Letters to Romeo

Julie sat on the floor of her dorm, and Cillian sat next to her, watching her eyes move across the lines of the spellbook. She asked him,

"How do you know which lines to mix and page them together to make a spell? Is it a pattern?"

"Not necessarily," replied Cillian, and he placed his finger on some lines on the page. "You see the spell is a language that comes from the witches. For people who are not adept at it, they find it hard to follow, and miss words."

"Language for the witches?" Julie raised her eyebrows, and then she asked, "Is it possible to get a knowledge transfer?" she joked, but Cillian didn't smile at her words.

"Give me your hand," said Cillian, and Julie wondered if it was possible. She eagerly stretched her hand towards his hand that had turned back to its Corvin state, one of his fingers pierced through the palm of her hand.

"Ah!"Julie cried out in pain. "You should have told me that you were going to draw blood from my hand."

"Would it make any difference in lowering the pain?" Cillian asked her with lack of empathy. He used her blood to write something that she didn't understand, and when he was done, he placed his palm on top of it. "This might help you be able to use the spells more fluently."

A light glowed from underneath his palm, and little fragments of dust moved toward Julie.

"Cillian… can I ask you something?"

"What is it?" questioned Cillian, pulling his hand away from the book.

"What will happen if you pass through the forbidden door? I mean… not as a dead person, but the way you are," inquired Julie.

Cillian stared at her for a couple of minutes, and then he looked at the book, "There are chances where I might not return. It is hard for a living person to go through the forbidden door and harder for a dead person. The entities in there, they won't let you in peace. They will latch on to you, trying to leech your soul for their own. Are you still thinking of getting your mother back to life?"

Julie shook her head, though Cillian wasn't completely convinced by her action.

"No, it was just a question. I know the consequences," Julie nodded her head, her eyes lowered. She then smiled and said, "I forgot something."

She got up from the floor and walked towards the cupboard. She took out the box that had the two vials of potions that her mother had left for her. "Now that you have flesh in your body, I think you can now tell what this is?" she asked, handing him the box.

Julie watched Cillian when he pulled out one of the vials that had the liquid, staring at it intently. He wrapped his fingers around it, closing his eyes as he concentrated his mind on it.

And as he did this, Julie caught sight of the black steam that had stemmed around him. As if the darkness that he had been pulled from still lingered around him.

She wondered what it meant.

Curious, she touched the steam like vapours, and on contact, she felt them disappear into her hand. A light ache formed in her chest, and she quickly pulled away from him. She wondered if the person, after entering the forbidden, couldn't return to their usual state. Once touched by darkness, they were imprinted by it.

"This vial," Cillian opened his eyes as if he had found the answer, "This is the potion for regeneration. To fix a person. The ability to heal. I would say it isn't too far from what one of the Elder vampires' abilities that he used to possess."

"You mean like an elixir?" questioned Julie, and Cillian pursed his lips.

He looked slightly conflicted, and he said, "I think I know who this little potion belongs to. And as I suspected, it wasn't purely made by Opaline."

"What do you mean?"

Cillian handed the vial back to her and replied, "Young witches' hearts are said to be sacred, something that can be used to keep a person alive and is of great use. Sometime in the past, a witch visited with her sick son."

"Are you telling me that… My mother killed the boy?" Julie's lips set themselves in a thin line.

"No, your mother wasn't that kind of person. Even if she visited the forbidden door, she had a very sound consciousness," said Cillian, and he sighed. "The witch had come for a sacrifice. Because the boy was going to die soon. It is rare for something like that to happen, but some like to live for a greater cause. I believe it is the young boy's blood that ran through his heart, which was refined and now is in this vial."

"Mother could have used it for her… or father…" Julie muttered under her breath. And on seeing the look that Cillian gave to her, she turned slightly frustrated. "For the cause of good. They didn't want to use it either."

"You should understand that your mother was a selfless woman, and she believed that you having the potion was much more sensible, than making use of it for her own needs. And I am sure she's entrusted the potions with the thought that you will use it for something in grave need," Cillian informed her seriously.

"What about the other potion?" asked Julie.

Cillian picked up the other vial, taking a close look at it. He held it in the palm of his hand for several seconds. He then said, "I am not sure what this one is. For some reason, I am not able to read it."

"Feels like it is password protected," muttered Julie, and Cillian gave her a look. "Maybe we'll find out if I take a drop and see what it is?"

"How about I go first?" suggested Cillian. As much as he believed that Opaline would not have created any harmful potion, it was still safer that he test it first, as he was already dead.

"You do know you are at the brink of death and I am halfway behind from where you are. Also, I am the daughter of a Corvin, so it shouldn't be that bad," replied Julie, and she pulled the nozzle of the vial and tasted one drop. She clicked her tongue and said, "I feel nothing."

"Let me try it," said Cillian, taking the glass vial and letting a drop of essence fall into his mouth. He frowned, "It does taste like regular water. But there's a hint of rose in here."

Wait a second, thought Julie, and she pulled out a book from her desk before flipping through the pages.

"What is that?" questioned Cillian, watching her flip pages.

"This is Roman's notes. He had made them while he was collecting more information about witches for me. I think I read something about the colorless potion that tastes like this."

Julie slapped the page of the book and said, "Here it is! Fragrance of the potions." She muttered the words. "Rose scented potion. It is an antidote. A universal antidote that can heal."

"Seems like both the potions have similar usefulness," remarked Cillian.

When the door to Julie's dorm opened, Roman stepped in with a grim expression.

"Everything alright?" asked Julie, and Roman ran his fingers through his hair.

"The liquid that Donovan and I picked up from Melanie's house, it is plain water," said Roman annoyed.

"The woman must know," commented Cillian, and Roman stepped inside the room.

"Of course, she does. She was smart enough to pour water, even after the amount of security that had been put up. It was a waste of time going there. She probably placed it elsewhere," said Roman, going to the bed and sitting at the edge of it. "How are things coming along here?"

"We figured out what the potions are for," said Julie, "One is a regenerating liquid, and the other is a universal antidote."

Roman tilted his head and said, "You don't mind if I borrow the antidote, do you?"

"What do you have in mind?" asked Julie.

"Well, we don't have the weapon that is going to be used, but we might as well use some resistance in our bodies by having a few drops of it inside of us," explained Roman, and he took the vial from Julie. "I will ask Remy if he can recreate the contents inside it and keep some bottles ready."

"Do you want me to come along?" asked Julie.

"Yeah. You too. Cillian," Roman said to Cillian.

While Roman, Julie and Cillian went to visit the infirmary with Opaline's antidote, on one side of the restricted forest, Luciano had called the entire security to scold them. Everyone stood in a line, their heads bowed, and Griffin stood behind the Elder vampire.

Luciano looked at the vampires as well as the morms with a sneer on his face.

"Absolutely useless," came the first remark from Luciano. "Some of the guards and the boys were being stuffed by one single witch in the coffins, and you didn't know that even happened. What happened to those damn working camera's?" he demanded.

The people who were responsible for the surveillance cleared their throats. One of them spoke, "Elder Luciano, the camera's stopped working on this side of the land. I think it was some sort of static that leaves the camera blurry, unable to capture that time."

"And even though you noticed it was having this static, you didn't bother to come check here?" Luciano raised one of his eyebrows. "Pathetic little things. Is this why you are paid for? For not doing your work properly?"

"Elder Luciano, usually during the weather change it causes static in the screens and does—"

"Shut up. I am not done speaking for you to interrupt me," Luciano glared at each and every one of them. "You couldn't handle one single man. One man, when there were so many." This time he gave a look at Griffin, who looked ashamed.

Being beaten not just by Roman but being thrown in the coffin by this so-called professor, who was also the creature who had tried to kill him, Griffin wasn't in his best spirit. With his ability gone, he now appeared timid, not to mention his Elder vampire wasn't happy with him.

"Another slip and I might as well kill you all with a snap of my fingers," Luciano looked down at the guards, who murmured a cohesive yes while bowing their heads.

And as much as Luciano was making sure the guards in here understood what he meant and how important it was to protect this place, the uninvited guests had already arrived near Veteris.