by Aidan Wayne
She glanced down at Charlie’s body, still crumpled where he’d fallen. “He was a traitor,” she sniffed, and crap, nothing crazy vampire lady said made any sense. “Helping to hide my son from me, training my son. But I found him, smelling of you, my dear, and now I am here at last.” She looked to Vlad and smiled at him. It was 110 percent terrifying.
“Gregori,” she said to Vlad, and who? “It is time for you to come back home.”
“That is not my name,” Vlad choked out. He was shaking, clutching at Darren’s shoulders, and his nails must’ve done the growing sharper thing again, because Darren could feel them pricking through his shirt. “I’m not your son. He’s dead! He died centuries ago! Anna told me!”
“Anna,” the woman said, tasting the name. “I’m glad I punished the right servant.” She kept coming, walking with slow, unhurried intent. Darren could see her eyes, a bright, vivid green, a stark contrast against her dark brown skin. “Now, Gregori, stop this nonsense. You are being unreasonable. It is time to go home.”
“Please,” Vlad begged. “Please leave me alone. I’m happy here. Please.”
She frowned at him and made a tutting noise, before disappearing into mist. Darren and Vlad both jerked around, trying to follow it, and then Darren was yanked and being forced to his knees by something solid and strong, and Vlad was a few feet away staring at him in horror.
Darren let out a shaky breath and slowly turned his head. The woman’s hands were curled around his shoulders, thumbs rubbing against the places where Vlad’s nails had broken the skin.
Vlad let out a broken sound that Darren never, ever wanted to hear again. “Please don’t,” Vlad whispered. “Katarina, please.”
“Gregori,” Katarina said, sounding almost kind. “I have humored you long enough. I am willing to let you keep your pet, but not if she distracts you so.” There was a soft snik sound, and her fingernails were suddenly inches long and looking very sharp. She trailed one down the side of Darren’s neck. Darren maybe stopped breathing. By the looks of it, so did Vlad.
“I… I’ll come with you,” Vlad said desperately. “Please don’t hurt him. Please. I… I’ll go back with you.”
“Gregori.” A warning tone.
Vlad clenched a fist, and Darren could see dark blood dripping from his palm. Then Vlad swallowed and bowed his head. “I am sorry for leaving, Mother,” he said in the deadest voice Darren had ever heard. “I am ready to come home now.”
Crazy vampire lady actually laughed. “Marvelous!” she said. “Oh, Gregori, I’m so happy you’ve finally come to your senses. Come along, then. I will fly you home. Would you like to bring your pet faerie?”
Vlad quickly shook his head. “No thank you, Mother,” he added hurriedly, when her hand flexed against Darren’s throat. “Please just… let’s leave him and go.”
“Are you sure, Gregori? Maybe we should bring her. Then you won’t be lonely. You’ll have us both, so you won’t want to leave again. Won’t that be nice?”
Darren felt something brush against his knees, and he chanced a glance down. Mushrooms were popping up at his feet, like they always did when he started getting that energy. If he concentrated, he could probably make a faerie circle, even like this.
But that would mean leaving Vlad. So no. There had to be something else. He had to think, but it was hard, the terror buzzing under his skin and crackling down his back, drowning out everything else. And Vlad was frozen, didn’t know what to do, ready to give himself up but not if it meant Darren going down with him.
If the buzzing got any stronger, his teeth were going to start rattling in his head, and he itched to rub at his arms, and—that wasn’t all terror; he could feel a storm—
“Vlad,” Darren managed. The fingers around his throat flexed, but Vlad’s eyes, pure gold, snapped to him, and that was all that mattered. “Hey.” He tried for a weak smile. “One of us is going to do something stupid. It might as well be me.” As he said it, he concentrated as hard as he could, poured all his energy into it and pulled, calling down the lightning.
He didn’t know what he was expecting or even hoping for. He just knew that this was something he could do. Maybe he’d get a little bit of a power boost, enough to distract crazy vampire lady, grab Vlad, and make a protective circle, get them to safety, something—
But the lightning didn’t hit Darren. It hit the woman holding him.
She shrieked, high and loud, above a deafening crack of thunder, and flailed back, twitching, clawed nails tearing into Darren’s shoulders. Darren let out a pained yell and tried to pull away under her weakened grip, wrenching forward just in time to see Vlad, fully shifted, barrel into her.
Vlad tore into the woman, fangs bared and nails clawing, his eyes bright and wild. She was fighting back, but the lightning had clearly stunned her, and, weirder, her moves looked mostly defensive, like she was actively trying not to hurt him.
Whatever. Darren just knew one thing: he needed to get crazy vampire lady out of the picture before Vlad did something he’d regret. Even if it was to someone who’d put him through torture. Darren had called it down once; he could do it again. And if he wasn’t fueled by terror and desperation now, he still had something he needed to protect.
This time the lightning blew through him, and he aimed, barely, hitting the woman straight on. She screamed, and there was the rustling of what sounded like a thousand paper fans, and then she was gone, Vlad crouched over nothing, smeared with blood.
Darren gingerly sat up. “Did we do it? Is she gone?”
“She retreated,” Vlad panted. “But she’ll come for me again. She—she won’t stop.” He sounded so resigned, it made Darren’s stomach hurt.
Darren pushed to his feet and wobbled over to Vlad, putting a hand on his shoulder. “Hey, come on, it’ll be okay. We’ll get the adults involved, and they’ll take care of her. You aren’t going this alone, Vlad. It’ll be okay.”
Vlad turned and buried his face in Darren’s neck, shaking. All Darren could do was hold on tight.
DARREN’S PHONE had been fried by the lightning, but luckily Vlad’s still worked. They called up first Tabitha and then Darren’s parents, and it wasn’t long before what looked like half the town was descending upon the clearing.
Most of the adults swarmed around Charlie and began casting a containment spell. Darren barely had the energy to wonder why when Tabitha, along with Darren’s parents, ran over to where Darren and Vlad were slumped next to each other on the ground.
“Vlad!” Tabitha cried, kneeling down next to him and cupping his face in her hands. “Oh honey, oh sweetheart, are you okay?” Vlad nodded wearily, and she swept him up in a hug.
Darren was getting similar treatment, his parents fussing over him, both asking about what happened and then telling him not to talk. Darren was actually cool with not talking. He felt totally dead on his feet. Though that was a pretty big improvement over being actually dead, which he could have been. Probably he was going to freak out about that later.
A quick once-over showed that neither of them were hurt, just tired. Darren’s cuts and scrapes were mostly superficial, and he honestly could barely feel them right now. As for Vlad, his body was already starting to heal, and he shook his head when Tabitha tried to convince him he needed a hospital.
“A lot of the blood isn’t mine,” he mumbled.
Marco’s father, a huge man in a police uniform, separated himself from the group of adults and came over to them. “Darren.” He nodded.
“Hey, Mr. Katsaros,” Darren said weakly.
“Could you and Vlad tell me what happened here?” He held out a recorder.
Darren looked to Vlad, who was staring miserably at the ground and didn’t seem inclined to talk. His mouth was smeared with blood.
“Uh, sure I guess,” Darren managed. He summed up what had happened as quickly as he could, from the moment Charlie had collapsed to how they’d used Vlad’s phone to call for help after crazy vampire lady had run away.<
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“She must have tracked Vlad through Charlie,” Tabitha said, scowling. “While he was in Scandinavia.”
“That’s what we thought too,” Mr. Katsaros said. “We’re going to take Charlie in and put him under containment wards to make sure he’s not being influenced by her. With luck, we’ll also be able to run a backscan on the aura she placed on him, to track her down.”
“Please keep us all informed,” Darren’s father said.
“Or course.”
“Can we go now?” Darren asked, swaying where he stood. “Because while this is all super important, I’m going to fall over in about three seconds.”
“Take him home and put him to bed,” Tabitha advised. “Be ready for him to be starving when he wakes up. He expended a huge amount of energy.”
“We will,” Darren’s mother said, putting a hand on his shoulder and steering him toward the car.
“Wait,” Darren said. “Vlad? Are you okay?”
Vlad jerked his head up from where it was leaning against Tabitha’s shoulder and then looked away. “I’m fine,” he mumbled, so quiet Darren could barely hear it.
“Vlad?” Darren asked, uncertainly.
“Come on, Darren,” his father said. “You and Vlad are both exhausted. He needs his rest and so do you.”
“Yeah, yeah okay,” Darren said, letting himself be led away. “Vlad, call me when you’re up, okay? Or I’ll call you?”
“Okay,” Vlad said.
He still wouldn’t look at Darren.
TRUE TO Tabitha’s word, Darren collapsed into bed the moment he got home and woke up ravenous the next morning. He took about five minutes to take a quick shower, clean all his scrapes and cuts, throw on his clothes, and then he made a beeline for the kitchen still soaking wet.
His parents were both sitting at the table, clutching mugs of coffee. There were a couple plates on the kitchen table, all covered.
“There you are,” his mother said, smiling at him. “We were wondering when you’d wake up. Help yourself. We made you pancakes and eggs.”
“Oh good,” Darren said, already reaching for a plate, “because I am starving.”
His father pushed forward the jug of nectar. Darren poured himself a glass and chugged it before digging into his breakfast.
His parents glanced at each other, and then his mother said, “Darren, we do need to talk to you.”
“Okay sure,” Darren said through a mouthful of pancake. “Shoot.”
“We’ve been talking with Tabitha. And we feel that, right now, it’s best that we place you under the same wards that Vlad’s been using.”
“What? Why?”
“Because Katarina knows that you’re connected,” his father said. “She found him through Charlie. It only makes sense that she’ll try to find him through you now too. Warding you will help to keep that from happening. We’ve already done the house.”
“Okay. Uh, sure, that’s fine I guess. Can you do it?”
His father shook his head. “Tabitha has all the materials and ingredients for a ward of that strength. We’ll go over after you finish eating.”
“Oh good! That way I can see Vlad too. I wanna check on him. He was really freaked out.”
His parents exchanged another look.
“Darren,” his mother said carefully, “Vlad might not be up for visitors right now.”
“Are you kidding? This is when he’ll need visitors. Crazy vampire lady is his worst nightmare. You don’t go through that sort of thing alone. And I’d be a lousy boyfriend if I let him. Right?”
His mother smiled at him. “It’s certainly worth a try.”
But uncertainty had settled in the pit of Darren’s stomach. He remembered how Vlad hadn’t even looked at him yesterday, when it was all over. Would he be like that today? Would he not want to see Darren?
But that was beyond stupid. Vlad needed people, especially right now, with crazy vampire lady out there. He needed comfort and he needed protection. Darren could provide at least one of those things.
It would be fine, he told himself as he ate his eggs. Everything was going to be fine. It had to be.
DARREN’S FATHER actually drove him to Tabitha’s house, to minimize the time he spent outside unwarded. Once they arrived, Tabitha led them straight to the basement to get started on the warding process. She had him stand in a ready-made, muddy yellow circle drawn on the basement floor, then spent the next twenty minutes using harpy and phoenix feathers to draw symbols on his arms and forehead with a mixture of unicorn water and snake tears.
When she was done casting the spell, Darren felt his nose itch as the ward settled onto him. He sneezed twice as Tabitha stepped back.
“Bless you,” she said, tucking the feathers into the pouch at her waist. “And you’re all done! The wards need to be reset once a week, but with luck we’ll have caught Katarina by then and you won’t have to. You might feel some nausea when the sun starts to set, but if you do, it should pass by dusk. And it’d be better if you avoided eating anything pink for a couple of days.”
“Pink?”
“Bubble gum, flower petals, pastel M&M’s….”
“Okay, okay, no pink. Got it.” He rubbed his arms. “But we’re done?”
“Yep.”
“Great! Okay, can I go up and see Vlad, then?”
An uncertain expression crossed Tabitha’s face, but she nodded anyway. “Go on up.”
“Thanks.”
Darren climbed the steps two at a time, racing up the stairs to Vlad’s room. He knocked impatiently, eager to make sure Vlad was all right.
“Who is it?”
“It’s Darren!”
“Oh.” The door opened moments later. “Hi,” Vlad said, looking at the ground. He looked exhausted, like he hadn’t slept all night.
“Um. Can I come in?”
“I—yes.” Vlad stepped back to let Darren into his room. “Come in.”
Darren usually sat on the bed now, but something told him that the rolling chair was a better bet today. Give Vlad some distance. “So,” he said, sitting down, “how—how are you?”
“I have been better,” Vlad muttered, sitting down on his own bed.
“Vlad, I’m… I’m so sorry about what happened. I’m sorry that she showed up and is making you feel… unsafe.”
Vlad shook his head. “It’s not just me she is making unsafe. Now I’ve endangered you. And your parents, and Tabitha, and probably everyone I’ve ever met! Charlie has already gotten hurt because of me! You almost—” He cut himself off abruptly, crossing his arms and turning away.
“Vlad?” Darren asked uncertainly.
“Do you know… do you know why she is after me?” Vlad said after a long moment.
Darren shook his head. He knew that she had called Vlad “Gregori.”
And that, when Vlad was begging, he had called her “Mother.”
Vlad took a deep breath and let it out, steeling himself. “The woman who turned me. Katarina. She is very old. Very strong. She… she had a son. A long time ago. There was a… plague, I think. Her husband died, and she and her son were dying. They both were offered the chance to be turned, to live. She survived… but her son didn’t.”
“Gregori?” Darren asked quietly.
Vlad nodded. “From what I was told, the servants, they—she wasn’t the same, after the plague. Even being turned couldn’t heal everything. She didn’t accept that Gregori had died. She decided that he’d left. So she started… looking for him. She grew stronger, eventually asked her servants if they would take the bite for her, and built a clan. She kept… kept looking.” He stopped talking then, breathing shakily.
Darren swallowed. “And then she found you, huh?”
Vlad nodded. “Yes. I… I didn’t know… the process of being turned is a long one. You’re—remade.” He shuddered, and Darren was struck again with how vehemently Vlad had fought against anything that might’ve given him the slightest chance to turn someone else. “I wasn’t m
yself for… months. She tried to convince me that I was her son. We looked very much alike. There were portraits. But after a time, I started to remember other things. Asked questions. Remembered the truth.” His voice was hard, almost mocking. “Anna was the first to take pity on me. She gave me back my real name. After that… I remembered everything. And after weeks of begging and planning, she helped smuggle me to sanctuary under the Ukrainian council. You know what happened after.”
Darren searched Vlad’s face, trying to think of something to say. He had nothing, nothing that could offer comfort for that. But Vlad wasn’t finished, leaning forward on his bed, shoulders hunched.
“I never knew why,” Vlad said, head down. “Why it was me. We just looked alike. That’s what most of the servants thought. Because we looked alike. Our skin, our eyes. They aren’t the most common combination. But Tabitha and the councils thought it was more than that. They had theories, traced my bloodline as far back as they could.” He clenched his hands into fists, forced himself to keep talking.
“Katarina had another child. A girl, Svetlana. She was much older, married, had moved to France years before, with her husband. They lost touch after the plague. Svetlana had daughters.” Oh god, Darren knew what was coming, and it was the most messed-up thing. “Those daughters had daughters, and those daughters had daughters, always daughters, until my mother met my father. And had me.”
Yeah. That.
“I looked enough like him. The bloodline was there. That’s why she… that’s why… that’s why I’m so strong,” Vlad said, head in his hands. “She gave me her power when she turned me. It took because we’re already connected. It’s all her.” Darren was out of the desk chair before he even thought about it, crowding next to Vlad on the bed. Not doing anything but being there, in easy reach.
“I’m just so angry,” Vlad growled. “It’s always going to be there. She’s always going to be a part of me! Her power is there, her blood is there. I smell like her. And it’ll never go away.” His voice cracked on the last word, sad and horribly broken.
