Mira (15 page)

           
Book in hand, Mira walked down the hall toward the study.
 
She wasn’t sure what she wanted to read next.
 
There was that book of stories about dead leaders or that book about the creation of the sun.
She paused and looked around.
 
Or maybe one of the history books on the top shelf.
 
I wonder if he would notice if I borrowed those.
 
I wonder if he would care.
 
After all
,
I’m down here with him and not going anywhere.
 
The elders would never know.
 

           
Mira was suddenly snapped out of her thoughts by the sound of metal striking metal.
 
A smile crept across her face.
 
Without thinking, she passed up the door to the study and continued to the end of the hall and the large wooden double doors.

           
Mira could see the light emanating from cracks around the door.
 
She pushed the door open, and light spilled out into the hallway.
 
Standing in the doorway, Mira watched Rillan sparring with the armor clad dummy.
 

           
Rillan only barely registered that the door swung open, but he rarely missed a change in his environment.
 
That type of observation had long since become second nature to him.
 
Continuing to batter the dummy, he waited to see if she would approach, a smile on his face.

           
Mira contemplated what excuse she was going to use for seeking him out and interrupting him while he was practicing.
 
Just as she was turning to disappear back down the hallway, he called out to her.

           
“You came all this way, Mira, presumably looking for me.
 
Is there a reason you’ve changed your mind about whatever it was?”

           
“Shouldn’t you be at least a little out of breath after all of that,” Mira asked timidly, trying to change the subject.

           
His warm smile virtually pulled her into the room.
 
“I don’t tend to get out of breath.”

           
Mira walked up to him, her mind grasping for a good excuse.
 
Why didn’t I think of this before?
 
I’m going to look like a complete fool.
 
“Uh, I was wondering if the rugs in my rooms would be replaced,” she sputtered, in what she believed to be a sudden stroke of genius.

           
Rillan stared into her eyes.
 
He knew she was hiding something, but he couldn’t figure out what she could possibly be trying to keep from him.
”

           
“Actually, I intended to talk to you about that.”
 
Rillan leaned his sword against the dummy and picked up his shirt from the arm of the chair.
 
“Come with me.”
 
He started walking toward the door pulling the white shirt over his head.
 

           
Mira felt her heart begin to race.
 
She hated that he was putting on a shirt.
 
“Where are we going?”
 
Rillan didn’t answer her.
 
He looked back at her over his shoulder in the darkness.
 
Mira couldn’t see the excited glint in his eye, but it was obvious that he was pleased with whatever he was doing.
 
They approached a door which Mira only vaguely remembered being there.

           
Rillan stopped outside the door with his hand on the latch.
 
“I asked you how badly you wanted to see outside, and you never answered me.”

           
Confusion surged through her.
 
She looked at the door he was standing in front of. The implication was pretty clear that behind the door there was something to do with outside.
 
He didn’t sound as if he was angry or annoyed with her.
 
“I know.
 
I don’t really know how to answer that.”

           
“I have a gift for you.”

           
Mira’s heart pounded relentlessly against her ribcage.
 
“I don’t understand.”

           
Rillan smiled in the darkness.
 
“You will.”
 
He lifted the latch and pushed the door open.
 
He held it aside for Mira to go in.
 

           
Cautiously she stepped past him and walked down the short hall to the bedroom at the end.
 
The open shaft immediately drew her attention.
 
Fresh air pouring into the room drew her closer.
 
Standing beneath the open shaft, she stared up into a starry night sky.

           
“If you move the bed to the right spot, you should be able to see the sky as you’re falling asleep.”

           
Mira turned to look at him, tears in her eyes, afraid to say anything.

           
“You don’t have to move into this room.
 
There is no music room, or any of the other rooms that your current quarters have.
 
Originally, I never expected companions to remain in their rooms all the time.
 
That situation developed over the years.
 
This room is more like mine:
 
the bedroom, a bathing room, and a small storage room.
 
In the beginning, the rooms that you’re currently living in were meant to be a separate area to go to for entertainment.
 
The room that is your bedroom used to be a library.”
 
When Mira still didn’t respond, Rillan became concerned and added, “Like I said, you don’t have to move into this room.
 
I thought you might like it better.”

           
“I do,” Mira finally said, a catch in her voice.
 
She walked haltingly toward him and without hesitation wrapped her arms around his neck, buried her face against his shoulder and began crying into his shirt.

           
“I hope those are good tears,” Rillan said with concern, stroking her hair gently.

           
“Very good tears,” she sobbed.
 

           
Rillan loved the feel of her warmth against his cold body.
 
He held her, while she tried to get control of herself.
 
When Mira finally looked up, Rillan cupped the side of her face with his hand and wiped a tear away from her cheek with is thumb.
She’s even beautiful through tears.

           
At first Rillan didn’t understand the intensity in her deep brown eyes.
 
Nothing ever shocked him as much as the kiss Mira placed on his lips.
 
Momentarily stunned, Rillan stood there motionless, letting her kiss him.
 
When it eventually sunk in what was happening, Rillan swept Mira up into his arms and carried her to the bed.
 
The kissing grew more passionate, as he pulled her skirt up to her waist and worked his hand beneath all the material.
 

           
Mira let out an appreciative hiss, when his fingers delved between her legs.
 
Driven on by Mira’s obvious desire for him to make love to her, Rillan took hold of her skirt and ripped the waist band.
 
He pulled it from her body, leaving her completely naked from the waist down.
 
Watching her flushed expression for any sign of reluctance, Rillan untied his breeches and pushed them down his thighs, moving forward between her legs.

           
Dark blue eyes gazed wantonly into brown, and Rillan pushed his cock into her without pause.
 
Mira grabbed the white material of his shirt in her fists, struggling to pull it over his head and off his body.
 
She threw the shirt to the floor beside the bed and ran her hands over his chest.
 
Hands on the bed to either side of her, Rillan braced himself over Mira, thrusting into her over and over again.
 
He listened with pleasure to the whimpers and moans pouring from her lips.
 
He was amazed.
 
One thought blazed through his mind.
 
She started this.

           
Mira trembled.
 
Her small hands squeezed his shoulders, and her face contorted into a mixture of pain and pleasure, as she came.
 
Seeing her give in to the torrent of passion was more than he could take.
 
Rillan’s body tensed, his hands clenched the blankets, and he growled his release.
 
His arms nearly collapsed under him.
 
With some effort, he fell to the bed next to Mira.
 
Waves of sensation pulsed through his body.
 
Mira rolled to her side, laid her head on his shoulder, and sighed her satisfaction, as they lay together, recovering.

           
“I don’t believe I’ve felt anything like that since I died,” he said under his breath, too softly for Mira to hear.
 
He stroked her hair and kissed the top of her head.
 
“If I had known that this would be my ‘thank you’ I would have cleaned this room up for you long ago,” he teased.

           
“I didn’t realize how much I wanted something like this,” she said.

           
Rillan smiled wondering if she meant the sex or the view of the sky.
 
“I’ll do my best to make you happy while you’re here,” he said seriously.

           
“You truly make no sense.”
 
Mira propped herself up on his chest so that she could look down into his eyes.

           
“Maybe someday I’ll explain why.
 
For now, take me as I am.”
 
Rillan considered how happily he brought her to this room.
 
I guess it’s time to let
Elizabeth
go.
 
Perhaps she had something to do with bringing you to me
, he mused, staring into her sparkling brown eyes.

           
Mira leaned down and kissed him again.
 
Slowly they removed the rest of their clothing, worked their way beneath the blankets, and spent the rest of the night together.

Chapter 7

           
A gentle breeze sighed, sweeping through the branches of the trees surrounding the clearing.
 
Rillan never could decide if the empty clearing late at night was peaceful or ominous.
 
He waited in the shadows of the cave mouth, until he was positive no one was watching.
 
Slinking through the shadows, he made his way to the stone basin where letters were left for him.
 
Cold acceptance was all he felt, when he saw the parchment, gleaming white, reflecting moonlight in the darkness.

           
I knew it would happen,
he told himself.
 
The past few months have been more dream than reality anyway.
 
He didn’t know if the annoyance he felt was with himself or with the druids. Without looking at it, he pocketed the letter and gathered the supplies.
 
Arms full of bags of food, he trudged through the caves.
 
Normally he would take the food into Mira’s store room, but he didn’t want to face her yet.
 
Dumping the supplies in a storage room off the main hallway, Rillan headed for his own rooms.
 

           
A sweet cheerful melody called to him, as he passed the door to Mira’s room.
 
She played for him often lately.
 
Usually the sound reached into him, drawing a long absent smile from his lips.
 
Now it only served to remind him that this happiness was fleeting.
 
He closed the main door to his rooms behind himself.
 
Upon reaching his bedroom, Rillan grudgingly pulled the letter from his pocket.
 
Sitting down in a large chair next to the fireplace, he held the letter in his hand, staring at it.

           
A long moment passed while he contemplated the ramifications of not taking the assignment.
 
In all the years I’ve done this, no woman has ever affected me to this extent.
 
Rillan growled at himself.
 
This is my job.
He turned the letter over with intent.
 
A red wax seal held the letter closed.
 
He barely glanced at it, as he broke the seal and opened the folded parchment.

           
“Tiberius Caelius Novanus,” he read aloud.
 
Rillan didn’t know the man.
 
He had been underground too long to know the current leaders.
 
This was yet another point of contention in his mind.
 
He was torn between being blissfully unaware of who he killed and keeping tabs on current events, if only to keep the druids honest in their targets.
 
The only problem with the lat
t
er was the guilt he felt when he knew of the families the men he killed left behind.

           
Ripping the parchment into several pieces he stood and tossed it into the fireplace.
 
He rarely lit the fire, preferring the darkness in his rooms.
 
This was one of the few exceptions.
 
He always burned the parchment that bore the names of his victims.
 
Flames leaped up from the old coals in the grating.
 
Slowly the flames danced higher, licking at the wood until the paper lying on the top of the pile caught fire.
 
Rillan watched the paper burn, the red seal melting to run like blood into the tinder.
 

           
As the fire blazed in the hearth, Rillan returned to his chair, considering how he would prepare Mira for what was to come.
 
There’s always the chance that it won’t take long, and it won’t be too bloody.
 
The possibility exists that I’ll return here with my mind intact.
 
Rillan could count on one hand the number of times that happened.
 
He drummed his fingers on the arm of the chair, while the fire burned on.
 
This was inevitable.
 
I knew that the assignment would come.
 
But so soon?
 
The Fates couldn’t have given me a year,
he thought.
 

           
Rillan couldn’t stop thinking about all the time he spent with her since he gave her
Elizabeth
’s room.
 
It started with helping her move the things she wanted to the room.
 
After that she offered to play some music for him.
 
Within days, he found that he was rarely without her.
 
At first he believed it was only the dark loneliness of his well furnished tomb that brought her to him so often.
 
When she began making it clear that she liked sleeping in his bed or having him in hers, he began to wonder if she truly felt something for him aside from fear.
 
He had yet to have that conversation with her.
 
For the moment he was happy in his oblivion.

           
The last of the flames shrank into the coals and even the glowing embers were fading.
 
Forcing himself to bottle his upset, Rillan composed himself, took his heavy cloak from the chest at the end of his bed and left his rooms.
 

           
On the way to Mira’s rooms, he stopped in the large main room at the end of the hall to collect his sword.
 
Lifting the weapon, Rillan examined it, contemplating the number of heads the blade had severed from bodies.
 
I suppose there is some comfort in the idea that the blood is on the sword and not my hands.
 
He collected his sheath from the weapons rack and thrust the weapon into the soft, supple leather, hearing the familiar thwack as the hilt stopped against the lip of the sheath.
 
Clearing his mind of all thought, he strode out of the room and down the hall.

           
He only briefly knocked on the door, before letting himself into her room and walking down the short hallway toward her bedchamber.
 
Fresh night air greeted him, when he opened her door.
 
He smiled and shook his head.
 
She never closes it.
 
Remembering what he was there for, the smile fell from his face.
 
Mira lay asleep in her bed.
 
There were times he didn’t bother to warn his companions or say when he was leaving.
 
He shoved the thought out of his mind.
 
She deserved better than that.

           
Moonlight puddled on the bed around her head and shoulders.
 
She had moved the bed beneath the shaft, so that she could stare up at the sky.
 
The soft white glow exaggerated her pale skin.
 
She looks to be a spirit or fey.
 
Rillan reached out and stroked her cheek gently.
 
“Mira, I need to speak with you.”

           
There was just enough volume and insistence in his voice to wake her.
 
Mira stretched happily, the blankets falling away to show that she was naked in bed.
 
She smiled up at him sleepily.
 
“I had resigned myself to sleeping alone tonight.”

           
He eyed her skeptically, staring at her bare breasts.
 
His hand trailed down the side of her neck, along her chest, and skimmed teasingly over her nipple.
 
“Do you always sleep naked when you believe you’ll be sleeping alone?”
 

           
The stoic tone in his voice told Mira that something was wrong.
 
“What is it?”

           
Refusing to think any more about the situation, Rillan sat down on the edge of Mira’s bed.
 
His voice hard and forceful, he stared unwavering into Mira’s eyes.
 
“I won’t be staying tonight.
 
I need to feed, and then I leave on assignment.”

           
Unconsciously Mira pull the blanket to cover herself.
 
A chill went through her body at the image summoned up in her mind when he mentioned feeding.
 
No matter how much I love the man, I think I’ll forever fear the demon.
 
“Alright,” she said meekly.
 
“Do you know when you’ll return?”

           
“No.
 
Be prepared for the possibility of something worse than the first time I used you.”

           
Something about the way he phrased it made Mira cringe.
 
“Okay,” she said, overcome with grim acceptance.
 

           
Rillan watched her staring at and clinging to the blanket.
 
Anger and frustration with himself took hold of him.
 
In a sudden rush, his eyes sunk into his head, black as night.
 
The skin of his face pulled tight to his skull, making his mouthful of dagger sharp fangs appear lipless and larger, protruding from his head.
 

           
Mira suppressed her scream, shrinking back from Rillan.
 
Usually the room was pitch black, and she submitted to rough hands in the dark, then pain that caused her to black out.
 
The moonlight on his face was more than she could handle.
 
As Rillan moved in to take her, she fainted.
 
The vampire cared little for whether his prey was conscious or not.
 
Tearing the blanket from her breast, Rillan descended on her with fiendish pleasure.
 
Biting down viciously on her collar, he reveled in the feel of warm blood, thick and sweet, spraying into his mouth with each heartbeat.
 
Clawed hands wrapped around her upper arms tight enough to pierce the skin and leave bruises to form in the morning.
 

           
He needed very little blood this time.
 
After he took his fill, the vampire stood, leaving Mira
lyingacrossthebed
awkwardly bent over
across the bed
.
 
He walked toward the shaft in the ceiling, staring out at the moon.
 
The vampire didn’t even spare a glance back at the crumpled form in the bed.
 
Leaping up into the shaft, the movement was second nature.
 
Rillan was a blur of dark movement, crawling spider-like along the stone walls, casting a shadow over Mira, until he slunk over the crest of the shaft into the night.

* * * *

           
Mira woke, hunched over in bed, with an ache burning in her back and hip.
 
Sunlight beamed in through the open shaft, onto the bed.
 
Lifting her face toward the light, she let warmth seep into her skin.
 
Images of her last moments with Rillan flashed through her mind.
 
Ignoring them, she wonder
ed
how long she was out and when Rillan would return.
 
His words haunted her.
 
The last thing she wanted was another awakening like that first one.

           
Sighing, Mira pushed the blankets back and stood, stretching her sore body.
 
She looked up and out the shaft again, grateful that he allowed her to have the luxury of being able to see the sky.
 
With that thought in mind, Mira set to work preparing the room for the misery she anticipated.
 
She moved the chamber pot closer to the bed, made sure the pitcher had fresh water, and she began preparing stew with the intent of keeping it going until the ordeal was over.

* * * *

           
The moon slipping down beneath the horizon would have told Rillan it was time to find shelter for the day, if he didn’t already feel the sun sneaking up behind him.
 
His path, carefully planned, took more than a week to reach Noviodunum. As fast as he traveled, the dawn always forced him into hiding, impeding his progress.
 

           
Small stone and timber round houses, cared for and watched by the druids, served as way stations, strategically placed in his path to the city.
 
He traveled this trail so many times over the years he could have done it in his sleep.
 
Rillan walked through the door as the sun peeked over the tree line.
 
He closed it securely behind himself and made his way to the straw filled mattress on the floor.
 
He didn’t bother to light the fire.
 
He knew he wouldn’t need it.
 
Periodically, over the years he lit the fire, as a pleasant distraction.
 
The last few trips, however, he had taken to sleeping from the time he walked in until he left.
 
He spent less time thinking that way.

           
Rillan felt as though he only just closed his eyes, when he sat up on the bed and noticed there was no light filtering through the cracks in the old build’s roof.
 
He took a moment to stretch and yawn before slinking out the door into the night.