“Wh-what do you want?”
The silhouette only shook with snake-like laughter.
“Please.” Nikolai tried his best to keep his voice even and his stance broad. “You can have anything you want. But let her go.”
If he knew anything yet about these strange, forceful beings, he knew they were privy even to the things he wanted to hide. They shared his ability to mind read…but they could do it better. This shadow already knew how many people were in that house. And it definitely knew where Mila was hiding.
“You can kill me. Just let my sister go. Please. She’s only seven.”
The shadow tilted his head and smiled, revealing silver fangs. He released a new, menacing hiss.
Nikolai gasped. Lifting his hand, he drove a force through the air that sent the door crashing inward on the figure.
“Mila! Take my hand!” He reached for her. He’d vanish them out of there—bring them somewhere safe.
She scrambled for him. The air around the room began to bend, whipping his hair into his eyes. The demon ripped the door off its hinges, which captured Nikolai’s attention again. Hurtling his fist from one side to the other, Nikolai sent his dresser sliding into the figure before it could lunge at them, pinning it to the back wall of the corridor. It hissed and growled.
“MILA! COME ON!”
Her little fingers wrapped around his, but it was too late. Nikolai barely blinked before the shadow bolted through the room in a wicked blur. All Nikolai heard was Mila’s scream. Her hand ripped out from his grip. He whirled around himself, but she was already gone.
“MILA!” He bellowed, racing out into the hallway.
He nearly threw up his own intestines, bending double, when he saw the darkened figure slumped over something near the kitchen. Nikolai took a single step closer, a frigid tear rolling down his face, his arms trembling violently.
“M-Mila?”
He took another step, reaching, but then caught himself on the wall when he saw her limp, little arm protruding from underneath the beast curled over her. Her fingers were ice blue. Lifeless. A slow sob ripped through him and threatened to tear him in half. He shut his eyes, his heart shattering into a million pieces. This was a dream—a nightmare. There was no way this was real.
Peeking between his fingers, he caught sight of his parents, then. Their eyes were wide open, horribly blank, as they lay strewn across the floor in small pools of something dark and wet. Nikolai retched on his own tears.
And then the savage was looming over him, his bloodied claws twitching, readying himself for his next victim.
“Go on!” Nikolai harrowed. “Kill me! Go on! Do it!” He shot to his feet, throwing himself at the man-like thing.
Before he realized it, he was already being pinned up against the wall. Something jagged and cold dug into his throat as the man’s chest heaved against his. Nikolai’s mouth was open to scream, though no sound came out. All he could hear was his own frantic heartbeat. His fingers turned to ice first, then his toes, before the numbness spread up through his wrists, his shins, his arms. He was being emptied. Sucked dry.
Abruptly, there came a new screeching sound. Another hiss. The man was ripped away from him and Nikolai dropped to his knees, rolling face-first into the wooden floorboards. Someone else was there. A new monster?
He was sickened. Weak. If he allowed himself to drop off, he knew it would be the end.
Willing his pulse to keep going—willing his eyes to remain open, he clawed through a thick trail of his own blood, lifting his head to see the blurry image of one shadow grappling with the other. Again, he opened his mouth, but he couldn’t speak.
“I will nail you to the wall for this!” A foreign voice cried.
“How are you still alive?” roared the first as he gnashed in his face.
“I think the more important question is….” There was the sound of something like bones breaking and the second voice cried out in pain. “What’s stopping me from slaughtering you right here?”
“P-please!” The first spluttered. “I-I can lead you to Valek. To Charlotte. I can tell you where they are. Just let me go.”
One of them roared loudly and then there was a heavy smash, which made the foundation of the whole house rumble. “YOU AND YOUR LOT DESERVE TO DIE FOR WHAT YOU’VE MADE OF ME!”
“A-Aiden, please, listen to me! I know what you want,” the first voice continued to choke and heave. “You should know something. Charlotte is sick. She is dying. Valek is distracted. Let me lead you to him. He is weak with sorrow. You can take him down.”
“You’re lying. Your kind are nothing but liars.”
The new pair of boots backed away from the first, allowing the beast to scramble for breath as he dropped to his knees.
“Believe me,” the first monster choked.
“I am doing you a favor, Lusian! You will tell me where to find Valek. Go now. Leave here. I will find you. But if you mislead me, I swear on Vladislov’s head I’ll rip you limb from limb and scatter your pieces to every corner of this earth. You will never find rest.”
There was another ripping sound. A gurgle. A cough. And then a harrowing cry that pierced straight through Nikolai’s soul. The overpowered shadow knelt with his head bowed. There were a few moments of silence before the assailant scrambled back out into the night.
Nikolai whimpered as the new shadow approached, the toes of his polished, steel-toed shoes coming into focus.
Nikolai gasped, a gross coppery taste on his tongue. Breathing proved difficult and it felt like several of his ribs were broken. There was a heavy hand on his arm then, rolling him over onto his back. The pain was too intense, but he only gurgled over the blood still pooling at the back of his throat. He still couldn’t see the details of the person’s face, but he could see the shine off his bronze hair. He remained a silhouette, but his edges were illuminated by the golden lamplight above like a hellish halo.
He needed to communicate somehow, so he attempted to do something he’d done before, though only once or twice. It occurred very seldom, and he really had to concentrate, but he’d die if he didn’t.
Still…alive….
Nikolai heard the man’s thoughts echo back to him in his own mind. Once in a while, he could tear through the barriers of skull and skin and listen in on another person’s thoughts. Maybe, this shadow shared a similar ability….
Who are you? Nikolai asked in his mind, gripping hard to consciousness.
An ally.
Where is my sister?
The shadow lifted his head and then sighed. Your family is dead.
Nikolai closed his eyes, more tears rolling from the corners of his eyes back into his hairline. He relinquished another sob.
But I can help you avenge them. Your survival is crucial.
Why? I’m alone now. What’s the point?
This man, whoever he was, was one of them. A dark one. There to deliver a message. Nikolai turned his head, twisting as much as he could to see the little girl lying near the kitchen entry, her dark hair a mess around her face.
Oh God.
He choked on his tears again. The front door was left open. Snow flurried in from the silent night outside.
You must stay, Nikolai. There is still something very important waiting for you.
The man bent to one knee near Nikolai’s head. Between his hands, he clutched the picture of the girl from the newspaper.
Nikolai’s breath plumed out in silver mist as he shivered there on the ground. Gripping his wrist, the man pried his cold fingers open, snatching the document he was clutching still.
“How did you get this?” The one the first shadow called “Aiden” hissed frantically, shaking the parchment in Nikolai’s face.
He was so close to death, demanding a reply was senseless.
“Boy, can you hear me?” Aiden continued, stroking the hair away from Nikolai’s eyes.
His throat had been ravaged so brutally, he wondered if he would ever be able to speak aga
in. But Nikolai finally acknowledged him with a sharp exhale, followed by a slight, simple nod of his head. Tears continued to roll.
Aiden slipped his hand under his head and pulled him from the frosted ground and into his lap. “I am not going to harm you,” he continued. “If you can, answer me with another nod. Can you do that?”
Again, Nikolai nodded once, struggling to keep his eyes open. His shaking was no longer crafted from the fierce cold, but from fear. This man’s face was stern. He searched for something kind in his eyes, but came up empty. At least there were no fangs in his mouth.
“You were attacked by something that was not human.”
Nikolai hesitated for a few moments, questioning his own sanity, and nodded once again. His pulse continued to slow as each second ticked by, only minutes left.
“Listen to me carefully now, human. And answer me honestly.” Aiden began again. “Do you wish to live?”
Nikolai didn’t respond. Rather, he let his eyes close—let himself stop breathing. In the swelling darkness, he listened to the rattling of his own dying heartbeat, counting down until he knew he’d reached his last.
Three…two…one.
Chapter 13
T h e D e v I l (Original, But Charlotte attempts to attack Valek, driven mad with fear and her disease)
* * *
Charlotte hadn’t seen Valek since the prior evening—since their exchange that drove a chasm in their bolder-strong relationship. The pit of her still burned.
“All right?” came Sarah’s voice as she waddled from the kitchen, undoing her apron. Edwin followed close at her heal.
He’d been hanging around more frequently since the evening prior. Charlotte wondered why.
I just want to help. I’m not just some weak little damsel, Valek.
“I’m fine,” Charlotte lied.
Sarah gave a knowing glance toward the library doors. They were closed to the rest of the house and now seemed an imposing barricade. Challenging. Mocking.
“He’s in there…brooding still, isn’t he?” asked Sarah. Chewing her nails a moment, she came up with, “He feels horribly for the things he said. But even so, you’re still not to get too close, Charlotte. I’m warning you.”
But then Edwin put his hand on the Witch’s shoulder. A brief exchange passed between them and the expression in her face changed. Something brightened in her eyes and her features softened. Sarah sighed.
“I need to enchant my wet laundry upstairs. Edwin, won’t you help me?”
“C-c-certaintly.”
With a quick wink at Charlotte, Edwin followed after while Sarah, quite literally, turned the other cheek. As the two disappeared down the hall without another word, the study doors opened a crack…all the sudden, and as if by magic.
A single moment to make nice. Sarah would allow it, but Charlotte supposed she’d be wracked with worry. She and Valek had never gone a day without speaking.
Pulling the doors a bit wider, Charlotte toed over the study threshold. Cherry tobacco and pipe smoke hung heavy in the air.
Hunks of the more unfortunate furniture pieces from the fight upstairs in Valek’s bedroom roasted in the hearth before where he sat in silence. Valek watched them cremate, mourning the loss of what was undoubtedly a valuable antique collection.
The fire cast the room in a deep sienna glow. Charlotte appreciated the craftsmanship of the way Valek’s armchair was carved—a dozen screaming faces imprisoned in the maple wood between scrawling tendrils crowned with leaves and budding flowers. His taste in everything always lived in the ornate and the dramatic, it seemed.
One by one, perfect smoke rings billowed up above his head and out of the open window before they each faded into the night beyond the long, velvet drapes.
Charlotte’s pulse was in her face as she clung to the doorframe, on-looking.
Valek’s movements slow and somber. He continued to pretend not to notice her while he sat there with one long leg crossed over the other. He lifted his pipe to his full lips with his other set of lengthy claws wrapped around the chair arm, mindlessly chipping away at the wood.
The sound of Valek’s nails scratch-scratch-scratching made the hair on Charlotte’s arms stand on end. She was addicted to every lethal part of him.
Every night, when Charlotte would return home from luring Valek’s next meal to their fate, this was where she’d find her Vampire. Every evening, without fail, this was where he’d waited. There was comfort in knowing at least one thing in her strange life was a constant—dependable and unchanging. At least one thing in her life would exist forever.
Now, somehow, the two of them managed to find themselves back in this very room, alone again. And for this single moment, it seemed as if nothing changed at all.
Charlotte bit her lower lip a little too hard and suddenly tasted the very familiar iron and salt—
“Lottie….”
His voice was the distant echo of thunder. The awakening of a dragon. The deep warning growl of a wild cat. Its sound soothed her burning anticipation. When he spoke, it was like rain when she had not tasted water in days. When he touched her, it was like snowfall over a devastating fire torturing her under the bed of her skin –an addiction literally eating her alive.
“Charlotte,” he began again. “Come to me. Please.”
Every muscle tensed. Was he still angry? The shadow made by his armchair stretched long across the wooded floor to the ends of her toes, tugging at her, begging her forward.
A waiting lump formed in her throat and she crept deeper into the study. She could tell he hadn’t moved from this spot since she’d fallen asleep the evening prior, beating himself up inside, no doubt. Valek had been self-flagellating for these past few months. In truth, Valek had been self-flagellating for the past few decades. It sort of seemed to be his style.
The fire roared before him, as if there lived a wild beast in the embers. It cast intimidating shadows across the severe edges of his face. As he exhaled, his lips parted ever so slightly to reveal the tips of his lethal incisors. Something fluttered in Charlotte’s stomach as she faces him at last.
Valek was more than beautiful, crafted by the devil himself to cause Charlotte to do terrible things –unspeakable acts: to hunt her own kind, to sacrifice her life, to drive her to insanity.
He possessed her.
The pallid Vampire puffed a new perfect, silver ring into the air above his head, his electrified eyes following it before it eventually vanished. He didn’t say anything.
“V-valek?” she began nervously.
Inhaling deeply, he removed the pipe and responded only by releasing another cloud of curling milky smoke from his nostrils. His glare shifted upward to watch the snow slide by the windowpane.
She gulped. Her heart sank. Perhaps I should go help Sarah….
“Charlotte,” he began again coldly.
The sound of her name on his tongue and his sudden grip around her wrist stopped her from leaving. He kept his face turned away, bringing his pipe to his mouth again, but hesitated.
“Charlotte, you hurt me deeply. The things you said—”
“Weren’t true!” she insisted, taking a step toward him again. She curled her trembling fingers.
He released her wrist.
“They were. Honest feelings make for the clearest thoughts. And believe me…I heard them all loud and clear.” New smoke plumed around his head as he spoke. Its scent was warm and sweet, but the thick, gray veil masked the bottom half of his face and made him look sinister.
I wish you would look at me.
Only for an instant did his eyes flick to hers before they darted away again, his jaw shifting from side to side as he grinded his teeth.
“Guess that was a clear thought,” she said aloud. “I wish I could hear your thoughts.”
“No, you don’t. Not when I’m angry.”
That made her heart plummet into her guts. “You’ve never been angry at me before.”
“I have. Just…not q
uite in the same way I am now.”
Charlotte recalled the night she snuck into his bedroom and curled up next to him when she wasn’t supposed to. She recalled the argument they’d gotten into when he’d found out she wandered too far from the city borders.
Gingerly, she climbed into Valek’s lap and settled herself, her legs hanging over the side of his knees. She could tell her sudden proximity surprised him by the way he tensed. The scar at her throat throbbed dully, though it wasn’t too painful yet. She wrapped her arms around his neck, lacing her fingers together as they draped over his thick shoulder.
“You’re wrong. Before, it was never anger. It was concern…frustration if I didn’t listen. Now, it is anger.”
He winced. “Perhaps. I suppose this is an emotion altogether different.”
Valek still neglected to look her in the eye, his gaze remaining transfixed on whatever distant thought hanging before him. However, that didn’t mean he missed anything.
“You’re shaking,” he observed, shifting his weight slightly and wrapping his free arm around her, though his deathly skin didn’t do much to make her warm.
He continued to look stoic and stone-faced in front of himself. Charlotte frowned. She could tell he wasn’t really in the room with her at all.
“Shall I close the window for you?”
She cleared her throat, which made her esophagus react with a scratchy discomfort.
“No. It is not that I am cold…” she trailed off, hoping he would catch on to what she meant.
She wound one of her fingers around a thick lock of his soft, dark hair. It ran long, like a night’s rain, from his widow’s peak, down past his shoulders to the middle of his chest, curling slightly at the ends; the impossible beauty of his porcelain face surrounded by it.
“If you crave it so badly again, I can always seek Lusian for you.”
Of Blood and Magic Page 18
