Chapter 27

For a while, Bo could hear nothing. The void made her panic, for she had no idea whether she was conscious, sane, or even alive. It frightened her more when she noticed that she couldn't see anything either, considering her vision being sharp even when it was pitch black.

She panted in fear as she tried to recall what happened to her, or where she was, but other than a strong headache, she remembered nothing.

She wanted to call for help, but she had lost her voice. She stumbled, looking for an exit, or an entrance, or anything, but the dark void seemed to be the only thing that was around her.

Frustrated and scared, she sat down and wrapped her arms around her knees. She buried her head down and started to sob, just like when she had hidden in the dark closet the night her family was murdered.

"Shhhh..." Someone whispered to her. "Stop. She will hear you."

Bo raised her head. She found herself in that room again, that castle room with stone walls and a painting of Elizabeth Bathory. Though, the portrait was gone this time. Instead there hung an oil painting of angels battling demons. She thought she had seen that painting somewhere, but couldn't remember where or when.

Everything around her seemed...new.

She was about to turn around, but the person who shushed her stopped her from doing so by covering her mouth with a hand.

It was then that Bo had heard footsteps outside in the hallway. It was slow, and it was getting closer.

Somehow, she had the understanding that it was something she should fear, so she stayed as quiet as she possibly could.

The footsteps stopped abruptly. Bo had no idea who that was, but she felt a presence, even though that person should be on the other side of the door. She felt that person's gaze penetrating the door, searching for her.

Bo closed her eyes involuntarily as she held her breath.

The person outside eventually left.

Letting out a deep sigh of relief, Bo spun around to face the person who covered her mouth. "Who are you..." She trailed off, flinched at that face.

Fair, pale skin, with no blemish of any kind. Slightly clenched lips, blushed with a light pink color. Brown eyes glistening with blue sparks, dark, curly hair locks... .It was herself. It was the face she would see every time she looked at a mirror. However, there was something different between the reflection of herself (which she was familiar with), and this woman in front of her. The reflection of herself seemed softer, more amiable, while the other woman looked colder. There was a certain cruelty in her eyes, but it was brought out beautifully in a way it would draw people to her.

For a second, Bo thought she must be hallucinating, but then, something occurred to her.

"I know you..." Bo murmured. "You are...the Vampire Queen, aren't you?"

"Only Huntresses and humans would address me that way," the woman replied with a faint smile. Her voice was neither cold nor warm.

Bo swallowed nervously, for she couldn't figure out if she had offended the other woman. "So...how should I-what name do you..."

"Elizabeth is fine for now, though Vampires usually address me as Lady Elizabeth Bathory, or my Queen ."

"How-why are you...where exactly am I?" Bo frowned hard. "I thought you were...I mean, we went to your grave and-am I dreaming? Is this a dream?"

"Well...we are in your mind."

"What? I don't think I understand...we are in my mind? So this is a dream?"

"No, this is not a dream. You can wake up from a dream. You can't wake up from this."

Bo frowned hard. "I..." She stuttered.

Elizabeth sighed. "You went through the ritual, didn't you?"

"What ritual?"

"The ritual that would bring ultimate power to you?" Elizabeth reminded her.

Bo paused. Did I go through a ritual? She asked herself. A recollection of vague and incoherent memories came to her slowly. The car accident. The face of the man who murdered her family. The short, confusing conversation with him. Sitting in the bed in Elizabeth's dress...

She remembered herself blacking out after talking to him. He seemed to have mentioned something should be kicking in by now at that moment...

"I...I don't exactly-"

"If you hadn't gone through the ritual, you wouldn't have been able to see me, or her."

"Her? Her who?" Bo frowned hard.

"The girl you saw earlier. The girl in the white dress."

"Oh you mean the girl who...was feeding off some guy? Who is she? How did she...how did she get inside my mind? This is all in my mind, you say? What the hell is going on here?" Bo asked.

Elizabeth shushed her again. "Do you not know anything about the ritual?" She whispered.

Bo pondered. "I know that it's supposed to...power you up or something, like it makes you immune to Huntress' power."

As the word "Huntress" left her, she thought of Tamsin. She thought of those fierce blue eyes, her soft lips and her warm embrace. She thought of her lazy laughter, her smirks and her voice...

"So, you didn't go through the ritual willingly, huh?" Elizabeth asked.

"No," Bo said firmly. "Some crazy asshole made me. Do you...I mean, I'd be really grateful if you could tell me about this ritual."

"It's a summoning ritual that summons an ancient spirit, the spirit of our first kind."

"Our first kind? What does that mean?"

Elizabeth frowned a little. "Do you not know anything about Vampires?"

"Ummm...I am a Vampire. I know that we survive on blood and we are not...humans."

"You've never heard of the term, First Kind?"

"No..." Bo shook her head.

Elizabeth closed her eyes briefly and sighed. "It refers to the first Vampire. The very first one. She created all of us. Her blood is in..."

"...all of us?"

"No, not all of us. Her blood is in you, me, and a lot of others, but not all Vampires. Her blood runs in her direct descendants, her three Vampire children. The three children established three Vampire houses: House of Révay, House of Essen and House of Bathory."

"So, basically, the Bathory family descended from her. How come I have never heard of the other two houses?"

"House of Révay was wiped by Huntresses in the 1200s. House of Essen still exists, but their blood is diluted so much that they are no longer able to produce any Vampire children."

"Diluted blood?"

Elizabeth shook her slightly, like she couldn't believe Bo was this ignorant. "When Vampires and humans mate, the chances of them having Vampire kids and human kids are equal. When their Vampire kids mate with humans again, the chances of the third generation being Vampires become slim."

"Oh, so basically people from House of Essen are...just humans now."

"Something like that."

"So anyone who's turned afterwards does not have her blood."

"No. They don't."

"Is it something significant? I mean, having her blood?"

"Having her blood means two things. The possibility of Awakening, where you are born like a human but not quite like a human. Then, one day, you wake up to your Vampire powers."

"Right, the awakened ones are usually stronger and more powerful. What's the other thing?"

"Being able to go through the summoning ritual," Elizabeth told her. "You have to be an awakened Vampire to be able to go through it."

"And she's summoned into my mind? That little girl, she's in my mind because of the ritual?"

"Correct."

"This is supposed to make me powerful how?"

"You'll become the most powerful Vampire ever existed when she consumes you."

"What do you mean?"

"You haven't figured it out yet? Right now, you are trapped here, and she's looking for you. Once she finds you, she will kill you. When you die, she will absorb your power and take control of your body."

"So she becomes me and...I will be gone?"

"Mhm," Elizabeth nodded.

"Well, I kind of like being...not gone, so how can I get out of here?"

"You can't. The ritual traps your soul, or whatever that is you'd like to call it. You are not waking up, and she won't let you get out. This is her game."

"But, this is my mind!" Bo argued.

"I know, but she's here now, and she's growing her territory. She's setting up traps for you. She's building a labyrinth here. She's going to tear everything that's here until she finds you and kills you."

Shocked, Bo paused for a long time. Then she asked, "how did you get here? Did the ritual summon you as well?"

"It's...complicated," Elizabeth said. "I...escaped in the middle of the ritual and..."

"And you persuaded Isis to kill you." Bo suddenly realized something.

"Right. But, since the ritual had already started, a part of my soul was somehow bound to her. We wandered in the dimension where all souls lived for centuries. She couldn't kill me because I no longer have a physical form. I couldn't break free, because I have no physical form."

"So...you are kinda trapped with her and when she got summoned into my mind, you came as well?"

Elizabeth nodded.

"What am I gonna do now?"

"Nothing. There's nothing you can do."

Bo was about to say something, but got interrupted when everything around her started to spin and fade.

Suddenly she was standing in the wilderness. Stars, fragile and pale, hung low in the moonless sky. The distant river weeped and the leaves of the woods shivered. Right in front of her, there was that white mansion she had seen earlier.

"What's happening? Where the hell are we?" Bo asked.

No one answered her, for Elizabeth was no longer with her.

"Elizabeth?! Where are you? What do I do? Please, tell me! What do I need to do to get out of here?" Bo begged. Only the river and the woods answered her.

But, she was not alone.

Beside the door to the mansion, that little girl, the spirit of the first kind, stood there. She grinned at Bo, baring her bloodied fangs.

Tamsin jolted, inhaling sharply while pulling herself out of the vision of an unconscious, heavily injured Bo she had seen while she was asleep.

"Bad dream?" Naomi's voice came to her, full of tease but cold.

Tamsin cleared her throat as she straightened her body - not an easy task considering she was in the middle of the back seats with Naomi on one side and Alexa on the other.

She took a deep breath and closed her eyes. It was just a dream. She told herself. She's safe and sound. She's safe.

"Tamsin," Naomi called her. "Why are you so sure that Bo was taken to the old Bathory family mansion?"

"I am not sure. I just took an educated guess, your highness."

"Care to tell me why you guessed there?"

"If that zealot is so obsessed about the whole Vampire Queen stuff, why not do it at the old mansion, like maybe at the Queen's throne or something," Tamsin replied.

Naomi narrowed her eyes at Tamsin. "That's oddly specific. Are you hiding something from me?"

"Yeah, I am, a grand plan where I magically defeat thirty Huntresses and escape," Tamsin drawled.

Naomi gave her a nasty grin. "I see the car accident didn't kill your lousy sense of humor."

Tamsin closed her eyes again, and stopped paying attention to her. She was, in fact, hiding something from the Queen, and she knew Naomi knew that as well. She wasn't withholding much. She simply left out the fact that the herb leaves found in her pocket was drenched in Sugarmuffin's saliva (yes, her gross fiend has been with her long enough for her to recognize that detail). She knew that the dog must have snatched it from the killer somehow and tucked into her pocket when she was unconscious before he had gone after Bo.

Or at least, she had hoped that had been what had happened. The dog could very well have run away feasting on Ghouls and ignoring her and Bo completely. Even if he did go after Bo, Tamsin wasn't sure what trick the dog could pull exactly, to get Bo out. Not to mention, the entire "that killer took Bo" theory was nothing more than her guess.

In pain, frustration and despair, she asked herself, what would happen next? She wanted to find Bo. She wanted to make sure that she was okay, that she was safe. But, at the same time, she hoped that she'd never find Bo, because Naomi's plan, whatever it was, would not be pleasant for Bo.

If she'd find Bo, Tamsin wondered, how the hell would they get out of this, when she herself was injured and outnumbered while Bo had a zealot nutjob with her? She thought maybe she'd be able to create some distraction, and run after finding Bo, but how could they possibly get rid of all these crazy people? Even if they could run from them, should they? Naomi had a plan. The killer who murdered Bo's family also had a plan. Neither of them seemed to be the type who would give up easily. If they would succeed, what kind of chaos would they bring to the entire world? Would she and Bo really be able to stomach that while hiding somewhere far away from all these?

Above all, she still had no idea what really happened to Bo. Before she passed out in the car, she did see Bo, but the brunette was unconscious. What if she was gravely injured? What if that guy hurt her? What if she's already...

Stop. Tamsin told herself. She couldn't bring herself to even utter that word.

But, what if she is? What if she's already...gone?

Tamsin inhaled hard, to ease the pain inside her chest. Soon, she drifted back to her painful, feverish dreams.

Bo screamed when the girl in white dress pounced at her. The girl's bared her fangs, and Bo choked her with both hands. I am not gonna die here. She told herself. Not today.

That thought made her spin again, and she passed out briefly. When she regained her consciousness, she found herself inside her childhood home, the house where her family had been murdered.

She feared that she'd see their dead bodies, or their lifeless eyes, or blood, but everything inside the house was alive. Her sister was talking on the phone with her friends. Her little brother was pushing toy car on the floor while making loud car noises. Her dad was watching some sports on TV and her mom was cooking in the kitchen. She was baking lasagna, Bo's favorite.

Tears burst out. Bo ran to them, wanting to hug them, but her arms passed through them like thin air. She called their names, her voice shaking, but none of them heard her. They just carried on whatever they were doing without being aware of her presence.

It was then that she realized that they were not real. They were an illusion. They were phantoms. Maybe they were just her memories, something she desperately longed for, something she had hoped she could return to.

The house, on the other hand, felt solid. Everything (except her family) felt solid, and real. She found the initials her little brother carved into the coffee table with her father's pocket knife. She found the marinara sauce stains on the carpet. She found the water damage on the ceiling...

Feared that this was another trap, Bo thought she'd better get out of the house. She tried all the doors and windows, but none of them would open. She lifted the coffee table and threw it at the kitchen window. The coffee table bounced off the window, and flew back to where it had been. The window remained intact.

Great. Bo thought. How do I get out of here?

She went to the kitchen window, thinking maybe she'd be able to break it with her elbow. She screamed when the little girl's face suddenly appeared outside the window.

She quickly realized that instead of getting out, she needed to figure out how to stop that girl from getting inside, but she had no clue, and the next thing she knew, was the little girl standing in the kitchen, grinning at her, right next to her mother.

"Get out! This is my house!" Bo yelled at her in fear.

The little girl did not say anything. She launched herself at Bo, and Bo smashed a side table into her.

The impact made the little girl disappear, but only for a brief moment. She appeared again, behind Bo, grabbing Bo by the waist forcefully, and sinking her teeth into the side of Bo's neck again.

Bo struggled, and the dizziness struck her again. Then, she found herself in her own apartment.

The TV was on, so was her Playstation. The character she was playing had just been whacked by the boss.

She walked out of the bedroom, and into the living room. Her favorite blanket was tossed on the couch. There was a bottle of Vermilion on the side table, and a plate of half eaten Vampire chocolate cake.

Her attention eventually got drawn to the kitchen. She smelled food. She smelled meat sizzling in grease. She smelled tomatoes and basil. She smelled butter, black pepper and dill...

She froze when she saw it was Tamsin in the kitchen cooking something. It reminded her that time when Tamsin cooked steak at her apartment.

The Huntress had her hair tied up into a lazy bun. The white shirt she was wearing, was actually Bo's, and it hugged her better than it would hug Bo. She looked so real...

Bo walked into the kitchen, slowly, so slowly, as if she was afraid that any noise she'd make would disturb the Huntress and make her disappear.

She reached out and touched Tamsin's shoulder. She thought her fingers would go through her, but they didn't. The Huntress wasn't a phantom. She seemed...real.

"T-Tamsin?" Bo called her name softly and hesitantly.

The Huntress didn't respond. She kept flipping the steaks in the frying pan. The steaks sizzled, for a long time, but the doneness remained.

"Tamsin?" Bo called again as she gripped Tamsin's wrist. Her skin was soft, and warm. Bo could practically feel her pulse, but the Huntress seemed completely unaware of her touch.

"She's not real," Elizabeth's voice came to her. The Vampire Queen appeared on her balcony, and she walked in gracefully.

"How...where have you been?"

"Well...this is your mind, and it's hard for me to figure out where you are," Elizabeth explained. "Every time you switch places, I'm just...lost."

"What is all this?" Bo asked in frustration. "I just saw my family, and now this?!"

"I assume these are all your memories," Elizabeth told her. "You are running away from her, and this is probably one of your...safe places. She's not real, though."

"She seems very real," Bo argued.

"That's because you are probably...focused on her," Elizabeth told her. "This is your mind. You can make anything out of thin air. You can make them as real as possible. It all depends on how much you want something to happen, or someone to appear, but...none of this is...real. Believed me."

Bo closed her eyes. "So this is all...my imagination then?"

"Whatever you would like to call it. It's all inside your head."

"And she's not...real." Bo repeated.

Elizabeth shook her head. "No, she's not real. She's a piece of memory. She only exists in your mind. She will not talk to you. She will not respond-"

She stopped talking abruptly, when Tamsin turned to them.

"Has anyone told you it's not polite to stare at people like that?" Tamsin smirked as she met Bo's shocked eyes.

"I'll be damned..." Elizabeth muttered. "She is real..."

A/N: There won't be many chapters left in this fic, maybe 2-3 more I guess. I will probably start another one after finishing this.