A Shifter's Tale

The Howling

~36~

I had to stab the ice several times with my knife before it broke, leaving me a small area where I could access the freezing water. Biting my lip against the cold, I splashed it onto my neck where blood was still crusted onto my skin. The water ran down my chest, beneath my clothes and dampening them.

I sensed someone crouch beside me and I looked up into the eyes of the Prince as he smirked down at me. “Can I help, Princess?”

“I think I can manage,” I replied, rubbing the water into my neck and feeling the dried blood peel away. I winced as more of it dribbled down my chest, making me shiver, and Dalines took a rag from the pocket of his trousers and dipped one corner of it into the water.

He was surprisingly gentle as he swept my hair away from my neck and dabbed the rag onto my neck, scraping away the remnants I couldn’t see. “I’m sorry I had to bite you,” he said as he worked. “I made sure not to take any blood; I doubted you’d like that.” I winced again as a flake of the blood clung to my skin

“You’re right,” I agreed. “I wouldn’t like it.”

He chuckled softly. “I only took what I had to.”

“Good.” I watched Pavarni as she struck a spark with two rocks and flames licked at the pile of wood she’d gathered. If I looked up and to the north-east, the large peak of Dun Caebran loomed above us, mostly coated in a thick layer of snow.

“So,” I began, turning my attention back to the Prince. “What does happen if you drink from my neck? Pavarni said something about not courting me…?”

“It’s not technically courting…” he replied, narrowing his eyes thoughtfully. “It’s very hard to explain. I can show you if you really want, as long as you promise not to try and stab me afterwards…”

Despite my better judgment, I was curious enough to want to know what he meant. I tilted my head over, exposing my neck to him and wordlessly giving him my consent. He looked uncertain, crept closer and crouched behind me, placing his hands on my shoulders gingerly.

“Don’t hate me,” he murmured, gently scraping his fangs across my newly-healed skin, only to break it again. The action was so sudden I didn’t have time to tense up and it didn’t hurt me as much as I was expecting.

The real shock came when he began drawing blood. An overwhelming surge of pure lust engulfed any other emotion I might have been feeling and I leant back into his chest, my breathing becoming deeper. I hadn’t experienced an emotion so powerful before in my life, and I was only a little bit afraid.

He licked the incisions so that they healed and then he was gone. I almost toppled over backwards and had to catch myself on my elbows. I shook my head to clear it, the lustfulness disappearing just as quickly as it’d appeared.

I glanced about the clearing, looking for him. Pavarni was watching me from beside the fire with an amused grin on her face. She looked over a willow tree and I followed her gaze, spotting the Prince’s white shirt from within the shadows. I was shocked at the power he’d had over me, but by no means angry. I gingerly touched the place where he’d bitten me, where the skin was mostly healed already.

“I did warn you…”

I glanced up at Dalines. “I suppose you did,” I replied with a small laugh. “Just please don’t do that again…”

“I won’t,” he promised.

“Why’d you run off?” I asked, grinning slyly back up at him. “Did you really think I’d try to stab you?”

“Not especially…” If he still had blood in his veins, I was fairly sure he would have flushed. I raised an eyebrow questioningly at him, waiting for him to explain further. He eyed me cautiously for a moment before saying, “Look, even though I’m a vampyre, I’m still male and when you have a female of any kind responding like that…”