Katrina, The Beginning (30 page)

“When were you going to
tell me about Eric?”

I pushed myself back, so I
could look into his eyes. There was still some pain
there.

“I was as shocked by it as
everyone else was,” I said. “It was totally different from what you
and I have; he can’t answer me back with his mind.”

“You didn’t at first,
either.”

“It wasn’t intimate with
him. It’s not what we have.” I assured him.

He smiled and kissed me,
and then he gave me a warm embrace.

I sighed; I loved being
held by him. “I love you.” I had not meant to say that, but now the
words were out of my mouth, I knew them to be true. But was it too
soon? Yes, but I knew it was right.

“I hope you mean that,” he
replied.

“I do.”

“We’d better get some rest.
Sunrise comes quickly.”

“I’d hoped for some idle,
restful days together before the others arrived.”

“If I remember correctly,
participating in a sword fight can make one quite aroused,” he said
with a wry smile.

His jibe brought back the
memory of how much I wanted him that day, sending butterflies back
to my stomach. There would be no reason to pull back next
time.

“We’ll just have to see if
still holds true,” I challenged as I walked away. I turned back to
look at him one more time. “Damien…”

“It’ll be fine, don’t
worry,” he looked so confident and sounded so sure, I believed
him.

When I got back, the girls
were gathered around the fireplace, giddy with
excitement.

“Finally we’re going to use
our training.” Rose threw her arms into the air, “I don’t know how
I’ll ever get to sleep.”

“Damien really took charge
tonight. He didn’t seem to have any doubt we could handle our
tasks,” Kate said looking to me for confirmation.

“He has every confidence
we’ll be successful tomorrow, but we do need to rest. We need to be
at our best in the morning.” I assured them.

Why was I so apprehensive,
I wondered as I changed for bed? Maybe it was just my other battles
had been more spontaneous, with no time to think about them. I had
only to react, that was a better way, I decided.

Everyone was ready; I knew
that.
Oh, go to sleep,
I scolded.
Staring at the ceiling isn’t helping
anything.
I fluffed my down pillow and put it back under my
head. I closed my eyes, slowed my breathing and willed myself to
sleep.

The dream started with the
point of view of me walking down a tree-lined street. It was
evening, and the gas lanterns were flickering, casting a golden
glow up and down the street. Once again a woman was walking towards
me, but this time it was as if I were looking at her through
someone else’s eyes.

The street scene had
changed from the first vision. As she came closer, I could see it
was the same woman, but she wasn’t wearing the same dress. This one
was black, with a sweetheart neckline and long sleeves, buttons
from her elbow to her wrist. Before she reached me she turned and
entered a shop, so I kept walking. When I got to the window of the
shop, I could see her talking to two other women. “
Why am I dreaming about these women?”
I thought,
“
And isn’t it strange to be talking about your
dream while you’re still dreaming?”
Then she turned around
and came back outside.

“I’ll contact you soon,”
she said, and walked right by me as if I weren’t there.

I looked through the window
at the other two women, who were looking at dresses. There was
something familiar about them. They made a purchase and started for
the door, and as they came out one of them said. “I can’t wait to
show her.”

“She’ll be here in a couple
of days,” the other one said.

They didn’t seem to see me
either, and they just strolled away.

I woke up gasping for
breath.
“It was just a dream,”
I told
myself, but I didn’t believe it. It was a vision trying to show me
something I needed to know. Who were these women, and where were
they?

“I don’t have time for this
right now.”

I flopped back down onto my
pillow.

“Well, that was a restful
sleep” I said to myself sarcastically. “I might as well get
up.”

So I dragged myself out
from under my down-filled cover and over to the window. Dew lay
heavily on the ground and shimmered in the last light of the
setting moon. Deciding there were still a couple of hours left
before dawn, I dressed, gathered my weapons, and quietly left my
room. The only thing lighting the outer room was the last of the
coals glowing in the fireplace. Now what? The kitchen would be
open, the cooks already baking bread and preparing food for the
morning meal. I decided to go over and get something to eat and
drink. I’d need extra Crimson today, we all would. Avery was
outside, having just returned from watching at the ports. Lately we
had been seeing our Watchers less, but today his presence felt
comforting.

“You’re up early. Is there
anything I can do for you?” he asked in his normal good natured
way.

“I’m going over to the
kitchen; I’m starving again.”

“I could wake Sarah for
you.”

“No, don’t do that, I’m
fine. I’ll be back in a little bit.”

“I’ll be here,” he said. He
had that same adorable smile and twinkling blue eyes all the Voss
brothers had.

I made my way across the
courtyard, being the first to disturb the dew I’d seen from my
window. Klaus, the cook, was busy baking bread, when I arrived, so
the kitchen smelled wonderful. I chose some pastry and asked for
some eggs and ham with potato pancakes. Klaus had been making me
breakfast my whole life.

“Help yourself. There’s
fresh Crimson in the crocks in the cool room.”

I slid off my stool and
went to the cool room across the hall. I chose a crock, removed the
cork stopper, and with a couple of glances to be sure no one was
looking, drank directly from the container. The Crimson was
wonderful, cool and somehow both sweet and salty at the same time.
I can only describe the feeling it gave me, by saying it was like
pouring water on a dry sponge. Every cell in my body was being
filled by the liquid life, and my energy was being replenished with
each swallow.
That’s better,
I said to myself. I brought the
crock back to the kitchen, and Klaus had my breakfast waiting for
me. You’d think I’d never eaten before, from the way I inhaled
it.

Klaus enjoyed a good belly
laugh at my expense.

“It’s a pleasure to see you
enjoy your food. I’ll pack you something to take along. Now finish
what’s left in your crock. Sarah will be over soon.”

“Thanks, Klaus; you always
make me feel good.”

“Everyone feels better on a
full stomach. You stay safe today, you hear?”

“I will.”

I felt much better as I
walked back to my room. As I passed Sarah in the courtyard on her
way to get something for the girls to eat and drink, I promised her
I had left a few things for them in the kitchen.

Everyone else was up now,
getting ready. Sarah brought breakfast, and all the girls drank
generous servings of Crimson. Kate braided my hair and we made
small talk, trying to ignore the tension in the air.

“We have some time, and I
think we’d feel better if we took a look at the encampment. It’s
the only thing we haven’t seen,” I said finally.

We all agreed and sat down
together at the table.

“Now let’s concentrate.
Kate, let’s focus on the huge swordsman we saw. He’s supposed to be
at the camp. Let me know when you can visualize him.”

“Got him. He’s asleep by
the fire.”

“Ah. I see him
too.”

In a few minutes we could
see several crude tents surrounding a central fire pit, and there
was our giant. It was quiet, maybe too quiet. Where were the horses
and guards? I took a deep breath so I could “see”
better.

“Oh no!” I said.

I smelled death, and
something else. We looked around, and then saw the swordsman wasn’t
sleeping. He was lying on the ground, his sword still in his hand,
his throat ripped open. We looked for the others. In the woods,
bodies littered the ground. This was bad—very bad—because now I
recognized what else I scented: fledglings.

I broke concentration
then.

“We have to go
now!”
I said.

“Damien,”
I called with my mind, and then told him we
were leaving right away, and why. Where were our Watchers I
wondered; were they dead or on their way back? There was no time;
we had to hurry.

“Listen, we have to stay
together; we may need to enhance our gifts. Our plans concerning
Eric are changed. We can’t worry about him right now, because if
those fledglings get to the village, all hell is going to break
loose.”

“I told the guard to
follow. They’ll clean up the site,” Damien said, as he joined us.
“How many are there, could you see?”

“No, there was no time to
look any further. I should be able to tell once we get closer.
Let’s go.”

Together, we flashed out
the gate and into our battle formation. Damien and I in the lead,
followed by Rosa and Letta, then Kate and El. It took mere minutes
to arrive at the site at full speed. We slowed and drew our swords.
I scented when we got close. We had to get between the fledglings
and the village.

“There are at least
fifteen, this way,” I called, as I led the way.

The forest was littered
with death - the missing horses from the camp, as well as Volator
who must have been fleeing, all dead, ripped apart. Someone had
kept the fledglings hungry, effectively creating ravenous killing
machines that were absolutely crazed by blood-lust. We made a large
arc so we could get in front of them and block their path to the
village, and then we made straight for them.

“Spread out!” Damien
yelled. “Don’t let any of them by you!”

We curved the arc around,
moving Kate and El forward so we formed a half circle. Now we’d
close up the circle and meet in the middle, as we finished them
off. I smelled them before I saw them; they were somewhat spread
out, but easily inside our formation. They had slowed; having just
fed, they weren’t as frantic as they must have been earlier. They
were covered in blood, and if we hadn’t had Crimson this morning it
would have been overwhelming to us. Other than their unnatural
strength, and their teeth of course, the fledglings were
unarmed.

“They
aren’t trained,”
said Damien in my mind,
“Just monsters that need to be put down. You take the right
four, I’ll take the left. NOW!”

Of course they weren’t
expecting us. I almost felt sorry for them - almost.

I had drawn my sword, and
now drew my dagger as well. I attacked the first fledgling and it
went down easily. Once alerted, the next two viciously came at me
together; I struck low, spilling the entrails of the first and
dodging the other, swiftly turned, attacking him from behind and
ran him through with my sword. The fourth of the group turned and
sprinted towards Letta, who had two dead at her feet, and was
engaged with another.

“Letta!” I
screamed.

Letta just glanced at me,
but fledgling she was battling actually stopped in mid strike and
turned in my direction. Letta used the opportunity and stabbed him
in the chest, easily avoiding the charging fledgling. The wild
vampire didn’t give Letta a glance as he flew by her. Then it
occurred to me, they weren’t charging her; they were fleeing now.
Letta, in one smooth motion drew and threw her dagger. I threw mine
at the same moment. Each dagger found its target in the back of the
fleeing fledgling. As we looked around, El was just pulling her
sword out of a fledgling lying on the ground, with two others dead
close by. I scented again to make sure none had gotten away; they
had not. There had been twenty-one fledglings in this group all
together. Damien was making sure they were all decapitated, so they
stayed dead. As I finished my survey of the battlefield, I was
extremely proud of the girls. Their performance has been on par
with that of the vastly more experienced Vampire Guard.

“Letta, how about some
rain, just a light one?” I suggested.

“With pleasure,” she
responded by immediately understanding what I wanted.

I could see her
concentrate, and instinctively we all helped. Soon a nice light
rain was washing the blood off of us.

Suddenly,  I knew we
had to go back to the camp.

“Damien, we have to go
back. You go to the village, take care of the leader, get the
journal, and then meet us back at the encampment,” I
said.

“Fine. It shouldn’t take me
long,” he said, and then flashed off towards the
village.

The light rain stopped when
I said we had to go back. Now I had to ask Letta for something
else.