Welcome to the Darkness (Darkness Trilogy) Read Free Page A

was on a hardwood floor in a normal-looking living room. It was still dark outside, and there were two men standing on either side of a closed door to my right: a tall black guy and a thin guy with a big beard. They barely spared me a glance, and I shook my head to orient myself.
    “You’re awake,” a voice said. I whipped my head to my left to find the source.
    “You!” I snarled in disbelief. My memory returned in a flash. It was that thin, dark-haired jerk who’d slammed my head into the pavement. “I’m going to kill you!” There was a tingling in my gums again.
    “I would not attempt to do so, if I were you,” Nathaniel calmly replied , his dark gaze boring into me. “I am over two hundred years old, and you are but a day old. Your strength could not possibly compare to my own. Any effort to attack me would be futile, not to mention there are two other vampires in this room who would come to my aid.”
    T he two men, okay, vampires, stood by the door. They were paying attention to me now.  I turned back to Nathaniel, swallowed my anger and the tingle in my gums subsided. I stood up and crossed my arms over my chest, and gave him a defiant look. “Fine. What do you want?”
    “I mean you no harm, Reed,” Nathaniel said. “I am so rry for the method I used to bring you here, but there was no blood shed, and you experienced only a brief moment of pain. As you can see, you are fully healed, and we have arrived at the Queen’s residence without further incident.”
    “This is the Queen’s house?” I asked. Not only did it seem like a perfectly ordinary house, from what I could see out the front window it looked like the house was in a very regular-looking, suburban neighborhood. “I was expecting more of a castle or something.”
    “We prefer to maintain what you would call a ‘low profile.’ Inconspicuousness is imperative for our kind.” He paused, maybe to assure himself I had my anger in check. “It is time for me to present you to the Queen. You would be wise to treat her with utmost respect and the best manners you can muster. If you do not, more than your life will be forfeit. As you have seen, your body is capable of healing grievous injury, however, as long as you remain conscious, you will suffer pain. Do you understand?”
    “Yeah, sure. Let’s get this over with then,” I said. I hoped I didn’t look as terrified as I felt.
    One of the vampires guarding the door opened it for us, and I followed Nathaniel in, and then down a set of stairs.
    “The skinny guard with the beard looks like freaking Abraham Lincoln,” I said, hoping I could talk to cover up the deafening pounding of my heart.
    “It would be best for you to keep any extraneous co mments to yourself,” Nathaniel replied when we reached the bottom of the staircase, and entered a hallway with several closed doors.
    “I don’t suppose you were buddies with old Abe back in the day, if you’re two hundred years old or whatever,” I said, my voice wavering slightly.
    “No, I was living in New York during Lincoln’s lifetime, but I did not meet him,” he replied. “Please, do not speak further unless you are asked a direct question. The Queen’s chamber is through this door.”
    He opened the last door at the end of the hallway, and my breath caught in my throat as we walked into a shockingly large space. The room was half the size of my school gymnasium, and the walls were a mix of brick and stone. The entire floor was laid with an intricate design of mosaic tiles, and a dim, flickering light came from what seemed like hundreds of candlelit wall sconces. The room was deserted except for a middle-aged woman standing on a raised platform at the end of the room, and the large throne in the center of the platform, occupied by someone I assumed was the Queen. If this was the Queen, she was definitely not what I was expecting. She didn’t appear to be a day older than twelve or thirteen.
    “ Your Majesty,” Nathaniel said