Uriah
“Back so soon?” A shirtless Quinn leaned against the bars of his basement prison, dried blood on his chin as he turned to see his sire.
“That, I am,” replied . “Any new revelations, old buddy?”
“One, at least,” the shirtless vampire said with a devious smile.
“Oh?”
Without warning, the cell door flew open. A whooshing sound followed and Quinn appeared before , grabbing at the collar of his shirt. “ Still have my magic .”
“Damn. From captor to captive.” bared his fangs. “You wouldn’t want to kill your only shot at a decent Romeo for your play now, would you, prof?”
Quinn hissed. “You, in my play? Aren’t you supposed to be giving me reasons not to murder you?”
humbled himself, lifting his arms up in defeat. “All right, all right. I’ll play the dude that doesn’t get the girl, then.”
“Mercutio?” Quinn asked, tossing the vampire to the floor before shrugging. “Well, there are certainly some similarities.”
“Come on, Doc,” said with a sigh. “You know damned well that I mean you no harm. And look, you said it yourself. You’re an undead witch. Life doesn’t get much more meaningful than that.”
“You know, Mr. Black, you’re one of the few people I’ve met in my life that I never want to admit is right,” the professor sighed. “So, all I’m going to say is, my students need me.”
“I’ve heard that bit a lot, the first part,” said as he got to his feet and dusted himself off. “As for the second part, you’re right. In fact, there’s one in particular that’s in trouble, and that’s why I’m back from my romantic weekend getaway so soon.”
“ Griff ,” Quinn suddenly understood. His entire demeanor changed. “Where is he?”
“Here in town—and safe for now,” began , “but what do you know about the grimoires of the Original Witches?”
“The grimoires?” Quinn scratched his head. “Why? Is he looking for Odessa’s?”
nodded.
“There’s a lot you all still don’t know about her, about his powers,” said Quinn, a distressed look on his face.
“Well, you and I, Doc, we’ve got an eternity together now. Why don’t we start with the abridged version?” produced a fresh blood bag from his pocket and tossed it to Quinn. “Oh, yeah, and maybe this’ll help jog your memory.”
“Each Original Witch line has their own unique spell book with its own unique attributes, own unique name.” Quinn paced the room, tossing the bag from hand to hand as he racked his memory. “Griff’s magical ancestral line is the first, and therefore his grimoire is the most powerful of them all.”
“Lovely,” acknowledged, idly wandering over to his collection of band equipment and picking up his prized guitar. “And it’s the only way he can complete a magical cloaking spell?”
“In theory, yes,” Quinn nodded. “What happens is?—”
“That how you did yours?” asked as he strummed away, a question that stopped Quinn in his tracks. “‘Cause, clearly, I’ve been in your class this semester and all I can catch a whiff of is your god awful cologne mixed with that disgusting scent of freshmen.”
“Hey, now! My cologne is— never mind. And plus, you’d actually have to come to class to smell me,” said Quinn. “I don’t have my family grimoire. Not anymore. But to answer your question, yes , that’s how I completed the spell.”
“What do you mean, not anymore?”
“It’s another long story,” Quinn sighed.
“As your sire, I compel you to tell me. Where is your grimoire?”
Quinn cocked his head, looking at with genuine confusion. “Vampire-to-vampire compulsion, huh? Is that some kind of sire-progeny power that I don’t know about?”
“No, no. Hold on. Let me try a different one,” sighed . “As the First Vampire, I compel you to tell me the location of your grimoire.”
“Odessa sealed it away.”
raised an eyebrow. “Surprised that worked. Good to know. When? ”
Quinn remained silent.
“As the First Vampire, I compel you to tell me.”
“When she sealed me away.”
“All right, Doc,” crossed his arms. “What’s that mean?”
“Let’s just say I’m not as young as I look.”
“We’ll come back to that one in the unabridged edition,” said , his eyes narrowing with suspicion. “Where’s the book that belongs to Griff, then? Are we talkin’ eBay, Europe, or what?”
“It’s called the Grand Grimoire , not to be confused with the poppycock knockoff they used to sell in stores after the French Revolution. As the story goes, Odessa was corrupted with power and turned on her Original Witch brethren, taking as much of their magic for herself as she could. She stole several grimoires, sealed away or killed those that stood against her, and it’s said she kept them with her, under magical lock and key, to be guarded for all eternity.”
“Nice rhyme,” said with a hint of sarcasm. “Now, what if I told you that Griff was about to enter Odessa’s little crypt under Lovers' Lane Lake any minute now in search of this, uh, Grand Grimoire ?”
’s relaxed attitude shifted as the look on Quinn’s face suddenly changed. “ What!? ” The professor dropped his untouched blood bag.
“Doc, don’t make me use the First Vampire card again.”
“, how did you travel here during the day?”
placed his guitar back on its stand. “It’s been storming on and off. Excellent cloud cover for vampires. Why?”
Quinn looked to the egress window of the basement, to , then back outside.
“Quinn?” asked, grabbing his progeny by his shoulders and spinning him around so they were face-to-face.
The professor looked as though he might faint. His tone was dead serious. “, just how fast can vampires travel?”