by Cameron Jace
“My son died,” Van Helsing said. “But I managed to save his soul.”
“Yeah?” Angel snarled. “That’s impossible.”
“Not if your wife sells her own soul in exchange to save her son,” Van Helsing said.
“What?” Angel and I uttered at the same time. “What did you just say?”
“My wife, her name is Babushka,” Van Helsing began. “She sold her life to a dark force that turned her into an eternal ghost in order to save our son’s soul.”
“I’ve never heard of this before,” Angel said.
“It’s possible, but now my wife will spend her life as a ghost in service to this dark force. She is doomed.”
“And you just saved his soul?” Angel asked. “I mean is your son alive now?”
“He isn’t doomed by Night Von Sorrow’s bite, but he is still dead,” Van Helsing explained. “I need you to help me to resurrect him.”
“Sorry, warrior,” Angel said harshly. “I’m not God. Wrong address.”
“You can save him,” Van Helsing insisted.
“How can he?” I had to ask.
“All my son needs is a heart.” Van Helsing said.
“A heart?” I said. “Just any heart?”
“It sounds strange, but yes, any heart will wake my son up,” Van Helsing. “I am willing to get you out of here and show you to the Tower of Tales if you help me with it.”
“Why do you think Angel can help your son with that?” I asked.
“I don’t think anything,” Van Helsing whispered fiercely, loud enough that I knew he was crying on the inside, but low enough that those on the rest of the ship wouldn’t hear him. “I need to pass my son’s corpse to someone who will promise me to find a heart for him. Night Von Sorrow ripped out my son’s heart. I would kill everyone on this ship, but that’s only blind revenge. I want someone to help me find a heart for my son. Angel must know something about it.”
“I don’t,” Angel said. “But if you’re going to show us the way to Lady Shallot, I will do my best. I promise.”
“I want her to promise me, too.” Van Helsing pointed at me. “I want you both to remember I saved your lives, gave you hope to find a home, and escape Night Von Sorrow. You understand?”
Angel and I nodded.
“I am not sure I believe you,” he said skeptically.
“What would it take for you to believe us?” I offered, although the whole deal was pure madness. How were we going to get a heart for his son? How could we even be sure his son could be resurrected?
“You don’t need to offer me anything,” Van Helsing’s tone was almost evil. It was one of those distinguished moments when I realized he wasn’t purely as good as we thought he was. “I made sure you will have to keep your promise.”
“Made sure?” I grimaced, my heart beating faster. I could sense betrayal in the air already.
Angel moped his forehead with his hand, as if he finally got it. “I can’t believe you did this to us?” he addressed Van Helsing.
“What’s going on, Angel?” I pleaded. “What did he do?”
“By pricking your finger and offering me your blood to wake me up from the sleeping state cause by the blood, milk, and chocolate, we’re now…” Angel hesitated.
“We’re now what?” I said.
“We’re bound,” Angel said. “If I want to stay a half-vampire, I can only rely on your blood for life.”
Chapter 15
The Queen’s Diary
I didn’t know how to comprehend any of this for a few moments. My head felt noisy and foggy. The only thing I was aware of was Night Von Sorrow’s men, stomping their feet on the ceiling. It seemed like they realized we were in this room, and were on their way to find us.
In a relapsing moment, I was about to punch Van Helsing, but he pointed his bow at me and warned me. “We don’t have time for this,” he said. “What’s done is done. Night Von Sorrow’s men will be in this room any moment now, and then it will be a massacre.”
“He is right, Carmilla,” Angel said. “If it were only for me, I would want to kill this deceiving vampire hunter,” he held me by the arms. “But there is you, too. And if it means we have to find a heart for his son, so be it.”
“Is that all you care about?” I pulled away. “Don’t you see, Angel? You’re going to feed on my blood for life!”
Angel lowered his gaze toward the floor. He looked like he was offended. Maybe it was an honor for a woman to be bound to her man like that in his vampire world, but not in mine. I didn’t really understand any of this.
“We’ll find a way out, Carmilla,” Angel promised.
“When? After you drain me of my blood?” I raised my voice, and Night Von Sorrow’s men seemed closer now. “And you!” I turned and glared at Van Helsing. “You think you’re a good man, killing vampires and trying to save your son?”
Van Helsing said nothing, his bow always ready.
“You’re an evil man,” I told him. “A very evil man, for doing this to us.”
Van Helsing had an answer on the tip of his tongue, but seemed hesitant about it. He swallowed the words, his Adam’s apple showing, and said nothing again.
“Why don’t you answer me?” I pressed. “I will tell you why! Because you know you’re a horrible man.” I stepped forward. “And you know what? I will never help your son, even if I’ll die in return.”
Looking back at this moment, I realize it was the starting point for me hating Van Helsing’s son—and it affected a lot of my future with the boy.
“Answer me!” I stepped even nearer, realizing Van Helsing wasn’t going to shoot me anyway. He needed me now.
“Carmella,” Van Helsing spoke slowly. “If there is anything you should learn before you embark on your journey, then it’ll be one thing.”
“What’s that?”
“That evil is a point of view.”
Chapter 16
The Queen’s Diary
Whatever happened after escapes me.
For a long while I was in a haze. The words rung in my head like a fork buzzing against the metallic stubbornness of my brain’s skull. Evil is point of view. This was the motto I was going to live by for the rest of my life. No religion to follow, or scripture to believe in. Those five words were my bible, and I had sworn to live by them the day I escaped with Angel. Only I didn’t know it then.
Angel’s hands pulled me out of my haze. We ducked behind a coffin while Van Helsing began shooting arrows from his bow, killing a few huntsmen.
“Stay with me,” Angel shook me. “Don’t fade away like that. I need you with me, or we will not be able to make it off of the ship.”
“I locked the door,” Van Helsing said[CB6] . The rest of them were growling and pounding on the door outside. “The only way out is through the other room.”
“You mean the room where they keep the coffin?” Angel said.
Van Helsing nodded. “We’ll have to risk it.”
“But they will kill us,” I said.
“Not as long as I point my Piper arrows at the coffin,” Van Helsing said. “They need the vampire inside the coffin alive more than anything in the world.”
“Who is it in the coffin?” I asked.
“Not now, Carmilla,” Angel held me by the arm and we started following Van Helsing to the door.
“I have to know,” I insisted. It drove me crazy that the whole Demeter ship’s purpose was to transfer the vampire inside the coffin to an island. Who was it?
“Legend says it’s Dracula himself,” Van Helsing said, carefully pushing open the door.
“Who’s Dracula?” I hissed, the huntsmen were trying to open the door on the other side of the room.
“Supposedly the father of all vampires,” Van Helsing said.
“Don’t listen to this ignorant vampire hunter,” Angel said. “It’s a myth. This Dracula is nothing but a weak vampire with a reputation. They wrote books and created myth about him just to divert the world from the re
al Piper story.”
We entered the room. There was no one inside so we tried to make no sound. I kept staring at the coffin, feeling pulled toward it, wondering whose story was more believable.
“Then who’s in the coffin?” I asked Angel, since this was his family we talked about. He must know something.
“I’m not sure,” he said. “But I’ve heard my mother say the coffin was a prison for the first vampire the Piper ever created. Who knows what to believe?”
We managed to exit the room without stumbling across any of the huntsmen. Van Helsing showed us to a small boat tied to the back of the Demeter.
“Get in,” he demanded. “This will get you to the Tower of Tales.”
“This boat is even smaller than the one we were on behind the mist,” I hissed. “We’ll drown.”
“You won’t,” Van Helsing pointed at a small glass coffin inside it. “That is my son.”
“Now we’re really going to sink,” I protested, doing everything to not to look at his son.
Strangely, it was Angel who seemed infatuated with the boy behind the glass coffin. A seven-year-old boy. A beautiful boy who I couldn’t take my eyes off of either, once Angel’s interest showed. But now, at that moment, I hated him, for he reminded me of the endless sacrifices I had made for loving Angel.
Angel got in the boat and knelt down next to the glass coffin. The night was almost pitch black, except for a thin moonbeam piercing through. It was a bit strange, I thought, the moon’s light not pooling over the water like usual.
“Get in, Carmilla,” Angel held out a hand. “We’re going to do it.”
“What happened to you?” I asked. “You seem to like the boy all of a sudden.”
“I have an optimistic feeling about him,” Angel said. “I can’t explain it.”
“I will get in the boat under one condition,” I began.
“We don’t have the luxury of time,” Angel tensed.
“We also don’t have the luxury of not keeping our promise,” I said. “We need to get the sack with the seven items from the boat behind the mist.”
“I’ve taken care of that,” Van Helsing pointed at the sack tucked behind the coffin.
I squinted, taking a better look at the mysterious vampire hunter. “Who are you, Van Helsing? How did you know about the sack?”
“I know more than you think,” he said. “But the one thing that matters is that I can help you to find the Tower of Tales.”
“I was just going to ask,” Angel said, pulling me down into the boat. “Aren’t you going to show us the way?”
“Here,” Van Helsing passed a crumpled piece of paper over to Angel. “Your instructions.”
Angel took it, about to open it.
“You have no time to inspect it now,” Van Helsing said. “You should start with following the moonbeam.”
“Are you serious?” Angel said.
But I finally realized that Van Helsing was right. Like I said, this wasn’t a regular moonbeam. It was like a strange, thin line snaking upon the surface of the Seven Seas.
“The Moongirl did this for us?”
Van Helsing nodded. “Just for today,” he said. “And she is risking her life to help you. If you follow the Moon’s Path, you will find the Tower of Tales. Now start rowing.” He looked behind him at the approaching huntsmen. “I have to go kill everyone on this ship.”
“Will you be able to kill my father?” Angel said, rowing away already.
“I will kill everyone in their coffins. Then I will try to kill your father. I can’t promise it though. I am a mortal man after all.”
“Van Helsing,” I raised my voice against the wind across the sea. “You’re a good man.” I said, not really changing my mind, but encouraging him to face the huntsmen on the ship alone. We all knew he was going to die. It was inevitable.
“No, I’m not,” he smirked. “We’re all just trying to live another day. Find a heart for my son, Carmilla.”
“I will,” Angel offered, both of us rocking inside the boat. “But you haven’t told us his name.”
“Loki,” the vampire hunter said. “Loki Van Helsing.”
Chapter 17
The Queen’s Diary
Angel rowed the boat under the Moon’s Path. Looking back, I could hear the screams of huntsmen on the Demeter, and wondered if Van Helsing would make it. But it didn’t matter. In my mind I was slowly realizing that many would die in my quest to the Tower of Tales.
I turned and watched Angel’s strong and muscular form rowing against the tides. I was beginning to feel safer, now that we’d escaped the ship. And with Angel’s rowing, we should arrive at the Tower of Tales. I wondered what price the Moon had paid to show us this path, but I knew that soon, we’d be looking into the instructions Van Helsing had given us. Soon, some of this would be explained. Right now we needed to get away from the Demeter as quickly as possible.
But that wasn’t as easy as I had begun to think.
Another boat crossed our path all of a sudden. It was as small as ours, but seemed more stable against the tides.
“Who’s that?” I shrieked, holding onto Angel’s arm.
Angel had no idea, but we kept watching the silhouettes of the three men on the boat. One of them had long white hair and wore a long dark cloak. I recognized him immediately. The darkness he exuded was inescapable. It was Night Von Sorrow himself.
“Father?” Angel said, confused.
“You haven’t called me Father in so many years,” Night said. “But yes, it’s me. You didn’t think I was going to stay on the ship, waiting for this Van Helsing to kill me?”
“I advise you to leave,” Angel warned. “Or I—”
“Or you will kill your own father?”
“You know that as long as I haven’t fully turned, you’re not really my father in the vampire’s world,” Angel retorted. I knew so little about their traditions.
The two huntsmen at Night’s sides were about to attack Angel, but his father stopped them. “I know,” the old man said. “But this doesn’t change much.”
“What does that mean?” Angel inquired, making sure I was behind him.
“It means what it means,” Night said. “You’re too young, and chained by the illusion of love.”
“Love isn’t an illusion.”
“Everything is an illusion,” Night seemed more conversational than I knew him to be. I had a feeling he wasn’t here to kill us anymore. “But you will learn as you grow. For now, my duty is to protect this coffin.”
For a moment, I thought he was talking about Loki, but then he pointed at a coffin in his boat. The same special coffin from the secret room on the ship. My curiosity piqued with every passing moment.
“What’s in it?” Angel said. “Why is it so important?”
“I thought Carmilla knew,” Night said, grunting at me.
“Me?” I shook my head no. But even if I did, I couldn’t deny the connection I had felt with the coffin since I had first seen it.
“She Who Cursed the Countess,” Night said. “That’s what I like to call her.”
“You mean She Whom They Don’t Speak Of Her Name?” I cupped my mouth with both hands. “The witch who cursed me?”
A number of memories attacked me. The mermaids wanting me to come back and meet her. They’d always offered me to go back to her, saying that I belonged to that witch. Who was she? Why did she curse me?
“It’s her,” Night nodded.
“Who is he talking about?” Angel asked me. I told him all I knew and he turned to face his father. “What does this witch have to do with you or the Sorrows?”
“Didn’t I say you know very little, young man?” Night mocked his son. “All you need to know is that you may be able to escape me, but never her.”
“Leave or I will kill you now, Father,” Angel tensed.
“No,” I stepped up before Angel. “Who is she?” I asked Night, pointing at the sealed, wooden coffin on his boat.
Night laughed and neared me. “She is the reason I will not kill you both right now.”
Then he laughed louder, seagulls fluttered away around us.
“You mean you don’t want to kill us?” Angel pulled me back, facing the old man. “What changed your mind?”
“She Whom We Shall Not Speak of Her Name,” Night’s smile was threatening. His huntsmen were already rowing away.
Angel and I were perplexed and paralyzed with confusion.
“You know that I will give birth to the Chosen One!” I shouted over Angel’s shoulder, questioning Night’s real intentions.
“I know,” he nodded.
“Aren’t you afraid of the prophecy?” I dared him. “She, the daughter of a Sorrow and a Karnstein, will kill every vampire in the world.”
“I am afraid,” Night said with a smile. “But my fears are nothing compared to yours.” He laughed again, his cloak fluttering in the swirling wind.
“What do you mean?” Angel inquired.
“It means that I know what I am afraid of,” Night’s boat was already vanishing into darkness. “But you two young misfits have no idea what you should really be scared of.”
Then he vanished into the dark of the night. And from the darkness, he said to me, “You smell so good, Carmilla. Of blood, milk, and chocolate!”
Chapter 18
The Queen’s Diary
Night Von Sorrow left us lost, with more questions about our quest. Up until now, we were mainly escaping him, trying to meet with Lady Shallot so she can help us into a new world where he could never find us. But now that he let us live, I realized I wasn’t sure what I was running from.
“He is playing with our minds,” Angel told me, rowing the boat under the moonbeam. “Don’t believe him when he says he doesn’t want to kill us. Of course he does. You will give birth to the Chosen One at some point.”
I sat by the boat’s edge, wondering if I could even trust Angel. I was turning into a paranoid woman who was only sure of one thing about her future: that she was promised sorrow.