Beneath the gleaming skyscrapers and picturesque facade of
the City of Redemption lies another city; a community of dark and ancient magic
populated by creatures of the night. Dark Redemption is a shared-world
novel based on an online role-playing game by James Crowther.
Reporter Cassandra True has finally discovered the secret
of her mysterious acquaintance, the reclusive Strephon Mackenzie, a
semi-immortal half-fae. With the help of
Strephon’s snarky cousin Devon, and the Jamaican wise woman Grandma Simms, they
have staged an intervention to free Cassandra’s roommate Cecilie from the
thrall of a vampire.
The cool of the
morning, following the early showers, had turned hot and sticky by mid-day.
Descending from the air-conditioned bus seemed like wading into a vat of warm
spit. Cassandra would have liked to
remain with Strephon a bit longer, but he said he had another errand to run and
reminded her that she needed to write and file her story about the craft fair
in the park, and that she had promised to collect some of Cecilie’s things from
their flat. Cassandra wasn’t sure how
she felt about Cecilie going off with Strephon’s cousin. Strephon obviously disapproved of him, but
seemed to regard him as the lesser evil compared to Philippe.
As she approached her
flat, she noticed a person in sunglasses and a hooded sweatshirt, it’s hood
tightly tied obscuring most of his face, leaning against the building in the
narrow strip of early afternoon shade. Cassandra wondered how he – she assumed it was a he, anyway – could
stand being dressed so warmly on such a steamy day. He seemed to be loitering with a distinct
purpose, and Cassandra had a disturbing feeling that he was watching her. She shifted the keychain in her hand so that
door key stuck out from between her first and second fingers, they way they’d told
her in self-defense class; and resolutely proceeded towards the building, keeping
him in view but avoiding eye contact. As she neared, the man spoke to her.
“Cassandra? Hello!” He gave her an ingratiating smile,
partially obscured by the hoodie.
“Philippe,” Cassandra
said. “I didn’t expect to see you
here. I thought… your kind couldn’t go
out in the daytime.”
“That’s a myth,”
Philippe said.
Cassandra noted that
he was also wearing heavy gloves and his nose was slathered with zinc oxide. “Aren’t you a little bit warm in that
outfit?”
“Well… it was raining
earlier, and the weather is so chancy.” He
took a step towards her, but remained in the shadow. “I was hoping to talk to Cecilie, but she
doesn’t seem to be in.”
Cassandra remained
where she was in the sunlight. “She’s
gone out of town. I don’t think she
wants to see you anymore.” That was
mostly true.
Philippe made a noise
that might have been a hiss or maybe just a sharp intake of breath. “Well.
That’s too bad. I handled things
badly last night and I did want to explain.
But you know, perhaps it is better this way.” He inched a little bit closer, and his voice
dropped down so that Cassandra almost took a step towards him herself to hear
him better. She caught herself in
time. That would be a bad idea.
“You see, I wasn’t
sure how I could tell her,” Philippe continued.
“Attraction is such a mysterious thing, and hard to fathom, let alone
explain. And yet from the moment I saw you
last night, I felt a strange fascination.
Perhaps you felt it too…”
Good grief, Cassandra
realized, he’s trying to seduce me. And
listening to his voice, he was almost persuasive. But then Cassandra focused on his hoodie and
his ridiculous nose. He looked for all
the world like Claude Rains, the Hip-Hop Years.
“I think you are mistaken,” she said firmly. “If you will excuse me…”
“Wait.” Philippe reached out into the sunlight and
seized her by the arm. “I’ve been
waiting out her so long, and as you said, it is warm out here. Perhaps you might invite me in?”
His smile widened;
not enough to show the points of his teeth, but Cassandra knew they were
there. She felt her flesh creep and she
felt an overpowering urge to get away from him.
“I don’t think
so.” Cassandra pulled her arm away from
him, causing him to stumble into the sun.
Philippe winced. He didn’t burst into flames or disintegrate
into dust they way Cassandra hoped he might; but he clearly did not like
it. Apparently the movies were wrong
about these things.
“Please, Cassandra… I
love you.” He removed his sunglasses and
gazed at her with soulful, if bloodshot and watering eyes.
The audacity of this
declaration caught Cassandra by surprise, and she felt the force of his
charisma bearing down on her like physical pressure. But did he really think she would fall for
his wounded puppy routine? Her
instincts told her to run away, but on impulse she decided to try something
else. “Are you going to offer me
Essence, like you did Cecilie?”
Ah, that worried the
little weasel. He withdrew just a hair. “She told you about that, did she?”
“She did.”
“Of course, that
experience is not one I would share with just anybody; but you, Cassandra; you
I think possess the depth of soul to truly appreciate it.” He advanced again,
no longer letting the sunshine hold him back.
Cassandra retreated a
step. “And is Kurayami aware you’re
dealing Essence?”
Philippe stopped
again. Now she saw fear in his eyes. “The Lady Kurayami does not concern herself
with my personal life.”
“I thought as
much.” Now it was time to get away from
him; but Cassandra suddenly found that she could not move her feet. She seemed rooted to the sidewalk; she had
tarried too long.
“Nor will you be
bothering her with it.” Anger tinged his
voice now and he bared his teeth as he advanced to attack.
“Pardon, mate,” said
a voice from behind Cassandra. “Aren’t
you out past your bedtime?”
It was Saul.
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