“Now, now, settle down a bit. I swear on me own mudder that I dun’no where she’s gone, Matteo. I did see her new lil’ friend Agi comn’ up from the west corridor. I heard all the fuss up ’ere ’bout how she walked out on the meetin’ and went to find her own way. I am sure it was nothin’ at all, but I wanted to tell ya.” The smug smile on Patrick’s face was driving Matteo mad.
“What the hell is with you, Patrick? Where does the west corridor go?” Matteo wasn’t in a very patient mood, and Patrick’s riddles weren’t helping.
“The west corridor leads to the ole library, boy-o. All the talk among them witches and strangers is that she was lookin’ to find Soborgne. If it were me, and I be lookin’ for somthin’ no one knew, the library would be a good ’nuf place to start.” Patrick saw the realization hit Matteo like a ton of bricks.
“That little…” Matteo let the words trail off. She’d been gone only forty-five minutes, but to him it seemed longer. Each second ticked by slower than the next. “Show me where the library is.” Just as he reached the door, Patrick caught up with him.
I don’t think it’d be the best of ideas to be doin that, boy-o. If she’d been wantin’ ya to come along, you’d have been asked.” Patrick said it gently, but the truth stung Matteo like a scorpion barb to the heart.
“Who the hell asked you, anyway? Now, either you show me or someone else will.” Matteo was angry, hurt, and scared.
Jenda was changing so fast, from the lovely little girl who wept on his shoulder into the defiant woman who would not heed his advice. His worst fear was that she would discover she didn’t truly love him. He saw the way she stared at the American vampire Drew. Eternity was a long time when you were so very young. Before Patrick could answer, Celeste came to join them.
She took Matteo by the shoulders and stared directly into his eyes. “Matteo, Patrick is right. If she is in the library, we will leave her alone. Jenda needs to do this. She cannot always hide in the wings and let you play the parts for her. The time is coming when she will stand without you on a much more dangerous field than the library. You are her consort and her protector, but she is a free spirit, as all vampire princesses must be. We will verify her location by Agi, but none of us will disturb her.”
Matteo started to argue, but the look in Celeste’s eyes told him not to bother. The Lady, not his friend, had given an order. You could argue with her as one, but not the other. The last part of what she had said finally seeped into his thick skull and he looked puzzled when he asked, “What do you mean, ‘vampire princess?’ Jenda is not a born vampire. How could she be a vampire princess?”
Celeste smiled at him. “Other circumstances give her that right. She is the savior of both the vampire and human races. She is the only living vampire female that we know that can walk in both the day and night. Jenda is also the one whom I have chosen to rule when my reign here in Budapest ends.”
Matteo wanted to ask more, but the phone in his hand rang. He almost didn’t recognize the voice on the other end. “Is this M-M-Matteo?” She stuttered at first, but then her words grew clearer. “Tell Jenda that I love her, and that I am sorry. I wish I could change things, but what is done is done. Just tell her I’m trying, okay?” She sounded so weak and vulnerable.
“Soborgne, where are you? It’s not too late. We will come for you. She misses you so much. She’s losing it here without you.” Matteo pleaded with Soborgne to no avail.
“I can’t come back, not after what I did. Just tell her I’m trying, and that I love her.” He heard a final click and the line went dead.
Matteo hung his head for a moment. The knowledge that he had helped this horror become real for the two young and beautiful girls was a burden he would always carry. When he lifted his head, he saw that everyone else in the room was waiting expectantly to know the latest news.
While Matteo filled the others in on the conversation with Soborgne, Agi was summoned into the room. When asked, Agi hesitated before wisely admitting to her part in Jenda’s scheme. Celeste assured Agi that her choice to help Jenda was not wrong, and that she was glad that Jenda had someone in her time of need that she trusted. The terrified girl held herself together bravely despite the room’s other occupants.
When it was clear she was no longer needed, Agi thanked Celeste and apologized before slipping out of the room. All those powerful vamps and witches made her nervous. Matteo and Patrick were a little daunting, but she could deal with them. The Lady and her group of mega-powers made her want to pee herself.
As soon as she could slip safely away, Agi called Jenda and told her what had happened. Jenda was frantic at first, but Agi calmed her with assurances that no one was going to disturb her work. The Coven and the Clan’s unwelcomed supervision made Jenda feel like a child. It made her angry. She didn’t want Agi to sense her irritation and think it was somehow her fault, so Jenda thanked the girl repeatedly.
Agi blushed from the overdone gratitude. She was just glad to have a friend, even if that friend was a half-insane vampire. She’d never had many friends growing up. People in Budapest were all divided by their knowledge of vampires and which clan they served. The lines were clearly drawn.
Dracul servants hated Vajdahunyad servants, the Roma people hated them all, and everyone else did not know or just pretended not to know that vampires lived right down the block. There were not many children amongst the servant families, and the ones she did know always avoided her. She had never liked to talk a great deal, and they thought her strange because of it. She also had never feared the vampires like the rest of them did. Even Celeste’s most loyal subjects taught their children that the vampires were never to truly be trusted.
Agi rubbed her belly and felt a small bump just beneath her palm. She could feel the life of her child growing inside her and it made her smile. She whispered softly to the baby, “You will never fear them, my dear. I would never have you fear those who care for us so well.”
22
Jenda read nearly three quarters of the high stacks on the desk. She still did not have the answers she needed, and each new answer she found led to more questions. She checked the clock on the little cell phone and was amazed to find that she had been in the library for four hours. Her hand cramped from writing down notes she could hardly read. Her handwriting was barely more than scribbles.
She selected volumes of every type from the shelf that looked as if it may help her . She carefully skimmed each one. When she found something, she would then go in search of more books about that topic. She categorized the stacks of books by helpful, maybe helpful, and useless. Leaning her head back and resting the base of her skull against the back of the chair, she realized how tired she was becoming. Starring up at the painted murals, she thought about what she needed to know.
She needed to find the exact Tree of Life in the prophecy. She was almost certain that the tree held Lilith and Cain captive. If she could pinpoint its exact location, she would know where to go. She would be able to stop whatever the demons and the Dracul wanted. The problem was, she didn’t even know if Soborgne was with the Dracul still, or if the demons had her. That was something she would deal with when the time came. First, she must find where to go looking for her friend.
The tree could be anywhere. Some believed the tree to be in the Asian country of Bahrain, others believed it to be in the Persian Gulf, and still others believed that it was in the city of Tabriz in Iran. Going from there, she found the names of even more locations. She found Scottish beliefs locating the tree on the Isle of Lewis, American beliefs that located the tree in Missouri, and Sri Lankan beliefs around the mountain named Adam’s Peak. Only one of them was a positive no. Jenda did not believe for one second that the Garden of Eden was in Missouri. She had traveled to Cape Girardeau, MO, with her parents when her cousin graduated from there, and she would bet her life that the state, while lovely, was not the heart of the demon layer.
Jenda had only one book left to read. An old volume, the book was
covered in a thick layer of dust. Jenda let her hand stroke the leather cover, soft and worn by time, and her fingers left a trail in the dirt. She knew if she opened it now, the pages would feel thick and cloth-like because they were made of calfskin. The practice of using vellum was commonplace in the times when they still bound books like this with leather covers and metal clasps.
As a lover of books, Jenda would have normally been overjoyed at the opportunity to hold in her hands such a masterfully crafted piece of knowledge. Instead, she was so tired that she could not bring herself to raise her head from the chair and begin the task. It surprised her how quickly she was losing her taste for large volumes of knowledge.
Not quite ready to force herself back to work, Jenda stared up at the mural some more. The painting was a lovely and detailed piece of art. The characters seemed almost alive as they frolicked. Fairy folk and animals were peeking out from everywhere. Their bright eyes shone down on her with knowing winks and scrutiny. The paint was still bright and colorful despite the age of the painting. Jenda absently wondered if someone had restored it, or if it was cared for so meticulously that it remained flawless.
The painting was of Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream. To the left, Jenda could see Titania and Oberon. To the right, Bottom wore the head of a donkey. The little fairy people were pulling at the ears. She let her tired eyes roam in search of Puck, her favorite character from the play. She found him seated upon a flower blossom playing a tin flute. That was Puck for sure, always the jester. Seeing the familiar character reminded her of the last day she had seen Soborgne as a human—they had been studying the same play.
She let her eyes drift shut. She wanted to rest them briefly. The image of Puck stayed there as if they were open. The days without sleep, the worry, the fear, and the pain were building up inside of her. She was weary. She unconsciously licked her lips as she wished she would have thought to bring blood with her. She didn’t even notice when the sound of music began to filter through.
Her mind’s eye played tricks on her. It gave life to the last thing she looked at before sleep overtook her. The fairy hobgoblin rose up on his toes and began to sway while playing his tiny flute. He opened his eyes wide and winked once before leaping onto the forest floor where Jenda suddenly found herself standing.
“This has to be a dream. I am so not standing in an enchanted forest staring at Puck.” Jenda rubbed her eyes and looked around.
Though she spoke to herself, the fairy boy answered, “Thou speak’st aright; I am that merry wanderer of the night.”
Jenda patted herself on the face several times, sharply. “Oh seriously, this is not happening. Wake up, Jenda, wake up.” Now the little guy was quoting his lines from the play. When she didn’t suddenly wake up, she stood still for a second. With no idea what else to do, she decided to play along with her imagination. Thinking to herself about how weird lucid dreams were, she began to walk deeper into the wood.
Puck danced around her, playing a happy little tune. He suddenly stopped in front of her and she nearly tumbled, trying not to step on him. His face screwed up in what must have been an attempt to look serious as he stood like a soldier and asked, “Night and silence! Who is here?”
Laughing, Jenda introduced herself in her version of Shakespeare, “I am but a maid, lost in a wood of magic and mysterious heart. Shall ye grant me thy arm, my sweetest fairy of the art?”
Puck blew on his pan flute again and did a jig that landed him neatly on top of a nearby tree branch. “You are not lost, my lady fair. The gods have sent you here. A question to be answered is what you keep, to learn the answer, the question ye must speak.”
“I fear I know not of the question you speak, I merely have come to lay my head and sleep.” Jenda was actually enjoying herself. This was the best dream she could remember having.
“Such a place to choose! To find here, the maiden, sleeping sound, on the dank and dirty ground. No time for such things. Not while the nightingale sings. This must be done with haste, for night’s swift dragons cut the clouds full fast.” He made a sweeping motion with his arm and gestured to the moss-covered forest floor.
“The only answer that I seek, except for the question of peaceful sleep, is to find my friend whom the dragons keep. Can you tell me, kindly goblin, is your wisdom so deep?” Jenda laughed at her own play on Puck’s words.
She was actually amazed at how well she remembered the play. Puck’s dialogue only changed slightly from the original. She was wondering how she was going to wake herself up. You would think having a very lifelike dream about a fictional fairy would be fun, but it grew tiresome fast. Talking in nothing but rhymes and nonsense was extremely hard.
“Ah, young lass, attend, and mark. I do hear the morning lark. To answer your own quizzical mind, look where no one else can find. Walk into the land of Nod, to which everyone else finds so odd.” Puck played a flowing bit of notes and raised a sparkling cloud.
Jenda peered inside the cloud and saw her world, complete with crystal tree. At first, she was confused, and her ability to rhyme was lost. “Puck, do you mean the crystal tree is the tree of life? I don’t understand.”
Puck shook his head to tell her no. “’Tis the place that holds the answer, not the place you seek. Talk with others who know you when you are not asleep.”
A loud obtrusive sound jarred her. Puck startled and faded away. She could barely hear his voice over top the strange noise as he said the final lines of the Shakespearean masterpiece: “If we shadows have offended, think but this, and all is mended, that you have but slumbered here while these visions did appear.”
Jenda jerked awake. The sound continued and she realized she had fallen asleep, and that the cell phone was ringing. The loud MIDI tune made her head hurt. Grabbing it up off the table, she said, “Hello.”
“Jenda, everyone is getting worried, I think it is time for me to come get you. Dawn is only an hour away. Did you find anything?” Agi sounded a little stressed and a lot tired. If it weren’t for her mind being so distracted by the image of her dreams, Jenda would have felt guilty again.
Instead, her brain spun around the final scene with Puck. The bubble he produced showed her where to look for the answers. Matteo said Celeste’s grandmother could talk to the spirits on the other side while she walked the astral planes. Jenda had the gift of the Coven as well. Her mind created Puck to tell her what she already knew on a subconscious level. She would have to go to her world and find someone to help her locate Soborgne.
“Jenda? Jenda, are you there? Jenda, answer me. You are scaring me. Jenda!” Agi screamed out her name the last time and Jenda snapped out of the haze left over from the dream.
“Agi, calm down. I’m here. I was just thinking. I know what I have to do. Come get me as fast as you can.” Jenda hung up the phone and grabbed her notebook. As a last-minute thought, she took the last unread volume with her. She couldn’t bear not to.
She thought she would have to wait for Agi. She knew it would take the girl some time to get all the way back to the doorway from the center of the vampire wing. To her surprise, only a minute after she positioned herself at the large wooden doors, she heard the almost inaudible swoosh of the metal door on the other side. She stepped backwards, growing a little nervous about who would be there.
To her relief, the key turned in the lock and she saw Matteo when the doors opened. He looked hurt and angry, but a hint of relief flickered in his eyes. Jenda knew she should feel guilty, but she was too excited about what had just occurred in the library. She ran to him. Wrapping her slender arms tight around his waist and laying her head on his chest, she hugged him tightly. Holding the heavy book and embracing him was difficult, but she did not care. Matteo did not hold back, despite his anger. He hugged and kissed her on top of the head.
“You had me worried, Baobhan Sith. I thought you left me behind.” His voice was thick and the pain she heard startled her.
“Oh Matteo, I could never and would never
leave you. I had to do this on my own, and I know you always want to be there to protect me, but I promise the books are harmless.” She smiled up at him, now clutching her keepsake to her chest.
Eyeing the book quizzically, he asked, “Have you found anything, or have you managed to get this whole idea out of your system? The council has laid plans, and they are only awaiting your approval before they commence.”
“I have found something! I am so excited. I will explain it all to you on the way. I know the council will be preparing for morning right now, but as soon as the sun sets tomorrow, I am going to announce my own plans. They can do as they please, but I will not see the lives of so many lost without an attempt at a better way.” She sounded resolute, and Matteo’s hopes that she would agree to stay within the safety of Vajdahunyad faded.
As they walked back through the abandoned corridors, Jenda filled Matteo in on all the information from the books she had read. She told him of all the possible places that the tree could be. She joked about the tree being in Middle America, trying to keep it lighthearted because she knew he was still upset with her for the way she had acted. She did not like it herself. She tried to be as adult as possible, but to no avail. If acting like the angst-ridden teen she was is what it took to do things her own way, then that is what she would do.
She finally reached the point where she must tell him about her dream. At first, he was worried it was another vision, but Jenda assured him repeatedly that it was nothing like the first time. When she saw the Lilith and Cain statue come to life, it was because she was on the brink of starvation.
“I promise it was a dream, not a vision. I was completely asleep, and the phone Agi gave me woke me up. It was a prophetic, strange, and highly educational trip through bizareville, but it was a dream.” Jenda’s eyes danced with the hilarity of her conversation with Puck.
Requiem of Humanity Page 43