“What happened when you tried to save her, Valek?” Aiden continued to prod with satisfaction. Charlotte could hear the amusement play, the malevolent grin in his words.
“I was too new. I didn’t know. I tried,” Valek managed to choke up. He looked desperately and finally to Charlotte as if he’d just admitted the darkest secret of his lifetime. “She died. But the Curse didn’t. And that is why the boy is the way he is.”
By this point, the enormous man from the brigade was the only one of them left alive. He was bent over Cinder slain in the snow, his sobs loud and harrowing as he held her lifeless body in his arms.
“There’s only one thing he needs to do to become complete. To finally realize who he is.” Aiden’s tone dropped a few octaves as he drew closer to his point. “Nikolai, the time has come to take your first human. Valek and his band of fiends were responsible for taking your family. Here’s your chance for revenge. Do what needs to be done.” With that, he tossed Charlotte forward, sending her to her hands and knees into the snow.
She landed, the wet and cold sending a stinging pain up her arms. Mr. Třínožka or Sarah must have attempted to go to her, because she heard Aiden send a whirling ball of fire forward, and a screech. She glanced up from between dirty strands of hair to make sure no one had gotten maimed.
“If anyone attempts to help her, you too will perish. Valek, this is your punishment and my solace. Charlotte will finally know peace, so try not to be too anguished.” Aiden chuckled again.
Nikolai got to his feet, lethargically leaning to one side as he gazed down at Charlotte. They regarded each other for a few long moments, Charlotte not daring to take her eyes off him, knowing that once she did, he would surely lunge. So this was his angle. An eye for an eye. Because of something he thought Valek had done, he was going to take her life. She distantly wondered if Valek really was responsible for killing his family. How could she have not seen this before? He was so curious when they’d first stumbled upon him in the forest.
Within her mind, she spoke to Valek, wanting him to be the only one to hear what she was about to say. Don’t you dare try and save me this time. I don’t want you to. I want you to live long enough to finally defeat Aiden once and for all. It’s my turn to fight the only way I know how. I love you.
This was it. The final moments. Her world spiraled as her heart thudded violently against her sternum, like it wanted to crawl right out of her mouth. She needed to keep herself steady, brace herself for death. Maybe she couldn’t kill off Aiden, and maybe she couldn’t live long enough to save herself, but she’d at least die knowing she tried—that she’d fought. She steadied her breathing and dropped her gaze, waiting for Nikolai to make his move.
“No,” was the next thing she heard followed by several gasps. Charlotte looked up to see silver tears glistening off Sarah’s pale cheeks, but that wasn’t where the sound had come from. Her gaze slowly moved across the gathering and back to the most unfamiliar face. Nikolai stood valiantly with his arms folded across his chest.
“What did you say to me?” Aiden’s voice was a low growl behind where she knelt.
She inhaled very slowly, remaining frozen in her place just in case.
“No, Aiden!” Nikolai growled back, tossing his arms to his sides like an errant teenager. “I’m not going to kill Charlotte because of some screwed-up deep-seated feud you have!”
Oh no. Shut up. You are going to die!
“You told me we’d find him,” Nikolai pointed to Valek, who by now was a shredded-to-pieces-shell-of-a-man wreck in the snow, “and kill him for taking the lives of my family.”
Valek blinked, finally coming awake from his emotional coma. “I did no such thing,” he murmured, looking square at Nikolai. “I would never slaughter an entire family of people. That is absolutely wasteful and murderous. Lusian did that. I saw it in his mind.”
“Except for mine.” Aiden slapped his chest like he was beating a war drum. “Right, Valek? My family was expendable!”
“That was different, Aiden! You and your family are an evident threat to our lives!”
“This doesn’t seem like the deal I signed up for anymore.” Nikolai shrugged apathetically.
Where did this kid find his tenacity?
“I’m not even sure seeking “revenge”,” he held up air quotes with the last word, “is really my kind of thing, anyway.”
Now, Aiden was positively fuming. Charlotte could hear his breathing become erratic, feel the tremors of his anger, as they were almost tangible in the air.
“Enough! I am tired of this!” he roared, but Charlotte sensed an edge of desperation in his voice. “I am the rightful ruler of the Regime! I am the rightful ruler of this whole, damned universe!” He was spewing now, his voice shaky. Cinder had it coming,” he announced. “You all have it coming! You cannot underestimate me. The chosen one!” In that brief moment, Charlotte heard her friend, the Elf she used to know, the needy schoolboy who was used to getting what he wanted, somewhere very deep inside this horrible Aiden. “I’ll kill her myself, right before all of you, so you never question my authority again!”
Aiden rushed at her before she could think, grabbing her by the longest tendrils of her hair and yanking her back against his chest. It all happened so fast. His hand moved swiftly to cup the bottom of her chin, threatening to snap her neck. In a brief moment, she peered at Valek, who shifted forward in an attempt to save her, but Aiden halted him with a fiery blast from his fist. It didn’t hit Valek directly, though it threatened to singe his overcoat.
“Charlotte!” Sarah threw something at her. It glinted in the starlight and she realized it was the sword. Catching it at once, Aiden didn’t have time to register what she was going to do. Just before he was about to rip her head off, she plunged the sword deep into her own chest, pushing it straight through until it impaled him as well. She felt him lurch against her. She clutched the hilt of it, twisting, the feeling of the metal in her body extremely hot and almost…heavy. It was painful, but something rang out, salient, over the discomfort. She recognized it as peace. Finally, there was peace. She succeeded. All he wanted to do was kill her, and kill her quickly. Her appendages started to go numb and tingly. The snow beneath her was turning a brilliant red. She smiled exhaustedly at her own cunning.
“CHARLOTTE!” She heard Valek wail, “WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?”
Retracted the sword, Charlotte fell to her knees. Aiden pulled himself away, gurgling and fighting against his own death. He stumbled backward against the trunk of the tree nearest him, his breathing harsh and staggered, the entire front of his shirt stained. He clawed at his chest as he looked up in anguish to the sky, grainy cries slipping from his gaping lips.
“Charlotte,” he croaked, mirroring Valek’s words, “What have you done? What have you—” But he couldn’t speak any more. All of the others from the Regime were dead. All of them. He scrambled away, throwing himself over the back of one of the horses, and kicking hard until the animal launched off into the night. There was no way he was going to survive. No way.
Charlotte gazed up toward Valek, whose wide eyes revealed that he had just become privy to her plan. There was even a tiny strain of amusement glinting under the sheer horror. Her joints were stiff and heavy. She could hardly feel the chill of the snow beneath her legs anymore, so numb now. So this was death. She’d never expected it to be so easy, like a thick blanket being draped over her. Once again, she found the feeling of peace. She must have dozed for a few seconds, because when she opened her eyes again, Sarah was next to her, holding her up—cradling her. Though her vision was still blurry, she could see the anguish painted on her best friend’s face. She wanted to tell her not to worry—to stop crying, but her jaw stayed wired, too heavy to move.
“What are you doing just standing there?” Sarah howled desperately at someone. “Now’s the time! Change her!” Her please were broken as she pressed the argument, one last time.
Valek was suddenly there, kneeling in fr
ont of her. His arms wrapped around her delicately, pulling her into his lap, cradling her gently. Her head lolled to one side, leaning on his shoulder. He hushed her quietly as he smoothed the hair by her ear and hummed her familiar lullaby. Charlotte discovered that she could manage to smile.
“That’s it, my doll,” he crooned to her, “you did very well.”
Is he dead?
“I’m sure he will be. He’s gone away, though. Disappeared. He will not last long.”
Valek…
“You’re my hero, Lottie.”
“Valek!” Sarah continued to sob. “Change her, please!”
Untitled
Chapter Twenty-ThreeRetribution
* * *
It was an impossible sight for Sarah to behold: Charlotte cradled in Valek’s arms, weak and pale and dying. Edwin and Mr. Třínožka joined them in the center of the clearing, Edwin hopping down off the spider’s back to wrap his burlap arms around Sarah’s shoulders. Terrified to lose the only one she’d called a friend in a long while, she couldn’t contain her trembling. She’d been resigned to living out the rest of her days as Francis’ housemaid, until Charlotte quite literally dropped in and changed her whole world.
Valek and Charlotte were having some odd half-unspoken conversation. Charlotte was a horrifying sight, seeming like she was already dead. Her face was blank. Her eyes held very little light at all. The only indication she was still there with them were the tears that continued to drip silently down her cheeks and because Valek was answering every last one of her thoughts.
“Valek, please,” Sarah implored again.
“Sarah, stop it!”
Valek was absolutely ruined. She’d never seen the Vampire like this, so wrung out. His eyes were completely eclipsed in black and stained red with his tears. She was unsure if it was Charlotte’s scent that had gotten to him, or if it was the effect of his desperation.
“I will not make the same mistakes twice!” His voice wavered, sounding so completely…human. “What happened to my wife was a careless exercise. Selfish. I will never do that again. Everyone should be given the choice.”
Sarah’s heart leaped into her throat as he spoke those words. He was going to give Charlotte the choice! There was still hope! Her gaze dashed instantly to Charlotte’s deathly face.
Charlotte and Valek have a love harsh and powerful. It’s the way you linger on an impending storm, appreciating the terrible beauty of the rolling thunder. And even though the lightning can strike at any time, you trust it won’t.
“Lottie, listen to me, now. You have to make a very careful decision. Do you want me to save you? You have time. You can think about this for a few moments. Weigh it carefully.” Valek spoke low and deliberately, coaxing her. Sarah felt Edwin’s arms squeeze tighter around her.
“She’ll make it,” Mr. Třínožka murmured tearfully. “She’s a fighter. A spitfire, that one is. Truly.”
“Don’t do what you think we all want you to do. You must decide what you believe is right.”
Sarah watched as more tears rolled silently from Charlotte’s eyes, her brow furrowing slightly. She knew Charlotte was talking to Valek in her mind now, silently explaining something. It seemed like an eternity as the rest of them looked in on this intimate scene. It almost felt like they were intruding—the final moments of fate between Charlotte and Valek. Sarah stifled a sob with her hands cupped to her lips.
“Yes, my love. I think that is a wise decision.”
Sarah’s heart leapt back up into her throat. What was it? What was the decision?
“We all love you very much, but I most of all. Always remember that. And I will see you soon. Wait for me, little Lottie.” Valek’s tone was carefully weighed and even.
Sarah felt like her heart dropped ten stories. Charlotte had chosen to die. Never in a million years would Sarah ever make that wager. The hairs on the back of her neck bristled, not wanting to believe it. She heard a sob catch in Edwin’s throat, his burlap lips pressed tightly behind her ear. Sarah didn’t cry. She was numb, angry even. How could Charlotte be so selfish? They all needed her so much. And then a new revelation dawned.
Charlotte didn’t want to be the burden any longer. She was the only mortal among all of these magic things, and in the wake of destroying the Regime once and for all, she didn’t want to slow them down. Even as a newly created Vampire, she would do just that. They’d constantly have to watch her—have to be aware that her new bloodlust might get the better of her. Charlotte probably realized, after seeing it so many times for herself, she never wanted to become that—never wanted to live that way.
“Everyone just wait!” A familiar voice rang out from the corner of the clearing. They all froze as they turned to see the bright vision of his face in the darkness of the night. It was like inhaling for the first time, seeing as how Sarah had been holding her breath for what seemed like years.
“Francis!” She cried, finally standing up over her quaking knees. He looked perfect, his hair quaffed, his suit fine. Francis bounded to her and wrapped her in a tight embrace, which was even more surprising. In all of her years working for him, he’d never regarded her in such a kindly way. What had happened to him in all this time?
“Where were you? Why didn’t you come sooner? Charlotte,” she choked over her falling tears, “Charlotte…she’s dead.”
Francis hushed her, smoothing the hair out of her face. “I don’t think she’s quite dead, darling. I still hear a faint heartbeat from that direction.” He indicated Charlotte and Valek huddled in the snow.
Charlotte’s eyes were still open, their expression hard, like she was fighting to hold on to every last breath she had inside of her.
Valek remained in his position, though he peered up at Francis. “What are you doing here?”
“Saving your sorry tail, as usual.” Francis snorted. “What’s with all the weeping? It’s terribly depressing.” He yanked out a handkerchief that was tucked within his sleeve and handed it to Sarah before sauntering closer to Valek.
Sarah wiped at her face as she appraised Francis. There was something else that was different about him. His face seemed brighter. His hair held more sheen than was even usual. Sarah couldn’t hide her beaming smile. She could always tell when Francis had a plan.
“Give me the girl.” He spoke quietly to Valek as though he were a small child clutching his favorite broken toy. Francis held his arms out expectantly.
Valek frowned once before standing with Charlotte in his arms and handing her over “She doesn’t want to change,” he admitted. “She said she doesn’t want to become what we are.”
“Well, who said I was going to change her?” Francis cocked his head. “Honestly, you don’t have much faith in your creator, do you? I do possess some knowledge about this stuff. After all, I am older than you! Would you like to explain to me what you’re doing in the middle of these woods unprotected, or would you like me to save the girl first?”
“Please,” Valek whispered.
“That-a-boy. The funny thing is, the child hasn’t committed harakiri. She has actually saved her own life. We just have to finish the process for her, because like most things, Charlotte didn’t quite think this one through.” He gazed down at the limp Lottie in his arms. “Did you, darling? No.”
Sarah caught the slightest twinkle as it lit and faded in her best friend’s eye. She repressed a giggle as she distantly wondered what Charlotte’s response had been. It was probably sarcastic. In that instant, Francis’ glare landed on Nikolai, who stood quaking in the corner, his face green and drawn, most likely from everything he’d just witnessed.
“Good, mortal. I don’t know who you are, but I am glad you’re here!” He announced for the benefit of the crowd like a circus ringmaster.
Francis knelt into the snow, Charlotte still cradled in his lap. With one arm, he supported Charlotte’s head, but with the other he moved quickly to undo the buttons at the top of her dress, ripping the material down over the gaping
wound. Sarah, paired with Edwin, moved closer to see what he was doing. Mr. Třínožka edged just behind them, though she noticed Valek remaining painstakingly still and distant. He regarded Charlotte with a horror-laced gaze, as if she was already dead. Sarah could see why. Sickly perspiration was beginning to form along Charlotte’s brow line; her breathing was very shallow. Her eyes were sunk deep into her skull, as she lay there motionless and unblinking.
“He’s g-got a plan,” Edwin whispered into her hair, his squeeze tightening on her shoulder.
More blood ruptured from Charlotte’s chest, but Sarah couldn’t bear to rip her gaze away. Bending his face to the wound, they watched fixatedly as he licked it clean, until the flesh beneath his kiss began to repair itself, sealing shut. Sarah glowered for a moment, crossing her arms. She couldn’t help but feel as though Valek should have done that. But one glance in Valek’s direction, and she was reminded why Francis was the elder. Valek’s face looked more like stone than usual, his black gaze frozen on Charlotte’s body. There was no way, after almost saying goodbye to her, that he could have been emotionally sane enough to handle this. For the first time in knowing him, Sarah wished she could hear his thoughts. She wondered briefly if she should go comfort him, but the little voice in her mind warned her to stay put.
“Mortal!” Francis growled maniacally. His breathing came in lurches.
Sarah never recalled another situation like this while living in Francis’ house in Prague. The first time he tasted a particular human’s blood was always the last. He had never been forced to restrain himself. A new respect for him blossomed in her chest.
“Come to me!” He beckoned Nikolai from the back of the crowd, who was also standing stock-still, like Valek.
Nikolai staggered forward, blinking, like he couldn’t believe his legs were actually moving after the shock. His eyes were wide and watery and he looked like nothing more than a frightened child that Sarah wanted to cradle. He stopped just inches before Francis and Charlotte in the snow, staring down at them expectantly and with some reserved terror.
Of Blood and Magic Page 41
