“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?”