The Ghosts of Melbrew [1/12]

Chapter 32) The Shutdown

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          "Okay, so, this is incredibly problematic." Francis said, "I have no idea how we're going to get to a portal. But that's only step one. Step two is figuring out how to open it. How did you get here in the first place if you can't get back out? You know, magically speaking. And, how did you even come to learn about this, anyways?"

          "It's a long story," Veronica said, "But to make it short, my family history involves lots of vampires. Because I come from a long line of vampire researchers. The town my family owns used to belong to a vampire group. It was burnt down and the vampires have terrorized the land ever since. They've had a portal running in the woods for a long time now, and my family was determined to shut it down. I guess about 7 years ago they sent my brother through to here, and he couldn't figure out how to get back out until recently. But you said you knew him, how so?"

          Francis sighed in frustration as he recounted the memories. "Well, we said he was friends with the Prince, that's how! Everyone knows him. He was top of his class in one of the hardest history classes Bloodwine University had to offer, and he loved to boast. We've had the displeasure of meeting him a few times before he seemingly disappeared, though we know now that he went back home."

          "He was really friends with a Prince?!" Veronica exclaimed, then mumbled, "Oh my God..." She placed her face in her palms and sighed, "I'm so frustrated with my family for keeping all this from me. I'm– I can't believe this! All of THIS!" She gestured around her.

          "I wouldn't expect a human to." Ovzu said, "You shouldn't. Your brains aren't meant to."

          "But magic turned us into vampires?" I questioned. "Shouldn't that change something?"

          Francis shook his head, "No. That magic didn't change anything, it's the same magic Victor had, I can sense it. You're not real vampires. The only thing that happened was changing your physical appearance, and giving you the ability to actually do so. It can be easily reversed."

          "How do you know that, though?"

          "As I said, I can sense it. It's impossible to explain though, becuase how do you explain a feeling that only certain people feel? Us vampires have a sixth sense, and it literally is just that, a sense. We can easily feel people's emotions, energy, and magic levels. That's what makes other creatures afraid of us. People might be scared of Ovzu because he's big, scary, and has claws, but people are afraid of us vampires for a different reason. Our scariest physical feature is our fangs, but when you take into account our addictive desire for blood, and uncanny abilities to read your emotions and magic state, we're usually seen as a bigger threat."

          "Um, I don't mean to alarm anyone, but it looks like a mist storm is brewing." Ovzu said as he gazed up into the sky.

          "A what now?" I questioned.

          "A mist storm." Ovzu said as if I knew what the hell that was.

          "... and what is a mist storm?"

          "You mean to tell me you guys don't get mist storms? Lucky! Francis, humans don't get mist storms!"

          "What is a mist storm?!" I exclaimed.

          "It's exactly what it sounds like." Francis said, "Mist is going to rain down from the sky like it's a giant fog machine. At least that's the best way I can think of describing it to humans."

          "Holy shit," Cameron said, "That sounds so cool!"

          "Yeah, until you deal with it on a regular basis and can't see a foot in front of you." Ovzu said. "We should hurry back to the mainland. There's absolutely no chance we could fly to the closest portal island."