“We were going to release them, Echo? Do you recall when I said that to you?”
She shakes her head no. And of course she doesn’t. Because I never said that to her, and even if I did, she would not be able to remember it.
“I, since I am old, and a vampire, and contain the power of the Darkness inside me—I could release them from this blood lust they had.”
Which is not even a lie, when you think about it. I did release them. From… life. This thought delights me, causing me to internally chuckle.
“They are… dead?”
I nod at her. “They are, little baby. I’m very sorry if they were friends of yours. But they attacked you.”
“Why?”
“Because I fed you, remember? You had my blood inside you and… well, they wanted it. They were eating you. When I killed them.”
“That’s…” Her face scrunches up as she finds my eyes. “That’sgross.”
“It certainly is. But it’s over now.”
She blows out a breath. Then looks up at me. “Well, what’s next?”
“We need to find Paul.”
This makes her happy. She even smiles. “Yes! We do! I really, really need to find Paul.”
I furrow my brow. “Do you love him?”
“Uhhhhh…” She makes a face of uncertainty. “Well, I’m not sure about that, but I do like him. And he’s nice to me. And… I miss him. He disappeared from the castle room.” She makes a vague motion with her finger pointing up. “Do you know what happened to him?”
“Lucia, that’s what happened to him. And Syrsee, I imagine.”
“The woman? The one they were feeding on?”
“Yes. Her. She’s rather important in the grand scheme of things. But don’t worry. We’ll catch up to her later. Paul comes first.”
“Will we punish her?” I do believe that I detect some hope in Echo’s question. She certainly is loyal to Paul.
“It’s a nice thought, isn’t it? But don’t get your hopes up. As I said, she’s important. Also powerful. So if you ever comeup against her, don’t challenge her to a fight. She’s a little bit dumb, I imagine, as she was kept ignorant on purpose.” I take a moment to stroke Echo’s cheek here. Because she is rather ignorant as well. “But she’s capable of hurting us, little baby. Even without the knowledge of how to do so.”
“OK. But how do we find Paul?”
“We will have to look in the mist, of course.” When I say this word Echo looks up at the mist that floats all around us. “Yes,” I tell her. “That mist. But not this literal mist. Not here, in this cavern. We must go deeper into the dirt where the mist comes from. There are pathways under the earth.”
“Like tunnels?”
“Y…yes. Sure. Like tunnels.” I smile down at her. “Once we find these tunnels, they will take us places. Places where Paul might be.”
“Will he be OK?”
“I’m sure he will. He’s Paul, after all. Quite a powerful monster.”
“If he’s so powerful, then why can’t he find his way back? Why is he lost? And how did he get down in those tunnels?”
I hold up fingers so I can tick off answers to each question. “It’s complicated. The mist is deceptive. And I already told you—Lucia and the little witch did some magic on him.”
“What happens then?”
“Then?”
