Black dust blew off of Hadrian, and as it did so, the appearance of his poisoned veins receded. His color returned. He withered and shrieked in pain, but the light was the cure for the darkness. He began to thrash less and less. Realizing this, Evelyn folded up her wings and knelt down to him.
Hospital personnel burst through the doors and surrounded Hadrian. But what they saw stopped them in their tracks. Hadrian was healing. It was nothing short of a miracle. The head doctor shouted for a bed to be brought up to the roof.
“How did you figure that out?” Evelyn asked, looking over at her from the other side of Hadrian with amazement and awe.
“It just came to me,” Karena said. “I don’t know how. It just made sense all of a sudden. He was infected by a vampiric weapon, and vampires can’t withstand sunlight. They can’t survive in it and will burn to death within seconds of exposure to it. It’s so simple and obvious. When we think of cures, we think of healing spells and potions. But sunlight doesn’t come in a bottle or from a healer, and that’s why we missed it. We have to think outside of the conventional.”
“They must’ve removed that information from the textbooks because no one thought of trying this. Once again, we’ve been thrown into the dark about something that’s lifesaving and related to vampires. I’m tired of this deceit,” Asher said. He shook his head and sighed.
“I’m tired of it too,” Karena said.
Evelyn said, “What else could they have intentionally erased from our records?”
“Let’s hope that they only focused on deleting evidence that would point to their presence amongst us and on removing knowledge that would help us defeat them, and not on bringing about our downfall from encountering some other hostile race,” Karena said. She wondered if they were really going to start anew as a nation or if an evil seed had been planted in their society, which would sprout in the future and cause unknown havoc.
A narrow bed was brought up to the roof and set down beside them. Hadrian was lifted and placed on it. On the horizon, the sun began to rise, golden and invigorating. Warmth traveled on its rays. Under its solar force, Hadrian began to recover, looking healthier and healthier. Karena felt an immense sense of relief.
Feeling exhausted, she wrapped her arms around Asher’s waist and put her head on his shoulder.
“Is it all over now?” she asked.
“It is,” Asher said, putting his arms around her and kissing her head.
“First you, and then Hadrian,” she said.
“You saved both of us, and everyone in the city,” he said.
They sat down a short distance away from where Hadrian lay on his bed. His parents and other family members came to see him. Evelyn stood by his bed, and was welcomed and greeted by them, which was a stark contrast to when the feud had been almost unbreakable. Rose hugged Evelyn and marveled at her wings.
From their distance, she and Asher watched everyone rejoice in Hadrian’s good health. Even Captain Valmar showed up, and then left more irritated than before, much to Hadrian’s amusement of course.
It was all going to be alright now. The feud and the vampires were gone, as was the threat of death for the ones that she loved. Karena soaked in Asher’s presence, and how she didn’t need to hide her love for him anymore. It was a blessing. It had seemed impossible for them to be a normal couple, but that had all changed in less than a week. It astonished her how life worked, where for years nothing changed, and then all of a sudden, like an earthquake, everything was uplifted and destroyed. But in the destruction and chaos, a new reality could be made, like a phoenix emerging from the ashes.
Karena turned her head towards Asher. Her lips almost brushed his cheek. She asked, “What was it like in the spiritual realm?”
“Painful. When the wraith was severing the link between my soul and my body, it caused me a lot of pain. But the good that came from it was that my grandparents visited me. They told me that the being who first started the feud was still alive. They weren’t allowed to say that it was a vampire, only that it was some long-living being that had killed Horus, who was the first causality of the feud, which had kick-started it.”
“I see. So then, what I said wasn’t preposterous at all? It fit right in with what they had said.”
“That’s correct.”
“And after that, you told everyone.”
“Yes. If I hadn’t, no one would’ve been prepared. We sent away all the children, the elderly, the disabled, and the expecting mothers into the Air district, as far away as possible from the Fire district. We warned the Water and Earth districts, but they wouldn’t listen. We were armed and ready in case they attacked that night, and they did. Their plan was to kill us in our sleep, and go from house to house doing that.”
“It’s interesting to think that if Tristan hadn’t set this in motion due to his jealousy, we wouldn’t have reached this point of triumph and peace in the city. If I hadn’t ventured into the Markhan Territory, and seen for myself those skeletal remains, I would’ve been as clueless as everyone else and wouldn’t have suspected that there was something sinister among us in our society. We would’ve fallen and been enslaved again by vampires. They were here all along, waiting, and putting everything into place for their return.”
Asher murmured an agreement. “I still hate that guy,” he said.
“As do I for what he did. But it’s strange how it all happened, how dark times, no matter how confusing and hard, can be a catalyst for a better and brighter future.”
“I agree. It doesn’t make it any less difficult though. It felt like a mess, like everything was falling part around us, but in all actuality, they were falling into place. However, that doesn’t mean success is guaranteed.”
Karena watched as Evelyn laughed from something Rose had said. Hadrian was now sitting up in bed. Eden and Sean made an appearance on the roof top. Though they were socially awkward, they extended their greetings to Evelyn and hovered by Hadrian’s bedside.
Next to her, Asher snorted. “I don’t know how many more people this roof top can hold. Everyone seems to want to visit Hadrian. He’s well liked,” he noted.
“He is. He’s a good person, and sometimes I think that people take that for granted until something like this happens, and then they realize that he might be gone forever,” she said.
“Look at how they’re treating Evelyn. This wouldn’t have happened a week ago. It’s like they’re all friends now.”
“That’s how it should be and needs to be from now on. We need to learn from our mistakes, and this feud has been a big one.”
Asher rubbed her arm. He said, “A lot of people are going to have to realize that hatred isn’t the answer to a problem or a solution, but rather, the facilitator for despair and destruction. We fell into darkness, but like the times prior, we will rise up brighter and stronger. These dark times can teach us a lot about how not to be, and what we want, not only for ourselves, but for each other.”
“Exactly. We shouldn’t allow ourselves to be divided by hate. I don’t want any more districts that represent elements. I want districts that are mixed, and those that symbolize harmony, love, happiness, and unity, because those are all traits that we have no matter who we might be. It shouldn’t be confined to elemental powers or affinities. We need to look at the bigger picture because we have magical and non-magical folks, elementals and Chaos elementals, and the shapeshifters and hybrid people. It should be all inclusive and about what ties us together.”
“I couldn’t agree more with you,” he said, kissing her head.
More people came to see Hadrian, including Garth who came by air with his crew, instead of using the stairs. Blade and Jinx made their appearance before coming over to talk to Asher for a short while.
Karena watched everyone interact, and their kindhearted but cumbersome efforts to bridge the gap that had existed for so long between them. It was beautiful to see Waters and Earths socializing with the Airs and Fires that had come to see Evelyn and to
wish Hadrian good health.
Family and friends drifted over to where she sat with Asher to talk and give them their praise, insights, and news about what was being done to clean up the Fire district.
Food was brought onto the rooftop. Evelyn sat next to Hadrian with a wing swept around him in a somewhat possessive way. Due to his recovery and the joy of having Evelyn next to him, Hadrian beamed at Karena from across the distance. Karena smiled back, overjoyed that he was well.
Karena snuggled against Asher, closed her eyes, and let herself relax. Everything would be okay now. They were together. The city was united, the feud was gone, and the vampires had been destroyed.
Gaze of Fire: Sequel to Veins of Ice Page 29
