The Vampire's Reflection (36 page)

Valek’s spine went rigid at the sound of it.

“Ease yourself, bloodsucker. It has more power than even that. This particular mirror was stolen. Commandeered by the Regime for their unrighteous greed and petty discomfort in not being the sole rulers of the realm. Guards infiltrated the gates of Abelim and raided the palace. The Vampires are a crafty kind so they hid from the Regime’s brute strength. Occult historians believe the Mirror of Aset is there now, somewhere in the bowels of the Regime. Its reflection once had the power to fulfill one’s deepest wish. But only if you are of the undead or the downtrodden. It will not work in your favor if you are the one with the upper hand. It shows you what you want, and soon manifests it in your reality. A very dangerous power, to be sure. Find the mirror and deliver it to me. If it falls into the wrong hands, I am afraid I cannot help you.”

“What could you possibly want with it?” Valek asked accusingly.

“Watch your tone, Vampire. I have my reasons. Deliver to me the mirror, and I can salvage the life of your precious Charlotte. By utilizing the Mirror of Aset’s ancient magic, I can save her. Less experienced magicians cannot perform the deed of reawakening the mirror. The Regime has placed careful protections on it so that no Vampire would ever see the light of day again. It was said that because of doing so, each being of light on Earth inherited the mirror’s powerful energy. Which is why, when you and your little friends hunt the light beings, you regain a small amount of that power back. The sun. Life. Mortality.”

Valek frowned and started pacing the floor. “But that means you will own the mirror and all this power?”

Charlotte could tell he didn’t trust that for a minute. Come to think of it, she didn’t trust the hag much, either. In fact, her trust was quickly waning for most of the people in the room. Something metallic on the table nearest to her glinted in the dull firelight. She looked to see a sharpened letter opener sitting there, next to a few ancient-looking papers. Charlotte shifted her gaze from face to face. With such a heated discussion ensuing, she knew nobody would miss the thing if she simply tucked it within the material of her dress. She wasn’t sure if she would need it later.

“The mirror is not the trade I was speaking of. It’s simply a necessity. What I really wish is something only my pupil can give to me.” She turned her wicked eyes on Sarah’s face, which immediately lit up as she was called upon.

“Yes, Madame! Anything.”

“I will trade my knowledge for your youth.”

Sarah’s mouth dropped as the room fell silent. All eyes turned on her. “I don’t think I understand,” she squeaked.

“Your youth and beauty for your friend’s life. It really should be a…what do you call it? A no-brainer.” Baba Yaga casually sipped at her tea again. “Unless you don’t think it to be a fair trade. I mean, the girl is doomed, either way.”

Charlotte turned wide-eyed to Valek.

“Do you mean she’ll die no matter our efforts?” Valek’s claw cracked a few branches in the arm of his chair.

Baba Yaga looked at him dully. “Well, of course. She is mortal. They all have to die sometime. Her fates tell me, though, that her death will be at the hands of magic…and soon. Unless…someone intervenes.” She lifted a bushy eyebrow at him and threw back another swig of her tea.

The entire room froze again. The tension was absolutely deafening.

Charlotte gulped the tea remaining in her mouth and fidgeted in her chair. It was just like Sarah said. There was only one answer. And Valek would never yield to it. The hag was right. She could feel herself fading, could physically count every dying minute. Perhaps it was all in her head, but after the old Witch confirmed it, it was as if her body physically acknowledged her, agreeing with every word and starting the process. Growing weaker. Fading. Dying. Like her own body was betraying her, when she had so much more time to give.

“Charlotte, could you just keep your mind quiet for a second! Please!” Valek growled.

She dared not glance in his direction. She knew whatever expression his face held would be one that might destroy her. Instead, she attempted to turn her watery eyes to the winter scene outside the window and focused on that instead.

“If you don’t want the girl to die now and by the hands of someone near, you must find the mirror and bring it to me.” Baba Yaga’s voice echoed throughout the room. Storm clouds swirled against the ceiling, sending Sarah’s curls thrashing around her face. “Fetch me the Mirror of Aset from the Regime palace, and I will perform the transaction. Charlotte’s life for the restoration of my youth.”

“How long do we have to find the mirror?” Sarah turned her face, desperately trying to shield herself against the wrath of the hag. Bewitched lightning thrashed around the room, striking deep within the floorboards near Charlotte, who jumped.

“To gain knowledge, first you must seek wisdom. Find me the Mirror of Aset and the next step in your path will be revealed. Until that time, your road will be a long and perilous one.” The ominous, booming sound of her voice reverberated on her last words.

Sarah bent in half, covering her ears from the wretched laughter as the tempest began to suck up various things within the house. One of the massive armchairs almost took off her head before it disappeared in the eye of the storm raging above them. The laughter continued to ensue. A bookshelf and a coffee table followed the armchair soon after.

“Get out of the house!” Valek roared from one corner of the room.

Charlotte looked to see him waving his hand toward the front door. Nikolai had already grabbed up Edwin in his arms and was making a sprint for the exit. Valek quickly swept Charlotte up before the fireplace mantle crushed her.

“Go! Quickly!” he called to Sarah, who had frozen in her place.

Stumbling over her feet, Sarah began running for the front door. Nikolai slowed, only for a moment, grabbing her hand before racing with both her and Edwin to the outside. Valek and Charlotte were not long to follow, along with Mr. Třínožka, who trailed quickly behind them.

The group made it out in time to turn and see the hag’s abode swallow itself up in the forest clearing. An awful storm that seemed to surge just over the area swirled Charlotte’s hair around her face as she looked to see the house completely disappear. And then there was silence once again.

Chapter Twenty-One

Frost

The sun was already beginning to set. The group ventured only about five kilometers to the north, following the messenger’s map carefully as not to encounter any human city. If one mortal saw the likes of the giant Spider or Edwin’s burlap flesh, or Valek’s deathly qualities, their quest would become much more complicated than it already was. Valek led the group on horseback with Jiri, carrying Sarah, trotting at his flanks. Charlotte and Nikolai talked for a long time on the back of Mr. Třínožka. Valek didn’t anticipate the twinge of jealousy he felt as he heard her soft laughter at some joke the boy was telling her. He hadn’t heard that laugh in a while. They seemed to be getting along, perhaps finding a lot in common as the only two humans within all this chaos. He still couldn’t get rid of the idea that he knew the boy somehow. Something about him was too familiar.

“So you’ve always had these abilities?” Valek heard Charlotte ask the stranger. “Even when you lived with your family, they never had the inclination that you were something different?” Her voice took on a mystified sort of quality as she spoke to him, like she genuinely took interest in his strange story.

“Yes. From as far back as I could remember,” Nikolai answered, a smile playing around his words.

Valek seethed. What was this person’s game? Was he trying to get close to Charlotte?

“But even when you were little, when you were small, your parents must have noticed something about you. Something that was not normal. You must have done something as an infant or a toddler that would tip them off?” Charlotte continued to pry.

Valek heard it in her mind, the notion that Nikolai was like a breath of fresh air. In her whole world, she hardly had anyone she could relate to. Out of everyone, Sarah had been the closest, but now Nikolai’s story sparked something new within her. Some sort of hope that perhaps she wasn’t the only mortal in this universe that carried the weight of this knowledge on her shoulders.

“Perhaps,” Nikolai said dismissively. “Maybe that’s why my father always hated me. Maybe that’s why I never truly felt like I was a part of that family.”

His voice went misty as he trailed off. Was he seeking sympathy from her? Why was he divulging all of this personal information to her so quickly? Valek narrowed his eyes at the boy as though that might make it easier to see directly into his soul. He heard nothing of any danger within his mind. He furrowed his brow, just as Nikolai turned his gaze away from Charlotte and glared directly—knowingly—at Valek. Turning back to face front, Valek noted the heat from the warning signs as they flared up in his mind.

As they neared the first city on the Parliament’s map, Valek noticed that Charlotte was growing fatigued, could hear her heartbeat begin to slow, and the tired, dazed thoughts within her mind. Most of those thoughts centered around Nikolai and what he’d told her of his past. Valek lamented silently that most of those thoughts were not about him, and he blamed himself. He couldn’t comprehend the terrible things he’d put her through in his absence. Suffice to say, her blood was definitely on his hands and he would never forgive himself. He’d known it was a mistake to leave her, felt it in his bones as he and Sarah had first crossed over the Occult City borders.

They made their way into a clearing on the outer borders of Tyn nad Vltavou. The surrounding trees were denser and taller there and Valek decided it would be a good place to stop and remain hidden, having decided to pursue Abelim regardless of the wager Baba Yaga made. If they could find the Dark City and save Charlotte on their own by doing so, maybe Sarah wouldn't have to sacrifice her youth or anything else the Hag wanted from her. Venturing back into the Regime to look for some magic mirror that might not even exist was beyond dangerousness. Valek didn't want to make that kind of gamble. His luck wasn't good enough. They decided it was best to continue their quest of seeking the elders of the Parliament for advice instead. Trusting given directions made better sense than steering off course at this point. He knew they were running out of time.

“I think we should rest!” Valek announced to the group, slowing Beta’s walk beneath him. “It’s best if we break here for the night, and continue on to the next city on the Parliament’s map at sunrise.”

“So, who died and made this guy the boss?” he heard Nikolai ask quietly from the back of the group, elbowing Charlotte in the ribs. She only laughed politely before glancing immediately in Valek’s direction, knowing he was privy to the boy’s snarky comment.

“I’ve got it taken care of, Valek,” Sarah offered before she turned to start rummaging through Charlotte’s borrowed satchel. “Hold on, it’s not in there.” She turned forward and pulled a small glass jar out of her skirt pocket—one that Valek instantly recognized. Charlotte had once used it to capture a lightning bug to bring to Valek as “a little piece of the sun” when he’d been missing it. Upon seeing it, he and Charlotte glanced once at each other, undoubtedly remembering the argument that had followed after she’d gifted it to him.

As Sarah waved her sewing needle over the thing, the group watched the jar enlarge in the snow. Magically, with the enchanted end of her sewing needle, she began etching in a door and wooden floorboards along the bottom, and there they had shelter.

Mr. Třínožka helped Charlotte to the forest floor. Nikolai confidently leaped off the Spider’s back by himself. Valek had to suppress a roll of his eyes upon seeing Nikolai stumble forward, rather humanly, in the snow. He couldn’t put his finger on it, but he didn’t like him. He was clearly too confident for his own good. Instantly, a stronger thought impacted Valek from somewhere in the group, and he shifted his focus to see Charlotte gripping the side of her neck, gritting her teeth. Quickly, he approached her, his arms extended, but she only lifted a firm hand to him, stopping him in his tracks.

“I’m okay, Valek,” she said, her gaze lingering warily on his face. “I promise, I’ll be okay.”

Valek winced, noticing how palpable the rift was as it grew between them. He looked back to Nikolai, who regarded him with a creepy sort of smirk, crossing his arms over his chest. A low growl rumbled in Valek’s throat as he wheeled away from him. It was so frustrating. Why couldn’t he hear this boy’s true intentions? There was something he was hiding. He knew it.

Sarah walked up to him slowly. “I’ll get Charlotte settled inside,” she said with a concerned glance in the ailing girl’s direction. Valek was close to her again, and that meant her scar was going to start its burning symptoms. “I think it’s better if you leave for a while. Perhaps if you go and carry back some wood for a fire. At least she’ll be sleeping when you return, and she won’t have to be so affected,” Sarah offered.

With another glance toward his little love, he saw that Nikolai had once again struck up another lively conversation with her, provoking a tiny giggle before a more resounding laughter at something smart he’d undoubtedly said.

Something quaked inside Valek’s chest. “Fine. I think that is a good idea. Just see that she gets her rest,” he snarled, and turned to disappear between the pines on his quest for firewood.

He plowed through the cluster of trees in a quiet rage, tearing low-growing branches clear off of the surrounding evergreens. It was an effort that took very little thought, and instead all of his focus went to the horrid memories he saw play out in Charlotte's mind, and how he would eventually seek his revenge on Lusian. He fantasized about different ways he would do it, smiling wickedly at the violent images that played out in his own head. The more his arms filled with hunks of wood, the more ideas he had for Lusian's demise. Every branch he tore from the trees was like one of Lusian's limbs. He couldn't leave her alone anymore. Deciding he had collected enough, he wheeled around to begin heading back towards the clearing.