Page 3 of The Rising Dark
“Yes.A tenebris, to be more specific.Some demons are powerful enough to walk the earth without being summoned.A tenebris, however, has to be summoned.”
Michelle mulled on that for a moment.“Who summoned it?And why?”
Silence followed.The woman stared at her intently.Michelle felt caught by her intense gaze.“I think,” she said, “that it was coming for you.”
“Me?”Michelle said incredulously.This idea was even more preposterous than the existence of demons.Even if she could accept that supernatural creatures made of nightmares stalked the streets of London, there was absolutely no reason why anyone would want to set one loose onher.She was a nurse, for God’s sake.Though the parents of patients could sometimes get belligerent, often out of fear for their child, she couldn’t imagine any of them sending ademonher way.Other than them, she didn’t live an exciting enough life to have ever made any enemies.
This must have all been one massive mistake.It had to be some weird fever dream that she would wake up from tomorrow.
“I don’t know why,” the woman said.“Nor do I know who sent it.But I intend to find out.”For a moment, they sat suspended, the woman still cupping Michelle’s chin in her hand.Then she retreated, closing the first aid box.Michelle found herself missing her touch.At least that had felt real.
The woman continued.“I’m afraid you can’t stay here tonight.While I don’t think whoever summoned the demon is going to try again immediately, it’s not safe here.You’ll have to come with me.”
“Come with you where?”
“I can take you to a place where you will be safe.There will be more people like me to protect you.I realise this is quite a shock to you, but I’m asking you to trust me.I wouldn’t take you from your home if I didn’t think it was necessary.”
Michelle considered the tall, muscular woman standing in the middle of her kitchen, splattered with gore.She had seen how strong she was, how fast, how she had stabbed a creature and made it disappear.If she’d wanted to hurt Michelle, there would have been plenty of opportunities.She looked at her open expression, her large green eyes pleading.She thought about how gentle her hands were, and how even the memory of the demon created a pit of fear in her stomach.
She could not imagine sleeping in her bed tonight, knowing that something like that could come after her again.
“I’m not sure I trust you,” Michelle said, wrapping her arms around herself.There were more questions in her mind than she thought she could handle answers to.
The woman didn’t seem offended.“That’s fair enough.”
Michelle looked around her apartment.The second-hand furniture she had collected over the years.The laundry bag sitting beside the sofa, exactly where she had left it this morning.The pictures of friends and family on the walls, all smiles.Somehow it was all wrong.“But I also don’t think I can stay here.”Not while the image of the demon still lingered on her corneas.
“You will stay with us,” the woman said in a definitive tone.She slipped a phone from her pocket, swiped a couple of times, and pressed it to her ear.“Hey, it’s me.Could you come pick me up?We’ve got company.”Without waiting for a reply, she ended the call and focused back on Michelle.“You may wish to pack anything you may need for the next couple of days.”
“Right.”She would need her toothbrush.Underwear, socks.A couple of changes of clothes.All she had to do was grab some of these everyday items.Yet somehow she couldn’t make herself stand up, couldn’t force herself back into action.A tremor ran through her arms, and she couldn’t make it stop.Her bottom lip quivered and her eyes filled with tears.
“I don’t even know your name,” Michelle said, her voice straining past a sob that was trying to escape.
Immediately, the woman was by her side, gently grasping her hand between her own.
“It’s Lavinia.What’s your name?”
“Michelle,” she sniffed.
The woman’s face was blurred by Michelle’s unshed tears.Still, she recognised the steel in Lavinia’s eyes, an edge that would be terrifying if it had been aimed at her.The woman knelt on the ground at her feet.“Michelle.I promise you that we will protect you.Iwill protect you.”It sounded like a vow.
* * *
On Lavinia’s steady insistence, Michelle managed to throw some basics into a rucksack within fifteen minutes.Meanwhile, the warrior woman tried to wash as much of the creature’s blood off her arms and face as she could in the kitchen sink.Michelle had caught a quick look at the scratch on her own face in the bathroom mirror as she packed her toothbrush.It looked a lot like a chemical burn with some local abrasion, stretching along the curve of her right cheekbone, skin bright red and angry.
It seemed pretty superficial, and unless demons had some sort of poison or something that she didn’t know about, it would probably heal within a week or two.Michelle counted herself lucky.If the creature had scratched her eye… With a shudder, she had continued packing her bag.
Lavinia escorted her downstairs again, and as they left the apartment, Michelle found that she struggled to look at the spot where the creature had appeared.She was glad that a sleek black car idled next to the building.Lavinia opened the door for her and helped her inside, and within a moment lowered herself onto the leather backseat beside her.Immediately, the car pulled away smoothly, driving down the quiet midnight streets of the London suburbs.
Michelle didn’t know much about cars, never having owned one as a born and bred city-dweller, but even she knew that the soft purr of the engine and leather seats meant that this was averyexpensive car.Hell, it even smelled expensive.
“Michelle, this is Zachary, our driver.Zachary, Michelle is going to stay with us at the mansion for now.She’s had a rough night,” Lavinia said.
The man was in his forties, had a broad face and an easy smile.He wore a neatly ironed white shirt without a tie.In the darkness of the car interior, his expertly cut hair shone black.He glanced at her through the rear-view mirror and smiled.“Nice to meet you, Michelle.”His eyes flicked over to the side, and he frowned.“You look like hell, Vin.”
Lavinia didn’t seem fazed by the man’s directness.“Sorry.You might have to wash some demon blood out of the seats tomorrow, I didn’t have time to change.”
The man sighed deeply, like this was a common occurrence in his line of work.Perhaps it was.Nothing in Michelle’s world really made any sense anymore.
