by Anna Santos
“He loved you enough to face the trial.”
“I know. That’s why I need to save him.”
“How does it work?” I asked once again, since she hadn’t answered me yet.
“It can only be cast by the soul who failed the trial. The person must regret the failure. But it isn’t a cure, Cedric. The spell is simply a switch,” she said calmly.
“What do you mean?”
“I mean that I’m willing to take his place. I’m willing to take his curse, so he may live again.”
At first, I didn’t fully understand her words. Then, they hit me hard, and I opened my eyes in surprise and fear. “You’re going to die,” I said in shock. I wasn’t expecting that sort of altruistic behavior from a vampire.
“Yes,” she said mildly. She didn’t seem afraid. “I’m going to take his place.”
“You’ll cease to exist. It’ll be dark forever,” I explained to her. “It isn’t like sleeping, Josephine. It’s empty, and you don’t dream. You simply cease to exist. We become nothing when we’re turned into stone. When the trial fails, we can never open our eyes again to the night. We experience it every day of our cursed life and dread the moment that the sun rises on the horizon.”
“I know. Oliver explained to me what it was to be a gargoyle with a curse. I know what’s going to happen.”
I endured the stare of her shining brown eyes.
“I don’t want you to share this with anyone else,” she pleaded, lowering her voice and averting her eyes to the window. “I don’t want Philippe to know. He’s the sole person who would care. He’s my only family. But it’s been two hundred years since I decided that I’m done with life. I’ve lived more than what I should have lived. I want to do something good with my existence for a change. I want to redeem myself. Will you help me?” She looked at me. Her words were having a huge impact on me. I was shocked and stunned.
“You’ll die,” I mumbled, more to myself than to her.
“We all have to die someday. Even the sun isn’t immortal from what scientists can tell. I don’t have a soulmate.” Her voice was laced with extreme sadness. “I’ll go to hell when I die. I may as well spare myself the trouble and do some good with my life. Make someone happy and fix a mistake that should’ve never happened. Oliver should have rejected me when he had the chance. I should have…forced him to do that. Now, I don’t have a second chance of finding a mate, and Oliver is turned to stone.”
“Your former mate didn’t want you back?”
“I didn’t want him back. It was all a scheme to know what happened on the other side of the realm. All he wanted was the stone.”
“I see… But you didn’t give it to him or the portal would be closed, and I wouldn’t be here talking to you.”
“I didn’t. He wanted to open a portal to hell. I couldn’t let him do that.”
“Sounds like you’re better off without that prick.”
“I didn’t ask to be a vampire.”
I felt sorry for her. I knew many didn’t have a choice. Vampirism wasn’t curable either.
“Will you help me?”
“I will,” I said.
She looked at me with glistening eyes that reflected her joy. “Thank you!”
Her happiness didn’t make me feel better. “Don’t thank me, Josephine. I’m sentencing you to death.”
“No, you’re saving one of your own.”
“Tomorrow then. I’ll instruct William to meet you here. Bring the spell.”
“Won’t you be here, too?” She had a girly voice when she asked me that. The disappointment was clear and it left me curious.
“No, I have other matters to attend to. But you can trust William.”
“I like William. He’s a kind one. He reminds me of Oliver.”
“I have to go now. I have to talk to William.”
“It’s okay,” she said, getting up. “My ten minutes are up anyway. Thank you, Your Majesty.”
I nodded sternly and moved to the door. I let her leave first. Then, I left to meet William and ask him about the vaccine and the vampires. It was going to be a long night, and I couldn’t stop thinking about what Aria was doing. She was a good girl; she wouldn’t do anything stupid. I knew that. It didn’t mean I didn’t want to be with her. I missed her. We hadn’t been apart this long since we’d been bonded together.
CHAPTER TEN
PHILIPPE
Giggling and bumping against the furniture, Aria entered my room.
“See, I’m clumsy!” she said as if to prove her point.
“It’s not hard being clumsy when one is drunk,” I explained as my hand directed her to the couch, where she fell on her back. “Are you okay?”
“Yes, fine. So, who won?” she asked, turning her head to look at me.
I had dared her to climb up the stairs to beat me at arriving to my bedroom first. Just because I wanted her out of the living room, so we could talk some more, away from prying eyes.
“I did!” I bragged, watching her pout.
“That’s because I didn’t know where your bedroom was,” she argued.
I smiled. “True. What do you want to do now?” I sat on the other side of her on the couch.
“I want to play with the butterflies.”
“No!” I shook my head. I was tired of chasing her around. “Let’s just talk.”
“But I don’t want to talk.” She used her girly drunk voice that made me hope she wasn’t one of those drunk people who cried for no apparent reason. “You keep saying that angel wings aren’t as beautiful as butterfly wings.”
I chuckled at her complaint. I was teasing her when it came to that. At the nightclub, she’d been rambling about the fact that butterfly wings were less heavy than angel wings and, therefore, were easier to maneuver when flying. I had no idea where she’d come up with that dilemma, but I argued with her, pointing out the fact that butterflies had a greater variety of colors in their wings and, because they were so delicate and colorful, they were more beautiful than angel wings. It got to the point where she was saying that fairies could fly faster but not higher than angels, and I had to explain to her that fairies were a product of people’s imagination, much like dragons.
It was a silly discussion, but I could talk to her about anything if she wanted me to. It broke my heart to realize how innocent and charming she was. In the wrong hands, she could be manipulated and deceived. In my world, she’d be left shattered and empty. She deserved better. Even if I loved her and would give my life for her, it would be selfish to keep her away from her hopes and dreams.
“What do you want to talk about?” I asked her, not sleepy.
“I don’t know. You decide.”
I pondered for a while until I came up with an idea. “Let’s play a game. I tell you the name of an adversary, and you have to find a suitable candidate to beat that adversary,” I proposed. “For example, in a fight against a unicorn—who do you think could win?”
“That’s easy, a dragon!” Aria replied, giggling at her answer. I smirked at her drunk state. She was funny like that. “Besides, they’re both non-existent creatures.”
I threw a cushion at her because of her witty comment. She opened her mouth in disbelief. Showing me her tongue, she hugged the cushion.
“Who said that unicorns weren’t real? I may have a pink one on my farm,” I teased.
“That’s a terrible choice of color! Besides, riding dragons is way cooler than riding unicorns.”
“True.” I had to agree with that. “Okay, so dragon one and unicorn zero.”
“I want a more challenging question,” she said.
“Hmm… In a fight against Peter Pan?”
“Oh, that’s tough! It’s kind of illegal to hit kids. I know. I know. Alice from Wonderland.”
I arched an eyebrow. “How come?”
“She has a rabbit, she can grow up and down, and she can smash Humpty Dumpty into Peter Pan’s head.”
“Isn’t that a bit violent?
” I asked, trying to picture the conflict and not finding it appropriate for all audiences.
“Kind of. Let’s not count this one then.”
I agreed to please her. “Okay, an easy one. Who could beat Naruto?”
“Son Goku.”
“Who could win a fight against Wolverine?”
“Superman.” she answered fast.
I increased the difficulty. “And who would win, a vampire or a gargoyle?”
“A gargoyle, of course. But it’s not a valid question because you chose the rivals,” she pointed out.
“Okay, it’s your turn, even if I don’t agree with your answer.”
“Against a horse, who would win?”
“An elephant.”
“Elephants aren’t dangerous creatures!” she informed me.
“Neither is a horse.” I laughed, a bit drunk myself.
“Hmm.” She pouted for a while.
I gazed upon her, feeling warm inside for having her next to me so at ease. The alcohol was helping with that.
I asked another question, “Against a spider? Who would win?”
“Ichigo.” She exclaimed, exultant.
I frowned at her answer. “Who’s that?”
“A Shinigami.”
“You aren’t making any sense,” I said, rolling my eyes.
“It’s a manga character like Naruto. A shinigami is an angel of death who takes souls to the other side and protects the human realm from monsters,” she explained in a snappy voice.
“Very well, Miss Know-It-All, what about in a fight against the Cyber King?”
“What’s that?”
“It’s a giant robot controlled by the Cybermen in Doctor Who.”
“Oh, I love Doctor Who! I want a time travel machine like his,” she said in her girly voice, making me laugh at her words and cute drunk face. “But, of course, the answer is the Doctor’s sonic screwdriver.”
“Or,” I said, thinking more about the subject, “a Transformer.”
“Which one?” she asked, leaning forward.
“Bumblebee!”
“I love Bumblebee. He’s the funniest!” she shrieked.
I chuckled at her enthusiasm for our quirky game. She was having fun and it was nice to hear her laugh like that.
Aria adopted a solemn face. “Now it’s my turn to ask you a question a bit more appropriate to your age. In a fight against King Kong and the Empire State Building, who would win?”
“Hey, smart pixie angel,” I hissed, pretending to be offended by her witty question. “I’m much older than that,” I added, making her open her mouth in a dramatic awe that was intended to mock me no doubt. “And for your information, it was the planes that made King Kong fall off the building.”
“But the planes crashed, the gorilla died, and the building survived everything,” she pointed out. I had to agree with her. “So building one and big bad gorilla zero.”
“Okay, I have one for you,” I said as she hit my face with her palm in a clumsy attempt to cover my mouth. “What?” I asked, grabbing her hand and holding it for a while.
She didn’t try to pull her hand away. I felt a tiny moment of bliss until she hit me with the cushion. She was evil, waiting until I was defenseless and not expecting her to seek revenge.
“I’m tired. Sleep one, Aria zero,” she complained in a sexy sleepy voice, lying back down on the couch and closing her eyes.
I smiled, letting her give in to sleep. “That’s okay, sweetie. Rest.”
“Tell Mom and Dad that I love them,” she mumbled when I shifted her hair from her face, so I could take her in my arms and put her in my bed. She would be more comfortable there. I could sleep on the couch. I had plenty of other rooms to sleep in, but I would rather sleep where I could wake up and explain to her where she was and where I could listen to her heartbeat.
“They’ve already gone back to their hotel room,” I told her when I laid her down under the covers. I took off her boots and covered her up, so she wouldn’t get cold during the night.
She hugged the comforter against her chest and sighed softly.
“Goodnight, Aria. Sweet dreams,” I whispered, caressing her cheek.
She face-palmed me again.
“Stop being evil to me.” I held her hand to take it off of my face.
She giggled and opened her eyes.
“What?”
“I just realized something,” she whispered, smiling widely.
“What did you realize?” I asked, kissing her fingertips without looking away from her stare.
“You are a nerd,” she whispered in a secretive voice.
I smiled at her words, finding it funny how her eyes glinted with surprise and maybe a bit of shock.
“Maybe I am a bit,” I confessed in the same secretive manner. “Have you anything against that?”
“Oh no, I think that’s awesome,” she mumbled with a dreamy smile that made me lower my face over her and kiss the tip of her nose. She giggled at that, closing her eyes and rolling onto her right side to sleep. “Now leave me alone. I need to sleep,” she grumbled.
She was grumpy when she was sleepy. I could relate to that. I tucked her in and sat on the couch, where she had been, gazing at the ceiling.
Gabby and Sean had already gone to Sean’s bedroom. We’d been downstairs, talking. That is, until I had to distract Aria from the fact that her cousin and Sean were making out on the couch in the living room. She didn’t actually miss them because we’d been talking all night since I’d stopped Gabby from giving her any more alcohol and making her act like any girl her age would act when drunk. She wanted to party, jump, and dance. Things got out of hand, and I had to make some guys back off before she swirled into my arms and asked me to dance with her. How could I say no to her?
A drunk Aria was a funny extroverted. She was also harder to control and keep track of. She had the tendency to run away, chasing imaginary butterflies. The problem was when they were no longer imaginary, and she made them appear, floating around the dance floor—butterflies made of fire. They’d leave her hands and fly around, only to disappear against the ceiling or after landing on my nose. Apparently, it was funny to make butterflies land on my nose. But the butterflies didn’t burn. They were like small golden holograms that people thought were part of the light show. It was a big hit, and I had to give credit to my pixie angel, it was beautiful. I was calling her that because she was as delicate as a fairy and as beautiful as an angel. Besides, I’d been given the idea during the fight about the angel wings and fairy wings.
It had been fun. Too bad she wasn’t going to remember anything about it the next day. But I definitely would.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
ARIA
I woke up to a giggling sound with someone jumping on the bed. I automatically sat up, startled and confused by the dark.
“She’s right here beside me. Do you want to talk to her?”
It was Gabby. She sat on the side of the bed, her legs swinging, with my phone in her hand.
“Your parents want to speak to you,” she informed me, showing me the phone, so I could pick it up.
“Hello,” I answered timidly. “Yes, everything is fine. I was just sleeping. No, I don’t know what time is it. I have no idea what time I went to bed.” I answered my dad’s questions, looking at the red wine comforter over my lap. My head was pounding hard, and I had a bad taste in my mouth. Plus, the bed seemed to spin around. “Sure, it would be nice to have lunch in the Louvre and visit the rest of the exhibitions. I don’t know. I can ask him if he wants to join us,” I mumbled. “Okay, I’ll see you and Mom there with Gabby.”
I turned the phone off and leaned back on the bed, craving the comfort of sleep where nothing was hurting my head and the bed was not a carousel.
“What did they want?” Gabby asked, leaning over me.
“It seems that we were supposed to be at the Louvre at midday, but we didn’t show up,” I announced, feeling unwell. “They’re having l
unch under the pyramid and want us to join them, so we can finish the tour. They also said to invite Philippe and Sean. If you want to call them, be my guest. I just want the bed to stop turning.”
“You can ask him yourself. He’s right here next to you,” Gabby said with a grin.
My eyes snapped open, and I saw the ceiling. Moving my head to the right, I assessed the unfamiliar place I found myself in. Philippe was in the corner of the bedroom. For a moment, I thought I was hallucinating. It was confusing. He looked like he’d just woken up and hadn’t had time to get dressed and wash his face. He was wearing the same clothes as yesterday. Come to think of it, I was also fully dressed under the covers. I could feel my jeans and my bra tightening uncomfortably. What the hell happened last night?
“Where are we?” I asked.
“My place,” Philippe answered, walking towards me. “Do you remember what happened last night?”
I shook my head and narrowed my eyes to try to remember. We’d gone to the Louvre, then to his restaurant. Afterward, we played some snooker and Gabby wanted to go to a nightclub. It was one of Philippe’s nightclubs. Dad and Mom were excited to see it, so we all agreed to go and stay for a while. We got in as Philippe’s VIP guests. It was fun; there were a lot of people dancing and drinking. A lot of noise, too. I’d texted Cedric, telling him I was going out with my family and cousin. But I didn’t remember how I ended up at Philippe’s place or in his bed.
“Damn it! Cedric must be worried sick about me,” I said out loud.
“There was a guy calling you this morning. He was so incessant that I answered the phone,” Gabby shared with an innocent face.
My heart stopped after listening to her words. “What did you tell him?”
“I got your back, don’t worry. I told him that I was your cousin and you were with me but sleeping. We’d had a few drinks and you’d crashed at my place.”
