The Dark Rising

  “You know exactly why I want her to leave!” he spat out, the venom flashing in his eyes.

  Vance turned to look at me with a half shrug.

  “Do you care to enlighten me? Because I honestly have no idea what he's talking about,” he spoke rather calmly considering the circumstances.

  “I'll show you, but you'll have to let me in mentally,” I said, watching him.

  “Fine by me,” he replied after a moment and the barrier between us suddenly drop down.

  I let the memories of my dream flow into his head. As soon as I was done I retreated from his mind, and opened my eyes.

  Either he was becoming a very good actor, or the shock was real.

  “I didn't do this!” he said immediately, straightening up to glance between me and my dad.

  “That’s bull!” Dad argued.

  Vance stared at me. “Portia, I'm not responsible for this,” he stated calmly, trying to convey his message to me.

  “I believe you,” I replied, and my dad threw his hands up in exasperation, clearly agitated with me.

  “How can you be so blind to the truth?” He stared hard at me. “You saw him, you felt him do it!”

  “Dad, I'll do whatever possible to help you find out who Babs’s killer is, but I'll do it from here, by Vance’s side.”

  “I give up,” Dad replied dejectedly, looking at us before he strode out of the room. “Just stay away from all of us! Both of you! Do you understand me?” He turned to go out. “I don’t want either of you around anyone in the coven right now!”

  The door slammed behind him and I couldn’t help myself as I burst into tears once again.

  Vance gathered me to him in an instant. “I’m sorry, baby,” his voice crooned into my ear. “This is my fault. I’m screwing up everything in your life.”

  “Don’t talk like that!” I replied huddling against him. “I need you to be here with me.”

  He just held me while I had a good cry. When I was finished, he scooped me up and carried me back over to the bed, laying me down gently.

  “Go ahead and ask me the question burning in your head,” he said, while he watched me.

  “Where were you?” I asked, needing to hear it from his mouth.

  “I went for a ride up the canyon on my motorcycle. I realize that isn’t much of an alibi, but I needed to clear my head and try to think things out. I seem to be able to do it best after feeding, so I took advantage of that and left. I swear to you, Portia. I did not kill Babs.” His eyes searched mine.

  “Something about the vision didn’t seem right to me, though I don’t know exactly what it was,” I responded, trying to explain.

  “Well, one thing's for sure, someone is hunting this coven and they're determined to make it appear like it's me. We need to find out who it is before more people get hurt,” he said matter-of-factly.

  “My dad won’t even let us around them. How can we possibly protect them?”

  “We'll do it whether they want it or not,” he replied simply. “I’m not going to let Sean being a jerk stop me from doing what needs to be done.”

  I laughed slightly.

  “Now you're starting to sound like the “old” Vance,” I said with an appreciative glance at him.

  “Well, maybe he’s not as far away as you think.”

  I wasn't sure how to respond to this remark, but it didn’t matter since he chose to kiss me. I wrapped my arms around his neck and kissed him back, letting all of my emotions pour into him.

  He pulled away from me a few minutes later, reaching up to brush his hand down my hair.

  “I promise you, Portia, I'll do everything in my power to protect your family,” he said, his eyes full of concern.

  “I know,” I replied, nodding. “I really do believe you.”

  “I’m glad you do. It means a lot to me.”

  “You need to trust me enough to let me in on the things going on in your head though,” I said, watching him.

  “That street should have to go both ways.” He lifted an eyebrow at me.

  I nodded in agreement.

  “On that note, there's something I've wanted to talk to you about,” I said, testing out the waters.

  “Okay … shoot,” he replied.

  “I've been thinking there may be a way for you to overcome your demon attributes if you're interested in trying,” I spoke, before biting at my lip slightly while I waited for his reaction.

  He looked at me carefully for a moment as if weighing what I was asking him to do.

  “Continue,” he finally said. I released a little breath I didn’t know I had been holding.

  “Well, it occurred to me you're just as much a white witch as you are a demon. What if we worked on a way to try and bring those qualities to the surface? You'd be able to have complete control over the demon attributes and rule from a place where your emotions could be more stable,” I replied, hoping he would take this line of conversation easily.

  “What about the bloodlust?” he asked point blank, and I realized he wasn’t going to go easy on me.

  “You'd need to overcome it somehow,” I said honestly. “As long as you give into the cravings, it will rule you.”

  He sat silently, staring into my eyes, and I could see the wheels turning in his head.

  “I don’t know,” he spoke after a while. “I like the blood.”

  “I understand,” I replied thankful he was at least being honest with me. “That's a natural thing for you. But if there was a way for you to rise above the need for it, things could be much better for you I think. Right now it's like you are a drug addict. You're dependent, and if you don’t get it you become completely irrational. Trying to overcome this would be a redemption, of sorts, for you.”

  It was going to be hard to reason with him, since he was currently operating from his demon place, but I had to give him kudos for the way he seemed to be taking all of this though.

  “I'll think about it,” he finally responded.

  “That’s all I’m asking you to do,” I smiled. “This won’t work unless you want to do it.”

  “I do foresee one problem.”

  “What’s that?” I asked.

  “If I agree to this, I'm going to have to be contained somehow while I go through withdrawals. There isn’t anyone strong enough to do that,” he replied and though the comment sounded boastful, I knew he wasn’t trying to be.

  I pondered for a minute. This could definitely cause a problem. Even the magic of the whole coven wouldn’t be enough to hold him, so that wouldn’t help me. I would need someone as strong as Vance was and there was no one even close, except for me. This gave me an idea.

  “What if you contained yourself?” I asked him.

  “What? How?” he replied, looking at me like I was crazy.

  “If you created your own containment system, and then I reinforced it, would that work?”

  He paused to consider before he answered.

  “It might. Let me think on it for a little bit.”

  I nodded my head, happy the conversation had gone this well. I had expected complete resistance from him.

  He leaned in to kiss me on the cheek.

  “I’m sorry this has all been so hard on you. Despite everything I’m going through, I do want you to be happy,” he said as he lifted his hand to rub a thumb across my cheek.

  “Well, I'm happy to be with you, in any shape or form, but I think we could maybe find a way to make life a little easier on you,” I answered him.

  He smiled while he stared at me. His dimples made an appearance, and my heart did flip flops at the sight.

  “You never cease to amaze me,” he said as he continued to stroke my face. “You're going through all of this turmoil in your life and your first thoughts are whether or not I'm okay. You're so selfless.”

  “I'm being completely selfish!” I argued back with a laugh. “If you're in a good place then I get to be even happier.”

  “No,” he disagreed with me s
haking his head slightly. “You're a wonderful person.”

  “Whatever,” I said, blushing at his appraisal of me.

  “It’s true,” he replied. “And I love you for it.”

  Sometime later, I lay awake in Vance’s arms while he slept next to me. He hadn’t bitten me this time, which surprised me. Maybe he was trying to exercise his control over things already.

  I finally let my mind confront the issue I had been avoiding, and the images of Babs’s death began to wash through my memories. I saw the terror in her eyes, and it hurt to know she believed Vance was the person who had destroyed her. Silent tears ran down my face. I would miss my beloved friend.

  Letting the memories play over and over again in my head, I tried to identify what seemed strange or out of place to me. I wanted to find something, some sort of clue that would lead me to the identity of the killer, but it was always Vance’s face in the mirror.

  I rewound the images to the beginning and watched the hand that reached out to rip off the car door. It looked like his too. I felt myself growing frustrated quickly.

  “Don’t force it, Portia,” Vance’s voice whispered sleepily next to me and he pulled me tighter to him. “We'll figure it out somehow.”

  “I just keep seeing Babs,” I sighed. “She was terrified Vance. I can’t get the image out of my head.”

  I rolled over so I could face him. His eyes were flaming red, and I knew he needed to feed.

  “Why didn’t you bite me earlier?”

  “I don’t like hurting you,” he said, looking back at me.

  “I told you before—it isn’t as bad when we're together.” I reached over to stroke a finger down his face.

  “I know, but it still hurts you a little, and you're always so weak afterward,” he explained. “I've been selfish. It was my way of trying to thank you for being good to me.”

  “And now you are suffering because of it. If you don’t feed soon you're going to turn into the jerk again.” I laughed to soften the blow.

  “I don’t want to have that happen.” He leaned in to give me a kiss. “But if I'm going to do this, we might as well make it as easy on you as possible.”

  When he finally sank his teeth into my neck I barely noticed a thing, but he only took enough blood to take the edge off before he pulled away.

  “Don’t stop,” I said, pulling him back to me.

  He hesitated only a second before he dipped back in and continued to drink his fill, and I let my body relax as it morphed from feeling euphoric into unconsciousness once again.

  The hunter was back. He moved stealthily through the brush while he watched Bruce lock up his house before he turned to head to his car to go to the restaurant. He never made it to the car.

  Bruce’s eyes register the horror when he saw his captor.

  “No! Vance, don’t!” Bruce screamed and the hunter grabbed him, biting into his throat.

  I screamed too. “Stop! No!” I felt the blood run into my mouth, tasting it the same as the killer would.

  “Portia! Wake up!” I heard Vance’s voice calling to me loudly. “Wake up.”

  I was unable to open my eyes until Bruce was dead and fell from my grasp. Then the vision slipped away and I found myself sitting up in bed with Vance shaking me roughly.

  “What is it? What's happened?”

  “I … you … something just killed Bruce!” I rasped out, trying to catch my breath which was coming in ragged puffs.

  “I've been here with you,” Vance said and in an instant his mind linked with mine. I saw he had never even left the bed since he drank from me earlier. He'd held me in his arms the entire time I'd slept. “We need to find the rest of the coven—before anymore die,” he added, the urgency apparent in his voice.

  “I know,” I replied, still feeling weak, yet wanting to do something to help. “I'll try.”

  “No. I want you to stay in bed. You aren’t strong enough. I'll go after them.”

  “They'll attack you if you show up alone.”

  “Let them try,” he said with a chuckle. “I can take it.”

  He swung his legs over the edge of the bed and stood up. He went over to the closet and pulled out some of his clothes.

  “What'll you do if you find them?”

  “I'll try to convince them to come back here with me,” he said as he glanced up at me while buttoning his pants.

  “Be careful.” I hated that I was too weak to go with him.

  He finished getting dressed and leaned over to kiss me.

  “I will baby. I promise,” he replied.

  And then he was gone.

  Chapter 14

  I struggled to keep my eyes open after Vance left. I knew I hadn’t regenerated enough after his feeding to even really be conscious. He had forced me awake after the dream.

  “Go to sleep. I'll be okay,” his voice crept into my head.

  I didn’t have the strength to answer him and I let my mind slip back into the darkness.

  I had no idea how long I was asleep when I felt the bed move under the weight of someone climbing into it. A hand brushed over my neck, moving the hair away from it.

  “Hello, Portia,” a clearly female voice spoke up.

  My eyes popped open and I found myself staring into a pair of demon ones, flaring red. My sluggish brain tried to comprehend what was happening as I watched the woman’s teeth lengthen into fangs.

  She pounced, biting into me, drinking until I passed out once again.

  I heard a slight humming. My mind latched onto that sound and tried to focus. Slowly, I became aware of my surroundings, and my eyes fluttered open, squinting against the light.

  I was in an SUV, from the look of it, lying in the second seat, restrained by some sort of magical barrier. There was an I.V. tube stuck into my arm and a steady stream of blood ran through it, dripping into a medical bag.

  Looking toward the front of the vehicle, I could see what appeared to be a woman with long red hair behind the wheel. I also noticed my amulet had been removed and was now dangling from the rear view mirror.

  “Who are you?” my voice whispered weakly, cracking slightly, turning my attention back to the woman, her head whipped around to glance over her shoulder. I knew her face. She was the lady I'd met at the Fountains at Fontane when Shelly’s car had exploded.

  What was her name? It was something different. I dug through my memories, trying hard to recall before it popped into my head.

  She'd called herself Cat.

  “Oh. You're awake,” she said, appearing concerned. “I guess I need to adjust some things.”

  “Why are you doing this?” I asked, and I closed my eyes against a momentary wave of dizziness.

  She sighed before she spoke. “My name is Catriona Fitzgerald." She offered no further explanation to me.

  The name sounded familiar, but I had to search my groggy mind for what it meant. Suddenly it hit me.

  “You’re Brian’s mom,” I replied, with a sinking feeling, remembering back to when Brian had attacked me in Scotland, right before Vance had decapitated him in a murderous rage.

  “Yes,” she responded with a sharp nod, and I thought I her voice caught for a moment. “He was my only child.”

  I was in big trouble. She was draining my blood to keep my powers depleted so I couldn’t fight back against her. She wanted revenge.

  “Where are you taking me?”

  “To your worst nightmare,” she replied frostily, and I believed her completely, without a doubt.

  “Vance will come for me,” I stated matter-of-factly, hoping it would scare her into thinking twice about what she might be planning.

  “Oh, I’m counting on that. But don’t worry your pretty little head. We will be ready for him,” she said with an assured air.

  “Who’s ‘we’?” I asked, picking up on her use of the plural.

  “You'll find out soon enough,” she replied, and she continued to stare straight ahead.

  “No one has the power t
o match him. It would be foolish for you to provoke him.” I tried to reason with her.

  She just laughed at my remark.

  “We'll take care of Vance, and I think you'll be surprised at how easily we'll be able to,” she countered.

  “And then what?” I prodded her for more information as things began to come into focus a little bit better.

  “Then you will both die,” she said, this time turning to flash her demon features at me with a smile.

  “Killing us won’t bring Brian back."

  “No, but it'll make me feel a lot better,” she replied, and the car swerved slightly to the right.

  I realized we were exiting off a freeway via a ramp, when I saw a sign flash by.

  “Brian deserved what he got,” I continued, determined to say my piece before she could do anything else to me she might have planned. “He messed around in something he had no business being involved with.”

  The car stopped suddenly. Cat got out and came to open the back door. She leaned in over me with a menacing look on her face, and I felt certain she would have killed me in that moment if she had been able to.

  Instantly, strange images began dancing in my head, and it was if I had been transferred to a different time and place.

  I was back in Scotland at the keep we had stayed in, wandering through the grounds desperately looking for something. Suddenly, I caught a whiff of a rancid smell on the air and I turned to follow it. I walked out of the gate in the back wall and into the meadow we'd played Frisbee in. I found a patch of disturbed grass near a tree on the far side. Falling to my knees I started clawing at the earth with my hands. Soon, my fingers hit something hard and I began brushing the dirt aside to reveal the remains of a body. My breath caught as I realized I was looking at my son. No. Not my son, but Cat’s son. I was seeing everything as she experienced it.

  The puzzle pieces began to fall into place.

  “You killed Babs and Bruce!” I accused, after the vision cleared from my head and I found myself staring back into her red eyes.

  She laughed at me.

  “I'm an illusionist demon,” she explained with a smile. “I told you what to see and you did.”

  “How dare you try to make me think Vance was responsible for their deaths!” I choked, my rage coming to the surface and with it a surge of power.