Terrifying Love: A Halloween Anthology

by Serena Nova

  I grumbled something affirmative and followed her into the video shop. After locking the door, she spent a minute painting runes around the doorframe as if in a frenzy. I was taken aback by the sheer amount of runes she drew, but didn’t say anything. Her antics were none of my business.

  Once she was done, she led the way back, and I waited while she gave the door to her real shop the exact same treatment. Then she walked through the shop and we took the stairs leading to the second floor. When she closed the door to her apartment and started her runing frenzy once more, I couldn’t help myself.

  “What’s with the thousands of runes?”

  She threw me a dirty look over her shoulder, not stopping what she was doing. “In case you haven’t noticed, I am a lone witch. I have no coven to protect me. My runes are the only thing keeping me safe.” She turned her back to me. “Not that they helped me tonight,” she mumbled.

  “You can stop that now,” I told her, a little unnerved by her paranoia. It hit too close to home for my comfort. “As long as I am here, no harm will come to you.”

  She snorted and seemingly doubled her speed and effort in drawing more runes.

  I shrugged, leaving her to her nonsense and took in the apartment. We stood in a short corridor, from which three doors led to different rooms. To my left, I spied a small bedroom, to my right was the bathroom and straight ahead seemed to be a living room, if the black leather couch and the TV were any indications. The décor itself was cozy, the colors mostly cream and beige, yet her scent obviously lingered everywhere. A mix of honey, vanilla, and something heady I could not pinpoint. Together it was most intoxicating and had me wondering if it was any indication to how her blood would taste. With a soft growl at myself, I traipsed along the corridor to poke my head into the living room.

  For a second, I blinked, thinking my eyes were playing a trick on me. Further inside the room, sat an open-plan kitchen. And it was hideous. The cupboards and appliances had the same neon-green color as her hair, and sported polka-dots in pink and purple. “Ugh, unfortunate,” I mumbled.

  “Rude,” Minette said from behind me, making me jump. “You are a pretty inconsiderate jerk, you know that?”

  “No,” I deadpanned. “People usually scream and run when they see me coming. Wise, of course. But I doubt it’s because of my manners.”

  Chapter Six - Minette

  I let out an indignant huff, in reality, hiding a laugh. Whether or not she had made a joke on purpose was hard to tell, and I wanted to keep my head on the off-chance that she’d been serious. Somehow, I couldn’t imagine her being a good sport when laughed at.

  “Sit down,” I told her and waved at the small round table between the kitchen and living room. My dining table. Also used for readings and scrying. The vampire didn’t object, but parked it on one of the rickety chairs. I cleared the clutter from the table, so the inlayed map came into view. It looked like the world, carved into the surface, but I could zoom in and out using runes.

  “Exceptional,” Kayla said, fingering the tiny grooves making up Greenland.

  I couldn’t help giving her a cheeky wink. “Wait till you see me use it.”

  To my utter surprise, a shy smile threatened to overtake her lips, I saw hints of one anyway. “Please do.”

  I strode to the kitchen, cursing when the chain got stuck on the edge of a counter and I was yanked back unceremoniously before I reached the drawer I’d aimed for. With a frown, I pulled on the chain, got it free and rummaged through the drawer for a knife. Finally, having found one, I made my way back and sat down. Reaching one hand across the table, I beckoned her with my fingers. “Hand.”

  “What for?”

  “I need a sample of your blood. As a turned vampire, you sire’s essence runs in it. I can use it to scry for his exact location.”

  Slowly, she placed her hand in mine and I hid the jolt, touching her skin sent through me, by pulling her closer and selecting a finger. I poked the tip of her index finger with the knife, then squeezed it until a drop manifested. Quickly, I pulled my crystal necklace over my head and dipped the tip of the crystal into her blood. For a moment, I held the crystal up, scrutinizing the drop of blood on its tip. It was very dark in contrast to the see-through crystal, a sign that she hadn’t fed in a while.

  Another jolt went through me, this time called forth by the image of her biting me. Hekate, was I going crazy? No one in their right mind thought about a vampire biting them, not when the thought itself sent tingles over their back. And not those of the bad kind. Everyone knew that vampire bites were excruciating.

  I breathed out and closed my eyes, ridding my mind of turmoil. There was scrying to be done. Holding the necklace out in front of me, I drew the rune of ‘elder’ and ‘find’ in the air. Opening my eyes, I saw the golden runes hover, before swirling around the crystal in glittering dust. I started swinging the necklace over the entire map in circles. It took two rounds, then the stone swerved to the left. Drawing a rune directly on the table made the carving zoom in.

  I smiled softly as I heard the vampire gasp. We both watched the crystal pointing steadily as I enlarged the map further. Until—

  “But that’s here,” I said.

  “Congratulations, witch. You have found me by scrying with my blood,” she said sarcastically. “How amazing.”

  “Shut it, will you?” I snapped, drawing the enlarging rune over once more. The crystal pointed at the outskirts of Trinity. A valley that was sparsely populated. “You were saying?” I raised a brow at her.

  “Is there something?” she asked me.

  “I think that is where the old cemetery of the city used to be. Makes sense, no?”

  Excitement gleamed in her eyes, a flash of silver scattering over them. “Now we know where to go. What is next? Bombs?”

  I got up and stretched extensively, reveling in her checking me out as I did. “Next, we get some rest. It’s almost dawn and you can’t go anywhere during the day.” I drew off my green wig, placed it down on the table and fought with the bobby pins stuck in my real hair.

  “Your hair is the color of fire-dust,” she observed. “Why ever would you wear false hair?”

  “Changes things up,” I said and walked to the window, hiding the blush her words had called forth. I drew the thick curtains closed tightly, then my shoulders sank as I remembered. “I wanted to offer you the couch, but with the chain… I don’t know how much you can elongate it.”

  “That will not be a problem.”

  “I-it won’t?”

  “No.” She stood, her face level. “We will share the bed. It is big enough.”

  “We will – Oh, no. Absolutely not!”

  “Why?” She tilted her head inquisitively, looking more like a hellhound than a cute puppy. “Scared?”

  “I-I will not sleep with a vampire! How do you expect me to catch any amount of shut-eye, fearing that I’d wake to you gnawing on me?”

  She heaved out an exasperated sigh. “First of all, I do not gnaw.” Turning her back to me, she led the way out of the dining room and into my bedroom. Once there, she sat on the bed, her eyes liquid mercury as she looked up at me. “Secondly, if I did decide to bite you – and trust me I won’t – you’d enjoy it more than you know.”

  Chapter Seven - Kayla

  As a turned vampire I fell into a stone-like trance the minute the sun breached the horizon. It was both a curse and practical. In this case especially. After she did what she called pre-bed routine, I tucked the grumpy witch into my body, her back against my chest. We mirrored each other like two silver spoons. I wound one arm under her neck and palmed both her fists into my hands, thus preventing her from hexing.

  Her warmth was comfort, the scent of her hair – which my nose was buried in – driving me wild. I felt her heartbeat against the skin over my ribs and relished it. The rush of blood in her veins made my fangs throb and I wanted to nick her skin badly, to lap up some of that sweet life. But I controlled myself.

 
I began to petrify and forced my lids shut before I fell into the trance completely. For a second, a fear as old as time took hold of me, but I knew the curtains were drawn and I had hung extra blankets over the window. Plus, the witch was facing it, and I was tucked behind her, my back to the door. I relaxed as my last thought was one of comfort, cuddled against warm life, different from all the previous nights. Different from a century of sleeping alone. It was… nice.

  *******

  I woke to movement and wriggling. “Come ooon, wake up! Kayla!” the witch lamented, pulling at my hold on her with intensifying effort. It felt like a struggling puppy.

  I opened my arms and hands and she shot from the bed. “Finally,” she fumed and stalked from the room. Her face was angry – charmingly flushed with ire – as she pulled on the golden chain. “I had to fucking pee for ages! Give me some more room, will ya?”

  I elongated the chain and she threw me a dark look as she vanished through the bathroom door, the lock clicking after she closed it and I chuckled. Funny little witch, as if a door would hold me. Locked or not.

  Sitting up and blinking the sleep from my eyes, I scrambled from the bed and caught my reflection in the mirror of a white vanity tucked in the corner of the room. Smirking, I made my way over. I hadn’t seen one in a few years, certainly not in the places I used to hide during the day. It reminded me of my human days, and I sat down on the plush little stool. Fiddling with the witch’s toiletries, I avoided my ghoulish face. It was too pale, the angles too sharp, the shadows beneath my, too deep, eyes too dark. The living dead, I looked the part. Long gone were the days during which I had cared about my appearance. The witch did, though. Countless little pots, brushes, balms, powders, and strange contraptions lined the table. Reaching out, I grabbed a silvery one, that looked like a torture device, but had holes for two fingers, like scissors.

  “That is a lash-curler,” Minette explained behind me.

  Refusing to out my surprise in a jerk, I put them back. The witch was stealthy. “Who in their right mind would put this near their lashes?” I rumbled and reached for the hairbrush, pulling it through my hair a few times before getting up.

  “I need more chain-room,” Minette voiced.

  “What for?”

  She rolled her eyes. “I would like to shower without strangling myself.”

  “Fine,” I said and gave her more chain. While she vanished once more, locking the door again, I elongated the chain as far as it went. “Could have slept on the couch,” I surmised, standing in the kitchen. A grin flashed over my lips and I froze, tapping my lips in surprise. It had been a while since I grinned, other than to instill fear, or before a tantalizing hunt. Strange.

  Seeing all the ingredients, pots, and pans, I decided to try my hand at breakfast. I didn’t need to eat, but used to like it.

  *******

  Minette walked into the kitchen to find me frying omelets and small sausages. She ogled me behind the hearth for a few seconds, then decided to ignore the fact that apparently, she found the sight weird. The witch looked as sweet as sunrise. She had her fire-dust hair curled into a bun, locks escaping their confinement already, and tumbling down her temples and neck. Her slightly freckled face blushed under my gaze, and she bit down on her lower lip, red as a berry. The pants and tank top she wore fit her exquisite frame snugly and I snorted once my perusal reached her feet. One sock was pink, the other turquoise.

  “Didn’t find a fitting pair?” I asked, pointing the spatula at her feet.

  She grimaced and stalked past me to one of the hanging cupboards. “No,” she said as she got out two plates, “I merely refuse to wear fitting pairs. Makes life terribly dull. Like this I have a secret no one can see.”

  “That makes no sense.”

  “It doesn’t have to, not to you, anyhow. They’re my socks, I need to like them.” She set the table and I went over to fill our plates.

  “Coffee?” I asked, as I placed the pan back on the hearth.

  Minette sat down, sniffing her steaming food. “Yes, please.”

  Another one of those strange smirks flitted over my lips as I fetched two mugs, filled them with coffee and walked to the table.

  The witch glared at me, then at her food, then at her coffee. A deep groove appeared between her brows, her glare deepening.

  “Is something the matter?” I asked, before I could stop myself. Why did I care?

  “You made me breakfast.”

  “Looks like it.”

  “And coffee.”

  I speared a sausage onto my fork and took a bite. “Again, stating the obvious.”

  “That was… nice of you.”

  “And?”

  “I’m suspicious of nice you. At least when you’re all growly and bossy, I know what to expect.”

  “Eat you eggs, witch. We have a long night ahead,” I nodded at her plate.

  Chapter Eight - Minette

  There she was, the growly and bossy vampire I had encountered last night. Yet, her face was less angry, less dark. I could have sworn I saw her smile before she brought the coffee. And she made breakfast? I wasn’t sure how much of me was miffed that she’d just used my kitchen without asking, and how much I wanted to thank her for the food. Which was great by the way. I loved breakfast food.

  “Where are we going tonight?” she asked between bites, her fangs glinting each time she opened her mouth.

  “I was thinking we could make a few trips, gather all we need for the stunning bombs and the chains. Do you know of anything else to slow him down?” She stared, catching me off guard. “I-I mean he turned you, right? And after? He just went to sleep? That seems unlikely.”

  Her face pinched with hatred, those silver eyes sending shivers down my lower back. “He changed me, yes, but my guild found us before he could work his magic completely. I never served him fully, and I was able to fight him. My guild used arrows coated in a rogue vampire’s blood to wound him. Apparently, as an elder vampire, he knew of a way to avoid turning rogue himself, which should be impossible. But as soon as he perceived what had been shot at him, he fled like the devil was on his heels.” She blinked and shoveled more food into her mouth, swallowed, and downed half of her coffee. “I stumbled across another elder vampire not long into my transition, and she told me about a legend kept secret amongst their —” she frowned “— our kind. The rogue state could be halted and avoided if the elder vampire went into a magically induced, regenerative, sleep. For a hundred years. I have no idea if it worked, or if he will wake as a rogue, but I’m not keen on him walking this earth again either way. Not when his blood inside of me is like a homing beacon for him. He can find me anywhere.”

  I fled her gaze and dug in, concentrating on my food. “Do you think rogue blood would hinder him again? Should we get some?” I glared at my omelet. “What am I thinking? How would we even get rogue blood?”

  “There is a place, deep in the forest of Estonia,” Kayla said. “A cave inhabited by a few rogues. I think it would be prudent to have the ingredient that tipped the scales last time.”

  I nearly choked. Coughing, I reached for my mug and took a sip. “You can’t be serious,” I said wheezing. “There is no way in hell I’d ever enter a cave that houses rogue vampires. Nuh-uh.”

  *******

  An hour later, I neatly lined up all the curse words I had learned during my lifetime – I knew a lot – while following Kayla through an Estonian forest. “I am not fucking down with this, vampire. You’re crazy if you think we’ll survive this. Batshit, in fact!”

  “Have a little faith, witch. And look on the bright side, if I don’t come out of that cave again, you can just go home and forget all about me.”

  “Fat chance,” I snarled. Not only would I never forget this brief encounter, some part of me also didn’t want to. And an even bigger part of me didn’t want her to die. No matter how hardassed she seemed, there was an occasional grudging softness shining through.

  Kayla held a finger to her lip
s and pointed ahead. “The cave is up ahead,” she whispered. “You’ll stay here.”

  “The fuck I will,” I protested, but had no chance when she wound the chain around a boulder, severing her connection to it.

  “Be right back,” she said, got out her whip and winked at me, before zipping off faster than my eyes could follow.

  “Fuuuck me,” I moaned. True, if she died, the chain would open and I could go on my way, but I was also in the middle of a dark forest, inhabited by rogue vampires and who knew what else. I skimmed my palms over the mossy boulder and started drawing runes on it. If I were able to lift it, even for a few seconds, I could pull the chain from where it surrounded the base. I wasn’t hopeful though. Lifting something this heavy took a lot more magic than I could conjure up in a short amount of time. But if I combined my runes… made a linking circle of them… I didn’t need one rune, I needed lots of them. Lift and hold, linked to shrinking and lightening. Yes!

  Feverishly, I went to work. I was halfway around the boulder, when a snapping sound behind me had me whirling around. I scanned the dark brush to my side, seeing nothing but blackness. “Kayla?” I whispered. “Stop sneaking around, this is not funny!”

  Hoping against hope, that it was indeed my vampire whose eyes I felt upon me – making the hair on my neck stand on edge – I narrowed my eyes, trying hard to penetrate the dark. Silver flashed and a low growl reached me. “Shit. You are not Kayla,” I whispered.

  As quickly as I could, I drew a warding rune into the air, and not a second too soon. A vampire came barreling at me, crashing into the shield I had just erected. She was thrown back, but effectively smashed my shield to bits by running into it. I stumbled, fell on my ass and scrambled back as she got up, her wild eyes focusing on me, her growl making my heart beat like I’d just run a race. She prowled closer and I frantically tried to get some distance between up. She was above me in a flash, her fangs long and white, descending past her lower lip like daggers. She hissed, grabbing my chin to turn my head, and I closed my eyes.