Shadows (Ultrahumans Book 2) (34 page)

‘I won’t,’ Andrea replied, holding on tighter.

And together they continued to fall.

~~~

Durant felt the darkness lifting from around him and he collapsed onto his side, still shaking. His view was not exactly a good one, but he could see the girl standing there in the centre of the room. The black cloud which had filled every part of the chamber was now twisting around her body. Bands of black writhed about her limbs, her head. Her black eyes seemed blacker than ever.

Of course, he had never seen anyone eaten by the Darkness. The last person to be claimed had died before he had been born. Long before. He had no idea whether this was how it always looked, so he had no idea whether he should leave, or just wait for her to fall down… And anyway, his body was still half-frozen.

Then he heard the sound. He thought that it was quite possible that he would never forget that sound for as long as he lived. It was a high, keening screech, a sound like something in great pain and great fear, and it came out of nowhere, it seemed. It was not the girl who made the sound, and as it died away as though it were being ground into oblivion under a boot, the dark trails around Twilight died away too.

She looked down and smiled, and her voice was a hiss. ‘And now
I
am the Shadow.’

‘What?’ He blinked as she moved, and then his eyes widened. The sword she had been holding had been driven through his chest.

‘Don’t worry about it,’ she told him, and then she turned, heading for the doorway.

Durant had been right: he remembered the keening sound of the dying Darkness right up until the time he died.

~~~

Something had changed, quite suddenly, with the Italian authorities. No one was quite sure what happened, but people who had been objecting moments before had suddenly decided that they had no objections, or that their objections were unreasonable. In ten minutes they had gone from preparing a covert infiltration which would have likely caused no end of problems, to hurrying to get to the gate room in time to be warped to Italy.

‘This is not good,’ Viviane said as she flew alongside Cygnus up from the village, where they had arrived, toward the castle they could see on the mountain side.

‘I thought this was better than having to drop in unannounced?’

‘Oh. Yes, but there is something very wrong here. We may be too late.’

‘I don’t believe that,’ Cygnus replied, but she accelerated and Viviane had to push to keep up with her.

The castle was a simple design which had begun simpler and been extended over and over again. Architecture, especially military architecture, was not her strong point, but even Cygnus could see multiple phases of development, each with a variation in style. There was an outer wall with square turrets, which looked quite defensible, and then a lower, inner wall with round turrets. Within that the main keep seemed quite old and square, more or less, with a tower at one corner. The very top of the tower had windows suggesting it had been used as a watch tower. There were windows around the top two floors, but none at ground level, and all were barred. The only way in was going to be the heavy doors at the front… but they were wide open, and the reason for that was what really started Cygnus worrying.

There were three corpses lying outside the door. One had a sword through his back, but the other two showed no real sign of injury. They were dead, but there was no immediate indication of what had killed them. Cygnus thought of the shadowy knives Twilight could throw.

‘Can you tell where she is?’ Cygnus asked.

‘There is… Something is making locating her difficult. Up. And be prepared: there is a lot of death here.’

They moved in, seeing more bodies as soon as they were inside. ‘The tower,’ Cygnus said, her tone flat. ‘The stairs will be in the tower.’ She turned left and moved quickly down a short passage, and there was the spiral staircase. She paused on the floor above, looking quickly down the corridor and flinching at the sight of a decapitated body hung from a ceiling beam.

‘Higher,’ Viviane said.

‘Last floor then.’ They went up, and that was when they heard the sound. A heavy thudding, slow and methodical. Someone was trying to break through a door. ‘This way,’ Cygnus said, rushing off in the direction the sound seemed to be coming from. The crashing stopped as they rounded a corner and they ran down the passageway in time to see Twilight, dressed in a black jumpsuit, stalking toward two figures on the bed.

‘Now,’ Viviane hissed as Cygnus pushed through the door. ‘Do it now.’

‘Twilight!’ Cygnus snapped out, reaching over her shoulder to the sword which was slung there. ‘You’ll need this.’ She threw the blade across to the black-eyed girl who was
so
not Twilight right now.

‘Thank you,’ not-Twilight said, plucking the sword out of the air. ‘I do.’ She turned, raising her sword, and Lena screamed.

~~~

The darkness was still there, still surrounding them, but they were no longer falling. Andrea had the feeling that the other mind’s attention was elsewhere now, which meant that she could focus on Twilight.

‘You okay, kid?’ Andrea whispered in her other self’s ear.

‘Been better. I feel like someone hit me with a hammer. Like, a steam hammer.’

‘You’re the fearless one. How come I’m having to pick us both up?’

‘Sorry.’ Twilight straightened her back, but she still felt limp in Andrea’s arms. ‘The weight of it… I just couldn’t hold it back.’

‘The Darkness. That’s the fear
we
use.’

‘Not just that. It was her too. The third one. I think she’s… She was the shadow part that was supposed to be absorbed by the thing in the black. Being with it just made her stronger.’

Andrea nodded. ‘I don’t think it knew how strong.’

‘No.’ There was a pause and then, ‘She’s killing them. All of them. I can feel it. She’ll keep going until there’s no one left in the castle.’

‘And then? I don’t think she wants to give up control. Not this time.’ Keeping a tight hold on Twilight, Andrea turned, focussing on the blackness in front of them. It was dim, vague, but there was something becoming visible. Out there in the dark, they could just about see the world outside through the clouds of darkness. ‘Where are we? What’s she doing?’

It became more obvious as a man’s face appeared briefly. He looked like he was screaming. Terror shone bright in his eyes before they went dull. ‘Shit, she can scare people to death,’ Twilight muttered.

‘We could,’ Andrea replied. ‘I think she can do it easier, but we could still give someone a heart attack. I’ve worried about it.’

‘Considering who we usually do that to, forgive me for not worrying.’

‘Yeah... What’s she… Is that the door to Lena’s room?’

They could see their own boot being smashed into the wood. That was having no effect.

‘Yeah,’ Twilight replied flatly. ‘She wants
everyone
dead. She won’t get through like that though.’

And they watched as a heavy, marble stand of some sort was located on the corridor and employed as a battering ram. It was still taking some time, but she was going to get through…

‘We have to take control again,’ Andrea said.

‘How?’

‘We… We work together. Uh, I push her back and you go for the body. We have to be stronger than her together, right? It’s two against one.’

The door started to splinter around the lock. ‘Well, then… On three and we push together.’

‘Right,’ Andrea agreed. ‘Three!’

It was like pushing against mud. Neither of them knew what they were doing, but they pushed, trying to get out, out to where the image of the door was waiting. Except that now the door was opening and they were seeing Lena and Mia on the bed, huddled together and looking scared. Very scared.

‘Harder!’ Andrea screamed. There was a slight falter in the image as they struggled outward.

‘You can’t win,’ the third voice hissed from around them. ‘And when I’ve killed these ones and we’re all alone here, I’ll come for you. I’ll snuff you out.’

‘Don’t listen to her,’ Andrea whispered, somehow managing to cut off the sound as she pressed forward and out. ‘You have to push for control. She’s weakening.’

They saw the image change as their body turned. Cygnus and Viviane were there! A little late maybe, but at least they were there and now they could stop her from killing anyone
really
innocent…

‘What are they doing?’ Twilight asked through gritted teeth. Both of them could see the sword flying toward a waiting hand. ‘Giving us a sword! Shit!’ The image turned again. Lena’s face was there, mouth wide in a scream.

‘No,’ Andrea said as she felt the sudden weight of the katana in her palm and knew which sword it was. ‘That’s
our
sword.’ She clenched her fists, clenched her will, and pushed. ‘Stop her!’ she yelled as Twilight was catapulted out into the light.

The sword’s blade, wrapped now in black tendrils of energy, stopped half an inch from Lena’s head, trembling. Sweat broke out across Twilight’s brow and then she twisted away, falling to her hands and knees, but never letting go of the hilt of her sword.

Cygnus moved closer, dropping to one knee beside her friend. ‘Twilight?’

‘More or less,’ Twilight replied. ‘Give us a second. Andrea’s still sealing the other one away again.’

Cygnus took the scabbard of the weapon from where it was hung over her shoulder and handed it to its owner. ‘No idea if that helps or it’s just the blade, but I figure it can’t hurt.’ She looked up at the two women on the bed. ‘You’re okay now.
She’s
okay now.’

‘The Shadow?’ Mia asked, as yet unsure of who she was talking to.

‘Gone,’ Viviane said. ‘Or…’ She looked at Twilight, considering. ‘I think that it has a new mistress. And now that she has regained control of herself, a rather more beneficent one.’

Twilight gave a shudder, rolled onto her back, and reached up to pull her mask off her face. ‘Right now I feel less like a beneficent mistress and more like a tired, sore one,’ Andrea said.

‘You need rest,’ the sorceress agreed. ‘Here is, I think, as good a place as any. You will need to be watched, which I will do.’

Cygnus sighed, straightening up. ‘Then I guess I’d better take care of the bodies.’

‘How many did I kill?’ Andrea asked.

‘Uh… All of them?’

Andrea winced, but Mia was getting to her feet. ‘It was not exactly you, Miss,’ the housekeeper said. ‘I will help. With the bodies. It is my job, yes?’

‘I will too,’ Lena said. Cygnus looked at her, raising eyebrows. ‘What? My father is… was a mobster. You think I’ve got this far without having met the odd body?’

The blonde heroine shrugged. ‘Okay, I won’t turn down the help. What are we going to do with them all?’

‘There is the standard policy,’ Mia replied with a shrug. ‘This is not the first time I have disposed of a body either.’

27
^th
June.

Night was falling on the following day before Andrea emerged from a sleep filled with weird dreams. Viviane had watched for hours, and then Cygnus had taken over. All the bodies had been removed by then, and Mia and Lena were going around with mops and a special solvent Mia claimed got blood stains out of
anything
. Cygnus did not really want to know how she knew this.

The first indication that Andrea was back in the land of the living were the words, ‘I am famished. Is there anything to eat around here?’ Cygnus figured this was a good sign and fifteen minutes later they were all sitting around a table in the great hall, working on consuming the food Mia had thrown together.

‘I can do much better than this, given proper notice,’ the Italian girl stated.

‘I’m sure you can,’ Andrea replied, ‘but I’d just like to point out that in my current state, this is perfect.’

‘And what is your current state?’ Cygnus asked.

‘Hungry.’ She grinned. ‘I think I’ve kind of… inherited the Shadow Court. Or something like that. I think my third personality is now in control of the shadows and, for now anyway, me and Twilight are in control of her. As long as it stays that way, we should be fine.’

‘Keep the sword with you as much as possible,’ Viviane said. ‘Its enchantment will help.’

Andrea nodded. ‘I’ve no idea what to do with the organisation they built up though.’

‘I can, perhaps, help,’ Mia replied. ‘I know where all the records are. I am authorised to deal with financial transactions to a limited extent and can get you to see those in control of the purse strings.’

Andrea raised an eyebrow, but she said, ‘Okay, you get the job. Keep it in the family, right?’ Mia grinned back at her.

‘I’d like to help too,’ Lena said. She had been sitting very close to Mia the whole time; Andrea was hoping that Mia swung that way because it was looking like Lena had found a new dusky Latin beauty to latch onto. ‘I know the business. Even if Poppa didn’t want me involved in that kind of thing, I knew what was going on. I can help, and I don’t want to go back.’

‘It would be… nice to have some help with this place,’ Mia said.

‘Oh… she swings that way,’ Twilight commented.

‘All right,’ Andrea said. ‘You two will take care of things here. I guess I’ll need to come back here at times to sign stuff and… stuff. Now I know where it is though, I should be able to jump right into the cellars. There’s nothing down there but darkness now.’

‘Brightstar will want to see you both,’ Viviane said, ‘as will Doctor Ultimate. I believe that you must
both
seriously consider at least an Associate position with the Union.’

‘That’s what you are, right?’ Andrea asked, getting a nod in reply. ‘I won’t say no.’

‘And I guess that could work for me too,’ Cygnus said. ‘Cygnus and Twilight need to be ready to defend New Millennium City when we’re needed.’

‘But maybe we can be available for saving the world in an emergency,’ Andrea added, grinning. ‘Let’s just try to keep the emergencies to a minimum until I’ve worked out what being the Avatar of Shadows really means, huh?’

Epilogue