Here's the finale to my Darkness series.

I don't hold any rights, etc.; I'm putting yet another warning for content &
language, so look out.

"The Darkness: Mother Night" chapter one of three

Rowen Hashiba sat by the bed, holding Sage Date’s stiff, osseous hand. A
month was a long time for a person to remain untreated and catatonic without
damage, but what could they do?
They couldn’t go to his family and tell them he was in a demon’s womb; no
one would believe them. Besides, he was showing signs of life every now and
then--a twitch, a vocal noise, a few tears, and occasionally a blink. He
never seemed to lose that dead expression, though, and he never moved on his
own. It had been a long time since Rowen had heard Sage’s voice, and he had
come to miss its gentle seriousness. Sage was just a shell, a whisper of
his former handsome self: His skin had jaundiced into a yellowy cream; his well-tended flaxen hair had become unwashed and unkempt; his earnest icy eyes now looked like
two orbs of lifeless metal staring blankly. When the rare, unconscious
tears would roll down his spiritless face, they would show the briefest
glimmers of life, but it would fade as soon as it had appeared. It was
death-in-life, and Rowen couldn’t stand to look at it anymore. His best
friend was suffering unimaginable pain, but there was no way to liberate him
from this torture except....... No, he could never do that. Sage was the
closest thing he had ever had to a brother, and he could never kill him,
even out of mercy.
All he could do was wait; maybe time was all he needed to recover. Rowen
wrapped the thin blankets around Sage’s shoulders and smiled at him sadly as
he left, shutting the door.

As Rowen walked down the stairs, he scanned the living room for life. The
only activity was centered by the main door, where a relocated fishtank
gurgled quietly. Kento Rei Fuan paced around it with an open book in one
hand, hurrying to keep up with one of the occupants. Rowen smiled; just the
thought of Kento trying to bond with a creature he would normally gulp down
without a note of guilt was enough to cheer him up temporarily.

“Hold still,” Kento whispered to the fish as he tried to track it and
research it in the book. “I’m trying to HELP you, ya stupid fish. Geez,
how could Sai LIKE you?”

“The fish probably say the same thing ‘bout you,” Rowen offered. Kento
looked up as Rowen joined the fish study. “They’re probably scared-- ‘Look,
it’s the guy that ate Walter!’”

“Very funny,” Kento replied with his highest level of sarcasm.

“Have you heard from him at all?” Kento just stared blankly. “SAI. Have
you heard anything at all?”

Kento just shook his head, returning his gaze to the fish. “Nothing. I
don’t even know where he’s staying. He hasn’t been in school or anything.
I’m just afraid he’s living on the streets or forced to do something he
doesn’t wanna do or something.” He put his hand on the glass, and the fish
began to congregate around it; in a few seconds, however, they dissipated
and returned to their dull lives. “They miss him, too.”

“I guess I sorta miss him,” Rowen mused, letting his fingertips touch the
aquarium glass; even that was warmer than Sage. “It’s a little hard after
all that’s happened, but he was still a good
friend.” He scowled slightly. “What did you mean by ‘do something he
doesn’t wanna do’?”

“Well, y’know it’s hard to survive alone on the streets, and I’m just
afraid that some sicko’ll strong-arm him into.... maybe.... well--..... you
know.”

“Sai’s stronger than that.”

“But he’s not well! He just LEFT and didn’t tell anyone! He left a lot of
his really personal stuff. I mean, I found his journal and his scrapbook
and his Sparkle an--”

“His Sparkle?”

“It’s his stuffed dolphin. He can’t sleep without it.”

“I’m sure he slept fine without it when he was with the hellspawn.”

Kento turned around with a look of appalled shock; given the subject at
hand, Rowen was more than surprised by this reaction. “You didn’t hear?”
Rowen shook his head. “They found half her body on the tracks last week.
It was so ruined they had to use dental records. It was disgusting....
Th-they showed it on TV. Then, ‘cuz no one knew who it was, I-I went in to
tell ‘em. It was horrible.....”

“You’re kidding.”

“It was old, too. And y’know Sai heard about it--I dunno why he didn’t
go.........I was just thinking we never mention her again, EVER.”

“Sounds good.” Rowen walked over to the coatrack on the other side by the
door and grabbed both his slick navy windbreaker and the keys to his new
car. “I’m gonna stop in on Ryo. Anything you want me to say?”

“Nah..... Have a good time.” Kento gave him a waving farewell before
returning to the tank, trailing an ornate yellow fish with his gaze and
wildly flipping through the book. “Now, lessee
what YOU are......”

Ryo Sanada hurried to the rear of the crowded restaurant, tucking his empty
tray under his arm. For once, he was happy to be clad in the long black
waiter’s apron; people cleared a path for him out of respect, lest he decide
to hurt their food. He hastily pulled a notepad and small pencil out of the
apron pocket as he halted at the farthest rear table. A young couple,
probably no more than a year older than his sixteen, looked up patiently as
he settled and rested his notepad on his arm. He closed his copen eyes for
the briefest of rests and greeted the couple with a laughing sigh. It was a
hectic night so far, and it would only get busier as his first hour led into
the fifth.

“Hi, sorry for the wait. Can I get you anything to drink?” Ryo offered
with a genuine smile tainted only by his slight exhaustion.

“No need to apologize. A couple of Cokes would be nice,” the young man
said happily.

Ryo scribbled down the drink request and looked up again. “Are you ready
to order, or do you need more time?”

“I’m fine, but... honey?”

The young woman looked up from the menu and smiled meekly. “Do you have
any curry dishes?” she asked.

“Yeah, all of these are curries,” Ryo offered, indicating a section of the
menu.

“Oohh.... thanks. I’ll have number fifty-three, please.”

“Okay....,” Ryo said as he wrote on the notepad again. “And for you, sir?”

“I’ll have thirty-six, please.”

“Okay, I’ll have those out soon.” Ryo ran back into the kitchen and handed
over the notepad page to the chef; as soon as he entered, he left and
returned to the crowd. All his tables were busy, either eating or waiting;
he wanted to check on some of them, but he hated catching people with a
mouthful of food. Instead, he found another distaction waiting by the
host’s vacant podium. Rowen leaned on it, doodling on the empty reservation
register. Ryo approached him
with a smile. “Here for the job?”

Rowen smiled up; he’d escaped this trap before. “I need to mull it over.
Can I have another couple o’ weeks?”

“I don’t know if I can last. Saturdays are brutal. I’m doing walk-ins,
reserves, and tables, AND if the people at the bar want food, I gotta work
that....” He sighed and smiled slyly. “Besides,
you look very natural behind that podium.”

“I just don’t know...”

“All you gotta do is keep up your appearance and stay awake. You won’t
have to work over six hours, you get a break with a meal, you get good pay
with tips, and you’ll always be working with either me or Kento.”

“If I take it, will you stop bugging me?”

“Ya think?”

“Go tell Mrs. Rei Fuan I’ll take it,” Rowen reluctantly said, resigning his
resistance. He sighed and mussed up his hair. “It’s just.... Will someone
be around to look after Sage? Mia’s night classes and you guys at work....
I-I’m just afraid he’ll get worse, and no one will be there to help him.”

“Don’t worry. Someone will always be there for him.” Ryo checked his
watch. “Look, I gotta go take my break. I’ll see ya tonight.”

Rowen started for the door, looking over his shoulder as he walked away.
“See ya later.” He pulled the collar of his windbreaker up as the cool
evening air hit him. Even though a steady stream of people found their way
from the street to the restaurant, his trek home was a lonely one; few
fellow pedestrians passed him as he walked back to the parking lot. One
familiar face, however, calmly passed him. He stopped and turned around.
“Sai...?” he whispered to himself
before raising his voice. “Hey, Sai! Sai!!” The figure kept walking
wordlessly down the street and past the restaurant into the shadows. Rowen
just stared at this refusal to acknowledge the calls. That made two friends
so far he had lost.

*You know you’re lost, child. You know you’re scared and pained and
hungry. Come back to me, bring us both fodder. You have more around you
than you know. Bring one to me, child, we’ll share him. You can be strong
and active again.*

^... Can I have my life back?.... Let me have it back.....^

*Bring me fodder, the first one you approach. If you deny me, I’ll use
you.*

Rowen shut and locked the door. It was too late to keep the door open for
any and all to pass through, and he just felt safer. He carefully replaced
both his keys and his windbreaker by the door before continuing towards the
living room. Kento had fallen asleep on the sofa, the book on fish spread
open and face down on his snoring chest; he hardly stirred as Rowen slipped
past him, moving only with the occasional muscle twitch or smack of the
lips. He smiled at his slumbering friend and slipped upstairs to the
bedrooms. He slowly opened Sage’s door; if he didn’t check now, he’d never
sleep soundly.

“Sage, I did a stupid, stupid thing,” Rowen began, addressed his catatonic
friend with his attention given to the door. “I know I told you I didn’t
like wo--” Rowen spun around and froze, eyes wide. Sage was standing at a
small mirror on his bureau, his hands numbly touching the reflection.
Rowen’s shock quickly gave way to outright joy. “You’re up!” He hurried to
celebrate, to give his friend an elated hug, but the expression on Sage’s
face halted him. It was a look of absolute terror, his face colored only by
the taint of tears.

“There’s nothing there.....,” Sage whimpered, tapping the glass. “Rowen,
there’s nothing there....” He wept aloud, walking slowly towards Rowen.
His hands reached forward and lightly caressed Rowen’s arms before seizing
them in a grip strong enough to scare. “Rowen, help me, please....”

“L-l-leggo!!!” Rowen cried, starting to struggle. Sage’s normally soothing
touch had become acidic and wracked Rowen’s body with pain to the deepest
physical points. He tried to scream out, to alert someone to his distress,
but he failed to find his voice; his knees gave out, and he stared up,
pleading, at Sage. The terror was replaced with a sadistic glee, his eyes
glowing with twisted joy as Rowen fought against the pain. A black swirl
appeared around them both, stroking Sage and choking Rowen. The darkness
swallowed them both, plunging both into an endless expanse of unlit
numbness.

*Well done, child....* an inhuman voice hissed. Rowen fought to see
through the darkness. Sage was standing in the middle of a black void,
caresses of shadow petting his expressionless form; he was the only scenery,
everything wrapped in a tangible darkness that hung on Rowen’s every inch.
*You served me well.....* The shadows craned Sage’s head up. *Have you
given up on this desire for human life....?*

Sage’s voice echoed sadly in the expanse. ^No....... I want my life
back....^

*Ah, well......* The darkness engulfed them both, but only Rowen reacted
to the pulling, adhesive cocoon as it slid across his body. His escalating
cry for help was choked by the clinging shadows; his eyes quickly followed,
blinded and pained by the tenacious black. *Fine soul you are.........
I’ll enjoy you..... as will Sage......*

Rowen felt his tears begin even in his shadowed tomb. The faint, pathetic
voice of Sage rang plaintively around him. ^..... I’m sorry............^

The new apartment was small, and the silverfish problem was more than
noticeable. Still, no one knew where it was or how to reach it--that was as
big a bonus as he could hope for. Sai Mouri wordlessly poked at his simple
dinner, staring out into the starry night around him. He had his new
life--a new job, a new school, and a nice, new routine. It was his only
wish for so long, to sever every tie he ever had and get a fresh start. So,
why was he letting his fresh start be adulterated by such longing for the
life he was so eager to leave? He missed the stupidest things--Kento’s
thundrous snoring, the thrilling trials of awakening Rowen, Ryo babying his
beloved White Blaze, Mia restraining her obvious frustration over sharing
her beautiful house with such rough company, and Sage eternally tending to
his ornate coif. He missed his fish. He missed
Ayame. All he had left was a collection of faded photographs secured in a
wallet and a newspaper obituary; for someone truly starting over, this would
be more than enough. The meeting on the street was what tore him apart the
most out of all; Rowen sounded so glad to see him, yet he had no choice but
to walk by, ignoring someone who genuinely wanted to see him. It seemed
like forever since someone wanted to see him. He was hardly into his new
existence, and he was ready to give it up. Who knew the solitude could be
such agony?

“Can you hear me?” a familiar female voice asked Rowen, her unseen hands
caressing his face. He opened his eyes, if they were even still eyes, and
found himself staring at a most familiar face. He jerked his face away from
her gentle touch. “Same old Rowen. Still hate me, huh?”

“Shut up, ‘Yame,” Rowen groused.

“Ayame died, remember?” she mused flatly. “You said so yourself. I’m the
non-human Ayame, Venefica. Call me V.”

“So you’re pure hellspawn now. Great.” Rowen looked away from her, trying
his best to ignore her; his curiosity, however, got the better of him.
“Venefica?”

“It means ‘witch’. I picked it out of one of my favorite languages. It’s
pretty accurate.”

“If it was ‘bitch,’ maybe. What have you done to Sage now?”

“Nothing! If anything, I’m trying to HELP him! Hey, I gave up my humanity
to keep you safe!”

“From what?! YOU brought all this onto us, so why should I believe YOU
want to PROTECT us from some phantom threat?!”

“I’m protecting you from my mother, okay?! Mother Night, she’ll kill you!
She’s Sage’s mother now, and it’s her that’s hurting him!!”

Rowen scanned his surroundings as he glared at V. He was nude, and she was
nearly naked, with only a filmy gauze wrapped around her from her chest to
the top of her thighs. A pulsating swirl of grays, silvers, charcoals, and
blacks encircled them; it was constantly changing around them, although they
had a place to sit with a degree of certainty. There was a rhythm to the
area’s movement, almost like a heartbeat. He shuddered, understandably
uneasy in the location and not exactly soothed by V’s ease with it. “What’s
going on?”

“We’re food.” V waited for a reaction and, receiving none, sighed in mild
frustration. “Okay, your friend was told to bring you as food for Mother,
and now you’re being digested. I’m here ‘cuz I was bad, and I’M being
digested, too.”

“How can you be digested? You don’t have any body left. We toasted to
that-- ‘To Ayame. May we never see her again’.”

“Oh, thank you. You’re no better than Mr.
‘We-Don’t-Know-Where-You’ve-Been’. This is residual flesh. I take it from
every vessel I hold, and now I’m finally material.”

“Great. Now you’re material, so you could rape me.”

“How do you know that?”

“I sorta woke up while you were having your way with me. Did you do that
just to hurt me, ‘cuz it’s done a LOT more than just that.”

“I’m sorry about that, Aaron. I lost control, and I, uhm, just wanted to
feel you and y--”

“You called me Aaron,” Rowen said numbly. “I’m not Aaron.”

“Yeah, I sorta realized that when you called human me a bitch. I don’t
blame you, really... You’re just so much like him, and when you’re as old
as I am, only the special people leave an impression. I’ll probably
remember y’all well into another few thousand years...”

“Why? We HATE you.”

V gave him a cock-eyed look. For the first time, Rowen noticed the changes
in her appearance. Her lavender hair had faded into the palest of grays and
grown out to equal her height in rippling cascades; her blue eyes took on an
eerie shade of frosty green that glared oddly against her milky complexion.
She was almost washing out into death as she lived. “It’s not exactly
mutual. Ayame--I--wanted human acceptance, and you guys were the only real
constant contact I
had for a long time. I really wanted you guys to like me, but I guess the
demon in me was too much to tolerate, I guess.”

“YEAH, seeing how you HURT us and drove us MAD and got us KILLED a few
times and left us with lifelong SCARS and--”

“Okay, I get your point! I’M EVIL!!! Even though I’m admitting my guilt
and asking for forgiveness, I’M EVIL!” The two grew quiet, the rhythm of
the surroundings adulterating the silence. Finally, V sighed. “I never
wanted to hurt you like that,” she meekly stated.

“Who, everyone or just me?”

“Well, all of you, but you and Sai out of everyone. And I didn’t mean
to....... ATTACK you. Shina sort of goaded me into it. All I wanted was to
kiss you, but she gave me some speech about humans being gross and there for
our needs, and I should jus......” V started to weep, tears tainting her
colorless face.

Rowen angrily seized her face and froze. There was no warmth to her flesh,
her damp tears the only source of heat on her being. “You really mean it?
You’re really sorry, and all you really want is a kiss?” V nodded. Rowen
wordlessly wrapped his arms around her and pulled her close, pressing his
lips to hers; she rested her hands against his arms, bracing herself. His
hands began to stroke her back and tug at the filmy dress, tearing it off;
she panicked, but her protesting shoves only backed her into his arms. His
kiss became more intimate, probing every aspect of her objecting mouth
before pulling away to kiss her neck.

V struggled as best she could, to no avail; her tears increased as she
cried in vain protest. “Stop it, please, stop......”

Rowen placed one last quick kiss on her lips before releasing her, staring
with absolute ice as she hastily backed away. “Were you scared?” he asked
flatly. V nodded slightly as she pulled her knees close to her exposed
chest. Rowen turned away with a sad, disgusted sigh. “Then we’re even
now.”

Kento locked the door as he prepared for his night on watch over Sage. It
had been almost four days since he had last heard from Rowen and two days
since he had to file the missing persons report with the ever-so-helpful
police. He had neither slept nor eaten well in a long time, and he was
starting to lose weight and look weary. There was only person he needed to
speak to right now, to get all this frustration off his chest and get the
vaguest sense of relief. He was right here, still seated lifelessly in bed.

“Okay, I know you can hear me, Sage,” Kento started as he sat, his tone
noticeably angry. “And whoever’s doing this to him, I know YOU can, too. I
want Rowen back, and I want him back NOW, unharmed. If you’ve hurt him in
any way, I will find some way to hunt you done and kill you. I’m sick of
you taking my friends from me, and I don’t care what it takes, I WILL stop
you.”

Sage’s feeble fingers pressed lightly on Kento’s arm; a faint aura of life
appeared around him. “You can’t stop this,” he weakly informed his visitor.
“You can’t find perfection, and you can’t stop this.” The life
disappeared as a lonely tear stroked Sage’s face. Kento sighed and
swallowed hard; for the first time in his life, he was helpless.