by Avin Vang
“I just get so dizzy,” Jenna said as she turned away from the window, and lost her footing. Matthias grabbed her and steadied the young girl. He waved Martin away. The loyal assistant grumbled for a second, but then he bowed his head submissively and left the compartment.
“I don’t know anything about you,” Jenna mumbled as she continued to pace. She had been talking the whole time, and Matthias had had enough of her droning on and on.
“Well, we’ll have to fix that,” Matthias said as he sat Jenna down on the red, plush seat.
“Ooop,” Jenna had started making sounds until a big index finger was laid heavily across her lips.
“I was born in 1443,” Matthias watched Jenna as she tried desperately to find the will to pay attention. “The son of Hungary’s Lord Protector, my brother and I were kidnapped and sacrificed in a ritual that was designed to drain our power and give new life to my father’s enemies. My brother’s dead body was hanged and put on public display. I was thrown out into the Carpathian Mountains and forced to wander the earth paying for the sins of my father.”
“Wow, that was a lot to listen to,” Jenna mused as she fell back into the seat. The train had started to brake.
“Get your things together,” Matthias instructed as he stood up and left the compartment. Martin was standing in the aisle as Matthias left the room. He had judgement in his eyes, until a glare from his master made him think better of it. “Get her to the hotel and get her some food immediately. She needs to be at her best in the morning.”
Martin only nodded before walking off to take care of the weakened student. Matthias headed for the door of the train. He needed to get into town quickly. He needed to find a meal. He needed to stay full if he was going to stop feeding on Jenna. Matthias had never been good at holding off hunger. He was already dreading this trip. Romania posed a unique set of problems for people like him.
Small towns were even worse. Missing people were too easily noticeable. Matthias had always noticed a distinct lack of drifters and vagrants in small towns. Large cities were easy, walk down any street or into any bar and you could find hundreds of people that no one would notice or care about. People didn’t talk to their neighbors, and that made them easy to prey on.
“Porter!” Matthias yelled as he stepped down onto the cement floor of the train platform. The young man hurried from the back of the train. The porter was in his mid-twenties, and he had a large bore piercing in his left ear. “Are you from the area?”
“Sorry sir,” the porter said as he looked for a local amongst the employees scuttling around the platform. “I’m sure I can find someone to help with your questions.”
“I only have one question. Can you find me a private place?” Matthias produced a bag from his pocket. The porter’s eyes widened as the white powder moved from side to side in the small plastic bag.
* * *
Matthias stepped out onto the streets of Hunedoara feeling full, and powerful. The cocaine-laced blood always made Matthias feel lighter than air. He almost forgot who he was, he almost started to relax. It was then that he found himself standing on the sidewalk, feeling the eyes follow him.
“You don’t want this,” Matthias said to the empty street in front of him.
“I don’t know what you mean,” the growl came from behind, but it sounded closer than Matthias would’ve liked. “You can’t possibly be here for what I think you’re here for.” The bravery meant that there was more than one. Wolves were braver when their pack surrounded them.
“Is this the welcome wagon?” Matthias sneered as he turned on the lone wolf. Matthias was a little surprised until he saw the others pouring out of the tavern. They all had the same look about them. Matthias recognized them immediately. As a boy trying to survive alone in the Carpathian Mountains, a pack had seemed like a good option. Being raised by wolves, Matthias had a great respect for the lycans. It didn’t mean he wasn’t ready to fight for what belonged to him.
“We need you to move along.”
“Then stopping me was a terrible idea.” Matthias stared in disgust at the boy standing in front of him. This was a young wolf trying to make points. Matthias was insulted that this boy would even talk to him. “It’s not really your place to start giving me orders.”
“He didn’t mean anything by it,” a taller werewolf said as he moved out and put his hand on the boy’s shoulder.
“Roman, I…”
“This isn’t your place,” Roman warned his young friend.
“Is it your place?” Matthias asked Roman, but his eyes left his taller foe when the tavern door swung open again.
“Whooo!” A young blonde was shouting as she fell out into the street. “Roman, whatter yu doouing?”
“I’m so sorry,” it was the second girl who caught Matthias’s attention. She had shoulder-length, brown hair and green eyes. She caught hold of her friend and tried to drag the struggling blonde back into the bar.
Matthias could smell a scent in the air. He knew that scent. It was hard to be sure because the air was filled with wolf pheromones. “Please, come and join us,” Matthias called to the girls. He could see that Roman was getting upset.
“They’re heading back inside,” Roman snarled.
“I thought we were all going to get along?” Matthias teased as he moved toward the girls. Roman stood in his way. “I guess not.” Matthias was trying to get a better look at the girls, but it was hard with the wolf right in his face.
“Marion was wrong to talk to you, but he wasn’t wrong about everything,” Roman spoke with the calm tone of an alpha.
“Zdeno has his own pack now,” Matthias could smell his adopted brother’s genes flowing through the young lycan in front of him.
“How are you, brother,” Matthias turned to see his adopted brother standing in the middle of the street. “I see you’ve met my son.” Zdeno stepped up onto the sidewalk and threw his arms around Matthias. “I almost didn’t recognize you, brother.”
“This is weird…” the blonde, who was now curled up into a ball on the sidewalk, said the words loud enough to grab everyone’s attention. There were two girls now trying to pull the loud American back into the bar.
“There’s no reason to be upset though, son.” Zdeno glared at his nemesis. “Matthias isn’t going to cause any problems on a street like this.” Matthias looked around to see that lights were coming on all around him. The last thing Matthias needed was to draw attention to himself.
“It was good to see you again,” Matthias bowed to his brother and walked away. He only chanced a quick look over his shoulder to see the dark-haired girl again. Her eyes followed him down the street. The intense green eyes…Matthias had seen them before.
The werewolves headed back into the tavern. Matthias was going back to the hotel. He was not going to tell Martin about what happened. His assistant was getting braver. In the beginning of their relationship Matthias never saw the young man’s eyes. The once docile Martin was getting frustrated by the old vampire’s reckless behavior.
Martin needed Matthias if he was ever going to become a vampire himself. The young man was obviously not aware that Matthias had never turned an assistant. Immortal life was not for everyone, and Matthias was extremely selective when turning new vampires.
Matthias knew that he had to get off the streets. Martin had spent months setting up this dig, and Matthias was undoing all of his assistant’s hard work. Matthias had been searching for the gold ring for centuries, but this time it felt close.
Chapter 3
Raven
“Wha wazzz ‘at guyzz pr-probum?” Ali fell hard against the table as her friends let go.
“We need to be careful.” Carrie had gone white as a sheet.
“You look like you’ve seen a ghost,” Raven laughed as she tapped Carrie on the shoulder. Everyone was having a great time before the trouble started outside, and Raven just wanted to start that all over again. Looking at her friends, it didn’t seem possible.
“What does that even mean?” Raven was a little confused. “Do you guys live at the castle?”
“Not important,” Carrie sighed as she waved Roman and his friends away. “We have to get back to the hotel anyway. These streets are not safe.”
“Would you like an escort back to your hotel?” Roman asked, but Carrie was pushing him away at this point and the large man didn’t fight back in the least. Raven was sure there was something she was missing. The trouble out on the street didn’t even end in a fist fight and yet everyone was in a full-blown panic.
“I have all the protection I need,” Carrie replied as she patted the side of her backpack. Roman nodded and he and the other guides left the tavern at a run.
“Can someone tell me what is going on?” Raven was getting more and more upset by the second. “Do you have a gun in your backpack?”
“Uh…um, yeah, yes I do,” Carrie nodded confidently. “I have a gun in my backpack.”
“What was going on outside?” Raven needed to know why that little encounter seemed to matter so much to everyone. “Are these guys in some sort of…I don’t know, tour guide gang, or something?”
“Uh, yeah, yeah, that is exactly it,” Carrie looked too happy about this explanation. “You are really perceptive, and that is it for question period.” Carrie’s head was nodding so fast it was making Raven a little queasy. “Okay, so let’s get this puddle up off the table, and let’s get to the hotel.”
“I dawn’t wanna gaw!” Ali screamed as Carrie and Raven each took an arm.
“We need to get you to bed,” Carrie explained very gently to her friend. She really did care about Ali. Raven was caught up for a moment in the tender display.
“Hurrragghhhh-blap!” Ali’s effusive vomiting groan was accompanied by the chunks hitting the tavern floor. Raven’s shoes felt very wet and both girls let go of Ali to get out of the splash zone. “Hurrrr upppawlll!” Ali got the rest of it out of her system and then took off at a run.
“Where is she going?” Raven yelled.
“She’s going to find another bar!” Carrie started running after her friend.
Raven looked around at the other patrons. A few were staring at the girls, but most of them were too busy drinking to care. The bartender only shrugged when Raven mouthed the words, ‘I’m sorry.’ She hated to leave a mess, but Raven didn’t want to lose her friends either.
“Where did she go?” Raven yelled to Carrie who was running ahead of her.
“She headed up the alley!” Carrie didn’t even turn around. She was focused on catching Ali.
The party girl definitely took her spring breaking seriously. Raven could see her friend again as she got to the end of the alley and hauled ass across the street. Ali was a soccer player and a workout fanatic. It was only the copious amounts of booze in her system that gave the other girls a chance to catch her.
They finally caught up to Ali who had stopped running in the middle of the street. For someone who had just puked, Ali was incredibly fast. Ali looked like a statue, frozen on the uneven cobblestone lane. She was staring at what Raven thought was two men making out, until she took another look.
“Is he actually eating that guuu…” Raven felt Ali’s dirty hand clasp onto her lips.
“Shhh!” Ali hushed in a very low tone. Carrie was digging through her backpack. Raven remembered her talking about a gun, but that wasn’t what Carrie pulled out.
“Okay, this is going to sound weird, and I have no time to explain…”
“He’s killing him!” Ali whispered sharply.
“So, take this stick and wave it at that guy,” Carrie explained with a nervous shrug. “Ooo! And say ‘Barraggio!’ Go ahead, do it!”
“Okay…” Raven mumbled as she looked at the stick. She wasn’t sure what was going on, or what she was even seeing. The scared, young woman could feel a warmth coming from the pendant around her neck. She raised the stick and waved it, calling out “Barraggio!”
The dark figure flew backwards and it was only at that moment that Raven saw it was the man from outside of the tavern. Even though he was flying backwards Raven could tell he saw her too. She raised the stick again, ready for a response.
“He attacked me,” the man said as he jumped twenty feet into the air and disappeared behind a high stone wall.
“He wasn’t hurt?” Raven looked at the end of the stick like it had done something wrong.
Ali and Carrie were rushing to help the young man on the ground, but Raven grabbed Carrie by the collar of her shirt. “I get it, it’s weird, but we’ll talk about it later.” Raven was going to let her friend go, but then she saw Ali using the wand on the injured young boy.
“What is going on?” Raven shouted. “What are you guys?” Raven said the words, and then she looked at the stick that was obviously a wand in her own hand. “What am I?”
“Your grandmother sent us to look after you,” Carrie explained as she watched Marion getting back to his feet. “Your mother never got her powers, but you started to show signs very early on. She knew that you were going to need this.” Carrie tapped the wand in Raven’s hand.
“So, why didn’t she tell me any of this?”
“It’s easier to grow up thinking you’re normal.” Carrie put a hand on Raven’s shoulder. “Keeping the secret is almost impossible when you’re a kid.”
“But I’ve never done any magic,” Raven tried to think back. Had there been magic in her life before this point? “I mean…didn’t, right?”
“The pendant kept you safe,” Carrie said as she touched the ugly old jewelry. “Your grandmother gave this to you for protection, but also for…well, one thing at a time.”
“What does that mean?”
“We need to get this guy off the street before that thing comes back.” Carrie was already turning back to the injured young man, but he was no longer there.
“That was a wolf,” Raven spat the words out in disbelief. “Where did Marion go?”
“We have a lot to talk about,” Ali said in a sober voice. Her words were no longer slurred as she threw an arm around Raven and started to lead her out of the alley. The wolf was already headed out of sight. Raven wanted to run, but something told her that she was safe. These girls were here to keep her safe.
As they got back to their hotel room Raven was having a hard time staying quiet. She had been holding back a river of questions for what felt like an eternity on the twenty-minute walk home. She got into the room and waited for the door to close and then let the dam break open.
“Who are you? Who am I? Why didn’t my grandmother protect me herself? What can I do with this power? Are you going to teach me spells?” Raven stopped at that question. It surprised her when she heard it, and she really wanted to know the answer. She was feeling so many emotions and feelings, that she hadn’t realized that her excitement was taking over.
“Yes, we will,” Carrie nodded as she sank onto the pull-out couch. “I will teach you a bunch of stuff, but right now we all need to sleep.”
“What?” Raven couldn’t even believe what she was hearing. “You think I can sleep right now? Are you insane?”
“I’m going to get a drink in the hotel bar,” Ali said as she left the room. Raven was thinking about following her, but the door slammed hard.
“You-u should let her be alon-aw,” Carrie yawned. She was already stretching out on the couch.
Raven sat down on the edge of the bed and let her fingers play with the pendant. It was the most amazing night of her life and no one would talk to her about it. Raven looked over at the door, and then at sleeping Carrie. Raven had been abandoned.
She looked over at the window and noticed the black rod iron of the fire escape. Raven crawled out onto the small platform and leaned out over the black railing. The hotel was only four stor
ies, but tonight it felt like Raven was on top of the world. She was at least at the top of the tallest building for miles in any direction.
“Trouble sleeping?”
“Ah! What are you…”
“Relax, if I wanted to kill you I would’ve,” the man said as he landed on the platform. Raven raised her wand, but the man didn’t flinch. “Please, I’m not here to hurt you.”
“Okay, sorry if I’m having trouble with that, but I just saw you eating a guy,” Raven snarled at the man, but it didn’t seem to dampen his spirits. He was smiling at her. “What are you trying to do?”
“I just wanted to get to know you,” the man said, taking a step closer to Raven. She could feel the power dripping off of him. Raven tried to meet his gaze, but she was blushing. “It’s been some time since I’ve met a witch.”
“Yeah, well, I’d apologize for blasting you bu…”
“But you don’t have to. As you can see, I’m fine.” He turned around with his hands up.
“I can see that,” Raven muttered as she tried to get her head together. She wasn’t sure how to feel about this. The older man was clearly attractive, and he had a presence. There was a power and a purpose behind every move he made, and Raven wasn’t sure how to handle the situation.
“My name is Sylus,” the man said as he extended a large, strong hand.
“It’s cold,” Raven said as their hands met. Sylus didn’t let go of the offered hand. “Oh, okay, I need that back.”
“Only if you insist,” Sylus took a step closer on the small platform. Raven wasn’t sure what he was trying to do. He was staring at her with an intense look on his face. “I want to place you under my power, but I don’t at the same time.”
“What?”
“Will you let me show you something?” Sylus asked.
“Sure.”
Raven was surprised when Sylus lifted her into his powerful arms and leapt into the air. The wind was chilly, but she didn’t mind the cold. This was the night she wanted to be having. Carrie and Ali had abandoned her, and now she was flying through the sky with a man she didn’t know.
