From Darkness It Comes

Confrontation at the Quad

"I'm so glad you are with me." Darrin says as he walks out of the building hand in hand with Lisa. A smile spread wide on his face.

"Nowhere I'd rather be" She says squeezing his hand and pulling him slightly closer as they walk into the day.

The sunlight shone down on them and they squinted against it as they passed into the quad. Lisa hung off his arm like a young lover and Darrin was happier than he could ever remember being. Here he was on a beautiful day with a gorgeous woman on his arm with nothing to stand in his way.

At least so he thought.

"Darrin" A raspy voice says from a shadow beneath a tree beside him. "You have to listen to me."

Darrin froze at his spot and opened his hand to let Lisa go. She didn't let him go and held on tighter, pulling up close to him and turning with him to look at where the voice was coming from.

The man was standing there in his tattered tweed, with his long dark coat wrapped around him and black hat hiding his face with shadow. His sunken eyes narrowed as he looked at Lisa at Darrin's side. "She doesn't need to hear this Darrin. Get rid of her."

Darrin, his face now frozen with fear, turns to look at Lisa. She stares back at him with warm yet determined eyes. "Don't even think about it tiger." She says with a small smile. He starts to say something, but she interrupts before he get more than a single sound out. "You said you were going to spend the day with me, so no matter what you are. Now stop looking at me like that, because I'm not going anywhere."

Darrin blinks with shock at this and turns back to look at Mr. Stark. The old man grimaces and shakes his head slightly. "Fine, but not here. Come with me." On that he turned and slowly walked away with a slight limp. Darrin and Lisa, still holding tight onto each other, slowly follow as he leads away from the courtyard and down the gravel path behind Jacobs' Hall.

"You know this man?" Lisa whispers in what she can muster of a calm voice.

"Stark." Darrin manages to choke out in a low rasp. Clearing his throat he whispers more. "He calls himself Mr. Stark. He's some kind of kook that thinks something bad is happening here and I have been chosen to help stop it or something. He may be dangerous so just be careful, but we should at least humor him for now. I mean what if any part of it is true?"

Lisa squeezes his arm again before replying. "Well, there was that murder or whatever last night. That poor girl being torn limb from limb. What if he's right?"

"Quiet." He growls back at them. "Wait until we're inside." After a pause he stops a metal door in small cement bunker built into the side of the hill and turns to face them. Opening the door with an old key he asks, "Do you have the dagger?"

Darrin starts slightly and looks quickly at Lisa before answering. "Not on me. I left it hidden back in my room."

"You better go get it. It's important." He grumbles as he goes through the door. He then looks back at Lisa before addressing Darrin again. "We'll wait in here for you."

Before Darrin can reply Lisa steps back and lets go of Darrin's arm. "Let me get it. I can get in your room no problem. Just tell me where it is." She then darts her eyes to Mr. Stark momentarily before flitting them back to Darrin with a look of uncomfortable fear. Her face says it all. Don't leave me here with him.

"No. It'd be safer with you Darrin." Mr. Stark rasps with the most comforting voice he could muster. "She'll be safe with me. Just hurry."

Darrin looks worriedly back and forth between them, trying to decide what to do. After a moment he clears his throat and tells Lisa...