Read Dark Season: The Complete Box Set Online
Authors: Amy Cross
Abigail
Today.
The journey takes me three days and three nights, during which I don't dare to stop and rest. I don't eat, I don't drink, I don't sleep, I don't even look back over my shoulder; I barely even think. I just keep running and running, determined to get as far away from Dedston as possible, determined to forget everything that's happened to me recently. At any moment, I expect to have Benjamin and the others catch up to me, determined to haul me back to their underground facility. Eventually, however, I realize that maybe I can outrun them. After all, I don't seem to be getting tired; it's as if I can run and run, as the fear pushes my body to keep going. I don't have a map, or any way to guide myself, but somehow I know exactly where I'm going and eventually, early on the morning of the fourth day, I find myself standing on a familiar roadside, with a familiar town spread out before me.
Callerton, New Mexico. I'm home.
I can't actually go back to my old house, of course. Benjamin and his men are undoubtedly there already, grilling Evan and Ruth for information about my whereabouts. I imagine Benjamin is pretty pissed off right now, especially since I discovered the little transmitter he attached to my shoe: I discarded it by sticking it to the side of a cow in a field I passed, and I can only imagine Benjamin's face when he raced to the field, thinking he'd finally found me, only to be confronted by a Friesian. Still, all jokes aside, he'll keep trying to find me, which means it's foolish of me to come back to Callerton. I'm walking into a hornet's nest, but I can't stay away. I'm alone in the world. Alone, even though I can't shake the feeling that I'm being watched.
Fortunately, I feel as if I'm getting stronger every day. My body is definitely changing. I'm becoming... something else. I guess I'll have to wait and see how things go. Right now, I'm just scared. Really,
really
scared. I feel as if I'm divided into two halves: there's the human side, which I got from my mother; and there's the darker side, which comes from Patrick. What if I become like Patrick? What if the vampire side takes over and I become some kind of cold-hearted killer?
I don't dare to venture into Callerton. It's a fairly small town, and there are plenty of people who'd recognize me. Besides, I'm worried about how I look. I feel like I'm changing so fast, maybe I'm starting to look different. Wandering through the forest, I eventually find the river. I kneel down and look at my reflection. I half expect to see some kind of monster staring back, so I'm relieved when I see that it's just me, and I don't look any different at all. All the changes are inside, then. Still, I can't go back to my old life. If people see me around, eventually word will get back to Evan and Ruth, and then to Benjamin. Maybe I shouldn't have come back here after all. Maybe I should just go somewhere completely new.
As for Patrick, I don't want to ever see him again. Benjamin was right about one thing: it's clear that Patrick's incapable of love. How else do you explain the fact that he killed my mother? He used her, and once he'd got what he wanted, he got rid of her. No creature could do such a horrific thing if it had even the slightest capability of feeling love. He must be some kind of monster, filled with anger and hatred, devoid of sympathy for the lives of others. I don't want to be around him. I don't want to help him. I don't even care if he spends the rest of his life pinned up to that wall, to be prodded and poked by Benjamin. They're welcome to each other: the prisoner and his tormentor. As far as I'm concerned, they can stay like that forever, just so long as they leave me out of their macabre, hideous dance.
As I wonder through the forest, I feel a growing sense of peace. Eventually, though, something feels wrong and I realize I'm experiencing another of those strange images, although this time it's different and more peaceful. In front of me, I see a girl standing and staring at a statue. As I get closer, I see that the statue looks like Patrick, and the girl looks like me. It must be my mother, Sophie. I walk up behind her, wondering whether there's any way I can make contact with her. Slowly, I reach out a hand to touch her shoulder. She turns to me and -
My thoughts are suddenly disturbed by the sound of footsteps nearby, and the image fades away to leave me standing in the forest just outside Callerton. I turn, shocked at the thought that someone might find me out here. Hiding behind a mud-bank, I listen as someone walks past me just a few meters away.
"Fuck you, then," says a female voice nearby. There's a pause; it sounds as if she's talking to someone on the phone. "Next time you want to hang out with someone, don't call me." As I listen, I realize I recognize that voice. It's Donna, the girl who used to make my life a living hell. Those days feel as if they're a lifetime away, even though it's barely been a week since I left Callerton. Peering around the edge of the mud-bank, I see her walking angrily between the trees. It's weird, but she always used to be the center of attention, with people desperate to hang out with her. Now, though, she seems to be all alone. As I watch her walking away, I know that I should just ignore her. But the truth is, the anger is rising in me once again and I feel as if it's time someone taught this bitch a lesson. Carefully, and silently, I start following her. I don't even know what I'm planning to do, but I'm determined to make sure she learns once and for all never to mess with Abby Hart.
Stepping forward, I feel my foot push against a twig. There's a snapping sound, and Donna turns to see me. There's a look of shock in her eyes.
"Hey, bitch," I say, as a tide of anger rises through my body. For the first time ever, I like the sound of my own voice.
Prologue
Dedston - Sixteen years ago.
"What if she's not dead?" I ask, looking up at my mother as we stand in front of Sophie's coffin. It's a cold day, and the sky above us looks as if it might start raining at any minute.
"Of course she's dead," she replies.
"Yeah, but what if she's not?" I continue. "What if they got it wrong? What if we bury her and then she wakes up?" I pause for a moment. "Maybe you should put a mobile phone in, so she can call if she -"
"Shut up," my mother says, still staring at the coffin.
"Yeah, but -"
"Shut up!" she says firmly, looking down at me. "Todd, seriously. She's dead. They did an autopsy. Do you know what that means? Do you know what an autopsy is?"
I shake my head.
"Exactly. You don't know shit, so don't ask stupid questions." She turns and walks away, heading over to my aunt, who's helping to arrange the chairs. We're out at the cemetery, waiting for the priest to arrive so Sophie can be buried. It's hard to believe that her body is really in the coffin, and that we're going to put her in the ground and leave her down there forever. I keep thinking about all the worms that are going to start eating her. What if she wakes up, and there's worms eating her, and she can't get out?
"I'll come and visit you every day," I say, staring at the coffin. "I'll bang on the ground to let you know I'm here, and then you can shout if you're awake, and I can get help. Okay?"
"That's a very sensible precaution," says a voice next to me. I turn to find that an old guy has come over to join me. He looks like he's fifty or even sixty years old, and he's dressed in an expensive-looking suit. "In the Middle Ages," he continues, "in Europe, it was common to place a bell by the grave, with a string going all the way down into the coffin. Can you guess why?"
I stare at him. "So that dead people could let living people know if they'd been buried by mistake?"
"Exactly," he replies with a smile. "Of course, that sort of thing happened a lot more often back then. Do you know why?"
I think about it for a moment. "Because the doctors weren't as good."
"Excellent," he says. "You're very clever. Of course, the problem was that when it was windy, all the little bells would ring anyway. Can you imagine how spooky that must have been?"
A shiver runs through me as I think about being in a cemetery at night, and hearing a bell ring.
"Doctors are a lot better today," he continues. "That's very good, because it means they can help cure us when we get sick. But it also means that mistakes are rarer."
I look at the coffin. "But there's still a chance, isn't there?" I ask. "She might just be fast asleep."
"Come and sit down," the old man says, gesturing to the first row of chairs. "You're Todd, aren't you? You're Sophie's brother?" I watch as he goes to sit down. He has a cane, and he seems to be limping on his right leg. He smiles as he takes a seat. "It's okay," he says, "I won't bite."
I look over at my mother and see that she's busy talking to other people. Sophie always told me not to talk to strangers, but I guess that this man wouldn't be at Sophie's funeral if he was a stranger. There are loads of people here who I don't know, but most of them are members of my family. This guy is probably just a long-lost cousin or something.
"I used to live next door, when you were very young," says the man as I take a seat next to him. "I guess you were still a baby when I moved away, though, so you wouldn't..." He smiles. "Sorry, none of this is important. I just wanted to tell you that I'm very impressed by how strong you're being today. Your sister would have been proud of you. You're a very intelligent and mature young man."
"Did you know her?" I ask.
"Yes," he says, nodding, "I knew Sophie. Not very well, and certainly not as well as you know her, but I saw her playing in the yard a few times. She seemed like a very nice girl. You remind me of her a lot. You have the same look in your eyes. The same intelligence."
"She's dead," I say.
"I know," he replies, "and I'm so sorry about that. It breaks my heart when young people pass on before their time. It's not right when people such as your sister die, while old men like me keep going on. We must just trust in God and accept that he has a plan for all of us."
I look over my shoulder and see that my mother is still talking to other people. The funeral service is going to start any minute.
"I was at your father's funeral as well," the man continues. "I'm so sorry you've suffered two tragedies in such a short space of time."
I turn back to him. "I'm not supposed to talk to strangers," I say.
He smiles. "That's very good, Todd," he says. "Very wise. I'm not really a stranger, of course, but I guess you really don't remember me." He reaches out a hand. "My name is Benjamin," he says. "It's a pleasure to meet you and see what a fine young man you're growing up to be."
Although I don't really want to touch him, I shake his hand. Something about this man feels a little creepy. "I have to go and find my Mom," I say, standing up and turning to walk away.
"When did you meet Patrick?" Benjamin says suddenly.
I stop in my tracks. I didn't think anyone else knew about Patrick. Turning slowly back to face Benjamin, I feel the hairs stand up on the back of my neck.
"It's not a trick question," he continues. "It's just that so few people have ever met him, and I was wondering about the circumstances that led you to his presence. You'll have to forgive me for asking, I know it's none of my business but..." He pauses. "Very few people know that Patrick exists, and even those who do know are usually unable to find him. I knew a man by the name of Dexter Logan who spent years and years trying to find him, but he could never quite do it. Not until the end, anyway. So I'm just curious about how you managed to go straight to Patrick when you needed to ask him about Sophie."
I stare at him, not sure what to say.
"You wanted to ask him about your sister, didn't you?" Benjamin says. "You wanted to know if he could find her for you, but he couldn't. It was very brave of you, going down into Patrick's world and looking for him. You must have been scared."
"Not really," I reply.
"It's okay," he continues. "You can tell me. You don't
have
to, but I'm interested. Patrick's someone who interests me a great deal. I've studied him, over the years, but I've never really got close to him." He reaches down and rolls up his trouser leg, showing me where a chunk of muscle has been torn away. He has a big, nasty scar. "That's as close as I managed to get. As you can see, Patrick wasn't very pleased to see me."
"I was looking for Sophie," I say. "I wasn't doing anything wrong."
"Of course you weren't," Benjamin replies, rolling his trouser leg back down. "No-one was suggesting that you shouldn't have gone to find your sister. It was very brave of you. The only reason I'm asking is that, for most people, finding Patrick is rather difficult, yet you seem to have managed it with surprising ease. That's a skill that I find fascinating, and potentially rather useful."
I stare at him. Something about Benjamin really unsettles me.
"Perhaps I've said too much," he says. "You're a very brave young man, Todd. Very remarkable. Perhaps when you're a little older, we should talk again. I work for some people who might be able to use your talents."
"I have to go to my Mom now," I say, turning and walking away before Benjamin has a chance to stop me. When I reach my mother, I stand and listen to her talking to one of her friends for a moment, and then I slowly look back over to see if Benjamin is watching me. To my surprise, there's no sign of him. I look around, but he's nowhere to be seen, until finally I spot him walking away in the distance. It seems weird that he'd come to the funeral, but wouldn't actually stay for the part where we put the coffin in the ground.
"Mom," I say, grabbing my mother's arm, "who was that guy?"
"Not now," she says, not even bothering to look at me. "I'm busy."
I stare at Benjamin, watching him walk away until finally he's just a dot in the distance; moments later, he's gone from my view completely, disappearing into the trees that line the far end of the cemetery. I'm glad he's not here any more, but I can't shake the feeling that he's still watching from afar. Spotting the priest getting ready, I walk back over to the coffin, and then I turn and look down into the deep, dark grave. Soon Sophie will be down there forever, trapped in a big box. I wish I had a bell to give her, just in case she needs it.