The Depths of Darkness

by Laurie Bowler

  “I need to start now.” Luke’s voice shook towards the end, his tone soft and something else remained hidden in the depths. The intrigue was impossible but my voice wouldn’t enter the world.

  An idea struck me, it was a long shot but something I was sure would work.

  “Can you hear me Luke?”I whispered inside my mind, hoping he would hear and answer me; I needed to know what was happening around me.

  “I can hear you sweetheart,” he answered whispering in my head, “hold still. I can’t let you go. Do you understand?”

  “Not entirely,” I whispered honestly.

  “When you two have finished,” Darcy broke into the conversation, her voice brisk and demanding attention. “Her life is slipping away faster than you thought Luke. You have to do it now.”

  The urgency in her tone was something I didn’t miss, and I wanted to know what he had to do that was so urgent.

  “What are you doing?”

  The pause and the ticking of a distant clock somewhere into the room as a constant reminder of my life ticking on by.

  “Something you might not agree with so I’m not telling you,” he said. “This is going to hurt a bit though. Brace yourself and remember how I feel about you.”

  I couldn’t answer anymore, the pain that bit into my arm, followed by my leg and gradually worked its way to my throat, more blood felt like it was exiting my body but to where I wasn’t sure.

  “Luke!” I screamed, frightened and bewildered, “What’s happening to me?”

  “Shush,” he said, “it's done. Now rest, I’ll be right here.”

  He didn’t need to say much more to me. My body closed itself away from the world instantly sucking me back inside the warmth, the light I’d seen disappeared, leaving me alone locked inside a silent world of pain and intrigue.

  All too suddenly the time shifted and the world changed inside my locked state; shadows were replaced by people, strange looking people that stared hollowly into nothing, and stood as if on guard.

  I instantly recognised the inside of the place, the white walls, the symbols embellished onto the ceilings and the walls, the feeling of tranquillity washed over me, subsiding the pain that my body was in turmoil over.

  The guardians of the gates of heaven, the place where Matace would be waiting for me where he can now continue to teach me all that I needed to know about being a witch, only this time we’d be uninterrupted and finally I would be in peace. I was convinced I’d died and this place was the place I’d read so many times about in the realm, the place for good witches, witch heaven.

  “They’re here Luke,” I whispered with my eyes closed. “They’re so beautiful,”

  “Listen to me please,” he shouted. “Don’t go with them. Stay here, you don’t have to go. I love you; please don’t go,” he begged in a pain filled voice.

  “I love you Luke,” I whispered.

  Shaking, I warped into the second dimension with the guardians, only aware of the Luke’s scrambling beside my lifeless body. I felt his confusion and the beginnings of what he thought was his failure. Up inside the heavens I could feel everything, and it was magical and supernatural, way beyond and above my expectations.

  “Matace,” I said joyfully, “why didn’t you tell me?”

  I had a need to know why he hadn’t told me about my heritage, the secrets that had been developing for a while were the undoing of Lilly. Her life had been rotting away since she’d discovered what and who I was and the symbolisation of my birth. Her jealously had been her own undoing.

  “My child,” he held me close, “you’re safe now. But,” he whispered smiling down at me, “it's not your time.”

  Confused I stood and stared; Matace held me out at arm’s length, his eyes shining with unshed tears, his robe rotating around him with the guardians standing tall and proud around us inside the room.

  “What do you mean?” I asked.

  “You don’t have long,” he answered. “It's not your time to die. I know you’re confused, Patty but you were made to protect the world. We knew for a long time that it was a matter of years before the demons built their own resistance, so we needed a super power that could stand and fight them all. Being a part of many different species makes you one of the all and they have no choice but to follow you rather than fight you. That was the whole idea of creating you, my child,”

  “Am I a part of you?”

  “Of course,” he laughed softly at my sudden innocence, “I am your father, your maker and I shall always be with you.”

  Spinning around in a disbelieving fashion, Matace placed a fatherly kiss on my cheek lightly waving with a small smile. His words filled my heart as the scenery began to change and develop itself rapidly. The walls of the room began to fade, the guardians stood their guard unmoving while Matace watched with the same knowing smile, filling me with confidence.

  Earth began to take its place, my eyes blinked rapidly when I envisioned my soul returning to my broken body, aching painfully and a strange scorching pain filled me, screaming agonisingly and feeling Luke’s cold hands on top of mine and some eerie pain on the side of my neck.

  Chapter Sixteen

  “She’s back,” I heard Luke say. “It’s done. Thank God,” he checked himself. “I thought I was too late,”

  “I know,” Darcy responded.

  I smelt her perfume from where I lay, surrounding me along with some new strange smell that I couldn’t make out. Everything felt different and although I hadn’t opened my eyes and seen anything, I could tell just from lying here that everything had changed, only I wasn’t sure what had changed and how it had changed.

  Rightfully and according to the prophecy I should be dead, and yet here I am lying inside Luke’s house in a bed that belongs to him, still breathing, my body was still mine and intact to a certain degree. The peculiar feeling of being stronger swept over me, encompassing me into a time set and time frame that didn’t match this one. This time around was my time, and now I was the high witch.

  With Matace dead, and now Lilly who’d stolen the title out of greed, I was Matace’s homemade heir to the realm and my orders and my name would shine in lights across those that were involved.

  “Luke,” I whispered my throat felt painfully raw. The edge of something burnt deep inside of me, roaring with a need and fire consumed will of its own, “What happened?” I asked.

  I heard him take a deep pain filled breath, and then I felt his hands on mine, touching me lightly, a new experience since the last time when his touch had always felt heavier than a mortal’s due to his immortal state; this was very unusual.

  “Your fine,” he answered, “welcome back. I thought I was too late to save you.”

  Save me? What the hell did that me?

  “What did you do?” I dared to ask, wondering if I actually wanted or needed to know at this stage of awakening.

  “I turned you,” he replied easily. “I know you said you didn’t want to be, but couldn’t I when you were dying and I could help you to live? The world without you in it is far more interesting and I don’t care what you have to say about it; it’s too late now anyway,” his words left his mouth in a garbled rush of energy, consumed by the factors of my previous warning and wishes not to be turned into an immortal.

  And now it seemed my fate had been already been written for me. I could have kissed him for what he’d done, giving me a second chance at another, new life that I would make complete, regardless of the wishes of the realm. No one could deny that I was the true heir to the leadership and the title of high witch to rule the realm and all that with it.

  “Thank you,” I said opening my eyes and carefully I watched his face turn to complete utter confusion. “Thank you Luke,” I grasped hold of his hand and squeezed. “for saving my life.”

  “Do you really mean that?” he asked carefully measuring his words. “And I’m only going to say this once, but can you please let go of my hand, you’re a newborn and stronger than I am unt
il you get used to your new strength and all the other amazing things we can do. It’s going to be such fun teaching you.”

  I smiled up at him from the pillow, feeling the shadows of past bitterness; anger and regret fade away, blissfully leaving me to enjoy my new life and new state and purpose.

  “Sorry,” I released his hand.

  The room had a gaping hole in one side, the true statement of the battle that had taken place here. The windows were shattered but Darcy had made the best out of the place here, creating a make shift bed with as many pillows and covers as she could find at the time.

  Her purpose had been clear to me when I’d been carried by Luke. She had honestly come to like me and accept me into the immortal world she was encased inside. Her own will had receded into nothing, and dissipated the minute she realised Luke’s true feelings for me which were clearly being displayed and had been since before the fight with Lilly.

  “What happened to the others?”

  “The Cerberus are destroyed,” he replied.

  “You should have seen Luke battle with them,” Darcy chuckled from the other side of the room. “It was scary to watch but hilarious when he was thrown clear across the front of the house. And when Tye...”

  “That’s enough, thank you Darcy,” Luke laughed at her, intervening before she off loaded anything else to me. “Why don’t you go and tell the other she’s awake and she’s now one of us.”

  She smiled at me, coming closer where I felt her lips touch my brow briefly and softly. Her stare back to Luke, and her straight arched back was her own way of telling him she didn’t appreciate being ordered around by someone who was supposed to be on the same level as herself.

  “She’s certainly going to drive me crazy for the next few weeks with her incessant chatter about the fight. I think it’s the most fun she’s had in all of her immortal life.”

  “I heard that,” Darcy shouted somewhere in the house.

  “You were supposed to,” he teased back laughing at her hissing response; he turned back to me, his eyes caressing me gently, “Are you ok? How do you feel?”

  His words sent me soaring directly into the sky, and if it were possible directly into the pathway of an oncoming shooting star. My eyes held his for a fraction of a second and I felt the bond deeply hidden between us that went much deeper than that of maker and protégée.

  “I’m fine,” I said smiling. “How are my Meniagier?”

  The curious animals had stood by, I remembered glimpsing the eagerness of their faces and felt their sorrow when they realised I was dying alongside Lilly, and then I had the distinct impression of their hollowness and the person they’d cornered and come to believe as their leader.

  “They’re fine,” he said. “They are actually waiting for you on the front lawn,” he waved his hand in the general direction.

  “I’d better get up,” I said. “Now that I’m immortal, all my wounds should be healed on their own, won’t they?”

  He searched me, and I waited resting on my elbows in the bed, his answer or hisreluctance to give one was unclear and little disconcerting.

  “Well?” I prompted again.

  “They might take a little more time but only due to the fact that you haven’t fed yet, and you’re only a newborn. Your body has to adjust I didn’t think you’d wake up this early. Most of the time, in my experience it takes a lot longer for the transition to immortality to be completed than its taken you to cross over.”

  “Why don’t you go and get me a drink?” I asked frightened at the fact that I would have to consume blood for the rest of my life. Nevertheless I was happy to be alive, well here in bodily form, because immortality was a death sentence that lasted and expanded across eons of time, if you were lucky enough to live long enough without causing the wrath of some other animal of demon in the world.

  “I’ll go and get it,” he said planting a quick kiss on my head before striding towards the door, “you don’t have to worry.”

  “About what?” I asked looking up from staring at the glassless window.

  “About drinking blood,” he answered. “It's really not that bad and you’ll learn to like the taste, although,” he said, “it depends on your preference of blood intake.”

  “In what way?” I asked genuinely intrigued. “I don’t understand.”

  “I mean,” he sighed, “it depends on the kind of blood you prefer. Some of us prefer to have animals rather than humans and whereas others, like me, prefer strictly humans in our diet.”

  I pulled at a face him and stuck out my tongue, chasing him laughing through the door with my pillow aimed and succeeding in hitting him directly in the back of the head, what a thing to say? A preference of blood intake, it sounded more like going to a fancy restaurant and the waiter asking your preference on how you liked your steak being cooked.

  Being immortal was sure going to be a little strange to come to grips with, but with Luke beside me and the help of Darcy I was sure I would adapt and eventually like my world, especially with the realm to rule that would undoubtedly keep me busy for a very long time.

  Chapter Sixteen

  My legs wobbled slightly when I touched the floor with wooden floorboards that now protruded through the masses of missing tiles that must have been damaged due to the fight earlier. The smell swarmed and wrapped itself around me. A smell I still couldn't fathom, it was strange and new. I had a strange sensation of being extraordinarily strong beyond my previous capacity allowed as a mortal witch. The strength of immortality enraptured me and astounded me at the same time, causing me to falter slightly when I eventually managed to stand up.

  I wobbled and felt my knees giving away, but I held myself steady, determined to make it across to the room’s only mirror, that hadn’t mercifully been destroyed earlier by the demons. My blood soared when I made it across the room. I felt the distant urge for something. I had an inkling that it was blood my body needed in order for me to complete the crossing from mortal into immortality; it was the only sustenance that would keep my body thriving and able to function. Without it I would simply wither and die, humbled in the approach of the life I’d lived, but I wasn’t ready to die.

  In truth I hadn’t been earlier when facing Lilly, I just knew it was something that I was born to do and I’d simply accepted it. All my life I’d accepted the fates that had been passed over to me, without denial and in complete acceptance. I’d never been strong enough to say ‘no’ to all the demands anyone made of me, not even to my adopted parents who’d tried their best to shower me with love. Looking back, they’d also tried to protect me from the realm and all that it entailed to save my life. They’d known from the day of my adoption, the fate that had befallen me before I could even begin to talk.

  “Patty,” Luke gasped spilling the mug’s contents on the floor.

  I looked down and the smell hit me, sending me rocketing towards the back of the room. The need and the fire burned itself brightly, and raged out of control. I saw red and I couldn’t control it anymore; it was the thirst I’d always read about that belonged with vampires, the one that had bestowed a horrid death to many mortals across the passage of time.

  “Easy,” he said steadily walking towards me and holding out his hands, “drink it slowly,” he warned.

  My need was greater than his words, and I snatched the cup from him, scratching the back of his hands in my haste. The liquid slurped and sloshed to the brim of the mug, bringing with it the fire and the desolation that I felt deep inside of me. I gulped, and drank the liquid in one fell swoop, acting like a half breed that couldn't gain food fast enough and had been starved for a long time. Luke’s expression when I looked up was kind and understanding.

  “I’m sorry,” I slumped to the floor burying my head in my lap in complete and total depredation of what I’d just done; the hunger had been all too consuming dragging me under its spell in an instant.

  “It’s fine,” he said bending down beside me and gently placing his hand on m
y shoulder, “look at me.”

  I slowly raised my head, and looked into his eyes; it was then I gasped audibly. His skin had changed, he looked like Luke but then he looked entirely different. The skin that had once been perfectly smooth and angled to perfection was changed, revealing a softness and vulnerability I’d never seen or read about vampires before; it was beautiful and magnificent.

  “What happened?” I gasped gently reaching out to touch him to make sure he was real and I hadn’t passed out.

  “You're seeing me, our kind for the first time Patty,” he whispered. “Take a look in the mirror.”

  Dumbly I nodded, the overwhelming urge to hold him close and protect him was all too much, the same as the comprehension that there was more to the vampire race than anyone had dared to record. It stands to reason that no one had been involved remotely as closely as I was with the race and neither had anyone fought harmoniously beside an entire coven or two before, until I’d done it. That would be recorded and go down in the wretched history of the realm.

  “I’ll help you up,” he said his hands under my elbows. “Go on,” he urged gently pushing me in the direction of the mirror.

  I stumbled in a haze across the room, vaguely aware that he’d crossed to opposite the mirror and stood leaning smiling softly across to me. His lips curved upwards, the bright red blood filled lips that I longed to kiss right now.

  “Before you look,” he said softly, “there’s something you need to know.”

  I turned to face him in mid action and turned completely giving him my undivided attention.

  “What is it?”

  “Well,” he cleared his throat suddenly appearing ashamed, “There’s one more Cerberus. But he won’t hurt anyone and is actually calmer than the rest; I reckon he’ll be easy to train if he had the right master. And I was wondering...”

  “No,” I said my voice restraining the anger, as I held up my hand to stop him in mid sentence. “There’s no way you can get away with keeping an animal like that Luke; you know as well as I do its death if ever I saw one again,”