The Vampire and the Orphan

Chapter Ten

Are you sure we didn't make it to the cave?" Nathanial asked, "this surface feels like a hard rocky surface."

"It does," Lettie mumbled, "but I'm sure. I was so scared, I don't recall much, but I did not pull us into the cave."

"Check anyway to humor me."

She stood, brushing off her jeans; she shone her necklace down on the ground and could see it looked like dirt.

"At least it's not total darkness," she said softly as she inched closer to a hard surface; she held the necklace up, revealing a rocky wall of a cave. 

So they were in a cave, but...

"It is a cave, but I swear I didn't drag you. I touched you, and then... I don't know. It was so fast."

"Careful, walking around, Lettie." Nathanial was speaking in a pained voice. She'd heard the sound of his back as it shattered; it was awful. She could not imagine how much pain he was in after that. 

"Which way is the opening?"

"North," he croaked, "please, I mean it, be careful."

"I will. Try and get some rest," Lettie said as she kept feeling around. She kept inching north until she found herself in front of what was an opening; however, there was nothing out there. It was just a blank dark space. It freaked her out, and she backed up quickly.

"We're not in our world, Nathanial," she warned him. "I don't know where we are."

"But.. how? Where are we?"

"I don't know, but outside this cave is that nothingness, like when we were in my dream. I never realized how much I sense the sun, plants, earth, and so on until now." Lettie said wistfully, "I don't feel any of that here."

"Benjamin touched on other realms in his story," Nathanial sounded nervous to voice this thought. 

"He also said Jael disappeared right in front of everyone. Maybe he slipped into a place like this. That's how he faked his death." Lettie suggested. 

"But... Ben said only angels can create and open other realms," Nathanial added slowly, "unless... an unknown warlock and an unknown angel were working with Jael and Lilith."

"Maybe the angel kept working with him," Lettie considered. 

"Benjamin said they were struck down to hell," he reminded her, "before Jael pulled his disappearing act."

"Could one have hidden away somehow?" She asked thoughtfully. "Maybe made these little realms everywhere, and I just happened to slip through one?"

"No. I think you did it," Nathanial said. "You made this somehow."

"How? How could I make another realm?" Lettie furrowed her eyebrows in confusion. 

"Seems like there's a lot more to the story." Nathanial groaned as he shifted. "You said you were pulled into one when we were on the road. How do you know that? What do you mean?"

"I mean, one second, the cloud was on me, and then I felt like a calling, a pull, and opened my eyes to a dark place like this. Someone spoke to me, a woman, with the most beautiful voice I ever heard."

"Was it the same as this place? Could they be here?"

"No, she's not here. No one is here but us. It was dark like this, but the ground was harder, like a floor inside somewhere."

"So maybe these realms are small replicas of other places?" He suggested.

"Which way to your coffin then? If that's true and this is a replica of that cave, it may be in here."