A Girl's Guide to Vampires

'Joy!'

I made a face at Roxy and turned back to Miranda. Her eyes had lost their focus as they did when she scried Roxy's future, but there was something different about her bearing now, something tense and unyielding that was in direct contrast to the relaxed posture she had with Roxy. Davide rose to his feet and started to stalk toward me, the hair on his back rising as he approached me.

'Jeezumcrow, that's a little creepy,' I muttered, getting a serious case of the willies as the cat stopped about six feet in front of me, his yellow eyes never wavering from me. Miranda started to speak, so low both of us leaned forward in order to hear her better. Her low monotone, so different from her normally warm voice, added to the eerie atmosphere, and it took a few minutes before I could understand her words. Outside, the wind suddenly picked up, slamming into the house, tiny ticks and thumps indicating that debris and pinecones were being kicked around in the wind.

'All this needs is some lightning and a ghostly figure with a red-stained butcher knife suddenly appearing in the window,' I said in an undertone to Roxy. What I had intended to be a light, joking tone came off as pregnant with foreboding. She looked at me with large, serious eyes.

A shiver went down my spine suddenly, the old someone stepping on your grave feeling my grandmother used to talk about. My arms were goose-bumped all the way up to my shoulders despite the warm night. If only the cat would stop staring at me like I was a three-headed Hydra, I'd be OK.

Miranda's voice strengthened, but she didn't seem to be speaking in English. I glanced back at Davide. He appeared to have been turned into a stone statue that sat staring at me.

'Aren't cats supposed to see ghosts?' I asked Roxy.

She nodded, one hand reaching over to grasp mine. I tried to tell myself to relax, that this was all in fun, that I was simply humoring a friend, but the air inside the room was almost blue with static electricity. When the hairs on my arm all suddenly stood on end, I decided skepticism was for the dogs, and I was ready and willing to believe whatever it took to get me safely out of this situation.

'You will take a trip.'

The words, clearly spoken in the quiet of the room, made us both jump. Miranda was still staring at her bowl of water, her face pale and drawn. As her words sank in, I relaxed and disengaged my hand from Roxy's, giving her a little pat in the process.

'Yes, that's right. I told you we were going to Germany.'

'You will take a trip unlike any other you have taken.'

I relaxed even more, a faint burble of relieved laughter building inside. After this weird setup, all I was going to get was the standard 'cross my palms with silver' fortune reading? No problem! I'd play along. 'Two for two, I've never been to Europe before.'

'You will travel by water, held firmly in the Goddess's womb, protected but not protected, in danger but not in danger.'

'Um… OK.' I tried to remember if there were any boat trips needed to get to Frankfurt. There were none that I could think of. And what was all that about being held in the Goddess's womb? It didn't sound like a particularly enjoyable or comfortable way to travel unless there was lots of legroom inside.

'A child of darkness will cross your path.'

My jaw dropped as Roxy sat bolt upright next to me, clutching my hand again. A child of darkness? Was Miranda talking about a Moravian? A Dark One? No, she couldn't be, she didn't believe they existed… or did she? She never really came right out and said they didn't exist, she just went off about how dangerous it was to toy with the darkness within, and all that business. She couldn't really be saying what I thought she was saying, could she? I slid a glance over to Roxy. Her eyes were hollowed as she looked back at me and mouthed, 'Vampire.'

'The child of darkness will hold your fate in his hands, but you must not be blinded by his unholy attraction, for down that path lies eternal night.'

Well, that didn't sound good!

'Um.' My voice came out a squeak deep in my throat. I cleared it, glancing nervously at Davide. He continued his stare-a-thon. 'When you say 'child of darkness,' what exactly do you mean?'

'His soul is a well of despair. A great wind howls within him, but you must not be tempted to save his soul, for his is a path you cannot take.'

'Oh my God,' Roxy whispered, her fingernails digging into my arm. 'Oh my God, Joy, do you know what she's saying?'

Oh, sure, I knew what she was saying. I was about to walk straight into the arms of some axe-murdering maniac.

'This child of darkness that you see,' Roxy asked, loosening her grip when I tried to pry her fingers off my wrist. 'Is this the man who is Joy's soul mate? Is this the man you see as part of her future?'

Oh my Lord, what a horrible thought! I had a quick flash of me standing in an antiseptic prison room marrying a man with tattoos all over his head.

'The one filled with despair is part of it, but he is separate, holding himself aside. There is a second man, a shadow, who stands behind the child of darkness.'

Great! Two axe murderers! I'd get to commit bigamy with two homicidal maniacs. Oh, lucky, lucky me!

'Gark,' I said.

Roxy hushed me. 'Be quiet or you'll have to leave. I'm trying to figure this out for you. Miranda, or whoever is talking through you right now, could you please be a little more specific about these two men you see? I don't quite understand how they can be her future and yet be such a threat to her.'

Miranda shook her head slowly, her eyes roaming blindly around the room as if she were seeking something but not finding it. Her gaze settled on me as she reached for the crystal hanging from her neck. 'I cannot see clearly, the vision is fogged. It could be that the child of darkness is trying to create an illusion, or it could be the shadow cast by the second one that is tainting the image. All that is clear to me is danger, mortal danger to your soul when you are in the child of darkness's presence. You must be careful which man you choose, for to decide unwisely between the two will cast your soul into eternal night.'

Suddenly Miranda's eyes focused and color rushed back to her face. The weight of her gray-eyed gaze left me feeling as if she had brushed her fingers against my flesh. She blinked a couple of times and looked between the two of us. 'Why are you both staring at me with your mouths hanging open?'

'Oh, no reason,' I said in a tight, choked voice. 'No reason at all, unless you count your prediction that I'll end up a soulless, tormented who-knows-what living the life of the undead in eternal night a reason.'

Miranda looked at Roxy. 'Did I say that?'

She nodded, slowly relaxing her grip on my hand. 'You weren't too clear, though; what you said was pretty vague. I couldn't understand if it was the Moravian who is Joy's perfect man, or the someone evil behind him.'

'Either way, it sounds like if I hook up with either one of the two guys you mentioned, I'm sure to end up a zombie-woman, roaming the earth forever in search of a soul. That's not exactly what was on my list of required elements of my perfect mate, eh?'

Miranda opened her mouth, then snapped it shut again. She looked drained, exhausted, and suddenly I was overcome with guilt at making light of something she took seriously, especially when she was trying to do us a favor.

'I'm sorry, I didn't mean that to sound so flip. I truly wouldn't want you to think I wasn't taking this seriously, or was wasting your talents. I can see this type of ceremony takes a lot out of you. We both owe you for this, big- time.'

'Speak for yourself,' Roxy snapped, sounding more like herself as she started blowing out the candles still burning around us. 'I'm not the ungrateful beast you are. I gave Miranda that old Herbal I found at the estate sale.'

'Ah.' I thought for a moment of a way to repay Miranda without involving money, something I knew she felt was taboo. I snapped my fingers as an idea occurred to me. 'I know! I'll donate my time at the next Womyn's Magyck Festival. I could set up a booth and cast rune stones again…'

'Goddess help us, no!'

I blinked at the outburst. Miranda's auburn curls stood out in agitation as if she had been running both hands through them. Her pale gray eyes glistened with strong emotion as she leaned forward and, avoiding the flames of the candles still burning in front of me, carefully took both of my hands in her own. I peered over her shoulder. Roxy