Bride of the Vampire Prince

CHAPTER: 7

Vienna had a real urge to find out who this Mien was and smack him across the face. Though she was not sure why she was so certain that the author was a male, for some reason, it seemed right. No woman would be so cruel to ask her to wade into a freezing stream in the middle of the night and swim into that squalid dark water. She paced the river bank. No way was she going to swim underneath that fence. It was sheer madness. Who had written the letter? Who was doing this to her?

"Is this some sort of joke?" Vienna whispered in the darkness. "Because there is nothing funny about this, particularly if it is a prank."

She got no answer. She clutched the note in her hand. 'The Kingdom, bride, faith.' Whoever had written that note seemed to be an absolute lunatic. The only thing that kept her from running away from this madness, was the other thing that the letter mentioned, the things that had tugged at her heart. 'The things you have lost... They will come back to you.'

Vienna looked at the dark water. If it meant that she could have her mother and sister back, she would swim through fire. But that did not seem possible. They were dead and gone.

Why was she considering this? Vienna asked herself. Looking at the letter again, she studied the looping, perfect script. She wondered whether she was dreaming if maybe she had come back from too much grief and the letter was her mind's way of bringing her some relief. If she went into the water, she could die. It was certainly cold enough, and it was the middle of the night. If she got stuck in, or something else happened to her, no one would be able to hear her cries for help. No one would know. Her mind might have been trying to trick her into such a scheme to entice her away from her sadness forever.

But Vienna knew in her heart that she was not ready to die. Whatever spark was inside a person, the thing that drove them to get out of bed every morning and be prepared to face the world, even when a person was under unbearable grief; well Vienna still felt that spark inside of her. That was how she had managed to drag herself to school every day.

Despite all that she had lost, she still wanted to live. She did not even know why, but perhaps it was some basic, survival instinct. And she knew that if someone jumped out of the bushes at her, she would fight for her life up until her last breath. She would fight to survive.

Vienna clutched the letter, the paper was heavy and thick. It was no hallucination. Even when she had panic attacks and felt completely out of control, she had known she was not crazy. The letter and what it was asking her to do were nuts, but she was not.

She walked across the embankment and scrutinized the pond. The water was calm, silent, and the surface looked like smooth, perfect glass. She wondered, what was in there? Why did she have to swim underneath the gate to cross over? Whoever wrote the letter had said they would be waiting for her on the other side, but she was staring right at the pond. What else was there? She had so many questions in her mind, for which she had no answers.

Carefully, she made her way back down the embankment until she came even with the gate. She listened to the stream waters bubble and run together, heading straight through the fence to the pond. She checked her coat pockets. Her cell phone, the pepper spray, and some tissues were all she had. She took off her jacket and put it on the edge of the bank. Remembering the photograph, she took it from her back pocket and tucked it inside her coat.

She was a very good swimmer if she got in the waters, and it would seem too risky, she would immediately climb back out. She had absolutely no desire to hurt herself. But her fear was surpassed by burning inquisitiveness. First the boy, then the letters. It was an enigma, a mystery of sorts. And a mystery was so much better than the tragedy that she was living in.

The things you have lost... They will come back to you. Mien had been right. All she had left with her was her faith and the crazy feeling that she should do what the letter asked of her.

Taking one last look around, Vienna waded into the water.

Her boots kept her from sliding across the trash, but they quickly filled with freezing water. By the time she had waded up to her calves, her teeth had started chattering. The closer she got to the gate, the deeper the basin got. She glanced back to where her warm coat and cell phone lay abandoned. She decided she was just going to check to see if there was anything under there, then she would be getting out. But she was not sure as to how she would check that. It was very dark out there, and it would be even darker underwater.

'Have a little faith.' The words from the letter rang in her ears, but they seemed hollow, as her legs started to get numb and the water crept up to her thighs. She took another step and gasped when she landed deeper than she expected. The freezing, damp water suddenly rose to her waist.

She took another staggering step forward and made it to the gate. She looked up at the sky and saw the stars twinkling peacefully. Though she knew she should climb back out, towards safety, she thought she had already come so far. She did not feel it right to back out now, at this juncture. She touched the boards of the fence and traced them down into the water, checking where they ended. The current ran stronger underneath. That was where she had to swim.  

A/N: To be continued...