The Heart of the Darkness Read online

  The Heart of the Darkness

  M. J. Padgett

  This is a work of fiction. Similarities to real people, places, or events are entirely coincidental.

  THE HEART OF THE DARKNESS

  First edition. January 1, 2021.

  Copyright © 2021 M. J. Padgett.

  ISBN: 978-1393972204

  Written by M. J. Padgett.

  Table of Contents

  Title Page

  Copyright Page

  Song of The Lost

  Prologue

  CHAPTER ONE

  CHAPTER TWO

  CHAPTER THREE

  CHAPTER FOUR

  CHAPTER FIVE

  CHAPTER SIX

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  CHAPTER NINE

  CHAPTER TEN

  CHAPTER ELEVEN

  CHAPTER TWELVE

  CHAPTER THIRTEEN

  CHAPTER FOURTEEN

  CHAPTER FIFTEEN

  CHAPTER SIXTEEN

  CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

  CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

  CHAPTER NINETEEN

  CHAPTER TWENTY

  CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

  CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

  CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

  CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

  CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

  CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

  CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

  EPILOGUE

  Sign up for M. J. Padgett's Mailing List

  Also By M. J. Padgett

  About the Author

  Song of The Lost

  Beware the painted lips of Red

  Whose kiss will surely render dead

  For a heart as cold as death doth reign

  Deep in forests filled with pain

  Hear the cries of suffering souls

  From beast to man upon the knoll

  She bestowed a curse of miserable life

  Upon the hands that toil and strife

  Rise against the broken way

  Steadfast my love, do not give sway

  For evil lurks among the shadows

  Be not tempted, my darling White rose

  You alone hold the key

  Our daughter dear, set us free

  Align with you, the seven sworn

  Who not in death, we still do mourn

  From the poison, they shall rise

  Forever cursed, Canis lupus inside

  Break the moon once of blue

  The howl we seek is strong and true

  Beware the painted lips of Red

  Whose kiss will surely render dead

  Save the wolf who’ll have her head

  Our ever beloved Salien bred

  The Missing Verses

  Seven shall thee mark by the moon

  Seven shall thee lead from certain doom

  Seven shall bear the burden of death

  Seven shall rise from the dead with life’s breath

  Oh, come to us, child of light

  Set back the time to do what’s right

  Take the hand of the princess of Snow

  Unite and set the world aglow

  Prologue

  ONCE UPON A TIME, THE Land of Friedens stretched as far as the eye could see. It was enchanted, and its beauty rivaled that of even the most vivid imagination. The kingdom lived in perfect harmony, and no living creature wanted for anything. But there were more than fairies, elves, unicorns, and magical people in the land. For the land to remain pure, there could be no evil, no sin, no darkness. Of course, those things existed, but they were kept well-hidden from the people deep inside a vessel of such unimaginable strength. The king decided it must be hidden away where no one could ever find it.

  However, the vessel did not find a solitary life to be agreeable and searched for a mate to ease its burden—a human with a lightness that soothed the vessel of darkness. But when the mate bore a child, it was discovered the vessel had lost its control of the darkness, and its ability had been passed on to its child. Now, the vessel was not quite mortal, but not quite magical. Locked in a fierce battle with the darkness, it could no longer control it, but it could teach its offspring to endure the pain of consuming every ounce of darkness in the land and to store it away so that the forest could remain beautiful and peaceful.

  On a full moon late in its seventh year of life, the child disappeared. Soon, the vessel and its mate found the child, but it had changed. No longer mortal, it had grown fur and fangs and loomed larger than any creature in the forest. It had slaughtered many animals, brought fear to the villages, and absorbed so much darkness that it could no longer contain it. Some seeped from the child into the earth.

  By morning, the child had returned to its former shape—a small human boy—but after that, the boy changed on every moon, ran amuck through the forest, and absorbed more darkness than any vessel before him ever had. Each full moon, more darkness leaked into the earth until it was soaked, infecting the villagers and animals.

  And so, it went on this way for many years. Wolf after wolf was born to absorb the darkness as well as it could until one generation bore two children, both of whom possessed an ability to not only absorb the darkness but to manipulate it to their will.

  At first, this seemed a joyous occasion, for, of course, two children to contain the darkness would triumph over it entirely! But alas, one child found pleasure in the darkness, absorbed it in large doses, reveled in it, and used it to create monsters only found in the worst of nightmares.

  The other child grew to accept his duty—to guard the forest against his sibling’s desire, even if it meant he would have no life of his own. Soon, he learned to control the change and shift at will, to become not only a wolf but any creature that he chose. This new vessel vowed to absorb every ounce of darkness in the forest, to contain it as it once had been, and to return the Land of Friedens to its former glory. It was, after all, what he had been created to do.

  The boy did not consider that a vow such as his had its limits, for even a vessel created to hold water eventually overflowed. Despite his aversion to finding a mate, the boy did find a girl to ease his burden, and oh, how lovely she was. The girl willingly aided the vessel, and together they controlled the darkness so well, the land grew beautiful again—until the day she died, and the land seemed to pass along with her.

  CHAPTER ONE

  Annabell

  Somewhere in Das Unbekannte

  I STARED UP AT THE sky, forgetting if only for a moment that I used to be at home among the stars, but now I only longed to return to my family—to Hayden and Jack, the parents from this life who loved me and doted over me. My first family, my real one, never had time to play with me or talk with me. They scarcely had time to whip me into the proper shape to be a princess, but all their hard work was for nothing in the end. I found I didn’t miss my biological parents, but I missed Hayden and Jack desperately. I wanted my adopted brother, Dominic, the one who’d returned with me from the future, to set things right. Then there was Little Wil, the whole reason I came back in time at all. If I failed again, his fate would remain the same in less than twenty years—excruciating death.

  A whimper escaped my lips as I thought about him. If Cole had his way, I would forget about the future and everything I had to change, and I would no longer care what happened to Wil. I fought a sob, choosing to tap into the strength I knew I had rather than wallow in the misery that had yet to come. I had come to save everyone, and this time I would not fail. I would not trust Cole or the darkness inside of him, nor would I allow it to sway me ever again—not like it had when I first met him.

  I bit my lip and thought back on that day and my own story, a fairy tale in its own right if only to keep myself from seeing Wil as I’d last seen h
im before my time jump. So much blood, so much agony... No. I would not allow myself to fall into desperation and sorrow. I would not fail him, not again. I would think of the child, the happy boy I’d grown up with once and would again if I succeeded. I thought of his smile, the way he teased me with those mischievous eyes and adorable grin, and how he made me feel like so much more than a lost princess on a mission. He loved me, and I vowed I would have that love in my heart again—but first, I had to kill Cole.

  “What are you thinking about, my love?” Cole asked as he stalked around me once more. He scarcely let me out of his sight for more than a moment, though I was exactly where I wanted to be. I’d never run, not when I was so close to finally seeing victory.

  “A nightmare, really. I was thinking of our story, and how pleased I am that it ended,” I said.

  “Elfriede, my love—”

  “Do not call me Elfriede. She died. My name is Annabell,” I said with narrowed eyes. I pulled my cloak tighter around my shoulders, staving off the chill for a moment longer.

  Cole chuckled and crossed his arms. He was as handsome as ever, but his youthful appearance and beautiful face were lies. What hid behind his dark eyes was poison, and I had no intention of drinking it again.

  “Why pray tell, did you return as a small child and not as the beautiful woman you are?” Cole teased me relentlessly, but I had no intention of telling him the truth. I chose to return as a child because, for some odd reason, people listened to me when I was small but would not when I was grown.

  “I cannot control that. The spell does what it does, and once the rift opens, it can only be closed once I leap in,” I said. He was taunting me, pushing to see if I would snap and tap into the darkness inside of me. “I chose this because it is more effective.”

  “Nothing but a babe. You should be pleased to be the beautiful woman you once were again. You’re welcome,” he said, then sat on the log beside me. He smelled of woodsmoke and pine as always, and his scent pushed the memories of my first life back to the front of my mind.

  “I didn’t ask you to return me to my appropriate age. I didn’t ask you for anything,” I snapped.

  “Ah, but you did. Once upon a time, you wanted all I had to offer. What has changed? Why did you leave me, Elfriede?” Cole’s eyes settled on my face, fixed in a tortured gaze that used to hold so much power over me. “We always knew each other better than anyone else. Why did you choose to end our commitment?”

  I groaned at my name, knowing he would never call me by Annabell if only to keep his thumb on me. Once upon a time... Yes, I had loved him with my whole heart, but one could argue that was also by force. His power was intoxicating. His attention had been a gift during the loneliest time of my life. And his love, well, that had been both a blessing and a curse.

  “It is true, Cole. I did love you, but you are incapable of love, and so I did the only thing I could do to rid myself of you and your torturous games for all eternity,” I said, remembering the pain of my own death.

  “You walked off a cliff to your death, Elfriede!” Cole shouted and stood straight as an arrow. His dark hair fell over his forehead, hiding his heated gaze. “You preferred death over me? And why? Tell me! I gave you all you asked for and more, yet it was not enough! And do not say that I am incapable of love! It is foolish and a lie.”

  I stood and stepped toward him. “It was too much. You changed me, used me, and when I no longer wanted the darkness that tainted my heart, you lied to me. Death was my only escape, but you followed me even there!”

  Cole stepped back, then leaned against a thick pine. His arms crossed, he seemed almost boyish and hurt, but that was his bait. “I do not know what lie you speak of, but you chose to return, Elfriede. I did not pull you from the Heavens.”

  “I chose, yes, but look at all you have done, Cole! You ruined the lives of all these people, and for what? What would you do with a kingdom all your own? You never wanted it when I was alive, so why take it after—”

  “Because you loved this land!” he screamed as he pushed off the tree. “These people here now, these abominations, they do not deserve to set foot on the land that is, by birthright, yours alone! I cannot help this thing I am, and I will be it for all eternity, but you, Elfriede, you were the only person who ever made me wish I had been born for something other than a vessel for darkness!”

  “You did all of this to return my kingdom to me?”

  “I do all for you!” he screamed. The air charged with his anger, electrified. “When you left, the entire kingdom slipped to the darkness though I did try to stop it! And now, though I try to return it to you to do what I cannot, you refuse? It is lunacy, Elfriede.”

  “I do not want it, Cole. I want my family—”

  “Those people are not your family, and that child will not live to see another moon if you do not tread carefully. I will not watch you grow up with that boy again, do you hear me? I love you, and I will not—”

  “You don’t know what it means to love, Cole. If you harm a hair on Little Wil Grimm’s head, so help me—”

  “What? What will you do? You don’t even call him by his given name.”

  “His name is Wil, given by his mother and father in honor of—”

  “You call him Little Wil. Can you not see how demeaning it is that you refer to him as lesser than his father?” Cole taunted me again, hoping to somehow make Wil less significant in my heart. That would never happen.

  “Oh, now you’re just ridiculous, Cole. We cannot very well go around referring to both father and son as Wil, or the entire kingdom would be confused.” I brushed him off with a wave of my hand and turned away from him. A memory of Wil flashed in my mind and pulled at my heart. No one could ever take his place, and I would hear none of Cole’s derogatory words.

  “You don’t believe it is the least bit odd? You, a fallen star, growing up with a boy whose uncle would rule over your kingdom?”

  I snickered. “You certainly didn’t think it odd when we were together, did you?” I whirled around and found him closer than I had realized, so I stepped back. “How old are you, Cole? Thousands of years? Millenia? Yet you had no qualms about drawing me into your web of deceit.”

  “I do not know what deceit you believe I have woven, but I have always told you the truth. Whether you choose to hear is another issue altogether. Our love was... different. I would have made you immortal as you requested if you hadn’t run away. What’s an age when you live forever?”

  I sighed. There was no winning a fight with Cole. “When I first left the Heavens, I fell into Hell upon the earth. You let so much evil escape, the people were barely keeping their heads above the water. They weren’t strong enough to help me, and I failed in saving the world from your darkness.”

  Cole pursed his lips, a rebuttal on the tip of his tongue, but instead of denying what he had done, he said, “Ah, but you always were stubborn. You found a loophole, rewound time, and tried again. You must have missed me more than you realized.”

  I rolled my eyes, a habit I picked up from the women who now raised me. “You’re right on one account. This time, I found witches who were strong enough to help me open the rift. They sent me back, but it went wrong—”

  “I remember. Glorious day when that girl smashed everyone to bits,” Cole said, checking for dirt under his fingernails. His eyes fluttered up to see if I was watching him, and when they settled on my face, his cheeks flushed, and his voice wavered. “She has quite... the temper.”

  My blood boiled as I thought of what he’d done to Hayden, to my mother, but I pressed on. “Then I suppose you should blame yourself for my falling in love with Wil. After his parents were killed during Hayden’s possession, I felt obligated to help him. I decided to fight you another way, to grow with him and Hans and the others and—”

  “Please, spare me the details of how you and the children of the Black Forest created your little evil hunting club. It’s a bore of a story. At least, until it gets to that juic
y bit where Little Wil Grimm dies in your arms. Quite the tear-jerker that was, or so I heard through the forest gossip.”

  I grit my teeth so hard I was sure they would crack. Cole had ruined me at every turn—first when I was a lost princess, only seeking love and affection, again when his darkness forced Hayden to kill everyone I loved. Then taking Wil... enough was enough. I wouldn’t fail this time. I did not return and place the death wish in Hayden’s mind for nothing.

  “It’s time, Cole. It’s time for you to expire,” I said, then whirled around again and stomped toward the cave where he would probably lock me up until he knew what to do with me.

  “You’re stronger this time. You have a fight in you that I don’t remember from that first life. What is it, Elfriede?” he called after me.

  “My name is Annabell!” I screamed, shaking the foundation of the earth. Snow drifted from the high bows of the pines, dusting his hair with a light coat of white fluff.

  Cole gripped the nearest tree, and the ground cracked beside him. Even if the crack swallowed him whole, he would survive it. He would be all the better for it, for he fed on anger and pain, guilt, and shame. All that was evil in the world was his fuel, and he inhaled it until it filled him with such darkness that no light could ever reach him. I knew because I had tried. I did love him. I loved him, but I could not save him. No one could save the devil from himself.

  He chuckled and released the tree, snapped his fingers, and put an end to my tantrum. “Sleep, Elfriede. Rest, because tomorrow we have work to do. There’s more to the story than you remember, and I intend to fill in the missing pieces.” With that, Cole left in a haze of black smoke.

  I dropped my hands to my sides and cursed the day I ever met Cole, no matter how much I had needed it all those years ago. Everything that happened after that day, after that season of my life, created a Hell upon earth that no one would escape if I didn’t find a way to end him for good.

  I sighed and entered the cave, then laid my head upon a thatch of thick pine needle’s Cole had spread out for me and closed my eyes. I only wished I could shut out my dreams as easily as I could the taunting sound of Cole’s voice.