Jane had brought Reggio, carrying him the entire way, his feet dragging the ground every now and again, all the way to the end of the long hallway they had first turned away from. It had taken her more time than she had wished, but she could still sense that he was within the realm of consciousness. As she held him against a cold iron wall with one arm, she pulled out a rusted key from a pocket at her left side. She then popped open a large lock and pulled it off as she pushed open the heavy door it held shut and rushed inside, hurrying down a pitch black hallway where she again unlocked another door and slid it open. The light was bright inside of the next room and she carried Reggio into it, revealing rows of cages that lined the walls on each side of them.
“So what is it you want from me now, Jane?” A rough voice asked from within one of the cages. “Have you finally come to let me out of this prison you have here?”
Jane was setting Reggio up against the wall across from the prisoner. “Sort of,” she told him as her attention remained on the vampire. “You need to stay awake. And you need to pay attention.”
“What are you doing over there?” The prisoner asked. “What’s wrong with him? Who is that?”
Jane ignored him completely and kept talking to Reggio. “You are going to be okay. You just need to feed, and I am going to help you.” She spoke softly to him.
“You know, he looks to be pretty bad off.” The prisoner said. “Maybe if you let me out of here I can help him.”
“Oh, don’t worry. I have already thought all this out.” Jane let him know as she stood up to face him. “Help him is exactly what you are going to do.”
“If I do, I expect to be freed.” The prisoner said in a demanding voice.
“Think of it however you like.” Jane told him as she walked over to the lever on the far wall. “In a moment, Reggio, I am going to open that cell door and let that warlock out. His blood is all you need to regain your strength. It should be quite a treat for you, assuming you can still stand, of course. I just hope I don’t have to kill him myself.” Her eyes turned narrowly to the warlock inside of the cage. “It would be such a waste.”
“Wait! Wait! Hold up!” The warlock prisoner yelled out from his cell. “What the fury is going on?! What are you talking about?! I wanted to help him! Why would you have to kill me?”
“Hey, I said I hope I don’t have to!” Jane corrected him with her hand on the lever, now sending the demands as the tension between the two of them thickened. “But you are going to help him!”
“But what the fury is he, a vampire or something, because that is just… impossible!” The warlock yelled out, suddenly realizing the danger he was in. “It can’t be! He can’t be! This cannot be happening!” He screamed with fear evident in his voice.
“Oh, of course not,” Jane told him as she pulled down the lever and opened up his cage, just as he had wished upon her entrance. “Just think of it as a bad dream that you will never awake from.”
“I will not just allow you to kill me! I am not some sacrificial lamb! You are frening mad!” The warlock yelled as he rushed out of his cell, charging right for the witch.
Jane, in response, pulled a sword from a sheath strapped across her back and held it out in front of her as the warlock ran closer to her, ready to use it if she had to. She then glanced quickly over at Reggio to see him still propped lifeless against the wall.
“Damn!” She grunted beneath her breath as she looked to see that the warlock had lost his nerve in that moment it took her to look away, and was now running right for the open door.
“Coward!” She yelled out as she leapt through the open space between them, clearing nearly the entire room in one leap.
Her feet hit the ground running as she pulled back her sword to strike the warlock down just inside of the exit. But just before she swung forward, Reggio dove out from behind her, slipping around her side and slamming the prisoner into the open metal door! And before the warlock could even yelp out in distress Reggio had ripped open his throat, tearing into it with the razor sharp fangs that descended from him gums.
The downpour of blood rushed into his mouth and down his throat to fill his veins with renewed strength, and this blood was richer than any he had ever tasted before, filling his entire body with a sudden rush of euphoria. It warmed his insides with a power he had never felt before, and a tingling sensation coursed through his entire body, all at once, filling all of his veins with a freezing hot chill of warmth, tumbling and throbbing as it covered him like a weightless blanket.
The warlock began to shake violently in Reggio’s arms as his blood was splattered and spilled all upon the door and the floor beneath them. He could not let go of him, though. Instead, Jane had to grab him by the hair and pull him away once she felt he had gotten his fill. The prisoner then collapsed onto the floor in a puddle of his own blood, leaving her to peer into the craze she saw in the vampire’s eyes as she pulled him away, and had to hold him by the hair until it faded.
“Are you okay?” She asked him, still holding him by the hair and speaking into his ear from behind.
“Yeah,” Reggio said, breathing deeply, “Yeah, I think so.”
“Do you remember where you are?”
“I, uh, never really knew where I was to begin with.” He answered her as he laughed.
She held him for a moment longer to be sure, and then finally let him go. He stumbled forward a few steps and stared down at the bloody warlock he had just mangled, asking curiously, “What did I do?”
“Only what you needed to,” Jane told him simply.
“But… I don’t remember.” The vampire was now shaking his head.
“Hmm… interesting,” Jane admitted, her fingers stroking her chin as Reggio turned to face her. “You were nearly unconscious. You needed to feed desperately. So I suppose it is logical to say that your body acted alone on pure instinct. And if so… that is very interesting indeed.”
“I do not understand.” Now he was rubbing his forehead in confusion.
“You do not have to.” She told him. “For some reason, I think you will be just fine.”
Reggio just nodded unknowingly and glanced back at the warlock as he brushed it from his thoughts. “So… who is he?” He asked with curiosity.
“Well, he’s nothing more than a corpse now, but he was a warlock sent to infiltrate our ranks.” Jane explained. “His name holds no meaning any longer, though I did know him quite well before all this. But things have since changed, and he chose to stand against us. He was sent here to learn our position and our habits. He killed the guardian we had out in the swamp to warn us of intruders and was caught shortly afterward near our entrance. He used to be a healer, but had been reduced to no more than a traitor by the Mother. He was here to tell the others about our secrets, our hidden agendas, and I suppose we can safely say that he got exactly what he came here for. He just wasn’t able to make it out of here alive.”
“So… was he supposed to die? Did I do something wrong?” Reggio asked.
“It is not a matter of what was supposed to happen, because there are endless possibilities, but you did do exactly what I brought you here to do.” Jane told him. “As I said, you needed to feed, that was clear. You were dying, and I was not about to just let that happen. He needed to die for his betrayal, regardless. I was going to bring you here either way. You just… sped up the process. But if he was supposed to die or not can never be known. It is simply the outcome that happened.”
“But… will you… umm… get into trouble… because of me?” He asked her.
“As far as anyone else knows, he escaped and you saved my life.” She told him as she shrugged her shoulders. “Besides, who said anyone even needed to find out?”
Jane then extended her arm towards the body on the floor, her hand open and her palm faced straight down at the fallen warlock. Reggio then took a quick step back as he saw a bright yellow light stretch out from her palm and instantly engulf the body of the warlock. It only took a moment for it all to
happen, but after the light was gone, so was the warlock, along with any traces he was ever there.
“What… what was that? What did you do?!” Reggio exclaimed in sudden excitement.
“Dispose of the evidence.” Jane answered simply as she turned back to face him.
“Yeah, I can see that,” he commented. “But what in creation was that?” He asked, holding out his own palm to refer to the sudden blast of light.
“Oh, that… that was nothing,” She said nonchalantly. “That was only a small extent of my actual power. But others around here are much stronger than I am. This swamp is changing them with each moment that passes.”
“What? Are you serious… stronger than that?!” The vampire reacted in shock, hardly understanding what it was he’d just witnessed.
Jane laughed at him for a moment, but tried to look at him as seriously as she could. “Look, Reggio, I suggest that you begin to expect to see the unbelievable around here.” She told him. “Nothing that you see here is as it seems. And I recommend that, from now on, you not be surprised by anything you see in this swamp.”
The vampire just nodded his head as he drifted off into her gaze. He felt a strange connection pass between them as they stared at each other for an awkward minute or so. It was as if her eyes were pulling him in, keeping him close to her. It was the closest thing to familiar that he had ever felt, and it was a feeling that he did not wish to let go of.
“Be ready for it, Reggi.” She told him, breaking his concentration. “Always be ready. Learn to expect the unexpected.”
The vampire just nodded his head, unable to look away from her eyes. “I will.” He told her, speaking softly and honestly, and it was the most honesty she had heard in years.
“Well, then,” she said, breaking their gaze as she walked around him, “How do you feel after all that blood?”
Reggio looked down at his own hands as he clenched and unclenched them. “To be honest… I feel pretty damn amazing,” he told her, again not trying to hide anything from her, “Extremely rejuvenated.”
“That is good. I expected as much.” She told him. “A witch’s blood is of the richest upon this Terra. I can only hope, though, that you do not become addicted to it as so many others of your kind have throughout our history, namely the same vampire you claim to be.”
“What?” he asked instantly, suddenly red in the face, “What do you mean ‘claim to be’? Does that mean you think I am lying?”
Jane smiled wryly at him. “Let’s just say that I don’t think you’re a good liar.” She told him. “But it doesn’t matter anyway. There are many other options from which to choose to feed upon, enough for you to never let that happen to yourself again.” She winked at him. “You should never be shy about keeping yourself alive, though. I’m sure you’ll use discretion.”
“I am not shy.” Reggio told her, quickly changing the subject. “I fed, as you call it, just before I was found by the Jade witch. I was not in need of any blood. I was sick from it. I had four mortals all to myself along the river, one of them with a disgusting taste, and I believe it was his blood that made me weak.”
Jane nodded her head. “I suppose you know yourself better than I.” She admitted. “And although I have never with my own eyes seen a vampire get sick from blood before, as I was telling you before you passed out, it was a technique rumored to affect a vampire’s strength, making them easier to defeat. But who am I to say? I haven’t been around many vampires in my life, under peaceful circumstances anyway. And going to find a sick mortal in the middle of battle seems a bit time consuming if you ask me, a sure way to get yourself killed.”
“Either way, what you did has given me my strength back, if not more than I had before.” He told her. “And for that… I thank you.”
“There is no need to thank me, Reggi. It was the least that I could do… for you.” She said, adding a little wink at the end.
He looked strangely at her. “But why… why did you help me?” He asked. “You do not even know me. Why did you…?”
“What,” a smile came across her face, “Save the life of some unknown vampire who only just appeared in our swamp, and one that I have only known for a few hours?” She asked rhetorically and then answered herself, “I have my reasons.”
“And what are they?” Reggio asked. “What are your reasons for helping me when no one else even trusts me?”
Jane thought about it for a moment, then turned and led the way out the door. “Come, Reggio, let us leave before anyone finds us down here.”
“Wait, no, I will not allow you keep avoiding my question anymore.” He stopped her, following her right out the door and stepping in front of her in the dark hallway. “Why go through all of this trouble, put yourself in such danger, just to save me, an unknown… whatever, that you hardly even know?” He waited in front of her for an answer.
Immediately, he noticed her reluctance to look into his eyes. Instead, she stared straight down at the floor, and after a long moment, she finally raised up her head to meet his curious stare.
“I told you, Reggi, you are special. In what ways, I cannot say. And for what purpose, I cannot be sure. The future is constantly changing with each step we take. But you just have to trust in me, Reggio. Or, better yet, learn to trust in yourself, because I will not be here as long as you.”
“And what is that supposed to mean?” He asked.
“What that means is that I have a life span, whereas you do not. I will die, one day, but you, Reggio, you have the chance to avoid death all together. You, my new vampire friend, you can live forever.” She was looking him in his eyes as they widened. “Had you not passed out, I would have already told you this by now.”
Reggio did not respond. She was not even sure if he understood the concept of death or not. He just stared back at her with wide open eyes, with Jane finally broke the gaze by walking around him and continuing forward down the darkened hallway.
“Wait,” he called out as he spun around and moved to keep up with her. “Forever, what is that?”
Jane made her way out the other door and back out into the main hallway, not even bothering to shut it. “Forever is everything. It has no concept of time at all. Forever is never ending.” She then had to admit, with a smile on her face, “You know, it really is a rather broad concept now that I think about it.”
Reggio was still lost, though. “So… who am I?”
“You are Reggio,” she told him as simply as she could.
“Yes, I know that. But what in fury’s name am I?” He asked again, emphasizing his words.
“You are a vampire.” She answered him with another very direct answer.
Reggio shook his head as they walked, clearly growing agitated with her responses. “No, Jane, those are not the answers I am looking for.”
“Well, what else do you want?” She asked. “Those are the answers to the questions you asked.”
“No they are not!” He said, growing louder. “You are hiding something. There is something you are not telling me. I want to know why you care so much.”
“What… a witch can’t just be nice every once in awhile?” Jane commented as she turned her head away from him.
“Enough of the word games,” Reggio demanded. “Why am I so damn special to you? Who am I?” He asked again.
Jane turned her head back to look at him, a broken smile across her face. “Don’t be so conceited, Reggio.” She told him. “That will lead you down a path of greed. It is not so much you that are special, but your race… no offense, of course.”
“Go on,” he urged her as she continued.
“You are of an extremely rare breed, a nearly extinct species, and I refuse to let you travel down the same path that so many of your kind have before.” Jane explained to him. “You possess extraordinary abilities that no other race can even understand. The abilities of your kind have bested those of others for millennia. That is why all of witchkind stopped trusting vampires many centuries ago. As
I told you already, no one else here trusts you. You seem to bring back feelings of old… when the eldest vampires lived side by side with us, only to better betray us… and those are feelings that everyone else would rather forget about. We were a mighty force with the vampire race at our side, keeping the growing mortal race under control with their help. But time changed everything, as it always will. The vampires betrayed us and the mortals were left to spread out across our Terra, leading us to where we are now, after many, many centuries, of course. And everyone here believes that you will do the same to us as those before you have… but they do not see what I see within you. You are different than all the other vampires.”
“What do you mean?” Reggio asked her as they continued to walk, “How?”
“Over time I think you will find that there are things about you that no other vampire possesses.” She told him, but remained vague. “You will find that you are more unique than anyone here, but it will not bring you respect. Respect must be earned from your fellow witches. You will face much adversity here, Reggio, but you must never let it stray you from our side. It will be difficult at first, and maybe for long after that, but no matter how much hate they show, you must remain through it all. Over time those feelings of old have turned into jealousy for many among our kind, most wishing they had just one of your abilities, and over more time that jealousy may have turned into hatred. And because of this, some of them may never realize how much they truly need you here. I am hoping, though, that you will be able to at least change a few of their minds before it is too late.”
“But how could you know all this? None of it has even happened yet.”
“As I said before, the future is constantly changing, but the closer it gets, the easier it becomes to see, especially when it is all so predictable. You see, my kind has become increasingly paranoid about the safety of our future as of late.” Jane explained further. “But you are right, as well, none if it has happened yet. And I cannot be absolutely sure that any of it will indeed happen. Our fellow witches could attack us tomorrow and kill us all. We expect no less from them after finding their spy. And there is no telling what could happen with this storm approaching from the south. If it is anything like the one we experienced upon our arrival then we will be in for a rough few days. But other than that, seeing that we survive it all, of course, I can see great things happening within your future.”
Reggio nodded his head, seeming satisfied at last. “I appreciate your wisdom very much.” He said as they turned left down the hallway he had passed out in before. “But you have answered none of my questions.” After saying that, though, it was obvious that he was not satisfied just yet.
Jane shook her head. “I have indeed answered all of your questions. They just may not be apparent to you yet.” She spoke faster as she quickened her pace. “What I have told you here tonight has helped begin your path into the future. Your journey along that river may have ended, but your journey through this life has only just begun. You will face many obstacles that may try to impede your path, or lead you down another, but I trust that you will always trust in yourself and your own instincts before anyone else. Only you will be able to decide which path to take when that time comes.”
“Well… you will be there to help me, won’t you?”
Jane’s mind seemed to be somewhere else at the moment. She slowed her pace as they approached a large opening leading into a wide open room. She was just staring straight down at the ground, her eyes almost trembling.
“It seems we have arrived at the library already.” She said out of nowhere, looking back up at Reggio. “And this is where I must leave you. I…. I have other matters that must be tended.”
“So… you are going to leave me, just like that?” Reggio asked her.
Jane looked at him with mordant eyes. “That sounds pretty frening ironic coming from you.” Her voice was full of forlorn neglect.
Reggio looked at her with crumpled eyebrows, tilting his head to the side in confusion.
“Never mind that… I just have to take care of some things.” She said instead, shaking her head and not looking at him.
“Like what?” He asked her, simply out of curiosity.
“Nothing I need to worry you with,” she told him simply enough.
“But what if I want to worry about it?” Reggio asked her. “I know there are things you are not telling me, and I am fine with that. But if you need help with something, I want to…”
“No, it is nothing like that.” Jane cut him off before he said any more.
“Then why are you so worried all of a sudden?” He asked her. “Your mind was at ease, but it is not any longer. What happened to change it?”
Jane looked at him with somber eyes. “You speak as if you can see inside of it.” Her voice was almost regretful.
“No, I can see nothing… but I felt your ease shift to nervousness and worry.”
She smiled slightly, almost forcing it. “You see what I told you about your powers? You will not even notice their growth.”
He knew she was avoiding his question again, and he ignored her comment to demand, “Tell me, Jane Saint Marie… what is wrong?”
“Please… just call me Love.” She told him, finally looking him in the eyes again.
His face crinkled, but he obliged, “Alright, Love… whatever in fury that is… what is frening wrong?” He stared curiously into her eyes, trying to pull the truth from her lips. “I only wish to help you.”
“I understand that.” Jane said with a nod. “But the answer to what you ask is one that I cannot give.”
“And why not?” Reggio asked her.
She took a deep breath before answering, and then told him, “Because it has not happened yet.”
“What do you mean?” He asked more urgently. “You seemed so fine with predicting the future only moments ago… so what makes this so different? And besides, why would you be nervous about something that has not even happened yet?”
“Simply because of what might happen when it does. That is the point of that emotion, is it not?” She asked him instead.
“I, uh… yeah, I suppose so.” He told her with the nod of his head. “But I cannot be sure that I even know what emotion is.”
Jane cracked a smile towards him. “I am sure you will learn all about emotion with all the time you have upon this Terra, probably far more than you will ever wish to understand or feel.”
He sighed in annoyance, “Why do you keep speaking as if you will not be there?” His voice showed that annoyance even more, upset about the way she kept leaving herself out of any talk of the future.
“Because, Reggio, I may not be,” She told him bluntly, her voice almost desperate. “Remember what I told you about the future, that looking into it is difficult to see?”
“I do,” Reggio said, his voice now showing of the same emotion that he thought he did not have.
“Well, as I said, the closer the future is that you wish to see, the more clear it becomes.” She explained to him. “And although it can always be changed, sometimes there is just no escaping what is put forth before us. It is a very complicated matter that I cannot discuss in the time we have now, with far too many factors to even figure out completely myself. All I am able to tell you is that there will be two witches that come here from the other side, and if they make it to these chambers… something will have gone terribly wrong.”
“Okay, but what will happen?” He asked, completely unaware of what consequences even were.
“That…” Jane said, hesitating for a moment, “That, I cannot be sure of.” She admitted, seeming to hold something back. “It could be anything. I still do not know how the next day is going to work itself out. But if a flood truly does represent the power coming from the south, then anything is possible.”
“So… what can I do to help?”
She tried to laugh. “You can keep yourself out of it, seriously. No offense, but that is the only way you can help us all right
now.” She paused to sigh before going on. “There are still so many factors without your even getting involved. So if you did so, it would only confuse things further. And if the others found out about your existence this soon, it could cause us all much more trouble than is needed. The last thing any of us need right now, whether they realize it yet or not, is for anything to happen to you.”
“I am concerned for you, though, Jane.” Reggio told her. “What if something happens to you?”
“I will be fine. You need not worry about me.” She told him with confidence, however false it may have been. “It is your well being that I am concerned about. If they do decide to attack us during a storm, all fury could break loose here. And you must not get involved in any way. All you should be concerned about is keeping yourself alive.” She looked him in the eyes. “Witches will die here in the next day, possibly in the hundreds. I cannot be sure how bad it will be, not yet, but I can assure you… it will be like nothing you have ever seen, especially if Mother Nature decides to get involved, as well.”
“So you just expect me to do nothing to help?” Reggio asked with a bit of passion behind his words.
“I expect you to keep yourself alive.” Jane told him, being as honest as she could. “So just trust me and stay the fury out of it. Stay here for now and follow the trail that I leave for you. It will keep you safe. But I now have much to get done.”
“So you expect me to just forget about everything you have told me about the future that is about to happen and start stuffing my brain with knowledge of your past?” He asked her angrily.
“Yes… that is exactly what I expect you to do, learn.” She told him, keeping his emotions tempered with the tone of her voice. “Your survival is necessary for our survival. That’s just the way it is, the same as it always has been, even if no one but me can see it yet. And don’t you ever forget what I told you about the past.”
Reggio just shook his head as he looked at her. “I do not like this.”
“Well I never said you would.” Jane told him sternly, and then turned away from him to walk off back down the hallway she had brought him, tears beginning to stream helplessly down her face as soon as she left him.
Reggio was left standing there, watching her disappear into the depth of the hallway. As worried and annoyed as he was at her decisions, he still felt bewildered by her mystery. In all that she had told him about and taught him, about her people and himself, in such a short amount of time, he was not sure that he learned anything about her. And after a long moment of staring down the empty hallway, he finally turned around and entered into the library.
He stepped into a large room, two floors high, filled with shelves worth of books and papers, rows upon rows of them, both large and small, from end to end. The lower level shelves stretched up to the ceiling, and on each side of him were spiral staircases leading up to a higher level, where rows of smaller shelves stood on top of that ceiling for as far as he could see.
He spun around in confused amazement as he looked around at it all, not knowing where to begin. And as he stood there in a sort of awe at all the history they had in this room, Jane had wiped the tears from her eyes to appear back at his side.
“How rude of me,” she said, startling him. “I just could not bear to leave you with such a negative tone.”
Reggio smiled wide at the sight of her. “But I thought you had important matters that needed tending immediately.” He mocked her flirtatiously.
“If you must know, Reggio, I surely do,” she told him, “But for now… they can wait. It would be my honor to introduce you to our collective past, put together by all of the greatest minds and fighters of our kind.”
“It truly is magnificent.” He told her.
“Yes… that it is.” Jane agreed, and then pulled him out of his wonder and up the stairs. “Now come with me and I will show you how everything is arranged. And you can learn about whatever you wish.”
The witch then led him around the different sections of the library, showing him how the different time periods were arranged and how all the stories of the mightiest fighters, both for good and for evil, was all kept together in their own section upstairs. And by the end of her introduction Reggio was balancing a tall stack of books that he had chosen to read against his chest, nearly reaching his chin. She brought him to the empty section in the middle of the upper level where tables and chairs were set up. There were a few witches spread out on the chairs and at tables, reading and doing research, none of which even paid Reggio and Jane any mind.
“Alright, Reggio, this is where I must leave you for now.” Jane told him, remaining upbeat. “And you do not need to worry about anyone here. They are all more worried about their studies than who you are.”
“Shhhh,” one of the warlocks sitting at a table tried to quiet her with a finger over his lips, almost as if on cue.
“See what I mean.” She said, speaking more quietly. “But don’t let him scare you. That’s just Drannin. He is just old enough to begin earning his position within our ranks, but harmless nonetheless, as are the two next to him, Vinson and Anlo. They are too young yet to understand the true importance of our history. They are probably more annoyed then humbled by all these books. You see the way they’re just thumbing through those pages? They have no respect for the story and only crave its end, the outcome. I only hope you will not be like them, because here… the pages seem to go on for millennia. So learn what you can… and just remember what I have told you tonight. It may come to some use one day. And lastly, you must know the sisters. They will be the ones to help you find yourself here in this swamp if I am not able. Remember that Jade is the hand that will shape this land, and Tereshka is the blood that will always flow beneath it. And remember that no matter how bleak the future may seem, do not ever give up trying. With peace in your heart, wrongs can always be righted. But to attain that peace… you must first find all the pieces.”
“Wait, Jane. Trying what? When will I see you again?” Reggio asked as he set his books down onto one of the tables, taking his eyes off of her for just a moment. “I don’t even know what peace is.”
But as he looked back up, she was gone.
He looked around for her but did not see her anywhere. He could not figure out how she disappeared so quickly. But after getting some awkward stares from the other witches in the room he gave up looking for her.
“I’ll find you later.” He told her, knowing she could hear him even though he could not see her. “You can trust me on that.”
He then went back to the table where he’d left his books, only to find one of them already opened up to a certain page. He looked around again, still not seeing her, but knowing it was her that had opened it.
“You said this book was a good choice.” He said, still talking to her. “And I suppose this is where you want me to begin. Fair enough, Jane… fair enough.”
Reggio then began to read from the top of the page she had opened it to, the story of the legendary elder wizard known as Arabi. He had never read anything before, and he was not sure how, but the words were just coming to him. He knew what each one of them meant as soon as he read them. It was just as Jane had told him, how she could have known was beyond him, but he was having no trouble at all.
Chapter 6 - Preparation from the Start