Chapter 19: Secret Affairs

Silvana charged her phone in her car and drove around aimlessly listening to music. She felt alone, hurt, and confused, and as much as she wanted to address her father about his journal, she wasn’t even entirely sure she was reading it properly, and she knew that she had violated his privacy, and shouldn’t be reading it to begin with.

And if she called him to ask about the journal, that meant she would have to accept the possibility that her father was capable of great evil, and she wasn’t ready to make that leap yet.

What she needed was a friend.

Her phone reached enough charge to beep back to life and with the charge came a phone call.

Silvana accepted and Amelia’s voice rang through the car from the front console.

“Oh my god, Sylvie,” Amelia said, sounding like she’d just run a mile. “I’m so sorry I forgot to call you. You must be worried sick.”

Silvana sniffed and said, “It’s okay. I know that you were going to see Kurt. I understand.”

On the other end of the call, Amelia nestled back into the hot tub, still wallowing in the feeling of all her stress melting away.

“Look,” she said, “Kurt hasn’t seen or heard from Bruce. Have you yet?”

“No,” Silvana murmured.

“Okay,” Amelia said, trying to remain composed, but also getting a bit worried for Silvana and Bruce, “I don’t want you to worry. Kurt said that this is normal. He said that Bruce is probably caught up in Alpha affairs.”

Her voice got hushed and happy, “And Kurt said that he loved me tonight.”

Silvana wanted to sound joyful for her best friend, but it was hard for her to feel anything outside of fear for the safety of her own lover.

“That’s great,” Silvana said solemnly.

“I know it’s not the best time to tell you,” Amelia said, “But Kurt and I are at a cabin, well, my cabin, over in the woods on the other side of the city. Why don’t you join us for a day or two?”

“I don’t know,” Silvana said. “I don’t want to infringe on your couple time.” She forced a little soothing happiness in her voice and added, “Especially if you two have just dropped the L-word.”

“Sylvie,” Amelia said, her voice robust as usual, “what you need to do right now is be around your friends, and be near people who love you. I’m sending you the address, and I expect you here promptly. Okay lovie-girl?”

Silvana found herself crying again, but this time because of how supportive and great a friend Amelia was. If there was one thing Silvana couldn’t deny, it was the bliss that Kurt made Amelia feel, and if Amelia was happy with him, then Silvana thought maybe she should be happy for Amelia.

“Okay,” Silvana said. “Send them over and I’ll be on my way once I get a coffee.”

Then Silvana heard Kurt’s voice over the phone and Amelia giggled.

“Ask her how long before she gets here,” Kurt said. Even over the phone, Silvana knew he was grinning.

What she didn’t know was that he held a pair of fuzzy black handcuffs, the key between his teeth, and had just finished spreading an assortment of sex toys upon the cabin’s bed.

He was still completely naked, and he throbbed at the thought of all the ways he would make Amelia’s eyes roll into the back of her head tonight.

“Hi Kurt,” Silvana said into the car console, a little louder so he could hear. “I can be over in a few hours.”

“Perfect, that’s plenty of time!” Kurt exclaimed, ending the call.

He kissed Amelia, then cuffed her wrist.

And inside the large castle halls of the Collective City Council, vampires, werewolves, and fellow witches questioned Solaris, unaware of his heinous crime of abduction and captivity.

“Mr. Solaris Sparks,” the council head said, addressing the rows of species collected inside the candlelit castle. The council head was a witch far older than Solaris named Kingsley Barclay. Kingsley’s wrinkled body was held together by restorative magic and regal black clothing, but when he spoke his deep and wise voice commanded attention.

There were murmurs from the rows of werewolves at even the mention of Solaris’s name, and Kingsley snapped his fingers, sending echoes of a gavel sound throughout the castle.

Kingsley opened a folder, fixed his glasses on his nose, looked to the vampire and werewolf committee beside him and said, “We understand that with your current health, Mr. Sparks, you are no longer fit to safeguard the city from the supernatural hauntings that will soon plague us all.”

He added, “I say this with no pleasure, and simply in the effort to be transparent.”

A young man from the werewolf crowd stood up and ran before the council. He had a black eyepatch, was slim like Kurt, and wore respectable, clean-cut clothing that contrasted his wild orange hair.

He stood beside Solaris at his podium and declared, “It’s time that a werewolf took the spot! This man can hardly walk, let alone protect people! Bruce Winters is a worthy candidate.”

The council werewolf beside Kingsley, Jaqueline Maxwell, snarled with disappointment at the young werewolf. She howled so fiercely that the young werewolf shuddered and returned to his seat.

“There will be no further interruptions in this meeting,” Jaqueline hollered, her braided hair and bangs flowing as she spoke with extreme authority.

“Thank you, Leader Jaqueline,” Solaris said.

“If I may,” he continued, turning to address the werewolves, and then the vampires, “I have been taking multiple precautions to assure our protection as a whole. Among them, I have been training my daughter to succeed me as Guardian during the election in one month’s time.”

Solaris smiled, stepped down from the podium, and walked through the halls. His voice boomed abnormally loud as he proclaimed, “But allow me to remind you all that the tradition of the title of Guardian being passed onto the Guardian’s child is to occur only after a Guardian is no longer fit for the position.”

“Your body is failing you, and we can all see it!” a vampire shouted from the middle of the crowd.

Kingsley, Jaqueline, and now Leader Vampire Killiana Nocturne demanded silence while Solaris was speaking.

“We are better than these petty interruptions,” Killiana said, her black hair in a tight, long ponytail that draped over her scarlet and black dress.

“To be perfectly clear,” Solaris said, regaining the attention of the murmuring crowds, “if me or my daughter Silvana are unfit to be Guardian, then we will respect the decision of the council.”
Solaris approached the podium, grinned confidently, and said, “But I am certain that in this election, I will offer a demonstration of strength that will assure my position. And when the time comes, which I do not imagine will be for many years, Silvana will take that place.”

There were more hushed whispers between the various species.

Finally, Amelia’s father stood up from the witch’s section and shouted, “Solaris has sealed the supernatural once, and he’ll do it again!”

Then, the witches began cheering for Solaris, and their cheers were so strong that the vampires followed, hopeful for a safe future, and even the werewolves, out of respect, clapped for Solaris.

And back at the cabin in the woods, Silvana dragged her feet in the foyer, kicked off her sneakers, and warmed by the fire.

Amelia brought her a glass of wine, and Kurt handed her a tray of snacks. The couple’s hair was still wet from showering off their night of passionate pleasures, and Silvana’s eyes were puffy and red from crying.

Kurt was wearing flannel pajama pants and a white tank top, and he sat beside Silvana.

He put a hand on her shoulder, pointed to the tray of snacks and said, “You’ve got to try that chocolate there. It’s got a caramel filling.”

“Thank you both,” Silvana said, staring at the crackling flames.

Kurt rubbed Silvana’s back and said, “I know you’re worried, but you’ve got to believe that Bruce is okay.”

Silvana nodded and held back more tears. “I just can’t stand not hearing from him.”

Amelia popped a chocolate into her mouth and washed it down with some wine.

“My god, Sylvie,” she said quickly, sitting forward in her purple satin bathrobe. “Remember that spell we cast to find that potion for Kurt’s aunt?”

Silvana looked up brightly.

“I’m sure we could alter the spell so it locates Bruce!” Amelia exclaimed.

Silvana smiled wide, but the smile quickly faded. “I promised Bruce I would never cast magic on him. I don’t want him to think I’ve lured him to me with spells.”
Kurt kicked his feet up and ate a grape. “Oh come now, Silvana. My brother adores you. If it will give you peace, I give you permission to cast the spell.”

Grinning, Silvana said, “Then let’s find my man.”