The Return | Cricky

Chapter X: Phantom Stranger

The fountain had remained broken. Remained a testament to tragedy and awakening. Just as I thought I had a grasp on this world, I had the rug pulled out from under me, but it wasn't just me. My beautiful shadow, our family, even a wealth of wisdom like Ville, people who had known nothing else but this world were slapped in the face with a new reality.

Asher was one thing. He was a strange, unexplained phenomena that didn't want to explain himself and we were content not asking. When Kiapolo entered the picture, however, it was no longer a quirky fluke we could ignore. Demon lords weren't the end-all be-all of power, true demons were real, and I'm not the first vampire to step foot in this realm.

I must admit, I feel guilty. I may have found my true love here, the realest love I've ever known, but what have I taken from him? When I first came here, all he wanted was the solitude of his castle. To hide away from a world that had burned him and protect others like him, all from the comfort of the shadows. I've taken his peace and quiet from him, yet he still treats me with kindness. The day he returned, he found me in the remains of our garden; plants still browned, no longer charmingly dressed in frost as the snow had started to melt into slush. The sky was grey and the stone of the fountain remained shattered across the ground. I hadn't known what to do with it, how to fix it, how to fix any of this.

His warmth enveloped me, penetrated even the enchantment of my clothes, but never sickened me like normal heat. His heart, as closed off as it'd always been, showed it's beautiful flames to me alone. I could tell he was tired. Circumstances aside, Avatar Country is a crowded place, and Ricky isn't a people person. He rested his weight into my side, his two hands clasping over one of mine.

"It was ugly anyways." He said.

"I've seen a lot worse. You should see how gaudy the fountain is at Versailles. The water comes out of the mouths of turtles and frogs."

Ricky rolled his eyes, trying not to actually laugh. "Where do you come up with this shit?"

"I'm not kidding! It's real! It's actually a really popular design choice on Earth, tacky as it may be." I replied, absolutely enchanted by the way he tries to hide his smile. "The rest of Versailles is breathtaking, though. I'd love to take you there some day. It's not too far from Paris, either, which is largely considered by humans and vampires alike to be the most romantic city in the world."

Maybe it's my age showing, or the vampiric need for everything to be ornate, but I do miss the way things used to be built. While this world has it's fair share of slums, they still continue to build the way Europe used to. Ricky is secretly a big nerd for architecture, too. I know he'd just love to see all the palaces and chapels. The huge stained glass windows in our castle aren't actually too dissimilar to the ones in Notre-Dame, though admittedly a whole lot less religious.

I remember when I was a young vampire, I, like many others, had fallen victim to the old wives tale that we couldn't enter churches. The masters I studied under at the time dragged me to Notre-Dame to prove me wrong. They'd taught me that there was a symbiotic relationship between beauty and cruelty, one that humans would never fully understand. "It is the uniqueness of only a vampire that can truly see this." They'd spoken as they stood in the middle of the cathedral, arms spread out. "This place is no different than what we are: Breathtaking, magnificent, too magnificent to even feel human, but look at the very people who worship here. The very faith that built this place. It's far crueler than you and I."

I think now of where they stood, the odd mix of fear and curiosity I'd felt. It was truly larger than life. Though I'm sure I've been in grander places, I've never since looked up at a ceiling and felt so small. The checkerboard that covers the floor seemed to stretch for an eternity when I looked down the aisle. And yet, the masters who'd brought me there, they weren't scared at all. They looked to be cut from the same marble as the building itself.