Chronicles of Darkness: Shadows and Dust (21 page)

         As Sadden wanted to
gently stroke his muzzle, the stallion retreated."I know
.
I have been neglecting you. Please, forgive me,
Stardancer. I really need your help right now."

         He snorted heavily
through his nostrils and butted her gently with his head in agreement.

         "Thank you."
She grabbed his long, silky mane and pulled herself onto his broad back.

         High-spirited, he threw
back his beautiful head, as if urging his mistress to finally leave the
confining stable.

         A small smile formed on
Sadden's lips as her flat hand stroked his shoulder. "Alright, Stardancer.
Let us go. The night awaits us."

         The stallion didn't need
to be told twice. At a fast gallop, they rode out of the stable, over the stone
bridge and left the dark castle fading in the distance.

         The velvety coat of the
galloping stallion gleamed in the moonlight, his shining mane flew in the wind
like fine mist, and his clear eyes sparkled like black pearls of the ocean. His
stomping hooves
dug
deeply into the soft
forest
ground,
while
he flew through the night, until Sadden pressed gently with her thighs to make
him slow his gait.

         For Sadden it was a very
strenuous trip.

         Gracefully, the white
horse pranced
sideways
, the nervousness of his
mistress was
apparent
to the sensitive stallion. His muscles tensed beneath his velvety coat
and his fearful neighing gave sound to his dismay.

         "You can feel my
desperation. I cannot lie to you." Fear was clearly written in Sadden's
eyes. She was running out of time. "My elixir of life... blood."

*****

         Meanwhile in the forest,
Lilith had triggered and collected the wolf traps. She arrived at a small
clearing, where the wolf hunters had erected their camp. All in all, there were
five simple log huts with roofs of leaves and twigs. They had been set up in a
circle around a big, open fireplace
.
Smoke from the camp fire was rising from it.

         Carefully, the vampire
stepped over the remains of the last drinking bout, consisting of
beer mugs and empty bottles of cheap wine.

         The big, gray wolfhounds,
which the hunters used to find the wolves, kept resting and were silent in
Lilith's
presence
. No bark or growl left their
lips.

         Smiling, she patted one
dog's
head and stroked another's long, shaggy fur.

        
Her
smile left the instant she found a wolf hung up between two trees, blood
dripping from his wounds. He was still alive.

         Shocked, she hurried
towards the animal and the traps slipped from her fingers. Lilith fell to her
knees in front of him, running her trebling hands through the wolf's thick,
soft fur. There was still a spark of life in the animal's amber-colored eyes.

         Lilith swallowed hard as
his eyes slowly closed. "Your will to survive is very strong
. Y
ou don't have to fight anymore." The vampire
buried her fingers deeply into the silver-gray fur beneath his head. Filled
with pain, she also closed her eyes, bit down on her lip and released the poor
animal from its torture. Then she untied the ropes that bound him and gently
lowered the dead wolf to the ground. Hurt, she turned away from the sight, more
determined than ever to fulfill her plan.

          Lilith set up the wolf
hunters' own traps right at the entries of their huts. "
Vengeance
. An eye for an eye, your rightful
punishment for the pointless deaths of innocent. Doom shall befall you as you
bring it to others." Thinking about the dead wolves made the blood race in
Lilith's veins, her pupils turned to a fiery red. With unrestrained fury in her
voice, she screamed into the night. "You shall suffer before you die, like
you deserve!" Hidden by the shadows of the trees, the vampire watched the
following scene with great delight.

         Awakened by her outcry,
the men, partly still drunk and sleepy-eyed, stumbled from their huts and right
into the traps, unprepared. Horrible screams of pain rang out, satisfying
Lilith's thirst for revenge.

*****

         Stardancer lifted his
head. His ears turned in the direction where the camp lay. Nervously, the
stallion scraped one of his fore hooves across the ground.

         "Did you also hear
the screams?" Sadden contemplated for a brief moment. With a slight press
of her thighs, she directed her horse to follow the buzz of voices in the
distance.

         "He would make a
handsome lad to quench my hunger," Lilith remarked inflamed, observing a
scared young man, who was trying to flee in the confusion.

         "You have earned the
privilege to quench my blood thirst for tonight," she said and stalked
him. It was easy to follow him through the forest. Delighted, she watched him
stumble and trip over roots, saw him getting caught by thorns and observed his
panicked attempts to scan his surroundings. He didn't really see anything.
Beads of sweat formed on his forehead and trickled down his face, which was
contorted by fear.

         "So young,"
Lilith whispered like the wind in the tress. "And such a fierce
heart."

         Frightened, the boy
retreated from the eerie flames.

         In a safe distance,
Sadden stopped her horse. Gasping, she slid off his broad back.

Taking in what was happening, she
saw a boy stumbling through the undergrowth.

         Lilith was hot on his
heels. Suddenly, she hesitated and looked towards Sadden. The fire in her eyes
faded. Surprised, the younger vampire went to her teacher. "He
escaped."

         Devoutly, Sadden's gaze
was glued to her
protégée’s
lips, whose pointy
eyeteeth retracted.

         Lilith regarded her
teacher, who was covered with bruises and slightly bleeding abrasions. She
realized the critical situation Sadden was in.

         Not missing Lilith gaze,
Sadden sneered, "What are you suggesting? That I shall suck dry the whole
camp just for your enjoyment?"

         "What are you
thinking?" Lilith snapped, before understanding why her mentor was in the
forest. "Animal blood? That is disgusting and pathetic."

         Sadden leaned against a
tree, her senses dwindling, her voice weak. "I will not drink human
blood."

         "The blood of one
human won't be enough to heal you. Though I'm sure, you do already know
that."

         "I do."

         "Drink from me
then," the young vampire responded with unusual seriousness.

         A dumbfounded look from
Sadden hit her, as Lilith pulled up one sleeve of her top, revealing her arm.
"Drink from me. I am serious!"

         "No. I cannot do
that. It is forbidden."

         "Do you want to
painfully perish?"

         "These powers, your
blood does not belong me. Besides, you know what this would mean."

         Lilith nodded and held up
her arm for Sadden.

         Sadden shook her head.

         Lilith stubbornly
repeated, "Drink from me! It will save you... at least for tonight."
She pushed her arm directly under Sadden's nose.

         The hungry vampire's eyes
fixed onto the pulsing vein beneath Lilith's nearly see-through skin.
Hesitantly, Sadden reached with her slender hands for her
protégée’s
arm
, her
fingers digging deep into the flesh.
Torn,
she looked at her with big, blue eyes, wishing for nothing more than to thrust
her teeth deeply into Lilith's arm, to taste her immortal blood.

         "Well, you didn't
lose the lust to bite, while you held yourself imprisoned, did you?"
Lilith nudged.

         "It is not lust I
feel. It is distress."

         "Perhaps one thought
will help you. I am not human. I am like you."

         Without warning, Sadden's
eyeteeth pierced through Lilith's pale skin, and she started to feed greedily.

         A moan escaped her as the
young vampire's eyes rolled back. Her fingers buried themselves into her
teacher's long, black strands. Lilith had a strange feeling of pleasure and
pain as Sadden sucked the blood from her veins.
Willingly
she let it happen, while she grew weaker and weaker, until her legs threatened
to give out. "Enough." she muttered.

         Sadden tasted the unique
elixir on her tongue and the strengthening effect it had on her weak body. Her
skin regenerated itself and her former beauty returned. Only with great effort
did she let go of the wonderful taste. Lilith lay exhausted in her arms.
"Oh no! What has gotten
into
me? I overdid it."

         The bite wound sealed
itself and Lilith regenerated. "Don't go bursting into tears. I'm tough, I
drink enough blood. Even though I didn't get to taste any Transylvanian
yet." The young vampire swayed from side to side.

         Sadden caught her and
supported her. "Do not be unreasonable."

         "I'm not, but you
are."

         After she was able to
stand on her own, Lilith dragged her mentor along. At the edge of the hunter
camp, they stopped. The young vampire pointed at the dead wolf and the piles of
pelts. "How could you let that happen, year upon year?" she
forcefully reproached her teacher. "Here, where you rule. How could you
not know about this?"

         "I keep away from
the life of the inhabitants, as you should also do." Deep inside, she knew
there was no way of convincing Lilith.

         Sadden motioned to the
blood-soaked men and their comrades, who were trying in vain to stop their
bleedings and to bandage the open wounds at their ankles. "How could you
cause such a chaos?"

         "If they were to amputate
their limbs and burn out the wounds, they could still live with the help of
crutches," Lilith replied, coldly.

         "It is more
probable
that they
will
die from
gangrene," Sadden countered.

         "So what
? Good
for them.
They made the wolves suffer. The animals couldn't even defend themselves and
died in a cruel way. Sadden, they let them bleed out while still alive!"
There were tears burning in Lilith eyes.

         Her mentor didn't
respond.

         "They deserve to die
just like that!"

         Sadden wrapped comforting
arms around her
protégée
."Yes, I did not
take care of it, even though I could have done it. I live by one ground rule,
which is to retreat as far as possible. I have never been to Ardeal, nor will I
ever enter it. The inhabitants know nothing of my existence."

         Taken aback,
Lilith looked up.
"You mean, they think that this human is the master of the castle?"

         "Exactly, and it
will stay like that. Andrej makes it possible to live my life in seclusion. It
is my obligation to return the favor. That is why I ask you to be more
discreet, because they shall not know anything about your presence either. It
would be horrible if they were to find out what we truly are."

         Lilith agreed. She had no
strength to argue. "I will protect the wolves from being hunted. You
cannot dissuade me from that."

         Sadden sighed and let go
of her protégée. "You should release the men."

         Lilith scowled, but did
what her teacher asked. She quenched her thirst, before killing the hunters.

         Sadden turned away. She
couldn't bear to watch and it was hard to turn a blind eye to Lilith's deed.
She clicked her tongue, Stardancer heard it and came towards her. Lost in
thought, she stroked his silky fur, until Lilith appeared next to her. "We
should hurry. The sun is about to rise. We both need to rest." With her
newly regained strength she mounted the stallion effortlessly and pulled Lilith
up to sit behind her. A slight press of her thighs was enough and Stardancer
broke into a gallop, racing back to the castle.

         Still a bit weak, Lilith
held onto her mentor, her forehead leaning against her back.

        
'Your decision to
protect the wolves obviously means that you want more of our hospitality.'
Sadden thought.

         Underneath the big,
bright moon they returned, crossing the stone bridge. A big grin of liberation
formed on Sadden's lips as the cool night wind blew in her face. An old power
began to grow inside her.