A Shade of Halloween

by Robin Todd

  “Ready to go in?” Trina asked.

  “As ready as can be.” I smiled, not wanting to bother her with the changes in my body.

  We pushed the door and walked into pitch black darkness. From the creaking of the door’s hinges, it was clear that the place had been abandoned for years. Maybe even centuries. Of course, it was expected for the lights to be out.

  “Why didn’t we think of coming with a torch?” I thought to myself.

  “Because we were too excited about leaving.” Trina laughed.

  “Wait. Did you just hear my thoughts?” I asked.

  I couldn’t help the surprised look on my face.

  “You didn’t say that out loud?” Trina asked in reply.

  “No!” I screamed.

  “OMG!!!” We screamed in unison.

  “I think you’re getting all your vampire abilities now.” I said excitedly.

  “You have no idea how great that sounds.” Trina laughed. “Speaking about abilities, why don’t you try lighting the place up.”

  “I have no idea how to begin.” I laughed.

  “Well, you can try really wishing for the temple to be lit up. How about saying a mantra like those movie witches? Something like temple lights... om... temple lights... om... temple lights...” Trina explained.

  “That’s the silliest mantra I’ve ever heard.” I frowned.

  “I didn’t mean for you to say it verbatim.” Trina countered. “Just something similar.”

  I pulled her into a hug and laughed.

  “I was just teasing. I’ll try and concentrate but you have to promise not to laugh if it doesn’t work.” I replied.

  “I won’t laugh.” Trina assured me and I closed my eyes.

  I imagined the temple being lit up with naked fire from torches which hung along the walls, simply because I thought torches were in use in 1889. I created the mental picture and focused really hard on it. I could feel the slight heat coming from the torches, and see the light they produced. As far as I was concerned, I was doing great with my focus. I channeled all my energy to my mental picture and waited. Nothing happened. I waited some more and still, nothing happened. I was going to complain about hating how my powers embarrassed me when I needed them but Trina’s voice stopped me from doing so.

  “Wow!” I heard her say.

  I realized my eyes were still closed and when I opened them, I was amazed. There were torches along the walls, having naked fire just like I imagined. What was even more amazing was the sheer size and beauty of the temple.

  “Oh my gosh, you did it!” Trina exclaimed, hugging me in an excited jump.

  “Wow.”

  That was all I could say. I blinked several times, just to be sure all of it was real. Every time I opened my eyes, the picture remained the same. I was standing in a large temple with multiple doors, antiques, and altars, and I freaking lit it up with my mind. It was insane!

  “Look at all this stuff.” Trina said.

  “Yeah. I wonder how long they’ve been abandoned for. And why hasn’t anyone moved anything?” I asked.

  “I’m sure we’ll get the answers later. For now, we need to stick to the plan and find any books or scrolls that can help you master your powers.” She replied.

  “Good point. Let’s split up. You search that wing over there and I’ll take this wing over here.” I said.

  We walked around the temple, searching for books and scrolls that might explain everything I was experiencing and hopefully tell us how to get back to the rest of the world. I could hear Trina using her enhanced speed and for the first time, I wished I was a vampire too. The speed was really helpful, especially when one needed to search an extremely large temple.

  “Selena!” I heard Trina yell my name.

  “Please tell me you’ve found something.” I yelled back.

  I was beginning to bore myself with searching and finding nothing.

  “I’ve found something.” Trina yelled back.

  “If you’re kidding, I’m going to...”

  Trina appeared beside me, completely startling and cutting me off. She grinned and picked me up, transporting me over to the room she discovered in less than a second.

  “It’s like a secret study.” She explained, once we were inside.

  The room had large bookshelves that rose from the ground to the ceiling on every side, and they were filled with neatly arranged books that reminded me of the brown Selena Ryder book from my college’s library. There were wooden ladders against each bookshelf, which could be climbed if one wanted to reach the books at the top.

  “How did you find it?” I asked.

  “By looking.” Trina grinned.

  “You’re so sarcastic.” I laughed.

  “I’m sorry. I can’t help it.” She apologized.

  “It’s okay.” I gave her a side hug.

  We walked along the floor, looking up at the books. We didn’t even realize we had interlocked our fingers while walking.

  “I think the only way to find what we’re looking for is to use vampire speed.” Trina suggested.

  “Yeah, sounds like the only way if we intend to finish this year. There are clearly hundreds of books in here.” I replied.

  “Stand back.” Trina said, speeding off soon after.

  In a couple of seconds, she was back with a pile of books in her hands. She placed them on one of the tables in the room and ushered me to a chair beside it. Once seated, I looked at the titles on the table and they were all intriguing. The books were of different sizes, and had different bizarre art works on their cover pages.

  “So where do we start?” Trina asked.

  “I think this one.” I replied, showing her a book with a title that read ‘Secrets of the Ages’.

  “Hmm. It’s a big one. Since vampires can read a lot faster than humans, why don’t I read that one. You can pick a smaller one.” She replied.

  “Good idea.” I replied, picking up ‘The art of Magyk’ and turning its cover.

  We read silently for a while, before I dropped the book and turned to Trina.

  “It will take a while to master these things. I’m feeling sleepy.”

  “That’s the first human trait you’ve exhibited since we got here.” Trina stated.

  “Hey! How do you mean?” I yawned.

  “I’ve fed at least once... and I’m a vampire. You haven’t had anything to eat and you’re not even hungry!” She replied.

  “Well, I wasn’t barbequed in the air.” I teased, making her laugh.

  “It’s okay if you want to sleep. We can take some of these books with us and you can continue when you wake up. Since I don’t need to sleep, I’ll keep reading.” She replied.

  “Are you going to stay here?” I asked.

  “Hell no!” Trina replied. “I’m coming with you.”

  We carried all the books we could, and walked out of the temple.

  “Are you going to carry me back to the house?” I asked.

  “Focus, Selena.” Trina grinned. “The city is empty. Why do we need to live in just one house? We can stay anywhere.”

  “What would I do without you?” I smiled.

  “Absolutely nothing!” She grinned. “Let’s go to that house opposite the temple. It’ll be great for easy access...”

  “It’s not a sales pitch, Trina.” I rolled my eyes and ignored the resulting pout from Trina.

  We carried the books into the house and placed them on the table in the living room. At this point, I could barely keep my eyes open from fatigue.

  “It’s okay to get some shut eye.” Trina smiled.

  I squeezed her hand gently before lying on the sofa and going straight to sleep.

  Chapter Thirteen

  Selena’s POV

  I opened my eyes and was confused for the first few seconds. Everything around me was pitch black, just like midnight. I tried to think of the last thing I did before finding myself in the darkness but I drew a blank. My memories felt like they were di
stant from me and I had no idea why. I heard labored breathing not too far away from me and was about to walk towards the sound when something in my head told me that was not the smartest thing to do. I had no idea who the other person in the room was and for all I knew, they could be the enemy.

  “No. This person is clearly in distress.”

  The breaths I heard were shallow, like they were coming from someone who was close to dying. I couldn’t stay in the darkness doing nothing when I knew I could be saving someone.

  “Hello.” I called out.

  There was no answer.

  “Is anybody there?” I called again.

  Still, there was no response. I wanted to pass the shallow breaths off as a figment of my imagination but something in me refused to let go. I felt like the person with the shallow breaths was calling out to me - without making use of words.

  “Lucidum ignis.”

  The words left my lips before I could stop them. I had no idea what I said, or why I even said the words. I knew I wanted the lights to come on and as weird as it was, I felt like I knew what the words would do. It was like something or someone else took over my body in that moment and voiced the words out of my mouth. What happened after shocked me in more ways than one. The entire room lit up, and I could see the person with the shallow breaths. I was going to look around for the source of the light, but the other person in the room held my attention. He was hanging from silver chain suspenders, and had his head hung low, facing the ground. Blood dripped from several parts of his body, staining the wooden floor beneath him. While all I saw was his injured body and the top of his hair, he looked awfully familiar. I felt like I knew him, like he was a part of me.

  “Where have I seen this hair before?” I wondered.

  I had no idea why my memory chose today to abandon me. I felt like I could reach them if I tried a little harder but the harder I tried to remember, the farther away the memories seemed. I walked towards the person, tilting my heard sideways to catch a glimpse of his face. I could only see the side of his face and it was very bloody.

  “Se...le...na.”

  The words were barely audible as they left his lips but I heard him clearly. Whoever was hanging there knew me and was calling on me to help him. I increased my pace and walked up to him. I recognized him the moment I stood in front of him and my heart sank to my feet. It was Ryan, and he was very weak.

  “Oh my gosh, no!” I screamed.

  I grabbed the suspenders that held him in place and tried with all my might to break him free. It was futile. His hands remained fastened to the chain locks like I hadn’t even done anything.

  I heard the door open behind me and turned around. A vampire walked into the room and closed the door behind him. He looked around like he was surprised for a bit, before turning his attention to Ryan. I recognized him but could not really place from where. I had seen him before, that much was sure. But why was he holding Ryan captive?

  “You will tell me what I want to know, Ryan Soille. Where is Rayna and where is the sorceress?” He asked in an angry tone.

  I didn’t see the weapon in his hand before but when he made to stab Ryan in the gut, I saw the silver weapon clearly. It was a weird kind of knife with several inscriptions on it. It looked really sharp and I couldn’t bear seeing it actually stab Ryan.

  “No!!!”

  I jumped between the vampire and Ryan, stretching my hands in front of me in a defensive gesture. The vampire’s weapon wielding hand sped through me like I wasn’t even there. He stabbed straight at Ryan’s stomach, causing him to groan in pain. That was when it dawned on me. Neither the vampire nor Ryan acknowledged the fact that I was in the room… but I was right there, in the flesh.

  “Why are objects passing through my solid body?” I wondered.

  “Oh my gosh, I’m dead!” I screamed, just as my body jolted awake on the Sofa.

  “Easy there. Did you have a bad dream?” Trina asked, noticing the way I jumped out of sleep.

  She was sitting on the opposite sofa, holding one of the books we took from Sophia’s temple.

  “We need to go back, Trina. We need to go back now!” I said in a frantic voice.

  Trina rushed to my side with vampire speed and pulled me into a hug.

  “It’s okay, Selena. It was only a dream.” She consoled me.

  “No, Trina. Ryan is in danger. I need to get to him. I can’t wait another second.” I pushed myself out of her arms.

  “Selena, I know you think you saw Ryan but it was just a dream. We’ve been out here for a while now and you miss him. It’s probably why you’re dreaming about him.” She countered.

  “No. This was not just a dream. It felt so real. I was right there!” I yelled a little louder than I should have.

  What Trina said reminded me of what my mum said when I was having those crazy nightmares that played out verbatim in reality, back in college. I had learned my lesson from that experience and I wasn’t going to let it play out the same way again. Ryan was in trouble and I needed to get to him.

  “Selena, you can’t just go back. Even if you know how to, you still need to master your powers. Ros and his vampires were after you before we got here, remember? How are you going to protect yourself from them? The police are probably combing every part of the city right now, looking for you. You can’t just run back now because you had a bad dream.” She replied, desperately trying to get me to reconsider.

  “I can’t let Ryan die, Trina. I have to go. He’ll do the same for me.” I replied.

  “Oh my gosh.” Trina exclaimed. “You’re bleeding!”

  Her eyes grew wide from shock as she rushed to my side. I was just as surprised as she was when I looked down at my side. Just like she said, blood was beginning to soak my shirt.

  “A vampire stabbed Ryan through me in my dream.” I explained. “Can you see this isn’t just a dream?”

  “Oh my gosh. We have to find a way to get to him.” Trina agreed.

  She picked me up and raced back to Sophia’s temple.

  Chapter Fourteen

  Ros’s POV

  I whirled around and sped back up the stairs. Someone had dared to take my brother from my basement without my permission. While my utmost priority was to get Ryan back, the offenders were sure to get a piece of my wrath. The fact that they could pull this off undetected meant I had truly been distracted lately. Was I so stuck up with Selena Ryder as to make a slip like this? No. This was not a slip. This was a carefully planned operation. But to what end? Didn’t they know I would chase them to the ends of the earth to get my brother back?

  “Wait a minute. Could this have something to do with the parchment?”

  I could see the possibility. The parchment had mentioned Rayna’s link to us.

  Were they planning to use Ry to get to her? I knew I had to think and act fast in identifying the culprits. This was clearly an operation by a group. No vampire could successfully pull this off alone. If Ryan was taken from my basement, it meant that whoever did it had access to my home. The only people with such access were my domestic staff and members of Council. In a situation like this, that was a large group. Excluding Ry and myself, there were thirty-four other Council members and I had no less than ten domestic staff. That brought the number of possible suspects to forty-four.

  I got to my study and met Viktor pacing the room with his hands held behind him. Knowing him, he had discovered something troubling to be pacing like that. As a member of my inner circle, he was usually among the first to know about things that affected me.

  “It’s a good thing you’re here, Viktor. Something’s going on.” I said, walking in to meet him.

  He spun around and nodded to acknowledge my presence.

  “I know. That’s why I’m here. Someone has broken the sacred code. Nikolas Bordain is dead.” He replied.

  “Are you sure?” I asked.

  “Positive. I felt the power of his passing ten minutes ago. If I felt it that means every other mem
ber of the first generation felt it too. They’ll be coming, Ros. We need to be ready and we need a response.”

  “Wait a minute. You just felt the power of his passing?” I asked with raised eyebrows.

  “Yes. He was my maker.” Viktor replied.

  “But this parchment reported he was already dead.” I replied.

  “What parchment?” Viktor asked.

  I walked to the drawer of my reading desk and pulled out the parchment. In less than a second, Viktor was done reading it. I saw a brief flash of an emotion I couldn’t place in his eyes. Was it recognition? Anger? Surprise? I couldn’t really tell. Maybe I would have probed him on a different day but today, I was completely focused on the issues at hand.

  “Where did you get this?” He asked.

  “Oliver found it in my hallway but that’s not the problem. Ryan’s gone. I was holding him in my basement to lure the sorceress. Someone took him from there and I think whoever took him is involved with this madness somehow.” I replied.

  “I’m sure they are. Ryan not only leads them to Rayna, but to the sorceress as well. This is really big, Ros. I think whoever is behind this is going for absolute power.” He stated.

  “So you’re sure Selena is the Immortal Elect?” I asked.

  “I have reason to believe so. After her energy blast the other day, I began my research on the Immortal Elect. There were several mentions of such an ability and the fact that she’s undetectable right now alludes to the possibility.” He replied.

  “Hmm. Trouble really comes in spades, doesn’t it?” I faked a smile. “If I don’t kill her before her ascension, it means I’ll have the immortal elect against me. Isn’t that fantastic?”

  “Don’t be so negative. You still have the Ryan card. I doubt she’ll kill you if she’s in love with him.” Viktor replied.

  “The Ryan card didn’t stop me from killing her when I had the chance. Besides, according to the prophecy, she’ll have no mortal attachments after ascension. Doesn’t that include love? I don’t have any cards, Viktor.” I replied.

  Viktor pursed his lips.

  “I’m sure we’ll think of something when the time comes. Our immediate problem is getting Ryan back and figuring out who is behind this.”