Of Light and Darkness

by Shayne Leighton

  “Evangeline, wait.” Valek finally stood from his place next to Charlotte. He glanced once back at the girl, fighting with himself. It needed to be done, he decided. “I do need another favor.”

  He felt a mental grimace emerge from Charlotte’s area of the room.

  “Charlotte and I have to take leave of the Occult, but it’s almost morning. I have suspicion that those imbeciles are going to come back during the day while I’m—”

  “I get it,” Evangeline chirped. “Don’t worry. I’ll take care of everything when the sun comes up. And then you and Charlotte can escape the city borders tomorrow night.” Her eyes twinkled toward the girl one last time before she bounced out of the library.

  Valek looked back at his Lottie, thawing by the fire. She sat, eyes insensate at the orange flames licking across the wood. He watched them then, as well. It created a strange sensation in his nose, as if when he inhaled the burning wood, he could actually feel the embers crackling inside him. It did not burn as the thirst did, but felt rather warm and pleasant. He glanced at Charlotte again, thinking her face looked a little green. He began to approach her.

  “Valek,” she murmured.

  He stopped.

  “I have to tell you something—”

  “I know,” he interjected. “I heard.” He sat back down on the floor next to her.

  “You heard?” Her large eyes darted to his face.

  “My apologies, but I had to know what was going on before I answered the door.” He snorted. “Aiden. Who would have guessed?”

  Charlotte’s eyes shifted around the floor, like she was struggling with something. “What did you want to talk to me about? You know...earlier…in the kitchen?” She swallowed and averted her eyes back to the crackling fire.

  Valek studied the apprehension on her face, tuning in to where she was going with this. “I-I do not remember,” he lied. The truth was, he felt the same apprehension she did, and anyway, there was too much else to think about now.

  She lifted an eyebrow at him. “You don't remember?”

  “No.”

  “I think you do,” she continued.

  “No. I do not!” He got up. If he were physically capable of turning red, this was the moment.

  “You're lying!”

  “Enough, Charlotte!” he snapped, his arms trembling. He struggled to maintain his deep even breathing.

  She only blinked at him, her teeth continuing to chatter.

  “I clearly do not wish to discuss that which you are trying to have me discuss. Enough, please.” Turning his back to her, he nervously combed his fingers through his long hair that had now come lose from the black ribbon.

  Valek, normally very at ease, was now completely strung out, breathing through his tightly wired jaw. He rubbed at his eyes, trying to get them to revert back to their normal blue. But they stubbornly stayed fixed like jet pearls. He looked, crazed, about the walls of the room.

  “What are you looking for?” she asked nervously.

  “A clock. What is the time?” His nostrils flared.

  Charlotte peered down at her wristwatch and then wide-eyed out the window at the ink sky beginning to purple in one corner. She quickly got up and ran over to him, yanking for him to follow her. “Come on! We have to go to your room!”

  ***

  Aiden waited patiently outside the tavern he knew Evangeline liked to frequent. He watched the large, brown house at the end of the square intently, his arms folded over his chest. The front door opened, and he could see the officer and his platoon of Regime guards march steadily out into the night.

  Aiden walked to the center of the road, waiting. From the looks of things, Charlotte neglected to tell Valek about their discourse. She had failed to escape the Regime in time. Aiden’s plan had been set into action. He grinned, pleased with himself, knowing even though Charlotte had been too clever to let the guards catch her this time…the perfect opportunity would present itself later.

  ***

  Valek tore away from Charlotte’s grasp. “No. I will go alone. You are not coming!” He passed her, turning the corner to go upstairs.

  She quickly tailed behind him. “Yes I am! You are not thinking clearly! I have to stay with you in case the Regime guards come back!”

  “And what do you expect me to do if that happens during daylight? Even if you are locked in my room, that does not make you safe!”

  The stairs thudded under Charlotte’s relentlessness. “They won’t come into your room during the day, Valek. They know it would kill you!”

  The two of them got to the second story landing.

  “I’m sure they wouldn’t mind at all if that happened,” he grumbled.

  Charlotte stopped walking and frowned. “What do you mean? I thought they only wanted to arrest you.”

  Something suddenly caught Valek’s attention as he looked beyond where Charlotte stood. She looked to see it, too. Her bedroom, or what was once her bedroom, completely scorched, as though someone had set the place on fire. It made the entire hallway smell like burnt wood and smoke. The curtains were singed, her clothes and furniture all completely condensed to ash. Charlotte looked to Valek, her mouth falling open.

  “Evangeline had to do it,” Valek said quietly. “She heard them walking up the stairs. They were going to figure out that room didn’t belong to her.” He grabbed Charlotte’s hand and started leading her down the hallway toward his bedroom.

  But when the two of them passed the long, arched window a small, single beam of morning light escaped through the curtains and thrashed across his face. He cried out, releasing Charlotte’s hand, recoiling quickly into the shadows, clawing at his scorched skin.

  “Valek!” she cried, unsure of what to do next.

  “Come!” he roared, and swung open the door to his bedroom; the two of them running in before he slammed it shut again, locking it.

  She blinked feverishly in the pitch black, struggling to see. She opened her eyes as wide as she possibly could, feeling around in the dark for something she might bump into. Valek’s cool hand wrapped around hers, and he pulled her into the room.

  “I am grateful you will not have to see this at least,” he said grimly.

  “Are you okay?” She brought her free hand up, searching for his cheek, but he quickly pushed it away before she could touch him.

  “You are to remain in the exact spot I place you. Do you understand?”

  “Can’t I be next to you?”

  “No. It is bad enough you are even in the same room with me.” He grabbed her shoulders, careful of her bandages, and gently pushed her down to the floor.

  Charlotte could tell she was in a corner; she felt two walls meet behind her. She could smell the sweetness of him grow greater as his face lingered nearer to hers. It was more concentrated in this room—warm, like hot molasses and something clean, like the smell of freshly fallen snow.

  “Listen closely to me. No matter what you hear, no matter what I say, you are to stay right in this spot. If I come close to you, you must try to get away. Do you understand?”

  “But—”

  “I am serious, Lottie. I have never done this with a human present. I am unaware of what I am capable of, for I am the most dangerous to be around during this particular time. It is going to take everything I have not to—” He dropped the sentence quickly, as if not wanting to even say it aloud. “I’m serious. No matter what I say to you, no matter how convincing I am, I want you to stay completely still.”

  She could feel him back away from her, though his pretty scent remained everywhere in the room. She didn’t hear another move until it finally began. The sound of his nails tearing at the sheets as he moaned. He cried out agonizingly.

  “Valek—” She began to step forward.

  “N-no, L-lottie….” He struggled.

  She heard bedclothes thrashing, glass shattering on the wood floor, and something like a hunk of the bedpost going to splinters. He wailed out her name, harrowing enough that sh
e shoved her back up as hard as she could against the wall corner. Her eyes welled up.

  “Lllottttiieeee,” he said in a sinister tone.

  She was going to die. There were so many chances for that to have happened already these last few days, but this time it was real. There was nowhere for her to escape; neither was she about to open his bedroom doors to risk his life. She clung to the walls, digging her nails into the floor molding. She could see nothing in the thick darkness, but she shut her eyes tight, anyway.

  “Come here, Lottie...I won’t hurt you.” The voice that now stroked the raised hairs on her neck didn’t even associate with the Valek she knew. “I promise.” He laughed maniacally.

  A sick feeling crawled up her esophagus and made her feel like she was choking on fear. Charlotte pulled her knees up and buried her face. She could have sworn there was an entirely different monster in the room with the two of them. Don't even move, she reminded herself. Don't even breathe.

  “I can smell you, Charlotte….” The voice was edging closer to her now. “Charlotte….”

  She shrieked softly, bringing her palm over her lips to remind herself again to be quiet and still.

  “Char—” The voice stopped dead, and something cold and rigid smacked down on her leg.

  She wailed and shot up, sprinting clear to the other side of the room, not caring what she smashed into. Don’t open the door, she reminded herself. If you open the door, he’ll die. She crouched down when she found another wall and cowered in the opposite corner of the room.

  She listened for a while, searching with her ears for any sign of him, for something, anything, like footsteps or breathing. Anything that sounded like it was getting close to her again. After living eighteen years in a town with things other people considered to be scary without any sort of problem, this was by far the worst nightmare she had ever had.

  “Valek?” she whispered.

  Nothing replied.

  “Valek?” she said again. She slowly got to her feet, something that proved to be an intricate task with her knees quaking like they did. She gripped onto the wall behind her so they wouldn’t buckle. “Valek?” she said a little louder. Upon hearing nothing again, she crept back toward the direction of the corner he originally put her. She carefully toed her way around on the floor. A few feet in, the edge of her foot nudged against something.

  Her pulse leapt into her throat, but nothing grabbed her. She bent down next to whatever it was, placing her small hand on what she figured out was his back. Thankfully, it did not move. She sighed. “It’s okay now, Valek. We will be safe,” she promised, resting her cheek on his shoulder blade. Grabbing onto his arm, she turned him face-up and pulled his upper half into her lap like a giant doll, holding him there, stroking his hair.

  Abruptly, the door shot open, streaks of deadly yellow light blazing in across the floor. She screamed at the vision of the tall, solid silhouettes at the threshold and the sight of the blazing corpse, howling on the floor next to her.

  Charlotte raced to the bed and tore off the thick, black, velvet comforter. “Close the door!” She hurled it over Valek's melting body. “Close the door!” Her own voice sounded distant, echoing in her head like she was screaming through a tunnel. Her vision clouded. She turned again to the figures at the entryway. “I said, close the—”

  Something hard slammed over the top of her head.

  And then there was nothing.

  Chapter Eleven

  Nightmare

  The sun scorched high over Prague, setting the city spires aflame in the early October morning. The High Wizards sat in tented booths with the finest black robes hugging their backs. Thick-rimmed sunglasses masked their faces, which were so sullen it was impossible to see the amount of joy built up behind the façade they created while they watched the most hated creatures slaughtered in front of a million curious eyes. The Regime had sent out invitations to Elves and lesser creatures from all over the Czech Republic to come watch the first taste of justice be served.

  Before sunrise, the first group of apprehended “criminals” had been dragged deep into the dungeons of the Regime palace to be drawn and quartered, washed clean of the blood they had so unrighteously absconded from the unknowing human race.

  The repented blood dyed the stony floors red, filled the small, dingy rooms with the stench of rust. It was the Wizards’ way of making sure every drop the Vampires had taken was paid back before their dismantled pieces were burned to ashes by the bright morning light.

  Now the Regime leaders watched with placid faces while the large chunks of lavender flesh turned orange and then brown as thick, gunmetal smoke billowed up to a slated, marble sky. Horrible heart-wrenching screams could be heard from the pieces that still contained whole heads, which provided the distant satisfaction to one—Vladislov—who sat more stoic than the rest atop the amphitheatre against the strange misting, silver rain.

  The smell that wafted through the audience of creatures was foul, like the burning flesh of a thousand bodies, fused with brimstone. It caused the audience to distort their otherwise satisfied visages.

  Once the chunks of monsters had been reduced to ash and soot and everyone had left back to their various Occults, faces stained with air-born residuum, Vladislov ordered the courtyard to be swept and shined before the next group was captured that night.

  As the High Wizards skulked back to their quarters, Kazimir came up to congratulate his elder brother.

  “Vladislov, that truly was a vision today!” His voice rang out through the winding, obelisk halls. “I’m so happy to see justice finally being served, and we can forever rid ourselves from the lowest of all lowly creatures that ever did escape the gates of Hell.”

  The two brothers chortled as their heavy voices bounced off the cold walls, though Vladislov’s laughter was just a bit more hollow.

  “Did you know in the Americas, the legend of the Vampire is actually revered among the humans? It is... entertaining to them!” He scoffed.

  “They are a jaded type of people, brother. But don’t worry. Soon that will all end.” Kazimir put his hand on his brother’s jagged shoulder as the two disappeared down the corridor.

  Tomorrow, it would be another group of these sub-creatures too unfit to walk the mortal Earth. It would be another pillar of smoke. Another thousand screams. And the next day, the same thing was to follow. And the next. And the next.

  ***

  Something hard snapped in Charlotte’s jaw as she finally began to drift from the hazy blackness that had taken her consciousness captive. She was not sure where she was, how long she had been there, or even how she got there. But when her eyes fluttered open, she was struck with confusion about the unfamiliar, dismal room with stony walls and crooked pipes hanging raggedly from the ceiling.

  The tops of the walls dripped with a deathly sort of fuming condensation. Thick smoke filtered in through barred windows—merely carved holes in the East walls. But it didn’t matter. What mattered was Valek.

  Gingerly, she turned over so her belly was on the crypt floor; she realized the agonizing pain that jolted from her ribs to her head. She whimpered, sucking in the thick, polluted air, just to cough it back up again. She heaved against the cold dirty ground, when something warm and slick oozed down one side of her face. The gash on her head throbbed when she touched it.

  Low hissing wafted through the haze from the back of the dungeon. The sound was soft, but it soon grew layers of various tendrils that altered in pitch, reaching out like claws that tore at her attention.

  Charlotte blinked feverishly to stop the place from spinning. Several shadowy figures, glaring eyes that reflected off the light like a cat’s, began to creep from their hiding places against the dank bricks. Their hands distorted into claws as they started to slink toward her, their silhouettes human-shaped.

  Hiss.

  The noise spiraled again through the blinding smog and made it impossible for her to breathe. She struggled to see the figures approachi
ng her through the clouds. She heard the sound coming from over her then, and could see even more of the dark things crouching on the steel piping above her; their faces slightly illuminated by the waning daylight.

  “Good evening,” one hissed at her, as the setting sun twinkled off something within its devilish mouth. A fang.

  “Vampires,” Charlotte mused, almost too silent to hear.

  “There is nothing left to feed on.” A female sighed from the back of the room.

  Charlotte’s heart slammed against her chest. The wound on her head pounded as the room started to gain focus.

  There were seven. No. At least ten—all advancing toward her. She searched the faces, but to her gut-wrenching dismay, none of them belonged to him.

  “Valek.” The word slipped from behind her lips. She meant to call it. She meant to scream out for him, but the sound came out a whimper.

  One mocked her and the rest started to laugh as she scuffled backward against one of the walls. She was a caged mouse with a family of snakes.

  The hissing grew louder as the shadows pursued.

  “Don’t you know what’s going on, stupid girl?” the first one snapped from a pipe above her. “Don’t you know why you’re here?”

  Charlotte gaped at him. Her nerves were like live electric wires, jolting her body into numbness.

  “Us?” he hissed again. “We are here for our sins. And you? You’re our last supper.” He grinned and let out a maniacal laugh as he and two others leapt like felines from the rafters to join the group on the floor.

  “I don’t understand,” Charlotte cried. “Where am I?”

  But they only laughed at the putrid smell of her fear. The moon had crept into the sky, glinted off each and every silvery fang as they grinned at her.

  She shielded herself with her arms. One lifted his claw to the silver night before striking her with it, staining one white cheek with pulsing red that dripped to the floor. She cried out in agony as her hair fell in her face, clinging to the wound. It ran like hot water down frosted glass, and the hissing grew louder.