Eternal War Rising to the South: The Beynok Vampire Series (4 page)

“Anaya, please say something,” the figure said. I need to hear your voice. Please tell me you still love me.” His voice carried urgency.

My past self stood there for a few seconds. It looked as if I was taking in the figure, scanning it from head to toe. I was almost jealous of my past self because I knew my past self recognized him, which meant it could see every detail of the figure I was dying to see.

“You shouldn’t have come. You should leave this place. Forget everything about your life and me.” My past self paused and a tear came out my eye, just one. “We’re going to hunt you. It’s inevitable, you know? You have to leave or be killed.” Why was I upset about killing a monster or whatever it was?

“You know I can’t leave you. I love you.” This was crazy. My imagination had to be running mad. It was just a dream, but it felt so real. “Anaya, you’re not listening to what I am saying. I love you. When you fall and rise again, I will find you. This is not the last of us.”

“That’s not possible. You’re one of them,” my past self said. “I can’t even use the word to call you what you are. It disgusts me.” I had no tears, just anger covering my sadness, and yes, I believe I had a desire to go to him. I could tell I was holding back the way I really felt about him. I was using my anger as a mask.

“I will find you in your next rise, no matter how long it takes. We’ll be together again, Anya. It’s our destiny. I know I’m different, but not in my heart. It will always be yours. You’ll see one day.”

Vladimir came out of nowhere and stood in a fighting stance by my past self. He was ready to protect me from the black silhouette. I didn’t have the time to figure out why because I woke up abruptly with my feet still in the stream. The dream was the beginning of the vision I’d had while kissing Vladimir. The figure was always the same, just a black silhouette. It took a minute to shake the dream and fully come back to reality.

It was nighttime, and my eyes adjusted quickly. The moon replaced the sun high above, and the sky was clear. My eyes focused on the dancing stars above me, and I traced them with my finger as if I could touch them. I was in deep thought when I was interrupted by a noise coming from the direction of the trees behind me. I thought it was the wind blowing, but … snap … snap … another sound. I jumped out of my sedation.

“What is a young woman like yourself doing so far out in the middle of nowhere at night?” a steady voice asked, but I saw no one. Why was I not on my guard? Quickly I opened myself up. After a few shorts seconds, I felt as if I was back at the field the night we killed the werewolves. The same sense of lightning crashed into me, taking me to my knees with invading emotions. I had to shut it out if I wanted to stand and defend myself. It took everything I had to do so. I stood up, this time ready for engagement. I was able to pinpoint the location of the voice in the trees during the short time I was open. It was the same being I had sensed in the field, the figure with no face, the figure from my dreams. I was sure of that. Finally reality came for me to kill it.

“What do you want? Show yourself, if you’re not afraid.” I refused to say anything else. I stood like a statue, waiting for the grand reveal.

The silhouette stepped out of the tree line, not too far from me but still shaded from the moonlight. I couldn’t make out his features. I realized I was without my swords again, so my skill and bare hands were going to have to do. I wouldn’t let my senses feel him again for fear I would drop to my knees, and he would have the advantage over me. He didn’t want to kill me in my dreams or during my visions of the past, but still my guard needed to stay up. There must be a reason I visualized Vladimir wanting to kill him. This figure had to be a threat to me in some way. Besides, it was neither Beynok nor human so it had to die.

In a familiar stern voice, I listened to him say, “My name is Sorin. I mean you no harm, so you can drop your guard.” I could see a flicker of light reflecting from his eyes. They were staring straight at me, connecting with mine.

“The fact you’re taking cover in the darkness only convinces me of your bad intentions. You’re stalking me in my dreams and now in real life. What are you? Walk out so I can see you.” I steadied my voice, braced myself, and waited.

The figure walked forward and slowly became a body and no longer a shadow to me. His eyes never moved from mine while he walked closer in the moonlight. He stopped ten feet short of me and held a robust position. This didn’t help comfort me any. He was tall, 6’5” maybe. He had wide shoulders and a trim waistline and wore dark jeans, brown leather boots, and a dark-colored T-shirt tucked into a bulky brown belt with a large, heavy-looking belt buckle. Over top of his ensemble was a knee-length, hooded, brown leather jacket. He had a look on his face and a stare in his eyes that implied,
he was on a mission and I was the goal.
His presence seemed to stiffen the air around me. The breeze stopped blowing, the creek stop crackling, the animals and bugs silenced…the world stopped except for him.

He was so close. I had to open myself just a little to sense if he was going to attack me or not. My heart was beating so hard I could feel my whole chest moving in and out. It had felt like this during our first encounter. I had to place my hand over my heart and push to try to slow the pace down.

“Breathe, just breathe,” he said. His face was perfect. It was square with defined cheekbones, a stern jaw line, and full lips. He had dark, short hair almost to his scalp.
Dark short hair? He should have chin length hair.
Why would I think that?

I was still having trouble breathing, and my neck and hands became clammy. “What are doing to me?”

“It’s okay, it’ll pass. Maybe you should run some water over your face and neck.” How dare he tell me what I should do? I was pissed that he could see I was weak. Cool water would help, though. I knew that if he attacked me, he would defeat me. His emotions drained my strength.

“Okay.” I glared at him, “If you’re here to kill me, you could at least let me regain some composure so it would be a fair fight. Unless you are a coward and you are scared of a fair fight.” No response from him. He just lifted the left side of his mouth, giving me a smirk, revealing a boyish dimple. I walked to the water, still facing him as I went in. The water did feel good as I splashed it over my face and arms. The day must have dehydrated me. I was splashing and drinking at the same time, making a spectacle of myself, but I didn’t care. As I walked out, I patted myself dry with the shirt I had left on the riverbank. After I pulled my damp shirt on over my bare body, I felt better, able to fight if necessary.

“So, what do you want? We’re hundreds of miles away from where we first saw one another. You’re obviously stalking me. What do you want from me? And what are you?” He walked closer to me, about an arm’s length away. I couldn’t back up because if I did such a thing, it would seem as if I were intimidated by him, so I stood my ground. I tilted my head up to look at him because he was standing so close to me. I was determined to say nothing. It was his turn to talk. He stood there in silence, staring down at me with his imposing eyes. They were so dark they almost looked black, but I could swear they were a dark amethyst color. He was not human, that was for sure. He was too perfect not be some other type of creature or demon, but I couldn’t quite put my finger on it.

“Just open yourself up to me, Anya, and you’ll know I’m not here to harm you.” He stepped back slightly, studying my body for any reactions.

My instincts took over. My body knew the choice it was going to make before I had time to register it in my brain. I lunged toward him throwing a punch. He dodged it, and I landed further to his left than I had planned—too far to attack again and giving him time to turn and meet my gaze. I pulled my body down close to the ground mustering all the strength I had in my legs. In one bound, I was in the air. My legs extended forward advancing toward his face. A face so perfect, my body tensed in that slight second of thought, no longer sure of the action I was taking.
What am I thinking? I’ve never question myself in a fight. Why now?
I was still in the air as I realized I had missed him yet again. I landed on the rocks and slid a few feet further away from him. I closed my eyes in pain as the rocks pushed into my thigh and ribs. What was I doing? This was not the way I fought. My body was out of control, along with my emotions. He is making me question every thought and physical response I have to his presence.

Seconds after I landed on the ground, he was on top of me, restraining my arms with his hands. His broad body hovered over mine. His eyes were looking at me with hunger and desire, so I had no choice. I had to continue to fight if I wanted to live. I fought back with the most powerful part of me, my legs. I thrusting them into his body, but he didn’t budge. My strength was nothing comparable to the strength he used to hold me down.

His eyes grew a little darker, yes, amethyst turning black, and he sternly said, “Anya, stop this. There’s no point in continuing. You might hurt yourself.” His voice was angry, not like before. I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. I stopped suddenly and lay there, still and silent, looking into his eyes. Flashes of his fangs were running through my head. I was sure he had fangs. I had seen them a moment ago when he was yelling at me.

“You’re a vampire,” I said.

“Yes, I am.” He was only an inch from my face, but his fangs were nowhere in sight.

We held in our position for a while. Ours bodies were tense, fighting for space. Ours eyes were fighting each other for light. His gaze was almost unbearable, but I was determined not to look away. Our lungs were fighting for air in the inch left between our mouths. Everything was silent around us. The only thing I could hear was the battle our bodies were in at that moment. I was sure I was done. Dead. He was going to eat me for dinner. If I was lucky enough to remember this moment on my next rise to the west, I’d track this vampire down and kill him. He would never find me off my guard again. I gave in, accepting my fate with hope for revenge.

He finally spoke. I was sure he felt my body calm down, since he was a vampire. “Are you going to try to be rational if I release you?”

Is he not going to eat me now? I guess they have bad manners and play with their food.
I took a deep breath. I closed my eyes and took in another deep breath. This time I inhaled deeper than before, and his delicious lavender smell filled my entire body. The aroma of him was so calming and so familiar. I needed to get myself together. He was a vampire. Period. Killing him was the only thing I needed to think about if I thought of him at all. There should be no thoughts of smells, dimples, eyes, or face, I lectured myself.

He pulled away from me to stand. I ran an examination of my body in my head. My ribs hurt a little, but nothing was broken. Everything else seemed fine, but, of course, I wasn’t up moving yet to get a real feel for myself.

He offered his hand to help me up. “No, thank you. I can get up on my own,” I said. Although it would have been easier with his help, I managed to stand on my own. I could not accept a hand from my enemy.

“How do you know my name? And how do you know about my ability?” He had said, “Let me in, Anya.” I needed to keep him talking to buy some time so I could figure a way out of this alive.

“I know more about you than you know about yourself, Anya. Why don’t you open yourself to me? Let me in and you might develop a better understanding.” He talked as if he was certain of what he said. He was extremely confident, almost scary confident.

I couldn’t believe I was even allowing myself to talk to a vampire. I was trained to kill them, not to have civil conversations with them. Even so, I had no weapons, and clearly, I was not going to be able to kill him with my bare hands. Because of this, I ran in the direction of the trees, in the direction of my house, as fast as my legs could carry me. What was I thinking? Unfortunately, he was a vampire and was much faster than I was.

I didn’t even make it to the tree line before his arms collapsed around me pulling my body into his. “Stop,” he said in a soothing voice. His mouth was by my ear. I could feel his lips. “Anya, open your senses to me. Drop your guard.” Our bodies were moving in one motion as I struggled to pull away.

I gave in and did as he asked. What else did I have left to do? As soon as I opened my senses the lightning crashed inside of me again. He carried so much sadness. A hint of lust and desire trickled in, as well, but the sadness was saturating and overpowered my will to stand. I would have fallen to my knees if he hadn’t been holding me up in his arms.

His lips moved again, still touching my ear, as he said, “You can feel it, can’t you? I’m sorry for the sadness this is causing you right now. It will pass, I promise. It will pass.”

By then all of my weight was in his arms, and I started to cry. “I’m going to have to close you out again. The sadness is too overwhelming for me.” I could hardly breathe, and my heart was pounding.

I felt us drop to the ground. He cradled my body in his arms and whispered, “Anya, don’t shut me out. You have to know how I feel. The pain will pass once I can bear the thought of you in my arms again.” He must be some kind of crazy vampire. Ordinarily, I would never have let myself be in the arms of a vampire, but I had no other choice.

His mouth moved over my cheekbone, as felt his breath say, “Please don’t be scared.”

I turned to face him. The sadness and grief had started to give way to his lust and desire. A new set of lightning bolts crashed into me. Tears streamed down my face as our eyes locked. He moved his face closer to mine. Why was he affecting me like this? It was as if he were taking over my body. I felt trapped, spinning in his emotions.