She pulled something from the pouch at her side. A small glass bottle with swirling fog Valek recognized to be a transportation spell.
“Where will that take us?” Francis asked.
“Just to Old Town. We need to get away from the area. Now!” She smashed the decanter to the ground and at once, the smoke swallowed the entire group.
***
When the Regime guards stormed up the stairs of the modest, lavender home, they found it completely empty. With their fists ablaze, they tracked thick mud from the storm outside through the various winding hallways and bedrooms. But that was it. The door to the hidden basement had been sealed forever by magic.
The head officer turned to a freshly bandaged Evangeline. “Well?”
“No.” She began to back away. “I swear they were here. I swear!”
The officer looked around at the forsaken place and all its cobwebs. And then back at Evangeline. “Fire Elves!”
They all came storming back into the foyer from the upper levels of the home, flames swirling from their bodies like a massive dissention into Hell. They landed beside him, staring fiercely at the Witch.
“As instructed by the master,” the officer began.
Tears flooded from the doomed enchantress’ eyes as she held her arms out silently. She opened her mouth to plead with them.
The guards approached the Witch at once, fear etched on her face. The only evidence of her grim death was the smell of burning hair and herbs, and after they were finished, ashes floated away on the wind.
***
The forest where the coven landed seemed a different world entirely. Frost was quickly approaching, turning the warm autumn leaves to stony ice. Valek’s boots crunched solemnly across them as they walked between the shadows of the trees.
“I thought you said this would bring us to Old Town?” Sasha questioned.
“Shoot.” Sarah was the one to answer. She tilted her head up at the night sky. The moon looked almost full, but it wasn’t. “A minor miscalculation.”
Francis fumed, waving his hand through his hair. “Perfect! Just perfect, Sarah. The sun will be up in a few, short hours and we don’t even know where we are.”
“Just hold on a minute. The spell wasn’t that strong. We are probably right on the outskirts of the city,” Sarah concluded.
“We could not have invaded the castle tonight, anyhow,” Lusian explained. “They will be waking up soon. We want to do this tomorrow, in the dead of night.”
“Charlotte’s birthday,” Valek mused aloud. Francis glanced at him.
“No,” Sarah continued as they started to walk. “The wedding will be at sunset. We have to go as soon as you all wake up.”
“Why?” Sasha asked.
“A mortal can only marry an Elf under a harvest moon. It signifies the end of Summer and the beginning of Winter. Or the ‘in between’ of life and death.” She stumbled once on an unseen tree branch in the dark as they marched. Mr. Třínožka effortlessly pulled her up with one of his appendages onto his back. “Thank you.” She sighed. “We have to get to her before the ceremony is over. The moon is full tomorrow night.”
Andela toyed with something around her neck. It glinted in the moonlight, catching Valek’s attention. “Excuse me. What is that?”
Andela stopped and held up a small, wedding band strung on a pewter chain. “It was my husband’s. I’ve kept it all these years. He was killed on our wedding night. A Vampire wanted to claim me for his own. And so he did, though he was destroyed also.” Something evil glinted in her eyes.
“I’m sorry,” Valek whispered.
“How do you know where we are going, little Witch?” Dusana asked.
“I don’t,” she chirped cheerfully from atop the spider’s back.
“I do,” Mr. Třínožka grumbled. “Can’t you smell the mortals from this distance? Prague is North.”
“How long?” inquired Jorge.
“I’d say about four hours this way,” the spider replied. “There is approximately two hours until daylight. It will take us only one to get to the nearest graveyard,” he instructed. “I kin smell that, too.”
“We would find it much faster if we were running,” Sasha said.
“Well, you could run, but sooner or later you’ll run right into a guard. They’re hiding all over these woods,” Mr. Třínožka said. “But I know where they’re hidin’.”
“You’re awfully relaxed, my dear.” Francis smiled at Sarah, who seemed to be napping atop the Spider.
“It is better to stay calm in a situation like this. I really do believe we are going to get to her in time,” she offered, mostly for Valek’s sake.
“We will get to her in time,” Valek said confidently. “And I will never let her leave my sight again.”
Chapter Twenty-Five
Princess
Charlotte lay there, in the smallest, crumpled ball she could possibly form, under the thick bedclothes. Her eyes stung from crying so much, but she couldn’t stop. The tears continued to freefall. There wasn’t enough energy to sob. She’d barely made a noise in the last few hours. All she could focus on was how many ways she could give up.
Valek was surely dead, because the guards had caught up to them by now. And no matter how many times the moon took its place in the sky, he was never going to wake up again. She hugged her knees even tighter to her chest. Helpless, she thought of Valek’s wife then. All she could do was pray.
It was completely foreign and unfamiliar, yet she folded her hands together in front of her face. “This prayer is for Valek’s wife,” she began. “I’m not sure if you can hear me, but if you can, I pray for Valek’s safety. I pray we will be reunited.” She stopped praying. It felt silly to be talking to no one. She pulled her whistle from her blouse and put it to her lips, blowing on it very softly.
The chamber door behind her, cracked open. She shuddered when she heard it, knowing immediately who approached. Footsteps made their way toward the bed. She shut her eyes tight again, willing the world to disappear from around her.
“Charlotte?”
His voice was tender and kind. That absolutely enraged her.
“Lottie?”
“Don’t you call me that!” she screamed, rearing up on the bed to face him. “Don’t you dare call me that!” She lunged at the Elf, her fists hurdling high in the air. She swung for his face but clumsily missed and fell into his arms. “I don’t ever want to hear that name again.” She sobbed.
“The ceremony is this night, Charlotte. You’re going through with this, so I suggest you prepare.” Aiden’s voice was considerably more like stone this time.
She glared up into his face. “I want you to die.” She sent a wad of spit flying directly between his eyes.
He furiously shoved her back onto the bed and wiped at his face. “Charlotte, don’t make this harder on yourself. This will happen by will or by force. It is your choice.” He left the room, immediately replaced by the ever jubilant Meredith Price.
Charlotte looked at the vial Meredith was carrying, eyes widening.
“Good morning, my dear.” She beamed. “It is almost your wedding night!” She began to approach the bed.
“No.” Charlotte backed away steadily on her hands and knees. “I won’t let you!”
“Don’t worry, my love. This is not going to hurt one bit. Mama is going to make it better.” Charlotte fought with all her might. Meredith violently clasped Charlotte’s jaw and forced it open. She squirmed under the large Elf’s weight as Meredith poured the contents—not liquid, but something more like a colored smoke—down Charlotte’s throat.
“That’s a good girl. You’ll like being a royal. You’ll like it almost as much as I will.” She grabbed Charlotte’s hand. “And this line on your hand? I put it there when you were a child. You were the only one my Aiden wanted, and I decided to take fate into my own hands.” She giggled as she bounced out of the chamber.
Charlotte heard the lock on the other side of the d
oor click shut. She leapt from the bed and ran to it, tearing her fingers into the wood until her nail beds began to bleed. She screamed for someone, anyone to set her free. She pounded and fought until she was just too tired, and sank to her knees. She pressed her forehead against the cool wood and a sob finally broke from her chest. She wrapped her tattered hand around the whistle. Sarah said it would protect her. She lied.
Charlotte forced herself to drag her body back toward the bed, but she hardly made it. She threw just her upper half over the mattress, her legs remaining on the floor, and buried her face in the bed covers. If she kept it there long enough, she would suffocate. But something hazy began to react behind her eyes. Her violent thoughts became elusive, distant pictures. She pictured Valek’s face, and she grabbed onto the bedclothes tighter, as if trying to hang on to the image.
The scar on her neck began to burn again. Charlotte screamed and pulled her whole body up onto the bed. The pain was worse this time. And what was more, the pain just wasn’t at her throat, but at the base of her skull and behind her eyes. The potion. What had Meredith Price given her? She screamed again, trying to dig her forehead deeper into the covers. “Valek!” She screamed as the cloudy image slowly started to disappear and burning pain was replaced with the feeling of cool pools of water. Her body relaxed. She opened her mouth to say his name again, but it did not come out. She couldn’t remember how to even form the word.
She licked her lips and blinked, lifting her head to view the room again. It was beautiful, she thought. The bed was dressed in fine, Egyptian cotton, and the drapes and tapestries along the wall were velvet and gold leaf. The image of the Gryphon was depicted everywhere; in the table carvings, the bed legs, the artwork. She rolled over onto her back, a strange emotion filling her chest. There was someone she thought of, but she could not see a face. It was someone she loved. Really loved. She blinked at the ceiling. Funny. Had she always lived there? She became very still and quiet.
***
Aiden, who had been listening all the while just on the other side of the door, unlocked it and remained still, listening for any sort of stirring. There was none. He opened the door completely and emerged through the threshold to see Charlotte lying peacefully in the center of the bed. She appeared to be sleeping. He slowly approached her, careful. He sat just on the edge of it and lightly touched her curls with the ends of his fingers.
Her eyes fluttered open. Her head rolled to one side as she looked at him. Her green eyes were wide and confused as they danced about the features on his face. But then the confusion softened into a smile. She remembered his face. “Is it you?” she asked.
“Yes.” Aiden smiled. “Yes, it’s me.”
She smiled wider and sat up. “Then, I love you,” she said confidently.
“And I love you, Charlotte.” He brought his hand under her chin and kissed her lightly. His mother’s medicine worked, as always. As long as she never saw the Vampire’s face again, she would never remember. Aiden would take his queen that night, and the entire magical realm would be his and Charlotte’s. Ruled by light. Darkness condemned. “But you are very tired.”
She frowned and dropped her gaze. “Yes. I am,” she agreed. But something flickered at the forefront of her mind. “But there is something I want.”
Aiden’s heart dropped into his stomach. “Anything.”
“I-I want to see the sun…” she began. “I haven’t seen it in such a long time.”
Aiden smiled, relieved. “Absolutely, my love.” He stood from the bed and offered his hand. “It hasn’t come over the horizon yet. We will watch it rise together.”
Charlotte beamed and bounced from the bed, taking his hand. They began to walk out of the room. She looked down, shocked at the grunginess of her dress, the bloody scabs on her knees. She noticed then the throbbing pain in her hands as well.
“What happened to me?” She looked horrified at Aiden. She let his hand go and touched the caked mud on her clothes. “I’m hurt.”
He panicked slightly, grabbing her hand again. “Nothing happened to you, my love. It was a very difficult journey to get you here.”
“Why? Where did I come from?” she asked.
“The gates of Hell,” he muttered under his breath, and continued to lead her out of the chamber.
***
The coven emerged from the dense thicket of evergreens. With his head lifted to the looming dawn, Valek could see the bony, white fingers of the sun’s rays clawing out from the underside of the earth. The clearing ahead was long, and just at the foot of the hill, he could see clearly the shapes of ancient mausoleums scattered about the small cemetery.
Sarah valiantly patted Mr. Třínožka on the back. “Never wrong.”
“Quickly now,” Francis instructed.
The group moved fast down the side of the hill. Lusian and Sasha took off at their fastest speed to secure themselves in the nearest grave. Valek could feel the onslaught of the morning pains begin again. He held onto the image of Charlotte in his mind as he and the rest raced the sun.
Francis used his slate-colored arms to pry open the doors of a small, stone grave guarded by a large granite angel in the center of the cemetery. Valek looked at it, too, recognizing it as Ezekiel, angel of death and new beginnings. The angel’s stony finger pointed left, to an empty grave. Valek sprang for it just as the sun began to stretch over the tops of the trees, his limbs already becoming stiff and ashy. As he pulled the heavy door closed, locking himself in darkness, he could clearly make out the vision of Andela, standing in the middle of the cemetery. She spun about, searching for something.
“Andela!” Valek called from the crevice. “What are you doing?”
She stopped and looked at him.
“Come! Now!” he called again. “You will die!”
She panicked. “My wedding band! It dropped in the grass!”
“Andela! You are going to burn!”
She turned her face, now deeply sunken and grey toward the white light overtaking the sky. Flames exploded first from her chest and then her face as she started sprinting for Valek.
He reached his arm out to her as far as he could, but any movement at all was becoming increasingly difficult. He could see her jet eyes now emerging from her burning face. He reached farther, grabbing onto her hand, and pulled her inside. He slammed the door shut against the light, exhausted. His head rolled back against the rock surface of the inside wall.
“Andela.” He breathed. “Are you all right?” But when he opened his eyes to look at her, he saw she had been too late. Her once flawless, angelic face was reduced to ashes. Her exposed jawbone stayed eternally open in a silent scream, her eyes staring horrified at him. His shoulders dropped as he buried his face in his hands. “Andela….” He reached out to stroke her blonde hair, now course and gray. “Say hello to your husband for me. Help me to see my love again as well.” He leaned back, and closed his eyes.
***
Charlotte eagerly leaned over the palace balcony as she watched the morning climb higher and higher into the sky. It felt like she had lived her whole life and had never seen the sun. It was so glorious and life giving. She squinted, shadowing her eyes with her hand as it gradually shown brighter and painted the sky a brilliant October gold. She shivered a little, despite its warmth; Aiden removed his double-breasted jacket and covered her shoulders with it.
He bent to whisper in her ear. “It’s beautiful.”
She smiled. “It reminds me of you. It always has.”
Aiden was slightly taken back by that statement. “Really?”
She nodded and hugged his jacket tighter. “Yes. Because it’s the same color as your hair. And it is…opposite from…the moon.” She frowned. “The sun is warm and…the moon is…not.” Something else flickered at her mind.
Aiden swallowed and placed his hand at the small of her back. “Right. Well, let’s get you cleaned up.”
Confused, she let him lead her away from the balcony. She turned back befo
re going inside, looking over her shoulder once more at the sky. Just in time, she was able to see the large face of the moon. Silver, fading against the light of the sun, about to disappear back under the horizon. But it would come up again, she reminded herself. It always did.
Chapter Twenty-Six
Bloodlust
The smell of burning wood spiraled through his lungs when Valek finally awoke. Smoke crept in through the thin, stone crevices of the mausoleum. He pushed quickly off the slanted wall where he had been resting and with all his might, pulled the door back to reveal winding orange flames billowing high into the stars. Panicking, he bolted from the small grave, dodging through the fire.
“Valek!” Sasha called out. He had just awoken as well, crawling from his own crypt.
“Help me get the others! We have to get out of here!” Valek commanded, ducking under a burning tree limb to pull the doors open to the center crypt where Francis rested. “Francis!”
I’m here, Francis’ mind answered him. He pushed the stone apart from the inside and grabbed onto Valek’s arms to get above ground.
“They must have found out we were here. The entire forest is burning,” Valek said.
Sarah crawled out from the grave as well, coughing up the smoke.
“Sarah,” Francis began. “Which way do we continue?”
“We have to go northeast. I’ll get rid of the fire, but we need to hurry,” she finished, before she started running for the edge of the field.
Valek and Francis darted through the graveyard to help the rest of the coven to safety. The smoke would have been blinding for any human or animal, but they saw right through it. As Valek ran to help Lusian, something gold glinted in the smoldering grass by the base of the Ezekiel statue. He grabbed for it. Andela’s lost wedding band. He stopped, turning back to glance at the mausoleum where he’d left her resting.
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