For Love of a Vampire

Chapter 4

I thought of Duncan. I was actually going to meet him... or the him he was... is... The situation was complicated, even for me.

Duncan. I wondered what he was doing in the future. Was he searching for me? Had he even noticed I was gone? One of the things I learned from Isabelle was that there is no such thing as linear time. Man fabricated it to support the reality he chose to experience when he was placed on the planet. Many creatures other than men -such as vampires- are aware of this to some extent and can in many ways bend time. This meant that, if a person knew the way to break the barriers that split the illusion of time into linear sectors, it was possible to go back and forth with only a matter of seconds being realized by those you left behind. Therefore, even though my reality was experiencing weeks of my absence from the twenty first century, those I left behind only experienced a few minutes of time; a day or two at the most. If my calculations were correct, I would be in the future with a human Duncan at my side before anyone noticed I'd left.

I questioned both Isabelle and Duncan on why, if a vampire was able to manipulate time, Duncan simply didn't return and change the outcome of his encounter with the vampire that attacked him. Or, better yet, change his day so the encounter never occurred.

"Because, my dear Jane," Isabelle replied patiently, "Duncan is not magical and that is the time in which he was born. If he returned, he would have no knowledge of what is to occur in the future. He would simply fall into life and play it out all over again."

"Is that why you can't return with me?" I asked.

"Not exactly," she replied, "That is also my era. I was actually born but a few years prior to Duncan's encounter with the vampire. Unfortunately, my magic would disappear if I returned fully back to my true time of birth. I would retain the knowledge and wisdom, but not the ability. Duncan was a vampire for several decades before I reached magical maturity. This is also why my cells wouldn't be able to retain the magic that keeps me alive. I didn't even know what magic was then."

"What about me? I wasn't even born then. What happens to my magic if I go back in time?" I asked with concern. I'd only just started to tap into the edges of what I knew I was capable of doing with magic. I had no desire to have those skills stripped from me.

"Nothing will happen to you because it was not your time of birth," she explained. "If I chose to go back to Roman times, I would be fine because it was not my time of birth. It must be your time of birth in the body you presently occupy for this to occur. Otherwise, you will remain the same. This...today... is your true era. Because of this, you will retain the knowledge of all time recorded up until this moment. You are the only one who can return to assist our dear Duncan... the only one."

"If this is true, then I don't understand why there would be a risk for me to go back," I stated.

"The risk is that you could get stuck, my love," Duncan said. "What would happen if you were not successful in meeting me and swaying my future? What if your journey drew too heavily on Isabelle's magic and she perished? What if I was still turned vampire after all your efforts and something happened to prevent you reaching the portal in time to return to me? These are all possibilities and risks I am not willing to take."

"Okay. For argument's sake," I said firmly as I looked directly at Isabelle, "let's say I didn't pull on your magic and you lived," then I turned to Duncan and continued, "and I succeed in preventing you from becoming a vampire, but I didn't make it to the portal on time and got stuck." I looked back at Isabelle, "Couldn't you just work your magic and keep me alive?"

Isabelle shook her head slowly.

"If it were only so easy, my child. Sadly, I could not," she said softly.