Of Light and Darkness (12 page)

Valek was afraid to touch her for fear she might shatter into a million pieces. His hands wavered over her body for a few seconds longer before he pulled her into his lap to cradle her head against his arm.

“Valek,” she murmured, a sound of affirmation.

He gave a bittersweet smile; his throat burning with the smell of the room, though feeding was the furthest thing from his mind. He caressed her perfect cheek with his fingertips. “I am here now, Lottie.” He took her hand gently in his, brought it to the hollow under his cheekbone, and hummed. “Little Lottie. I am here. And I’m so sorry I wasn’t before.” His eyes started to well up again as he watched one corner of her mouth pull up into a faint smile.

Her fingers moved softly against his cool skin. The two huddled together in the center of the dismal chamber. The moon outside the barred window created an easing, silver pool around them as he cradled the girl in the quiet light.

I love you
, she mentally murmured to him.

He leaned down and kissed one unhealed slash across her face until he felt it disappear under his lips. He kissed the side of her neck until it healed as well. She would pull through, he decided. She had to—for him.

“Me, too,” he whispered.

Her eyebrows furrowed slightly at him, and she shut her eyes. “You—you were s-supposed to stay out of m-my head.” Her head rolled to one side.

His dark gaze locked on her face again as he saw she was resting now. He smoothed her hair with one long hand while he listened to her breathing.

“Sleep now, Lottie.” Looking around the cell, he wracked his brain for a way to get them out alive. Or, at the very least, get
her
out.

Valek inhaled the smoke left over by the morning’s execution, breathing in the dust of his own kind as he cradled his little love. He traced the outline of her soft lips. Once a ruddy sort of pink, they were now pale with the blood loss and matched the rest of her perfectly placid skin. He noticed a trace of one silvery little tear, still left on one side of her face, and he caught it on his finger. He held it up to the moonlight and watched it sparkle.

He stroked her face again and suddenly heard heavy footsteps echoing, resonating off the stones like alarms. He had to think fast, but what could he do? He looked down at the little, half-dead mortal.

The footsteps continued to advance. They were coming for him. A soft sound lifted out of the small opening between Charlotte’s lips, something Valek took to mean she heard them, too. “Do not worry, love.”

He
needed
to get her out of there.

He shot up from where he sat, carefully slinging her over his shoulder in one, fluid motion. He made sure she was secure to him, before deciding he was going to run.

But it was too late. He looked to see two officers, though this time, they were the familiar fire Elves that had greeted Valek at his house in the Occult. Fire. The one element which was the most difficult for Vampires to fight off. If Valek had a heart, he imagined it would have dropped down into his lower bowels.

The first laughed. “Hello,
Pane
Ruzik. Going somewhere?”

The sound made Valek’s flesh crawl. Why did doing what he was about to do feel a lot like suicide?

The other guard reeled his hand back, and then slung a giant fireball toward Valek’s head. But he successfully dodged it, running under the fire, his fangs bared and claws out. He squinted through the light and aimed for his combatant’s body.

He collided into the Elf; knocked him into the bars of steel with such force they broke in half and collapsed into the water piping that ran above them. Water rained down, soaking Valek and extinguishing the Elven fire.

Angry, the guard propelled his fist toward the side of Valek’s head, though he dodged it, before it could catch the edge of his jaw.

Valek recovered quickly, jamming one claw into the guard’s face. With a gruesome snap, the officer dropped to the floor.

Another roar ripped out of the back of Valek’s throat. His dark eyes fixated on the other then, as the Elf lunged for him, more fire exploding from both hands. But Valek only went through the attack, grabbing the Elf’s forearms, and turned the fire to the guard’s own face.

The officer withdrew, screaming as he tried to extinguish the flames, which were now melting the flesh from his skull. Valek pressed the burning man against the bricks and leaned into his ear, careful the flames did not catch Charlotte or him.

“Tell the Regime, we
will
win this war,” Valek valiantly whispered. “Tell them,
we
are the only thing they will
never
defeat.”

He was off, darting through the dark corridors like a spirit who had successfully escaped through the gates of the underworld. He moved so fast, the guards he passed would not have seen him if they blinked. He plummeted down between flights of stairs, dashed through the building as tapestries, lights, grand hallways, and doors whizzed past. Charlotte held tight to him. He could hear her waning in and out of consciousness.

Valek ran until he came to a pair of immense double doors at the end of a grand foyer. Bolted shut. He looked above to see a gargantuan, garnet chandelier dangling from four ornate buttresses in the center of the ceiling. One buttress was carved in the shape of a sea serpent, to the left, a dragon. Across the way, a gryphon, and finally, a Fairy. There were dead ends to Valek’s left and right, marked literally by the large, scathing torches and guards proceeding around him. He searched desperately for a different exit to the capital city, but was sure these doors were the only way out.

“Stop!” A gaggle of officers shouted after them as they clumsily stomped down the resonating floors of the large foyer.

Valek only quickly glanced back before running for the doors. He would break his way through.

One of the pursuing guards sent a ball of flames from the palm of his hand. It spun past Valek, into the doors before him and ignited the wood. The only escape was completely engulfed now, and Valek was trapped.

His breath was stagnant in his chest, mostly for fear. Exhaustion was never an issue. If that were not the way to escape, they would not have blockaded it that way. He was sure of that. But if he pushed through it, both of them would most certainly disintegrate. The fire in front of him burned more violently. It seemed like the only choice.

The guards advanced closer and closer, his chance of escape becoming slimmer and slimmer, until one more pair of footsteps clamored stealthily down the corridor to Valek’s right. He turned to see Aiden running toward him, his face glistening with beads of sweat off the firelight. A new lump formed in Valek’s throat. For a moment, he was sure this would be the end, but then he tuned in to Aiden’s mind, though Elves were more difficult to tap into than human beings.

The Elf watched Valek with fevered eyes, seeming to be devising some sort of plan. For a moment, Valek knew Aiden thought about destroying him. He saw Aiden’s idea about sending a new ball of flames hurtling right for his face. He knew the young Elf felt the same way about Vampires as his father and the rest of the Regime did, but there was a different sort of energy building inside him now.

***

Aiden saw Charlotte slung across Valek’s shoulder and stopped short. He wouldn’t destroy Valek now, not with Charlotte’s life at risk. A surge of energy burst through Aiden’s arms, pulsating to his wrists. The Elf relinquished a cry and bent the air around him as he lifted his hands to where the fire roared behind Charlotte’s unresponsive body. He would do this now, but he would be sure to hunt Valek later.

A strong air current bolted from his fists, sending a wild wind rushing toward the fire. But that only made the flames billow higher to the ceiling. A wooden beam from above collapsed, almost crushing Valek where he stood.

Another wave of energy rushed through Aiden, one that felt more frightened, because what he had just done had almost killed Charlotte.

***

Valek grabbed more tightly to his Lottie. The heat started to singe the cracks in his face. The smell of the burning wood and the crackling sound reflected down the marble halls. Everything seemed to be moving in slow motion then. Sweat trickled from Aiden’s forehead. He lifted his hands again to the raging fire as a thick stream of water burst forth this time, successfully extinguishing the flames.

The group of palace guards stopped, gaping at Aiden as Valek wasted no time and rushed through the disintegrated doors, out into the dark streets of Prague.

Valek closed his eyes as he ran, not looking back. He could only feel the heat from what was left of the burning doors fade behind him. Thanks to Aiden, Charlotte would be safe, for now. But Valek knew, the moment the sun climbed back to its place in the morning sky, Aiden’s hunt for Charlotte would begin again.

Chapter Twelve

Safe Haven

Valek careened through the night with such accuracy that the only thing the mortals noticed on the street was a slight breeze ruffling their clothes as he sped past.

Streetlights flickered on the shiny pavement as thunder rolled above them. He reveled in the coolness and clarity of the air as he ran, but was still painfully aware his clock was ticking. He adjusted Charlotte draped motionlessly over his shoulder, his concern growing with each step he took. He knew exactly where he would go. It was their only chance of survival, and he was sure there was no other choice. The Occult would surely be on some sort of a lockdown, guards on high alert for the fugitive that impossibly managed to escape the inescapable. He just prayed the spired house with the indigo rooftops and the lavender walls still stood where he remembered it. Francis had a habit of moving every decade or so, Valek recalled.

“Valek…” Charlotte moaned.

“I know, Lottie. You’re safe.” His crystalline eyes shifted through the night like a jungle cat’s, scanning the street for the white porch steps he used to know so well.

Finally, he found what he was looking for at the end of the long, narrow street in Lesser Town near the banks of the glimmering Vltava. The familiar home loomed over him. Being in the city instantly resurfaced several hundred memories. Valek couldn’t suppress the emerging smile when he thought back to the night he found Charlotte, tucked in those pathetic rags. Those wondrous, curious eyes. She hadn’t changed. Even though she was capable of aging, she would never change.

Valek flew up the polished steps, burst through the front door, and stopped dead in the foyer. The place was dark and forsaken with pealing, lavender wallpaper. A mirror to his right had been smashed, the shiny remnants on the floor. A collapsed, wooden beam blockaded the entryway to the kitchen. Desperation overcame him. He sucked in air through his nose, trying to sense if there were anyone left here. To his solace, the scent he was looking for was very much present.

“Francis!” Valek called out, exhausted and pained.

He swiftly reached over his shoulder, pulled Charlotte in front of him, and carried her in his arms. He saw her eyes closed again, her breathing shallow. Her heart rate was very, very, dangerously slow.

He sucked in air again. “Francis!”

As he called out the name a second time, a Vampire, decadently dressed in white ruffles and tight, black, satiny pants emerged from the shadows of the long, thin hallway just in front of Valek. His long, white, curly hair hung neatly about his carved features like a French fop. He looked like something straight out of the reformation—handsome, young, and effeminate.

“Well, well, well. Who seems to have dropped in to my perfectly, pretty, parlor? Look what the black cat drug in out of the rain.” Francis grinned, flashing his long incisors before appraising Valek’s sopping overcoat and mangy hair. “Filthy, filthy.” He tsked.

“Francis,” Valek breathed. “They did not discover you! How did they not find you? You’re right in the blasted city!”

“Come now, dearest friend. How
could
they find me?” He chuckled. “Not when my house has been guarded by my indentured Witch.” He revealed a young woman, with tousled, brown curls and a face like a doll. She stepped around from behind him. “Don’t you think I’m aware of everything going on? I’m old enough to catch all of their tricks, my dear Valek.” His expression changed from fabricated joy to immediate disapproval as he lifted an eyebrow at the sight of Charlotte, hanging limply in Valek’s arms. He tsked again at Valek, then shook his head from side to side.

“Please, Francis,” Valek implored, clutching the only thing he still loved about life, slowly turning to death in his arms.

“Oh, Valek. Please! I do not receive a visit from you in almost twenty years and you come back to me…a family man?” Francis chortled like the Cheshire cat. “You’re soft.” He lightly prodded Valek’s chest with a slender, silver finger.

He sashayed over to a small table that held an elegant decanter, filled halfway with deep, red liquid. The black and gold ornate walking stick he clutched made thumping noises on the wooden floor as he stepped.

He slowly approached Valek with a glass half-full, sipping it as he walked. Standing before him, Francis ran the glass underneath Valek’s nose and watched his blue irises sink under the black. He smiled.

“Valek.” He pulled the glass away. “Do you know how many of us have attempted things like
this?
” He gestured to Charlotte. “Are you aware of how many of us have experienced this very same situation? Listen to me when I say it is not
her
you are in love with. It is her mortality. You miss it so much. I can see it in you.
That
is what you are in love with. The
idea
.” He sipped at the blood again, swirling it around as though it were a glass of fine merlot.

“Francis, you are ignorant as you have always been,” Valek roared. He had half a mind to knock the glass from Francis’ hand, but he was too exhausted for another confrontation. “Please! I beg you to help us.”

“I
am
helping you, sweet Valek.” Francis sighed and twirled a strand of his friend's dark hair around his finger. “Which is why I don’t wish to see you hurt.” He turned his gaze on Charlotte again and sighed.

“The only way I would be hurt is if you refused us.” Valek’s voice wavered.

“I
am
hiding other Vampires here, you know. You are not my only
friend
. You would be subjecting the child to them, and you know how testy we get when we’re thirsty.” Francis cocked his head. “And she does smell so delicious.”

It wasn’t so much of a threat as it was a legitimate warning. But nothing Francis said was about to sway Valek.

“Surely we can settle on some agreement.” Valek straightened, tightening his jaw.

“Very well.” Francis shrugged. “But of course I have conditions….”

“Of course.…” Valek frowned. He didn’t like the sound of that.

“You see, my Vampires and I—we are living in the lowest form of poverty imaginable. My house Witch steals donated blood from the hospitals in the city, but she always brings it back cold. And sometimes we don’t even get the pleasure of partaking in
that
. Sometimes…it’s rats.” Francis’ gracefully long eyelashes batted toward Charlotte again.

“No.” Valek hugged the girl closer to his chest. “You’re mad. Absolutely not.”

“We would not be killing her, Valek, I assure you. She would be the most protected thing in this house. But we need fresh blood in order to survive. It is that dire. We have grown weak.”

“I said, no, Francis! This is my whole life I am holding.”

“Then she cannot stay!” Francis whirled around abruptly. “If she is not our blood source, then she is
nothing!
  My word is final.” The effete Vampire turned on the black toe of his shined, leather boot. “Good luck.”

“Wait.” Valek’s reaction seemed more like a reflex. The world outside the door behind him grew lighter. Charlotte’s heartbeat grew slower. Valek’s choices were now even slimmer.

Francis peered over his pointed shoulder. The Witch grinned.

Valek crumpled. “Fine. But if any of you hurt her at all, I will tear you limb from limb.”

“Well…we can
try
not to hurt her. We will be taking it straight from the vein, of course.” He smirked.

Valek roared angrily at him.

Francis wagged his finger. “None of that. As I said, you are welcome to decline my offer and leave.”

Valek’s nostrils flared, but he had nowhere else to go. Aiden would surely find her anywhere else. Sadly and finally, he acquiesced.

“It’s good to see you again, my friend. I actually had a feeling I was going to.”

Valek breathed and nodded his halfhearted “thank you”.

“Sarah, show my dearest friend, Valek, and his–
er
–guest to the basement, won’t you? And then prepare a room upstairs for her.” Francis snapped his fingers once.

The Witch cheerfully gestured for Valek to follow, Francis staying close behind. She led them down the dark, brick hallway decorated with oddly placed oil paintings and flowery pastels—a clear disguise for the unlikely event any human would happen to enter the dingy, seemingly abandoned home. In the floor was a trap door, with only a rope for a handle, though it was so encased with dust, a mortal probably wouldn’t have ever noticed it there.

Sarah yanked it open, murky particles cascading into the dark abyss. Valek peered into it and glanced back at Francis.

“After you.” Francis grinned.

Valek hugged Charlotte closer to him and stepped forward, peering into the blackness. The tunnel was thin and seemed to grow thinner as he peered through it, though he could faintly see where it opened up to a lit room below. He pressed Charlotte even tighter to him and jumped, his shirt billowing up around him as he plummeted.

He landed gracefully, like a cat, feeling the dirt thud beneath his feet. He looked at Charlotte, who was trying to wake up, eyes twitching, small sounds coming from her mouth. He gazed back up into the hole from which he’d plummeted. It seemed like he had been falling for a while.

“Look out below!” Francis’ voice echoed from above.

Valek briskly moved out of the way as Francis landed neatly next to him.

“Well, here you are!”

Valek assessed the room, which was simply a large, dirt-packed basement, perfect for a gaggle of rogue Vampires. The cement walls were cracked where water pipes and tree roots emerged. Coffins lay next to each other in rows, their lids left open. It was dark, wet, and dreary; the faintest glow of orange firelight smoldering in the hearth of a modest fireplace against one of the walls. The only possible way for one to tell if it were daylight outside, were if all of the Vampires in the room stopped moving.

Valek lifted an eyebrow. “Coffins, Francis? That seems a little cliché.”

“Would you rather sleep on packed dirt? And in any case, it’s rather impossible to get a bed down here,” he explained. “Besides, I
like
cliché.”

The group of Francis’ “friends” sat in chairs around the brick fireplace. Its smokestack must have gone on forever after experiencing how long that tunnel drop had been. They seemed to have been carrying on a conversation until Valek, quite literally, dropped in. They were now all silent, studying.

Francis opened his arms to them. “Friends! This is Valek Ruzik, a medical expert from the Southern Bohemian Occult. He has escaped the walls of the Regime and has come here for salvation! He is one of my oldest and dearest friends, and I trust everyone will show him a…warm…welcome.”

One Vampire stood from his chair, a young man who looked like he was changed at about the age of twenty, with golden curls he tied back with a black ribbon. He was significantly smaller than the others in the group, his frame still boyish, though his face seemed older and wise, somehow, and his eyes seemed to possess an independent life.

“You were captured?” he asked in astonishment, gaping at Valek. “But how could you have possibly escaped the Regime walls?”

Valek’s face remained hard and strained. “It was difficult,” he responded quietly. “I had help.” He saw Aiden’s face in his mind, remembering the fury that seemed to burn through him.

The young Vampire blanched at what he saw in Valek’s head. The other members of the group reacted, too. A few joined in standing.

“Aiden.” One of two females in the group spoke. “Danek Price’s boy. Next in line,” she mused.

“What?” Valek frowned.

“He’s next in line to rule. After Vladislov’s reign has ended, Aiden Price is next in line for the seat of power. The chosen one. He’s supposedly an Elf that has mastered all of the elements. Fire. Earth. Wind. Water. Not to mention, the
mind
—the sixth element. It’s impossible to understand the multitude of power he possesses,” she said, her lovely, pale features contorted and strained.

Valek thought back to the buttresses in the Regime palace and how Aiden had seemed to manipulate the air around him before extinguishing the fire with water. He wrinkled his forehead. “No. There must be a mistake. He lives in our Occult with his mother. I have known him for years,” Valek countered.

“Apparently not well enough to know who his father is,” the female with the raven hair explained, glancing at the girl in Valek’s arms. Her pin-straight tresses reflected the dim light in tones of blue, like the sky at midnight.

Valek turned to Francis again. “Something happened before the guards ransacked my home. Charlotte had been with Aiden. She came home crying. Something happened between them. I remember seeing a few of her thoughts before the guards came to our door.”

“And what were those thoughts?” Francis asked.

Valek’s face burned when he remembered Aiden kissing her, but now it was trivial compared to what else apparently occurred that night. “There were papers, a list of some sort, I believe. It looked to me like a register of Occult inhabitants employed by the Regime. There was a Lycan guarding our borders, and I think Aiden was trying to confide in her—perhaps to protect her after….” He hesitated to continue, recalling his monstrous behavior that night on the country road. “After there had almost been an attack.”

“You mean an
accident
,” Francis chastised.

One particularly malefic-looking Vampire with short, black hair and a broken nose rose from his place near the fire. He stood, analyzing Valek and Charlotte. “Well, you shouldn’t have had a human in your possession, anyway,” he chastised. “That’s the problem. The Regime found out you were breaking the law!”

“Lusian, that’s besides the point,” Francis interjected. “Besides, she’ll be a very beneficial little addition to our household.” He grinned and gestured for Valek to continue.

“Then I recall seeing something Aiden’s mother said to Charlotte about me, something that bothered her,” Valek explained.

“I think we should wait until your Charlotte wakes up. It sounds like she has the full story.” The other female spoke calmly, in an airy voice. This one had white, ringlet curls that ran down to the small of her back and surrounded a severely beautiful face. Though she loomed over some of the males, her limbs were delicate, like those of a ballerina. But even as she was beautiful, her features were hard and icy as her gaze touched Charlotte cradled in Valek’s arms.