Available Darkness Box Set | Books 1-3

by Platt, Sean

  If the creature breathed, she couldn’t hear it.

  She couldn’t hear anything save her own breath, which she was trying to stifle, wishing for a wind or anything that might mask her movement.

  But the In-Between was as silent as it was cold.

  As she slid her hands fully under Talani, sand fell away with a whisper.

  The monster’s head turned quickly toward her, mouth open wide as if it was hearing with that instead of eyes.

  No, no, no, no!

  She paused, praying that it wouldn’t jump on her.

  Again it was still.

  She kept her eyes fixed on the monster, and lifted Talani.

  Her knees cracked.

  The monster’s head turned slightly downward, but still its body didn’t move.

  Good, good, just gotta move quietly.

  Talani wasn’t too heavy, but quietly moving away would take a lot longer than Abigail wanted.

  She slowly turned from the monster.

  She then began to walk, slowly as humanly possible.

  That’s it.

  Nice and easy …

  and quiet.

  One foot in front of the other.

  Just keep —

  Talani suddenly screamed, thrusting her arms out, elbowing Abigail hard in the face. She fell with Talani atop her.

  The monster’s mouth opened wide again, as if its jaw were unhinged.

  Then it screamed — a high-pitched shriek like knives in Abigail’s head. She covered her ears to muffle the sound.

  The monster moved closer.

  Shadows descended.

  Abigail looked up to see the floating nightmares sinking toward them.

  Seventy-Three

  John

  John felt the blade at his neck, and flashed back on Vashkar slicing Logan’s throat, and how helpless he’d been to stop it.

  Again he felt helpless. Not to save his own life. He didn’t think Jacob would kill him if he didn’t have to. But he might kill Hope, and make John watch.

  And that would be worse than death.

  “What do you want from me?”

  “As I said before, dear brother, I want you to come home. Caleb is waiting for us.”

  “Fine. I’ll come with you. But let her go.”

  Jacob was quiet, perhaps considering the request.

  Hope’s eyes were wide, terrified, as she stood helplessly in front of John. A Valkoer Knight stood frozen behind her. Another knight and wraith headed back into the portal.

  John hoped they didn’t catch up to Abigail and her friend.

  Jacob finally responded. “Maybe, if we were back on Earth, I might let her go. But we’re not, and without you, she won’t get back on her own. It isn’t safe out there for a woman. How about she comes with us? We can be one big happy family, with me as your Master.”

  John swallowed his disgust.

  He’d say anything now to buy time.

  “Okay.”

  Hope’s eyes were wide in terror.

  John hoped she trusted him to find a way out. If not, he’d have to kill his true love before Jacob could turn her.

  Then he’d kill himself.

  Seventy-Four

  Abigail

  Abigail and Talani were trapped, a screaming monster in front of them, and floating nightmares descending.

  “Run!” she yelled at Talani.

  Abigail turned to run, but a second monster was behind her, its mouth open and shrieking.

  She fell to the ground, hands tight against her ears, barely able to muffle the sound or drown the pain.

  Not knowing what else to do, she let out her own unearthly scream, “Stoooooop!”

  The monster stopped screaming.

  And for a moment, Abigail felt hopeful. Then she felt its claws closing around her, picking her up. She tried to fight back, but her body went limp.

  No, no, no, no.

  I can’t move.

  It’s controlling me!

  The other monster was gathering Talani. She yelled, “Put me down!” but made no moves to stop it either. They were both helpless.

  Abigail screamed again, but the monsters didn’t care.

  They began walking, to where God only knew.

  Abigail continued to scream the entire time. She caught Talani looked back at her, eyes crying.

  “Sorry, Abigail,” Talani said in her mind.

  Suddenly, a woman’s voice in Abigail’s head: “You can fight them.”

  Abigail thought it was Talani, but when she spoke again saying that Abigail could fight them, she realized that it wasn’t.

  “Judith?”

  “Yes.”

  Aren’t you dead?

  “I’m here, Abigail. Stuck in the In-Between.”

  How can I fight them?

  “Attack their minds.”

  I don’t know how.

  “Yes, you do. Just focus on their thoughts.”

  Abigail closed her eyes, felt for a connection, and was surprised to immediately find it. Most people felt like whispers, whose thoughts she could sometimes overhear. These things sounded like static, a frayed signal on an endless loop. Maybe it was their language.

  Abigail could feel the door opening into their minds.

  She forced her way in.

  And found herself standing in a void, utter darkness all around her. She couldn’t see anything, but felt the walls around her as if in a labyrinth as big as the world. But the walls weren’t made of wood, concrete, or steel. They felt wet and alive, like tissue. Brain.

  She pressed on one of the nearest walls — squishy to the touch.

  She drove her hand through it.

  The static grew loud.

  Whatever she did hurt the thing.

  “Put me down,” she commanded.

  The static continued, a buzzing beneath it.

  She punched another wall.

  Shriek.

  She punched again and again and again.

  The shrieking and static grew in concert, a cacophony, like nails pounded through her ears. But she didn’t care.

  Abigail kept punching, then she grabbed ahold of the fleshy walls and turned her focus from punching to absorbing.

  To feeding.

  The thing screamed.

  Abigail laughed.

  She felt her body drop, both in the psychic space and the In-Between.

  She opened her eyes, disconnected from the monster whose body was burning from the inside.

  Abigail launched another mental attack on Talani’s monster, and doubled her victory.

  As the monsters burned, Abigail and Talani shook off the numbness and regained control of their bodies.

  “You did it,” Judith’s voice spoke as if beside them.

  “Judith? Is it really you?”

  “Yes, Talani.”

  “Why can’t I see you?”

  “I’m afraid my body is gone. But I’m here with you nonetheless.”

  “Thank you,” Abigail said. “But we need to get back to John. Can you help us find our way?”

  As they searched for the portal, Abigail told Judith about the amulet, and how they had to stop Jacob.

  Talani had questions, like why Judith was here, and if there were other dead people around, like maybe her sister or father.

  “I don’t know why I’m here, nor do I know if there is anyone else. You’re the first people I’ve seen — everything else has been wraiths or psychopis.”

  “Psychopis?” Abigail asked.

  “The floating things. I remembered their name. They’re like the wraiths, but can’t breach the portal into our worlds. Here, they rule. Ignore their attempts to trick you, and you’ll be fine.”

  “Can we fight them telepathically?” Abigail asked.

  “I wouldn’t try. They’re much smarter than the wraiths.”

  They continued walking until they saw the portal they’d come through.

  Just on the other side of the portal, Jacob was holding a dagger to John
’s throat, leading him toward the other portal.

  Abigail grabbed her blade, about to leap through.

  “Wait,” Judith said. “Not yet. If he sees you, he might kill your friends. Run behind the portal and wait until they come through. I’ll shroud us in shadow.”

  They waited, crouched behind the portal, shrouded by Judith’s magick even though she wasn’t physically with them.

  They watched as Jacob marched John and Hope into the In-Between.

  Abigail tensed, craving attack but not sure what to do. Jacob was so much more powerful than she or Talani were.

  She gripped the knife tight in her hand hoping it would be enough.

  But first she’d have to sneak up on them.

  They waited, watching as Jacob cruelly joked with them about the fun they’d have as a family together.

  After they put some distance between them, Abigail and Talani stood up.

  As they approached the portal to pass it, Abigail looked through and immediately felt as if someone punched her in the heart.

  “No,” she whispered, pointing.

  “Oh my God,” Talani gasped at all the bodies.

  Abigail’s eyes welled up, but she stifled her tears. She had to stay strong so they could surprise Jacob.

  But then she saw a body that broke her: Larry.

  “No!” she cried out, jumping through the portal, into the remains of the massacre, scrambling over corpses.

  Talani followed, “We’re gonna lose them!”

  But Abigail couldn’t focus on anything other than the sight of one of her best friends, dying or dead.

  She dropped to the ground beside Larry and turned him over, careful not to touch his skin.

  His eyes were closed.

  Blood spilled from his closed mouth.

  “Larry?” she asked, her voice cracking.

  He didn’t respond.

  Abigail stared at him, listening for a pulse, or a breath, or anything.

  Nothing.

  “No, no, no!” she cried, leaning over, resting her head on his chest as if he might hear her and wake from the dead.

  She looked up at Talani, also crying.

  Talani cried, “I’m so sorry.”

  Abigail shook her head. “No.”

  “What do you mean, no?”

  “We can’t let him die.”

  “We’re too late.”

  “Are we?”

  Talani looked confused. “What do you mean?”

  “They brought me back from the dead. Turned me. Can we do it to him?”

  “I don’t know.” Talani swallowed. “I’ve never turned anyone.”

  “But Judith has.”

  “Yes.”

  Abigail stood and walked to the portal.

  She stepped halfway in, and made sure she couldn’t see Jacob, John, or Hope. “Judith. We need your help.”

  Seventy-Five

  Abigail

  Abigail kneeled down beside Larry, his blood staining her pants, as she stared at him, hoping that this would work.

  His eyes were closed.

  He had no pulse.

  He was dead.

  How long had he been dead?

  How long did she have?

  She didn’t know anything other than she had to try.

  Talani stood half-in and half-out of the portal as Judith instructed her on the means to turn a person.

  Abigail recited the spell.

  Then she leaned forward, parted his lips, and kissed him as her parasite split, then crawled into Larry’s dead mouth.

  Abigail closed her eyes as the creature slipped from her mouth and into his. She would vomit if she saw it. Abigail was still disgusted by the thing living inside her, even though it was the only thing that kept her alive.

  “It’s in,” Talani said.

  Abigail opened her eyes, watching Larry’s face, waiting, hoping, and … praying.

  She felt like a fraud coming to God for help, especially after the deaths on her hands. She’d once been an innocent little girl, victim of a horrible uncle, victim of a fate that stole her family, and victim of the rapist Randy Webster.

  But Abigail was no longer a victim.

  She was a perpetrator, killing to survive.

  And while she had only intended to kill bad people that God Himself would probably agree deserved to die, the blood of innocents also stained her soul.

  And what God would listen to a monster’s prayers? Especially when her request was to help her create another just like her?

  Minutes stretched, and faith turned to tears.

  She looked back at Talani. “Ask her if he should be awake by now.”

  Talani slipped out of sight then returned, looking gravely at the ground.

  “I’m sorry. She said it’s too late.”

  Abigail’s lip trembled as tears began anew.

  “I’m so sorry,” Abigail cried, bending to kiss Larry on his forehead.

  She swallowed her knot and stood.

  She looked down at Larry one last time, remembering the good times, the many nights they sat in his van talking about stupid things and things not so stupid. How he’d never really treated her as a kid but more like a slightly younger sister.

  In many ways, she was closer to him than John, and she couldn’t imagine living without his laugh or his stupid jokes. Living without him.

  “Goodbye, friend.” she said.

  She turned and met Talani at the portal.

  Talani hugged her. “I’m sorry.”

  “We both lost people today. Let’s go make that fucker pay.”

  Talani pulled away from the hug and nodded. “Yes, let’s.”

  They were about to step through the portal when they heard a gasping behind them.

  Seventy-Six

  John

  “Ignore the things above,” Jacob instructed as they stepped into the In-Between, a vast and endless black desert beneath a starry sky that looked like no sky he’d ever seen.

  “What is this place?” Hope asked, walking a few paces ahead of John, who still had Jacob guiding him forward with a knife at his throat.

  John had been looking for a moment to escape but had yet to find one that wouldn’t end with his throat slit.

  And if he was dead, Hope would be lost to Jacob for eternity.

  Jacob responded. “It has many names: the In-Between, the Void, the Null, Purgatory, Limbo, and, I suppose some humans might call it Hell.”

  Hope was shivering, her breath like smoke as she spoke. “Where are we going?”

  “This is a shortcut to your new home, The Forgotten Kingdom. But don’t worry, it’s only temporary. Once I am your Master and I know you won’t leave my side, you’ll be able to find your own Kingdoms. If you want to make one on Earth, we can arrange that. Or perhaps you’d like to go to The North on this world. I hear its tech makes Earth’s look like the Dark Ages.”

  John risked talking. “Why is it so important for you to be our Master? Why not just let us go?”

  “Because, John, we’re family. I know you probably don’t remember much of your life before Mother stole you away, but we were all once a happy family.”

  “Really? Is that why Mother left the King? Because she was happy?”

  “The wizard clouded her mind. Made her think Father was bad. Sure, he had his issues; who doesn’t? But he treated her okay … well, much better than he treated me, anyway.”

  John sensed a thread to pull at. He wasn’t sure what it would get him, but he had to try something before they reached the Kingdom.

  “How did he treat you?”

  “It doesn’t matter. He’s dead now, and the past is behind us. What we do with the future is all that matters. I’m going to liberate our people, John. No longer will we live in the shadows, slaves to those who fear us.”

  John wanted to get back to discussing the King, knowing there was something there to use against Jacob. He was getting flashes of memory, too, from Jacob — of exactly how terrible he’d b
een treated by their father. He didn’t think Jacob was sending him the memories so much as they were seeping out of him, perhaps because of this place.

  “You know my adopted father treated Caleb and me like hell, too?”

  “I know all too well. I answered your brother’s prayer and killed him for you. A gift. You’re welcome.”

  “Thank you,” John said, then let the silence stretch. “I’m sorry we were taken. That the King took it all out on you. That wasn’t right. If I could go back in time, I’d change it.”

  “Well, you can’t. And damn it, stop pretending to give a fuck about me. I know what you’re doing.”

  “What?” John asked coyly.

  “You’re pretending to know what it felt like, feigning concern. I know you don’t care about me, and I get it, what with me being a ‘psychopath’ and all. But I hope that you’ll see that I’m not the monster you think I am. I spared you. And Hope. I spared Caleb, too! Would a monster do all that sparing?”

  “No,” John said.

  “That almost seemed genuine.”

  John didn’t respond. He was losing whatever foothold he thought he might be gaining in Jacob’s mind.

  “It’s okay. You don’t have to like me now. But you will once I am your Master. You’ll both come to love me.”

  Hope asked, “What kind of love is one not given freely?”

  “What?” Jacob said, turning to Hope.

  “How can it be love if you force us to love you? That’s not love. That’s pathetic.”

  “Shut up,” Jacob growled.

  Hope stopped. “No. I won’t.”

  What are you doing? Stop it!

  “Excuse me?” Jacob said.

  “You’re nothing but a bully!” Hope said, hands on her hips.

  She was reminding John of Talani. Too much of Talani.

  “Stop it,” John said.

  She stared past him, straight at Jacob. “Tell me, does it feel good to be a bully? Does it feel good to be no different than your daddy?”

  Jacob pressed the knife to John’s throat, harder, piercing the flesh. The blade stung, and he winced, feeling its poison seeping into his bloodstream.