Total pages in book: 88
Estimated words: 85029 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 425(@200wpm)___ 340(@250wpm)___ 283(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 85029 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 425(@200wpm)___ 340(@250wpm)___ 283(@300wpm)
“What are you doing here, Tristin? I told you guys I need some space.”
“I came to bring you this.” This is when I notice he’s holding a wooden box. Maybe six inches long by six inches wide, but thin and shallow too. One or two inches in depth.
“What is it?”
He thrusts it towards me. “A present. From the Guild.”
I don’t know what to say. I chew on my lip for a moment, trying to add this puzzle piece to the big picture trying to take shape before me.
“Take it, Syrsee. It’s yours. It’s always been yours.”
I don’t take it. I don’t think I want it. But I don’t think I have a choice, either, because Tristin sets it down on the top step and then turns and walks back towards that Jeep.
“Hey,” I call out.
He lets out a long sigh. Slowly turning his head towards me. Looking very… weary.
Maybe he’s faking it, but I can’t tell, so it comes off real.
“What?”
“Why, Tristin? Why is all this happening?”
He gives a very small shrug. “I know more than you about some things.” Then he nods his head towards the box. “But I have no idea what that is. I’m just a fuckin’ messenger, Syrsee. I’m just a fuckin’ errand boy.”
Then he gets back in his Jeep, backs up, making the gravel fly out from under his tires, and drives back down the way he came.
I stare at the empty driveway for a moment, then resign myself to this new twist of fate, pick up the box, and take it inside.
17 - Josep
Here is a body, here is a soul.
Take it, do as you will.
Iwalk towards the oily, black disc hovering the air before me. I have Little Baby by the wrist so she comes too. She’s writhing, and resisting, and screaming as she attempts to plant her feet into the rough, rocky ground, trying to pull free from my grip. But when I am this close to the Darkness, I lose any sense of everything around me. So my world has gone mute.
I have a good hold of her though. She’s not getting away. Even if she did, there’s nowhere to go. We are in the Dark House now. We are in the Dark World. The only way out is up and the only way up is with wings.
My fingertip comes up and makes a mark on the slick surface of the Dark disc. I scratch out my name—not in a human language, but in the symbols of my maker. To it, I am not Josep. I am a circle—all vampires are represented by circles—with a line right down the center that oversteps its bounds on either end. Then, along the line encompassed inside the circle, I scratch many more circles. Nine, to be exact. Attached to the circles are other designs, ancient letters that no one remembers. But when we are born, when the transformation is truly complete, there is a name carved on our black hearts.
And if someone were to open me up, they would see it. A vein of gold in this exact design.
This is the name the Darkness gave me.
I make the sign for me, pushing the tip of my now-clawed finger into the oil slick, parting it as I draw. When I’m done I make the sign for Paul too, because I’m not even here for me. None of this is about me. It was always Paul’s idea and the Darkness needs to know that. It has forsaken him. That happened hundreds of years ago now. But whenever I come down here, I remind it that Paul exists and this gift is really from him. I make the Darkness remember Paul.
Once that is done, I turn back to Little Baby, unmuting her.
“Please! Please!” She’s screaming and begging. “No! No!” Saying very little, but her message is being conveyed just fine. She does not want to be here. And while I haven’t told her anything about what comes next, obviously, she knows. I mean, at this point, there are only two ways this ends.
With her staying here and with her leaving.
She absolutely knows she’s not leaving here.
At least not yet.
I yank her arm, pulling it hard enough to slip her shoulder out of the joint. Which wasn’t my intention, obviously, since I’m trying to quiet her and this just makes her scream louder. “I’m sorry.” I say this as I pop her shoulder back in. “I don’t often live in this form, so I forget how strong I am. I just need you to be quiet, Little Baby. This is a solemn experience you’re about to go through. A once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. Take it all in, girl. Don’t miss a moment. Because it will never happen again.”
She went quiet the moment I started talking. And now she’s just staring at me. She blinks. “What?”