Snow White Sorrow (The Grimm Diaries)

by Cameron Jace

  You’re born, you’re told you’re a half-angel, that the world sucks, and that if you kill someone you’ll be a hero and find your way home. Then the idea sticks with you forever. Never mind how everything around you is screaming, ‘no, you’re wrong. There are other things about this life, more beautiful things. You’re just too blind to see, possessed by the ideal future that may not come. Why not live in this moment, and see where it takes you from here?’

  “Are you alright, Loki?” Snow White said.

  “Never been better,” Loki pretended he was, unable to open up and show her his confusion.

  “I have a question. Since you’re sixteen now, I assume it’s the same year you died, right?”

  Snow White smiled again.

  “Why the smile? You should know I have a weakness for demon girls when they smile,” he avoided her eyes, and for the first time he was sincere about his emotions.

  “I know about your weakness. I’m smiling because your question shows you finally care, even if it’s just a little bit. Yes, someone tried to kill me when I was sixteen years old, but I didn’t die. I found a way to stay immortal.”

  “Immortal?” Loki frowned.

  “Most of the fairy tale characters are,” she said.

  “Say that again? Fairy tale characters? Are you saying they’re all real and alive?” he said, remembering Charmwill saying the same thing. “So who tried to kill you, your Wicked Stepmother?” Loki never thought he’d be asking such a question.

  “That’s a complicated subject, but I’ll get to it later.”

  “I can’t help but wonder why you just can’t tell me,” Loki sighed. “Why is it that no one can tell me anything I need to know? Everyone has to keep things from me, and then ask me to see.”

  “I can’t answer that, but we can start with going back in time to learn about my father.”

  “The king?”

  “Yes,” she bowed her head a little. “Angel von Sorrow. That’s his name. Angel Night von Sorrow.”

  “Nice to meet you, Snow White von Sorrow,” Loki said sincerely. “Von means ‘from’, right?”

  “Yes, we’re from German descendants, and my father was a very important man,” Loki sensed how proud she was of her father. The way she stressed the word very was as if she was pleading for the innocence of someone who was wrongfully convicted.

  “Of course, he was important. He was king. I don’t remember him showing up in your fairy tale, though.”

  “I told you the tales were forged.”

  “So he wasn’t an absentee father who didn’t know how to control his new wife or daughter?”

  “Stop being rude,” she hit him on the chest again. It was a playful gesture, and Loki liked it.

  “I’m serious, that’s what everyone in the Ordinary World thinks of your father.”

  “There is a reason why the Brothers Grimm forged his part,” she said.

  “Since this is turning into a friendly conversation between fairy tale characters and half-angels, why don’t we get out of this closet and get some coffee. You’ve had coffee in the 18th century, right?”

  Suddenly, Snow White winced. Someone was calling for her outside; it was the deep, mysterious, and powerful voice of a grownup woman.

  “Shew, where are you?” the voice summoned her. The woman’s voice was so demanding and acute that Loki felt a twinge in his body, and an uncontrollable urge to respond.

  “It’s her,” Snow White said. Her eyes were a mix of horror and sympathy. “Don’t answer her. Her voice has an effect on people. You will want to answer her. You will want to obey her, and even sacrifice your life for her. Don’t let that feeling consume you.”

  “How can she have such an effect on me?” Loki said. “Who’s she?”

  “She Who Must Be Obeyed,” Snow White answered.

  “That’s a pretty long name. I’m serious. Who’s she?”

  Snow White nodded, grabbing the doorknob tighter. “It’s time to go back before she finds me, are you ready?”

  “Wait a minute. Why are you afraid of her? Isn’t she your mother? Tell me about her.”

  “Stop talking, or she will kill you in the Dreamory and you will never wake up again,” Snow White pleaded, listening to the woman’s voice approaching. “We have to leave,” she whispered.

  “To where? How are you sure of what time and place you are taking us?”

  “It’s my dream, remember?” Snow White whispered. “Shut up for a second.”

  “But the Baby Tears—”

  “The Baby Tears prevent me from controlling my dream so you can’t kill me, like when I made you enter it as a seven year old. But it doesn’t prevent me from showing you what I need to. When you used the word ‘Jawigi’, you gave me that power.”

  “So Axel was right, again,” Loki told himself.

  “Shew?” the woman’s voice was already in the room. Standing in the middle of it, the woman was alerted by the noise in the closet. Loki saw her from behind the small gaps in the closet’s door. “Oh there you are, darling,” the woman was approaching and Loki felt that a wicked witch was closing in on them.

  “I agree. Better travel back in time. Do whatever you need to do,” Loki said, gripping his Alicorn. He’d never been afraid like this before. Even the creepiest demons couldn’t stir such fear in his heart like this woman. “Who is that woman?” Loki pleaded again as she was about to open the closet.

  “You were led to believe that she is my Wicked Stepmother,” Snow White said.

  “And the truth is?”

  The closet was already shaking. Snow White was using her magic.

  “The character known as the Wicked Stepmother wasn’t my stepmother,” Snow White said and pushed the door open to another dimension. “She was my m—“

  22

  Angel & Carmilla

  “—oooooooom.” Snow White screamed, falling from the sky.

  Loki’s heart darted up into his throat. He flung his hands out, trying to hold onto anything that might slow their sudden decent. He knew that the closet was some kind of portal that would lead them to a new time and place, but he didn’t expect to be falling from the sky when she opened it. He tried to grasp at the branches but leaves tore off in his grip as he hurled to the ground. His weight caused his body to sink deep in the snow. Stretching his neck out so he could breathe, he sucked the cold air into his lungs.

  “I’d rather fall in love than fall like that,” he mumbled, sitting up straight. As soon as the words left his mouth, Snow White landed in his lap, knocking him down, flat on his back again. Their arms and legs tangled, and Loki coughed strings of her hair out of his mouth.

  “Does it have to be hair in my mouth?” he complained, trying to wriggle free from under her. “Lips would be just fine.”

  “Ouch!” Snow white whined, laying on top of him and staring at his face. “Couldn’t you just move? This isn’t the closet anymore, you know.”

  “Sorry I didn’t bring my parachute, Miss I-control-my-dreams,” Loki said, leaning up on one elbow while she regained her breath from the fall. “Actually, you’re the one who should move; I‘d like to breathe if you don’t mind,” his forehead banged into hers accidentally. Their cold noses touched slightly, infusing an electric feeling into his body. His lips felt dry so he licked them spontaneously.

  “Not in your wildest dreams,” Snow White banged his head with her forehead, knocking him back. Loki saw the blue sky behind the tree branches of yellow and brown leaves over Snow White’s shoulder. It was autumn wherever she had teleported them.

  “Oh. Come on,” Loki said. She had a strong forehead, and he wondered if it represented her stubbornness. He also wished the bump had brought his memories back like it did in movies sometimes. “As if I really want to kiss a vampire in a dream; I was just trying to stand up and lick my dry lips.”

  Snow White snarled at him, showing off her fangs. It was a much friendlier way than when she did it in the castle, the way friends boo at their ann
oying friends. She was just messing with him, and she probably didn’t know she looked adorable.

  “I’m only scared of frogs,” Loki wanted to stick out his brave tongue but he worried it was going to get frost bitten in the cold.

  Snow White laughed, puffing cold vapor onto his eyes. “Too bad I didn’t take pictures of you in the waking world,” she teased him. “You were as scared as a little puppy, holding your stake in your trembling hand as if it were your magic wand. I could’ve posted those pictures on the internet.”

  Loki imitated her laugh, mocking her like a mirror, mirror on the wall.

  “Besides, I had no choice but fall on you,” Snow White stood up, hands on her waist.

  “Really? Why do I have the feeling you did it on purpose, trying to take advantage of a lonesome boy in a dream? “

  “You have no idea how many boys in my father’s kingdom dreamed of marrying me.”

  “Seriously? Did you just say that?”

  “If you can’t stand me, then why are you even here? Why haven’t you killed me yet?” Snow White said. “You’re dying to know about me so don’t make fun of me. I’m not like any other girl you ever met. You do like me whether you want to admit it or not!”

  “I should’ve just killed you,” he said as he wiped the snow off his clothes.

  “So why didn’t you?” she stood on her tiptoes so she could meet him eye to eye, clenching her fists.

  Loki had to admit she was a much better version of the Snow White in the fairy tales, the giddy, helpless, and naïve girl. This one was kind of kickass. He liked that, even if she was a bit bratty sometimes.

  “Why do you care so much about me then? Huh?” she said.

  “You were the one who asked me to save you,” Loki tilted his neck since she was unapologetically pushing hers forward. One more exchange between the two of them and he imagined she’d be sticking her forefinger up his nose.

  “So what?” she squinted. “Why don’t you just go to the nearest closet and leave me alone? I will make sure you’ll wake up in the Ordinary World again, the same pathetic, aimless boy who’s always whining about going back to Heaven, and refusing to enjoy life without questioning the universe.”

  “How do you know so much about me?” Loki swallowed hard, wanting her to back off since he couldn’t really resist her red juicy lips.

  “I just know,” Snow White waved her hand in the air.

  “Look,” Loki said. “I think we started off on the wrong foot here. Let’s start all over again like nothing ever happened,” he stretched out is hand for her to shake. “Hi. I’m Loki Blackstar—”

  “—and I’m here to kick your ass!” Snow White interrupted.

  “Really, how do you know all this about me?” he was impressed. Never had someone treated him with just with just plain honesty.

  “You’re too easy to read, Loki,” she walked away. “You just think you’re not.”

  “Wait,” he said, and she turned around. He walked to her and held her by the shoulder. “Listen. I will take care of you,” he managed to say, the words heavy on his heart. “I’ve never said that to anyone, and I have no idea why I feel this way, but I promise you that I will.”

  Snow White’s eyes glittered, although she knew that it was him who needed her to protect him in the Dreamworld, not the other way around.

  “Forever?” she asked sheepishly.

  “Hell no,” he brushed her nose with his hand. “Until this dream is over.”

  “I’m fine with that,” she smiled, satisfied. “Now, follow me before you get stuck in this dream… forever,” she said and walked toward what looked like an 18th century school.

  “Did you see that awesome look she gave you?” Loki talked to himself behind her back, following her to the school’s main entrance. “Eat eggs, Prince Charming. She likes me better,” Loki was about to jump in the air and click his heels together like a happy harlequin, but refrained from the embarrassment of her catching him.

  “Hurry up,” Snow White said.

  The front iron-door of the school burst open. A horde of young boys and girls stormed out. One of them walked right through Loki as if he were invisible.

  “So no one can see me in the Dreamory, right?” Loki asked.

  “I’m the only one who can see you because it’s my dream,” Snow White said, looking for someone in the crowd. “But don’t push your luck. The longer you stay in a dream, the more your presence could manifest itself, and people will be able see you, talk to you, and unfortunately kill you.”

  “What do you mean by my presence manifesting itself?”

  “If you get involved in something that can’t be avoided, you will become visible and will have to deal with the consequences of messing with the Dreamworld. That’s why you shouldn’t stay too long in people’s dreams.”

  “Get involved in something like what?”

  “Like screaming too loud, or making too much noise, anything that will attract attention to you. We’re like ghosts to them in the Dreamworld. Sometimes ghosts do something and get exposed.”

  “That’s interesting,” Loki rubbed his chin. He still had a lot to learn about the Dreamworld.

  “Look!” she pointed at a young boy with long, curly, black hair; a handsome and strong nineteen year old. “It’s my father,” she said with a panting voice. “Angel Night von Sorrow.”

  “So this dream is before you were even born?”

  “Yes. Come on,” she followed Angel as he walked into an alley after saying goodbye to his friends. A black raven tailed him into the ally, fluttering above his head. “If the things around you change shapes and forms a lot, don’t panic,” Snow White explained. “I am trying to show you about ten years in a few minutes of dreamtime,” she hurried into the alley after Angel.

  “How can you dream of something you haven’t experienced?” Loki asked.

  “Think of it as time traveling. The Dreamworld is complicated, and it’d be better if you don’t analyze everything,” Snow White said, stopping cautiously as Angel slowed down in the alley.

  Angel was standing alone in front of piles of garbage. He was watching a big rat, looking for food. In a flash, Angel caught the rat with his bare hands and sunk his fangs into it. He inhaled its blood into his veins as the yellowish autumn leaves fluttered in a gust of wind, circling around him.

  “So your daddy king was a vampire?” Loki said. “How come he will wage a war against vampires later?”

  “Nobody knew he was a vampire then,” Snow White said. “You see that wind around him. It’s protecting him, covering up his secrets.”

  “What secrets?”

  “It’s the 18th century,” Snow White explained, “Vampires weren’t as strong as they are today. They were outcasts, and they were hunted and slaughtered all over Europe. Historians call this time ‘the Vampire Craze.’”

  “I know about that,” Loki remembered his talk with Axel in the Bedtime Stoories library.

  “Sometimes, when people got sick or caught a contagious disease that forced them to cough blood, they were thought of as vampires. They were hanged, burned, and cremated. Sometimes, they were staked in the heart and buried six feet under. Whole villages were burned in Europe during the Vampire Craze. Just like witches had been hunted in Europe in the sixteenth century. Thousands of witches had been burned here in Lohr; and vampires were the next threat.”

  “What did you say? Lore?” Loki wondered.

  “Lohr, with an ‘h’. It’s where we are now, a small town in Germany where my ancestors lived for years. My father, Angel Night von Sorrow, was born in this town. It’s in Bavaria, Germany. There’s even a castle here called the Schloss, the same as the castle in Sorrow. My father later built a replica as an epitaph to his hometown.”

  “So is the word ‘lore’ as in ‘vampire lore’ taken from the city of ‘Lohr.’?”

  “I have no idea. You should visit Lohr when you leave this dream. It looks like it has been cut from the fabric of fairy tales.
It’s where my family originated.”

  The colors in the world around Loki changed gradually. The wind that was protecting her father whirled and spiraled in the sky like mad paintbrushes spattering different kinds of colors into the air.

  “What’s going on?” Loki asked.

  “Hold on,” she said, pressing her fingers against her forehead like psychics sometimes do. “I’m trying to show you other things while we stand right here. The colors painted a graveyard around them. Everything that the wind painted turned into flesh, blood, stones, and it was all in 3-D. It was so real that Loki couldn’t believe it was a dream, as if they were living inside an animated portrait that changed its scene on its own.

  In the middle of the graveyard, Loki saw Angel talking to a man in a black cloak.

  “That’s my grandfather, Night Sorrow,” Snow White narrated like a voiceover in a movie scene. ”He was the most vicious vampire king in Transylvania, a direct descendant of the very first vampires in the world.”

  “The very first?”

  “Yes, and don’t ask me who they were because I don’t know. Night Sorrow, my grandfather, fled to Lohr from Transylvania after the peasants burned his castle when they discovered his true evil nature. Night Sorrow isn’t his real name. It’s said that it was inspired from the fact that he brought ‘sorrow’ to the ‘night’ when he fed mercilessly on humans in Transylvania.”

  “Quite a resume you have here. Are you sure that you’re Snow White, because things don’t make sense.”

  Snow White didn’t comment, and continued her story. “Once Night Sorrow settled in Lohr, he was ordered by the mother of vampires to create a secret vampire clan that would be strong enough to stand up against the vampire hunters who were chasing them all over Europe. She wanted to create a kingdom and rule Europe, all within a hundred years span. It was the only way for vampires to come out of the dark and declare the right to live among humans,” Snow White said. “Night sent his son, Angel, my father, to a regular school attended by other peasants in Lohr, disguising him as a human. He wanted Angel to mingle with humans and study their lives so he could learn their weaknesses.”