by L.H. Cosway
“Whoa, you must like him back, considering how much you’re lashing out,” I quipped, raising my hand as she was about to throw more magic at me. “Now, now, let’s not be so hasty, Rita. I let you get in a couple of shots for free. The next time I’m going to have to retaliate.”
At this, there was a loud smashing sound from the mansion, and purple magic began to swirl out of the large chimney. Rita hurried to investigate, and I followed her, making sure to keep a good distance behind. In the foyer, a gigantic crystal chandelier had crashed to the floor, but there was no sign of Theodore or Roman anywhere.
“Where are they?” I asked.
Rita didn’t reply. Instead, she closed her eyes, and a light started to shimmer from her body.
“They’re gone,” she answered flatly. “I guess it’s time for me to kill you now.”
Roman was gone? I swallowed hard and considered the ramifications of him abandoning me like this. It was one thing to go inside and leave me alone with Rita, but it was another entirely for him to just disappear.
“Don’t do it. You aren’t always going to feel this way. If you do this, one day you’re not going to be grieving for your mother anymore and you’ll hate yourself for what you did. This feeling you’re having is only temporary.”
“It’s not temporary. I will never be the same again, and it’s all because of the vampires. They are going to pay for what they did.”
“They didn’t do anything. It was one vampire who killed Noreen. One, Rita. And Ethan killed him. If anything, you should be thanking Ethan instead of trying to kill the mother of his unborn child.”
“I’ll never thank him. They’re all the same, all heartless.”
For a second, I wondered if this was Rita talking, or if Theodore had somehow brainwashed her into thinking all vampires were evil. She started to advance on me quickly now, and out of instinct, I threw a blast of sparks at her as I backed up outside. She wailed in pain when they hit her body, but she quickly recovered and transformed it into anger.
“You’ll pay for that.”
“Hey! I didn’t mean to do it. You frightened me. Look, there’s no need for either of us to get hurt here. Roman could have killed Theodore already. You need to come home with me, Rita. We’d all welcome you back with open arms.”
“You talk a lot. Why don’t you just shut up for once and fight me?”
She crouched low to the ground, placing her hand to the earth, and suddenly the grass was exploding and balls of dirt were shooting up into the air like mini landmines. Instinctively, I raised my hand to my face and created a barrier of sparks around my body so that I didn’t get pelted. Rita let out a growl of annoyance when I defended myself, and I decided I couldn’t afford to stay passive anymore. I had to fight back.
Perhaps if I could show her that I was more powerful, then maybe she’d finally listen to me—not that I actually was more powerful than her. I just had to fake it. Rapidly, the All-Knowing Tome opened in my head, the pages flicking before landing on more information about my blood.
Okay, so I could pretty much add it to any magic and it’d be rendered ten times stronger.
I still had the blade Finn gifted me in my pocket, so I pulled it out and cut a small line into the tip of each finger on one hand. Immediately, it mixed with my sparks, and they started to pop and sizzle. They weren’t just glittery and white anymore. Now they were every colour of the rainbow.
Rita spotted what I’d done and started to move away, but she wasn’t fast enough. I shot a blast at her, and she screamed when my magic burned her worse this time. She put both hands over her ears because my magic was making a high-pitched squealing sound. I watched as it slithered over her face.
I closed my eyes and ordered it to stop because I didn’t actually want to send Rita crazy. She was already halfway there without any help from me. I just wanted to show her what I was capable of.
“I told you I had power,” I called to her.
She rose to her feet and swept her hand to the side, knocking me down with a gust of wind I hadn’t been expecting.
“You still talk too much. And your power is worthless without the knowledge of how to use it.”
“Oh, I’m learning.”
Before she could react, I threw enough sparks at her feet to knock her down. What could I say? I was sick of being the only one falling over all the time. Rita managed to get up quicker than me, and before I knew it, she was running at me full steam ahead. Without thinking, I pulled Ethan’s sword out of the holster on my back. Just as she was about to throw more magic at me, I slashed her hand, and she reeled back, staring in shock at the painful looking gash across her knuckles.
“Fuck!” she growled, clutching her bleeding hand to her chest. “You almost chopped off my finger,” she shrieked.
“You’re the one who came running at me. What did you expect me to do?”
“I expect you to … shit that hurts.” She was distracted by all the blood, so I got up slowly and walked toward her.
“I can help you to heal it,” I told her softly, and she peered at me, unsure. Then her dark eyes turned blank again.
“I don’t need your help! I need you to leave me alone.”
I got a shock when she leapt at me, pushing me down onto the muddy grass. I gulped and tried to breathe, but her hands were around my throat, squeezing.
“You see, Tegan, you’re not the only one who can use human means of inflicting pain,” she said hatefully.
She had my hand pinned under her knee, but I managed to move it just enough to burn through the black fishnet tights she was wearing. She suffered through the pain while digging her knee harder into my hand. She lifted her knee the slightest bit before slamming it back down again. Shit, that hurt. I thought she might have broken one of my fingers.
I raised my free hand and smacked her hard across the face. It gave me an advantage for just a second, which was enough time for me to shove her off me. I didn’t get far enough, though, because she launched herself onto my back, her arms wrapping tight around my neck.
“Get off,” I grunted, trying to dislodge her.
“No chance,” she replied breathlessly, and seconds later, she was pulling me back onto the ground. Bits of dirt hit me as she pushed me face down into it. Okay, now it was on. I rolled my body and punched her in the gut, which earned me an uppercut to the chin. My entire abdominal region was screaming in pain with her on top of me. For someone so small she seemed to weigh a bloody tonne.
“You can’t replace Noreen with Theodore,” I managed to gasp.
“Shut up!” she wailed.
“Noreen was the only real parent you’ll ever have.”
“I said shut the fuck up!”
“Rita, he’s evil. You’re not evil. You’re good, just like your mother was.”
She smacked me hard, sending my face flying sideways. I tasted blood in my mouth, and when I managed to turn my head and look at her again, furious black mascara tears were running down her face.
She clutched my throat, squeezing the air from my lungs. My head grew dizzy as I heard her seethe, “I’m not letting go until you’re dead.”
I tried to say something back, but I had no strength left. I needed oxygen. Where the hell was Roman?
He needed to get back here now because I wasn’t sure how much longer I could hold out.
18.
Finn
I was doing one of my routine circuits of the city early in the morning when I was approached by a thin, nerdy-looking fella. He handed me a flyer, telling me he hoped to see me at the rally, then continued on his way.
Rally? What rally?
I unfolded the flyer to reveal Theodore’s face smiling back at me, giving me a momentary fright. That was one ugly motherfucker—and not someone I wanted to see up close and personal first thing in the morning, thank you very much. He wore his ordinary concerned citizen clothing and a kind expression on his face. The text on the flyer read:
THE THEODORE GIRAR
D FOUNDATION PRESENTS,
AN ANTI-VAMPIRE CAMPAIGN RALLY.
THIS WEDNESDAY, 10 AM SHARP ON CAMPION ROW.
COME AND SHOW YOUR SUPPORT FOR HUMANITY.
TOGETHER WE WILL DRIVE OUT THE DARKNESS.
Christ, he really didn’t give up. You’d think he’d have learned his lesson from the fiasco that went down the last time. I kept walking through the empty streets, knowing they wouldn’t be empty soon enough. It was just gone eight-thirty, which meant there was an hour and a half before Theodore’s rally began. What exactly was he trying to achieve with this?
And that was when it hit me.
He was going to release the chaos. Gathering all the humans in one place would make it that much easier for him. According to Marcel, he was supposed to be doing it tomorrow morning, but he must’ve put two and two together and figured out that Marcel betrayed him and revealed his plans to his enemies. Now he had to act earlier than scheduled. I rushed to the van and hightailed it back to the house.
Everybody was gathered in the large kitchen eating breakfast. I walked straight in and slammed the flyer down into the centre of the table. Cristescu calmly reached over and picked it up, his sharp eyes quickly scanning the words. There was ash in his hair and black soot on his face, showing he’d recently paid a visit to the bomb site at Crimson. He looked tired, and I almost felt bad for throwing this doozy in his lap, but there was nothing else for it.
“He’s acting a day early,” he said in a low, angry voice.
“Yeah, which means we need to find Roman ASAP.”
“Tegan will have to summon him. She’s still in bed. I’ll go get her.” The vampire stood and left the room. Less than a minute later he returned, looking both angry and panicked.
“She’s gone.”
“Huh?” I said, looking to everyone around the table. “Did Tegan tell any of you she was going out?”
“No,” Amanda spoke up. “But I did see her casting a spell this morning.”
“What kind of spell?” Gabriel asked with suspicion.
“Um, she had an upturned glass on a map and a piece of a scarf under the glass.”
“That was a location spell. She was looking for someone.”
“What did the scarf look like?” Alvie questioned.
“It was red and black, sort of silky.”
Alvie gasped and put his hand to his mouth. “That’s Rita’s. She’s gone after Rita.”
I was about to swear loudly when the front door flew open. I heard feet stumbling weakly down the hallway. A second later, Tegan emerged covered in dirt and blood and looking like she just stepped out of a warzone. Cristescu immediately scooped her up into his arms, asking what happened.
“Rita …” was all she could manage.
“Yeah, we figured that bit out.”
“She tried to kill me …” she whispered and then passed out in Cristescu’s arms. He carried her to the kitchen counter, swiping everything out of the way to clear the space. Then he began running his hands over her body to check for injuries. He stopped when he reached her left hand, holding up the index finger.
“This is broken. It will need to be taken care of by a doctor.”
“If you have a First Aid kit, I can see to her,” Alora put in. “I’m a trained first aider, and I used to volunteer at the hospital on the weekends when I was still at school.”
Cristescu gave her a look of approval. “Yes, thank you. I will bring her upstairs. The First Aid kit is on the shelf in the laundry room. Retrieve it and follow me up.”
“What about Theodore’s rally?” I interrupted. “We need to find Roman so that he can cast his spell.”
Before Cristescu could answer, the back door swung open and the sorcerer himself entered. His normally pristine hair and suit were slightly dishevelled.
“I am here,” he said as though he heard every word I just said. “I need volunteers and I need Emilia. She’s the only witch powerful enough that we have at our disposal.”
He noticed Cristescu holding Tegan and walked over, running his hand softly over her face. “Ah, you survived, little one. I knew you would,” he murmured.
Cristescu’s eyes cut to the sorcerer. “You were with her?”
“I was. I got caught up chasing Theodore, and Tegan was left with the witch …”
“Enough,” Cristescu cut him off, quietly fuming. “We don’t have time for this. Theodore is releasing his chaos onto the city in only an hour. I expect you’re ready to cast your spell?”
“Absolutely. But I will need to release Emilia.”
“So, release her. Just get it done.”
He finally left carrying Tegan. Alora followed behind him with the First Aid kit tucked under her arm. Fifteen minutes later, I was standing in a circle with Gabriel, Alvie, Delilah, Ira, Cristescu, and Emilia. Roman transported us all to Campion Row, where it was now jam-packed with humans gathered for the rally.
The avenue was just how it had been in Alora’s vision. Dread filled my gut as I remembered how the chaos entered the bodies of the humans, killing them on the spot. If Roman wasn’t successful here, then the vast majority of us were as good as dead, including me.
When I looked at Roman, I saw he was holding a huge ball of shimmering red string, energy humming from it. He handed one end of it to Emilia and began instructing everyone else to take hold. When it was my turn, I noticed how he wasn’t just giving me the string, he was magically fusing my hand to it.
“This is a very rare and potently magical material. We are going to use it to create a vein of magic that will run through the gathered crowd. Think of it like an electrical wire. In this case, the ends are the most important parts, and therefore the strongest casters need to be holding them. Those two people are Emilia and me. Be as inconspicuous as you can; we cannot afford for Theodore to figure out what’s happening.
“Emilia will walk to the lower end of the avenue, and I will walk to the top. Once the spell has been cast and Theodore has released his chaos, believing all the humans to be dead, that will be our moment to strike. I will be closest to him, so I will be the one to catch him. Make no mistake, he will have many tricks up his sleeve to get away. That’s why it’s going to take all of us to kill him. I will cut off his head, and young Gabriel here will douse him with petrol. Mr Roe, I will allow you the honour of setting his body alight.”
“I can do that.”
Addressing Cristescu, he said, “You will have to restrain the daughter. She could prove troublesome, and you are the only one with the physical strength to outmatch her magic. Get her hands first. If you can keep her from moving them, then she won’t be able to use magic against you. You will be beside me in the line.” He paused and looked at each of us in turn. “Once I summon the magic, only those holding the string will be able to see it. Any questions?”
We all shook our heads. I was surprised Emilia hadn’t put up a fight since she was basically being forced into taking part. Instead, she remained stoically silent. Maybe she was sane enough to realise this was all for the best.
“Very good. Please ensure there is at least thirty yards between you and the person next in line. We need to cover as much ground as possible.”
I found myself being the second last person in line next to Emilia. She started to walk swiftly down the street, and I waited a minute or two before following her. I wasn’t entirely clear on the details of what Roman planned to do here. I was guessing he simplified it for us just now, but I put my blind faith in him.
With so little time left, we didn’t exactly have any other options.
By the time we were all lined up and camouflaged into the gathered crowd, Theodore had stepped out onto the temporary stage that had been set up at the top of the avenue. He stood in front of a microphone and coughed to clear his throat. People cheered when they saw him, shouting praise and declarations of faith. Some even held up banners proclaiming him as their savior.
They’d all been drinking some serious amounts of sorcerer Kool-
Aid.
I spotted Rita standing off to the side of the stage wearing a long, flower print dress, her hair in two short pigtails.
The string in my hand started to pulsate.
“Thank you all for coming today,” Theodore said, his voice booming through several speakers that had been set up around the area. “As some of you might be aware, I have taken the liberty of putting together a foundation to fight against the vampires. You are all welcome to join, and there will be sign-up sheets circulated at the end of the rally. Now, before we get down to business, I would like to observe a one-minute silence as a mark of respect to those we have lost in recent weeks. Please, take hold of the hand of the person beside you to signify your solidarity.”
There were hushed whispers of approval among the gathered crowds before they all began to take each other’s hands. I realised Roman had glamoured us all to be invisible because nobody looked at me or tried to take my hand. A ripple vibrated through the string and zipped into my body. I heard Roman chanting in my head now, even though he was halfway up the street. He wasn’t speaking in any language I could understand, but his tone struck a chord. A deep-down part of me sensed that something miraculous was about to happen.
He stood close to the stage, but Theodore couldn’t even see him. If ever there was a case for choosing good over evil, then this was it. Theodore was at least twice Roman’s age, and yet Roman’s magic was potent enough to render himself invisible to the ancient sorcerer.
“Close your eyes, hold your neighbour’s hand, and think of all the lives that have been lost and all the lives that will be saved because of your dedication to this cause.”
The crowds fell silent, and now I could hear Roman’s chanting even louder in my head. My pulse sped up, and it felt like there was electricity shooting from the string and into my body. I felt it intensely, rushing through my system. The red of the string started to glow, and I saw little glittering veins spreading out from it and into the crowd, connecting one person to the next.
Once a person got connected to the string, a bright red glow formulated around their body. This was amazing. My mouth was gaping open as I watched.
