The Dark Path Read online

  The Dark Path

  by

  Luke Romyn

  Copyright © 2009 by Luke Romyn

  All rights reserved.

  Published by Luke Romyn

  Kindle Edition

  Cover illustration by Luke Romyn © 2011

  This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. It may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each person you share it with. If you are reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, you should return to Amazon.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form without written permission from Luke Romyn, except by a reviewer who may quote brief passages for review purposes.

  This book is a work of fiction and any resemblance to any person, living or dead, any place, events or occurrences, is purely coincidental. The characters and story lines are created from the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.

  Editor: Chuck David

  ISBN: 978-0-9872149-2-8

  If you are interested in more writing by Luke Romyn, be sure to visit

  http://www.lukeromyn.com

  This novel is dedicated to my beloved wife, Sarah.

  The only one who stood beside me when I walked my own Dark Path.

  Table of Contents

  Prologue

  Chapter One: The Dark Man

  Chapter Two: Unwanted Memories

  Chapter Three: Only Second Best

  Chapter Four: Chapel

  Chapter Five: Entering the Path

  Chapter Six: Squirrel

  Chapter Seven: The Avun-Riah

  Chapter Eight: A Roman Holiday

  Chapter Nine: Two Journeys

  Chapter Ten: Reflecting Evil

  Chapter Eleven: The Angel of Death

  Chapter Twelve: Know Your Enemy

  Chapter Thirteen: The Velearstk

  Chapter Fourteen: Heaven and Hell

  Chapter Fifteen: Death

  Chapter Sixteen: Unexpected Allies

  Chapter Seventeen: Embrace Your Enemy

  Epilogue

  Prologue

  Antoni knew he had failed. This knowledge burned bitterly through his mind, but he refused to admit defeat. The child had no one else, and Antoni wouldn’t turn his back on her. Blood oozed down his left arm, leaving a grisly trail behind him as he shuffled slowly down the tunnel carved out beneath the mountain.

  The flow had slowed now, but Antoni knew his loss of blood had rendered him nearly useless. The Four had proven invulnerable, while he had only his mortality to challenge them with.

  He had cast aside his armor along with his equally ineffective weapons, after barely escaping from the battle into this tunnel. The only thing he retained was the package wrapped and hidden securely within his clothing.

  Blurred images flowed before him; he tried to refocus, but found it no use. Despair coursed through Antoni for the hundredth time, and he paused against the wall, hoping to regain some strength. Never before had the knight failed. Throughout his many battles during the Crusades, at times facing impossible odds, he always managed to prevail. This time was different.

  He was dead; his body simply hadn’t realized it.

  His enemies were too powerful and his strengths too few. Silently Antoni cursed his weakness. Gritting his teeth, he pushed himself away from the wall, swaying on his feet before shuffling further into the darkness. The pounding within his head increased steadily and again his vision blurred.

  Antoni heard a soft giggling from behind him, but turning, found the tunnel empty. The Four were still out there somewhere; playing with him, like cats toying with an almost-dead mouse, letting it believe it might escape before pouncing once again.

  But Antoni wasn’t trying to escape. All that kept him going was the singular hope that the package he concealed would truly do everything its seller had promised. If his claims proved legitimate, there remained the slightest chance he could thwart the evil still to come. He couldn’t win, but if he could stop his enemies, at least life could go on.

  It would end for him though, of that he had no doubt.

  The tunnel seemed to loom for an eternity before his foggy vision, the flickering torchlight dimly illuminating the way. Agonizingly he shuffled onwards, ignoring the whispering and giggles echoing from the shadows around him.

  Suddenly, Antoni found himself face down on the rough stone floor of the tunnel. Realizing he had collapsed, he managed to painfully lever himself up to his knees and look ahead. At the top of a small rise, the entrance to a much larger cavern materialized and his hopes flared slightly.

  Stumbling up the small hillock almost proved too much for the former knight, and again he had to pause and rest amidst the snickering shadows. Before him opened a massive chamber carved from the stone of the mountain. Burning torches surrounded the walls and sconces blazed throughout the room, illuminating the chamber…and the purest of horrors.

  A massive mound of bodies rose in the middle of the room, suffering various stages of decay. A small stone table had been erected, and sprawled across this altar of death lay the object of his search.

  The child.

  Tears threatened to choke the battle-hardened warrior upon seeing hope flicker in the girl’s eyes. Noticing his sorrow and weakened condition, her expression softened, as though understanding and resigned to her fate

  Without warning, something gripped Antoni from behind with such force that he wailed in renewed agony, his wound flaring and fresh blood flowing. The putrescence of rotting flesh permeated the air around him and a sibilant hiss rose in his ear.

  “You have caused us much inconvenience, Crusader. And now you shall witness the fruits of your failure, while you watch your precious savior die.” Antoni was yanked forward mercilessly towards the altar and thrown headfirst amidst the bodies.

  “Do you like our decorations, Crusader?” taunted the voice. “Not really necessary for what we hope to achieve, but our followers bore no further purpose, so they now serve as ornaments for our pleasure. Such should be the fate of all meat sacks like yourself.”

  Antoni raised his eyes hesitantly towards the child. She gazed down at him, a glorious reflection of his love. He gritted his teeth in determination.

  “I’m sorry,” he whispered softly. Only she heard it. The child merely nodded, and smiled so sweetly the crusader thought his heart would burst into flames.

  Slowly, Antoni pushed his battered body to his knees amidst the laughter of his captors–for they had all emerged, now that their victory seemed imminent.

  “What brave words will you say before you die, Crusader?” Their leader almost spat the word. “What threats will you now convey?”

  “No threats,” said Antoni softly, groaning, but finally managing to stand. He would not die on his knees before such as these. “Merely a present.”

  He produced the package from within his clothing. Antoni had purchased it from a Chinese merchant who had told him of the mysterious black powder’s capacity to level mountains. How appropriate, he thought mirthlessly, offering the parcel.

  “A present for us? How thoughtful. Pray tell what it is you have bought for your hosts.”

  “It is death!” roared Antoni, hurling the package into the nearest brazier.

  The Crusader never saw the blast that followed, never heard the howls of outrage from his enemies, suddenly realizing their plans had been thwarted. He never saw the cavern caving in around him and never felt his body being crushed and broken beneath tons and tons of stone.

  All that Antoni saw was the girl-child,
and all he felt was her love.

  And that was all he would ever need.

  Chapter One: The Dark Man

  “Please don’t kill my wife,” pleaded Rico San Diablo. “I’ll pay double what Bucelli is paying... triple, just don’t hurt my wife.”

  The cries fell on deaf ears, the Dark Man calmly continuing his work. He had finished torturing San Diablo, and gained the information he’d been paid to collect. That this greasy little drug-dealer cared about his wife meant nothing to the assassin. San Diablo might as well have screamed at the stars for all the good it would do him.

  All that mattered to the Dark Man was finishing the job and that would soon be done.

  He had been impressed with the smaller man’s stamina. The Dark Man had tortured him steadily for almost two hours before he had finally cracked. He’d had to revive Rico three times during the interrogation. Most men could stand losing a couple of their digits or appendages before breaking, but Rico hadn’t cracked until the Dark Man had approached his unconscious wife with the blowtorch. Without a word the assassin had insinuated similar treatment for her if the man remained silent.

  He hadn’t.

  Now the job neared completion... almost, but not quite.

  He picked up the large black bag from the floor. Reaching inside, he removed two items. One, a bottle of powerful smelling salts.

  The other, a hacksaw.

  Rico’s screams echoed through the hallways of his mansion, but the only ears besides those in this room, belonged to the bodyguards lying dead in the courtyard. His screams were not of pain, but anguish at the sight of the Dark Man first waking his wife, and then slowly setting to work on her.

  Finishing, the assassin approached Rico, and lazily tossed his wife’s head into the dealer’s already stained lap. He settled himself, waiting for the end of the screams and sobs, anticipating the beginning of the threats. He had learned long ago that it was best to endure them, otherwise the victim’s mind filled with thoughts of vengeance and they couldn’t focus on what you had to tell them.

  After an eternity of screaming and cursing, both in Spanish and English, Rico finally settled into a quiet sobbing. Finally, the breaking point the Dark Man had been waiting for: the victim realized what they had lost–and could be easily reminded of what they still had, and how simply it could be taken away.

  “You will not enter Bucelli turf anymore Rico.” The words were flat, emotionless, and more terrifying as a result.

  “WHAT? You mean this is all because some of my guys strayed too far south?”

  The Dark Man nodded.

  “Why’d you need to know about my damn import schedules?”

  “Just making conversation, I guess.” A note of boredom crept into the Dark Man’s voice. “Plus, knowing your schedules gives my employer prior knowledge of your every business movement, thus enabling him to beat you every time.”

  “You’re talking like I’m gonna live through this. Just shut up and put a bullet in me you fucking lackey! Do it and you’ll see the biggest damn gang war this town has ever witnessed. You’re dead! The whole Bucelli clan is dead you asshole! You just wait and see!” Rico screamed, spraying spit and blood from his mouth.

  “First of all,” the Dark Man began, acid dripping from every syllable, “I’m nobody’s lackey. The man paid me for a job. One job. My life is my own, what there is of it. Secondly, there isn’t going to be any war.”

  “Oh yeah tough guy, how come? What makes you so invulnerable after you walk into my house, and kill my beautiful Bella?”

  “Because I know of your son.” A malicious smile crept across the Dark Man’s lips.

  San Diablo stared incredulously at the man above him. There could be no way anyone knew of Leo. The boy didn’t even know who his father was. He lived with his mother in Los Angeles–a woman no longer connected with Rico in any way. That this man knew of his existence seemed inconceivable.

  “I take it by your silence that you know who I’m talking about. If any of your people even look in the direction of Bucelli territory, I will be sent for your son,” the Dark Man concluded, moving away. “And there is nowhere you can hide him from me.”

  His business complete, the Dark Man packed his tools into the black bag and moved towards the rear door.

  “You mean you’re really not going to kill me?”

  The Dark Man paused and turned.

  “I think this may be worse than a clean death, don’t you?” he responded, motioning towards the head in Rico’s lap, its lifeless eyes staring up at the dealer. “Every day you’ll remember this anguish. Every day is another day when I might return, a day that your son might also receive a visit from Vain.”

  With these last words, the Dark Man moved back towards Rico. The dealer’s face blanched with fear. The man before him was none other than Vain. A killer above all others. His name whispered quietly in even the darkest corners, lest he appear at its mere mention, like some folklore demon.

  Here stood the man who had destroyed the Romolov syndicate piece by piece eight years ago; inflicting unimaginable tortures, before finally ending their lives in the most painful ways imaginable.

  Vain grinned icily. “I take it that you agree to my proposal.”

  Rico experienced a new misery as his bladder released and streamed urine from his mutilated genitalia. Yet all he could manage was a weak whimper. Vain watched the trickling pool and chuckled.

  The assassin twisted away from the man, abandoning him, tied to a chair, and sobbing over what remained of his wife.

  * * * *

  Guido Bucelli giggled like a schoolboy watching the events from the previous night broadcast on the evening news. Rico San Diablo carried from his house on a stretcher. Oh the joy of it all! His greatest rival destroyed, the entire city’s illegal drug and gun racket would belong to him. Guido giggled again, yet another body bag being carried from the ex-drug baron’s home.

  He still couldn’t believe the turn of events. A month before, Guido had been in serious trouble. San Diablo had been running the north side of town for a few years and, being the two main importers in the city, they’d held an uneasy truce up until about a year ago.

  Disaster had struck.

  Two of Bucelli’s biggest shipments were seized when they’d entered port. The customs officials had obviously been tipped off. The question at the time was by whom? Guido later discovered his own nephew had ratted to the cops. Marco had held a lot of resentment towards his uncle since Guido’s public admonishment over the bungling of his first solo deal.

  The arrangement had been simple: two hundred handguns to the Blood, in exchange for two kilos of pure heroin. The entire deal had gone sour due to Marco’s inability to control his emotions. One of the gang members had mentioned something about the guns being greasy. Marco had taken it as a racial slur. The resulting bloodbath had taken months to calm, before the Blood would even think about dealing with Bucelli again. Guido had publicly berated his nephew over the incident, and the boy had seethed at what he termed his ‘unfair’ punishment.

  His final treatment at the hands of Dante had probably seemed unfair too. The mutilated hunks of flesh that remained of his nephew attested to the harshness of Guido’s justice.

  After Bucelli’s shipments were seized, Rico San Diablo had taken the opportunity to flood the streets with his product, even being so bold as to start selling on Bucelli turf. Just a street or two, but Guido knew it’d only be the beginning if he didn’t put a stop to it fast.

  A war was out of the question. Neither group could afford the attention at the moment. With the FBI already breathing heavily down their necks, using one of his own men to try to kill Rico was too dangerous. If the attempt failed, a war would be unavoidable. And Guido knew none of his men could succeed.

  Thus the need had arisen for the skills of an outsider. Someone with supreme talent and little or no conscience. The Dark Man had leapt to the forefront of Guido’s mind. Better known as Vain, the assassin’s previous
work had largely been discounted as street folklore; horror stories to keep drug dealers like Guido awake at night.

  But how to find him? Even if the man did exist, nobody seemed to know how to contact him. Most assassins these days worked through extremely secretive lines on the internet, collecting contracts and payments via the tap of a button.

  Not Vain.

  One of Bucelli’s associates had described his own attempt to contact Vain for a contract. He had tried every known avenue to connect with the killer for over a month. From street contacts to internet ‘hit’ sites–everything short of running an ad in the local newspaper–all to no avail. Guido had laughed at the man when told of the trouble he’d gone through, all for a simple contract on a local police sergeant making life difficult for his street dealers.

  Thus it had been a huge surprise when the Dark Man had paid Guido a visit in his own home, passing undetected through his guards, sitting on the man’s bed, and waking him with the point of a knife pressed against his throat. At first, Guido had not been afraid. His immediate thoughts were of the 92FS Berretta sitting in his bedside drawer, and how this man’s brains would look beside the tapestry on the wall.

  “I wouldn’t even think about moving if I were you.” The words held a steel iciness that sent a spike of fear through even Guido Bucelli’s thick skin.

  “If you’ve been sent by San Diablo to kill me, you had better get on with it,” said Guido, painfully aware of the heightened pitch in his voice.

  “If I were sent to kill you, you’d be dead.”

  The words chilled Bucelli. The man sitting on his bed was dressed completely in black, an angular face beneath a shock of dark hair. Guido had thought absently that the stranger was even handsome–everything except the eyes. The eyes were what convinced Guido his life dangled by a thread; that his next words could possibly see it ended swiftly. This man’s eyes were dark; there seemed no distinction between the irises and pupils, almost like his entire eye was made for peering through the night.