Dark Requiem (The Darkling Trilogy, Book 3) (39 page)

“
I’m not even sure what I
should call you now. Luna or Dallas.”

Another smile crept onto
her lips, this one more mysterious and with a slight hint of
mischief.

“
Technically, you should
call me goddess. But I don’t mind either Luna or
Dallas.”

I laughed only for it to
be cut short when an image flooded my mind: that of a glittering
grey, alien landscape cupped by darkness that was sharp and aware.
The Earth, perfect in its solitude, floated in the centre of that
darkness. I felt my skin grow cold and I just stood and gaped at
her.

She was off the bed and
moving toward the living area.

“
Hurry, Avery, or we’ll be
late. And yes for heaven’s sake, I’ll marry you.”

She was gone by the time I
found my voice, the image still making my head tingle.

“
Goddess? You’re a
goddess? Wait...you’ll
marry
me?”

***

As I moved around the
domed city I found my thoughts drifting back to a time before the
events that had given birth to this new generation.

It was surprising a
community would rear a generation with such lowly values—but they
had—all in a futile attempt to destroy one woman. And the reason
they wanted to see this woman destroyed? Because of two things. The
first of these was dreams, the content of which she had never even
spoken of to another and to this day still did not know how those
dreams came to be made public knowledge. The second reason was that
in the midst of darkness, this woman succeeded in building
something for herself.

Unfortunately, it was not
something the community saw any merit in. In fact, the only value
they saw in what she had built was that it was something the vermin
they championed could either defile or steal. And so they allowed a
lowly attack that saw this woman’s privacy stripped away from her
and in which her mind was taken over by others and toyed with. They
had manipulated this woman’s senses day and night, often flooding
her mind with vile images, inducing physical and mental discomfort
along with pain. This went on for years and during this period they
made sleep, the ability to think, dream, function and most of all,
build, a painful battle.

It was a terrible thing to
see someone’s mind become a playground for degenerates using tools
which only had one purpose: To damage a mind beyond repair. It must
have been even worse for the woman under attack to have the thing
she struggled and toiled to build, often working under intolerable
physical and mental duress, invaded and passed around by the lowest
of the low as if it were trash you kicked out of your way or the
dead leaves you trod on as you went about your way.

Yet as time wore on, she
began to receive worldwide attention for what she achieved in the
face of adversity, something that enraged the community simply
because they did not feel her achievements, and what she stood for,
was worthy of worldwide attention. What was disturbing was that
they thought the things the vermin stood for, and their lowly
actions, was what should be applauded.

And so they taught the
next generation that qualities such as intellect, hard work,
achievement and excellence were things that should not only be
despised, they should be stamped out.

What they failed to see,
but which was clear to all who observed these events, was that you
couldn’t invite the devil into your bed and expect him to leave
once you got tired of him. The abomination they allowed to happen
to another would not end with just one person. And the devil they
had embraced in their midst would stay to dance upon their blood
and bones.

I was just thankful
Mallory had not lived to see what had become of the
world.

Thinking of Mallory still
brought me pain although centuries had passed since her death.
Having Shadrach walk away left a void in Mallory’s life and
although it made her extremely...prickly with each year that
passed, I would forever remember her as the lost and hungry
flame-haired child I had found wandering outside the gates of the
mansion. I smiled when I thought about how formidable she had been,
and on the one occasion Luna and I dared stand up to her, we
returned to the mansion at dawn to find our suitcases waiting for
us in the field of flowers.

***

It took many weeks before
Mallory allowed us back to the mansion to talk. She was standing in
the doorway waiting for us when we drove up to the mansion and got
out of the car.

Decades had passed by then
and at the sight of her, my heart clenched painfully at how frail
and old she appeared to be. Her hair was still thick and grazed her
slender waist, but instead of a vermillion curtain it was now an
iron grey. She wore a thick grey cardigan and was slightly stooped,
leaning heavily on a wooden cane. Heavy, black rimmed glasses
perched on the tip of her nose. The thing I found most
disconcerting, however, was that Mallory was wearing fluffy white
slippers.

She shuffled forward when
we moved to the door and peered at us through the thick glasses,
her smile soft and slightly vague.

“
Is that you, Uncle
Avery?” There was a warble in her voice.

“
Yes, Mallory.”

She laid a soft, unsteady
hand against my face when I leaned forward and kissed her on the
cheek.

I felt a lump form in my
throat.

You don’t feel anything in
your throat!
Luna snapped behind
me.
It is just a psychosomatic reaction,
something vampires do not have.

“
My dear Dallas,” Mallory
said once I moved aside.

Mallory embraced Luna and
I noticed Luna held her carefully, as if afraid she would break in
her arms. Luna’s bottom lip trembled and I noticed her eyes were
bright with unshed tears, most probably because Mallory had called
her Dallas, reminding her of the night she arrived unannounced and
how it had been Mallory who kept me from making her
leave.

“
Well, come on inside out
of the cold," Mallory said, drawing her cardigan around
her.

She shuffled down the
corridor, needing the cane.

This was a completely
different tactic for her. I exchanged glances with Luna and saw my
own consternation peering back at me.

She wasn’t going to make
this easy for us at all.

Seated in the drawing
room, Mallory reached for a stack of unopened mail and peered at
it, struggling to read through the glasses she did not
need.

That was when I decided to
bring an end to Mallory’s little charade.

“
Perhaps you would be able
to see better without the glasses, Mallory. You’ve been drinking
vampire blood for years now and you’re probably in better health
than you were when you were a girl.”

Her hands grew still and
she stiffened. Her back was suddenly straighter and the hand
clutching the cane tightened as she stared at me, her amber eyes as
hard and brittle as chunks of jasper. Then her mouth tightened and
a hot flush crept to her face.

With the strength and
speed of someone much younger, she brought her cane up to crack it
against the side of my head. It broke and the bottom end flew
across the room past Luna who yelped in surprise before turning to
Mallory, her eyes wide with shock, her mouth falling open before
she clamped it shut.

Of course the blow had not
hurt at all, but I stood there blinking rapidly against tears,
which must, of course, have been caused by the abruptness of the
blow than, perhaps, hurt feelings. Though I admit I felt some mild
emotional discomfort at the fact Mallory had been angry enough to
hit me. I suppose some of that must have shown on my face as I
stared at her because she wavered for a moment, her own eyes
brightening with moisture, her mouth opening to flounder helplessly
for a few moments.

Then her mouth hardened
once more and she brought the broken cane up to crack it against my
head once more.

“
Don’t look at me like
that!” she snapped.

I merely sat down before
her, my expression still revealing my angst.

After a long, heavy
silence, she let me ease the cane out of her hand.

“
Mallory, my dear girl, I
love you, but I’m not going to let you get your own way this
time.”

I’m sure if she had still
been holding onto the cane she would have struck me across the head
once more. Her hands clenched into fists instead.

“
Get out! Get
out!”

“
Mallory...” I
began.

When I saw her reach for
the cane, I got to my feet. She deigned to let me kiss her on the
cheek before we left the room.

Outside in the field of
flowers, we stood in bewildered silence. I heard the sound of the
mansion door opening. Seconds later I felt something crack against
the side of my head.

The broken cane cluttered
to the ground by my feet.

I faced the mansion to see
Mallory standing in the doorway. She stood tall and straight, all
traces of the frail, old lady gone along with the cardigan and
soft, white slippers.

“
Take that with you and
bring me back a gold plated cane with studs so the next time I hit
you, you’ll have a reason to look at me like that!”

She slammed the door shut.
I heard her bare feet pad along the marble floor before she came to
a stop. I heard scrapping sounds and then the clip of her heels as
she moved further into the mansion.

I picked up the cane and
glowered at Luna. She averted her gaze and moved to the car. I
followed.

“
You were...helpful back
there, Luna,” I said.

“
What was I supposed to do
when she got upset enough to hit you?”

“
What we
agreed
.”

“
It’s done now, Avery. And
for God’s sake, just make sure you buy her that cane before our
next visit.”

“
Really? You want me to
give her something she can actually crack my skull open
with?”

She was beside the car by
now and moved to the passenger side.

“
She’s not going to hit
you with that if there’s a chance she could do real damage, so just
get her the cane.”

“
I see. And is that the
goddess’s wisdom I’m hearing or Dallas’s?”

She spun around, her eyes
burning opals. I froze, for I had seen that look far too many times
in the past, like the time she threw me into the lake and when she
threw Henriette to her death.

I felt my insides turn to
water. Rather than provoke her further, I got into the car. She
joined me a few moments later and we drove away in
silence.

Shamefaced, we moved back
into the mansion a few weeks later and that was the last time we
ever tried to stand our ground with Mallory.

Thinking back to those
years, I felt the lump in my throat Luna did not believe vampires
could feel. I swallowed, fighting back tears. I missed Mallory
dearly although centuries had passed since her death. She had died
in her sleep. I returned to the mansion at dawn to find her in
Shadrach’s arms in the field of flowers, seemingly asleep, a soft
smile on her lips.

Shadrach had been with her
every second in the months leading up to her death. He had appeared
one night whilst I sat talking with Mallory in the field of
flowers.

I had looked up to see him
standing at the gates, his gaze on Mallory, appearing to drink her
in. He no doubt noted the physical changes that had occurred since
he saw her last, but all I saw in his eyes was love and awe. It was
a moment before Mallory noticed him. She stared at him for a long
moment before beckoning to him. Mallory had married twice since
Shadrach left us, but we all knew she still loved him and always
would.

“
Shadrach.” Her voice was
little more than a whisper and thick with emotion. “Come on over.
You wouldn’t believe the nonsense Uncle Avery has been telling
me.”

He was by her side moments
later. He stared down at her for a few more moments before he sat
down and kissed her on the cheek. His intense gaze remained trained
on her as she spoke. The only sign she gave that she had missed him
was the hand she placed in his.

He never left her side at
all from that moment and I found myself sometimes pushed out. Luna
was there to console me, of course.

“
You’ve been with Mallory
nearly her entire life, Avery. Shadrach deserves this time with
her.”

I understood, although I
still felt my stomach clench into painful knots whenever I had to
walk away and let them have that precious time together. But I was
always consoled by Luna’s hand in mine and that I could gaze into
the raven eyes of my immortal beloved who would be with me always.
Although centuries later I still struggled with Mallory’s passing,
I had a degree of peace in my heart because Luna had shown me the
realm in which Mallory and other souls journeyed to once their time
on this Earth had passed. She had shown me a place of light, love
and eternal peace. A paradise long forgotten, but which humans
sensed in the deepest recesses of their minds.