by M. R. Noble
“A star becomes a sun, under the pressure of darkness,” I said.
One day, I ran home from school in tears after the new kid got ambushed after school. Max, the child whose parents dressed him in ripped jeans and worn sneakers, had to outdo the others and hit him in the head with a rock. They all scattered and ran home. Except the new kid. I had hobbled him home to his parents.
I had begged Mama to call the bullies’ parents. She asked me what I did when the beating transpired. I was so angry that she put the responsibility on my shoulders. When I told her I stood by, she said the phrase to me again. When I still didn’t understand she told me to be my own hero. Inside of all of us was the potential for greatness—all it took was a change in perspective. When I cried and told her I was afraid, she nodded and said, “You can burn brighter than they can, if you have to.”
In a moment, my six-year-old self decided I would be a police officer one day. I would protect people. When I got to high school and reflected again, I decided her parenting skills were seriously lacking. Looking back now, I understood what she tried to groom me for. She wanted to give me the skills to stand up to the type of people who existed in the undergrounds—where the murder of innocent people was the byproduct of their crime rings.
“O stea poate deveni un soare sub presiunea întunericului,” I said. My attempt at a Romanian accent butchered the phrase, but hearing the words spoken aloud made me feel like Mama was here again, like anything was possible. Sparking the Light Charm could be possible.
I turned the page. The was no page numbers or table of contents. Some of the pages had only markings, carvings which when drawn had a magical purpose. The first few pages explained the dynamics of light magic. Its purpose to defend, heal, or protect. The essence of light magic came from the human will to protect, love, and create. I already knew these principals, but eventually I got to the coveted material.
I read in detail the various spells used with the Light Charm: one of which was used to protect this house. Light wards were the strongest forms of protection on a dwelling. They were not easily broken and could only be dismantled by another light user. Foreboding reputation aside, this is how Miruna must have stayed safe all these years.
The grandfather clock chimed for the third time. I thought it was broken, but when I looked at the hands, I realized three hours had elapsed without me noticing. I squandered the opportunity to bank sleep while I could, and I still hadn’t learned how to invoke the Light Charm. I flipped my way through to the end. It was all just more spells.
Getting up felt painful for my stiff muscles. I placed my new book into my pack and got into bed. A floral nightgown had been folded underneath the covers for me. In the darkness, I contemplated hypothetical ways I could try to spark the Light Charm, none of which would be successful, since preplanned acts were never genuine and riddled with self-interest. In my case, I was full-fledged desperate for the Light Charm.
Light magic could be stronger than any other magic a person could possess. I think it gave truth to the principal ‘love is stronger than hate,’ which one innately knew. Full vampires were stronger than I was. Roman was stronger than any vampire. The only way I could get an edge was through magic. Conundrum. How could I spark the Light Charm? Back to the beginning I circled.
I rolled over and got tangled in the sheets. How could Andre have sparked it and not me?
My blood rushed at the thought of his name. Hunger turned in my stomach. My heartbeat pulsed in my ears. No, I told myself. It was just his nighttime proximity, made worse since the blood exchange. At sunrise it would go away. Learn to ignore it. I ran my hand down my stomach restlessly, and my skin ignited. There was another way to control my appetite. My hand trailed along my thigh. The way Andre had looked at me in the car popped into my head. No, no. Don’t think about that. Our encounter in the dorm flooded into my memory.
There was a small creak in the hallway. I summed up my new sense and propelled it outward. I felt Andre’s presence at the far end of the hall, around his door. I gulped. I felt further. Andre’s emotions immersed me. He was in his own personal hell. A crushing pain erupted in my chest, the type of pain I felt when Mama died. My body heated, and I had an all-consuming need for someone, anyone—anything—to take the pain away. A cold force blew across the room and slammed into me, knocking me back into my pillow.
The sensations were gone.
I shot up to a sitting position. Panting and covered with sweat. My own feelings returned to my body. I wiped my hair from my face, and my breathing started to slow. Whatever Miruna had attempted to heal in Andre, she needed to go back for a second round. I flipped off the covers and touched a foot to the ground. If I check on him, would he let me in? The phenomenon of the cold wall wasn’t new. He had the advantage of knowing how to shut me out, while I was still trying to understand our new bond. Whatever he felt, he wanted to go through it alone.
I relaxed, focusing on the feeling of home the Albesuc house gave me. My chest soon felt heavy. I drifted into the dreamy stage of consciousness just before sleep. As my mind rolled into blankness, the floorboards creaked at the foot of the stairs.
“We can’t let her go,” Roman whispered.
A female voice whispered back. I jerked. Wake up. I fought against the hazy paralysis of sleep. Wake up. In my head my arms moved as I struggled out of the bed, but physically my body relaxed further against the soft sheets. My breathing slowed, and my thoughts blurred into darkness. I slipped into a deep imageless sleep.
Chapter Eleven
The Ocean’s Call
“Coff-ee…” I grumbled my best zombie impression as my feet shuffled across the floor. Miruna called out something from the sunroom. I felt my way around the kitchen and squinted against the morning sun. Coffee ran down my hand when I attempted to pour it into a mug. I unstuck one of my eyelids which had been cemented together. With the vision of both eyes, I managed to get my coffee in the cup this time. On my way to see Miruna I lifted a pastry off a platter.
“Where are the men?” I asked and sank onto the couch beside her while she read the newspaper. I stuffed a piece of coffee-soaked pastry into my mouth.
“Outside, doing some chores for me.”
I choked on some coffee. She really was a white witch if she had managed to get Roman and Andre working together. “Do you have anyone to help you with the chores regularly?”
“There is a young lady who comes to help me with the cleaning.”
“If I was staying…I could help you with the house.”
“It’s the price I paid, Karolina, for not having children.”
“What do to you mean?”
She put down her paper and looked across the street to the Lion House. “Your grandma wasn’t the only one who loved a man.”
I looked at the stone lions staring down at us. “He used to come and go from the Lion House too?”
She nodded. “I was young and ambitious. When he first called on me, I turned him away. It just made him love me more. I had plans, Karolina, and I chose power over love.”
I couldn’t bear the sadness in her eyes. “You’re known to be the strongest white witch in Romania. I would say you accomplished a lot.”
“It’s true. I took the path less traveled by, and I’ve saved a lot of lives.” She looked back to the Lion House. “But my warrior man and I vowed we would save those lives together. He was killed before we married.”
“I’m so sorry,” I said. “How did he die?”
“Protecting our neighbors from members of a Russian vampire gang passing through the city.”
This story was getting worse and worse. Another loved one claimed by the underground. The conflicts between supernatural societies was the main cause of death for our kind. Whether they were vampire or human, it was all the same, needless death. My hands felt cold.
Like she had read my mind, her mood switched to cheery. “Your grandma, on the other hand, married right away. She was devoted to her home life and h
ad your mother. Her earth magic was exceptional. She even opened up an apothecary and sold Charmed medicine.”
“They didn’t use light magic?” I wondered why I’d never seen Mama use it.
“It takes an extreme act of sacrifice to trigger the Light Charm. It is the dark circumstance of war which puts people in such a position. One must be brave enough to take a stand against the destruction it breeds.”
I leaned in. “When you make that choice, you invoke it?”
She nodded. “Your mother and grandma were never exposed to a situation where such a choice would be forced.”
I remembered Grandpa’s teachings over all those years. “Grandpa was the warrior in our family, not Mama and Grandma.”
She held up a finger. “But the Light Charm was always in them, Karolina. It’s in everyone from the moment they’re born. It’s important to know all its teachings. Should you ever be faced with a choice, you’ll make the right one.”
A star becomes a sun, under the pressure of darkness. My family made sure their children were raised to make the noble choice, should they be faced with such atrocities.
“Shit.” I held my forehead in my hands. “I’ll never spark it, because I want to.”
“So, you are resolved to go to Russia?”
I nodded.
Her eyes glistened. “And so, we will see, child. If you are like me, or if you are like your mother. There is no shame in either one.”
“And Grandma?”
She laughed. “You have a good heart, child, but you have too much fire in your soul to be her image.”
“Maybe I won’t have to choose between love and power.”
“Hmmm,” she said. “You would be original indeed.”
I couldn’t remember a time when I felt the type of love Miruna had. Eternal love. The kind which keeps one going when one is ninety and alone. Roman and I had a friendship built on a platonic love, with desire as a recent addition, but its title was still one I couldn’t place.
Miruna stared at me. “It’s not too late. You and Roman could always choose to stay here.”
The door hinges squeaked in the front hall. Roman and Andre walked into the hallway, shirtless and covered in sweat.
“You owe me a bottle of vodka,” Andre said and kicked off his shoes.
“The only reason you beat me was because you used your magic,” Roman said. “I would like to see how you match against me without it.”
Miruna got up off the couch. “Gentlemen, is the wall at the back of the house reinforced?”
“Yes Ma’am,” Roman said and interlocked his hands against his belt buckle. His dirty jeans hung low, showing off the lower curve of his abdomen.
“I added some rebar into the concrete mix. It could withstand any attack thrown at it now,” Andre said. He leaned against the doorway and his thick shoulder muscles glistened in the window’s sunbeam.
Miruna had a point—there is merit in the idea of staying put and enjoying my present company.
“I’m glad you got the job done so quickly,” Miruna said.
“Nothing like a little healthy competition,” Andre said and smacked Roman on the back.
“Thank you for helping an old woman.” On the way out of the room she glanced over her shoulder. “Oh, Karolina. I thought about your dilemma.”
I stood to join them.
“Maybe there is another drawing you forward on your journey.” She left the room. I realized her loafers and shawl were just camouflage; she was a devious old woman.
“What’s that about?” Roman asked.
“Nothing.”
Andre cracked his neck. “We’ve been here too long. Do you have the certificate?”
I nodded.
“Good,” he said. “We’ll head back to Bucharest, hop on a plane, and mission complete.”
“No,” I said.
Andre looked down at me. “What do you mean?”
“We almost lost our lives back in Bucharest,” I said. “They’ll be looking for us now, and even with Roman’s strength, it’s not worth risking another fight. From what I’ve learned about magic, tracking spells are ineffective over water. Whoever is sending the vampires must be tracking us. There’s no way they could have known where you and I were so quickly after our flight. I’m thinking they knew our general vicinity, so when I blew our cover, they knew it was us.”
“So?” Andre asked.
“So, we go by boat,” I said.
Andre’s face lost the color he’d managed to gain overnight. “We don’t have a boat, Karolina. It’s a stupid idea.”
Roman shoved Andre. “It makes perfect sense.”
“Down, dog,” Andre said. “If you want to follow the lead of a woman who can’t even keep her coffee in her cup, fine by me.”
I looked down. Not only was I still wearing the cute little floral nightgown, the left side was spotted in coffee.
“At least I’m wearing clothes,” I said. “I’m going to get dressed, and if you want to come with us to Russia you better be ready by the time I’m at the door.”
Up the stairs and in the privacy of my room, I gave into the smile I held back downstairs. Mission complete meant I would meet my uncle Loukin. Warnings from Miruna aside, Loukin had gone to a lot of trouble deploying his top man to locate and escort me home untouched. I refused to believe the circumstance of our meeting could be completely disastrous.
I triple-checked my pack and all my belongings and rifled through my clothes. I decided meeting Loukin was a formal occasion and picked a tight shirt of layered mauve and black lace. For the rest of my outfit, jeans would have to do. I clutched my necklace and opened the door.
The men had both managed quick showers and had their stuff ready on time. My guess at the formality may have been right, as Andre had opted for a collared shirt. Miruna stood by them, and when I got closer, she stretched her arms out to me.
“If you change your mind at any time, just come home.” She kissed my forehead. “If not, remember you are Dalca and Albesuc.”
“Thank you. Either way, I know I will see you soon,” I said.
She turned toward Roman and Andre. “Take good care of my niece.” Then she crossed herself with her index and pinkie finger pointed down. “Grace be with you.” A faint glow of white light flooded out over the three of us.
We thanked Miruna for her hospitality and headed out the door. As I crossed the threshold, I felt the hum of power again. From what I learned from the book, once invited into her home the ward allowed us entry. Until Miruna rescinded our invitation, we could enter as we pleased. When we got to the car, Roman walked to the passenger’s side and I braced myself for another awkward ride.
Andre held up the keys and looked at Roman. “What? Too eager to share a seat to ask me to drive?”
Roman ignored him and got in the car, sitting in the sharing-a-seat position we’d developed. He wrapped his arms around my waist, but then ran a hand down my thigh when Andre started the car.
“Ro,” I whispered and swatted his hand away.
He played at an innocent smile in the side mirror and held up his hands.
“How long to the harbor?” I asked.
Andre checked the rearview mirror. “About five.”
“Okay. Do we know what we’re doing for a boat?”
“I made a call. There’s a fishing boat stopped at port for trade. The owner is doing me a favor,” Andre said.
When we arrived at Constanta harbor, the sunlight reflecting off the water blinded me. The sea sprayed up into the air as the waves crashed up against the docks. I got out and the wind slapped my hair against my face. The seagulls cried out over the water. Amid them there was the white bird I saw on the drive here. It stood out, like a misshapen pebble amongst the others. It was small. Its shape too elegant to be a seagull, similar to the rare albino falcon I saw in the shop back home.
“Where to?” I called to Andre.
He popped the trunk. “Far end of the harbor.”
The old, salty wood creaked under the weight of our footsteps. I looked out at the horizon. I’d never seen an ocean or a sea before. The Black Sea was more blue than black. The water changed from cobalt to bright marine once it touched the shore, making the colors of the harbor more vivid. Even chipped boat paint looked lush and energized.
“What’s the name of the boat we’re looking for?” I held up a hand to shield the sun.
“Mopenah,” Andre said in a pronunciation I didn’t recognize.
“Mo-pe-nah? What does it mean? Is it Romanian?”
“Sealord. Nah, it’s Ukrainian. We’re traveling with my people.”
Roman scoffed. “Great. Slow down, Karo. You’ll attract attention.”
I looked at the names mounted on the backs of the boats as I walked past. Most were powerboats, but some had sails and halyards which wacked against the mast in the wind. At the far end, some crusted paint read something similar to Mopenah, if some letters weren’t missing.
I jogged ahead and heard Roman and Andre calling out behind me. The rickety finger dock swayed with my weight as I ran up the side of the boat. I skidded to a halt at the edge. Three handsome men stopped securing the deck. We looked at one another other for a moment, then I scrunched my nose as the smell of fish wafted off the boat.
“Hi,” I said.
Andre caught up behind me and maneuvered me back. A language foreign to me poured from his lips as he stepped in front. My view was shielded, but I peeked around him in time for their faces to light up with smiles for Andre.
Roman stepped to our sides.
“English, please,” I said.
“Karolina, this is the crew of the Sealord. Some old friends of mine.” Andre brought out a large wad of cash and slapped it into the hand of a tall, blond man.
Blondie’s smile widened as he clasped down on Andre in a rough hug. “Come!” He waved us onto the boat.
Roman boarded, and I was close behind him.
“Oh!” A robust redhead flashed to me and caught my waist midair, moving too fast to be human. He lifted me onto the boat. I got firm footing, then studied the crew. They could all be vampires, but I would assess for more obvious signs.