'Oh! How peculiar!'

No... No... How could I be hearing anything? I was dead!

'Good Morning Dearie!'

'Wh... What have you done?' I stuttered.

'I saved your life it seems! But you're a little pale, Dearie. Are you going to be alright?'

I reached for my chest : the arrow had been removed. I opened my eyes and was blinded by the sun. I hissed at the bright star and then realised that it wasn't burning me. How could this be possible? I enjoyed for a second the soft heat of the morning sun on my skin. Then I remembered what had happened.

'No, you can't. I don't want to live. Not without him. Put it back!' I ordered.

But the strange man who was standing there at a certain distance giggled. Now that my eyes had gotten accustomed to the sunlight, I could see the man more clearly. He was quite short and slim, dressed in a dark red leather suit. He had dark wavy hair falling on his golden eyes. His skin also, was golden.

'What a shame', he said, 'that you don't want to live when you could get your vengeance!'

'What are you talking about? Who are you?'

I didn't want to show it but he had caught my curiosity. The simple mention of vengeance was apparently enough for me to be willing to live. The man seemed to notice my sudden change of mind as he slowly came closer. Measuring each step he made, he looked at me in the eyes and said.

'I'm sure you wouldn't want to waste an opportunity to find those who killed your loved one and erase them from existence, would you?'

I felt the weight of John in my arms. Even when dying, I had continued to hold my husband's corpse. I now had to let him go.

'You really are pale, though. May I do anything so you can feel better?'

I distrusted the man. But he was right, I was in bad shape. I needed some...'Blood' I answered. 'I need blood from a living person.'

'You should have said so earlier! Nothing's easier to provide!'

He snapped his fingers and a young fellow appeared right in front of me. He looked scared and lost. I was sorry for him but the idea of vengeance was slowly growing in my mind and I had to stay alive. Before the guy had time to realise where he was, I had jumped on him, planted my fangs into his carotid, and had started to drain him of his blood. The poor guy died in less than a minute.

'Who are you?' I repeated while standing up on my feet, leaving the fresh corpse right where it fell and wiping my mouth and chin. Now that I was feeling better, I recovered all my senses. I could now smell the scent of that wizard's blood and it was worse than I could have ever imagined. His scent was the very definition of rotting. I wouldn't bite him even if I was starving to death. However, something else caught my attention : his heartbeat was much faster than usual heartbeat and produced a much lower sound. He smiled largely and bowed as low as humanly possible as he answered : 'Rumplestilskin. At your service.'

He stood back up. 'My turn! WHAT are you?' He grinned.

'Rumplestilskin, alright. I'm... a vampire. I assume you don't have any in this land. 'He shook his head. 'How do you plan to help me?' I added.

His smile grew even larger, if it was possible.

'I can grant you almost anything you want. I am magic! But you don't seem to have heard of me, so I figure you don't have any in your land.'

'Indeed, we haven't. My land is run by science. And it's science which brought me here in order to find a friend. He came in this land some time ago and never came back.'

'Oooh I see. I may know someone who might know herself where you friend probably is.'

Said Rumplestilskin began to walk around me, as to examine me like one examines an animal in a cage before buying it. It didn't like it.

'May? Might? Probably? Why would I trust you?'I asked.

'Because you have no other choice.'

'Wait a minute', I interrupted. 'You said you could grant me almost anything. Could you bring my Jonathan back to life?'

'No. Can't do that. Magic doesn't allow it. But I believe you're friend experiments might!'

'You know about Victor's experiments?'

The wizard stopped his march around me and came closer. 'I know a lot of things, about a lot of things', he simply replied.

I stayed silent for a moment, thinking about John, about Victor, and about Lucy who was probably waiting for me to bring Victor back. I was lost in a land where I knew no one but that one friend I was here to find; a land where the sun wasn't burning my skin as it should be; a land where, if what that Rumplestilskin said was true, magic existed. It was a lot to process. And John wasn't here to help me through this anymore.

The wizard finally broke the silence. 'And I know you're desperate.'

He was right. Very right. But I was not a fool. If he was so insistent, it was probably that he wanted something from me.

'Okay. What do you want in return? For helping me find Victor?'

'Oh you're fast. So you're ready to make a deal, aren't you?'

'In my land you get nothing for nothing. I assume it's the same here.' He smiled again. But this time it was a mischievous grin. The kind of grin that says 'if only you knew'. And I wasn't sure I wanted to know.'So what do you want?'I repeated.

'I propose... that I lead you to the person who knows where your friend is, and in exchange, you don't kill the next person you feed onto.'

'Hum. Okay. It seems like a fair deal.' I nodded to show we had an agreement.

'Deal!' he shouted. 'So! Walk toward the sun, in about half a dozen miles, you'll smell the sweet scent of apples. Follow that scent and you'll find who you're looking for.'

He snapped his fingers again and disappeared.