Chapter Ten
A Smoking Gun
The fire Elf's beady eyes sifted through the clandestine corners of the freezer. “Vampire!” he called.
Valek nervously moved to the guard’s side, his eyes also scanning in the room for something human. “Yes?”
“What do you use this refrigerator for?”
Valek cleared his throat, relieved to not see any sign of Charlotte. He glanced at Evangeline, who now lingered in the office doorway watching.
“Medicinal purposes,” he answered quickly.
The guard stepped inside and squinted further at the black bags. He even kicked one so hard it skidded against the cement wall. Valek hadn’t experienced the illustrious attributes of nausea for years, but he was beginning to remember what that felt like.
The silhouette of one frozen female corpse, crumpled in the corner, caught the eyes of the guard. “What happened to this one?”
“Lack of vacancy,” Valek explained. “I'm sure my life habits fascinate you to no end, and I am thoroughly enjoying the interview, but you will be wasting your time here, gentlemen, if you continue to pursue my household because of some misguided goose-chase. Frankly, you are interrupting my evening, and I am requesting kindly that you leave this private property.” As he spoke, he smoothly began to back the guards out of the house. “
If
a human child did in fact reside here, she would probably be long gone by now, for you seem to be so educated in the habitual life of a ‘parasite’.” He narrowed his eyes. “I mean, how could I ever contain myself in that sort of a situation?”
The officer regarded Valek and Evangeline one last time before Valek grabbed hold of the doorknob.
“I do, however, invasive your behavior, bid you a very pleasant evening, gentlemen.” Valek slammed the door in the guard’s face.
Evangeline opened her mouth to say something, but Valek hushed her immediately. He squinted at the floor and listened for any kind of faint thought or voice lingering on the other side of the door. Once he could tell the small platoon was a safe distance away, he went back into the office to find Charlotte climbing out of one of the used body bags, lips a sickly shade of blue, her breath forming in white clouds of mist in front of her face.
He shoved past Evangeline who had started to go in for help. “She’s hypothermic.” He grabbed the frail human in his arms and carried her quickly out of the office, down the hallway, into the library.
“Lottie?” he whispered. It was impossible for him to imagine the way things were changing between them. He had always been so in control and now all of that was slipping through his deathly fingers. Sand in an hourglass. Life was expendable.
Evangeline followed meekly after, knotting her fingers together behind her back guiltily.
“Can you light the fire?” Valek asked the Witch as he pulled a wool blanket off the armchair and swiftly wrapped it around his Lottie’s shoulders.
“
Hatu!
” The Witched chanted with a hand toward the fireplace. An orange flame washed over the thick hunks of wood in the hearth. Valek hurriedly rubbed at the tops of Lottie’s arms, still careful of her healing wounds there. Evangeline frowned.
“Thank you,” Valek said over his shoulder.
“If it weren’t for Edwin coming to warn me, I would never have known. It’s because of him.”
“Well, thank Edwin then.”
Evangeline took one step toward him.
“Thank you, I said,” he snapped, stopping her from coming any nearer. Valek could see Evangeline’s ache for redemption from him, but that wasn’t something he was about to easily give. He hugged the girl in his arms closer.
Evangeline sighed. “I apologize for what happened to Charlotte’s bedroom.”
Valek lowered his gaze, mentally assessing what she was alluding to. “I understand.” He continued to caress Lottie’s back, not looking at Evangeline at all.
“Goodnight, Valek. Charlotte. If you need me, you know where I am,” the Witch muttered sadly, then turned to leave.
“Evangeline, wait.” Valek finally stood from his place next to Charlotte. He glanced once back at the girl, fighting with himself. It needed to be done, he decided. “I
do
need another favor.”
He felt a mental grimace emerge from Charlotte’s area of the room.
“Charlotte and I have to take leave of the Occult, but it’s almost morning. I have suspicion that those imbeciles are going to come back during the day while I’m—”
“I get it,” Evangeline chirped. “Don’t worry. I’ll take care of everything when the sun comes up. And then you and Charlotte can escape the city borders tomorrow night.” Her eyes twinkled toward the girl one last time before she bounced out of the library.
Valek looked back at his Lottie, thawing by the fire. She sat, eyes insensate at the orange flames licking across the wood. He watched them then, as well. It created a strange sensation in his nose, as if when he inhaled the burning wood, he could actually feel the embers crackling inside him. It did not burn as the thirst did, but felt rather warm and pleasant. He glanced at Charlotte again, thinking her face looked a little green. He began to approach her.
“Valek,” she murmured.
He stopped.
“I have to tell you something—”
“I know,” he interjected. “I heard.” He sat back down on the floor next to her.
“You heard?” Her large eyes darted to his face.
“My apologies, but I had to know what was going on before I answered the door.” He snorted. “
Aiden
. Who would have guessed?”
Charlotte’s eyes shifted around the floor, like she was struggling with something. “What did you want to talk to me about? You know...earlier…in the kitchen?” She swallowed and averted her eyes back to the crackling fire.
Valek studied the apprehension on her face, tuning in to where she was going with this. “I-I do not remember,” he lied. The truth was, he felt the same apprehension she did, and anyway, there was too much else to think about now.
She lifted an eyebrow at him. “You don't remember?”
“No.”
“I think you do,” she continued.
“No. I do not!” He got up. If he were physically capable of turning red, this was the moment.
“You're lying!”
“Enough, Charlotte!” he snapped, his arms trembling. He struggled to maintain his deep even breathing.
She only blinked at him, her teeth continuing to chatter.
“I
clearly
do not wish to discuss that which you are trying to have me discuss. Enough, please.” Turning his back to her, he nervously combed his fingers through his long hair that had now come lose from the black ribbon.
Valek, normally very at ease, was now completely strung out, breathing through his tightly wired jaw. He rubbed at his eyes, trying to get them to revert back to their normal blue. But they stubbornly stayed fixed like jet pearls. He looked, crazed, about the walls of the room.
“What are you looking for?” she asked nervously.
“A clock. What is the time?” His nostrils flared.
Charlotte peered down at her wristwatch and then wide-eyed out the window at the ink sky beginning to purple in one corner. She quickly got up and ran over to him, yanking for him to follow her. “Come on! We have to go to your room!”
***
Aiden waited patiently outside the tavern he knew Evangeline liked to frequent. He watched the large, brown house at the end of the square intently, his arms folded over his chest. The front door opened, and he could see the officer and his platoon of Regime guards march steadily out into the night.
Aiden walked to the center of the road, waiting. From the looks of things, Charlotte neglected to tell Valek about their discourse. She had failed to escape the Regime in time. Aiden’s plan had been set into action. He grinned, pleased with himself, knowing even though Charlotte had been too clever to let the guards catch her this time…the
perfect
opportunity would present itself later.
***
Valek tore away from Charlotte’s grasp. “No. I will go alone. You are not coming!” He passed her, turning the corner to go upstairs.
She quickly tailed behind him. “Yes I am! You are not thinking clearly! I have to stay with you in case the Regime guards come back!”
“And what do you expect
me
to do if that happens during daylight? Even if you are locked in my room, that does not make you safe!”
The stairs thudded under Charlotte’s relentlessness. “They won’t come into your room during the day, Valek. They know it would kill you!”
The two of them got to the second story landing.
“I’m sure they wouldn’t mind at all if that happened,” he grumbled.
Charlotte stopped walking and frowned. “What do you mean? I thought they only wanted to arrest you.”
Something suddenly caught Valek’s attention as he looked beyond where Charlotte stood. She looked to see it, too. Her bedroom, or what was once her bedroom, completely scorched, as though someone had set the place on fire. It made the entire hallway smell like burnt wood and smoke. The curtains were singed, her clothes and furniture all completely condensed to ash. Charlotte looked to Valek, her mouth falling open.
“Evangeline had to do it,” Valek said quietly. “She heard them walking up the stairs. They were going to figure out that room didn’t belong to her.” He grabbed Charlotte’s hand and started leading her down the hallway toward his bedroom.
But when the two of them passed the long, arched window a small, single beam of morning light escaped through the curtains and thrashed across his face. He cried out, releasing Charlotte’s hand, recoiling quickly into the shadows, clawing at his scorched skin.
“Valek!” she cried, unsure of what to do next.
“Come!” he roared, and swung open the door to his bedroom; the two of them running in before he slammed it shut again, locking it.
She blinked feverishly in the pitch black, struggling to see. She opened her eyes as wide as she possibly could, feeling around in the dark for something she might bump into. Valek’s cool hand wrapped around hers, and he pulled her into the room.
“I am grateful you will not have to
see
this at least,” he said grimly.
“Are you okay?” She brought her free hand up, searching for his cheek, but he quickly pushed it away before she could touch him.
“You are to remain in the exact spot I place you. Do you understand?”
“Can’t I be next to you?”
“No. It is bad enough you are even in the same room with me.” He grabbed her shoulders, careful of her bandages, and gently pushed her down to the floor.
Charlotte could tell she was in a corner; she felt two walls meet behind her. She could smell the sweetness of him grow greater as his face lingered nearer to hers. It was more concentrated in this room—warm, like hot molasses and something clean, like the smell of freshly fallen snow.
“Listen closely to me. No matter what you hear, no matter what I say, you are to stay right in this spot. If I come close to you, you must try to get away. Do you understand?”
“But—”
“I am serious, Lottie. I have never done this with a human present. I am unaware of what I am capable of, for I am the most dangerous to be around during this particular time. It is going to take everything I have not to—” He dropped the sentence quickly, as if not wanting to even say it aloud. “I’m serious. No matter what I say to you, no matter how convincing I am, I want you to stay completely still.”
She could feel him back away from her, though his pretty scent remained everywhere in the room. She didn’t hear another move until
it
finally began. The sound of his nails tearing at the sheets as he moaned. He cried out agonizingly.
“Valek—” She began to step forward.
“N-no, L-lottie….” He struggled.
She heard bedclothes thrashing, glass shattering on the wood floor, and something like a hunk of the bedpost going to splinters. He wailed out her name, harrowing enough that she shoved her back up as hard as she could against the wall corner. Her eyes welled up.
“Lllottttiieeee,” he said in a sinister tone.
She was going to die. There were so many chances for that to have happened already these last few days, but this time it was real. There was
nowhere
for her to escape; neither was she about to open his bedroom doors to risk
his
life. She clung to the walls, digging her nails into the floor molding. She could see nothing in the thick darkness, but she shut her eyes tight, anyway.
“Come here, Lottie...I won’t hurt you.” The voice that now stroked the raised hairs on her neck didn’t even associate with the Valek she knew. “I promise.” He laughed maniacally.
A sick feeling crawled up her esophagus and made her feel like she was choking on fear. Charlotte pulled her knees up and buried her face. She could have sworn there was an entirely different monster in the room with the two of them.
Don't even move
, she reminded herself.
Don't even breathe
.
“I can smell you, Charlotte….” The voice was edging closer to her now. “Charlotte….”
She shrieked softly, bringing her palm over her lips to remind herself again to be quiet and still.
“Char—” The voice stopped dead, and something cold and rigid smacked down on her leg.
She wailed and shot up, sprinting clear to the other side of the room, not caring what she smashed into.
Don’t open the door
, she reminded herself.
If you open the door, he’ll die
. She crouched down when she found another wall and cowered in the opposite corner of the room.
She listened for a while, searching with her ears for any sign of him, for something, anything, like footsteps or breathing. Anything that sounded like it was getting close to her again. After living eighteen years in a town with things other people considered to be scary without any sort of problem, this was by far the worst nightmare she had ever had.
“Valek?” she whispered.
Nothing replied.
“Valek?” she said again. She slowly got to her feet, something that proved to be an intricate task with her knees quaking like they did. She gripped onto the wall behind her so they wouldn’t buckle. “Valek?” she said a little louder. Upon hearing nothing again, she crept back toward the direction of the corner he originally put her. She carefully toed her way around on the floor. A few feet in, the edge of her foot nudged against something.