The Vampire's Reflection Read Free Page B

beside her as they walked. No apprehension. No doubt. No fear. Like he’d promised her, they were finally together the way she wanted to be. The feeling of his smooth hand, folded around hers, brought her to smile again. She could see her breath forming in mists just in front of her nose, her fingers burying themselves in the thick wool of her sweater, her other hand wrapped firmly around his as they went.
    That morning, she’d woken beside Valek in his bed, Sarah’s star bewitchments twinkling over them as they did every night. A thin beam of sunlight peeked at her through the smallest gap in one of Valek’s thick, black curtains. He still closed them out of habit when she slept, and rested beside her as she did so. He didn’t die anymore now that the coven had figured out all they needed was the magic of the light to keep themselves sustained during the daytime.
    Charlotte had crept from the bed and over to the window, feeling Valek’s gaze burning into her every movement. She’d pulled the drapes apart and let the soft light wash in amber tones across her face. It was warm against the chill of the room. She’d smiled, despite the desperate throbbing pain on the side of her neck, when one of his skeletal hands lightly grasped her shoulder. It was time to leave. Valek had been very careful about counting the days when the light magic in his system would wear off and he would need to go hunting for more. It wasn’t a necessity to them, like human blood. It was more of a desire—an addiction. But it wasn’t actually the Fae or Elf blood that called for him. It was the light of the glorious sun.
    Shaking off the memory, Charlotte relaxed for the first time in what seemed like a long while as they paid a visit to her beloved hideaway, the pond she used to frequent, in the middle of a dense thicket of trees just a few kilometers down the country road that extended from the Occult borders and ran all the way into Prague. Now that there were no laws, no consequences, there had to be something magical lurking in the forest beyond the confines of the small villages.
    Snowfall danced down on the breeze that blew through the overgrown canopy of the Occult entrance, a passage formed entirely by trees that had intertwined over a long, shadowed path. Charlotte hugged herself tightly again as a new shiver shimmied down her spine. The shiny new whistle that Valek had given her for her birthday was strung around her neck, bouncing against her sternum as they walked. The tree tunnel leading into the Occult grounds was dark and filled with an icy blue sort of mist left from the fresh snowfall. It was lovely, entrapped there by the thick canopy, which had been powdered over with fine white. The forest around them was colored in varying shades of frosty cobalts and periwinkles. The branches overhead twined together like folded fingers, painted with a frost that stung at the apples of her cheeks and made her lips tremble.
    Charlotte had traveled down this passage too many times to count. Her missions before, however, were much different. She’d been forced to hunt her own kind in order to satisfy the only one she ever called family, the only thing she loved in her odd, little life. Now, she crossed the newly liberated borders with him by her side.
    The crescent-shaped scar burned at the side of her throat as if it recognized, somehow, that her Vampire was nearby. She vigorously ignored it, squeezing his hand tighter. He probably would have hoisted her into his arms and sped home like he usually did, but the brightness Charlotte saw in his face suggested he was enjoying the long, peaceful walk home just as much as she. It was rare to be completely alone with him. There was no need to speak of anything. It was nice enough just to enjoy the quiet tones of being together. Alone. No matter what, she would always keep her place beside him. Being at Valek’s side was too inviting and magical in its own right for her to ever want to be