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. Valek is dead, she told herself as they dripped off her chin.
“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! ” someone roared from the back of the hall. Everyone turned their attention to the entrance.
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 were his life. They were Charlotte, every one of them. He saw the glistening streets of Prague nearly two decades ago. He felt her tiny hand grasp his finger as she took her first steps. He heard the first time she ever said his name, and then the last. He closed his eyes.
To Charlotte’s terror, he overlooked her completely and ran straight for the Elf at the end of the hallway. The cracks in his skin emitted a strong, white light before being encompassed completely by golden flames, as the morning sun struck him.
Charlotte screamed, her legs collapsing underneath her weight. She stretched her hands out to him, calling his name.
Valek slammed into Aiden, refusing to burn until Aiden was dead. He sank his teeth deep into the throat of the Elf as Aiden grappled to get him off. Valek’s jaw stayed fixed on the Elf’s throat as he pulled and pulled, until there was no life left to take. He felt Aiden’s body go limp, and he let it collapse to the floor before dropping to his knees. The flames that engulfed his body were now fading, licking just at the surface before sputtering out completely.
Charlotte found the strength in her legs to run to him then. She hoisted the material of her dress up around her knees as she stumbled. “Valek! ” she screamed against the silence, and collapsed beside him.
Her hands hovered over his body as he lay before her, broken. She could barely see what the sun had done to him from behind the blur of her tears. “Valek,” was all she could say. She gently ran her fingers through his hair. She did not want to touch his ruined skin in fear it might crumble into ash. Instead, her hands fell in her lap as everyone who was still in the hall numbly looked on.
“Valek,” she cried. “If you can hear me, wait for me. Please.” The words burned so badly in her throat as she spoke them. She could barely open her eyes with the heaviness she felt as she finally draped herself over his chest. “I love you.” She continued to let her tears disappear in the material of his clothes.
The spider Třínožka and Sarah burst into the room. They were met with hundreds of gazes. Meredith Price, who had been watching in frozen horror suddenly burst forth, running to her son’s side as Charlotte had. She clutched her son’s head in her hands. “My baby! My son!” She turned her eyes angrily on Charlotte. “What have you done? You will die for this!” she hissed. “For taking away my child.”
Charlotte looked up at her and then at the hundreds of eyes resting on her also.
“No one will touch the girl.” Sarah leapt off the Spider’s back and approached where Charlotte and Valek lay. “We have killed every leader in the Regime order.” Sarah’s announcement was responded to with gasps from around the hallway.
To everyone’s surprise, Lusian, Dusana, Sasha, Jorge, and a much different looking Francis emerged from behind Mr. Třínožka, as well as a few other Vampires Charlotte did not recognize. She stood. “What’s going on? How are you alive?”
“We drained the blood of powerful Elves from every denomination,” Lusian explained. “Be it fire, wind, earth, or water. It has always been said the blood of one from magic is poison to us. But we have discovered consuming the life of someone of the light will protect us against it.” He flashed his fangs at Meredith. “Valek is alive,” he said joyfully.
Everyone looked to the Vampire lying next to Charlotte.
“Because he drank from Aiden. Light cannot rule over darkness anymore because we now know your secret. We will leave in peace if you do not follow us,” Lusian announced to Meredith.
“Who is going to follow you now?” Tears streamed from Meredith’s eyes. “You have killed my entire family.”
“Aiden is not dead,” Sarah said softly. “But he will need immediate attention. If you don’t want one of us to finish the job, you will not follow us when we leave. Light and dark should exist in balance. One may not rule over the other, or the world will surely fall in on itself.”
Meredith turned back to her son, taking his hand in hers. “Fine! Go! We will not bother you. I just want my baby to come back to me.” She cried and buried her face in his chest.
The coven rushed to Valek’s side and hoisted him onto Mr. Třínožka’s back, where Dusana jumped up and fastened Valek to him using her many belts. Lusian followed.