The Depths of Darkness

by Laurie Bowler

  “I won’t tell if you won’t tell,” he replied gently swinging me around so I stood face to face with him, looking directly into his eyes. “And besides, who else will tell?”

  I thought about his question and chewed my bottom lip. The answer hit me in the face like a cold splash of water. I stepped away from him gently disentangling his hands from around my waist. His eyes danced with amusement at my show of needing space between us.

  “I think you’ll find,” I answered sweetly, “that Darcy will be the one to tell the world if anything more than what we’ve already shared, occurs between us. She’s in love with you.”

  His short bark of disbelief rang out across the room. His face creased up with hidden laughter and he tried desperately to be a gentleman and control himself. His shoulders began to shake with the effort; I stood and watched with wry amusement.

  “I don’t think so,” he shook his head, “she has her own string of lovers. She doesn’t date vampires; she’s strictly a mortal’s only kind of girl,” he replied wriggling his eyebrows at me dramatically.

  I laughed at his expression; Luke always knew when and how to make any situation turn into a good one, so that I would give up on the first idea.

  “You know,” I smiled. “She does love you. She threatened to keep me away from you, and told me that she has been after you for years and has gotten this close.” I easily mimicked her voice and snapped my fingers, “Only to have someone like me tear it all away.”

  I watched as Luke adapted his composure. He was a vampire that had many faces, all of them different. The serious Luke is the one that I faced now, with no hidden laughter but a certain rumble of hidden anger that had begun to swell in the depths of his eyes.

  “She won’t get away with threatening you under my roof,” he answered in a dark tone. “There’s no way I’m going to let her do that again, I’m sorry Patty.”

  “Hey,” I shrugged and walked across the room to collect my jacket, “it's not your fault. And like you said, she likes mortals not vampires. That counts you out, right?” I carried on in a rush, at this moment in time I felt like I couldn’t stop muttering complete nonsense in my own effort to squash the situation, “You prefer mortals too, don’t you?”

  My big mouth spluttered the remainder of the sentence in a heated moment and backfired straight back at me when I realised what I’d said. I’d managed to open the door to the very conversation that I didn’t want to talk about with and him.

  “Oh no Patty,” he replied his tone softened, “only one mortal in particular...”

  His sentence was halted by the sudden sound of shouts from Benjamin who was downstairs; his shouts for Luke to come quickly echoed and grew louder in the room. I sighed deeply when Luke sprang into action and left the room in a hurry. I walked discreetly behind as he hurried at his inhuman pace whereas I looked like I sauntered along compared to him, at my rather slow mortal pace.

  “What is it?” Luke bellowed through the house, “tell me Benjamin quickly.”

  The way he barked out the order it would have scared any mortal, and the tone he used sounded like an order not to be refused. I shivered slightly with the fear he injected in his words.

  “They’re coming,” Benjamin shouted back. “About another hour and they’ll be here,”

  “We don’t have time to lose then,” Luke called back, until he finally reached where Benjamin stood facing the south window that over looked the hill behind Luke’s house. “Get Darcy, we all have to face them together and hopefully they’ll see sense and won’t want to fight here because there is no way my house is going to be destroyed.” Luke had carried on talking as I continued to stare at the oncoming onslaught.

  When I poked my head out of the window, the gathering mist in the distance was a telling sign of the portals that were being continuously used; the smell was all around me and I held my nose to stop it from penetrating. Demons have a scent which is very similar to the one of smelly cheese. It was one of their not so nice traits, and one I was glad I didn’t have.

  “What do we do?” I asked.

  “Put up your protective shield,” he told me. “And Benjamin instead of gawking at them which isn’t going to help, go and fetch Darcy. Where is she by the way?”

  “Still sulking since you kicked her ass,” he answered laughing at the memory, “I’ll go fetch her now.”

  Luke waited beside me, his face had turned serious again, another side to him that was starting to irritate me. His eyes keenly watched the mist as it appeared and then disappeared gradually becoming stronger. The portals were beginning to become overloaded; all we needed now was for Lilly to turn up with them and then all hell would break loose.

  “Ok,” I took a step away from him and concentrated, “I’m putting my shield in place now.”

  “Good,” he approved, “and make sure you stand behind me please when they get here. I’m not sure if they want to harm you or join you yet.”

  “No way,” I snapped. “I’m standing on the front line.”

  A faint humming sound and the shield was in place. The light airy bubble gradually built itself around me, and not sensing any danger managed to keep itself at bay so it couldn’t harm Luke. The shields were designed by Matace to protect witches but also to learn and evolve each time they were used, so they wouldn’t harm others around the witch but would still act as an ally in the times of need. Compared to the spells we could use, it certainly came in handy.

  “Very nice,” he teased lightly before turning away at the sound of Darcy’s heels clicking on the floor below, “I’ll be right back.”

  I stayed where I was. I was sitting down on the ledge by the window looking out at the sky that had been twisted by magic and had now turned bleak and dreary, or was that just my imagination?

  The sun didn’t shine and had vanished from view. It seemed everything outside was hiding, as if it sensed the impending danger that was heading our way. Only me and the others inside this house were more than willing to face a stand- off, if need be and fight them.

  I could hear Luke and Darcy, Luke with his shouting and his uncontrollable rage and Darcy with her softest voice, trying to console him and override what I knew was true, and luckily so did Luke.

  “Don’t tell me any lie’s Darcy,” Luke fumed, “why did you threaten her? I’ve told you countless times there is nothing ever going to happen between us.”

  “Luke,” she whispered faintly, “I didn’t mean to upset her. I was trying to protect you. The last thing you need right now is to get involved with a witch mortal. Why can’t you just have mortals like me?”

  The question remained suspended in air and I heard the slamming of something hard which was quickly followed by the crash of something else hitting the wall, and Luke’s curse.

  “I am not in need of your protection Darcy,” he yelled, “there is nothing between me and Patty; I’m her protector and nothing more. When will you learn to mind your own business? You’re a guest in my house as much as she is; the only difference is that she treats this place as if she is a guest whereas you take advantage and have done so since the day I met you. Your life,” he carried on with his venting anger directed at her and his tone dangerously low and angered, “has been nothing short of a mistake, in both your mortal life and now your immortal one. You don’t want to study to make anything of yourself and yet there are plenty of opportunities in the immortal schools that have been specifically designed to cater to all needs of any immortal, vampires included,”

  “But L-L-Luke,” she stammered clearly hurt by his words, “I tried, you know I did.”

  “Hah!” he snorted angrily, “once doesn’t cut it and you only stayed for an hour. During that time you were busy making out in the corner with the mortal teacher in place down there who might I add,” he said. “He was on work experience about to be made into a student witch, and you ruined his chances alongside yours.”

  The conversation went quiet as a door was slammed shut downstairs. I
could hear the mumbles of his anger and the cries and pleading of Darcy. I knew she was a loose cannon and I’d felt countless times her energy was directed at finding a place she could call home.

  It had been the same feeling for me some time ago when I’d first discovered I was adopted, and now Darcy deserved my pity and my help to be able to find her place in the world. Everyone whether mortal or immortal had a place where they fit neatly, their own little niche which they’d easily slide into.

  “Luke,” I said into the empty corridor, “I think you’d better come here.”

  I heard his exasperated growl and then the thunder of his steps as he approached me. The oncoming blistering mist outside had swamped the view from the window, and I couldn’t see anything. The tree tops were the most that I could see, but they were the ones that were closest to the window. I was sure even they would disappear before long.

  Faster and faster they approached, the demons ardour was strong and robust. Their fierce manners almost climaxing to the point where they’d nearly won a few centuries ago and mortals had to step in and envisage their own paths and journeys, learning magical paths to guide them in a short hurried time. The past had always remained a smoke screen of truth and rebellion caused by their wrath and their own memories of slander, treason and pure guilt.

  “What is it?” he asked when he reached my side, he glanced out of the window and didn’t react, it was like he knew and expected they were closer than he’d originally anticipated.

  “I have an idea,” I hesitated; I didn’t feel very certain that he would want to hear my idea. It was risky and by far the darkest of journeys I would ever undertake.

  “Well...” he cocked his head waiting impatiently and expectantly, his eyes fiercely holding mine prisoner. “Are you going to tell me? We don’t have a lot of time to wait for you to speak,.

  “I was going to say,” I started again swallowing hard, “why don’t we leave now before they get here, I doubt they’re coming for a reunion or to talk any sense. By the looks of their numbers approaching, they’re here for a fight,” I argued before he could respond. “If we leave and follow Lilly it might buy us some time before she succeeds in killing us.”

  I waited and he didn’t answer. He stared at me, then stared past me towards the approaching mist that had managed to darken the small corridor despite the lights that had been switched on. The approaching demons caused the darkness and severe storms that rattled the window panes. The ornaments shook violently until I watched as they crashed to the floor in a tremendous crashing sound. The wrath of the demons seemed to be warped towards the vengeance against anyone residing with or working alongside the realm, which unfortunately for us that meant Luke and me.

  “I see,” he replied after a lengthy pause, “I think...”

  His sentence was stopped by the sounds of the pounding of feet. The stairs shook with the many people that were advancing; the air smelt heavily of vampire’s. Death was all around me. Smelling Luke and the death scent he conspicuously carried around with him wasn’t that bad. It was something I could simply ignore to a certain extent, but with larger numbers it was unbearable and to me a vile stench.

  “Luke!” Benjamin reached us with many others in tow behind him. They stayed in close quarters with each other, warily looking around them and at me, and then outside at the mist.

  “What is it? Who are they?” Luke nodded in recognition to a few of them who nodded back. “Speak Benjamin,” he barked impatiently.

  “They’ve come to help,” he answered, “the demons have come for a fight not to talk about the costume change that you were told about. You also were lied to. I’ve brought my friends here to help us fight them off; Their numbers are stronger than we have, me, you and Darcy cannot hold them all off Luke,”

  “I see,” Luke said and then he turned to me and grasped my upper arms tightly. I flinched with the sudden pain but I didn’t make a noise, “We’ll go with your idea and follow Lilly, but you’d better be right,” he warned.

  I watched with fascination as he turned swiftly to Benjamin and some of the others that stood beside Benjamin and began speaking with them. I rubbed my upper arms from the bruising I had no doubts would be appearing from Luke’s grasp.

  “Benjamin,” he said. “Stay here and hold them off until we get back, and good luck.”

  I watched as the activity picked up at an alarming pace, the shudder and the explosion from the east side of the house sent me hurtling into Luke’s arms; I felt unbalanced and out of sorts but he caught me and returned me to my feet, steadying me before releasing me.

  “Luke,” Darcy appeared, “what was that?” Her worried and anxious expression wasn’t lost on me, because I felt the same way.

  “That was their warning to surrender; you’re staying here with Benjamin and the others to hold them off. We’re going to follow Lilly and put a stop to this once and for all.”

  “Hold them off how?” she muttered turning to the window.

  The mist appeared around us on the inside, thick and heavy it hung around gradually building itself to a thicker membrane.

  The figures I’d seen only once, began to appear, their faces mysterious and their eyes bright with fire, the Cronomiun had come.

  “We’re here Patty,” the female leader whispered beside me. “Tell us where you would like us to be,”

  “Right here,” I replied turning to smile at her, “stay here and help them. We’ll be back as soon as we can.”

  “How will you travel?” she asked, “the portal passages are swamped with the demons. They lie in wait for you.”

  “Luke,” I said still facing her.

  I felt compelled by her beauty, although in the mortal world she would be termed as ‘horrific’, with her facial features lit with the brightest fire I’d ever seen, but to me she was the most beautiful creature I’d ever seen and her comrades were the same.

  “Well...” he tapped his foot on the ground impatiently.

  The fire’s smoke from the east side drifted this way and began to fill the misted air taking away the oxygen that I needed to survive and filling my lungs with the intoxicating smoke.

  “I was going to say,” I coughed, “that we’ll need to go through my own tunnel. Matace helped me make my own passage that’s been kept dormant because I’ve never used it before, but now we’ll have to use it. I don’t know if it will take you through since vampires haven’t ever tried them,”

  “Only one way to find out,” he remarked bravely, “but can we hurry because they’re nearly here, a few more minutes and we won’t be able to escape without being stopped by them.”

  I nodded and I stepped away from everyone and swirled my hands, humming words that only I knew, the words that opened my private formation of tunnels that allowed me to travel anywhere.

  The swirling dark vortex began to appear, the blue light I held in my palms as I moved my hands around in small circular movements.

  Gradually I felt it build momentum until it began to gather itself into a substantial size. I was almost near the end of summoning the vortex tunnel when the second warning shot hit the house, shaking me and knocking me over. My head made contact with the wall and I felt the small trickle of blood escape and run freely down my cheek, nonplussed, I stood up to complete the opening of my travel tunnels.

  It seemed the dark open mouth of the tunnel had gradually built up its own momentum and gathered speed, it stood in front of me gigantic in size, swirling around. The darkness approached and it beckoned me to step inside, as the witch inside of me begged to be released and set free to taste the magic in the air.

  I shrugged and stepped backwards, Luke stepped up to stand beside me and held my hand, with my last look of farewell and a chorus of good wishes to those we were leaving to hold the demons at bay. I watched them as they stood surrounded by the terrible apparitions because they had finally descended and smothered the house with their evil intentions.

  “Now Patty,” Luke growled shoving
me from behind, “get in now.”

  I stumbled forwards and made a desperate grab for his hand, my fingers lightly touched his as I dragged him inside beside me.

  The vortex rotated uncontrollably, sending me tumbling into the black oblivion that I saw that lay ahead.

  Luke gripped my hand, his face appeared and then rapidly disappeared whenever I sneaked a peek because I’d scrunched my eyes tightly closed. The journey wouldn’t last long and our destination was Matace’s house which was the one location we would be sure to spy on Lilly and then go forth with our plans to follow her.

  “Luke,” I shrieked frightened. “It's not working; we’re spinning around into nothing. We should have landed by now. Do you think you can hold on if I let go of you?”

  “Just let go and do what you need to do,” he shouted back. “Hurry up!”

  I slipped my hand from his, and spreading my hands in front of me, summoning my powers to my fingers tips inside the reeling vortex wasn’t easy. The powers surrounded the tunnel protected it from the use of other powers, and thus breaking down any magic used at all once inside. It was a sort of entrapment for witches where we would be kept safe from the powers of anyone else should they try and attack, until we’d landed in the correct destination.

  “It's not working.” I cried.

  I struggled relentlessly against the stronger power, using my inner strength and I felt my own mortal body become weak with the effort, eventually I felt my stubborn nature seemed to have paid off, and the dim light at the end of the vortex began to appear.

  Larger and larger it filled my sight, the bustling vortex threw us around like clothes on spin in a washing machine. It was fighting against me to release the opening we needed to escape at the bottom of Matace’s yard.

  Suddenly, without any forewarning the light brightened and we were tossed out of the vortex at an expeditious rate.