The Depths of Darkness

by Laurie Bowler

I walked with Luke into the house, his arm gently around my waist, and I felt myself become aware of the deep curious glances of the other vampires and witches.

  “I know you’re thinking I’m completely crazy for putting my arm around you,” he commented in my ear so only I could hear. “But I really don’t care what any of them think anymore. And they shouldn’t be so damn nosy anyway. Whatever happens I want you to know everyone here is going to fight on your behalf. Lilly won’t get away with this.”

  I nodded, unable to speak for the lump inside my throat had gotten bigger and I felt the prickle of tears again. When the fight was over I would not be able to see Luke again, to place myself in the direct path of torture; never to be with him in the same way a mortal can be with another mortal was torturous pain.

  Much to my astonishment the witches of the realm had appeared, their faces anxious and penetrating when they saw me and they immediately picked up on the Meniagier outside. Their eyes showed their deepest respect for the young witch that had tamed them enough to bring them into a heated battle that was about to begin. Amongst them were the silent realm elders whose names I knew from the books I’d read; Stella, Mia, Titan and Leo, all of them greeted me with smiles and warmth.

  “Patty,” Titan breathed, his youth blazed through his warm embrace, “I see you have managed to tame the enigmatic Meniagier,” he commented, “very commendable.”

  “Thanks,” I grinned proud of my own achievement. “It wasn’t hard really. For some reason they instantly accepted me.”

  All of the elders exchanged concerned glances with each other and the creepy impression of being outside the loop consumed me.

  “Do you know where Lilly is?” Mia demanded. sShe’d always been a witch that cut the niceties and skipped straight to the objective, according to the books anyway and they weren’t wrong. “I hear she’s been completely consumed by darkness. I had a feeling becoming the high witch would be her biggest downfall, but I never thought she’d kill to gain the title.”

  “She has,” I replied. “I don’t know why. Do you have any ideas why she’s done this?”

  “You don’t know?” Leo asked, his expression worried. “I mean, you haven’t figured it out?”

  I shook my head, completely baffled by their concerned expressions and the feeling of doubt for the realm began to fill me, consuming any hope I had of remaining a part of them. It was a new feeling to me, and I hadn’t ever thought I would think this way for the realm that I loved dearly and had wanted to remain a part of.

  “That’s enough Leo,” Stella spoke her tone stern and reprimanding. “She doesn’t need to know like this. We all need to have a meeting. Luke,” she switched her gaze to meet his inquiring one, smiling gently. “Is there somewhere we can go to speak to Patty about a few details?”

  “Certainly,” he replied forever being the perfect host to the party of vampires and witches. “There’s the library downstairs. Unfortunately since the demons were here most of my house has been destroyed by their weapons, but that room is still intact. Patty can show you where to go.”

  “I’m only coming with you if Luke is invited,” my voice stayed firm. If there was something they needed to say then I wanted the one person who had stood beside me throughout this entire situation to be privy to the information as well.

  They stopped and turned to face me, frozen by shock which was evident by the look on their faces. Their eyes clashed with mine and they saw the stubbornness that I was showing to them. Everyone in the room turned to stare, all of them waiting for a reaction from the witches, the atmosphere felt tense and I wondered if I’d be declined his company.

  “I see,” Leo said tightly. “If that’s your wish, then so be it.”

  With his final words of confirmation Luke took hold of my hand, brazenly capturing me again, for which one way I was certain it had shocked them more than annoyed them. Luke’s hand gripped mine. He had a special way of making me feel secure and I knew without a doubt whatever the news the witches needed to pass onto me, he would be there and wouldn’t leave my side.

  “Well,” I demanded spinning around on them when the door had been closed.

  “Take a seat,” Leo invited pointing to the only chair inside the room.

  “I’d rather not,” I replied back. “Just tell me what you need to say and be done with it.”

  I had this ultimate feeling they were going to tell me something to do with the information already given to me from Luke. It wouldn’t hurt me because I’d already long since picked up on the fact that my life was something weird.

  “Do you know anything about your life or how it began?” Stella questioned eyeing me suspiciously.

  I shook my head, and I felt Luke’s hand on my shoulder squeeze gently with a warning I couldn’t determine.

  “So you kept your word to the realm Luke,” she smiled up at him. “Very commendable indeed, Matace was right to choose you,” she said and turned back to me. “You're not human in many ways. You were made inside Matace’s house shrouded under the darkest of secrecy.”

  “I don’t understand,” I muttered acting confused, but inwardly I wished she’d shut up and get to the punch line already.

  She sighed deeply and swiveled to face the picture on the wall.

  “I’m telling you this for your own protection,” she reprimanded suddenly annoyed by my reaction. “Lilly has been trying to recreate another like you but has so far failed. She doesn’t have the last page in the spell that we created to make you in the first place, so her attempts remain thwarted. It’s been her downfall inside the realm.”

  “I’m sorry,” I choked raising my hand to stop her before she could start again, “what do you mean exactly with ‘creating another like me’? What am I?”

  I searched Luke who remained rooted to the spot; his own mouth had fallen open with the in-depth revelations of my birth and my DNA.I It was weird to think I was a little more intricate that even he’d been told.

  “I mean,” she replied gently, “you weren’t made to live,” she said her voice fading slightly. “You were made purely to fight the one that would want to try and take the realm and create evil on earth with the control of every demon that’s known to us,” she replied again. “I’m saying you’re a creature yourself.”

  My world felt like it was whirling and spiraling out of control. I felt human, everything about me was human; I bled, talked, walked and loved like a human so what was she trying to say to me? I shook my head at her, and I felt the familiar pin prick of tears behind my lids but stubbornly refused to allow them to surface.

  “Patty,” she got down on bended knees in front of me, her eyes kind and generous, “we are here to support you, but you are the one who has to fight her. You’re the only one of us strong enough to so. No one else can win against her; she’s become too powerful for any of us. Even if we combine our powers it still wouldn’t work. We made you so we could use you as a super weapon.”

  “So basically,” I asked licking my dry lips, “I have no choice but to die?”

  She searched for one of the others to answer my question; her reluctance was apparent by the way she stepped away from me.

  “She doesn’t have to die,” Luke blurted, “I can give her eternal life which will inevitably save her life.”

  “No,” I jumped away from him, flinging his arm from around me, it felt like he’d stung me. “I don’t want that,” I added. “If I’m supposed to die then I’ll face it. But on one condition.”

  “There are no conditions Patty,” Leo added before anyone else could speak, “this is what you were made for.”

  “No,” I said again stubbornly tilting my chin defiantly, “there is one condition which you must grant to me before I even consider facing Lilly.”

  All four witches searched each other almost like they were looking for an answer that wasn’t there, or for one of them to speak out of turn and grant my condition so they wouldn’t be punished separately later on.

  “W
hat’s your condition?” Stella demanded her eyes flaring angrily at me.

  “I want Luke to be named and joined to the realm in the right way,” I said. “you’ve never had a vampire as an inside member of the realm. They’ve only ever been outside workers with nothing better to do than to take orders from higher elders like you, but it’s time for a change. So far you’ve gone to lengths to produce me so I’m asking you to extend those lengths to the inclusion of Luke’s current status being one that will allow him to make decisions.”

  “I...” Stella began but her sentence fell into silence when Leo answered.

  “I believe that’s a condition we can grant,” he smiled. “He will be reinstated inside the realm once Lilly has been destroyed.”

  “Good,” I said enthusiastically. “Luke,” I turned to him where he stood watching me with a question in his eyes, “can you show them back to the other room to join the others then come back here. I need to speak to you.”

  I wasn’t asking a question and he knew it. I needed to speak to him about some details I didn’t quite understand, and I was sure he knew some of it, if not all. My birth had obviously been a mistake. For years I’d thought I had a mother that had simply given up and didn’t want me but I am now stunned to find out that it’s not the case; I was a breed of something indefinable in my own right.

  “This way,” Luke blasted from the doorway, where he stood holding the door open ready to escort everyone out and to the other room.

  I watched all four witches file from the room; Stella remained in her high status aloof from anything but the realm and the best interests, and it’s how I expected her to behave. Leo gazed at me, a look of miserable defeat combined with pity filled his eyes and he bravely touched my hand as he passed by. The other two didn’t look at me and neither did they speak to me; they were embarrassed to reveal the revelations of my life and how I was made, but it was their fault.

  All of them as well as Matace were to blame for this entire mess. If they hadn’t created me then Lilly wouldn’t have taken to the darker side of the magic and decided to try and ruin the realm and everything inside and outside of earth. It was a useless and a stupid thing for her to do.

  I waited patiently for Luke to appear; my head rested against the coolness of the window. I felt the beginnings of a severe headache starting and I wanted this to be over quickly. From everything that I had been told, there was no way I’d been made to survive!

  “I’m back,” he breathed, coming to stand beside me his hand rested lightly on my shoulder, “Are you ok?”

  I turned around to see the worried look he was trying to cover on his face. His eyes searched mine frantically, but like I always found myself doing, I managed to cover up how I was feeling and the thoughts that were scrambling emphatically through my mind.

  “Did you understand half of what they just said?” I demanded tightly.

  “A little,” he admitted. “I told you before, you were made for different purposes and I know because I’m a vampire. I’m not supposed to have a say in anything that goes on inside the realm but I did tell Matace it was wrong to subject anyone to the sort of ordeal that you have to face. He wouldn’t listen to me, and insisted on making you anyway. I’m sorry,” he said.

  There was no way I could define my emotions, since I’d begun to learn about all the demons and creatures that existed. I knew vampires were good at the conveyance of emotions; it was almost theatrical what they could do and I wasn’t entirely sure that he was sorry.

  “You know,” I said wistfully, “I know why I was made, even though I don’t understand it; I still accept it. The only times I’ve ever felt a part of something is when I’ve been around you. Thank you Luke, for giving me the chance to be part of your world for such a short time; it’s meant so much to me.”

  I rushed away from him before he could answer, he’d already accomplished something in turning my world upside down and my heart followed suit. I was not adverse to his vampirism and I was certainly not accustomed to it either.

  I felt foolish to believe that I was going to survive once I’d faced Lilly, and all the plans that I’d made were going up in smoke, never to be made and never to be accomplished. The only things that I could hope to wish for now was winning, the way I’d been made to, the one thing that Matace wanted me to do and for him I was determined to accomplish this last task on his behalf.

  Luke didn’t follow me and I was grateful; he knew when to keep his distance. For now, during the last few hours of my life I needed distance and to find my own inner peace. It was the final destination of my soul that I needed to be able to accept before I face her. Matace would have wanted me to go down with total reliance on the fact that I was my own person but made to destroy her.

  “Can I come in?” Darcy asked softly from the doorway, her kind eyes watched me warily.

  “Will anyone ever understand that I need to alone?” I retorted dryly.

  “Sorry,” she chuckled, “I need to speak to you.”

  “Come on in,” I replied still irritated by the fact that she’d come to my room in a sudden need to talk with me.

  “I’m sorry,” she blurted sitting down heavily on the bed beside me, “sorry for everything I said to you. I can see how much Luke means to you and how much you mean to him and I shouldn’t have intervened. Can you answer me something?”

  “What?” I mumbled unhappily aware she was speaking about something I didn’t want to recognise ever again. Luke would move on with his eternal life and select a more worthy mate to spend his time with and it wouldn’t be me; I felt the jealousy course through me at an amazing speed.

  “If I hadn’t said what I did,” she replied slowly, “would you accept the life Luke is readily offering to you?”

  I turned slowly to meet her gaze, her eyes clear and innocently watched me for my reaction.

  “How did you know about that?” I whispered. I was so sure with the room we’d been in, that no one could have heard us.

  “I’m a vampire,” she smiled, “I hear everything.”

  “Maybe,” I sighed, “if they hadn’t told me why I was made or how, then maybe I would want to live. But I’m not supposed to live; it’s not my destiny. Mine was to be created to live for a short time and then die. So Luke’s offer doesn’t stand a chance.”

  “It does,” she insisted. “There’s no way they can determine when a vampire decides to take your life and renew it, and there’s also no certainty in the fate they decide for the witches of the realm. You and Luke, together as you are is a forbidden combination but if you were to become a witch-vampire its different.I In that you can live with us and be one of us and not join the realm, although I’m sure Luke wouldn’t mind you adding a few hours for them occasionally,” she added hurriedly.

  My jaw dropped to the bed! I was sure I must be drooling but I didn’t feel anything come out of my mouth. My body and my mind were now numb; I wished everyone would stop shocking me with revelations today. There was only so much a person, or rather a weird breed like me could take, and so far I’d had my fill. Surely it was someone else’s turn.

  “I don’t know,” I sighed again deeper than the first time, “I simply don’t know about anything. Where is Luke?” I asked wondering where he’d gone.

  “Well...” she cleared her throat in such a human way even I had to smile at her. “He’s waiting outside the room. But he didn’t ask me to come in here, I made him follow me. I want you to consider what we can offer you; there’s no way the realm can stop it. If you can manage somehow to survive the fight with Lilly, we only need you to have a weak pulse for us to turn you and it won’t hurt,” she promised.

  She was speaking so fast I was having trouble keeping pace. I knew Luke, the one person I’d fallen desperately in love with and who was waiting outside the door, had told her what to say to me.

  “I know you mean well,” I began, “but...”

  “But what!” Luke appeared demanding, fiery anger blemished his eyes.
“I know you love me Patty,” he said. “I can feel it, but you have to listen to sense. Everything you have been told has been a lie; join me in my world and know that sometime in your life, at least one person won’t lie to you.”

  “You did lie to me once though, didn’t you?” I flung back. “You had to reveal what you knew because you saw my determination to unveil the truth about Matace’s death but even then you only told me half of the story. I’m made up from many demons and witches, that’s my heritage and apparently,” I breathed, “something I’m supposed to feel proud of. But they messed up and left me to pick up the pieces of something that wouldn’t have happened if they’d not made me in the first place. You knew the entire time but still you didn’t say anything so you could protect the realm.”

  “What else could I do?” he asked gently. “But I’m trying to fix it now. I want to be able to offer you the life you deserve. I always knew you deserved better than everything they have given to you so far.”

  I didn’t want to talk. My reluctance was a normal reaction considering my life had been destined for me and handpicked to end suddenly and when I was still young. Luke stayed with me, and sat in the corner watching me. Statuesque and unsmiling, Darcy felt the tension between us and left the room after a while with the sudden need to change her clothes.

  The time for the battle was closing in, the same as the ending of my short life, and Luke could do nothing about it. And I think that irked him more than me refusing to resort to his vampire world. He was a control freak the same as he was a joker at times, just as intricate a vampire as I was a witch with my weirdly made DNA.

  “Do you think I’m allowed to go for a walk on my own without you sending anyone after me?” I asked him.

  “I will be right behind you,” he warned. “You know I’m still your protector and I can’t let you go anywhere on your own but I’ll be sure to keep a distance. I have a feeling you don’t want me near you right now, or anyone for that matter.”

  “Can you blame me really?” I flew back at him, stepping off the bed and slipping my feet into comfortable shoes. “Everyone here knew before I did what I was. It’s like waking in the middle of what was supposed to be a nightmare only to find out it wasn’t actually a nightmare but a true account of something that’s happened that you have been unable to control. So far,” I took a deep breath, “you’re all in this for yourselves without a thought to anyone else. ‘Lets all ‘protect the realm.’” I mimicked in a strange voice.