Wilder: The Guardian Series (15 page)

“It’s almost midnight,” said Roman, dispelling the building
tension.

“Yup! You know, when I was little I used to have to beg my
parents to let me stay up until midnight on the night before my birthday,” she
said. “Then after my dad passed away, Mom was hardly ever home at night so I
kept the tradition going; only it was always just me.”

Roman placed his hand on her leg and gave her a comforting
smile.

“Thank you for staying with me tonight. It really means a lot
to me,” she said. Slowly, she leaned in and planted a lingering kiss on his
cheek.

Roman, giving in to a brief moment of abandon pulled her face
toward his. When he was only inches from her lips, he felt an agonizing pang in
the pit of his stomach and his fangs began extending. Before Celeste could
process what had happened, Roman had leapt off the sofa and had pinned himself
up against the far wall. She glanced up to see his face, and he looked utterly
mortified.

“I am so sorry, Celeste,” he said, turning towards the door.
“This was a bad idea, I never should have stayed. I must leave.”

“No, please Roman, don’t go. I’m fine, you didn’t hurt me, I
promise,” she said as she walked towards him.

He backed further away from her. “No, but I could have,” he
said with such sorrow in his beautiful eyes.

“But you didn’t,” she insisted as she took a step closer.

“Please Celeste, don’t…”

“Why not?”

“I don’t know if I can control myself around you.”

Celeste just stared at him, not knowing what to say. The
thought of him leaving was worse than what she imagined he could ever do to
her. She wasn’t scared of him.
 

“Do you remember when I was telling you about our mother, and
how she helped us when we were first turned into vampires?”

She nodded.

“What I didn’t tell you was how bad it was at first. We
couldn’t control our newly found thirst for blood. With every life taken, we
suffered horribly with the guilt and remorse because we still possessed our
humanity. We promised our mother we would never be those monsters again, but
it’s not easy Celeste.”

“You’re not a
monster.”
Bong! Bong! Bong
!

The old
grandfather clock in the dining room struck midnight.

“Well happy birthday to me,” she said miserably, turning away
from him.

The sadness Roman heard in her voice resonated throughout
him. He summoned up all his self-control then cautiously approached Celeste.
Ever so gently, he leaned down and placed a tender kiss on her forehead
whispering, “Happy birthday Celeste.”

***

Olivia Wilder stared at the glowing computer screen in her
small office in the hospital. It was the eve of her daughter’s eighteenth
birthday, and she knew it was time. She put on her reading glasses and pulled
the crumpled piece of yellowing paper from her pocket, staring fondly at the
familiar handwriting. She copied the email address exactly,
then
typed a short message. She hesitated for a moment and then she clicked send.

***

With quite a bit of persuading, Celeste was finally able to
convince Roman to sit with her on the couch again. All of a sudden, she was
feeling very sleepy, and as hard as she tried to fight it, within minutes her
head had dropped on Roman’s shoulder. He watched her sleep for a while, as he
had done so many nights before from outside of her bedroom, before nodding off
himself.

Roman awoke abruptly with Celeste thrashing wildly in his
arms. “Celeste, wake up, you’re having a nightmare,” he said, while gently
trying to rouse her.

She tossed and turned and screamed and cried, but no matter
how hard he tried, he couldn’t wake her up. It was as if she were in a trance,
transported somewhere far away from him.

Celeste remembered falling asleep in Roman’s warm arms, when
suddenly she was harshly torn away from him. She found herself in a large
circular room with no windows or doors. The curved walls were a stark white and
the scant furniture cold, metallic silver. As she scanned the room Celeste
realized she was seated in front of a tribunal of sorts. There were five
somber-faced individuals in dark robes seated on a bench in front of her,
scrutinizing her every move.

“Where am I? Who are you people?” she asked unable to keep
her voice steady.

She could hear her voice echoing off the walls, and there was
a long pause before anyone answered her. They seemed to be examining her, maybe
even probing around in her mind. Finally, the portly man with the stern face
seated in the elevated middle chair spoke.

“Celeste Wilder, you have been chosen to be the next
Guardian. It is your duty to train as a hunter and to protect the human world
from all the evil of the supernatural one.”

Celeste’s mouth dropped, and she stared into nothingness
unable to comprehend what was happening. She shut her eyes tightly.
This is all a dream. I’m just having another
bad dream. This isn’t real. I want to wake up, please wake up!

When she opened her eyes again, she had hoped she would find
herself safe and sound in her bed, but to her disappointment she was still in
front of the panel of scrutinizing faces.

“I don’t understand what you want from me,” she said. “I’m
not a guardian or a hunter or whatever you said. I’m just a normal girl, and I
want to go home.”

Celeste’s voice was bordering on hysterics now, though she
tried to remain calm, she knew she was quickly losing the battle. A
silver-haired woman with thick purple-framed glasses at the end of the bench
spoke to the others saying, “Perhaps we should call on Kristof.”

At the mention of her father’s name, Celeste looked up
anxiously. And just like that, he appeared before her.

“Daddy,” she said, tears streaming down her face. He knelt
down in front of her and wiped the tears from her cheeks.

Holding her hands tightly he said, “Celeste, you must be
strong. You have been chosen to fulfill your destiny. This is our family
legacy. You will learn just like I did what it truly means to be a Wilder
– a hunter. You are an extraordinary young lady, and you have been given
special powers to be used for good. Without guardians like us, the world as we
know it would not continue to exist, it would be consumed by evil.”

Celeste could do nothing but stare in wonderment as she
clutched onto his hands desperately.

“I wish that I could be here for you, to help you and train
you as my father trained me. But I promise you this; I will do everything in my
power to help you as much as I can. I love you Celeste, and I know that you can
do this.”

Then he was gone.

Celeste choked down a sob and tried to process what her
father had said. All of a sudden, a series of visions flashed through her head;
a sequence of vampires, zombies, phantoms, witches, and warlocks, death and
destruction was everywhere. She cried out, feeling as though her head would
explode from the onrush. Everything that she had seen in her dreams had been
real. She understood that now, and magically was able to accept it. It was as
if some part of her brain that had been dormant for all of these years had
suddenly been unlocked.

The portly man spoke again. “Now that you understand your
duties, you must begin training.”

“Understand my duties? I don’t understand anything about
this.”

He seemed to ignore her, continuing with, “Your powers will
begin to reveal themselves now that you are eighteen, and they will get
stronger as you do.”

“What powers? And how am I supposed to train? I don’t know
what to do,” said Celeste. She looked up at the strangers before her, eyes
desperate.

“Everything will be revealed to you in time. Let your
instinct guide you. It will lead you on the right path.”

Well that’s not the
least bit cryptic…

“Good luck, Celeste Wilder, and may good always triumph over
evil.”

“But wait –”

Celeste opened her eyes warily, and saw Roman’s anxious face
hovering over her. Startled, she looked around and saw that she was back in her
cozy den on the couch with a blanket wrapped tightly around her.

“Are you all right?”

“I think so,” she said trying to sit up.
 
Roman took her hand to help her up, and
she felt the oddest sensation when his hand touched hers. It wasn’t the same
exciting spark that she had felt before; instead it felt darkly ominous. She
jerked her hand away from his touch. He looked at her, and she could see the
flash of hurt in his expressive eyes and then it was gone.

“Was it another bad dream?” he asked, clearing his throat.

“I think it was much more than a bad dream,” Celeste
retorted.

“Do you want to tell me about it?”

“I don’t know if I can,” she responded. A large part of her
wanted nothing more than to tell Roman everything, but a little voice inside of
her fought against it.
Aren’t vampires
one of the evil beings that I am supposed to protect the world against?
 
But Roman isn’t evil. He is a good
person…uh…vampire.
Celeste felt so conflicted. It was as if she were being
pulled apart by two opposing forces – her brain and her heart.

“If you want someone to talk to I’m here,” he said coolly.
“But I should leave soon. It’s almost dawn, and I’m sure your mother will be
home shortly.”

“Please don’t leave yet.”

Celeste caught his hand and pulled him down on the sofa,
forcing him to sit close to her.
 
As
if conducting a science experiment, she ran her hand down his arm and felt that
dark feeling in her core, but along with it she also felt the familiar exciting
pull. It was slight, but it was still there. It was like the opposing forces of
a magnet equally pulling her towards and pushing her away from him. Roman sat
perfectly still, watching her tensely as she inched closer to him. Abruptly,
Roman shot up, “Your mom! I hear her car pulling up in the driveway.”

Celeste was still caught up in the moment, slightly
breathless and her senses on high alert.

“I can leave out the back door,” he said.

She could only nod and follow him towards the door. As he
opened it to let himself out, he paused and turned back for a moment. She could
tell he was wrestling with his feelings just as much as she was. With a quick
turn he gave her a hurried kiss on the cheek and disappeared before she could
say a word.
 

Celeste heard the click of a key sliding into the lock, but
after all that had happened, she couldn’t bring herself to face her mom. She
slipped quickly up the stairs and crawled into bed. Celeste hoped that she
would be able to sleep, at least a few hours, before having to deal with the
realities of her destiny and the new life that would undoubtedly come along
with it.

Celeste could hear the buzzing from her phone on her
nightstand, but she couldn’t muster the strength to pick it up in time. Rubbing
her eyes, she looked at the clock and saw that it was already past noon. She
really must have been exhausted. Her phone indicated that she had three missed
calls from Natalie, a text from Brian, and another from Nico.

“Good, you’re finally awake birthday girl!” said her mom as
she poked her head in the doorway.

“I am!” she said as cheerfully as possible. With everything
that had happened last night, she had momentarily forgotten that today was her
birthday.

“Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you…” Her mom
entered her room singing and holding a tray full of Celeste’s favorite
breakfast treats – French toast with powdered sugar, crispy bacon and
fried eggs with fresh orange juice.

“I made you a special birthday breakfast, and it’s been
waiting for you for hours. I hope it didn’t get too cold. Did you
kids
stay out late last night at the bonfire?”

“Yeah, I guess it was pretty late, and then I didn’t sleep
very well last night,” she answered while nibbling on some bacon.

Celeste looked up to see her mother’s eyes fixed on her.
Celeste found it oddly unnerving and almost said something, but shook it off
attributing it to her frayed nerves.

“You finish up your breakfast, and then get ready. I have a
special day planned for us. It’s not every day that you turn eighteen.”

That’s the
understatement of the century.

As Celeste got dressed, she kept replaying the vision in her
head. She remembered the guardians telling her that she would soon get her
powers. She wondered what sorts of powers she would possess, and how would she
train to become a hunter. She had never been the athletic type growing up, and
now she was expected to battle supernatural creatures?
 
She had seen how strong and fast Roman
was when he had knocked out Patrick at prom. How could she be expected to
compete with that?

“Are you almost ready sweetie?” shouted her mom.

“Coming!”

Celeste couldn’t help but laugh when she and her mother
pulled into the Oak Bluff’s Children’s Zoo.

“I hope you don’t think this is too silly?”

“No mom, this is great!” Celeste said giggling.

“I remember how much fun we used to have here when you were
little. You loved feeding the goats at the petting zoo and you’d spend hours
watching the howler monkeys swinging from the trees.”

“I remember. I used to want to be a monkey!” Celeste
admitted.

Just spending time with her mother was a treat, and spending
a relaxing, supernatural-free day at the zoo was exactly what she needed.