On the Far Side of Darkness (10 page)

My contact’s voice grows less professional, softer. “I did some digging. It turns out there was a multiple murder there, almost a century ago. Now the locals won’t go near the place. And people from elsewhere who have lived in it won’t stay more than a month or they never leave at all.

“I went to check it myself. My operative was correct. There’s something not right about that place. I couldn’t get myself near it, even in the daytime.”

A wonder creeps into his tone. “I always believed such places were just fairy tales. I never thought I would ever see such a thing.”

I have and more than once,
is the thought I keep to myself. “Continue your report,” I order him. My voice is normal now. I have myself under control.

“Yes sir!” he barks. I can almost see his heels click together as he stands at attention. “Today the subject visited an apartment building.” The address he gives me is Diane’s. A savage snarl almost passes my lips at that piece of data. “After that she attended one class, returned home for a short time then went to the university library. She’s been there for nearly six hours now and is still inside.”

“Thank you,” I say, “well done.”

“Thank you, sir. Good night.” His job is finished for now and he hangs up. Neither of us have time to waste.

After I replace the receiver I think for several minutes. My fury has receded somewhat. Darkness no longer fills me or directs my actions, much. I want this silly conflict to end. The reasons behind it are foolish and Ms. Richardson has not the slightest idea of what she is dealing with. Perhaps it is time she knew. If done properly, that is privately, the revelation of what I am might be enough to make her cease this stupid game. Without other witnesses Ms. Richardson won’t say a word about our confrontation.

I head to the library. It will be open for another hour yet and that will give me time to confront her. It’s also public which will limit our actions. Nothing extreme will happen when there are likely to be others to observe what we say and do..

Through that short journey, I work through what has happened. Most mysterious are the complete and extreme changes that Mandy can cause in her victims. I sort through all the methods by which such things can be done. Only one, that I know of, can affect a person as quickly and thoroughly as the shift I observed in Diane.

A shudder of pain passes through me at the thought of her. It takes a major effort of will to keep myself reined in.

I return to my thoughts, recheck my premise and conclude it is the most likely explanation. I realize I’m going to have to be very careful if I wish to survive.

On reaching the library, I go to the front desk. There’s only one librarian on duty. After giving a description, I inquire where Ms. Richardson is.

“I can’t tell you that, sir. We aren’t required to te…”

I haven’t time for this. I look into her eyes and she goes blank.

“Where is she?” I ask once more.

“The reading room on the third floor,” comes in a flat reply.

“Is she alone?”

“Yes.”

“What has she been doing?”

“Going through our rare history section. She’s been working backwards through the last two centuries.”

“You won’t remember I was here. Ignore me for the rest of the night.”

“Yes,” she tells me.

I release her and she turns away, goes back to her work.

Once I climb to the third floor, I go to where my adversary is working. This late in the evening the level is empty. The door of the reading room is locked. As I shake my head in distaste, I place my hand on the wood and push with all of my strength. The jamb shatters and I swing the portal open. Mandy looks up with shock in her eyes, astounded at my sudden presence.

My gaze meets those startled irises.
I doubt this will work but things will be much easier if it does.
I exert my power, try to grab my opponent’s mind and bend her will to me.

My effort to mesmerize her slides past her awareness like water over metal. Some other power, as dark a mine, saturates her, makes Mandy immune to my ability to influence her mind or memories. I can tell she isn’t even aware I tried such a thing.

It’s as I feared. So we’ll have to do this the hard way.

Since my first gambit has failed I saunter over and place myself in a chair, just beyond her reach.

I glance at the book she has spread on the table. It’s an old one and is turned to a reproduction of a painting. I know the work well. It was done in the early 1790’s, just before I left France for the first time. The subject of the portrait is me. The artist captured my sardonic mien, my world weary and cynical smile, perfectly.

When I look at Ms. Richardson again, I place that expression on my face. She rapidly moves her gaze back and forth between me and my avatar. Confusion grows each time her eyes shift.

“Oh yes, that is me.” I tell her. Her disquiet fades. Her mouth drops as my revelation hits home.

“
Mademoiselle
Richardson,” I say to her then, mild contempt making my voice frosty, “you better than anybody should know there are more things on earth than are dreamt of in most people’s philosophies.”

“What are you talking about?” She puts a poor poker face on, trying to hide her concern.

“Let me recreate my thinking. I’ve encountered two of your victims so far. The Dean…”

“You know about that?” she interjects.

“Don’t interrupt,” I snap at her. “The Dean was the first one. After observing your little tryst with your former English teacher several evenings ago…”

Mandy’s face blanches as she discovers how vulnerable she actually is.

“…I initially thought you had some skill at uncovering weak spots in people’s sexual make up and exploiting them. I had to rethink that hypothesis after I visited my friend tonight.”

Mandy can’t help but put a self satisfied smirk on her face at the mention of Diane. She comes very close to dying at that point, however I manage to rein myself in. A mangled corpse would draw far too much attention.

“That was most amazing. Such a complete change of perspective so quickly. No natural means of persuasion can cause such effects in so short a time. So that leaves unnatural ones.

“You’re a mage,
Mademoiselle
Richardson. You use spells to capture people’s minds and then use them for your purposes.”

Mandy slumps into her usual insouciant posture. “Good one, prof,” she states. “You’ve found me out.” A chuckle emerges from her throat. “I’ve really underestimated you, haven’t I?”

“You have indeed,” I reply with a dip of my head.

“Yeah, I use spells. But not on their minds.”

My eyebrows quirk up in curiosity.

“My little girl was the first. But I asked for control of her body,” Mandy tells me.

I nod my understanding to her.

“So her body does what I tell it to do. Her mind’s free. She was a frumpy, cold fundamentalist when I took her. A real Puritan. She turned out to be gay and after I started giving her regular orgasms, she ended up hooked. Now I don’t need to use the power of the spell at all. She’s so addicted to coming she does anything I ask. My little girl’s a complete orgasm junkie now.”

My distaste for Ms. Richardson goes higher. It’s not only what she does, but the contempt she holds her victims in that I find abhorrent. There’s not the slightest concern for them.

“My bitch was next. Used a different spell on her, I took her will. She didn’t lose it, it works for me now. I tell her something and her will gets busy to make it true. Damn, she was an uppity cunt. But look at her now, all soft, weak and horny. She loves being humiliated. Sometimes I even have her bang some guy. I made her believe she both hates and loves it now.

“It’s also handy for me to get men to do things.”

“Ah, the thugs," I note. “You told Ms. Coburn to promise to, what’s the term, put out if they injured me severely enough to require a hospital.”

She nods her head with a feral grin on her face. “I’ve used a few other people. I had a whole list I wanted to get back at and I did. By the time I got to school here, I found I liked fucking people around. I needed to look like I was doing schoolwork, so that’s when I took the Dean’s will. She’s really sweet. I don’t push her as hard as my little girl or my bitch, but she’s addicted to me as well. Plus she’s really handy for making sure I pass. All I have to do is say I’ll cut her off and she gets right to work.

“Everything was fine until you came along. I couldn’t manipulate you. I didn’t want to use a spell. I sure as hell don’t need a male sex slave, and I didn’t think I needed to.

“But you wouldn’t back down. You stood up to the Dean, and those football players didn’t even make you break a sweat. I’d love to know haw you did that. So I needed some other way to hurt you.

“It took some thought and then I had my bitch convince some hacker in the computer science lab to do some digging. A single blow job goes a long way over there. He pulled up cab and phone records that brought your friend to my attention. I remembered her from that faculty party. I realized she was a lot more than a date.”

My hands tighten into fists as I realize my lovely woman’s fate is my fault. If I had fed and gone, she would be whole. But I had to pretend to be human. I’m such a fool.

“So I took her will as well. Cast the spell last night, went there this morning and fucked her mind over. I bet that was a pleasant surprise.” She doesn’t try to hide her gloating pride.

I go blank inside. Rage and darkness bubble deep within me. I allow them no access to my actions. They hammer at my will though. I spend a very long minute holding them back. If I rip Mandy to shreds I will not accomplish my purpose here.

“So,” I say to her once I’m able. “That explains the ‘How’. Now the important question is ‘Why?’”

“Because I can!” my opponent snarls back at me.

In spite of everything, I can’t help but chuckle at that. “That’s what men use as an excuse to urinate out of car windows. You can do better than that.”

Mandy shrinks in her chair, pulling her arms in close and slouching forward. Her eyes scowl in anger and remembered pain. “You want to know why? When I discovered what sort of person I am, that I liked women, I was confused and scared. I had to talk to someone. Someone I trusted, someone I thought had a good heart, who could help me understand.

“That was my little girl, and she betrayed me! Practically spit on me! Called me a monster, an abomination. She told everybody about me and pretty much gave them permission to abuse me. My bitch was the worst. She never did anything directly but she manipulated everyone else. Got someone to burn my car, got a couple of guys to try and rape me. That sort of thing went on for almost a year.”

In spite of everything I can’t help but feel pity for Mandy Richardson. I am well aware of how cruel humans can be to one another. It never fails to sicken me.

“My dad is a professor of Medieval History. He had a book that he believed was an ancient forgery. But I found out otherwise, so I stole it. I used the spells in it, used them to break the people who tried to break me. You’ve seen what I did to my betrayer and Miss Congeniality. The guy who burned my car died in a fire himself. One of my would be rapists was found balls deep in the asshole of the other. Nobody, not even their families, would speak to them after that.” There’s a satisfied, wicked smile on her face now.

“Hmm,” I remark. “Revenge. I can understand that. But why the Dean, myself and my friend?”

“Because no one is ever, ever going to stand in my way again! I use Dr. Metaxas because she controls the university. So the university won’t be a barrier to me. I’ll pass no matter what I do.” Mandy giggles with a sweetness darkly poisoned. “Plus she was a real horny slut once I broke her in.

“You stood against me as well. So I used your friend to hurt you after nothing else worked.” The self satisfied smirk is back.

“Now you know why,” she finishes.

“Actually, that’s only partly true,” I tell her. “You’ve merely changed the focus of the question. Why are you still acting as if you’re inferior and helpless? You defeated your tormentors. There’s no need to do more, but you do.”

Ms. Richardson slams back in her chair as if I slapped her. She had never really, really, considered her motivations until now. For a second, her face blanks as she weighs my words. During that very short interval, I feel hope. Perhaps she’ll see what she has become.

Her expression hardens and I know my belief is forlorn.

“I’m not inferior and helpless!” she spits. “I prove it every time I use my power!”

The last word gives me the hook for my next gambit. “Yes, your power. Have you ever considered where that comes from, Ms Richardson?”

“What do you mean?” she asks with a worried cast to her face.

“I have an idea. You have to summon things, don’t you? From somewhere else?”

Mandy’s face goes a little pale and a shiver runs through her body. She has been dealing with beings from elsewhere.

I press on. “That place is the abyss. It’s a territory dark, vast and fearful. So are the things summoned from it. Do you recall what Nietzsche had to say about the abyss, Ms. Richardson?”