Darkness Dominates - Chapter 11

Doug wasn’t at all chatty as he drove Rosie and Leola to school. It was hard for him to get his head around Diane’s behavioural changes. He was still unaware of the extent of it. Mr. Trennell could only see a friend mentally affected by terrible news.

All he said to his two passengers was “See you later”. He’d forgotten to say where and when he was picking them up.

In the schoolyard, Rosie soon found herself distracted from her dad’s un-Doug behaviour. All around her and Leola, pupils were looking at their phone’s internet apps. Glancing over each one shoulders, Rosie saw they’d accessed the BBC Alvenshire website’s news page. She saw Katy and Alicia doing the self-same thing. Leola already knew the catalyst for this activity. Her immediate interest was in getting her bearings. For one moment, she felt like a teenage girl starting a new school. It was a whole other feeling than being a female vampire who’d clocked up over 900 years.

“What’s going on?”

Katy held up her phone near to Rosie’s face. She leaned in to read what it said on that page.

“Deranged killer has slaughtered the staff and residents at Sudfield. Constables from Alvenshire police force are searching the halfway house’s surrounding areas.”

Alicia clapped eyes on Leola.

“Is that Skye Linton?”

“Sorry, Ali, my bad...I like totally forgot to introduce her”

Rosie gently pulled Leola towards her friends.

“Katy, you’ve already met Skye.”

“How’s it going?” Miss Lonsdale asked the new girl here.

“Fine”, said Leola.

“Alicia you don’t know.”

“Hi, Skye” said the DCI’s daughter. She then whispered to Leola “Can you get me one of the entry rings so I can go to ‘Red Moon’?”

“How did you find about that?” Leola asked, the volume of her voice increasing slightly.

“Rosie took a photo of it”

Leola couldn’t let her teenage girl disguise slip, even for a moment. There was only one tactic she could employ.

“Katy, Alicia, can I borrow Rosie for a moment.”

“Sure” said Katy.

“Cool with us!” stated Alicia.

Rosie followed Leola round the left-hand side of the school, intrigued as to why she was going that way. Leola’s reason was that it was secluded. It had to be. She couldn’t see a single pupil in this area of the schoolyard.

Fixing her gaze on Rosie’s eyes, Leola’s turned dark red as she said to her “Delete that photo from your phone, and put any thoughts about my gold ring to the back of your mind.”

Instead of being frozen to one spot, Rosie moved nearer to Leola. Her mind control ability was having no effect. Leola found herself beyond startled for the first time in her immortal existence.

“Why would I do that? It’s just a ring” said Rosie.

There was a touch of annoyance in Rosie’s tone. It was immediately obvious to Leola that Rosie wasn’t keen on having words put in her mouth. However, this discovery concerning Rosie was automatically overshadowed by a larger one. Her hypnotism hadn’t worked on a mortal. In an instant, Leola felt what human anxiety was like. Nevertheless, she put her mind towards stopping Rosie from getting suspicious by her sudden change in attitude.

“I’m sorry, Rosie, for doing that. I wouldn’t dream of telling you what to say or how to act.”

“We’re cool, Skye! I totally get it – first day nerves!”

“I promise I won’t pull this on you again...”

Hearing the pause, Rosie said “....but”

“...but I want you to steer clear of ‘Red Moon’, Rosie”

“Why do you want me to?”

Here was verbal proof about Pippa being right about her daughter’s curiosity. It wasn’t going to be stifled. A reason was what she wanted. Thinking at supersonic speed, Leola came up with one.

“The ring belongs to a third cousin – whom I can’t stand! She feels the same way too – which is why she posted something nasty about me on Twitter. I nicked her ring when she visited me at the last kids’ home I lived in. She’d come to apologise.”

“Why did you nick it, then?”

“Because of my vindictive streak”

Katy came around the corner.

“What’s up?” asked Rosie.

“Mr. Linfield’s just announced assembly’s happening like ten minutes early”

“That means it’s a minute away from starting” realised Rosie.

Leola and Rosie came back round to the front of the building. Rosie moved to the right of Alicia, as they walked inside. Leola kept half a foot behind the trio of school friends deliberately.

The assembly’s extension was to accommodate a lecture from Mrs. Davidson. She strongly emphasised the importance of being careful about who to let into their homes. Leola viewed the lecture as being the head’s own conclusion about how the Sudfield massacre occurred. School matters took hold of the remainder of assembly. At its halfway point, Leola’s enrolment was officially announced. Though it had been close to ninety years since she was last a pupil, she knew the drill about this type of introduction. She just stood up to make sure the whole school got a glimpse of her. Leola sat back down when the applause had faded. The teachers’ clapping was more enthusiastic than the pupils’. As Rosie noticed Ms. Bryant’s absence, Leola stared at Rosie. A mortal’s immunity to hypnotism was a phenomenon she’d only encountered once before. She knew its cause, and was suddenly aware of the ramifications it would have for the Trennell family.

The reason Ms. Bryant wasn’t there because she was in another part of Alven. Evelyn manoeuvred her car alongside Pelham Road’s pavement. Here was where Julian lived and worked – Horton Towers. The two flats near to the top of the building belonged to him. One of the apartments served as the premises for his website design business. The names next to apartments 5 and 6 were two of Julian’s aliases – Paul Phelps and Keith Martin. She pressed the button next to flat 6 and his voice said “Who is it?”

“Geena Bryant”

“Come up”

When she heard the buzzer sound, she pulled open the apartment building’s front door. The way up to the fifth and sixth levels was slightly unconventional. A corkscrew staircase was positioned in the centre of the ground floor. It wasn’t the sturdiest she’d ever climbed, but the structure didn’t wobble once. The top of each flight had a squared section cut out of the ceiling. This brought her through the floor above. The final flight of stairs took her up into the apartment of the top of the building. None of the studio-type flats had doors or individual rooms. The walls that usually divided them were gone. They were all now part of one very large living space. He came off the internet and shut down his personal laptop. Julian had three, which he used for different purposes. He was wearing brown trousers and a dark green jumper, with a blue shirt under it. He hadn’t got his shoes on, but was wearing a pair of purple socks. This was part of his no heavy footwear policy he insisted visitors adhere to. Evelyn obliged, slipping her feet out of her high-heeled shoes.

“What did you tell Mrs Davidson, Evelyn?”

“That I came here regarding maintenance of the school’s official website.”

“Very good excuse”

“It’s the only one that’ll hold water.”

“I take it you know why I really summoned you here.”

“Councillor Trennell finding out our kind exist and the Sudfield massacre.”

“Her discovery begs the question ‘Do the whole Trennell family know?’”

“I’m 99% certain Pippa’s husband and children haven’t a clue”

“That just leaves the Councillor herself, Evelyn.”

“I think she’ll keep it quiet. There’s no danger of Doug and Rosie stumbling across what she knows.”

“That’s naive of you, Evelyn! There’s always that danger. If they do find out, I’ll have to implement Directive Five.”

“They’re mortals – there must be another option.”

She was unable to hide her alarm about Julian suggesting that.

“There isn’t, Evelyn – don’t let your human persona take too much control!”

“I would never do that.”

“Good, because there are only two destinies facing the Trennell family if they all become aware of our species – eradication or being turned!”

Diane was encountering the same parking difficulties Leola had endured last night. A fluke departure opened up an opportunity to park somewhere. Taking it by the horns, she turned into it before any other drivers could.

In the back seat, Emily and Lynette were asleep. She’d dosed them with Pennington’s Brew.

She left the siblings in that state as she made her way into the hospital’s reception and enquiries department. Diane had to dodge a number of doctors and nurses close to the entrance. She waited until the receptionists’ attention was elsewhere, and Ms Farnham dashed past the left-hand side of the reception desk. After making her way through six corridors, she found the ward Darcy was in. Beside the right-hand side of her hospital bed, Dr. Redding was stood talking to her.

“Medical history has been made here today, I can tell you!” he said to Darcy.

This was the first part of the conversation Diane heard.

“Mum” said Darcy, sitting up slightly.

“What did you mean, Dr. Redding?”

“Your daughter’s brain tumour has vanished. I did a cat-scan an hour ago, Ms Farnham, and I was stunned to find no trace of it.”

“What?”

“I know, mum, its’ weird right! I had this nightmare involving some strange teenage girl and DCI Stoneham, who sprouted fangs and bit me. I woke up, back in bed, and I’m told over 60 minutes later, I’m in remission! I didn’t even know I had a brain tumour until now!”

Darcy’s perceived nightmare was proof positive for Diane what had gone down last night.

“That’s brilliant, love!” said Ms Farnham, faking the emotions of an overjoyed mother. “This means I can make doubly good on my promise to you, Dr. Redding. Darcy, get dressed – we’re going home!”

“I’m sure you can wait one more day, Ms Farnham” he said. “I still want to keep her under observation until tomorrow morning, possibly run some more tests. As wonderful as it is to see this happen, I need to understand why Darcy’s brain tumour disappeared overnight. I’ve never encountered a remission this swift before – I doubt anyone in the medical profession ever has. It’s virtually unprecedented!”

“You’re not running any tests on her, Dr. Redding – I’m taking her home!”

“Okay, Ms Farnham, just calm down. We can discuss this like adults.”

“Nothing to discuss, Dr. Redding”

“I’m not discharging her until tomorrow. I suggest you keep your cool, and come back then.”

“I told you yesterday that I’d be back to collect Darcy from this hospital – and I’m not fucking leaving without her!”

“If you don’t control yourself, Ms Farnham, I’ll call security. We’ve a zero tolerance policy relating to the verbal and physical abuse of staff!”

He turned back to Darcy to resume her conversation with her.

“Don’t be hard on her, Dr. Redding” said Darcy. “She just wants me home ASAP”

“I quite understand, but I can’t have any colleagues threatened or attacked whilst they’re...”

Diane whacked him across the back of his shoulders with a bedside chair she’d picked up. One blow proved sufficient to render him unconscious.

“Mum – what the fuck!”

“Come on!”

Diane grabbed her daughter’s right hand and dragged her out of bed. She was too shocked by her mum’s violence to break free of her. They’d made it to the reception area when Dr. Redding came to. Realising Darcy’s bed was empty he pressed the alarm button by the bed’s right-hand side. The noise alerted Glenda to there being some kind of emergency. She guessed what kind it was when she saw Diane bundle her daughter through the sliding doors. Glenda’s heroic side emerged when she began pursuing them. Out in the car park, she saw Diane and Darcy in the car Ms Farnham had driven here in. Knowing where the exit was, she decided to stand in the way of the vehicle. She set off in that direction before Diane had gotten the engine going.

Darcy was heading towards hysterics. She couldn’t figure what had possessed her mum to attack a doctor.

“Why the fuck did you knock Dr. Redding out?”

“I did it for you!”

“Did what?”

Her left eye’s corner caught sight of the Eddington sisters.

“Who are those two girls in the back?”

“They were meant to be your way out of dying from a brain tumour” said Diane sourly.

Putting the car into the correct gear, Ms Farnham headed out of the parking space she’d reversed into. About twenty seconds into the getaway, Diane saw Glenda straight ahead. Her arms were thrust out in front of her and her palms were open – a gesture to get her to stop.

More than once, Darcy anxiously issued that command verbally. Diane paid no attention. She increased the car’s speed.

“Mum! Mum! Stop the...”

A spider’s web pattern suddenly appeared on the front windscreen as Glenda was propelled over the car’s roof. Her blood had partially mingled with the shattered glass. Darcy screamed and then yelled out, tearfully “You fucking ran her over! What the fuck’s wrong with you, mum?”

Diane kept silent. Darcy couldn’t take any more. She undid her seatbelt. Despite an attempt to hold her daughter in her seat, the front passenger door opened. Darcy tumbled onto the car park’s concrete surface, whilst the vehicle was in motion. When Ms Farnham faced front again, she saw another car about to collide with hers. A sharp swerve to the left caused her to crash into the front passenger door of a stationary vehicle. Her car horn started to sound continuously. The driver of the other motor got out to view the state of the car that swerved in front of him. The bonnet had sustained considerable damage. He glanced inside, having opened the front passenger door. It was clear to him the airbag had failed. Diane was dead. Her eyes were still open. Blood was streaming down from where her hairline met her forehead. He double-checked for signs of life by putting two fingers against her neck. The male driver shook his head gravely. He showed his religious side when he did the sign of the cross. Her eyes were gently closed by him. Having seen the Eddington sisters through the left rear passenger window, he was all set to check their vitals. They both stirred, within seconds of one another.

This demonstrated that Diane hadn’t applied enough Pennington’s Brew. Paramedics and doctors came out and saw what had happened. One of them saw Glenda lying on the ground and examined her.

“I think I’ve got a pulse” the female paramedic said. She turned to one of her colleagues, who’d just emerged.

“Get a stretcher ASAP!”

Dr. Redding, partially recovered from Diane’s knockout blow, and another doctor made a final examination to be absolute certain the driver was right about Diane having died.

“Yes, its’ true” he said aloud. “I reckon Ms Farnham must’ve been killed instantly. Her neck does appear to have been broken on impact. There’s a lot of blood around her forehead.”

Unfortunately, Darcy had overheard this, having approached the car after seeing it crash.

“Mum!” Darcy started to repeatedly scream – a little louder each time. She tried to get nearer the vehicle. Dr. Redding took it upon himself to keep back from the car.

“I’m sorry, Miss Farnham” he said. “Your mother’s dead.

There was a moment of hot, heavy breathing from her. Then grief took hold and her expression contorted slightly. Tears shot out of her eyes and bounced off her cheeks. Strands of her black hair drooped downwards, obscuring this sight from Dr. Redding.

The two immortal sisters used the commotion stemming from Darcy’s loss to flee the car park unseen. Dr. Redding didn’t become aware of it, until he heard the doors of the car Diane’s had swerved to avoid slamming shut. Less than a few seconds later, Emily and Lynette were now the ones making a getaway.

Jennifer saw the car the sisters stole head out of the car park just as she’d arrived. She got out her vehicle and yelled “Fuck!” at the top of her voice. The expletive encompassed the sense of failure she felt, even though she wasn’t the one who’d made mistakes.