Mira (25 page)

           
Helen smiled with pride, believing that the tears were of appreciation.
 
She leaned in and hugged Mira gently.
 
“I know how difficult it has been for you to come back to us after what happened.
 
Even if Liam hadn’t asked me to help you, I would have wanted to.”

           
Pulling away from Helen, as gently as she could, so that it wouldn’t be misinterpreted as an insult, Mira nodded, wiped the tears from her cheeks and went back to the round house and her bedroom.
 
At least there, with the door closed, she could get some peace.
 
All she wanted was sleep.
 

           
At this rate we’ll be ready for the ceremony in a matter of days
, she thought.
 
The idea made her sick to her stomach.
 
Closing the door behind her, Mira began sobbing.
 
She threw herself down on her small bed, wrapped her blankets around herself, and closed her eyes.
 
Sleep was long in coming, but a welcome reprieve to her thoughts.

* * * *

           
Rillan considered his next step carefully.
 
He could tell, after the centuries of dealing with sacrifices, this one was going to take a lot of coddling.
 
Unfortunately, he simply didn’t have the patience or ability to wait for her to come to him on her own terms.
 

           
Standing in the shadows of her doorway, he watched her sitting at the dressing table brushing her hair.
 
She had been brushing for over an hour; sitting, staring in the mirror.
 
Her manor and demeanor annoyed Rillan and reminded him of why he had taken to doing things as he did.
 
Closing his eyes, he allowed himself the torment of imagining Mira waiting for him, smiling at him, and wanting him.

           
Thoroughly disgusted with himself, Rillan stepped out of the shadows.
 
Catching site of Rillan in her mirror, Aris dropped her brush and gasped.
 
She whirled around to face Rillan, abject terror streaking her features.

           
“Take off your clothes and lie down on the bed girl,” Rillan growled callously.

           
Aris shook her head and backed up into the dressing table.
 
“M—Mira said you would wait until I was ready,” she blurted.

           
“I would.
 
If I had time.
 
But I have an assignment.
 
I’ve waited as long as I’m able,” he growled.
 
Frustrated, Rillan let his better half through, in the hopes of reassuring the girl.
 
“I’ll make it as short as possible.
 
Just do as you’re told,” he added in a softer tone.

           
The change in his approach appeared to comfort Aris some.
 
She reluctantly began to undress.
 
A blush started in her cheeks and spread across her entire body.
 
Rillan was far from immune to the sight of the beautiful young girl standing naked in front of him.
 
His eyes caressed her flesh, in a way he knew his hands could not.
 

           
Rillan took in her brown hair and dark blue eyes.
 
Her flawless pale skin was deepening to a dark pink, as he looked her over.
 
“Lay down on the bed,” he said gently.

           
Timidly, Aris moved over to the bed and crawled to the middle.
 
The basest side of Rillan’s animalistic tendencies always enjoyed watching them crawl across the bed.
 
He considered the curve of her back, her soft thighs, and the innocent way her sex peeked from between her legs, as she moved to the middle of the bed.
 
Just like all the others, when she realized what he was looking at she sat down and
lie
laid
back, closed her eyes and waited in embarrassment for what would happen next.

           
Rillan pulled his shirt off and tossed it across the chair.
 
He didn’t know how far he was going to take this, but he hated cleaning blood off his clothes.
 
Kneeling on the bed next to the naked girl, he realized that he never asked her name.
 
Staring down into her fear marred faced, he knew that he didn’t actually care what it was.

           
Aris felt the weight on the bed and lay trembling in anticipation of what he would do to her.
 
She kept telling herself,
Mira said to keep your eyes closed.
 
Don’t open your eyes and just wait.
 
He’ll make the pain worth it.
 
He’s a good man.
 
He only needs sympathy.
 

           
The smell of fear assailed Rillan’s nostrils, he could hear her heart racing in her chest, and her breathing was raged and choppy.
 
Stupid girl is going to hyperventilate
.
 
The human portion of his soul hating the smell of fear and knowing that he was the cause retreated, and the vampire stole control of Rillan’s body.
 
Black bled from his pupils, until it filled his eyes sockets.
 
His skin pulled taught to his features, paper thin and pasty white.
 
His lips pulled back from his teeth, causing the needle filled mouth to illustrate the vicious predator which
lie
lay
within.
 
Leaning down near her, what little humanity was left in his control at that moment reached for her gently, in an attempt to warn her that he was going to start.

           
With the touch of his hand on her shoulder, all thoughts in Aris’ mind went blank.
 
Her eyes flew open
,
and she stared wide-eyed into the face of the vampire about to feed on her.
 
Tears welled in her eyes and spilled down her cheeks.
 
The odor of fear became overwhelming
,
and that was joined with the reek of ammonia.
 
She peed herself,
he thought angrily.
 
All sympathy fled, and Rillan grabbed Aris by her shoulders.

           
“You want something to fear?
 
I can easily oblige,” the vampire growled.
 
Holding her squirming body down, Rillan reared back, giving Aris a full view of the mouth that was about to rip her shoulder apart.
 
Bending down, Rillan bit hard on the join between her neck and her shoulder.

           
Aris shrieked.
 
Pain seared through her body, followed by an intense burning.
 
“Please,” she begged, in between breaths.
 
The protests and screaming only seemed to spur him on.
 
This isn’t what Mira said it would be.
 
This isn’t what Mira said it would be.
 
This isn’t what Mira said it would be.
 
Aris’ mind whirled with fear and confusion until finally it went blank.

           
Rillan finished feeding and stood up.
 
Looking down at the girl, he threw a blanket over her body, grabbed his shirt and stomped off down the hall.
 
He had duties to perform, before he left.

           
Dressing to leave for the approaching army, Rillan stared at the two small packages on the chest at the foot of his bed.
 
He had been debating when he should give them to her.
 
In case I don’t come back from this,
he thought.
 
Picking up the two small packages, he shoved them into his pockets and strode down the hall.
 
He couldn’t decide if the idea of not coming back was comforting or disturbing.

           
The halls echoed with is footsteps, as he made his way out: Mira’s room, the rooms he had left the new girl in, the library and study.
 
As he left the caves, no wind stirred.
 
There were no clouds.
 
The moon shone brightly enough to give the feel of day to Rillan, who was so used to the total black of his caves.
 
The moonlight made it an easy thing for the vampire to slip through the ancient forest, into the small druid town, and to the round house that had forever been home to the sacrifices.

           
Rillan wasn’t sure if Mira was in the round house, but he figured it was the best place to start.
 
If he had to search every house in the small town, he would find her before he left.
 
Fortunately his guess paid off.
 
He felt as though he was drawn to her.
 
Circling the round house he peered into each of the small windows until a figure in one of the beds caught his attention.
 

           
Rillan knew Mira’s frame, even covered in blankets.
 
Slipping in through the window, Rillan stood next to her bed, staring down at her tear streaked face, wondering what hurt her and caused her to cry herself to sleep.
 
All he wanted was to find the source of her pain and destroy it.
 
He felt so helpless standing there, looking down at her, and knowing there was truly nothing he could do to fix what hurt her.
 

           
At length
,
he tore his eyes from her quiet form and looked around for a place to leave the packages.
 
The room she slept in was small.
 
It was made even smaller by the piles of ceremonial decorations strewn about.
 
In one corner, carefully folded and draped across a small chair, Rillan spied an intricately embroidered chemise and skirt.
 
Walking over to the clothing, he felt as if his chest had been ripped open and his heart torn out.
 
A handfasting cord lay across the top of the pile of clothing.

           
Closing his eyes Rillan took several deep breaths.
 
This is why you sent her back,
he told himself.
 
You knew that she would be wanted.
 
She’ll be able to have children, live in the sun, and be happy.
 
Rillan opened his eyes, half hoping that when he did the clothing and especially the cord would have vanished.
 
But there they were, gleaming in the moonlight.

           
Reaching into his pockets he withdrew the two carefully wrapped packages.
 
He placed them atop of the cord.
 
Before he left, he walked back over to Mira’s sleeping form.
 
Bending down, he placed a small kiss on her lips, smelled her hair, and whispered softly, “All the blessings of the Gods be on you, sweet one.”

           
Mira’s eyes shot open.
 
Touching her lips, she couldn’t believe that it was a dream.
 
“Rillan?”
  
She sat up in bed and looked around the room, her eyes examining the shadows for any sign of him.
 
Nothing?
  
As Mira lay back down and closed her eyes, more tears squeezed out from beneath the lids.
 
I could have sworn I heard him.
 
I must be going insane
, she thought.
 
It was several hours of lying in bed with her eyes squeezed closed and her thoughts churning, before she fell fitfully back to sleep.

Chapter 13

           
Lilith stood in the shadow of a large elm with several elders, watching the sacrifices scurry about planning the handfasting of Liam and Mira.
  
The entire town was focused on preparations for the handfasting.
 
Though it wasn’t standard for everything to stand still for one random ceremony, it was the town’s way of avoiding thinking about the danger coming.

           
An older man with a long gray beard and wrinkled leather skin sighed heavily.
 
“The army is only a day or two off.
 
We’ve no word from the vampire.
 
Should we stop them and prepare for war?”

           
“What war?” Lilith harrumphed.
 
“If the army attacks us, no matter how weak Rillan ap Tiernay says they may be, we will be slaughtered as livestock.
 
We’ve no weapons, no knowledge of weapon use.
 
What do you propose?
 
Pitchforks and pails as swords and shields?”

           
The old man shook his head and sighed again.
 
“I don’t like waiting for death, Lilith.”

           
“Isn’t that what we do every day?
 
We all die.”

           
“Leave it to you to get philosophical about the matter.”

           
“No,” Lilith said, turning toward him.
 
“Not philosophical, merely practical.
 
Fewer people will die if we surrender without fuss.
 
You know that.
 
We, long ago, became too used to our protected existence.
 
Change isn’t a bad or good thing.
 
It simply is.”

           
“And if the army arrives to ‘change our existence’,” he said sarcastically, “during a handfasting ceremony?”

           
Lilith leveled a small knowing smile on her friend.
 
“Then we invite them to the festivities.
 
That should certainly confuse them.”

           
The old man growled, but gave in.
 
“There is no point in arguing with you Lilith.
 
When was the last time you didn’t have the last word in a conversation
?
.
”

           
“I often fail to have the last word.”

           
“Okay, so when was the last time you didn’t come out two or three points ahead?”

           
Lilith returned to watching the girls dart back and forth in a rush of excitement.
 
She was happy that they found something to smile about.
 
The sacrifices of recent generations spent far too much time dwelling on what their end would be like and not nearly enough time enjoying what they had.
 

* * * *

           
“I only want to see if the headdress matches the handfasting cord as well as I think it will,” Helen said excitedly.
 
She studiously ignored the exasperated expression on Mira’s face, as the door to Mira’s room swung open.
 
           

           
Helen virtually skipped across the room, chattering happily.
 
“We should have everything ready tomorrow or maybe the day after, at the latest.”
 

           
Mira sighed and nodded.
 
“Not to sound ungrateful, but it all seems to be moving so quickly.”

           
Smiling dismissively, Helen picked up one of the packages sitting on top of Mira’s clothes and the handfasting cord.
 
“You’re still recovering from your time away from us.
 
I have faith in the Fates that when you’re at the ceremony and everyone is gathered around and you’re standing with Liam, you’ll start to feel better.
 
You may even smile,” she added with amusement.
 
Holding up the package to Mira, Helen changed the subject.
 
“What’s this,” she asked curiously.

           
“I don’t know,” Mira replied heavily.
 
“I assumed you left it.
 
It was with the rest of the stuff you left for me.”

           
Helen’s eyes gleamed with excitement.
 
“No.
 
Maybe Liam left it,” she suggested, certain that it was an early surprise for Mira.

           
The comment only made Mira less inclined to open the package.
 
In truth, her mind kept coming back to a disturbing idea she had that morning.
 
Lilith said that he had a new assignment, but she didn’t say what.
 
Mira was more than smart enough to add everything together.
 
There were rumors of a coming army, and no one was preparing to fight them.
 
Mira may not have known what they intended Rillan to do, but she could figure out easily enough that it had to have something to do with the coming army.
 
She was more than a little distracted with that train of thought.
 
She wasn’t interested in handfasting presents.

           
Helen pushed the package into Mira’s hands.
 
“Open it,” she persisted in her annoyingly cheerful manor.

           
Lacking the strength of will to protest, Mira untied the string and unwrapped the soft purple fabric covering the package.
 
Immediately, she recognized the long carved wooden box that held the whistle she was so fond of.
 
Her hands began to shake. She flipped the latch and opened it.
 
A tear formed in her eye, and she choked back the urge to start crying again.
 
“This isn’t from Liam,” she said breathlessly.

           
Helen’s mood dropped.
 
“What is it?”
 
She moved around so that she could see the whistle in the box.
 
“It’s very pretty,” she said in confusion.
 
“I didn’t know you could play.”

           
Mira didn’t respond.
 
She didn’t have it in her to explain the whistle to Helen.
 
Closing the box carefully, she placed it on her bed and looked at the second package.
 
It was smaller than the whistle and appeared to be more carefully wrapped.
 
For several long moments, she stood staring at the small bundle.
 
When she finally gathered her strength, she lifted it lightly in her hands and pulled the string and fabric from the little box.
 
The box itself was nothing special.
 
It was only a plain hinged wooden box, too small for most uses.
 
Opening the lid Mira found a silver rose shaped pendant on a long soft black ribbon.
 
A single dark pearl graced the center of the beautifully shaped flower.
 

           
Helen gasped, “By the Fates, it’s beautiful.
 
Who gave it to you?”
 
She was already searching the wrapping and boxes for some note or indication of who the gifts were from.
 
Liam wasn’t going to like this.
 
It wasn’t exactly respectful to gift a woman with things better than her betrothed was capable of providing upon their handfasting.

           
“Never mind, Helen,” Mira said softly.
 
“Please go.
 
I need some rest.”

           
Helen looked up with some concern.
 
“You slept in very late.
 
Now you want to go back to sleep.
 
It’s not even
noon
.”

           
“Please.
 
I’m not feeling well.”

           
“Alright,” Helen conceded.
 
She wanted to go talk to Liam anyway.
 
“I’ll be back to check on you later.”

           
Mira accepted that and closed the door after her as Helen left.
  
Placing the pendant back in its box, Mira sat down on the edge of her bed.
 
Her head spinning, she could only think of one thing that had ever helped her with this kind of loneliness and confusion.
 
Lifting the whistle to her lips, Mira began to play.
 

* * * *

           
Churning cold black wrapped around Aris.
 
Nausea wracked her body.
 
Before she could remember where she was or what was happening, her stomach heaved and vomit covered her chest.
 
Pain shot through her.
 
Sitting up in bed, she realized that at some point she must have peed herself as well.
 
The room reeked.
 

           
Rolling over, she managed to get out of the mess she was lying in.
 
Visions of a monster with empty eye sockets and a lipless mouthful of razor sharp teeth flashed across her memory, and she fell to her knees shrieking in terror.
 

* * * *

           
Sunset seemed to settle unnaturally early on the forest, while the Noviodunum soldiers prepared to make camp.
 
Anger and frustration spread like wild fire throughout the troops, when word circulated that Marcus had not been seen in days and Darius was giving orders.
 
The general consensus was that if dark came early, then camp should come early too.
 

           
“My Lord,” the guard said with a sneer.
 
“The troops could do with hearing from Marcus.”

           
“I told you,” Darius replied with conviction.
 
“Marcus is not feeling well.
 
You can attempt to speak with him if you wish,” Darius stepped aside to allow the guard into the large tent.
 
“I happen to think that exposing the men to a potentially catching illness and allowing them to see the state he’s in would be worse than letting them speculate.
  
For now
,
you’ll just have to take his orders as I convey them to you and attempt to be happy with that.”

           
The guard looked at the door that Darius had cleared.
 
At the word “catching” he was almost guaranteed to not set foot in the tent.
 
Darius was counting on that.
 
Hesitating, he leveled his gaze on Darius, “How do I know you didn’t do something to him?”

           
“I hardly think I would be encouraging you to go in there and examine the situation if I had done anything that would promote you or any of your fellows to off my head.
 
Think as you like.
 
I
,
for one
,
am more annoyed than you can possibly imagine at being put in the middle of this,” Darius growled at the guard.
 
“You want to take up the position of sitting next to his bed and waiting for him to be coherent enough to give orders then be my guest.
 
I’ll return to Noviodunum.
 
Avenging his father’s death is no great concern of mine.”

           
Being ignorant enough of the true politics behind the situation, the guard decided to take Darius at his word.
 
“Fine.
 
What are the orders?”
 

           
“We keep going as we have been.
 
Break camp at dawn.
 
We should arrive at the druid town in less than a day’s march.
 
We’ll make camp when the town is in sight, assess the situation, and decide on a course of attack then.
 
I suggest that whoever
Darius
Marcus
normally would consult on tactics be gathered for a meeting tomorrow.”

           
Darius walked away from the guard, with a wicked grin splitting his face.
 
Things couldn’t be going more perfectly.
 
I have the fool guard obeying my every command, and when the only real threat to my plans shows up, he should immediately try to eliminate Marcus.
 
I wonder what affect the drugs will have on a vampire.

           
Entering his own tent, he looked around at his meager accommodations and began undressing for bed.
 
The first thing I’ll do when I’ve conquered the Circle is build a domus in place of my round house and put a bed the size of this tent in the middle of my sleeping chamber.

           
Rillan stood in the shadows, watching the guards set camp.
 
There can’t be more than fifty guards.
 
I wonder who the other houses are that sent support for this stupidity. The real question is; do I bother to put forth the effort to frighten them back where they came from and let them live, or do I kill them in their sleep.
 
Rillan could hear the beast in his head voting for the latter option.