responsible for magical happenings as monsters. They just weren’t always aware of it. “Do you think maybe she is still watching over you, as you watched over her?” Charlotte mused. They had never spoken of guardian angels before. It was something she wanted to start believing in. Something she needed to believe in — especially now.
“Yes,” he said confidently. “And she’ll protect you. She will bring you back safely to me.”
Charlotte found herself extremely comforted by this. She closed her eyes and listened to the air go in and out of his hollow chest. The scar at the side of her neck began to burn again though, and she brought her fingers to it. She winced a little and sat up from Valek’s chest.
He frowned. “It bothers you still?”
Only the tips of his fangs behind his lips caught her eye as he spoke. She didn’t hear completely what he said. Dazed, her vision stayed on his lips, his hand lingering at her neck. She felt something in her throat tighten. Perhaps the Vampires did not have the only addiction in the house.
“Lottie?”
She removed her hand from her neck and with only the tips of her fingers, touched his lower lip. She stayed silent. The mark on her neck was blazing. Her mouth watered.
He wrapped his hand around her wrist, pulling it away slightly. “Charlotte.”
She heard him this time and looked at him. The scar didn’t stop burning. She tried to blink away her dizziness. She still could not remove her eyes from his mouth.
“What is it?” He placed a hand affectionately on one side of her face.
“Are you thirsty?” The question was made of air, as if someone had stolen her voice.
He squinted at her and tried to speak without revealing too much of his teeth. “I can’t. Remember?”
She was finally able to look away from him. Instead she fixed her gaze on her hands in her lap. “Right. How stupid of me.” She flinched when her scar raged again.
Valek put his hands on the sides of her neck “Charlotte, what’s the matter?” He brought his face lower to the scar.
The intense burning began to go away the closer he got. She cried softly. “I don’t know.”
But when he backed away, she cringed worse. “If you don’t tell me exactly what’s hurting, there is nothing I can do.” He kept his hand on her neck as if to extinguish the pain.
She pressed her chin down against her chest, the burning becoming so harsh. Her fist clenched her ear while the other grabbed at the collar of his shirt. “Bite me, Valek. Can you? Please?” The words were hard to get out through her clenched teeth.
He stared as her body balled up tighter. “Lottie, I’m not sure if….”
“Please, Valek! I want you to,” she cried, her nails digging further into her scalp.
He quickly lifted her chin, and at a loss, his front canines sank quickly into her artery. He already knew the minute the smell of her blood hit the air, he was going to pay so dearly for that.
Evangeline and Sarah immediately rushed into the room, satchels plummeting at their feet. Sarah gasped and the two rushed over. Valek quickly released Charlotte.
“Valek, what are you doing?” Sarah blanched, trying to become a barricade between them. Evangeline grabbed Charlotte under the arms and pulled her off him and onto the floor.
“No. It isn’t what you think.” He stood from the armchair, wiping the stains away from his chin.
Sarah handed him a handkerchief from her skirt pocket. “What is it, then?” She put her hands on her hips. “The smell could drive everyone down there to kill each other.”
“Sarah, listen to me. There is something medically wrong with her.” He pointed toward Charlotte, recovering on the floor. Her fevered eyes gazed dazedly at him as she leaned back against Evangeline. “She begged me.”
Sarah looked to Charlotte, the dark circles under her eyes. She bent to her knees to appraise the human girl. “What’s the matter, Charlotte?”
She whimpered quietly.
“Is it possible for humans to become addicted to the bite of a Vampire?” Evangeline asked.
“I’ve never heard of that before.” Valek helped Charlotte from the floor. He set her down, alone this time in the armchair. “Are you all right?”
Charlotte looked at him, embarrassed. The burning had finally stopped, however. Sarah was already busy pulling a thick volume off the highest shelf. A fifth generation
“This thing is older than dirt,” Sarah mused as the spine thudded down on the coffee table. She waved the dust cloud out of the air and flipped pages.
Evangeline collapsed onto the wooden stool, folding one leg over the other. “Do you think that information is even still relevant, Sarah?”
“I don’t really see
“What?” Evangeline leaned over, her nose in the air.
“It says this sort of thing only happens very seldom.” She eyed Charlotte. “It dates back to the era of the first Vampire, Vlad Dracul. He was in love with a human woman. He fed on her once, and after that, her body craved it. It’s simply called, ‘fixation’. But what is unusual to me is it says it is normally paired with bloodlust. Meaning, if Charlotte is suffering from fixation, then Valek must also be suffering an addiction as well.” She looked at him. “And you’re not, are you?”
Valek looked at Charlotte, his mouth agape, but didn’t say anything.
Sarah continued. “This has a lot to do with that fate line on Charlotte’s palm, too. I think she must be fated to you for this to happen.”
“How is it cured?” Valek asked.
Sarah closed the book with a thump. “It isn’t. You must either fix her addiction or change her.” She got up to put the book away.
“What will happen if I do not?”
“Nothing. She’s going to crave it sometimes. If you let it go on too long without feeding from her, she’ll die. Her heart will give out.” She stretched on her toes and shoved the book against the back wall.
“That’s impossible. Every addiction has a cure,” he argued. “We can wean her off of it.”
Sarah flicked him a glance. “I told you. The cure is to change her.”
“Obstacles at every turn.” Valek rubbed the bridge of his nose and faced away.
“It won’t happen every night,” Sarah explained as she rejoined the group. “It’s a periodic occurrence.” She looked to Charlotte who was now using the limp Edwin as a security blanket again. “Oops…his eye is almost off. Let me fix that.” She searched around for a moment in her pockets. “Damn. My thread is upstairs.” She stuck her sewing needle in her teeth, reached up to pull a few strands of hair from her head, and began threading them through the eye of the needle.
Evangeline snorted in disgust. “Savage.”
Sarah ignored her and sat next to Charlotte on the arm of the chair, pulling Edwin’s head into her lap and began to stitch his eye back together, using her hair as string. “There!” she crowed, breaking the needle away. “Good for now, I’ll go over it with thread again later.” Sarah stood and skipped over to the fireplace to begin warming another pot of cider.
But something twitched in Charlotte’s lap. She looked at everyone else, but they were all distracted. It moved once again. “Uh…you guys…” she began. The burlap fingers had started to come to life.
Evangeline shot up on the stool, eyes as big as the full moon. She reached for her satchel.
“Edwin!” Charlotte blanched and sat him up.
The once lifeless doll’s limbs now violently jumped around next to him as he continued to reanimate. Everyone turned to see the button eyes blink once, making contact with the others in the room.
“Edwin!” Charlotte fell to her knees in front of the chair.
“D-danger…” the little scarecrow sputtered. “D-d-d-danger-r-r.” The stitches of his mouth unraveled as he spoke.
