Fifty-Three…

Fifty-Three: The Gift

Contains a few POV switches.

“How could you do that to Daddy? How could you—”

“I don’t have to justify my actions to you! It was a mistake… I was lonely, and it was a stupid mistake. A really stupid mistake.”

“Yeah. Very, very stupid. A very dumb, ignorant and immature mistake.”

“Don’t push it, Kat.”

Aubrey got up and gazed out the window.

“You know, your father’s not perfect either.”

“Yeah, I know,” she said with a bit of reluctance.

The sun came up.

Hours later at the Haas residence, there came a knock at the door.

Vaclav reached out and pulled open the door.

He couldn’t believe who—or what was behind it.

Not only was she a Shadow, she was breathtakingly beautiful.

He couldn’t speak.

She barged inside. “I’m the new homeschooling teacher. The other one croaked last night.”

Croaked? Vaclav wondered.

“I thought all the Shadows were dead except for one,” he blurted.

“Well, apparently a few slipped through the cracks of Shadowvale society.”

“Yes. Apparently so.”

“Are you ready for your lessons Reznik?” she asked, her lips pouty and resembling rose buds.

“Oh, hell yeah.”

Vaclav mentioned the new Shadow’s presence to Aubrey. She was quite shocked to hear it.

But once Ashton Dallas was finished teaching Reznik for the night, Aubrey found the girl in the den crying.

Ashton sniffled.

“What’s wrong?” Aubrey asked.

“I just got off the phone from my mom,” she cried. “She kicked me out of the house… and I have nowhere to go. I—I don’t understand it! I didn’t do anything wrong!”

And here it comes…

“Can I stay here? Just for a little while? Vaclav gives me the creeps and everything, but I have nowhere to go.” Tears streamed down her face.

How could Aubrey say no?

“Of course you can stay. You can have the spare bedroom in the basement.”

“Oh, thank you so much! I promise you won’t regret it! I’ll even work extra hard to teach your kids!”

“Yessssssss!”

A few evenings later, Kat’s parents visited.

“I brought you something, Princess.”

He held a wrapped present.

Her eyes shifted to his. A warmth radiated from him and enveloped her in paternal love. It was as tangible as his gift, as tangible as his arms whenever they embraced her.

Daddy’s girl.

She tore off the paper.

But her smile evaporated. First she glanced at father and then at her mother.

Vaclav smiled and asked, “do you like it?”

It was an elaborate model of a carousel. Images flickered of the one in her dream.

“I love it. Thank you.”

She wound it up and placed it on the dresser.

The Impossible Dream chimed, filling the room with lovely music.

I think I just figured out what my talent is, she reflected.

Another night passed.

Immersed in a dream, Kat rolled over to her backside.

How could she have known she wasn’t alone?

He watched over her, and then slowly lowered…

His eyes burned like embers, their intensity like that of the sun’s.

“Wha—who are you?”

And then it dawned on her… oh, my God! It’s him! It’s the one from my dream!

He grasped her hands and lifted her from the bed. Quickly, they swooped outside into the night air.

“Oh, SHIT!” she screamed, kicking her legs.

The feeling of weightlessness was not pleasant. It was strange and terrifying.

“What are you doing? Where are you taking me? Who the hell are you?!”

“Just hold on tight, sweetheart. I wouldn’t want to drop you.”

“Oh, God!”

The earth rolled below her feet. Grassy hills changed to scattered trees.

Soon the landscape morphed into an area obscured by thick fog.

“Oh, my God… I think I’m going to pass out, or throw up.”

“Not now. We’re almost there.”

“Screw you! If I have to pass out, then I’m going to pass out!”

As it turned out, she didn’t pass out. Of all the luck. However, she did vomit all over the ground below. The substance flew like a missile.

The winged one carried her deep inside a crevice.

He nudged her down the walkway. A dark figure materialized from the surrounding shadows.

“Look what I found!”

“Are you insane? Take her back where she came from… this instant!”

“But I want to keep her!”

“Keep her? So you are insane.” He paused. “The Haas Clan cannot know about our existence yet. We must keep a low profile as long as possible.”

He looked down at something on the floor.

“This will erase all memory of what happened tonight.” He nudged the packet with his boot, and a small bit of powder trickled out.

“Come here, child. Don’t worry, I won’t harm you.”

She whimpered, her heart pumping a thousand beats a minute… or so it seemed.

And once again, he was another familiar face straight from her nightmares.

“Come. I told you I won’t harm you. I only want you to ingest something to erase your memory. Then your imbecile friend can fly you back home.”

“O–okay.”

She started toward him.

“She belongs to me. You have no right to take her away.”

“And you’re an imbecile. I don’t want to hear another word out of you again.”

“Take this,” he said handing her the pouch. “You will not remember what happened tonight, but you will be returned safely home… or wherever else you came from.” He shot a look at the other creature.

Hesitantly, she sprinkled the mysterious powder onto her tongue.

Then came blackness.

She woke up. She knew she’d dreamed heavily that night, but couldn’t remember anything about them.

Fog drifted into the room. Where was it coming from?

Kat looked around, confused.

Mist curled around her feet and rose to her knees.

Finally she saw the window, gaping in the middle. Cold air swept into the room and assaulted her skin with goose bumps.

*

😛  can you find Kat in this picture?

Quick note: Aubrey did NOT mention to Kat about Hunter having a bit of ‘wolf’ in him.

Also, the one who called the other vampire an ‘imbecile’ is Roy Dracon (thanks FriendlieLlama!! hehe) from chapter 49, the same one who ‘sired’ Vaclav 100 + + years ago. Obviously he’d decided to move to the U.S., lol.  The reasons why will be revealed later.

Here is Kat, if anyone wishes to download her:    http://www.mediafire.com/myfiles.php

Gah! I forgot to mention that Aubrey’s been having a bad hair day lately!   😆