Dark Requiem (The Darkling Trilogy, Book 3) (15 page)

When Akan ended the
prayer, everyone in the temple rose to their knees as was the
custom, and bowed their heads to the ground, their eyes closed in
deference to the sacred moment.

Silence as deep and
mysterious as the bottom of a lake engulfed the temple.

This was what Akan had
been waiting for. As swift as a fish darting beneath a stream, he
reached between the folds of his robe and poured most of the potion
into a small gourd tied to his kilt under his robe, spilling a lot
of the potion over his kilt.

There was a soft smile on
the child’s lips when he held out the bowl to her, placing it in
her hands without touching them. Head bowed, he dared to whisper to
her.

“
Forgive me, Goddess but I
had to give you some of it or else they would know and he would
kill you.”

She merely smiled and he
was not sure she had even heard the words, let alone understood
their meaning. His heart sank into the pit of his stomach as he
watched the child drink greedily, clearly relishing the sweet,
thick liquid.

Akan began to recite
another prayer which was finished by Mutata. The ritual was over
and the temple began to empty of people, for once the potion was
ingested, the person undergoing the ekniwa would remain in
seclusion for the majority of the thirty days, only coming before
the temple elders in the evenings when the potion would be ingested
once again.

Akan was one of the last
to exit the temple. He was at the door when he heard a strangled
noise and then violent retches. He exited the temple and did not
look back. Mutata was alongside him. He saw Mutata smile when the
sounds of the child vomiting reached him. This was the first stage
of the ekniwa. Akan followed Mutata out into the night. He moved
swiftly past the dancing crowd and the empty sacrificial
stone.

Tonight the streets would
remain alive as the villagers continued to celebrate the coming of
the divine one and her decision to undertake the ekniwa and journey
between worlds to bring back secrets from the underworld. Although
Akan would not be celebrating this night, he knew it would be a
sleepless one.

The following night found
me and Avery in the Buckhead district of Atlanta, in the parking
lot of a club. The diseased glow of garish street lights by the
club entrance did little to beat back the darkness around us as we
leaned against a car and looked out over the car park. To a human
it would seem as if a ghostly silence had descended on the city.
For a vampire, however, there was always the hum of life, and I
could hear the low buzz of voices, cars rushing by miles away, the
almost hypnotic breathing of weary, fragile human bodies caught in
the silken web of sleep. And of course, the music lovers make,
which could be heard long past the witching hour.

I was distracted, my
thoughts on the dreams of that ancient culture and the child. What
if Akan wasn’t able to save her? I remembered the helplessness I
had felt at my aunt’s funeral along with the vow I made to get to
the truth behind her death. I didn’t know if I would ever be able
to fulfil that vow, but, somehow, I knew there was a chance I could
help the child goddess in some way. I didn’t know how, I was just
sure Akan had been able to call me to him for a reason.

Avery pulled me out of my
reverie when he glanced down at his watch; his other hand tightly
gripping mine.

“
It’s nearly two a.m.
Where the hell is he?”

He reached to
absentmindedly pat his hip as he had done repeatedly since we got
to the car park. He had a silver dagger strapped there. His sword
was strapped to his back, the hilt hidden by the hood of his
sweatshirt which he had pulled over his head.

I sighed. “If he was going
to stand us up, he could have at least chosen to meet us at a nice
bar or something instead of this dump.”

It was as if he hadn’t
heard me, the muscles of his face tight with tension so his eyes
appeared to be the only living thing in his face—two orbs of blue
flames that barely contained his misery as he searched the darkness
ahead.

“
That’s what we should do
tomorrow, Avery. Go to a club or to dinner. Try and take our minds
off of all this.”

He was still staring
ahead, his thoughts elsewhere. Even if he had heard me, he wouldn’t
want to take me anywhere.

Feeling despondency settle
over me, I glanced at a man who had just exited the club and was
making his way through the car park.

“
Hey, is there an ATM
around here?”

He pointed toward the club
and continued moving through the dark. I made to tug my hand out of
Avery’s, but he held tight, glancing down at me.

“
Where are you going?” he
asked.

“
I need to get some cash.
I’ll be back in a second.”

“
You’re not going in
there,” he said, looking away to search the night again. “Just stay
close to me.”

“
Avery, this may not be
the right time to have this conversation, but you need to let up on
the whole not letting me out of your sight thing you’ve been doing
since you found out about that dream. You’re starting to make me
feel smothered.”

He faced me again, his
brow furrowed in disbelief, the tight grip he had on my hand
loosening so I was able to slip free of it.

“
I’m
smothering
you
?”

“
Yes, Avery.” I moved
toward the club. “Now I’m going to get some cash. I may even go to
the ladies room, and I don’t need you being all smothery and
protective because I can take care of myself!”

“
Dallas, wait. You don’t
understand.”

I ignored him and walked
past the doormen into the club, where I was enveloped by
music.

I moved through the club,
taking no notice of my surroundings, my head down as I dug into the
pocket of my jeans for my cash card.

Avery clearly still
thought I was five years old, I thought to myself as I finally
retrieved my cash card. An odd noise, a thick, rhythmic groaning
drew my attention to my surroundings and I looked up just as a
mahogany-coloured woman in her late thirties moved past me with
drinks in her hand. I glanced back at her as she walked away, my
mouth falling open in shock.

She was completely naked
but for pink stilettos, her deep, brown skin glistening with sweat
and her fleshy, dimpled behind swaying nauseatingly as she moved
away. I came to an abrupt stop and stared around me. All the women
in the club were in their thirties and older. They were all naked.
One sat astride a heavyset man and from his moans and the vigorous,
mechanical way she was bouncing up and down on his lap, there was
no mistaking the fact that she was giving him a lot more than a lap
dance.

What the hell? Have I just
walked into a...
Eww
!

I felt my face grow warm
when I realised most of the people in the “club” were staring at
me. I forced my mouth to close, drew my shoulders back,
straightened my spine and flicked my hair over my
shoulder.

Dallas Marshall wasn’t the
kind of girl who was fazed by anything. Besides, I would look like
a complete idiot to Avery if I ran back outside.

So, staring straight
ahead, I moved to the ATM. I fumbled my cash card into the machine
only to discover an “out of order” sign tacked to the
side.

Since I had no intention
of looking for the toilets, I flicked my hair over my shoulder and
turned around, walking straight into Avery. He stared down at me,
his lips curled in amusement although his eyes were
gentle.

“
Did you get the money?”
he asked.

“
Yes, Avery, I did thank
you.”

I moved past him and
hurried out of the “club.”

Back in the car park I
stared ahead in silence. When I glanced up at Avery he was looking
at the ground and it appeared he was trying not to
laugh.

I sighed.

“
Just go ahead and laugh,
Avery. But don’t
say
anything.”

At first he remained
staring at the ground. Then the laughter spilled from him. I let
him laugh for a second or two before I faced him.

“
All right, that’s
enough!”

“
I did try to warn you,
Dallas. Didn’t you hear what was happening in there?”

“
I wasn’t listening,
Avery. It’s no big deal anyway.”

He smiled at me and I
noticed that for the first time since I had known him the misery
that lived in him seemed to have been completely pushed back into
the shadows. The smile softened and he reached for my face and
cupped my cheek.

“
I’m glad you’re here,
Dallas.”

I beamed at him, the
despondency I had felt earlier lifting.

Almost immediately he
stiffened and the smile disappeared.

He dropped his hand from
my face.

He looked away from me to
the other end of the car park. I followed his gaze.

A woman was standing in
the dark. She had a porcelain complexion and a cold, deadly beauty.
Her hair was a long, dark sheet falling to her hips. She wore a
gold bustier top with PVC leggings and black knee high boots. A
thick cluster of gold jewellery hung around her neck and
wrists.

Auria.

She was staring at Avery,
her eyes cruel opals of rage. Her thoughts reached me clearly and
they were of only two things.

Pain.

Death.

Her form wavered and the
air around her puckered as Avery reached for me.

Fear lit me from the
inside out with cold fingers of flame. She would be upon us before
Avery could grab my arm.

In that moment, with fear
searing my mind, an odd hush fell on everything around us. The low
beat of music from the club, the sound of cars in the distance, the
lullaby of the sleeping city—it all became muted. It seemed as
though I was in tune with everything around me, the ground beneath
our feet, the night which hung soft and tender around us, even the
air seemed thicker and I imagined if I reached out a hand the
motion would cause ripples in the air. I was so in tune with
everything around me it felt as if I could press my will upon the
world and it would heed me.

As I watched, wishing we
could move into the void and out of the car park before Auria
reached us, the shimmering air around Auria and her disintegrating
form slowed to a stop, as did Avery by my side. In those few
extraordinary moments of utter stillness, I didn’t question what
was happening or even try to understand it. I reached for Avery,
moving much faster than was possible even for a vampire, and pulled
him to me. We vanished into the void.

I fled, holding tight to
Avery, darting in and out of shimmering fissures. Each time I
dipped out of the void, the world bled into being around us in
blunt slashes of indigo sky, harsh angles of skyscrapers changing
to open fields and then woodland as we left the built up city areas
and into rural Georgia. As we fled I felt her close behind us, a
dark power with nothing but rage at its heart. Despite how old and
fast she was, I was sure I could outrun her. I just couldn’t
remember
how. I also
could not understand how it was she could follow us until I
realised that before the odd moment when time appeared to halt, my
thoughts had been laid out for her to see. She had known where I
intended to go to, being close enough each time we materialised to
scan my thoughts and see where I would leap to next. We were in
Louisiana by the time I realised this. I immediately shielded my
thoughts, but fear as potent as venom continued to thrill through
me for she had no doubt seen the mansion in my mind and Mallory was
there, most probably on her own.

My heart clenched as I
moved out of the void once again. We were almost at the mansion.
Before the indigo sky and charcoal trees could fully gather into
view, I was knocked out of the void with a violence that set my
teeth on edge. Avery was torn out of my grasp. I was thrown through
the air and against something solid with a loud crack. I sank to
the ground and opened my eyes to see I was in woodland near the
grounds of the mansion, wisps of moonlight letting in shards of
bluish light through the trees.

Auria stood before me. She
advanced only to come to a halt. Feverish fear flooded her eyes,
her mouth opening in a silent gasp. Her attention was torn away
from me by something behind her. She spun around, her movements a
blur, and ducked as Avery brought his sword down on her. She struck
him.

Avery was sent hurtling to
the ground. He was on his feet again in less than a
second.

In a quicksilver move,
Auria knocked the sword out of his hand. She threw him against a
tree and pinned him there.

I shook myself out of my
daze and let the void surround me, materialising on my feet behind
Auria. I launched myself at her, my arms around her neck. I dragged
her away from Avery. Her hand, with nails as sharp as knives, dug
into my head. White-hot pain flared across my skull. I screamed.
She grabbed a handful of my hair and threw me over her shoulder. I
landed with a sickening crack on my back. Pain broke over me in
shattering waves. Avery made a move toward Auria, but the force of
her telekinetic power knocked him off of his feet to fly through
the trees and out of sight.