The next day in the cave was pretty quiet. Leyara had decided to stay with us, but insisted that we have to go to the Sea of Leaves with her afterwards. I was in no mood to meet new people or really do anything. To top it all off, my memories finally sorted themselves out. Acquiring the rest of my Source had over ridden all of Vampir’s personality only leaving his memories and with that, I had full control over my life, finally. I also was able to accommodate my new guests properly.

A small round stone in the corner of the cave caused a massive stone wall to move revealing the most lavish and ornately carved living room I had ever seen. I guess it was a living room, but the real trick is that there was an entire estate behind this wall and they had been sleeping in the coffin antechamber this whole time. Dog even had his own bed in the cave house.

Casidhe slept on the sofa grumbling about not enough rooms for guests and their books, but I ignored them.

I slept in my coffin regardless of the master 4 poster bed in the corner. Leyara slept on the bed that night while I lie awake and thought of Effie and how fucked everything had been and how naïve I had been this whole time. There were no rules in this new era. I was a new person, I had my old memories, but what did they really account for? Irrelevant information of a society that never existed in this world and never would.

One positive thing about the time I spent sulking in my coffin, was verifying the contents of Eddie Leylin’s list. All of the items really were in my magic pocket. It wasn’t a literal list of EVERY single thing on the planet, however there was pretty much one of everything in my pocket. It made me nauseous to think about the terrible things Vampir…No, I did before I took over. I had to stop thinking of myself as two different people. I took over this body whether I chose it or not, all I could do was live the righteous way.

“Got room for another?”

Leyara cracked open my coffin pulling me away from my thoughts. Her smile was radiant like the North star, well that star didn’t exist here it was actually a group of stars known as “Sky Wink”. Regardless, it was magnificent. How could I refuse?

“Come on in, might be a little cramped.”

“It’s pretty spacious in here actually. I wanted to see how you were doing.”

She laid her head on my chest. The sound of her heartbeat seemed to thunder in the confined space for a short while, but then her pleasant scent washed over me and her soothing voice as she played with my hair. I couldn’t help but wrap my arms around her as she was laying practically on top of me. My arm was her pillow.

“I am sorry about Effie. Is there anything I can do for you?”

“No, but thank you. It was my own naivete that led me to this. Now that I have regained my memories fully and my powers…”

I flicked my wrist activating the stone that caused the rock wall to slide close leaving us in my coffin ante chamber alone.

“I have some things to do and some bones to pick. You on the other hand have been most magnificent. You have even saved my life at this point. Is there anything I can do for you?”

Leyara’s eyes welled up with tears. She was overwhelmed by this man’s selflessness. Here he was going through so much and mourning the loss of a friend and he was worried about me. She moved up and kissed him deeply. This was the first time Vampir ever thought his heart had beat in this new body.

“Would you meet my father? I know I wanted you to see the Sea of Leaves, but instead of just sightseeing, would you like to come to my home and meet the King of the Folioran?”

In all my years as both Shawn or Vickus I had never been invited to meet a girl’s parents. Vampir didn’t have a lot of moves outside of rape, pillage and Mesmer victims and well Shawn was Shawn.

“As long as you are sure… I am well, me.  I’d love to if you’ll have me.”

She answered with another kiss. That kiss turned into another kiss and before I knew it things escalated and well, I wasn’t sure about my chances of siring children, but I don’t think anyone present cared. We fell asleep in the coffin.

We woke when we heard a scratching sound at the entrance to the cave. There was a slight nickering sound followed by some kind of grunting noise. Dog ran into the antechamber as soon as the other wall opened.

“If y-you two are done playing house then we have a monster at the door!”

Ron cowered behind the stone table the coffin sat on. I slithered out of my coffin puling my clothes on and left Leyara to get dressed in private. This was a great time for me to try my new and improved powers.

” Clairvoyance!”

Now that I had mastered magic as is known by the rest of the world, I could think of what I wanted and give it a name and obtain my desired result. This was no different. A small portal formed in front of me and showed the cave outside the wall. There was a small dragon scratching to get into the cave!

“Dog get back inside with Casidhe and stay safe, I’ll take care of this dragon for us!”

Leyara’s head popped out of the coffin.

“A dragon? BELLANT!”

She yelled and then whistled. The creature in the clairvoyance window instantly sat down and squealed in excitement. Leyara climbed out of the coffin, her hair a mess, and stumbled over to the cave entrance and opened it. There sitting with what could only be described as a smile was the creature known as Bellant.

“Bellant, you came back so fast. Who’s a good lizard?”

“Bellant? You know this thing?”

“That ‘thing’ is the best lizard mount a princess could ask for. Loyal, wicked fast and incredibly cute.”

Ron’s ears and tail drooped at the sound of that as he looked dejectedly from the corner. For once, he wasn’t sweating form his eyes, they were actual tears. What a fragile ego, haha.

“He’s only he best lizard, Ron. You are still the best boi around!”

Ron reacted as expected after Leyara told him what he wanted to hear. He began prancing around the room in what he thought was his ‘best boi prance’, but really, he was just wiggling his but too much as he walked causing quite a comedic scene. Casidhe joined them in the antechamber.

“I really have to get my own room and lab if I am going to stay here, Vampir. These distractions are too much. I need to study that blood sample you gave me and I don’t have time for…OH MY GAWSH! That is a beautiful lizard mount!”

“Everyone, this is Bellant. He has been with me since I was a small girl. Say hello, Bellant.”

Leyara patted Bellant on the head to give him his que. The lizard stood tall on his hind legs and folded one arm across his midriff before doing a very impressive bow that would have passed even in high society. He went back on all four before rolling over and letting Leyara rub his belly. His yellow eyes closing in delight as the scratching began.

“I sent him with a report from the Maze to the Sea of Leaves to alert them to it’s destruction, but also to let them know that I was fine, but also to prepare something for Effie.”

I raised a brow at her last statement. She pulled a scroll from the holster at Bellant’s neck and read the message there. That dazzling smile lit the room.

“Perfect! Not only are you being lauded as a hero for your destruction of the Corpse Maze, but also treated as an ally. Which is great because usually only countries can be an ally. I specified that your skills and talent put you on the same level as a country and I emphasized how much I cared about that country.”

Her cheeks flared with that simple sentence. A stupid grin was across my face also and we shared an even dumber look with each other, like everyone didn’t know that we bumped uglies in a coffin. After I made some changes to my cave house and gave everyone their space plus a lab for Casidhe, she stayed put touting research over death and we took Effie to what would be her final resting place. Her body was wrapped in the finest silk I had in my magic pocket. The silk of the ancient Delorian Spider Monsters, which was apparently one of the rarest materials on earth and only few royal families ever owned it because the particular monster in question was extinct.

We climbed onto the back of Bellant and headed back towards the dead zone. Ron and Bellant got along swimmingly plus or minus a few pissing contests over who in fact was the cuter or bestest. Such meaningful times with the death of a friend.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Name: Vampir Darkness

Date of Birth: Reign 23rd in the year 3015

Title: Undead Lord

Race: Vampire

Hair: Black

Eyes: Red

Current Value: 239.9 million Gold Coins, Approx. 149 trillion Gold Coins worth of Invisibility Potion, Resurrection Token

Magic Pocket: Pretty much one of everything, Vampir’s Diary, Magic Jar of Dog Urine

Powers: Voice Mesmer, Animal Transmutation, Super Strength, Mach 3 Speed, Immunity, Regeneration

Magic: Source (Custom) Magic, Folioran Magic, High Magic

Weaknesses: Holy Water, The Sun, Losing a Friend

Strengths: Sword Fighting, All Magic (Except Holy), Casidhe’s Magic (Sometimes), Dog, Leyara, Bellant