Dark Radiance, page 1
Dark Radiance
ALLISON ALDRIDGE
Copyright © 2019 Allison Aldridge
All rights reserved.
No part of this publication may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews. This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, organizations, places, events and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
Cover design by Designer © 2019 by Damonza
Edited by Rare Bird Editing
ISBN : 978-1-7332687-0-7
Second Edition : 2022
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2
Contents
Dark Radiance
Copyright
Newsletter Reminder
Dedication
Dark Radiance Playlist
Opening Quote
Prologue
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty One
Chapter Twenty Two
Chapter Twenty Three
Chapter Twenty Four
Chapter Twenty Five
Chapter Twenty Six
Chapter Twenty Seven
Chapter Twenty Eight
Chapter Twenty Nine
Chapter Thirty
Acknowledgments
Thanks for reading
Newsletter Reminder
About the Author
Newsletter Reminder
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Dedication
For my parents, who always taught me to shoot for the stars and to never stop dreaming.
Dark Radiance Playlist
Find the full playlist & more on Spotify: AuthorAllisonAldridge
Angel With a Shotgun
The Cab
Salvation
Gabrielle Aplin
Bedroom Hymns
Florence + the Machine
Angel on Fire
Halsey
Till I fall Asleep
Jayme Dee
Running Up That Hill
Kate Bush
Glory and Gore
Lorde
Horns
Bryce Fox
Crossfire
Stephen
Opening Quote
Chaos is an angel who fell in love with a demon.
–Christopher Poindexter
Prologue
Bedtime stories are just nightmares masqueraded as childhood fantasy.
The words slipped off my older brother Nathaniel’s tongue. Our usual bedtime routine of a story in a dimly lit corner was my favorite time of night. Both of us were crammed in a small room with four other foster kids who resided in the current home we had been placed in. Nate had always told me the stories our father once told him, legends of monsters passed down for generations. I didn’t have the comfort of meeting our parents. They had been brutally murdered in the front yard of our home days after my birth. The bed always dipped in rapid movements at night when Nate would relive the execution-style killing he had witnessed.
“Tell me one more, Nate.” I choked back a yawn before it could slip out from my lips. The clock struck nine o’clock. Two hours past our supposed bedtime.
“You’ll have nightmares again, Lilypad.” Nate spoke quietly, careful not to disturb the sleeping boy who lay inches from the grimy mattress we shared. His arms circled my petite frame, pulling me closer to his chest. He leaned down and rested the top of his chin near my hairline.
My nightmares came from his tales—I knew that just as well as he did. Nate’s stories were filled with wickedly beautiful creatures who roamed the earth just under our noses, seeking a place to rest. They were terrifying. But still, I always craved more.
“Just one more please?” I looked up toward him, jutting out my bottom lip in a deep pout. Nate sighed heavily but quickly gave in to the pleading puppy dog eyes which I directed towards him.
“All right, one more, that’s it.” Nate allowed me to get comfortable once again before he began his story. “Back before Angels walked among us, they would sit on the edge of large clouds, feet dangling down into the blue sky as they watched mortals down below commit their daily sins against God. That’s when he decided to send his most trusted soldiers to walk among the sinners. God called these Angels the Elite. The creatures’ beauty was unprecedented to anything the mortals had laid eyes upon. This caused corruption within his ranks, forcing him to make a decision. Strip every soldier who defied him of their wings, cursing them to live alongside the mortals for the rest of eternity. They were labeled the Fallen.”
Tales of the Fallen always sent an uneasy feeling spiraling into the pit of my stomach. There it would stay until I found peace in sleep. Quiet slumber was interrupted by vivid nightmares of fallen soldiers whose inhumanly vibrant eyes shone in the darkness of my dreams. Those eyes held true power. Just the thought of them sent chills up my spine. Quick flashes of those who defied God played on a constant loop through my everyday life. The images caused paralyzing fear to course through my veins as the creatures from Nate’s bedtime stories held me in the scenes, releasing me only once they were done playing with my mind. The feeling fueled my love for the stories even more with each one I was told.
I continued to listen to Nate’s soothing voice speak of the Angelic creatures that walked alongside us. I did this until my eyes grew heavy.
The next morning, I noticed the spot next to me on the small bed was cold to the touch and unslept in. Peeling myself from the dirty mattress, I searched through the vast hallways that connected the foster home. I searched them for hours.
Nate never returned to his side of the mattress.
Chapter One
Idelwood, Colorado. A nowhere town which held strangers that would soon be my new foster family. This process was all too familiar to me after seventeen years of being in the system. Bouncing around from home to home was just another part of my yearly routine, not that I minded all that much. I had never had any real memories of a home—the word itself felt foreign on my tongue. The uncomfortable, scratchy material of the bus seat looked as if it had never been cleaned, making the entire cabin smell of feet. The odor amplified a headache I had acquired hours ago from an older man’s snores. His wheezing had been ringing in my left ear since the bus had departed from the station thirteen hours ago.
Condensation droplets dripped slowly down the outside of the bus, making the forest blur by in a foggy mist. Nothing about the town I would soon be stuck in until my eighteenth birthday screamed excitement as we traveled deeper into the never-ending line of trees. I had managed to pry one interesting fact about the town from a newbie caseworker who had been shadowing mine the week of my transfer. Every inch of skin on her body had turned a bright red shade when she realized the secret she had told me. I had to hold back my fits of laughter that threatened to explode out of my chest.
Idelwood was a strange town where the pastor’s daughter had sacrificed herself within the church walls, making the entire building cursed to outsiders looking in. Now that Idelwood was rumored to be haunted by ghosts of the past, no one wanted to move into a place where such a gruesome event had occurred. Even locals had been wary of staying after the incident. Being forced to remain within the town's borders could be interesting if I managed to dig out the real story from its residents.
The bus jerked to a stop, breaking me out of my thoughts as I flew forward into the brightly colored seat before my hands could catch my fall. Blue polyester made contact with my face, sending a sickening crunch into the otherwise silent bus. I groaned, hands tracing underneath my nose to check for any signs of blood.
The pain of the impact finally hit me when the jaded bus driver’s voice spoke over the loudspeakers. “Final stop for the night, folks, the outskirts of Idelwood.”
Standing from my claimed spot, I leaned back, listening to my spine let out a few satisfying pops. My eyes wandered throughout the now empty bus—the older gentleman who had sat in the spot next to mine had slipped off without me noticing. I was one of three people remaining in the cabin of the bus. A teenage boy stood tall at the front, his raven hair tousled to one side as he threw on a beat-up leather jacket over his toned arms. There was also a woman dressed too nicely to be riding the bus, her strawberry-blonde hair stuck up in different directions from a slicked-back bun sitting at the crown of her skull. She kept her face hidden, watching the boy from the corner of her eye as he walked off the vehicle with ease. I slipped past her figure, not taking a second look at her face.
Colorado’s chill October air hit my skin as I stepped off the last bus step, allowing me to come face-to-face with a dark figure who leaned up ag
“I can see we have a new face in town,” the figure’s deep voice said over the squeal of the departing bus’s wheels.
“How would you know I’m new? I could just be visiting this sleepy little town you call Idelwood.” I took a step closer to the figure as I spoke. The boy from moments ago stood against the bus sign. The light of his cigarette cast a yellow glow across his face, allowing me to see his dark lashes brush against pale skin.
As he inhaled a deep drag of the cigarette, his eyes found mine before his lips parted, smoke escaping into the night air. “Because no one smart ever visits Idelwood, love.”
I was taken back by the bluntness of his statement before his powerful gaze captivated my senses. The eyes staring back towards me were the most vibrant green I had ever seen—I felt as if I could swim within their color. Each fleck of green sparkled under the continuous swing of yellow light sitting above his head. Snapping out of the sudden trance, I rolled my eyes in his direction hastily turning on the heel of my boot towards the direction of town.
“I didn’t catch your name, new girl,” his booming voice hollered after me.
“That’s because I didn’t give it,” I called back in his direction, leaving him mumbling obscenities to himself.
The beauty of the square shocked me when my feet reached the edge of the cobblestone that lined the road. Each building held an eerie vibe which dated back to the Victorian era. Flickering lampposts cast a gothic glow on each structure. Idelwood’s main street was one long stretch with little shops placed on either side of the road. In the middle of the square sat a large statue of a young girl, a flower crown weaved intricately through her hair while a stone cross was held down in her hand by her left side almost covered by the white marble wings bursting from her back. The figure sent goosebumps across my skin—her eyes followed my every movement when I leaned to each side, trying to catch a better look at the statue’s odd beauty. Every detail of this road screamed familiarity in the back of my mind. I felt as though I had been in this exact spot once before.
Shrugging off the feeling, I pulled myself away from the statue and made my way over to a small café which sat across from the figure. The warmth of the room fell over me as I stumbled through the ringing doorway.
“Hello, dearie, take a seat anywhere you would like and I’ll be with you in a moment,” a woman with a kind voice said to me from across the room. She stood taking a man’s order, letting out a small laugh as he cracked a joke in her direction. My feet traveled silently towards the bar top that lined the far wall, and I claimed the second chair from the end as my own. I slowly scanned a menu which was clipped by a metal ring above the condiments, trying to make myself look busy to avoid any of the wandering eyes behind me.
“So, what will it be, dearie?”
The woman leaned down towards me, placing one hand against the countertop and allowing me to get a good look at her. She looked as though she was in her late twenties with long blonde hair tied securely in an elaborate braid. Her beauty radiated off the plain walls in the restaurant.
Finding my voice, I fumbled over my words. “Um, coffee will be fine, thank you.”
I quickly ducked my head down, breaking eye contact with her. She let out a melodic laugh. “Oh, you kids and your coffee nowadays. Are you sure you don’t want something to eat? You could use some meat on those bones of yours. Don’t worry, I’ll whip you up something quick. You’ll love it.”
She dashed away from me, the lemon colored dress she wore floating seamlessly behind her. I swallowed down the protest that rested in my throat before sinking back further onto the bar stool in defeat. The force of my body almost made me topple over in the process. Catching myself on the lip of the counter, I managed to sneak another look at the woman. A soft light pulsed around her as she moved to each customer in the café.
“Celia’s always like that. You’ll get used to it, though.”
Jumping back at the sudden voice, I whipped my head in its direction. A girl around my age sat on the barstool next to me, her long, jet-black hair spilling out from a glossy ponytail. She was squinting up at a water spot that had made a home on the wall in front of us.
“She seems nice.” My voice was timid as I spoke. I let my eyes leave the girl to my left and travel back in Celia’s direction. My gaze tracked every movement curiously as she floated on air around the counter.
“That she is. Celia owns this place. I’m Aspyn Faye, by the way. It’s wonderful to meet you. We don’t get new people around here often.”
I looked back towards her, startled by yet another pair of vibrant green eyes staring back at me. Gathering my composure, I took the hand she stuck out in front of herself before shaking it. “I’m Liliana Caldwell, but I go by Lily.”
“Well, Lily, I personally welcome you to Idelwood, the most boring place you will ever live.” Aspyn flashed me a bright smile which had formed across her face, arms moving in a dramatic ta-da motion as she gestured toward the town just outside.
“Oh, now you stop that, Aspyn.” Celia arrived back in front of us, swatting rapidly at Aspyn’s hands after she set a plate of fries and a steaming cup of coffee in front of me. “This town is plenty fun, darling. You just have to know where to find the mischief.”
“Celia, if you would like to enlighten me where this mischief would be, then that would be wonderful for my social life. I mean, I love hanging out with you all the time but I would love to be a little bit of a rebel while I still can. Plus, it will drive Asher, my brother, up the wall which is always entertaining.” Aspyn began to pick at the fries on the plate, laughing briefly before she plopped one in her mouth.
“I wish you wouldn’t pick off others’ plates, Aspyn! It’s not polite. But just you wait—I feel as though the mischief in this town will pick up soon enough.” Celia winked towards me, letting both elbows lean against the bar top, one hand resting under her chin. Her comments made me giggle into the coffee I sipped. The steaming liquid traveled down my throat, warming my insides from the biting cold of the outside.
Aspyn rolled her eyes continuing to eat the fries. “Cee3erty78, I wish you wouldn’t reprimand me about my manners. I’m trying to be a rebel here.”
“Well, be a rebel when we aren’t making first impressions, although I think your rebel days were long ago, dear.” Celia snorted, turning to walk around the diner’s countertop to greet the customers who had filtered through the chiming doors. I continued to listen to Aspyn explain almost every detail about the small town, and the only exciting aspect of this place was the many parties held by the teens of Idelwood. I guess when there’s not much to do around here, you have to make your own entertainment.
Catching sight of the watch strapped around my wrist, I gasped in horror. Aspyn looked up, giving me a strange look. “Dammit, I was supposed to be at the house an hour ago.”
Bile began to rise in my throat as the panic started to set in. The only thing I had to find my new home was the scrawled address on a gum wrapper my caseworker had thrown towards me that morning. I scrambled to gather my belongings, slamming a ten-dollar bill on the countertop. Praying it would be enough to cover the tab.
