Sophia/Stacey story Pt5

          "Hey Angel." A male's sing-song voice came out of nowhere, as he swept down and planted a kiss on Stacey's cheek.
"Hey Cade." Stacey said snapping her head up and nestling her head against his side. Her boyfriend, Cade came around her chair and sat down next to her. He was just slightly taller than Stacey was, with shaggy dirty-blonde hair. He was muscular, but not overly so. He wore glasses that were rimless, and never quit smiling his gorgeous, should-be-on-the-runway smile.
"Whatcha doin?"
"Reading Sophia's vampire book. I can't explain it, but I just felt like I needed to." Stacey closed the book and put it on the desk in front of her. She hadn't gotten around to reading the list Sophia had written, but thought that she could definitely use a break. Besides, it would take some concentration to decipher Sophia's handwriting, much less its meaning.
"She's not trying to convert you now that she's dead, is she?"
"I haven't seen or heard from her since the night before when she told me good night. And I pray that I won't hear from her again..."
"You won't. She's dead. You saw to that." Cade teased her with a twinkle in his eye.
"That's not funny Cade, you know I did no such thing."
Cade put his arm around Stacey comfortingly. "I know. I'm sorry. Still... you gotta admit out of all the way that one might die... she picked an odd way to leave."
"Yea... but I don't think that it counted as suicide, or even assisted suicide..." Stacey let her voice drift off at the end of the sentence, afraid to say what she was postulating in her head.
"What is it, love?"
"She wasn't interested in ending her life... and she was intelligent. I don't think she'd end her life- or make me do it for her, if she wasn't sure about the fact that it wouldn't actually end. I think... maybe she's not dead. At least, not as dead as the police say."
"What do you mean? You said she was dead by the time you got out of bed."
"Well she sure as heck looked dead and all vital signs were gone."
"So what are you saying?"
Stacey looked all around her, as if expecting to see Officer Maples or Detective Shorts following her. Or anyone else for that matter. Then she lowered her voice, leaning closer to Cade and looking directly into his eyes. A speck of fear was in her eyes, and she could not only feel it, but see its reflection in her reflection in Cade's eye. "I'm not sure. That's why I needed this book. The authorities wont care because to them its all superstitious fiction. They care about why and how she died, not any possibility of if she's really gone. But... I'll have to read this book... but her fortune cookie that day said 'Tonight is a night of new beginnings.'"
"Since when do you put any stock into fortune cookies?"
"I don't. But she did. I think... I think she's still here somehow. I think she's going to try, and probably succeed at, coming back as a vampire. An immortal creature. Free of all earthly needs and desires, minus the need of blood."
"You're serious. You not only think she is going to try to come back, but that she can?" Cade asked, looking at Stacey with deep concern in his eyes.
"I know she will try to come back. And while I do not know what this says about my belief- or lack thereof- of vampires, I think she will come back. This book says that much. There are supposed to be five accounts written by true vampires, all at different stages of vampirism, in this book."
"So someone wanted to make a little extra money. Nonfiction about subjects that are not supposed to exist sells more than a fiction book about things that do not exist."
"Look at this book." Stacey said, scooting the book over to Cade. "Really look at it. This book is weird. It has no authors listed, the publisher is Lilith  Upir. There's no year copyright date, no address of the publisher. Yet it's a legit book. I mean, it's  been published and has a decent binding and everything."
Cade picked up the book and inspected it for himself. "Well you are right about all the above. And there's not even a barcode anywhere. I think I'm going to go and look up the publisher and the title and see what I can find on the internet." Cade said, kissing Stacey's forehead as he got up. "I'll be right back."
Once Cade had gone Stacey once again opened up the book. She read through the list of "what makes great psyche strength", and was surprised when the list was oddly similar to the Christian ten commandments, only instead of "no other gods" or any of the early commandments that mentioned honoring god and the sabbath, they had said to have a through understanding of all the psychic, paranormal, and supernatural principles and concepts. 'Well,' Stacey thought to herself, 'If anyone has 'a through understanding of all the psychic, paranormal and supernatural principles and concepts' it was Sophie.' Another 'how to have a strong psyche' principle was to honor each day and waste none of your given time as a human. It seemed that by reading that list, Stacey was defining Sophia.
Having finished the list, Stacey went back to reading the text of the book itself. The book went on and on giving a through history of 'real' vampires, and explaining how each popular myth both today, and myths from far in the past, came to be. It appeared that the book, and it's writer or writers, had no desire to tell just anyone reading the first few pages how one does become a vampire. The one sentence about having great psyche strength was the only mention of what it takes to be a vampire. However, as she did not know exactly how long a newly deceased person had before they could come back, or had to come back, or whatever it took, she took no risks in missing information and read all the text, and all annotations made by Sophia.
Stacey had finished chapter one, throughly overwhelmed by all of the misconceptions the book had detailed. Chapter one itself was thirty-five, small-printed, pages long. "Ok. So I looked up the title Vampires and Immortality- Dwellers of The Everlasting Night, and at first I got no results." Cade said, sitting back down at the table.
"Big surprise there."
"Hey! Don't discredit me yet. I said at first. Turns out new age and wiccans and all of that sort of people are highly secretive. And by the way, it's not just for their safety. I don't know if you know this, but new agers and wiccans are all huge on the environment"
"Yea. Sophie was ridiculous about it. Vegan, biked everywhere she couldn't walk, and refused to eat any fruits and vegetables that were bought at a grocery store."
"Not surprising from what I was reading. Anyways, they feel that if their secret got out, and other humans not in the belief systems, then everyone would try for immortality and having everyone on earth live forever is not environmentally friendly." Stacey laughed at this. "So at first I got no results. But then I just searched "Vampires and Immortality" and I came across this one guy's blog. And he was all into wicca and was a part of a coven and was talking about how he had finally managed to get ahold of this book. Apparently it's a very rare book, with about 100 copies made. It gets passed around covens once the members have shown their loyalty and that they will keep the secret." "So the publisher?"
"It's an illusion to the ancient past. Lilith is a demon that lived off of the blood of babies. Upir is the slavic word for vampire. Both are long forgotten by almost anybody in modern times. From what I gather, the book was first made back when those names were commonly known."
"Has it been reprinted?"
"Not from what I could tell. The first vampires to put the book together made one hundred copies and from then on they just got passed around a lot. I have not ever seen any other copies, but my guess would be that all of the books are in such great condition. It's part of their mystique. They are considered like the equivalent of holy objects within those who believe."
"You don't think that an actual vampire gave this to Sophia."
Cade scrunched up his nose. "I doubt it. First of all, regardless how peculiar this book is and the fact that Sophie had it, I still don't think that living beings can return to life. Or do whatever it is that happens when one becomes a vampire."
"I don't know what to think..." Stacey trailed off.
"Why don't you put the book down for a while and we can go grab something to eat. What sounds good to you?"
"Chicken!" Stacey said smiling.
"Fried chicken it is then! Why am I not surprised."
"I like chicken."
"I know. Come on, let's go. You can return to your mystical studies later.