Page 77 of Love Lives
Love didn’t last forever. It did not. No matter what my dreams were trying to tell me.
Atlus was wrong.
"It's complex magic." Puck studied the marble once more, turning it between his fingers. "It might still be useful, though I doubt it'll reveal its secrets in the normal way."
“We’ve got to find another way to protect ourselves from Vlad.”
"The prophecy?” Puck suggested, turning his attention to the stone rather than the marble, his eyes glinting with excitement. “Let me examine that.”
I handed the artifact over. Puck studied it from every angle, running his fingers all over it, almost as if he was looking for a secret entrance. "The Blood Crystal takes blood, the Seeker Stone takes memories, this thing, though..." Puck trailed off, thinking. "If there is a pattern..." He jumped from the bed, stone still in hand.
I followed him out of the room and down the stairs while he muttered to himself.
"We need to try a couple of things!" he said, suddenly turning around to me only for a second before he upped his pace, sauntering into the living room. Just outside the entrance, he stopped for a beat and said a quick spell under his breath. His clothes lost all wrinkles and his electric blue hair rearranged itself on his head as if he'd carefully combed through it. Even though he'd only just gotten out of bed, he looked as if he'd been up for a couple of hours at least. That was one convenient spell for sure...
His appearance in check, Puck pressed on.
A few of my siblings sat in the living room, heads turning to the witch as he entered. Collin, Luke and Crimson had taken over the couch. Morgan sat in an armchair to their left. They'd been talking among themselves until we came in.
"It's time to experiment!" Puck announced.
"Experiment with what?" Luke asked.
Puck set the stone down on the coffee table. "We got what we wanted, now it's time to see how it works." He glanced at Collin. "Where did you put the other gems?"
"I'll get them." Collin rose from the couch and passed me on his way out. "Good luck," he murmured before he was gone. I wasn't sure what exactly he wished me good luck with, but I was sure I could use it anyway.
Puck turned to Crimson. "We'll try vampire blood first."
"We'll... what?" Crimson seemed a little non-plussed by Puck's sudden interest in him. "I like my blood where it is."
"We're trying to speak to the God who created vampires!" Puck pointed out. "It's entirely possible this can only be done through vampiric means."
Crimson glanced down at his wrist, considering. "What do we even know about this so-called God?"
"He was a spirit," Morgan said in a quiet but firm tone of voice. I turned to her, a little surprised that she'd chosen to spoke up. Usually, she remained quiet for most of our meetings. "I've done a bit of reading," she explained. "While you were all busy. Caspar got me some books." She licked her lips, worry lines creasing her forehead at the mention of Caspar's name. "It wasn't much," she continued. "And I don't know how much of it is accurate. Different sources like to tell things different ways."
"Anything you can share with us might help," I said.
“I’ll try my best.” She gave me a soft smile that let me see how pretty she would be if worry wasn’t making her age beyond her years. Once more, I found myself hoping that we could put a stop to all of this, and soon. I wanted her to be carefree. I wanted that for all of us.
After a moment, Morgan cleared her throat and spoke. "This spirit… He wasn't the 'God of Death' so much as a figure that people prayed to, begging him to watch over their deceased. There were many Gods and patrons and spirits with similar roles back then. People held all kinds of different beliefs. Some of those beliefs were strong enough to create new deities. Komori was created this way too."
"Komori?" I asked.
"That’s the name people used to refer to this spirit," Morgan explained. "He was born from the energy of people’s emotions. I'm not sure exactly what led him to create vampires. Some say he took pity on people, some claim that he grew tired of people unloading their grief on him... some say he just wanted to be appreciated in the way that other Gods were. That he didn't want to be feared anymore." Morgan paused, apparently lost in thought for a moment. "Whatever the reason, he brought one of the dead that was laid down at his altar back to life."
"That was the first vampire?" I asked.
"That's one of the things most sources agree on. The man came back to life, but to stay alive…he needed people’s energy to stay alive just the same way Komori did, but unlike the spirit, he couldn’t draw that energy out of the air.”
“So he drew it out of their blood…” I concluded, putting two and two together.
Morgan gave me another one of those soft smiles, though there was no mirth in this one. “Komori thought people would appreciate his gift to them, but..." Morgan shook her head. She didn't have to explain, really. I could imagine how well all this must have gone down in a pre-historic village.
"He thought vampirism was a gift," I mused, wondering at how differently things could look from different perspectives.
"There's some perks to it," Crimson said. He studied the stone on the table in front of him. "Guess it might have been better if he'd let things take their natural course, though."
