Chapter Fifteen
Remus held up a successfully unwrapped bundle of socks all tied together with a piece of string. After a second, he burst out laughing. He set down the socks and looked at the tag. Albus. That explained it. Only he would buy someone socks for Christmas.
He picked up the socks again and turned to Lin. As he attempted to contain his laughter, he said, "Albus got me socks."
Lin was frozen in place. Her eyes were fixed on the package in her lap. They were wide in horror. In her lap sat a glass ball. Inside the ball, there was a white rose and a red rose. The red rose was in full bloom while the white rose looked quite withered.
"Lin? What is that?" Remus asked.
"It's a Mating Globe," she choked out. She was obviously horrified.
"What does that mean?" he asked cautiously.
"We have to get to Albus now," Lin said, looking up at him for only a second before she stood and ran. Remus tried to follow as well as he could, she was simply too fast. She outran him by far.
By the time he reached Albus's office, the staircase was there waiting for him and the door above was open. Inside, Albus was holding tightly onto Lin's hand. In his other hand, his wand was drawn, waiting for some type of danger.
The moment Albus saw Remus, he cast a quick spell. The air around Remus glowed blue for a second before Albus gestured for him to come over quickly. Remus did.
"Hold on to her. Don't let her go for anything," he said.
"What's going on, Albus?"
"He doesn't know? I'm surprised at you, Lin. You won't even fight your own battles now," a dark, deep voice said, floating up from the stairs.
"It's him," she whispered in terror.
"Yes, my Love. It is me. I'm disappointed. When your rose wilted, I expected that you would have at least chosen someone of your own race, but no. You chose a werewolf," the voice mocked, though it remained smooth.
"At least, he'd be a good companion. All you ever did was keep me in the dark," Lin spat back.
"Ah, now I see it. You think you can help him. Nothing can help him. No one will want to help him once I'm through with him," the voice said darkly and threateningly. "But who's this? Another? My, my, you have been busy, Lin. Two mortals in love with you? Whatever will your people think? Ah, yes. Nothing. They're all dead."
"No!" she screamed, trying to force her way free of the two men's grips on her. They were too strong.
"That's right, Lin. I destroyed every single one of them, and all because you left. How does that make you feel?" the voice asked. "Does it make you angry? Do you want to kill me? Well, here I am."
Quite suddenly, a man appeared in the doorway. But he was no ordinary man. There were blue tattoos all over his body, which was only covered by a worn kilt. He was completely bald, and his physiognomy was handsome, strong, and cruel. He was very tall, almost seven feet in fact, and muscular. Overall, he was cut a very imposing figure.
"Stupefy!" Albus yelled instantly.
The man, no. This was no man. This had to be Vaeldin. Vaeldin held up a hand and deflected the spell as if it was nothing. "Well, now. This is interesting. An old man and a pup. Maybe next will be a goblin," Vaeldin taunted.
With that, Albus and Remus began to throw every curse and spell they could think of at Vaeldin. However, he was very powerful. He deflected them all easily.
After several minutes, he patience wore thin. The second that happened, he said to them, "Enough play. I want her back." That very instant, he swept his arm around in a wide gesture. A wave of energy blasted outward from there and hit both men square in the chest, knocking them unconscious.
Vaeldin's very next task was to find Lin. When he could not see her, he merely closed his eyes and vanished into the shadows. "Trying to hide, are we, Lin? That's not very polite of you. After all, I won the duel, which means I won you. Stop trying to deny it."
Vaeldin rematerialized right behind Lin, who was apparently hiding in the upper room of the office. "Now, you're mine," he said as he wrapped his arms around her and disappeared into the night.