by G. K. DeRosa
“Celeste, be careful!” said Aunt Maddie, pulling her off of the chained vampire. “We still don’t know what he’s capable of.”
“I think he’s going to be okay,” she said with a grin. Maks looked awkwardly down at his shackled hands, avoiding her gaze.
“Oh Celeste, that’s what I love about you – your eternal optimism. You are just like your dad. You always think the best of everyone,” said her aunt as she pulled her into a big hug. “You better hurry if you want to make it to St. Petersburg. And please be careful!”
Chapter 17
“What’s wrong, brother?” asked Nico.
“Hmmph. Nothing,” said Roman, putting the phone down.
“She’s coming, right?”
“Yes.”
Roman turned and strode off as Nico watched, bewildered. Stellan and Dalla had been whispering in the library for the past few hours, and it was making Nico nervous. The sudden appearance of Alek seemed too good to be true. The whole thing felt off to him, but everyone was so preoccupied with other things that no one else seemed to notice. This little venture had “trap” written all over it.
Nico hurried in the direction Roman had gone. He searched the house, but his brother was nowhere in sight. From the large window in the living room, he finally made out Roman’s figure in the backyard, heading toward the forest. “This is not the time for one of your mood swings, brother,” he muttered to himself as he followed him out the door.
Running at vamp speed, he quickly caught up to Roman before he disappeared further into the tranquil forest. “Roman, wait!” he said, reaching for his brother’s arm.
“Nico, it’s not a good time,” he growled, yanking his arm away.
Nico was not so easily intimidated. He had seen his brother at his worst, and he wasn’t going to let him sink deeper into despair. “Look, I don’t know what Celeste said, but I’m guessing it wasn’t good. That doesn’t give you the right to slink off into the woods and disappear.”
“I wasn’t,” he said through gritted teeth.
“No?” he asked. “You were just going for a leisurely stroll before our big battle with Alek?”
Roman spun around back toward the dark depths of the forest. Then he stopped, and spoke under his breath without facing his brother. “It was me. I was the one that turned Celeste’s aunt’s fiancé into a vampire.”
Nico let out an exasperated sigh. “So what? So you’re just going to give up and let Alek get away with whatever evil plan he has in store for us all?”
“Don’t you see?” said Roman, twisting around toward him. “Nothing matters if I don’t have Celeste. Nothing!”
“You don’t know that you’ve lost her for sure, Roman.”
“You didn’t hear her voice. I did. She didn’t even want to talk to me. She had that guardian Marco answer her phone. Between him and her aunt, they’re probably filling her head with terrible things about me. And you know what? They’re right,” he said, his eyes burning with agony.
“So prove them wrong!” yelled Nico. “Don’t just skulk away in shame. Help us defeat Alek, and show Celeste and everyone else that you’re not the same person who did those terrible things.”
“I don’t think I can,” he admitted as he ran his hand through his hair.
“You can and you will. Even if that means I have to drag your butt back into that house and through the portal. We are going to fight Alek and we are going to get our mom’s body back. If you won’t do it for yourself or for Celeste, do it for our mother.”
Roman chuckled ruefully. “When did you get so good at these pep talks, little brother?”
Nico shrugged his shoulders with a grin. “I think it might be Natalie. Her constant peppiness is rubbing off on me.” Nico put his arm around Roman and led him back through the yard and into the house.
As they walked back into the living room, they found that Stellan and Dalla had finally emerged from the study. “It’s time,” said Stellan, his jaw set. “Is everyone ready?”
Celeste glanced at her cell phone nervously as they rode in the taxi from the airport. The address that Roman had sent her was a thirty-minute ride outside the city, which meant she wasn’t going to get to see any of the beautiful sites in the center of St. Petersburg. She had seen pictures of the grand palaces and churches with their colorful turrets and soaring spires, and she had hoped to get a quick peek. Get a grip Celeste, this is not a sightseeing trip. She took a second to type out a short message to Roman letting him know they were on their way as they drove in silence through the cold gray Russian countryside.
“Can I do anything?” asked Dani as she stood in the corner of the underground room. She had been trying to keep quiet, but Alek had been mumbling words in a strange language for the past twenty minutes, and she was getting so bored.
Alek paused and shot her a glare. “You can shut your mouth and let me concentrate,” he barked.
The cold room was lit only by a handful of candles that were scattered around the altar where Lilliana Constantin’s inanimate body lay. Alek stood over her with Fabian’s spell book opened just above her head. The two vessels containing Roman and Nico’s blood were on either side of her, and the antique sapphire ring lay on top of her hands, which were crossed over her chest. Alek dipped his finger into one of the ceramic containers and smeared the crimson blood on Lilliana’s forehead and then on his own. He then repeated the procedure with the dark red liquid from the other one. Lifting his hands high in the air, he began to recite, “Demonium resurectus omniam filibus…”
A putrid dark smoke began to fill the room, originating from the candles around the body. Dani could feel her lungs polluted by the black fog. Had she still been alive, she was pretty sure she would have been choking from it. It floated over the body and settled over it, seeping into the open orifices. Alek continued chanting as a strange surge of electricity passed from him to the body as he placed his hands over her. For a second the body shuddered from the current, but then lay still once more.
Alek lowered his hands, and uttered the last few words of the incantation with his eyes squeezed shut. Just below the hairline of his neatly tied platinum hair, a few beads of sweat glistened on his forehead from the exertion. He opened his eyes and looked down at the lifeless body before him and scowled.
Suddenly, the sound of thundering, whirling winds came from upstairs. Dani’s eyes went wide with fright as she immediately recognized the sound.
“They’re here,” said Alek with a tone of finality in his voice.
“What do we do?” asked Dani.
“I’m sure we have a few minutes before they find the hidden passageway,” he responded.
“Let’s get out of here!” she cried as she rushed to the door.
“No!” he said, slamming the heavy door shut with a wave of his hand. “This is it, Dani. It’s either me or my half brothers. There’s no way all three of us are leaving here alive.” He ran to his mother’s body and began performing the Heimlich maneuver. He pumped at her chest steadily while alternating breathing air into her lungs. It was a last course effort, but he had to try everything.
Tumbling through the portal, Stellan, Dalla and the brothers found themselves in a palatial but worn down mansion in the middle of the Russian countryside. Examining the dark hallway they had arrived in, they began to search the house for signs of Alek or the ring.
“It’s here,” said Dalla as she put her hand up against the fancy wallpapered living room wall. “I can feel it.”
Stellan and Dalla searched the ground floor while Roman and Nico explored upstairs. As they tiptoed through the immense second floor, Roman marveled at the ornate paintings that hung in every room. Entering into what appeared to be the master bedroom, they came upon a grand four-poster bed with a great portrait hanging on the wall behind it. It was of a young woman with flowing curly blonde hair holding a skinny little boy with short platinum hair as bright as the sun. Roman and Nico’s mouths dropped open when they recognized the wo
man in the painting.
“Why does Alek have a picture of our mother hanging in his bedroom?” asked Nico. “And who is that kid?” Both Roman and Nico had inherited their father’s dark hair and olive complexion, sharing no physical resemblance to the boy in the painting.
“This guy’s insane,” was the only thing Roman could say. “Come on, let’s go back downstairs. There’s nothing up here.”
Rushing down the stairs, they found Stellan and Dalla in the entryway. “We found a door,” said Stellan. “It was locked, but I managed to get it opened, and it looks like it leads to a passageway under the house.”
“Then that’s where we’re going,” said Nico, turning to follow Stellan.
“Wait!” whispered Roman. He had heard a noise from outside. He cautiously walked to the window and peered out into the darkness, his keen vampire eyesight straining. “It’s Celeste,” he said, letting out his breath.
“Are you sure?” asked Stellan.
“I’m positive. And she’s not alone.”
“We’ll start heading down. Get her and meet us down there,” said Stellan, taking Dalla’s hand to lead her.
Nico looked at his brother with a worried look in his eyes. “I’m fine. I’ll meet up with you in a second,” said Roman in response. “Save some of the fun for me.”
Celeste and Marco had gotten out of the taxi a few blocks away from the designated address and were trudging through the foot-high snow. “Geez, I should have made him drop us off a little closer,” grumbled Celeste. Her teeth were chattering from the cold, and she could barely feel her nose.
“We’re almost there,” said Marco, putting his arm around her for warmth.
Celeste suddenly felt a strange sensation in her stomach, and she pulled the dagger out of her pocket just as Roman materialized in front of them.
“Oh God, Roman, you scared me!” she shrieked. Marco too had jumped at his sudden appearance and was standing protectively in front of Celeste. That small intimate gesture did not go unnoticed by Roman. He immediately backed away a few feet, his pride stung.
“Sorry,” he said. “I didn’t mean to startle you. I wanted to catch you before you came into the house.” He was trying to keep to business, but he couldn’t stop thinking about seeing the two of them walking snuggled close together.
“So what’s going on in there?” interjected Marco. Roman responded with an unfriendly glare.
“Sorry,” said Celeste coming to her senses, “Roman, this is Marco.” She too suddenly felt very ill at ease. She couldn’t decipher the look in Roman’s eyes, and it worried her.
Roman acknowledged him with a nod and got back to the business at hand. “The ring is definitely in there, and that is Alek’s house for sure. Stellan found a door leading to an underground passageway. He and the others are headed down there now. We need to go and meet them quickly.”
“Let’s go then,” said Celeste as she and Marco trailed behind Roman back toward the entrance of the estate.
Treading noiselessly down the steep stone stairs, Celeste’s evil radar was on high alert. She could sense powerful magic in use all around her, and the terrible feeling in her stomach grew the further down they went. The trio stopped suddenly, hearing muffled voices below. “It’s okay,” whispered Celeste. “It’s just Stellan and the others.”
At the bottom of the staircase, they found Stellan and the rest of their crew huddled around the thick oak door.
“Glad you made it to the party,” said Nico with a gleaming smile and brotherly ruffle of Celeste’s hair. His easy demeanor momentarily calmed the building tension within her.
“It took us longer than expected to get the second door open. It seems to have been sealed by a protection spell,” explained Stellan.
The heavy door now stood ajar, and Nico swung it open for the others to pass through. Before crossing the threshold, Celeste pulled Stellan aside and whispered, “There’s some major dark magic going on down here.”
“I know,” he replied with a grim nod.
They followed the others down the dark passageway as the echo of their footsteps reverberated off the stone walls. Up ahead they could just make out another doorway rimmed by the light. As they grew closer, they slowed their pace to lessen the noise of their footfalls. Roman, who was in the lead, put his hand up signaling for the others to stop. He gathered them in a tight circle and hurriedly whispered directions.
On the count of three, Roman and Nico hurtled toward the door, sending splintered wood and broken hinges clattering to the stone floor. The rest of the group came running in behind them, their weapons raised for battle. But nothing would have prepared them for what they saw upon entering the expansive space.
Alek stood over their mother’s still body, his lips pressed against hers in what appeared to be a passionate kiss. Dani stood awkwardly at his side, her hands on their mother’s chest. For a second, no one moved as they took in the bizarre scene before them. Celeste glanced over at Stellan whose generally pale face had gone two shades lighter. Her eyes then turned to Roman as a cold fury settled over his features. Celeste stretched out her arm to stop him, but she couldn’t reach him in time. In a fit of rage, Roman flew at Alek, tackling his lithe figure to the ground. Their two bodies hit the cold stone floor with a crash as the blood-filled vessels shattered, splattering blood all over the ground. Alek had been momentarily caught off guard, but a second later he vanished from underneath Roman and appeared on the other side of the room. Celeste was finally able to get a good look at Alek and was surprised to see the anguish in his expression. In addition to his blood-smeared forehead, his eyes were bloodshot, and his cheeks were stained with tears.
“Perfect timing,” said Alek’s emotionless voice.
“You sick bastard!” yelled Roman as he lunged for him again. But this time Alek was prepared, and he popped out of existence before Roman’s fist made contact with his face. He reappeared at the side of the altar, running his hand through Lilliana’s curly hair.
“Don’t touch her!” shouted Nico, suddenly joining the fray. He had been so shocked by the vision of his mother that he had been frozen in place until that moment.
Marco looked to Celeste as she stared at Roman in panic, scared of what he might do next. Marco grabbed her arm and shook her back to her senses. “We have to do something,” he said.
“I…I… just…don’t…” she stammered.
Roman and Nico were chasing Alek around the chamber, but any time they got too close, he would disappear and pop up on the other side of the room. If the situation hadn’t been so dire, it would have made for quite a comical scene. As the three of them raced past the altar, Celeste’s eyes fell on Lilliana’s body and the ring that rested on top of her chest. She ran to it, as no one seemed to be the least bit concerned in what she was doing. She reached out to grab it, but Dani’s hand snatched it from under her grasp.
“What are you doing?” asked Celeste.
“Sorry, but I can’t let you have this,” she said, darting back.
“Are you crazy? Do you have any idea what Alek is capable of?”
“He’s been good to me. He gave me this,” she said, pointing at the black onyx pendant that hung around her neck. “Stellan kept promising he would let me day walk, but he never did. I didn’t even have to do any stupid research for Alek to make this for me.”
“So you betrayed us for that?” she stared at the young vampire incredulously. “Do you know how worried Stellan has been about you? We thought Alek had killed you.”
“Don’t pretend like any of you cared about me. I was just an inconvenience that Stellan was stuck with. And I’m perfectly fine as you can see, and I’m not letting you take Alek’s ring,” she said stubbornly.
“We’ll see about that,” said Celeste as she unsheathed the sword that was hung over her shoulder. Celeste lunged at Dani, and Marco joined in eagerly. He had been lingering in the corner not knowing what to do since their arrival. Dani slipped the ring into her bra and t
ook off with Celeste futilely chasing after her. Celeste didn’t want to kill her. As mad as she was that she had betrayed them, when she looked at Dani she still saw the girl she went to school with for years. But she had to get the ring back.
On the other side of the room, Roman and Nico had cornered Alek. Beads of sweat were forming on his brow as the extensive use of magic drained him. Roman sneered as he realized Alek’s strength was faltering.
“Before I kill you, answer me just one thing,” growled Roman.
“I think you presume too much, but sure, I will play along,” said Alek smugly.
“What do you want with our mother’s body?”
A twisted smile crossed Alek’s enraged face. “You really have no idea, do you? I thought you would have figured it out by now.” Roman’s expression grew blank. “How about you, Nico, any guesses? I would have thought the mighty Constantin brothers would have been smarter than this.”
Nico threw a punch and connected with Alek’s left cheek, knocking his head back against the wall. Roman grabbed him by the collar and lifted him off of the ground. “Answer my question,” he snarled.
Alek chuckled as he spat out blood. “I am your mother’s bastard son,” he announced proudly. “You should show more respect to your older brother.”
Roman’s hands dropped from his neck, and Alek fell back to the ground unceremoniously. Roman’s eyes went wide, and he clenched his jaw. “You’re a liar,” he hissed through gritted teeth.
The portrait they had seen in the master bedroom flashed through Roman and Nico’s minds. The image of their mother with a young blonde boy played on repeat. All of the pieces began coming together – Fabian’s obsession with their mother, with destroying them, Alek being raised by the fairies, Fabian taking on a ten year old boy, and on and on.
“And who is your father then?” asked Roman, the haze of rage lifting as all the pieces fell into place.