He’d saved her, and saved the town, too.
Loki felt her chest rise up to his like two tides in the ocean meeting up, wrapping their waves around each other and finally finding the way back to shore. He pulled back, out of breath, and opened his eyes.
Snow White’s blue eyes came back, shining with a ray of gold connecting their souls.
“I like a girl who knows when to kiss and when to kill,” Loki told her.
She smiled, and he leaned down to kiss her again. No more forcing now. It was smooth like destiny, because it was meant to be.
“He’s kissing the vampire,” the boy said to the girl. “Gross.”
“Shut up,” the girl said. “She’s so gorgeous. It’s a true love’s kiss. You wouldn’t understand,” the girl captured the moment with her phone’s camera. “Who’d have thought a true love’s kiss takes place in a haunted castle with walls spattered with blood?” she said.
“Buzz off,” Loki told them, annoyed by them spoiling the moment.
“Is that it, the cure for Carmilla’s curse?” Snow White said with glittering stars filling her eyes. “A kiss? All my suffering ends with a single kiss?”
“Not any kiss,” Loki mused. “A Loki Blackstar kiss.”
“I don’t feel like I need to feed anymore. Can you believe this? All I needed was a kiss?” she sighed. “You’re really slow, Loki. You know that, right?”
“I know,” he nodded. “I should’ve kissed you the first night I saw you.”
Mr. Squirrel and Nine came running up to them. Mr. Squirrel wiggled his nose and clapped his hands. Loki knew they weren’t going to talk in front of Snow White. They only talked to him when he was alone. Or maybe he only imagined them talking to him. In any case, he loved them dearly.
He looked back at Snow White and brushed a lock of her hair back. “It’s always the kiss,” he said. “Charmwill tried to tell that to me many times, but I was too blind to see. I can’t believe I’ve wasted sixteen years of my life without you.”
28
The Dreamhunter
When the daylight laid its caring eyes gently upon the Schloss, Loki’s phone beeped. It was a message from Lucy:
Comin’ for breakfast? Axel and Fable want to introduce you to their foster mother. She’s really cool.
Loki messaged back with a ‘yes.’
He asked Snow White to join him but she didn’t feel like going. She was tired from all that had happened, and Loki discovered she didn’t feel like she was going to be able to meet people easily. It turned out that spending one hundred years in a castle made her a little introverted. Now that she was saved and cured, she didn’t know how to face the world. Regular people and real life was sometimes tougher and scarier than demons and monsters.
Loki tried to explain to her that she’d love Axel and Fable—especially Fable—but she seemed to prefer being alone for a while. She didn’t mind him visiting his friends who’d helped him a great deal to save her. She had also wanted to search the Schloss for lost manuscripts, pictures, or anything that could help her begin her journey as a Dhampir. She hadn’t been cured to live a normal life. She was the chosen one, and soon she’d be battling the Queen of Sorrow’s demons and vampires.
“I won’t be long,” Loki kissed her. “I might bring them back with me, and then I think you have a lot to explain to me. We both know that saving you is only the start of something bigger.”
Snow White nodded agreeably, but reluctantly. She still had that look in her eyes that said she couldn’t tell him everything for some reason.
“Loki,” Snow White summoned him back, standing at the castle’s threshold.
“Yes?” he turned around.
“I’m afraid this is all a dream,” she said as a morning breeze passed through her hair.
“It’s not,” Loki said licking his lips. “If you don’t believe me, ask your lips.”
“But we fell in love in a dream,” she laughed as Pickwick landed on her shoulder. Loki had ordered him to stay with her until he came back.
“And it came true,” he spread his arms. “What more can I ask for?”
Loki walked back through the forest and then drove his car to the Candy House. He bought flowers on the way so he’d make an impression. Now that Charmwill had died, Loki thought a woman like Mircalla, Axel and Fable’s foster mother, would hopefully be someone they could all look up to and reply on for help. The Crumblewoods had been telling him great things about the woman who took care of them.
On his way, The Pumpkin Warriors played ‘Eye of the Tiger’ on the radio. Loki tried convincing them that it wasn’t the appropriate song for the occasion, but they didn’t listen. His phone rang before he reached the Candy House. It was Lucy.
“I’m on my way,” Loki said after picking up.
“That’s not why I’m calling you,” she said. “I’ve been thinking about the story you told us all last night.”