“I’ve made a huge mistake.” He began for the door.
“Relax, Vampire!” With a thump of her staff on the floor, leafy tendrils exploded from the branched chairs and wrapped around Valek, pulling his rear back into his seat. “Your kind is far too moody and emotional for my taste. And anyway, I will see that the girl is delivered to us.”
Chapter 28
Charlotte could do nothing but lie still, drifting in and out of consciousness, in what had become a freezing room. At certain moments, she could have sworn she was awake, replaying her final moments with Valek over in her head, the harrowing images haunting her, for that was all Lusian left for her to do. Most of the time, she couldn’t tell if they were reveries or actual dreams as she begged herself to fall asleep again so time would move by faster. A very tiny piece of her blamed Valek for her imprisonment. She felt like he, in all of his immense knowledge and power, should have predicted this.
How could he have just left her there like this? How could Sarah have let him? Maybe Lusian would kill her fast instead of dragging this out longer than he had to.
She closed her eyes, feeling nothing but exhausted. She cried so much over the past several days she felt like her eyes had gone dry, unable to bring the emotion out of herself anymore. All of it had been taken from her. Sucked from her. Her heart was so numb as she lay there waiting for fate. She’d like to believe that Valek would come back for her, but something spoke to her from deep inside –something rational that told her that was probably not going to happen. The odds were too heavily against him. Aiden was out there. Cinder was out there. And they were both hunting.
The sound at the front of the room forced her eyes open again. The door creaked. A small shaft of yellow light pierced her sight, which had become so accustomed to the dark. So it was daytime, she mused sourly. That was something that was nice to know since she knew nothing of what was happening outside of her chained prison. She winced away from it as a tall, thin shadow moved forward enough to eclipse it.
Lusian snaked in, followed by Ana and Aneta. Charlotte didn’t react at all. She was too weak. The room around her was dizzying shades of gray that all seemed to blend together. Sarah’s lovely bewitchment had disappeared, just as she did.
“Morning, Charlotte,” Lusian said cheerfully.
“Is that what time it is?” Charlotte muttered bitterly.
In an instant, he had one knee on the bed with her entire face clutched in one of his hands. “Don’t be a smart-ass. If you’re nice, things will go a lot smoother.”
She went silent again.
Ana and Aneta sat on either side of Charlotte on the bed. She distantly wondered what Lusian had done to Dusana. It seemed he had no use for her anymore with the evil twins at his flanks. This had been the third feeding in the last twenty-four hours. She knew that because she hadn’t yet fallen completely asleep. They were engorging themselves—taking full advantage of Charlotte’s imprisonment. They just kept refilling her with Sarah’s magic before taking it again.
She tensed slightly as the scar at the base of her throat began to singe slightly with their presence. But as they drew nearer to her on the bed, the door flew open on its hinges as someone stormed into the room.
“Charlotte!”
It was Jorge.
“Go back downstairs!” Lusian spat, immediately launching to his feet.
Jorge lifted his hands, “I am not here to cause trouble, Lusian. The others have already left without you. I’ve just come to warn you of the sunrise.”
Lusian’s face dropped. Ana and Aneta got up from the bed to take their positions at his sides again. He clutched at his throat as his brow wrinkled, debating something. “What day is it?”
“The thirteenth. It’s the last day of the cycle. The light is running out in your system…and fast,” Jorge explained. “You should be hunting Fae.”
“What about you?” he accused with his pointed eyebrow lifted high on his forehead.
Jorge placed his hands on his hips. “I’ve just returned. I have a taste for something else now.” He turned his gaze to Charlotte.
Lusian deliberated something silently for another minute. He and Jorge exchanged looks before Lusian and the devil’s twins flew out of the room, the door swinging closed behind them.
Charlotte slouched back down into the mattress and turned her head away, preparing for Jorge to begin feeding on her.
“Charlotte,” he began again. “You’re a mess.”
She looked at him, her mouth falling open, though no words came out. Jorge’s gaze fixated on her body. The mattress beneath her held so many varying bloodstains, they had all began to run together into a single massive one.
To her surprise, tears began down her face. What an obvious notion—that she was a mess. How could she not be? Her cheeks burned harsher than her scar, and suddenly she didn’t care at all whether he fed or not.
“I don’t want anything from you.” He admitted and ran a finger across her cheek.
Charlotte saw an odd mix of dried blood and tears left on the tip of his claw. She met his gaze again, finding that it was one of concern, and she softened immediately.
“Charlotte,” he started again. “I am going to help you escape from here.”
He sat next to her on the bed as she continued to study him silently. His face still held that sweet smile a brother would have for a little sister. The same uncomfortable smile he’d showed to her when they were all safe again, back in Valek’s house that first night home from the battle at the Regime.
Charlotte frowned at him. “You’ve always been so nice to me. Why?”
“Because I do not understand you. I read incessantly. I study all subjects. I’ve seen the world. I understand everything—except for you. I really appreciate the fact that you’ve completely stumped me. It’s hard to do.” His words came out quiet and slow, like he wanted her to soak up the meaning of every syllable of what he was saying as he worked to free her from the manacles. “I have never seen anything like you, Charlotte. And I’ve been watching you from the day I met you—trying to figure you out.”
“I thought you hated me,” she admitted. “That you thought I was just some stupid little girl.”
Jorge chuckled. “Not at all. I mean, perhaps a little…in the beginning. You are mortal, yet you fight against impossible things in spite of the fact that they can and will kill you. You are surrounded by danger, yet you will yourself alive. In many ways, you are more powerful than the rest of us could ever hope to be. I can’t predict the future, Charlotte, but I can count the patterns. Something very dangerous is coming. There’s another fight right around your corner. Study everything. Trust no one. Pay attention. You’ll find Valek. I am absolutely certain of that.” He reached into the pocket of his pressed slacks and pulled out a strange, tattered piece of parchment. “Answer me honestly, Charlotte. Was a messenger here?”
Charlotte winced at him. “A what?”
“A messenger? From the Dark City? Was there someone here you didn’t recognize?” He eyed her incredulously, his face getting ever closer to hers.
Her memory flashed back instantly to the presence—when it felt like someone sat on the corner of her bed. Maybe it hadn’t been her imagination. Perhaps someone had really been there in the room with her. She narrowed her eyes at Jorge. “I’m not…entirely sure.”
He flipped the torn letter over to reveal a strange logo imprinted on the paper in indigo wax. The Parliament, it read, with the symbol of a snake eating its own tail. “This is incredibly important. This will get you to Valek. They are waiting for you.”
“How do you know?”
“Charlotte!” He grabbed her shoulders and she winced. “I know everything. You should have noticed that by now.” Jorge didn’t give her the time to respond. Not that she could have, in all of her shock over what he was saying to her. He stood from the bed and finished unfastening the manacle around her left wrist, digging his sharp talon deep into the keyhole. He was going
to pick the locks open. Charlotte guessed Lusian had been guarding the key ring very carefully. The manacle fell open after a few seconds, and her wrist collapsed into her lap. She hissed, realizing the pain of her arm being stuck in one position like that for too long with the twisted metal digging deep into her flesh. She wound her joint around in circles, leaning her head back against the headboard as she worked out the pain. Her skin was blue and purple where the manacle had been too tight.
“Where are they?” Charlotte asked through her clenched jaw. Finally, her right hand was freed too, and she began rubbing at it with her other hand. It felt so good to move.
Jorge began at her right ankle. “Far enough away. I’ve scared Lusian enough to be out for a few hours to stock up on Light blood,” he explained quickly. “They are at a safe distance away.”
“But you will be punished when Lusian returns and finds me gone.”
“I don’t care. He keeps blathering about freedom, and liberation, and this and that!” Jorge shook his head. “I’m not any more free in this house than you are.”
Her first ankle was free and he began working on the other one in silence for a few moments. Charlotte couldn’t believe all that he had said to her.
Finally, her left leg was free and she slowly shifted so she sat upward on the bed. Bending joints that had been otherwise straight for so long was very painful, though it was nice to be free. She wound each ankle around a few times, and bent in half so that her spine could stretch.
Jorge reached into his trouser pocket and pulled out something she instantly recognized. Her whistle. Her hand immediately flew to feel her empty chest. She’d been so distracted she barely realized it was gone. He held the little silvery dangling thing out to her and she reached for it. “Sarah instructed me to give this to you when we finally met our window of opportunity. She said it would protect you from that which is coming.”
Charlotte studied it as it twinkled in her hand. “But why? What’s coming?”
“She always takes precaution. Always. She would never leave you without being protected, Charlotte. She must have gotten another vision.”
Charlotte gazed wide-eyed at him. Maybe she knew Lusian would do this to me….”
“Not exactly. But she’s smart enough to know that something would go just a tad wrong when one human is left alone with a gaggle of the world’s most irresponsible blood-drinkers.” Jorge flashed a fanged grin.
She wrapped her hand around the whistle as she dangled it from her neck. Charlotte had a new thought. She smiled back at Jorge.
He abruptly ceased his grin. As she expected, he’d heard her latest thought. “Oh, no,” he countered. “No, Charlotte. That is between you and Valek. If I change you, he would surely decapitate me!”
“But Jorge, it just makes sense! I could find Valek so much more easily if I were like you!”
“Forget it, Charlotte.” Jorge’s forehead crinkled. “You will find Valek exactly the way you are now,” he concluded and sat on the edge of the bed again. He leaned in closer to her, taking either sides of her face in his hands. “I want you to take Třínožka and that little rag doll with you. You can do this. You are more powerful than you think you are.”
“Can’t you go with us? Lusian is going to stake you when he gets home anyway. You know it.”
“It would be too complicated if I went. We’d have to constantly stop to hunt for light magic…not to mention what I might need from you.” He dropped his gaze uncomfortably. “Besides, Vampires are still so heavily discriminated against. I’m more trouble than I’m worth, trust me.” He chuckled.
Charlotte frowned. She had never seen this side to the bookworm Vampire, so easygoing and charming…and talkative. It was like she didn’t know him at all. She really liked him and lamented not allowing him to be more of a friend sooner.
Jorge glanced over his shoulder for a split second and then back down at her. “They’re returning sooner than I thought they would. It seems Lusian has somehow picked up on my plan. I can hear it in his mind, even at this distance. I’ve collected these for you, at least. I found them in Lusian’s room. You’ll need them.” He handed her a small, lavender pouch. “We should fetch the spider.” He lifted hastily from the bed. “Put these on!” He threw clothes at her. They were a mess of articles frillier than what she was used to and she guessed they’d been items Sarah left behind.
“Wait,” she ordered before he could dash away.
He stopped, looking at her expectantly.
“Thank you, Jorge.”
His lips twitched, as if he were about to say something, though he only grinned at her. He shrugged his shoulders. “I told you, Charlotte. You’re a hero. After reading about so many heroes in all of my books, I think you’re my favorite. Valek needs you,” he concluded before whooshing out of the bedroom.
Getting out of the bed proved to be a little more complicated than Charlotte imagined. Putting one leg over the side of it before the other, she found the room began to tilt steeply to the right and she felt as if she might fall backward onto the mattress. A sharp stabbing pain began at her temples. This was in no way an affect of her addiction, but rather a condition of her dehydration, weakness, and exhaustion. She closed her eyes tightly for a minute and waited for the contents of her brain to shift back to their normal places.
Quickly, she opened the small, velvet pouch by its drawstrings. Just as she thought, there in her palm was a collection of about a hundred of Sarah’s chocolate beads. She popped one into her mouth, chewed, and swallowed. And then another, and another. She must have eaten nearly a dozen before she started to notice the strength replenishing inside her body. It seemed Lusian had been keeping her right at death’s door. She gripped the edge of the bed, the cool sheets bunching up between her fingers. She needed a moment to herself—silent. Closing her eyes, she took in a deep breath of air. This was it. It was time.
“Charlotte!” Jorge’s voice called fervently up at her from downstairs.
Staggering, she pushed herself from the bed, arms outstretched before her as her legs wobbled. She could do this. She could go find Valek. She could.
Charlotte stepped one foot forward. For that’s how all good quests begin, she thought. When someone sets out to accomplish something seemingly beyond themselves, it always begins just that simply –one foot in front of the other. Tugging on Sarah’s dress and wool stockings as quickly as she could, she reached back into the velvet pouch and scooped out three more of the chocolate beads and swallowed them. Lusian was very smart. The strength returned more to her legs as she began out of the room and down the staircase.
“Charlotte!” Jorge called for her again from out of Valek’s office.
She turned the corner, sprinting down the hall to find the bookish Vampire leaning near the office door. He’d pried it open, all of the metal torn and mangled around the open doorframe. A harsh wind gusted in, tossing Charlotte’s curls around her face.
“Put these on!” He threw a pair of boots at her. “The coven is returning. They’ll be here in minutes. I’m not sure your spider friend is going to make it.”
Charlotte stopped. It felt like claws squeezing around her heart as all of the air in her lungs vacuumed out and into the room. What did Jorge mean by that? Was Třínožka dead? Though she stayed staring silently at him for a few moments, her mind was spinning a million miles an hour. There was no way her faithful spider friend was dead.
“Come with me! At least to the burrow! Maybe you can help! Please!” She ran out into the forest, Jorge rushing after her until they both reached the familiar mouth of the strange, little abode. Just like the office door, this entry had also been barricaded with everything Lusian could find –scraps of furniture, more metal from the freezer, and other things, so the spider couldn’t come to her rescue.
“Scoundrel,” Jorge muttered under his breath. He clutched two of the metal pieces on opposite ends from each other. She could see that Lusian, or whoever had committed this, had done a t
horough job as the ends were buried deep in the dirt foundation and the surrounding tree roots. He continued to tug until the metal gave way. The jagged ends ripped, pulling out chunks of dirt and wood with it. Jorge grunted as he released the rest of the heavy entrapment and tossed it to the ground. He looked at Charlotte expectantly. “All right. Go down there. See if he’s okay, and leave as soon as you can. I’ll hold them off up here.”
Charlotte took a moment, just looking at him. There were so many things she wanted to tell him. She decided she only had time for another simple “Thank you.” She wrapped her arms around him and he returned the embrace after a moment of hesitation, resting his cool cheek on the top of her head.
“You can do this, Charlotte,” he whispered.
Unable to imagine what the consequences were going to be for setting her free, she could only nod her “goodbye” to Jorge. If she opened her mouth, it might have opened the floodgates. In spite of the breaking feeling in her chest and the salt tears gathering in her eyes, she turned her back to him and lowered herself deeper into the burrowing hole.
Carefully feeling around the dirt sides of the tunnel, the toe of her shoe caught the end of a protruding tree root and she used it as leverage. The tunnel seemed longer and darker than it was before. Looking up, she saw Jorge gazing down over the rim. He waved silently at her as she continued to descend, slipping into the dark shadows of the spider’s home. The sound of bending metal caused her to look abruptly upward again, only to see Jorge refastening the bars to the hole. That trick was probably meant to buy her a little more time. She dug her nails deep into the dirt walls to find anything she could cling to. Had Třínožka tried to escape by re-burrowing? Where was he? Where was his warm den and Edwin?
Eventually, as she continued, she couldn’t see the forest above her anymore. Though she didn’t stop moving, she did try her best to quiet her breathing to see if she could hear what was going on above. There were a few faint noises, but they were fairly indecipherable to her. Nothing sounded violent yet. She knew she had to move a lot faster than this, however, and she quickly peered down to what was beneath her. It was still too dark to see the bottom, but climbing down at this rate would take way too much time.
Of Blood and Magic Page 35
