Serafina and the Black Cloak Anthology by Robert Beatty

Author:Robert Beatty
Format: epub

Serafina lay on the front balcony of the Louis XV Room of Biltmore House, swishing her tail and looking out across the open grass of the esplanade as the moon rose, casting its silver light over the tops of the distant trees. No one could see her there, for she was as black as the night itself. The daytime folk were in the house behind her, sleeping soundly in their beds.

Serafina could see the silhouette of the wolves passing through the moon’s light on a distant hill. They were returning. And in the spring the songbirds would come, just as they had for a million years. The dark spell on the forest had been broken. The Twisted Staff was gone.

A beautiful green luna moth fluttered by with its long tails streaming behind. She watched as it flew up past the balcony, then headed for the gardens. It was late in the year for luna moths, but all the creatures were coming home.

In the room behind her, Mrs Vanderbilt and the baby within her lay sleeping. Serafina could sense their calm and steady heartbeats. She did not know why her mistress had decided to sleep this evening in the room they planned on turning into the nursery. It was as if she and her baby were eager for their meeting day to come.

Serafina gazed out across the lawn of the esplanade to the hilltops, looking for unusual shapes in the mist, or a silhouette among the trees, or the silent passing of an owl.

She watched and she listened. She was the black sentinel in the night.

She did not know when, or in what form, but she knew that one day more demons would come.

She vowed to be watchful.

She vowed to be ready.

For the night was her domain and hers alone.

Just a few days before, she had thought that she had to decide between one path or the other, between the forest and the house, between the mountains and the gardens.

But now she knew she did not have to decide whether she was a creature of the night or the day, whether she was catamount or human, wild or tame. She was all these things. She could be whatever she wished to be. Like the peregrine falcon that flies both night and day, she would do whatever she wished to do. The C.R.C. and the Guardian. The human and the panther. She was all these things and more.

But just as she felt a dark and lovely peacefulness finally beginning to flow into her soul she saw a black-cloaked figure moving through the trees in the distance. She couldn’t make out the identity of the figure, couldn’t even be sure it was entirely human, but, whatever it was, it stopped, and turned, and looked at her with glowing eyes.

Serafina’s heart pounded in her powerful chest as she stared back at the figure. She could feel her muscles beginning to bunch beneath her and her lungs filling with air.

As she rose to her four feet, she glanced behind her to make sure Mrs Vanderbilt was still safe in the bedroom.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.