Read Dark Knight of the Skye Online
Authors: Robin Renee Ray
Dark Knight of the Skye (29 page)
“I’m just gonna take off now,” Arnaud said turning and walking around the side of the truck.
“Whaur ye thin yer gaun? Ye hae a lang way tae gae fur ye prove yersel,” Danny called out.
“Yeah, he means it. You saved her life, but we still need you,” D`nae added. “Hey, has anyone seen Duchess?”
“I’ll find her,” Arnaud offered, and took off.
“Did anyone see her? She was with me and Tabitha.”
Danny looked over at Grady.
“What?” she asked.
“Noo, luv,” Danny began saying.
“Don’t ‘now love’ me, Danny Gilmore, where’s my dog?”
“Here she is, but she’s hurt pretty bad,” Arnaud said, coming around the back of the truck. “She was crawling out of the brush.”
D`nae took her and got into the back seat with Tabitha. Danny drove and Grady rode in the back with Tabitha in his lap. Duchess appeared to have a broken back leg, but otherwise seemed to be okay. She rested her head in D`nae’s lap, who listened while Arnaud told Danny about Alasdair’s plan of them being wiped out by the attack of the werewolves to save him the trouble. If he didn’t hear from one of them by the fall of night, Arnaud told them, he would leave Cortez, heading to a place that Arnaud knew nothing about. D`nae knew that if he hadn’t had her mother, she would just let him go, thinking whatever he wanted, then she would disappear with her new family and live in peace. But nothing short of true death would keep her from getting to her mother.
Dawn was only an hour away when they pulled up to the base of the mountain which hid Alasdair’s estate. They got out of the truck, for two reasons; there was no way it would make it up the small trail, and they wanted to get the jump of surprise on any of Alasdair’s men that might be watching guard. D`nae kissed Duchess on the nose, while Grady stepped into Tabitha and kissed her full out on the mouth, then pushed her back toward the open door, shaking his head.
“Not with my child in here,” he said placing his hand on her stomach. “I love you, Tabitha.”
Her breath sucked in and tears filled her eyes.
“You… love me?” she asked, reaching up touching his face. “Is that true.”
“Can’t you see it in my eyes?” he asked as they filled to the brim. “You have more than just apart of me in here, you have
me
here.” Then he moved his hand over her heart, and kissed her again.
“Did I die?” she whispered in his mouth. “Is this what heaven is like?”
“We’ve just begun, babe. You girls take care of each other, we’ll be back soon.” Then he kissed her one last time, helped her in and closed the door.
He stood there looking down at the most amazing thing he had ever seen and couldn’t understand why she looked back the way she did. He could see the love in her eyes. Danny cleared his throat, getting Grady’s attention. He looked up then back down, smiling at her. He tapped the window and walked away, feeling two feet taller. He got up beside Danny and D`nae, and she wrapped her arm around his waist.
“You guys are perfect together. You should see the mushy look on your face when you look at her,” she giggled.
“Ya, a’ goo‘s, me’s droolin fur ye luv,” Danny mocked.
“Oh, and you two aren’t like a bunch of dogs in heat. Wait, make that bats,” he laughed then took off up the mountain.
“Nae, he just dinnae say that,” Danny returned the laugh and leaped into the air.
“Here I come,” D`nae said and jumped up, landing right back on her feet. “What the hell?”
“Cum on, luv, fit ye waitin fur?”
“It ain’t working,” she said, running back and forth hopping like a four year old, cracking Danny up so bad he was holding his stomach.
“You have to concentrate!” Arnaud called down.
“Ya think!” she snapped back. “The hell with it.”
D`nae took off after Grady as fast as she could go, which was pretty fast. By the time they reached the top, she was about a hundred feet below. She could hear them whispering the closer she made it to the edge. “I can hear you guys,” she laughed. “One of you could pull my ass over.”
Danny’s hand came over the side, but he gave her no words. She looked at his face as he lifted her over the side. Knowing something was wrong, she began frantically looking around. Grady and Arnaud were blocking her view, neither facing her. She pushed Danny’s hand off and broke through the other two. D`nae looked down at the pile of ashes then followed the length of the cross, seeing the charred spots that stretched out like the risen Christ, down to the nail holes placed at the hands and feet.
“There’s no way to know who it was. This isn’t my mother, she wasn’t one of us,” she said, swallowing the lump back down.
“D`nae,” Danny said reaching out.
“No!” she screamed.
Down in the tunnels, Tammy spun around to the echoing sound of a voice she knew all to well. Just a faint sound, but she heard D`nae shout the word, ‘no’ and knew they were over them at that very moment. Alasdair took her arm and pulled her further into the darkness.
“Ye must, luv,” Danny pleaded.
“It’s not her, Danny. I would know it. I would know,” she cried, then watched as he dropped the charred locket from his hand, letting it dangle from the chain.
D`nae dropped to her knees, grabbing her hair at the temples, looking at the locket that was given to her mother by her grandmother, right before she died. She shook her head as thoughts swarmed her mind of the torture her mother must have endured while she had been in the care of that monster. She gripped her hair into her fists and screamed to the top of her lungs, ending it in a long drawn out call for her, Mommy.
Tammy pulled wildly on Alasdair’s arm, dropping to the ground, yelling, reaching back as if she could touch her child. “I’m here baby, right here!” she cried. She could hear her child bellow out in pain, and knew she could stop it all, just by putting her arms around her. “Let me go to her. Please!”
“You will never see her again. Let this be the death of both of you. Mourn now, and be glad that no blood was shed,” he replied, dragging her like an animal.
“Mommy,” D`nae cried, lying over on the ashes. “I’m so sorry. It’s all my fault.”
“Nae luv. Cum,” Danny said taking her into his arms.
Arnaud came running out of the estate with a huge smile on his face. “I think I have something you may wanna see, D`nae! Your mom left you a message,” he laughed jumping up into the air. D`nae looked up at Danny who was covered in crimson tears, and she smiled with a glint of hope. Tammy saw the black car at the end of the tunnel, knowing if she got in without letting D`nae know she was still alive, her child might try to do something stupid. Her life had already been hard enough and believing that her mother was murdered would be more than she could bear.
She reached up and clawed Alasdair face, screaming out her own frustration. He cried out, loosening his grip. She tore free and took off running back into the tunnel, screaming D`nae’s name, yelling “I live!” as loud as she could. Alasdair growled and within seconds had the back of her hair and did what he just swore he would never do again. He knocked her unconscious, and carried her back to the car with haste.
“Be quiet!” D`nae said getting to her feet. “Did you hear that?”
“I heard something, but it sounded muffled,” Grady replied reaching down, touching the ground.
“You really need to check out the bathroom, D`nae,” Arnaud said bouncing around.
“Fit ye be daun in the hoose any hoo?” Danny asked, stepping around D`nae.
“Money. No lies. He has a safe in the bathroom, that’s it I swear. That’s when I saw it on the mirror.”
“Ye wur keekin at fit?”
“No, come on, see for yourselves,” he said spinning around, waving his arm. “Don’t cry anymore, be happy, really!”
They moved into the house, making their way into the bathroom, where they all saw the blood markings that her mother had made on the mirror. “I live, my moomoo.” D`nae started crying all over again, only this time from relief. No one questioned who the remains belonged to, but knew the adventure in finding Tammy had just begun. Grady went back to get Tabitha and Duchess, and they all stayed that day in their enemy’s home. Those who stood in the light of the day readied their next move, while the ones who lived their lives by the cover of night took their rest in the very rooms that belonged to the man they sought to find, each of them knowing they would not stop until it was over.
* * *
Alasdair lay over on the wide backseat as his driver drove his coffin-like car to the next location that would take them back underground until the sun set. The black painted windows with thick black curtains surrounded them as he waited for the light of day to take him away, looking over at the woman who would turn his life into one of flight and not fight. And he smiled.
Robin Renee Ray is not what you’d call your ‘normal’ novelist by any means of the word. Growing up, she never had any dreams of becoming a writer, but always had a fascination with the paranormal. She began watching scary movies at an early age, and found herself playing in cemeteries as soon as she was big enough to be out at night alone. She began writing in the summer of 2006, after being inspired by the birth of her first grandchild. Having dropped out of school in the tenth grade, she had very little knowledge of proper grammar, yet within four months, her first novel was complete. Robin has since dedicated herself to learning as much about writing as possible, and less than three years after first taking a pen to paper, she has nine books under her belt and counting. One of her main goals and dreams is to become the female version of the late, great Alfred Hitchcock – the absolute master of horror, in her opinion. Robin Renee Ray resides in a small town in southeast New Mexico with her husband, David, and their little chihuahua, Barbie. She spends as much free time as she can playing with her grandbabies.
Photograph © Kysha R. McBee