Dark Season: The Complete Box Set (33 page)

Astley

Mother is in my head again, screeching. She has no concept of personal space. All she wants to do is shout at me and tell me what I should be doing. No matter that she herself is a wreck, tossed on life's rocks and waiting only to die. No, she seems to see fit to tell me what to do, to pass judgment on my every move. The shrill old harpy really has no self-awareness.

Fortunately, I can block her when necessary. As Sophie and I climb the steps to the first floor, I concentrate on making sure that my mother's awful voice is as far from my mind as possible.

“The house was built many, many years ago,” I say as we reach the first floor balcony. “For most of its existence, it was the home of the vampire elite. It was here that the three species would come to meet, when matters arose that required their attention”.

“
Three species?” she asks.

I smile. I knew this would all be new to her. Well, it's not as if dear Patrick is likely to have been filling her in on all the details, is it?

“Vampires,” I say carefully. “And werewolves. And... the others”.

“
Who are the others?” she asks.

“
The three species,” I say again, somewhat vaguely. “Vampires, werewolves and gods. It's all quite simple. Come on, I'll show you all the rooms”. I turn to walk away, but I realize she isn't following. “Is something wrong?” I ask.

She seems hesitant and uncertain. “I'm not sure if we should be up here,” she says. “I think I'll go back down”.

“Let me guess,” I say. “He told you not to go wandering off, didn't he?”

I can see from the look on her face that I'm right. Of course, it was The Lock who actually spoke the words to her, but Patrick's desires lay behind it all.

“He doesn't love you, you know,” I say bluntly.

She seems taken aback. “What do you mean?”

“I mean he doesn't love you,” I say again. “Patrick. He needs you. He tolerates you. He uses you. But he doesn't love you. He's a vampire. He
can't
love you. Like all vampires, he detests humans deep down”. I pause. “I'm sorry, I feel rotten being the one to break this to you, but the truth is, a vampire can never love a human. I just think it'd be better if you learn that now, rather than falling for his charms”.

"What charms?" she replies, but I can see from the look in her eyes that I've hit a sensitive subject.

"I'm just trying to save you a little heartache," I say.

“
I should go downstairs,” she says, and I can tell that she's hurt by what I've said. She turns and starts walking down the stairs.

I hurry after her. “Please don't shoot the messenger,” I say, keeping pace with her. “It's just, I've seen him before. He always has some human girl in tow, and they always think he loves them. There have been so many. Rose, Deck, even Cassandra after she changed”.

We get to the bottom of the stairs, and she turns to me. “I'm not in love with Patrick,” she says firmly, with a look on her face that says the exact opposite. “And I don't want him to be in love with me. That's not why I'm here”.

I think about this for a moment. “The other vampires always teased Patrick,” I say. This, at least, is true. “They found his weakness for young human girls to be touching, though also a sign of weakness. No matter how hard he tries, his loathing for humans will always win the day. The problem is, he needs them. Or at least, he needs one specific human. He needs
you
”.

She stares at me. “You don't know what you're talking about,” she says. “I don't even know who you are”.

“Just because he thinks you're part of the prophecy, doesn't mean you're any more to him than a convenient tool. I'm sorry to be so honest”.

She steps toward me. “There's no such thing as a prophecy,” she says.

“I think he's wrong,” I say. “I think the girl in the prophecy is someone else. Not you. You're just a distraction”. This is a lie, of course. Sophie Hart is most certainly the girl mentioned in the Book of Gothos, and her fate will be as it was written. Everyone here at Gothos knows that this is true. But to say these words to her means that her spirit is being broken. Soon, perhaps, I will be able to take her away. After all, prophecies can be broken sometimes, if you're willing to use violence. Well, maybe not
broken
, but they can be bent and twisted until their shape is almost unrecognizable.

“
There's no prophecy,” she says again. “Now leave me alone. I'm going back in to dinner”.

“
Suit yourself,” I say as she turns and walks away. She's a tough one, but I have no doubt that I'll win. I'll have her bones ripped from her flesh by sunrise.

Sophie

“
I'm going to bed,” I say to The Lock, cornering him by a bookcase as the guests mingle. “I'm tired”.

“
Bed?” The Lock says, clearly surprised. “Why would you -” Something catches him eyes. I look over my shoulder to see Astley watching us from the other side of the room. “You don't want to pay any attention to Astley,” The Lock continues. “Can't you see what a fool he is?”

“
I just want to go to bed,” I say. "There's a lock on my door, isn't there?"

“
You can't,” he replies. “The whole plan depends upon you being awake all night”.

“
Plan?” I stare at him. “What plan?”

He laughs. “You think we just came to Gothos for a party? We're here for a reason. A very good reason. And Patrick has a plan, but it requires you to be awake and it requires me to... play my part”.

I think about this for a moment, then I shake my head. “Sorry, I'm really tired”. The last thing I want to do is stay up all night, dutifully playing my part in some grand plan that Patrick can't even be bothered to explain.

I turn to walk away, but The Lock grabs my shoulder and turns me back to face him. “If you go to bed now,” he says firmly. “You'll die”.

“What?” I ask, and I see that he's looking over at Astley again. “Okay," I continue, "you have to tell me what this place is, and you have to tell me now”.

“
I can't,” he replies. “You just have to trust me. Don't go to sleep, and don't let yourself be cornered alone by anyone. There are only two people here that you can trust: me and Patrick. Do you understand that?”

“
I know I can trust Patrick,” I say. “But I don't know anything about you”.

“
That's because you're asking all the wrong questions,” he says, becoming a little annoyed.

“
If you're so trustworthy,” I say, “why did Patrick have you locked up in a dungeon?”

He looks away. “Some people make mistakes,” he says. “Vincent drove Patrick to do some terrible things. That's why I'm so glad that Vincent is dead now. It means Patrick will be free to follow his instincts, free to kill and fight without that old fool holding him back”.

“Is everything okay?” asks Diana, who has snuck up behind us.

“
Everything is wonderful,” says The Lock, immediately becoming friendly and personable. “We were just talking about the wonderful evening you have laid on for us”.

“
Always a pleasure to serve,” says Diana, giving me a strange look. “My dear, you look so tired. Perhaps you should have an early night”.

I shake my head. “I'm fine, thanks. I'd just like to -”

We all turn as there's the sound of something smashing in the next room, followed by a crunch, a scream and what sounds like some kind of animal snarling. Moments later, an old man – who was at the dinner table earlier – comes flying through the doorway and lands on the dining table. He is swiftly followed by Patrick, who storms through, grabs him and hauls him up.

“
Oh dear,” says Diana.

I step forward, but The Lock holds me back. “This is not your business,” he says. “Don't interfere”.

Patrick growls at the man, then throws him across the room. The man slams into the wall and falls to the ground, and Patrick walks over to him.

“
Have you ever seen him like this?” The Lock asks, smiling at me.

I stare at the other guests, who aren't even paying attention to what Patrick is doing. He's just beating one of them to a pulp, and no-one is even bothering to watch.

“Not quite,” I say, "but what's wrong?”

“
Who knows?” says The Lock. “When I heard that Vincent had died, I realized Patrick would become less stable. I think we're starting to see that”.

Patrick has the old man by the neck and seems to be squeezing the life-force from his body.

“He's like an animal,” I say, watching as Patrick bears his sharp fangs and hisses at the old man. He then heaves the old man up and throws him against a wall. The old man makes a kind of splatting sound and falls to the ground, but there's blood on the wall from the impact. I take a step back, shocked by the violence.

“
Impressive,” says Diana. “I see the time away from Gothos hasn't tamed his spirits, he's as much of a beast as ever”.

Patrick is out of breath, but finally he sees that we're watching him.

“I love a good fight,” says Astley, who has come over to stand with us. We watch as Patrick walks back through to the next room, and maids come to collect the man's bloodied corpse. "I suppose," he adds, glancing at me, "that you find that kind of think impressive, don't you?"

"No," I say, taking a deep breath. "I don't."

“Why did he do that?” I ask The Lock. “Who was that man?”

The Lock smiles. “Ask
him
,” he says, indicating Astley before walking off to join Patrick.

“
I can't explain,” says Astley. Then he grins. “But if you come upstairs with me, I can show you the truth about Patrick. Everything you've ever wanted to know”.

Astley

She's coming with me. Despite all her doubt and fear, she's letting me lead her away from the others. All I had to do was offer her a few tidbits about Patrick, and she can't contain her curiosity. This is easier than I ever expected. I'll have her in bed before midnight.

Sophie

“What's in there?” I ask as we walk past a door on the upstairs floor. There's a faint noise coming from behind the door, as if something is thudding in the distance.

“
Nothing at all,” says Astley, clearly trying to change the subject. "Now come along, I've got so much to show you”.

I follow him along the corridor, and eventually we come to a door.

“What do you know about the vampires”? Astley asks me.

I stare at the door. “They're all dead,” I say. “Except one”.

Astley nods, seemingly lost in thought. “But what were they like? Do you know that?
Why
are they dead? Why does your boyfriend hate his own species so much?”

“
He's not my boyfriend,” I say.

“
The question stands”.

“
I don't know,” I say. “It's not as if Patrick's ever sat down for a long chat about it”.

Astley puts his hand on the door-handle. “The vampires grew to become the most powerful of the three species. So powerful, that they threatened the werewolves and the gods. Eventually, the werewolves pulled away and broke all communication with the vampires, retiring to Sangreth and a few isolated communities, but the gods chose to stay”.

“I've met werewolves -” I start to say.

“
They made the right choice,” Astley says, interrupting. “The gods were the fools. They trusted the vampires, and do you know what they got in return? They became slaves. Servants. Maids”.

He pushes the handle down and opens the door just a fraction.

“My people,” he says bitterly. “Reduced to the level of common household help. Treated like dogs. And then the war came. Or... wars. Plural. And finally the vampires fell. All except one. And they left behind Gothos and the servants became the masters, but we're trapped. Do you understand how that feels?”

I'm starting to wish that I'd stayed downstairs with Patrick. Astley seems to be on the edge of some kind of madness, and I don't want to see what's on the other side of this door. He seems angry, and it's as if he feels that I'm part of the problem.

“It's not my fault,” he continues. “The others all died and I was left alone here. They died, but they left their bodies behind. Beautiful, empty bodies. And I tried to resist for so long, but I was tempted by them and eventually I had to give in. I had to”. He pushes the door open. “See for yourself”.

Although I know I should go back and find Patrick, I step forward to look through the door. All I see, though, is a bare, pale blue room with a bed in the corner.

“I don't see anything,” I say.

“
Step into the room,” Astley says. “And then turn and look back, and you'll see everything that happened here at Gothos on the day he came to kill us”.

I think about this for a moment, but the idea of being alone in a small room with Astley isn't something that interests me too much.

“Thanks,” I say. “But I think -”

At that moment, Astley grabs me and pushes me into the room. I trip and fall, landing hard on the wooden floor, and I turn to look back at the door but Astley isn't there. Instead, I can hear screaming and sounds of wood being broken. I sit up and listen to what sounds like a woman begging for her life in the distance, before her voice suddenly falls silent.

Getting to my feet, I hear glass shattering, and the whole floor shakes. There are more screams, and for a moment it seems as if everything – even the light around me – is flickering. I step to the door, but as I do so a figure appears. I step back as I realize that I recognize the figure. It's Patrick, but he looks different, as if he's slightly younger. He has blood all over his hands and down the side of his face, and he looks at me as if he has no idea who I am, as if he feels nothing toward me but pure hatred.

“
What are you doing?” I ask.

He turns and snarls at me. He really doesn't recognize me, and there's something terrifying about the look in his face, as if he's completely out of control. This is the Patrick I've always feared, the beast who I've always worried might one day turn on me. I've seen flashes of his anger before, but never like this, and never directed so obviously at me.

From along the corridor, wisps of smoke start to appear, and I realize that the sound I can hear is a large fire.

"It's me!" I shout. I look at Patrick's hands and see that he's holding something white, something that's glowing. “Think,” I say. “Think hard. You know me. Come with me, let's get the hell out of here right now. Let's leave Gothos and never come back”.

I step forward, but he growls at me in a way I've only ever seen him do when he's facing down enemies.

“
Patrick, it's me!” I say, keeping my distance, trying to sound firm but aware that my voice is trembling. “Sophie! It's Sophie!”

From the look in his eyes, he seems genuinely hesitant, as if he's fighting an urge to kill me. He opens his mouth to bare his fangs and finally he hisses at me. It's like I'm being sized up by a wild animal, one that has no understanding of me as anything other than a piece of meat.

“Please, Patrick,” I say. I step toward him, trying to show him that I'm a friend. “Try to remember who I am”. I take another step forward, and now suddenly I'm out of the room and Patrick isn't there any more, and Astley is standing next to me. I turn and look back at the room, which is still bare. “What just happened?” I ask.

Astley smiles. “Has no-one ever told you that two sides of a door aren't necessarily connected in ways that you think?”

“There was a fire,” I say. “And there was...”

“
There certainly
was
a fire,” he says. “A long time ago. All the things you saw
did
happen, but they happened a long time ago, back when Gothos was still the ancestral home of the mages, before Patrick came and destroyed all of that”.

I look along the corridor. There's no sound of violence, no sound of people screaming, no sign of Patrick. No smoke, no fire. “Where is he now?” I ask. “Where's Patrick?”

“Probably downstairs, enjoying the meal,” says Astley. “Not like last time he was here. Last time he was here, almost a century ago, he got very angry indeed. For him, that was so long ago, but the house allowed you to see the past as it really happened”.

“
Patrick destroyed Gothos?” I ask.

Astley nods.

“That's what I saw,” I say. “I saw what happened last time he was here?”

Astley smiles. “You more than saw it,” he says. “For a moment, you were there”.

“Does Patrick remember?”

“
Of course,” says Astley. “He remembers that for one brief moment, at the height of his anger, he caught a glimpse of the girl he would not meet properly for many years. It was the first time he ever laid eyes upon you, long before you were even born, back when you were just a name in the Book of Gothos”.

I step back into the room. Patrick is now in the doorway. He growls at me, and he looks ready to attack. I step back out into the corridor, and it's just Astley again. Suddenly, I see two girls walk past the door. One of them looks just like me.

"And you do this willingly?" the other girl asks. "You're not being pressured or forced in any way?"

As soon as they've disappeared from view, I rush back out into the corridor, but they've vanished.

"What did you see this time?" Astley asks.

"I saw someone who looked like me," I say, "but slightly different."

"Huh," he replies. "The house sometimes snatches moments from the future as well. You never really know what you're going to get." He pauses for a moment. "Patrick met you long before you were even born. To him, you were the flickering twilight ghost that tried to calm him as he cleansed the house of Gothos of all its pain. It's no wonder he sought you out when you finally arrived. No wonder he watched over you and waited for you to grow older”.

I realize what he's saying. “The prophecy...”

“Began here,” he replies.

“
And where does it end?”

Astley laughs. “I thought you were the one who said there's no such thing as a prophecy?”

“Until just now,” I point out, “I didn't think there was any such thing as a time-traveling door”. I think back to what Vincent told me the first time I met him, about how one day Patrick will kill me. “It's all true, then?” I ask. “He really
is
going to kill me, isn't he?”

Astley puts an arm around my shoulder. “What do you think?” he asks, smiling. "The prophecy stands. You can run, you can hide, you can change certain parts, but it'll always re-assert itself in the end."

I push his arm away. “I need to get out of here,” I say, starting to panic. “I need to get as far away from Patrick as I can”.

“
Good luck with
that
,” says Astley, smiling.

“
No, I mean it,” I say. I start walking along the corridor, with Astley following. “I have to go and I have to make sure that I never see him again”.

“
That's your choice,” says Astley.

As we get to the top of the stairs, I look down and see Patrick in the hallway, staring up at me. There's a look in his eyes, a look of absolute sadness, as if he knows that something terrible is about to happen, and this isn't the Patrick of a century ago, this is the Patrick of today. I have to get away from him. I have to get away right now.

I immediately run back along the corridor, with Astley still on my tail.

“
How do I get out of here?” I ask, turning to Astley. “Is there another exit?” He just stares at me, but I grab him by the shoulders and I shake him. “You've got to help me get out of this place”.

“
You want to run?” he asks. “Where will you run to? He can follow you anywhere you go”.

“
So what are you saying?” I ask. “Are you saying I should just hang around until he decides it's time to kill me?”

Along the corridor, behind Astley, Patrick appears at the top of the stairs. He's looking at me as if he knows everything, and as if he's sad about what has to happen. I can't shake the feeling that maybe the moment of truth has arrived.

Astley turns to see Patrick. “Hello, old boy,” he says. “Your girlfriend and I were just talking about the good old days”.

Patrick starts walking toward us.

“You can't kill me,” I say to Patrick, backing away. “You can't, I'm... It's me!”

Astley grabs my arm. “This way,” he says, leading me away, around the corner and down a set of back stairs. He stops halfway down. “I'll delay the vampire, you run and get out the back way”.

“He'll kill you,” I say.

“
Maybe, maybe not,” says Astley. “But he and I go back a long way, so I can slow him down enough for you to get away”.

“
Are you sure?” I ask.

“
I'm sure,” he says. “There's no escape for me. I'm doomed. But you can run, Sophie. Just get down into the kitchen, go to the side door and open it, do you understand?”

Nodding, I turn to run, but Astley grabs my arm and pulls me back.

“It's very important that you open the external door,” he insists. “Open it all the way”.

I look up and see Patrick at the top of the stairs. Then, without saying anything, I turn and run, pulling my arm away from Astley's grasp. Eventually I find myself in what appears to be a large kitchen area, with pots bubbling on the stoves. I see a door and run to it, but as I get there I realize that there's someone outside. It's Jessica, the maid from earlier, the one who went down to the bottom of the garden.

“Let me in,” she says, staring at me.

I pull the door, but it's locked. The key's in the lock, though, so I turn it and pull the door open. As I do so, dust falls away, as if the door has been closed for many, many years. “I need to get out of here,” I say to Jessica. “Are you coming with me?”

Jessica steps through the door, and two other maids come with her. There's something odd about them, though, as if they're just staring at me, and they seem to be cold, almost gray They're walking strangely, tottering almost, as if they're walking on ice and they don't have complete control of their limbs.

“
Are you okay?” I ask, backing away. I glance over my shoulder. Fortunately, there's still no sign of Patrick. I turn back to Jessica. “What's wrong? I don't have all day, are you coming with me?”

“
Let me in,” says Jessica, taking a step towards me.

I look over at the door, which is wide open. “I did,” I say.

“Let me in,” she says again, her eyes fixed on me.

“
You're in,” I say, looking around the kitchen. “You're in, okay? I let you in”.

She moves toward me. “Let me in,” she repeats. Behind her, the three lights from the garden seem to be hovering just outside the door. I don't like the idea of running straight into them, so I guess I need to find another way out of here.