Book of the Hidden (18 page)

     
Vivian stared cold and disbelieving, and confused. Her mind was rewinding to all the times that she had with Seth, her aunts. It was all her fault that they were in this situation in the first place.

     
"You killed my aunts?"

     
"A bit slow aren't you, Vivian? Two aunts die, not so far apart from each other, both in car accidents. That's quite a coincidence, isn't it?"

     
Vivian cursed, but her enemy only laughed.

     
"Now you can take him," Astrid continued gesturing towards the wolf, "but think about him, and his brother living like this forever, subjected to hiding. But if you take my deal, him and his brother will live normal and happily. You'll have the book, and him, no fighting."

     
"What's the deal?" She knew it couldn't be any good and that it would involve harm somehow, and she was right.

     
Astrid smiled widely, the corners of her lips almost reaching her eyes. An odd sight to see.

     
"You let me back in the Underground, forever, no kicking me out. Don't try to stop me from doing what I want. Even if it.... ummm.... Breaks the rules, even Maeve's rules." Astrid stood there, tall and proud like she caught a difficult running rabbit between her paws.

     
"No," Vivian didn't need to think otherwise. If she took this deal, the Underground would be in jeopardy of being discovered. Not only that, everyone's lives, inhuman or not would be at risk, who knew who she would bite, or kill.
 
It was a no-brainer.

     
The smile slid off of Astrid's face. "No?" Her prize winning rabbit got away.

     
"No."

     
"You're making a mistake Vivian...."

     
The sweet feeling of magic coursed through her, in her veins, gathering at her palms. "No Astrid, I think you are. You did a long time ago." With those words, she lifted her right hand, releasing the build-up magic at her.

     
Three balls of white hot flashes of exploded between them, then hitting Astrid in the chest. Another spell lifted Astrid off the ground. Hovering a foot above the grassy floor, she couldn't transform into the wolf when trying, as she was held by Vivian's spell.

     
She kept her palm upright, watching Astrid wither in pain from trying to change. It was time to end this, once and for all. The difficult part for her was one spell after another, and still being able to hold the person, or object for any length of time. This being something she was never good at, that Maeve hadn't succeeded teaching her.

     
Vivian released the spell, and Astrid plummeted to the ground. She tried to put the next spell into action, but wasn't quick enough, and the spell disappeared in the darkness of the trees.

     
Once colliding with the earth, Astrid quickly recovered. Still so much in pain, she still could not change, but with a face screwed up in agony, she ran (more like crawled) to Seth. Her eyes burned with revenge, and they never seemed to glow like they did now. It was bright, neon-yellow, shining in the dark, outshining the moon.

     
Astrid had almost reached Seth. One of her hands stretched out, trying to grab fur, but occasionally she would only get grass, or dirt. Her body may have been wearing down, but it did not make her any less dangerous.

     
Vivian turned on her heel aiming her hand again at her. Another flash of light, and Astrid lay on the ground unconscious. Vivian couldn't murder someone, no matter how much she despised them.

     
The was some rustling in the trees that sparked vivians attention, and she held her palm up, preparing for it to be anyone, but hoping it wasn't a human. A human she could not explain this to, it would mean a trial.
Oh please don't let it be human.

     
"Miss Vivian?"
 
A strong European accent greeted her.

     
She squinted her eyes, trying to make out the shape. "Dirk?"

     
"Yes m'dear. It's me."

     
"Dirk what are you doing here?" She asked as he came out of the trees, moving under the light of the moon.
           

     
The dwarf had a long gray beard that he tucked inside of his belt obscenely, two beady black eyes, and a squashed nose like it had been made of putty and someone smashed it on his face. The only thing people knew of him, aside that he was honorable, was that he was from Europe. He never spoke about his past, family, or friends.

     
"Akia sent me m'dear, she was fearful," he explained, but as he looked down at Astrid's body he let out a low whistle. "Is she dead?"

     
"No, I can't kill someone." Vivian was starting to feel ashamed of this, that she couldn't protect her own people.

     
"She must be done with Miss Vivian."

     
"I know, I know."

     
Out of his belt, hidden beneath his beard he drew a short, jagged, knife that shone beautifully. The light wood handle he gripped tightly with both hands was engraved with words of his language. "You may not want to watch this m'dear," he added.

     
Vivian looked at Astrid, sprawled out, feeling bad for her short, repulsive life. She could have been great, if only she didn't take a wrong turn. So long ago, when Vivian and Jean appeared at the Underground, Astrid became jealous. She wanted so bad to be ruler.

     
Vivian pushed the thoughts out of her mind, nodded, and turned her back. The next thing she heard was the sickening sound of a knife driving into a chest and the effort of the push behind it.

     
"It's over m'dear. I admire your heart."

     
That's the last Vivian remembered, as she had passed out a moment after he said it.

     
The sun had risen fully in the sky when Seth woke up. When Vivian had been revived herself, by the shack, she had laid Seth in his bed.
 
Vivian slumped forward in the chair she had set by the bed. Her head was buried in her arms so the streaming light from the window didn't wake her. After all, she had only a few minutes to sleep, and when she did wake, she would have to deal with the others in the Underground, for it was almost empty with the exception of the Vampires, when she had walked in.

     
It was only when Seth stirred, running his hand over her hair, that she woke sleepy-eyed, and tired. "Mmmm," was the only sound she could make, the course of events last night coming slowly back to her.

     
"Are you awake?" Seth ran his hand down her neck so softly, chills went down her back.

     
"Yeah," Vivian lifted her head reluctantly from her arms, squinting in the light.

     
Seth didn't look well. He looked like he was recovering from a bad flu. Dark circles around his eyes made the bright blue stand out oddly, and his hair stuck out everywhere. The only clue that disproved he was not suffering from any cold or flu, was the blue and black bruise on the side of his face.

     
"Oh, wow," Vivian gently touched the mark. He winced. "Sorry."

     
"Please, don't be. Heck, if it wasn't for you, I'd be a lot worse off than this."

     
The door had then swung open, Jake running towards his brother, and Jean coming to stand by her sister.

     
"Akia told us...." Jean said, letting the sentence trail off into nothing.

     
"Which part?" Vivian leaned back in the chair, rubbing her eyes.

     
"That you didn't kill Astrid, and you have the book, also saving Seth. Regular old hero, aren’t you?"

     
Vivian laughed. Hero? Yeah, right.

     
"Are you okay dear?" Akia appeared at the door.

     
"Yes. Thank you, and give Dirk my thanks too." Vivian smoothed out the blanket in front of her. "She killed two of my aunts. Both by car accidents, the irony being, they weren't accidents.

     
"How are you feeling?" Jean asked when Jake had let go of Seth.

     
"Fine, alive," Seth smirked.

     
"So you're ready for tonight?" Jean smiled.

     
"What's tonight?"

     
Vivian stared at her hand, still smoothing out the blanket. She felt Jean's, and Seth's eyes on her, waiting expectantly.

     
"You didn't tell him?"

     
"Tell me what? Vivian?" The look he gave her punched Vivian in the stomach. It was a mixture of confusion and fear. The fear that reminded her terribly of humans, it was so strong she could sense it in herself.

     
"Tonight, you go back to being human."

     
There was silence, Just as she expected.
 
She wanted him to say something, and when he didn't, her eyes met with his. Suddenly, she could no longer sense the fear in him. He was defiant, and it showed in his eyes. He wasn't going to argue with her.

     
"So Seth isn't going to be a werewolf anymore?" Jake's eyebrows furrowed, trying to figure out this concept.

     
"Yeah, he will be human again, just like you." Vivian tried to sound cheerful, but inside she could feel her voice breaking.

     
"Can we still live here?"

     
Vivian knew Jake had grown accustomed to the place. He knew everyone, and the different smells from the kitchen no longer made him sick. He had even made a friend; Julian, an old vampire, he must be at least 200 now, going on nine.

     
So it naturally hurt to break the news to Jake. "I'm sorry, you can't, but I will find a new home for you two."

     
"You're not coming with us?"

     
"My place is here," Vivian stood, and meant to walk out, but Jake's next words stopped her steps.

     
"No! Your place is with us. You can't do this."

     
She didn't look back. "I have to," and when she had her hand on the door, she said quietly, "it begins at nine. Afterwards you will have two days for recovery, then you leave." She shut the bedroom door behind her, stifling the cries of Jake, and leaving Jean there to heal Seth. Akia stood beside her, shaking her head sadly.

     
"What Akia?" Vivian sounded exasperated, and tired. Standing up straight, she looked at her psychic friend, and sighed. "What?"

     
"Dear...." Akia clucked her tongue disapprovingly.

     
"What?!"

     
"Dear, you know you love him."

     
"I do not," she shook her head quickly.

     
"Yes, you do."

     
Vivian pursed her lips tightly in anger, and walked away. She was not necessarily mad at Akia, she was mad that Akia may be right.