And What I Found There - Book Two

10. Until I See You Again

"I have a solution!" I exclaim excitedly as I burst into Cornelius's office in the morning.

"Adara!" He sounds so surprised and smiles at the sight of me. "Goodness, you certainly seem to be feeling much better," he stands up and looks me over. "You certainly have a spring in your step."

"Thanks! Oh, and thank you so much for everything you did for me last night, really. And that's one of the things I wanna tell you. My mind hasn't been that quiet since I got here, and I finally had time to think about my curse and I think I actually may have come up with a cure!"

"Slow down, child, you're speaking too fast," he pulls a chair over for me and now leans against his desk as I sit down. "I was so worried about you when you didn't come to breakfast this morning. Should I send for something now?"

"I was too busy brainstorming, and no thanks. I think I have the answer to my problem. So Vampires have venom, right?"

"I suppose..."

"Right, and so do snakes and spiders, and what do we do with creatures that produce venom?" I look at him excitedly, hoping he is catching my drift. He isn't.

"We...? Kill them?" He offers.

"No," I laugh with an eyeroll. "We make antivenom!"

"What?" He furrows his brow.

"Antivenom! It's a cure that's found within the very creature's own venom! You see, venom is diluted and injected into a host animal, like say a rabbit or pig or something and they undergo an immune response to the venom, producing antibodies against the venom's active molecules which can then be harvested from the host's blood and used to treat envenomation!" I explain eagerly.

Gosh, being a nerd really pays off.

But it seems like geeking out has went right over the White Knight's head. He looks even more confused now than before. "But... Vampire venom? That... I mean, I'm not so sure."

"There's nothing to it! I can create the antivenom myself! All I need is a Vampire -"

"I thought you said Von Vesymir killed all of his Dark Riders."

"Oh," I swallow hard as I remember that lil' tidbit. "Um, yeah... I guess he did..." Why am I always forgetting he kills everything around him? I suddenly brighten. "But Vyndren's still out here! All I need is him!"

"Him, Adara? Really?" He shakes his head. "I don't want you anywhere near that beast with these Blood Dreams of yours."

"But he's my only cure!"

"We'll find something else," he insists, squeezing my shoulder briefly. "In the meantime, we better get to training -"

"Wait, no!" I hop up anxiously. "We don't have time to search for another cure! What if there is no other cure? We've looked through every book in the library!" I insist. "We may actually have a shot at this and I say we should take it!"

"Adara," Cornelius shakes his head. "This is Von Vesymir we're talking about. He's a notorious criminal. He's the one responsible for your curse in the first place." I flinch. "Even if we did know where he is -which we don't- I highly doubt he'd let us run some sort of experiment on him."

"It's not an experiment! It wouldn't take me anytime to whip together a cure! And we could find Vyndren, I know you could," I excitedly insisted. "You're the greatest Knight in Raetri!"

He gives me a look. "My dear, flattery will not change my mind -"

"C'mon, Cornelius! We don't have much time!" I say frantically. "My Labors are right around the corner and I won't be able to even finish training if I can't cure my Blood Dreams! These things could kill me!" I helplessly shout.

He flinches.

I feel tears burn in my eyes so I anxiously turn away to hide them from him. "I-I'm sorry," I whisper. "I just... I don't have a better idea and it's too late to keep starting from square one."

Cornelius steps closer and gently rests a hand to my shoulder. I glance up at him. His brow with furrowed with pain as he sees the torment in my eyes. "My poor child... fine," he relents with a sigh. I brighten with hope. "Alright, fine. You've bloody convinced me. We'll search for the rogue Vampire -"

"Really?! OMG, seriously?!" I squeal with relief. "Thank you, thank you!" I swiftly hug him. He seems surprised. "Thank you so much! I won't let you down, Cornelius! We'll train on the road and everything, you'll see! I won't miss one lesson! We'll bring Quill with us and...and...and it'll be like we're training here at the Court but better c'uz the Queen won't be able to spy on me! Oh this is awesome!" I squeal again and now bound away. "I'll throw together a pack and then we can hit the trails! Vampire hunting!" I call giddily as I dash out, my thoughts go a million miles an hour as I run.

I'm going to see Vyndren again.