Mira (23 page)

           
Concern furrowed Rillan’s brow.
 
“Why should she be lonely?
 
She’s back where she belongs.”

           
“Why did you return her to us?”

           
“I sent a note,” he replied angrily.

           
Lilith smiled knowingly.
 
She had suspected what his real motivations were, regardless of what he had written.
 
A woman doesn’t live as long as she had without being capable of discerning when someone was lying.
 
“I read your note.
 
It just seems strange that you would cope with the girls you’ve been sent for so long and now change your tactics.”

           
Rillan sneered.
 
“I suppose it makes as much sense as the Circle calling a meeting with me for the first time in centuries.”

           
Lilith chuckled and nodded.
 
“I guess then it would be fairly safe to say that things are changing.”
 
She sighed.
 
“I marvel that it took as long as it has.
 
The Fates are forever in flux.
 
They almost seemed to have forgotten us.”

           
“Change isn’t always a good thing,” Rillan replied softly.

           
“True.
 
However it is a necessary thing.”
 
Lilith moved to leave, as if she was done with the conversation.
 
“And one last thing,” she said over her shoulder.
 
“A martyr is really only counted as such if he saves someone through his sacrifice.
 
I wonder what you call a man who makes the sacrifice when no one needs to be saved?”

           
Before Rillan could wrap his brain around what she said, Lilith disappeared into the darkness.
 
She accomplished several feats at once.
 
Rillan had to give her a great deal of credit.
 
He hadn’t talked to anyone in a very long time who could stand up to him, confuse him, or impress him
,
.
 
L
l
et alone do all three things simultaneously.
 
“The woman must be related to Mira,” he growled, but smiled as he returned to his cave.
 
She gave him a great deal to think about.
 

* * * *

           
Mira sat unhappily at the breakfast table.
 
She hadn’t even finished eating, and her head was already swimming.
 
Liam’s sister had arrived first thing and announced that Liam sent her to “help”.
 
Apparently that means take over,
Mira thought.
 
“Listen, Helen, I do appreciate the help,” Mira said in between sips on her tea.
 
“But it’s not as if this has to happen tomorrow.”

           
The girls all giggled.
 
“Not tomorrow.
 
No.
 
Still Liam wants to have the ceremony within the month.
 
That’s still not much time.”
 
Helen sat closer to Mira.
 
Her proclamation had the rest of the girls in the room talking excitedly.
 
“My brother has been in love with you for so long.
 
You really don’t know how much this means to him.
 
He’ll make you happy.
 
You’ll see.”

           
“Everyone keeps saying that,” Mira whispered despondently.

           
Helen was taken aback.
 
Liam told her to be prepared for what the vampire had done to Mira.
 
Even so, she hadn’t expected the girl to be this bad.
 
It only strengthened her resolve to help.
 
“Don’t worry,” she said, gently petting Mira’s hair.
 
“I’ll take care of everything.
 
Who knows?
 
Perhaps the handfasting could be within a couple weeks.”
 
She looked around at all the listeners encouragingly.
 
“We certainly have plenty of volunteers,” she suggested.
 
With that a squeal of agreement filled the room.

           
Mira flinched.
 
It was getting almost painful to be awake.
 
Between the sun streaming in the window and the girls squealing, she was developing a vicious headache.
 
Mira reached up absently and started rubbing the join between her neck and shoulder.
 
She didn’t even realize that it was precisely where Rillan had bitten her so many times.
 
She always studiously kept that portion of her neck covered.
 
The scars were horrible.
 
Not that she really minded.

           
The hush which fell over the room managed to break Mira from her internal monologue long enough to notice that Lilith had come in.
 
Mira was glad and scared to see the woman.
 
As grateful as she was for the calm in the ridiculousness of the morning, Mira could guess what Lilith was here for.
 
She left instructions for a new sacrifice to be chosen, prepared, and sent to Rillan over a week ago.
 
Mira hadn’t been able to bring herself to do it.
 
Now that the rumors about a secret meeting between the elders and Rillan were confirmed, Mira expected he would have reminded them that he needed a new sacrifice.
 
Mira stood up respectfully as Lilith approached.
 
  

           
The old woman smiled sympathetically at Mira.
 
“I rather fancy a walk in the morning air.
  
Come with me Mira.”
 
Without waiting for any kind of response, Lilith led the way out of the round house and away from town, toward the wooded trails.
 
“There’s some privacy this way,” she responded to Mira’s unspoken confusion.

           
“Can I do something to be of service,” Mira asked.

           
“You have a strange strength and sadness to your tone, Mira.
 
It’s been a great deal of time since a girl as young as you was able to speak to me without a waver in her voice.
 
But I suppose after facing a terror such as Lord Tiernay, your elders would no longer be as intimidating.”

           
Mira felt as though she was being baited for some reason.
 
“Rillan isn’t nearly as frightening as we have all been led to believe.
 
He’s merely lonely,” she replied with conviction and annoyance.
 
“Calling him a terror, does him a disservice.”
 
Realizing how she had spoken to Lilith, Mira cleared her throat and added, “With respect Milady.”

           
Lilith smiled.
 
“There are so many ways to see, Mira.
 
Eyes are only one of those.
 
I am surprised to find that one as young as you would develop the other visions so readily.
 
There is a great destiny for you I think.”

           
“Yes,” Mira said with tears in her eyes.
 
“Handfasting to Liam.”

           
“It is a strange woman who can talk about one man with such conviction and yet allow her voice to crack so distinctly in reference to her betrothal.”
 
Mira looked away from Lilith.
 
“I sometimes believe the Fates only keep us around for their own amusement,” Lilith said gently and brushed Mira’s hair from her shoulders.
 
“You need to send a new sacrifice, Mira.”

           
“I knew that was why you came.”

           
Lilith sighed, “Choose a girl and begin preparing the next.”

           
“I shouldn’t worry too much for that.
 
If I begin teaching the girls as they should be, then we should need fewer sacrifices.”

           
“You truly believe that,” Lilith said in a motherly.
 
“Ah, well, I suppose he believes that too.”

           
Mira turned toward Lilith in confusion.

           
Lilith shook her head.
 
“There have always been sacrifices.
 
Even when the lessons were as thorough as you intend to make them now.
 
The sacrifices tend to go in cycles.
 
We’ve had a great many girls die recently in a relatively short period of time.
  
There are more variables which play into it than the type of lessons the girls are given.”
 
Lilith stepped up close to Mira.
 
Lifting her chin, she forced Mira to look her directly in the eyes.
 
“I find that in my vast experience over the years, the difference in the sacrifices was within the girls themselves, not what they were told before they met him.”
 
Lilith released Mira from her grip.
  
“I think you’ll see what I mean as you look amongst the sacrifices for who you will send.
 
It needs to be done tonight.
 
Come, we’ll go back to the round house.
 
I’ll tell your friends that the planning for your handfasting can continue on the ‘morrow.
 
You have work to do today.”

           
“A day isn’t enough time,” Mira said, panicked.
 
“I can’t explain it all in one afternoon.”

           
Lilith was already walking toward the round house.
 
“You’ll have to find a way.
 
He needs to be fed before he leaves for his next assignment.
 
You of all people should know how he goes about it.
 
It may take some time.
 
And we are drastically short on that.”

           
It was an order, not a request.
 
Mira knew from the tone that she had no choice in the matter.
 
Reluctantly she followed Lilith to the round house and stood by, as the announcement was made that handfasting plans would need be continued on a different date.
 
The fear that followed the announcement about the next sacrifice to be chose disgusted Mira.
 
He deserves better than that.
 
Tears in her eyes, she resolved to find someone who could handle it.
 
Lilith is wrong.
 
I can teach them.
 
It will be better.
 
They’ll live longer.
 
Maybe he’ll be happy.

           
Mira started by asking if there were any volunteers.
 
It made sense to her to think that the braver the girl might be the better off she would be.
 
Only three girls came forward.
 
Well that makes things a little easier.
 
I suppose it narrows the possibilities enough to make choosing a girl for this evening feasible.
 

           
Taking the girls who had volunteered out to the garden, Mira found herself attempting to come up with a way to pick amongst them.
 
Her mind swam trying to think of all the things about herself which made the situation with Rillan bearable.
 
But she honestly didn’t understand what made her different from any of the others.

           
The girls stood watching her and waiting.
 
It never occurred to Mira that she may be frightening them with her contemplative silence.
 
The girls saw Mira mumbling to herself and pacing.
 
In the morning sunlight, next to the beauty of the garden flowers, Mira’s deterioration was all the more apparent.
 
She was gaunt and pale, though still beautiful in a haunting way.
 
None of the sacrifices wanted to know exactly what changed the Mira they knew before into what they saw now.
 

           
Finally Mira turned toward them, seeing bravery fading from her eyes; she decided that the best way to go about it would be to allow them to choose themselves.
 
“I think that the best thing to do will be to give you all the crash course and then make the final decision as to who will go, at the end of the day.”

           
The girls nodded, and the lessons began.
 
Mira started by explaining to them how they had to go about looking for Rillan and why.
 
She somehow thought that if they knew why he behaved the way he did, then they would be able to handle
it
.
 
As sunset approached, Mira’s voice was hoarse and she had lost count of the number of times the emphatic nods of understanding had turned to horror as Mira related her experiences in the vampire’s caves.

           
“Alright then, I’m sorry it has to be this way.
 
There is no more time.
 
I need to know if any of you have changed your minds.”