Of Light and Darkness

by Shayne Leighton

“The bad news is, Aiden will always be trying to change fate.”

  “Aiden won’t have an ‘always’ if he’s dead.”

  Charlotte didn’t say anything in response. She only continued to trace the line in Valek’s left hand back and forth.

  “You cannot ever leave me. I was a lost soul before I found you. I’ll be lost again.”

  “I love you, Valek,” she said quietly.

  “This is all entirely my fault.” He sighed, rolling onto his back.

  “What do you mean?”

  “Charlotte, I have to tell you something now. How would you feel if I told you I was the one singularly responsible for all of this? What if I said this war the Regime is waging was entirely my fault?” Valek gazed, tortured, at the ceiling, absently following some of Sarah’s twinkling star bewitchments.

  “Valek—”

  “My intentions were good, Lottie. I did it with the idea of liberating our entire magical world from the dictatorship that is the Regime. It was the night I found you. I was completely drunk off the fact I hadn’t fed in days. How could I when I could not ever leave the Occult borders? I had to be so careful, consumed by my visions of seeing Vladislov fall from his throne.” He paused. “I was experiencing this strange bout of rage.”

  “Valek.” Charlotte leaned on her elbow. “You are the Vampire they were talking about in the basement? The one who tried to kill Vladislov?”

  “Yes.” He looked at her, afraid to make eye contact. “I am that Vampire. I am the one who got away. The one they are still searching for.”

  She reached over to trace the delicate cracks on his cheek left by the sunlight. Her fingers ran all the way down the side of his face to his neck and stopped just at the collar of his shirt.

  “Did this hurt?” she asked.

  “Some people wonder if death hurts. I imagine that moment was quite similar to a mortal death. There is a bright light you recognize from some distant memory, but you can’t recall the last time you saw it. You only know it appeared just as beautiful in your memory as it does when you’re finally faced with it again. You feel the desire and you must go toward it, all the while it is killing you slowly.”

  She withdrew her hand, and he missed the warmth of her fingertips.

  “Valek, I think what you did was very brave. And I don’t think the others blame you at all. I only think you blame yourself.”

  “I only think you give me too much credit.”

  “Perfection is blind and so is love,” she said, and rolled away from him, pulling the covers up around her shoulders.

  “What is that supposed to mean?” He reached to turn her back toward him.

  “It means,” she paused for a moment, “you can’t see how perfect you really are to me.”

  He leaned down and barely kissed her.

  “I was thinking about something,” she said when he pulled away.

  “You always are.” He sighed.

  “I want to be with you forever, but—”

  “Lottie, we don’t have to talk about that right now. I don’t want you to worry about it.”

  “I know it doesn’t have to be right now. But I just wanted to make sure, when that day comes that I do want to be like you, you’ll still want me.”

  “Charlotte.” He kissed her again. “No matter what happens, I am always going to want you. When you’re ready.” He rolled onto his back then, folded his hands neatly on his stomach, closed his eyes, and waited.

  “Is the sun coming?” she asked after a moment.

  “Yes.” The muscles in his neck tensed, but the rest of his body stayed totally relaxed.

  He felt her settle in next to him, grabbing tightly onto his hand. “I’m here, Valek.”

  “Charlotte?”

  “Yes?”

  “I’m going to need you to close the curtains.”

  Chapter Eighteen

  Refugee

  Evangeline was packing several things into a large, canvas bag that sat in a heap on the edge of an elegant bed trimmed in wine-red. Some of the contents included several vials of potions, and a brand new, velvet-lined grimoire with a gold-leaf pentacle on the cover. She packed the things in a hurry and jumped when she saw Aiden standing in the threshold, watching her.“Good morning, Evangeline.” He smirked, his arms crossing tightly over his thick chest. He loved possessing the ability to intimidate.

  Evangeline stopped what she was doing and nodded at Aiden. “Good morning.”

  “You understand all of the instructions I have given you?” he asked darkly.

  She nodded.

  “Good. Come.” He turned and walked out of the bedchamber and started down one of the Regime’s long, stony corridors.

  Evangeline footfalls sounded close behind him. She had wrapped her long, washed hair in a neat bun behind her head and the new clothes the Regime had given her were neatly pressed, as instructed. The scrapes on her arms and face had also been immaculately healed by their light magic to destroy any evidence of force or torture. This would go exactly as he planned, Aiden thought.

  “The sun has only been up for the last twenty minutes.” He spoke quickly as he walked. “Sunset tonight is approximately at six-thirty. You have until then to locate the hiding place. I trust you know where that is.” He glanced back at Evangeline.

  “I know Valek has an old friend that lives in the city,” Evangeline said quietly.

  “Good. When you find them, I want you to report back to me. Then I want you to take shelter somewhere until I give you some sort of further instruction,” Aiden said as the two descended down a dank spiral staircase, dodging cobwebs, and through a door that led into the Regime’s main foyer.

  Officers were still working on reconstructing the front double doors of the palace Aiden destroyed only a few days earlier. The memory played over again in his mind like a record on a broken needle, a few of the smaller details skipping. Valek standing just in front of his seeming demise, frightened for the first time in his miserable existence. Charlotte slung hopelessly over his shoulder, her heart slowing—near death. He remembered how the energy pulsed in waves through his body. He wanted to kill Valek, of course, but the only thing he could focus on was how he was going to save Charlotte.

  Aiden looked one last time at the Witch, a gust of self-manifested wind blowing his hair around his face. “I don’t want to kill you, Evangeline. Please find her for me.” His eyes, slanted and emerald, were that of a dragon’s.

  Evangeline walked silently, without a last look to him, out of the palace.

  He watched her leave, through the large hall, through the door in repair, out into the brightly lit Golden City.

  Aiden turned around to see his father standing directly behind him. “Tell me something, son. Why are you fighting so diligently for a single mortal child?” The tall Wizard was ready in his new robes for that morning’s execution.

  “Charlotte is special, Father. I can’t explain it.” Aiden clenched his right fist, feeling the one line in his hand crease. Another memory, one of the two of them sitting together in his dark living room, flashed before his eyes.

  Danek sighed. “Would you like to walk with me to the courtyard? Vladislov wants you to sit next to him in our box this morning.”

  Aiden’s eyes widened. Perhaps Vladislov was ready to finally turn the power over to him.

  “Absolutely.” Aiden smiled.

  The two began walking in the direction of the center gardens. The guards they passed instantly saluted the two until they had disappeared into the daylight outside. Danek and Aiden, on their way to the highest box in the arena, were greeted by a gallantly-dressed Meredith Price and the rest of Aiden’s siblings. She kissed her eldest son on the cheek.

  “Good morning, my dears!” She beamed and leaned in closer to Aiden. “I heard Vladislov is getting ready to make quite the special announcement today!” Her voice trilled.

  Aiden smiled pridefully to himself as the whole family continued to walk together. The Occult creatures that had
already found their seats eyed the young Elf as he passed, as though they knew something he did not. They leaned in to each other, whispering things and pointing occasionally.

  “I am so proud of you, son.” Meredith’s rosy cheeks flushed an even deeper pink. “Vladislov will announce today in front of everyone that you are officially his next in line.” She clapped her hands in front of her face. “Just think how splendid our little plan will turn out, my love.”

  Aiden smiled ruefully at his mother, who led him with her hand on his back along the floor of the arena. “Everyone seems to have an idea already.” He continued to observe his future people whisper and stare.

  “They don’t only just have an idea, my son.” Danek’s voice boomed. “They are excited. They know how well you will rule in the light.”

  Aiden considered this as well as Charlotte, who was to be his bride as soon as he found her. He regarded how fondly she adored the night—how she rarely appeared during the day. He recalled the last time he talked to her. In the night, when the moon was present, and so was her Vampire. He gritted his teeth. He looked up to the warm, morning sun hovering above them. She would come to respect the day, he decided. She may not love it, but she would respect it.

  Chapter Nineteen

  Nightmarish

  Charlotte awoke the next evening, startled to find Valek looming over her, watching.

  “Good evening,” she said faintly.

  “Sorry. You were s-screaming again.” His breaths drew in deep and even. Controlled. His eyes were wide and fixed, and they did not blink. “I think I’m going to go to the basement.”

  He started to get up from the bed, but she grabbed for his shirt. “No. Please don’t go.”

  He froze.

  “I understand, Valek.” She sat up in bed, pulling the top of her dress off her shoulder, and brushed the hair away from her neck. She looked at him expectantly.

  He stared at her for a few moments. “No.” He winced. “Lottie, I can’t keep doing this.”

  “Valek?” She pulled the collar of his shirt to bring him close to her again and pressed her lips to his, kissing him deeply.

  He pulled away from her. “No, Charlotte.”

  They stared at each other.

  She knew very well what would keep him there. The needle Sarah had used to take her clothes in was carelessly left on the bedside table. It glinted in the darkness as Charlotte markedly reached over to it.

  Valek grappled for the needle in her hand when he saw what she was about to do. “Lottie, don’t be so ignorant!”

  Charlotte shuddered when the tip of the thing succeeded in pricking the top of her index finger anyway and it fell to the floor. She looked to see the tiny blood droplet creep from her skin. Valek saw it, too; his nostrils flared.

  “Lottie.” He groaned softly. “You should not have done that.”

  Charlotte smiled provocatively and rubbed her bleeding finger over her bottom lip. “It’s just a little cut. Kiss it better?”

  Valek couldn’t resist now, and she knew it. He leaned in to her, his mouth slightly open. She met him halfway and crushed her lips firmly to his again, letting him taste the bloodstain there.

  He sighed and shoved her back into the headboard, continuing to kiss her deeply. His hands balled in the material of her dress, and she felt a warm, slick river of blood seep out from one corner of her mouth along the side of her face. It flowed down her neck as he continued to pull it out of her. Her heart drummed, but it wasn’t fearful like it had been the last time. It almost seemed syncopated to some sort of rhythm as his mouth continued to pull at her life. He licked it from behind her lips, off her tongue.

  It was amazing that even though she did not possess Valek’s special inhuman abilities, her senses seemed just as heightened as when she was with him like this.

  She suddenly felt the vacuuming pressure from inside her body stop.

  He finally pulled away from her, both their mouths stained red. Charlotte licked at the coppery stain that tasted like rust and salt. Valek stayed balanced over her for what seemed like an hour, their faces close. They just gazed at each other, breathing. They were both thinking the same thing, sinking the emotion deeper.

  Do you think now is the right time? Charlotte thought.

  “No. I don’t.” Valek’s face stayed mystified, his voice almost carrying no emotion.

  She exhaled a breath she felt like she had been holding for a good twenty minutes at least. She didn’t know why, but that thought seemed scarier than any of the other nightmarish things she had been faced with in the past week.

  “I think I should leave now,” Valek said stiffly.

  “Will you come back?” She pressed her forehead to his.

  “Yes. I always will.” He got up from her bed and flew so quickly out of the room, he was nothing more than a mere blur to Charlotte’s human vision.

  She smiled, wiping her hand over her mouth to mop up the leftover blood.

  “I’ll get that.”

  Charlotte looked up, surprised to see Dusana and Lusian standing in her doorway. Of course she didn’t hear them coming. So that’s why Valek left so abruptly. The hurt and blame quickly returned to her mind then, and she hoped Valek could feel it.

  “If you don’t mind, Lusian and I will be dining together tonight.” Dusana smiled as she approached the bed, Lusian close behind her.

  Charlotte pushed straight up, gaping at them. It wasn’t so bad yesterday when they came in one by one, so fast they seemed to blend into the same monster, but this seemed more intimidating somehow. If she bore it alone once, she could do it again.

  “How are you this evening?” Lusian smirked as he sat on the bed. Dusana sat down on the other side.

  Charlotte looked warily back and forth at them. “Fine. Thanks.”

  “That’s what we like to hear.” Dusana flashed a deadly grin, lifting Charlotte’s left wrist close to her nose. She inhaled. “Smells delicious.” The color in her eyes flickered from blue to black.

  Lusian was quick to take Charlotte’s other hand. “Salud! ” he said to Dusana.

  As they were about to bite down, something large hurtled through the bedroom window, smashing the glass into a million shards. Charlotte screamed as the two Vampires immediately flew backward, clinging to the back wall, ready to lunge at whatever it was. They hissed at the massive black shadow that tried to straighten itself up in the darkness, grumbling something incoherent.

  “Charlotte, watch out!” Lusian commanded, preparing to slaughter the invader.

  “Whoever you are, you have five seconds to get out of this house!” Dusana hissed.

  Charlotte squinted through the shadows to try and catch the face of the assailant. She immediately recognized who it was from the glint off his spectacles as the two Vampires crouched to attack.

  “Stop!” Charlotte jumped out of the bed, her hands outstretched to Lusian and Dusana. “Don’t hurt him. I know him!” She turned, smiling to go help Mr. Třínožka up from the floor.

  His large spider’s legs slid over the broken glass as he mumbled.

  “Confounded…” he muttered.

  “Mr. Třínožka, let me help you.” She tried to stabilize him.

  “I can get up, girly. I ain’t that old,” he grumbled, his eight legs continuing to slide every which way.

  “You’re hurt.” Charlotte pulled her hand away from one large hairy leg, goo making her fingers stick together.

  “Yeah. I’ll be fine. I just need me one a them bandages and I’ll be good as new,” he said. “Let’s get some light in here.”

  As if on cue, Sarah rushed in with her wand, a bright bewitchment on the end, lighting up half the room. “Is everyone okay in here?”

  Valek was soon to follow, and so were Francis, Andela, Sasha, and the rest of the Vampires. “It’s all right. Charlotte and I know him. He’s from our Occult.”

  “That’s right.” The Phaser was finally able to get to his feet, and Charlotte could see his face c
learly in the moonlight now. His spectacles were cracked in one corner, askew on his face. There was a good amount of black soot in his mustache, and his pocket-watch spun on its chain as it hung carelessly from his vest pocket.

  Charlotte wrapped her arms around his front leg. “I’m so happy you’re okay, Mr. Třínožka.”

  “Barely,” he grumbled. “Those wizards are nothin’ but trouble. Nothin’ but trouble. They set fire to your house. The whole place was burning to the ground, and when I rushed in to try and save you, well, I thought the worst ‘cause I couldn’t find you or the doctor anywhere,” he finished sadly.

  Charlotte and Valek looked at each other. “Well, we’re okay now,” she said.

  “You are. But I can’t say the same fer everyone. I found this little guy.” The spider lifted a lifeless pile of rags tucked within his vest and set him on the floor.

  “Edwin!” Charlotte got on her knees, straightening the burlap form. The stitches in the face soullessly smiled at up her.

  “He told me, ‘fore someone did this to him, you two had been kidnapped. So I left the Occult to see if I couldn’t try en find ya. Well, my nose is awful sensitive there, Charlotte. I smelled your blood all the way from Vodickova Street. Thought you must’ve been in an awful amount of trouble.” He eyed everyone else in the room from behind his crow’s feet. “Can’t tell if I’m right er not yet.” His mustache bristled.

  “Won’t you stay please, Mr. Třínožka?” The entire Vampire coven glared at the audacity of Charlotte. “And Edwin, too.”

  “Pardon me, darling, but I don’t think it’s your place to just invite people into my home.” Francis batted his eyelashes at her.

  “Please? You said you needed more Occult inhabitants to start an uprising against the Regime. These are my friends.”

  “I don’t really see what an old man and a potato sack can do to help,” Sasha chided, in his deep voice.

  “Whatever happened to manners? You’d better learn some before I start throwin’ punches.” Mr. Třínožka wheeled his front two limbs around in a few circles.