Vow of Darkness (The Vow #1)

Chapter One

Aurora

The large gothic mansion before me looks like something straight out of a nightmare. Tall arches and dark brick make the mansion seem menacing. The dark of the night and the pouring rain doesn’t help.

It also doesn’t help that I’m here because I can’t find my father. This is the one place I was led to.

A part of me is worried that my father is dead inside this mansion and that when I step inside, I’ll die too.

With no other choice though, I grab the large knocker – made out of the shape of a lion’s head – and pound on the door. My heart is pounding and my fingers are tingling. My fate is going to change from this. I just know it.

When the door opens, all I can see is the silhouette of the person on the other side. All I see is darkness.

“We don’t allow visitors here,” the person says. A man. An old voice.

“I’m here to find my father. I was told to come here. So… is he here?” My voice is wavering and shaking. I need to be strong for this. For him.

“No,” the man snaps, shutting the door right in my face. The force of it is so strong, I stumble back. I’m running out of options. One moment, I had my father in my life and then the next he was gone. I have nowhere else to go.

I slump to my knees as all the panic and fear rushes through me. Where is he? I let out a cry that gets drowned out by the thunder.

The door suddenly opens. Looking up, I see that it’s now a woman standing in the doorway. She motions for me to come closer. I can’t make out her face to know if she’s nice or not.

“Come here, child. Come quickly. I can take you to your father.”

I wipe at my tears and slowly stand up. Can I trust this person? “But that man said my father isn’t here.”

“He is. I can take you to him but we have to hurry. Come along.” She motions for me to come inside once more.

Something in my stomach says that none of this is right.

Why would my father be inside this large, gothic mansion in the countryside of Florence?

My father wasn’t made of money but we made it work.

“I don’t know…”

“Your father is here. I swear. But we have to hurry. Come on.” There’s an urgency in her voice that tells me she’s not lying.

I work up the courage to step inside the mansion. When she shuts the door behind me, I know my life will never be the same again. Whether because I find my father and discover things about him I never knew before or because I don’t find him and I’m back to square one again.

Once inside, I get a better look at the woman. Older, probably in her sixties. Greying hair. Wrinkles around the eyes but there’s a softness to them that tells me instantly I can trust her.

“Who are you?” I whisper. My voice echoes in the large foyer. For some reason, I don’t want anyone to know I’m here. This is a stranger’s house. “Who was that man from earlier?”

“That doesn’t matter. What matters is your father.

Let me take you to him.” She hurries away and I have no choice but to follow.

My wet shoes squeak on the beautiful hardwood floor.

The inside of the mansion itself isn’t as opposing as the outside but there’s still a darkness to it.

A creepy, gothic design that makes the whole house look older than it should be, like it’s stuck in the past. Stuck in time.

We bypass a large dining room that looks like it could seat around twenty people.

I’ve never seen such a large table before.

My father’s small table that fit just the two of us flashes inside my mind.

It was small, yes, but I also remember the way his eyes would crinkle when he smiled.

When he told me stories over candlelight because our power went out.

When I was a teenager, I told him I would get a job to help pay for the small cottage we lived in but he refused, saying that it wasn’t my place.

But after I turned eighteen, I did get a job working at a nearby café.

It doesn’t pay much but it helps a little.

Right now though, my job is the furthest thing from my mind. I might not even make it out of this mansion. This looks like the place a person goes to be murdered.

There’s no one around as we move through the mansion. The woman walks past a large kitchen and living room that seem more cavernous than comfy. My father and I didn’t have much money but we did have love. Yet this place seems completely devoid of it.

I wrap my old coat around myself. The ends are fraying and the color has worn out from multiple washes but I’ve had it since I was a teenager.

My dad gifted it to me on my sixteenth birthday.

He didn’t have the money for it but he still wanted to give me something so he splurged.

He went without dinner that night so I could have this jacket. I’m not getting rid of it for anything.

I have to practically run to keep up with the woman. For being older, she does move fast. At twenty-one, I may be young but I feel heavy with the world on my shoulders, making me feel slower.

“This way,” she whispers, bringing me down a long hallway. It’s like one of those scary, fun houses that make hallways look endless. Fabric covers the walls.

“What’s under there?” I ask, though I don’t know why.

“Mirrors,” she responds and doesn’t offer anything else, so I don’t ask. I’m not here to learn about this place. I’m here to find my father.

But I can’t help but wonder why the mirrors along the walls would be covered in fabric.

She leads me to the end of the hallway and pulls out a set of keys from her pocket. We stand before a large, imposing door. I keep looking over my shoulder to make sure we’re not being followed. There’s something… secretive about this.

She unlocks the door, revealing a set of stairs that lead down into darkness. “He’s down there.”

My body doesn’t move. “Is he really?” Or is this woman just trying to lead me down there so I can be killed?

“I’m not trying to hurt you, child. I’m trying to help. He’s down there. Here.” She hands me a small key. “Use this. You’ll need it.”

“You’re not going down with me?” I clench the key tight in my hand.

“I don’t like being down there. But your father is there. You can get him. But you need to do it now before…”

My heart rate spikes. “Before…?”

“Before he comes back.”

Her words startle me so much into standing up straighter. “Who is he?”

“The one who owns this house. Now, go get your father back. I never agreed with this. I don’t like what he does but he pays well and is nice to me.

A woman has to do what she has to do to survive in this world.

But I can see you’re an innocent, young woman.

You don’t deserve to lose your father. So go down there and get him back. Hurry.”

I have so many questions but none of it matters. All that matters is finding my father.

My footsteps are loud on the stone steps. The air is cold the further down I go. My breath shows when I exhale and goosebumps break out on my skin.

When I reach the end of the steps, I stumble forward. In the darkness, I can’t make out anything. There has to be a light somewhere.

My hands fumble on the wall until I touch something.

A light switch. I flip it on to reveal… a prison cell.

The room I’m in is more like a dungeon. Cold, stone walls.

Leaky ceiling. Musty smelling. The one light up ahead is small and only showcases a tiny bit of the room.

The rest is still covered in darkness. The light itself is fluorescent, making everything seem colder and more sickly.

None of this matters though. All that matters is what I see before me: my father, stuck inside the small prison cell.

“Aurora?” he groans, his eyes widening. His voice sounds like he hasn’t had water in days. And it’s been days since he just disappeared out of my life. “What are you doing here? You need to leave this place. Now.”

I don’t listen to him and instead surge towards the cell. I unlock it with the key the woman gave me. “Dad, what happened? Why are you in here?”

He doesn’t get off the floor.

“What are you doing?” I ask. “We have to leave. Now.”

“You’re better off without me. I’ll only get you hurt. You came here and this is the last place I ever wanted you to be. You have to leave. Please, Aurora. Just go.”

“But I can’t survive without you.” My tears hit me before I can stop them.

“I barely make enough money to eat without you. I can’t take care of the cottage.

And money isn’t even important. What’s important is that you’re my father.

I love you. Why are you doing this? Come on.

We have to hurry. That woman said we had to leave before he came back.

I’m not sure who he is but we have to leave. Now.”

At my words, my dad gets to his feet. Finally. Relief fills me for just a moment before he nudges me back and shuts the door of the cell, locking himself back in.

“Dad? What are you doing?”

“You don’t know the life I once lived,” he says. “The life I left when I had you. To protect you. But we were low on money. I didn’t want you to starve forever. I’m so sorry, Aurora. I got us in this mess but you don’t deserve to be dragged into this life. So go. Please. Just go.”

My dad was always a thin man but in the four days since I’ve seen him, he looks even more gaunt. It’s shocking how fast a person can deteriorate.

“The life you lived?” I shake my head. “What are you talking about? What life?”

“The mafia,” he hisses, gripping the bars. “So you need to leave now.”

I suck in a breath. “The mafia? Are you… are you saying… Who did this to you? Who put you in here?”

When I went in search of my father, I found one of his friends – an older man named Antonio who would come around occasionally – who led me straight to this gothic mansion.

He had mentioned that my father had got into trouble and that most likely he was here as punishment.

I tried asking Antonio for more but he refused to answer and only told me, ‘good luck.’ That was it.