Sasha continued to antagonize. “Age before beauty.”
“Okay, everyone just shut up,” Sarah chimed in. She threateningly pointed her wand at Sasha. “I agree with Charlotte!”
“Well, I ain’t about ta stay any place I’m not welcome,” Mr. Třínožka grumbled.
“You’re very welcome here.” Sarah walked over and took one of his hands in hers. “These snobby Vampires have to learn how to get along with other Occult creatures.”
Her voice disappeared around the corner as she led him out of the room.
Charlotte stayed on the floor, cradling the lifeless Edwin in her arms and looked up to Valek, who was regarding everyone else still present.
“Well, I think it is a good idea.” He shrugged.
Francis sneered. “You’ve gotten very soft over the years, Valek, and you go and stoop to the level of a human being! ” Francis stepped closer to him. “I had very different intentions when I created you, darling.” He grabbed one of Charlotte’s wrists. “If she wasn’t keeping us fed, you both would be out on the street fighting to keep each other alive, for you are just as bad as she! ”
He sank his teeth into Charlotte’s skin, and she cried out as she clasped his arm with her other hand. The feeling was harsh and cold, like ice picks.
“That is a lie,” Valek said darkly. “You’re not getting rid of me for two reasons.”
Francis dropped Charlotte’s arm and looked up at him expectantly.
“You’d never win against the Regime without me and you know it. The second is you still want me. You always have and you always will, and I am just never going to be what you want me to be.”
Charlotte looked at Valek, eyes wide. Did she really just hear what she thought she heard? Valek’s gaze shifted slightly toward her and back at Francis again in silence.
“And we like Charlotte!” said Andela, rushing over to tourniquet Charlotte’s wrist.
She hardy noticed as she continued to gape at Valek.
“Very well. You are all just pinned against me, and that’s fine. I give you my home, and I am repaid with this.” Francis pushed his way out of the room. Sasha followed quickly after him.
The coven looked back at Charlotte hungrily.
She smiled nervously at them. “If you all could just give me a few minutes. I’m suddenly feeling a little light-headed.” She picked Edwin up in her arms and eyed Valek sourly as she walked out of the room.
Chapter Twenty
Taking Precaution
Charlotte laid a fire in Sarah’s fireplace. Sarah was next to her on the floor picking glass out of the Shape-shifter’s appendages.
“What happened to Edwin?” Charlotte asked as she finished and dusted off her sooty hands.
“Dunno,” said Mr. Třínožka. “One day I was talkin’ to him in his shoppe, the next day I came back, I found him on the floor like that.”
“It’s a good thing you left.” Sarah finished fastening the bandage together. “If they ever figured out you knew Charlotte, they would have come looking for you, too.”
“Thank you there, missy.”
“Aww.” Sarah grinned. “How cute are you?” She turned to Charlotte. “I love country monsters.” She skipped to the back of the room to put her first aid away.
“Can you fix Edwin, Sarah?” Charlotte asked.
“I’ll see what I can do. There must be some way.” She stepped back over to the fireplace, hanging a small black cauldron over the hook. “Hot cider will be ready in ten minutes. Those testy mosquito people are just going to have to wait.”
Charlotte sat cross-legged in front of the fire. The warmth felt so good to her cheeks. She wondered when she would ever see the sun again. Mr. Třínožka sat behind her with a thump, his eight legs stretching out. Dust from the old rug flickered through the air in the flame light.
“Feels good to be safe for now.” He pushed the bridge of his spectacles up on his nose.
“Yes.” Charlotte sighed, not believing it would last. She wondered exactly how long it would take for one of Aiden’s men to find her. All she had to do now was play the waiting game. She peered over her shoulder. “Sarah?”
Sarah was flipping through her prized spell book. “Yes, love?”
“In your vision, all you saw was me walking down the aisle?”
Sarah stopped and looked at her. “The fates are very tricky, Charlotte. You never want to question them or second-guess what they are trying to tell you. The vision I saw is etched in stone and sure to happen. They only show you a small piece of what is to come, but it’s up to you to handle the rest.”
“But what exactly was the bit you saw again?”
“Enough, Charlotte. The more I talk about it, the more upset you’re going to get.” The Witch dug her pointy, little nose deeper into the book.
Charlotte sighed and, resting her chin on her knees, watched the fire again. Mr. Třínožka placed a hand on her shoulder, which made her feel even warmer. He smelled to Charlotte like one of those butterscotch candies you forgot about in your pocket for a year. The older, the sweeter.
“No matter what, we’re gonna stick together.” His mustache ruffled.
Charlotte smiled so big her eyes crinkled. “Thank you.”
He grumbled something incoherent behind her.
“Okay. I think I found a spell for Edwin, but it’s going to take me a few days to produce. It requires a lot of things that are going to be slightly difficult to find in the city.” Sarah paced, still squinting at the pages.
“Who’s left in the Occult, Mr. Třínožka?” Charlotte asked.
“Not many. The Elves are still sittin’ pretty like always, but a lot of the Fairies left town. And with lunch gone, most of the Shape-shifters go.” He bristled. “That one Witchy friend a yers. She’s gone.”
“Evangeline?” Charlotte spun to face him. She hadn’t thought about her in days. She remembered the promise Evangeline made the morning they were caught.
“Yessum. That’d be the one,” he muttered. “They arrested her. Took her away in shackles through the town square.”
A lump started to form in Charlotte’s throat. They had to have killed her, she thought. She silently turned back around to the fire, sorry for all the bad things she ever said to her. The contents in the pot started to bubble in front of her.
“Whoops! Cider’s ready!” Sarah sprung for the cauldron, taking it off the hook with the hem of her skirt. “Excuse me.” She placed the pot on the crooked gnome coffee table, then pulled a small ceramic mug from her apron pocket and filled it with the hot, russet liquid. She handed it to Charlotte. “There you go! Drink it up. If you keep them waiting any longer I’m afraid they might go fishing for rats.” She absentmindedly flipped her spell book open to the page she had left off.
“You’re not one of those…one of those….” Mr. Třínožka searched for the word.
“A blood doll?” Charlotte downed the cup in one gulp and closed her eyes, waiting for the dizziness to go away. “Yes. I am.” She gritted her teeth like it had been a shot of whisky and walked out of the room.
Valek was waiting in the hallway leaning against the wall.
Charlotte stopped. “Hi.”
“Hello.” He dropped his gaze.
“Well, I finally understand why Francis hates me.” She bit her lower lip.
“Hate is the wrong word.”
“Envies me,” she amended.
“He does, but I know for a fact he doesn’t dislike you as much as he is letting on — because you are making me happy.”