Golden Hue (Ascension)

by Stone, Zachary

She reached into a small bag she carried and handed us a set of keys.

  “The blue room is for you,” she told Sarah.

  “Thank you so much,” Sarah told her.

  “You’re welcome,” she said. “Breakfast is at eight in the morning. Please don’t be late.”

  She walked away.

  “I don't feel right sleeping in the same room with you,” I told Cathy.

  “Look, you don't have to do anything. You can sleep on the floor if you want to. But this place freaks me out, and I don’t want to be in a room by myself,” she said.

  “Alright,” I said. “But I’ll be sleeping on the floor.”

  Sarah didn’t say a word to us. She quickly unlocked the blue door to the blue and walked inside.

  Cathy opened the door to our room, and I nearly passed out due to what I saw.

  The room was covered in shades of pink and red. It had pink walls, pink carpet, red window curtains, and a bright red, heart shaped bed.

  “This is so cool,” Cathy said, as she ran and jumped on the bed.

  I walked inside, sat down in a small red chair, and put my head in my hands. The room was too tacky and too tempting to be real.

  “What's wrong,” Cathy asked.

  “You know what's wrong,” I said.

  “Don't be upset,” Cathy said. “Look at it this way, maybe the empress will let us use this room on our wedding night.”

  I walked towards a light pink closet door, opened it, and saw a number of blankets and pillows. A moment later, I was making a bed for myself on the floor. I’d be sleeping next to the giant heart shaped bed, but I knew better than to subject myself to the temptation of sharing it with Cathy.

  “Are you mad at me?” Cathy asked.

  “No, I'm not mad,” I said. “I'm trying to resist temptation.”

  She got on the floor with me and helped put together my bed.

  “You know,” she said. “If you wanted to, I’d sleep on the floor and you could sleep on the bed.”

  “That would be rude of me,” I said. “I’m not going to have my future wife sleep on the floor.”

  “And I'm not going to have my future husband sleep on the floor either,” she said.

  “Then why are you helping me get this bed ready?” I asked.

  “I don't know,” she said. “But I'm not letting you sleep down here.”

  I looked at Cathy, and I realized how crazy the situation was.

  “We just need to go and get married,” I said. “I'm tired of playing games like this.”

  “How about we sneak out tonight?” she said.

  “I don't know,” I said. “That might be disrespectful to Sarah.”

  We both sat down on the floor together and held hands.

  “If we both slept in chairs next to each other, that couldn't be inappropriate,” Cathy said.

  “That sounds like a good idea,” I said. “But in the morning I'm going to ask the empress if she knows anyone who can go ahead and marry the two of us.”

  Sitting on the floor holding onto Cathy, I heard a clicking sound. It was coming from under the bed.

  “We have to get out...” I heard Cathy say, before an explosion went off under the bed. The thunderous blast shot upwards and tore a massive hole through the bed and the ceiling above it. Smoke filled the room as the remains of the bed burned.

  With my ears ringing, I got to my feet and rushed with Cathy out of the room.

  Sarah came running out of her room and looked at us. Soon, many other vampires and employees of the empress arrived.

  With my arm around Cathy’s shoulder, I thought about the situation. Was this the queen’s doing – a setup?

  I told Sarah about what had happened and said I didn’t feel we were safe here, and that we needed to leave.

  “You saved me,” Cathy whispered in my ear.

  “No I didn't,” I said.

  “Yes, you did,” she said. “If you’d been on the bed with me, the blast could have injured both of us. The fact we were sitting on the floor might have saved our lives.”

  I doubted that the blast could have killed us – although it could have very been badly hurt.

  “I'm just glad you’re okay,” I told her.

  Suddenly, the empress appeared.

  “I want this entire wing of the estate swept for weapons and explosives,” she said to her servants. “If anything is found I want to know.”

  About a half dozen vampires started scurrying around going from room to room.

  “No one sets off an explosion in my home!” she shouted.

  She then turned and looked at us.

  “I'm so sorry,” she said. “This is totally unacceptable. I apologize.”

  I let go of Cathy for a moment and stepped towards her.

  “My fiancée could have just been seriously injured,” I said. “When I find out who’s responsible for this they’re going to pay.”

  “As soon as I find out who’s behind this I’ll certainly let you know,” she said.

  Miriam came out of Sarah's room and informed the empress that it was safe.

  “Please go into the blue room and try to relax,” the empress said. “I’ll have another room for the two of you prepared. You’ll rest in a room near my own.”

  Although I wanted to tell her off, I decided to be polite – for Sarah's sake.

  “Do I have your permission to take Cathy out for a bite to eat and some fresh air?” I asked. “We’d be back in a few hours.”

  “Certainly,” she said. “Go where you please.”

  “Thank you,” I said.

  “Do you mind if I join you?” Sarah asked me.

  “Sure. Please come with us.”

  I went into the red room, grabbed our bags, and the three of us found our way outside. We discovered to our shock that our vehicle was gone. Thinking a servant might have moved it (although Sarah still had the keys), we walked all the way around the mansion, but it was nowhere to be found.

  “I have to inform the empress,” Sarah said. “She needs to know about this. Wait here for me – I’ll be back.”

  Cathy and I sat on a bench in the cool night air.

  “This trip’s going very well so far, is it?” Cathy said.

  “Don't worry,” I said. “As long as I’m with you, and you’re safe everything’s fine for me.”

  She reached up and kissed me on the cheek.

  We sat quietly until Sarah returned with a new set of keys in her hands. She normally was quite calm, but now she seemed agitated.

  “The security footage shows what happened,” she said. “Right as the bomb detonated a group of vampires stole the van. The empress is investigating, but for now she’s given us the keys to one of her vehicles.”

  Sarah pushed the unlock button on the key holder, and the lights of a red sports car flashed. As we walked up to the vehicle, I saw it was a Porsche. It was sleek, small, and sat low to the ground.

  “I'm driving,” Sarah said. “Where do you two want to go?”

  “Let’s just get out of here,” I said.

  Cathy and I climbed into the back of the car and we were soon racing away from the estate.

  “I could eat something,” Cathy said.

  “Me too,” said Sarah.

  “How about steak?” I asked.

  “I don't know what's open this late,” Sarah said. “Let’s drive around and see what we can find.”

  As we drove through the night, we came across a shopping center. Most of the businesses looked closed but a sign of a restaurant was flashing in a window.

  “Let’s hurry before it closes,” I said.

  Sarah hurriedly parked the vehicle, and we rushed across the parking lot to the steak house. Upon entering, a short, teenage waitress with glasses led us to a table. She handed us each a menu; I quickly looked at my options.

  “I'll have two mega porterhouse steaks with blue cheese,” I said.

  “Two?” she asked.

  “Yes, two,” I said.
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  “Okay,” she said.

  “What sides would you like with that?” she asked.

  I looked at the menu again.

  “I'll have the baked beans and fries,” I said.

  “If you order two steaks you get two sets of sides. Do you want both sets of sides to be the same?” she asked.

  “Yes,” I said.

  “What would you like to drink?” she asked.

  “Sweetened ice tea would be great,” I said. “No lemon.”

  She then looked at Cathy.

  “What can I get for you tonight?” the waitress asked.

  “I want what he just ordered,” she said.

  “Two steaks and two sets of sides?” the waitress asked, her eyebrows raising a little.

  “Yes,” she said.

  The waitress brushed her brown hair to the side and addressed Sarah.

  “What can I get for you?” she said.

  “I'll have a full rack of ribs and three 16 ounce rib eyes,” she said. “Hold the sides.”

  The waitress looked a little concerned as she wrote down the order.

  “I don't want to be rude,” she said. “But the manager might find this order a little odd. Would you be offended if I asked you to pre-pay?”

  “No, that's fine,” Sarah said.

  She pulled out a wad of hundred dollar bills out of her purse.

  “How much do you think it’ll be?” she asked the waitress.

  “Let me go add this up,” she said.

  The waitress ran off to a register in the corner of the dark, dimly lit room. Looking around, I only saw a few other customers in the restaurant. A moment later, the waitress returned.

  “The total comes up to three hundred and seventy four dollars,” she said.

  “Here is five hundred dollars,” Sarah said. “Keep the change.”

  “Oh . . . thank you,” the waitress said with a smile on her face.

  As we sat and waited for the food, Cathy leaned her head against me and closed her eyes. Sarah looked at me from across the other side of the table.

  “I'm sorry about the bomb,” Sarah said. “I never thought anyone would try to do something like that in the home of the empress.”

  I looked at Sarah, and I wondered how I should say what I’d been thinking.

  “What if the empress is responsible?” I asked. “What if she planted the bomb or had someone else plant it for her?”

  Sarah looked disturbed.

  “I suppose that’s possible,” she said. “The whole thing could be a trap. But we have so many enemies now, it’s hard to know who might be responsible.”

  “How many enemies do we have?” I asked. “We can't have too many?”

  She looked at me and frowned.

  “I haven't been totally open with you, because I didn't want to worry you,” she said. “But we’ve made a number of enemies. There’s Albert's family to begin with. Then we have my grandmother who’ll eventually get the news about my mother's death.”

  I hadn’t even thought about Queen Teresa's mother.

  “Do you think she’ll come after us?” I asked.

  “Eventually, yes,” Sarah said. “She was very close to my mom, and she’s every bit as vengeful.”

  “Where does she live?”

  “She stays up north,” Sarah said. “The last I heard she was residing in northern Canada.”

  “Why is she hiding up there?”

  “She likes it up there she doesn’t like being around people very much.”

  “How powerful is she?”.

  “She makes my mother look like a weakling.”.

  Cathy opened her eyes.

  “Is she an empress?” I asked.

  “No, she’s not even a queen anymore. She’s pretty much a loner.”

  “Are you close to her?” I asked.

  “I have only met her a handful of times, and she really didn't want to have much to do with me. She was much closer to my sister, June,” she said.

  “Do we have any other enemies?” I asked.

  “I know the witch is still out there,” she said. “She left Candace's body but we didn’t destroy her spirit.”

  The waitress arrived and started to fill our plate with food.

  “Let’s talk about all of this later,” Sarah said. “We need to eat and keep our strength up.”

  The smell of the steak and ribs made Cathy perk right up. She reached for a knife and fork, and started to dig into her first steak. After smothering my porterhouse with steak sauce, I begin to dig in eagerly – I was hungry too.

  For the next fifteen minutes the three of us ate together. Although we were all stressed, Sarah smile a few times as we talked about her role in our wedding.

  “You know,” Cathy said. “If you wanted, you could come and visit us for a while on our honeymoon.”

  “You wouldn't mind if she came by and visited us, do you?” Cathy asked.

  “Not as long as it's not anytime during the first two weeks,” I said. “The first fourteen days you’re totally and absolutely mine.”

  Sarah smiled, and I saw she was done with her ribs. Cathy and I had finished our steaks and side dishes. The table was littered with empty plates; I felt sorry for the waitress.

  “Let’s organize this table a bit for the poor waitress,” I said. “It's a wreck.”

  We began to neatly stack and organize the empty plates. In just a few minutes, the table looked much better and a moment later, the waitress arrived. She looked at the table in astonishment.

  “You guys must have been hungry,” she said.

  “I was starving,” Cathy told her.

  “Thanks for helping with the table,” she said. “You didn't have to; it's my job.”

  “No problem, honey,” Cathy said.

  I leaned back for a moment and shut my eyes, and enjoyed the country music playing in the background.

  “So what do we do now?” I heard Cathy ask Sarah. “Just go back to the mansion?”

  “We’re expected to go back,” Sarah said.

  “I really don't think that's a good idea,” Cathy said. “What if we just get our own hotel rooms in town? The empress can't be too upset about that, can she?”

  Sarah looked frustrated. “I just don't know what we should do, but if I’m going to remain queen, I must attend my ordination.”

  Looking around the dark room, I realized we were the only customers in the establishment. The waitress and two other employees were starting to sweep and mop the floors.

  “This place is closing,” I said. “Why don't we take this outside.”

  “Sure,” Sarah said.

  We slid out of the booth, and left the restaurant.

  “Thank you, come again!” I heard the waitress call out, as the door shut behind us.

  The parking lot was nearly empty and the night was quiet. We walked to our car, and Sarah unlocked the doors. Before we were able to get it the car we were suddenly surrounded by six vampires. All but one of them was already transformed; and they were staring at us with black eyes. A couple of them begin to hiss and growl.

  I instantly powered up and transformed into my golden form. Glancing at Cathy and Sarah, I could see they had their game faces on too.

  Sarah then addressed the one vampire who was not transformed. He was a tall, big boned vampire with a leather jacket on who a lot like Albert.

  “Step away,” Sarah said in a strong voice. “Call off your goons, Henry.”

  I realized this was Albert's father.

  “It's too late for that,” Henry said. “I was willing to talk yesterday, but that was before your son made a fool of my grandson.”

  I stepped towards Henry.

  “He was about to attack our queen,” I said. “I simply stopped him.”

  Henry stepped closer to me.

  “So you’re the one who killed Albert,” he said with a furious look in his eyes. “I don't know how you managed that, but I'm going to make sure you suffer for what you did.”
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