Wilder: The Guardian Series (17 page)

Celeste sprinted outside to the crowded pool deck and spotted
Nico.

“Are you okay?” he asked. She looked as pale as the sheet
wrapped around his waist.

“No. I don’t know. There was someone inside, and I just got a
really bad feeling about him so I ran.”

“Where is he? What did he look like?”

“He was tall, dressed in black with a red mask, and jet black
hair with a crazy white streak down the middle and an ugly scar above his
eyebrow. I think he might have been a vampire,” she said finally.

Roman appeared out of nowhere as if he had heard the “v word”
from afar. “Celeste, go stay with Brian,” said Roman, taking her arm and
nudging her back out toward the party. “We’ll go check it out.”

 
“I want to come,”
she said determinedly.

“No, it’s not safe Celeste. You’re not ready yet,” said Roman
looking at her sternly.

“What do you mean, I’m not ready
yet
?” she asked.

“Celeste please, let us go and see if we can find this guy.
Brian’s on the dance floor looking lonely.
Go keep him
company. We’ll be right back,” said Nico. And they turned and stalked away.

As soon as they were out of sight, Celeste doubled back
toward the house.

“Do you sense anything?” asked Nico as they crept inside the
quiet house.

“No, nothing. Which means he’s either very old and powerful
enough to conceal himself or there’s just a strange human lurking around the
party.”

“I’m going to get an aerial view while you check in here,”
said Nico and he took off.

The house was practically empty; everyone was outside
enjoying the DJ and music. Roman tiptoed around the kitchen, into the den,
through the living room, but found no one. He tried to focus in on his keen
hearing and heard a muffled noise from upstairs. He bolted up the stairs using
his vamp-speed, and found himself face to face with Celeste at the top landing.
The vampire had his powerful arm clenched tightly around her neck, his fangs
inches from her flesh. Roman stopped dead in his tracks and looked helplessly
at her frightened face. The monster took a few steps back, dragging Celeste
into an open bedroom. She was fighting to get away from him, but it was no use;
he was too strong for her.

“Let her go,” roared Roman, “or you won’t leave this house
alive.”

The vampire’s dark eyes peered at him through the crimson
mask. “I would guess by your unnatural affection for this young lady in a
rather naughty vampire costume that you must be Roman Constantin.”

“I am. And you are?” he asked, his voice unwavering.

“Obviously not as stealthy as I thought I was since you have
found me. And what in God’s name are you wearing?”

Ignoring his snide question Roman continued, “I am going to
ask you again, who are you and what do you want here?” He was putting on a
false bravado, inside he knew very well that this vampire was much older and
stronger than he was, but that was not going to stop him from saving Celeste.

“I am actually here for you and your brother.”

“Fine, here I am and I assure you that my brother is not far
behind. Let her go. She has nothing to do with this.” Celeste’s eyes caught
Roman’s momentarily, his blue eyes blazing with intensity.

“I’m not so sure about that,” he said. “You seem to be very
attached to this pretty human. That could prove useful to me. And I simply
can’t get over the irony of her choice of costume. Does she know what you are?”
A flash of a smile crossed his sinister face.

“That is none of your concern.”

Celeste continued squirming, but she couldn’t break his iron
grip on her neck. Behind her, Roman caught a glance at a snowy white falcon in
the window; it was Nico, still in his bird form assessing the severity of the
situation. Roman knew his only hope was to catch this vampire by surprise;
otherwise, they would be no
match
for him.

As if on cue, a drunken sorority girl stumbled into the room,
teetering on her high heels. “Nice costume man. You look really scary,” she
said, waving her drink at the stranger. “Does anyone know where the bathroom
is?”

 
The vampire
whirled towards the girl, revealing Celeste’s panicked face straining against
her captor.

“Hey, you’re the birthday girl, aren’t you?” she said,
pointing at Celeste. “Are you okay?”

“No! Quick run! Get help!” screamed Celeste.

“Get out of here!” echoed Roman.

The
poor girl’s reactions were horribly
slowed by the alcohol
in her system. She turned to run, but was stopped
dead in her tracks. The vampire had caught her in his dark gaze, and was
mouthing something that only she could hear. She stood frozen in place.

This was Celeste’s chance. She gathered her strength and flung
her head back as hard as she could. The impact of Celeste’s skull against the
vampire’s nose made a sickening crunch. He released his grip, dazed, and in
that moment, Nico flew through the window speeding towards the vampire. The
screeching falcon’s talons ripped into the vampire’s face mercilessly. The
distraction was just enough to give Roman a split second to yank Celeste out of
his grasp. Finding himself without a valuable hostage and at a disadvantage,
the uninvited guest transformed into a bat, whizzing out the window in a blur.
Nico darted after him, but it was no use. He was gone.

Celeste had collapsed in Roman’s arms and was trying to pull
herself together so that she could stand up unassisted. The girl, too, seemed
to have passed out when she was released from the monster’s gaze and was lying
on the ground unconscious.

“It’s fine. I’m okay,” said Celeste, rubbing the back of her
head.

“Why don’t you come sit down for a minute?” said Nico, who
had reappeared in human form.

Reluctantly, Celeste sat down on the bed so Nico could
examine her head and neck for bruises. When he was satisfied that there wasn’t
any permanent damage, he looked up at Roman who was scowling, lost in thought.

“Okay, so is anyone going to say anything?” asked Nico.

“I told you to stay outside,” said Roman to Celeste.

She ignored him. “What did you mean when you said I wasn’t
ready
yet
, Roman?” she asked
accusingly.

“I don’t know Celeste, it just came out in the heat of the moment.
It didn’t mean anything,” he said avoiding her eye contact.

“So the fact that I just head-butted that vampire seems
totally normal to you?” she asked standing up and looking pointedly at both of
them.

“Points for style,” said Nico with a smirk.

“Roman, answer me. I know that you know something that you’re
not telling me.”

“That
I’m
not
telling
you
something? I think you’ve
got it backwards,” and he stormed out of the room.

“Whoa, what’s going on with the two of you?” asked Nico.

“I have to go talk to him,” she said and rushed out.

Celeste ran down the stairs to try to catch up with Roman,
which was hardly fair since he was using vamp-speed.

“Hey, where have you been?” asked Brian coming out of the
bathroom underneath the stairs.

“Just taking a quick break from the dancing,” she said trying
to sound as normal as possible. “Have you seen Roman?”

“Yeah, I think he left. I saw him go out the front door.”

Without even responding, Celeste took off toward the
entryway. As she hurdled through the front door, she practically tripped over
Roman who was sitting on the steps brooding. Somehow her heightened reflexes
kicked in and she was able to maintain her balance, somehow avoiding further
embarrassment by falling on top of him.

“I thought you left,” she said as she attempted to pull
herself together.

“I was leaving, but then I stopped. I was worried that
whoever that vampire was would come back, and I thought it would be
irresponsible of me to do so,” he answered without looking up.

Celeste sat down next to him on the steps, and the two of
them remained in silence staring blankly ahead refusing to look at each other.
Finally it was Celeste who broke the silence, “Do you know what I am?”

Roman hesitated for a moment, and then with a sigh said,
“Yes.”

“So you knew all along?”

“Yes, but
it’s
not that simple…”

Celeste’s blood was boiling.

I could kill him for
lying to me! What is going on with me? Why am I so angry?

She took a deep breath and tried to calm down. Her nerves
were fried and being so close to Roman was not helping. A part of her brain was
screaming at her to rip his head off. She struggled to shut off the voice in
her mind.

Roman was looking worriedly at her. He couldn’t help but
think about Stellan’s warning about her emotional state. “I didn’t tell you
because we didn’t know for sure,” he finally said keeping his voice calm and
controlled.

“But last night, when you were at my house, you knew what was
happening to me?”

“No, not exactly. I’ve never seen someone get chosen to
become the next Guardian, I had only heard about it. I knew it would happen on
your eighteenth birthday, but that was all.”

“So that’s why you stayed?” She heard the disappointment in
her own tone and chided herself for it.

“Not entirely, but yes that was one reason.”

The adrenaline had stopped pounding through her veins, and Celeste
was starting to feel normal again. She took another deep breath, saying
sarcastically, “It was a great birthday gift.”

Roman had been eyeing her nervously, but seemed to notice the
change in her immediately. “When you came out of the vision, I wanted to talk
to you about it, but it certainly didn’t seem like you wanted to talk to me.”

“I did want to, Roman, but every fiber in my being was
telling me not to.”

“I figured as much.”

Celeste turned towards him, looked deep into his beautiful
blue eyes that now held a twinge of sadness. “We’ll get through this, I know we
will.”

“I’m not so sure Celeste.
 
That vampire that came after you today
was ancient and extremely powerful, and if he’s after Nico and me and he’s
using you to get to us, I don’t know if I can protect you.”

“But you did today, and that’s all that matters. And anyway
I’m going to be an invincible Guardian right? I must have some cool powers or
something.”

Roman grinned. “Well I will admit that move you pulled back
there was pretty cool.”

Celeste was starting to feel like herself again finally. “I
know, right! I have no idea where that came from by the way. It was like I
wasn’t even in control of my body. And it’s weird, but I think I feel stronger
and more agile already.”

“That certainly sounds like your special abilities are
kicking in.”

Celeste took another deep breath and noticed that all the
rage she had been feeling just moments ago was gone.

“I almost forgot: what are we going to do about that girl
upstairs?”

“Don’t worry about it. Nico will take care of it.”

“No Roman! He can’t kill her!”

“Relax! He’s just going to compel her. She won’t remember
anything that happened.”

“Oh okay, good.”

“More importantly, what are we going to do about the fact
that you’ve essentially been programmed to hate and kill Nico and
me
?”

“I could never hate you, Roman,” she said as she put her hand
on his hesitantly.
 
Roman squeezed
her hand watching her, waiting expectantly for a reaction. “What do you feel?”

Celeste inhaled deeply and said, “It’s hard to explain. It’s
kind of like when you have a really bad feeling that something terrible is
about to happen and just when you think you’re going to have to run or do
anything to get away, something pulls you back.”

“Sounds pleasant…”

“It’s not
that
bad,
and I think I’m getting a better handle on it already. I noticed that when I’m
around you or Nico the bad feeling isn’t as bad as the vibe I got around that
scary vampire who tried to take my head off.”

“You must feel varying degrees of evil. I’m glad we’re only
evil lite…”

“Stop it, Roman. What’s important is that I think I can learn
to control it,” she said hopefully.

“I’m sure you will,” he said standing up and pulling out a
small gift box tucked away in the folds of his toga. “This is for you.”

“You got me a present?”

“I know I’m old, but I still know that an eighteenth birthday
is a special occasion for a young woman, and a gift is appropriate. I found
this, and I thought of you,” he said with a shy look.

Celeste untied the pretty red bow and opened the box
carefully. Inside was an antique gold ring with a dazzling blue sapphire.

“It’s beautiful, Roman!” she said as she slipped it on her
finger.

“It was my mother’s,” he admitted.

“This is so special. I can’t believe you would give this to
me. I am truly honored.”

“I thought you could use it,” he said. “It was my mother’s
birthstone and she said it always gave her strength.”

“I love it!” she said as she pulled him into an embrace. They
remained locked in each other’s arms for a few moments, but then Celeste was
forced to pull away.

“You know my mother had been part of the Council, but when
she was turned vampire her official duty had been terminated. However, she had
never been fully able or wanted to escape her duties. She always kept an eye on
special guardian families throughout the years, particularly the Wilders.”

“Wow, really?”

“Yes. And that’s why I know that she would want you to have
it.”

Celeste gave him a big smile as she admired the sparkling
ring.

“Celeste! I have been looking everywhere for you!” said
Natalie as she came barging outside. “It’s time to cut the cake!”