Charlotte sighed. Not again, she thought. “Edwin? What's the matter now? Is it Valek?”
“No! No! No!” He scratched his head feverishly back and forth. “No! It’s n-not! It's n-not Valek. V-valek. Tr-trouble!” Edwin's head shook violently from side to side like he was about to short circuit. “No!” he said again. His head quickly convulsed to the left once more. “N-no! No!”
Charlotte looked around for someone she possibly knew. Something was going seriously awry in her town. And according to Edwin’s half-baked warnings, it was about to get a lot worse.
No one in the square seemed to be paying attention. There was nowhere else to go but home.
“Valek is in trouble, Edwin,” she concluded. Clouds moved past the moon and thunder sounded somewhere miles away. She wrapped her arms around herself—not to keep warm, but rather to keep herself together. “I have to go.” She proceeded walking again in the direction toward home while Edwin continued to spew.
“N-no! No! No!”
Chapter Nine
Bronze Light
Charlotte burst through her front door, causing the surrounding walls to shake when she slammed it behind her. She glanced down at her trembling fists and held them tightly to her sides, trying to keep them still. She scanned the room for her Vampire, the skin on her arms and face tingling.
“Valek?” Her voice broke when she called him and couldn’t see him anywhere.
Valek poked his head out from the library, raising an eyebrow at her.
“Everything all right?” He took a step from the study to stand before her.
The awkwardness between them reappeared when their eyes met. She quickly looked away, however, relieved.
“No.” She breathed. “Just leave me alone, okay? And stay out of my head!” she ordered as she stomped past him into the kitchen.
Valek said nothing as he watched her go by.
Charlotte tore open the refrigerator door, scanned the shelves for something edible, overlooking the certain drawers Valek used to stash emergency medical supplies. Her stomach started talking to her, which was just part of the reason for her rage. She was always testier when she was hungry, another trait she picked up from Valek.
She pulled out a fistful of carrots, celery, and a chicken breast, and laid them each out on a cutting block. The silver butcher knife she pulled out of the wooden knife-holder glistened off the soft light above the old, gas stove. She feigned unawareness of Valek, who stood in the entryway watching her, concerned.
She started chopping the celery into small, green chunks and then pushed it into a heap on one side of the counter. She pulled out a lackluster pot from the cabinet above the stove, filled it halfway with water from the sink, and set it on the burner. Taking the celery chunks by the handful, she dropped them in the pot. Miserable, ignorant Elf. How could she have allowed herself to be so trusting? How was she going to escape the Occult with Valek now that the Regime was watching for him? She needed to devise a plan.
Next, the chicken. She cleaned the meat and dropped the breast in whole—the best way to flavor the stock. Steam lifted into her eyes as she stirred, and she could feel her pores opening. She closed her eyes and inhaled, attempting to calm herself, knowing ultimately, she had to tell Valek what happened.
Finally, she started chopping the carrots, her hands moving fast and furious as she thought about Aiden and the things he told his father. She saw the Wizards’ cogs turning from their high, holy place in the city, and the plans they were plotting against her now. It was only a matter of time. She had to get Valek out of the Occult very soon. She saw Aiden’s lips releasing the secret she had kept for nearly nineteen years. She saw them kissing her—
“Damn!” she blurted out as the silvery knife plummeted to the floor, splattered with blood. “Damn it!” she said again, clutching her wounded finger. She ran over to the brass sink and started rinsing it under warm water.
Valek, who had been lost in thought looming against the threshold, tensed. His pupils engulfed his pretty, blue eyes—gone black as pitch and cold as death. He silently stalked up right behind Charlotte and quickly punched down on the faucet handle, stopping the flow of water.
She spun around, surprised to meet his chest at her eye level. She cautiously looked up into his sable gaze; the blood feeling like it was draining out of her face. She gulped. But his glare wasn’t hungry or scary like she expected. This time it was different somehow.
“You mustn’t curse in this house, Lottie.” One corner of his mouth stretched upward in an agonizingly sweet smile that sent a ripple through her body.
The bronze light created a dull flame in the shiny black behind his lashes, as his fingers began to slide down her arm, searching for her wounded finger. Stuttering incoherently, she meant to protest, but couldn’t find any of the words she wanted to say. He pulled her hand up to his cool lips. She could feel them part under her skin. He smiled down at her again, forcing her to drop her gaze.
He pressed the cut to his mouth and gently sucked.
The pressure sent a new ripple down her spine, causing her to look up at him again. She watched his pleasure with wide, innocent eyes. The inside of his mouth was warm and tantalizing, and she instantly missed the feeling of it when he softly pushed her hand away.
She looked down at her palm that still lingered in his. The cut had completely disappeared. He smiled down at her again.
“I-I…uh—” She stammered to articulate something—anything, but once again came up empty.
He hushed her, putting a finger to her lips. Her heart fluttered as the muscles in her stomach clenched. He lowered his face, so close to hers that she could see her reflections in his black irises. The word “danger” rang out in her mind, but her lips began to ache for his anyway. The effect he had on her was unfair. Be careful what you wish for.
“I would like to speak with you,” he whispered into her mystified face.
Suddenly, a pounding slammed against the front door, interrupting Charlotte mid-thought.
A foreign voice rumbled from the other side. “Open up!”
Both Charlotte and Valek’s heads snapped toward the foyer. A fist met the door once again, more aggressive than before.
“This is the Regime Guard Force! We demand you open this door!”
A different voice sounded. “We have this house completely surrounded!”
Valek turned his eyes on Charlotte, and she could tell he was tuning in. Chagrin rushed to her face, burning her cheeks. He was going to hear everything; from the kiss, to the argument, to the “goodbye,” to Edwin’s warning. The blackness quickly dissipated, and his eyes turned back to their hard and icy azure.
“Quickly, go to my office. Hide in the freezer. Do not come out under any circumstance. No matter what you hear,” he hissed, clutching her shoulders.
The freezer was where Valek kept his “leftover meals” until he could find a different way of disposing of them.
Charlotte’s arms prickled as the light above the stove flickered out. She tried to think of any other place she could hide that didn’t contain dead bodies.
The first voice boomed again. “We know you are in there!”
“Hurry,” Valek whispered. “Everything is going to be all right. Remember—do not come out. Go!”
Charlotte quickly ran into the other room.
She found her way into the large freezer. She shivered in the coldest, darkest corner, farthest away from the door, surrounded by lumpy, black, body bags. They sat like grave markers clumped too close together. The stench was light, but even freezing could not stop the rotting decay. She shivered again.
All her thoughts writhed and spun in her mind as she sat, clutching her head in her hands, imaging Valek being taken away. Her heart slowed down. It felt like it might just stop, frozen to death with fear. She buried her face in her knees and swallowed her scream. She began to quiet her mind and tune in to what was happening outside, trying desperately to hear the muffled voices.
Valek waited until he heard the office lock click before he started toward the front entrance. He made an attempt to relax his shoulders and then gracefully slinked to open the front door. He met five burly guards on his doorstep.
“Good evening, gentlemen. How may I help you?” He flashed a grin.
“The Vampire Ruzik?” One of the guards from the threshold of the house questioned.
Valek grinned. “Who’s asking?”
“We are under the impression you are hiding a human child in this home. Would you consider that statement truthful?” The guard—a tall fire Elf with a waxed head and slanted eyes—spoke officially.
“As is plain before your eyes, there is no one here but me.” Valek gestured to the inside of his house.
“You did not answer my question,” the officer grumbled. “Mr. Ruzik, are you aware it is against the Regime Code of Magic to keep human pets?”
“No.” Valek clenched his jaw at the notion anyone would refer to Charlotte as a pet. “A human child does not reside here. If one did, I can assure you it would not be in their best interest.” Valek flashed his pearly fangs.
“I do not find you charming, Mr. Ruzik.”
“Nor I, you,” Valek said.
“May we have a look around? As a formality?” The officer asked with erroneous politeness.
Valek tensed slightly but the guards didn’t wait for a response, shoving their way inside.
The squad bypassed the library, with only a few quick glances, and made their way into the kitchen, one of them parting from the group to stomp up the stairway.
Valek searched frantically through his mind for a solution. The evidence of Charlotte was everywhere.
The officer in command bent to pick up the bloody knife from the kitchen floor as he eyed the mess of food. “Making dinner this evening, Mr. Ruzik?” he asked, lighting the stove with the power from his hand. It created a dingy light against the dull sheen of the pots and pans. He sauntered over to Valek. “Funny. I didn’t think your kind ate carrots.” He brought the bloody end of the knife so close to Valek’s nose that the pupils of his eyes bled out the white like spilled ink. The muscles in the back of his throat tensed as the familiar burning flared again.
“I would advise you to keep your distance, Mr.…”
“My name is of no concern to you.” The officer ran his index finger across the bloodstain on the shiny blade and rubbed the gore between his index and thumb.
The guard who had gone to search upstairs ran into the kitchen clutching the sleek, white arm of Evangeline, yanking her behind it. “Look what I found.” The guard’s voice was rough like gravel. He shoved the Witch forward, causing her to stumble into Valek’s arms.
She looked up at Valek, who quickly tuned in to her thoughts.
“A Witch?” the first guard asked.
“Yes.” Valek wrapped his arm affectionately around her shoulders. “This is Evangeline.”
“I thought you said no one was at home with you, Mr. Ruzik.”
“I thought no one was at home.” He looked to Evangeline. “My love, when did you get back?” Valek suppressed a gag over those words and forced another smile.
Evangeline blinked at him, and then to the guards. “Uh...I um...just a little while ago. I was upstairs, obviously.”
“I don’t need to hear an explanation. I think this evidence will be enough for the Regime.” He held up the bloody knife. “But just in case—” He snapped his fingers, sending some of the other guards off in different directions of the house. “We’ll take the child, too.”
“You will not find what you seek, Elf. ” Valek ground his jaws together.
The officer started to pace. “I saw the sign out front. You are a doctor, Vampire?” he asked, coolly, the hint of laughter forming tauntingly around his words.
Valek hissed.
“Well, who knew a leach could be so intelligent? I’m sure this town is really going to miss you.” The officer smiled.
Valek said nothing.
“You know,” the Elf started again, “we are cleaning your kind out for good.”
***
Upon hearing their footsteps from the freezer, Charlotte shut her eyes tight. She remembered the drawers of clothes she left open in her room. The kitchen was a mess. She brought her hand to her chest to feel for the whistle that normally hung there, remembering the last time she saw it was just outside the Occult border.
If she and Valek were going to make it through this, if they were able to escape, she vowed to mend the falter in the relationship that divided them. She vowed it to herself and to him. She didn’t care what kind of creature he was, or what instincts he struggled with. He was the most important thing in her entire world, and nothing was worth doubting that.
Charlotte heard voices draw nearer and pressed her ear hard up against the icy door.
***
“What do you mean?” Valek asked through his gritted teeth.
“You…people, for lack of a better word, have been contaminating our air for too long. It’s Vladislov’s orders.” The officer leaned in close to Valek’s face. “Don’t you think it’s time you crawled back into your crypt and stayed there?”
Valek wanted so badly to rip out the Elf's jugular with his fangs but he quickly concealed them under his lips. He tried to cool the stolen blood that was now a river of fire under the ice in his face.
***
Charlotte heard the heavy footsteps getting closer to the freezer door and quickly scurried to the back corner again, trying to find the very deepest shadow to hide in. This was it. This was the end. She wrapped her arms tight around her knees in an effort to disappear completely.
A thin stream of sickly sterile office light filtered in as the door slid slowly open.
Chapter Ten
A Smoking Gun
The fire Elf's beady eyes sifted through the clandestine corners of the freezer. “Vampire!” he called.
Valek nervously moved to the guard’s side, his eyes also scanning in the room for something human. “Yes?”
“What do you use this refrigerator for?”
Valek cleared his throat, relieved to not see any sign of Charlotte. He glanced at Evangeline, who now lingered in the office doorway watching.
“Medicinal purposes,” he answered quickly.
The guard stepped inside and squinted further at the black bags. He even kicked one so hard it skidded against the cement wall. Valek hadn’t experienced the illustrious attributes of nausea for years, but he was beginning to remember what that felt like.
The silhouette of one frozen female corpse, crumpled in the corner, caught the eyes of the guard. “What happened to this one?”
“Lack of vacancy,” Valek explained. “I'm sure my life habits fascinate you to no end, and I am thoroughly enjoying the interview, but you will be wasting your time here, gentlemen, if you continue to pursue my household because of some misguided goose-chase. Frankly, you are interrupting my evening, and I am requesting kindly that you leave this private property.” As he spoke, he smoothly began to back the guards out of the house. “If a human child did in fact reside here, she would probably be long gone by now, for you seem to be so educated in the habitual life of a ‘parasite’.” He narrowed his eyes. “I mean, how could I ever contain myself in that sort of a situation?”
The officer regarded Valek and Evangeline one last time before Valek grabbed hold of the doorknob.
“I do, however, invasive your behavior, bid you a very pleasant evening, gentlemen.” Valek slammed the door in the guard’s face.
Evangeline opened her mouth to say something, but Valek hushed her immediately. He squinted at the floor and listened for any kind of faint thought or voice lingering on the other side of the door. Once he could tell the small platoon was a safe distance away, he went back into the office to find Charlotte climbing out of one of the used body bags, lips a sickly shade of blue, her breath forming in white clouds of mist in front of
her face.
He shoved past Evangeline who had started to go in for help. “She’s hypothermic.” He grabbed the frail human in his arms and carried her quickly out of the office, down the hallway, into the library.
“Lottie?” he whispered. It was impossible for him to imagine the way things were changing between them. He had always been so in control and now all of that was slipping through his deathly fingers. Sand in an hourglass. Life was expendable.
Evangeline followed meekly after, knotting her fingers together behind her back guiltily.
“Can you light the fire?” Valek asked the Witch as he pulled a wool blanket off the armchair and swiftly wrapped it around his Lottie’s shoulders.
“Hatu! ” The Witched chanted with a hand toward the fireplace. An orange flame washed over the thick hunks of wood in the hearth. Valek hurriedly rubbed at the tops of Lottie’s arms, still careful of her healing wounds there. Evangeline frowned.
“Thank you,” Valek said over his shoulder.
“If it weren’t for Edwin coming to warn me, I would never have known. It’s because of him.”
“Well, thank Edwin then.”
Evangeline took one step toward him.
“Thank you, I said,” he snapped, stopping her from coming any nearer. Valek could see Evangeline’s ache for redemption from him, but that wasn’t something he was about to easily give. He hugged the girl in his arms closer.
Evangeline sighed. “I apologize for what happened to Charlotte’s bedroom.”
Valek lowered his gaze, mentally assessing what she was alluding to. “I understand.” He continued to caress Lottie’s back, not looking at Evangeline at all.
“Goodnight, Valek. Charlotte. If you need me, you know where I am,” the Witch muttered sadly, then turned to leave.
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