Bride of the Vampire Prince

CHAPTER: 6

The boy was a dream, and the letter was some sort of scam. Still, she couldn't avoid not going, to the pond in the middle of the night. Every cell of her body compelled her to find out what was going on. Who had written the letter, and was the letter specifically meant for her? In the end, she was not sure she even cared. She was simply glad to be thinking about something other than her mom and her sister Tina.

When it was almost time, she slipped out of bed and put on jeans, a T-shirt, and her favorite warm hoodie. She grabbed three things. First was the picture of the three of them, taken on the previous Thanksgiving. People always commented on how much she, her mother, and her sister all looked alike. They all had blond hair, the same coloring, and the same cheekbones. But her mother was the prettiest. She had the nicest smile. She had told Vienna over and over that she had never really smiled until she became a mother. "I saw a picture of me with you as a baby, and I thought, Oh! My smile goes all the way to my eyes! I had never been that happy before."

The smile definitely reached her mother's eyes in the picture Vienna held. Mom had her arms wrapped around Tina and Vienna, and the three of them were laughing. The waitress at the restaurant had taken the picture, saying that they were a lovely family.

Vienna put the photograph in her back pocket and grabbed the can of pepper spray her mother had given her when she had started early morning jogging. She had insisted that Vienna carry it if she went on a trail alone. Finally, she put on some lip gloss Tina had given her for her birthday. Vienna rarely wore makeup, and Tina had only bought it so she could borrow it from her. Its bubblegum smell reminded her of Tina.

When Vienna caught sight of her reflection in the mirror, she paused. Her long, thick hair hung limply over her shoulders. Her face was pale and pinched. Her mother would not want her to go to the pond. She would warn her that all the pepper spray in the world could not really protect her. Tina would say that she was crazy, and she would have definitely cried and begged Vienna to stay.

But they were gone. Their imagined worry seemed to make it even more important for her to go, to get away from their fresh ghosts. She put on her long puffer coat, listening for noises outside her room. Mr. Davies was snoring. Exhausted from a long day with three-year-old twins, Mrs. Davies was also likely fast asleep. Holding her breath, Vienna crept down the stairs and out of the front door of her foster family's home.

The cold pinched at her cheeks, but the fresh air revived her. With the streetlights on, the family-friendly neighborhood did not seem scary. It was, however, silent. The quietness roared in her ears. She stuffed her hands in her pockets and hurried down the sidewalks, heading back towards the school. It seemed, no one else was awake. The cars parked on the street were empty and dark, and the lights in all the houses were turned off.

Vienna wondered if someone was waiting for her at the pond and clutched her pepper spray, vowing to spray first and ask questions later; during the daytime, when she was safe and near a police officer. Though she was vaguely worried what if she had a panic attack? She felt strangely calm, alive, and occupied than she had been for a long time. 

But, the calm drained from her body as she neared the pond. It was darker there. She took out her cell phone and turned on the flashlight app, which did not do much, but was better than nothing. She walked down the embankment and stopped when she reached the stream. Under the flashlight, she was able to visualize the white gate, half-submerged in the water and half outside, and the dark pond lay beyond. Vienna could not see anyone else.

Someone could be squatted in the shadows, behind a bush or a tree. She listened, concentrating hard on her surroundings. But all she heard was the water flowing.

She jumped over the stream. On the other side, closer to the pond, she hesitated and looked around wildly, waving her flashlight in every direction. No one sprang out from the bushes; at least not then.

Heart pounding in her ears, she crept closer to the gate. A small embankment separated the drainage streams from the pond. It was where the gate was secured. The water passed underneath it, possibly through a man-made tunnel into the pond. Vienna shined her flashlight on the patch of muddy grass behind the gate and saw, wedged in between two rocks, another white envelope. This one had her name on it.

Dear Reader, I thought this is nuts!

Nuts or no nuts, Vienna had come this far, so she had to know the content of the letter. She snatched the envelope and intentionally moved away from the water's edge. Holding her light with shaking hands, she read the note.

Dearest Vienna,

You made it. I am never really sure how this part is going to go, so perhaps it is a good sign you responded so quickly. You are often quite difficult! 

This next request will seem a little extreme; it always does. But I am afraid there is no way you can avoid that. You need to wade into the stream and swim under the fence. I shall be waiting for you on the other side, the side you cannot see from where you are. I can imagine you right now shaking your head, thinking there is no way you are going to do this.

But, alas, there is no other way, you can come. You have to come through. The things you have lost... They will come back to you. But for that, you have to return to the kingdom, and you shall find them.

You are needed here for more than that, of course. It is time for choosing my bride. My mother is about to have my head if I put her off again. Ah, I know you are hesitant. I also understand that you have absolutely no idea what I am talking about. But, please have a little faith. Because really speaking, that is all you have left with you, isn't it? 

So hold your breath and be brave. The water is cold, but the passage will not take long.

I will see you on the other side. I promise, Vienna.

Sincerely,

Mien