From The Dark Read online

  Police were called to reports of a crash on the quiet roads outside of Warsaw mid-morning yesterday. Reports had been received from witnesses of plumes of smoke billowing into the air. Upon arrival on scene, Police were met with the harrowing scene of a two-car crash involving two unregistered BMW 4x4 cars.

  Several fatalities were discovered not limited to the occupants of the two cars. The driver of each vehicle was found still trapped inside. Both were declared dead on scene. The passenger of one vehicle showed signs of life but died a short time later in hospital.

  Police were also met with the body of a male identified as Viktor Brunner, an Austrian businessman. Brunner appeared to have died as the result of injuries unrelated to the crash with one witness, wishing to remain unnamed, stating the body appeared to have been found with a sword embedded in its head. Police refused to comment, and the cause of death remains unconfirmed.

  The scene itself remains locked down as Crime Scene Investigators, Crash Investigations and Detectives from the local Homicide Office. While information is slow in coming, it is expected that a press conference will be held in the coming days once the City Coroner has determined a cause of death.

  Beneath the article, someone had snatched a blurred photograph of a harrowing crime-scene through a long lens. A handful of men and women dressed in suits and forensic outfits milled around the overturned wreckages of two cars.

  ‘He wouldn’t have,’ Claudia gasped as she brought the letter forward to read her brother’s words. ‘Would he?’

  Glancing at her father, she saw the saddened look in his eyes and knew the answer before she read. The snaking scar across her father’s right cheek seemed more prevalent today, twisting in a jagged S from his ear to the corner of his mouth it had healed well and had become much less noticeable. Today, however, it looked more noticeable than usual.

  Claudia forced herself to return her attention to the letter:

  To my father and sister,

  I hope this letter finds you well. You don’t realise how often I have wanted to write to you and tell you what I was doing, but I know neither of you would approve. You both made that clear after mum’s death.

  I suppose I can’t blame you, it is far easier to turn and run than it is to face your demons. I have spent the last two years searching for her murderer. At last, I can say, he is dead. It wasn’t the way I had hoped it to be as the coward killed himself, but I hope we can sleep easier knowing he has gone.

  The newspapers seem to have taken an interest in the story, but I’m sure it will be short lived. After all who, was Viktor in the real world? A nobody, a curious man with a lot of hidden secrets that nobody else ever knew.

  So I suppose he won’t be missed.

  You’ll be wondering if the next knock at the door will be me coming home. That, I am afraid, will most likely never happen. I have learned to be my own man in the last two years, and I realise that our paths separated when you refused to avenge her death. Like I say, I don’t hold it against you, but I doubt I could look at either of you the same way again.

  There is also more I need to do. It isn’t as over as we had hoped.

  But you have turned your back on your ancestor’s legacy so that responsibility is mine and mine alone the carry.

  Perhaps one day we will see each other again, at mum’s graveside. I have visited once since leaving, but I couldn’t risk seeing you before I had faced Viktor.

  Lay a flower for me and tell her I love her, I miss her.

  One day we may see each other and smile. Somewhere deep down I suppose I still love you as a family, but for now, I am alone in my journey.

  Leave the journey alone, remain safe in your bubble.

  Take care

  Logan

  Claudia’s eyes filled with tears as she let the letter drop from her hand.

  ‘He has gone hasn’t he,’ she sobbed. ‘I hoped he would come back once he had done what he thought he had to.’

  ‘So did I.’ Gabe turned and looked out of the kitchen window, lost in thought. ‘No boy should have to do what he has done.’

  ‘This family has been torn apart and broken by everything that has happened.’ Claudia added as she wiped the tears from her face. ‘Something like this will always change people. Some more than others.’

  ‘Your brother was a good kid.’

  ‘He still is,’ she countered. ‘Like he said, we chose our paths and live with them. We may not agree with him, but he has made his choices.’

  Gabe leant against the sink and looked through the grass.

  Reg pottered around in the garden pruning back a bush on the far side of the lawn. The old man seemed in his element, calm and bathed in the bright afternoon sun.

  ‘What I wouldn’t give for a simple life like that.’ Gabe pondered. ‘No care for anything beyond the boundaries of this house.’

  ‘I miss her too.’

  ‘It would have been her birthday today you know.’

  ‘I know,’ Claudia moved to her father’s side. ‘Have you been to see her?’

  ‘Yeah, Reg found me up there when he opened the letter.’

  ‘Is there anything I can do?’

  ‘Not really,’ Gabe sighed. ‘I think I need to be alone.’

  Claudia looked up at her father for a moment, something fixed his gaze out of the window. She saw the trouble in his look and worried about him.

  In the next few months, Claudia would leave home to embark on the next phase in her own journey. She had got her acceptance letter for university, and while she had was more than happy to accept a place at Nottingham University, Gabe had insisted she spread her wings and take a place which would allow her to leave home.

  Against her instinct she had agreed, and in September she was starting her course at Cardiff University. The thought of leaving her father filled her with doubt and worry. Not wanting to press any further she touched Gabe’s hand and left him alone staring out of the window.

  Being alone in the kitchen Gabe turned around and looked at the discarded paper. With the door open the cutting fluttered in a gentle breeze, turning to face the headline at Gabe.

  ‘What have you done Logan?’ Gabe sighed, leaning himself against the worktop. ‘What have I done? Where did it all go so wrong?’

  Grasping the nearest thing Gabe wrapped his hand around a glass tumbler and threw it across the room.

  The tumbler shattered against the wall sending shards of glass spraying in all directions. Gabe’s knees buckled beneath him and he slid down the cupboard to sit on the cold tile floor. Buring his head into his knees, Gabe sobbed.

  Such outbursts of overflowing emotions had been a daily occurrence, but today, with the letter from Logan, Gabe felt even more alone than usual.

  5

  Touched By The Past

  ‘Mind if I join you?’ Reg asked as he walked towards Gabe.

  Gabe had been watching the sun setting behind the tall trees at the end of the long garden. A glass of wine sat on the arm of the wooden chair as Gabe stared into the distance lost in thought.

  ‘Sorry,’ Gabe snatched himself back and turned to look at Reg. ‘Grab yourself a seat.’

  Reg walked with the aid of his two walking sticks. In the last few years, his mobility had diminished. The most he could manage was a slow shuffle around the house or garden. He was showing his age, the lines looking deeper on his face.

  ‘Want to talk about it?’ Reg asked as he slid into the seat and rested his canes on the ground beside him.

  With no living relatives, Reg’s health had declined, and the care home staff could not meet his needs. With no family of his own Gabe had adopted Reg’s care as his responsibility. The demands of travelling between the two homes Gabe had offered Reg the opportunity to move in with him and Claudia.

  Having the old man around was a welcome distraction. Not only this but since being released from the routine of the care village, Reg had become more mobile and positive in his outlook.

  Gabe also
noticed the garden had never looked so good. Reg had been quick to commandeer a patch of wasteland along the side of the house, and by the time spring arrived rows of vegetables were growing in the makeshift allotment.

  ‘Garden’s looking good,’ Gabe commented as he took a sip of the crisp wine.

  ‘It’s a welcome distraction,’ Reg quipped. ‘For me doing it and for you to talk about it and avoid the subject.’

  The old man had a way of catching Gabe off guard. Spluttering on the wine Gabe could not help smiling as he looked at Reg. One eyebrow raised Reg smirked and waited for Gabe to put the glass back down.

  ‘You always know how to make me feel uncomfortable.’

  ‘It’s what I’m here for.’

  ‘Did you read the letter before you brought it?’

  Gabe stared at Reg who held his gaze. The old man had always been like a relative to Gabe, he had been the grandparent he had never had. One thing Gabe had always admired was Reg’s honesty, he always felt the old man was open with him about everything.

  ‘I did,’ the old man confessed, but his expression did not falter. ‘When I saw it was from Logan, I knew it was likely something which would be hard for you to read. You have heard nothing from him in over eighteen months, I wanted to make sure it would not send you spiralling back.’

  ‘Back?’

  The air became uncomfortable for a moment but true to form Reg answered.

  ‘There are things from my past, they allow me to understand how you felt when you lost Sara.’ It surprised Gabe, Reg did not often speak of his past and his family. ‘I watched everything happen to you and saw it tear not only your family but also you, apart.’

  ‘She was the only thing I ever knew.’ Gabe confessed. ‘We’ve been together since we were teenagers and we’ve had our moments, but I could never have imagined life without her.’

  ‘Sometimes life has a way of forcing us along a path we would rather avoid,’ Reg said. ‘We don’t always get to choose, but we must live with the consequences.’

  ‘There was never any choice,’ Gabe interrupted. ‘We were put onto a path because of my great-grandfather’s legacy and a world I would rather never known existed.’

  ‘Archy had his reasons I’m sure.’

  ‘Would he have put me on the path knowing what it would cost me?’ Gabe snapped.

  Reg was reluctant to answer, for a moment. The silence was uncomfortable, and as Gabe looked at the old man, he saw a curious look of sorrow on the old man’s face.

  ‘You’ve read his journal yes?’

  ‘I have.’

  ‘Then you know the things he sacrificed to protect his family. Turning his back on a life he lived and loved to ensure they were as safe as they could be.’

  ‘He may have kept them safe, but he couldn’t protect Sara.’

  ‘Surely, the one to blame is not Archy but the man who pulled the trigger?’

  ‘Viktor!’ The name tasted foul in his mouth.

  ‘I knew Archy, perhaps better than anyone else. I know he would never have wanted you to suffer at the hands of his legacy, but we cannot blame the present on the past.’

  ‘If I had never received his journal though,’ Gabe’s voice trailed a little. ‘Would they have come looking for me? Would they have taken her and forced us to go into their dark world of monsters?’

  ‘Nobody can answer,’ Reg said. ‘We can only deal with what we have experienced. Those losses we have suffered and not waste time thinking over what could have been.’

  ‘It cost me my family Reg,’ Gabe sighed. ‘My wife buried, my son disappeared to make choices no seventeen-year-old should ever have to make.’

  ‘Logan did what he thought was right.’

  ‘I should have stopped him.’

  ‘Did you let him walk out the door or did you argue your point, Gabe?’ Reg’s sternness surprised him. ‘You did all you could to stop him, but every man must make a choice and live with the consequences.’

  ‘He’s only a boy.’

  ‘According to his letter it appears not to be the case anymore.’

  Gabe stood from the chair and stepped away from Reg. The sun had almost disappeared, and it painted the sky in a blood-red glow as the dying light faded into the horizon. The sounds of insects filled the air, Gabe enjoyed the solace for a moment.

  ‘I know I didn't handle it well,’ Gabe confessed. ‘I felt so lost for so long, I resented everything which had brought me here to where I am now.’

  ‘And how do you feel towards it now?’

  ‘Not much better. Every day hurts a little less, and I suppose I have to deal with it in my way. I had hoped one day to have Logan come back but his letter,’ Gabe’s voice caught in his throat. ‘His letter tells me it is but a dream now.’

  ‘I still see the hurt in your eyes, Gabe. You wake up every morning and are out of the door as soon as Claudia leaves. I don’t know where you go, but when you come back, you seem a little happier, a little less lost than when you leave.’

  ‘I feel like the house is a constant reminder.’

  ‘It will be,’ Reg heaved himself from the chair to stand by Gabe’s side. ‘That’s not as bad as you think it is.’

  Reg removed something from his pocket and held it out towards Gabe.

  Looking down Gabe felt a wave of frustration as he recognised the leather-bound journal which had started all of his pain. The embossed letters caught in the dying sunlight and Gabe looked from the diary to the old man.

  ‘Why?’ Gabe's voice was hoarse and filled with nerves.

  ‘Because of something Logan said in his letter.’ Reg thumbed through the pages and found the one he wanted. ‘Logan said it wasn’t as over as we had hoped.’

  ‘What do you think he meant?’

  ‘I think he meant this...’

  Gabe took Archy’s journal from Reg and looked at the open pages.

  Sprawled across two pages were a series of pictures and words all connecting to one another. The sketched figure of a Magdon filled one side with various notes and remarks scribbled around the drawing.

  ‘It was always said only two would ever live and roam the earth at any one time.’ Reg hushed. ‘Archy, it seems, discovered for every adult there is an infant in slumber, kept in an eternal sleep until they slay the parent or sacrifices herself so the next may live.’

  ‘You think there is another?’

  It was Reg’s turn to fall into an uncomfortable silence, and Gabe picked up on it.

  ‘What aren’t you telling me Reg?’

  The old man could not meet his gaze, and he now looked towards the dark horizon.

  ‘What aren’t you telling me?’

  ‘Logan,’ Reg struggled to form a sentence as he moved to admire the plants of a bush off to one side. ‘Logan contacted me a few months ago.’

  ‘I beg your pardon!’ Gabe’s anger boiled. ‘Why didn’t you tell me?’

  ‘Because he asked me not to, said if I told you then he would disappear again and make no contact with any of us.’

  ‘You had no right.’

  Reg remained calm. Gabe’s anger was understandable and the old man focussed on the flowers to avoid seeing the look of hurt on Gabe’s face. When he spoke, Reg chose his words.

  ‘If I had betrayed his trust, we would have likely never known where he was and if he was ok. By agreeing I could make sure he was at least safer on his journey for revenge.’

  ‘He was seventeen, how the hell did he manage anything on his own.’

  ‘Because I put him in touch with someone who could help him.’

  ‘You mean you encouraged this madness?’ Gabe’s voice boomed with anger. ‘You sent my son even deeper into the dark in search of vengeance?’

  ‘I tried to convince him to come back, but it was not his choice.’ Reg defended. ‘Yes he is seventeen, but I would rather have had him have a chance at success than bumble into a world he was too naïve to understand.’

  ‘Who did you put him in contact with
?’

  ‘A friend of your great-grandfather.’ Reg released the flower from his hand and turned to look at Gabe.

  ‘It seemed Archy trusted you with a lot of his secrets.’

  ‘More than you would know.’

  ‘Who was it you trusted Logan to?’

  Reg did not answer. Instead, with the aid of his canes, he turned from the bush and walked past Gabe towards the side of the house.

  ‘Where are you going?’

  Fuelled by curiosity Gabe followed behind Reg as he walked towards the front of the house. Passing the side door, Gabe caught sight of Claudia sat on the sofa. His daughter remained unaware of the conversation, her headphones on and face buried in her computer.

  Walking to the front gate, Reg opened it as a slender figure stepped around the front of the house to greet him.

  ‘Gabe, this is Nahem. It’s spelt with a g, but her native tongue has it pronounced hem, not gem,’ Reg motioned to a woman in her early thirties with a head of tied back black hair.

  ‘And just who is she?’

  ‘I am the descendant of Shamen Shikekeh, the man who protected your great-grandfather’s legacy for many years.’

  Nahem stood tall with broad shoulders. Dressed in casual clothes, she appeared athletic, her face round with green eyes shimmering in the streetlight. Wearing jeans and a baggy top she looked every part the Western woman, it was only her tainted accent that gave away her roots as being somewhere far from England.

  ‘You guided my son?’

  ‘I did,’ she replied very matter-of-fact.

  ‘To what end?’

  ‘Perhaps we should speak inside the house, too many ears can hear.’

  ‘I’d rather we didn’t speak at all,’ Gabe barked and stalked back up the path to the open door. ‘I’ve had enough of your world of monsters and secret societies.’

  As he reached the threshold, Nahem shouted up the path to him.

  ‘Your son has chosen a new path that has put him in mortal danger.’ She allowed her words to sink in before continuing. ‘He has made a choice that has taken him away from my guidance and protection.’