Tendrils of Darkness
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Blinking himself awake, the infirmary is quieter than he anticipated. Charles groans groggily, moving to sit up, but the stabbing pain flourishes in his side once more.
Grunting, Charles lies back down, his hand shielding his eyes from the bright lamps overhead, burning his pupils.
“Charles, you’re awake.” He hears his father’s concerned voice.
Moving his hand out of the way, he sees his father with Percy and Clarence beside him. All of them look down at him with unease.
“You’re all right. We extracted the demon poison from your blood. And you’re healing quickly now.” Percy assures him.
His hands touch the dressing wrapped around Charles’ exposed midsection, checking the wound, which is no longer gaping and bleeding out.
Charles flinches involuntarily under his touch. “Daisy.” His voice croaks out, his throat still burning.
“What about her?” Clarence rushes out, his face looking even more terrified now.
“She was there. It was Daisy. I saw her face. But it also wasn’t her.” Clarence and Percy exchange a look before Charles continues. “Her eyes were entirely black.”
“Like an Infernal?”
Charles nods, wincing slightly in pain. His head is throbbing .
Clarence runs a hand down his face. “She’s possessed.” Exhaling gently as the realisation hits him. Her mind is being controlled.
“Possessed?”
“I saw her in the evening. She was acting so different. Strange. I thought maybe she was ill with a fever, but what if she is possessed?”
Percy shakes his head. “Why would you say possessed? And by whom?”
Clarence stays silent for a moment, staring down at Charles’ side where the blade was protruding from his flesh before he found him lying in the snow. Scarlet blood pouring out and staining the frost underneath.
“Colton.”
Robert pulls his head back. “Why Daisy though?”
Clarence exhales, closing his eyes for a moment, inhaling all the courage he needs at this moment. “She’s been having these visions of a man calling to her. It’s been happening for weeks now. What started off as a nightmare has turned into her envisioning him. I tried to stop it, but it didn’t work. What if he’s possessed her, and has her doing his work for him?”
“You think Colton is behind this?”
“Yes. I think Charles here was his next sacrifice, and I got to him just in time.”
Charles’ head falls back into the pillow as he takes in everything. Daisy wanted to murder him as a sacrifice for Colton, who is meant to be dead but is somehow still alive. His mind swirls like stormy water, alcohol still lingering in its depths.
“We should go see if this is true. Charles might have thought he saw Daisy’s face, but maybe he just imagined it, as you do when you’re panicked and not sober.” Clarence suggests.
“All right. You two shouldgo speak with Thomas at the Edevane manor. I will make sure Charles keeps healing.” Robert looks at Percy and Clarence.
They nod in understanding .
Clarence’s arm is then on Charles’s, squeezing it gently. “I am glad you’re all right.” He says before leaving with Percy.
Robert looks down at his son lying groggily in the bed. His eyes gazing over him. “What were you doing out of the house that late and on your own? That was incredibly foolish, Charles.”
He swallows down what little saliva he has in his mouth. “I needed to get out.” His voice rasps.
Robert steps away, rubbing his hands through his greying hair, trying to control his temper. “If it wasn't for Clarence, you could have been brought in carved and mutilated.”
“But I wasn’t.”
“Why Charles? Why would you do that? And drinking alcohol. That’s not what someone who is to become a leader does. He constrains himself. Thinks about his well-being.”
Charles scoffs lightly. “Father. I don’t know if I can anymore.”
“You don’t mean that. You’re just still intoxicated.”
“No,” Charles shakes his head. He might still be fighting the last remnants of alcohol, but he knows what’s going on. He’s aware of what he’s about to say to him. “Father, I can’t take a wife.”
Robert exhales loudly, “This again. Look, I know your mother and I aren’t the picture of love, but that doesn’t…”
“No, father that’s not what I mean.”
Robert looks wearily at him. “Then what is it?”
Charles takes in a breath. This is the second person he’s going to tell in the past day. The second person he’s telling in his whole life. “I can’t take a wife… because I like men.”
He swears if a needle dropped, he would be able to hear it fall in the snow outside it’s that silent. He’s not even sure his father is still breathing. Robert’s gaze remains on his. Unwavering. Unbelieving.
“I-I’m sorry I couldn’t tell you sooner. I thought-”
“-You’d be a disappointment.” Robert finishes off for him. He inhales sharply, his teeth biting his lip for a moment before shaking his head. “Then you’re right. You are a disappointment.” And he leaves the room with Charles staring at the wall for minutes where his body stood, looking at him as though he’s insane. Maybe he is insane? Nobody else seems to be like him. Maybe he just needs to pretend for the remainder of his life to be like everyone else. That’s what he’s done so far, and it’s worked. But he’s not happy. He will never be happy pretending…
* ? * ? *
Percy knocks on the door of the Edevane manor. It was a slow walk from the Ascendancy, and most of the way, Clarence and Percy discussed the blade, and his parents and Colton. They didn’t pass many others out on the street. The air has become bitterly cold and driven everyone inside.
The door opens and a worried Lily is standing in her dressing gown, which is wrapped tightly around her. “Oh, I thought you were Daisy.”
“What.” Clarence rushes out breathlessly.
Her fingers fiddle in her dark hair. Her eyes are a similar garnet shade to Daisy’s. Eyes that Clarence misses looking into. “Daisy. She didn’t come home last night. Thomas was actually on his way to your manor, Clarence. He thought perhaps she stayed the night as she does sometimes.” Her face hopeful.
Percy and Clarence flick each other another look.
“Charles was attacked last night.” Clarence tells her quickly.
Lily’s face creases, “Oh dear. Is he all right?”
“He will be, yes.” Percy pauses, collecting his thoughts for a moment. “He says it was Daisy who attacked him, Lily.”
Clarence has never seen such an innocent face fall that quickly. Blood draining from her cheeks, leaving them colourless. “Daisy.”
Percy nods .
“My Daisy?”
“Yes Lily. That’s why we are here, to see if it’s true. And if she isn’t here…”
“ No ! She wouldn’t hurt anyone. You know her, she’s not like that,” Lily says defensively. “She’s not like that!” Her teeth grit together.
“Lily, just calm down.”
“Came down!” She yells at him. “No, I won’t calm down. If my daughter is out there doing this, then it’s not her! It can’t be her!”
Clarence steps closer with his hands out, “No, Lily. It’s not her, or at least not she’s not in her right mind.”
“Are you calling my daughter delirious?”
“No. Lily, she’s being possessed.”
Lily’s hand covers her mouth as she takes it all in. Amber eyes flaring.
“We believe this is the work of Colton, Kora’s twin brother. I think he’s taken over her mind, and somehow controlled her into killing for him. For sacrifices. He has the power to possess her.” Clarence explains gently to her.
Lily stares at him wide eyed.
He waits for big watery tears to form, sliding down her face. But instead, her face tightens, and she lunges for him.
Clarence rears back as Lily grabs a hold of his shirt. Pain and rage colour her irises.
“Lily!” Percy yells, trying to force them apart.
“Your brother did this!” Lily shouts at Clarence. “I am going to kill him myself!”
“Lily!” Thomas is behind her now, holding her by the waist and yanking her backwards as if she weighs as much as a feather.
She turns to glare at her husband. “They said Daisy is being possessed by Colton. By the Angels, what is going on, Thomas?” her arms crossing in front of her angrily .
Thomas’s throat works. “She’s not here, Lily. And she’s not with Kora. Where else would she be if it weren’t true?”
The tear slips down her cheek as Lily breaks down in front of them. Thomas pulls her into his chest, holding her as she sobs loudly. “I am sorry Lily, but I believe them. I don’t want to, because I don’t think she’s capable of…” he trails off, the words catching in his throat, “but it might be true.”
Percy lets go of Clarence now that Lily is no longer grabbing onto him. “Perhaps we should go.”
Thomas’s dark eyes focus on Clarence’s. “Do you know where she might be?”
He shakes his head regretfully. “No sir. I don’t.”
“Angels, I pray that she’s safe.”
“I am sure she is. Daisy is strong. She will be able to get out of any situation.”
“What if he hurts her?” Lily sobs out through thick tears.
The men stay silent, and that brings on another wave of tears from Lily.
Clarence feels so guilty for coming here now and making Lily feel this scared, but what else were they to do?
“Find her, please,” Thomas exhales. “I will stay here in case she returns.”
“We will, Thomas.” Percy assures him before Thomas closes the door.
Even through the wood separating them, Clarence and Percy can hear Lily’s loud cries.
“Did we do the right thing?” Clarence asks, not taking his gaze off the door.
Percy’s hand is on his shoulder, clasping it firmly. “We did. I just hope for their sake that we’re wrong about Daisy.”