Shadows and Stars

by Becca Fanning

  Sheriff Trent seemed thoughtful for a moment. "Yes. Guilt can be very debilitating."

  Sutton laughed. "And what would you know about guilt?"

  "As the oldest being in the universe I practically invented the concept."

  Fiona couldn't process any of this. Either they were talking in some sort of code or...

  Carla is a vampire. Sheriff Trent is an immortal.

  And what the hell is Rose? She made Jared levitate, and set Bert's hair on fire. It was obviously magic; real magic. Was she some sort of witch?

  Fiona turned her eyes to Circe, who winked at her.

  Shit! Is Circe a witch too? Could she be the actual Circe from the Greek myths?

  She watched the council, now bickering among themselves over what to do with Jared. This wasn't a cult. It was some sort of secret supernatural town council.

  EIGHT

  "STOP ALL THIS BICKERING!" Sheriff Trent demanded. "Stop it at once!"

  The sounds of screaming and shouting were becoming deafening. Fiona continued recording, hoping to catch more magical acts on film. Everything they did only added to their guilt. She only hoped she was safe upon the catwalk.

  Why has nobody seen me?

  She thought about about what she'd seen. She'd seen proper, real magic performed. If Circe was indeed a witch, then she must have put a spell on her to stop other witches detecting her presence. That was the only thing that made a sort of sense. It must have worked on vampires too. Vampires had enhanced senses, right? At least they did on television. The spell must be protecting her from vampires too.

  Fiona couldn't help but smile. The thought that magic was real made her a little giddy.

  "STOP!" the sheriff shouted.

  They ignored him. Fiona watched with dread as he transformed in front of her very eyes into some sort of hideous demon. He had horns and a giant mouthful of teeth. His skin was red like fire and he roared so loud she was surprised the roof didn't come down.

  He looked like Satan himself.

  Oh my God....

  She almost dropped the phone she was so terrified. This was so far beyond what she's expected. How could she have foreseen this horror show? How could she know what was living in her town, right under people's noses? She couldn't believe she'd actually smiled when she'd realized magic was real. The reality was all of this was overwhelming and scary.

  "Calm down or I will have no choice but to incite a massacre of my own," the demon commanded. His voice was deep now, like it echoed down from the clouds. "Hear me?"

  The arguing was cut short just like that. Quite a few of the people there (were they people, or monsters?) looked more terrified than she was.

  The sheriff nodded, his form sliding back into that of a human sheriff. "Thank you very much for that. Your arguing was giving me a headache, and you all know what a demon is like when it has a headache."

  Dracula laughed. He was cool, collected, as if he'd seen all this before.

  The sheriff smiled. "The council and I will talk this over, but for now...any questions?"

  Nobody asked a single thing. They were too scared.

  I don't blame them. I think I might have pissed myself a little bit.

  Fiona was surprised when Chanda raised a hand. Out of all the people assembled, from monsters to witches to vampires, the only person brave enough to ask a question was a tiny Indian woman.

  Or is she merely a woman? For all I know she could be a panther shifter or something.

  Sheriff Trent nodded respectfully. "Chanda. What is it?"

  "I want to make it clear that I will denounce any ruling that condemns this boy to death," said Chanda. She was staring at the sheriff directly. She looked scared, but determined. "I know you're in charge here, but we're also a community, and I don't think the community wants an execution."

  "I note your objections," said the sheriff.

  Adrian smiled proudly at his wife and mouthed the words, "I love you." Fiona felt a little jealous. She'd never know that kind of mutual love and respect ever again,

  "I want input in this," Dracula announced. "It is my right at the oldest living vampire."

  The two men stared at each other for felt like eons before the sheriff nodded.

  "We will be five minutes," the sheriff told the people. "No longer."

  The council members, and Dracula, headed backstage. Fiona stayed where she was, still filming. Her hands were shaking and her throat was dry and she wanted nothing more than to run screaming. She was trapped here for now. Besides, she had to see this through. She had to find out what the council decided. If they killed Jared then she'd leave it at that. If they decided to pardon him she'd move Heaven and Earth to make sure every person on the planet watched this supernatural trial on YouTube.

  All it would take was a few button presses and it would be uploaded for everyone to see.

  Ten minutes passed in tortured silence. Those gathered in the hall were starting to become restless. Jared was still passed out, occasionally moving or mumbling in his sleep. Chanda kept looking towards the doors the council members had gone through, obviously worried for her husband.

  What is Chanda? Is she a witch, a vampire, or something else?

  Chanda and Adrian had seemed so nice. They were good, decent people. How could they be monsters? It didn't make sense. Then again none of this made sense. It was a nightmare.

  "Are you comfortable up there?"

  Fiona heard the unmistakable voice of Circe in her head. She looked down at the woman, who was busy in conversation with a strikingly beautiful young woman beside her.

  "I'm doing fine," Fiona whispered. "Who are you talking to?"

  "This is Astrid Green," said Circe. "She's Adrian's twin sister. They're both werewolves."

  "Werewolves?"

  "Good werewolves. Just like there are good vampires and good demons and good witches."

  "None of this is good."

  She pushed Circe out of her mind, trying to ignore her words. There was nothing good or nice about any of this. These people, these monsters, were abominations. Did they convene like this every time one of them committed a crime? How many murders had they covered up over the years, just to protect themselves? It had to stop. The killings had to stop.

  "This is a lot for you to take in," said Circe. "You must be overwhelmed."

  "That's the understatement of the century," said Fiona. She paused before adding, "Am I safe up here? Am I truly safe up here?"

  "The werewolves and vampires can't sense you," Circe explained. "The magical traps to stop humans wandering into the town hall failed to detect you."

  "You really did put a magic spell on me."

  "You're welcome."

  "I'm not thanking you until I figure out what your motive is in all this."

  "You already know my motive."

  The back doors opened. The council members retook their seats, excluding Sheriff Trent, who stood on the stage like the grandmaster he was. His face didn't show any emotion, so Fiona couldn't discern what the verdict was. The other council members were the same. Their poker faces were faultless.

  The sheriff cleared his throat. "We have come to a decision."

  "It better be a good decision," someone shouted.

  Sheriff Trent nodded. "It is indeed a good decision."

  Fiona waited with baited breath as the sheriff drew out his long pause. It reminded her of American Idol, where the presenter would take an age to reveal who the winner was.

  "We have decided to spare Jared Claiborne," said the sheriff.

  Fiona felt a rage like she'd never known. She wanted to leap down there and berate them for their lax attitudes. He deserved to die!

  Dracula nodded, satisfied. "That is good."

  "He will be given a mentor to school him in what it means to be a vampire," said Carla. "They will slowly introduce him to this world so as not to overwhelm him."

  "He's just going to get away with it?" someone shouted.

  Sheriff Trent ste
pped off the stage and picked Jared up by his arm. He dangled in the air like a puppet.

  "Guilt will eat him alive," said the sheriff. "That will be his punishment." He glared at the audience, daring them to contradict him. "Do any of you have a problem with that?"

  The crowd shook their heads, not wanting to incur the wrath of the demon. Fiona shook her head, biting her lip to stop herself from screaming. Somebody had to do something. Circe said there were nice monsters. Nice monsters did not let a murderer get away with their crimes! She looked towards Chanda, the bravest of them all, but she was literally biting her lip, silent.

  You're all cowards.

  "My daughter Sutton will be Jared's mentor," Dracula announced.

  Sutton's eyes almost popped out of their head. "Are you fucking kidding me?"

  "You've become spoiled. You need this."

  "I'd rather be eaten alive by a sex starved succubus."

  Dracula grabbed hold of his daughter's wrist. She looked away from him, obviously determined not to give in, despite the implied threat.

  "Do this," Dracula implored.

  "Fine," Sutton snapped. "But I don't like it."

  Sutton pulled her father's grip from her arm. She glared at him evilly before there was a pop sound and she turned into a bat. The creature fluttered away out of a window, the whole audience watching in wonder.

  This is too much. Vampires turn into bats?

  I have this on video. I have proof!

  Fiona smiled as she stopped the recording. She would make sure justice was served by inviting the world to see what horrors were occurring in this town. Donovan's death would be avenged and justice would be served.

  She couldn't get a signal.

  What the fuck?

  No matter what she did she couldn't get a signal. Something was blocking it.

  "No," she whispered, frustration eating her up. "No..."

  The phone slipped from her sweaty hands. Fiona gasped as her cell spun through the air and smashed into pieces right in front of Sheriff Trent. He looked up, his eyes boring into her.

  "Who are you?" he demanded.

  Fiona took a deep breath. There was no way she was getting out of here alive, not now they knew she'd been watching them. This was the chance she'd been waiting for, to make her voice heard, to shame them into giving Donovan the justice he deserved.

  "Are you really going to let him get away with killing all those people?" she shouted. "Are you really just going to sit there and do nothing?"

  Rose smiled. "Come down here and say that. Maybe they'll listen to you."

  Before Fiona knew what was happening she was floating down to the stage. She landed on her feet, a little wobbly, but fine. A hundred faces, all of them monsters, stared at her.

  They're going to kill me.

  "Who did this foul vampire take from you?" Rose asked.

  Fiona said, "He took away the person I loved the most."

  Over half the audience looked away in shame. Fiona knew she could convince them. She could tell they wanted Jared punished more than she did. She had a real chance here, despite the fact she was scared and angry and wishing she'd stayed at home.

  "I really don't know what's going on here, but you can't want this," she told them. "Are you just going to pardon anyone who kills someone in this town? When is it going to stop?"

  "He is being punished," said the sheriff. "You saw that."

  She turned to him, furious. "It's not enough, and even your people can see that."

  "Your anger is making you stand up to me. You should be scared." He grabbed hold of her arm, tight. Fiona whimpered, the pain striking. "You should be very scared."

  NINE

  SHERIFF GABLE TRENT NODDED, digesting her story. Fiona knew with certainty that she hadn't changed his mind one little bit. He was a demon, and obviously a bad one at that. He'd changed back into his demon form after he'd put her in this cell, just to scare her. It had worked, though maybe not as much as he'd have liked. He was right when he'd said her fury outweighed her terror of him.

  "You've heard my story," she said. "What now? Are you going to grant me mercy?"

  The demon's purple tongue slapped around inside his cavernous mouth. Fiona backed away to the other side of the cell, certain she was going to be eaten.

  "You have to die," he told her.

  "Leave me locked up," she pleaded. "I can't tell anyone what I know from down here."

  "People will notice you missing."

  "There has to be a way out of this. Please. I don't want to die." She paced, trying to think. "Surely there's some sort of magic spell that can wipe my memory or something?" She grinned, latching on to that idea. It appealed to her. "Take away what I know! Then we can all be happy. I can't tell anyone what I saw, and I live the rest of my life thinking my husband died at the hands of wild dogs. It's a win-win."

  He seemed to think about it, giving Fiona felt a slither of hope. It may not be the outcome she wanted, but she could be happy again, knowing Donovan hadn't been murdered by a rabid vampire. She could forget that all this conspiracy of demons and vampires ever existed.

  "It's a tempting idea," the sheriff mused. "But it won't work."

  "Are you saying you haven't got magic powerful enough to do this?" she demanded.

  "I'm saying that even magic spells can be circumvented." He shook his head. "No. You have to die."

  "I hope your whole world comes crashing down on you. I hope you lose someone you love and I hope there's not a single thing you can do about it."

  Fiona felt bile rise in her throat, hating herself for the threat. She didn't mean it, but all she wanted to do was hurt the thing condemning her to death.

  "You have ten minutes," the sheriff announced. "Think about your husband and how much you loved him. Depending on what you believe in you will be reunited with him soon enough."

  The demon left, leaving Fiona to think. She'd never been religious, had never even thought about whether she believed in God or any other deity. Was her current predicament proof that no such thing existed, or was this part of some sort of plan?

  The basement door creaked open. Circe walked in.

  "Are you going to rescue me?" Fiona asked, almost pleaded. "You're not like them. You can let me go and I won't say a thing. I promise."

  "I'm old and wise and I'm not stupid," said Circe sadly. "The minute you get out of here you're going to announce to the world what you saw here. Most people won't believe you, but some will, and that will signal the end of our anonymity."

  "Maybe you don't deserve it."

  The ancient witch seemed thoughtful. "We probably don't deserve it, but the vampires and the werewolves and all the others who are decent people, people who've never done a thing wrong, do deserve it. We're doing this for them. We're doing this for the innocents."

  Fiona called out the hypocrisy in her statement. "Donovan was innocent."

  "And you really think he'd want you to put thousands of other innocents in danger just for him?"

  "Thousands?"

  Circe smiled and sat down on an old stool. She seemed young but Fiona could sense she was so much older than even she'd imagined.

  "Supernatural beings live all across the world," Circe explained. "They live and work and are happy. Some are bakers, some are policemen. Some are traffic wardens. We may be able to change into snakes or make ourselves invisible, but we're just people."

  "What about the bad ones?" Fiona demanded.

  "The truly bad ones suffer for their crimes. Jared is not bad. When a vampire turns they have no control over their actions. It was up to his maker, the man who turned him, to keep him locked up until the cravings were over. Jared is no more at fault here than a gun is to blame for shooting someone. The blame lies with the person who pulled the trigger."

  Fiona shook her head. "I can't see that. All I can see is Jared, killing Donovan."

  "I want you to be at peace before the end. Please."

  Fiona turned her back to the woman
, determined to hate Jared and this society until the bitter end. They could never change her mind. What they were doing was evil.

  "Fiona," a familiar voice whispered.

  She turned. It was Donovan.

  "What sort of sick magic is this?" she screamed, angry again. "Stop it!"

  Donovan smiled and walked up to the cell. It looked so much like him that Fiona wanted to press her lips to his and kiss him for the rest of time.

  "Circe has...allowed me to take control over her body," said Donovan. He seemed confused. "She's still in here, saying I only have limited time."

  "Tell me something only Donovan would know."

  He grinned impishly and said, "How about I tell you something only you know? I sometimes took a look at your diary." At her outraged look he added, "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to invade your privacy like that, but I was curious. You know what I'm like."

  She's putting on a good act. This is so much like Donovan.

  "What did this diary say?" Fiona asked.

  He looked awkward as he said, "You said that, on the night you lost your virginity to me, you were thinking about Hugh Jackman."

  Fiona gasped, blushing.

  Shit! I never told anyone that!

  She put her hands through the bars. Her fingers sought out his perfect enough face and she cried. It was him. Circe's witch magic had given her Donovan back.

  "How long have we got?" she asked, fighting back the tears.

  "About a minute," said Donovan. "I just wanted to say I love you and I'll be waiting for you."

  Fiona smiled. "It's all real? Heaven is real?"

  "I'm not sure what this place is. I suppose it could be Heaven. All I know is I'm happy and you're going to be happy when you come to me."

  "I wish...I wish we could've had children. They would've been perfect."

  "Not perfect enough?"

  She laughed. "You read that in my diary too, hmm?" She stroked his cheek. "Our children would be perfect. I stand by that statement."

  Donovan smiled as his image faded away, leaving only Circe.

  Circe looked confused. "What happened?"

  "You don't know?" Fiona asked.