hardy boys fan fiction
GUARDIAN IN THE DARK
hardy boys nancy drew fan fiction
by
Jolly
Chapter 5
hardy boys fan fiction
THE CHAPTERS
The Story Part 3
I wake up to see Jana pull back the thick dark drapes of our hotel room. It is an extremely rare treat that Jana has just given to me: a split-second glimpse of the final rays of the setting sun…and then it is night.
It did hurt my eyes quite a bit, but that gorgeous sight was well worth the pain.
As you surmise, I did not go to ground yesterday.
Jana’s point-blank request for details of THAT night had shocked me, and I blanked out for a short while. I meant it when I say I was not ready to talk about that. But Jana was right too. We have no time left. And as I tried for the first time in months to recall those painful memories, I broke. It was still too painful.
So sorry, Joe, I still couldn’t bear to think about it….
I curled into a ball and cried. It soon turned into gut-wrenching sobs. Then I felt a pair of arms around me, and for the first time since I turned, I allowed myself to lean back into her embrace for comfort. I let Jana hold me in her arms as I let out all my fears, my terror, my horror, and my shame of what I did. And Jana just held me, whispering soothing words of comfort into my ears. I listened, but heard nothing. But the melodious tones of her words wove a soothing magical spell about me.
It was a long while before I finally calmed down, mostly because I cried myself to exhaustion. It was good to let it all out. But I was feeling quite blank and empty by then. So I simply followed as Jana took us to a hotel and checked us in. Then she tucked me into bed like my mom used to when I was a kid. And I slept.
“Thanks Jana, for that lovely glimpse of the sun.”
She turned to me with a smile. “I knew you’d like that.”
You must be wondering why I would choose to go to the ground when I can sleep in a bed. The answer is simple: safety. It is a luxury most of us creatures do not have most of the time. And I had that as the sun rose this morning only because Jana was watching over me.
I look down at my left arm. The earth that Jana had sprinkled over the charred slash had done its job and partially healed the wound, and now it merely looks red and sore. Had I slept in the earth, my arm would have healed fully.
“Interesting isn’t it, that the earth hates me, yet it heals me when I rest within it?” I say to Jana in an amused tone.
“That’s why we call her Mother Earth. She mothers all her children, the good, the bad…all of them. Remember that, Frank.” That is Jana’s reply.
She’s really something, isn’t she? Every time I see her, I wish things were different between us. That is not to be, but still I wish.
Ah, you must be wondering what happened to Callie, my first love and girlfriend? She was devastated by my death, just like Joe. I went to her in the night, invaded her dreams, and told her to move on with life. She had refused to at first, but over the days, I slowly eased her pains, and dulled her feelings for me. When she received a full scholarship to study at UCLA, I encouraged her to go. She went. She still kept in touch with Joe; I left that bit of compulsion in her to keep in touch occasionally. So I know how she is doing, that she is fine. And last I heard she met this really nice guy there.
I am happy for her. I truly am.
A light and amused laughter fills the room.
“Still procrastinating?”
Did I ever mention I hate Jana?
“Why don’t you just grab the necessary details directly from my mind?” I grouch at her.
“Because you need to talk about it.”
And she was right too. I needed to talk about it. In fact, I already started the process myself three nights ago, when I began to tell you about my story.
“There is a big fight coming up, and I cannot afford, and Joe cannot afford, to have you go into it with a death wish….It would mean the battle is already half lost.”
I turn away from her. That is true, and I know it too.
What happened back then? Nothing much happened, really. At least everything that happened that night was very simple and straightforward. It was the what-I-did-and-almost-did part that haunts me, and killed what was left of my soul. But I guess it is time to face my sins.
“The Queen sent that waxy-faced man for me the night before my nineteenth birthday. He was there waiting in that long black limo on the outskirts of Bayport. He told me what I had done, and what I will do. Then he put me to sleep…”
Focus on the bare facts, strip out the unnecessary emotional attachments….In the end, it is the material facts that count…in the process of solving a case and most certainly in the court of law…
Yes, I remember my father’s advice.
“I woke up in a tastefully furnished room. I could see sunlight coming in through the window. I remembered my nightmare; there was a vampire in it, and he drank my blood twice….I felt really lethargic and weak, and in a moment of weakness, I reached up to touch my neck. There was nothing there and I breathed a sigh of relief. I turned and saw what woke me. It was a bunch of teenagers. ‘Happy Birthday,’ they said to me. Then they fed me fruits and water, and cleaned me. They dressed me in a pair of silky pants and left me there half dressed. Strangely, I had no desire to escape or to find out where I was. I simply lay there and stared at the clear blue sky as if it was the last time I would ever see it, and soon I was asleep again…”
“What type of pants?” Jana asks me.
“Red, red as fresh blood…with golden symbols embroidered onto the sides.”
I send over what I remember of those golden symbols to her mind.
She nods and gives me a reassuring smile.
I look in her eyes and for the first time notice the gentleness in them. Her pale blue eyes remind me of the clear blue sky on a cool and crisp spring day. I shake my head and laugh at myself for my foolishness. Then again, perhaps I have allowed myself to hope again, and that may be a good thing. I settled myself into a more comfortable position and began to talk….
And she listens, ever so patiently.
When I next awakened, it was night. The waxy-faced man came for me. He bade me follow him and I did. We walked down a corridor lined with Impressionist artwork, and we turned into a rather big hall. There was a pentagram drawn onto the floor in the centre of the room. The waxy-faced man led me to the centre of the pentagram, bade me kneel, and I did. Ever so obedient; and I never even wondered why.
And She was there just beyond the pentagram, seated on her divan of white fur, looking regal and sultry. Hers was the unearthly beauty of the brightest stars that shimmered in the darkest night. But when she smiled, you could feel the frost of the Arctic wind.
She was looking at a piece of paper.
“Born at nine in the night, weren’t you?” She asked of me.
“Yes.”
“So you shall die at the hour of your birth and rise again at the witching hour…after which you will pledge your allegiance to me.”
I knelt there and just stared at her.
I saw her gesture to the waxy-faced man, saying to him, “You’ve done well, Asmodeus, my servant….I can see he is almost there….See that you drain him and that his heart beats its last at the hour of his birth, no earlier and no later.”
“Yes, my Queen.”
“When he rises at midnight, you will feed him with your own blood, and of your own free will….He will not kill for his sustenance, at least not till he gets me what I want….It is imperative that his soul remains intact, and a part of it untainted in the meantime, do you understand me?”
“Yes.”
“Good, and after that, you will bring him to me. I will be waiting in the Ceremonial Chamber with the other one.”
With that, she left.
And Asmodeus moved towards me, and he waited.
Asmodeus was the name of one of the eight demon arch-princes of the first hierarchy, according to Sebastien Michaelis’s History Admirable written in 1613, I recalled as I waited along with him.
When the clock showed eight forty-five, he reached for me, even as I willingly bared my neck to him. I felt the quick and sharp pain as his fangs sank deep into my jugular, followed by a deep throbbing ache as he slowly drained my blood from me. From somewhere within me, I realized that he could have made it quick and painless, but he chose to drag it out and enjoy his meal and to feast on the pain that I could still feel over that fifteen long minutes. I felt my heart slow, then labor as the volume of blood fell steadily.
Then the clock strikes nine, and my heart beats its last tortured beat….
I did not know what transpired during those three hours when I lay dead within that pentagram. But I rose at midnight within it, just as the Queen had wanted.
The clock struck twelve and I took my first breath….
And I was starving.
A hunger so deep and so stark it gnawed at the very essence of my being. At that level of agony, there was no room for thoughts or morals, only the deep-seated need to feed. A need so primal and so core that, should a live being be placed before me then, I would have killed it instantly to feed my hunger.
Yet I did not because I could not. There was nothing near me, only Asmodeus, and he was so much stronger than I was. He held me still with nothing but the power of his mind.
He placed his wrist before me, and uttered the words almost as if it was a ritual of sorts: “Know this, my little Fledging, that I offer you my lifeblood of my own free will….Drink well, and join us…now and unto eternity.”
And I did.
Now thinking back, I do wonder, how is it that vampyre blood can flow when the heart does not beat? I suppose that is one of the mysteries of this world I am not meant to know. And oh, if you wonder if we breathe, the answer is ‘yes’. Again, don’t ask me why, for I don’t know.
After a short while, he told me to stop and I did. I was still weak, but no longer hungry. Then I followed Asmodeus as he led me to the Ceremonial Chamber. And he left me there.
It was a small room. She was there, waiting on yet another white fur divan. Next to the divan was a huge four-poster bed, and on that bed was my brother. He was dressed like me, in a pair of blood-red pants. But strange symbols adorn his skin. I knew without examining them that they were written in blood.
She bade me sit next to her on the divan. And I did. She pushed me back, until I was lying on my back and looking up at her. Her eyes were deep and dark, yet glowed with an eerie inner light.
I could not help but tremble at her touch.
“Do you know why you are here?”
I slowly shook my head.
“Your brother is very special. Do you know that?”
Again I shook my head.
“He is the one mentioned in an old prophecy....You need not know the details. He can change the fate of a world. With him on our side, we can take our rightful positions as the rulers of this world. We will no longer have to hide from the searing light of the sun…and with our powers, we can rule the earth.
“But we could not turn him,” She hissed angrily into my ear. “His blood was poison to us, and we could not breach his personal shield into his heart and his mind to corrupt him from within….I have tried for almost two months and yet he remains closed to me, to us....”
Then she looked at me and smiled again. “So I went back again to the old texts, and found something else. That he has a protector, a keeper of sorts, who holds the key to his heart and mind…and you, my little Fledging, are now mine…and you will use the blood bond between the two of you to enter his heart and mind, and taint him from within, and turn your brother…for me.”
She leaned closer to me, her hands stroking my hair and her lips whispering words in an ancient language that I could not understand. Then her fingers were poised above my lips and a single droplet of her blood landed on my tongue. I tasted the sweetness and swallowed it. I felt power coursing through me and I tried to reach out for more. She laughed as she entered my mind and started sorting through my memories. All I knew was hers for the taking.
Then she leaned closer still and with her lips next to my ear, she whispered instructions which I knew I would carry out to the letter. It went on for an hour, but I cannot even now remember what was said to me then. I can only recall her whispering, and whispering, and whispering.
I remember nothing.
Finally she was done, and she asked if I would do it for her.
I told her I would, and she laughed.
“Go, it is time.” She said as the clock struck three. “Make sure he is fully turned by six.”
I nodded in acquiesce and turned towards Joe.
He was lying there on the bed, looking so innocent. A part of me felt a little sad over what was to happen next, but it was not enough to stop me from doing what I was ordered to do. And She was still there in my mind, watching and blocking any resistance on my part even before it was formed.
I reached out with my mind, and soon I was in his. It was a beautiful place, Joe’s mind, so full of joy and laughter and love. I saw memories of all the happy moments between Joe and me flash by, but I ignored them all at Her urgings. I continued to search for the very essence of his being; it was there that I was to plant the very first seed of darkness.
And so I searched and I searched….
Then finally there before me I saw.…
I cried.…
Still I reached out with my shadowed hands….
I guessed that God must be looking after his creation, for in the next instant, I was jerked back into my own body. I could hear Her screeching in anger in my mind.
I opened my eyes and saw two figures in the room, one male and one female. One held a sword while the other held a crossbow. I watched the entire battle dispassionately from the bed, right there next to Joe. I saw that She was hit by an arrow. Even so, it was clear to me that She was more than a match for the other two. I thought they would die there and then.
Then I heard something else. More people were entering this place. No, they were storming the place. I could hear faint words like ‘FBI’, ‘raid’, ‘drop your weapons,’ etc.
I saw Her turn and snarl at them in anger. And with one last glance at me and Joe, She left the room via the window.
The two did not chase. In fact, I could feel their relief.
Then the female walked up to us. And I looked up to see a pair of pale blue eyes staring back at me.
“…And you know what happened after that, Jana…”
“Yes,” Jana said. “You went for my throat…and Jonah almost killed you there and then.”
“Perhaps he should have…why did you stop him?”
“Would you believe me if I said it was because of your sweet chocolate eyes?” Her tone is cheeky. “You know how much I love chocolates,” she said with a shrug.
We sit side by side on my bed in silence for a while. Finally Jana reaches out and takes my hand in hers.
“Thanks for sharing with me,” she said simply.
“Thanks for listening….”
She stands up and looks down at me, regret clear on her face. “One plus two equals three, three times three gives nine, and three plus three gives six…sorry…my thoughts have a tendency to run from me….I wish I could stay with you a little longer, Frank, but I must bring this information to my grandfather.”
“I understand….Don’t worry, I’ll be all right. And I also want to check on Joe.”
I watch as Jana shakes her head at me in that very unique way of hers. “Go…and I’ll see you as soon as I’m done…and Joe’s birthday is the day after tomorrow, right?”
“Yes…” I reply as I start to exit through the hotel window.
“And oh – Frank?”
“Yes?”
“Do you know who the Queen is?”
“No…”
“It’s okay, don’t worry about that….”
But something tells me that I do know. I frown and try to remember again, but all I can remember is a beautiful face with midnight eyes. I cannot recall Her name….
I suddenly feel very uneasy. Something’s going to happen, I know. But I have no idea what that will be. I only know that the Queen has something planned. And I have a terrible feeling whatever Her plan is, it will be carried out at the very last minute, so that we have no time to react effectively.
I must not let that happen!
I swiftly make my way through town and up into Joe’s room. He is sleeping, as expected. Then I clamber up to the roof to thank Jonah for his efforts. He tells me they dusted half a dozen vampyres that night. And like me, he feels that those are merely cannon fodder, sent to test our defenses.
As dawn approaches, I make my way to the tree house in the backyard. And there within the shelter of the four walls I helped Joe build, I let the horror and fear that I was not allowed to feel that night surface. It crashes over me like a tsunami does a seaside town. It tears through all the walls I have created over the past year to hold everything in. Then I let the shame and guilt – which I dared not let myself feel when I was telling Jana – rise. I face those emotions that I used to fear head-on, and I can feel my own self-loathing slowly fade away. I accept that there was nothing I could do that night.
Finally as the first ray of the morning sun breaks through the horizon, I go to rest in the ground below the tree house. The earth may not like me, but I can feel the wooden roots of the old tree surrounding me. I imagine them curled protectively around me, and take comfort in the memories it brings to me.
And most importantly, I am home.
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Disclaimer
The Hardy Boys belong to Simon and Schuster and the Stratemeyer Foundation. The Hardy Boys Fan Fiction authors of the Hardy Detective Agency have just borrowed them for an adventure or two. The authors promise to put the boys back when they are done with them. The authors do claim copyright to the original characters in this story. Please do not borrow original characters without express permission of the authors.