Venus de Lovi Chapter 15

Chapter 15- A Gypsy's Tale

Antonio's POV

"Again, how did you kidnap the seer?" Peter asked.

"She came up to us and told us that she foresaw it," Allie explained for the tenth time.

"Okay, so why is Jerkface mad?" Peter asked.

"Because he thinks that her protector will come kill us all for kidnapping the seer. But the seer foresaw it so, he should understand that it's all good," Allie told him.

"And Andries was there?" I asked. I still couldn't believe that Andries did anything else but smoke and throw knives at my picture.

"You know that isn't the point of my story," Allie explained.

"But Andries was there?" Emma asked. "That does explain why he came home at five in the morning."

"Yes, he was there," Allie said annoyed. "So were Matthias, Silvia and Maddie." Maddie? Maddie? Oh yeah, her sister, who just happened to be sitting beside her.

"So how are we going to do this?" I asked.

"Go into the prison cell and stay there until the cat starts telling you about your future," Allie explained.

"What?" I asked.

Allie sighed annoyingly. "We want her to tell us how to stop Zwingli and his bosses. And the only way we can know how to stop them is if the Oracle tells us. Now, she only says things when the person destined for this path is present and she's usually talking to them. Now, this path is obviously yours, so you go in there until the chick talks," Allie said pushing me towards the jail cell.

"What if this doesn't work?" I asked.

"It will, trust me," Allie said opening the jail cell. For some reason, I didn't feel like this was going to be a good idea.

Allie closed the jail cell and locked it. Now I was locked in a jail cell. I put my hands on the bars and looked at Allie with puppy-dog eyes. I didn't want to be in here. The Oracle never talk… well her cat never talks for her. Allie ignored me and went to sit with the others.

The jail cell wasn't that big. It could fit maybe four people. The walls were dirty. There was a bench and a toilet. Isis was sitting on the bench. She looked elegant. She sat up tall and petted her cat. She was a very beautiful woman with ancient looking green eyes. They looked like they have seen a lot. Well, if the legends are true, she was very old.

I smiled at her and she smiled back. The cat looked up with his large amber eyes.

"Sorry about Allie. I've only known her for a month now. She's ay… she's Allie," I said. I felt like I had to say something. The Oracle nodded. The cat laid his head down and cuddled on her lap. "Si… I'm Antonio." I gave the Seer my hand.

She shook my hand. "Isis," the cat said. The cat then yawned.

"Antonio, how are you doing?" Emma asked from the jail bars. Allie wasn't even giving me a chance to talk. I was in the prison cell for a minute.

"Fine," I replied.

"Ask the Oracle if she's hungry. I'm making waffles." The Oracle nodded.

"She'll like some waffles," I replied. "Can I have some too?"

"Sure," Emma giggled. She was a sweet girl and loved making waffles.

After Emma left, I turned to the Oracle. I couldn't think of anything to say so I just asked, "So, where do you come from?"

"Memphis," the cat said.

"Tennessee?"

"No, Egypt. It's an ancient city," the cat said.

"Oh… so how was it growing up in Memphis?" I really didn't know what to say to the Oracle. Allie wanted info out of her. How was I supposed to do that?

"I actually grew up in Delphi. That's in Greece. It was a famous oracular site." I heard of it.

"So, when did you move?"

"During the 3rd century B.C. Heracles and I moved to Thrace, now Bulgaria, then Asia Minor, now Turkey, then Rome, then Hispania, now Spain, then Gaul, now France, then Britannia, now Britain, then Dalmatia, now Croatia, then Dacia, now Romania, then Hungary, then the Kiev Kingdom, now Ukraine, then New Persia, now Iran, then India, then China, then Japan, then the Koreas. We returned to Europe through what would now be Russia. When we returned to Europe, we lived in Sweden, then the Holy Roman Empire, and then we lived in Greece and Egypt again. We then went south. We travelled most of Africa and went to Portugal. From Portugal we went to Brazil and went up until we hit Nysa. We've been living here for the last ten years." I could not follow any of that. I think she said others but I was struggling with those.

"You've travelled a lot."

"Next, we'll go to New Zealand or Australia. We've never been to Oceania. But it's not time yet."

"Oh, well. I'm sure you'll go one day."

"I'm sure too."

I sighed. Well, I didn't know what else to say.

Emma came by with the waffles. I ate with Isis and Emma. It was silent. No one knew what to say. It was uncomfortable for Emma, but Isis seemed to be fine with the silence. Well, she was technically a mute, she mustn't talk that much. I didn't mind the silence. I just smiled eating delicious waffles made by a friend.

After the waffles, Emma took our dishes to the kitchen. We heard Allie yelling that I was an idiot and I should be pounding or scaring the information out of Isis. Isis laughed.

Allie eventually got fed up and threw me out of the jail cell. She was angry with me.

Allie calmed down, at one point, I think. I wasn't sure if she had or not. She was acting calm but then again, sometimes I get people's emotions wrong. But I could feel some anger from her, so maybe she didn't calm down.

Daciana came to pick me up. My guards for the night were Daciana and one of Felicja's padres. I was never happier to leave the police station.

When I got home, my padre made dinner. We sat around the table and ate in the kitchen. I told them about my boring day with the Oracle.

"I still can't believe she's still alive," Daciana said. "Did she drink vampire blood?"

I finished chewing and swallowed my paella. "She didn't say anything like that."

"Maybe they used an ancient spell so they came live forever," Mister Wook… never mind I can't say it, Felicja's padre said.

"Maybe they found the fountain of youth? There are a million of possibilities," my padre said. I nodded.

"It's still odd that they have been living for so long," Daciana said. "They look the same too. They haven't changed their appearance since the 15th century."

"You've met them before?" I asked.

"Yes, back when I was human. I was travelling with my husband and children in the Holy Roman Empire. She told me that I was going to die in 24 hours. And surely, 24 hours later, I met Ruby and she turned me into a vampire."

"But you were turned at eighteen? You were already married with children?" I asked.

"That was a different time. Most women married at puberty. Though, I was married at eight and my husband was ten." My eyes widened. I don't even think I was interested in girls when I was ten. "It's rare that my old people would practice child marriages, but some of them did and still do. My family needed the dowry. We were also on the run, so the less people we had with us, the faster we could go. My older sister was also given away to a husband. She was eleven."

"You must have missed your family," I said. I know I would.

"Of course I did, but it was something I had to do. Every young woman had to live with a husband or become a nun. There weren't many options out there."

"But you were eight," my padre said.

"We didn't bed until I was thirteen," she laughed. "For five years, my mother-in-law was waiting impatiently for grandchildren. It would be hard to have grandchildren without bleeding every month. But she did get her grandchildren. Toma and I had three children together." There were teenagers! This day in age that would be crazy! "It was difficult raising three boys on the road. But I did it until I was turned. I tried to do it for a little longer but my husband found out what I was and he threw me out. The oracle had warned me about my husband, but I didn't listen to her. He was my husband, he should have protected me. But he rallied up our clan to kill me. Ruby, Ida and I ran away to Poland. In Moldova or Ukraine, then it was Lithuania, we met with Vladimir. When our family had to run, they forgot him and then he was travelling alone. He was twenty."

"Why were you always on the road?" I asked.

She laughed. "Romani are always on the road." Oh. "My brother hadn't seen me since he was six, when I married Toma. We didn't recognise each other at first but after a week, I recognised him. It was a happy reunion. It was actually the Oracle who told us to go east to find my blood. It was back when Isis spoke in tongues. I don't know when she gave it up. At the time, I didn't care because I thought she was insane. I was human and I had heard about this world in stories.

"So, Ruby turned him. She never asked him or me, or Ida. She just turned him. That was the thing about Ruby she never listened to anyone but herself.

"We met Isis again, in Sicily actually. It was right before Ruby turned Grace and Francis. It was a short meeting at the airport. She had come out of her plane and came to Ida and I. Now that I think about it, she told us to turn Francis." She laughed. "I didn't realise it was the same woman. Her Greek wasn't with her and she was in a ponytail. Now that I see her in the prison, I know it was the same woman. And she spoke threw a cat. It was because of her, I am here right now. If Ruby had never turned Francis and Grace, Ida, Vlad and I would have never left the coven and made our own coven. Interesting, how things can change with the influence of one person."

"So, she'll just tell us what we have to know, when it's time?" I asked.

"Probably, if she has anything to tell you," Daciana explained. "She's a weird girl that just pops up in your life when she wants too."

Well today was useless. I could have been spending the day with Lovi, but Allie forced me into a useless mission. At least I was going to spend my dreams with Lovi. Maybe then I could tell her about what I had learned today. I couldn't wait to go to sleep.