person that was a breed forbidden for me to begin to think about in anything other than a friend.

  The light tapping on the door brought my head around, and I watched Luke enter quietly carrying a tray laden with food.

  “I’ve brought you some food,” he said placing the tray beside me. “I thought you might be hungry.”

  I nodded and licked my lips, using the back of my hand to dry my wet cheeks.

  “Have you been crying?” he asked gently, concern showed on his face.

  “It's nothing,” I muttered thickly through another onslaught of unshed tears. “Thank you for the food.”

  “Don’t cry,” he said sitting beside me on the bed and taking me in his arms, “it’ll all be ok.”

  “I doubt it,” I managed a wobbly smile when I pulled away from him. “There’s more that I haven’t told you yet,”

  “Oh,” he said taking a small napkin and placing it in front of me, “tell me.”

  I hesitated, this moment was one of those you’d want to suspend in time. The memory would always last with me that much I knew, but nothing quite like the taste of his lips on mine a few minutes earlier that would now haunt my dreams.

  “Those guards,” I began, “you know the ones from Matace’s house.”

  “Yes the dogs,” he interrupted handing me a small sandwich, “eat please.”

  I Obliged him with a small mouthful of the sandwich and allowed the creamy taste to slide down my throat when I chewed it, cautiously aware that he was watching me closely, as if I wasn’t going to pay tribute and eat what he’d planted in front of me.

  “They weren’t dogs,” I shook my head, “They were Cerberus.”

  The room fell silent as Luke sat beside me blinking rapidly, his eyes stared ahead as he tried to compute the new information about the peculiar guard dogs outside. His clothes were now crumpled from sitting beside me and carrying me, but he didn’t seem to notice. I watched his profile, staring at him for the few seconds that I had until he realised and his guard came back up. His face seemed carved from stone, a perfect sculpture of a man and yet his hair appeared to fall at the tip of his ears. The perfect blood red mouth that had kissed me with as much passion as I’d kissed him back was beckoning me to take it again, using my will power I knew I couldn’t. It would be so wrong and could ruin the investigation I’d started, to reveal whatever was happening in the underworld.