The Vampire and the Orphan

Chapter Eleven

"Wait!"

Lettie stopped them just before they jumped through the void, a panicked note in her voice.

"What is it?" Nathanial asked.

"What if it's daylight? You'll start to burn as soon as we pass through! Once we get past the nothing, I reach for the earth, and we're there. It happens in a literal instant."

Her voice was full of fear, more so than she'd shown for him before. Was it the trauma from seeing his fall and near death twice? Or had the revelation from that dream affected her? She seemed sad about it, and he didn't understand why.

"It's been hours," Nathanial assured her. "I'm sure the sun is down by now."

It's was strange not knowing, vampires learned early on to become very attuned to the sun. In this strange void he couldn't feel it.

"But what if you're wrong?"

"Such little confidence in your big bad vampire," he teased and managed to get a tiny smile from her.

"I won't be falling down a cliff and breaking every bone in my back this time. If I need to run, I can get into the cave; it'll be fine, Lettie." He added in a more serious tone.

"Are you sure?"

"I'm sure," he promised her, "we need to get you back on earth and fed."

"That sounds so weird," she mumbled as she took his hand.

"It's all so weird, isn't it, little faery girl?"

"Yeah, it is, big bad vampire," she was full-on smiling at that, and it was contagious.

"Ready?" He squeezed her hand, and she squeezed back. They both rushed into the cave's open mouth; Lettie did her thing. When he opened his eyes again, they were outside the cave and back in their own world.

The sky was becoming dark; he looked around the clearing; it was so similar, very little had changed. He turned to face Lettie, and it was a relief to be able to fully see her again.

"You were right. It's night," a shy smile curled over her lips, and he found his eyes lingering.

She was so beautiful, his soulmate, he'd always thought so, but he couldn't stop noticing her now.

She averted her gaze and started to explore the small area near the mouth of the cave.

"It is so good to feel the earth again," she said, taking a long breath in. She closed her eyes for a moment as she took it in. Her necklace was still glowing against the night sky.

"Will that keep the black cloud away?"

"I don't know," Lettie said honestly, "it was Jael, though. In my head, in those dreams. I'm sure of it now; when we went through that. I remembered all my dreams of the nothing. That's what he wanted from me. He wanted to know if I could open realms."

"But why?" Nathanial asked.

"Good question," Lettie said, "the woman told me never to let him bring me to where he is. I wonder if he's in another realm?"

"What's the cloud, though? Is that him?"

"She said it's dark energy that he controls," Lettie said, "I felt light energy when I healed you, and it felt so .. powerful. I wonder what dark energy is like."

"Stay away from it," Nathanial advised, "I've guarded witches that thought they could stay ahead of dark magic. They were always wrong. Dark things can get into your soul and quickly too."