Within The Shadows

by Julieanne Lynch

  “Oh, cut the bullshit, Antoine!” I barked back at him.

  “Not the language you’d expect from a princess. But under the circumstances, I dare say things have taken their toll on you. Please, Giselle, rest a little. If not for you, then for the child.”

  I shuffled my feet as I struggled to ignore him. He, like Alex, had a way of making me succumb to his way of thinking. I looked at him, and his perfectly formed face. I hated to admit it, but he had won. It was pointless in trying to argue with him, and I accepted defeat.

  “Okay, but only for the sake of the baby,” I said as I walked towards a wooden door.

  “Of course. Only for the sake of the child,” he agreed as he raised an eyebrow, chuckling to himself.

  I refused to be self-destructive. My main driving force was now my unborn child. I had a responsibility that concerned more than me. For once in my life, I was willing to think of someone other than myself.

  This time, I was not scared. It was as though I had woken up from a bad dream. All I needed to do was to place my trust in Antoine, and somehow, together, we would defeat the Nelapsi. From where I stood, it was going to be a simple battle. There could only be one victor, and I was determined that it would be me.

  I was led into a small, quirky room that reminded me of my best friend Erin’s room back home. Bold colours of green and purple covered the walls, and neatly tucked away in the corner was a small bed. Admittedly, it was a welcome sight. My now exhausted body craved the warmth and comfort of a pillow and blanket. I think Antoine was pretty convinced that I would rest as I had said I would. Without a fight, I lay down, and closed my eyes.

  My sleep was sound, and undisturbed by dreams. The only thing that hurt was waking and knowing that it would be Antoine greeting me, and not the greenish-grey eyes belonging to Leonid. My heart sank to new depths.

  I tried to ignore the growing feeling of the presence of someone in the room with me. He stood in the corner watching me, observing my thoughts. With a little more fight in me than I had expected, I shouted out at the dark shadow.

  “For Pete’s sake, can’t I even think in peace any more?”

  “I just wanted to make sure there would be no repeat of the little episode that involved you hanging out of windows,” Antoine joked sarcastically.

  “That’s not funny you know!” I lowered my voice.

  “No. It wasn’t. Yet I have my suspicions. Remember, I know you, sweet Princess. I can tell when you aren’t exactly yourself.”

  “Oh, come off it. When have I ever been myself around you?”

  “I can think of a few times, but I we can save those for a time when ‘life’ isn’t so precarious.”

  Scoffing, I pulled the blanket off of my legs. That was when the usual nausea overcame me. Without much of a warning for Antoine, I vomited on the ground. I retched as I held back tears. I was embarrassed that he had witnessed me at my worst, but also relieved I had not choked to death on the amount of liquid that came up.

  As I wiped my hand across my mouth, Antoine handed me his handkerchief. I looked up at him, and accepted it, using it to remove the residue from my chin.

  “Thanks,” I muttered.

  “Are you okay?” he asked, concerned.

  “Yep! It’ll pass. It normally does.”

  “Right, then I guess we’d best hurry. Bylun is sending us on a little trip,” he exclaimed gleefully.

  “What?”

  “Mmm, a little round trip that should last around seven months or so.”

  “Antoine, stop talking in riddles.” I grew mad at him.

  “We’re going to secure you and the child, one way or another. Of course, the only way to do that, is to make you disappear off the planet altogether.”

  “I don’t like the sound of this,” I said cautiously.

  “Don’t be such a wimp. We’ll have a blast. Now come. Let’s get accrue the intel, and make haste.” He held out his beautiful hand to me, and like before, I took it. He held onto me tightly as we left the room, and walked towards the rest of our lives. Or, at least, the next seven months of it.

  Or so I thought.

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  SOME THINGS HAPPEN for a reason. Others happen because of circumstance, but with me, it was a case of being god-damned unlucky. I had finally accepted the path my life had taken, and was preparing myself for the changes that would begin to take place within my own body. Although, nothing could prepare me for what I was going to go through during that process.

  Antoine was in his typical hyper mood. It seemed as though nothing affected him, or so I thought. I had not given him or his feelings much thought. After what had happened to Leonid, I really was not bothered.

  As we approached a long, narrow hallway, it was hard to ignore the bizarre illustrations that were displayed upon the wall. Stars, circles, and odd sentences had been drawn in white along the whole length of the hall.

  “What is this place?” I whispered.

  “This, my sweet Princess, is the portal to another dimension,” he casually replied.

  “What? Seriously? Like, for real?” I was slightly tongue-tied.

  We reached the door, and as we entered the round room, the strangest feeling came over me. The numbness had gone, and in its place, a sensation I had never felt before rippled though me. My hands and arms tingled as if tiny needles were compressing my skin. The more intense it became, the more I liked the feeling. I felt completely out of it, as if I was high.

  I could sense Antoine’s glare as I smiled to myself, intoxicated by the unknown substance that was penetrating through me. He looked on, amused by my foolish behaviour, and, unlike him, I lost control of my senses. I burst into a fit of giggles as I sat in the centre of the room. It spun as I tried my best to sit up straight, but the more I tried, the more I slipped to the side. I was almost wetting myself with laughter, and then everything came to a stop. I immediately sobered, embarrassed by my behaviour.

  I got to my feet, trying my best not to fall. The spinning sensation was still lingering in my head, and if it had not been for Antoine’s quick movement to my side, I think I would have fallen on my face.

  “Thanks,” I muttered timidly as I let him take a hold of my arm.

  “That was quite a performance,” he joked.

  In the spirit of things, I thumped him hard on the arm. “Don’t dare say another word. Got it?” I scowled.

  Laughing, he led me out through the same door. Only, we did not enter the hallway. This time, the doorway led into a busy street. People rushed past us, some with bags of shopping, and others on their cell phones. We passed a group of school children following their teacher. Each child held onto the hand of another. Not once, did any of them look at us. They were quiet and obedient, very unlike the children back at home. We came to a little side street, and instantly, the smell of fresh coffee hit me. My stomach rumbled, and I craved the taste of caffeine or food of any sort.

  “Can I?” I asked.

  He looked a bit annoyed, at first, but he soon smiled at me. “Who am I to deny a beautiful woman her caffeine rush, or whatever else takes her fancy?”

  I glanced scornfully at him, and entered the small cafe. I sat at a table far from the window, and picked up the menu.

  “It’s all gibberish,” I remarked.

  “It may be gibberish to you, but here it’s the norm.”

  On a closer inspection, I noticed that the words were spelt backwards. Even numbers were the wrong way round.

  “Why?”

  “Because we’re on the other side of the looking glass, so to speak,” he said as he riffled through his pockets.

  “What’s wrong?” I asked.

  “Mmm, nothing,” he replied as he opened his wallet. “I knew I always carried a little extra.”

  “Extra what?”

  “These!” He held out what looked to be dollar bills, except that they were exactly like the menu, backwards. “Can’t get much without these little babies.”


  “Oh! Okay . . . Then I’ll have a cheeseburger, fries, strawberry milkshake, and . . . onion rings. I love onion rings,” I gushed.

  A short, overweight woman came over, and looked us up and down. “So, what can I get ya’ll?” she slurred with a southern drawl.

  “I’ll have a coffee, and the lady here will have . . .”

  I butted in, and placed my order with urgency. My mouth watered at the thought of the food. It seemed ages since I had last eaten, and I was more than ready to fill my stomach with cholesterol-laden goodies.

  “So, why this place? How can I be safe here?” I inquired as I sipped the creamy milkshake.

  “Because here, we remain unseen. They cannot sense you here.”

  “That’s what you said about the Kerguelen Islands,” I whispered as a man sitting at the counter looked over at us.

  “Ah, but it was the shadows that found you, not Alex.”

  “Yeah, but . . . but can’t they, like, you know, see us? Surely, they have their own kind here.”

  I watched eagerly as the waitress came over to us, and set my food in front of me. I took the burger in my hands, and bit down into the meat, savouring the taste of the well-cooked beef, creamy cheese, onions, and tomato sauce. I grabbed a handful of fries, and stuffed them into my mouth, gulping down the last of the milkshake.

  “You really are hungry, aren’t you?” Antoine mused as he sipped some of his coffee.

  “Well, I am technically eating for two now. Can’t see the problem with having a few extra calories,” I said as I chewed on an onion ring.

  I finished the burger in less than three bites. I cannot remember having ever eaten anything so fast before in my life, and now I knew why. A sudden urge to belch came over me, and trying my best to conceal the build up, I held a napkin over my mouth as I hiccupped.

  Antoine watched me as I uncomfortably shuffled in my seat. He was demurely sipping some more from his cup when his eyes moved in the direction of the door. I followed his gaze, and I was surprised when in walked a middle-aged man. He looked so familiar, as though I had seen him somewhere before, yet he looked past me, and gestured to the man at the counter.

  “I think we should finish up here,” Antoine urged as he tossed two twenty bills on our table.

  “But I’m not finished,” I complained.

  “Yes, you are. Come on,” he said as he got up from his chair.

  He stood in front of me, eyeballing me as if I was a bad child. “Please, trust me. Okay?” he prodded softly.

  Getting up from my seat, I turned round to walk to the door, and found the man who had been sitting at the counter now standing in front of me. He was big and broad, and he had a hardened face. He looked down at me, and smirked.

  “We’ve been waiting for you, Miss Bergman.”

  Before I could respond, Antoine moved in front of me, and held out his hand. “I am Antoine Vilniv. I am the Princess’s keeper.”

  “Well, Mr. Vilniv, if you and the Princess would follow me, I’m sure we can come to some kind of understanding,” the man stated confidently.

  “What?” I balked, drawing the attention of several other customers.

  “Giselle, not here,” Antoine whispered in my ear.

  Biting my lip, I listened to Antoine. Something in his voice told me this was serious, and we were about to find out just how bad things were getting. We moved outside the little café, and were led to a waiting black car. We both sat silently as the car moved off. I was afraid to speak, in case I said the wrong thing. Antoine, on the other hand, sat back, smirking at the man sitting directly in front of us.

  “What?” the man asked.

  “Nothing,” Antoine replied, shaking his head.

  Laughing out loud, he nudged me in the ribs. I looked at him, confused. For a moment, I thought he had gone mad.

  “Don’t piss me off, Mr. Vilniv,” the man threatened.

  “Excuse my behaviour. I just find this whole thing quite amusing.”

  “How so?” the man asked as he folded his arms.

  “Well, we were granted refuge in your world, but now you have sought us out, and taken us hostage.” Antoine folded his arms, and stared hard at the man.

  “I am not at liberty to discuss this. It is not my place.”

  “Then who does have the authority?” Antoine asked.

  The man remained silent, and broke his gaze from us. Instead, he opened up his briefcase, and took out a book, To Kill A Mockingbird. It was obviously spelt backwards.

  “I read that last semester. It’s good,” I said, waiting for some kind of reply.

  He said nothing as he glanced at me over his glasses, and then returned his gaze to the book. Antoine looked at me with his perfect blue eyes, but they startled me when they flashed red. I knew something was going on inside him. With a sense of what was to happen, I tried to change his mind by diverting his attention. I grabbed his right hand, slid my fingers over his, and tightened my grip.

  Shaking my head, I begged, “Please don’t.”

  His smiled broadened. Without warning, he leaned forward, and grabbed the man by the throat. He struggled to breath, and spit flew out from his mouth.

  “Now, before I rip your throat out, and drink you dry, you will tell me who summoned us,” he hissed as his fangs gleamed. Loosening his grip on the man’s throat, he smiled. “Will you behave if I let you go?”

  The man nodded. Breathing hard, he muttered something.

  “I can’t hear you. Speak up!”

  “Xavier Ordina,” the man said breathlessly.

  I sat upright, and froze. I knew that name, and remembered when I had first met him. Screaming, I tried to break free from the car, only to be pulled back by Antoine.

  “No! We have to leave now,” I cried.

  “Giselle! We must face this,” Antoine said calmly.

  “No . . . You can, but I can’t. He wants to kill me. He wants my baby!”

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  I HID MY face in my hands, and tried to regain some kind of sense of what was happening. I thought I would be safe here, but now everything seemed to be slipping away from me again. I had no control, and needed to regain some measure of it. This was my life, my destiny, and I was the one who had to change the course of action.

  Antoine kept his sharp gaze on the man as I kept mine on him. He looked menacing, and it was the first time I had ever seen him allow the monster within him to surface. I had all but forgotten that he was a vampire. He had never once allowed me to see him in his true form, and it was all too easy to think of him as human. I sat stiff in the back of the car, afraid to move, but also wary of the thirst that was obvious in his eyes. I could sense his eagerness to kill the man, and as much as I disliked him, I did not want to see any more unnecessary blood shed.

  The car braked hard as it swerved round a bend in the road. I was thrown forward. Before I hit the seat in front of me, Antoine grabbed me by my hair, and pulled me back to him. It hurt like hell, but it was bearable, considering my face could have been crushed.

  My heart raced as I realised there was something happening outside. Raised voices sounded muffled from inside the car. Antoine jerked his head towards the window, and listened intently. His eyes narrowed. Something he heard caused him concern, because in the next moment, he pulled the man towards him, and bit down on his neck. Hearing his fangs pierce the skin made my flesh crawl. I had never expected him to turn so quickly. Hearing him swallow hard on the fresh blood brought the situation closer to home.

  The man let out a small cry as Antoine drank from him. I watched, speechless, as he drank every last drop of blood, and for the third time in my life, I witnessed the death of someone at the hands of a vampire. The man’s eyes glazed over as he took his last breath. His face was pale, and fright shadowed around his eyes. Finally, death came.

  Antoine loosened his grip, and the man fell lifeless into a heap on the seat. He wiped the remains of blood from his chin, and smiled at me. I was too stunned to say a
nything. I stared at him open-mouthed.

  “This has been a trap. Outside this car, there is an ambush. They are waiting for us to run, and they plan to separate us. I’m disposable. You, on the other hand, are, as Afanas so kindly put it, ‘a precious commodity.’ They will kill me to get to you, and like a fool, I’d die for you,” he said as he looked out the window, assessing the situation.

  “How?” I asked.

  “We obviously have an informer in our midst, but that is not our concern now. Right now, we need to escape. We have no choice. We must run for it,” he replied as he reached down towards the man’s body, and searched him. Pulling out a gun, he smiled, slipped it into the back of his jeans, and pulled lightly on the door handle.

  “Now, when I say run, you run straight ahead. You don’t stop. You keep going. Don’t look back, okay? Never look back,” he ordered.

  “But . . . I’m scared,” I choked.

  “Now is not the time for cowardice. Giselle, do you trust me?” he asked, taking my hand in his.

  “Well, yeah.”

  “Then do as I say.”

  “Okay.”

  The next few moments went by in what seemed like slow motion. We slipped out of the right passenger door, and stayed close to it. Antoine closed it quietly as I held my breath.

  We remained silent, listening to the men chatter on the other side of the road. The driver of our car was standing at a checkpoint, smoking a cigarette, and talking into his cell phone. He never once looked towards us. He was too engrossed in his conversation to notice me peeking out at him from the edge of the car’s front bumper.

  Feeling Antoine’s hand on my right shoulder, I looked back at him as he placed a finger over my lips. I saw something in his eyes. It was not fear. It was something else, and it was almost as if he was getting a kick out of the dangerous situation we were in. I wanted to believe that he was invincible, but I knew only too well how fragile vampires were. I feared for him and his life, as well as my own. I could not lose him as well.

  “Whatever happens, we’re in this together, right?” I whispered.