“I don’t know, but I think because the stake in the heart is the only way to infuse the Sleeping Death,” Loki snapped. It felt confusing being told he was one of the greatest Dreamhunters in the world when he didn’t know much about it, and had to learn about it from a notebook as if it was Chemistry.
“Are you ready?” Loki stared at Axel to make sure he was super alert. “The glass has to crack open on the first hit. It has to be big enough for me to stab her in the heart, or we’ll be in trouble.”
“I’m ready,” Axel took a deep breath, and kept it in his chest.
Fable imitated Axel. She wished this would help her calm down.
Loki counted, “One.”
Axel was holding his breath so that his cheeks grew bubbly like small red balloons. Strangely, one was bigger than the other.
“Two.”
Fable closed her eyes, let out a sigh, and parted her legs.
“And Three—“
Before Loki finished counting, Snow White opened her eyes.
14
Now I Lay Me Down to Sleep
Snow White’s demonic eyes flipped open. They looked as dead as black buttons sewn to her eye sockets, like black coins that rested on the eyes of the deceased, sucking Loki’s soul into darkness. With her blood red lips and sharp fangs, she snarled at him.
“Three,” Loki heard Fable say enthusiastically. She still had her eyes closed and her face tightened, unlike terrified Axel.
The way Snow White became snow-bite in a flip of a switch was unbelievable. Loki wondered if this ever happened to Prince Charming when he tried to kiss her.
Everything changed in milliseconds. Axel hammered down hard. It was one effective hit, finally letting the air out of his lungs with a hysterical scream, like a mad samurai jumping out of the pages of a Manga. He acted out of fear, not courage.
The glass coffin broke open, splinters flying in every direction, and shards of glass scattering on the floor. Snow White yelped, as if her awakening was just as painful as being staked. She turned her head and growled at Axel.
“Oh my God,” Fable shrieked, having opened her eyes. Loki didn’t have time to comfort her, or ask her if she changed her mind about Snow White being so beautiful after she saw this. “Oh. My. God.” Fable might’ve repeated the phrase forever, forgetting about the other million words that would express her surprise.
The reason why everyone was still alive was that the crack in the glass coffin wasn’t big enough for Snow White to leap out. Axel had just cracked the part over her chest open, the rest of the coffin remained unbroken. Contrary to common belief, Loki had known from previous experiences that vampires took a few minutes to adjust to their surroundings when they woke up.
The vampire princess tried to reach her hands out and grab for Loki’s arms. Loki had about one hundredth of a fraction of one tenth of a second to sink his Alicorn into her heart. Faster than a scared pussycat, he pounced down on her and staked her in the heart. His grip was so tight on the stake the knuckles of his fingers whitened. He held his grip longer than usual, staring at her, and he wasn’t going to let go until she went back to sleep.
Snow White let out another yelp, wrapping her cold hands around Loki’s, sending a slight shiver through his body when they touched. Her hands were too cold and again, Loki felt something strange touching her, as if she managed to pass her feelings to his soul. It bugged Loki that he felt as if she was blaming him about something.
Why do I always feel that I’m the bad one when it comes to her? I really wish this feeling would just go away.
Blood gushed out from her heart around the stake. It covered their hands, and splattered on his face. Snow White’s upper body leaned forward in shock and her black eyes stared at Loki. She didn’t look angry as much as betrayed. Loki could swear that he could hear Axel and Fable breathing behind him. It was an intense moment, and the little Snow White princess was a fighter. She didn’t give in easily.
Finally, Snow White surrendered, her eyes turning into the loveliest ocean-blue color again. She was in her Sleeping Death.
Her eyes were so beautiful that Loki couldn’t let her head fall back into the coffin without assistance. He had to hold her by the shoulders, placing his other hand under head so she could rest upon it like a pillow.
“May you sleep in peace,” he found himself whispering to her.
“Is she dead?” Axel asked. With his back against the mirror and a hammer in one hand, he looked like a psycho killer—so did Loki with the stake and blood on his hands.
“Temporarily,” Loki said, looking at the blood on his hands.
The blood of Snow White is on my hands. If she turns out to be the real Snow White, I must be the worst person in the world. What am I doing?
“Temporarily? You mean she could wake up again?” Axel freaked out.
“Not on her own. Only if someone pulls the stake out,” Loki explained, remembering that he hadn’t succeeded in killing most of the vampires because of this silly fact.