Sacrum - 13. Chapter 13: The Prophecy

It was difficult, in the morning, to think back on the events of the previous night and believe that they really happened. But all I had to do was open my dream notebook and gaze at Eric Van Sant’s unique penmanship to realize it was all true. I had been in the lodge with a terrified Dr. Van Sant who finally told me the truth about my mentor’s death. Someone had killed Vinicius.

Going on the little information I had, it was obvious that the State was somehow involved. If not in his murder, then at least in the cover up that followed. Did Arani Deadnus know? The thought lit an angry fire throughout my entire body.

Suddenly there was a gentle knock on the door.

“Who is it?” I called out more harshly than intended.

“It’s me,” I heard Vincent’s voice.

“Come in,” I replied, sitting up in my bed. He walked in cautiously, as if expecting someone else to be in the room with me.

“Did you have a good study session?” He asked, carefully watching my face. I nodded.

“Yeah, you know, maybe I won’t fail Vampire History after all,” I replied, looking down. It was difficult to lie to Vincent while looking at those inquisitive brown eyes.

“Uh ah,” was all he said while frowning. “Now I know how you feel, I guess,” he confessed, out of the blue.

“What do you mean?” I asked.

“With all my secrets,” he replied. He caught me in my lie. I wasn’t sure what to say. How much could I divulge to him, when I still didn’t know where things stood. Maratoni was no friend of mine, of that I was sure. And if Vincent and Maratoni played for the same side then…

“I had a run in with Arani Deadnus last night,” I replied, deciding that piece of information was safe enough to divulge. He walked over and sat next to me on the bed.

“What did she want?”

“She just wanted to introduce herself ahead of the Summit and remind me that I am about to become State property and have no say in my future,” I replied bitterly. It was true, and Vincent didn’t need to know that I chose to leave Eric Van Sant out of our conversation. He pressed his lips together and seemed to think for a while.

“Do you want to have a say in your future?” He asked, looking back at me. His eyes studying my face with meticulous care. Would Vincent tell me all his plans if I went along with what he wanted to hear? Probably not.

“Of course I do. I don’t like being treated like a possession or some State weapon. Vinicius never made me feel that way,” I said. Vincent reached for my hand and gave my fingers a gentle squeeze.

“I agree, I don’t think you should be treated that way either. You might be able to make your choice sooner than you think,” he said, cryptically. The idea didn’t put me at ease whatsoever—it only added to my anxiety further.

“What does that mean, Vincent?” I asked. But I could tell from his face that he was wary, and I wasn’t going to get a straight answer. Not yet.

“It means that you will be able to choose whether you want to be a State puppet for the rest of eternity, or whether you’re going to stand for something else…something new,” he replied, sending a wave of alarm bells through my head. But the panic would have to wait, as he slowly leaned in for a kiss, and his full lips were not something I had the power to resist.

Vincent brushed my cheek with his free hand. “I know you’ll make the right choice when the time comes, my love,” he whispered into my lips, sending shockwaves all throughout my body. His smoldering brown eyes making me melt on the spot. Whatever choice Vincent was going to present me with, I wasn’t sure I’d have the strength to decline it.

I had my fair share of silly crushes back at the Valentini Academy, as well as a few shy kisses that came about during Truth or Dare and other silly games, but I never felt this strong current of emotion. What I felt for Vincent was an overwhelming urge and need. I wanted to grab him and hold him forever. I wanted to feel his lips on mine until neither one of us knew where his ended and mine began.

He pressed them tenderly against my own. I wasn’t sure how long we sat there like that. It could have been minutes or hours.

When he finally moved away, I wanted nothing more than to lean back in again.

“If we don’t get going, we’ll be late,” he said. I frowned.

“Since when do you follow rules?” He laughed.

“I don’t. It’s you, the goody two-shoes, that I’m worried about,” he replied, teasing me. I rolled my eyes.

“Are you feeling any different by the way?” I asked, wondering if Vincent was experiencing any of my strange symptoms after switching our blood juices.

“Not yet, it’s probably too soon to tell,” he replied, watching me gather my books and stuff them in my backpack.

During Biology, when Kyle wasn’t listening, I told Laura and Angelo to meet me in the lodge after class. I had to fill them in on my latest findings and hear their perspective. I tried to focus for the rest of the day, but it was difficult. Between replaying my conversation with Eric Van Sant, and then my meeting with Arani Deadnus, followed by Vincent’s mysterious words this morning, I felt like I was getting whiplash from the amount of information being thrown at me.

I was used to peace and quiet and long conversations with Vinicius. I wasn’t ready for the fast-paced reality of my last year of school. Nothing could have prepared me for it. I felt perpetually exhausted and never sure of what the right thing to do was.

When classes were over, I secretly made my way back to the hunting lodge in the woods. Laura and Angelo were already there. I sat down and told them everything that had happened the previous day.

“Murdered?” Angelo uttered in shock, while Laura sat quietly processing the information. “But why?” I shook my head in despair. I had no answers to give them.

“That actually makes a lot of sense,” Laura chimed in, making me and Angelo look at her in surprise.

“How so?” I asked. She seemed a bit shy right before answering.

“Well, you obviously knew him for so many years, so my words are just pure speculation. But from everything that I’d read about him Dani, Vinicius had a meticulous approach to everything. I mean, he was detailed and careful. Even if he had been terribly depressed and wanted to end it all, he still would have waited until your 18th birthday. He wouldn’t have just left you without a word,” she said carefully. She was right. It was almost astonishing to me that it took me this long to come to the same conclusion. How did I ever buy into the suicide story, having known Vinicius personally? The thought made me ashamed.

“But, who?” Angelo asked, bringing us back to the details that mattered in the present time.

“I don’t know, but I will find out,” I replied with certainty. “I’m going to practice my gift, and then I will retrace his steps and figure out what happened.” The plan came to me right then and there, and I felt certain that it was the only way forward. I needed to figure out what happened.

“And Arani Deadnus?” Laura asked. Her face showed concern and worry.

“She can’t stop me,” I said, and I meant it. Nobody would stand in the way of me finding out the truth. Not this time.

We spent the next three hours trying to work on my gift and make the table in the middle of the room move, with very little results. Finally, I grew tired and frustrated, plus my head started hurting again.

“Maybe I have to try practicing on my own first. It will probably be easier to focus that way,” I said, giving the table a swift kick.

“That’s a good idea,” Laura replied, patting me on the shoulder. “Don’t worry, you’ll get it eventually,” she added. I was starting to lose hope. If only Maratoni wasn’t a useless mentor, I’d at least have a chance at looking somewhat decent for the Specials Summit. But with the way things were currently going, I had no hope of making anything happen by Christmas.

We walked back to school, and I made my way over to the cafeteria for my blood juice. If I had any notion of trying to practice the gift again tomorrow, I needed all the strength I could get. After I got my daily dose, I walked over to Vincent’s room so that we could swap once again. I knocked, but there was no answer. When I opened the door, I saw his blood juice packet and a note on the bed.

“Dani, I couldn’t find you. I had an emergency call, but I’m leaving you all of my delicious juice. Enjoy! ;)” I chuckled at the note and his neat handwriting. I took the packet and left mine on his bed. Hopefully he’d get to drink it in time. I finished mine quickly, then went back to my room.

At the end of the day, I felt exhausted from all the trying. My body and brain were spent. The second I closed my eyes, I was out.

And then, I was suddenly transported, and in front of me there was a woman—a human. It was Melinda Moretti.

We were in her opulent living room once again, but I could tell that it was a dream because she was far too still, and I could no longer smell her blood or the delicate perfume she had on the first time that I saw her.

“Hello Dani,” she addressed me, and I stopped looking around and focused on her. Her eyes were a sapphire blue, and their twinkle was ever so familiar.

“What am I doing here?” I asked, trying to make sense of the dream. Vincent and the school burning I could sort of understand, but why in the world was I dreaming about Melinda Moretti—a proxy I had only met with one time. She smiled at me with kindness.

“You’ve been brought here to be warned,” she replied, as if it was obvious.

“Oh,” I muttered. “About what exactly?” I asked. She studied my face for a little while.

“You have much to figure out still, and time is ticking by quickly. Soon, a lot will be revealed.” I raised my eyebrows.

“Why does everyone speak in metaphors around me, is it some sort of rule?” I sighed with frustration. Couldn’t I ever get a straight answer out of people? She smiled with patience and grace, reminding me of Vinicius.

“Like you, I have also been blessed with a gift, Dani. My gift is seeing bits and pieces of truth all the way from the future,” she said, and I listened, mesmerized. “They come to me at random, and I’ve gathered what I could to help you,” she said, then continued,

“Now listen closely to my words:

The one who can interpret dreams will be tested plenty times.

The ultimate test will see him give up everything.

If he fails, the other succeeds.

At least one will betray him and lose his life for it.

At least one will protect him and lose her life for it.

He who brings pain has a heart that’s pure.

The one who is meant to rule will take his rightful place.

Many who stand in his way will die.

The woman who birthed him craves one thing only: carnage.

The one with a beating heart is the only chance.

And lastly, this:

Fate rests in his name.”

As soon as she finished her speech, she started becoming fuzzy, and then like a cloud of smoke, she gently blew away. Far behind her, on the little side table was a picture of two men whose faces were too blurry for me to make out, but significant enough for my brain to remember it.

I grabbed my dream journal the moment I woke up and started writing every single word down. I knew that as crazy as it looked and sounded, I had just been given an important piece of information. But how could it be possible? How did Melinda Moretti—a human—reach me in my very own dreams? It wasn’t something even vampires could do…let alone humans. None of it made any sense. Maybe I was losing my mind. I contemplated walking over to Nurse Mildred’s office and sharing all the bizarre symptoms with her. But deep within me, I knew that she would offer no help.

I reread the words on the page carefully. I knew that I was the one who was supposed to know how to interpret dreams—it had to be me. I was Daniele, and Vinicius told me the story of Daniel for a good reason. There was no such thing as a coincidence. But no matter how much I tried, I couldn’t interpret anything. All I could do was make wild guesses about what it all meant. Was Vincent the one who was going to rule? In my dream, Melinda said many would die. I shuddered at what lay ahead for me—for all of us. None of it seemed real. Whose name did fate rest in?

There was only one way to figure it all out. I’d have to find Melinda Moretti and ask her in person.