From a stone entry on the other side of the courtyard, a woman slowly walked out, her hips pushed out meretriciously as though one of her legs were shorter than the other. Rein was sure that one of the lady’s legs was not shorter than the other. Was she trying to look like some sort of harlot?
Traith turned and looked at her before approaching the woman.
Was that the same person she had heard speak to him before when she was in that bedroom? Long, curly brown locks and bright green eyes.
“
Do you like what I’ve done with the place?” the woman asked him.
“
You did all this?” Traith asked, walking around the fencing.
She walked into the courtyard toward him. “Well, Mistress wanted someone to keep your home clean while you were gone.” She paused and stared at him narrowly. “One hundred and ten years, Traith…”
Rein watched his response to that. His face was grave. “Lorena, believe me, I tried to get off that ship nearly every day of every one of those years.” He looked down and held the fencing inside his fists. “You kept this place the entire time?
You
did?”
“
Why do you act as if you are in such
shock
? Am I that incapable?” Then, as if she hadn’t noticed her before, she looked at Rein with surprise. “Who is this?”
“
Rein Pierson,” he replied, giving his attention to her and taking it from Lorena. “I already explained her to you.”
“
Ah,” Lorena said. “You’re the lucky human being who stumbled upon my vampire.” She giggled.
Rein’s heart was in her mouth. She couldn’t answer, but she was beginning to feel like she had thought wrong about Traith never being interested in another woman. He was, after all, born so long ago, yet never lost his handsome, young form. That thought made her tremble: 140? And just because he hadn’t
loved
doesn’t mean he never
played.
“
Don’t start with me,” was all Traith said in return.
She laughed. “I am sorry; I’ll wait until we’re alone again to discuss—”
“
Lorena, I’m here now,” he said with his usual calm, but his eyes shone with fury. “You can leave.”
He glanced at Rein. She was praying she didn’t look too awkward, but inside she was steaming. Who was this woman?
Lorena’s face was mischievous, and she bit her lip. “I’ll speak with you later, Traith. I’m glad you so greatly
appreciate
what I’ve done for you all these years.”
“
Thank you, from the bottom of my heart,” he said, bending as if bowing to her. He wore a small, sarcastic smile.
Lorena’s lips curled in satisfaction. She hadn’t caught the smile
.
“
Oh, and Miss Pierson,” Lorena said with a sneer. “Seems you’ve managed to get blood all over you. Might want to—”
“
Get out, Lorena,” Traith countered.
She laughed, then, and slowly her legs began to fade. Then the rest of her body did the same. She was gone.
Traith looked at Rein almost immediately. “She is a lady from my…our council. She’s a priestess.” He watched her closer, and neared. “She thinks, or, she likes to make it seem as though we have a past, but we don’t. At least not the kind
she
was talking about.”
Rein still didn’t know what to say. She did have blood all over her from her fall and…
“
Are you all right?” he asked, now merely a few feet from her. “Don’t worry about her,” he said.
She shook her head and lay onto his chest, holding his neck. He returned the embrace, but pulled back to see her face. She was so excited that he loved her, and she loved him, but that encounter with Lorena had made her a little uneasy.
“
Are you tired yet?” he asked.
“
A little.”
He sighed, and his broad, muscled shoulders relaxed. “I know you have more questions for me, don’t you?”
She nodded.
“
Let me take you to where you can sleep, and I’ll answer them for you when you bandage my back,” he said, laughing gently.
“
How long will it take for that to heal?”
“
It’ll take longer than
I’m
used to, but not as long as a regular wound would. But it never stops hurting. It’ll take about a week or so, I suppose. Sometimes a little less. It’s been three days. Doesn’t look better, does it?”
“
No, it doesn’t at all.”
He bent into her and kissed her, holding her tight. One of his hands gently held her face. His fingers caressed her.
She felt as though her dreams had come entirely true.
Except she was a
vampire
. The realization occurred to her when she felt the sunlight beginning to make her weak. And she was so hungry…
“
Rein, we’ll come out as much as possible to get you used to this again,” he said, pulling back from their kiss.
She felt ill at his statement.
“
It didn’t take me too long,” he said, motioning for her to follow him out of the bailey and back into the castle. “It never gets as easy as it once was, but don’t worry. It will get easier, soon.” He paused mid-step, one foot not yet entirely down. “It was a long walk down here from the bedroom, wasn’t it?”
She was right behind him. “Yes,” she replied, forgetting her momentary sadness.
“
I can make the trip a lot quicker.”
She knew what he meant. He could go from place to place in a blink of an eye. He smiled. He held his hand out for hers, and she took it without hesitation. The image of the surrounding horses and courtyard almost looked as if they merged with another picture, one of the master bedroom. He let go of her and took a seat slouched forward in an armchair by the side of the room, by the bed.
“
Faster, wasn’t it?” he said, arching his back as if to crack it.
She felt her eyebrows raise is agreement, and he laughed, relaxing. She looked down at herself, at the bloodstained bodice that had once been an ivory color. She undid the frogs, and took it off. Under it was a corset, but it made her much more comfortable to have taken off the bodice. She eventually undressed into just the corset and a petticoat.
She looked at him and smiled. He smiled back and didn’t even appear astonished. He appeared more…dreamy.
“
I hate looking down at that,” she said. “Made me truly
feel
like I’m dead. Anyway, it’s more comfortable off.”
“
Fine,” he said. “Did you want me to get rid of it?”
She nodded, smiling at him. With his hand out, Rein watched as her dress suddenly dematerialized and disappeared. She felt like the sad and frightened part of her vanished with it.
“
So do you have gauze? Salve?” she asked, her hand on his shoulder, looking at his back. Her nose crinkled in disgust at the severity of the wound.
Rash-like blisters had begun to form on his marred back.
“
It looks terrible,” she whispered.
He stood and headed toward the bathroom. “I used to always make sure I had
materials
to help burns in the past, considering fire wounds call for that and I can’t heal them myself.” He paused with a look of thought. “Let’s see what my new bathroom has within it.”
He stood and walked to it after carefully striking a match and lighting a candle. He set it in the bathroom wall sconce. Rein sat on the edge of the huge bed, and after a moment of being alone, Traith returned with a large roll of dressing and a jar of what she figured was salve.
“
I have everything here,” he declared with astonishment, smiling. “Are you sure you want to do this? As of now I should think that it would revolt you to be doing this. It would revolt me without doubt.”
“
Just a little,” she said, laughing softly. “But I don’t mind.” She patted just next to her on the luxurious bed in signal for him to sit.
He did and handed her the supplies. She crossed her legs beneath her and opened the jar of salve. With a piece of the gauze, she wiped the salve down his back. He arched it and held his breath, then let it out and simply bore the pain quietly. After she’d covered his back with it, she began unraveling the gauze. She slowly put her hand under his muscle-defined arm, which he lifted, and began to wrap it around him. He winced a few times, but he didn’t make any further indications of pain.
“
Does it hurt awfully?” she asked.
“
Yes,” he said, trying not to laugh. “But the worst is the feeling of my
skin
sticking
to the bloody linen.” He stiffened his back each time dressing met with it. “So, shoot.”
She continued wrapping. “What?”
“
Interrogate me,” he said, letting out a breath. “I’m ready.”
“
All right,” she replied, smiling a little. “Who was the captain?”
“
From the Mardinial Council,” he answered. “They put him on the ship just for me. Like a departing farewell gift.”
“
What are my weaknesses, now? All of them?”
His head was hung down. “Other than the ones you are familiar with, garlic is terrible—painful, rather. I touched it once.” He cringed and shook his head, hair hanging in his face. “And blood is the worst of all. It’s hard to go without for any longer than a day or two.” His last words were choked on as they came out.
“
Yet you go without for longer than that, don’t you?”
He sighed. “I do; I
try
, but the desire for it eats away at me until I consume it. I would die without it, or become savage, I don’t know. But when I tasted yours, Rein, I felt like I wanted more and more. It was horrible. Shows how easily it can consume you. If I were ever to do that again, I would starve myself until death afterward. The feeling was haunting. Demonic. It’s something I wish terribly would cease to linger in my mind.”
“
I tasted blood that night,” she spoke lightly. “It was yours, wasn’t it?”
She watched him; he didn’t move a muscle. “I regret to say it was.”
She broke the silence that followed as soon as she was able to force out words. It was hard to after what he had just affirmed.
“
There,” she murmured after tying the end of the dressing so it wouldn’t come undone. He winced as her fingers skimmed the wrapping. “The whole thing is covered now.”
“
Thank you.” He turned and put his knee up on the bed so he could face her. “Any more questions?”
“
What can
you
do
?” she asked quietly, slowly lying back onto the bed.
He didn’t reply for a moment. “You’ve already seen each one,” he finally said.
“
Remind me,” she murmured, her eyes closed.
She heard him make a low sigh. “I can materialize myself to anywhere I want, something called
teleportation
. I can
fly
, for lack of a better word. Become invisible, control potential energy; you know, the whole rope display. I apparently have incredible strength,” he said.
She forced her tired body to sit straight as she looked at him, ignoring the heaviness that was taking over her eyes. “Really?”
He chuckled with his chin resting on his fist. “All vampires have greater strength than normal people, but I have an ever greater amount than all vampires.” He sighed. “And…well Rein, you’ll get an ability that is nearly impossible to use, because it’s painful, but it is incredibly powerful.” He became silent. “What you did on the ship…that was…I’ve never seen anything like it, ever. And that isn’t even the aptitude I was talking about.”
“
What is yours?” she asked. “The one that is painful but powerful.”
He didn’t reply.
“
What is it?”
“
I can instantly…
destroy
certain…”
Her tired eyes opened wide. “What?”
“
Humans,” he whispered. “Or lowly immortal beings. Not like us,” he said. “We’re too advanced, I suppose.”
She finally let herself fall back onto the bed comfortably. “Have you ever used it?”
“
Not that I remember.”
She turned toward him onto her side. “Are my upcoming mind ‘powers’ the ability you said is powerful but painful?”
“
No.” He waited a moment before speaking again. “And that is what strikes me as so odd. Immortals never receive abilities until a good amount of time goes by. Your case is highly unusual.” He paused in thought. “Do you think you could replicate what you did on the ship?”
“
I don’t know,” she spoke softly. “But I don’t want to try tonight.”
“
Oh, I didn’t mean for you to,” he defended.
A gap of silence occurred. Her head was now resting comfortably on a pillow. She was nearly falling asleep, and it was daylight. Traith had closed the velvet curtains over the balcony windows, making the bedroom as dark as if it were some time in the night.
She yawned. “Aren’t
you
tired?”