Playing With Fire

by Jordan Mendez

  “She’s dead... She’s dead!” he pronounced in a wave of joy. Then something happened that I hadn’t expected; the vampire began to change. His hollow black eyes changed to bright blue delighted ones. His paper white skin began to regain color. He laughed in relief and turned back to Gabriel.

  “I shall bring the news to every one your lordship,” he said respectfully, while giving a deep bow.

  “Good, and can you bring me my little sister?” Gabriel asked, but not in a demanding way. It was more like asking a favor. The guard nodded and ran off, and Gabriel walked to me, and I saw a completely different person. He was still taller than me and strong looking, but his eyes had changed entirely. They were a dazzling deep green. As a vampire, he looked intimidating, but now he appeared to be soft and kind. But there was sadness in those emerald green eyes as he observed his dead parents on the ground. They had not changed, and they did not wake up from their eternal sleep.

  “Scarlet?” a frightened voice called from across the room. My relieved eyes whipped around to find Al looking around in confusion. I sprinted towards my brother and tackled him in a hug.

  “What happened?” he asked dazed. “Where are we?”

  “Shut up, you idiot! Can’t you tell I was just traumatized?”

  “Sorry,” he apologized awkwardly while patting me on the back. “Better now?”

  “Stop ruining the moment!” I scolded while hugging tighter.

  “Sorry, but I’m kind of choking now,” he croaked.

  A tap on my shoulder made me let go. I turned to find Vaze waiting patiently.

  “They won’t wake up.” He pointed to my unconscious brothers. “You might have hit them too hard.”

  “I’ll fix it,” I said while striding over to my older brothers with Al following, but no longer asking questions. I bent down to the ground next to Darren and waited for a second.

  “Wake up, you lazy bum!” I yelled in his ear while slapping him across the face. “There are guards outside looking for you!”

  “Hide me!” he screamed, immediately jumping out of unconsciousness and ran to the opposite side of the room. I laughed and walked over to Seth.

  “Seth! I burned one of your books again.” I didn’t have to yell it, he heard it just fine. His eyes flashed open with a tad hint of anger.

  “I’m going to kill you!” he roared while lunging for my throat. I sidestepped and left him looking around confused as I walked over to Jake.

  “Jake the house is on fire again!” I cried as loud in his ear as possible.

  “Five more minutes,” he mumbled.

  “I can’t count, you idiot!” I yelled again as I shook him. “The house is on fire!” his response was rolling over away from me.

  “Darren is in jail again!” I yelled, still trying to get him up. He ignored me. I decided to try a different approach. With one swift kick to the gut, Jake was awake and gasping for air. I turned back to Vaze, satisfied with my work.

  “Problem solved,” I said while smiling. Vaze laughed. Seeing my big brothers scrambling around not knowing that they almost died was pretty funny. Then I remembered something important. I turned and searched around for the former vampire. Gabriel was standing next to his dead parents with tears streaming down his face.

  “I’m sorry that we didn’t make it in time,” I said to him.

  “It’s alright; it wasn’t your fault,” He said in a soft voice. “They’re free from her evil now anyway. This is the way they would have wanted it. They always complained about how they had lived too long.”

  “Gabriel!” A little girl’s voice said from across the room. I turned my eyes to see a child with metallic blonde hair and warm brown eyes. She looked like she was around seven or eight, but her eyes were much older. She ran across the room and jumped into Gabriel’s arms. Her tattered white gown was stained with old dried blood, but it was no longer something that would freak me out. This little girl wasn’t going to kill people anymore, criminal or not.

  “Oh, Jezebel,” Gabriel said while cradling his little sister in his arms. “I was so worried about you!”

  “I told you Gabriel, I would be fine,” she said joyously. Her eyes lit up when they reached Vaze.

  “Look Gabriel!” She said like an excited child, which I guess she was now despite the fact that she was likely over a thousand years old. “That’s the boy I told you about, that’s the weird boy with wings.”

  Vaze smiled.

  “Told you I wouldn’t die while my friends were in danger,” Vaze said. Jezebel got down from her brother’s arms and walked over to Vaze, but her curious eyes were trained on me.

  “Is that her?” she whispered into Vaze’s ear, though I didn’t let on I could hear her just fine.

  “Yeah,” he whispered back while his expression softened slightly. “That’s the one.”

  Jezebel gasped and ran over to me. I thought she was going to come and ask a million questions, like little girls tend to do, but instead she did something I didn’t expect. She tackled me. I was so surprised that I didn’t react, and ended up falling to the floor with Jezebel on top of me.

  “Um,” I said while looking at the little girl awkwardly. “Hi.” Jezebel laughed.

  “You lied bat boy, she doesn’t get mad fast,” Jezebel said with a sweet smile. I laughed.

  “Bat boy?” I teased while giving Vaze a mocking smile. Vaze rolled his eyes and Jezebel allowed me to get up. I wish she hadn’t, because she then saw what I think no child should ever see. Jezebel’s happy little eyes scanned over the room, and stopped short.

  The curiosity and glee drained from them as she saw her dead parents. I expected her to cry, but she never did. Her eyes grew hollow and her face grew stone still.

  “I knew this would happen,” she whispered. Her words were drowned in sadness and regret. The childish joy that had sparkled in her eyes just a moment before seemed as if it would never come back. It was not the reaction I had expected. I expected her to cry for weeks and for her to be sad for a long time, but eventually pull through. Instead, she hid her sadness behind a stone fortress she built a long time ago, a fortress where she could cry on the inside, hiding her pain from others. Even though she did not tell me or even give the slightest hint, I knew. I felt as though I could feel her pain, as though it was emanating from her body. By the look on her face, I knew her stone fortress had just collapsed, trapping her inside. This little girl was not going to get over this.

  “I’m sorry I couldn’t save them Jezebel,” Gabriel said while cradling his little sister.

  “It wouldn’t matter anyway,” She said in an emotionless tone. “You would have died too. We should bury them soon. The scent of death might bring Blood Wolves, and we are no longer immortal.”

  Gabriel didn’t argue. He called for two servants to do the job, and a short funeral was held later on. Everyone who lived in the castle attended, and everyone was in tears. We couldn’t stay long though, because the only safe place in the forest was the castle.

  Gabriel had made us feel right at home, or at least as at home as rich people could be. We were each given baths and new clothes that made the nicest clothes in Laetus look like rags. I had been given a beautiful red flowing gown with gold flakes embedded into it near the collar. I chose to completely ignore it.

  I asked a maid to bring me back clothes a bit more movable, and if she couldn’t find any, to bring back my old clothes. After waiting in a bathrobe for at least an hour, the small blonde maid came back with a silky flowing under shirt, tough movable trousers, and an over coat with a crude leather tie. I stuck with my own shoes, because I was proud of them in a way. They were boots made for an adventurer that I had spied in a shoemakers shop. They were the hardest thing to steal, because the shoemaker hardly took his gaze away from them. I was young then and stealing the shoes was a huge accomplishment, at least for me. They were loose back then, but now, at the age of fourteen they were snug and mildly comfortable. Soon after I finished dressing a small kn
ock on my door came to my ears.

  “Is it alright if I come in?” Vaze’s muffled voice said from the other side of the door.

  “The door is unlocked isn’t it?” I said in response. The door creaked open and Vaze’s head poked in. His skin seemed to glow because it was so clean, and it highlighted his blue eyes even more. His hair was a bit messy, as if he just gotten out of bed, but it looked like black silk. Seeing that I was decent, he walked into my temporary castle room. His clothes looked brand new and they fit him perfectly. His tunic was black satin with matching pants and hooded cloak. His eyes spotted the red gown that was thrown lazily onto a chair in the corner of the room and smiled.

  “Do you have something against dresses?” he asked jokingly. His eyes lit up in a way II hadn’t seen before, and I soon realized it was from a little sense of humor.

  “It’s too flashy,” I replied.

  "Really?" he said. "I think you would look dazzling in it."

  I laughed and rolled my eyes. There was no way I was going to wear a dress, especially since the bigger danger was still out there. Enzio may have been trapped in who knows where, but according to Vaze, it wasn't going to be for long. It was only a matter of time until Enzio would come after us again, and to make matters worse, something was wrong with me. I wasn't sure if I would be able to use my fire. I didn't tell anyone about it and didn’t plan to. There was no use scaring anyone, especially when I didn't know why using my fire caused me pain.

  "So I noticed something strange when you were fighting," Vaze started while he scanned my room. My heart jumped, thinking he must have found out about my secret.

  "You hardly used your gift at all,” he said. “Trying to hide it from Velkire's minions is useless, you know.”

  "Huh?" I said clueless, but quickly decided to use it to my advantage. "Oh yeah, I just thought it might help to stay hidden or keep him off our trail."

  "It was a good idea, but it never works," Vaze replied. "Somehow, he just knows where anyone he hunts is at all times. I don't know how, I just know that he does. I've been running from him for at least five years now, and no matter where I hid, he always found me. The only chance we could have is to stay out of his grasp until we make it to my father's camp. That's the safest place we could ever be, besides the Healer's kingdom, but only the dead can witness that. I'd prefer to stay alive as long as I can. Anyway, all Velkire's minions must know who you are by now. Only the Shadows will chase after us, but the stronger ones under his command will wait for you to come to them. I would suggest to only hide your powers from regular people who would be frightened by it. Otherwise, it's useless to hide it."

  "Oh well," I said with a hidden relief that my secret was still safe. "It was worth a shot, but no harm done I guess."

  "I beg to differ," Vaze said with his mood darkening. "You almost killed yourself."

  "She used Al as a hostage!" I snapped. The mood went from happy and joking to the brink of a fight. "I wasn't just going to let him die!"

  "There are better ways to save people than giving up your own life!" Vaze argued back. "You have no idea what you could have caused if you went through with it!"

  "Why do you even care?" I yelled at him. "It's over now!"

  "Because it's a weakness you can't show!" He fumed at me. "Velkire is the son of the Devil, Scarlet! He will use anything to get what he wants. Nothing is below him! Any weakness you show he will exploit and use against you! If you really want to keep your brothers safe, you’re going to have to be safe as well. When you show a weakness in this world it can cost you your life, and when you die, each and every one of your brothers will follow soon behind you. You have to trust me on this."

  Vaze's voice softened at his last sentence and the anger in his eyes melted into sadness and concern. But my anger was still red hot and threatening to explode.

  "Fine," I hissed, and stormed out of the room fuming. I made my way down the staircase and into the main hallway without so much as taking a second look back. The castle had transformed from a vampire’s crypt to a beautiful sight. The curtains had been removed and each golden chandelier that hung from above was lit with the same beautiful blue stones from the cavern that led into the castle, flooding the entire castle with a warm bluish silver glow.

  I didn't take any notice of how nice the castle looked, though earlier I was completely mystified by it. I was too mad to notice much of anything, but I wasn't as mad at Vaze as much as I was at myself. Even though I loathed admitting it, Vaze was right about one thing, I had shown weakness. I didn't really care so much that I had shown weakness, but that I couldn't have prevented it. If I had been able to use my fire, the fight could have been over a lot sooner than it was, and Al would have never got into a hostage situation. Something was wrong with me, and I had to find a way to fix it, but I felt obliged to keep it a secret. I turned a corner, and ran into the new king of the castle, Gabriel. His deep green eyes lit up at the sight of me and he smiled.

  "I was just about to go find you," he said. "You've saved me the trouble."

  "Well isn't that a coincidence," I said sarcastically. My words sounded like venom, but Gabriel didn't notice. Gabriel glanced at my clothes and frowned.

  "You didn't like the gown I gave you?" he asked a little hurt.

  "I'm not a big fan of gowns, or dresses, or anything difficult to move in," I said trying to get away from him as quickly as possible.

  "Oh, well anyway, I have a question for you," he said eagerly.

  "Can it wait a little bit?" I asked impatiently.

  "I won't take longer than a minute, I promise," he replied, trying to keep my short attention span concentrated on him.

  "How would you and your brothers like to stay here?" he asked.

  "We did," I answered. "We were here for longer than we should have been."

  "No I mean live here," Gabriel corrected. "You would all be safe, and you wouldn't have to worry about any harm coming to any of you."

  "I don't think that's a good idea," I replied with a fleeting thought of Enzio coming to mind.

  "Please," he said while taking my hand. "Please stay here with me."

  The thought hung in my mind for a minute: my brothers and I all together, safe and happy in this luxurious castle—seeing Gabriel return the forgotten castle of wine back to the world; Jezebel coming out of her state of depression. Maybe, just maybe—Enzio and Velkire would never find us here. Then the vision shattered in my mind. Gabriel's castle was a castle of wine, not warriors. Velkire would eventually find us and kill us.

  "We can't," I said while snatching my hand away from his. "In fact, we have to leave now."

  "Alright," He said in bitter disappointment. "If that is what you wish."

  I didn't bother to stay for what he said last as I went to gather my brothers. Like me, my brothers didn’t prefer fancy clothes, and took the clothes that were still nice, but less flashy. We would be mistaken for rich people if we wore them, and even if we didn't they would be ruined. I collected Vaze last, and was surprised to find that he had the same intentions as I did.

  "We need to leave," he said after we had nearly collided from my turning a corner too fast.

  "Yeah, I already told everyone else and I was about to get you," I replied, trying to forget our earlier conversation.

  "Oh," he said while trying to look at anything but my eyes. "So, I heard the ex-leech prince gave you an offer."

  "How did you know that?" I asked suspiciously.

  "The maids talk a lot," he answered innocently.

  "It was five minutes ago," I said in a 'Do-you-really-think-I'll-buy-that?' tone. "They don't gossip that fast."

  "Well," Vaze started while taking a sudden interest in the ceiling. "I was going to apologize to you, and I sort of overheard it."

  "You were eavesdropping!" I said.

  "No, I had no intention of it, it was an accident," he said quickly. I scoffed.

  "So," he began again after a pause. Something outside a window seemed to c
atch his attention. "Why didn't you take the offer?"

  "Velkire would find us eventually," I answered, reliving the harsh realization.

  "Oh.” There seemed to be a slight disappointment in his tone similar to the regret one would have if they found a treasure chest and when they opened it they found out the treasure inside was just a shoe. "You're right about that."

  "I guessed. I wouldn't really care if I was wrong anyway," I said.

  "Yeah, better cautious than dead," he replied distantly.

  We left soon after with brief good byes and one small sack of food. As we made our way through, I realized that I was no longer afraid of the Forrest of Death, I was too eager to recover our pace and reach our destination. Within a few hours the sun greeted us on the other side of the forest. With it were the feet of an immense snowcapped mountain.

  "Welcome to the Ilam Range my friends," Vaze said sarcastically optimistic. The mountains were like giants and looking up at them I could faintly remember gazing at their figures in the distance when I was a child. I never thought I would get to see those mountains that had always cast my mind into awe so close.

  "That's real nice, now how do we get past them?" I said skipping right to the point.

  "There is a split in the range where we can go that will avoid most of the cold, snow, and climbing all together," Vaze said. "But it has its risks."

  "Risk that… too dangerous this…. can we just go already?" I protested impatiently. Vaze shot me a look that told me to shut up and let him talk.

  "The split in the mountain pass used to be the route that everyone took, until it was overrun by bandits a decade ago. Eventually the bandits used up all the resources the mountain had to offer, and they supposedly left, but I think there might be some still living here." These words meant nothing to me. As far as I knew bandits were just thieves, which is basically a step below my family.