Of Light and Darkness

by Shayne Leighton

  Charlotte clung tightly to him in an effort to remind him she was still there. Valek stroked up and down her arm and kissed the top of her head.

  “I am confident her angel sent you to me. The way I found you, all alone in the city. It was similar to the way I found Francis and in turn, my new life. It seemed as though she left you there for me.”

  Perhaps, that was true, Charlotte thought. Human beings could be just as responsible for magical happenings as monsters. They just weren’t always aware of it. “Do you think maybe she is still watching over you, as you watched over her?” Charlotte mused. They had never spoken of guardian angels before. It was something she wanted to start believing in. Something she needed to believe in—especially now.

  “Yes,” he said confidently. “And she’ll protect you. She will bring you back safely to me.”

  Charlotte found herself extremely comforted by this. She closed her eyes and listened to the air go in and out of his hollow chest. The scar at the side of her neck began to burn again though, and she brought her fingers to it. She winced a little and sat up from Valek’s chest.

  He frowned. “It bothers you still?”

  Only the tips of his fangs behind his lips caught her eye as he spoke. She didn’t hear completely what he said. Dazed, her vision stayed on his lips, his hand lingering at her neck. She felt something in her throat tighten. Perhaps the Vampires did not have the only addiction in the house.

  “Lottie?”

  She removed her hand from her neck and with only the tips of her fingers, touched his lower lip. She stayed silent. The mark on her neck was blazing. Her mouth watered.

  He wrapped his hand around her wrist, pulling it away slightly. “Charlotte.”

  She heard him this time and looked at him. The scar didn’t stop burning. She tried to blink away her dizziness. She still could not remove her eyes from his mouth.

  “What is it?” He placed a hand affectionately on one side of her face.

  “Are you thirsty?” The question was made of air, as if someone had stolen her voice.

  He squinted at her and tried to speak without revealing too much of his teeth. “I can’t. Remember?”

  She was finally able to look away from him. Instead she fixed her gaze on her hands in her lap. “Right. How stupid of me.” She flinched when her scar raged again.

  Valek put his hands on the sides of her neck “Charlotte, what’s the matter?” He brought his face lower to the scar.

  The intense burning began to go away the closer he got. She cried softly. “I don’t know.”

  But when he backed away, she cringed worse. “If you don’t tell me exactly what’s hurting, there is nothing I can do.” He kept his hand on her neck as if to extinguish the pain.

  She pressed her chin down against her chest, the burning becoming so harsh. Her fist clenched her ear while the other grabbed at the collar of his shirt. “Bite me, Valek. Can you? Please?” The words were hard to get out through her clenched teeth.

  He stared as her body balled up tighter. “Lottie, I’m not sure if….”

  “Please, Valek! I want you to,” she cried, her nails digging further into her scalp.

  ***

  He quickly lifted her chin, and at a loss, his front canines sank quickly into her artery. He already knew the minute the smell of her blood hit the air, he was going to pay so dearly for that.

  Evangeline and Sarah immediately rushed into the room, satchels plummeting at their feet. Sarah gasped and the two rushed over. Valek quickly released Charlotte.

  “Valek, what are you doing?” Sarah blanched, trying to become a barricade between them. Evangeline grabbed Charlotte under the arms and pulled her off him and onto the floor.

  “No. It isn’t what you think.” He stood from the armchair, wiping the stains away from his chin.

  Sarah handed him a handkerchief from her skirt pocket. “What is it, then?” She put her hands on her hips. “The smell could drive everyone down there to kill each other.”

  “Sarah, listen to me. There is something medically wrong with her.” He pointed toward Charlotte, recovering on the floor. Her fevered eyes gazed dazedly at him as she leaned back against Evangeline. “She begged me.”

  Sarah looked to Charlotte, the dark circles under her eyes. She bent to her knees to appraise the human girl. “What’s the matter, Charlotte?”

  She whimpered quietly.

  “Is it possible for humans to become addicted to the bite of a Vampire?” Evangeline asked.

  “I’ve never heard of that before.” Valek helped Charlotte from the floor. He set her down, alone this time in the armchair. “Are you all right?”

  Charlotte looked at him, embarrassed. The burning had finally stopped, however. Sarah was already busy pulling a thick volume off the highest shelf. A fifth generation Vampire Anatomy, as Charlotte recognized it, for she had the same one back at home.

  “This thing is older than dirt,” Sarah mused as the spine thudded down on the coffee table. She waved the dust cloud out of the air and flipped pages.

  Evangeline collapsed onto the wooden stool, folding one leg over the other. “Do you think that information is even still relevant, Sarah?”

  “I don’t really see you coming up with any bright ideas,” Sarah spat, as one of her bony fingers skimmed a page. She found what she had been looking for. “Ah hah!”

  “What?” Evangeline leaned over, her nose in the air.

  “It says this sort of thing only happens very seldom.” She eyed Charlotte. “It dates back to the era of the first Vampire, Vlad Dracul. He was in love with a human woman. He fed on her once, and after that, her body craved it. It’s simply called, ‘fixation’. But what is unusual to me is it says it is normally paired with bloodlust. Meaning, if Charlotte is suffering from fixation, then Valek must also be suffering an addiction as well.” She looked at him. “And you’re not, are you?”

  Valek looked at Charlotte, his mouth agape, but didn’t say anything.

  Sarah continued. “This has a lot to do with that fate line on Charlotte’s palm, too. I think she must be fated to you for this to happen.”

  “How is it cured?” Valek asked.

  Sarah closed the book with a thump. “It isn’t. You must either fix her addiction or change her.” She got up to put the book away.

  “What will happen if I do not?”

  “Nothing. She’s going to crave it sometimes. If you let it go on too long without feeding from her, she’ll die. Her heart will give out.” She stretched on her toes and shoved the book against the back wall.

  “That’s impossible. Every addiction has a cure,” he argued. “We can wean her off of it.”

  Sarah flicked him a glance. “I told you. The cure is to change her.”

  “Obstacles at every turn.” Valek rubbed the bridge of his nose and faced away.

  “It won’t happen every night,” Sarah explained as she rejoined the group. “It’s a periodic occurrence.” She looked to Charlotte who was now using the limp Edwin as a security blanket again. “Oops…his eye is almost off. Let me fix that.” She searched around for a moment in her pockets. “Damn. My thread is upstairs.” She stuck her sewing needle in her teeth, reached up to pull a few strands of hair from her head, and began threading them through the eye of the needle.

  Evangeline snorted in disgust. “Savage.”

  Sarah ignored her and sat next to Charlotte on the arm of the chair, pulling Edwin’s head into her lap and began to stitch his eye back together, using her hair as string. “There!” she crowed, breaking the needle away. “Good for now, I’ll go over it with thread again later.” Sarah stood and skipped over to the fireplace to begin warming another pot of cider.

  But something twitched in Charlotte’s lap. She looked at everyone else, but they were all distracted. It moved once again. “Uh…you guys…” she began. The burlap fingers had started to come to life.

  Evangeline shot up on the stool, eyes as big as the full moon. She reached for
her satchel.

  “Edwin!” Charlotte blanched and sat him up.

  The once lifeless doll’s limbs now violently jumped around next to him as he continued to reanimate. Everyone turned to see the button eyes blink once, making contact with the others in the room.

  “Edwin!” Charlotte fell to her knees in front of the chair.

  “D-danger…” the little scarecrow sputtered. “D-d-d-danger-r-r.” The stitches of his mouth unraveled as he spoke.

  “No, Edwin. You are safe now. Valek is here, too,” Charlotte calmly explained.

  “Y-y-you s-stay away.” He coughed a black cloud of smoke from his chest.

  Charlotte frowned and began to back away. She looked at Valek.

  “S-s-stay a-away from Char-Charlotte.”

  “Edwin, I am Charlotte. You are at a safe house in Prague. You’re alive.” She reached out to touch his arm but Sarah stopped her with a hand on her shoulder.

  “Ch-charlotte is in d-d-d-danger. S-s-stay a-away….” He mumbled another word under his breath but none of them caught what it was.

  “Say it again, Edwin,” Valek ordered.

  “S-stay a-a-away, Evan-Ev-Evangeline.” His head rolled to one side.

  Charlotte shot to her feet, but when she turned to look at Evangeline, all three of them saw she was gone.

  “Ev-evangeline w-w-works for Ad-Aiden,” Edwin continued. “Gr-gr-grave d-danger.” He finished and life immediately left his eyes. He was nothing more than a sack once again.

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  V is for Vengeance

  Valek snarled and wheeled around, disappearing over the threshold. Pages left on the coffee table flew like they had been caught in a windstorm. Both Charlotte and Sarah raced out after him to the foyer, but saw the front door left gaping.

  He was already gone.

  “No….” Charlotte crumpled against a wooden end table, clutching onto one of its legs for support.

  The sound of thirsty Vampires slamming against wood rattled the floorboards down the hallway behind them. Sarah turned to see dust flying violently into the air from the trap door. She grabbed Charlotte by the shoulders. “Go after him! Be very careful, and do not go with anyone other than Valek. They are going to kill themselves down there if I don’t stay and do something.” The small Witch raced back toward the study to retrieve vials of animal blood.

  Charlotte looked out at the world beyond the threshold. Black clouds, pregnant with electricity, swirled high over gothic rooftops. The damp wind reached her face from the outside, pulling her hair, beckoning her to take the first step. The storm was not natural. Thunder called to her from miles away, challenging who stood on the cusp between light and darkness.

  She swallowed once and without thinking much more, she ran over the edge. She did not feel her knees flexing and bending as they propelled her down the black road. There were other humans, like her, staring as she raced as fast as her lungs could take in oxygen. She felt their eyes on her. Hot tears flew from her cheeks back into her hairline. Her chest burned fervently but she did not stop. Not knowing what direction she was going in, she searched between the plummets of rain for any familiar figure.

  “Valek!” she cried out as she kept running. “Valek!”

  Just then, something a little further down caught her attention. The silhouettes were distant and vague under a streetlamp, the only light source in the dismalness. It looked like one figure grappling desperately with another. Charlotte could see people around them stopping and staring. Air stabbed like frozen fire in her chest as she picked up speed.

  “Valek!” she screamed over the pain. “They will catch you, Valek!” She begged him to hear her. “Stop!” She ran for what seemed an endless distance before slamming into the shrouded, male figure. He gripped Evangeline’s throat mercilessly.

  “Go back, Charlotte,” he growled.

  She breathed so she could speak. “No. They will catch you. You can’t do this here.” A wheeze twisted her lungs, and she wrapped her arms around herself to keep her world steady. “We have to go back.”

  Valek’s claws clung relentlessly to Evangeline’s throat, drawing blood. “She has to die.” His fangs shone bright against the lightning, the cold rain making his hair cling to his forehead.

  Evangeline whimpered and grabbed his arm, silver tears streaming down her face. “Kill me, then.” She choked. “Do it. In front of all of these humans.” Blood began to seep from one corner of her mouth as she smiled faintly. “Aiden would want you to.”

  “How could you do this to us, Evangeline?” Charlotte asked sadly. She stood frozen and noticed something silver hanging around the Witch’s neck. She winced, pulling it from her. “Why?”

  “He—” She coughed blood. “He would have killed me. He promised me power.” She turned her eyes on Valek. “Kill me, Valek. I deserve it. It is too late to save Charlotte now.” She coughed again. “They know where to find her.”

  Something snapped in Valek’s eyes. Anger immediately flooded away from him, replaced by fear. His grip on her throat loosened. The Witch fell to her knees.

  “Come on, Valek. We have to get out of here.” Charlotte tugged at his sopping wet shirt. “Leave her.”

  Valek stood like an immovable boulder in the freezing rain, his fists clenched at his sides. Charlotte’s pleas echoed between his ears. He knew then, as the gaze of the Witch bore into his own, that it was over.

  Police sirens sounded a few blocks away against the rolling thunder. Valek grabbed Charlotte’s hand. Slinging her into his arms, he bulleted faster than light back through the streets. Water collected in the gutters waved over the sides of the pavement as if he were a speeding car.

  Francis’ house was in his line of vision. He was beginning to see the façade of the building very clearly now. He would leave tonight and run as far as he could. He didn’t care where that endpoint would be.

  But before his feet could pass the surrounding low-iron fence, something very large slammed into him head on. Charlotte tumbled to the ground, rolling across the pavement. Valek only skidded backward and looked up to see the large shadow eclipse the nearly full moon above them. Wings stretched out at its sides as it dove again for Charlotte, crumpled on the street.

  He screamed her name as he raced to her, blood tears mixing with the harsh rain on his face. The claw of the giant beast scraped across his arm, but he blocked it from reaching his beloved Lottie.

  She scrambled onto her hands and knees, the whistle now steadfast around her neck again.

  Get Inside!” he bellowed.

  The winged monster above them corkscrewed and dove to the earth again.

  Charlotte saw it as she finally got to her feet and sprinted for the door. She felt it come up behind her, knocking her onto her stomach over the porch stairs. Her nails clawed at the wood but it was too late. She felt a large, very solid hand rear her up onto the back of the beast. “Valek!” She screamed for him, but could not hear or see anything against the concrete pummel of the rain. “Valek!” she screamed again, but when she opened her eyes, her Vampire was no more than a tiny granite dot against the black sea of the Golden City streets.

  ***

  Valek could do nothing, say nothing. He knew troops would be there any second to carry off whatever was left of his dismal reality. He rolled onto his back and watched the Gryphon disappear into the darkest part of the sky. Rain poured over him as he dug his elbows into the hard road. He heaved—scarlet red diluted by water slid down the sides of his face.

  Lottie!” he cried. He threw his head back and heaved again. “Charlotte!” He sobbed as the city turned to nothing around him.

  Sarah burst out the front door down the steps. She leaned over him and tried to brush the sopping hair from his face. “Valek! It’s okay. Charlotte is going to be okay! Remember my vision. Remember the plan!”

  He turned away from her, continuing to cry Charlotte’s name. She hushed him, but no words would help. She pulled his head and shoulders into h
er lap and watched the tiny, black dot disappear in the night sky with him.

  Mr. Třínožka came out of the house next, Edwin steadfast to his back. Immediately following him was the entire Vampire coven. They all loomed sadly in the doorway and watched the scene on the street in front of the house.

  “We’ve got to get you inside,” Sarah said quietly.

  “Charlotte….” He moaned again and tried to roll onto his side. His eyes scoured the streets for her, praying to a God he struggled to believe in, he could have made some mistake. But he could not find her amongst the storm.

  Francis pushed through the crowd to the front. He silently approached Sarah and Valek on the street, the rain straightening his perfect, white curls. “Go inside, dear. We must get ready to leave now. They will be here any moment.”

  Sarah looked up at her master then got up and made her way quickly back into the house.

  Francis turned to the rest of them. “Well? Why are you all standing there? We must prepare to leave! We have a job to do.” He turned back to Valek. He bent, the knees of his slacks pressed into the mud. “Now,” he comforted, an awkward hand on Valek’s shoulder, “let us not give up just yet. It is time to be strong for her. Keep your end of the deal.”

  Valek only responded by shutting his eyes, more blood tears pooling on the ground by his head.

  “I know, too, what it is like to lose a…child. That child came back to me. We will get her back.” Francis stood and extended a hand to Valek. “So you can give up, or you can rise from the ashes. What will it be?”

  Valek did not look at Francis. He did not take his hand. But he did stand up. He did not think of how scared she must be. Instead he closed his eyes and begged her to smile, knowing he would be there soon. He turned and walked back inside.

  The house was already bare. It looked as though no one had ever lived there. The Vampires shot one by one out from the basement tunnel. They marched after each other toward the front door where Valek stood behind Francis. The large spider-man and the scarecrow, too, were eager with the rest of them. Sarah emerged from a darkly lit room that had once been her study. The only thing she carried was her sewing needle, and her spell book.