by Lily Luchesi
She debated driving, even though it was half an hour from her home to Augustus’ place, but decided not to. If she needed to make a quick getaway, she didn’t want to leave Dracula there for God knows how long.
In the span of less than a minute, she was outside Augustus’ manor, walking up his crooked front steps. The front door was open and she paused to get her gun out. She couldn’t smell or hear anything out of the ordinary, but why would he leave his door unlocked? No one, not even an immortal ruler, was that stupid.
“Augustus, call out yes if you’re alive. If you’re dead, say no.” She smirked. A lot of people called that Winchester logic as a joke, but you never know if a ghost is hanging around a murder scene.
“And if I am still Undead, do I say maybe?” that drawling, deep, undeniably sexy lilt said, coming from the hallway.
“What the Hell was your door unlocked for?” Angelica asked.
“Maybe I wanted an easy trap for my breakfast,” he said. He held his hands up. “Kidding, of course. I simply wanted you to have an easy way inside.”
“You knew I was coming.” It was a statement, not a question. “How?”
He smiled. “Oh my dear, you have so much to learn still.”
“I know. And that is partially why I am here. Your existence is now undeniable, but I have decided that I will not allow it to change every vampire’s way of life. I gave in on my human familiar law, and I think that’s reasonable enough, considering since you forfeited the throne, you really shouldn’t get a say whatsoever. Hogwarts headmasters have received stricter punishments for abandoning their posts than you have gotten for abandoning yours.
“Vampire crime was literally nonexistent in the months between the time I became Empress until you showed up, littering the city with corpses. My rule has kept us safe and healthy. For over a hundred years, no one has died or been hunted save for a few rogues who are now too scared of me to even say boo to a mortal. Please, find one flaw in my reign. I dare you.”
He looked down his nose at her. “And whatever happened to wanting to work with me?”
Angelica felt her gums itch. She was pissed off, and her fangs wanted to come out to bite, tear, and mutilate. “That went out the window after you revealed a secret that was not yours to disclose. I might have been in the wrong for lying, but you had no right to open your mouth.”
“If the mortal could not handle your true nature—and believe me, as much as you do not care to admit it to yourself, that was your true nature coming out—then it should be seen to immediately. I did you a favor, and one day you will thank me,” Augustus said.
“That’s the day that my father will be serving slushies in Hell,” she replied. “Now, are you with me or against me?”
“What if I am against you?” Augustus asked, that little smirk still in place. He was playing with her, but he would soon find that he had already lost this game.
“Then I slaughter you,” she said. “You might think I am incapable of beating you, but you don’t know me at all. I do everything I set my mind to. Failure has never been an option.”
“So you want me to go along with your way of life or die? Not very diplomatic.”
“I repeat, I am no politician. I am a firm believer in not fixing things that aren’t broken,” Angelica said. “When rogues come back out of their foxholes—and believe me, they will—you and I will deal with them. I trust you enough to exact justice alongside me if that is your wish.”
Augustus gazed down at her with his unreadable black eyes. “I cannot say I like this, but I would much rather rule with you at my side than alone.”
Angelica scoffed. “You’re still not getting it. Has living so long made you senile? You wouldn’t be ruling alone. You’d be in Hell. Aside, I think once you see how pleasurable it is to have such control over the whole species, you’ll regret ever wanting things to go back to the old ways.”
A slow smirk came on his face. “All right. I am always open to pleasure.”
That should not have given her such a chill down her spine. He claimed he couldn’t put her under thrall, but she was unsure about that. Why else would she react this way toward him?
“I’ve one more request,” Angelica said. “When we met you said there were so many more powers of ours that could be unlocked, and that I had yet to grasp them. One of which I saw was telekinesis. What are the others, and are they teachable or would I have to simply wait and age into them?”
His black eyes sparkled. “Excellent questions, Angelica. Come, let me enlighten you. And perhaps you can tell me what ‘Hogwarts’ is...besides the obvious mammal with skin issues.”
***
“What is this thing?”
Danny was in his living room, again surrounded by the four British hunters. They had brought along some of their personalized hunting equipment to show him, and he was vastly impressed and equally confused by one of them.
It looked like a crossbow with an attached bayonet and a trigger like a gun. The weight distribution of it was odd, as well. He’d never used or seen anything like it. He wasn’t even sure it would work.
“Like it? Hannah made it,” James said. “It’s a mini-stake launcher. The stake is as small as can be without breaking on contact. The velocity it gets shot at ensures that it’ll stab the vamp right through the heart, so we can go an’ cut its head off.”
Danny found himself wishing he had the PID’s training facilities so he could try it out firsthand.
“We have other stuff, too,” James said, reaching into a duffle bag. He pulled out what looked like a set of brass knuckles. Upon further investigation, Danny saw that the tips were silver, melted over iron. Perfect for punching werewolves, vampires, and many other creatures. They were so sharp one could get a head start on slitting a vampire’s throat while using them.
“Hannah, you came up with all of this stuff?” Danny asked.
The girl nodded, her face filled with pride. “I have other ideas, including covering miniature wooden stakes with silver and loading them like bullets into a gun, a more portable version of my crossbow idea.”
“Hannah is a font of sheer brilliance,” Edgar commented.
“We’d have gotten nowhere without her,” Ronnie added.
Privately, Danny believed that they were right. Edgar and James had the necessary enthusiasm for the quest, and Ronnie seemed to have the determination, but none of them had the mind that Hannah possessed. He was certain that she’d grow up to do spectacular things...providing that Augustus didn’t eat her alive.
Please. You know the odds of these kids coming out of this alive are slim to none, the memory of Brighton hissed in Danny’s ear. Danny had cared about the guy, but alive or dead he was a pessimistic pain in the ass. Oh well, at least his ghost wasn’t haunting Danny like Helena’s was. It was more like he had left his mental signature in Danny’s mind palace when he had been training him.
While he hated having anything to do with the PID now, he was glad that he had gotten the blessed crystal from Harriet. It had so far kept Helena’s remnant far away from him. He didn’t fancy going insane, and he couldn’t put her to rest right away. Even with the help of Edgar and his band of teenage hunters, it might take some time before they were all ready to face not just one ancient vampire, but an Empress who not only had vampiric powers, but was also professionally trained in all military combat and weaponry.
“So, how’s it feel to be rid of the vamp?” Edgar asked, plopping down on the sofa next to Danny with very little grace. Danny also found himself a bit angry at the question. He had never, not once, wanted Angelica to turn out this way. He had put his love and trust in her, despite his original misgivings. This was one instance when he did not want to be proven right He did not want to hunt his own wife.
“For the record, you don’t get to question me about my feelings. If I ever feel the need to share with an uncouth cad like you, I’ll let you know,” Danny said.
James hid a laugh in his sleeve. “While i
t’s daylight, I’m going to take a walk, maybe see what you Americans like about baseball. Who’s coming?”
Hannah jumped up. “Me! And maybe we can take a trip to the Field Museum. It’s supposed to be fantastic.” James made a face at her and she whacked his arm.
Edgar grinned. “I’m up for that. Ronnie, come on.” He gestured to his nephew, who had been very quiet all day, sitting in an armchair and absently toying with one of the mini-stakes.
“Nah. Mr. Mancini, do you mind if I stay here and help with the weapons?” Ronnie asked.
“Sure, you can stay,” Danny said, all of a sudden he got a wave of a sadness that was so deep he felt like he was going to fall off the couch. Was Ronnie really harboring this intense depression and barely showing anything but an apathy Danny assumed all teenagers felt?
Ronnie waved goodbye to his friends and then went and sat next to Danny, helping him clean the group’s guns. Technically, the teens weren’t allowed to own guns until they were twenty-one, so all the guns were registered under a fake name Edgar had used. Danny decided that they really did need stricter gun laws in this world.
“You want to ask me something. Spill,” Danny said to the kid after an agonizing ten minutes of hearing his stilted internal monologue.
Ronnie jumped. “It’s so weird when you do that...read my mind.”
“I don’t ‘read minds’,” Danny corrected. “I can see inside of them. A mind is not a book. It’s a long home movie where you have stored everything you’ve ever seen, heard, and done. Even things you don’t remember. Some people lock up their minds so I can’t see what they’re hiding in there. Hannah and Edgar do that. You, you’re like my own personal movie theater. If I wasn’t such a nice guy, I could see everything in your mind and you’d have no way to keep me out. As of right now, I am only getting your thoughts because they are so damn loud. I’m not even trying to hear you.”
“Oh.” Ronnie was silent for a minute, processing all of that. “Have you always been this way?”
Danny smirked. “No, for almost all my life I was blissfully normal. Then I met Angelica and she Awakened my abilities. Not all reincarnated souls have these powers, but I do. ...Never thought I’d miss being normal.”
“Being normal is for people who don’t want to be extraordinary.” Another wave of sadness came over Ronnie as he said that sentence.
“Who said that? Edgar?” Danny asked.
Ronnie shook his head, his unkempt bangs falling into his eyes behind his glasses. “No.”
Danny had very little experience with children and teenagers, except for when Helena was young. He figured he’d wait and see if Ronnie was any more forthcoming before he started to pry. The kid was obviously deeply depressed and holding it all in. He needed to let it out or he’d wind up making himself very ill.
“Did you ever think Angelica was going to turn out like this?” he asked.
“No, not after I got to know her. I thought she was different,” Danny admitted. “But now I am forced to believe what I did when we first met: all vampires are evil.”
“So she pulled the wool over your eyes, is that it?” Ronnie asked.
“No. I think it was more I pulled it over my own eyes, wanting to see the good in her and disregard what I knew about her species. And for many years, decades, she was good. I don’t think vampires are without conscience. I think that they have an innate darkness that can’t be purged. It’s not their fault, but it can’t be cured except in death,” Danny said.
“So they can be nice and kind and all that...genuinely?”
Danny nodded. “Sure. They have souls. That’s what hurts the most, is that you can forget what they really are: monsters. And when you’re faced with that reality, it can be like a slap in the face.”
Ronnie sighed. “You’re not kidding.”
“So, how did a kid who was sent to a religious boarding school to escape the vampire hunting him wind up falling in love with a vampire?” Danny asked.
“Am I that obvious?” Ronnie was turning a stake over and over in his hands, the silver catching the sunlight spilling into the living room and reflecting his glasses. Danny thought he looked like a child, not someone recently come into adulthood.
“A little,” Danny said. “Look, I don’t want to pry, but you know I had what is probably a similar experience, so why don't you unburden on me? You don’t even have to speak. Just put your hand on my arm and I’ll be able to see everything. You’ll feel better, I promise.” When Ronnie shook his head, Danny added, “There’s no need to be ashamed. I admitted that I married the Empress, for cryin’ out loud!”
“It’s not that…” Ronnie rubbed his eyes under his glasses. “I...it…”
Danny waited while the kid struggled with whatever was troubling him and realized that he really wasn’t prepared to deal with a teenager. He was suddenly glad he had not had children: he would have been as lost as Hansel and Gretel!
“It isn’t that I fell for a vampire, or that I broke the rules,” Ronnie said. And then, all in one breath, “ItwasntagirlitwasaboyImgay.”
Danny realized how hard that must have been for the kid to say. He’d known all sorts of people in his life, but every person in the LGBT community he’d known had been out of the closet for some time. Brighton. Mark. Angelica. He was in uncharted waters here.
“Well, what’s wrong with that?” Danny asked. “Doesn’t anyone else know?”
Ronnie nodded. “Hannah figured it out and she’s been quite sweet about it all. Please, you can’t tell anyone.”
“Of course not. Even someone as out of the loop as I am knows that that’s a bad idea,” Danny said. “You’ll tell the others when you’re ready.”
“Aren’t you Catholic? I thought you might throw me out or—or lecture me,” Ronnie said. “That’s what I thought most people did.”
Danny laughed. “Kid, I am in no position to give you a religious lecture after what I have done in my life. Aside, I have had gay friends; Angelica has freely admitted that, between my original death as Jonathan Price and my reincarnation, she slept with any gender she felt like. If the worst you want to do is screw a guy, I think you’re going to be just fine in life and the afterlife.”
Ronnie laughed a little. “So...can I show you my memories? Just to let my heart feel a little better?”
“Of course.” Danny rolled up his sleeve. “Just touch my arm and I should be able to see.”
Ronnie nodded and placed a shaking hand on Danny’s skin. In a second, Danny was transported to another world.
***
Inverness, Scotland
September 2011
“You’re not supposed to leave the grounds.”
Danny found himself standing in the middle of a boarding school that looked straight out of a historical fantasy novel. High-ceilinged, ancient, creepy. He recognized it immediately: it was the castle where the Grand Coven had battled the Dark in Harriet’s memory. Evidently, the state or some wealthy investor had turned it into a school after it was renovated.
There were two students dressed in stuffy plaid uniforms arguing in the hallway. Despite their being barely teenagers, he recognized Hannah and Ronnie.
“I know, but I want to see the lake at night. There’s that...what did you call it?” Ronnie’s green eyes were wide.
“Luminous lichen,” Hannah replied.
“Yeah, that.”
“If you sneak out, I’m not going to cover for you.”
“Fine. Don’t. I don’t care. I just wanna go,” Ronnie said. “I’ve lived at this school since I was six and never went. It’s time I broke the rules!”
Hannah sighed. “Boys! At least James has detention, he won’t be able to join you in your stupidity.”
“Thanks for the vote of confidence.” Ronnie walked away, hiding behind statues and tapestries to avoid being seen by what Danny assumed were hall monitors or prefects.
After a long, twisting journey through the school, Ronnie reached the front doors. Da
nny noticed no security system in place and wondered why that was, if these kids were all at the school to be protected from monsters trying to eat them.
Ronnie stepped out into the moonlit night, a breeze wafting through his hair and school clothes. Danny could feel his bliss at his temporary freedom. He had no idea what he’d do if he was forced into seclusion, especially as a child.
The grounds were beautiful, hills and greenery. Danny smelled flowers, and saw vast, colorful gardens to his left that wrapped partway around the school.
Ronnie turned back to observe the building, and Danny saw why there was no security system: every window was lined with silver and garlic, and had a cross above them. A much better security system against vampires and werewolves than an alarm or security camera.
Ronnie went walking, going further off the grounds, passing part of the gardens, and coming upon a beautiful lake which shimmered in the light of the nearly full moon. Ronnie bent down at the edge of it, peering into the darkness. As Hannah had said, there was glowing luminous lichen lining the lake’s walls, creating a mesmerizingly beautiful view.
“Enchanting, isn’t it?”
Ronnie jumped at the new voice when he had thought himself alone. Fear creeped into his gut as he turned to regard a boy not much older than he was. Thin, with skin as pale as the moonlight and shimmering silver eyes which complimented his blond hair, Ronnie was certain he had never seen this boy at school before.
“Hello. Do you go to school here? Are you new?” Ronnie asked.
The boy shook his head. “No. I live across the moors. I come here sometimes: it’s quite lovely.” He paused and held out a hand. “I’m Damien Black. Who are you?”
Ronnie shook his hand. “Ronnie Wright. You live across the moors? That’s a far walk.”
“I don’t mind it. ...May I sit?”
“Of course!”
Danny watched this meeting, feeling Ronnie’s immediate connection with the boy. It was almost too cute for words. He had forgotten what it was like to be a child with a crush.
The boys began to talk, simple things like books and schooling. It went on for some time, until Damien leaned over the lake to catch some of the water in his hands. It was then Ronnie noticed the lack of reflection and let out a yelp, falling backwards on his ass in an attempt to get away from the little vampire.