Lana caught herself before she fell into his arms, pressing her hands against his chest. Her eyes on his, a light gray, were curious. She wanted to feel his hands on her face again, in her hair, his lips on hers. She longed to be held by him, to fall asleep in his arms. It had been years since she felt another pair of lips on hers.
“Natalie will be in in a moment to help you get ready,” Micah said softly. “I’ll be at the stairs to escort you to the festivities once she informs me you are ready.”
“You never told me of the occasion,” Lana inquired.
“It is going to be a night to remember, Miss McDowall,” Micah said, kissing her cheek softly.
~
The mask was a light shade of blue with intricate swirls of white and gold, starting at the edges of the eyes and working their way up the black feathers on either side. Silver crystals were placed strategically on six points, acting as mirrors, and were outlined with gold faery-like wings.
Lana placed the mask on Rae’s bed, stripping to nothing before heading into the bathroom.
“So, what are you wearing to the party?” Rae called from the connecting closet.
“I was thinking of jeans and a hoodie,” Lana answered.
“Nu-uh! You are wearing something cute, you have to!”
“Why do you insist on controlling me tonight? I want to wear comfy clothes, let me do that ok?” she said. “Besides, you already saw what I was wearing, so you can’t argue.”
Rae was silent as the water ran, fogging up the windows of the shower. Lana let the water run over her body, through her hair.
The water bowed then, strands of water making its way toward the shower door. The water danced to music hummed. As she held her hand up, the water snaked around and through her fingers, creating the shape of a large water drop on the back of her hand.
Drops then moved further up her arm, creating the image of a rose, stem, and thorns. Lana smiled as the water returned to its natural flow, rolling over her as before.
Lana turned the water off, drying off quickly. When she returned to Rae’s room, her friend scolded her.
“Are you done playing with the water? Your jeans and a hoodie are on the bed.”
Rae pranced into the bathroom, slamming the door behind her.
May 28, 1840
“My, Miss McDowall, you look stunning,” Micah said. He took her hand, twirling her.
“Are you going to tell me the occasion now, Mr. Jacobs?” Lana asked. Micah couldn’t help but smile at the beauty before him.
He chose a lilac silk number with purple lace and underskirt. She wore black satin gloves that reached her elbows.
“What are you staring at?” she asked.
“Not staring, admiring,” Micah clarified.
He placed her hand in the crook of his elbow, noticing her smile from the corner of his eye as they descended the stairs.
“Happy birthday, Lana,” Micah said.
Lana squeezed his arm in thanks, blinking back tears. The last time someone acknowledged her birthday, she was holding her mother’s hand as she lay dying. She told Elijah the day she got off bed rest, unaware he would remember, let alone that she’d still be in Clover Bay.
The brothers convinced her to stay; Micah convinced her to stay. When they rounded the corner, patrons in the ballroom acknowledged her, saying happy birthday and kissing her cheek or shaking her hand. Elijah and Abigale stood by the table of champagne, Elijah kissing the back of her hand, Abigale hugging her. Abigale had her moments.
Lana turned toward Micah, thanking him for the ball. “What a marvelous occasion.”
“Only the best for you,” Micah said.
August 23, 2018
They could feel the music in the parking lot as they pulled up to the party. Girls in stilettos and mini dresses with extravagant masks walked with men dressed in slacks and vests, ties and masks in hand.
Limousines, farm trucks, and fancy cars parked alongside Rae and Lana.
“Try to have fun tonight, okay?” Rae asked.
Lana ignored her friend, putting the mask over her face. She exited the vehicle, heading toward the party.
The music got louder as Lana and Rae approached the carnival. Booths full of stuffed animals, games, and prizes wrapped from one side of the stage, around the back to the other side. A stage showered in navy and indigo lights was in the center surrounded by a hundred masked teenagers. Lana watched Rae meet up with other people walking onto the dance floor and disappear into the mass of swaying bodies.
The bonfire was close to the lake to the right of the carnival and Lana could see Aiden and Elijah talking.
“Looks like you two are becoming best friends,” Lana said, lifting her mask till it sat on her head.
“Hey,” Aiden said. “Glad you could make it.”
“I’m gonna go get a drink, you two want anything?” Elijah asked.
“Beer.”
“Punch.”
“Got it,” the vampire left the two alone to enjoy the fire, the slosh of the lake dulling the music.
“Are you feeling better?” Aiden asked, taking a seat on the bench.
“Much, thank you,” she said. “I’m sorry about the other day. My life is hectic right now, between Professor Thomas and school. Rae’s been moody too, and I don’t really know why. It’s just difficult to think about adding another thing to my life.”
“I get that,” Aiden said. His hands were clasped in front of him, twiddling his thumbs. “Things with Christine aren’t really working out.”
“I’m sorry to hear that,” she said.
“No, it’s okay. Things haven’t been good for a while, not that I don’t like her, because I do. It’s just…she can be a bit intense and controlling. Her life before she came here was crazy and so she… She wants more than I can provide, so to say.”
“So, you don’t want a relationship?” Lana asked.
“Not with Christine…” Aiden said, flames dancing in his eyes. “I don’t do clingy, and that’s all she is. Self-centered. Needy. I prefer someone who is independent and confident in their own skin.”
“Don’t we all,” Lana sighed.
“I think that’s why I’ve been trying so hard to get your attention,” Aiden said, their eyes meeting. “I’ve had a lot of bad happen in the past and it’s hard to trust people. When I’m around you, it’s like all the bad goes away.”
Butterflies flew in her stomach, her breath catching in her throat.
“Yo, Aiden! It’s almost time for you to go up!” a slender man called from the crowd.
Aiden took a deep breath and let it out quickly, a smile on his lips. “That was a lot harder to say than I thought it would be.”
A nervous laugh escaped them both. “Well, looks like that’s your cue.”
“I’m glad you came tonight,” Aiden said. He left as Elijah walked up with drinks, grabbing the beer and jogging up to the stage.
“Thank you! You have been an awesome audience, now it’s time to introduce you to a good friend of mine,” the artist on the stage said as he gasped for air. “Put your hands together for AM!”
A cloaked figure stalked onto the stage, girls screaming in adoration.
“Who’s ready for a party?!” AM yelled.
AM dropped his cloak, revealing chiseled abs and a red mask.
Yellow and orange flames flew from the mask, making the women scream in fear of him being burned. The flames died down, revealing glittered flames painted from the chin to the eyes, around and up to the top of the mask. Aiden turned to a guitarist who threw him a t-shirt as they began to play various solos while he pumped up the crowd. When he started singing, Lana was mesmerized by the depth of his voice.
Years of listening to the slow melodies of soul music, the saxophone during the jazz ages, of hair bands and scream, high ranges like that of the Bee Gees, made her appreciate opera-esque voices, choral melodies and orchestra music.
“What do you think of what he said?” Elijah aske
d.
“You were eavesdropping?” she exclaimed, the back of her hand meeting his chest. “I can’t take you anywhere.”
“Hey, can you blame me?” Elijah asked.
“No. I don’t know, honestly. I just can’t focus on romance right now, you know? It’s just a distraction and at the end of the day, he’s human and I can’t see a life with someone who can’t not age with me.”
They made their way to the first set of carnival booths, debating which game to play first. She decided on a ring toss, making five of the six she threw. When told she won a stuffed animal, she declined the prize, playing for the fun of the game rather than material items.
Lana always enjoyed a good game, regardless of the reward. She’d rather play to enjoy the event, to enjoy the company of fellow players than to play for recognition and the title of winner. Material items never appealed to her, her mother taught her that.
“I get that, but still. Once you fulfill the prophecy, who’s to say you won’t be able to have a normal life?” Elijah asked. “I mean, I could turn him for you.”
“Just like you let Micah turn?” she turned to him.
“That’s a different story, Lana, and you know it.”
“How is it different? If you were going to be what you are, you were going to take him with you, you said it yourself.”
“Whatever,” Elijah said. "I’m just saying that…’
“I know what you’re saying, and it’s not going to happen.”
Elijah walked off, leaving Lana to play games.
As she continued to try each booth, the booths closer to the stage seemed vacant, unlike they had been earlier in the evening. She lifted her hood and putting back down her mask.
Lana took a softball at the next booth, throwing it toward the metal milk bottles. She remembered placing those empty bottles outside when milk bottle collection day occurred in her town, when they moved from metal to glass and when she no longer had milk delivered to her home. She threw ball after ball, three in a row. The clanking of the bottles falling brought back memories of when she attempted to create a small breeze and conjured a gust of wind, which sent empty bottles crashing to the hard floor of her kitchen.
She declined the prize again, tipping the game maker. Lana’s name was called by a woman’s voice, like Rae’s, but raspier. The image of the wrinkled old witch from Snow White entered her mind. The music started to fade as she moved farther into the more vacant booths. Curiosity took hold, as if she was being controlled by someone or something.
“Lana,” Rae’s voice popped into her head. Confused, Lana thought back, "Rae, what’s going on?"
“Lana, help me…” her voice again.
Panicked, Lana looked around. She had moved too far into vacancy where no voices or music existed. A single light in a booth ahead of her shone, a figure or shadow of a figure appeared.
“Rae…”
“Lana, help me. You need to find me.” The voice sounded like Rae’s but was different. It taunted her.
“Why don’t you come find me?” Lana taunted back. The figure disappeared and Lana followed. She knew Rae was not in danger, knew the voice was not hers.
As Lana approached the booth, the light turned off, engulfing the vacant booth in darkness. Ripping her mask off, Lana threw it to the side, slipping in-between the booths and out into the forest beyond.
Chapter 16
Lana zipped her jacket up, scanning the mass of trees. Each step she took brought her farther and farther from the semicircle of tents. The hair on the back of her neck rose slightly, falling as quickly as it rose. Facing the tents, Lana’s eyes darted from side to side, her ears picking up various sounds. The music from the party was nonexistent. She heard no laughter, no talking.
Silence.
Crunch.
A shadow appeared to her left, she swung, clawing at the shadow. It scattered with a screeching sound, as if her nails dug into the sheath of ectoplasm and ripped it apart. She took a few steps more into the forest. Another shadow, another sheath ripped apart, another screeching noise bounced off tree trunks, deafening her.
The further she got from the carnival, the colder the air became.
“Lana.”
A raspy voice swirled in her head as she spun around, swinging from side to side, ripping through the shadows.
Laughter mocked her, taunted her as she stomped through the forest.
“Coward.”
Lana crouched, listening to the sounds around her.
The caw of a crow.
The hoot of an owl.
The crunch of twigs beneath boots.
“Got ya.”
Lana grasped soil, twirling around to meet the figure behind her. The broad shoulders of a man with a leather jacket that reached the backs of his knees, black pants tucked into black boots, a dark t-shirt beneath the buttons of the jacket. Gloves with revealed fingers, chin-strap beard with a mustache, salt and peppered in color, his hair black as tar and scraggily.
As she opened her hands, the man ducked, disappearing in a black cloud. She turned to run, leaning back, sliding on her knees as the man facing her now swung. Lana turned again, landing in a push-up position. Pushing herself off the ground, she sprinted back toward him, ducking and swinging her body around, leg extended to trip him, put him on his back.
Twigs and branches broke beneath the weight of him, sending sounds like bones shattering through the trees. Lana hopped over him, ran, and sprinted, swerving in between trees, sliding beneath the branches of the pines.
A large hand wrapped around her neck, picking her off the ground and slamming her to the floor of the woods. The ground shook beneath them while she pushed at his body, his hands to release her.
Lana heard screaming then.
“The party has just begun,” the man’s raspy voice was in her ear.
She closed her eyes, focusing on her breathing, on the elements around her. She felt rough roots wrap around her wrists, her fingers. Lana opened her eyes, pushing her hands toward the figure once more. The roots seemed to jump from her arms, wrapping around the figure’s arms as he forced himself toward her. The roots tangled around him while she stumbled to her feet and ran in the direction of the row of tents, ripping through shadows threatening to keep her from her friends.
Lana took a second to look back to where she left the man tangled in roots, only to be knocked down. She scrambled to her feet, turning to run the opposite way.
~
“Rae have you seen Lana?” Elijah asked, grabbing at Rae’s arm. He pulled her from her friends and into an empty booth.
“She was playing games last I saw,” Rae said. “Why, what’s going on?”
“I went back and she wasn’t there,” Elijah said. “I need you to go to your vehicle, and lock…”
Screams ran through the carnival, interrupting Elijah’s train of thought.
“Eli what’s happening?” Rae said.
“How well can you control your powers?”
“I don’t know… I haven’t practiced,” she admitted.
“I need you to try, do you understand? I need you to stay behind me and if you get stuck, call my name. Do you understand?” Elijah asked.
Rae nodded, taking his hand. He broke a table apart, handing her a stake and taking one for himself.
“Vampires?” Rae asked.
She followed him toward the stage, seeing people she knew fall to the ground, blood running down their necks from bite marks. Elijah grabbed at the sleeves of one of the biters, jamming a stake through his back. Ashes covered his hand while Rae followed his movements. Together they worked their way through the vampires, staking them one by one.
Rae kept her back to Elijah, taking down each vampire who came her way. He took her wrist, pulling her closer to him.
“Stay close, I’m not going to let anything happen to you,” he said.
Aiden hopped off the stage, ducking under the blue plastic covering of a booth. He ripped the leg off a table, grab
bed his knife, and sharpened it into a stake. When he left the tent, a vampire grabbed him by the jacket, spinning him around and pushing him into the light posts. The creature was young, possibly turned when he was no more than fifteen years old. Aiden switched positions with him, driving the stake through his heart.
Ashes covered his boots as he made his way toward the crowd. Elijah held Rae’s hand while they took down vampires around the outer areas of the crowd. Aiden worked through other vampires, being careful not to step on their victims. Ashes were spread over the bodies, blood caked in the dirt.
Elijah heard his name being called as he made his way closer to the stage.
He saw Aiden next to the light posts by the stage yelling his name. They met each other, Rae letting go while the men spoke, staking a female vampire to the ground. Black streaks like charcoal stained her face.
“Have you seen Lana?” Aiden asked.
“She headed behind the stage.”
They looked around the crowd, seeing humans fighting against vampires, some overpowering the recently turned children of the Darkness. Aiden watched as Christine put vampires down with her mind.
~
A wall of dark shadows formed in front of Lana, blocking her path.
You must learn to balance each element, just as you must learn to balance good and evil.
Ms. Baldwin’s words emerged within her mind. She remembered the riverbed, the flowing water over the dry rocks. The leaves rustling in the wind, and the water meeting the wind, creating clouds, precipitation, thunder. Before she turned around she felt drops of water on her face, she was conjuring a storm. She focused on the clouds, on the elements of air and of water. Lana created a dark cloud above the forest, felt the thunder rumble overhead, the rain start to soak through the thick trees.
~
Drops of rain fell from the sky, followed by powerful gusts of wind.
“What’s happening?” Elijah asked.
“The others are here,” Aiden whispered. “I need to find Lana, are you good here?”
“Go, Rae and I have this covered,” Elijah said. When he looked back to where Rae had been, she was nowhere to be found. “Rae!”
The Fury's Light Page 8
