Fading Into Darkness: The Under Series Book 2 (11 page)

I opened my eyes to find Senka was gone. I was walking along the gravelled driveway and it was
suddenly day time. I tried to stop walking but it was as though my feet wouldn't do as I was telling
them. I carried on walking and my hand came up to my face and I took a drag on a cigarette. It was
at that moment I knew this wasn't my body I was inside someone else's body. I watched as the
person flicked the cigarette into a nearby bush, I recognised his tattooed arm immediately. I was
inside Senka.
It was a weird sensation being trapped inside his body watching everything through his eyes like
one of those hand held camera documentaries. He walked inside the manor and started walking up
the first set of stairs where there was someone already on their way down.
It was me dressed in a white nightdress. Senka stepped to the side but I stepped to the same side as
he did. He laughed softly and moved to the railing holding out his arm inviting me to go passed
first. I watched as I hopped down the stairs, Senka didn't take his eyes off of me. I spun around a
few steps down and looked back at Senka who was still watching me.
“Hey, do you know where I can find the kitchen?”
“Yeah follow the corridor all the way until you see some archways on the right and the kitchens are
through there.”
“Thanks.” I said smiling, I could tell I was blushing.
Senka watched the back of me as I carried on down the stairs. I turned back to look at Senka one
last time when I reached the bottom step but quickly looked away again and scurried off down the
corridor. Senka walked to the top of the stairs and along the corridor passed unknown doors, I
wasn't sure what was behind all of them as they were so close to Cam's den and bedroom which I
usually stayed away from. Senka stopped at Cam's den and knocked on the door. He nodded his
head at the servant next to the door who returned the gesture.
“Yes, come in.” Cam called from the other side.
The servant opened the door for Senka and he walked in.
Cam was sat at the end of the table resting his boots up on it. He had a cellphone in his hand. It was
the first time I'd seen him with a cellphone. I was starting to think they'd all been hiding them from
me.
“So I was told you wanted to see me.” Senka said.
“Yes I did. Could you sit down for a minute.” Cam said looking at one of the chairs.
Senka pulled out the chair and a girls laugh came from behind the bookcase. One by one Roman,
Shasta and Kenzie walked around the bookcase. Kenzie was grinning looking at something on a
tablet.
“Could you guys give us a minute please.” Cam said looking over at them.
They quietly left the room and Cam dropped his boots to the floor and turned towards Senka. Senka
leaned forward and rested his elbows on the table.
“So what is it you want to tell me?” Senka asked.
“So I'm guessing by now you've probably met or seen Ruby around the manor.”
“Yeah,” he nodded. “She's pretty.” he added.
Cam nodded in agreement. “Do you know why I've asked you to come see me today?”
“I think I have an idea.”
“Senka I need you to take her memories of her past. Permanently. I don't want her to remember
anything from before she came here.”
“Why? She already can't remember anything, since the accident.”
“No but she's a determined little thing and when she figures it out she's going to do everything she
can to get away from here. I don't want that to happen I want her to think this is her home. If she
gets her memory back she will be a total nightmare to contain.”
“Typical teenager.” Senka joked.
“Senka I need those memories gone.”
“What if you fading with her has permanently messed up her memory already?”
“It hasn't she's already started asking for things such as chocolate and soda. She remembers and it's
only a short while before the rest of her memory returns.”
“A few questions first,” Senka said.
Cam sat back in his chair and nodded.
“What is she to you? You've been very vague about the whole thing. We were all told that this girl,
once she woke up would be living with us from now on. The servants were told not to talk to her if
possible and we were told to keep cellphones, electrical items and shop bought items away from
her. Why?”
“It could trigger her memories anything from a cellphone to a soda can, things that she's used to
could trigger her memory.”
“Okay so you still haven't answered the question. What is she to you?”
Cam exhaled loudly, stood up and went over to the liquor bar.
“My father doesn't want to be bothered with all this,” Cam said waving his glass in the air.
“He wants to leave me in charge permanently, so he can stay where he is. I don't know for some
reason he actually likes it down there.” Cam said looking at the floor and tapping his boot on it.
“But he has been on my back for years, decades, centuries even about finding an heir for after I'm
gone. My father thinks me being here is temporary and I will get bored and want to leave.”
“And do you, want to leave this place?”
“No. I have no intention of leaving or going anywhere but my father wont hand leadership over
until I find someone to marry that would be a suitable heir.”
“You're talking about Ruby?”
“Yes.”
“What if she doesn't want to marry you? You can't force her to love you, it's why your mother left.”
“I am well aware of why my mother left. I am nothing like my father and I don't intend on forcing
Ruby to do anything but if she agrees to marry me it would get my father off my back. If Ruby and
I were to get married I'd still let her do whatever she wants and love whoever she wants.”
“Except leave.”
“No that's the only thing she can't do. That's why I need those memories to disappear for good.”
“So why her? Why not someone else or why not even Shasta?”
“Shasta isn't suitable.”
“Why not? If it's just for a piece of paper saying you're both married then why does it matter who it
is?”
“Because Ruby is different. She's special to me and she's incredibly gifted. And to be honest I'm
selfish, I can't let her go. I've thought about it everyday for the past nineteen years and it has to be
her.”
“She's Nephilim there are a few more of them up there. Why her?”
“Ruby's father used to work for my father on and off. He wanted away from this life but he still
owed my father money and many favours. He was a gambler and a cheat and my father was pleased
to see the back of him. At the time Ruby's father was in trouble again and at the same time my
father was driving me crazy about finding a girl to marry and I wouldn't make a decision. Ruby's
father offered my father his second unborn child as debt repayment. The woman that had fallen
pregnant with his child was the same woman he'd already had another child with. She didn't live in
Heaven's Point he must have met her on his travels and for some reason he always went back to her.
So he offered my father this child and my father agreed. Ruby belongs to Under her father signed a
contract handing her over.”
Cam walked across the room and sat on the edge of the table.
“My father gave me another twenty years to make a decision about getting married and said I could
have Ruby. And you know as well as I do Nephilim girls are rare and Ruby has inherited some
rather unique gifts from her father which makes her extra special.”
“Kael is due back soon he's been gone nearly what is it now....”
“Nineteen years, he left just before Ruby was born. He will be back soon and he'll expect me to be
married or he will take things into his own hands and marry her himself. He's adamant about having
another heir. And you know my father he always gets what he wants.”
“You're not going to let that happen though right?” Senka asked, even I could hear he sounded a
little anxious.
“No I'm not. Ruby is beautiful, interesting, funny, extremely stubborn at times but my father doesn't
deserve her. Neither do I but I'm not going to let my father get his hands on her. That's why I need
her to forget those memories it will only make her more upset if she remembers. She can't go back
she has to stay here. If she's not here when my father returns he will only bring her back and
probably lock her up. Permanently.”
“Why did you bring her down here now, why not when she was younger?”
“I couldn't bring myself to take her away from her family. She was happy when she was younger, I
used to keep an eye on her check in on her now and then to see how she was doing and I couldn't
tear her away from her brother, not when she was so tiny and dependent on him. But then he left
and I was thinking about bringing her down then but I wasn't sure how I was going to do it as I had
left it so long. But then she conveniently moved to Heaven's Point and I thought the best way was
for me to meet her and try to get to know her but it didn't quite go to plan there was a
complication.”
“Complication?” Senka asked.
“She met one of your fallen and got herself in trouble with some guys from the fight club, they saw
her and wanted her. It was becoming a mess and to top it off she was falling in love with this other
guy. I made a decision that she couldn't stay up there any longer it was becoming dangerous and she
seemed to be walking straight into trouble wherever she went.”
“So you decided to bring her here. Was fading really the best option? Why didn't you use the front
door?”
“It was a spur of the moment thing. Things were getting hectic up there and she was nearly a fully
formed Nephilim, I thought her body could handle the fading.”
“Fading is for demons and souls. Not Nephilim especially when they're part human and still
breathing. I'm surprised it didn't kill her, no wonder she was unconscious for so long recovering.”
“All right Senka, I made a mistake but she's fine now and it's given me some time to get to know
her and figure out how we're going to handle it from here and that's where you come in. I've been
taking extra precautions with her memory trying to keep it at bay but it's not going to last forever
she's too strong.”
“What extra precautions?” Senka asked.
“Never you mind. Now down to negotiations. I know you will want something in return for using
your gift on Ruby. So what do you want? I heard you and Alex have been planning to leave here. Is
there anything you want or need, money is always needed up there. I know I pay you a set wage but
I could give you a large pay off for your service. You two could be sailing away on a luxury yacht
full of beautiful women by the end of the week. You name it and I will make it happen. I won't be
overjoyed to see you go, you're one of my more reliable workers.”
“I'm going to need some time to think about it.” Senka said standing up.
“Of course, I would like a decision by the end of the week though.”
Senka nodded. “I'll see you at the end of the week.” he said leaving the room.
He walked down the corridor and took the stairs up two at a time until he reached the top. He strode
along the corridor and knocked on a door I didn't recognise painted dark green. He opened the door
without waiting to be invited in. Alex walked out the bathroom wearing only his jeans. He was
rubbing hair gel into his bleached mohican.
“So what did Cam want?” Alex asked rubbing his hands on the towel over his shoulder.
“It was about that girl. The one he bought into the manor.”
“What sleeping beauty?” Alex joked.
“Yes.” Senka said sitting on the bed next to a laptop that was open. The desktop wallpaper was of
two naked women, one was licking the others nipple. Alex shut the laptop lid and picked it up
smirking.
“Okay, so what has that got to do with you?” Alex asked.
“He wants me to wipe her memories.”
“But I thought she couldn't remember anything anyway?”
“She can't but they will no doubt come back over time. He wants me to take them before she
remembers anything. He wants me to erase her past all the things she remembers growing up, all the
things she's loved, even her family. He wants to keep her here and thinks it would be best if she
didn't remember.”
“Why what's so special about her?”
“He's planning on marrying her. He has this notion that she belongs to him because she was part of
some deal between their fathers.”
Alex chucked the towel over the back of a chair and opened his closet. His back showed two thick
scars running the length of it, identical to both Senka's and Mack's.
He pulled on a T-shirt then he pulled on a blue chequered shirt over the top and buttoned it up.
“How bad does he want these memories gone?” Alex asked.
“Bad. Like he'll do anything I ask.”
“Yessss!” Alex said holding his fist up to Senka, Senka obliged and fist bumped him.
“You know what this means we can finally get out of here. What did he offer you? Please tell me
you didn't say you'd do it for free.”
“No I didn't.”
“This is awesome we can finally backpack round Europe and travel to all those places we talked
about and now we can do it with a ton of money in our back pockets.” Alex said excitedly.
“Cam wants my answer by the end of the week.”
“Why not tell him the next time you see him it's not like it's a hard decision.”
“Alex my gift was used for taking painful memories away from people when they couldn't cope, a
way of helping them deal with their situation. Not for taking happy memories of family she grew up
with or people she met along the way.”
“No, no no no no no Senk. That gift was used when you were an angel now your fallen so it doesn't
matter what you do with it, no one cares anymore. This is our chance to get away, no more saving
money we could just go. And this girl, you don't even know her what does it matter? When we go
you'll probably never see her again.”
Senka leaned forward and rested his elbows on his legs looking down at the floor.
“What is that?” Alex asked.
“What?” Senka replied toneless.
“That look on your face? Why do I get the terrible feeling that you like this girl?”
“She's beautiful. You have seen her haven't you?”
“Yes Senk I think everyone has seen her but everyone knows to keep their hands off her, especially
if she belongs to Cam.”
“She doesn't belong to anyone. She should be able to choose who she belongs to.”
“Yes but that's nothing to do with you. If Cam wants her then let him have her.”
“Alex if you want to leave so badly you should go. I'll give you everything I have if it will make
you happy. You don't need me to travel the world.”