by Gayla Twist
It really was a beautiful day. The sun was shining but not too hot. The birds were singing, and butterflies were wafting about. I began to gather a small bouquet of wildflowers while the tall grasses pulled at the hem of my skirt. I was in a wonderful mood, made even better by the fact that he’d smiled at me. Mr. Vanderlind, the one they call Jessie, he had smiled at me and not just in friendly acknowledgement of a servant passing through a room. The smile went all the way to his eyes. He had definitely smiled at me.
I heard a chuckle, and that rousted me enough that I realized I had fallen asleep. Jessie was standing over the couch, looking down at me and smiling. “I thought you might like the tiara, but I didn’t realize you’d be sleeping in it.”
“Oh,” I said groggily, my hands reaching up to remove the jewelry which had become pretty tangled in my hair. I had meant to put everything back before Jessie rose for the night, but I guess I had fallen asleep. “I’m sorry. I was just playing.”
“That’s why I got it for you,” he said, appearing rather pleased.
“Huh?” I sat up, rubbing the sleep out of my eyes. It was past sundown. I must have slept for a good chunk of the day. Hardly surprising, given the fact that my internal clock must have been ridiculously off.
“I was worried you’d be bored by yourself all day, so I thought you’d like something to play with,” Jessie explained.
“Well, I did enjoy myself,” I had to admit. Playing with gorgeous jewelry was not a bad way to spend an afternoon. “But seriously, Jessie, I can’t keep any of it.”
“Why not?” he asked, sounding a little put out.
“Well, assuming I get to go home at some point, how would I explain a diamond encrusted brooch to my mom? And what am I supposed to do with it, wear it on my jean jacket?”
“You’re no fun,” Jessie grumbled.
“Hey, wait a minute,” I said, realizing something. “How can I see you?” It was dark outside, but our hideout was illuminated. I quickly scanned the room and realized there was a small lantern in a far corner of the room giving off a faint glow. “Where did that come from?” I demanded.
“When I got up, you were still asleep, so I took it from an obliging neighbor’s porch,” he admitted.
“You can’t go around stealing people’s lanterns.”
“I didn’t steal it,” Jessie told me. “Let’s just say the person involuntarily sold it to me.” Plunking down next to me on the couch, he asked, “Anything happen while I was resting?”
“What could happen?” I asked. When he only shrugged as his reply, I picked up the little gold wand and asked, “What is this?”
“What do you think it is?” he asked, his eyes sparkling with the anticipated pleasure of teasing me.
“Tell me or I’ll kill you,” I demanded. “It’s been making me nuts all day. I almost woke you up in your little box to ask you, so spill it right now.”
After having another chuckle at my frustration, Jessie said, “It’s a champagne stirrer. Or a champagne swizzle, whichever you prefer. It’s for getting the bubbles out of champagne.”
“Why would you want to the get the bubbles out of champagne?” I asked. They were the best part.
“It used to be that the bubbles were more of an accident that happened during the fermentation process, so people wanted to get rid of them. Later, after it was decided the bubbles were a good thing, ladies would sometimes stir their champagne so the bubbles wouldn’t leave marks on their face powder.”
“Oh,” I said, extending and collapsing the swizzle a few times. “But why did you bring it here? Did you think I’d be worried about my powder?”
“No, but I thought you’d enjoy the mystery. I wanted something to keep your brain occupied so you wouldn’t worry too much about the inquest,” he said, slaying me with his gorgeous amused smile.
I wanted to raise some kind of protest, but it really had worked. I’d pretty much enjoyed my day in the ruins when I wasn’t thinking about Jessie in the box or being trapped there if he flew off somewhere and never returned. “How do you know me so well?” I had to wonder.
He shrugged. “I just do. I don’t know if it’s a Colette thing or...”
I cut him off with, “But what if I’m not Colette?”
“What?” He looked confused for a moment before adding. “I know you're not Colette.”
“Yeah, but what if I’m not connected to Colette at all?” He looked even more confused, so I added, “I know I look like Colette and we are related and everything, but what if that’s the end of it?”
Jessie shook his head. “I’m not sure what kind of answer you’re looking for.”
“I mean...” I paused. What did I mean? “Okay, you once told me that you first fell in love with Colette because she was kind. If you take away the fact that I look like Colette and sometimes have her memories, what do you like about me? Not as Colette, just as Aurora?”
“Well...” Jessie ran his hand through his hair a few times. “I’m not sure if anyone has ever told you this, but you’re pretty feisty. You’re brave and beautiful and determined. I can’t imagine you ever giving up without a fight. I love all those things about you.”
I had never actually thought of myself as any of those things, but I liked hearing them, especially from Jessie.
“You didn’t abandon your friend,” Jessie went on. “Not when she was unconscious at my maker’s day party, not when you thought Viktor was holding her hostage, either. And did I mention you’re beautiful?”
I was beginning to feel all glowy and warm. Leaning up against him, I sighed. “Thank you.”
“You’re welcome,” he said. “It’s all the truth, just so you know.”
I took a deep breath and asked, “So, do you think, even without all the Colette stuff, you’d still care about me?”
Jessie closed his eyes and nuzzled me a little before saying, “I know I would.”
My heart swelled in my chest. He loved me. And not just because of the whole Colette connection, but actually me. It felt so good. It felt so wonderful. It felt... Oh, crap. Sleepless in Seattle somehow crept into my brain. I knew I would probably hate myself the second I said it, but I had to ask. “Jessie, if you care about me the way I care about you, what do you think Colette’s reaction would be?”
“What?” Jessie pulled away from me slightly.
“I mean, if she knew about us, what would Colette think?”
At first, the look on Jessie’s face was so heart wrenching that I wished I’d bit off my tongue rather than asked the question. But his expression quickly changed like a fast-moving storm rolling across the sky. He was hurt, then angry, then puzzled. His expression finally settled back to sanguine. “I think if she knew that she and I couldn’t be together, then she’d want me to be with someone that makes me happy. She had a very generous spirit, and I’m sure that stayed with her, even after crossing over into whatever world comes after this one.”
I blinked at him a few times. What he said made so much sense on so many levels. It was how I hoped I would feel when facing my own death. After all, the best outcome of our situation was that I would grow old and die. But Jessie would have to keep on living. “That was really lovely,” I whispered. “I wish I could have known her. She sounds like a truly kind person. I wish I was that kind.”
“You’re kind,” he assured me, leaning back in to brush his lips across my neck and causing an electric thrill to race up my body. “Personality wise, you’re more like Lily, I think, but you’re kind.”
“Come out, come out, little vampire,” said a laughing male voice from outside the gap in the castle wall. “And bring your human. It’s time to pay the piper.”
Without a second’s hesitation, Jessie snatched me off the couch and whisked me through the air, around the screen, and up through a small hole in the ceiling that I hadn’t previously noticed. The opening was so small that he had to keep me pressed against him lengthwise, his legs clamped against mine, and still my heel clipped a
gainst a rock. It hurt, and I would have cried out in pain, but Jessie clamped a hand over my mouth.
We had been plunged into the pitch black, and I couldn’t tell what was going on. I only knew we were in a narrow space, and we were moving upward . The space restriction made it so Jessie couldn’t go super fast. He had to negotiate us around some large rocks or broken bits of the castle, I couldn’t tell. I guess then things opened up because we started picking up speed.
We burst from the top of the castle. I could see stars all around us and the lights from the town below. Then my view was abruptly eclipsed as something like a finely woven net, but heavier, was tossed over our heads. Jessie let out an unearthly cry of pain. He began writhing and howling, still holding on to me but desperately trying to push away the cloth. His skin was sizzling and burning away wherever the net touched him. Two vampires grabbed some ropes that were hanging off the net and started towing us through the air.
“Jessie, what the hell is it?” I yelled, not even sure if he could hear me over his own anguish.
Chapter 33
It took my brain a few seconds to click into gear before I realized the thing covering us was some kind of silver mesh, and it was burning Jessie’s flesh. “Hold on,” I shouted at him as I jerked off the robe I had put on over my clothes. “Get under this,” I said, shoving the material between him and the silver. As soon as Jessie’s skin was no longer touching the net, he stopped groaning. “Are you all right?” I asked, after he’d been quiet for several seconds. “Are you burned? Is this silver? Is that what’s going on?”
“I’ll heal,” he said, his voice ragged with pain.
“So, you’ll be all right?” I asked again.
He took a moment to answer. “I’ve failed you. I swore I would keep you safe.”
“You didn’t fail me,” I insisted. “It was Vilma. She betrayed you. If you’re going to blame anyone, blame her.”
“No.” Jessie shook his head under the robe, completely unwilling to even entertain the idea. “She would never do that. If she told anyone where we were, it’s because they tortured her.”
“Tortured her?” I said, feeling a sudden flash of anxiety for Vilma’s wellbeing. “You don’t think the Bishops would torture her, do you?”
“Aurora, we’re vampires,” he said ruefully. “I know we can come across as civilized with our business suits and office buildings, but never forget who we are.”
“Too right,” laughed one of the vampires who were towing us across the sky. He had obviously been listening to our conversation. Then, in a faux Transylvanian accent, he added, “Ve vant to suck your blood.” Both our captors laughed heartily as if the joke was incredibly original.
Jessie pulled me closer, and I tried not to cry. The Bishops had obviously ruled against us, and that was a death sentence for me and a century in a coffin for Jessie. “Will you ask them to kill me quick?” I whispered.
“What?” he asked, sounding shocked.
“I don’t want to be tortured,” I said into his ear. “If you can, will you please tell them to get it over quickly? And maybe let me send a letter to my mother before…” I couldn’t hold back and started sobbing in Jessie’s arms.
He ducked me under the robe with him and held me tightly, whispering into my hair. “Don’t give up yet, my darling. There’s still a chance. Don’t give up hope.”
After a while of sobbing under the robe without much oxygen, I had to stick my head out to get some fresh air. There was the double benefit of the blast of fresh air causing me to stop bawling. I took a look around. We were pretty high up, but I could tell we were following the Danube. It appeared that our vampire captors were flying us directly back to Budapest. They were both wearing heavy gloves, which explained how they were able to manage the silver net. I couldn’t believe with what casual enjoyment they were returning us to our doom. They were happily chatting to each other, just flying along as if they didn’t have two condemned people stuffed in a sack trailing behind them.
Jessie might not have believed that Vilma had betrayed us, but I knew the behavior of jealous females a lot better than he did, even vampire females. Soon she would be rid of me and maybe find a way to free Jessie from his imprisonment after not too long. She would fabricate some excuse to tell Jessie about how we were discovered so easily and how our vampire captors knew of his secret exit. She didn’t care about betraying anyone. I was quite sure the only thing Vilma cared about was making sure I was out of the picture.
Back in Budapest all too soon, the vampires landed on the roof of the Bishop building. They carried us into the building and kept us in the net while we rode in the elevator down to the thirteenth floor. There, outside the lobby, they finally deemed it safe to release us from the silver mesh. Jessie came out fighting, fangs bared, but the other vampires got the drop on him, pointing miniature crossbows at his chest.
I let out a little laugh when I saw the crossbows. The arrows they held were no bigger than well-sharpened pencils. It seemed ridiculous to have them flashing the things around like dangerous weapons, but Jessie didn’t think so. “Come on,” he said, taking me by the hand. “Let’s hear what the Bishops have to say.”
“Okay,” I said, giving him a hesitant look. He probably wouldn’t be killed, after all. It was only me facing the death sentence.
Jessie squeezed my hand and said in a low voice. “Don’t give up hope. There’s still a chance.”
Looking into his endless gray eyes, I did feel a small flame of hope kindle in my belly. I couldn’t help it. I knew it was foolish, but that was the way he made me feel. His skin had looked horrible in the harsh lighting of the elevator, like someone had brazed a raw slab of beef on a searing-hot barbeque grill. Since we’d exited the elevator, it looked vastly improved. More like Jessie had a bad sunburn that a permanent disfigurement. By the time we entered the lobby, Jessie had no signs of injury. His looks were back to being dizzying, but I wouldn’t have cared if he had stayed maimed; I would have loved him anyway.
Waiting for us in the lobby were Madame Csorbo, the Duke, and I couldn’t believe it but also Vilma. The fact that she had the nerve to show her face astounded me. I knew I was going to die anyway, so I thought I might as well give her a good slap across the face.
I darted forward, my hand raised, but Jessie must have anticipated me. Sweeping me aside in a gentle but firm motion, he said, “Vilma, are you all right?”
“I’m fine,” she sniffed. Then, glancing significantly in my direction, she added, “I can see you still haven’t regained your senses.”
Jessie didn’t seem to be picking up on what she meant. “Did they torture you?” he asked, scanning her from head to toe. “How did the Bishops know where we were? How did they find us so quickly?”
“I told them,” she said with a sniff that might have been to conceal a small chuckle. “Don’t be so simple, Jessie. You killed our brother. You have to face the punishment for your crime.”
Jessie’s jaw literally fell open. I saw the full understanding of the betrayal cross his face.
“You can go in now,” the receptionist told us, motioning toward the hallway and the conference rooms.
I grabbed Jessie’s arm and tried to roust him from his fog. If we were going to try to run again, we really should have tried right then. But he just kept walking. My legs were trembling, and I was on the verge of panic. We had to get out of there. We had to at least try to make a break for it. But Jessie wasn’t with me. He wasn’t thinking about the future. He was lost in what Vilma had done. I knew that if I tried to escape by myself, it would only end with the vampires tearing me to pieces and feasting on my body. My only hope was to beg the Bishops for a quick death.
Chapter 34
“Jessie Vanderlind of the Vanderlind Family,” Winston said, reading out our sentences. We had been ushered back into conference room three, Jessie still stunned, me still panicking, no one else giving a damn. All the Bishops were back again, in their same seats, staring at us
with their impassive eyes. Before each of them was a gold chalice. I could only imagine they were all filled with blood. It made my stomach shrivel. Turning to me, Winston added, “And Colette Gibson, human. You have been found guilty of killing Count Viktor Adami to spare a human life.”
“Are you kidding?” The words escaped from my lips. “That’s not fair. Viktor was an asshole. This isn’t justice.”
“Just wait, you little fool!” snapped the matriarch vampiress. “If you’d only keep your mouth shut, I think you’ll be satisfied with the ruling.”
Winston cleared his throat after shooting me an annoyed look. “Due to extenuating circumstances, this court has determined that today will be Colette Gibson’s maker’s day. No other amends will be required.”
“Here’s to Colette Gibson becoming one of the chosen,” the vampiress with the bun said. All of the Bishops raised their goblets in a toast, smiling and nodding at me.
“No!” Jessie roared, his voice filling the room.
“Jessie, what’s going on?” I turned to look at him, but he was too focused on the vampires.
“You can’t do this!” he shouted at the Bishops. “You can’t turn her. She’s not made to be one of us. It’s not right.”
“Our decision is final,” Winston said, his words rather clipped. He’d obviously expected a different reaction.
“Jessie?” I asked again. I wasn’t sure if I completely understood what they were talking about, but I had the feeling they had just announced they were about to turn me into one of the undead.
“Don’t do this,” Jessie pleaded, turning to the Bishops’ matriarch. “You can’t do this.” He fell to his knees and bent his head in a posture of extreme supplication. “I’m begging you. Don’t change her. It would destroy who she is. It would obliterate everything I love about her. Please, take me instead. Lock me in a coffin for a thousand years. Stake me and send me to my final end. I don’t care what you do to me, but please spare Colette.”
