call of night: beyond the dark Read Free Page A

                            12
     
     
                 
     
    She had her mother and grandmother’s strength, but the fear lingering inside of her made her question how far she was willing to go. Any mortal who walked directly by them in the night would never know the real darkness until it was too late. She had a decision to make and had to make it alone.
    “This is your destiny, this is who you are.”
    Her mother told her once after they had just buried her grandmother. It wasn’t what she wanted. She wasn’t about to go against her family and ignore the expectations they had of her. She refused to turn her back on them, her older brother Christopher did so and became a doctor; it was perhaps his way of not feeling guilty may be one of the reasons he chose to work the night shift.
    She was always close with her brother until they lost contact, he could never forget who he was or meant to be. Sometimes, Dana did wonder how her life would have been if she had taken the same path.
    Christopher hadn’t seen his sister since she was fifteen although he thought about her constantly. The family refused to speak to him or about him. He thought he would never see her again. Dana could imagine the shock that he felt when he saw her for the first time in the hospital parking lot; she had approached him as he was unlocking his car door.
    Dana sat staring out the passenger side window on the way to her brother’s downtown apartment. The morning traffic made for an awkward silence as the thought a way to begin their conversation explaining why she was there.
    Christopher’s apartment was on the seventh floor, a small two bedroom of a more modern style that didn’t fit her brother’s taste. He wanted to escape his past and it didn’t really matter how.
     
     
     
     
    Call of Night                                                                                                                                            13
     
     
                                                                                       
                                                                         
     
     
                 
     
    “You want to tell me what you are doing here?” Christopher felt he would need a drink before asking that question but it was far too early. “You’re quite quick to get to the point, not in the mood for conversation?” Dana’s sarcastic tone didn’t help much.
    “No.” He answered, “I just worked a twelve hour shift, one of the other doctors called in sick I had to cover for him.”
    Christopher knew what she was about to say he wasn’t going to like.
    “Something came for me, I need your help; something of the supernatural element.” Dana never asked her brother for anything, but this was more in his area. Dana took out the skeleton key and held it out for him to see.
    Before Christopher left the family he took an interest in studying history not because he needed to because it intrigued him. His eyes were drawn to the key as hard as it was to want to look away, he simply couldn’t.
    As he held it in the palm of his hand, a strange sensation came over him one he had never felt before.
    Christopher hadn’t used his powers in years, he chose to ignore they were there; the key reminded him why.
     
     
     
     
    Call of Night                                                                                                                                                          14
     
     
                  “Where did you get this?”