The Keeper: Awakening

  Chapter 11

  I stare at Vincent with complete disbelief. I feel my face go flush as my mind reels at all the implications his statement made. Has Vincent made me out to be a replacement for the one woman he’s ever loved? Imagine: this man has lived for almost sixteen hundred years, yet only one woman has ever held his heart. Was it mere coincidence? The fact that I’m a keeper, our mutual attraction, and the fact that one of my nicknames is Izzy…

  How had he known to call me Izzy? Had he charmed my friends, Jack or possibly Roy? Or is he calling me Izzy because I reminded him of her? Is there even more I’m not considering? I thought I’d seen enough to be ready for anything, but these last few days have made me truly realize how ignorant I am.

  Until recently, a small part of me still felt that the events surrounding my mother’s disappearance could have actually been sensationalized by my mind. Not a large part, but I was open to the idea that maybe I was compensating for something. However, now I have learned about the world behind the curtain. This world in which everything is possible. Now, more than ever, I am convinced something supernatural had taken my mother. But for what reason?

  Even worse, now I find myself caught in the beginning of a love triangle. Vincent proved to be charming and carefree. He had a laid-back demeanor and never made a hassle out of anything. Surely his long life had affected this world view of his; nothing was ever new to him.

  But then there was Michael. He had never known love, and was so desperate for his love for me to be true, that he constantly fought off temptation. Michael’s werewolf tendencies for passion and primal instincts were kept in check by his iron will, even against our very natures. He wanted the love to be real. I wanted the same.

  The thing was, Michael is a really good guy. He is loyal and honest, even to a fault. He has his shortcomings, as everyone else does. But he is so consistently concerned about the wellbeing of the world and the balance, I can’t help but feel more than a little neglected. Vincent had none of these concerns.

  But Vincent is arrogant. Even worse, his age and experience makes me wonder how much of what he told me is true. I’m completely frazzled. I truly wish that Vincent had never entered my life. Had he remained wherever he was, I wouldn’t be stuck with such self doubt. I truly care for Michael. But he is nowhere near as flexible as Vincent. Yet Vincent is perhaps too flexible…

  Why me?

  “Izzy?” Vincent’s voice wakes me from my inner thoughts. “Are you all right?”

  “Yes,” I lie. “I guess I’m just nervous, is all. May I ask you why—or maybe I should ask how—did you come to call me Izzy? Doesn’t it hurt you to call me that? You mentioned her very name made you jump…why would you subject yourself to that willingly?”

  He faces me and narrows his eyes. Tears are welling up in his eyes again. He studies the sofa cushion as he speaks.

  “I don’t know why you would say such a thing,” he says softly, the hesitation deep in his voice. “I guess it’s just an old habit. Don’t think much of it. I obviously spoke out of turn. I overstepped my bounds. I’m sorry.”

  “No, really,” I say, almost pleading. “I want to know more about Isabella.”

  Vincent leans his head back and licks his lips. He closes his eyes and sighs. The mention of her really changes Vincent’s demeanor. Either he’s the greatest actor alive or he truly loves this woman as much as he says he did.

  “I’d rather not talk about it,” he admits and ends that line of discussion. “We both need to have our heads screwed on straight. Go to sleep, please. When Michael returns, he and I will have to leave immediately. When that happens, we’ll both have to trust the wolf man to oversee your protection.”

  “Why is that? Are you abandoning me?”

  “Abandoning you?” Vincent replies sharply, insulted at my insinuation. I’m really just asking, but he seems truly offended. “I would never abandon you or Michael. The answer is simple. I cannot be seen or sensed by these vampires. They’re being cloaked by this ring of witches. I don’t have that advantage; seems pretty unfair, doesn’t it? Needless to say, I’m quite a celebrity in the vampire world…you might even say there’s a course on me at the vampire academy. I hold the majority of the academics taught in Vampirism 101; not by choice of course. It’s just I need to be vilified, and thus they indoctrinate all fledglings into hating me. I would be recognized immediately.”

  “But what about Michael?” I ask with my concern rising at the severity of the situation. “Is he going to have to take on thirteen witches and who knows how many vampires? I know he’s powerful, but can he really do that?”

  “You really need to stop worrying,” Vincent says with a smile as he finally faces me again. “Tonight, you’ll get a front row seat at how powerful wolf boy is. My job is to pick up any straggler vampires that try to escape or communicate with the Coronam. If the Coronam sends a detachment here, then we’re in big trouble. And I’m being really serious here, despite my usual sarcastic wit.”

  I believe him. His words, while still having their usual sharpness and condescending tone, sound very sincere.

  “What if they come?”

  “If they come, Izzy,” Vincent says, his voice trailing, “there will definitely be casualties. And with the commotion we’ll cause, the entire existence of supers might be revealed. If that happens…well, let’s just say we’ll be in several wars. There are hundreds of supers that don’t want to be revealed as fact, they wanna remain a myth. There are supers that are envious of vampires because we can blend in with the human population. And everyone pretty much hates the werewolves, the wardens of our world, if you will. If the Coronam come, Michael and I will be forced to fight them with all our power. There won’t be a single news network that won’t be broadcasting the mayhem. We’ll be revealed to the world…and while some supers couldn’t care less, most want their existence to remain a secret. So, chronologically speaking, Coronam comes, Michael and I fight them. A lot of stuff gets torn asunder, explosions, a lot of death and destruction…people see it, either in person or on the boob tube, they realize that humans aren’t really the dominant species and the world goes to crap. The supers will fight each other in a civil war for supremacy, and then who knows what happens when all of humanity knows that none of these things were ever legends to begin with.”

  “That sounds…incredibly horrible,” I say slowly as I wince at all the devastation I can imagine happening.

  “Luckily, most of the supers will blame the vampire community,” Vincent says whimsically. “I feel bad for the young vampires, the ones that don’t know any better. But the older ones? Yeah, they can ash for all I care.”

  “You won’t feel bad that the majority of your race will become extinct?”

  “I might be a vampire, but that doesn’t mean that I agree with everything the vampires have done in the last thousand years,” Vincent explains casually as he pushes his hair away from his eye. “When I was reborn as a vampire, we respected the land and our food, at least at first. We knew we couldn’t feed too often or kill humans. They were our livestock, as horrible as that sounds. But now? With the Coronam in control, they designed something they call the veil, or as it was originally called, magnum mendacium, ‘the great lie.’ The great lie states that all vampires must act in accordance with the laws in the magnum mendacium charter or risk the wrath of the Coronam. The Coronam might enforce the magnum mendacium, but they themselves are violating its very essence. It was meant to keep vampires as a topic of fiction. Now, more and more, you got these geeks and freaks dressing up as vampire wannabes and goths with pale make-up, drinking tomato juice from a $3 goblet that is supposed to be believably expensive. Please…the fact is, the Coronam is risking exposing all of vampire kind to the world with their ambitious goals. If they expose vampires, they expose all supers, and if they expose all supers…”

  “Then the entire world will be turned upside down,” I say as I realize how truly horrible the situation is. “The supers will f
ight one another and humanity will never be able to trust another human being ever again, no one will know who really is human.”

  “Eh,” Vincent grunts with apathy. “If that ends up happening, I have a plan too. I just hope I never have to use it. Michael, on the other hand…he would really have his hands full. Which consequently means I would have my hands full helping the poor dope. I really am a sap.”

  I look at Vincent and stop myself before I continue to prattle on. The implications were only becoming more dangerous as I learned more about our true situation. This was no longer a matter of my life, or even of the lives of the people in the town. What Vincent was explaining was a full out war, a civil war between supers. This could be disastrous. All I can do is believe in Vincent and Michael, and hope that the Coronam doesn’t get word from the vampire spies that are hanging around town. But then, another thought enters my mind..

  “Vincent,” I begin slowly. “If you do manage to kill all the vampires before the word returns to the Coronam, wouldn’t they just send more people to investigate what happened to the first team?”

  “Oh that,” he says, almost sounding bored. “I’m afraid Michael will have to take the blame for this whole thing. It’s one thing if a werewolf kills a vampire, that’s normal. Werewolves are almost the police officers, well, now that I think about it, I guess they are the police officers of the super community. But if word got out that a vampire killed a group of vampires, an example would have to be made. And they’d send out everything they could muster to make an example out of me. A lesson to be learned by young and old vampire alike. The lesson being, of course, to never turn on your own kind.”

  “And Michael knows about all this?” I ask now, more mortified than ever. It was bad enough that the two of them were risking their lives for me, but now, Michael would be marked for life? “Wouldn’t that make almost every vampire come after Michael?”

  “In all honesty?” Vincent examines me briefly before answering. “He’s been at the top of the vampire hit list for centuries. It comes and it goes. They’ll send a vampire hit squad after him for a couple months straight and then just forget about it, or give up. Whatever the case is, he’s used to it and no matter how we handle this, the attacks on Michael won’t stop. Vampires aren’t the only supers who continuously try to kill werewolves. But, hey, seriously, get to bed already. You need rest, and there’s a movie on TV that I haven’t seen in, like, ten years or so. We’ll make sure to wake you as soon as it’s time to get going with our plan. You can trust us. You’re in good hands.”

  I shake my head. I’m more than a little tired. Sleep sounds good right now. I stretch my feet on the sofa and let myself relax. Before I even notice, I’m dead to the world.

  I feel like I’ve been asleep maybe ten minutes when I overhear Michael and Vincent talking.

  “I know how you feel about her, Vincenzo,” I hear Michael’s voice from the kitchen. “You want her; I can see how you watch her. You look at her seductively and there’s a fire in your eyes. You would have her as a prize, just another prey for you to hunt.”

  “Is that what your super wolf eyes tell you?” Vincent responds dryly, his typical sarcasm heavy in his tone. “Can they see inside my chest to witness the erratic motion stirring in my heart? Oh, no, they can’t. There is no heart there to be seen. Then it must be your super wolf hearing, or your smell. It must be something; the great Michael is never wrong.”

  “I love her, Vincenzo,” Michael explains plainly. “What you want is purely sexual. Would you betray your oldest friend for mere lust?”

  “No, I would never betray anyone for lust,” Vincent replies, his voice calming down. “Least of all, I would never betray you.”

  “Then stay away from Liz,” Michael almost commands.

  “You mean Izzy?” Vincent says with a slight chuckle. “I don’t think I can. I think she needs me. I think you need me. And if I’m right, and I almost always am, the only way the three of us are going to make it out of this alive is by helping one another.”

  “I would give my life for Liz,” Michael asserts with a powerful, steady voice. “I’m in love with her. Stop playing your games, they undermine your status.”

  “You know the one thing about being ancient?” Vincent asks with a laugh. I hear him begin to walk around my kitchen. “Come on, you know me best. Nothing clouds my judgment. In your centuries of life, have you ever, even once, seen me enter the blood lust? Have you ever seen me hesitate, even if for just a moment, over a human’s wound?”

  “What are you getting at?”

  “Blood is the most potent drug in existence for the vampire,” Vincent explains calmly. “If that which is most intoxicating for my kind does nothing to me, do you really think that a keeper’s pheromones would do a thing to me? I am ancient, I cannot be fooled or duped by their power. My senses, my heart, and my head, they can’t be blurred by their attraction. Can you say the same for yourself? Can you with your strict code of honesty and honor swear to me that you are 100% sure that her pheromones are not having an effect on you, wolf pup?”

  I hear Michael lean on my kitchen counter and sigh deeply. Judging by the noise of bones cracking, I imagine Michael has just cracked his neck, as he tends to do.

  “No, you’re right,” Michael finally concedes. “Then why? Why so much interest in a girl you don’t even know? You’ve never hurt me like this before.”

  “Am I hurting you now?” Vincent asks with a playful tone. “If I was, I was truly unaware. It was never my intention to hurt you. I came for the ring. Meeting Izzy was just a very serendipitous coincidence. But why are you here?”

  “You know why I’m here,” Michael answers immediately. “I’m here for the ring as well. I met Liz by pure coincidence.”

  “Even my massive information network couldn’t find Izzy,” Vincent continues. “I’m to believe you stumbled on her by accident? You had no way of knowing what the ring truly represented. Witches were meant to be keepers of the balance as well; you wouldn’t have felt their disturbance. I can only conclude you came because you stalked the scent of the keeper down.”

  “Is that what you think? I came here following the Russian brujo. And you’re right, I didn’t know how great of a tragedy this ring represented.”

  “Why follow a lone brujo all the way here? From Russia, no less?” Vincent asks. His tone suggests a subtle pry.

  “I know this man,” Michael explains. “I’ve been keeping tabs on him for decades. It was only late last year I found out about his brujo nature. I suspected him of just being a normal, run-of-the-mill witch. But you said so yourself, as agents of the balance, we are invisible to one another.”

  “Then I can only deduce that you came here for Izzy,” Vincent says lightly. “It’s like I thought. You sniffed her out and then found her here. Knowing you, you probably watched her silently, hidden from view for months, maybe longer. Then you finally made your move. Does that sound about right, brother?”

  Another awkward silence. Once again, I hear Michael sigh deeply.

  “What game are you playing at, Vincenzo?”

  “No game,” he answers bluntly. “For once, you will just have to believe me when I say that I want no harm to come to you or Izzy. I am here simply because the world will crash and burn if the Coronam succeeds. As I said, meeting Izzy was just a very pleasant side effect of my original intention. I am, however, concerned that you’re behaving this way. You’ve never treated me like this before. You’re sizing me up as if I were your enemy. Perhaps the keeper’s magic has managed to work faster on you than most?”

  “Silence your voice,” Michael orders in irritation. “I would hear no more of this.”

  “It all makes sense, actually,” Vincent muses to himself. “Your senses being so acute, the greatest of all the supers…you fell for her magic faster than any other super possibly could. Her pheromones would overpower you before you could even detect them. After all, your sense of smell is the greatest on the planet…y
es, I think that makes the most sense. Pardon the play on words.”

  I hear a brief step and a thud but am too afraid to look.

  “And now you lay your hands on me?” Vincent asks nonchalantly. “What would you do, brother? Erase more than half a millennium of friendship for a woman?”

  The house is once again flooded with awkward silence. I hear Vincent’s feet touch the floor gently. I’m relieved to know the situation has subsided without my interference. Actually, my butting in would have only made things worse.

  “You’re right,” Michael says. His voice is pained with regret and remorse. Yet his voice hides a much deeper secret. I feel his shame. “Liz has gotten to me. I don’t know what to do. She’s all I think about. When I see her with you, I…I don’t know… I’m jealous. I know in my mind, it’s her keeper’s physiology…but I can’t control my instincts. They act of their own accord. What do I do, brother?”

  “We’ll work it out,” Vincent announces softly as I hear a pat on the back. “But we have to work it out together.”

  “You have my word,” Michael promises with conviction “We’ll get through this together. No more infighting. No more petty jealousy. I’ll use every ounce of my willpower to hold back these feelings of anger and betrayal. It’ll never be an issue again.”

  “Great,” Vincent says as I hear one of the cupboards opening. “Now that you promised not to put your hands on me again, maybe there is something I should tell you. You brought it up, after all. And far be it for me not to answer your question. I do want Izzy. But not in the way you think. For you see, I’m in love with her as well.”

  I hear nothing for what seems like an eternity. For several moments I doubt they’re even still in my house. My heart beats as if thunder is pounding the same spot on earth.

  “Michael, it was never my intention to ‘steal’ her from you,” Vincent says calmly. His voice is a welcome addition to the nerve-racking silence. “You mentioned you would die for her. Guess what? So would I. But the difference between us, brother, goes far beyond our species. For you see, I would die for you as well as Izzy. I would risk everything and lose everything, just to ensure your safety. Could you say the same for me? I promise not to get involved with your courting Izzy. She isn’t some piece of commerce to be bartered over. She should be allowed to choose for herself. And if she does choose you, I would hope that at least you would make me the child’s godfather.”

  Vincent chuckles jovially, but Michael says nothing.

  “I could spend the rest of eternity watching your family,” Vincent continues. “I could watch you and Izzy raise your child, even watch that child grow. And all I would feel would be happiness for you and her. But let that be her choice, not yours, not mine.”

  “Agreed,” Michael says with a sigh of relief. “I hope you can forgive my recent behavior. So, what do you say? Shall we go save the world?”

  “Again?” Vincent asks in frustration. “I need to get a PR agent, this is total BS. I save the world time and time again, but do I ever get any credit? Nope, not a shred. If there was a ‘Super’s Herald’ or something like that, it would all be about you. Me? I would just get the ‘sneaking about in the night sucking helpless virgins dry’ part of the newspaper. It’s completely unfair. I really do need a publicist.”

  “Well, if there was a newspaper for all things super,” Michael retorts playfully, “they would obviously know I’m the good guy.”

  “Not to cows you’re not,” Vincent answers. “Can’t you pick a different animal? I mean, seriously, man, you’re bringing the cattle population close to extinction. Anyhoo, should we let Izzy know that we know she’s awake?”

  “Yes, now does seem to be a good time,” Michael agrees. “At least we were able to handle our personal affairs.”

  “How did you—“ I cut my own question short in shock as I sit up from the sofa.

  “It’s your heart rate,” Vincent explains. “It changed. And if I could sense it, then Michael could tell from two states away. It would appear, however, that our secret is out of the bag. Would you look at that, Michael? Here we are, with the veil, the great lie in place. Yet this one manages to uncover our greatest secrets in a span of a day and a half.”

  “It wasn’t a secret, smart ass,” I answer harshly. “I might not have much experience in love, but you two stare at me like lovesick puppies. And besides, whatever gave both of you the idea that I was interested in either of you?”

  “Yeah, right,” Michael says sarcastically. “Even I’m not that naïve.”

  “Hey, wait a second, the whole sarcastic angle, that’s my shtick,” Vincent says as he pretends to be hurt.

  “Jeez, would you two take something seriously for once?” I ask in frustration. “This could be total Armageddon, you know?”

  “Well then arm-a-geddin out of here!” Vincent declares with a laugh. The room grows quiet and an orchestra of crickets chirping would have fit in perfectly here.

  “That was awful,” Michael says as he punches Vincent on the arm.

  “Yeah well, it was funny to me,” he says with a smile. “You two wouldn’t know comedy if it slapped you in the face. Did you sleep well, princess? Are you ready to go?”

  “About as ready as I’ll ever be I guess,” I admit. “What do I have to do?”

  “I’m going to be following you from a distance, atop the trees,” Michael begins to brief us all. “Vincenzo will be out of town until I tell him I need him. At that point, he’ll come running and we destroy the witches and any vampires that appear.”

  “Wait,” Vincent interrupts. “You forgot to mention we have to keep one of the vampires alive for brutal torture and interrogation.”

  “Yeah, you’re right,” Michael admits. “We’ll keep one of the witches and one of the vampires alive. We’ll see what the Coronam told the witches, and we’ll see what the Coronam told the vampire lackeys that got the misfortune of being given this task.”

  “Much better,” Vincent says with a nod of his head. “Carry on then, General.”

  “That’s pretty much it,” Michael says with a shrug of his shoulders. “Liz, it’s imperative that you don’t move while Vincenzo and I are fighting. It’s for your safety as well as ours.”

  “Wait a second,” I interrupt. “I don’t mean to sound rude or anything, but please keep this in mind. I might be a super or whatever, but I just found this out. I have no idea what you guys are capable of, what they’re capable of, or anything actually. How is Vincent going to run back into town on time? And for that matter, how are you going to signal him? And why can’t I move? What if someone is attacking me or something? How strict are we talking here about not moving? What if I have to sneeze or cough or scratch an itch? I mean, what am I preparing for here?”

  “You want to field this one?” Michael says as he looks at Vincent.

  “Sure, I guess,” Vincent says with a lackadaisical look on his face. “It’s a lot to explain, and we really don’t have the time, so I’ll just condense it to the key points. I’ll be communicating with both you and Michael via telepathy. I can’t be in town when the ritual takes place because the other vampires will sense me, but when I get the cue from wolf boy over here, I’ll come here full sprint. I’m really fast. Hmm…what else did you ask? Oh, yeah. Witches. They can cast all sorts of spells. They can move the earth, shoot fire, and bind a person in place. I mean, really, they can do all sorts of things. Far too many to be able to make a list right now. As to the reason why you can’t move, well, that’s a little dark. When supers of our class fight, we fight at speeds that can’t be tracked. We don’t even truly know how fast we are. We’ve tried everything from radar guns to stop motion photography; nothing can pick us up. All you’ll see around you are blurs and afterimages. Except, of course, when the bodies begin to hit the ground. The reason we don’t want you to move is because if you do, you might get hit by one of us accidentally. What is a second for you feels like hours for us while we’re moving at such speeds. So
if your arm isn’t there when I go to strike, and then you move it a nanosecond later, I just passed by and ripped it off. Do you understand now why that might be less than pleasant?”

  Vincent looks over at Michael and catches a disapproving look from him. Michael shakes his head. Vincent mouths silently “what?” but is ignored.

  “Afterimages?” I say as the idea strikes me cold. “Something so fast that I can’t even track it with my eye?”

  “It’s a lot to absorb, but we’re in more control than Vincenzo is implying when we move at those speeds,” Michael says as he catches my attention. “Go ahead Vincenzo, do what you have to do, and get her started. It’s almost nightfall.”

  Vincent walks forward and exhales softly as he stares at me with those deep blue eyes of his.

  “I need you to relax, okay?” he explains soothingly. He places both of his arms on my shoulders and begins rubbing me softly. “Think about a happy memory, or a place that brings you peace. It could even be a person. I need you to let me enter your mind. You’re well rested, you can do this.”

  I breathe in and out deeply as instructed. I continue to follow Vincent’s instructions as best I can. Eventually, I’m at peace and feel a warm soothing wave wash over me.

  “Now, this is what I’m going to do,” Vincent continues in a soft voice. “I’m going to place my right hand on top of your forehead. I’m going to link us together so that when I speak to your mind—only if you let me of course—I don’t cause you any discomfort.”

  Vincent places his hand as he described. In an instant I’m fed images of Vincent’s life. I also feel his overwhelming loneliness. But then, just for a brief moment, I see a woman dressed in seriously old attire. She looks like…me. Before I know it, I’m back in the living room. The first thing I see is Vincent’s beautiful blue eyes.

  “Are you all right?” Vincent asks, concerned. Michael is near him. “It’s a little intense at first, but I had to rush things a little. You now have a piece of Michael and I inside of you. Our memories and our past experiences. Just a fraction, mind you. The entirety of that would have killed you.”

  “You gave me some of Michael’s memories as well?” I ask in total confusion. “I thought I was only looking at your life.”

  “No, it doesn’t work that way,” Vincent explains. “Every vampire evolves as he grows older, as you know. But the gifts they receive are all different, therefore, they evolve and upgrade differently. I have only done this merging once, with Michael, before you. It’s something I only learned about six hundred years ago. Later on, Michael and I discovered we were pretty much linked eternally. It’s something that sometimes comes and goes; the visions, I mean. When Michael is in great distress, I see it and feel it. But it’s incredibly useful. I can speak to him whenever I need to, no matter how far away. Now I can do that with you as well. If it weren’t for this unique gift of mine, I would literally have to dominate the person and enter their mind against their will. A very painful and traumatizing experience. So, did you see anything interesting while you were scouring our minds?”

  Vincent smiles as he leans on Michael’s shoulder. Michael’s expression is much more serious. He seems to be curious as to what I saw.

  “I saw a baby being cradled out of a burning building,” I say, trying to piece together everything I saw. “But the person jumped out of the window and onto the roof of a nearby building.”

  “That was me,” Michael says, his eyes narrowing. “It was Chicago…early 1920s, I believe.”

  “Yeah, I remember that story,” Vincent recalls. “After you turned the baby over, the police tried to beat you to death and arrest you.”

  “They thought I was a monster,” Michael explains. “Anything else? You’ll feel a close bond with the person of the memories that stuck out to you.”

  I hesitate as I remember the woman that looked very similar to me in a very old dress. Was that Isabella? Going by what Michael said, I might have just been sharing equal amounts of memories from both of them…does that mean that I’m unsure of my love for Michael? Could it be possible that I have feelings for Vincent? Perhaps even love him? How did I go from never having a boyfriend to possibly being in love with two so very different men? One a werewolf and the other a vampire nonetheless…

  “A lot of scrambled images,” I say, not sure whether to mention the woman in the dress. “I saw a very old memory; it could only have been yours, Vincent.”

  Vincent’s carefree demeanor changes immediately as he stares me down.

  “If you don’t feel up to speaking about it, I understand,” Vincent says. “I’m impressed, to be sure. You just took in over two thousand years worth of information in less than a minute. Although you didn’t absorb all of our memories, it’s still extremely impressive.”

  “I guess,” I say as I realize that the possibility of mentioning Isabella made Vincent extremely uncomfortable. “Shall we be off, then?”

  I really want to ask Vincent about the resemblance between that woman and me. She had to be Isabella, I figure. The thoughts of her were heavy in Vincent’s mind. And what of Michael? His memories were filled with pain and a life that truly was unfair. He had known nothing but loss and hardship…I want to let them both know that they could talk to me whenever they wanted. I want them to know they have a shoulder to cry on. But I can’t say it now. Not in front of the both of them. But someday, definitely.

  But is that in my best interest? Michael mentioned that a bond was formed when memories were shared. Would they feel comfortable knowing that I absorbed so many memories from them both? For some reason, I’m almost positive that the amount of information I had just received was more than Vincent had intended for me to receive. This was confirmed especially when I saw the look on Vincent’s face. It appeared he had wanted to hide any and every piece of thought of Isabella.

  “Let’s go then, it’s nightfall in a couple of minutes,” Michael says, yanking me from my daze. “Are you sure you’re up to this? We can find another way.”

  “No, we can’t,” Vincent argues. “I don’t want her to be harmed either. But if we go over there looking for them, they’ll escape. This is the only way. Besides it’s her choice.”

  I breathe in deeply before exhaling and walk to the front door.

  “My decision has been made,” I say, feigning confidence. My doubts, fears and suspicions would have to be resolved at a later time. Assuming there was a later time, of course.

  “Very well,” Michael says as he opens my front door and steps out. “I’ll see you as soon as this is through. For everyone’s sake, let’s hope this goes well.”

  With supernatural strength, I notice Michael jump up and land atop a nearby tree. Then I see several trees buckle under his weight before his path completely disappears from me. Vincent looks at me, eyes softened.

  “You’re going to be fine; you’ll do great,” Vincent says as he grabs my arm. “At least, that’s what Michael would say. I just want you to not screw up, understand? But…seriously, you can do this. We won’t let anything happen to you; that’s a promise.”

  He smiles at me before he steps out and heads to the east. I assume he’s running out of the city limits.

  Although I haven’t known them very long and I have very few friends, their absence makes me feel lonelier than ever. I walk out of my home and lock the door behind me. I look around at the town. True to Vincent’s statement, no one is outdoors.

  I’ve never been so alone. Thoughts of terror and anxiety grip me. Yet I try to remember Michael’s soft embrace. His kiss on my cheek…his jade eyes and powerful yet gentle hug…I have to do this..

  I keep walking until I make it to the town square. It’s a ghost town for sure. I turn to the deli in hopes of getting a soda from the machine outside. Instead, I see a lone figure, a man with grey hair and a receding hairline. He has a large gold talisman draped over the center of his chest. His blue, steely eyes pierce my soul. He’s terrifying, but I have no idea why. Had I passed t
his man on the street, I wouldn’t have even thought twice. But I know who this man must be.

  He has to be the Russian.

  “What is a pretty little thing like you doing out here?” he asks with a heavy Russian accent. “Don’t you have better things to do on such a night? It’s late, and a school night, I believe. Do all keepers act like you? So brazen and insufferable? Do you have any idea of how long we’ve been looking for you?”

  “I’m sorry sir,” I say, trembling. I have to sell this if the plan is going to succeed. “I’ll give you all the money I have, just please don’t hurt me. I just wanted to get something from the deli.”

  The man furrows his brow as he examines me. He begins to walk closer to me as I hear Michael’s voice inside my mind.

  “I’m with you,” I hear Michael’s soothing words steel my nerves. “He won’t be able to harm you. You’re doing very well, just keep acting scared.”

  “Who’s acting?” I think back to him jokingly.

  “Stay serious,” Michael replies. “I see Vincent’s influence in you already. Now is not the time for joking.”

  “He’s right,” I now hear Vincent’s voice chime in.. “Just go along with whatever this geezer wants.”

  I fumble around in my purse and pull out a wad of money and extend my arm to the Russian.

  “Here, please, take it!” I plead. “It’s all I have! Please, don’t hurt me!”

  “Could it be possible you don’t know what you are?” the Russian thinks aloud as he fingers his beard in a clearly contemplative stance. “No matter…”

  The Russian sweeps his hand over the air as if drawing a symbol in the air. I feel my body tighten up and then fall. I look down and there are vines holding down my entire body.

  “What are you going to do to me?!” I ask, trying to emit panic to my voice.

  “You will see soon enough,” he answers me as I begin floating in the air. The vines have me suspended and are following the Russian’s footsteps.

  I look at him closely and think back to Vincent’s backup plan of leaving a trace of me behind, just in case. I slide my hand in my purse and take out a pack of breath mints. Little by little, I let loose a breath mint every time I notice a sharp turn or a tricky part of the path coming up. It seemed like an eternity, but we finally wind up in the middle of the forest, and I see twelve other people, the rest of the ring no doubt. There’s a circular design on the ground, cut into the dirt. Overlapping the circle, also cut into the ground, is a square. The vines drop me into the center of the circle and disappear.

  “So this is the keeper?” I hear an unknown voice ask the Russian. “Are you sure this is the one, master brujo?”

  “Absolutely,” the brujo answers. “She couldn’t have made it any easier. I don’t think she even knows she’s a keeper.”

  “That wouldn’t be rare at all,” a slender female says as she approaches the brujo. Her eyes are golden; they look like topaz. Too gold to be natural. She must be a super; a vampire no doubt. “One of the reasons they’re such trouble to find. They themselves don’t know their own potential for greatness.”

  She smiles as she looks down at me and enters the circle, kneeling down near my head.

  “But that’s fine,” she assures, still smiling. “I’m here to make sure you do reach your full potential. You’re going to be the start of something magnificent.”

  I try to struggle myself up, but I can’t move. The vampire woman notices.

  “Try as you might Elizabeth, this circle is designed to hold you,” she explains. “It’ll make things much easier if you just let us do we came to do. Fair? You may call me Valerie, and I do want us to be the best of friends.”

  Her words are soft, but I realize she’s full of deceit. She hates me secretly, I can tell. I refuse to say anything. I only hope that I won’t die here like this, on the ground, surrounded by monsters.

  Even if Michael and Vincent are powerful, this woman is right next to my throat. She could end my life if she allows her hate to take over, if even for only a second. Or worse…what if she senses Michael’s presence?