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“You know she has all kinds of toys in the present time,” I said to him one time.
“She might, but these hold a part of my love within them,” my sweet husband said.
Even if Athena had just learned how to walk, she didn’t even need to do so while in Wallachia as so many humans and supernatural beings alike wanted to hold her. She traveled from the hands of Grandma Stoica, Marius, Anca, and Teodora to the hands of Solomonarul, Lia, and Tiberiu, as well as both his sons, Remus and Romulus, who still didn’t kill one another. A win in Tiberiu’s book.
As time progressed, I felt Vincenta didn’t bode as well with her health, and I feared losing her. One morning when I went to feed Vincenta, I discovered she had silver eyes. Gabriel turned her into a vampire goat. I didn’t expect such a turn of events, but I was also grateful. I told Gabriel about Shadow, his loyal companion from his previous life. About how and where they met and how throughout the years, Shadow’s presence eased some of the pain. Gabriel’s reaction to my story was to go and find Shadow. Except I didn’t know when their encounter happened. So every day, Gabriel would run supersonic to the woods he was supposed to meet Shadow for the first time in hopes they would meet once more. I suggested using my time-traveling skills and finding the exact day they were supposed to meet. But he refused. Gabriel wished the encounter to happen naturally and on his terms. Eventually, they met, and from what he told me, it was glorious. Shadow jumped into his lap straightaway as if he knew Gabriel would be his owner for eternity.
Though I didn’t get to complete my master’s degree, I had the opportunity to work with the greatest scholars in history (even if I had to pretend to be a man on occasion.) Basically, I lived the historian’s dream and made sure to preserve this knowledge in thoroughly researched treatises. Many of these still remained with us until humanity was prepared to receive them.
When Xavier got older, and things in Wallachia turned for the worse in terms of politics, our family decided to travel throughout Europe. Given my knowledge of history, we usually picked the rather prosperous countries at the time. Athena and Xavier enjoyed her history lessons from the balconies of the French countryside or the riverbank of London’s Thames or while strolling on Dutch bridges. I taught Gabriel how to ride a bike (he looked like a pro on the third try), and he taught me how to dance. I still had two left legs any time I tried. Thank goodness I had a vampire for a husband who could swoosh me around whenever I risked falling.
Since for many years Athena returned to us at the same age, Xavier grew older than her pretty quickly. By the time he reached his twenties, Athena still remained one. It was hard to explain to many how the older child was our youngest, but we enjoyed the confusion. Xavier loved to play and then take care of Athena as he proved to be just as kind as their father. Once he turned twenty, Gabriel turned Xavier into a vampire. And given the fact that Gabriel and I didn’t age, for the longest time, we pretended Xavier was my brother.
As time passed, Gabriel began turning many humans in need into Once Diluted vampires. Thus, alongside the other beings in The Other Realm, we created our own peaceful vampire society. Though not without an opposing stance (Vedoma’s coven still continued their existence), based on the votes of the majority, we took over the reins of The Other Realm. Our titles became: Gabriel the Immortal, King of The Other Realm, and I, Petra the Time-Keeper, Queen of The Other Realm.
We made sure we maintained a fair and honest rule over the magical lands, but once many beings settled across the world, we chose to be summoned only in times of need.
Even though he enjoyed boasting about his wife killing him in a previous life, Gabriel made sure I felt loved in every possible way. It felt like our love blossomed in many ways over the years, and we made sure to cherish every single moment spent together.
Someone asked Gabriel, “How do you know if someone is the right one for you?”
He said: “Based on how you feel, time passes next to them. With the wrong person, you count the days. With the right one, you count the decades. I count the centuries.”
After several hundred years, we returned to Transylvania, where we found a home at Bran castle while The Ordinary Realm figured out what to do with it. And just like before, we built our own castle in The Other Realm, and once the Romanian authorities decided to gift the castle to their royalty, our family had already moved their belongings to the Alterum Regnum castle, a carbon copy of the one I saw in the present time. On the walls in the hallway, I hung a few of our family paintings, but for the most part, I went with my own embroidered creations, just like I always dreamed of. Most of them contained puns, except for one bee (without an itch) that reminded us that love and friendship could conquer even the strongest of evils.
The moment the past and present merged, a few things stayed the same, like Gabriel’s vast collection of philosophy books, while the things that differed, like the paintings of me, disappeared. Except for his letters.
“Maybe they bore such intense emotions they superseded the powers of time,” said Gabriel when I showed them to him. “They’re a part of my deepest, innermost emotions I have for you.”
We met Troy in France and relived his story along with him. Since Kira died, her presence disappeared along the timeline, but we made sure to tell Troy about their blooming story of love and her message to him before she died. We also told Troy about Mei long before they met.
Only when past and present collided did he meet her, though Troy never told Mei the man she woke up one morning wasn’t exactly the same man she fell in love with? At first, I believed Troy planned to break things with Mei, given he didn’t share the same history anymore. But to our astonishment, the man had fallen in love with Mei once more. Given Mei’s bubbly personality, who wouldn’t?
When we took over the throne, they both decided to travel the world, marry, and eventually return to the US and build Mei’s dream of a pediatric clinic for special needs kids. After Mei’s parents found out about their future wedding, they scurried to send us our glass statue and start a new one for them.
Once I became a Time-Keeper and received the time scrolls, I discovered there were more time travelers out there than I assumed. But the most surprising fact happened when I realized the Eye of the Dragon stone wasn’t the only time-traveling artifact. There were dozens. My duty consisted of assuring the time continuum wasn’t used for illegal trading or time manipulations. And sometimes, I had to help those who got lost by accident. Though, I rarely did so, as who knows, maybe they would find the love of their life in another time, just like I did.
Oh, and I forgot to mention another event that happened. When we reached Bram Stoker’s time, I made a whole fuss about meeting him in person. Not only because he was my favorite author but because I wanted to do a better job at explaining the rules of vampirism. I didn’t doubt Gabriel tried his best to describe the vampire lifestyle the first time, but maybe, a historian like me would be better at conveying the message.
To our dismay, Mr. Stoker still chose to write the book in his own way (though we still went back for a signed copy). One thing remained true. Humans loved their consistency. Because Bram Stoker never considered Count Dracula could be a family man living with his wife, daughter, son, and two pets in the woods on the outskirts of a Transylvanian town.
But if you ever stroll around in the Bra?ovian forest and maybe feel an unusual breeze or a slight shiver, you probably passed through our protective dome and walked by our castle without realizing it. In such a case, know that the Stoica family is cheering a goblet of wine in your honor and thanks you for your visit.
Epilogue
"Are you ever going to learn?” Muma Padurii asked.
“I might if you don’t push me around,” I said as I crossed my arms.
“Look at her and her sharp tongue. I’m risking the safety of my forest by helping you, and you have the time to twaddle. Jump back in there and say the incantation once more. If the fates knew how incompetent our new Time-Keeper is, they would take away your role straightaway.”
“I think the fates have enough work to do without me crossing their path,” I said. “Also, you already know how nervous I get in front of people.”
“What people? It’s just you out there.”
“But what if other time travelers see me fail?”
“Uh, you are hopeless. I’m going to count to three. If you don’t reach the secret chamber, I’m leaving. One,” Muma Padurii said.
