Finally! Thought I'd never get this one done!

Darkness Revealed

The sky was covered in crying clouds, as it had been for days. They'd had to cease all attempts to find the missing children, but that didn't mean they stopped searching for clues. Justin was preoccupied with searching through the library, trying to see if he could find anything that may have a connection to the Diablo Paria. He also found that he could now control when he became human, and only went out every few nights to keep up his appearances in town, and to see to the shop, which they'd offered to rebuild. He wondered why all this was happening, especially when all ties with Mexico had been severed years ago. He hadn't been a follower of the group for very long, and had never known of its artifacts until that man had ranted about them in his shop.

What could all of this mean? He pulled a book from an old shelf near the back wall of the library. It was one he had never seen before, having a dark blue cover, inlaid with black stones. It was closed with a black lock. The book seemed to emit an evil aura, and he felt that it contained the answers he'd been searching for. There was just one problem; the lock had no key. He glanced around, seeing no one, then wrapped his claws tightly around it. The creaking of metal grated in his ears, echoing there more loudly than in the chamber around him, but he had soon broken it.

What is this? The book's pages were yellowed with age, covered with a hand he felt he'd seen before. But the signature ending every entry was blurred beyond recognition, as though the author didn't want future readers to know who he had been. Once more he looked about and, seeing no one, tucked the volume securely into his cape. He'd gotten about half-way to his room when a series of shocked cries echoed in his ears. He turned, seeing a ring of people outside the daycare doors. He went over, tapping a rat on the shoulder.

"What's going on here?" he asked.

The rat hesitated, then slowly moved aside. Now able to see the chamber, Justin couldn't believe his eyes. Jean was lying in the center of the room, bleeding freely from a wound in his chest. The other children had all moved to one corner, the farthest point from a strange sound that echoed throughout the chamber. Justin knelt by his son, feeling for a pulse, when the sound suddenly grew louder; a rattling he had heard many times before. He looked up, seeing a rattlesnake curled in the corner, forked black tongue flicking from its mouth. It seemed no more than an infant, which meant that Jean needed help as soon as possible. Justin drew his blade, quickly beheading it, then turned back to his child. He knew there was only one way to save him, and summoned just one of his many hidden powers. His hand took on a golden glow, the light flowing into his son's wound, pulling the toxins from his blood, spilling them onto the stone floor.

"How come no one tried to help him?" Justin asked once the task was done.

One of the teachers, a young female he'd never seen before, stepped forward. "We were all too afraid," she said meekly. Her hands were clasped in front of her, and she was facing the floor. "We were afraid it would get us too."

Justin rolled his eyes. Taking his son in his arms, he strode from the chamber, leaving nothing but shocked, silent faces in his wake. They had always known their leader was different, but they had never before thought how different, even if some had witnessed his doings of the past; but they weren't the focus of his frazzled mind. He knew from the climate that rattlesnakes weren't a native species, the valley was too far north, its winters too cold, and they'd never been seen until today. But then where had it come from?

Probably dropped by someone; the mere thought sounded ridiculous. Humans weren't allowed anywhere near this valley, and even if they were, who in the right mind would carry a rattlesnake around? He shrugged the question off as he reached his front door, but something made him pause before entering. It was the sound of voices, two he could have sworn he'd heard before. Careful not to disturb the sleeping infant in his arms, he leaned up against the painted wood, able to hear every word.

"Are you sure this is her?" said one. Justin could hear the groan cast by his companion.

"I would recognize her anywhere," he replied. His voice held a certain strain of depression.

"Well, alright," his partner still seemed unsure. "But we should wait until evening to take her; less chance of being seen."

His friend hesitated. "Fine," he said at last. The pair moved quickly toward the door. Justin moved to the side, so that he wouldn't be seen. But what emerged was far from who he expected. The two forms were supposedly dead, one much taller than the other. The taller one was also much rounder, with dark fur and brown clothes. He appeared to be a rat. The second was ash grey, with a large sweep of hair on his head. He turned back, feeling he was watched, but saw nothing. Shrugging, he turned back around, hands shoved deep in the pockets of his vest.

Justin moved silently from the shadows, still clutching his sleeping son. He had just seen a pair of ghosts, and they appeared invisible to all around them. And the worst part was that he knew them both.

No, he thought. No, that's impossible. Yet even as they came, he knew the words were false. It was more than possible to come back from the dead, if you had the right technology, or the right magic. However, it only took one mistake for the attempt to go horribly wrong. He stepped silently through the door, shutting it behind him, seeing Elizabeth asleep on the couch. She didn't appear to be injured, though he couldn't help but notice the multiple, minute holes in her gown, as though many claws had torn through it.

"Elizabeth," he whispered. She didn't respond. He placed Jean on a chair, taking her shoulders in his hands. "Elizabeth," he whispered again. Still no response, even when he shook her. A claw to her neck proved her heart was still beating, but her breath was shallow, as though she'd just been running. He remembered the pair that had come from the room, how they'd appeared to have a disagreement as to who she was; not surprising, since she looked nothing like the mouse she had been.

"Elizabeth," he whispered again, and finally caught it; the scent of Ashton's strongest sedative. He sighed, knowing she would be asleep until well after sundown, when they planned to abduct her. His lips curled, a cold-hearted plan forming in the darkest recesses of his mind. He would wait with her until they arrived, then give them a taste of their own dark magic.

He felt it in his blood before they arrived, a sudden chill that flowed right to his core. His eyes slowly opened, arms wrapped around his fiancée. He slipped his hand beneath his pillow, pulling out a long knife. He lifted himself, sharp eyes searching the dark, knowing that they hadn't yet come. He heard every sound that passed through the colony: the wind outside, the grinding of gears in the workshop, the gentle breathing of the souls around him. He also felt something; Elizabeth's hair as she shifted in her sleep, moaning quietly as the cool air touched her back. Justin shoved his blade back beneath his pillow, facing the window as her arms draped over his shoulders.

"What are you doing up?" she asked quietly. He could hear the grin in her voice.

"I thought I heard something," he whispered back. Even though the light was so dim, he could see every line of her body, as though he were staring through glass. He smiled, placing a hand on her cheek. "I didn't wake you, did I?"

She giggled, moving closer. His warm breath coated her lips, making her feel safe and secure. She reached over and switched on the lamp, only to fall away from him. She nearly screamed, but terror stole the sound before she could make it.

"What's wrong?" he asked. He noticed his voice had suddenly changed, its smooth tones mangled.

"Who are you?" she whispered. She moved as far back as she could without falling from the bed.

"What do you mean?" he looked down at his hands, seeing mangled flesh. His eyes widened, hands drifting to his face. He felt nothing more than sparse, brittle fur. He turned to Elizabeth, who was now holding a paw to her nose. He reached out and took it, looking deeply into her eyes. "Come with me," he said quietly. "There is something I must show you."

She nodded, fear having stolen her voice. His grip tightened on her hand, but it felt as though nothing held her, and the feeling only increased when strange words drifted through his lips, which were now dry and cracked. In a few seconds a strange mist filled her nose, and she opened her eyes to reveal a cave shrouded in smoke. Her lover was there, crouching by the fire, combining what seemed random things in a disk of boiling water, taking at last the corpse of a young bird, slitting its throat and letting the blood drip into the bowl. She also watched his appearance as it slowly kept changing. Her eyes were transfixed as he inhaled a strange violet mist, bringing the bowl slowly to his lips. She wanted to cry out, but again her voice failed her.

In a few seconds the liquid was gone, barely a drop remaining in his fur. She watched as its hue darkened, returning to the deep brown that she knew; she could actually see his strength return. When it was done he turned to look at her, dark brown eyes flashing with shame. "I wanted to keep this from you," he whispered, and rose to his feet. He walked over to the mouth of the cave, leaning against the stone as he stared at the unchanging landscape. She stepped in front of him, putting her hands on his chest. His heart was pounding.

"Justin," her voice was a whisper. He tilted his eyes down to meet hers. "Why didn't you tell me before?"

"I was afraid you would leave me," he hissed, and turned away. She reached up, grasping his chin, forcing his eyes to stare into hers.

"What makes you think I would leave?" she asked. "And give me the truth."

He sighed heavily, pulling her hand away. "I have to do this just to survive," he said angrily. He let his claws dig into his flesh. He exhaled, kneeling on the floor, resting his fist against the stone wall. "Just because I was too frightened to die."

"What do you mean?"

He sighed a third time, lifting his forehead from the cold stone. "I wasn't always like this," he began. "There was a time when I had a much different appearance, different strengths, different weaknesses."

"Justin, you're not making sense." She sounded both frightened and worried. "What are you trying to tell me?"

"It was several years ago," he began. "Just a short while after we had settled in the rosebush. Some of my comrades had been missing for several hours, and I made the mistake of going out alone to find them. A massive storm blew in, but I refused to go back alone. I had just exited the space beneath the farmhouse when I saw Dragon in front of me, Harry's tail hanging from his mouth…" he shuddered, going on to tell her every detail of his past, eventually going back to his birth in Nuevo León, Mexico. She stared at him a while longer, after he had finished, two emotions dueling for dominance in her heart. The first was anger. A small portion of her soul that wanted to hate him, but it had no power against the other emotion, the one that sent her heart racing. She got down her knees in front of him, resting her hands on his chest. He gazed at her, guilt and remorse filling his eyes.

"I'm going to accept your decision," he said. "No matter what it is."

She smiled, moving closer. A slender hand drifted to his cheek, the other pressed against his heart. "I love you, Justin," she whispered to him.

"How can you?" he asked. He pulled the knife from his belt, its tip still stained with blood. "I've murdered more than once. How can you love me if I've taken innocent lives?"

"Because it wasn't you," she said firmly. "It was Jenner controlling you. I know you," she continued. "And I know that you would never kill willingly-"

"What about Amelia?" he asked. "I took her life without remorse-"

"That doesn't matter," Elizabeth told him. She shook her finger at him as though he were still a child. "She was planning on taking your life, and Jonathan's too, all in revenge for crimes you didn't commit. Justin," she added, touching his cheek again. "You killed her to save your life; you just what you need to."

He gazed at her, eyes beginning to water. "But Cadrian still succeeded in killing your husband; he committed the crime with most of the guard, including me, as witnesses. I nearly killed him after that, but he ended up perishing when we moved your home." Her confused eyes told him to continue. "He was found beneath the wreckage, alongside Nicodemus."

"But you said only Jenner and…"

"We didn't know until we had cleaned up. From his position we guessed that he was actually trying to save Nicodemus, as if to repent for his former sins."

"How come you never told anybody?" Conrad was staring through the bars of the cell, tightly gripping Bella's trembling hand.

"They would just think I was lying." She replied. Her voice was shaking, tears fighting to fall from her eyes. But she wasn't going to break down, not after all she had done, not in front of him. "My own grandmother didn't even believe me."

"Jenner may have been crazy, but he did know how to hide…" Conrad fell silent, unable to take his eyes from her trembling frame. In a moment he glanced down at the keys on his belt, taking his paw from Isabella's.

"Conrad?" her eyes widened. She stood as he unlocked the cell door, pulling it open.

"I'm going to get busted for this," he said quietly. "But I can't stand seeing you shake like that."

She smiled, running the few steps it took to reach him. He lifted her in his arms, holding her tightly to his chest.

"I'm sorry about before," she whispered. A single tear fell from her eye. He gently wiped it away.

"Don't be," he said. He moved his face closer to hers, breath warm on her lips. "I'm just glad you're here now."

She smiled, doing what she'd longed to for weeks. Her arms tightened around his neck, bringing him closer, allowing his lips to fall over hers. He sighed, unable to resist.