by Aidan Wayne
“Vlad—”
“And now she’s back. She’s found me. And she… she won’t stop. She won’t stop, Darren. She doesn’t care who she hurts, and she’s strong enough that it doesn’t matter. Mot—Katarina is so powerful that the Ukrainian council didn’t even bother trying to contain her! And now she’s here, and she knows to look for me.” Vlad swallowed. “And to look for you.”
“Hey,” Darren said, trying for lighthearted, “no sweat. Tabitha already warded me to kingdom come so—”
Vlad shook his head frantically. “It doesn’t matter. She drew your blood, Darren. And she shares mine. Now that she knows I’m here… it’s only a matter of time. And if we’re together, she’ll hurt you to get to me. She might hurt you just for fun. Or worse, she really will take you with us.”
“Vlad, you’re talking like she’s already got you—”
“She might as well!” Vlad bowed his head, the fight draining out of him. “Please leave.”
“W-what?”
“I don’t want to see you again. It’s too dangerous. Leave.”
“Vlad, c’mon, that’s—”
“Go!” Vlad roared, eyes flashing gold.
Darren didn’t have a choice. He was up and moving before he could think twice, Vlad’s thrall powerful and all-encompassing. He was halfway down the stairs before he regained control of his senses.
Darren immediately turned right back around and, furious, got ready to pound on Vlad’s door, when he heard the faint sound of sobbing echoing out through the wood.
Swallowing, Darren quietly left Vlad in peace.
DARREN DIDN’T know what to do with himself once he got home. He spent some time pacing around his room mad at Vlad, mad at the situation, mad at crazy vampire lady for being the worst. And, like, he got why Vlad was crazy afraid, especially after the story he’d just told Darren about why he’d been turned.
But at the same time….
Vlad going it alone meant that Darren had to also.
He rubbed at his arms, the itch of power and the ward making him buzz unpleasantly, with no real way to expend the energy. He heard a crack and turned only to find that his window garden had started to grow into his windowsill. So that was a fun thing he got to deal with.
At least it was a distraction, the few minutes he had to spend to coax his garden into calming down. And then he had to concentrate hard to make the wooden sill reknit. That did use up some of the energy building under his skin. He’d never been the best at working with deadwood.
Fixing the windowsill got him started on cleaning up his room a little, so he angrily lost himself in that for a while, tossing things into his wastebasket and his laundry hamper.
Not that his room was all that messy to begin with. He’d kept it pretty clean, since Vlad had been over so much.
Darren swallowed. He didn’t want to be in his room anymore. Not by himself. And his phone was busted, so it wasn’t like he could call Beth or Trish to vent either.
He just… he didn’t want to be alone.
But Vlad wasn’t an option. So. Beth or Trish. If he could figure out how to call them. Since he didn’t have their numbers. Although….
“Hey, Mom?” Darren called, ducking his head into the home office. “Where’s that PTA members list?”
“In the cupboard next to the kitchen. Why?”
“Beth and Trish’s parents are both members, so I can get their numbers that way. My phone was fried, so I can’t call them with it.”
“Your father has already ordered you a new phone, so you know.”
“Great. Thanks.”
“Darren?”
“Yeah?”
“You sure you’re okay?”
“I’m fine, Mom,” Darren said tiredly. “Just fine. I’m going to go call Trish.”
“All right. Call me if you need anything.”
“Yeah.”
Darren grabbed the list with the PTA phone numbers and found the Piateks. Beth was great, but she was a little too intense for how Darren was feeling. Trisha would understand.
He dialed the number on the house phone, then went outside to sit on the back porch while it rang.
The sense of serenity he usually felt in the backyard wasn’t there today. He was too busy boiling.
“Hello?”
“Trish? Hi, it’s Darren.”
“Darren! Hey, are you okay?”
“What?”
“Marco texted me to tell me that his dad had to deal with something big that happened with you. Some sort of fight? He didn’t know much more than that.”
“Oh,” Darren said, nonplussed. He hadn’t expected Trish to already know some of the details. “Yeah, uh. Yeah. There was a fight. Me and Vlad were out with Charlie and we got attacked by a crazy vampire lady.”
“Oh my god, are you okay? Is Vlad okay?”
Darren bent over the phone and sighed, and it didn’t sound like a sob at all. “No.”
“Darren? What’s wrong?”
“Vlad broke up with me,” he forced out. It hurt so much to say out loud.
“What?” At least Trisha sounded properly shocked and horrified. “Why?”
So Darren explained everything that had happened. When he was done, his voice was wet.
“Oh, Darren, I’m so sorry.”
“Yeah. Me too.”
“Do you want me to come over?”
“No, it’s okay. Just… talk to me?”
“Of course! Um, okay, so did I tell you yet that I’m going away to a cupid camp in August? I got specially recommended to visit as a guest. Since my affinity is probably love.”
Darren wiped his eyes and settled back to listen.
They sat and talked for a while longer, Trish acting as a distraction for Darren’s miserable mood, but eventually Darren figured he should give her a break.
“You sure you’ll be okay?” she asked.
Darren shrugged, not that she could see it. “I’ll live.”
Chapter Eleven
DARREN MOPED the rest of the week. He tried to do things for distraction, but everything reminded him of Vlad. Playing video games, watching action movies… even going out into the garden made him think about the tour Darren had given him, and kissing on the porch.
When the time for Darren to get the wards renewed rolled around, he was grumpy and bored. And kind of mad at Vlad too. How come he got to decide what was or wasn’t good for Darren? Darren was his own person. He should be allowed to make his own choices as to whether or not continuing to date his boyfriend was too dangerous.
Walking over to Tabitha’s house, a route that had become ever more familiar thanks to Vlad, got him madder. He missed spending time at Tabitha’s. And now it felt like an intrusion to go.
He squashed down his disappointment when Vlad wasn’t waiting on the porch like he often did, and instead just rang the doorbell.
Tabitha answered it.
“Hey, Darren,” she said. Her smile didn’t reach her eyes. “Come on in. I’ve got everything all set up for you.”
“Vlad’s not downstairs, is he,” Darren said dully. It wasn’t a question.
Tabitha sighed. “I’m sorry. He’s… he probably doesn’t want me telling you, but he’s barely left his room all week.”
Darren swallowed and nodded. Right. Vlad was freaked out and terrified and all those other words that came from your nightmare coming back to life to haunt you. His anger evaporated, leaving him just feeling tired and awful.
“Okay. Uh. Well, yeah. I guess I’ll get my wards renewed, then.”
“I’m sorry,” Tabitha said again, leading the way into the basement.
Darren sighed. “It’s fine.”
She glanced back at him. “No. It’s not. And we’re making every effort to track Katarina down.”
Darren scuffed at the floor. “Is Charlie okay?”
That made Tabitha smile for real. “Yes. He’s been completely decontaminated. He’s actually leading the search for Katarina, since
he’s now the most familiar with her magic and aura.”
“Oh. That’s good. I mean. I hope you find her soon.”
Tabitha glanced up at the ceiling. “Me too.”
Renewing the wards was a lot less effort than putting them on in the first place had been, and only involved Darren putting both his hands in a mixture of lollygaggle and melted moonbeam while Tabitha wrote a symbol on his forehead with a phoenix feather. When they were done, he dried off his hands with a reed-woven towel and Tabitha pronounced him warded for another week.
“That was easy,” Darren said, surprised. “Why can’t I just do that at home?”
Tabitha pointed to the symbol on the floor that Darren had been standing in the middle of. “Because you need that every time. And it takes a lot to put it up in the first place.”
“Oh. Then, uh, how do you ward houses?”
Tabitha laughed. “That’s just time-intensive. I have to line the borders of the property with unicorn hairs.”
Darren thought about this. “Oh man. That is… that is a lot of work.”
“Luckily I think you and Vlad are worth it,” Tabitha teased.
Vlad. Darren sighed and looked at the floor. “I don’t suppose it’s worth a try to go up and see him.”
“Well… you certainly could try. I’m not going to stop you.”
Darren swallowed. “I… maybe I’ll just say hi.” He ran up the stairs before he lost his nerve, and then up the second set, not stopping until he was in front of Vlad’s door.
He took a deep breath and knocked.
“Vlad? It’s, uh, it’s me. You don’t have to answer. I just wanted… I wanted to tell you that I’m okay. And that I hope you’re okay. And that, um, that even if you don’t want to see me again, I just… I just hope things work out. Okay? So….” He sighed. “Yeah. So I’m… I’ll just go.”
There was no answer.
Darren left.
DARREN TRIED to actually do things over the next week. He hung out with Beth and Trish and Marco. He went out on walks and bike rides. He practiced more with his father. Spent a lot of time practicing his powers on his own. He’d always wanted to get better at managing his powers, but now he wanted to be good. He wanted to be strong.
He wanted to be able to put up a decent fight and protect the people he cared about, if he ever had to.
The hardest thing to practice was his Dragon King magic. His dad didn’t know anything about that—no one in town did. Water magic was one thing, but weather control was something else entirely. The week was a rainy one at least, which helped his mood, and he spent a lot of time outside standing in the middle of parking lots (no wooded areas, too high a chance of fire) and trying to play with lightning. He wasn’t able to do much the first couple of storms, but then, after standing outside and concentrating as hard as he could, he managed to ball a lightning strike up in his hands before it escaped from him. It wasn’t quite the same as being struck himself, but he could feel the power wind up and down his arms for as long as he’d held it. It had been pretty awesome.
When the week was up and it was time to go to Tabitha’s again, Darren started his walk over when he felt it—another storm. And a big one, from the buzzing that started up under his skin. Perfect. He’d just spend some time in Tabitha’s driveway and practice until it was over, and then get his wards renewed.
Darren ran the rest of the way, trying to beat the storm until he was in the best position. He skidded to a stop in front of Tabitha’s house and sat down in the middle of the driveway, trying to concentrate.
Just as the wind started up, he heard someone calling his name. Darren cracked open one eye and saw Vlad leaning out of his window.
“Darren! Come inside!”
“Vlad!” Vlad was talking to him again? “Hi!”
But Vlad only waved frantically toward the door. “Come inside! Now!”
Darren frowned. “I’ll be there in a minute, okay? I just want to get my storm on.”
“No, you don’t understand—your wards—I can smell you!”
“Look,” Darren yelled over the wind, “we already established—”
“Hello, little one.” Right in his ear.
Darren felt his own eyes widen, and the last thing he saw was Vlad’s mouth open in a scream. Then, black.
WHEN DARREN woke up, the first thing he noticed was that he was in the clearing in the woods, the one he usually visited with his dad—and had been visiting with Vlad until… right.
The next thing he noticed was that he couldn’t move. Oh, he tried—he was propped up against one of the big trees, but he couldn’t move at all, not even a little.
The last thing he noticed was that Katarina was right there, looking at him with a very pleased expression.
“Can’t you just take a hint and leave us alone!” Darren yelled at her over the wind slapping against the trees. At least his voice still worked.
She smiled at him. “You’ll come with us. Gregori clearly didn’t want to leave you behind. This way he will not miss you.”
“Okay, lady, first of all, Vlad is not going anywhere with you, and neither am I!” Darren was frankly too mad at her to be scared.
But then she was two inches away from his nose, bright green eyes staring straight into him. “Gregori will also miss you if I kill you,” she hissed, through a smile that was all teeth. “And that is why you are still alive. For now.”
Darren held his breath and was very, very aware of the fact that he couldn’t move. “How… how do you know he’ll even come?”
“Of course he will,” she replied, drawing back. “He can’t help coming back to his mother. Besides,” she added, flicking another razor-sharp smile at him, “I have you. People go after those they care about.”
And Vlad cared about him, Darren thought faintly. He probably was going to walk right into the clearing and give himself up to Katarina.
Darren was not going to let that happen.
He concentrated as hard as he could, feeling himself starting to sweat, as he focused on the fierce, storm-bringing wind, the tree against his back, the grass and moss underneath him. He gathered up their energy and fought against whatever magic kept him bound and little by little he felt himself loosen. If he could just get free—
Katarina laughed and turned away from him, and a cloud of mist Darren hadn’t noticed materialized into Vlad.
“Gregori!” she said, pleased. “I knew you would come.”
Vlad was clenching his fists so hard that blood was dripping down onto the ground. “Let him go,” he gritted out. “I’ll come with you. I won’t fight. Just let him go.”
“Oh, Gregori, you said that before. This time we’ll all go together. You’ll have your friend, and you’ll have me. Won’t that be nice?”
“Let him go!” Vlad cried. “You’re not taking him with us. You can’t—”
Katarina walked toward him. Vlad shook where he stood but didn’t step back.
“I can’t what?” she asked, voice like silk.
Darren’s eyes widened. Katarina had walked right into the faerie circle.
Darren didn’t even think, he just did; he took all the energy he had gathered up, the trees, the plants, the wind, and pushed it forward, right to that little circle of mushrooms.
They exploded upward, Katarina and Vlad both crying out as they were encircled and caged, energy crackling in the air. Darren heard Katarina shriek and start to fight to try to get free, but she wasn’t just fighting Darren, she was fighting the very essence of fae magic concentrated into one spot.
Then Darren heard Vlad cry out, and he realized with horror that he might’ve trapped Katarina, but he’d trapped Vlad in with her too.
“Mother, please!”
“No! No, you will not be taken from me again! I will bring death. And you will be punished for trying to leave me!”
“Please—”
There was a bitten-off scream, and Darren ran toward the grove, frantically trying to think of what
to do. If he brought it down, Katarina would escape, and she would definitely, definitely kill him. But in the meantime—
“Vlad!” he sobbed, beating at the barrier. “Vlad!”
Then he heard it. A crackle in the air, followed by the booming of thunder.
Darren swallowed.
He knew he’d have one shot. Otherwise he was dead.
There was another scream, and it wasn’t even a choice.
He pressed one hand against the mushroom trunk and raised the other hand toward the sky. “Please work,” he whimpered. “Please work, please work, please work—”
And he brought the barrier down.
Katarina shrieked, in full shift, and leaped on him, claws tearing at his skin, the pain immediate, but Darren barely felt it, all his energy and focus on the sky.
He closed his fist and yanked.
The lightning he had called seared down, striking him and Katarina, but this time Darren was stronger, knew a little more about controlling the raw power, and he poured it into Katarina, the smell of singing hair and burning flesh enveloping him as he kept the current running for as long as he possibly could.
When his body gave out, he could just make out Katarina lying in the clearing, twitching, and Vlad running forward.
“Darren!” Vlad was pulling Darren’s head into his lap, “Darren, are you okay?”
“Ow,” Darren mumbled. Now that the lightning was gone, he definitely felt all the gashes and cuts Katarina had left on him.
Katarina!
He struggled to twist his head and spied her in the corner of his vision. “Is she dead?” Darren managed, as thunder echoed overhead. “Did we just kill someone?” Vlad, chest heaving, said nothing.
“Okay,” Darren said. “I think… I think it’s time to call Tabitha now. C’n you do it? I can’t really feel my fingers.”
Vlad was still shaking, but he pulled his phone out of his pocket. He didn’t even say hi, just told her where they were and asked her to come get them. When he hung up, he pulled Darren fully into his lap and wrapped himself around him sobbing, and god, he’d just faced down basically his worst nightmare. Again.