As it was instructed of him, exactly a week to the day since he was visited by his mysterious employer, Timothy bought and loaded the things he was asked to deliver into his cart with blind obedience. During the time he gathered the food and while he travelled to deliver them, he questioned his reason for following through. The stern woman had entrusted him with a great deal of money; he could’ve eloped, headed north and spend it all on beautiful lassies and weeks' worth of wine. However, there he was instead, headed to the strange place out in the middle of nowhere, fulfilling the strange woman’s request.
It was before noon when he finished purchasing what he was told to. He then made for the woodlands, the wheels on his cart wobbled over the rough roads of town until they rolled along the grassy paths leading to the wood itself. The ruckus his cart made never ceased, it was only that the trees and the earth did not complain and he was used to the noise he made. Timothy was so used to the rattle he made that he even felt comfortable enough to whistle a folk song often performed by local bards.
Two hours of non-stop travelling and several known ballads later, the man arrived at the spot. Jumping down from the cart, he walked over to his horse, giving the animal a quick pat on the head while he surveyed the wood in silence.
A chill crept up the back of his neck just then, the sort of chill one gets when they feel they’re being watched. Only he wasn’t being watched, just his fear that being there would somehow turn out to be a test of compliance and obedience and just when he would’ve dropped the food off and perched himself on top of the cart ready to leave, his employer would reveal herself, chastising him for doing something wrong.
Again, it wasn’t so. No one came out from behind the trees or elsewhere to tell him he did his job wrong.
Unpacking the food from his cart one at a time and placing them on the forest floor, Timothy stopped mid-action as a thought came to him. How was this person going to know he came by and brought their things? What if he left them there and a wild animal or passerby got a hold of the food? Wouldn’t that be a waste of money? How would he truly know if the recipient ever got the delivery? He wouldn’t want them not to.
One by one Timothy reloaded everything into his cart and once they were packed in place, he jumped onto his usual seat, grabbed the reins, tapped it lightly and the horse moved in the direction he was steered.
The man hadn't the slightest clue where he was going but he’d know when he got there he thought to himself and he did. For less than a half hour’s ride, an old cottage tucked mostly behind the trees appeared. Smoke curled from the little chimney that peeked out just a little, signalling that someone lived there and that they were home.
Dismounting the cart yet again, Timothy led the horse up the pathway to the back of the house. The closer he got to the home, he heard a child’s voice as they spoke but he couldn’t quite make out what they said, the language sounded foreign to his ears. But after a minute or two of suspense, he was able to put a face to the voice— a child probably no older than six locked eyes with him when he neared the home. At first glance he couldn’t decipher whether the child was a boy or a girl— their wavy hair flowed over their shoulders, framing a somewhat chubby face with ruddy cheeks. Nestled in their oval-shaped face was the most beautiful pair of eyes he'd ever seen, and eyes that were intense and curious.
Timothy quickly realized once he took in the child's attire as they ran from him that they were a boy. And after the thought, the man chuckled to himself at the speed in which the boy fled the vicinity.
Rounding the corner some minutes later with the boy beside her was a woman. Her face was plastered with a look of anger or annoyance maybe. Curiosity also mingled there but it was quite subtle.
In quietude for a short moment, Emese regarded the unknown man in her midst. She wondered who he was and why he was there. Although his presence confirmed he was human, she still felt concerned because there was nothing more dangerous in the world than a man.
“May I help you?” She spoke, keeping at a safe distance. In her hand was a wooden broom that she did not try to keep hidden. Timothy saw this and the smile that curled at his mouth before she showed up fleeted.
“Good day,” Timothy immediately replied, lifting his hand to give a cordial wave. “Don’t mean to spook the lady and her child, but I was told to deliver some things to someone and well I trust that someone might be you,”
For a moment, Emese was taken aback. She wanted also to dismiss the man but she quickly remembered what Ana had said to her about not having to worry about heading into town for anything since she had everything taken care of.
“She put you up to this, didn’t she?”
Knowing exactly who she referred to, Timothy nodded. “Didn’t have a choice either,” he joked, chuckling to himself. Little did he know though that he truly hadn’t a choice. Anastasìa had compelled him, however, she didn’t compel him to interact with the siblings, he did that on his own and he felt that if she found that out he would be in trouble. He didn't plan on letting her find out though.
During his train of thought, he wondered what the relation was between his employer and the two, were they family? Friends? Acquaintances? He tried to find a resemblance between the three people but it was hard when all he'd ever seen for the mystery woman were her eyes. But he did find a resemblance between the woman before him and the child and he thought to himself that they might be mother and son.
“Well,” Emese sighed. The tension which had intertwined itself in her limbs at the thought of a stranger and a man at that being at her home slowly dissipated. “You can leave them there,” she said, pointing to a little shaded corner beneath a tree.
“Are you sure you don’t need me to take them inside for you, I mean, it’ll be no trouble really,”
“That’s not necessary,” Emese replied in a stern tone, causing the man to nod understandingly.
“As you wish,”
In silence, the siblings watched the weird little fella in the dirtied coif unload what looked like another week’s worth of food. There was dried shrimp, salted fish, pickled pork, beef, venison, wheat, grains, some vegetables, and even a little parcel of sweets for both of them. The sweets were the only thing Tamas noticed and his eyes lit up as bright as the sun just then.
“Is Ana coming soon?” Tamas questioned in excitement. His sister looked down into his chubby face and smiled. “Not as yet,”
“When will she?”
“I don’t know, but I suspect soon,” she replied.
Truly, Emese hadn’t a clue when the vampire would come again but she, just like Tamas, hoped it was soon. She couldn’t stop thinking about the kiss they shared— how was that even possible? Sharing a kiss with a vampire as a human? What was that too? The brunette never saw herself as a woman with that sort of proclivity. Yes, she knew that she wasn’t interested in men, but she never really paid much attention to women either…or so she thought. What she knew more than anything though was how much she wanted a repeat; she wondered if Ana thought the same too. Would they ever share another kiss? Would Ana be the one to initiate it this time?
“There,” Timothy said, his unfamiliar presence and voice pulled Emese back to reality.
The man dusted his hands off on his already dirtied breeches, his curious gaze on the brunette. Noting his glare, she asked. “How much do I owe you?”
“Oh!” He chuckled. “Nothing, she already took care of that,”
“Okay. Well, much thanks then,”
“Wait—” the man stopped the siblings from walking away. “If you must know, I came here because I was not trusting of leaving the food in the middle of nowhere, I was worried it would either get stolen or eaten. I also wanted to ask if there are any specific things you’ll need me to bring for you in next week’s delivery,”
“Not quite. She got everything right that we'd need,”
“Oh.” He replied again. The man’s gaze found his way to the young boy and found that he had his wide eyes on his horse. He wanted to invite him to meet the animal but was afraid he’d be viewed as some overly friendly person, so he held his tongue. He instead decided to strike up a conversation about his employer.
“Is she always that discreet?”
Emese frowned. “Who?”
“The woman who paid me for all this. She left me a hefty sum to purchase things for you and even paid me heftily. But she doesn’t seem like much of a friendly person or a talker, but when she does interact she’s quite.... rude and bossy,”
“I don’t know what to say,” the woman said. "I suppose she can be very curt and private,"
“What is she to you?”
Not wanting to answer any more of the man’s questions about Ana, Emese squared her shoulders while fixing her visage sternly. “I find that is none of your business, sir. I'm not trying to be inhospitable or rude myself, but if that’s all, I'm asking that you kindly be on your way,”
With a series of head nods, Timothy backed up from the siblings. He turned his focus to his cart, reaching out for the reins at which he started to steer his horse out of the pathway and into the bigger trail.
Taking his seat on top of the cart, he looked at the woman and boy. "Same time again next week," he said before flicking the rein and uttering "Yip", which caused the horse to move off, dragging the cart.
Emese watched the strange man travel down the path until he disappeared out of view. When it was just the two of them, she turned to Tamas.
"What a strange man he was,"
"I wanted to play with his horse," revealed the little boy.
"I know sweetheart, some other time." His sister replied. "Come, let's go inside,"
"I want to help you carry some things," he said before coughing. Emese placed a hand across his forehead feeling his temperature.
"That's okay, but you can go play while I do that,"
"Why? Don't you need my help?" He questioned.
Sometimes her brother had moments where he defied her instructions and things she would've laid out to him and almost all of the time Emese understood why. She knew that Tamas was bored of playing alone, it's why she played with him whenever she could— now more than before, thanks to the vampire taking some of the stress off her head with the monetary support, it was just the two of them alone for miles with not much to do. There were no children his age around and to fill that void, whenever he tired of playing alone he tried helping around the house. But it was too much for him, Emese knew. Especially when the symptoms of the ailment manifested. The brunette didn't want him exhausting his little body during those periods but Tamas never seemed to understand.
"It's not that I don't want you to help, you know better than to put pressure on yourself whenever you're not well. I just don't want you to exhaust yourself,"
Tamas made a pouty face and in retaliation, Emese cupped it between her palms. "I'll make it up to you. We'll eat some of the sweets for dinner tonight, how does that sound?" she hummed hoping it would stay in the boy's mind and as expected it did.
With a giant smile that revealed dimples on both cheeks, her brother immediately forgot why he was upset and was now thinking about the delicious threats they'd have for dinner in just hours.
Chucking softly at the way his mood lifted, Emese placed a hand on Tamas' head and pat him gently.
"Go along, and be careful. Try not to run, save your breath,"
The little boy was quick to leave his sister's side while she made several trips to the house fetching their week's worth of food; maybe even more. While Emese placed all the stuff away, her mind was once again flooded with thoughts of Ana. Where could she possibly be right that instant? Was she safe? Was she thinking of them— of her?
Emese didn't want to build any sort of expectations given what happened between them before Ana left. She didn't want to be disappointed if ever she learned that the vampire didn't think of her in the way she thought of her. That would crush her world and she wasn't sure she'd be able to bear that.
So, to avoid feeding into the hopeless expectations, Emese found other things to occupy her mind. Just before the last sliver of daylight slipped from sight, she went to the shrine and offered some of the sweets they'd gotten to The Mother, thanking her for her continued blessings and protection and also for Ana's kindness and praying for her safety and quick return.
The latter sent her thoughts hurdling once again in the direction of Anastasìa and after a while, Emese gave up trying to suppress them and embrace them as they came.
After dinner ended (Emese kept her promise to Tamas and they had some of the sweets with their food), and while the siblings slept, the brunette was wrapped up in a peculiar dream. Unsure of where she was and why she was there, it seemed to be a palace or some kind of castle. The floors were polished to perfection, the walls were decorated with fancy candle holders and portraits of unfamiliar but noble people.
Worryingly though, there was a giant puddle of blood at Emese's feet and the longer she stood there the more she realized the blood was on her as well. It stained her clothing, her hands and feet. Then out of nowhere, Ana appeared across from her, just as bloody as she was but before she could completely soak in the events of this dream or even get a longer glance at Ana or even an interaction, she woke up to the sound of thunder rolling across the sky. Heavy rain bashed against the roof and windows of the old cottage and despite being startled awake by it, as she lay there listening to it, a tranquillity swooped over her and she continued to listen to the rain while she made sure Tamas was comfortable and warm.