Codex Vampiric: Volume 1

25. Tristan's Study

Tristan walked into the house to see Isadora packing her bag that sat on the arm of the sofa. She looked up at him and gave him a suspicious glare.

"And where were you all night long? I hope you made progress in figuring out why Therius stole your spellbook."

He grinned, walked past her, and patted her shoulder.

"You're smiling." She sniffed the air. "And I detect a distinct hint of champaign. Don't tell me you were out wooing the town's women. Tristan, this is serious, this is no time for you to be fooling around."

He sighed, walked over to her, grabbed her chin, and shook it left and right playfully.

"Don't be so upright. I never said I didn't make any progress, now did I?"

She sneered and slapped his hand away. "Fine, did you make any progress?" She put her hands on her hips.

"What will you give me in exchange for this vital information?" He asked coyly.

"How about if you tell me I don't punch you in the mouth."

"With your own mouth?" He flirted.

"Tristan." She made a fist.

He put his hands up. "Fine, fine. You are so upright today, you know that? I'll show you what I found out. Follow me."

Tristan waved his hands and the black thorn vine tattoos shifted from the skull's mouth on his chest, around his arms up his neck, and around his face.

Darkness burst forth from his hands and a dark opening appeared before them.

He let his arm fall back at his side, gestured to the opening, and bowed as his tattoos recoiled back into place.

"Ladies first."

Isadora looked at him from the corner of her eye. "This better be good. I'm in a bad mood."

"Aw, tough day, would you like a massage?"

She rolled her eyes and walked past him into the darkness.

"Guess, that's a no." He said and walked in after her as the opening closed behind them. She had to be in a really bad mood. He had never seen her this uptight, she wasn't even returning his quips. What could have happened to set her off?

They walked through the darkness in silence until they arrived at a large expansive study. They were surrounded wall to ceiling by tall shelves of books. On other shelves, there were skulls, each with a special mark on their forehead. Alongside the skulls were chests filled with enchanted necromantic artifacts. The room was lit by floating black wax candles, with flickering blue flames.

"Your study has grown since last I entered it." She said as she looked around.

"Yes, well, one is bound to build up quite the collection when they have been around as long as I have."

She nodded then turned around to face him. "So, what is it that you've learned?"

He snapped his fingers and a dark purple book floated down from the tall shelf and into his hand.

Tristan opened it and began flipping through the pages. "This book is a spell journal. When I was first creating my own spells I wrote down my formulas and whether they failed or succeeded."

"Yes, I remember. And?" She urged.

He lifted his eyes. "Most of them made it into the spellbook which means that I can use this to figure out what spell Therius was after in my book."

Isadora stroked her chin thoughtfully. "Right, that is a start. So anything else?"

He closed the book. "No, that's about it. I'm going to have to go over this book until I find out what he was looking for."