In Love With A Vampire

by M. J. Stevens

  “Yes, Dove’s not ready yet to access that kind of dark magic yet,” Maggie responded, her eyes burning with a mysterious gleam which intrigued and perplexed Lipton even more. “That is why she needs to be completely consumed be darkness, wiping all traces of good magic within her. And the only way to do that is through-”

  “The Great Darkness,” Lipton finished the sentence for her with a gasp.

  For a moment, the den was filled with silence as the weight of Lipton’s words pounded into their minds, reverberating through them with such intensity that no one could speak a single word. They knew that the worst was yet to come, and they were trying to muster as much composure as the overwhelming emotions surged through them.

  “The Great Darkness?” Ken finally spoke, confusion plastered on his face. “But how? I don’t quite get it …”

  “Dove is using the Great Darkness for her personal gains,” Maggie explained slowly, wringing her hands. “Once the Great Darkness makes its complete circle in the world, Dove will be completely filled with darkness, devoid of a single trace of good magic within her.”

  “But how does she trigger the Great Darkness in the first place?” Ken fired, his forehead etched with curious lines.

  “Through Rellie. That is how Dove is able to trigger the Great Darkness. The Great Darkness derives from the Dark Pole. But Dove is one cunning and smart Enchantress. She knows that if she destroys the Key of the Dark Pole, who happens to be Rellie, then she would suffer the doom of death as she’s not ready to access such gargantuan amount of dark magic from the Dark Pole. So instead of killing Rellie first, Dove is using Rellie as a means to channel the Great Darkness from the Dark Pole into the world. She’s using Rellie as a door between the Dark Pole and the world, channeling all the dark energies of the Great Darkness into our world and infecting the world with darkness. And when the Great Darkness has completed its circle, the world would be cast in darkness, chasing all traces of good magic away. Eventually, Dove would be able to destroy Rellie in order to gain full access into the Dark Pole without being killed as Dove’s internal body has already adapted to dark magic due to the spread of the Great Darkness. Smart, right? That cunning fox! Who would have thought that she would be so smart to map this all out in the first place?”

  “Are you saying that Rellie’s the one who’s spreading the Great Darkness into the world?” Lipton asked, trying to clarify things.

  “In a way, yes. But she’s only acting as the door to spread the Great Darkness. That is why Dove is trying to keep Rellie as near to her as possible so she can use Rellie as the door to spread the Great Darkness without Rellie even realizing it. Dove is using her own magic to activate that door, slowly spreading the Great Darkness into the world. Relie’s not safe anymore being with her, because ultimately, Dove would kill her to have complete access to the Dark Pole. We must find Rellie and protect her from Dove before it’s too late. There’s not much time left. I sense that the Great Darkness is going to make its complete circle soon, and when that happens … well … I don’t want to even think about.”

  “But how are we going to find Rellie? She could be anywhere! I don’t like where this is going …” Lipton was overwhelmed by a sense of trepidation, which shook him so hard to the core that he couldn’t think straight for a moment. He paced around with such intense anxiety that he almost knocked into the wall.

  “I don’t have enough magic to do a Tracking Spell to locate Rellie,” Maggie admitted dejectedly. “The good magic within me is being slowly sucked away by Great Darkness. All my sources of good magic are depleting fast, and I can’t tap onto any of them to perform any useful spells that could help us.” Deep frown lines creased her forehead as she buried her face in her hands in dismay.

  “There’s got to be a way! There always has to be a way! I will not give up! We need to think harder!” As positive as Lipton was trying to sound, he knew that his words had no weight of truth to them. Everything seemed abysmal now, and there was no way to save the world anymore.

  “Wait!” Ken suddenly cried, as though he had been struck by an epiphany. “There has to be some sources of good magic left right?”

  “What do you mean?” Lipton demanded, looking at Ken as though he was the last standing ray of hope.

  “Didn’t Maggie mention something about the Good Pole? Isn’t that where all the sources of good magic are stored?”

  All of a sudden, Maggie snapped her head up, her eyes filled with a gleam of hope. She gave Ken a grateful look, a hint of smile at the corner of her lips.

  “You’re right!” Maggie’s voice had an edge of excitement to it, her eyes lighting up as though there were sparks of hope burning inside. “Why didn’t I think of that before? Good magic still exists! Even though the Great Darkness is chasing away all traces of good magic in the world, it cannot touch and contaminate all the sources of good magic in the Good Pole because it’s locked up in there! If I can tap onto some of that good magic locked up in the Good Pole, I may be able to use magic to fight against Dove and put a stop to her evil plans. But I’d need to find the Key who unlocks the Good Pole …”

  “How do we find that Key then?” Lipton asked.

  “Through the Enchanted Ball … the same way I identified the Key of the Dark Pole. It’s a good thing that I have some ounce of good magic left within me, which means that I can use it to activate the Enchanted Ball.” Maggie knelt before the Enchanted Ball on the coffee table, and gazed deep into it as she raised her hands to channel the last traces of good magic left within her. “Show me the identity of the Key who seals the Good Pole …”

  The Ball burst to life once more with green fumes swirling inside, casting greenish shadows on Maggie’s face.

  Lipton and Ken stood at the side, watching in anticipation as Maggie worked her magic, calling for the identity of the Key who sealed the Good Pole.

  The face in the Ball slowly took shape, and it had such familiar features that it created tight knots inside Lipton’s stomach.

  The eyes started to emerge, followed by the nose and mouth, and as the features came into sharper clarity, Lipton felt his whole heart sink when he realized who the person inside the Ball was.

  He let out a loud gasp when the face in the Ball was finally revealed. It was so hard to believe that he let out an agonized wail.

  20. The Key

  “No!!!!!” Lipton cried, stomping toward the Ball and grabbing it, gazing deep into it to make sure that he didn’t see it wrong. “It can’t be her! The Ball is lying! It can’t be her! It can’t be Jesse!”

  Jesse’s face stared back at Lipton from the Ball, and Lipton had to close his eyes hard to make sure that his eyes weren't playing any tricks on him. When he opened them again, Jesse’s face had already disappeared, and the Ball went completely dark and empty again. Lipton tossed the Ball onto the couch, marching straight into the corner and pounding his fists against the wall, unable to believe what he had just seen.

  Nobody spoke for a moment, as Maggie and Ken could feel the heat of Lipton’s wrath emanating around the den. They wanted to give him some time to compose himself, seeing how agonized he was over the revelation that Jesse was indeed the Key to the Good Pole.

  Once Lipton was able to muster some ounce of composure, he turned around to face Maggie, who sat numbly on the couch, with a slightly helpless look on her face.

  “What now?” Lipton asked in a hoarse voice, the anger within him fuming to the level that it literally made him parched. “What now that we know that Jesse is actually the Key to the Good Pole? Does that mean that we have to …” He trailed off, not even wanting to venture into that tragic possibility.

  “She’ll have to die,” Maggie said tersely, knowing that it was better to get the truth out in the open than to pretend that the tragedy wasn’t real at all. “In order for me to access that good magic from the Good Pole, Jesse would need to be destroyed, the same way that Rellie would have to be destroyed in order for Dove to gain access to the Dark Pole. It
works the same way for both the Good and Dark Poles. The Keys hold the most noble cause of protecting the Poles by locking them up from being tampered, but at the same time, they must face the ultimate sacrifice of death in order for the Poles to be unlocked. And in such dire circumstances, they sometimes need to be killed for the greater good …”

  “No!” Lipton fumed. “I will not let you kill Jesse! Over my dead body!” His face was fixed in a rictus of rage, and if looks could kill, both Maggie and Ken would have been dead by now. “She will not be killed for the greater good.”

  “There is no other way to unlock the Good Pole but only through the Key,” Maggie ventured. “If I don’t utilize that good magic from the Good Pole, then I wouldn’t be able to stop the Great Apocalypse, in which the world will come to an end when the Supreme Ruler takes charge of everyone and everything in it. When Dove finally gets her wish and become the Supreme Ruler, you would rue the day you were born.”

  “There has to be another way! We don’t have to destroy the Key. Didn’t you say that Dove was able to channel the energies of the Great Darkness from the Dark Pole without needing to destroy the Key first? What if we don’t need to kill Jesse? What if you can also channel the energies from the Good Pole and let the light spread through the world, fighting against all the elements of darkness within? What is the equivalent of the Great Darkness which we can channel from the Good Pole?”

  “It’s called the Great Light. Yes, we can do the same thing that Dove is doing now to Rellie without needing to destroy her. But if we channel the Great Light now into the world, it wouldn’t be powerful enough to chase away the Great Darkness because it has almost completed its circle. The Great Darkness has taken a strong grip on the world now, and the powers of the Great Light are not strong enough to undo everything the Great Darkness has done. No, it wouldn’t be enough. We need full access to the Good Pole because time is running up. We need tremendous amounts of good magic from the Good Pole at this crucial moment now. I’m afraid that’s the only way seeing how dire the situation is now.”

  “That isn’t fair! I won’t let you near Jesse!”

  “Look at me, Lipton!” Maggie’s face turned dead serious, her face set in such rigidness that she looked like a statue for a moment. “This is for the greater good! Do you want to trigger the Great Apocalypse? Do you want the world to be saved from darkness? We’re talking about making sacrifices for a noble cause! I also do not like the idea of killing Jesse … but … we just don’t have that luxury of choice …”

  “Then let the Great Apocalypse happen for all I care! It’s not worth sacrificing someone whom you love with all your heart …” Lipton stopped in mid-sentence when he realized what he had just said. He had just revealed that he’d loved Jesse. His cheeks turned beet red, and he was so mortified at his abruptness that he just wanted the ground to momentarily open and swallow him up. He had never told anyone that he loved Jesse, and revealing his feelings in such a raw manner made him feel slightly conscious now. He didn’t dare to look at both Maggie and Ken’s faces, and he wished that he hadn’t blurt that piece of information out.

  “Oh my God,” Maggie murmured, her voice slightly trembling. “Are you in love with … Jesse?”

  Lipton finally mustered enough courage to tilt his head up and looked into Maggie’s eyes.

  Why should he feel embarrassed at revealing his real feelings for Jesse? Who cared if he loved Jesse? That brief moment of self-consciousness and awkwardness suddenly vanished away, replaced by confidence and determination. He didn’t have to feel mortified telling the world that he was in love with this vampire named Jesse. Such feelings of mortification shouldn’t be entertained at all, but instead, he was now more focused and determined at making sure that nobody would lay a hand on Jesse. If the Great Apocalypse had to happen, so shall be it. Jesse wasn’t going to be used as the ultimate sacrifice for the greater good. He wouldn’t let that happen if it meant that she was going to face death.

  “You-you-you you’re … in love with my wife?” Ken stuttered, dismay evident in his voice.

  Lipton was so caught up in the torrential storm of his own thoughts that he didn’t even realize that Ken was there in the den, and the fact that Ken was actually Jesse’s husband.

  Lipton turned to look at Ken, who had a stunned look on his face.

  Lipton wished that he could just disappear for that flicker of moment. He didn’t have the heart to face any of this right now. Heck, he had completely forgotten that Jesse’s husband had been standing there all along. He was so consumed with anger at the thought of Jesse being killed that he didn’t think twice when he blurted out that he loved Jesse. How could he be so callous? Ken was still Jesse’s husband, and Lipton had acted as though he owned Jesse, and he was entitled to her. Lipton was racked with guilt at that moment, his conscience getting the better of him.

  “I’m afraid I’m in love with your wife, Ken,” Lipton finally said after a long heave of sigh. “I’m sorry, Ken. I’m so sorry …”

  Ken didn’t respond, but instead, he looked down at the floor, his shoulders sagged in dejection.

  Lipton felt like the bad guy here now. He felt as though he had stolen somebody else’s wife in broad daylight, and he didn’t feel good about it. He was a man of integrity, a respected warrior, a man who would not betray anybody’s trust. And now, Lipton didn’t feel like any of those anymore. Instead, he felt as though he had gone down the path of destruction, going against all the virtues for which he stood. How could he love somebody else’s wife? A noble warrior would have never done such a thing. Despite all the temptations, a noble warrior would never go after somebody else’s wife. And the fact that Lipton had just bluntly revealed that he loved the wife of the man who was in the same room as he was didn’t make things better at all.

  “You know what?” Ken mumbled after a moment of silence, suddenly drawing Lipton and Maggie’s attention.

  Lipton stared at Ken with a sense of trepidation, bracing himself for the onslaught of verbal attacks from the husband of the woman he loved. Lipton was ready for this, and he knew that he deserved it for loving somebody else’s wife. Ken could chastise him for a long as he wanted, and Lipton would permit that. Ken was such a good man, and he didn’t deserve to be treated this way.

  “You can have her,” Ken said with such a strong conviction that it made Lipton gasp aloud. “You can have Jesse, Lipton. It doesn’t matter anymore … it really doesn’t. She’s all yours.” And with that, he gave Lipton a smile.

  Lipton was so taken aback by Ken’s response that for a moment he thought that he was hallucinating. Did he hear correctly? Why was Ken making this all so easy for him? He was ready to be pummeled by Ken if it came to that point, but Ken was being so gracious to him that Lipton felt that something was just not right.

  “I don’t understand,” Lipton said with a slight tremble in his voice, unable to contain the emotions that were choking him on the inside. “How could you be so forgiving to me? I just revealed that I love your wife, and that is the best comeback you can pull?”

  Ken scoffed, shaking his head. “You don’t understand, Lipton. I have never loved … Jesse. Yes, I admit it now. After I was turned into a vampire, things started to become clearer to me. I’ve never loved her all along, Lipton. I had been lying to myself all these years, telling myself that she was my one and only true love when the real fact was that I’ve never loved her.”

  “What?” Lipton gasped incredulously. “But I’ve always thought that you loved her with all your heart. I’d have never expected that kind of response from you. It’s just so surreal …” Lipton trailed off. He had no idea what to say anymore. The shock of hearing Ken’s response still reverberated through him, shaking him inside out.

  “I thought I did. But like I said, when I was turned into a vampire, I began to see things in deeper clarity. Being a vampire, my senses and emotions were heightened. I could feel much deeper than I’ve ever felt before. I could sense things I could neve
r have sensed before. And the longer I became a vampire, my senses grew stronger and I was able to detect the slightest emotions deep in the core of my heart. And I realized that there was never any love in my heart for Jesse. It was all just an act to compensate for the loneliness that I’d felt as the years before I met Jesse. I was a divorced man for a few years, and believe me, I didn’t like living alone. It was so depressing that when Jesse came into my life, I grabbed that opportunity and eventually proposed to her. I guess that it was all very egoistic of me. I shouldn’t have dragged her into my life in the first place. I’m now racked with guilt, knowing that I’ve used her all these years of our marriage. Now that I’ve become a vampire and am able to understand myself on a deeper level due to the supernaturally heightened senses and feelings, I know for sure that I’ve never loved her …”

  For some strange reason, Lipton had a surge of relief within him upon hearing that. The webs of guilt which had entangled around his heart were slowly disintegrating, and he couldn’t have felt much better. So Ken had never loved Jesse at all in the first place. Knowing that there was never any real love between Ken and Jesse loosened the suffocating tight knot which Lipton had felt, making him breathe easier now.

  Lipton smiled in spite of himself. Ken was giving him the permission to love Jesse unconditionally. Ken was giving his seal of approval, and Lipton just felt like springing over and giving Ken a tight hug of gratitude.

  “That’s such a twist of events,” Maggie gave a sudden remark, jolting Lipton out of his brief moment of sweet reverie. “But we now have urgent matters to attend to, if you haven’t realized that. The Great Apocalypse is coming forth, and we can’t just sit back here and and waste any second longer. We must take action now. The clock is ticking.”