Dark Season: The Complete Third Series (All 8 books) (17 page)

Staring at me, with my blood on her chin, she seems totally stunned. It's as if she's got no idea how to respond.

"Are you scared?" I ask.

"No!" she spits back.

"Then you're a fool," I reply. "Do you really think I'm just gonna slap you around a little and then send you on your way?"

"You're nothing," she says. "You're just a fucking outcast who thinks she can scare other people, but you haven't got the guts". It's clear from the look in her eyes that she doesn't really believe what she's saying. In a way, it's kind of cute to see the way she's trying to persuade herself that somehow she's going to get out of this. This is her last stand. "Fuck you," she continues eventually. "I'm getting out of here". With that, she gets to her feet and turns to walk away.

"You're not going anywhere," I say, grabbing her arm and pulling her back with such force that I feel her bone snap: in the palm of my hand, I feel her lower arm break cleanly in two. She screams in pain, and I'm so shocked by my own strength that I let go of her. She falls to the ground, clutching her arm.

"You fucking..." she shouts, clearly in agony. "You fucking bitch! You broke my arm!"

"I'll break more than that if you're not careful," I say, stunned by my own strength. "I'll break your god-damned neck if I don't like what I hear from you".

She screams in pain again.

"I thought I told you not to scream," I say. What the hell am I going to do with her in the morning if she won't be quiet? The last thing I need is for people to hear her. Sooner or later, someone's going to notice she's missing, and by then I need to have decided how this is going to end. Right now, I don't see any way I can let her go. I can't allow her to tell people that I did this to her. I reach out to shut her up, but suddenly I'm struck by the most intense pain I've ever felt. It's as if someone has suddenly dropped hundreds of razor blades into my chest, slicing through my body. I drop to the ground. The pain is so powerful, I can barely breathe. Squeezing my eyes tight shut, I try to fight back, to find some way of overcoming the agony. Finally, I let out a scream as the razors fill my entire body, and then - just as suddenly as the pain started - I start to feel my body relax again. Short of breath, I wait until the agony has completely gone. What the hell just happened?

Sweating from the intensity of the pain, I turn to look at Donna. She's staring at me, her eyes wide as she holds her broken arm.

"What are you looking at?" I ask, annoyed by her presence.

"Nothing," she says quickly. "I swear".

I smile, realizing that she's absolutely terrified of me. "I didn't mean to break your arm," I tell her.

She looks down at her hand. "I can't move it," she replies.

Holding up my own hand, I see that the damage from her bite has almost completely healed.

"What the fuck are you?" Donna asks, her voice trembling

"I don't know," I tell her. "I really, honestly don't know".

"My hand hurts," she whimpers.

"Don't try any more smart moves," I say, before pausing for a moment. "Do you want to know a secret, Donna?" I ask eventually. "Do you want to know what I am?"

She stares at me, her face filled with fear.

"Haven't you guessed yet?" I ask. Seeing that she has no idea, I smile. Gradually, I open my mouth more and more, until finally my fangs are showing and she turns pale with fear. Now
this
is real power. I hiss at her, and she recoils in terror. "Okay," I say, "you know what? I don't really understand my limits yet". I pause for a moment. "My father would rip you to pieces," I tell her. "He'd kill you without a second thought. My mother... I think maybe she'd have helped you, and let you go". I smile. "The question is... Which of them am I more like?"

Chapter Two

Dedston.

"What are you going to do if you find her?" I ask, standing in the doorway and watching as Todd packs a set of tranquilizer darts into a case.

"Not if," he replies. "When".

"Fine," I continue. "What are you going to do
when
you find her?"

"We're going to help her," he says, closing the case. "She can't be left out there alone. She's not safe".

"And she'd be safer here, would she?" I ask. "If you go out there and find her, and knock her out with those darts, and drag her back here... She'll be safe?"

"We've been through this already, Shelley," he continues, clearly unable to look me directly in the eye. "There are creatures out there that would do anything to get their hands on Abby. To them, she's the ultimate prize. She's part of Patrick, and she's only going to get stronger and stronger. She has to be protected". He walks to the door, but I remain where I am, blocking his way.

"I get that," I reply. "I'm just not sure
you're
the ones who should be protecting her".

"Get out of my way," he says firmly.

"Why? So you can go shoot darts at a scared girl?"

"Fine," he replies. "I'll just stand here, and we'll let her stay out there, and someone or something else will find her instead. Is that what you want?" He pauses for a moment. "In case you've forgotten, there's also the problem of Patrick. He's out there too, and he'll be looking for her. Hell, we'll be lucky if he hasn't already found her. Do you really want Patrick to get his hands on her? Think about what that would be like. Think about what she'd become".

"He wouldn't hurt her," I say. "She's his daughter".

"He hurt Sophie," Todd says. "He did more than hurt her. Patrick's uncontrollable. He's chaotic. If he gets angry, there's no way of telling what he'd do. Do you really think she'd be safe in the face of his blind rage?"

"He loves her," I point out.

"He's not capable of love," Todd says. "You've seen him. You've looked into his eyes. You know there's no love there".

"You're wrong," I say. "Everything he's ever done has been based on his need to have a child. You can't seriously think he'll turn around now and kill her".

"He will if she's weak," he replies. "If Patrick finds Abby, and decides she's not suitable to carry on his lineage, he'll have no hesitation in killing her. Now, are you going to get out of my way, or do I have to force you?"

I stare at him for a moment, before stepping aside and letting him out of the room. Following him along the corridor, I try to think of something I can say that might make him reconsider. While I understand his point about Patrick being unstable, I don't think the solution is to send a load of heavily-armed men after Abby, armed with tranquilizer darts and determined to drag her back to this facility. For one thing, I hate to think of how scared Abby must be right now; for another, I don't really trust Todd to make the right decision and I
definitely
don't trust his boss. If Abby comes back here, she'll be in just as much danger as she'd be with Patrick. In fact, right now, I can't think of a single place where she'd be safe.

"Wait!" I say, grabbing Todd's shoulder.

"I haven't got time to explain why you're wrong," he replies, not breaking his stride.

"Hang on!" I say, hurrying past him and blocking his way again. "I need to ask you one more question".

He sighs. "If you don't stop blocking my way," he says firmly, "I'll be forced to immobilize you. Is that what you want?"

"How well to do you know Benjamin?" I ask, immediately seeing a flicker of doubt in his eyes. "Todd, you blindly follow this guy, doing whatever he says, but what gives him the authority to make these decisions? Do you really think he's got Abby's best interests at heart?"

"Benjamin's a great man," Todd says. It sounds like he's trying to persuade not only me of this fact, but himself as well. "He knows how these creatures work. He knows what we have to do with them".

I stare at him for a moment. "Abby's not a creature," I remind him. "She's your sister's daughter. Are you sure Benjamin doesn't just see her as a specimen to be locked up, analyzed... maybe even dissected?"

"You don't know Benjamin the way I know him," Todd continues. "He's a scientist and a scholar. He knows how to protect Abby. He knows what's best for her. He can study her development and work out the best way to keep her safe. He's got her best interests at heart". He sighs. "I know you care about her, Shelley, and that's great. But as much as you want to look after her, you're in a world you don't understand. If Abby was a normal teenage girl, then I'd be on your side here. But she's not a normal teenage girl. She might
look
like she is, but she's not. Inside, she's something totally different. You have no idea what she is. Neither does she. Neither do I. Frankly, I don't think even Patrick knows everything about her. The only one who knows anything about her is Benjamin, and do you know why that is? It's because he's studied vampires, and he knows how they work, and he can make educated guesses. He's the only one who can give her the support and help she needs. Maybe you don't like him, but he's Abby's best hope".

"Is this what Sophie would have wanted?" I ask. "Armed men with tranquilizer guns hunting down her terrified teenage daughter?"

He pauses. "That's totally unfair," he says eventually, barging past me and heading into the main control room, where Benjamin is studying data on a laptop.

"Are you ready?" Benjamin asks, not looking up.

"Any idea where she is?" Todd asks.

"I thought you had a tracker on her?" I say. "Can't you just -"

"She removed it," Benjamin says, sounding rather annoyed. "We still have a tracker on Patrick, but so far he seems to be stay in one place, just outside Dedston. At some point, he has to go and find her himself. We'll just let him lead us straight to her".

"Patrick's not that stupid," I say.

Benjamin looks up at me. "Did I ask for your opinion?"

"I'm just saying that Patrick probably knows that you're watching him. Even if he can track Abby down, he's not gonna do anything that helps you, is he?"

There's a pause as Benjamin stares at me. "Remarkably, you might be right," he says, turning to Todd. "We have to assume that Patrick is capable of locating Abigail, but that he's choosing not to do so because he wants to frustrate our efforts".

Todd turns to me. "If you were her, where would you go?"

"I thought you didn't want my opinion?" I reply.

"Shelley, please..." he says.

"I have no idea where she's gone," I say. "She has no family, no friends, no nothing. She's alone out there in the world, and she has nowhere to go".

"I'm willing to offer you a deal," Benjamin says suddenly. He stands up and walks over to me. "I know we haven't exactly agreed on many things so far, Shelley, but I'm man enough to admit when I'm wrong. You have a good relationship with Abigail, and we need to find a way to get her to trust us. Despite what you might think, my primary concern is for her well-being". He pauses. "If you're willing to help us find Abigail and get her to come back here, I'm happy for you to have a say in her treatment. Perhaps my approach isn't entirely effective. After all, I can't help her if she's scared of me, can I? I've made mistakes. For Abigail's sake, I'm hoping we can put aside our differences and work together. She needs us".

I stare at him, trying to work out of he's genuine. I have no doubt that he'd happily change his mind about any agreement later on, and there's be nothing I could do to stop him. At the same time, maybe he's genuinely realized that his approach isn't working; maybe he truly want my help.

"If I was in Abby's position," I say eventually, "I'd go home. I'd go back to New Mexico".

Benjamin shakes his head. "She's not stupid. She knows we'll be looking for her there. It's the one place in the world where she can be certain we'll have people looking for her".

"Sure," I reply, "it would be a mistake for her to go back there. But she's a scared girl with no home. She's alone out there. She's terrified. Trust me, she'll go back there, even though she probably knows deep down that it's the wrong choice".

"She might be right," Todd says.

Benjamin turns to him. "I'm still not convinced," he says after a moment, "but I'm willing to consider the possibility. Todd, take the equipment you need and head to Callerton. Check the town and the surrounding area. And..." He pauses, before glancing back at me. "Take her with you".

"Me?" I say, surprised by the vote of confidence.

"When we find Abigail," he continues, "I want you there. You might be able to persuade her to cooperate with us". He looks back at Todd. "But stay in touch. If we locate Abigail elsewhere, I'll need you two to be ready to move immediately".

"I think Shelley's right," Todd says. "The odds are, Abby's gone back to Callerton".

Benjamin shakes his head. "It's unlikely, but go and see. I must admit, I'll be rather disappointed if she's there. I'd hoped she might show more intelligence".

"It's not about intelligence," I say, annoyed by his attitude. "It's about being scared".

"Come on," Todd says to me, turning and heading out of the room.

"Go with him," Benjamin continues. "If you find Abigail, bring her back here. I assure you, I only want what's best for her. I know perhaps my treatment of Patrick seemed rather brutal, but I needed to keep him away from her". He pauses. "Shelley, I'm fully aware that my manner can sometimes be a little harsh. I must seem cruel and heartless at times, but you must look past all of that and recognize that my true aim is merely to help Abigail. Do you really think she's better off out there, alone, at the mercy of whatever creatures are able to track her down first? You saw the Tenderlings back at the diner. You must know I'm right".