“Unfortunately I could not save that horrid tangle of rags you came in with yesterday,” she mused referring to my chore dress.
“Where is it?” I asked with concern. I needed that dress to collect herbs in.
“Incinerated!” she admitted with glee. That’s great, I thought. “But, I took the liberty of replacing it,” she gestured to a dress form nearby with a no-frills dress made of a pale green chemise and darker green bodice and overskirt. “This will do, I think.”
“Thank you,” I replied, surprised.
“Now, back to business. I understand you are in need of a disguise,” she said conspiratorially.
I smiled. I didn’t know this vampire very well, but I already liked her. This should be fun, I thought.
∞
All of the strategic planning and training made me homesick for my friends. It was Sunday so I meandered down towards the large rocks near the beach in the hopes of finding Sarah. I missed my friend, perhaps now more than ever. Our small group seemed to have grown so distant from one another. I barely had contact with any of them lately. I approached the jagged rocks that jutted up from the sand and was in luck. There she was, perched upon her regular rock, watching the waves on the lake. She looked up as I approached.
“Hey,” I said.
“Hey,” she replied softly, scooting over on the rock so that I could sit beside her. She had a pretty woven shawl wrapped about her all the way up to her chin.
For a while we just sat together without saying anything, watching the waves reach towards the shore over and over again. “How have you been, Sarah?” I inquired.
“As well as can be expected I guess,” she returned.
“I’m sorry about you and Sean,” I sympathized. She had found out that he had been cheating on her with one of the tavern bar maids again.
“I guess he wasn’t the one,” she said, looking off in the distance. “What about you, Evie? I’ve never seen you look so thin,” she remarked.
I shrugged. “I haven’t been hungry, I guess.” I didn’t want to try to explain how ridiculously heartbroken I had been over the prince over the last several months. The whole thing was just a crazy fantasy anyway. I also didn’t want to tell her about my brief-but-over relationship with Henrik. “We’ve been getting busier at the clinic since Dr. Thorpe died.”
“I can imagine . . . how is my sister? She hardly ever comes to our meetings.”
“She is well and has been a great help to me.”
“Is she still mooning over the half-vamp?” she asked bitterly.
“You mean Sir William?” I asked as innocently as I could.
“Uh huh,” she said with a slight tone of distaste. I know that she disapproved of her sister’s behavior, but there was nothing that she could say or do to persuade Samantha to stay away from him.
“He is a good man and has been kind to her as well as me. It’s just a crush. I wouldn’t worry about it,” I reassured her. I just couldn’t tell her the truth. Whatever Sir William and Samantha had, it was way beyond a simple crush. I looked at her, noticing that she seemed pale. “Sarah, are you all right? You look tired . . . and so pale.”
Her breath hitched and tears welled up in her eyes. I put my arm around her shoulder on the fine shawl that she had draped around her. She reached up and pulled it away from her neck. My mouth gaped open as I saw the tell-tale sign of a vampire bite on her. “Sarah!” I exclaimed, lifting a hand to the mark to assess how much trauma was there. “Who did this?” I couldn’t tear my eyes away.
“It’s okay Evie. I . . . am doing this voluntarily.”
I just stared at her in disbelief.
“I am paid well for it.”
“By who?”
“Lord Roderick,” she said matter-of-factly.
Lord Roderick. I processed the information. Ever the smooth talking vampire gentleman, he was still a sleazy piece of work. As I cringed thinking of him feeding off of Sarah, I remembered he thirsted for my blood in the beginning when I first started attending the banquets. He asked me more than once, then . . . suddenly stopped. I guess he got the picture and decided to try another one of us wayfarers. I had no idea that Sarah was so desperate for money. I thought of the gold coins Prince Eythan had given me. I wore them on me even now. I could have shared them with her and spared her from this, but instead I kept it a secret to hide my shameless failed attraction to him. I didn’t want anyone to know about how he had given it to me, or our strange hot and cold encounters. I swallowed and looked down at the rough brown sand below us. Even if I offered her money now, she wouldn’t take it; her pride would prohibit her from doing so.
“It’s not so bad, Evie,” she said nonchalantly. “It doesn’t hurt.”
“How often are you doing this?” I asked with concern.
“Once or twice a week,” she replied.
“Sarah, if you are going to continue to do this, please limit it. You need to drink plenty of fluids and eat to try to build your strength up. You don’t want him taking your blood faster than your body can make it,” I warned.
She glanced at me and nodded. I think that she seemed happy that I didn’t scold her about her behavior. All of us have had to make some hard choices since arriving here. I couldn’t judge her now. Deep down inside, I believed that somehow we would make it home and maybe someday we could forget all of this. She and I sat together in silence for a short while before we walked back to the village together.
∞
I passed the border of the South Village heading home just before sunrise. I hoped that Sam would be able to handle things this morning. I was never good at pulling a double shift. I needed to get some sleep before I tackled the day. Hopefully the midwife there would be able to resume her duties in case someone else decided to have a baby. I walked slowly, enjoying the mild weather and peace and tranquility before the hustle and bustle of the day began. My footsteps were soft on the ground and although I was tired, I kept watch. You just never knew who you would run into around here. After a while I neared the caves by the shore I had explored not so long ago, admiring the hazy view out on the lake when suddenly I got a strange feeling that I was being watched. I couldn’t explain it, but somehow I knew someone was there, even though I could not see or hear anyone.
I quickened my pace with a small feeling of panic rising inside. Who would be out here? I kept looking observantly around me as I hurried, still seeing no one. It might have been my imagination, but I swear I heard some sort of sadistic soft laughter. I broke into a fast run, breathing heavy, rounding the large boulder that I knew marked the sliver of an entrance to the cave where I had a close encounter with two of the rare Nevalth eels. The sun was just about to rise and I still did not see anyone. I don’t know what possessed me to run inside the cave, but I did. As I noticed before, it wasn’t a true cave, faint light shone down in a few beams here and there from the crevices in the top of the structure. I waited. Still, I did not see anyone pass by. My heart pounded in my chest. I was positive someone was there. What felt like a slight breeze flew past me and I realized my mistake right away. It might be the last one I would ever make.
The sadistic laughter returned, only this time right behind me. I shrieked as a vampire grabbed me and spun me around.
“Hello, Wayfarer!” he said menacingly.
I looked upon his face. Unmistakingly Lord Tanner, one of the ever faithful allies of Lord Crievan. My head began to swim. A full-blooded vampire out in the soon to be rising sun? How was this possible? Dr. Thorpe had mentioned some of the older vampires could withstand it, but I had never seen it during my time here. I knew I was dead. I had stupidly ducked into a dark cave where no one would ever see or hear me fight for my life. The pressure by which he held me by my upper arms felt excruciating.
“Let me go!” I wailed.
“I am sorry, my dear. You have caused too much of a stir here in Eteryn I am afraid. Pity though. I would love to keep you alive just to feed off of you from time to time . .
. but those are not my orders.” He laughed hysterically. He would have been handsome if he weren’t so menacing.
I had to think fast. I had to do something, . . . anything to try to stay alive, although I knew that was a minute possibility. Since he held me by my upper arms I thrust my hand down into the left pocket of my skirt and pulled out the small knife I always kept on me. I grasped it and quickly swiped it over his face. It hardly did any damage but he grunted and relinquished his hold on me just long enough for me to start sprinting again.
I didn’t make it very far from the now very pissed off immortal creature before he dashed up behind me and shoved me to the rock floor. I grunted as I fell and scrambled to turn myself around. My heart pounded away, practically leaping into my throat.
“You are going to pay for that, Wayfarer!” he roared at me.
I pulled myself to my feet and started running again towards the scattering shards of sunlight peeking in from above. He let me get a little farther down into the cave before he shoved me down again from behind, laughing. Clearly, he was enjoying this cat and mouse game.
I couldn’t out run him or overpower him and he knew it. He had unnatural speed and agility and was infinitely stronger than I was. The realization hit me that I was going to die. This was it. I slowly got to my feet, facing him. Very carefully, I started pacing backwards, simultaneously keeping an eye on him and watching my step. I couldn’t defeat him . . . but an idea suddenly came to me.
“Who gave you the order to kill me?” I asked, trying to stall him and keep him talking as I continued to may my way backwards further into the cave.
“Well, now let me see . . . there is hardly a full-blooded vampire on the council that would not like to see Eteryn rid of you and your companions.”
I gasped as I stumbled and almost fell as I continued treading backwards.
Lord Tanner laughed like a hyena at my fumble, watching me like I was a deer caught in headlights. “But no one would love to see you dead more than Lord Crievan. He is so infuriated at the way the prince has ignored his half-ling daughter since you arrived. Oh well. At least I got the job. I am happy to do it. The bouquet of your blood is so exotic.” He sneered at me, showing off his razor sharp canines.
Almost there, I thought fleetingly. A few more steps and I would be at the ledge. I could see the strong sunlight shining in through the entrance above the tide pool below me.
“Oh, poor thing. Looks like there is nowhere left for you to go,” he snarled at me, referring to my predicament at the edge. “I am going to drink you dry, Wayfarer!”
I turned as fast as I could, trying for a jump but he grabbed me and I screamed. He whipped me around faster than I could blink. As he moved in I felt the pain as he sank his sharp teeth into my neck. I screamed again and tried to struggle but he was too powerful. I would never escape this. His mouth was hard on my neck and I could feel the suction and how quickly my blood was being pulled from me. I started to panic. This was the end! My thoughts whirled like a tornado in my mind. My father, . . . my sister, . . . my friends. I would never see them again. I was never going home. This was how I would die, being some wretched vampire’s kill.
Then a memory came to me out of nowhere. The memory of the king, moving as fast as a bolt of lightning as he pulled a scale off of my dress without me hardly realizing it. I recalled it now. My mind started to become fuzzy with the high I remembered some blood donors had told me about getting from vampire venom after being bitten. I stopped struggling and reached down into my right pocket and closed my fist around the hard, shimmery scale I always kept with me since that day. Waste not, want not, I thought as I pulled it out and sliced the razor sharp end down the horrible vampire’s face, over his eye and down to his jaw as hard as I could with all of the strength I could muster.
The vampire pulled back and hissed, releasing me with a murderous look in his eye as one of his hands went to his face. I didn’t hesitate to throw myself over the edge. I knew what could be lurking there. At this point I no longer cared. I would rather be eaten by something water born than be this horrible henchman’s breakfast. My head whirled as I hit the water with a loud splash. Under the water, I heard and felt the vampire hit the water a second behind me.
I surfaced and screamed as he yanked me back by my hair. The water was not so deep that my feet could not reach the bottom. I remembered this. We thrashed around violently as he grabbed me by my throat. I hadn’t let go of the scale and kept trying to slice at his hands with it. Without warning, I felt powerful movements underneath the dark water. He must have felt it too because he stilled with his hands around my neck. I resumed my struggle as I knew what had come for us; I knew what was in the water. Suddenly he hissed and relinquished his hold on me as he began flailing wildly in the dark water. Although I was beyond frightened, I used that opportunity to half-swim, half-trudge towards the entrance to the beach.
I have to keep going. I have to keep moving; I told my fuzzy brain. I focused on the movements of my arms and legs and tried to forget what was going on in the water behind me. I wasn’t sure why I hadn’t been attacked yet. I did not look back, but the thrashing in the water seemed to escalate and then the vampire began grunting between being pulled under and pushing his way back up. I was so close to the entrance now. I couldn’t believe it. My limbs felt like lead, but I kept going. The shrieks behind me turned into full blown screams, interrupted by gurgling and more thrashing.
The entrance! I grabbed the rocky ledge and carefully pulled myself up and out of the water onto the beach and the welcoming warm sun. Slowly, I rose to my feet. I turned and dared to peer back into the cave and caught sight of bluish looking body and fins wrapped around a struggling figure that screamed and howled like an animal in pain. I grimaced at the awful site as I realized the eel had Lord Tanner’s neck in its jaws. Then, abruptly, the screaming stopped and the figure disappeared! He was dead! He was dust in the water! I stared dumbfounded into the dim cave. “Thank you,” I whispered to the Nevalth eels that had saved my life.
I stood there numbly with my mouth gaped open as I let the reality of the situation sink into me. I led a vampire to his death. A vampire was dead . . . and because of me. Not just any vampire. A noble one . . . and my blood, my scent was everywhere. I may have survived the attack but I was still just as dead. Any vampire or half-vampire alive would be able to smell my blood and link me to this. The nobles and the council would blame me. No one would believe Lord Crievan sent him to kill me. He would sentence me to hang before anyone could stop him. It was only a matter of time before they would come for me.
I swayed as I trudged slowly back to my village. Although the sun was now fully up, it was still very early. I hoped no one would see me as I slipped into the back entrance of the clinic. My hand went to my sore neck, a small amount of blood still oozed there. I had no idea how much blood I had lost, but I felt like I had been hit by a bus. I estimated it was a lot, . . . a few units at least. Aside from the pain, I felt violated. I had been brutally attacked. My head still spun with wonder at how I was still alive . . . at least for now.
I slowly pushed the door open and stepped inside. The hearth was dark. Apparently Samantha had not come back from Sir William’s bed yet. I eased out of my boots and breathed heavily climbing the stairs up to my room, stumbling once along the way. I let daylight stream in after I opened the shutters and made my way to the vanity and the mirror. I leaned up close to assess my injuries. Two puncture wounds were evident against the right side of my neck, along with a massive bruise. That sick vampire had definitely not been gentle. Watered down traces of blood stained the front of my wet dress. As if moving in slow motion I poured some water out of the pitcher into the basin and grabbed a washcloth, moistened it, and started cleaning off my face and neck. I forced my fingers to work as I unlaced my bodice and stepped out of the wet garment. Shivering, I went to the armoire and pulled out the first work dress and dry undergarments I saw. I dressed at a turtle’s pace and ran a comb
through my damp hair. I let it hang loose and made my way back down the stairs. I was beyond tired, my mind was in a haze, and I was freezing. I wondered if I was going into shock. I sat in Dr. Thorpe’s old chair after downing a large mug of ale.
I did not have to wait long before I heard a commotion outside my door. I had almost fallen asleep when Sir William and several castle guards burst in and startled me. Samantha was nowhere to be seen. Sir William approached me quickly with a slight worried look on his face. “Evelyn? Are you all right?” he asked softly, apparently shocked by my haggard appearance.
I nodded, not sure how I should respond to that. I did not feel all right. But then, I had never been attacked and bitten by a vampire before either. He tried to put a hand on my shoulder, but instinctively I shrank back. I don’t think I meant to, it was just an instinct right now. I didn’t want anyone touching me. He pulled his hand back and spoke instead.
“Do you think you can walk?”
“Yes,” I said. This was it. They were taking me to my sentencing. I put both hands on the arm rests and pushed myself up unsteadily. Sir William offered me an arm, but I refused. He snatched my cloak off of the peg on the wall and set it around my shoulders, I flinched and he backed off.
“Please follow me. I have a carriage waiting.”
Somehow I made it up the step and inside without falling on my face. Once seated, I closed my eyes and tried to rest. I was sure I was being taken to the tower. I wondered how I would die this time. Would I be hanged? Beheaded? Burned at the stake? Who knows?
I must have fallen asleep because the next thing I knew, Sir William was calling my name and gently shaking my shoulder. I shoved him off, with what little strength I had and he scooted back. “They are waiting for you, are you still able to walk?” he asked me looking uncertain at my abilities. I nodded. I would do this. I could do this.
I registered surprise when I exited the carriage and saw that I was in a stable yard at the castle and not Ironhaven. Sir William led me, followed by several guards into the castle and down a few hallways until at last we came to a large dimly lit room with the curtains drawn. Princess Emeley and King Edreyan were there, waiting for me. He led me right up to them and Princess Emeley gasped and darted over to me to get a good look at my neck. I flinched and squirmed out of her grasp on my arm. I think I was still in shock. King Edreyan simply looked on. I totally forgot to curtsy or display any of my other manners.
The Twilight Star Page 25
