Chapter 26 Darren's POV
While driving to work, thoughts of everything that had happened recently plagued my mind, almost making me go crazy. First Heather, then the dead wolf and now, Sabrina was back. I should have seen that coming miles away. Her return explains some of the things that have been happening recently and I knew without any iota of doubt that putting her down has to be my utmost priority; no matter what it took. Thoughts continued to ravage my mind, affecting my concentration and I had to drive off the road and park the car to avoid any incident. The whirlpool of thoughts in my head bred questions, questions that would deny me rest if I didn't get answers to them.
Suddenly, I remembered that there was someone that should be able to provide answers to my questions, hopefully. Although I hadn't seen him in years, due to something that happened between us, going to see him was the only option I had and at that point, I was ready to take all the help I could get. Since I didn't have much to do at the office, I started the car, executed a U-turn and drove back down the way I came. Almost half an hour later, I arrived at a small apartment on the outskirts of the city. The neighborhood was a quiet one, a direct opposite of the state of things in my head. After parking my car, I alighted from it and headed towards the door, knocking harder than I intended to.
Getting no response, I knocked again and a gruff voice came from behind the door.
“Who is it?” The person demanded.
“Darren,” I said simply and absolute silence followed.
Two minutes later, the door opened and I stepped forward eagerly but was immediately repelled by an invisible force. A shocked gasp escaped my lips as I was thrown backwards and my head snapped up in surprise, wondering what had caused that reaction.
“What the fuck?” I said, anger boiling in me.
“Salt,” Dan informed me, unmoved by my reaction. Looking down at the base of the door, I saw what he was talking about. With one leg, he shuffled the trail of salt in the doorway to one side then he beckoned to me. “Come in.”
My anger had reduced to irritation as I followed him into the house and I noticed that he reset the salt to the way it was before then he shut the door afterwards.
“Running from something? Or someone?” I asked him, my eyes following him as he walked into the living room.
“Something like that. I've made a lot of enemies in my time and, coupled with the things I know, I have my hands full trying to keep unwanted people out,” he explained then gestured towards the chair adjacent to the one he settled into. “Sit.”
Lowering myself onto the couch, I said, “but I'm not unwanted, am I?”
His eyes were blank when they met mine, betraying no emotion. “No, you're not. But the salt doesn't know that. And you weren't patient. I don't need to have any supernatural powers to be able to sense your uneasiness. What brings you here, old friend?”
Instead of replying, I looked around the living room taking note of everything I saw.
“You got nothing else to worry about,” Dan said, knowing what exactly was on my mind as his eyes followed mine.
“I hope so,” I said, adjusting my suit before returning my gaze to meet his own. “What can you tell me about the Mother of Darkness?”
His face finally showed emotion and I knew immediately from the flicker of fear that I saw on it that I had come to the right place.
“Is she one of the unwanted?” I asked but he shook his head.
“She's already too much of a threat to supernatural creatures for me, a mere human, to involve myself in anything that has to do with her,” Dan answered, then there was a brief pause before he said, “What’s your interest in her?”
“I need to get all the information I can about her,” I replied. “Something happened recently that aroused my interest in her. It's not something serious though. I just need to satisfy my curiosity.”
From the way Dan looked at me, it was clear that he didn't fully believe me but whatever he thought, he kept to himself.
With a serious expression on his face, he leaned forward, as if afraid that someone might overhear him. “The Mother of Darkness is not a name to be spoken anyhow. She's a witch, a very powerful one and she is so wicked that she won't hesitate to take the life of a child if it will give her what she wants. She's the third, most feared entity I know in the history of supernatural creatures and she has a lot of worshippers that help carry her evil deeds. She's been enemies with werewolves for a long time but I don't know why that is. Rumours are that she has a child that's supposed to take over from her and continue the enmity with the werewolves.”
My brows creased into a frown as I took in everything he'd said, then I said, “what do you know about her going into an eternal sleep?”
“There are different versions to that story, but the most common one I read about is that an Alpha defeated her a long time ago and sent her into a sleep that's supposed to last forever. I also heard that some of her followers have been trying to wake her up but I think they are only fooling themselves,” Dan explained.
“Why's that?” I asked curiously.
“She can only wake up when the Moon Goddess allows it and that is going to be during the Red Moon season since that is when the Moon Goddess pardons all sinners. But, before a sinner can be pardoned and freed, there's a sacrifice that has to be carried out and done perfectly. Last I checked, only once has such a sacrifice been carried out perfectly and that was many years ago. I doubt if the followers of the Mother of Darkness can change that now.”
My hand came up to rub my chin as I mulled over his words. What if he was wrong and the followers found a way to bring back the Mother of Darkness during the next moon season? What happens when she is released back into the world?
“You got nothing to worry about, even though we're in a Red Moon season. Like I said, it's very unlikely that her followers will figure out how to carry out the sacrifice properly,” Dan said, but instead of reassurance, all I felt was more confusion and worry.
“What do you mean we're in a Red Moon season?” I asked him.
His face mirrored my confusion. “You’ve found a mate, haven't you? Or has the conditions for a Red Moon season changed?”
Hearing that made me even more confused. “A mate? Where did you hear that?” I would have said he was joking but I've never known Dan to joke about anything.
He looked at me as if I said something stupid. “We're in a Red Moon season, everyone knows that. And that can only mean you've met your mate so why do you seem so confused about it? Why are you really here, Darren? What's going on?”
If only I had the answer to his last question, then I wouldn't be there with him. Did I meet my mate without knowing it? If I did, who was she? Just what the hell was going on?
These questions and many more continued to plague my mind as I thanked Dan for his help and took my leave after promising to reach out to him later.