The Secrets of Darkling Manor

Forty-four: Alina Starkov

Forty-four:

Alina Starkov

Alina was tied up. She'd been coming in and out of consciousness. Now, she was conscious enough that she could feel what was tied around her wrists. It was plastic, she realized. It was a plastic zip tie, and not a rope. It was bound tightly around her wrist. Alina's vision focused enough that she could see where she was. She was in a dark room that looked like a basement. There was all sorts of boxes and random things down there, but she realized that there was an alter in the center of the room. It consisted of a small table, with candles lit, and two skulls in the center of it.

Aston Safin stood over the alter, wearing a long, black robe that covered him.

"Is this really all so that you can get Genya?" Alina asked.

"Aleksander Morozova took everything from me," Aston answered, "he took the woman that I loved, and Genya was supposed to be my child anyway."

Alina frowned. "What do you mean, Genya should have been your child?"

He turned around and smiled. "Tatiana was with me while she was with Harshaw. She was dating me before she dated Aleksander. Tatiana should have been mine. And Genya is going to be mine."

Alina winced. "What do you mean?"

"I mean, I am going to be her guardian. I will take her money. And I will control every aspect of her life."

Bile rose in Alina's mouth. She didn't know what 'control every aspect of her life' meant but she didn't want to find out. Genya had become something like a daughter to her. The last thing she wanted was her to wind up in the hands of someone like Aston who only wanted Genya for the money. What's more, there was of course, the whole trying to kill her and Aleksander thing, and forcing them to become the ancient spirits of dead people.

"What about your wife?" Alina demanded. "You're married."

Aston smiled. "My wife is dead. I killed her myself. I plan on marrying you once we have the witch inside you."

"But your whole case was because you and your wife were married."

"But I will be married. To a new, younger, more supple wife," said Aston, "you've a beautiful body, Alina. It's no wonder Aleksander lied so that he could keep you. I would have done the same, exact thing. Tell me, did he take pictures when he fucked you? I would love to see those."

Alina glowered at him. "You're sick. Love isn't about owning people. Love is about taking care of them."

"Is that what Aleksander did when he lied to you about being married?"

Alina flinched.

"Did you know that?" Aston said. "Your whole marriage has been a lie. There was never any romance between the two of you."

Alina almost smiled. She knew something that Aston didn't. She knew the truth. But maybe she could use that to her advantage.... she made her face fell. "What are you talking about? Aleksander and I are married. He fell in love with me the moment that I stepped into his office."

Aston laughed. "Oh, my poor, darling, naïve girl. No, he didn't. There was no love story. He lied to you. I heard tell you were a virgin when he met you too. He took your virginity from you under false pretenses. Doesn't that fill you with absolute rage?"

Alina winced. It did fill her with absolute rage. It was the one thing she didn't think that she would ever get over. She had always thought that eventually, Mal would come to his senses, and they would be together. But he never had. He had died before they could be together. And Aleksander had taken advantage of her.

But he had done it so that he could give her a home. And a family. The lying was terrible. It had hurt when she had found out the truth. Yet, even despite everything, she still felt loved. She liked her little family with Aleksander and Genya and even the old, creepy house that they lived in. Perhaps because it was the first and only place that she had called home in her lifetime. It had come about in darkness, but she really thought that if they could solve the ghosts, they could make it a true home.

"You're lying!" she said. "Aleksander loves me, and we're married."

"Why would he marry a poor, orphan girl from nowhere when he is one of the richest men in the world and could have anyone that he wants? You're nothing, Alina. You're expendable. That's why you're here, trapped in a basement with me. You're going to die because Aleksander Morozova doesn't care about anyone but himself. And then I'm going to let The Witch take control of you, and I am going to get absolutely everything that I want. Including the chance to fuck you and your pretty, little tight body. Are you a screamer, Alina? You look like a screamer."

She wrinkled her nose. "You're disgusting."

"I'm all knowing," he said, "and all powerful. And I am going to have you, and Genya's money, and everything that I rightfully deserve."

Alina was tied to a chair. But it was a zip tie, plastic, and it was digging into her wrists tightly. She fidgeted in the chair, trying to get the zip tie to come undone. There had to be some way to get it taken off....

The last time she had talked with Aleksander, he had been telling her to go inside the house. He had talked to her like she had been nothing. Maybe Aston was right. Maybe Aleksander wouldn't put everything together, and maybe she wouldn't be saved. Maybe this was how Alina Starkov died, killed by an insane necromancer. But then she heard a tapping sound coming from somewhere. There was a tiny window up in the corner of the basement. And the tapping, Alina realized, was coming from a bird up in the window. A darkling.

"A darkling," Alina muttered, "that's impossible."

The darklings were only supposed to be on Aleksander's estate. They weren't supposed to be anywhere else. And yet there was a darkling, tapping on the window. And then----

There was the sound of shattering glass, and then she heard the cry of the darkling in the basement. And screaming. Screaming that was coming from Anton as the bird attacked him, pelting him in the face, over and over.