Dark World (Book I in the Dark World Trilogy)

Dark World

Danielle Q. Lee

ISBN
978-0-9865680-4-6

Copyright © 2011 by Danielle Q. Lee at
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This is a work of
fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents either are the
product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. And
any resemblance to actual persons, living, dead (or in any other
form), business establishments, events, or locales is entirely
coincidental.

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For Lea,

thank you for being there
for me and helping me bring Dark World to life.

Who is this irresistible
creature who has an

insatiable love for the
dead?

Living Dead Girl.

Rob Zombie

Part One

Scarlet

Eve of Fate

“
Where are you hiding?”
Scarlet whispered, searching the dark horizon. Palms and forehead
pressed against the cool glass, she sighed, her warm breath
captured on the pane. Only visible on the clearest of nights was
her favorite constellation—the Phoenix. She peered into the
darkness, Edmonton’s city lights glaring back at her.

Soon part of the cluster came into
focus, sparkling from millions of miles away. Even though she
couldn’t see the entire sequence, Scarlet smiled, satisfied with
just a peek.

Already October, a chill lingered in
the air, foreshadowing the onslaught of snow. She didn’t mind
though, stars were easier to see in the winter sky.

Gentle nuzzling against her calf,
followed by a quiet mewl, pulled Scarlet from her hypnotic
stare.

“
Well, hello Miss
Seraphine,” she said, sweeping the fluffy feline into her arms. The
Persian’s eyes narrowed, her slit-like irises submerging into a
pool of ocean blue, purring as she pressed her face to Scarlet’s
cheek.

“
Oh kitty, can you believe
my dream is really coming true?” Anxiety trickled through her
stomach. Was she ready for this? She’d dreamed of this moment for
two years. And now, it was finally happening.

With the sound of approaching steps in
the hall, Seraphine stiffened, leapt from Scarlet’s arms, and
pressing her stomach to the floor, crawled under the
bed.

The door flung wide open. Hands fanning
her face, Shelby strolled across the room with the poise of an
old-fashioned debutante.

“
Well, Miss Scarlet, I do
declare, there’s finally goin’ to be a rooster in the henhouse,”
Scarlet’s best friend announced with a Southern drawl.

There were times, like now, that
Scarlet wished her parents hadn’t named her after the spoiled
Southern belle from
Gone With the Wind.
It was just plain annoying.

“
Quiet! My mom will hear
you,” Scarlet warned, a heat rising to her cheeks. “I’m not allowed
to date yet, remember?”

Shelby’s dark-brown eyes rolled.
“You’re almost seventeen for goodness sake, when is that woman
going to lighten up? At this rate, you’ll end up a forty-year-old
virgin!”

Scarlet winced at the
word
virgin
and decided to change the topic. Flicking her long brown
hair off her shoulders, she closed the door behind Shelby, then
walked to her stereo. “Wanna listen to the new tunes I downloaded
to my iPod?”

Shelby shook her head. “Nope, come on,
spill it. How’d he ask?”

Blushing, Scarlet moved to the
bed and sat down. Shelby followed suit. She then relived the
moment
he
asked her out and her heart picked up pace.

Rory Dean.

His name alone elicited a wave of
tingles up her spine.

A shy smile tugged at Scarlet’s lips as
she readied to divulge the juicy details. “Well, you know how I
have a spare between Biology and Latin?” She grabbed Shelby’s hands
and held them excitedly, beginning her story. “He must have been
waiting for me outside the classroom and…”

Scarlet’s bedroom door burst open,
revealing her older brother in all his self-adoring glory. Dressed
in his gym clothes, she surmised he was just leaving for a
workout.

“
Hi Greg,” Shelby blurted,
dropping Scarlet’s hands and turning pink.

Scarlet tossed him an irate look. “Do
you mind?”

He grinned at Shelby, relishing the
female attention. His expression turned arctic as his gaze shifted
to his sister. “Shut up, Sticks. Do you have the car
keys?”

Her jaw tightened. She hated when he
called her that. While it was true she’d been too skinny when she
was younger, she felt she’d filled out nicely over the last year or
so.

She snatched the keys from her night
table and launched them at his face, hoping to gouge an eye or stab
a nostril. “Now piss off!”

“
Wow, cranky!” Greg sneered
at his sister, then left, slamming the door behind him.

Scarlet opened her mouth to continue
gushing about Rory, but paused when she saw a pout marring Shelby’s
lips.

“
What?”

“
It really bugs me when you
talk to him like that.” Her normally bright eyes dimmed. “Rory is
your crush…Greg is mine.”

Bewildered by Shelby’s interest in her
brother, Scarlet apologized, “I’m sorry Shell, I’ll try to be more
considerate.”

Excitement returned to Shelby’s eyes.
“Okay, tell me more about Rory!”

“
Okay, well, he must have
been waiting for me to get out of class because he was standing by
the lockers when I walked out.” Scarlet wound a ribbon of her long,
mouse-brown hair around her finger as she spoke. “He said, ‘Hey
Scarlet, you wanna see a movie with me tomorrow night?’ and I
seriously almost fainted.”

“
Oh my god! That’s so
awesome!” Shelby squealed, burying her face into one of the
decorative pillows on Scarlet’s bed. After she composed herself,
she asked, “Which movie are you going to see?”

Scarlet paused, responding with a
nervous laugh, “I have no idea!”

Erupting into a fit of giggles, the two
girls then sprawled out onto the bed and basked in the
moment.

“
Scarlet Prince,” Shelby
began with a sigh, “you are one lucky girl.”

Scarlet had to agree, though, she
wondered why Rory had taken such a sudden interest in her. He
hadn’t said more than two words to her the whole two years they’d
attended high school.

I don’t care, I’m just happy
he decided to ask me out now.

“
What are you going to
wear?” Shelby narrowed her eyes at Scarlet’s open
closet.

Scarlet shook her head, stating for the
second time that night, “I have no idea.”

Arms wrapped around her library books,
Scarlet scanned the hallway with a disquiet flutter in her chest.
Tonight was the night of the big date and she wasn’t even sure she
could go through with it. Not because she didn’t like Rory, quite
the opposite, but because she’d been a nervous wreck ever since
he’d asked her out. After so much time admiring him from afar, she
couldn’t believe this was actually happening.

She’d never been on a date, what
if she messed it up? Then he’d never want to see her again. Her
steps slowed, her mind whirling with worry. What does this date
mean? Were they just going out
on a date? Or were they
going out
? Like boyfriend and girlfriend? How
was she to know? How was she to ask?

What if he only wanted—she
shoved the thought away. She wasn’t ready for
that
. No way. Besides, her mother would
kill her if she did.

Scarlet continued her trek to the
library, still attempting to quell the butterflies multiplying in
her stomach. In a way, she hoped she wouldn’t run into him at all,
she’d probably just end up babbling like an idiot. With a sigh, she
realized that the entire date might turn out poorly. Her nerves
were almost certainly going to get the best of her.

She turned into the entrance of the
library, colliding with a freshman as he exited.

“
Sorry,” he mumbled, his
pimply face enflaming as he ogled her chest. Rushing past her, he
turned and scurried down the hall with all the grace of Mr.
Bean.

That’s going to be me
tonight, I just know it. Just some nerd with a crush.

Pushing the library door open,
Scarlet’s fretting vanished the moment she entered into her
element. A wave of tranquility embraced her with the sight and
scent of books.

Her books made a loud clunk as she
placed them into the return bin. From her perch behind the desk,
the librarian, Miss Collins, gave her an appreciative glance.
Scarlet always thought she was pretty cool for an adult. Far from
the stereotypical old, bespectacled spinster, she’d sport a new and
fantastic hair color every other month or so, dark purple being a
perennial favorite. Probably in her mid-twenties, she could have
passed for a senior in the crowded high school, what with her
silver lip ring and the blue butterfly tattoo on her shoulder.
Scarlet made a mental note that she should get a piercing of some
kind. A respectable one, of course. Considering a librarian wore
one and all, it couldn’t be that risqué.

She took a sweeping glance around, Miss
Collins’ rebellious Dewey Decimal system in full display. Instead
of the traditional form of organization, the eccentric librarian
had chosen to separate the classics and new-age fiction.

To Scarlet’s left was the vintage novel
section, timeless tales of romance, hardship, and inspiration. The
antiquated voices of Dickens, Austin, and Carroll calling her to
re-read their adventures.

On her right, the world of modern
fiction offered a plethora of paranormal mysteries, thrillers, and
fantasies. Spectacular stories about boy wizards, secret aliens
hiding on Earth, and sparkly vampires in love.

Although enthusiastic about literature,
it was not Scarlet’s first love.

Astronomy.

Stars, planets, and just that big black
space overhead were her greatest obsessions. The infatuation began
when she was five. Given her first telescope on Christmas morning,
there it stood in all its glory, just waiting to unveil the secrets
of the universe to her.

Her world just made so much sense when
daylight was gobbled up by the vast shadow of space. While she
loved the clouds and the sea of blue overhead, nothing could
compete with the Milky Way and its spray of illuminated diamonds
across the galaxy.

Scarlet made her way to the science
section like she was on a mission. She knew the exact location of
her favorite book: Mythology and the Stars. It described the
locations and configurations of star patterns in which the ancient
Romans used to conjure their gods and goddesses. Though she’d
borrowed it from the library too many times to count, it never
ceased to lure her to read it again. She ran a meticulous finger
over several book bindings, then frowned when she realized it was
gone.