The Vampire's Reflection by Shayne Leighton Page B

his human-like hand away from her face and replaced it with another one of his hands that was clutching a cup of tea. He offered it to her. He was a strange, half-transformed shifter that was perpetually in between his two forms, the upper half of his body still human-shaped. He and Edwin were the greatest misfits she’d ever known and she loved them both dearly. “Everything’s fine now , ain’t it?”
    Charlotte nodded.
    “My dear…if you ever wish to flee a nightmare, all you must do is turn on the light,” he whispered.
    She took the steaming cup of tea from him and nodded her response. “I suppose. I don’t know what’s gotten into my head lately.” Her heart sank as the fresh images of her night terrors continued to replay in her mind.
    “D-don’t even th-think about it, Ch-charlotte,” Edwin stammered as he collapsed into his chair. He removed his glasses and rubbed at the bridge of his cloth nose.
    The massive Spider man ruffled his mustache and harrumphed, crossing his two front arms. He reached up to adjust the copper-colored goggles on his head before he unraveled his scarf and tossed it to the coat rack. He crossed the room to add another log to the fire, a waft of his butterscotch smell floating to her on the slight chill in the burrow. Old Man Winter always knew just where to creep in.
    “It’s finally gettin’ cold out there,” Mr. Třínožka grumbled, rubbing his two front hands together before the fire.
    Edwin’s button eyes continued to stare sadly at her from behind his spectacles. “H-how’s your s-scar, Charlotte?” His attention flicked to the Spider for a moment as he was handed a ceramic cup of tea as well. He closely examined the chip along the edge before taking a sip.
    Charlotte grimaced, dropping her gaze. Her scar . It ached a little. She rubbed at it lightly. “It’s fine,” she lied and cleared her throat. “Is Valek home yet?” She’d feel better if she saw him.
    Charlotte knew Valek didn’t like her to stay alone in the house, now more than ever. The truth was, she didn’t much like being alone in the house, either. Not when they all knew Aiden was still at large after their battle at the Regime. Not when they didn’t know where he might be hiding now. Not when she didn’t know how Aiden had transformed after Valek’s bite, and the sort of additional powers he might harbor now.
    Since the Elven magic had worn off in the coven’s system more quickly than they originally predicted when they’d gotten their first taste of the sunlight, they all had gotten a little obsessive with their newfound pastime for Elf-hunting. Suddenly so addicted to their newfound freedom, the coven would never go back to what life used to be without it—dying every morning with the rise of the sun. Their caged existence, forever in the night, had been miserable. She understood that. Charlotte shuddered with the memories of Lusian, in the dankness of Francis’ basement, impaling himself on his hatchet to get his dying process over with faster. The image played over in her mind a lot—the way he looked at her as the life left his eyes. How tragically ironic, she thought, that the curse of being undead actually meant dying over and over again.
    The thought of Valek being outside in the light made her nervous, though since the Regime had been toppled, there were no real borders between the human cities and the Occult’s anymore, anyway. At least that’s what Lusian had been arguing. However, Valek couldn’t have disagreed with him more. Sure, he went hunting like they all did, but he had been vocal in making his opinion extremely clear on just how stupid it would be to let their guard down now. He’d tried to tell them that with Aiden still alive, and without knowing what form he had taken, the coven needed to be more vigilant now than ever. Obviously, they did not respect his orders. Especially now that Francis was gone and the coven had named no real leader in the elder