by G. K. DeRosa
A few seconds after Roman knocked, the sound of approaching footsteps could be heard. Roman and Nico moved to opposite sides of Celeste whose curly blonde hair was hidden under a baseball cap. The brothers stayed just out of sight of the peephole.
“Who is it?” asked a muffled voice through the door.
“Hi, I’m looking for Vinny. We have a class together - Macroeconomics with Professor Thomas. A friend of mine, Annabelle, said you might be able to help me,” she said as sweetly as possible.
The door opened a crack and the sandy-haired guy with the amber colored eyes peeked his head out. It was just enough for Roman to wedge his hand between the door and shove it open.
Vinny jumped back when he recognized Celeste and the two vampires. They were all in the small apartment now, and Vinny was scanning the area for weapons. Celeste put her hands up in a non-hostile manner. “I didn’t come to hurt you,” she said, speaking calmly. “I just need you to tell me where Brazen is.”
“That’s not going to happen,” he growled.
“You better think twice about that,” said Roman, his fangs dropping into view.
Vinny backed up a few more steps. There was an open door behind him, undoubtedly leading to a back bedroom. Roman and Nico stepped forward to tighten the circle around him.
“Vinny, please just tell us where we can find Brazen, and we’ll leave you alone. I know Brennan, Curtis and Annabelle from your pack and they were the ones who sent me to you. They don’t trust Brazen and neither should you,” said Celeste.
“They’re just stupid kids. They don’t know any better. They don’t appreciate Brazen like I do. I wouldn’t rat him out even if you did try to kill me,” he snarled.
Roman and Nico exchanged glances and Celeste knew exactly what they were thinking. In a split second, they lunged at the guy but Vinny was quick and saw them coming. In an instant, he morphed into a svelte brown wolf, slipping right through their grasps. Vinny spun around and darted through the bedroom door, leaping out the open second story window. Roman was the first back on his feet and raced to the window, but by the time he got there, the wolf was disappearing into the dim forest behind the apartment complex.
“Damn it!” shouted Roman.
“That little wolf was fast!” exclaimed Nico as he peered over Roman’s shoulder and out the window. He and Roman turned to head back out of the apartment with scowls on their faces.
“Wait,” said Celeste “maybe Stellan can use something in here to track him.” She disappeared into the bathroom and reappeared with a satisfied smile on her face, and a small white comb in her hand.
“His hair,” said Roman with a glimmer of pride in his bright blue eyes.
“Exactly!”
***
Alek paced in front of the fireplace like a caged lion. He was furious at his own recklessness. He should have never exposed himself and Lilliana by going to St. Petersburg in the middle of the day. For a moment he had forgotten he had many more enemies than just the Constantin brothers. He had been lulled into a sense of security at having his mother back. He vowed to not repeat that mistake.
Alek found Lilliana sitting in the sunroom, an odd addition to a home in Russia considering the negligible amount of sunlight the country received as a whole. He watched his mother as she sat quietly knitting before she noticed him in the doorway. He pushed back the unfamiliar warm feelings that were bubbling up inside of him and slipped his icy mask back on.
“We must go, immediately,” he said.
“Go where?” she asked, putting down the blue and white shawl she had been working on.
“It’s not safe here anymore. We were trailed when we were in St. Petersburg and now we must disappear,” he replied.
“By my sons?”
Her question cut through Alek like a hot knife. It was the first time since she had been back that she had referred to the Constantin brothers as her sons. He pushed back the rage, and answered, “No, it was a guardian.”
For some reason, the term seemed oddly familiar to Lilliana. She had been having many vivid dreams lately, and somehow she knew they were more than just dreams. She was beginning to recapture her memories. Her mind was still a fog, but every so often it would clear to reveal a picture from her past. She had not told Alek about any of this and couldn’t explain why not. It simply didn’t feel right.
“A guardian?” she asked innocently.
“Yes, they are terribly bothersome hunters of all things supernatural. But there is no need to worry. I will keep you safe, Mother.”
Lilliana gave him a smile. “Where will we go?” she asked.
“Leave everything up to me,” he said. “Now please go pack up your belongings, and be quick about it. We leave this evening.”
“So soon?” she asked. Suddenly the idea of leaving the place where she had last seen her sons terrified her. Would they be able to find her again?
“Yes, we cannot waste any time,” he said as he rushed out the door.
Lilliana neatly folded her dresses into the black wooden trunk Alek had given her upon her return. It was true, they were rather cumbersome, but she simply couldn’t bring herself to wear modern women’s clothing. She had been absolutely aghast at the sights in St. Petersburg. She couldn’t believe what women were wearing these days. It was barely more than what she had worn to go sunbathing as a young girl in the South of France. Another memory, she thought, pleased with herself.
The more memories resurfaced, the more preoccupied she became. She remembered thinking her son, Alek, had been dead and she was incredibly thankful to have him back. But she also remembered her sons Roman and Nico and their father Luka, the love of her life. She had given up so much to be with him, to run away with him and start their family. There were still so many pieces of the puzzle that were missing though, and she couldn’t do anything until she discovered the whole truth of her life.
“Are you almost ready, Mother?” shouted Alek from down the hall.
“Yes, almost,” she replied as she locked up the trunk and glanced up at the portrait of her and a young Alek that had recently been moved to hang over her bed. She knew the portrait wasn’t real. He had been taken from her when he was only one day old. Still, the picture of her with the little blonde boy in the lush green field seemed so perfect.
***
Stellan unrolled a map of the Northeast United States and spread it across his desk. Celeste looked on in fascination as he repeated the locator spell he had used to find Alek, using a strand of Vinny’s hair. Stellan had explained that blood was the best method, but that hair would suffice, as he doubted Vinny was using any sort of cloaking spell to hide his location. And Stellan was right: Vinny’s position appeared on the map immediately, but it was on the move.
“How could he be moving so quickly?” asked Roman.
“I believe he’s popping in and out of realms,” said Stellan, peering at the map through his glasses.
“How’s he doing that?” asked Celeste. “I didn’t know werewolves could create portals.”
“They can’t,” said Stellan. “He must have someone helping him. We can’t get a firm location on him until he stops moving.”
“Do you think the Fae are helping him?” asked Celeste. She cursed herself for forgetting to ask Marie more information last time she saw her. With all the werewolf drama at school, it had completely slipped her mind.
“Why would you think that?” asked Stellan.
“The Queen helped Alek last time and Brazen was working for Alek so maybe there’s some sort of a tie in,” she explained.
Stellan chewed on the end of his glasses. “It’s one thing for Elsbetta to get involved with Alek, who raised him, as we are all now fully aware. Yet, it’s quite another to help a rogue werewolf gang.”
“We shouldn’t discount the possibility all together,” said Roman. Celeste shot him a grateful look.
“I suppose we shouldn’t discount anything at this point,” agreed Stellan. “I’ll keep an ey
e on his movements and let you know when I’ve nailed down his whereabouts.”
“Good, because I’m starving,” said Nico. “Do you have anything to eat in this place?”
Stellan looked abashed. The truth was ever since Dani Lynn had left, he hadn’t felt like cooking for just himself. “There’s a pizza delivery and Chinese take out number on the refrigerator,” he responded.
Celeste suppressed a giggle. There was something extremely amusing about picturing the great sorcerer Stellan calling to order take out. Roman and Nico headed down to the kitchen to order, but Celeste hung back to talk to him for a moment. “Stellan, there’s something I have to tell you that I haven’t told Roman and Nico yet, and I don’t know if I should,” she said.
“About Dante’s intentions regarding Lilliana?”
“Yes! How did you know?” she asked.
“Dalla came to me the other night and recounted the Council’s orders.”
“What am I going to do?” asked Celeste. “I think I convinced Dante that Lilliana’s not a threat for now, but what if she uses magic and he finds out?”
Stellan shook his head. “We can’t let that happen. I’ve been working on finding a cure for Lilliana’s amnesia but I’m sorry to say I haven’t yet been successful. Dalla is trying to find an answer in the Albsurori library and I’m hoping between the two of us we can find a solution before Dante lets up his temporary reprieve.”
“That doesn’t sound very promising,” muttered Celeste.
“I’ve been monitoring Alek and Lilliana, and I’m hoping I’ll be the first one to know if she uses magic,” said Stellan.
“What about Roman and Nico. Should we tell them?” she asked.
“That’s up to you, my dear. This is Guardian business,” he replied.
“Hey Celeste, are you coming down here or what?” shouted Nico from the staircase.
“I’m coming!” she yelled back. She looked to Stellan one more time who smiled at her reassuringly, and she left him to his map watching duties.
“Chinese or pizza?” asked Nico as they huddled around the empty refrigerator.
“I just had pizza the other day,” said Celeste. “So my vote is Chinese.”
“Very well then, and since Roman and I are such gentlemen, we will let the lady’s choice be the deciding vote,” Nico said as he picked up the phone to dial Ming Wei’s Orient Express.
Roman and Celeste sat down at the kitchen table and waited in an awkward silence for Nico to place the order.
“Thanks for saving my life the other day at school,” said Celeste, finally breaking the uncomfortable quiet. “I realized I never actually thanked you in all the commotion.”
“Of course,” he said. “And you don’t have to thank me for that. Keeping you safe is like breathing for me. I couldn’t survive otherwise.”
Of course he had to say something sweet like that. Don’t you dare cry, Celeste! She bit her lower lip and gave him a smile. She really didn’t want things to be awkward between them. Besides missing Roman as her boyfriend, she missed him terribly as her friend and hunting buddy. “Do you think we can do the friends thing?” she forced out of her lips.
Roman chuckled. “The friends thing?” he teased.
“Don’t laugh!” she said as she punched him in the shoulder. “I’ve never done this breaking up thing before. I never really had a boyfriend before you, and I don’t know what we’re supposed to do now.”
Celeste tried to read Roman’s expression, but she was getting nothing. His crystal blue eyes were clouded, and she worried she had said something wrong.
“Of course we can be friends,” he said finally. “I thought we were.”
Celeste let out a sigh of relief. “Good,” she said just as Nico sat down with them having finally finished ordering.
“How much food did you order?” asked Roman. “You were on the phone forever.”
“I was on hold listening to Asian music,” he replied. “Just for that, you’re picking up the food in twenty-five to thirty minutes.”
As the brothers continued their banter, Celeste considered whether she should tell them about Dante’s decree regarding Lilliana. On the one hand, she didn’t want to worry them. What if Roman went off the handle? But if it had been her mother instead, she would never forgive them for keeping this from her. Roman and Nico were her friends, and she owed them the truth. Her decision was made more easily than she had expected.
“Hey guys, there’s something I have to tell you,” she said interrupting their argument over who was picking up the Chinese food.
They both turned to her, dark chocolate and bright blue eyes intent on hers. “I was summoned by the Council the other day, and they brought up your mother,” began Celeste.
“What did they say?” interrupted Nico.
“A guardian spotted her and Alek in St. Petersburg,” she continued. She noticed Roman’s jaw tighten at the mention of Alek. Roman had been very patient with this situation, but she knew how close he was to losing it. She chose her next words carefully. “Dante is worried about the two of them being together. He’s asked me to keep an eye on her.”
“What do you mean by worried?” asked Roman, easily reading between the lines.
“He’s concerned about their combined powers.”
“Dante thinks they’re going to use their magic for some evil plot?” asked Roman.
“I guess,” said Celeste. “But I told them that Lilliana wasn’t a danger to them. I had to tell them about her memory loss, and I convinced them that she didn’t even seem to know how to use her own magic.”
“Celeste, you lied to them again?” asked Roman, in a harsher tone than he had intended.
“I had to! I had to protect your mother,” she said.
“And if they find out that she can use magic?” asked Nico.
Celeste glanced down before answering, twirling the Albsurori ring around her finger. “They want me to kill her.”
Roman’s fist came crashing down onto the table, causing Celeste’s heart to skip a beat.
“I won’t let that happen,” said Celeste, looking into Roman’s stormy eyes. “Stellan and Dalla are both working on finding a way to get your mom’s memories back. They’ll find a way before anything bad happens.”
“We don’t know that,” said Roman. “We should at least warn her that she’s on their radar and not to use magic.”
“Roman’s right. We don’t know how long it could take for Stellan and Dalla to find a solution,” said Nico.
“Okay,” said Celeste. “I’m sure Stellan can get a message to Alek. He’s been tracking them, and they were still in St. Petersburg last he checked.”
The tension in Roman’s face released ever so slightly.
“Everything’s going to be okay,” said Celeste as she took Roman’s hand and squeezed it. “I promise I would never let anything happen to your mom.”
Just as Celeste took a big bite of the crispy egg roll, Stellan came rushing down the spiral case, his navy blue robe flying behind him. “I’ve got him!” he announced proudly.
Celeste quickly chewed up the last bit of the egg roll as Nico and Roman shoveled a few more forkfuls of sweet and sour chicken into their mouths. “Where is he?” asked Nico, his chin greasy with reddish-orange sauce.
“He’s at those converted containers by the pier – where the young people hang out in the summer time,” replied Stellan.
Nico was familiar with the place, since he had attended a few parties there when he first moved to Oak Bluffs. “I’ll drive,” he said.
“Perhaps we shouldn’t waste time fighting traffic,” said Stellan as he waved his arm and opened a large portal in the middle of the living room. The bright blue glow lit up the entire room with its spiraling winds.
“That works too,” said Nico. Without wasting another moment, he looked back at the others and jumped in. Roman reached back for Celeste’s hand and they leapt in together right behind him.
When the threesome
emerged from the portal, they found themselves just a few yards away from the cluster of containers. The place looked desolate, not like Nico had seen it last in the summer, full of high school and college kids drinking and socializing. The old containers had been converted into a series of rooms with shabby accessories and thrift store furniture, lit up with hanging lights and lively music—or at least that’s what it normally looked like. Everything was dark now as they walked toward the center where a bonfire once burned.
They stepped gingerly on the rough pavement, then Roman stopped abruptly. Nico paused too, having picked something up with his sensitive vampire hearing. They inched slowly, moving closer to the outer container, circling it from behind. Roman tugged on Celeste’s sleeve, motioning for her to follow him, while Nico went around on the opposite side. From inside the container, Celeste could make out a faint whimpering sound. Turning the corner, they found Vinny huddled inside with his arm around the neck of a young brunette girl.
“Don’t come any closer,” shouted Vinny as he angled his fangs within inches of the girl’s throat. The girl squirmed, her eyes wide with panic, making him tighten his hold.
Celeste stared at the girl trying to figure out why she looked so familiar. She could have sworn she recognized those light green eyes and short dark hair, but just couldn’t place her. “Let her go!” cried Celeste.
“Sorry Guardian, but that’s not going to happen. She’s my ticket out of here,” Vinny said, holding the girl closer to him. He whispered something in her ear and the girl cringed.
Roman took a step forward and Nico followed his lead.
“Uh uh, that’s close enough you two. We won’t be repeating last night’s show,” Vinny warned, wagging his finger at them tauntingly. He leaned in closer to the girl’s neck, running one fang against her delicate skin and summoning a tiny trail of blood. The girl shrieked.