Chapter 8 – Dahlia
Dahlia
“Can I borrow this?” a guy from my history class asks, gesturing to one of my textbooks. We’re one of the few people in the library this late, sitting at the table near the front of the room where the most light is.
“Go ahead,” I say, handing it to him. We have our first exam the day after tomorrow and I need to do well on it. I can’t afford to use any memorization or focus spells since it will detract energy from my glamor, so it’s old-fashioned cramming for me.
It doesn’t help that I haven’t been sleeping much lately.
I don’t know if it’s the glamor itself, the magic working overtime keeping me both wired and tired, or something else, but my dreams have been fitful.
I can’t really remember them, but they feel so real, so vivid.
Every time I try and grab hold of it and keep it still, the images float away.
At night I pray that I don’t dream at all because it feels like my brain isn’t getting any rest, and I wake up more exhausted than ever.
I haven’t really felt right since two Fridays ago, when Valtu walked me home from this very library. When I was spooked by the thing in the water, and later when he kissed my hand goodnight and suddenly I was transported to another place.
I still can’t make sense of it. He did say that the area was haunted. Did a ghost’s wires get crossed with mine? I’ve heard of that happening, when you step into the leftover energy of another life. Could that be what I saw?
But why was Valtu there? Why was he dressed like a count of the 1800s? Is that what I wanted to see? Is that what he wanted me to see, like a shared memory?
Normally I’d pass it off as being overtired, being afraid of this whole portal business, worried about the job ahead, plus the stress of dealing with living a lie.
Yet there was something about the experience that makes me think it was important.
Trying to tell me something? Perhaps my subconscious? I don’t know.
And I really can’t spend a lot of time wondering about it either. I have an exam to study for and a vampire to charm and I’m only making headway on one of them.
The thing with Valtu is that I know I’m probably coming across as moody—and in general, I am—but I’m learning that the more I back off, the more he comes forward.
It’s like a dance where we’re trying to avoid each other’s feet.
The only problem is that something keeps stopping him from making a move or taking the next step.
I can see he likes me. That I amuse him.
That I confuse him. And maybe my glamor is actually compelling him, much the way that a vampire can.
But for whatever reason, he manages to keep his distance.
Maybe it’s too big of a risk for a teacher to go out with a student, but he is a vampire and I know they can do Jedi mind tricks with people.
He could easily convince the faculty of any lie.
Which then makes me step forward, for him to step back, and we keep going round and round.
Right now he’s in the library too, back in the artifact section, going through new donations.
I wanted to go over to him when I first got here and see if he needed help but I made myself sit down at this table with a few other students and study instead.
I check my phone. Ten minutes to ten. Library should be closing soon. I’m just about get up and put a few books back on the shelf when suddenly the air inside the library turns ice cold and I feel a sickly prickle at the back of my neck.
Vampires.
The door to the library swings open and two very tall, very beautiful people step inside.
They’re both dressed to the nines, a man in a slick navy suit and a woman in a simple black dress that she manages to wear like she’s on a runway.
They’re long-limbed and skinny with sky-high cheekbones, full pouty lips, bright blue eyes, and honey-blonde hair against tanned skin.
The other students notice them too, looking up from their books with interest, probably because of the way they’re dressed and not because they are vampires.
Then I hear a female voice rasp inside my head.
You don’t see us.
The other students automatically look down at their books and laptops, reading and typing away.
The female vampire is compelling us, and if I want to keep up the ruse, I have to do the same and act like it affects me.
I put my attention on my own book and I can feel the female’s gaze on my head. It’s hot, like a laser is trying to burn a hole in my skull, and I realize she’s trying to pry inside, perhaps read my thoughts.
Why me? That’s the last thing I need.
Then the pressure stops.
“What are you doing here so early?” I hear Valtu’s tense voice as he comes over now and I know they’re standing behind me.
“I didn’t think anyone would be studying so late,” the female says. “Bunch of nerds.”
I almost laugh at that.
“They can hear you,” Valtu hisses.
“I compelled them,” she says. “They aren’t paying attention. Now, take us to the room. We cut our previous dinner short for this. Mayor of the city, you know.”
So this vampire, whoever she is, just had dinner with the mayor of Venice? Interesting.
Valtu sighs. Though I can’t see them behind me, I can tell from his energy that he doesn’t like this woman. Good. I don’t like her either.
I hear them walking off and once I’m sure they’re far enough down the aisle, I get out of my chair and grab my books, heading into the stacks to put them away while also keeping an eye on them. I make sure to stick to the opposite side of the shelves so I’m not too close.
I keep still, holding my breath, and spot them through the spaces in the shelves. Valtu leads them to the door at the very back of the room, punches in a code on the keypad, and then the three of them step inside total darkness, the door closing behind them.
What the hell?
Then it hits me.
The two vampires.
I know who they are.
Saara and Aleksi. No wonder they creeped me out so much. They’re the ones with the book. Which means there’s a chance the book could be behind that door. Maybe that’s where they keep it.
Forget the book , a voice in my head says. Go home and get your blade and kill them all. They’re sitting ducks right now. Those two killed a witch to get that book, killing them is your top priority.
It’s hard to ignore my instincts. This is what I was trained to do. This is why I’m here. I need to get the blade, come back here, and kill them.
But then how am I supposed to get inside? I suppose I could charm Valtu to let me in, but that’s highly unlikely.
All I know is I have to take some kind of action. I won’t have many chances like this.
I shove the books back on a shelf where they don’t belong, then hurry back through the aisles over to my table, put my belongings in my purse and take off.
No matter what, I need to get back home to figure out what I’m going to do.
I should probably text Livia and let her know, but I feel like that might just complicate things.
Better to just do the thing and then report in when I see her face to face for drinks tomorrow night.
The question is, what is the thing am I doing? Getting the blade, heading back to school and somehow getting back in the library—which will be closed by then?
No. As much as I feel the vengeful need to kill the two vampires, I need to be smart about this. If I fuck up now, all of this is over.
I hurry through the darkened streets of Venice, and even though I’m heating up from the exertion, the air has a chill to it and fog is wafting through the canals, just hovering above the murky surface.
It feels like autumn has truly arrived and I wish I’d brought my cardigan to school, but those thoughts take a backseat to the pressing matter at hand.
It isn’t until I step foot inside my apartment that I know what I have to do. It’s going to take everything out of me, I may not even make it to class tomorrow if I feel the way I’ve felt before, but it will at least give me answers.
I need to put aside my glamor for a moment.
I need to astral project.
Astral projection isn’t an easy thing to do, but neither is putting on a glamor spell.
While we were taught both at the academy, astral projection was always harder for me.
I can do it, but I can’t do it for as long as others, and it leaves me absolutely wiped the next day.
But right now it’s the only chance I have to figure out where the book is, especially if Valtu and the leggy vampires are together in that mysterious room.
I lock the door behind me and start clearing the floor, picking up my scattered pieces of clothing that have overflowed from my suitcase.
Even though I’ve been here a few weeks now, part of me doesn’t want to unpack and start hanging up my clothes for fear it would mean I’ll be here longer. Also, I’m lazy.
Once I’ve made space, I take chalk from the small wooden chest where I keep my supplies and draw a large pentacle on the old wood floor, a circle big enough for me to lie down in.
I take out my candles and light them up around the edge of the circle, murmuring incantations as I light each one, getting my mind to focus on manifesting my astral travel, thinking of Valtu, of the vampires, of the book.
Beside each candle I place a chunk of clear quartz for amplification.
Then I turn out the lights and open the window a little bit, enough that the wind forms a stream for my consciousness to leave my body. The flames flicker in the damp breeze but don’t go out.