way for a few seconds, listening.
“Well?” Lusian folded his arms expectantly at Francis.
“Hold on. Hold on.” The flamboyant Vampire batted a claw at Lusian and continued to gaze at Valek. “Valek,” he spoke softly.
Valek glowered at him.
“If the girl is going to be a distraction, she needs to go. I too know what it’s like to lust for someone you should be a father figure to.” Francis placed a solemn hand on Valek’s shoulder. “I understand how confusing it is, but even when you and I had our little situation, I was at least able to focus on other aspects of my life.” He backed away and straightened.
“I’m not getting rid of her.”
“Well, of course you aren’t. We need her here as much as you do, but I’m asking you to please concentrate right now.”
With his elbows on his knees, Valek rubbed his face into his hands. Something awful flashed in his mind.
“No. You cannot change her. We are keeping our promise. We are not harming her.” Francis spoke quickly. “Aside from that, do you know how stupid it would be to have a newly created Vampire with us now? I
Valek grimaced and looked away, trying his hardest to guard where his mind was and to focus on the task at hand. The war. What if Sarah could put some sort of enchantment on the house? Something that would attract rogue occult creatures of the dark while they moved away from Prague and up into the mountains? They could increase their numbers by the hundreds. They could build an army and begin the uprising. A secret society.
Abruptly, Valek slammed his eyes shut when he heard the sound of Charlotte screaming from upstairs. He quickly got to his feet and spun to face the tunnel.
Francis sighed and rolled his eyes. “This is
“She is in pain.” His eyes scorched, blinking violently for the sound to fade in his mind.
“She’s not. She is simply having a nightmare,” Francis explained. He grabbed Valek by the shoulders and steadied him back down into his seat. “The sun is coming up. You don’t have time right now to go to her, anyway. We need to establish a solid plan before the day comes again. I never thought I would be saying this, but we are running out of time to live.”
Valek looked up into Francis’ face and quickly began to mentally unfold all of his war strategies. He mapped out each step one by one as Francis and the rest of them listened.
A new, ghastly shriek suddenly permeated the clan’s sensitive ears. Immediately, they all looked to the upper levels of the house. Valek was the first one who took off toward the gaping hole in the ceiling. Francis frowned but gestured for the rest to follow.
They ascended one by one, each landing stealthily and silently on the upper floor. Valek stood frozen, listening for another sign. When he sensed nothing, he bolted in the direction of the closest body warmth he could feel and found Sarah in her den, sitting in front of a crackling fireplace, her tiny white hand clasped firmly over her mouth. Her eyes were wide and shiny, fixated on the dying flames.
Francis pushed past Valek and ran over to the Witch, getting down on one knee beside her. “Sarah.” He shook her. “Sarah, darling. What did you see?”
Sarah’s face stayed frozen. Her eyes didn’t even shift. Francis looked up at Valek and the rest of the coven, now crowding behind him.
“This only occurs when she has a pretty serious vision. I have never seen her out this long.” His gaze moved again to Sarah, and he stroked her hair.
“Vision?” Valek questioned.
“Sarah only gets them once in a while. A perception of the things to definitely come. An intervention of fate.” He looked worriedly back at Valek. “These visions normally are not something positive. If I were you, I’d go check on your precious girl,” Francis said darkly.
Valek squinted at him before turning and pushing past the rest, flying as quickly as he could up the stairs. He got to Charlotte’s door and threw it open. “Lottie!”
Charlotte was writhing in the center of the mattress, clawing violently at the bed sheets. She screamed his name, and then something completely unintelligible.
He ran over to her and shook her. “Charlotte!”
Her eyelids shot open and she froze, looking at him, her breathing staggered.
“Charlotte, are you okay?”
Her mouth opened in a silent yelp, and she shook her head back and forth, tears streaming down her face.
He sat on the edge of the bed, cradling her in his arms. He stroked her face. “It was just a dream, Lottie. That’s all.” He rocked her back and forth and saw what she saw. “Just a dream.” A horrible dream about a thousand mouths clinging to every part of her body. Draining her. Killing her. Valek closed his eyes, the guilt drowning him.
Charlotte moved her head to rest just at the base of his throat. “I don’t want you to feel badly,” she said quietly, fiddling with his tousled hair.
He lay next to her. “Lottie, I need to you to know, no matter what happens, you and I will never be separated. Do you understand? We will be safe together again, like we used to be. I’m never going to break that promise.”
She wiggled higher on the bed to kiss him lightly.
They were interrupted when Francis cleared his throat in the bedroom doorway. They both peered curiously at him.
“Sorry.” He looked at the floor. “I think you both should come downstairs.”
In Sarah’s den, Valek found Sarah had finally come to, being comforted by Andela and Lusian. She continued to stare into the empty fireplace as Lusian held her.
“Is she okay?” Valek asked, stepping in front of Charlotte.
Sarah slowly looked toward them. She got to her feet and stumbled over to him, grasping at his shoulders with all her force. She choked out her words. “You have got to get her out of Prague!”
“What did you see?” Valek asked.
Sarah blinked back tears and turned to a horrified Charlotte. “I know what your lines mean, Charlotte! In your hands. I know everything.” The way she spoke was split between pleading and warning. She had this horrible, crazy look in her eyes as she grabbed her hand. She held the palm up to the coven of Vampires. “You see? Do you see it?”
“Sarah, explain to me what you’re talking about,” Francis demanded.
“She does not have the fates of a normal human being in her hand. There are two lines that deliberately cross each other.” Sarah brought Charlotte’s palm close to her face, tracing one faint line with her fingernail. “Valek.” And then the other. “Aiden.”
Charlotte squinted at her palm. “I don’t understand.”
Sarah flexed her sharp index finger at the fireplace. “I saw you…I saw….” The Witch stopped suddenly. Her face went blank again in front of Charlotte’s glassy eyes. “I saw you in a wedding gown. That is what I saw.”
Everyone grew eerily quiet. Valek watched as Charlotte looked around nervously, her heart spinning faster than her thoughts. “No. There has to be some mistake. Who would I be getting married to?” She glanced nervously up at Valek, their eyes locking.
“Sarah never makes mistakes with visions like those,” Francis interjected. “Visions like these are sent to her by some sort of divine force we believe — things we are
Charlotte clasped her palm with her other hand in an effort to shamefully hide the lines from everyone. Valek remained silent.
“Who else was in the vision?” Charlotte asked, more to Valek than anyone else. He couldn’t say anything; an immense lump in his throat silenced him. But Charlotte knew, as his sorrowful expression must have told the story better than any of his words possibly could have.
“Charlotte, I’m not saying you would marry him out of free will….” Sarah began more comfortingly than before. She was to returning to her normal mental state.
