by Avin Vang
Raven had hated the idea of a sight-seeing tour when she first heard it, but now it seemed like a great way to kill time until nightfall. “I will go on this tour, but I am seeing Sylus tonight.”
“What?!” Carrie screamed. “Did you not tell her?”
“I told her,” Ali said, throwing her hands up defensively as Carrie came at the party girl. “I told her the whole thing really. I mean, I mentioned everything.”
“So you know, and this is still your plan?” Carrie was freaking out and Raven kind of loved it.
“Yeah, I heard about everything, and if it is a prophecy then it will happen anyway, right?” Raven waited, but Carrie appeared to be stunned. “Great, we should really get going if we’re going to stay on schedule.” Raven walked out the door. She smiled as she heard the others file in behind her, but she didn’t turn around to see their still shocked expressions.
* * *
The town was beautiful, and the guide book that Carrie had bought was pretty informative. Ali cut Carrie off whenever it got boring. As far as tours went, it was fairly enjoyable. They weren’t the only ones moving through the streets. The villagers were out, and they met a few of the other students and archaeologist who were going to be working on the dig.
“It’s pretty easy to spot the people who don’t belong here,” Dr. Foster laughed. He was leading the dig, and he was very excited to see the girls as they toured the town’s only church. “I was hoping to run into some people today. I’ve been in town for three days and I haven’t spoken to anyone but the bellhop.”
“Shot?” Ali said as she poured some rum into the shot glass on her necklace.
“Ali!”
“Sure,” Dr. Foster took the shot as Carrie stared open-mouthed at the pair. “You should be enjoying yourself, the dig isn’t until tomorrow.” Dr. Foster offered the glass to Carrie. Carrie was clearly taken by the older man, as she smiled and walked over to them.
Dr. Foster was greying, but he was in great shape, and his face was nearly wrinkle-free. He was in his late forties, and unmarried as far as Raven could see. He certainly wasn’t wearing a ring, and if he had any hang-ups about flirting with students they weren’t in evidence.
Their tour group continued to get bigger as the day went on. Everywhere they went they picked up dig volunteers. They were all drinking and viewing the sights of Hunedoara. Time was going by fast and Raven was surprised that she was enjoying herself. She wasn’t a drinker, and she hated crowds, but this was fun.
“I’m Jenna,” a stranger from the group announced as she stumbled towards Raven. The girl seemed like she had been drinking all day. “I’m a digger!” She fell into Raven’s arms as she missed the handshake and couldn’t stop her forward momentum. “Ooo!” Jenna laid her head on Raven’s shoulder and just stayed there.
“Oh, okay, great,” Raven tried to push Jenna away, but then she saw something. Raven moved Jenna’s hair off her neck to get a better look at the bite marks. She was looking right at the marks when a hand came in and smoothed the hair back down.
“Sorry, about her…um, she’s drunk,” a well-dressed man said as he moved in and picked Jenna up off of Raven’s shoulder. “She’s…” The man stopped when he saw Raven’s neck. Raven put her hand over the marks. She hadn’t taken a close look at them, but she knew they looked just like the marks on Jenna’s neck.
The well-dressed man growled to himself and carried Jenna off. Raven wanted to ask him who he was, and who Jenna was, but Ali had latched onto her arm.
“So!” Ali laughed. “You think you’re the only one he bit in his life.”
“Shhh!” Raven hushed. No one seemed to be paying attention to them. The tour had turned into a pub crawl, and even Carrie was off drinking. Ali and Raven had retreated to a back corner of the tavern for a bite to eat. Ali had rules about partying, and she was very strict about her eating and hydrating.
“The sex is what makes it special. Did he screw this girl?”
“That’s what I don’t know,” Raven sighed as she looked down at her plate. She didn’t recognize her meal. It looked like vomit, and rice. “She is very pretty, and she has a bite mark.”
“It’s fine, you shouldn’t get attached to a vampire anyway,” Ali took another bite and then she looked up at Raven. “Unless you already are?”
Raven just looked back at her plate.
Chapter 6
Matthias
“There was a development,” Martin said as Matthias moved for the window.
“You handled it, I trust,” Matthias made it clear that he wasn’t asking a question. “Or you will.”
“I saw the bite marks on her neck, and she saw the bite marks on your other little pin cushion.”
“You will not take that tone with me!” Matthias crossed the room in a heartbeat and had Martin on his back gasping for air. “Do you really want to challenge me?”
“No, I don’t, I..awkk!”
“You will breathe again if and when I say.” Matthias glared at his assistant for another second and then he pulled his hand away. “You will not speak of her that way.”
“Since when do you care about your food?” Martin coughed the words as he pulled himself up off the floor. His neck was red and raw. Martin kept his eyes fixed on the floor and didn’t move as his employer glowered at him. “This girl is important and I am sorry that I made that comment, but could you help me understand why you’re so upset? Why is she so important?”
“She is the witch who is going to kill me,” Matthias sighed as he turned and headed back to the window.
“Isn’t that a bad thing?” Matthias heard Martin, but he was already out the window.
Raven was already waiting on her fire escape. She looked even more beautiful than he remembered. She was looking off into the distance as Matthias approached quietly. His feet set down and she spun to meet him. The fist hit hard against the vampire’s rock solid face. “Something is wrong?”
“Who is Jenna?”
“She belongs to a vampire named Matthias, have you seen her here?” Matthias tried to look concerned. It wasn’t hard, he was very concerned. Each time that he lied to Raven it hurt him to his very soul. He had lied for so long, and so often, he hadn’t ever realized what a huge part of his life it was. Matthias had never thought of himself as dishonest. The ease and quickness of his lies was very disturbing indeed.
“I met her in town today,” Raven had a hint of suspicion in her voice, but she seemed to accept the answer. “Have you seen him…before I mean. Do you know him?”
“He’s a dangerous vampire,” Matthias wasn’t lying there. “He lost his humanity long ago. The longer that a vampire lives on this earth, and feeds off of its people, the harder it is to maintain your humanity.”
“Do you have yours?” Raven’s eyes were searching for the truth. Matthias could feel them pulling at his soul.
“I think it is coming back,” Matthias believed what he was saying. He had never felt like this about a human. He looked at Raven and he didn’t see food. She was his woman, and he was willing to do anything to protect her. “I haven’t even fed since I bit you last.”
“I thought you were going to feed as soon as you left me here?”
“I thought so too, but I didn’t,” Matthias had gone right back to his room and went to bed. He had stayed on the fire escape for far too long, and there was no time to find someone to feed on. More than that however, he had been able to stay longer, because his hunger had become secondary to his desire.
“So, what does he want?”
“Who?”
“Matthias, the evil vampire who is in this town right now,” Raven sighed as she moved closer and let her head rest against Matthias’s chest. He was glad that the young woman couldn’t see the torment on his face.
“He needs a ring,” Matthias decided that he had to tell Raven as much of the truth as he could. He couldn’t risk losing her, not now. “The one that his father was given by the King of Hungary.”
> “Does it look like the one in the picture?”
“What picture?”
“In the castle,” Raven explained without moving her head.
Matthias liked the feeling of her warm skin coming through his silk shirt. He didn’t know the photo so he didn’t know how to answer. Instead he just stroked Raven’s long, dark hair as she described the ring that he had been searching for. A ring with runic symbols on the side, and clutched in the beak of a raven. This had to be the ring.
“I know that I’ve seen those designs before,” Raven sighed. “It must be something that my grandmother showed me. She loves gaudy jewelry, I mean just look at this pendant.” Raven held up the large chunk of gold from around her neck.
“That was your grandmother’s?” Matthias could feel the power surging from the necklace. He tried to hide his excitement. He knew the secrets that simple-looking trinket contained. He couldn’t be sure, but it seemed to be the answer to all of his life’s ambitions. Matthias knew that he could just reach out and take the talisman, and yet his hands remained at his side.
“Apparently it is a very powerful, magical talisman, so you should watch out,” Raven teased as she let the pendant fall back into place. Matthias couldn’t take his eyes off of the charm. “What does he need the ring for?”
“It will give him the seat of power that he needs to release his full potential.” All of the emotion had drained out of Matthias’s voice. He was transfixed. He shook his head and looked back into Raven’s beautiful, green eyes. “Like when I took you into the clearing. The castle is his clearing.”
“And then he ends the world, right?”
Matthias didn’t really think of it in those terms. He had never thought about what was going to happen when he finally got the castle back. All he knew was that it was going to unlock his true potential. He wasn’t sure how he was going to react to the power. He thought he knew before, but now the future seemed very uncertain.
“I guess,” Matthias shrugged.
“Oh Sylus,” Raven buried her head in his chest once again. “You have to promise to protect me from this monster.”
“I promise that I will,” Matthias swore. “I would never let him hurt you.”
“Can you say that?” Raven asked. “What if he gets into the castle, then no one could stop him.”
“There is one who could stop him,” Matthias knew that Raven knew what he was talking about. He carefully guarded his facial expressions. He didn’t want to give anything away. “A witch, a descendant of the witch who cursed the young man and created the vampire.”
“I know.” This was Raven’s only reply.
Matthias flew with Raven outside of the city. There was nowhere safe for the vampire in Hunedoara. The wolves would only be too happy to tell Raven who her companion was. Matthias wasn’t sure how long they would continue to stay away. Zdeno was not a patient man, and the pack would be watching for a coffin at the train station.
Normally Matthias would have Martin plan something for him, but his assistant had been compromised and seemed less than thrilled to help his employer of late. Matthias had taken off without making a plan other than changing the subject from the ring, the castle and his eventual demise at his lover’s hand.
They landed at the edge of a lake. The trees blocked out all of the light from a nearby village, though the moon glistened on the water. He hadn’t been to this lake since he was a child, but other than a few cabins, it looked exactly the same.
“Where are we?”
“Lake Cincis,” Matthias replied as he looked out at the night sky reflected upon the water. “I just wanted to be far away from Hunedoara. Too many supernatural beings converging in that small town.”
Raven nodded her agreement as she took her shoes off and stuck her toes into the cold water of the lake. The tiny waves lapped the water up higher on her feet. Matthias thought about it for a moment, and against his better judgement he took off his shoes, and his long dress socks. He rolled up his wool slacks and stepped into the lake.
“It feels better when you get adjusted,” Raven said as she saw the disgusted look on Matthias’s face.
Matthias smiled, but he knew that he couldn’t adjust to the water. Adjusting was something that warm-blooded creatures did. Their blood would flow and warm the affected area. The vampire’s feet were going to feel cold until he stepped out of the water.
“So, tell me something about you that I don’t know,” Raven said as she stared up at the night sky. It looked like there were a million extra stars that had been called out just for this night. Living in a large city, Raven wasn’t used to seeing a lot of stars. Matthias could tell that his young companion was impressed.
“I was a Nazi,” Matthias was surprised by his choice. There were literally millions of things that he could’ve told her.
“That’s not what I was expecting,” Raven tried to hold off the nervous laughter. “Did you kill anyone? Well, duh, I guess I mean, did you kill…I mean, who were you killing?”
“I was never officially a Nazi,” Matthias decided to clarify his statement. “I stole the uniform and I killed a lot of people. Most of them were Nazis, but it was a crazy time. There was so much blood everywhere and I was so hungry all the time. I don’t know why I said that, I am terrible at this.”
“Yeah, maybe next time you date, you should start off slower,” Raven laughed. “And maybe lead with eating Nazis and not being one.”
“Right, I ate a lot of people in that time,” Matthias was trying to back pedal, but he was only making things sound worse. Raven laughed. She clearly liked that Matthias was so upset. He smiled back at her. He offered his hand and they stared out over the water together, simply enjoying the moment. It was amazing to just share the same space.
They talked and laughed for hours and then as the color started to return to the sky, Matthias left Raven standing on her fire escape. He disappeared into the air and flew around the building to his room. He hadn’t fed, other than a small sip from Raven’s neck. She had demanded that he take a little blood since he was missing another night’s feeding.
Matthias was feeling physically weak, but he couldn’t bear to spend any more time away from Raven. As he laid down in his coffin his mind whirred with thoughts of the pack and what they might do to her. Zdeno would love to find another way to hurt his adopted brother.
It took almost an hour for the vampire’s body to give over to the rest his body needed. Inside the coffin his limbs went hard and his face froze in place. It was closer to rigor mortis than sleep. From sun up to sun down the vampire was more like a statue than a living being. Most of the time he just needed to stay out of the sun, but eating as little as he was, Matthias needed to rest and heal.
Chapter 7
Raven
“What’s gotten into you?” Ali asked as Raven hummed a song during breakfast. Raven was feeling very chipper. She smiled over at Ali who was trying desperately to keep her head off the table.
“I just had a great night,” Raven explained. “We are just having the best time.”
Carrie put her paper down hard on the table. Everyone turned to see that she was fuming. “I am so tired of hearing about this…this fling. I can’t even believe that this is still a thing. Why are you dating a vampire?”
“I like him,” Raven said the words to her bowl of knock-off brand corn flakes. “I don’t really know what’s going on. I just know that I feel safe when I’m in his arms.”
“If you smile any wider I will puke,” Carrie groaned. “And what the hell is wrong with you? Safe with a vampire. This is the least safe you’ve ever been. They are vicious killers, all of them. Literally, all of them.”
“Sylus could be important to the prophecy as well,” Raven was really stretching here, but she was willing to try anything to get Carrie off her back. “He has already promised to keep me safe no matter what.”
“I love that name,” a sleepy voice yawned as Roman dragged himself into the room.
> “I told you to stay in bed,” Ali teased as she pushed out the chair beside her to let Roman up to the table.
“And I told you that I was hungry,” Roman kissed Ali on the top of her head. “My grandfather was named Sylus.”
“Was he a super hot vampire?” Ali gave Raven a knowing look and a little wink.
“No, but he was the man who raised Matthias,” Roman laughed. “The vampire we fought the other night.”
“No, that was Sylus,” Raven corrected Roman. She could see that he was shaking his head no before he said anything. “That was Matthias. Are you sure?”
“My dad grew up with Matthias,” Roman said. “I think he would know his brother.”
Raven had to let the information settle in. Sylus…Matthias had been lying to her the whole time. Why wouldn’t he just kill her? Wasn’t she the only thing that could stop him? She started to think about all of the times that they had been alone. Raven had actually felt bad that Matthias had gone without blood for so long.
“Do you see?” Carrie was filled with self-righteousness as she stood up from the breakfast table. “This is what I was talking about. You can’t just go around trusting vampires.”
“We should’ve put this together for her,” Ali interjected, resting a hand on her forehead to keep her aching melon off the table. “I mean she is brand new at this.”
Carrie couldn’t believe what she was hearing. She stormed off and slammed the door behind her. Raven sent Ali an appreciative smile , but the party girl was already up and away to find some meds before the start of the dig. It was going to be a long day.
* * *
Raven was still replaying recent developments in her mind as they got to the dig. Dr. Foster gave a safety talk before going over the dig strategy. He was being very thorough and Raven appreciated it, because she was too distracted to dig. The way her mind was racing, she was sure she would destroy any artifact she might find.
