Master of Ecstasy

by Nina Bangs

  Ganymede pulled at his beard. "Nothing for you to worry about, little lady. You're completely safe here in the castle with me to protect you." He glanced around to make sure none of the other guests were nearby.

  "The killings last night were closer to us than the others. Maybe two, three miles east of here. So I wouldn't go wandering outside the castle after dark."

  Blythe nodded. She didn't have to pretend fear as she hurried back to tell Darach.

  He only nodded when she gave him the news. Silently he strode to the corner to retrieve his sword, then headed for the door. Darach MacKenzie, the inscrutable one. It drove Blythe crazy when he reverted to his emotionless self.

  "I want to help, Darach." It never ceased to amaze Blythe what kinds of absurdities came from her mouth when Darach was around.

  "Help?" His tone was dismissive. " 'Tis too dangerous. Ye'll stay here where ye'll be safe."

  Nothing motivated Blythe more than being told she couldn't do something. Or knowing that someone she… cared about was walking into danger alone. "I could stay close behind you like I did the other night and watch your back. The Freeze-frame will stop anything, and I know how to use it."

  He raked his fingers through his hair. She was beginning to recognize the gesture. It was a nonverbal communication of You're driving me nuts, lady.

  "Ye willna come, and ye willna argue about it. I dinna know how many vampires there are, and ye would only distract me from what I must do." He seemed to think that the final word had been spoken. His word.

  Not likely. "I'm coming, and I'm helping. Are you going to walk? You know, you really might want to push the flying thing up on your list of powers. It would do you more good than just being able to see your reflection. Just my opinion, though."

  "Aye, I'm walking. I keep several horses in the stable, but I can move more quietly on foot. Besides, the vampires will be close, so I willna need to ride." He reached the door, pulled it open, then turned to smile at her. "Ye will stay here and dream of me tonight, Blythe." He closed the door quietly behind him.

  He really didn't know her if he thought she'd sit here all night wringing her hands and playing the helpless lady of the manor. She flung on her cloak, tucked the Freeze-frame into her pocket, and rushed to the arrow slit to see where Darach was headed. Thank heaven the window faced east. She watched him cross the footbridge, then follow a path winding into the darkness. She was lucky the moon was full tonight, because she hadn't brought anything to light her way.

  Time for action. Blythe rushed to the door, reached for the latch, and slammed into Darach's protective shield. She couldn't believe him. He'd trapped her in this room.

  Okay, calm down. Think. The window wasn't an option. She glanced up at the ceiling. The hole? Darach had shielded the door to this room, but maybe he hadn't bothered with the door to his old room since he wasn't using it anymore. It was worth a try.

  It only took her a few minutes to put the chair on top of a small table and the stool on top of the chair. She actually managed to crawl through the hole before her makeshift tower collapsed. Hurrying to his door, she yanked it open. She felt a slight jolt that told her he'd protected the door from anyone trying to enter, but not from her escaping. Of course, she wouldn't be able to get back in, but that didn't matter. Yes! She was free.

  Fifteen minutes later, she was riding a gray mare across the footbridge. Okay, so she was feeling a little smug. One thing that Darach MacKenzie didn't know about her was that she knew how to ride.

  She was about twenty minutes behind him, but if she kept the mare at a trot and followed this path heading east, she should catch up with him. Blythe didn't think beyond the catching-up part.

  Ten minutes later, she was almost ready to admit that Darach must have turned off the path somewhere when she heard the sounds. Ugly sounds. Growls, howls, and shrieks that were human and yet not human.

  Gut-check time. She could still turn the mare around and race back to the castle. But in the primitive part of her where fight-or-flight reigned, fight won. She wouldn't run away if there was a chance of helping Darach. A less primitive part of her was asking, "And you expect to do what?"

  She'd know when she got there. Firming her resolve along with her spine, she dismounted and tied the mare's reins to a tree. She wouldn't take the horse too close to whatever was happening for fear that the panicked animal might bolt and leave her stranded.

  She moved closer to the noise, trying to use boulders and trees as cover. She didn't worry about being too loud, because no one would hear her above all the other sounds.

  Unexpectedly, she rounded a large boulder to face a nightmare scenario. Blythe froze.

  Darach stood with his back to her in the center of a small clearing, his sword unsheathed and ready. Spread in a semicircle around him were six creatures that looked a lot like Ian. Each wielded a short, deadly-looking ax similar to the one Jorund had carried. Slowly they closed in on him, their insane cries echoing eerily in the silence of the night.

  Blythe drew in a sharp breath and fumbled in her pocket for her Freeze-frame. She wouldn't look into the glittering blue eyes filled with insane rage. She wouldn't dwell on the long, yellowed fangs exposed as the creatures curled their lips in vicious snarls. She wouldn't stare at their misshapen bodies and clawed fingers. And she definitely wouldn't scan their emotions.

  "Go home, Blythe. Now." Darach's voice was calm, with no inflection to tell her if he was angry or afraid.

  How had he known she was behind him? "I can't do that, Darach. Do what you have to do, and I'll take care of myself." Yeah, right. At least he was too occupied to reach into her mind and read her uncertainty.

  She thought he would argue, but he said nothing more. Blythe watched the creatures draw closer to him. Darach's attention never left them.

  Unexpectedly, a strange sensation hit her. It felt… as if she'd morphed into a human magnet. It was as though a power within her were drawing some unknown entities closer and closer. She shook her head to try to rid herself of the sensation.

  The sensation was so strong that she almost didn't feel Darach in her mind until he spoke. "I know your greatest fear, Blythe. They come for ye. Run home to your room before they catch ye."

  No! He wouldn't do this to her. Yes, he would if he thought it was the only way to make her leave. Blythe's heartbeat felt as if it were pumping a few thousand beats per minute. She widened her eyes and stared into the darkness beyond the clearing.

  She heard the rustling first, as though hundreds of tiny feet were moving through the undergrowth. Then came the distinctive chittering sound. Louder and louder. They were coming for her.

  She tried to scream, but her voice seemed locked in her throat. She tried to run, but her feet were frozen to the ground. Her breaths came in gasps of pure terror. Her mind seemed incapable of doing anything but repeating over and over, "They're coming. They're coming."

  Suddenly they burst out of the night. Hundreds of round pink bittyfluffs racing toward her on their tiny yellow feet, focusing on her with their huge purple eyes. Chittering at her as they came.

  Blythe put her hand over her mouth to keep from screaming her terror. She was a small child again, leaning over a crate of bittyfluffs that had just been flown in by space freight. Everyone wanted one for a pet, and she was searching for the exact one she wanted Mom to buy for her. But she'd wandered away from Mom, so that when she lost her balance and fell into the large crate, there was no one to pull her out. Bittyfluffs were small, cuddly, and suffocating. Overly friendly, they piled onto her face, and for every one she pushed away with her little hands, two more took its place. She couldn't scream because her mouth and nose were full of pink fur. And she couldn't breathe, she couldn't breathe!

  Stop panicking. Think logically. You didn't die. Mom came along in time to save you from suffocating. Logic didn't help. She'd had an unreasoning fear of bittyfluffs her whole life.

  I'm sorry, Darach. So sorry. Blythe turned and ran, away from the bitt
yfluffs, away from her lifelong fear.

  With her heart pounding, she hiked up her dress and raced toward her horse. She could outrun the bittyfluffs with their short little legs. Who will help Darach? Run. She had to keep running. What if those creatures kill him? No, she had to get away from the bittyfluffs. He's alone back there facing six of them.

  Her headlong flight slowed. For the first time, her lifelong fear clashed with an even greater fear. Darach could die.

  Breathing hard, she stopped and bent over at the waist to prop her hands on her knees. As her pounding heart slowed, she made her decision. Her fear of bittyfluffs was in her mind. What Darach was dealing with back in that clearing was real.

  Did she have the courage to go back? For Darach? Turning, she looked back down the path and didn't miss its symbolism. If she retraced her steps now, she'd be choosing to revisit her childhood nightmare. It was time. She started back toward the sounds of battle.

  Halfway back, she met the herd of bittyfluffs. They hopped and chittered at her. She kept walking, never looking down, not even daring to think for fear she'd break and run. They followed her as though she were some strange pied piper. When she almost tripped over one, she glanced down into its huge, adoring, purple eyes. This was what she'd feared her whole life.

  She'd read an ancient quote once to the effect that to overcome fear you should surround yourself with what frightens you, understand it, and then it can't hurt you anymore. Easier said than done. Holding her breath, she leaned down and touched the bittyfluff with fingers that shook. It chittered its excitement. Jerking her hand away, she forced herself to breathe. There's nothing to be afraid of. Just pet it. The second time was a little easier. She stroked the bittyfluff, concentrating on the smooth fur beneath her fingers, the big purple eyes that shone with joy that she was touching it. Her tension slowly eased.

  Straightening, she drew in a deep, fortifying breath. She'd braved the bittyfluffs. Their fearsome memory would never have the same power over her again, because she'd faced the reality today. They were just fuzzy little animals, not the monsters of her childhood nightmares.

  Blythe strode back into the clearing with her Freeze-frame ready. She was in time to see Darach kill one of the vampires. Four down, two to go. She refused to look at the gruesome death scene as she focused on Darach.

  He'd probably been right. He didn't need her help. What kind of physical power did it take to kill these insane creatures? She shook her head. That was wrong. They'd once been human, and she needed to give them the dignity of that memory.

  Unexpectedly, one of the remaining vampires slipped behind Darach, who was completely involved in his life-and-death struggle with the vampire in front of him. Darach didn't seem to realize that danger was creeping up from behind.

  Without thinking, Blythe raised her Freeze-frame and fired. The vampire froze in place, his clawed hand stilled in the act of bringing his ax down on Darach's unprotected head.

  At the same time, Darach dispatched his enemy with one deadly stroke from his sword, then whirled to face the vampire behind him.

  Time itself seemed to stop. Darach grew still, sword raised to strike, while she stood with her Freeze-frame in her hand. She and Darach stared at each other, past the frozen figure of the last vampire.

  Darach was in his vampire form.

  Only the herd of bittyfluffs seemed unaffected by the drama playing out in the clearing. Like a giant amoeba, they moved together in a pink blob, chittering their joy at being alive in this place of death. The irony wasn't lost on Blythe.

  As Darach lowered his bloody sword, he drew in a deep breath, and Blythe knew he was preparing to change to human form.

  "Don't." Her voice was only a murmur, but he heard her and stood waiting.

  Blythe understood that what she did, how she reacted within the next few minutes would determine something very important. Her relationship with Darach? They had a sexual relationship, but was it more than that? Did she want it to be more than that?

  Yes. And that was the most frightening admission she'd ever made.

  Blythe slowly returned her Freeze-frame to her pocket, almost afraid to move too quickly, afraid that she'd lose him. She stepped around the frozen figure of the vampire to stand in front of him. He seemed bigger, larger in ways that went beyond the mere physical. Deliberately she stared at his face.

  "You can relax, vampire. I'm not going to say yuck." She smiled up at him and hoped her smile told him in some way the wonder she felt.

  "Tell me what ye see." His voice was harsh with the remnants of the violence he'd just experienced, demanding with his need to know what she saw.

  And underlying everything, Blythe felt his uncertainty. That was what moved her. She knew her eyes glistened with her own emotion as she reached up to slide her fingers along his clenched jaw.

  "You're beautiful, vampire, in any form." Blythe put her finger across his lips to stop him from rejecting the unmanly description of him as beautiful. "Shush. This is my time to speak, and I'll use any words I want." She took her finger from his lips and tapped him firmly on his chest. "And you'll be quiet and listen."

  His eyes widened, and Blythe almost laughed. She'd bet not many people had ever talked to him that way. But she'd braved a whole herd of bittyfluffs tonight. Next to that, facing him was nothing. She studied his stoic expression. Fine, so it wasn't "nothing."

  She exhaled slowly, letting her emotion go. Her description had to be clinical, not colored by her feelings for him. He had to believe she told him the truth, not what she thought he wanted to hear.

  "Your face is more angular now. Knife-edged cheekbones. Your eyes are larger, elongated, and a little slanted. Your pupils are so big that your eyes look black." She offered him a small smile. "If the eyes are the windows to the soul, then your windows are wide open and letting in the breeze."

  She tilted her head to try to get a better perspective on him. "Your nose looks about the same; maybe the nostrils are a little more flared. Your mouth…" She needed exactly the right words here. "Your mouth looks larger, but not in a bad way. The lips are fuller, probably to accommodate your enlarged canines. I can't see your fangs the way I could see them on the others. I guess if you snarled at me they'd be exposed."

  "Dinna tempt me, woman who cannot follow directions." His voice was starting to sound more normal.

  Blythe offered him her complete smile. "All in all, you're quite a yummy package." She gazed directly into his eyes. "I officially invite you into my mind to check on the truthfulness of what I just told you."

  He shook his head. "I trust ye on this."

  Blythe had never expected his trust on something so important to him. "You've given me a wonderful gift, vampire." Standing on tiptoe, she kissed him. It didn't matter that death surrounded them, that he still clutched a bloody sword, or that small pink fur balls crowded around them. She kissed him, the vampire and the man.

  With an inarticulate growl, he dropped his sword and gathered her to him. Lowering his head, he touched her lips gently with his, then deepened the kiss.

  This was no searing passion, but a thank-you, and somehow a branding more real than all the heart-pounding excitement of his previous kisses. It confused her just when she'd started to think she understood what Darach MacKenzie was all about.

  He released her, then drew his hands over her shoulders and down her arms as though to assure himself she was really there. "I wish ye to turn your back while I finish this. Then we'll go home together."

  She didn't question him. Turning her back, she wondered what he was doing. No, she probably didn't want to know.

  "We may leave now." He moved to her side.

  Blythe looked over her shoulder at the clearing. The vampires were gone, including the one she'd paralyzed with her Freeze-frame. "How did you do that? Where did they go?"

  "I returned their bodies to the elements. 'Tis what they would wish." He guided her along the path as her faithful bittyfluffs followed behind.


  She stopped to stare at him. "If you can make them disappear like that, then why do you bother fighting them with your sword? Even a gun would make more sense. I'm not good with dates, but I seem to remember that some kind of firearm existed in this time. Wouldn't it be a lot easier and safer to skip the first step?"

  Darach paused as they came in sight of the horse. It snorted and stared walleyed at the herd of bittyfluffs. "We must wait a moment to assure Arnora that the pink creatures willna harm her." He looked down at a bittyfluff that had planted its round pink bottom on his foot. "What are they? I took them from your mind, but they're passing strange. I dinna understand how ye could fear such as these."

  Blythe sighed. "They're bittyfluffs, and it's a long story." A story that she wouldn't be around long enough to tell. The truth of that thought made her really… No, she didn't want to think about what it made her feel. "You haven't answered my question about the vampires."

  He stared over her shoulder at a past only he could see. "They were all warriors. We believe that only those who die bravely in battle earn what ye would call heaven. The Valkyries choose the bravest of the slain and escort them to Odin's Hall, Valhalla. 'Tis a promise all in my clan have made to each other, that we will allow each to die as a warrior. I would wish such a death for myself."

  Blythe nodded and glanced away. When she looked back, Darach wore his human features. He led her toward the horse.

  "Methinks we should walk back. The bittyfluffs will follow ye, and they wouldna be able to keep up with Arnora." He offered her a smile. "Ye understand that they willna leave ye. Ganymede will be verra angry when he realizes he must take all the bittyfluffs with him when ye leave."

  When ye leave. The words hung between them. Darach's smile faded, and Blythe met his unwavering gaze. Darach looked away first.

  "Ye feared the bittyfluffs, yet ye returned. Why?" He still didn't meet her gaze.

  "For you." Geez, this was getting too intense. "I guess I prioritized my fears, and decided I was afraid for you more than I was afraid of the bittyfluffs." She shrugged to suggest it was no big deal.