by Cameron Jace
“That one took me some time to figure out, but I finally found the answer, not in fairy tale books, but in history books,” Axel said. “Remember when we talked about the Vampire Craze in the 18th and 19th century?”
“Yes,” Loki nodded. “It was the first time historians ever mentioned, or suspected, the existence of vampires.”
“Exactly,” Axel clicked his fingers. “People reported that their relatives came back from the grave after they had buried them. They returned as vampires and bit their loved ones, turning them into vampires.”
“Where did that vampire craze start?” Fable inquired.
“In Europe,” Axel replied. “That’s why the Dracula story also originated from Transylvania. People in Europe went crazy, watching their loved ones come back from the grave with a dominant urge for blood and the inability to walk while the sun was out.”
“That’s interesting,” Fable remarked.
“Yes,” Loki confirmed. “Only these weren’t vampires. It was a disease—not that vampires didn’t exist, but the disease’s symptoms were similar to the needs and actions of,” Loki said.
“I don’t understand,” Fable shrugged her shoulders. “This is confusing.”
“It was a disease that spread in the 18th century,” Axel said. “It was called Porphyria back in the day,” Axel read from a history book like a mad scientist. “’Porphyria was a genetic liver affliction that affected the biosynthesis of blood giving the sufferer severe reactions to sunlight and causing their gums and lips to recede creating a fang-like effect and pale skin.’”
“In English, please?” Fable said.
“The disease caused people to have pale skin, grow slight fangs, and its only cure was to get injected with blood through the liver,” Loki explained. “Of course, it was an old fashioned cure in a time when medicine was still primitive.”
“Really?” Fable said with an open mouth. “Sounds exactly like vampire symptoms.”
“So what does this have to do with the liver the evil witch wanted to cook for dinner?” Loki asked Axel, clapping his hands together.
“Don’t you get it?” Axel said. “The disease caused failure of one’s liver. The only possible way of relieving the problem back then was the ingestion of large amounts of blood, which can be absorbed into the bloodstream through the stomach wall and onto the liver.”
“So? You still didn’t’ answer the question,” Fable asked.
“When the rumor spread that the infected people were vampires people began exchanging advice on how to kill them. It was obvious that you had to stake them in the heart first because this was how you killed vampires. Ripping the heart out was probably even better; to make sure the vampire didn’t wake up from the grave again. But then people noticed that when the liver stopped functioning, the vampire died as well—”
“And of course this wasn’t the vampire; it was the dude with the disease that made him look like a vampire,” Fable clicked her fingers together.
“Ahh—” Loki struck his forehead. “They thought this was a manner of killing vampires, so they spread the idea that to kill a vampire you had to stake them in the heart or stake the liver?”
“Stake it, eat it, whatever. As long as the liver was destroyed, no one could infuse it with blood again to resurrect the vampire,” Axel said, his face shining bright. “If this was what was thought of vampires in the beginning of the 19th century, then this was what the evil stepmother thought of Snow White, because Snow was a vampire.”
“But you base all of this on the assumption that Snow White was born in the 18th or 19th century,” Fable said. “I thought Snow White’s story was much older than that.”
“It must’ve happened in that time because the Brothers Grimm wrote the first Snow White version in 1812,” Axel said. “The Brothers Grimm collected the story from the locals, who must’ve witnessed the stories themselves. I’d say the real story happened ten to fifty years prior to that date, sometime at the height of the vampire craze.
Don’t forget that Snow White was a princess, so maybe her king daddy didn’t want anyone to know about her being a vampire, because then she would have been killed.”
“I still can’t believe Snow White is a vampire,” Fable said, considering the facts.
“That’s some twisted logic, Axel. All I know is that I’m sure I saw a vampire yesterday, and your evidence, especially the liver thing, is considerable. Does that mean that her liver is a weak point? Should I stake her in the liver? I don’t understand,” Loki remarked, although he knew Charmwill had told him the only the only way to kill her was in her sleep, but he never told him if she should be staked in a special way, different from other vampires. Loki let out a laugh of mockery, remembering that he couldn’t even stake her in the first place.
“She is not a vampire!” Fable stomped a foot.
“She is,” Axel insisted. “You know what I also think? I think it’s a damn scary family she came from. You know what the queen did with the heart and liver that she thought were Snow White’s? She ate them,” Axel’s head lunged forward, as he chomped his like Jaws. “Yum. Yum.”
“Thank you for destroying my childhood, Axel,” Fable howled. “I hope you can do your homework from now on, because I quit.”
“It all makes perfect sense,” Axel totally neglected his sister. If he really cared for her like he’d told Loki, then he had a poor way of showing it. “All vampires were super beautiful and gorgeous. I saw her yesterday in the castle, so lovely, posing innocently when she wanted to, although she could be so mean when she wanted to. This is the perfect description of vampires.”
There was no doubt that the girl in the castle was a vampire, Loki thought. She was super powerful, super scary, super lovely, and super manipulative. But was she the real Snow White? The idea made Loki feel like there was something he should remember but couldn’t. Were fairy tales true? Does she even know who she is?
Loki let out a sigh. “Even though all you just said would make a perfect book, I don’t see how this could help me kill her.”
“This is what I wanted to talk to you about,” Axel tried to avoid Loki’s eyes. “I found this diary, which seems to me to be Jacob Carl Grimm’s diary, or at least, part of it.”
“Who is Jacob Carl Grimm?” Fable asked.
“One of the Brothers Grimm, the two brothers who wrote the Snow White fairy tale,” Axel looked irritatingly at her.
“How come such a book is in this library? Jacob Grimm’s diary? You’re talking about a precious one-of-a-kind-diary manuscript,” Loki said.
“I’m still not sure, but it has the initials J.G. on it,” Axel said. “I can’t think of anyone else with the same initials.”
“Wait,” Fable interrupted. “So you didn’t discover all of this by yourself, right? You got the information from this diary.”
Axel shrugged. “What do you care? I am helping you out here.”
There was a moment of silence when Loki and Fable exchanged looks again.
“Anyway,” Axel said, averting their eyes. “I haven’t read the whole diary, but it seems to me that whoever wrote it wasn’t fond of Snow White at all. Remember when she whispered in your ear yesterday?”
Loki nodded.
“This J.G. mentioned that whenever she feels a weakness toward one of her victims, like liking them or feeing attracted to them, she’d confuse them by manipulating their feelings somehow.”
“Manipulate?” Loki frowned.
“Like playing victim and asking them to save her. She keeps doing it until her weakness toward that person subsides and she can kill him eventually,” Axel wiggled his eyebrows at Loki.
“That’s what she told me, yesterday,” Loki said, almost talking to himself. As much as it was all he wanted to here, he was also disappointed. Something inside him made him wish she did need his help.
You’re better that way, Loki. Now you have no excuse to not let her play her games. All you have to do now is kill her and get back home
. She’s like any other manipulative demon you’ve met before.
“What?” Fable sneered at Loki. “Did she really ask you to save her?” Fable’s eyes widened. “Really? I can’t believe you. What’s wrong with you, Loki? She needs your help.”
“She was only playing me,” Loki avoided Fable’s eyes. He thought that if he’d stared at her longer, he might have softened and changed his mind. Fable’s admiration for the vampire princess was contagious.
“Talk to me, Loki,” she pulled him by his arm. “How could she ask you to save her, and you still want to kill her?”
“Stop it, Fable,” Axel said. “She is definitely playing him. Can’t you see what this diary says about her manipulating those she feels soft for?”
“Yeah?” Fable snapped. “According to your diary, she has a soft spot for Loki. After all your research why didn’t you ask you both ask the most important question? Why does she have a soft spot for Loki?”
“That’s what’s bugging me,” Loki made a fist. “So please stop talking about it. I have to kill her, and you’re not making it easy for me with all your theories. My life depends on it.”
“Your life?” Fable and Axel said in one breath.
“I don’t want to talk about it,” Loki brushed his shoes against the floor and watched it for distraction.
“I don’t know what he means, Fable,” Axel said. “But believe me; you didn’t see what she’s capable of.”
“Say something, Loki,” Fable pleaded. “I thought I liked you. Don’t make me regret it.”
“I don’t know what to think,” Loki snapped. “Axel’s discovery and that diary he found says we’ve uncovered the mystery behind one of the greatest fairy tales of all time. If that’s true, it means we’re going to change history if we tell the world about it—well, at least the fictional history of fairy tales. Which should be fantastic, but I’m sorry if I don’t share that feeling with you, because the truth is that I don’t care. I don’t belong here. I don’t believe in fairy tales, and I don’t want to. I came to kill her and that’s what I will have to do.”
Loki took one last look at the siblings, and something struck him as unusual.
“I’m going back to finish her,” Loki said slowly. “I advise you to stay away from me. I should thank you for the help, but my life is nothing but trouble, and I don’t want you to catch my curse.”
“And our life is all pink bubbles and ice cream,” Axel rolled his eyes. “I’m the most popular, un-pathetic, loved, boy in school. Can’t you see that?” he mocked himself.
“And my life is great, too,” Fable said. “My mother was never a lousy witch, and no one ever mentions this in school, or belittles me and reminds me that I’m nobody. I’m just walking on sunshine.”
“Alright, stop mocking me. I understand,” Loki said. They were telling him that he’d been whining all the time and that if he thought he had the weight of the world on his shoulders, they were no different from him, only they faced their fears and enjoyed their days. “But it’s time to split. The journey ends here.”
“Where are you going,” Fable said.
“It’s daylight, and I think the vampire princess should be sleeping in the coffin somewhere in the castle. It’s the perfect chance for me to get the job done,” Loki said. “Axel kept convincing me that we should go after midnight yesterday, but after I gave it a second thought, it makes better sense to visit her when she’s asleep during the day.”
Axel fell from the chair, trying to catch up with him. Fable’s tender hand touched Loki’s. “Wait,” she paused. “I think we should come with you.”
“Why?” Loki wondered.
“Why?” Axel snapped, standing up. “This is the great adventure I’ve been waiting for all my life. I feel like Tom Sawyer!”
“And you?” Loki gazed back at Fable.
“I’m actually worried about you, Loki,” she said.
Axel’s face blushed with anger. “Take your hands off my sister.”
Fable blushed and pulled her hand away. “Stop that dirty mind of yours,” she said to Axel. “Loki’s a good friend. What’s wrong with you?”
“I have to protect you,” Axel fell over some books.
Loki and Fable laughed, and Loki knew that what she said was true. What he felt toward Fable was a brotherly feeling. It was only intensified because none of them had felt this way before. Fable never really felt safe with Axel, and Loki had never felt the magic of caring for a little sister—even though he was sure he’d be gone soon and never see her again.
As they left the library, Loki thought about it and knew why Fable was really coming with them. Unlike Axel, she wasn’t just out for a great adventure, and it wasn’t only because she cared for him. Fable was coming along in hopes that she’d be able to persuade him not to kill Snow White when the time was right.
13
The Glass Coffin
The sun splayed through the big windows and illuminated everything inside the Schloss; the marble floors, the painted ceilings, and century-old chandeliers. There were a number of golden-framed portraits on the wall, portraying battles where people rode unicorns instead of horses. Loki noticed one of the unicorns was ridden by a woman wearing a cloak; the unicorn was hornless. It made him grip the Alicorn in his hand tighter.
There were also a few pieces of ancient furniture scattered among the vast space of the entrance hall, and they were covered with white, clean blankets. It looked like someone was taking care of the Schloss, and Loki wondered who it could be.
Loki fidgeted at the thought. The castle made him feel uneasy, even with the dreamy sparkling morning sunlight that painted the air, hinting to a misleading sense of security. Everything looked friendly and inviting that one couldn’t help but to explore further. Had it not been infested by a vampire at night, Loki would have fallen for the trap.
There was no evidence of last night’s victims, no traces of blood or signs of struggle. It was just a charming, empty castle in the middle of the Black Forest. Even the Swamp of Sorrow wasn’t as creepy as it was yesterday night. They’d been surprised how easily they crossed the swamp and forest before reaching the castle—which made Loki worry even more. Again, something about this whole island and the castle was wrong, but he just couldn’t put his finger on it. Axel was right when he said that this place had a soul of its own.
“Wow,” Axel said. “This looks nothing like the haunted castle from yesterday.”
Loki gave a couple of inspecting gazes, expecting a sinister detail to hold him back from advancing. He couldn’t find any.
“Awesome,” Fable said, dancing in circles with her arms stretched out, like Julie Andrews in the Sound of Music. “I’ve always dreamed of a castle like this. Can we move in here, Axel?”
Loki couldn’t help but adore her. He didn’t bother telling her that it was best if she didn’t dance around so she wouldn’t wake up the vampire princess.
“You think she hid the bodies in the basement?” Axel asked. He stood reluctantly in front of the door leading to the basement.
“She isn’t a serial killer, Axel, and she has nothing to hide,” Loki said. “Relax; I always save the cellar for last.”
“Um—” Axel said. “Because there are two things I hate the most, you know—“
“Not really. “
“Cellars and attics, that’s where all things scary happen.”
Loki took the fancy spiral staircase upward, the one the flashlight barely managed to illuminate last night with all of its blinking. “We need to get upstairs. Remember Dee saying she’d found Snow White’s glass coffin up there?” he said. He could hear Fable and Axel’s footsteps behind him. The staircase was wide enough a carriage could pass through it. The steps were covered with a red carpet, and potted plants were placed on one side—real plants. Who was taking care of these plants?
Loki found himself murmuring:
Snow White One, Snow White two,
Sorrow was coming out for you.
/> “Boy. It takes some time to climb these stairs. I should’ve bought a bag of Sticky Sweet Bones with me,” Axel said wearily. “I bet those 19th century kings and queens rarely got anything done other than climbing up and down the stairs.”
“It’s a royal castle. Every thing has to be large and majestic,” Fable spoke her mind, fascinated with the Schloss.
Loki pulled out his phone and read the notes he’d copied from the dissolved page he’d read in his Dreamhunter notebook. “Tell me if you see any mirrors,” he said. “We can’t kill her without at least two mirrors.”
“Stop saying kill her!” Fable reminded him.
“Slay her?” Loki teased.
“Why mirrors?” Axel wondered.
Loki said. “Part of the killing ritual is laying her body in the coffin between two opposite mirrors to enter her dream.”
“If I were you, I’d worry about stabbing her first,” Axel panted. “And what’s that dream thing you keep talking about?”
“I’ll tell you later, now just look for mirrors I can use.”
“You two are just awful, talking about Snow White like that,” Fable said.
“Honestly, I hated the Snow White tale when I was a kid,” Axel said. “She was a pale girl who should’ve tanned more. Her father was absent and weak while her stepmother belonged to an asylum for the beautifully insane. I like Jack and the Beanstalk more. Jack was badass. He stole from giants.”
“Is that why you eat so much, to fight giants?” Fable said.
On the second floor, a long hallway led to a number of rooms on the right; ten rooms or more of wooden double-doors with golden handles the shape of a crow’s head. Loki started pushing the doors open then peeking into the rooms. The doors squeaked against the floor, and it took considerable strength to push them for they were very heavy. Only a hunk like Big Bad opened the doors with ease. The squeaking sound echoed in the huge, almost vacant, space. Loki heard a couple of birds flutter away somewhere.
