Shades of Red

by T L Christianson

  My teacher’s white face and vacant eyes gave me nightmares. She probably knew what was going to happen to her.

  Taking unconscious steps, I backed away from the group. Lila, handcuffed and dazed, locked eyes on me as they dragged her to the door.

  “Sarah!” She called out desperately. “Sarah! Call Aurev right away! Tell him that GC has come for me! I didn’t do anything! I swear!”

  Shocked and fearful, I nodded and ran toward the common room where the telephones were. Entering the booth without closing the wood and glass door behind me, I punched in the head of Chronos’ Manhattan number.

  But before the telephone even began to ring, a long arm reached beyond me and pressed down the button that ended my call. I slowly turned to see none other than Aurev.

  Young, handsome as ever but imposing and calm, his dark eyes were filled with concern.

  He took the receiver from me and placed it back on its hook.

  “I’m sorry I’m late. I tried to get here before they did.” Guiding me by the shoulder, he led us to one of the round tables.

  I huffed out a breath, willing myself not to cry. “What happened?” I asked, shaking my head, not understanding.

  He narrowed his eyes and for a moment, looked like just another student here at the boarding school.

  “It’s complicated, but you know I’ve always been honest with you.”

  I nodded, scratching at the oak table with my fingernail along a dent. I didn’t meet his gaze, and I knew he didn’t expect me to like other adults.

  “I’ve told you that we’re different. Not you, but Miss Richards, Dr. Peters and most of us at Chronos. We’ve chosen you to be like us.”

  “Moroi?” I asked, finally looking up at him. Aurev’s eyes were intense, and I looked away again.

  “Yes, Moroi…”

  “You…you’re like vampires?” I stuttered, afraid I misunderstood. “Was Miss Jefferson a vampire–Moroi?”

  Aurev nodded, his long and stylish 80’s hair brushing the collar of his shoulder padded sports coat.

  “There is a sort of central government for all Moroi, called the Global Council. The best way to describe it is that Chronos is similar to a state, and GC is kind of like the federal government.”

  “So, Lila committed a federal crime?”

  “Yes. Like that. The Global Council settles disputes among clans, makes and enforces the laws.”

  “What are its laws? Do they control me?”

  “Well, you? Because I am your legal guardian, yes.” I waited and looked at him until he continued. “Okay, GC rules. There is a lot of fine print, but it comes down to three basic laws.” He rubbed his hands together and looked out the window. “Moroi cannot kill our own kind, except after a trial by one’s own clan or the GC.”

  “Is it illegal to kill humans?”

  His eyes slid to mine, and he continued in that slow, calm voice. “Technically, yes, but it’s not enforced unless it comes to human attention. Two, new Moroi can only be turned with permission from the GC, and the human must be a consenting adult.”

  “Why would you need permission?”

  “To keep the population in check.” He steepled his fingers and continued. “We have to keep our own population within reason.”

  He let me sit and think on that for a moment. “Then there is a maker’s responsibility to stay with their newly turned offspring and guide them. There are a few more, but most of them are common sense.”

  At the time, that last rule hadn’t meant anything to me. Why should it have? I was concerned about what would happen to Mrs. Jefferson.

  “Lila has broken one of their rules before she came to work for me. The GC only told me, as a courtesy, that they were coming for her. They’ll hold her at Chronos. I’m allowing them to hold her in New York until they give her a trial and then they will carry out whatever punishment– if any is warranted– on my territory because she is part of my clan.” His expression was grim. “Chances are that if GC is involved, then she is probably guilty.”

  A few weeks later, Lila Jefferson, my teacher was found guilty and beheaded. All local clans were expected to attend the execution that took place at a convention center. Hazel reluctantly told me all this after I begged to know what happened.

  Arriving in the detention center in Chronos, Lila Jefferson’s face seemed to haunt me.

  Standing outside the heavy door, I was buzzed inside to a civilian waiting room where Hazel stood. Her mouth was drawn into a thin line, her neat hair slightly disheveled, and a blush stood out on her pale cheeks.

  My friend drew me into a hug, her left hand still holding a briefcase and her right clutching a stack of papers.

  “Hazel, where is he?” I asked.

  “They’re going to bring him into a holding cell, and then we’ll be able to talk to him there.” She looked me over, straightened my shirt and smoothed my hair. “Do I need to worry about you?”

  “Shouldn’t you be worrying about Karsten?”

  She shook her head. “There’s nothing more we can do. There’s nothing Aurev can do. It’s out of our hands; he’s being taken back to Denmark to face his clan there.” She searched my face for something; what I didn’t know. “You need to brace yourself for what’s to come.”

  My knees felt wobbly, and I swallowed. Hazel guided me to a chair to sit down. “What? I can’t… This whole thing is crazy.”

  “Look at me. Open your eyes, honey.” She slapped my cheek gently. When I glanced up at her, my lashes were wet, but I kept my tears in check. “You need to show him your strength and steadfastness right now. None of this weepy business. You hear me?”

  I nodded.

  “He’s lived a long time. He knows the rules. If he broke them, he knows the consequences. Aurev’s already in deep with the Council because of the Amy situation. Luckily, we’re not implicated in any of this,” she waved her manicured hand holding the files to indicate Karsten’s situation. “Because the crime took place over in Belgium.”

  A buzzer sounded, and a GC soldier held the door open for us. “Ms. Richards, Dr. Shepard? Come this way.”

  Down the hall, we entered a small room with a desk and two chairs, one on each side. Karsten sat handcuffed to the table on one side, and Hazel motioned for me to sit on the other.

  The guard closed the door and stood in front of it.

  Rushing to my Viking, I reached over the table, hugging him and kissing his mouth over and over again.

  He was emotionless and lethargic.

  Turning to the guard, I accused, “Is he drugged? What did you guys give him?”

  Karsten shook his head. “It’s protocol, I’m okay.”

  Hazel approached the GC guard, talking in low tones before they left and closed the door behind them.

  I was alone with Sten. Touching his arms, I bent to kiss his hands.

  “What have they done to you? Are they torturing you? Are they harming you?”

  He just shook his head and nodded for me to sit.

  The contours of his face appeared sharper, his eyes, dark and haunted.

  “What’s happened?” I squeezed his arms and leaned as close as I could get.

  “They say they have evidence.” He said broken and defeated.

  “What? No. You said you didn’t do it.”

  He cut me off. “I didn’t, but it doesn’t matter.”

  My mouth dropped open, and my breath came quickly. “I saw the DNA test, it could’ve been your maker or a sibling… Or even a child you made. Was any of your Moroi Family there in Belgium?”

  Watching the door and the camera in the corner, he leaned toward me and whispered almost inaudibly, “Yes, but I won’t name them.”

  Impatient, I set my jaw. “Who, who was it?”

  “En af ​​mine børn. I’m not going to name them.” One of his children.

  He was taking the fall for his child? He’s said all his biological children had died. One of his Moroi children had made Emilie.

  S
haking my head, I chewed my lip. “No. You have to. You have to save yourself.”

  “I won’t. I am at fault for letting this happen.”

  Determination and resignation lined his face. “It’s not your fault! You don’t have to take the blame.” I realized.

  He grasped my hands in his, the chain clanging on the table. “Sarah, there is nothing that can be done. I won’t dishonor myself.”

  Anger began to burn in my cheeks. “This is all Emilie’s fault. What petty reason does she have to come forward? What would she gain?”

  “Sarah, no…” He tried to raise his hands to me, but the silver chain stopped his movement, and he grunted in pain.

  “No, Karsten. GC might go easier on your child! It was an accident, and you both know it! Anyone could’ve done it by accident! I just don’t understand. I can’t understand.”

  I put my head in my hands, my hair out of the ponytail, hanging over me like a curtain.

  The chains rattled, and I looked up to meet my Viking’s eye.

  “I’m sorry.” He said.

  “I don’t blame you.” My eyes began to fill with tears. “I blame that Emilie, I blame GC.”

  “I don’t blame her.” He reached for me, and I took his hand in both of mine. “Don’t blame her. She didn’t deserve to be left alone, a changed Moroi. If I’d only known… I… Things could’ve been different.”

  “But you’re innocent. It’s so unfair. It’s so wrong!”

  “My love, fair is a word only children use. It never existed and it never will. Nothing in life is fair. How is it fair that I’ve lived for hundreds of years, while several important, intelligent men have lived only decades?”

  I sniffed and wiped my face.

  “What’s going to happen?” I asked, shaking my head, not wanting to know.

  “They’re taking me back to Copenhagen for a GC trial; my clan is petitioning to do the trial instead.” He dropped his gaze, “It will probably be beheading.” His eyes met mine again, “Don’t go. Don’t watch…”

  A sob escaped my lips, and I closed my eyes to keep my tears in.

  “Min elskede, I’m sorry.”

  “No, you have to fight. You have to tell them.” I whispered on a cry.

  The cell door opened and the GC guard was back.

  “Time to go ma’am.” He told me.

  “No, I need more time…” But he gripped my arm gently and began to pull me toward the doorway.

  I looked back at Karsten, his beautiful mismatched eyes glittering like diamonds from unshed tears.

  “I love you!” I yelled out to him.

  “Jeg elsker dig. I love you, Sarah. Forever.” He then smiled at me and the image of my stubborn, beautiful Viking, eyes full of tears, telling me he loved me, broke something inside me.

  I crumbled to the ground in the hallway, but the GC soldier simply picked me up and unceremoniously dumped me inside the unisex bathroom.

  Hazel found me on the floor where I sat sobbing uncontrollably, before she helped me to the sink.

  There was the sound of a toilet or two flushing, but I didn’t mind these faceless, nameless people at that moment.

  “Shhh,” my friend told me as she splashed cold water on my face. “Shhhh…it’s okay sweetheart. Maybe some new evidence will come up.”

  Wracked with sobs, I couldn’t speak.

  Hazel opened a bottle of chilled blood and put it to my lips. “It’ll help,” she whispered. I drank a sip and then stumbled away from the sinks to slump onto the tile floor, my back to the wall.

  “There we go,” she crooned, making me drink the entire thing.

  We sat there in silence for a long time, people frowning at our position on the floor, judgement in their eyes.

  Finally, I spoke. “I need to go to Denmark.”

  Hazel shook her head. “No, you can’t. It will only create trouble for Chronos. It’ll be in the hands of GC and the Ødger Clan.”

  Sniffing, my tears almost started up again.

  “What does it matter? He won’t save himself.” A bitter smile quirked the corner of my mouth.

  “If you tamper anymore, Aurev might have to entomb you. Is that what you want? To be buried alive for fifty years or more?” She waited for a beat until my expression changed. “No, you don’t. It’s horrible. Besides, you’ve just been able to calm your thirst so that you can be with your kids. Is that what you want? To lose them again? If you’re entombed, you might never see them again.”

  The thought sobered me. “How can I look Emilie in the face and not beat the living shit out of that little bitch?”

  My friend’s eyes widened. “Oh, no. It wasn’t her. She’s not the one who went to GC.”

  I was taken aback. “No, she was adamant. She came after him while we were still there.”

  “No, it wasn’t. Owen’s house has been bugged and spied on for…oh my gosh, I don’t know, forever. As far as Aurev can tell, it was another clan out to cause trouble for us.”

  “Are you just trying to calm me down, or telling the truth?” I asked, pulling myself to my feet.

  “It’s true,” she said, lips pursed.

  Wiping my face and combing my hair with my fingers, I pulled it back into a ponytail. “Do you really think that there’s a way for him to get out of this? Honestly. Tell me the truth.”

  I noticed a little of her lipstick on her teeth and shook myself mentally for such a stupid thought at that moment.

  Frowning, she weighed her words. “I think that because he was a soldier for Global that they’ll make an example of him. I can’t say for sure. To be honest, the last dealing we’ve had with GC was that teacher of yours back in the 1980’s.” I loved how Moroi were very specific with dates. They never said, “the 50’s.” Nope. They said “the 1750’s” or “the 1950’s.”

  “Hmmm… What was Lila charged with anyway?” I wondered out loud.

  “She turned her thirteen-year-old daughter. The girl had been diagnosed with some disease and was dying.” Hazel looked away from me. “They were both executed.”

  “I know,” I whispered. I’d known about my teacher, but not her daughter. “That was crap too.”

  “Yeah, but the rules are there for a reason. We can’t have Moroi like Amy running around creating all kinds of trouble.” Our eyes met. “And, yes. Young Moroi are trouble.”

  Chapter Thirty

  Duango, Colorado

  When I arrived in that small town in Colorado, I took my lone bag down to the laundry room of the hotel. Wearing only my swimsuit I began a load of wash.

  I got a few sideways glances, but I didn’t care. Karsten’s situation outweighed everything else on my mind.

  I tried to focus on my kids but found myself breaking out into tears at the slightest reminder of my Viking.

  As I sat on the counter, trying but failing miserably to read a local tourist magazine, a text popped up from Owen: You can come over tomorrow around 5 for dinner and stay until the children go to bed.

  Me: Why don’t I come over in a few minutes?

  Owen: The kids are in bed.

  I blew out a breath and looked at the time, 8:23 p.m.

  Me: I’ll come over around noon instead.

  Owen’s reply was quick: Please do not. If you want to do this right, it needs to be slow.

  Me: You left them with strangers for days, yet when I want to be with them, then my time is limited? I don’t think so.

  Owen: Why are you trying to fight? I want them to know you. I’m trying to make things go smoothly. I know you’re their mother.

  Me: Do you though?

  Owen: You can either do this the right way or not at all. That’s your choice. 5pm tomorrow.

  Me: Noon

  Owen: Come on, Sarah. This has to stop.

  Me: Me? Seriously? I don’t want to fight with you either, but you’re unfair here. Can’t you see that?

  The washer stopped, and I pulled my clothes out of the wash machine. Digging out more quarters to put into the
dryer, I started it up.

  Owen hadn’t replied yet, and I imagined him sitting there in the Victorian’s kitchen with Emilie. He would talk to her about it, I was sure of that.

  The fact that my fate with my children fell into her childlike hands turned my stomach. I believed Hazel, but I couldn’t forgive Emilie.

  There was still no text from Owen by the time my clothes were done. Setting my phone on the counter next to where I folded my laundry, I kept looking at the blank screen. If he didn’t text back, should I just show up there at noon?

  Finally, almost an hour later a text came through, but it wasn’t from Owen, it was from Hazel.

  Hazel: They’ve taken Sten. He’s getting extradited to his home Clan, Ødger, in Denmark.

  Me: Thank you. When will we know anything?

  Hazel: I’m not sure. Aurev knows many of the leaders over there, but he’s unfamiliar with Karsten’s Clan. He would send Forest, and I’m sure he could fit in most places, but a black man in Denmark?

  I’d never thought of Forest as black, but I guess he was. He was a mixed-race man with copper-colored skin.

  Me: Should I go?

  Hazel: No! Absolutely not. If Karsten has any chance with GC and his clan, we need to stay out of it.

  Then another text came through.

  Owen: You may come over at 3pm.

  Me to Owen: Okay, see you then.

  He wasn’t the only one on my plate, but I felt so frustrated not being able to do anything for Sten.

  Me to Hazel: I’m visiting my kids tomorrow. I was going to buy them some gifts.

  Hazel: That’s good. Try to get your mind off what’s going on. There’s no use dwelling on it.

  Me: Easier said than done.

  Hazel: I’ve got to go. Love you hun.

  Hazel again: Stay out of trouble!

  Me: Back at ya! First time without a guard in almost six years, I’ll behave. If I can’t have my Viking, I don’t want anyone else.

  Then she sent me a kissy face emoji.

  I woke up excited to spend time with Rebecca and Jackson and for that brief moment before fully awake, I reached out for Sten.