Of Light and Darkness: The Vampire's Daughter

know how to reason.” Lusian turned to the rest of the group, making eye contact with every one of them. “We’ve got to form an army. As many of us as they can’t catch. We fight to the death.” He wheeled back to Valek, except this time, a flash of admiration lived in his eyes. “Because it’s true, isn’t it? We are the only things they will never defeat.”

Valek nodded once. Charlotte looked at him again.

“No,” Andela croaked from somewhere in the back of the group.

All heads jerked to look at her. One of her claws gripped the chair, her nails tearing holes in the leather, the other one, she clutched to her chest. The whites in her eyes were completely overtaken by black then.

“It is starting again.” Blood spilt over her lips as she choked.

Francis blanched. “What time is it?”

“Eight o’ clock,” Jorge said.

“Damn. Okay, we continue this tomorrow night,” Lusian instructed. He swiftly moved over to his coffin on the other side of the room and drew a long, silver dagger from his belt.

“Don’t look,” Valek whispered, burying Charlotte’s face in his chest. Lusian’s painful, garbled cry wrung out as he pulled himself into his tomb, his black shirt sticky and wet at the center. He reached out, yanking the lid overtop, choking until the coffin closed with a thump.

Charlotte looked up at Valek, seeing his eyes were dark as well. He frowned at her.

“Sometimes, it’s just easier to get it over with,” Valek explained, stroking her cheek. He lifted her off the ground into his arms.

Crying and moaning resonated from the others as they started like Lusian before them, dropping one by one. Some dragged it out, holding onto life as long as they could.

“Do not take your eyes off of me,” he whispered.

She obeyed as he carried her over to the coffin he had put her in earlier. Charlotte wound her fingers in the torn material of his shirt, hiding her face in his chest. There it was again, his most beautiful scent.

He knelt to the dirt floor, eyes still fixed on hers. “Everything will be fine. Do you remember the day you snuck into my bedroom?” His smile was strange and crooked, filled with an intense suffering. Charlotte gulped, nodding. “Well, this is going to be just like that. All right?”

She nodded again. “Okay.”

“No reason to be afraid.”

“I’m not.”

Someone shrieked from the other side of the room, and Charlotte jumped. Valek lowered her in first. When he let go of her his joints cracked, and he cried out in pain like the rest of them.

“Valek!”

He placed both of his hands inside, trying his hardest to pull himself in. Charlotte grabbed onto his shoulders and tugged with all her might, until the rest of him was inside with her. He looked up with another pained smile.

“J-just close it most of t-the way…” he stammered. “You have to b-breathe.” He struggled to keep his eyes open as he fought to continue breathing.

Charlotte was about to reach for the heavy lid when she saw Francis hovering over her. A lump formed in her throat and she grabbed onto Valek, knowing he would not be able to do much to protect her.

“I have it.” Francis smiled softly at her.

She lay down on her side, the only way there was room for the two of them, and watched as the lid slid across the top of them, leaving only one, thin ray of light across her face. She looked to Valek again. Always seeing him in the darkness, she imagined what it would be like to see his face warm, in the sunlight. She smiled and placed her hand on his cheek.

“I–I wish I w-wasn’t l-like this,” he said. “S-scary.”

“You don’t scare me,” she lied.

“Don’t I?” He grinned painfully as he shook, his eyebrows drawing together.

She inched closer to him and pulled his arms around her, listening to his staggered breathing as he lay there dying against her. This was the moment she had been waiting for. She must do it now or nothing was ever going to change between them.

“I don’t want you any other way,” she whispered, slowly lifting her chin until her lips met the side of his jaw. She could feel his breath catch in his throat, not sure if what she was doing was wrong.

“Ch-charlotte, p-please….” He began to pull away.

But she wasn’t going to stop. She inched up farther, pressing her toes to the back of the coffin until she felt his cool, soft lips touch hers. Her heart lurched in her chest, jumpstarting, thudding hard against him. It must have been agonizing.

His hands moved slowly to her head, fingers intertwining in her curls. She sighed into his mouth, the muscles in her neck tensing, but the rest of her relaxed the most it ever had.

Valek slammed on the side of the casket with his fist, making a cracking sound with the impact. She was sure he’d busted a hole in it. Charlotte knew it was once again his time. He pulled his face away — a precaution — yet also, he pulled her body closer to his.

She rested her cheek on his chest and listened to his dead heart slam hard against his ribs, growing gradually slower. She stayed that way, listening, until it finally stopped.

His arms stayed stiff around her. He was sleeping, she reminded herself, beginning to be painfully aware her warm, living heart was beating solo against his hollow chest. Looking for a distraction from the truth, she closed her eyes and focused on his sweet scent and the lingering feeling left from his lips.

Chapter Fourteen At A Loss

Aiden paced the floor with so much fire the wood scorched under his feet. His eyes blazed behind their shroud of black lashes as his gaze darted about the room, threatening to melt the first face they met.

He couldn’t stand to ever see Charlotte hurt, or dead, nonetheless. When he saw Valek standing before the fiery palace entrance with Charlotte slung motionless over his shoulder, simple instinct took over. It didn’t allow him the time to consider whether or not he was making the right decision. He didn’t care what happened to Valek, naturally, but no one was going to hurt Charlotte. Not even the high ruler himself.

“Damn it!” Aiden’s roar shattered the silence about the room. He sent his fist flying into the side of a redwood bookshelf.

“Calm yourself, my son.” Danek Price’s voice was smooth and eloquent, but somehow managed to unnerve Aiden all the same. “This will all be dealt with in time.”

“I had her!” Aiden growled, balling his hands up in his hair. “She was right in front of me.” He thought for a moment. “What if they run? What if they flee the country?” He turned on his father.

“There is no place they can hide successfully. Not for very long, anyway. Not with Valek being what he is, and the complications he has with the sun.” Danek slowly stood from his chair. “We will find this girl Charlotte.” He poured a glass a brandy. “But we must keep our wits about ourselves.” He swigged back the liquor.

“Those ticks think they’re so damn clever,” Aiden fumed, tightening his hands into fists at his sides. Flamed exploded just above his knuckles.

Danek sauntered over to his son and placed his thick hand on his shoulder. “Aiden, you have been bestowed all of this power for a reason. Now is your time to use it. You did the right thing by letting them go. She would have been killed.”

Aiden bitterly shrugged his father’s hand off and stormed to the bookshelf. “That’s right! Because those idiots put her in the dungeons with those disgusting lice!” He growled.

“I promise, son. If I had known anything about it, I would have prevented it.”

“Who did know about it? Who was responsible?” Water streamed from the lower lids of Aiden’s eyes, though it was not natural, salt tears. It flowed down his face and pooled around his feet.

Danek set down the brandy glass. “The platoon from the fire division had been sent to capture Valek Ruzik. I