Wilder: The Guardian Series (5 page)

“I’m coming over, so let me in!”

Celeste got out of bed, splashed some water on her face and
went downstairs to let Brian in, who she found waiting impatiently on the other
side of the door.

“Thank God you’re finally awake,” said Brian as he walked
right in and plopped down on the couch. “You’ve got to help me out, I don’t
know what to do.”

“What’s wrong?” asked Celeste.

“Natalie called me and asked me to be her date to senior
prom,” he answered, his copper flecked brows creased in concern.

Celeste took a breath to hold back the laughter that was
bubbling up inside of her. “So what are you so worried about?” she asked,
trying to keep her face serious.

“I don’t know! I totally panicked and said that my mom was
calling me, and I had to call her back, and I practically hung up on her. That
was two hours ago, and now I don’t know what to say.”

 
“Well, Natalie is
a lot of fun, she’s beautiful, and I think you would have a great time going
with her. Why wouldn’t you say yes?” she asked.

“I don’t know, honestly, I guess I had always figured we
would go together,” Brian answered sheepishly, looking up to catch Celeste’s
eye.

Celeste had to stop and think about that for a few seconds.
It’s true; she had always thought they would end up going to prom together too.
For so many years there had never been any other boy in her life besides Brian.
But she knew that Natalie really liked him, in a way that she didn’t think she
ever would, and Brian deserved that. She wanted Brian to be happy more than
anything else. She wouldn’t be selfish with him, not when she cared so much
about his happiness. So with a slight twinge of wistfulness, she said, “Aw,
come on Brian, we can still hang out together while we’re there. I’ll even save
you a dance. I really think you should go with her.”

Brian looked at her for a moment with serious eyes. “Yeah I
guess you’re right.” He was quiet for a second, and then he added, “So
who
are you going to take then?”

Celeste shrugged off the question. “I wasn’t planning on
taking anyone.”

Roman stared at the computer as his mind wandered remembering
the last time he was in Oak Bluffs. It had been so long ago, and yet sometimes
it felt like it was just yesterday. His parents had been with him and his
brother back then, when they first came to live in this small town, and perhaps
that’s what drew him here again. Well, that and finding out about Celeste
Wilder, of course. At the thought of her, he felt a twinge of hunger; he walked
over to the mini fridge hidden in his closet. Bottles of deep red liquid filled
the refrigerator, and with a displeased look on his face, Roman gulped one
down. After centuries of suppressing his nature, he still found it difficult,
but he had promised his mother that he would not become the thing he
hated—that he would not give in to the monster inside of him. His
beautiful mother, who had always felt so guilty for what had befallen their
family because of what she had done. She never gave up on them. She was the one
that insisted they were better; they were not like the rest because they were
the first of their kind.

Roman could remember everything so clearly, walking into
their home, which was normally so neat, everything in its place and that time
it looked like it had been ransacked by some supernatural force. The door had
been taken off of its hinges; there was furniture upturned and broken shards of
glass strewn across the floor. And the blood… There was so much blood
everywhere. All of the myths about vampires being killed by a stake through the
heart seemed so trite, and yet there laid his beloved parents with wooden
stakes protruding from their chests. Roman had taken their bodies and buried
them with the utmost care in the backyard, hoping to save Nico from the tragic
scene he would have forever seared in his mind.

Nico barged into Roman’s room and tore him away from his dark
musings.

“I’m going out.
 
Are you going to be okay here by yourself?” asked Nico sarcastically.

“Enjoy yourself Nico, and please try to keep out of trouble,
okay?” Roman’s older brother tone was back, and Nico knew the fight from
earlier had been forgotten.

“Of course,” said Nico as he sauntered happily out of the
house.

Roman was feeling a bit on edge, and felt the need to get out
of the house as well. He thought a long walk would help clear his mind, so he
headed out with no particular destination in mind. As he walked, he thought
about Celeste and the uncertain future before her. He resolved to call Stellan
to discuss it further in the morning.

Celeste took a big bite of the cheesy pizza and looked over
at Brian who was wiping his greasy chin with a napkin. He was totally engrossed
by the movie. She had let him pick and of course he had chosen
Super Bad,
a movie she had no interest
in.

“Come on, how can you not like this movie?”

“It’s so stupid!”

“No it’s not, it’s hilarious! And there’s even some of that
romance stuff you like.
Boop
!” he said and poked her
nose.

She giggled and swatted at his finger. “Brian, you know
nothing about romance and obviously the writers of this movie don’t have a clue
either!” she retorted.

After he left, she had been clearing away the living room
table and tidying up the kitchen when Rocky whined at her, looking up at her
with big pleading eyes.

“Oh no! I forgot to take you out – poor guy!”

She hurriedly snapped on his leash and took him outside as
his tail wagged furiously in excitement. The streets were so quiet she could
hear the muffled sound of Rocky snuffling through the grass searching for just
the right spot. As she passed by a tall oak tree, she heard a rustle and saw a
bat hanging upside down from one of the lower branches!

First
a falcon and now a bat?
What’s
going on with all of these weird winged creatures all of a sudden?

Slightly spooked, Celeste made a quick 180-degree turn to
head back towards her house and found herself suddenly face-to-face with Roman.
Before she could speak, Rocky let out a startled bark. He sniffed the stranger
suspiciously and growled, his hackles raised in alarm.

“Oh hi,” said Celeste, unconsciously running her hand through
her disheveled hair. “You surprised us, and nothing much gets by Rocky.”

“In a former life I used to be a ninja,” quipped Roman with a
sly smile.

“What are you doing out here?” she asked.

“Well, I could ask you the same thing…”

“I live right there,” Celeste said pointing at her house with
the white picket fence and wrap-around porch, “and I’m just taking Rocky for a
quick walk before bed. So what are you doing here, really?”

She eyed him questioningly with a hand on her hip.

“I’m not sure actually, I just started walking and somehow I
found myself here,” admitted Roman.

“You walked all the way from your place to here? That’s more
than a couple miles, isn’t it?” Celeste asked.

“I’ve had some things on my mind, and I thought a good long
hike would help. I went through town, kept walking, and found myself here
admiring all of these beautiful turn-of-the century houses,” he said.

They continued their casual conversation for a couple of
minutes, and Celeste couldn’t help but notice that he kept glancing over her
head at the tree behind her. Finally she interrupted, “Did you see the bat up
there?”

She turned around to point it out to him, but it was gone.

“No, I didn’t see anything. Actually, I didn’t think bats
were native to Oak Bluffs.”

Celeste thought she saw a flash of concern in his eyes, but
it was gone as quickly as it had appeared. “They’re not. I’ve grown up here my
entire life, and I’ve never seen one until today.”

“Well, I better walk you to your house just to be safe, we
certainly don’t want one following you home.”

Roman accompanied Celeste to her front door and then he
paused at the threshold.
 

“Thanks for protecting me from the scary bats,” she said
jokingly, anything to break the silence.

He took her hand in his and she felt the familiar sparks,
like tiny little explosions all over her skin. For a moment he looked at her
longingly as if there were something more he wanted to say, but then he dropped
her hand and with a quick goodnight hurried off into the darkness.

“We have a problem,” said Roman as he marched in the door and
hurried up the stairs to Nico’s room. He found him passed out in bed, and Roman
could smell the faint scent of liquor in the air. He shook Nico roughly until
he finally opened a drowsy eye.

“Wake up!” demanded Roman.

“Okay, okay, I’m up, what is wrong with you?” asked Nico as
he tried to sit up and snap his mind awake.

“There’s another one of us here in town.”

“Another pair of devastatingly handsome brothers?” teased
Nico.

“This is not a laughing matter, Nico. There’s a vampire in
Oak Bluffs. And I don’t believe this one shares our predilection toward blood
bags.”

Roman went on to tell him about his midnight stroll, and how
he had felt the vampire’s presence through town and as he tracked it, it led
right to Celeste’s house. “It can’t be a coincidence that it was in a tree not
fifty feet away from her door.”

“Okay, but what would he want with her?” asked Nico, “Unless
he knows what she is…”

Roman had thought of that too, but there shouldn’t have been
any vampires who knew about the Wilders. Their family secret had been kept
guarded by powerful magic for centuries in order to protect them. Suddenly, a
terrible thought crossed Roman’s mind – Fabian. He was certainly powerful
enough to have found out, but would he dare interfere?

Nico interrupted Roman’s thought with, “It could just all be
a coincidence. Maybe the vampire saw her out somewhere and followed her home.
She is a rather striking young woman, and you can’t deny the appeal she seems
to have with our kind. I know I feel incredibly drawn to her.”

“I suppose it’s possible. I have seen it before with others
like her, but I’ve never experienced it myself,” said Roman.

Nico looked over at him skeptically, saying “Oh no?”

“Regardless of what the reason is that this visitor has dropped
into Oak Bluffs, I think it’s time to consult with our dear friend Stellan, and
the sooner, the better.”

The following morning, Roman pulled out his shiny midnight
black Porsche 911. He rolled the top down, and revving the engine, readied
himself for a road trip with his brother. They hadn’t seen Stellan in over
fifty years, not since after their parents had died and they had fled Oak
Bluffs. Stellan, like Fabian, was a very powerful sorcerer; however, unlike
Fabian he did not practice dark magic. He had been close to their mother before
they were all turned, and although he generally did not associate with vampires
or any of what he termed “evil creatures,” he had always made an exception for
them. Over the years, they had often sought his guidance, and he had proven to
be a trustworthy and faithful friend. In fact, it had been Stellan who had
informed them of the Wilders’ presence in Oak Bluffs.

***

Celeste tossed and turned in her bed as nightmares filled her
subconscious. She was walking home from school when an enormous bat swooped
down from the darkening sky and attacked her. She screamed as it tore at her
face and hands with its claws and tried to bite her with its sharp fangs. Just
as she thought she was dead for sure, a burly gray wolf with three-inch
incisors bared had pounced on top of them, and she was able to roll away from
the snarling fury. As she turned to run away, she glanced up in the sky and
caught a glimpse of a colony of enraged bats descending upon the wolf.

At a distance, she heard an ominous grumbling and the asphalt
began to crack and crumble. From the opening the most frightening creatures
began to emerge – slithering, snake-like animals, six-legged demon hell
dogs, horribly disfigured ghosts, and other demons of all hideous shapes and
sizes. Celeste shut her eyes in terror. It seemed like the gates of hell had
opened up and spit into her backyard all the vilest creatures of the
underworld. In a panic, Celeste, previously frozen and unable to move, found
her legs under her and took off running. As she turned to look back, she saw
that the demons (the only word she seemed to have to describe them) were
chasing her. To her surprise, she found that the more she ran, the faster she
got and the less fatigue she felt. After what seemed like she had been running
forever, she turned around to find that nothing was chasing her anymore. She
was alone in the middle of an unfamiliar town where she collapsed on the spot.

Celeste awoke with a start, her heart pounding and drenched
in sweat. She went to her bathroom to splash cold water on her face. As she
stood looking in the mirror at her tear-stained reflection, she felt so weak in
the knees she thought she might pass out. “It was only a dream,” she said to
herself out loud, hoping that the sound of her own voice would steady her. She
pulled herself together and shuffled down the stairs looking for her mother.

Although Celeste was practically eighteen, she felt she
needed some soothing words from her mother to forget all about her terrible
nightmare. She found her mom in her hospital scrubs bent down in front of the
refrigerator pulling out a variety of leafy green veggies and piling them on
the counter.