turn was coming. “I want you to know how much I truly care about you. As a friend and as a creator. You are amazing to me, and if there is no afterlife for me to see you again, I hope wherever you end up, you are happy.”
Valek and Francis grabbed hands for the last time as they continued to run, before Francis disappeared around a grand corridor that led to a large staircase, and up to what would be Vladislov’s quarters.
“It’s just you and me now.” Lusian and Valek bumped fists as they raced onward through the palace.
Valek inhaled and quickly turned his head to the left, to the sound of distant organ music playing. “The ceremony is starting.” Valek felt the anxiety crawling under his skin. “Godspeed, Lusian,” he said, before skidding on his heels to stop, and racing faster than the mortal eye could see in a different direction.
He could hear the conversation and laughter of somewhere between two and three hundred of the Regime’s most esteemed guests. This was it. He closed his eyes and inhaled again, pushing his body faster and faster, despite the raging pain of the coming sun.
When Francis finally got to the top of the tower and saw Vladislov’s door, he sucked in a free, sweet breath that burned in his lungs before heading straight into the wood, splintering it all over the room. Sure enough, Vladislov was just on the other side in his fine robes. He turned to see Francis standing there and smiled.
“Ah, my old friend. It has been ages,” Vladislov crooned. “How are you?”
“I don’t have time, Vlad. I have to kill you and be done with it.”
“You know, despite all of this time, I have never forgotten your little pet you sent me. Valek, is it?” He stroked his beard with his mechanical hand.
“Valek is on his way to kill the only heir to your throne.”
“Ah. I wish him well then. I hope he has better luck this time.” Vladislov chuckled and waved his hand. Dawn, which had begun ascending just outside his window, seemed to implode back under the horizon, buying Valek a little more time. Francis breathed a little. “We could have ruled both the light and the dark until you left, Francis. But as you can see, I’ve grown old, and you’ve fallen in love with someone else. Do you want darkness, really? Because I can give that to you.” He swept his hand through the air again, making all of the candle flames around the room flicker out. The strands of smoke slowly circled and entwined together as Francis watched in thoughtful wonder. They gathered into one, massive clump, creating three, beastly, dragon-like heads that snarled and chomped near his face, blowing his silver curls back. The chill that formed in the chamber was enough to send a chill even up a Vampire’s spine. He shuddered.
“I can trap you in the darkness forever, Francis! You should have listened to me! You should have remained human! Remained in the light with me! We would have ruled together,” Vladislov cried. “But instead, you chose the darkness. You wanted to change. You made that decision the night you got sick and drank from a Vampire. You panicked, you coward!” His bony hand swiped through the dark room again, sending glass bottles from shelves smashing across the wooden floorboards.
“You cast me out, Vladislov. You condemned me! If you truly wanted me as your companion, you wouldn’t have done that. No matter what I was.”
One of the dragonheads reared back, a large roar tearing through the room, down the hall. The thing lurched forward, striking Francis in the chest before traveling straight through him and out. The stone walls around them began to shake and crumble.
“What is the matter? Too much darkness for you to handle?” Vladislov laughed.
A black film began to stretch out from under Francis’ clothes, over the white skin on his arms and face. The new skin wrapped itself under his hairline, in his ears and around his neck, until he was completely transformed.
“What is this?” Francis blanched, examining his hand.
“You are what you fight for. You are darkness itself. You are death. Whatever you touch now will die like the death you now embody. There will be no light where you go. There will be no happiness. You will live as I have for the past several decades. Alone.”
Francis furiously lunged at Vladislov’s throat, his fangs bared. They penetrated the flesh there and tore out the jugular, spitting it to the ground.
A frozen, shocked expression was eternally painted on the aged Wizard’s dead face as he dropped to his bony knees and fell face-first to the floor, smashing into a million glassy pieces before disappearing altogether.
Francis turned then, to examine himself in a dusty, full-length mirror against the wall. His eyes were no longer eyes, but orbs of self-emitting light. And his skin was as pure black as it could possibly be. Only his white hair kept its original color. No longer a Vampire, or anything else he had ever recognized. But Vladislov was dead, and once again, the sun had begun its ascension in the East, and Valek was running out of time. Francis flew out of the room, a new shadowy mist stringing behind him as he went.
The crowd gathered in massive clumps behind low, velvet-draped stonewalls to witness the wedding of Elf and mortal. Meredith had gotten Charlotte into her billowing ivory dress successfully and walked her to the start of the great hall.
When the crowd saw Charlotte, she was hit with rolling waves of cheering and joy, which soured against her own feelings. Down the long, forsaken aisle lined with lilies and garnet roses, she could see Aiden, standing in front of a high priest, his hands folded neatly in front of him. The hall, though stone, was warmly lit by dozens of golden candelabras and a grand chandelier in the center. A large, baroque window carved into the far wall behind the priest displayed a magnificent sunrise.
Tears rolled quietly down Charlotte’s face as she watched the pink beams of light begin to set the horizon on fire. She felt Meredith’s hand slide against the small of her back.
“I know, dear. Beautiful, isn’t it?” Meredith sighed. She looked her soon-to-be daughter in the eyes. “Are you ready?”
Charlotte quickly wiped at her cheeks with gloved hands and nodded, adjusting her bouquet to her center. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Meredith give the signal to the organ player, who immediately sat down, and dramatically raised his arms in the air to begin playing a wedding march.
The sound rang hollow through Charlotte’s head, too distant for her to hear. And though she did not consciously tell her feet to move, they did, and she was walking.
Slowly, she passed the onlookers that surrounded her, smiling. They murmured things to each other as she passed. She looked to Aiden, who stood very still and poised at her destination, waiting, then glanced past him at the sun, now blazing like a thousand firing cannons aiming for her. She closed her eyes as more tears rolled.
“I love you so much, Valek,” she whispered. “Wait for me.” She continued walking, every step closing her in to her eminent disaster. She saw Aiden smile at her, and she dropped her gaze, thinking she might be sick.
“
Charlotte spun, dropping the bouquet at her feet. She saw him then, standing there. Dirty and beautiful. His scarred skin seemed to glow from within as he began running to her. Everyone in the hall was in a panic as guards struggled to stop him.
“Valek,” she said quietly, though rejoicing louder than she ever had. She turned back around to the windows in horror then. “Valek, stop! The sun!”
Ignoring her words, he continued to run as fast as he could, though everything in his world seemed in slow motion now. Only a feet from her, he could see his own reflection mirrored back to him in Charlotte’s big, glassy eyes. Valek looked straight into them as he passed her, knowing that may be the last time. No matter how many deaths he died, he would never forget what they looked like — how bright they were.
Normally, when human beings know they were about to die, they saw their entire life flash before them. Well, these images he saw
To Charlotte’s terror, he overlooked her completely and ran straight for the Elf at the end of the hallway. The
