"Don't look like that, Ethan. Nobody hurt him.", she says but her face gets darker. "Nobody hurt him, besides you." My heart sinks but I think I'm good at hiding it. "When we came back to the headquarters I brought him to Erwin, you know? Just like you told me..."
I nod thankfully. "Erwin then took his blood for further tests and the next time Tristan came to get the results it ended not well for Erwin." I narrow my eyes at her. What did Erwin do? "Tristan ruined the whole laboratory just because Erwin was telling him that he never treated you with the poison for some experiments." Eve gets up and crosses her arms in front of her chest.
"Tristan thinks that Erwin is lying but the two of us...", she gestures to me and herself. "We know better, right?", her eyes slightly start to gleam. "I also talked to Erwin, who by the way is in our dungeons now because of you, but the most interesting fact he told me... He compared Tristan's blood, after he drank from you, with the sample he still had stored after we found you with the bolt between your eyes."
I know what she found out and start to smile. Clever girl, she was faster than I thought. "Ethan, I want to ask you a question: Why did you have far more poison in your system than in the beginning?" Her voice is getting more silent, but I can feel the cold breeze that accompanies it.
"How the hell is it possible that you were able to get into trouble without anybody noticing? What did you find out that it was necessary to kill Henriette and get banned for it?" I can see her taking a deep breath and Connor backs up to stand next to Lester, giving Eve and me some space.
The smile still on my face, I think I trained her well. The situation for Erwin is a bit unlucky but who cares. He wouldn't have left his rooms anyway. "Stop smiling, this is serious!", she shouts at me but I don't change anything.
"Tristan maybe still believes in you, but here is the reality. I nearly need to force him to drink; our people haven't seen him for weeks, because all he does is to think about how to get the council to get you back! He locks himself in all day and night. He got bitter and the flash of anger that causes him to destroy a fully equipped lab...", her first determined voice gets weaker and I inspect her face.
"Now I'm here and wanted to get some answers; to tell him that you are okay and what really happened and you? You are sitting here, smiling at our misery without intending to give me any kind of answer... and... and... betraying him with the next best beast!", she covers her mouth as the last part slips out. My smile disappears and I raise to build up in front of her.
I. Don't. Betray. Tristan.
My glowing eyes meet hers and a silent growl makes its way out my throat. "It hurts to say it loud, right?", she turns her mistake into a brave attempt to tell me her opinion. "I won't tell Tristan. It would break him. Even if she doesn't smell like you, I can clearly smell her on you." A few moments pass by at our staring and I consider finally speaking up and ignoring the beast's rules. I can't allow this gag to become the reason for losing Tristan completely.
"I know you did all that on purpose. You are so.... Selfish. If you don't want to hear the truth, make me stop, buttercup.", she presses out. Now I know what is happening here. I sigh and ease out my muscles before reaching out to softly press Eve's head against my chest. It takes her a few moments but then she gives in to my protective hold and presses her arms against my chest. Drumming her fists against me and releasing a string of silent curses. Hidden from the world I can feel her tears start to fall against my chest.
A look up into the trees and I see Naveena staring at us. I don't care what she thinks, but if she would interrupt this, I couldn't guarantee for anything. This is none of her business. Eve is Tristan's princess and right now in a very difficult position. "He still doesn't talk to me, Ethan...", she whispers finally. "Why doesn't he trust me?", she wants to know.
He is protecting you, Lass. That's the answer. He always protected you. He basically is doing the same to her, what I'm doing to him. We are truly carved from the same wood. "He ordered to put all these guards at the border, to keep you safe, but you are at their mercy, right? I mean,... look at you...", she sobs.
I stroke over her head for a moment before softly pushing her away and she swiftly sweeps the tears from her cheeks. A quick look at Lester shows that he would also like to hold her to make things easier for her. Taking out the knife from the improvised belt I made myself I hold it in front of her. While she still tries to figure out what I want to tell her I take the knife to my fully healed right hand and run the blade through my palm, causing a deep wound.
Her eyes first widen in surprise but then she sees what I wanted to show her. It's healing. Not too fast but it does. She inspects my face once again and I nod, cleaning the knife at my trouser and tugging it away. "You... that's why...", she starts and I nod taking her by her shoulders. "I hate you.", she then replies and I can feel that she means it, but I also know it doesn't change anything between us. Everything will be fine. I just need to have patience and so does she. It's not easy what people expect from her, but she will do it as long as it's necessary. She is tough.
"Sir?", I can hear Lester interrupting. "Lady Blackwood also brought something personal to you.", gently reminding Eve about the black suitcase that he carried over and placed next to him. I smirk at how he addresses Eve. Guess he figured out his mistake last time he spoke.
***
My throat is already sore from still trying to get a response from Tobias as the sun finally dawns. As soon as the pain the light gives me is bearable I run outside to find my boy. His scent is faint, but I think I can follow it. There is no visible sign of him around and the only thing I can hear are the noises of the forest and its creatures.
On my way through the underbrush, I can also smell why I wouldn't be able to find him somewhere closer. Thugs. Their smells get richer as I come close to where they decided to stay for the night. I stay at the shadows first, to see what I'm dealing with. I can smell blood; Tobias' blood, but not enough to be seriously concerned. They hurt him though.
They will repay every single drop of blood.
His hands and feet are bound together with a rope and a piece of cloth in his mouth keeps him from screaming for help. The bleeding knuckles tell me that he tried to fight them. They must have taken him by surprise and hit his head. A boy like him can pitch a good price on the black market for slaves, I guess. Nobody will ever enslave my son. I can barely control my anger anymore about that thought.
The group of those bastards only consists of a handful of assholes. Easy. I step out of the shadows and wait for the first man to recognize me. A face ravaged by disease whistles as alarm and the guy points his knife at me. "If your life is dear to you, you better leave again.", he advises but I grin, while my eyes start to glow. "You kidnapped the wrong boy."
I show him my fangs. "Demon!", he yells and I jump at him. His companions try to get hold of me but the rage is taking over my mind and I start to drink and kill; ripping out throats and tongues, stabbing them with their own weapons. One manages to ram his knife at my back, just to find me ripping out his heart and drink the remaining blood in there. It's relieving to give them what they deserve.
Even though, another one is granted to escape. I want him to spread the word about the cursed piece of woods with the monster. This should keep his kind away from us for another while. To top his fear I release a dangerous growl, which I'm sure he can hear. Looking down at my feet I can see the puddles of blood forming around the bodies I left behind. I pant hard to get back the control of my mind. The blood smells so good.
A whimper from one of the trees reminds me why I'm here. Tobias.
I turn around and walk over to him. His eyes are wide open and he is utterly pale. I really hope they didn't hit him too hard. Taking one of the knives from the corpses I rip his shackles open and remove the cloth from his mouth. "Are you okay, potato?", asking gently. His eyes are still glued to the corpses behind me and this is when I realize that he is not pale because he got kidnapped.
Anxiousness prevents him from moving and when I softly touch his hand he flinches away and stares into my bloody face. He clearly is afraid of me. Shit.
***
I sit upright at the fur Naveena and I started to share for sleeping and my heart is pounding heavily. Placing my head between my knees I start to calm slowly. Everything is fine, it was just a dream. A pretty realistic one, but at least I can be with Tobias in my nightmares. Naveena's hand is wandering up from my lower back into my neck, softly stroking. She yawns before turning around once more.
In the first weeks she always got up with me together, but I guess she realized that the nightmares won't end and I will never sleep longer than that. A fluent movement to get up and I start my evening routine. I just threw some water into my face, when I hear Lyall approaching fast.
He yells Connor's name upset and I guess wakes up everybody within the tunnels. The absence of a door isn't just a problem Naveena's chamber faces. It's a given. Connor told me, while we were walking by one room, where two beasts were about to have sex, that this is because they don't have secrets here. The two beasts seemed surprised though about Connor's curious pair of eyes.
Taking a step outside, I wonder what he did to get that kind of a waking call. I make my way to the main cave and see Lyall dragging Connor right behind him at his throat. That doesn't look too comfortable. Connor is still half sleep-drunken and tries to get to his feet.
A deep growl fills the big cave and the tunnels spill the beasts out to watch the spectacle. It's nice to not be the main attraction for once. I am still silenced and I don't think that anybody of them intends to give me back my rights and voice. I tried several times to move Naveena to remove the straps but first, she played dumb and pretended not to know what I could mean, and then she explained to me, that it is for my own safety. We will see if she ever shows me her true colors about that topic or if Etain or Lyall will eventually get sick of her behavior and release me on their own.
"What does that mean?", Lyall yells at Connor before throwing him out into the last rays of the sun. A painful yelp as the little light gives him some blisters before he manages to crawl back into the cooling shadows of the cave. "What...?", he coughs. My look follows his as he starts to stare outside.
In the middle of the big clearing is a pole that wasn't there the night before the sun raised. A woman is hanging there. Her ginger hair is straight and loosely hanging over her shoulders. The dress she is wearing is simple and only her chest is bloodstained. The white color of the dress matches her skin. She nearly looks innocent with her bare feet barely touching the ground.
Her arms are bound up, holding a bleeding heart, that is dripping onto her otherwise clean hair. It is nailed to the pole to hold it, and her arms, in place. A wooden sign around her neck reads the words:
Why, mo gradh?
᚛ᚐᚏᚌᚐ᚜
I freeze at the sign underneath the words, like a signature. That's not a message for Connor.
After all this time I was waiting, it finally starts, but the dots that connect in my head are horrifying - even for me. I really hoped that all that led me here was just a bad dream. The passing weeks and months gave me hope that I maybe would have been able to atone for all my sins and become someone I always wanted to be, but this makes it clear. All my efforts were not in vain. Plan B is about to work out.
My feet slowly start to move and I can hear the heated argument of Lyall and Connor about the meaning of that dead woman. While the other beasts are just curiously watching the two of them I step out into the sun and embrace the pain. I don't fasten my steps or slow them down as I can feel the prickle and burning.
It won't kill me. The sun is once more losing her daily fight against the darkness and in a few minutes, I will start to heal again. The pain just gives me a chance to hold back and don't give in to my upcoming emotions. I can concentrate on not screaming or crying instead of thinking about anything else. The trick is to always keep up your wall and the more I have to bear, the more I'm able to stay stubborn.
"Ethan!", I can hear Naveena behind me and the shouting from Lyall and Connor end abruptly. "Now he finally went nuts.", Lyall states but none of them is following me. Maybe because he knows as well as I that it won't kill me. Right in front of the dead woman I take a deep breath and can only smell my own skin and flesh that started to react to the sun. I take her chin to rise it and look at her face.
Nobody drank from her. Letting my fingertips smoothly run over her jawline, I know whose heart is nailed into her hands. The smell of the blood makes my eyes and fangs react, but I can control it. I move my eyes to watch Lyall standing in the entrance of the cave closely watching as I reach out my hand and shove it into her chest. "Butcher! What do you think are you doing?!", he bellows angrily and I drag out the stone that was placed instead of her heart in her chest.
I knew it.
I take a look at the bloody stone while the last beams of the sun finally give up and disappear. My skin starts to regenerate slowly and I let the stone fall to my feet to lick the woman's blood from my fingers in a weak moment. The next thing I feel is Lyall's fist in my face. "Do you think you are immortal?! Nobody drinks from a human in these woods!", he growls.
I get up again and can see the other beasts behind him starting to silently exchange shocked glances. Connor is speechless too and stares back and forth at my bloody hand and the woman. I blink a few times to clear my mind. Oh...
Do they think I just did that to get to the human blood? I take out my knife and ram it at the sign of the wooden plate dangling around the corpse's neck as long as Lyall is distracted. He takes a closer look at the sign and the knife. "I should have known that you have something to do with this and not the other Irish bastard!", Lyall keeps on ranting when he realizes that the sign matches the carving.
That's the final proof that all these happenings are connected. Another woman is dead in this cruel game of power and revenge. "Someone will bleed for this murder!", Lyall finally says taking me by my throat and I tense up. I can see his fist come flying into my face but don't intend to back up or go on my knees. I had enough vampire blood over the last months of doing nothing else to be at full strength. He can do however he pleases and I grin. Nobody will be able to stop this now.
I'm ready.