Chapter 20: Questions Without Answers

            Even though Vincent hasn’t been in the picture for a few months now, since he last attacked me and….bound me up, I still have many questions for him.

            I searched my mind, looking for the man I remember from my memories and found him, sitting alone, peaceful in his large mansion.  Why he was alone?  I couldn’t tell you, but I wanted to take my chance this time.

            “Dante?  I want to go see Vincent.”

            His eyes tightened, “Why would you want to do something like that?”

            “Because I want to ask him why he’s done all that he has.  I’m sick of all of the lies, and I still don’t know why he attacked me!  I want to know why, and I want to know now.  I can see him, alone, and I want to take this chance, Dante, give me this chance.”

            His face turned calm, and then I saw the anger form in his eyes.  His eyes flashed a bright red and then back to green in a split second.

            “Let’s go,” he finally said, his black hair falling around his face like a shadow.  I smiled, taking his hands, and we were gone.

 

            We arrived in front of the large mansion where I had been taken the last time Vincent decided to interfere.  I was pissed, to say the least.  I hadn’t known for sure that it was him who had made up the rumors about Dante, but I had a good idea I wasn’t wrong in my assumptions.

            “Calm yourself before you do something you’ll regret,” Dante whispered as we sauntered up the long walkway leading to the house.

            “Oh, believe me, I don’t regret much.”  An evil smirk made its way across my face as I turned ahead again, stalking my way up the stairs.

            “For some reason, you look really cute when you’re acting devious.”

            “Thanks.”

            We made our way to the large double doors and Dante grabbed the knocker, letting it fall loudly back down into its resting place.

            We waited, hand-in-hand for any type of sound coming from the head courters.

            I searched my mind again to see Vincent in a panic, knowing that it was us, the last people he wanted to see.  I saw him in my mind saying, “It can’t be, why are they here?  I haven’t done anything in months!”

            “Coward,” I muttered under my breath.

            Dante shot me a quick look of confusion as I explain what I was seeing in my mind, clear as a bell.

            The large door slowly started to open and behind it stood a small girl, maybe nine years old.  She was the most beautiful child I had ever laid my eyes on.  She had long, golden blond hair that curled flawlessly down to her feet, bright blue eyes which  shown like the sky on a cloudless day, and a small, round face that was very pale and looked as though someone had painted her features there.  She wore a bright yellow dress that wrapped around her neck in a tie and flowed slightly past her knees.  I sighed as I searched her up and down for any type of information I could find on the infant.

            Nothing.  I had never seen or heard of her, and couldn’t find anything about her in my dictionary of a mind.

            “Hello, Nikki,” Dante said, smiling his perfect smile at the little girl.

            “How goes it, Dante?”  Nikki answered, smiling back.

            “I’m Victoria,” I said, reaching my hand out, waiting for a response.

            Nikki took my hand, turning it around and lightly kissing the back.  “Hello, Victoria, I’ve heard much of you.  I hope that everything the elders have been saying is true.”

            “Err, thank you.”  I choked out.  What is she talking about?  Now there are rumors going on about me?

            “May we come in?”  Dante asked, a pleading look crossed his sculpted face.

            “Now is not the best time for visiting.”  Nikki answered, squinting her eyes and wrinkling her forehead.

            “But,” she moved in closer to us, whispering ever so lightly, “I may be of assistance if you need some answers.  I see many questions fluttering in both of your minds; maybe I can be of help.”

            “We couldn’t dare ask that of you, Nik, we will be just fine, contact Victoria when we can come back.”

            She nodded once, backed up, and closed the large door, leaving me with even more questions than before.

            Dante closed his eyes, and once again, we were gone with a small gust of wind.

 

            We were back at the familiar house I loved.  Both of us were quiet as we took our normal seats on the leather sofa.  I curled up next to him and placed his arm around my shoulder, nestling into his chest and closing my eyes.

            I tried to escape my questions best I could but they always caught up with me.  Damnit, I thought to myself, who was that girl and who told her things about me?  Are they right?  What are they saying?  Why couldn’t Vincent talk when I saw him perfectly fine in my mind?  And….wait, how could Nikki know that we had questions?

            How would a little girl know that we had many questions?  How could she know if she could answer them or not?  Wow, I must be going crazy.  Yeah, that’s it, maybe this past year has been a dream.  Maybe I’ll wake up at any moment now, in my old bed, in my old house, my mother still alive.

            I pinched my side lightly and felt the small amount of pain it induced.  Nope, not dreaming, I thought again.

            “Are you okay, Victoria?”

            I looked up to meet his glowing eyes.  “Yeah, I think, maybe not, I don’t know anymore to be completely honest.”

            “I know what you mean.  Why couldn’t Vincent just answer the door, what could be going on?”

            “I keep asking myself that same question.  And also, how could Nikki know that we both had questions, how could she know the questions we had so she could answer them?  Why is a child wound up in this mess?  I’m just so confused, I don’t know what to do anymore.”

            “Nikki has mastered some magical skills in her young age.  She is sort of like you other than the fact that she is a vampire.  She can read minds, she can see where people are, all of the things you can.  She was more interested in being a darkling than being a vampire, so she learned their skills.”

            “How could she do that though?  I thought vampires only loved blood and could only transport?  Can you do more?”

            “Well, we’re kind of like a super-human, if you must.  We can do whatever we put our minds to, if our mind is strong enough.”

            “Hmm, I see, that’s pretty interesting.  So, if you wanted, you could read my mind?”

            “It takes years and years of practice, it would take me forever to master.  I couldn’t just sit here, decided I wanted to read your mind, and do it, it’s definitely not that easy.”

            “Well, it’s still weird.  Is that why you told her to contact me, then?”

            “Well, I mean, you can see her, too, if she says something, you’ll know now that you’ve met her.”

            “True, true.  But, why couldn’t Vincent answer the door, I wonder.  And why was he so freaked out when he knew it was us?  Did Nikki tell him we were the ones at the door?”

            He placed his hand under his chin in deep thought.  “Hmm, she must have, there is no other way.  Vincent is too weak-minded to have learned something like that.”

            “Yeah, he’s a coward.”

            “That he is.  He’s terrified of me, and even more terrified of you.”

            “Why would he be scared of me?  What did I do?”

            “Well, he knows what you’re capable of, my love.  You could turn his brain into mush if you wanted to.”  A small giggle escaped his lips as he bent down and kissed my forehead.

            “We are a force to be reckoned with, eh?”

            “That we are, Victoria.  We can do anything we want.”

            “Then let’s go back to Vincent’s.  I can make him talk.”