Uttuku

The Books of Darkness

by Robert N. Stephenson

Chapter 39

The Ta’ibah

He’d made his move without telling me. He’d killed Marie in an effort to panic Sarina, to pressure Diana with fear. It failed, and if he’d told me the plan, I could have explained why it would. Diana’s conversion did come as a surprise, even though I had a suspicion Sarina might take such a step. Uttukes do not convert humans often and even then only under duress or a special condition; Diana fit both categories.

He watched me, eyes bright, gleaming with anger. We’d failed, he’d failed to get the horse. We stood together in an open garden in the city, a large stone cross before us reached to the sky. A monument.

“This is the Cross of Remembrance,” I told him as he ran his fingers over and then through the stone.

“Fitting,” he said. “Though it has nothing beneath it to take.” He moved about the garden, the roses waving with his touch. “You will remember what we failed to do here.”

“I won’t fail again,” I said. “Next time a more direct method must be used.” Cold touched me.

“Perhaps, Bela. When I return I will bring him with me.” I heard the the cry of millions of souls as he said it. “You will lead him to them.”

“I understand.” The new Ta’ibah was already here, this I knew, could feel.

“Do you?” he pressed into me. Mixed darkness with darkness. “He knows the full power of the mind, he knows how to take a Uttuke, has done it before.”

I did understand. I knew whom they had taken, tricked into death and then resurected from the pit. A Uttuke-Ta’ibah, rare and weak. For now everything would continue forward for Sarina and Diana. They’d move and I would move with them, keep them ready for the next attempt at the horse.

I wondered if I would really have let the new Ta’ibah take the women. If I knew how, I probably would take both of them myself, suck the life from them and leave less than a husk behind. I let the smell of roses distract me, touch a memory and remind me of something I needed to do tomorrow. The rose seller had the order, I just needed to touch his mind to have them sent.

“Bela,” he said, a sound not unlike a train in a tunnel. “I will send him soon, you will do as he says.”

“I will follow his commands.”

“Failure next time will be your demise. He will take you.”

“But that is your right!”

“I have given it to him. It should keep you focused on the real task, don’t you think?” The Dark One dropped through the ground and was gone. Not for long, I suspected. Until then I must find a way to get the horse without killing the women. When you are a Uttuke of life, that is not an easy prospect to consider.

I let myself be seen. Two policemen on bikes approached, their lights bright, both within and without. They got off their bikes, walked up to me, hands on guns. I tore their souls free before they could speak. I let them scream, I let them feel the pain of darkness crush their lives. I squeezed and squeezed until they no longer drew breath.

When he came I would need to be strong. I needed to be prepared.

Proceed to Chapter 40...

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