“I know,” Loki said, water trickling down his nose. “That was the whole point of me entering your dream, to kill you once and for all.”
Both of their eyes met again. The blurry and wet atmosphere didn’t stop them from clearly gazing into each other’s souls. It was a long stare, a wondrous one. Loki couldn’t believe that this was the vampire princess he’d come to kill two days ago. Even if she still turned out to be a demon, and even if she was tricking him for some reason, it didn’t matter. Demon or victim, Loki knew that he wasn’t going to be able to kill her. Not after this dream. Not ever. It wasn’t because she was a stronger demon, but because he couldn’t kill someone he liked. If she had really tricked him, then she played it well.
“Who are you really, Miss Snow White?” Loki asked, actually longing for an answer.
“The real question is who are you, Loki Blackstar?”
Loki let out a big laugh, one that came from the heart. He certainly liked her in the Dreamworld better than the waking world.
“What are you laughing at?” she wondered.
“In all this mess around us, the world could end tomorrow, and I couldn’t care less,” he replied.
“Why?”
“Because somehow the only thing I care about right now is this moment with...you,” Loki said, and this time it wasn’t hard to confess it. He didn’t care if Charmwill came jumping out of the water like a mermaid with Pickwick on his back, and staked Snow White then taunted Loki for what a fool he was. It didn’t matter. Not the slightest.
“Even if it’s a dream?” Snow White said.
“I think the worst part about this awfully big adventure is that it’s only a dream,” Loki said, aware that he’d previously declined wanting to be with her forever. The truth was that the way he wanted to stay with her in this dream was unexplainable. “So back to work, tell me what’s going on? Where are your parents?”
Snow White pointed at another ship in the ocean, the one the pirates were shooting at with the intention of hijacking. “There! That’s my mother and father sailing away from Europe. They’re going to get hijacked by pirates as you can see. The pirates will kill everyone on board, but my parents will escape.”
Loki watched the pirates shoot passengers ruthlessly on the other ship, stealing from it and sending the stolen items on smaller boats back to their ship.
Loki saw Carmilla and Angel’s ship sink. Minutes later, he saw Angel lifting Carmilla onto his back like an infant onto its daddy’s shoulders. Angel swam relentlessly like a shark that knew the ocean well. Carmilla wrapped her body around his body, almost choking him, but he didn’t complain. Loki was starting to like Angel immensely—he wished his father would turn out to be as strong as Angel Night von Sorrow.
“Angel was getting very strong,” Snow White said. “The blood of ravens, the blood of animals, and specially my mother’s blood helped him discover the strength of vampires in him, even without fully becoming one.”
“You’re not trying to tell me that he’ll swim all the way to the shore from here, with your mom on his back?”
“Seven days,” Snow White showed Loki seven proud fingers, right in his face, risking her own fall from the pole. “His powers grew scary-cool,” she added. “He was strong enough to keep swimming. He never slept. He could even breathe underwater for a long time. Whenever he found a log in the ocean he would leave my mom on it for minutes as he went hunting fish for her to eat.”
Loki wanted to tell her that he didn’t quite believe this part. Vampire or not, he couldn’t imagine someone with that kind of heroism and strength. But he didn’t, because she came from a fairy tale world—that she claimed was real—and characters with the heroic powers like Angel’s filled every fairy tale ever told.
“I assume we’re not going to be able to see this heroic act,” Loki speculated.
“No one’s stopping you from jumping into the ocean,” Snow White smirked.
“Nah,” Loki squeezed water out of his t-shirt with his bare hands. “I didn’t bring my swimsuit along.”
Snow White leaned forward, while showing a curious look on her face. “May I ask if it was a one-piece or two piece swimming suit?”
“Ha, ha,” Loki said, literally. He placed his palm onto her face gently and then playfully pushed her away. “Now, call your genie-in-a-bottle to sweep us away after your parents. I really want to know what happens next.”
Snow White clapped her hands. Although she was soaking in salt water, looking like a homeless person, she still clapped in a majestic and elegant way. “Your wish is my command,” she said playfully.
“Sometimes, when she doesn’t have her fangs out,” Loki talked to the night sky above. “I think she’s just awesome.”
This time, they were back in the 19th century Schloss, standing in Snow White’s room, which was full of mirrors.