Illuminated Embers

by Jasmine Flowerday

  Sitting in her car, she inhaled the heavy leather scent from the seats and waited. She was in front of a three-story blue Victorian-style mansion with white shutters and a wraparound porch. On the second and third floors, there were widows' walks that led into private bedrooms. Jen was sure that the bedrooms themselves didn't get a lot of use. At least, that was what her cousin had told her.

  What resided behind those walls was the closest thing to the movie style Vampires that actually existed. They weren't like Eamon or any of the colleagues that her father had occasionally brought home. These Vampires only came out at night. They didn't hold conventional jobs in the Human world, and they went to great lengths to drink Human blood. They had speed and strength on their side. Which meant that they could travel great distances for a meal and cover their tracks without attracting too much unwanted attention. They had been doing this a long time.

  As she sat there listening to music, her phone rang on the seat beside her. Picking it up, she saw that it was Harry calling. Out of habit, she almost answered it, before the image of him jumping around with Savannah popped in her head. It was nice that he was finally remembering that they were friends, but he wasn't out of the woods yet. Deciding that it was time for tough love, she hit the dismiss icon and shoved the phone back in her purse. The sun was almost set, and she knew that if she didn't make herself known, things could go very wrong. Stepping out of the car, she took a deep, cleansing breath. But with each step that she took towards the mansion, cold fear crept its way back inside her. By the time she had reached the bottom steps, she had changed her mind and turned to go home. She would think of another way to save her friends.

  Strong, swift arms closed around her, and dragged her into the house before she could utter a scream!

  Chapter 21

  After a long afternoon of training, everyone decided to have a special dinner to celebrate. Eamon had retrieved a decent portion of the meat that he and Savannah had collected during their hunting trips. Lanie had the Morphlings grow a variety of vegetables and fruits to turn into side dishes. Thalia lengthened the table and conjured a few more chairs. Now, there was a Vampire, four Morphlings, a Kite, six Dwarves, a Wizard, and the Siphon Slayer all sitting around a table together.

  Eamon couldn't help but notice that it mirrored his dream for future interrelations involving the different races. It was the whole reason that he had gotten into politics in the first place. He had hoped to make a difference and bring everyone together. So far, it wasn't working very well in Arc Sanctum, but at least he was successful around his own dinner table, and that in itself was a small, yet important accomplishment. He enjoyed watching the different races talking as though they were old friends and partners. Relations in the Arc would be a lot easier on everyone if they could take a cue from his friends.

  Suddenly, a loud voice coming from the street cut through the joyful noise during dinner. "Savannah! We know you are in there! We have promised your friend here that no one will get hurt if you come on out!"

  Eamon scooted his chair back, and everyone else followed his lead. "That sounded like Phillipe!" he said, drawing his eyebrows together. "Thalia? Are other Vampires able to see this building?"

  "Of course. I could not make it invisible to Vampires without it also becoming invisible to you. I only made it so that Siphons and the Twitchies couldn't see it," she said, following him to the window.

  Looking down, his breath caught in his throat. Phillipe and Georgia, the self-proclaimed royalty of the Sang Eternal Coven, were standing in the middle of the street outside his apartment building. Phillipe had a megaphone to his mouth. This is not what had Eamon's stomach turning in knots-- Georgia was holding a very wriggly Nix at arm's length by the neck. All she had to do was flick her wrist a tiny bit, and Jen's head would no longer be attached to her body. Tears were streaming down the poor girl's face.

  "Very clever trick, Eamon," Phillipe said through the megaphone. "Hiding the building from the Siphons. But you know that it won't work forever. Whose side are you on?" He calmly took a step forward, "You can't possibly prefer the company of food over us! Your own blood!"

  "Eamon? What is he talking about, your own blood?" Savannah asked.

  Eamon put his hand up. "It's the Vampire honor code. We are all bound by blood, and blood will not forsake us."

  "What are we going to do?" Samuel asked, putting his hands on the window. "What is the plan to save Jen?"

  "I don't know," Savannah whispered. "Maybe if I go out there, I can save her and buy everyone some time." Even as she said it, her voice hitched in her throat. She didn't want to die, but Jen didn't deserve to die, either.

  "Well, that's not going to happen!" Eamon said. Everyone agreed with him emphatically.

  Georgia grabbed the megaphone from Phillipe's hands. "Everyone knows what you are doing is wrong, Eamon. Even this Nix here came to us for help. Just send the Siphon Slayer out, and everything can go back to normal."

  Shock and betrayal rocked Samuel and Harry. Even Savannah was surprised that Jen would go this far.

  A blood-curdling scream ripped through Jen, and a Siphon came into view. His long fingers were deep inside Jen's body. His red eyes were visible from twelve stories up, and the thousands of screaming souls rang clear through the air. Another one appeared on the other side of her, joining its partner in the feast on her soul. In the distant darkness, Savannah could see Twitchies running the other way to escape whatever monsters made that sound.

  Behind her, she heard scuffle, screams, and growls of the boys trying to get out of the apartment to get to Jen. Johnna and Henry were pinning them down in bear form, while Savannah felt frozen to the window. She, like Harry and Samuel, wanted to take action but had no idea what to do. There was no time! Even if Savannah flew down to try to save the girl, Jen would be dead before she could reach her.

  Jen's eyes were wide in terror, tears streaming down her face, and blood poured from her sides. Eventually, her scream died away, until she appeared to be choking. Georgia flicked her wrist to end the noise, and Jen's head popped off. Coming out of her neck were two wriggling talon-like fingers. The Siphons retracted their claws from her lifeless body. They didn't seem to mind that the body was headless because they had already stolen Jen's soul. Then they looked up, directly at Savannah! The Siphons could see her now! They had Jen's soul and memories!

  Horror and fear gripped her, and she backed away from the window. She felt someone pulling her along and turned to see her mother. Everyone else was already in the stairwell, heading up. Choking back tears, she followed her mother.

  "No magic!" Lanie said. "We can't lead them to the portal!"

  Numbly, Savannah nodded and tried to pick up the pace. Out of habit, she stopped on the fifteenth floor, but the door was open and the portal was in a smoking rubble. It was no longer usable.

  "Not that one! Keep going!" Lanie said, pulling her daughter along. They could hear the screams of the Siphons below them and the others above them. "One more floor, we are almost there!"

  Eamon was on the eighteenth-floor landing, ushering everyone through the door and counting heads as they went. As soon as Savannah was in, he followed her through and locked the door from the inside. In the middle of what would be the living room was a giant portal that was almost identical to the one that Savannah saw destroyed. There were only Eamon, her mother, and herself left. Everyone else had gone through the portal. The Siphon screams were coming from right below them and closing in. They were fast when Savannah was using Kite speed. It wouldn't take them long to catch up. Eamon gathered Lanie and Savannah in his arms and jumped through the portal.

  Savannah fell on snow and rock. Icy cold wind whipped through her hair, and seconds later she heard something that sounded like heavy rocks falling. Avalanche! She curled herself into a ball around her mother and tried to fight off the strong hands that were lifting her up. Screaming, she looked around and realized that the avalanche was just Thalia and the Dwarves destroying the
portal. They were safe!

  **********

  After checking to see if her mother was okay, she pushed herself into a standing position. They were trapped on a snow-capped mountain. The air was thin and made it difficult to breathe, and the clouds wouldn't allow her to see what was below them. Instinctively, she changed her skin to look as though she was wearing bear-skinned footie pajamas. At first, she thought the wailing that she was hearing was the wind, but when she surveyed the scene before her to make sure that her friends had gotten out okay, she realized it was them.

  Samuel seemed to be in a state of angry shock. Johnna and Henry were holding him down. Chrystal was clawing at the smoking rubble that had been the portal. Harry had tears streaming down his face and kept trying to wrap his arms around her. Savannah realized that Chrystal and Harry just lost their families by going through the portal, and she felt sick to her stomach. The pack was everything to them! The fight finally left Chrystal, and Harry gathered her in his long arms and rocked her as she cried.

  The cold was becoming bone-chilling at an alarming rate. Savannah gazed around, desperately trying to find shelter, when she felt a tug on her fur covered hand. Looking down, she saw Opal. She was saying something to Savannah, but it was getting lost in the wind. The little blond Dwarf began to gesture wildly, and Savannah understood that everyone needed to follow them. Helping the Dwarves gather her family and friends, they carefully trudged down the mountain. Savannah was afraid they would all freeze to death before getting to wherever Thalia and the Dwarves were leading them. To her surprise and relief, they had only gone about fifteen hundred feet before Al opened a hidden door in the side of the mountain.

  Immediately upon passing through the door, warmth washed over them. Savannah felt her cheeks tingle and feel oddly overheated in a burning sort of way. When she put her hands up to them, her cheeks felt cold on her hands. The only other time she had felt this was a particularly harsh winter night in the forest a couple of years ago when they had run out of firewood.

  The stone passageway that they were in was as smooth as marble. She, Eamon, and her mother followed everyone else down the tunnel.

  Chrystal leaned on Harry to help her through the tunnel. Her chest was tight, and she was having trouble breathing. It felt like her stomach was caught in her throat. While she and Harry were invited to dinner at Eamon's, the rest of the pack was in the training room. She had tried to jump through that portal to get to them, but Thalia and the Dwarves had destroyed it before she could get there. Now her dad and the rest of the pack were trapped in Four Corners! And she was stuck here! On some weird mountain after being forced through a Wizard's portal!

  The farther down they went, the louder it got. Some sort of cheerful noise was reverberating through the stone walls. Soon, the passageway opened up into a large room with seating everywhere and mineral art on the walls. So many Dwarves! It seemed that they were in a tavern of sorts.

  Voices raised to a deafening level as the Dwarves of the tavern welcomed their old friends back. The tables and chairs were made of some sort of stone. Instead of pushing them together to make room, Malachite manipulated them together, while Tory ordered a round of Steaming Crumps.

  Savannah wasn't sure what that was, but she liked the word steaming. She grabbed a chair and sat. Almost immediately, a Dwarf showed up with a mug of something hot. Wrapping her hands around it, she inhaled the sweet scent before taking a sip. It burned her mouth, but the hot liquid felt amazing running down her throat.

  Looking at her friends, she felt horrible. They were all heartbroken and drained, and she felt helpless to do anything about it.

  After the Steaming Crumps, Thalia led them down another passageway that was lit with beautiful jeweled sconces on the walls. Ten minutes later, the passageway opened up into a city. There was no other way to describe it. Smooth, multicolored marble walls and about forty levels made up the city. Below them were elaborate bridges that connected everything. On the bottom layer was what seemed like a park, only it didn't have any grass or trees. She saw only a handful of Dwarves walking over different bridges that helped connect the many levels. She figured they were coming home from a tavern like the one she was at.

  Turning a series of corners and passing doors and other passageways, Thalia finally opened one of the doors. Savannah followed the others into a home decorated in Polarstone and furs. It was a lot larger than Savannah had anticipated. Thalia showed them the four bedrooms, the grand kitchen, and the facilities to get cleaned up. Following her down the stairs that were against the far wall, she was surprised to find that there was a connecting apartment downstairs that was identical to the one she saw. The familiar scent of lavender caught her attention, and she noticed the purple, budding plants on various surfaces. Were the Dwarves expecting them? Each bedroom was filled with beautiful furniture made of stone, jewels, and rare metals. The beds looked like golden pods with strings of silver drops creating a curtain to indicate the entrance. Savannah walked into one of the rooms to see what the inside of a pod looked like. There was a furry quilt that looked like it was made from several animal skins atop a circular down mattress and pillows. It looked so inviting that she almost climbed in right then and there.

  "Everyone else is getting settled in," Thalia said. "Your mother and Eamon would like it if you could join us for a cup of tea in a few minutes. Take a little time to get acquainted with your surroundings. This can be your room. Chrystal will be joining you, Eamon and Lanie down here. The Waldrons and Harry will have the upstairs."

  Savannah stopped her before she left the room. "Why are the homes connected?"

  "It's Dwarf tradition. These would be considered the in-law quarters. The upstairs would be the young couple who just married and is starting a family. When their children grow and get married, they have the choice of who to move in with-- usually it's the youngest. Then they move into the in-law quarters of that home," Thalia explained.

  "Why are there so many rooms down here then?" asked Savannah. Surely a married couple would only need one room, two at the most.

  "Because often, they still have their own in-laws to bring with them," Thalia said. "I hope it's to your satisfaction. My friends arranged this for you months ago, just in case," she added, before walking out of the room.

  Savannah looked around and decided not to try the bed out yet. She was plenty exhausted and would probably fall asleep as soon as her head hit the fluffy down pillows. She had never been around such extravagance before. She had thought that Eamon's apartment was the meaning of ultimate luxury, but now she knew that his was the meaning of comfort. As beautiful as this place was, it would take time for her to feel comfortable here. She took a few minutes to strip her clothes off her furry bear skin. The fabric had been straining against the extra fur and probably looked odd. The other Morphlings had done something similar with their skin on the mountain, and if the situation had been a little less dire, she was sure that she would have found it humorous. Now that she was a bit warmer, she adjusted her skin to that of a cat and embellished a little with long eagle wings to cover her more sensitive areas.

  The scene of Jen's death kept replaying in her head. Why couldn't she save her? A tear crept down her cheek before she sniffled and wiped it away. She tried to tell herself that it was done and over and there was nothing she could do. But the pain of failure and death kept creeping back in.

  Chapter 22

  Staring at the massive circular table in the upstairs kitchen, Savannah was glad for Thalia's insistence to sit on pillows on the floor. The table was intimidating, and with the small numbers for this talk, they would have been lucky to hear each other. A cup of tea floated in front of her before she grabbed it and thanked Thalia.

  Taking a sip of tea, the Wizard said, "In five hours, everyone will need to be ready to be presented to Chieftain Hornstone of the Cairn Clan. She has been made aware of your predicament and is anxious to meet you. After introductions are made, Eamon and I will be going back to Green
haven to inform them of the attack. And to let them know that everyone is safe. We will give Chrystal and Harry the choice to stay here or go back with us. I am certain that they will choose to at least go to check on the pack. But asking them to stay here while the rest of this is figured out may be a bit much."

  "We didn't have time to get the pack out of the training grounds, so Thalia and the Dwarves demolished the portal on their way up to the one that led to here," Eamon said, calmly.

  "Wait! They are trapped in the Four Corners?" Savannah asked, alarmed. "We have to go back and get them out of there!"

  "They are not trapped. There is a door to the outside of the building hidden in the mountains. We just need to make sure that they have found it and were able to make their way home. It is too dangerous for us to go back tonight, but they have plenty of things that they can eat and drink. And right now it is the safest place for them. The Siphons and Vampires will never be able to find them there. By the time we get to them, the Siphons and Vampires should be gone. I am sure that the Siphons are making their way back to the Arc's Edge as we speak. The broken portals will have told them that we are not in Greenhaven anymore," Eamon explained.

  Savannah relaxed while trying to process all of the new information.

  "I couldn't believe how many Dwarves were touching Harry in the tavern," Lanie said, taking a sip of her chamomile tea. "It was like they had never seen anyone so tall before."

  "Many of them haven't," Thalia said, a small smile playing on her lips.

  Savannah wasn't surprised that she had missed so much in the tavern. At this point, she would be lucky to remember this conversation in the morning. "I didn't save her," she whispered, a little surprised when she heard herself say it out loud.