by G. K. DeRosa
“I can help you,” said Brian.
“It’s guardian stuff, Brian. I don’t want to get you involved.”
“Don’t you get it? I am involved. You’re my best friend and if this is a part of your life, then it’s a part of mine too. Not to mention I’m dating Marie, remember?”
“I know,” she said taking his hand and squeezing it. “It’s just that I would never forgive myself if anything happened to you because of me.”
“And I would never forgive myself if something happened to you, and I could have done something to help,” he responded squeezing her hand back.
***
Celeste sat in her car drumming her fingers on the steering wheel, staring at the walkway leading to Roman’s apartment. It’s too soon. I can’t face him yet. But as Marco had pointed out to her just a few hours ago, every minute that they had the ring without telling anyone put them all at risk. If the Council found out she had lied, there’d be no telling what they would do. Plus she did feel guilty about not telling Roman and Nico, especially after all they had gone through to track it down. Celeste had considered going straight to Stellan with it and bypassing Roman all together, but somehow that didn’t feel right. And now here she was, sitting nervously in the parking lot of his apartment building, filled with dread about seeing him.
Just as she was about to give up and drive away, Celeste heard the rumble of a loud engine. She quickly ducked, immediately recognizing the familiar roar. It was Nico! He pulled the BMW into his parking spot, and she watched him as he flipped open the trunk, swinging a duffle bag over his shoulder. Celeste embraced the opportunity and before she could chicken out she opened her car door and yelled for him.
“Hey beautiful!” he said with his trademark irrepressible smile.
“Are you just getting back from Natalie’s?” she asked.
“I am. It was a quick trip, but I felt like I needed it.”
Celeste had been so wrapped up in her own drama she hadn’t even thought about how difficult this must all have been for Nico. Roman had always told her how close he had been to their mother. “Isn’t it hard not telling Natalie, you know, like everything?” she asked.
He grimaced. “It’s really hard,” he said pausing. “But after being a vampire for over a hundred years and dating a lot of girls in that time, it’s just not possible for me to tell them all my secret.”
“Oh,” said Celeste, feeling slightly hurt on Natalie’s behalf. She certainly wouldn’t appreciate being considered one of hundreds.
“That came out wrong,” said Nico, noticing her expression. “I really care about Natalie, I do. I just can’t be as open as I’d like to be, not yet anyway. It’s for her own safety too. You know how that is.”
Celeste nodded. She did know how difficult it was to keep her secret from one of her best friends, and she hated it.
“Come on let’s go inside, you must be freezing out here,” said Nico as he led the way toward the apartment. He of course had the key, but somehow Celeste felt weird not announcing her arrival beforehand. She didn’t want to cross any unspoken boundaries now that she and Roman weren’t together anymore. It was all so confusing.
Nico opened the door to let Celeste go in first, but she immediately took a step back when she entered the great room. Roman was splayed on the couch in an undershirt and boxers, his hair was a mess and he had way more than a five o’clock shadow going on. He nearly jumped out of his skin when he saw her.
“Whoa, what happened here?” asked Nico as he took in the sight of his disheveled brother.
“Nothing,” he said running his hand through his unruly hair. “I was just relaxing.”
“Sorry to come without calling, Roman, but I needed to talk to you,” said Celeste.
“Of course,” he said.
“Why so formal?” asked Nico, catching onto the chill in the air.
Celeste walked over to the floor-to-ceiling window and pretended to find something interesting in the iced-over pond. Roman furrowed his dark brows at his brother and didn’t respond.
“Oh no, you’ve got to be kidding me!” shouted Nico. “I’m gone for one day and you two are what – not speaking?”
“You and I can talk about this later,” said Roman shooting his brother a sidelong glare.
“Unbelievable. You two are incredible,” murmured Nico as he trudged up to his bedroom to put his stuff down.
“Sorry about that,” said Roman taking a step toward Celeste, but keeping a respectful distance. “I hadn’t had a chance to talk to him yet.”
“No, don’t worry. It’s not your fault. You shouldn’t have bothered him about us when he was off on a romantic getaway,” she said turning to him. Her eyes met his and she had to look away. She could see the pain reflected in his stormy blue irises and wondered what he saw in hers.
“So you needed to talk to me about something?” he asked, breaking the momentary pause.
“Yes,” she said and she reached into her jeans pocket and pulled out his mother’s ring, handing it to him.
“You have the Albsurori ring! How did you get it?” he asked.
“I didn’t exactly. Marco did. After I attacked Dani for it, she must have dropped it in the struggle. Marco picked it up when I was out of it,” she said her voice wavering at the end. Just the mention of Dani’s death sent Celeste into a shame spiral. She felt like she was having an episode of PTSD. Suddenly, she was back in the underground chamber, plunging the blade into Dani’s heart. She couldn’t handle reliving the terrible moment all over again, when Dani just stared back at her with vacant eyes, clutching at her chest and then crumpling to the ground. The intense guilt gripped at Celeste, nearly strangling her. “No!” she cried out as her vision began to blur and the darkness consumed her.
When Celeste came to, she was lying on the couch with a cold towel on her forehead. Roman and Nico were seated on chairs on either side of her and they shared paralleled looks of concern on their handsome faces. She tried to sit back up, feeling mortified for passing out over something so ridiculous.
“Take it easy,” said Nico. “Luckily Roman swooped in and caught you before your head hit the floor, but you’ve been out for almost ten minutes.”
“Ten minutes? Geez,” she said sitting up and removing the cold towel. “I’m okay, really.”
“The good news is that Roman caught me up on the ring – not the other thing though – ”
Roman cleared his throat, cutting Nico off with a warning scowl. “Celeste, you can’t keep blaming yourself for what happened to Dani. It’s not healthy,” he said.
“I know. I just can’t,” she said exasperated. “Anyway, let’s just focus on the ring. I don’t want to think about Dani anymore.” Roman looked at her worriedly, but let her continue without saying anything more. “I plan on giving it to Stellan, but I wanted to talk to you two about it first. It’s your mother’s ring, and I’ll do whatever you think is best.”
Nico turned to Roman. “Do you think Stellan will give it to Dalla?”
“If he doesn’t give it to her outright, he’ll at least tell her he has it,” he responded.
“I know you don’t trust Dalla, Roman, but she was the one that found the ring in the first place, which led us to Alek and your mom,” reminded Celeste. Roman nodded. “And the Council doesn’t know we have it either. Marco and I kind of lied when Dante asked us about it.”
“Celeste, you better be careful. You don’t want to get on Dante’s bad side, or any of the Council’s bad side, for that matter,” warned Roman.
“I know, which is why I need to talk to Stellan about this. I need his advice,” she said. “And I need to know what exactly the Council knows and what they don’t know about the ring and everything else. I also kind of lied about Aunt Maddie killing Maks.”
Roman raked both hands down his face and let out a muffled sigh. “Let’s just go see Stellan. You’re going to need his help if you want to get out of this mess without getting into anymore trouble.�
��
The drive to Stellan’s house was a short one with Nico in the driver’s seat speeding across quiet country roads. Before long, they were pulling into the familiar cobblestone driveway. Celeste had called Stellan to let him know they were coming, but she hadn’t told him exactly what the visit was about. On the car ride over, they had all come to the agreement that the ring would be handed over to Stellan; they just hoped that he would know what to do with it. Roman at first had been skeptical, but ultimately they all decided to trust Stellan as they always had.
Walking into the house, Celeste half expected Dani Lynn to come bouncing down the stairs to greet them. She had to focus all of her energy on remaining calm to avoid another panic attack. She twirled the new ring, the one Roman gave her for Christmas, around her finger to distract herself. She had completely forgotten she had been wearing it and wondered, should I not be wearing this now that we’re broken up?
“Come sit down,” said Stellan, interrupting her thoughts.
Celeste noticed that the living room had recently been cleaned up. There were stacks of books and piles of papers moved just out of sight in the den. How did Stellan ever survive before Dani moved in with him?
Stellan was already seated in his favorite armchair, so Celeste, Roman and Nico filled in the couch and chair around him. Everyone waited for Celeste to begin, but she didn’t say a word. Thoughts of Dani were still consuming her as she struggled mightily to push them away.
Nico elbowed her and she snapped back to attention. “Sorry,” she mumbled.
“Go ahead, my dear,” said Stellan, “we’re all listening.”
She cleared her throat nervously. “I have Lilliana’s ring,” she practically whispered.
Stellan’s eyes shot open and his glasses slid down his nose. “How?” he asked.
Celeste pulled it out of her pocket and handed it to him. “While everyone was busy with Lilliana coming back from the dead, I was trying to get it back from Dani. Then I guess when I blacked out after – you know – Marco grabbed it. I didn’t even know he had it until after we came back.”
“Bravo, Marco!” said Stellan with an exaggerated applause. Then he stopped abruptly as he stared at the ring and his silver brows knit tightly together as if he were deep in thought.
“What?” asked Roman.
“I was thinking how odd it was that Alek would simply let us take Lilliana’s ring without putting up any sort of a remonstration.”
“He was pretty out of it by that time. Maybe he just didn’t see Celeste take it,” said Nico with a shrug.
“Hm, perhaps,” said Stellan. There was something in his eyes that made Celeste think he thought otherwise, but he dropped the subject for now.
“What should we do with it?” asked Roman.
“That’s a good question,” said Stellan, rolling the ring between his wrinkled fingers. “I suppose it rightly belongs to the Albsurori coven.”
“You can’t just blindly turn it over to them!” hissed Roman.
“I didn’t say I was going to,” responded Stellan calmly. “There are still a few things I am not completely clear on and until then, I believe that the ring should remain with us.”
Roman visibly relaxed as he let out a puff of air he’d been holding in.
“Like what?” asked Celeste. “And are you going to tell Dalla and the Council you have it?”
“I’m not entirely sure yet – on either account,” said Stellan with a wry grin.
“Won’t the Council punish Celeste if they find out she’s been lying about having the ring?” asked Roman.
“There is no need for them to find out,” he replied. “I think for now the safest thing is for it to stay with Celeste.” He extended his hand out to her and tried to slip it on her finger.
“But I don’t want it,” said Celeste quietly. For some reason she felt like Roman might take this as a personal affront, but she had to be honest.
All eyes turned to her. “Why not?” asked Stellan.
“I feel like I’ve just gotten used to being the Guardian and getting control of my powers without it. I don’t know if I should go back to depending on it,” she explained. Wearing the ring made her feel somehow like she was cheating.
“But the ring makes you stronger and can protect you,” argued Roman. Of course.
“And it lets you do that cool light trick with your sword,” chimed in Nico.
Celeste looked to Stellan for an answer. “I can keep it hidden here if that’s what you decide, Celeste. However, I believe that with everything you have to face, there’s no reason why you shouldn’t take the opportunity to gain a little edge on your supernatural opponents, even if it’s only temporarily.”
Celeste sighed and held out her hand to accept the ring back from Stellan. He held onto it for a few more seconds, muttering something and then placed it in her outstretched hand. She didn’t know which finger to put it on now that she had two beautiful sapphires. She decided to keep the new one on her right hand ring finger and was able to just barely slip the antique one over the knuckle of her left hand middle finger. “Well it’s not going anywhere now,” said Celeste tugging on the ring to show everyone the snug fit.
Roman and Stellan both looked pleased, which helped alleviate the strange uneasiness she felt in her gut. “What am I going to do when I get summoned by the Council?” she asked.
“I’ve already placed a cloaking spell on the ring. No one will be able to see it or search for it magically,” responded Stellan.
“Wow, you’re good,” said Nico.
“And about the Council, there are a few more things we need to discuss. How much do they know about what happened in St. Petersburg? What exactly did Dalla tell them? Oh, and I kind of lied to them about Maks still being alive,” Celeste admitted, spitting the last part out quickly.
Stellan pushed his glasses further up his nose and massaged his temples with his index fingers for a few moments before responding. “I don’t know what to say about the situation with Maks and your aunt, but in my opinion that is a family matter that you will have to remedy,” he said, sitting up straighter now. “Regarding the Council, Dalla did tell me about Dante’s decree compelling you to leave Alek alone. I find that very odd, but I also know that Dante does everything with a clear purpose. We simply don’t know as of yet what that is. For now, let’s abide by his decision.”
“What?” shouted Roman and Nico in unison.
“Gentlemen, let me finish. What I meant was regarding the attack on Astor. We will not go after Alek for that crime. He never said we couldn’t do as we pleased regarding Lilliana,” he explained with a twinkle in his grey eyes.
“About that – they don’t know that Lilliana is Alek’s mother?” asked Celeste.
“No, Dalla purposely left that part out,” he responded. “As far as they know, Roman and Nico are her only sons.”
“Why?” asked Nico.
“It’s better if we do not give Dante and the Council a reason to put a target on Lilliana’s back. The less they know about her relationship with Alek the better. For now, they all believe that Alek resurrected her as a means to seek revenge on the two of you,” he continued.
“That makes sense,” said Celeste. “And how did she explain the ring?”
“Dalla told them that Marja, the head of the Albsurori coven, had the ring at the Induction Ceremony and that it was stolen from her. They have no idea that Celeste was ever in possession of it. Dalla explained that the ring had been lost for decades and she and Marja had just found it before it was taken. The Council is very aware of the power it holds.”
“I wish I had known all of that before I was summoned,” said Celeste.
“I apologize for that. In fact, I should have briefed you on my discussion with Dalla before you left. It just all happened so quickly,” said Stellan.
Celeste nodded. “Okay, so I guess everything’s settled then.”
“One more thing,” said Stellan. “I have a tracking spell up on
Alek and they are still in St. Petersburg. I’ve been consulting my library to see if I could find any similar resurrection cases with resulting amnesia, but I haven’t had much luck thus far.”
“Thanks for trying,” said Nico.
“I really believe this is a temporary situation, boys. I promise we will get your mother back,” he said with a comforting smile.
They nodded and Nico even returned the smile.
“Stellan, could I talk to you about something in private?” asked Celeste. Roman turned to Celeste out of habit, trying to search her face, but he quickly glanced away when she wouldn’t meet his inquiring eyes.
“Certainly, why don’t we go up to my study?” he said, putting his hand on Celeste’s shoulder. “Boys, can you give me a hand and bring those heavy boxes of books from the den back up to the library?”
They nodded and disappeared down the corridor to the small den. Celeste followed Stellan up the winding staircase to the cozy library. The smell of parchment, leather and old paper permeated the room, filling Celeste with a sense of home.
“Now, how can I help you my dear?” he asked, taking a seat at the desk as Celeste scooted onto the bench at the table across from him.
Celeste thumbed the antique ring around her middle finger nervously as she collected her thoughts. “Something happened to me when I attacked Dani back in St. Petersburg. There was a darkness that took hold of me, and I felt like I lost all control of myself. I had no idea what I was doing – it was like I was completely consumed by my rage.” The words tumbled out freely as she began remembering the terrible feelings that gripped her.
“Um hmm,” mumbled Stellan, nodding his head. “Do you remember killing her?”
“Not really. I keep getting flashes from that day and I see the stake sticking out of her chest and the blood…” Celeste shook her head, trying to jostle the gruesome images out of her mind.
“It’s possible you experienced some sort of temporary black out due to an overly traumatic situation,” said Stellan.