Wilder: The Guardian Series (16 page)

The sun was warm on Celeste’s shoulders, and if she focused solely
on the soothing sound of the ducks paddling in the pond, she could almost
forget everything that had happened last night. Celeste and her mother sat on
the lush grass overlooking the pond at the zoo and enjoyed a picnic lunch
together. She began recounting all the details of the extravagant birthday
party that Natalie had planned for her.

“That sounds like it’s going to be quite the party! I’m sure
it will be the social event of the year, if Natalie has anything to say about
it.”

“That’s what I’m thinking too.”

“Well, I am so happy that you will be spending your
eighteenth birthday with all your friends. And how about Nico and Roman—will
they be there too?”

The thought of facing them after what happened last night
made Celeste slightly nauseas. She didn’t know how her relationship with them
was going to fit into her new life as a Guardian – whatever that meant.

“Yes, they’re both coming,” she answered.

“Maybe you’ll get a kiss on your birthday.”

“Mom, stop please, you’re so embarrassing!” said Celeste
blushing.

When they got back home, Celeste happily headed up to her
bedroom with a stuffed monkey her mother had bought her as a souvenir to
commemorate her eighteenth birthday.

“Follow me sweetie,” said her mom taking her hand.

“Why are we going up into the attic?” asked Celeste.

“I have another birthday surprise for you.”

Mrs. Wilder led the way to the back corner of the attic.
Celeste hadn’t been up here in years. She walked by the dusty boxes and old
furniture causing her nose to twitch, reminding her why she typically avoided
the attic at all costs. After her mom moved a couple of boxes and lifted a worn
sheet, Celeste saw a bulky wooden trunk that she had never noticed.

Her mom paused in front of it. “This was your dad’s, and I
thought it would be fun to go through it together. There is something that he
wanted you to have.”

Celeste examined the old rusty lock on the trunk, and when
she jiggled it, it sprung open. She lifted the lid to see stacks of letters,
photos, a couple of books, and some clothing, among other things. The trunk was
deep, and it would take some digging to get to the bottom of it. They started
with the pictures on top. Celeste began to flip through dozens of them with her
and her father, with her mom when she was pregnant, with her as a baby, and
with all three of them together smiling happily. Celeste
set
aside some of her favorites to take
with her back to her room. As her
mom was sorting through the photos, Celeste came across some books –
Myths and Legends, Stories of the Occult,
The Underworld
, along with other foreboding titles.

“You remember that your dad always had such an active
imagination. He always loved reading all of those scary stories.” Celeste just
smiled, and secretly set one aside to read later.

“And this is for you,” her mom said as she handed her a worn
leather pouch.

“What is it?” Celeste asked inquisitively.

“It’s from your father. He told me to give it to you when you
turned eighteen if anything ever happened to him. I don’t know why he would
have worried about that, but I guess it’s fortunate for us that he did.”

Celeste untied the knot and opened the
pouch
which
held an antique key on a black leather cord. The key was an ornate
gold with a sparkling blue sapphire encrusted in the head.

“That key has been passed down for generations, Celeste. I
have no idea what it may open, but I know that it’s been in the Wilder family
for centuries, and it was important to your father that you have it,” she said,
handing it to her with a wistful smile.

Celeste looked thoughtfully at the ancient key as she felt
its weight in her hand.
 
“It’s
beautiful Mom. Thank you,” she said clutching it tightly.

“Celeste! Where have you been all day?” said Natalie excitedly
over the phone. “I’ve been calling you for hours!”

“Sorry, Nat, I got up late and then was out with my mom. We just
got home.” As she listened to Natalie, she took the stuffed monkey out of the
plastic bag and placed it on her bookshelf next to a picture from her first
birthday at the zoo. She couldn’t help but smile.

“Okay, well I guess I’ll forgive you since you are the
birthday girl. Don’t forget to be at my house in full costume by eight
o’clock.”

“Right, got it,” she said, her mind focusing back on the
present. “Do you need me to bring anything?”

“Nope, just you and your
fang
tastic
self!”

“Oh man, I’m really rethinking my costume now.”

“Don’t you dare!
”

She glanced down at her watch. “Okay, okay. Brian is picking
me up in an hour so I’ll see you soon.”

***

Roman had gotten home, woken Nico up and called Stellan
immediately to update him on the latest developments. Stellan’s hologram was
currently pacing in their living room, listening intently.

“But she didn’t tell you what happened exactly?” he asked.

“No, she was too upset to talk about it, and then her mom
arrived so I had to make an impromptu exit,” explained Roman.

“But you’re sure that she had the vision? Celeste was
definitely chosen?”

A look of sadness infiltrated his perfectly chiseled
features. “Yes, I am sure. When she woke up, I touched her and she flinched.”

“Are you sure that wasn’t just you?” asked Nico
snickering.
 

With a nasty glance at Nico, Roman continued, “She definitely
felt something when I touched her, and it frightened her. It has to be her
powers starting to emerge.”

“Yes, that does sound right,” said Stellan, a mixture of
concern and awe in his tone.

“And it was certainly no ordinary dream that she was having
because I repeatedly tried to wake her, but there was nothing I could do. She
was in some sort of a trance.”

“Right, so we have to assume that Celeste is now a Guardian.
You should start to notice when her powers come about. The only thing we can do
is
continue
to keep an eye on her. Roman, you seem to
be pretty close to her; try to get her to open up to you.”

“I will gladly try, but I think that she is holding back now
because of what I am. Something has changed.” He turned his back to them,
looking away sullenly.

Stellan discontinued his anxious pacing and turned to face
the
brothers
head on. His voice took on an ominous
tone as he warned, “Both of you must remember that as Celeste’s powers become
stronger, her natural instinct will be to kill you. It has been ingrained in
her that all vampires are evil. This may prove to be difficult considering the
current situation.”

“Celeste wouldn’t hurt us. We are her friends,” said Nico.

“Though that may be true, as she is transitioning into a
Guardian, her emotions will be on high gear. Until she gets a handle on them, I
caution you both to be careful,” Stellan finished.

“Well, that should make for a fun party tonight,” said Nico
glancing at Roman.

As Celeste put the finishing touches on her makeup, she
suddenly felt ridiculous dressed up as a vampire, especially after everything
that had happened last night. She wished she had enough time to get a new
costume, but she knew Natalie would kill her if she showed up in her plain
clothes. She looked at herself in the mirror and didn’t recognize the girl
standing before her. The elaborate black eyeliner, bright red lipstick, fake
fangs protruding from her upper lip and the blood dribbling down her chin was
all too much.
I can’t believe I’m doing
this.

 
“Celeste! I’m
downstairs. Come on out!” yelled Brian through the walkie-talkie on her
dresser.

Here goes nothing…

“Wow Brian, you look great!” He was wearing a white oxford
shirt with buttons ripped open to reveal the classic red and yellow Superman
emblem underneath. The black-rimmed glasses drew attention to his bright green
eyes and were sparkling with excitement.

“Do you have your retainer on or something? You’re talking
funny.”

“It’s the fangs! They give me a lisp. It’s actually getting
better; at first my mom couldn’t even understand what I was saying. Maybe I
should take them off?”

“No, it definitely completes the costume. The lisp is
kinda
sexy,” he said laughing.

“Very funny, Brian. I love the Clark Kent transforming into
Superman look you’ve got going.”

“Thanks, I really didn’t think I could pull off the tights,”
he said grinning.

“
Aww
, and I
was
so looking forward to that.”

“You have a little something on your chin…” he said reaching
for her.

She quickly darted out of his reach. “It’s blood Brian, and
it’s supposed to be there! I’m a blood-sucking vampire, remember?”

As they drove up to Natalie’s house, Celeste took one look at
the number of cars parked on the street and almost made Brian turn the car
around. They could hear the music booming from down the block!

“Natalie must have invited all of St. Alice’s
and
the community college,” she said,
shaking her head.

“Well, we knew she was going to go all out for this,” said
Brian walking in amazed.

The house had been flawlessly decorated in a black and white
motif with candles, sparkling streamers, and eighteenth birthday banners.

“Celeste, you’re here!” said Natalie as she came bounding
down the stairs in a skintight cat woman costume. “What do you think?”

Celeste looked around, taking in all the shiny decorations
and hoards of people. “
It’s
amazing Natalie, thank you
so much for doing all of this for me. Just one question –
who
are all of these people?”

“Oh come on, you know everyone here, and who cares anyway!
All that matters is that they are all here to celebrate your eighteenth
birthday!”

“I’m going to find a drink,” said Brian.

Celeste turned to follow him.

“Oh wait, I have something for you. Stay right here,”
directed Natalie, as she pointed at Celeste. Seconds later she was back with a
black sash, marked with sparkling gold lettering that read “Birthday Girl”.

“Oh Natalie, you shouldn’t have…” But it was too late.
Natalie had already flung the sash over Celeste’s head and was meticulously
adjusting it. “There, we want to make sure it doesn’t cover that cute little
bat belt!”

Natalie led the way with Celeste in tow, steering her around
the crowd as she received countless birthday wishes from perfect strangers. The
pair made their way out to the backyard, which had been decorated with hundreds
of string lights and colorful Chinese lanterns dangling from the trees. The
dance floor had been set up over the pool and the DJ was spinning high-energy
dance music in the corner. Everyone was dancing and laughing and having a great
time. This was exactly what Celeste needed to forget all about last night. She
and Natalie worked through the crowd to the middle of the dance floor, and all
Celeste thought about was the pounding rhythm of the music and keeping her body
moving to the beat.

Celeste was completely entranced by the pulsating music when
she felt a strange sensation that snapped her into awareness. She turned around
and saw the crowd parting and girls staring as Roman and Nico walked towards
her. At the sight of Roman, her heart sped up a bit, but she willed it to
return to normal as he approached. He and Nico were wearing one-shouldered
white togas with half of their bronzed chests exposed (to all the girls’
excitement) with a crown of laurels resting on their heads.

“Let me guess, you two are Greek gods?” asked Natalie with a
witty smile as they approached.

“It was just something we had lying around,” said Nico with a
wink as he pulled Natalie to dance.

Roman inched closer to Celeste, and whispered, “nice
costume,” in her ear. “A little ironic, don’t you think?”

A shiver went down her spine as his hands made contact with
her waist. She wrapped her arms around his neck and began swaying to the music.
As their bodies got closer, she felt that threatening sensation again, like
every nerve in her body was on edge, telling her that something was wrong. She
tried to ignore it and fight against it, but it was too overwhelming. As if
Roman also sensed there was something wrong, he looked down at her
questioningly.

“Sorry, I have to go check on something. I’ll be back soon,”
she said pulling abruptly away from him and disappearing into the crowd.

This can’t be
happening… Why am I feeling this way around Roman?

Celeste darted back to the house as a wave of misery washed
over her. If being the Guardian meant feeling this terrible repulsion towards
Roman, then she didn’t want to be one. Roman was the first guy that she had
ever felt so strongly about, and she didn’t want to lose him. She pulled the
fake fangs out of her mouth and tucked them into her purse as she waited
impatiently outside of the occupied bathroom. Suddenly, an intensely ominous
feeling similar to the one she felt around Roman but highly magnified overtook
her. She looked around, half expecting to see Roman or Nico, but instead saw a
tall man with a blood red mask walking towards her.
 
As he approached, the terrifying feeling
intensified, and every nerve in her body compelled her to run, so she did.