The Secrets of Darkling Manor

Forty-three: Aleksander Morozova

Forty-three:

Aleksander Morozova

He had only been to Aston Safins house once, for Tatiana and Harshaw's wedding. They lived on a large estate in the same village as him. Harshaw's father had been a third son and hadn't inherited anything. But his family connections had been enough that he had been able to get his son into all of the best schools and the family had seen the potential in his genius. Aston, Harshaw's older brother, had been gifted money by their grandfather. But he burned through it all on drugs and women.

He was married to a wife that he ignored. And Aleksander had heard grumblings about him spending time with younger women. He didn't like the idea of Genya being in that environment. What's more, he was fairly certain that the only reason that Aston Safin wanted to take over as Genya's guardian was so that he could get the money that Harshaw and Tatiana had left.

He took his car and he drove up to the estate. There was a long, winding drive that seemed to go on forever until finally, the giant house loomed over him. He got out of the car and slowly walked up the steps.

He could still remember the last time that he had been there. It had been Harshaw and Tatiana's wedding. A hot day in June. At that time, Luda had already lost the baby, but they were married and there was no going back. He remembered spending his day at the bar, getting drunk at the reception.

"Why are you bitter?" Luda said. "You stole me from him. Isn't this exactly what you wanted?"

"No," he said, taking a sip of the champagne in her hand, "it wasn't exactly what I wanted."

"Then maybe you shouldn't have fucked me," she said bitterly.

It had been one of the worst days of his life. He was young, reckless, and worse selfish. He had let the girl he actually cared about slip through his fingers all because his best friend had been finding a life of her own. What an ass he had been. He took whatever he wanted and didn't think about the consequences. He had done the same thing with Alina. He had to save her. He had to make it up to her.

If he went in the estate, and they both managed to make it out alive, he would spend a lifetime making it up to her. He would ask her to get married again. And he would devote his whole life to making her.

As he stood outside the house, he heard a strange cry that made him freeze. He looked overhead. There was a darkling overhead. There was a whole group of them, and they were flying in a cluster. Towards him, he realized. They were divebombing him.

He turned and did the only thing that he could think of. He ran, far from the estate, in the direction of the woods.

And when he reached the woods he saw the ghost that had haunted him his whole life. The Witch. "Aleksanderrrrrrr....." The Witch croaked his name. "Aleksanderrrr......"

The Witch blinked in and out, like a television adjusting, and then suddenly she was right up in front of his face. He could smell the acrid smell of rotting flesh. And then The Witch reached out, and touched him, and that was the last thing that he remembered before his world went black.