by G. K. DeRosa
“You can read all of the ancient supernatural languages, as can all guardians. You must only open up your mind to it.”
“Cool,” she said. “So is there anything else I need to know besides what’s in these books?”
“Of course my dear. The Fey are a very old people, but that will be enough to get you started,” he replied.
“Roman, are you okay?” she asked. Looking over at him, she realized that he hadn’t spoken much since Dani ran out.
“Yes fine, I was just thinking about something else. I feel bad about how I spoke to Dani. If you’ve gotten everything you needed about the fairies, would you mind checking on her for me?”
“Sure,” she said, standing.
“Maybe you could help smooth things over for me, and then I’ll come in and apologize,” he said, squeezing her hand.
Celeste nodded and disappeared up the spiral staircase.
Once she was out of earshot, he turned to Stellan. “Have you been able to track Alek down?”
“Unfortunately not,” he said. “He seems to have completely disappeared after that confrontation with Fabian in the summer. I’ve tried several different tracking spells, but have been entirely unsuccessful.”
“Hmm…” said Roman with a far off gaze.
“Do you believe he sent the demon after Celeste?” asked Stellan.
“Possibly. It didn’t escape my attention that he is one of the first on the list that the Council sent over,” Roman paused. “But even if he had nothing to do with this, I need to find him. I still can’t get the image of my mother’s body in the cave that day out of my head.”
“Roman, we can’t be sure that really was your mother,” Stellan said, resting his hand on Roman’s shoulder.
“It had to be. I know what I saw. And I’ve been to her grave…” His mother’s image had haunted him for weeks, until finally one evening, after awaking in a cold sweat from a far too vivid nightmare, he had gone to their old home with a shovel in hand.
“You didn’t?” asked Stellan aghast.
“I had to! I had to be sure that it really was her. And the coffin was empty.”
“Are you sure everything’s okay?” Celeste asked again as they drove back toward Oak Bluffs. Roman had been staring blankly ahead for the past half hour without so much as a word to offer. She was worried that he was more upset about Brian and this fairy research trip than he had let on.
“I’m fine, just thinking,” he said, turning toward her. He took one hand off of the steering wheel and caressed her cheek. “Don’t worry about me.”
But she was worried. Celeste knew Roman well enough by now to know that something was really wrong. His brilliant blue eyes were clouded with concern, but for what, she couldn’t guess.
“So where are we going on this double date that you are dragging me to tomorrow?” he asked, trying to lighten the mood.
“I’m not sure actually. Brian’s in charge of the planning.”
“Oh wonderful. This is going to be a pizza and bowling night, isn’t it?” he said with a smirk.
Celeste playfully punched him in the arm. So much of their time spent together was fraught with fear and danger that she cherished these light-hearted moments.
“Be careful! I’m driving!” he teased as he jerked the steering wheel to the left causing Celeste to tumble toward him.
She laughed and then straightened back up in her seat. “Where would you plan the date if you think you could do so much better?”
“Oh, I don’t think. I know I could. I would take the Porsche up into the winding hillside. There’s a beautiful little spot up in the bluffs that you can only reach by trail. I’d pack up a picnic basket with some candles and red wine, and we’d hike up the last few meters before the sun sets. Then I’d lay out the blanket by the opening of a small hidden cave up there that overlooks the town. The view is actually quite breathtaking. And we’d make it just in time to see the fiery orange rays of sun setting over Oak Bluffs.”
Celeste stared dreamily at Roman as he spoke. She could clearly see the picture that his words had painted of the two of them, snuggled up in the blanket as the sun set on the world below them. She was pleasantly surprised that he had put so much thought into their dream date.
“Okay, so I guess that would be pretty amazing. But you forgot one thing.”
“What’s that?”
“This is supposed to be a double date, not a romantic one for just the two of us.”
Roman grunted. “What’s wrong with wanting you all to myself?” He turned toward her, his eyes blazing.
A warm sensation flowed through her entire body at his words, and she felt her cheeks flush. “Nothing at all,” she responded. “So why haven’t you taken me there already?” The truth was that though they had been dating for months now, they never really went out on dates. The majority of their time spent together involved fighting off demons, practicing fighting demons, or running away from demons.
Roman frowned. “You’re right, I should have. I will, I promise. And it will be just the two of us.”
As they drove up the street to Celeste’s house, Roman tensed. She could tell that his superior vampire eyesight had seen something that she had not.
“Are you expecting a visitor?” he asked.
“No, I don’t think so,” she said as they pulled in front of her home. There was a small red rental car with a New York license plate parked in the driveway.
“Does anyone have the key to your house besides you and your mom?” he asked.
“Not that I know of. We have that extra key hidden in that fake rock in the backyard, though, but I don’t think anyone knows about it except you, me, my mom, and Brian.”
“Let me go first. You wait in the car,” he said as he closed the door silently.
“No way, I’m coming too. Besides, how many supernaturals do you know that drive a Hyundai rental car?”
“Fine, but stay behind me,” he whispered as they walked gingerly up the porch steps. Roman twisted the doorknob and slowly pushed the door open. The house was dark except for one light in the kitchen. They tiptoed through the entrance hallway and around the corner toward the faint glow. As Roman stepped into the kitchen, a tall woman with a baseball bat swung at him. He quickly ducked and missed her blow, and Celeste backed up just in time to miss the tip of the bat from breaking her nose.
“Aunt Maddie?” Celeste asked from her crouched position on the floor.
“My little Celeste, is that you?” The tall woman with the ponytail hastily pushed by Roman to pull Celeste back to her feet, then wrapped her arms around her. “I can’t believe how big you’ve gotten! You were just a little girl the last time I saw you.”
Celeste stiffened in her embrace. “Yeah, I was ten and it was for my dad’s funeral. And then you disappeared.” She didn’t have many fond memories of her aunt, probably because she didn’t have any memories of her at all.
“I’m so sorry about that, Celeste. He was my brother, and I guess I didn’t handle it well,” she said, stepping back. “You look a lot like him. You have his warm hazel eyes and that beautiful curly blonde hair.” She gently tugged at one of the curls and watched in delight as it bounced back into place. “He was blonde, too, when he was young, and then it got darker like mine,” she said, pointing to her own light brown hair that fell in wisps in front of her face.
Celeste felt a pang in her chest at the mention of her father. She didn’t get to hear about him much, and his sister saying that she resembled her dad brought on a swell of bottled-up emotions. “Thank you,” was all she could muster.
Roman had been watching the exchange from a distance, not wanting to interrupt the family reunion. He leaned casually against the wall, noticing slight similarities between the two women. Though Roman had only met Celeste’s father once many years earlier, he had always thought Celeste looked a lot like him. Now, having seen his sister, it only further confirmed his first impression.
Celeste suddenly rem
embered that Roman was there and turned to him, taking his hand to introduce him to her aunt. A strange look crossed Aunt Maddie’s face as she seemed to truly notice him for the first time. Roman stretched out his hand, and she recoiled in disgust.
“What is he doing here?” she yelled, and grabbed the bat she had let fall on the floor.
Celeste jumped in front of Roman as her aunt waved the bat in the air menacingly. “What are you talking about Aunt Maddie?”
“Don’t you know what he is?” she asked.
Celeste’s mouth dropped open. “You know what he is?”
“Of course I do. He’s a vampire—an evil, blood-sucking creature from hell. Now get out of the way so I can kill him,” she said as she lunged toward him.
A thousand questions popped into Celeste’s head, but she had to focus on the immediate danger. She had to keep her aunt from killing her boyfriend. “Aunt Maddie, put the bat down and let me explain. He’s not like other vampires. He’s not evil,” she said as she put her hands in the air trying to stop her.
“Of course he is, they all are. He must have you under a spell, influencing you with his mind,” she said, taking another step toward him. She swung the bat above Celeste’s head and almost got a direct hit on Roman’s temple. He darted to the side just in time.
“I don’t want to hurt her, Celeste, but I’m going to have to get that bat away from her before she harms either one of us,” hissed Roman, who was ducking behind her and using her as a human shield.
“Aunt Maddie, please put the bat down. We need to talk about this,” she said. Celeste was trying to keep her cool, but she was starting to worry that she wouldn’t be able to quash this standoff. Roman jerked back and forth behind her as Aunt Maddie matched his every move. She held the bat high above her head, expertly poised to deliver a crushing blow.
“Matilda, put that bat down before you hurt my daughter!” shouted an enraged voice from the hallway. In all the commotion, Celeste’s mom had come home, and she now stood firmly planted between Aunt Maddie and Celeste, with Roman close behind.
“Thank goodness,” murmured Celeste under her breath.
Aunt Maddie lowered the bat, but did not drop it. “You know that your daughter is friends with a vampire?”
“He’s my boyfriend!” announced Celeste proudly.
Aunt Maddie made the sign of the cross on her chest and looked like she was about to faint. “Thank God your father is not here to see this,” she said.
At that, Celeste’s blood began to boil. “You don’t know anything about my dad, or me, or Roman. We haven’t seen or heard from you in eight years. How dare you show up here and judge me?”
“Celeste, I came here to help you. I heard that you had been chosen to be the new Guardian. I know what that’s like, and I wanted to be here for you,” she explained.
“You’re a guardian too?” asked Roman, the pieces of the strange puzzle unexpectedly clicking into place.
Aunt Maddie didn’t acknowledge his question, and from the look in her eye, she might have launched another attack if Celeste didn’t interrupt.
Celeste’s mind raced as she thought about her often-absent Aunt Maddie. It suddenly all made sense: her nomadic lifestyle, the secrecy, her disappearance. “Mom, did you know about this too?”
She nodded.
“I need to get out of here,” Celeste said. She grabbed Roman’s hand and pulled him toward the door.
“Celeste wait sweetie, I can explain,” pleaded her mother.
Celeste didn’t even look back as she slammed the door behind her.
***
A lithe young man with wiry platinum hair stood gazing out through a frosted window. A wintry breeze rushed inside, causing some strands of his hair to come loose from the perfectly gelled ponytail. Irritated, he quickly smoothed them back. The vast mountain range to the East was covered in snow and the trees in the valley below him were bare and lifeless. Months had passed since Celeste and the Constantins, with the help of the Council, had killed Fabian, but the image of that day was burned into his mind. To him, it was as fresh as if it had happened only yesterday. He had not forgotten his promise: he had vowed to get revenge and he would have it. The time had come.
***
Celeste swirled her cereal around in the bowl as she sat absentmindedly gazing out the kitchen window. There was a slight wind stirring outside, and the typically smooth water of the pond rippled back and forth in the breeze. It was quite soothing. So many questions had arisen since she discovered the truth about her aunt, and her mind was racing. How could Aunt Maddie not have told me?
“You can’t hide out here forever,” said Nico as he poured Celeste a glass of orange juice, interrupting her reverie.
“Why not? You don’t want a third roommate?” she asked with a smile.
“You know I love you like a sister, but what kind of a bachelor pad would this be if a girl lived here?”
“This is not a bachelor pad,” said Roman, hair still dripping from the shower.
Celeste watched him, appreciating the finely-toned muscles in his arms and chest as he walked around the kitchen in only a towel. Glancing over at Nico, she had to admit that he too wasn’t hard on the eyes with that roguish smile and spikey espresso-colored hair. She wondered if a perfect body came naturally to all vampires or if this was something they had to work for.
“You really are no fun, Roman,” said Nico, scowling.
“Don’t pout, little brother. Natalie will be back soon enough.”
“I’m not pouting. And it’s not like I’ve just been sitting at home waiting all this time while she’s off in Richmond meeting frat boys and doing God knows what,” said Nico as he cracked a few eggs in a bowl and began beating them a bit too vigorously.
“O-M-G, are you jealous, Nico?” asked Celeste.
“Of course not. Please! We never said we’d be exclusive while she was gone. We are both adults and are free to do whatever we want.”
“Umhmm…” she murmured.
“Anyway, we weren’t talking about me, we were talking about you avoiding going home to face your mom and guardian aunt,” he retorted.
“I just can’t believe my mom kept this from me. I thought we didn’t have any more secrets. How could she not tell me that my young, cool, flighty aunt was actually a guardian just like me?”
“Maybe there’s a reason why she didn’t tell you,” said Roman returning from his room, now fully clothed. “And Nico’s right. Not that I don’t love having you here, but don’t you think your mom’s going to figure out that you’re not really staying at Jessica’s?”
“I know, I know. I was just hoping I could avoid her for a few more days. Aunt Maddie never stays anywhere for long. I figured she’d be gone soon,” she said, taking a bite of her cereal.
“What exactly is your aunt’s story?” asked Nico.
“All that I know – and who knows if it’s true or not—is that when she turned eighteen, she went to study abroad in Europe somewhere and never came back. My dad wouldn’t talk about her much. She was a lot younger than him by like twelve years, and I just figured they weren’t close because of the huge age difference. Once I heard that she was engaged to some Russian guy, but then they never got married. That’s pretty much all I know.”
“Is she hot?” asked Nico. “Because by my calculations she should be in her mid-thirties which is totally fair game for me.”
“Eww!”
“I’m kidding – kind of,” said Nico with a wink. “But seriously, if she was a guardian living in Europe for the past fifteen years, how did we not know about her?”
Roman shook his head. “You’re right, it is odd.” Then he looked at Celeste and said, “I think it’s time you go back home and learn more about your family history.”
Celeste rolled her eyes at him. “Fine, as soon as Nico finishes beating up those scrambled eggs.”
Celeste took a deep breath as she opened the front door. Her mom’s car wasn’t in the drive
way, which meant she only had to deal with her aunt. Rocky ran down the stairs, wagging his tail at her arrival, and she gave him a quick pat on the head.
“Celeste, is that you?”
She heard her aunt’s voice coming from the backyard so she walked through the kitchen and out the back door. Celeste gasped at the sight in front of her. Her aunt was covered in sweat and clad in camo cargo pants, black combat boots, and a black sports bra, but that wasn’t the worst of it. In each hand she wielded broadswords, and she was swinging them through the air battling imaginary opponents.
“Aunt Maddie, what are you doing? What if the neighbors see you?” hissed Celeste as she ran out to the yard. “You can’t be doing that in broad daylight! And those are my swords. How’d you find them?”
Maddie paused and looked at Celeste as if she were the crazy one. “Let me give you a tip kid: don’t keep your weapons under the bed. It’s the first place I looked.”
“Okay fine, but can we please go inside to talk about this?” said Celeste as she glanced around nervously at the houses surrounding her backyard.
“Sure, I was just finishing up anyway,” she said wiping the sweat from her brow. She handed Celeste the two swords with a triumphant smile and ambled up the stairs.
Celeste followed her aunt back into the kitchen, weighed down by the heavy swords. Maddie poured herself a glass of ice water and offered a glass to Celeste before sitting down at the table. She looked expectantly at her.
“You wanted to talk?” she asked.
Celeste gathered her wits and sat down beside her, dropping the metal swords which clattered loudly on the tile floor. She was about to open her mouth when her aunt interrupted.
“Look, I talked to your mom last night and she explained the vampire boyfriend thing. I’m not apologizing for what I did last night, but I guess I understand it a little better now. Your mom can be quite persuasive.”
“Okay, thanks. I think,” said Celeste. She was surprised to hear that her mother had stuck up for Roman. “So you’re not going to try to kill him if you see him again, right?”