Valek and Francis grabbed hands for the last time as they continued to run, before Francis disappeared around a grand corridor that led to a large staircase, and up to what would be Vladislov’s quarters.
“It’s just you and me now.” Lusian and Valek bumped fists as they raced onward through the palace.
Valek inhaled and quickly turned his head to the left, to the sound of distant organ music playing. “The ceremony is starting.” Valek felt the anxiety crawling under his skin. “Godspeed, Lusian,” he said, before skidding on his heels to stop, and racing faster than the mortal eye could see in a different direction.
He could hear the conversation and laughter of somewhere between two and three hundred of the Regime’s most esteemed guests. This was it. He closed his eyes and inhaled again, pushing his body faster and faster, despite the raging pain of the coming sun.
***
When Francis finally got to the top of the tower and saw Vladislov’s door, he sucked in a free, sweet breath that burned in his lungs before heading straight into the wood, splintering it all over the room. Sure enough, Vladislov was just on the other side in his fine robes. He turned to see Francis standing there and smiled.
“Ah, my old friend. It has been ages,” Vladislov crooned. “How are you?”
“I don’t have time, Vlad. I have to kill you and be done with it.”
“You know, despite all of this time, I have never forgotten your little pet you sent me. Valek, is it?” He stroked his beard with his mechanical hand.
“Valek is on his way to kill the only heir to your throne.”
“Ah. I wish him well then. I hope he has better luck this time.” Vladislov chuckled and waved his hand. Dawn, which had begun ascending just outside his window, seemed to implode back under the horizon, buying Valek a little more time. Francis breathed a little. “We could have ruled both the light and the dark until you left, Francis. But as you can see, I’ve grown old, and you’ve fallen in love with someone else. Do you want darkness, really? Because I can give that to you.” He swept his hand through the air again, making all of the candle flames around the room flicker out. The strands of smoke slowly circled and entwined together as Francis watched in thoughtful wonder. They gathered into one, massive clump, creating three, beastly, dragon-like heads that snarled and chomped near his face, blowing his silver curls back. The chill that formed in the chamber was enough to send a chill even up a Vampire’s spine. He shuddered.
“I can trap you in the darkness forever, Francis! You should have listened to me! You should have remained human! Remained in the light with me! We would have ruled together,” Vladislov cried. “But instead, you chose the darkness. You wanted to change. You made that decision the night you got sick and drank from a Vampire. You panicked, you coward!” His bony hand swiped through the dark room again, sending glass bottles from shelves smashing across the wooden floorboards.
“You cast me out, Vladislov. You condemned me! If you truly wanted me as your companion, you wouldn’t have done that. No matter what I was.”
One of the dragonheads reared back, a large roar tearing through the room, down the hall. The thing lurched forward, striking Francis in the chest before traveling straight through him and out. The stone walls around them began to shake and crumble.
“What is the matter? Too much darkness for you to handle?” Vladislov laughed.
A black film began to stretch out from under Francis’ clothes, over the white skin on his arms and face. The new skin wrapped itself under his hairline, in his ears and around his neck, until he was completely transformed.
“What is this?” Francis blanched, examining his hand.
“You are what you fight for. You are darkness itself. You are death. Whatever you touch now will die like the death you now embody. There will be no light where you go. There will be no happiness. You will live as I have for the past several decades. Alone.”
Francis furiously lunged at Vladislov’s throat, his fangs bared. They penetrated the flesh there and tore out the jugular, spitting it to the ground.
A frozen, shocked expression was eternally painted on the aged Wizard’s dead face as he dropped to his bony knees and fell face-first to the floor, smashing into a million glassy pieces before disappearing altogether.
Francis turned then, to examine himself in a dusty, full-length mirror against the wall. His eyes were no longer eyes, but orbs of self-emitting light. And his skin was as pure black as it could possibly be. Only his white hair kept its original color. No longer a Vampire, or anything else he had ever recognized. But Vladislov was dead, and once again, the sun had begun its ascension in the East, and Valek was running out of time. Francis flew out of the room, a new shadowy mist stringing behind him as he went.
***
The crowd gathered in massive clumps behind low, velvet-draped stonewalls to witness the wedding of Elf and mortal. Meredith had gotten Charlotte into her billowing ivory dress successfully and walked her to the start of the great hall.
When the crowd saw Charlotte, she was hit with rolling waves of cheering and joy, which soured against her own feelings. Down the long, forsaken aisle lined with lilies and garnet roses, she could see Aiden, standing in front of a high priest, his hands folded neatly in front of him. The hall, though stone, was warmly lit by dozens of golden candelabras and a grand chandelier in the center. A large, baroque window carved into the far wall behind the priest displayed a magnificent sunrise.
Tears rolled quietly down Charlotte’s face as she watched the pink beams of light begin to set the horizon on fire. She felt Meredith’s hand slide against the small of her back.
“I know, dear. Beautiful, isn’t it?” Meredith sighed. She looked her soon-to-be daughter in the eyes. “Are you ready?”
Charlotte quickly wiped at her cheeks with gloved hands and nodded, adjusting her bouquet to her center. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Meredith give the signal to the organ player, who immediately sat down, and dramatically raised his arms in the air to begin playing a wedding march.
The sound rang hollow through Charlotte’s head, too distant for her to hear. And though she did not consciously tell her feet to move, they did, and she was walking.
Slowly, she passed the onlookers that surrounded her, smiling. They murmured things to each other as she passed. She looked to Aiden, who stood very still and poised at her destination, waiting, then glanced past him at the sun, now blazing like a thousand firing cannons aiming for her. She closed her eyes as more tears rolled. Valek is dead, she told herself as they dripped off her chin.
“I love you so much, Valek,” she whispered. “Wait for me.” She continued walking, every step closing her in to her eminent disaster. She saw Aiden smile at her, and she dropped her gaze, thinking she might be sick.
“Charlotte! ” someone roared from the back of the hall. Everyone turned their attention to the entrance.
Charlotte spun, dropping the bouquet at her feet. She saw him then, standing there. Dirty and beautiful. His scarred skin seemed to glow from within as he began running to her. Everyone in the hall was in a panic as guards struggled to stop him.
“Valek,” she said quietly, though rejoicing louder than she ever had. She turned back around to the windows in horror then. “Valek, stop! The sun!”
***
Ignoring her words, he continued to run as fast as he could, though everything in his world seemed in slow motion now. Only a feet from her, he could see his own reflection mirrored back to him in Charlotte’s big, glassy eyes. Valek looked straight into them as he passed her, knowing that may be the last time. No matter how many deaths he died, he would never forget what they looked like—how bright they were.
Normally, when human beings know they were about to die, they saw their entire life flash before them. Well, these images he saw were his life. They were Charlotte, every one of them. He saw the glistening streets of Prague nearly two decades ago. He felt her tiny hand grasp his finger as she took her first
steps. He heard the first time she ever said his name, and then the last. He closed his eyes.
To Charlotte’s terror, he overlooked her completely and ran straight for the Elf at the end of the hallway. The cracks in his skin emitted a strong, white light before being encompassed completely by golden flames, as the morning sun struck him.
Charlotte screamed, her legs collapsing underneath her weight. She stretched her hands out to him, calling his name.
Valek slammed into Aiden, refusing to burn until Aiden was dead. He sank his teeth deep into the throat of the Elf as Aiden grappled to get him off. Valek’s jaw stayed fixed on the Elf’s throat as he pulled and pulled, until there was no life left to take. He felt Aiden’s body go limp, and he let it collapse to the floor before dropping to his knees. The flames that engulfed his body were now fading, licking just at the surface before sputtering out completely.
Charlotte found the strength in her legs to run to him then. She hoisted the material of her dress up around her knees as she stumbled. “Valek! ” she screamed against the silence, and collapsed beside him.
Her hands hovered over his body as he lay before her, broken. She could barely see what the sun had done to him from behind the blur of her tears. “Valek,” was all she could say. She gently ran her fingers through his hair. She did not want to touch his ruined skin in fear it might crumble into ash. Instead, her hands fell in her lap as everyone who was still in the hall numbly looked on.
“Valek,” she cried. “If you can hear me, wait for me. Please.” The words burned so badly in her throat as she spoke them. She could barely open her eyes with the heaviness she felt as she finally draped herself over his chest. “I love you.” She continued to let her tears disappear in the material of his clothes.
The spider Třínožka and Sarah burst into the room. They were met with hundreds of gazes. Meredith Price, who had been watching in frozen horror suddenly burst forth, running to her son’s side as Charlotte had. She clutched her son’s head in her hands. “My baby! My son!” She turned her eyes angrily on Charlotte. “What have you done? You will die for this!” she hissed. “For taking away my child.”
Charlotte looked up at her and then at the hundreds of eyes resting on her also.
“No one will touch the girl.” Sarah leapt off the Spider’s back and approached where Charlotte and Valek lay. “We have killed every leader in the Regime order.” Sarah’s announcement was responded to with gasps from around the hallway.
To everyone’s surprise, Lusian, Dusana, Sasha, Jorge, and a much different looking Francis emerged from behind Mr. Třínožka, as well as a few other Vampires Charlotte did not recognize. She stood. “What’s going on? How are you alive?”
“We drained the blood of powerful Elves from every denomination,” Lusian explained. “Be it fire, wind, earth, or water. It has always been said the blood of one from magic is poison to us. But we have discovered consuming the life of someone of the light will protect us against it.” He flashed his fangs at Meredith. “Valek is alive,” he said joyfully.
Everyone looked to the Vampire lying next to Charlotte.
“Because he drank from Aiden. Light cannot rule over darkness anymore because we now know your secret. We will leave in peace if you do not follow us,” Lusian announced to Meredith.
“Who is going to follow you now?” Tears streamed from Meredith’s eyes. “You have killed my entire family.”
“Aiden is not dead,” Sarah said softly. “But he will need immediate attention. If you don’t want one of us to finish the job, you will not follow us when we leave. Light and dark should exist in balance. One may not rule over the other, or the world will surely fall in on itself.”
Meredith turned back to her son, taking his hand in hers. “Fine! Go! We will not bother you. I just want my baby to come back to me.” She cried and buried her face in his chest.
The coven rushed to Valek’s side and hoisted him onto Mr. Třínožka’s back, where Dusana jumped up and fastened Valek to him using her many belts. Lusian followed.
“Come on, Charlotte.” Sarah held her arms out.
Charlotte blinked at her, but before leaving for the final time, she turned once more to look at Meredith, on the floor with her son.
“Meredith.” The woman did not look at her. “I want you to know if I ever see your face again, I will personally not rest until I know you are dead.”
Charlotte wiped the last of her hot tears away from her eyes and walked out of the palace hall with Sarah and the rest of what she considered to be her family.
Chapter Thirty
Reprise
It was evening back in what used to be the Southern Bohemian Occult when Charlotte and the coven walked through her familiar bent, iron gate, past the small cemetery, and under the long, forest tunnel. They walked into the town square she had not seen in what felt like an eternity. They were not greeted by any sort of parade. There were no celebrations for the unsung heroes of the night as they made their way past the old, abandoned inns and shops. The sign to Edwin’s store had been broken and was dangling from one chain in the wind. Charlotte suspected it would be a while for her forsaken town to regain its magic.
Francis had left them. He went where he could exist in eternal night, where he could not harm any of the ones he loved, including Charlotte. He bid them a farewell after seeing them safely back through the forests to the Occult city border.
“I will be watching over all of you from the city of the night,” he told them. “No harm will come to you as long as I am there.” And then he was gone as easily as a shadow in a bright flash of light.
Sarah, who had been riding atop the spider for the journey, had been tending to Valek as they went, cleaning up the charred cracks and sooty scars. All of her books and spells had been left at Francis’ home in Prague. Tomorrow, she would cook up a transportation spell to retrieve them. That was the plan she’d told them. Whether she would succeed or not, the others really didn’t know.
Charlotte, who led the group through the abandoned square, could see clearly the large, brown house with the one spire at the front and the cockeyed roof shingles. She stopped walking when she could see her porch steps, too, surrounded by the low, green bushes that had now grown all over the cobblestone footpath. She inhaled the frostbitten air and ran to it. She tripped all over the bottom of her wedding dress, if she even wanted to call it that, ripping the hem to shreds. She ran up the steps like they were her last salvation and collapsed, her hand grasping the small brass doorknob.
Home. A place she thought she’d never see again. She would never take it for granted. Home. She didn’t even bother to open the door. The mere knowing that home was just on the other side of it was enough. She sat on her porch and buried her face in her knees. It was finally all over.
She felt Sarah come and sit beside her. “I can’t imagine how this must feel to you right now.”
Charlotte looked at her. “Of course you can! This is home to you now also. You don’t have to be anyone’s servant anymore. Now all you have to be is my friend.” They smiled at each other before they embraced.
Mr. Třínožka grumbled at the start of the footpath and they both looked at him. “I don’t mean to break this up, but we’ve gotta get this feller inside.” He indicated Valek, who was still strapped to his back. Sarah smiled at Charlotte again before running to help Dusana and Lusian carry him inside.
They easily trailed up the stairs of the house and down the hallway, laying Valek on his bed. The dark drapes were left open so the silver moonlight would be there when he opened his eyes. He would know then that everything was okay. No more hiding. No more fighting. Perhaps it had all just been some horrible nightmare that was over now.
Charlotte stayed downstairs while they did this, trusting Sarah would make sure he’d be comfortable. Instead, she trailed the lower parts of the house, her hands brushing along each wall, ensuring herself she was truly there.
The study, which had been thoroughly abus
ed in their absence—books all over the floor, furniture overturned—was still there, with its forest green walls and wooden moldings. Charlotte bent to pick up her Volume on Vampire Anatomy and placed it back in the same place she had put it thousands of times before. Her sketchbook had been tossed about also, and a picture that had been torn out from between its brown covers was one she had been sketching for Valek. It was of the two of them and their home, together. She picked it up, considering it needed a few new additions.
Ultimately, she made her way past the foyer and the kitchen, to the back room, where she had seldom been allowed. His office. Cautiously she opened the door. What she found on the other side was exactly how he had left it. Pristine. White. Organized. A true embodiment of who he was. Valek’s papers were carelessly shuffled about on the desk like he had been there just last evening. Charlotte hugged the drawing to her chest and smiled. She was really home.
“Charlotte?”
She turned to see the others standing in the threshold of the office.
“Are you all right?” Jorge asked.
She nodded, folding the sketch behind her quickly and smiled. “Yes, just having a look around.”
“Valek should be awake soon,” Dusana offered.
“Thank you. I’ll go up in a minute.”
They waited, looking at her expectantly.
“Oh! Yes, let me show you around. You can make yourself at home anywhere you want.” She cautiously walked past them. Tomorrow, Charlotte decided, she would take them all out hunting in the daylight.
Once they were all settled in; Jorge in the study, reading by the fire after Sarah had magically seen to it that all of the books had been stacked back where they belonged, Lusian, Sasha, and Dusana searching around in the kitchen until they found Valek’s emergency blood packets, and Mr. Třínožka napping in the middle of Charlotte’s singed, old bedroom with Edwin as a teddy bear, Charlotte finally made her way to Valek’s bedroom.
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