The Adventures of Emily Tual Book Four: The Rising
Chapter Seven

The Man with the German Accent looked at the Kremlin. His furry coat was wrapped tight around him. The last time he had seen this building, he had gone to destroy the files they had on him when he had been Rasputin. He noticed that they had beefed up their security. No doubt part of it had to do with the rumors that the United States had spread about the Russian President letting Russian hackers interfered with the American’s silly election system. He smiled a little. If only the Americans knew the truth. The election had been tampered with by the Black Hand to make sure that the President’s son had power.

Virginia Dare joined him. “So what are we doing here?” She asked him. “I thought we were going to take care of getting Audrey?” She was confused. The Man with the German Accent had talked a lot about getting the girl to unlock the Camazot and yet here they were in Russia looking at what she thought was the capital building. She had never really cared for Russian politics or way of life. She wasn’t sure if it was because she was American at birth or she had spent her teenage years dodging Russian Secret Police during World War Two because she had smuggled herself into the country.

To Virginia Dare, the Kremlin looked like a toy building. Supposed to look all big, fancy and powerful on the outside but in reality, was filled with a bunch of toys that were being manipulated by a larger force and could easily be destroyed. She looked at the guards and soldiers. With a quick few notes from her pipe, she could easily render them useless. Her pipe was in her backpack.

The Man with the German Accent had forbidden her from using magic just yet. Apparently the entire Russian Mafia was filled with Black Hands. If they found out they were there, it wouldn’t end well. Like their respective nations, there was tension between American Black Hands and Russian Black Hands. Virginia Dare was surprised that the two countries hadn’t already torn each other apart.

The Man with the German Accent looked at Virginia Dare. “We’re here because I want you to see where the last battle in the Great War happened.” He told her. He gestured to the Kremlin. “This building stands upon the original battle site. Under this building and under this part of the city are the bones of the Black Hands and of the Resistance who fought a long time ago in the last fight. It was here where the Darkness was defeated and Seraphina made her prophecy that her heir would come one day to defeat the Darkness for good.”

The Man with the German Accent looked around. “All of these pitiful mortals don’t know what they stand upon.” He continued. “And it’s here where we’ll rebuild the Darkness’s kingdom.” He wouldn’t fail the Darkness again.

Virginia Dare looked around. She had heard of the Great War but she never thought that anyone besides Gabriel and the Darkness would know where it had taken place. She thought it had taken place in what would become England or the United States. After all, the last two times the Black Hand had tried to raise the Darkness, it had taken place in the United States and before that, England. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. Even without her magic, Virginia Dare was so in tune with nature that she could sense all of the bones deep below the city and even under the catacombs.

“So Russia is where the old empire of the Darkness is?” Virginia Dare asked, opening her eyes.

The Man with the German Accent shook his head. “No.” He answered. “It’s on the land that belonged to the Darkness’s father. But the name is similar to the old land’s name.” He laughed to himself. If only Ivan the Fourth really knew where the word Russia came from. It had been discovered by the emperor back in Fifteen Forty-Seven in what was believed to be a journal of a Rus but was really a journal of a descendant of a peasant from Rusian. The new name did fit. It would help the Darkness feel right at home.

Virginia Dare raised an eyebrow. “The Darkness’s father? Who is that?” She asked. This was new to her. She always thought that the Darkness had been around for a very long time. It was supposed to be a Primordial Being, one of the very first beings. She didn’t know much about the Primordial Beings except for when they appeared in mythologies. She knew though that the Darkness was more ancient than any other pagan god or goddess. It was why Bastet had always served it.

The Man with the German Accent looked at Virginia Dare. “Yes, the current Darkness has a father.” He answered. “The father was known as the Dark One when he ruled over the empire. Rusian, Ancient Russia, was his land.”

Virginia Dare just got more confused. The Man with the German Accent wasn’t making any sense to her. If anything, he was speaking in riddles to her. “Who is the Dark One? Is he the one we serve?”

The Man with the German Accent shook his head and sat down on a bench. “Long ago, before the Darkness we serve today and before the Dark One, there was a family who worshipped darkness. They did everything in the dark. Well, one day, they were discovered by a local town sheriff during the middle of a dark ritual of sacrificing an innocent child that they had kidnapped. The sheriff and several bounty hunters chased the family until there was only one still alive. The son in this family made a deal with the darkness. He would keep the darkness alive in him if the darkness gave him immortality and power. The darkness agreed to the deal and took over the son, making him immortal and dangerous. The son killed the sheriff and the hunters became the first Black Hands.” He explained. “Well, the son became the first ruler of Rusian and made an empire with his power. Everyone who challenged him were killed.”

Virginia Dare sat down next to him. “And he became the Dark One?” She asked.

The Man with the German Accent shook his head again. “Not the one I told you about. This was a different one for the darkness had lied to him about something. When the son’s first born child, a boy, was nineteen, he killed his father to rule the empire and the darkness flowed from the son to the first born, making him the next Dark One.”

The Man with the German Accent looked at the Kremlin. “The darkness made the first born the new Dark One. It kept doing that over the years, taking the first born as soon as they were nineteen and making them the new Dark One just to keep itself in power.” He shook his head. “And then the one we call the Darkness came along.” He said. “I’m not entirely sure what happened but when she was nineteen, she became the Darkness instead of the Dark One and the empire ended. The Black Hands, being the servants of the Dark One that we are, went into hiding to make sure that the heir wouldn’t be able to defeat the Darkness when she came back.”

Virginia Dare thought about what the Man with the German Accent was saying. It was clear that the Dark One’s daughter, Seraphina, had been on the battlefield but if it was her heir to defeat the Darkness, then it must have meant that Seraphina had an older sister. “Who led the Black Hand alongside the Dark One?” She asked.

The Man with the German Accent was quiet for a bit. The truth was, he didn’t know. His own father never told him who it was that became the Darkness. Malachi knew but Anthony had kept the demon tethered to him so Malachi could never tell him. Just about every other Black Hand who had been alive and had survived the Great War had been killed by Gabriel supposedly but the Man with the German Accent had a feeling that his father had killed most of them to keep it a secret.

“Ahezesser?” Virginia Dare asked. “Who is Seraphina’s older sister?”

The Man with the German Accent looked at Virginia Dare. “I’m not entirely sure.” He confessed. “There’s no record of her that survived. Gabriel and Victor had wiped out all of the information. The only place that might still have that information is in Emily’s book.”

Virginia Dare stood up. “Then we steal it when we take Audrey.” She said. “We still need to get the Camazot out of his prison. He’s the only one who can answer our question about who the Darkness is if Emily’s book can’t tell us.”

The Man with the German Accent realized that Virginia Dare was right. The Camazot was the only one besides Gabriel and maybe James who knew who the Darkness was and was still alive. Even if the beast was wild and crazy, it still had a mind and memories somewhere in its head and those could tell the two of them who the Darkness was once.

He looked at the Kremlin again. “We don’t have much time left.” He said. “We have until Halloween to get all of this done.” He looked at Virginia Dare. “And never use my real name again.” He ordered her.