The Secrets of Darkling Manor

Forty-one: Aleksander Morozova

Forty-one:

Aleksander Morozova

The day was long. In the early morning, he sent Alina back into the house. The last thing he needed was her there as he drained the pond. Then he stayed by the water's edge and watched as it drained. He had bought something called a pond pump to drain it. He stood there watching, waiting for the water to be emptied so that he could pull the bodies out of there. He would put Luda, his mother, and the witch to rest, and then maybe he could restore the houses karma to something that wasn't haunted. Or trying to kill those that he loved. He could marry Alina, and they could be safe, and happy together. It was late afternoon when the pond finally finished draining.

He stood over it, peering into the bottom. In the deep, sunken hole, he expected to see the worst: rotting, decaying corpses. Skeletons. But when he looked down at the bottom, there was nothing. Nothing but dead leaves and rocks and algae. "Shite." He walked down the edge of the dry pond, into the hole, and began searching through the leaves and the mud. There was nothing in the water.

He heard laughter then. Cool laughter that caressed his ear. "Aleksanderrr....."

He glanced over his shoulder. Luda was there, smiling at him. He frowned. "What the hell are you doing here? Where are the bodies?"

She laughed. "You really thought it would be that simple? That you could bury me and I would go away?"

"Where are the bodies?" he demanded.

Her cold breath was on his cheek, and he watched as a maggot crawled down her face, past her lips, and then disappeared. "You know where the bodies are. You know what you have to do. Give him Genya and all of this stops."

"I'm not giving up Genya," he said.

"Then I'm going to make sure that you never see Alina again." Luda's eyes flickered in and out, like static on a television.

"Luda," he said, "what did you do?"

She smiled. "I didn't do anything. You brought her into this with all of your lying and deceit. If you hadn't, if you'd told the truth, maybe Alina would still be...."

"Alina would still be what?"

"Wouldn't you like to know?"

"Luda!" he shouted. "Luda, tell me where she is."

Luda laughed. "Why would I do that? If she's dead, you can't be with her."

"If she's dead, I will kill myself so that I can be with her."

"That's not how ghosts work, darling. The only reason we're here is because someone wanted us to be."

"That's not possible."

"Is it?"

"The Witch was here long before us."

"The curse was created long before us. This has nothing to do with dead bodies. It has everything to do with the necromancer that's trying to destroy your life because you have taken Genya from him."

"Does the necromancer have Alina?" he demanded.

"Why would I tell you?" Luda said. "If she's gone, it means that I can have you."

He didn't need Luda to answer. He knew what the answer was. Alina was gone. He ran from the pond to the house, and he saw Genya standing in the main hallway.

"Uncle Aleks?" her eyes were wide, and her voice had a slight tremble to it.

"Genya," he said, "where's Alina?"

"The man took her."

"What man?"

"He looked like you, but it wasn't you."

"What do you mean?"

"The man from the legend. The one about the Sun Saint. He said that he was taking Alina to see The Witch."

"To see The Witch?" Aleksander frowned.

"The woman in the pond, because he wants to be with her forever. He told me that he didn't get to do that before because the bad people killed her."

"The bad people?"

"The necromancers," said Genya, "they wanted her body for parts to perform dark magic, and he barely escaped with his life. But now the necromancer wants to reunite him with Alina but he need's a body."

"A body," said Aleksander, "Alina's body?"

Genya nodded. "She screamed. I came down to try to save her, but the house had flooded and then..."

"Then what?"

"She was gone. The man took her."

"The man that looked like me?"

"Yes."