Amaranth

by Rachael Wade

  “It is.”

  He reached out, probably to console me, stopped when he saw my defensive shield kick in.

  “Why did you bring me here?” I struggled to sound indifferent.

  “This is where I have to go,” he said, subtly gesturing to the water next to us. “I didn’t want to show you at first, but I figured you’d want to know.” He stuffed his hands back in his pockets, jingled his keys nervously. “I thought I owed it to you to show you the truth, after I’ve kept it from you for so long.” His eyes searched behind me, looked for something off in the distance. I didn’t know what he was talking about. I looked at the dingy water, then back at him, perplexed. Around me, all I could see was swamp. The bayou was swallowed up, immersed in dirt and scattered debris. I realized I’d never seen a bayou quite like it, old and forgotten, with no signs of life. “Wait, what am I looking for?” My eyes surveyed the entire area, searched for whatever it was he was referring to.

  Closely situated near the water, a haggard oak tree caught my attention. Distinct and far more ancient than the others surrounding it, heavy tendrils of Spanish moss hung from its massive branches, nearly engulfing our side of the bayou in its malicious shadow. The fog hovered seductive over the water, the crescent moon looming amidst the dark sky above it. My eyes zoned in on this sight, observed the filmy haze that clouded its radiance.

  Tilting my head to look down at the locket draped across my chest, goose bumps made their way across my arms and I began to shiver as the temperature dropped drastically. In mere seconds, it was so cold I was able to see my breath, and I began to feel claustrophobic. “Gavin … what’s going on …?”

  Before he could answer, a faint rustling echoed from behind us. Because he waited and listened, I did.

  “It’s okay,” he finally said, drawing his attention to one spot amidst the trees. The sound grew more prominent, and I followed his gaze to see what was coming toward us.

  “What is it?” I asked. Branches snapped and the trees’ leaves shook, but I still couldn’t see anything.

  “Gabe and Audrey. They’ll be here soon, they’re bringing a friend with them.”

  “Can you please tell me what’s going on?”

  “I told you we were leaving tonight,” he said, his words careful. “This is where we have to go. This is the entrance to Amaranth. Since Gabe and Audrey are coming with me, I’m leaving a protector behind for you.”

  “Amaranth? You mean this is where Samira lives? Where is it?” Skeptical, I looked around; my heart beat faster in my chest, sensing something was wrong. Gavin rushed to my side.

  “Amaranth is where we have to go to see her. Don’t be afraid, everything will be explained to you.” He rubbed my back, his eyes still darting around us, I thought for signs of our visitors.

  “That sound … it’s Audrey and Gabe?” A strong wind picked up, the air frigid on my skin. “What do you mean you’re leaving a protector for me?” Panic quickly spread, and I started to feel disoriented again, as if I was in some kind of a dream and couldn’t wake up. Loose leaves and dirt swirled around my feet and tree branches started to sway as the rustling sound approached, louder now, perhaps only seconds away.

  “A friend of ours is going to keep an eye on you while we’re away, just to be safe.”

  “Keep an eye … I thought we were ending this. Why am I being dragged even farther into your world?” Though my teeth were chattering I felt sweat on my forehead, upset that I once again was kept out of the loop. Gabe didn’t mention anything to me about going anywhere tonight. Not only was Gavin suddenly leaving, but apparently, he’d arranged for another vampire to watch over me like a child.

  “You are in my world now, Camille. I never meant for it to be this way, but it is, and we can’t avoid it. Even when I’m not around anymore, Audrey will be. You’ll be exposed to this long after I’m gone. I just have to make sure you’re safe until I get back. I couldn’t live with myself if anything happened to you because of me … if I weren’t here …” He swallowed, lowered his voice, “You didn’t honestly think I was just going to leave you behind, all alone, with Andrew on the loose, did you?”

  I blotted angry tears with my hands, knew my mascara was smearing everywhere. “I didn’t expect anything! Certainly not all three of you leaving tonight—in the middle of a swamp. Not to mention you assigning me a babysitter. I am so tired of being left in the dark about everything. I want to know what the hell is happening here.”

  “We’re going to see Samira, and a very good friend of ours is going to take care of you while we’re gone.” He handed me his suit jacket, helped me shrug it on to stay warm. “When we get back, you’ll have your best friend back, and you can see me on your own terms. That’s it. That’s what’s happening.”

  “You mean if you get back. If. You forgot that part.”

  “When we get back,” he challenged me, grabbed my shoulders. “You know Audrey better than Gabe or I ever will. She never would’ve become one of us and taken such a risk unless she strongly believed this would be successful. If you can’t trust me, trust her. Please.”

  “I still don’t understand how this is the entrance to this Amaranth place,” I replied stubbornly, wrapped his jacket tighter around me to shield myself from the relentless wind.

  “This is the portal that takes us there.”

  The voice came from behind me. I spun around and looked up to see Gabe emerging from the trees, Audrey by his side. They floated gracefully to the ground, landed on two feet with virtually no sound. I felt my eyes literally bulging at the sight.

  “Gavin’s right, Camille,” Audrey said, reached for Gabe’s hand before the three of them moved in to surround me. “You don’t have to be afraid … or angry about someone watching out for you. We’re just trying to help you. To protect you.”

  To protect me? I felt like they were having some sort of intervention, about to spout off the twelve steps or something. Either that, or I was smack in the middle of some twisted rendition of Rosemary’s Baby. “Wait, a portal?” I said, still shocked from the sight of seeing my friends in flight for the first time. “How did you guys know we were here, and how did you know I was coming to see Gavin tonight?” Suspicious, I peeked around for any signs of the other visitor. Or babysitter, or whatever.

  “It was kind of a last-minute thing,” Gabe answered, exchanged a look with Gavin. “We wanted to leave sooner, but knew Gavin was waiting to see you before we left, so we held out for a bit. Audrey had a feeling you’d come tonight though, and well … here we are.”

  As he’d said this, he scanned the foliage for our expected guest, shot Gavin and Audrey looks. It was starting to get on my last nerve. He noticed.

  “Cam, I know this is a lot to take in right now,” he offered. “We’re all sorry it had to happen like this.”

  Another empathetic vampire. How refreshing. “So … when did you tell them I came to see you?” I asked Gavin, ignoring Gabe. My eyes jerked back and forth between my friends and the trees they emerged from, still recovering from the spectacle. “How did they know to meet us here?”

  “We can tap into the minds of those in our coven ... it’s something that develops over time. I told them to come.”

  I looked over at Audrey, realized she was now considered a part of their coven. We hadn’t spoken or seen each other in weeks due to the turn our friendship had taken, but suddenly, it was a relief to see her.

  “Hey, Cam,” she greeted me, her voice meek, her body language vigilant. “How’s the vampire drama coming along? You hanging in there?”

  “Stupid question, Morticia Addams.”

  She chuckled lightly. “Morticia wasn’t blonde.”

  I sniffled, unintentionally chuckled with her. I couldn’t stay mad at her for much longer, regardless of what she was now. I loved her too much and the fight was too exhausting.

  “Not dead yet?” She moved toward me prudently, peeked at my mouth, probably to search for a pair of fangs.

  “Nop
e, still kickin’. A bit freaked out at the moment, though.”

  “Yeah, that’ll wear off.” She smiled warmly and stepped closer to hug me, checked with me first, with her eyes, to make sure it was okay.

  “Oh, please. I know you won’t bite. I missed you.” I hugged her tight, and she looked to Gabe and Gavin before she let me go; I saw Gavin’s face lighting up as he mouthed “thank you” to her.

  “I can’t believe you fly,” I said, looked up at the trees again. “It’s so unfair.” In spite of Gavin’s jacket, my teeth chattered as I spoke.

  “It’s not as glamorous as you think.” She shook stray leaves from her hair as the wind blew them away.

  “Okay,” I turned to face Gavin and Gabe again, pleased with the Audrey peace treaty. “Now will someone please explain Amaranth to me before I have a heart attack over here?” I rubbed my forearms, tried to get warm as I eyed that eerie-looking bayou again. “I feel like I’m in a really trippy nightmare right now. Some clarity would be greatly appreciated.”

  Audrey and Gabe stepped back and faced Gavin, his cue to explain.

  “Well … as Gabe was saying, this is the portal to get there. Amaranth is a city, an exile location for our kind. Samira guards the entrance to regulate who comes in and out, and to enforce the laws there.”

  “The crescent moon is present tonight,” Gabe chimed in. “That’s the only time we can enter.” He pointed to the sky, tilted his head to peer up at it.

  “You’re telling me the moon determines when you can go there.” I cocked an eyebrow, adopted the same expression as when I was ten years old and my mother still tried to convince me there was a Santa Claus. I was simply not buying it. “Are you saying it’s not … of this world?”

  “You could put it like that,” Gabe replied, squeezed Audrey’s hand.

  “It’s not of this world, technically.” Gavin marched past us to stand next to the distorted oak tree that had caught my attention only minutes ago. He felt the side of the robust trunk and slowly moved his hand to a random branch that I now realized was out of place. Thick yet brittle, it jutted out from the trunk, shorter and lower than the others. He gave it one hard downward push, and the branch creaked as it snapped like a rusty old door hinge, expelling dirt as it moved. Rigid instead of lifeless, it hung obediently at the tree’s side, still attached. Gavin let go of it, and Gabe and Audrey shifted away from the water’s edge; the wind still ruffled steadily around us.

  All at once they turned to peer at the water under the glistening moonlight. I turned with them and watched as it began to bubble and sway, as though suddenly angry. Audrey and I moved farther from the water, cautious. Gabe and Gavin remained where they were.

  The surface began to make graceful swirls in different directions, possessed by a force I couldn’t see, the motion playing tricks on my eyes. An unsettling glimmer pushed through the surface and broke through, ascending from the floor of the bayou’s surface. I continued to watch in astonishment as streams of beautiful transcendental light penetrated from the watery heaven, casting warm amethyst rays into our dark world. I squinted, tried to adjust to the light.

  “This is where we have to go,” I heard Gavin say. “It’s the only way in or out.” His eyes scanned the celestial movement, assessed its process before he glanced behind me toward the trees. “Joel’s here. He can tell you everything you want to know. I know this all feels like a dream right now, but it’ll be easier to understand with time … after this is over.”

  I pried my eyes from the magic in front of me to look at him, sadness sweeping over me at the realization of his pending departure. He stepped forward, looked straight at me and nodded at the unwelcome guest who I sensed now stood behind me. “Joel is one of my oldest friends. He knew my mother and father, and I trust him with my life. So should you. Stick with him, and you’ll be safe.” He tilted his head to the side to inspect the water’s edge, made eye contact with Gabe and Audrey.

  I didn’t bother to acknowledge this Joel guy, but instead kept my eyes on Gavin. “You don’t have to do this.” Begged him with my eyes for some kind of closure before he left me a vagabond in this nightmare. His suit jacket hung heavy on me, enveloped me in his scent, and I felt the need to inhale it deeply, wanted the smell to sit in my bones as a medium. My body grew limp, surrendering to the madness and loss that suddenly surrounded me—the loss that everyone was trying to convince me was only temporary, a madness that would never end.

  Gavin gently took hold of my cold, lifeless hand. “I had hope,” he clenched his jaw, “and for what it’s worth, I still do.” Eyes desperate, he leaned forward to kiss me, reached for my face, but stopped. “When I come back, if you’ll have me, you have my word that I’ll spend the rest of my human life making this up to you. I love you, Camille Hart.”

  With a grave countenance, he kissed me softly and let me go from his grip.

  “Don’t kiss me like it’s the last time. Don’t—”

  Turning sharply, he joined Gabe and Audrey. He approached the water, his back to me, head hanging and shoulders stiff. My heart faltered, a flood of heartbreak, resentment, and fear all rushing through me. I watched, helpless, as he waded in to the water, inched forward slowly, step by step.

  Irrational, I darted forward, but Audrey and Gabe rushed to stop me before I could get any closer. I shook their hands away from me to reach him one more time. “No, Gavin! Wait! Please, please, please, don’t leave.” My knees trembled, watched the water rise to his shoulders as he descended; his body slightly contorted and his arms and shoulders jerked as he fought the pull of water like quicksand, seizing more and more of his control every second.

  The water made its way just below his chin and he finally surrendered, almost completely submerged. Tears nearly blinding me, I continued to struggle against Audrey and Gabe’s grasp, heedless that I was no match for their superhuman strength. Eventually, I gave in. “Take me with you! Please!” Winded, I dashed toward the water again, Audrey and Gabe letting me fly right past them this time.

  “You can’t go, it’s another realm!” Audrey shouted. “Mortals can’t enter, you have to let him go!”

  “I’ll make sure he comes back,” Gabe hollered.

  For a split second, Gavin shifted his head and moved his eyes to focus on his hindsight, as though reluctantly considering my plea. I staggered forward, my feet nearly touching the water, ready to reach out and pull him to me. I extended my hand as far as it could go over the water’s edge, let a long cold breath from my lips as I reached in despair, but my efforts, all of them, failed. He snapped his head back toward the dark abyss awaiting him and quickly disappeared beneath the violet emissions, the water bubbling as it signaled its victory. The darkness swallowed him up and I forced myself to commit the last image I had of him to memory.

  Audrey’s voice broke through my trance, and she and Gabe rushed to my side again to hold me up. “He’s going to come back. We all are.” She glared at me, looking as if she needed to convince herself. My eyes frozen on the water and shoulders slumped, I let my knees give out.

  “Don’t lie to me.” My voice a whisper now.

  “Too late,” she muttered, letting Gabe take over for her before she backed away.

  “Joel … can you?” Gabe prompted, then left my side to lead Audrey to the water. I barely noticed other arms enfolding me.

  “I’m so sorry,” Audrey mouthed before she turned to face the water, her eyes leaving mine as I began to go comatose. Gabe glared at Joel as he held me, gave him one firm nod. As they made their way into the bayou and waded further into its depths, Audrey’s long hair slithered through the water in the descent, until the crown of her head was no longer visible. Gabe followed her, and I fell to the earth.

  The firm, cold arms that had replaced Gabe’s fell with me, let my weight rest against them. My eyelids fell shut and I heard nothing but the sound of night as the wind ceased and the roiling bayou came to a quiet halt. I could feel the temperature rise, the cold air dissipate
as my lungs inhaled even, warm breaths again, and all was still as I slid further into an impassive solitude.

  AMARANTH

  The familiar cobalt blue bottles lined the fireplace windowsills, positioned to capture and destroy evil spirits. Never understood that, I thought. What does she need protection from, anyway? She’s the evil one.

  “Madame. You have visitors,” a small woman with a round face announced, and knelt gracefully before Samira’s reverential throne.

  “Leave,” she demanded from her wicked place, the gothic altar she called home. Her long dagger nails draped across the extravagant crimson layers of her gown; she lightly lifted the gown’s skirt and glided to the blazing fireplace situated behind the throne.

  “Yes, Madame.” The small woman left me with Gabe and Audrey, then scurried away, closing the wooden doors behind her. An image of Camille flickered in my mind, her face as I left her in the bayou. So broken, so confused. How could I have left her like that?

  I turned my thoughts off, afraid Samira might penetrate them. I knew she didn’t have access to our coven’s thoughts; the magic limited her. But my instincts told me to take any and every caution.

  “Hello, Samira,” I replied, edged forward to stand in front of my friends. I hovered near the bottom of the granite steps, examined the sides of her Louis XV chair, my eyes searching for the wolves. She remained quiet, her back to me as she stared adoringly into the fire. Her bouffant raven locks sat perfectly disheveled on top of her head, outlining her chiseled figure in the light of the flames.

  “Not to worry,” she finally spoke, “Gérard’s spell is still intact. Your thoughts are safe.” She swung around to face me. “I am your creator, but he is the author as you very well know.” She winked, wrapped the mojo bag’s string tighter around her wrist, hugged it closer to her skin. “Truly, there is nothing more powerful than fire. It is most alluring in every way.” Her rich Russian tongue cut fiercely as she spoke, with both precision and patience. “Warm and welcoming, it promises you comfort, life, endurance, and inevitably pain—for those who do not know how to respect its mighty sovereignty.”