After tossing the bodies of his four victims into the mighty river, the vampire casually strode over to the three witches he had just been fighting with. The two warlocks stood at each side of the foreborn and just in front of her, as if guarding her. As he approached, Jade took a step forward to stand side by side with the two warlocks, Reggio taking his place a few paces in front of her.
“My name is Jade,” she told him, raising her arms slightly on each side, “And this is my Speed and my Strength, respectively.” She tried to ease his tensions with a smile. “We are witches of the clan Saint Claude. And, quite honestly, you have arrived just in time.”
She took several steps towards him, placing a calming hand on his left shoulder. “And what is it you call yourself, vampire?” She asked him. “What name shall I place upon the storm that turned out to be you?”
He looked at her strangely after she called him a word he’d never heard before, again, the same thing she had accused him of being earlier, and grew confused as she spoke as if she were anticipating something else.
“What is wrong, vampire?” She asked, “Have you not a name? Is your mind truly so blank?”
He did not understand what she was asking. He did not know what a name was, nor did he know why she kept calling him ‘vampire’. But without even thinking, he gave a response, the only word that had been trapped inside of his mind since the moment of his awakening, just screaming out at him from time to time, at first, no differently than other words did. Like when he stood beside his very first tree, he could remember how the words just seemed to pop into his head… tree… telling him what things were. But this was the only word that he could find no meaning for… not at all… so he used it for himself.
“Reggio,” he told her, almost mumbling, “Yeah… that sounds good.” Then his voice got louder, more defined. “My name… is Reggio.” He repeated the name again, this time placing it upon himself, not even knowing what it was or why it had been burning inside of his brain.
She smiled at him, a sickly smile if I’d ever seen one. “So… Reggio, is it?” She asked him strangely as she began looking him over, nodding her head. “Yes, well… I have heard of such a vampire, by the name of Reggyo,” she pronounced it slightly different, bringing more of a ‘sho’ to the end letters. “But you seem nothing like anything I have heard.” She paused for a moment as her eyes stopped on his, a puzzled look streaked across her face.
“Well, if the legends are true, then you must be what I came here for.” She spoke almost sarcastically, shrugging her shoulders, but he took the response as a good thing. “Follow me. I must not leave you alone. That could be far too dangerous out here.”
She turned and walked towards the swamp, away from the river, with her two guardians moving to stand at the vampire’s back, waiting for him to follow her. He peeked over his shoulder to growl at each of them, only to turn around and find Jade looking straight back at him.
“Do not mind them,” she said, “They are merely urging you forward.”
The vampire was not sure what to do. He had no idea who these people were or what they wanted from him. He didn’t understand how someone could have been waiting for him, when he didn’t even know where he was or where he was going. But there was something about the whole situation that made him curious, and I as well. Maybe it would lead him to what he was looking for, the memory of his past, or possibly just the disappointment we all ultimately create for ourselves in the end.
“You must trust that we are not going to harm you.” The backwards glance of the witch was what pulled his first foot forward, as well as almost pulling my own foot forward, and without even really thinking about it, he began walking towards her. This vampire, Reggio as he chose to be called, then took her side as the four of them entered through a small trail into the dark and mysterious swamp that the river had built.
The witch, Jade, looked over at him, “And even if we do mean you harm, if you are who you say you are, you should have nothing to worry about.” She spoke with a smirk across her face.
But he just looked at her with as much confidence as he could muster and told her with a bit of power in his voice, “Nothing at all.”
She chuckled as she moved up ahead of him, leaving him to peak back at the two warlocks trailing behind them, just to let them know that he was watching them as they trudged on into the swamp.