Return To The Darkness

I was sitting at the computer, watching my instant messaging, I had just finished another day at work, at Sharkie’s Tattoo and piercing parlour, I enjoyed working there so the day didn’t go too bad, I didn’t manage to punch any holes in the wrong places so I guess that’s a bonus. Darrien was coming over later, so I to kill time until then.

Considering turning the computer off and going to watch some TV when a box popped up on the screen,

[e-mail] is requesting you as a friend, do you wish to accept?

Curious I clicked yes, within seconds he appeared on my screen

Tristan says:

Heya

For a second I didn’t know what to say, I got a bad feeling about this, usually I was reluctant to add anybody that I didn’t know.

Ashlin says:

Hi, do I no u by ne chance?

Tristan says:

I was a friend of your fathers, you probably don’t remember me, after all it was 8 years, but he asked me to pass on a message just before he was murdered.

He scared me, frightened me even, my father had been killed eight years ago when I was ten, the way he had written the message - just before he was murdered, did he mean a few days before, or moments before, I wanted to block him, delete him, anything to stop me feeling this way. Deep down inside I knew that I couldn’t, I knew very little about my dad, remembered even less, from the day of his murder my mother refused to even say his name.

Tristan says:

He didn’t want to die and leave you all alone in this world, not knowing anything about your past, so he wrote you a letter and entrusted it to me, however you left your mother sooner than we expected so I didn’t know where to send it. Lucky for me I’m good with computers so I managed to track you down.

Ashlin says:

How do I know I can believe you? And what do you mean sooner than WE expected?

Tristan says:

You don’t know that you can trust me, but you should, I might be your only hope. If we could meet and you could read your fathers letter I’m sure it would explain a lot to you. We are all comrades of your father, we have been protecting you since your father died, however when you disappeared from your mothers home, we were unable to find you again.

I ran my hands thought my thick red hair, unsure of what to think, the idea of anything to do with my father intrigued me, I wasn’t sure of this guys intentions towards me, I needed something, just to let me know this guy was genuine.

Ashlin says:

Tell me something about him that only his family would know, if you expect me to trust you then you need to tell me something.

The reply came within a few seconds

Tristan says:

Your father used to sing you a song to help you sleep,

Ashlin says:

A lot of fathers sing to their daughters to help them sleep

Tristan says:

Torn away from the darkness, sweet princess, soon you shall return to that which beckons you, sweet princess, don’t fret, you shall rejoin the night.

I just sat there open mouthed, this man, who I had never met in my entire life was quoting lines from a song my father used to sing to me, it was a strange song, something that I had never heard since, I assumed it was something he had just made up, I knew that I was the only person he had sang it to, he used to sing it and tell me a story with it, a prince that was exiled from his home by his brother who had become the king of the darkness, I had never understood why he said princess in the song though, it was a prince that was thrown from the castle, not a princess, I never asked him though. For a moment however I was disappointed it was something I thought my father and I had exclusively shared, but then I was excited, I believe this man was telling the truth he had known my father and had a letter for me!

Ashlin says:

How soon can we meet?

Tristan says:

So you believe me now?

Ashlin says:

How soon can we meet?

Tristan says:

Tonight 10pm in Florencedale Park, I’ll be sitting on the bench by the lake. Trust Me.

Ashlin says:

I trust you.

Tristan appears to be offline. Messages sent will be delivered when they sign in

He hadn’t received my last message, he believed in me, that I would be there, I glanced down at the clock on my computer screen 20:56, we had been talking online for almost an hour, if I was going to make it to Florencedale Park on time then I would have to leave now, it was a good 45 minute drive, with that there was a tap and the door and I heard it open.

         “Ashlin, are you home? Stupid question your door’s unlocked,” chuckling to himself slightly he poked his head around the doorway. “Are you ok sweetie? You look a little jumpy.” He took his coat off and flung it on the sofa, which he knew drove me nuts.

         “Darrien will you take me to Florencedale park, it’s right on the outskirts of town? Please I know it’s late and I’m a pain in the ass.”

         “But you’re a loveable pain in the ass,” he grinned slightly before going to retrieve his coat “So much for a quiet night in, why are we going all that way anyway there’s a perfectly good park right round the corner.”

         “I’ll tell you on the way, we need to leave now.” I grabbed my own coat and we were in the car within minutes, I felt much better having someone there, especially Darrien, he had been by best friend since I had got here, almost six months ago, he was getting his eyebrow pierced when I first met him, I was the one supposed to be piercing it because Sharkie’s was short on piercers that day. When I told him I had never done this before he leapt out of his seat and nearly fainted, I remember calming him down and then swiftly piercing his eyebrow, he frequently told me it was the best piercing he had ever had. He asked for my number and from then on we were friends.
         “So missy, are you going to explain why your dragging me here at this time of night.” he said his voice dancing in anticipation of a good mystery.

         So I told him the story of the online man - Tristan, as the story went on I could see Darrien’s eyes getting darker and darker, I left out the part about him knowing my song, because I still wanted to limit the people who knew about it.

         “Darrien, what is wrong with you?” I asked him

         “You’re dragging me out to meet some guy that you met on the internet! Once! He could be anybody, what would you have done if I hadn’t come round? Gone by yourself, he could be a murderer for Christ sakes!” He was yelling at me now, trying to glare at me while keeping his eyes on the road.

         “He knows my dad! Don’t you understand how important this is to me? You know how I felt when my dad died, I’ve talked about it so many times! You can’t even support me in this.”

         “You don’t know if he is who he says he is, anyone can say that they knew your dad!” We reached Florencedale Park, I unclipped my seatbelt and flung the car door open, as I went to slam it shut I hissed at Darrien

         “I trust him, if you want to go then go, I don’t need you here.” I stormed away, leaving him sitting in his car, unable to say anything. When I started to get closer to the lake I started to feel apprehensive, what if Darrien was right, what if this guy did turn out to be some sort of axe murderer! When I got to the bench he was already there waiting for me, no-one was around at this time of night, it was just me and him, if he wanted to hurt me, there wasn’t a thing I could do about it.

         “I’m glad you decided to come Ashlin.” He turned round to face me as I got nearer, he was gorgeous, his pale skin almost glowing in the moonlight, his hair was dark that’s all I could tell in the darkness, he motioned for me to join him on the bench.

         “Can I see my father’s letter please.” I asked as I sat next to him, he reached inside his jacket pocked and pulled out an envelope, I could see as he handed it to me that the seal was still intact, it had not been read

         “No one has opened the letter your father gave us strict instructions that you were the only who was to read it.” he said as if he could read my mind.

I pulled the envelope open and began to read.

To my darling Ashlin.

                              I am so sorry that I am not there in person to give you this news, I think that by writing it in a letter you will not understand as well as you should. I won’t dance around the subject for I fear that even as you read this you are in danger. Ashlin, you are not fully human, I was raised in the dark world as a demon. The story I told you as a child which I’m not sure you’ll remember is all the truth, I was the prince exiled from my castle, my throne stolen from me however I would not wish it to be any other way, for I would not have met your mother and you would not be here. My brother want to eradicate every threat to his throne, which includes you, I will not let this happen. The man that I entrusted with this letter - Tristan will help you every step of the way, whichever path you choose will be the right one, just make sure you follow your heart.

Return to the darkness, sweet princess, for you shall have nothing to fear.

I beg of you to believe what I have told you although it must have come as such a shock.

Love You Forever

Dad
xxx

I was disturbed by what the letter had said, unable to speak, undecided I know the letter had come from my father, I recognised his handwriting, I turned to Tristan as my eyes began to well up with tears. My father had confirmed that I could - and would have to trust this man with my life.

         “You need to come with me Ashlin, your uncles soliders could be here at any moment.” I hadn’t thought of it that way, the man who so desperately wanted me dead was my uncle, related to me by blood.

         “I can’t deal with this I need to be by myself for a while to think.” I stood up from the bench and left the clearing, disappearing into the woods, all around me I could smell the sweet tang of morning dew - already beginning to form. There was a slight chill in the air which I hadn’t noticed before. I found another clearing far away from where Tristan was and sat down, my fathers letter still in my hand.

         “Why did you have to die dad? Why did you have to leave me?” My tears were falling freely now, landing on my letter, smudging the ink in places.

         “Ashlin, where are you sweetie?” A voice called from the gloom, Darrien appeared, when he noticed I was sobbing he came running. “What happened? Did he hurt you? I told you, you can’t trust people you meet on the net.” He took his jacket off and threw it over my shoulders, I was glad for the extra warmth

         “I just found out that I’m not human, and that my uncle wants to murder me, Darrien, please help me I’m so confused. Do I believe what my father wrote and accept it or do I fight it and ignore the warnings.” I didn’t show him the letter, I wanted it to be mine alone unread by anyone else.

         “So you finally found out, I’m so glad for you honey.” He sat down next to be and put his arm around my shoulders, I was awe-struck

         “You knew the whole time, and you never told me. Did ever one else know about this? Am I the only one that didn’t know?” I was raising my voice slightly.

         “Honey I knew who you were the moment that I set foot in the piercing parlour, I was sent there, by your uncle to watch over you until you came of age. He doesn’t want to murder you, your father was wrong about it, he wants to train you so you can take your rightful place as heir to the throne. He never wanted your father to die, that was an unfortunate accident.”

I didn’t know what to believe, my father says that my uncle is evil, yet my best friend says he is a good man. I wanted to go home, lock my door, get into bed and ignore everything that had happened over the last few hours. I surprised myself with my thoughts, it was as though I believed everything that I had been told. The more I thought about it the more I realised that it was all the truth, there was no way this could all be a joke, Tristan, my father and Darrien could not all be in on it.

         “So are you one of them?” I asked, my voice wavering slightly

         “A demon? Yes. I’m sorry I never told you any of this before, but your uncle told me not to say anything. He wanted you to mature in your own time.”

So he never wanted to be my friend by his own choice, he was forced to do it by my uncle, or so he says, I was so unsure of what to believe, the only person I felt I could trust in all this was Tristan, he was getting nothing out of helping me.

“I’m going to go back, I left Tristan there all by himself, he’s probably worried sick about me.” I shook Darrien off and stood up.

         “Ashlin I want you to come with, meet your uncle, he could do so much for you if you let him, please come with me.” He held his hand out, something about the tone of his voice seemed almost desperately, I looked up at him and stared into his eyes, he couldn’t meet my eye.

         “You’re lying to me Darrien, I’m going to go and find Tristan.” I began to walk away, before I could get back into the wood he grabbed my arm, he was squeezing tightly enough for it to hurt

         “I tried being nice to you, give you the chance to come of your own free will. You don’t understand Ashlin, he will kill me if I don’t bring you to him, we’ve become such good friends over the last few months. I promise you he won’t hurt you.” He was lying to me again, I could see it in his eyes, my uncle would murder me, as he murdered my father, I now saw the path that I had to follow and it wasn’t with Darrien.

         “I’m not going with you.” I whispered, the happy, cheerful mask I was used to spilt, revealing to me the real Darrien, the face I was so familiar with, hair dangling in his eyes, it was the eyes. Those eyes that I used to love were now red, frightening and evil.

         I tried to break free of his grip but he tightened it even more, his fingers digging into my arm, tears sprung to my eyes with pain, I wouldn’t be able to get away from him, he would make me to my uncle who would … kill me.

         “I don’t want to die, please Darrien just let me go, come with me Tristan can look after the both of us,” I wondered where Tristan was right now, was he looking for me, searching the woods, would he get here in time?

         “I’m sorry Ashlin but I have to do this.” He started to sing, strange words that I had never heard before.

         Then his grip was loosened, I had no idea what happened, but somehow I ended up on the floor, a massive pain surged down my right arm, I didn’t even have time to register it, I needed to get away from here while I still could. Somehow I managed to get myself standing again, the sound of fighting coming from my right. I turned clutching my injured arm. Tristan was here, he had Darrien pinned down on the floor, he looked murderous, he frightened me, the moonlight shining through the trees on the two of them. I called out to him, pleading with him to stop, I got through to him he turned to look at me. I couldn’t help but scream, his eyes were silver, reflecting the light of the moon, his teeth bared at me in a hiss, and he had fangs, hanging from his mouth, just above his bottom lip.

         “You shouldn’t have come here, vampire.” Darrien spat in Tristan’s face, he forgot I was there, returning back into his rage, this time I didn’t know if I would be able to stop him, in my head I was so confused I know that I should hate Darrien, he was plotting with my uncle to have me murdered, he had befriended me, I told him everything and he betrayed me, but I couldn’t hate him, he was only doing this because my uncle made him do it, it was his life or mine, and it was true, he had been my only friend, whatever reason he befriended me for he was still my friend.

         There was nothing I could do Tristan was still sitting on him, punching him in the face, Darrien was making these small noises, I wasn’t sure what they were, I wanted them to stop, for this to all be a nightmare, but nothing changed I was still here.

         “Tristan please don’t let’s just leave him here.” It took me a while to finally get through to him, I didn’t want to get to close to where he was in case he decided to turn on me, he finally recognised my voice, taking one last look at Darrien, he punched him again in the face, this time there was no noise, Darrien’s head fell to the side. “What did you do?” I cried

         “He isn’t dead, merely unconscious. Now we need to leave.” Coming closer to me I could see this his fist was covered in blood, his shirt was also bloody. I didn’t want him to touch me, I was terrified of what he could do to me. He grabbed my arm, within seconds I felt the world change around me, when we finally settled somewhere, I fell to my knees, my head felt like it was going to explode, my tears drying on my face. I knew that I wouldn’t be able to hold on much longer, when the darkness tried to take me I didn’t resist I just wanted it to be over.

         “I never seen anything like it, he poisoned her, somehow it lay in her system until the day she turned eighteen and her demonic powers grew inside her, I don’t envy her, when she wakes up she going to feel like she’s been hit by a train - repeatedly.” I couldn’t recognise the voice that was speaking it was someone I didn’t know, I tried to open my eyes but they felt so heavy, my entire body ached, when unconsciousness called me back I didn’t refuse it.

Tristan: -

She had been unconscious for almost a week and a half now, we had managed to get the poison out of her, I don’t know how Bec managed to do it, when we discovered she had been poisoned I thought it was all over, but he managed to save her. I knew for sure that when she woke up I would have a lot of explaining to do, as far as I could gather from Bec’s descriptions, he had been forced to inject her with some vampire blood, not enough to turn her completely, her demon blood would stop that anyway, but she was no longer human in any way. It had been decided that I was the one that had to explain everything to her and I was dreading it. Every night we were continuing the search for Ashlin’s … friend. That night, I had wanted to kill him for everything he had done to her, he had deceived her, betrayed her, I had been hiding in the wood, watching close by in case anything happened, when Ashlin ran off I saw the guy go into the woods, I knew there was something about him that was different, something that wasn’t human. I began to track him through the woods, he seemed to glide through, as if he knew exactly where he was going, I thought he was a demon, of which kind I was unsure. When he got to the clearing and Ashlin greeted him, I relaxed, he was her friend, not a threat to her. When he suddenly turned on her, I heard her say my name, that she was going back to me. I thought we had lost her forever, when he didn’t let her go, I was furious, more than I had ever been in my entire life, even when Dante, Ashlin’s father was murdered.

         “Tristan, she’s awake, and she is absolutely terrified, you need to get down here, now, she needs to see a friendly face.” Bec was also a vampire, we had been sired by the same vampire, because of this we shared a mental link, which among other things meant we could communicate through thoughts.

         “Please, don’t hurt me. I just want to go home.” I could hear her howling from rooms away, from both her pain and because she was scared of being here, with these people.

         “Ashlin, calm down, please, if you calm down I can give you something for the pain.” I could hear Bec saying to her, but she was having none of it, the howling and screaming continued.

         I entered the room to find her in the corner of the room, crouched down, her head in her hands, still in the robe we had put on her to replace her wet clothes. She looked so fragile and innocent, I found it hard to believe that she was her father’s daughter, he had always been so strong, always in command and never showed weakness. I wanted to protect her from everything that life could and probably would throw at her, I wanted to keep her safe from everything she would be forced to go through over the next few months. Instead I went over to her and pulled her towards me, holding her tight to my chest and letting her cry, shake, sob, whatever she needed. Everything that was causing her hurt.

         “Ashlin, this is Bec, he is here to help you, he is my brother, he also knew your father very well, we all worked together, you can trust him, I know your in a lot of pain right now, that demon you were with poisoned you, it took a lot to get it out of your system, but I will tell you about that when you are feeling better.” I wanted to put off telling her as long as possible, if I told her now, she might not trust me anymore, and at the moment, I was the only person she could trust. “Will you let Bec give you some medicine, then you can go back to sleep, when you wake up, we can sort all of this out. I promise.” I whispered to her, knowing there was no way I could make promises like that, but I wanted to reassure her in any way that I was able to.
         “OK,” she whispered looking up at me. “Please will you be here when I wake up?” Nodding, she let me go, Bec came up next to her and instructed her to hold out her arm, he injected her with a liquid, within seconds she was asleep, I moved to catch her as she fell. She was so beautiful, her thick luscious hair smelt like raspberries in the summer. I lay her gently in the bed, and sat in the chair next to it, Bec had left after he had given her the injection. After everything that had gone on today I realised I was tired. The last thing I saw before I fell asleep was Ashlin.

Darrien:-

         It was cold, freezing almost, I could see my breath as it smoked out of my mouth. That vampire, he took her, she was my only chance. I would have to go back to the master and report what had happened, I feared what he would do to me when he discovered that I was unsuccessful.

         “You failed me Darrien,” he stepped out of the shadows, he was massive, well over 6 foot tall, towering above me from my place on the floor, I felt physically sick, from both the beating I took and my terror. “You need to be punished, but what would be the best way to do that?” He was wearing a mask that covered all of his face, everything except his eyes, in those eyes I saw delight, I realised that his pleasure came from thinking of the punishments he could possibly inflict upon me.

         “Please you don’t have to punish me, I will get her back, she will have to come back to me, I have the antidote for the poison that flows through her veins, even now she suffers, she will be back with me within days.” I tried to keep the begging from my voice, the dread that I felt.

         “You know that I have your family, correct?” I nodded, horror settled somewhere in my stomach, when he had enlisted me into his ranks, he took my family, knowing they could be used as leverage. They were all humans, my demon blood, my curse had come from random genes, some far off relative. “You have one week, if you do not get her back within that time frame, then both you and your family will die, I have no use for failures Darrien, remember that.” He was gone, as he had come, again I was left in the silence, with my own thoughts.

Tristan:-

         Bec had finally decided that it was time for Ashlin to wake up, it had been seven days, and although I had been searching for something to say I just couldn’t think of it, how could you tell someone that everything they had believed was wrong, and that because of us and that demon, she didn’t even have even a tiny bit of humanity to hold on to.

         “Tristan, you’re here, finally we can get this show on the road.” Bec took a syringe from the table, and injected the fluid straight into her veins, “It’ll take a few minutes for her to wake up, I’ll leave you to it, you need to tell her.”

         She was awake, I didn’t say anything for a few moment, allowing her to get her bearing and remember where she was, when she noticed me her eyes lit up. I watched her as she attempted to sit up in bed, finding she was still to weak to move.

         “Ashlin.” She smiled up at me, I could tell she was glad that she knew she could trust me now. “I have something I need to tell you, something you may not like.” Her face fell, I didn’t want to tell her, in that moment I was going to tell her it was nothing and turn away, but I knew if I didn’t tell her now, and she found out from someone else, she would never trust me again.

         “What is it?” She whispered, her voice hoarse from not being used,

         “In order to get the poison the demon injected out of your system we had to give you vampire blood, my blood, you’re no longer human.” She did the last thing that I would ever expect, she laughed, quietly at first and then louder, until finally she couldn’t laugh anymore and was quiet.

         “The look on your face, you must think I’m crazy. I’m sorry, but so much has gone on over the last days, I’ve given up being surprised.”