Soul of Darkness (15 page)

Aaron stood glued to the spot, while Aidan, heeding his father’s urgent words, knelt to pick Persephone up off the pavement. Cradling her in his arms, he waited for Malcolm to pass them and lead the way.

“Okay. Then let us get out of here, boys,” Malcolm said quietly, moving ahead of them.

Silently, they followed him down the dark and deserted road.

Aaron didn’t ask where they were headed or how they were going to get there. But after having been warned not to use magic and seeing the men arrive at their hide-out after the curse’s magic had given away their location, Aaron guessed they would reach their destination by foot, unless they stumbled upon a bus stop or train station along the way.

Unfortunately, taking the car was no longer an option, as it wasn’t in any state to be driven due to one of the tires having burst. Since Aaron and Aidan had unwisely neglected to bring along a spare, they had no choice but to leave on foot as soon as possible.

Though walking wasn’t really a problem for him, it could prove quite dangerous to travel by foot all the way back to the castle. They could be on the road for quite some time. And without much around to provide shelter, or more precisely, a place completely hiding them from view, Aaron felt quite vulnerable.

Not only could they be found easily by more men of the same enemy alliance that had just attacked them, but they might also be hunted by the local police forc
e―
if they could be linked to the mass murder site.

And the woman at the B&B was in an excellent position to describe all three of them and the car they’d driven…the same one that would be found abandoned on a road plastered with dead bodies.

Though the convertible had been conjured by magic and wasn’t registered, and although they’d signed in at the B&B under false names, the fact remained that the B&B owner could recognize the car and describe them well enough to enable a manhunt. And their appearances weren’t exactly low-key.

Since Aidan hadn’t mentioned anything about having erased the B&B owner’s memories…he had merely rendered her unconscious…it seemed they’d soon be officially on the run from the local police and needed to disappear before the bodies were discovered and the witness questioned.

Which didn’t give them much time.

If they managed to keep off the radar until they were far removed from the site of the massacre, they might be okay.

Then again, maybe they shouldn’t be. Maybe they deserved to pay for ending the lives of thirty men.

Yes, they’d been under duress. And yes, their very lives had been threatened. They had merely protected themselves, had acted in self-defense.

Then why did it feel so wrong? Why did Aaron see his hands covered in blood though he hadn’t touched a single one of those men…why did he feel the need to continuously wash them and fear he would never get rid of the stains left behind?

Perhaps because in his heart he knew the situation could have been handled differently. They could have merely knocked them all out and gained enough time to flee.

Of course the men would have continued to pursue them, but he had a feeling more men were bound to come after them anyway. Killing them hadn’t solved anythin
g―
it had just made everything so much worse.

The men’s deaths…the brutal way in which they’d died…it could have been avoided.

Therefore, they deserved to pay. They deserved to be found by the police. But if they were, what would happen? The forces on their tail would find and kill them and anyone who tried to get in their way. They would end up endangering even more, this time innocent, men.

Nothing could be gained by it.

Except that, possibly for a moment, Aaron would feel he had pai
d―
if only in the smallest amount imaginabl
e―
for the crime in which he had participated.

And maybe, just maybe, it would help ease the pain and guilt he felt clawing away at his heart and ripping apart his soul.

After having walked for several minutes, Malcolm headed toward the side of the road overlooking the ocean, probably searching for a path that would lead them down toward the beach and off the road as soon as possible.

However, finding one seemed to be a rather difficult task in the dead of night without lights to guide the way
―
and without the use of magic.

Aaron gathered this would be that one time he could actually use one of those I-phones with a flashlight app.

Ooh, wait,
he berated himself, having completely forgotten the small flashlight he always carried. His mind seemed to have been completely scrambled by the recent shock to his system.

Flashlight app, seriously? 
he thought.

Fumbling around in his pocket, he found and finally pulled out his trusted flashlight.

“Here,” he said, handing it over to Malcolm, who was probably familiar with their surroundings and could better decide at which intervals to turn on the flashlight and look for a path. Otherwise, the batteries might run out long before they succeeded.

“Oh, how very prophetic of you,” Malcolm said, seeming to think Aaron had packed the flashlight for exactly such an occasion.

“Thanks, but I have it on me most of the time. I find it useful.”

“Ah,” Malcolm answered, “yes, I can see that you would, not having received any magical training.”

“Although…
magic
  can’t help us right now,” Aaron stated, for some reason feeling the need to defend his non-magical upbringin
g―
or at least the flashlight’s honor.

“Quite right,” Malcolm agreed, “flashlights can be very useful indeed.”

There they wer
e―
on the run, being hunted down by God knows wh
o―
and they were having a chat about the usefulness of flashlights. It was bizarre…and strangely satisfying. For the first time since meeting his biological father, Aaron was having a ‘normal’ conversation with him, discussing the same kind of trivial matters he would have discussed with Adam.

It felt like a father-son-moment.

One of the very few they were likely to have in the near future, since so many crazy things tended to happen of late.

There never really seemed to be a moment when they could catch their breaths, when they weren’t dealing with magical issues or the ‘how-do-we-attempt-to-save-the-world’ quest. So, this little random moment of almost-normalcy was nice and something Aaron would treasure.

Walking alongside his father and brother, and the woman his brother carried in his arms, Aaron suddenly felt a profound sense of belonging…a sense of famil
y―
though, strictly speaking, Persephone was not of their blood.

Though their situation and the circumstances that had brought them together were dire, and even though the shadow of Darkness was ever present in their midst, the fact that they were united in their trials gave him hope and made the road they traveled down seem less daunting.

They were in this together and would either save mankind or go down fighting…all of them…as one.

Somehow that thought comforted Aaron. Even though they all had a long way to go, and though things were complicated between each and every one of them, being with them felt right. At last, Aaron had found a place where he belonged. But he would never tell the others
―
too sentimental for his taste.

Aidan suddenly turned his head and glanced his way. In the dense darkness Aaron couldn’t see his brother’s eyes. But he got the distinct impression that, although he hadn’t meant to share his thoughts, Aidan had just ‘caught’ what he’d been thinking.

Aaron abruptly worried about the consequences of Aidan having read his mind, praying that the use of this particular ability wouldn’t make their location known to the enemy.

But since neither anomalies nor psychopaths popped up out of nowhere to disrupt the tranquil atmosphere, it seemed their mind-reading ability didn’t influence their environment in the same way their magic normally did and would not draw the enemy’s attention.

Feeling reassured that nothing bad would happen, Aaron concentrated hard on hearing his brother’s thought
s―
and heard absolutely nothing.

That was just a rotten deal!

Aaron’s ability to share Persephone’s or Aidan’s thoughts seemed to come and go. Maybe he needed more magical training before he could actively read their minds. Or maybe their telepathic connection would simply become stronger over time.

Whatever Aidan’s reaction had been to what he’d overheard, Aaron would never know. And yet, every single bone in his body longed to know what his twin brother thought or felt about him.

However much Aaron tried to hate him for taking Persephone away from him, and however hard he tried to tell himself he didn’t care that he had a brother…his heart seemed to feel otherwise, and there was no denying it.

Next to him, Aidan coughed as though having choked on something…probably on Aaron’s thoughts. Reminding himself to stop thinking anything else along these lines for the remainder of their trip, or at least for as long as they were in such close proximity, Aaron steered his thoughts in other directions…finally dredging up an hilarious scene from one of his favorite movies.

A snort of laughter from his brother was the confirmatio
n―
if ever he had needed to prove i
t―
that Aidan had heard everything he’d been thinking.

They walked on for quite some time, Aaron carefully avoiding any personal or hilarious thoughts to tempt his brother with, until the beam of the flashlight finally fell upon what looked like a man-made path.

Between two nearly adjoining cliffs uneven stone steps lead down toward the beach. They appeared to have been roughly carved out of either side of the neighboring rocks.

Aaron found it amazing how anyone could have accomplished such a task, as there were quite a few steps snaking all the way down along the very high cliffs. It must have taken whoever had made the path a long time to finish. Luckily for the four of them, someone had braved the task.

Chapter 11 * The Cave

L
eading the way, Malcolm descended a few steps before turning around and lighting up the path for Aidan and Aaron to follow. Aaron waited until Aidan had gone ahead a few paces while carefully balancing Persephone in his arms. Then he followed his companions down the stone path.

At long last, they arrived safely at the bottom and found themselves staring straight at a large opening in the face of one of the looming cliffs. They’d navigated straight toward what appeared to be a cav
e―
a larger one than the tiny hole they’d hidden in earlier, Aaron avidly hoped.

But judging from what he could glimpse of the inside, he could already tell it had to be much bigger in size.

How incredibly lucky for them to have found a route leading away from the open road and to exactly the kind of ‘safe-house’ they desperately needed. They couldn’t have planned this any better.

It almost seemed
too
  lucky.

Or perhaps Aaron was just being neurotic…Still, this somehow felt premeditated
―
as if some higher power had led them there…as if something out there was actively seeking to keep them alive.

Only, Aaron wasn’t getting a positive feeling. All of this felt rather ominous. Furthermore, he was picking up on a different kind of vibe…primal and reeking of deep-rooted magic.

“Hmm,” Malcolm uttered, hesitating slightly before approaching the cave, “Does anyone else feel as if we found this cave much too easily?”

There it was: the exact same thing Aaron had been thinking. It seemed he hadn’t been neurotic, after all. Not if someone with Malcolm’s instincts had just voiced the same misgivings.

“Yes,” both Aidan and Aaron answered.

They were all agreed, each of them sceptic about having happened upon this place by chance.

“Should we walk on instead?” Aidan asked, still securely holding Persephone’s unconscious body in his arms, though swaying slightly. He probably needed to rest but seemed unwilling to do so at the cost of ignoring Malcolm’s as well as Aaron’s and his own misgivings.

Of course, Aaron could have relieved Aidan of his charge and carried Persephone for a while so that they could walk o
n―
he wouldn’t have minded
.
But after everything they’d been through in the last hours, they were in desperate need of rest in order to regain both their physical and emotional strength.