By the time they reached the end of the ravine Sabina felt exhausted, and she sighed. She was way too old to be doing any stunts even remotely close to transporting a vampire on her back to a village beyond the borders of the clans, or even battling two wolves. She felt the creaking of her bones and she groaned in pain.
Instantly the vampire looked at her with concern etched in his pale complexion and Sabina couldn't help but laugh, the enemy was concerned for her. She kept walking but as the cliffs came to their points she found herself on a beach that was covered by a thin layer of water, and Sabina smiled. Finally only a few more miles before she would be at the village.
She looked up to the sky to see the sun was setting, coloring the sky vibrantly with its dying glory as it began to disappear behind the horizon. The vampire looked to the sky too and Sabina could see it was amazed by the sunset. She looked at him curiously wondering if vampires did not look to the sky and she began to pity him.
Perhaps it was a blessing she took him here.
She shook her head quickly and growled to herself, she was pitying the enemy now! She sighed and began to walk once more leaving her tracks deep in the sand as she went, it was taxing to walk on the beach as she slipped here and there but as she walked she refused to stop. She was so close.
Suddenly her back foot twisted and her butt planted into the water and sand causing the water to splash. Sabina sighed as she laid there a moment when the vampire suddenly stepped off her back, she growled but the vampire shook his head and said "Rest."
Sabina growled again She wasn't weak! she went to stand but after getting soaked her bones began to ache and she involuntarily laid back down with a groan.
She grimaced in pain and the vampire said something as he crouched not too far from her but Sabina sighed. She didn't understand. It was then the vampire began bunching the sand into one long mound that reminded her much of the walls that she had seen surrounding the Empire's castle. She watched quite interested in what he was doing and she could see it was tickling him she was so curious, but she could help but wonder what this vampire was doing with the sand.
Once the vampire enclosed a high sand wall around Sabina and himself he began scooping the water out with his hands. Sabina nodded as she began to understand he was trying to build a dry area for them to rest and she smiled to herself. He was quite smart for a vampire. Once he scooped out as much water as he could he dug a small hole and pushed the remaining water within the hole leaving only damp sand.
Sabina sighed as she stiffly stood and shook out the water within her coat showering the vampire with the droplets. The vampire scrunched up face could have made Sabina laugh but as she looked to the horizon she thought of continuing on. She suddenly felt a pair of eyes on her and she looked to the vampire to see he was scowling at her.
She blinked several times trying to understand why he was scowling when he ordered "Rest."
Sabina's eyes narrowed How dare this thing order me around!
The vampire must have seen her anger because he quickly stood and mumbled softly something that sounded like "I…rest."
Sabina sighed as she looked to the horizon where she could see faint lights in the distance, she could push on but if she did she would more than likely not make the trip back home during the night. She looked back at the vampire to see rings under his eyes and it seemed the trip over without food had worn on the vampire.
Sabina's own hunger was increasing so much so the vampire began to look rather delectable and she wanted to retch. She had loved the red blood upon her tongue as she consumed the stringy meat of vampires, but as the years passed it was only a reminder and the meat and blood began to taste foul.
Sabina looked to the sands as soon as the sun set beyond the horizon and darkness descended upon the beach, food would emerge from beneath the sand. But until then she would rest for not only the hunt but the trip back to the clan. Suddenly the image of Sakara and his siblings came to mind.
I wonder what they're doing now?
Sabina looked in the direction of the mountains and sighed. I hope they're staying out of trouble.
Sabina laid down within the dry circle and the vampire's face held a strange expression almost one of wonder, but it was quickly replaced with a smile. The vampire flopped upon the sand happily unstrapping his cape, Sabina sighed as she rolled her eyes at the vampire's happiness. She closed her eyes and began to slowly drift off to sleep when she once again felt something prodding her to wake up. She opened her eyes and looked up to see the vampire was staring at her with his red eyes.
Sabina blinked several times before she turned her gaze to the sands around them but the sun was still up so he would not have seen the food she was waiting for. She looked back at him for a moment wondering Why is it staring at me?
Suddenly the vampire held himself and chattered his teeth to which Sabina scoffed. It was not cold on the beach! She laid her head back down and the vampire edged towards her in the attempts to stay warm. Sabina growled and the vampire quickly moved away and a silence fell upon the pair as Sabina attempted to sleep but she could seem to fall asleep with the daggers being sent her way by the vampire's eyes.
She turned her head away hoping it would deter the daggers but to her amazement he kept it up, why would he want to cuddle with her anyways? Maybe he was getting too comfortable around her.
Suddenly she heard the vampire moving and she opened her eyes to see she was looking at the sand wall of their fortress. What is it… It was then she felt the vampire lean slowly onto her belly, she was about to growl when she suddenly realized he was extremely wet.
He must have gotten quite wet building their little sanctuary, and had probably assumed he would be able to stay warm if he was next to her belly. She slowly turned and looked at the vampire to see his eyes were wide as he tried hard not to breath, as though if she wouldn't notice he was leaning against her if he wasn't breathing.
He reminded her much of Omaris who was convinced Sabina could not see him if he could not see her. Sabina looked straight at the vampire who slowly turned his head to look at her as he smiled trying to convince her to let him stay.
Sabina sighed as she laid her head back down and enclosed her back legs around the vampire who smiled and cuddled into her fur. Sabina was sure she wouldn't fall asleep but eventually she found the night held them both in its embrace and she fell asleep.
Sabina awoke to find that the sun had completely disappeared and the dark night was only lit by the moon which was in the middle of the sky, illuminating the sand. Sabina stiffly shifted to find that the vampire was no longer sleeping next to her, she quickly sat up to see that it's armor and boots remained within the sanctuary. She quickly looked around the beach to see yellow tinged little lights moving on top of the beach. She felt panic clutch her heart, Where was the vampire?!
Suddenly she caught sight of something large moving in the corner of her eye and she quickly turned her full attention upon it to find it was the vampire. She sighed with relief as she watched the vampire inspecting a white shelled insect looking creature the size of the vampire's hand. The creature walked sideways on six thin appendages that carried its round little body around as it's two pincers varying in size clicked, and though it was a captivating sight in itself the most eye catching was the small little light attached to it's antani.
They were called lunar crabs, as they only came out during the night to dance upon the sand as they searched for small bugs and animals. They were not only beautiful creatures to watch but they also tasted good to eat. She smiled as the vampire jumped back as the small little lunar snapped it's rather large pincer at his nose.
Sabina watched a small crab wander by her and she grabbed a hold of it between her jaws and crushed it's shell killing the lunar crab instantly. She dropped the crab next to her and she began to take the rather big pieces of the crab's outer shell off with her teeth, until she reached the red meat beneath. She began to eat it and suddenly she once again felt eyes upon her.
She stopped in mid lick as she looked over to her right to see the vampire was staring at her with his gleaming red eyes.
Sabina felt her patience being tested as the vampire's pleading eyes practically begged her to give him some of her food. She growled again and turned away from him to continue eating and the vampire sighed. He stepped out of the dry area to try his chances at finding his own crab and Sabina smiled at herself. See she wasn't coddling it too much.
She began picking at her food in silence as she glanced up to see the vampire was attempting to catch a crab which kept on just escaping out of his grasp. She watched the show as she finished her last crab and tossed it before the sand wall. Soon there was a group of crabs picking at her left overs and she quickly had another meal before her.
She looked up to see the vampire still hadn't caught a crab yet and was in fact face planted in the sand after trying to leap after one. Sabina almost scoffed as the crab slowly came back towards the vampire who looked up quickly and grabbed a hold of the crab. The vampire held it up in the air to show Sabina who could clearly see the crab was reaching out to his ear with it's pincer.
Sabina sighed. Would this vampire survive out here by himself?
She shook her head and went back to her food as she heard the vampire scream in pain. She sighed, it wasn't her concern whether it lived after she dropped it off at the village. Besides his animal instincts should take a hold of him when it is dire, at least it always did for pups. So it shouldn't be any different for this vampire.
Suddenly she heard a fearful scream, and she looked up from her food to see the vampire running towards her. She leaned to the side to see behind him was several crabs who were clicking their pincers in anger as they gave chase after the vampire.
Maybe she was putting too much stock in this vampire's instincts.
The vampire leapt over the sand wall and hid next to Sabina who sighed as the crabs stopped short of the sanctuary. They clicked their pincers as they began to think if it was worth chancing death by the monster to get at their tormentor. Sabina growled and the group of crabs quickly ran away and suddenly the vampire gave a sigh of relief only for his stomach to growl.
Sabina saw him look sadly out at the lights walking around and she took her left overs and tossed it next to her previous crab. Once again crabs surrounded the left overs to which she took a hold of another crab and crushed it before tossing it to the vampire.
The vampire smiled happily and began devouring the crab within the shell and before long they both ate happily till their stomachs were full. Sabina laid there for a long moment as she watched the crabs eat their kin when she saw that the vampire was chiseling a hole into a piece of the shell with a rather sharp rock, and she suddenly recalled she had done the same as a child.
As a child she would roam all over these beaches collecting the shell of the Lunar crabs that held the colors of the sunset beneath the rock hard white armor of the crab. She would make necklaces which held words of praise and love she held for her mother and father who wore them even into battle. Sabina watched as the vampire chiseled out the last of the shell to make a hole, to which he pulled out a leather string that had a round object with an emblem of a faint white unicorn upon it.
The vampire slid the leather string through the hole of the shell which fell next to the round object, and he smiled happily. Sabina cocked her head as she looked at the shell, perhaps as one momentary companion to another she should write something upon his shell. She transformed to her human form to see the vampire blush again but Sabina simply took the cloak he had left next to her and wrapped her still wet body within it.
The vampire stopped blushing and Sabina held out her hand towards the shell. The vampire looked at the necklace for a moment before holding it out for her to take, to which Sabina did and held out her hand again. The vampire looked at her curiously but held the stone out for her to take.
She thought for a long moment when she began to chisel, it took a long time but before long she was finished with the shell and held it out to the vampire. He looked at her confused but as he took the shell and turned it over he was shocked to see she had written upon it but he could not discern what was engraved on the surface of the shell.
As he looked at the letters he traced the lines with his thumb as he wrote it in the sand, and it wasn't till he came to last of the letter he stopped and looked at what he wrote:
ᚳᚻᚪᛘᛈᛡᚾ ᛒᛖᚠᚩᚱᛖ ᛞᛠᚦ
It was a language he had never seen before and he blinked several times trying to understand what it meant when suddenly a shadow fell over him. He looked up to see the woman had once more transformed into a wolf and was looking at him with emotionless eyes. It was time to go.
The white wolf laid down again and Asher quickly put his armor back on and placed the necklace beneath his undergarments, as he climbed once more on the wolf's back. They traveled in silence and it wasn't till they got closer to the lights his gut dropped as he looked at a sign that read in the language of the vampire's "Welcome to Haven. A Hone for wolves and vampires alike"
The wolf suddenly stopped about half a mile from the bright lights and lowered itself to the wet ground, to which the vampire slowly slid off in awe. He had never been so happy to see his kind, and even though it had been only four days since he left the capital he had not truly been able to have a real conversation with another soul. He began to walk forward when he realized he was the only one walking in the direction of the lights. He stopped and looked back to see the wolf had remained where it was.
"Come on!" he beckoned her with his hand but she simply shook her head as she stiffly stood.
The vampire's happiness faded in an instant "Aren't you coming?"
The wolf looked at him and looked back at the village as if to say "You belong with them."
Asher quickly shook his head as he pointed at the sign "You can come too!"
The wolf's eyes turned soft but it shook its head and looked at the mountains they had traveled over through out the day as if to say "I belong there."
The vampire's eyes teared up as he looked at the wolf. Why? Why did he have to get so attached to a wild animal? Why did it have to seem so vampire like? Why did she have to abandon him as though if the two day they survived together meant nothing?
Why did he have to go on alone?
The tears rolled down his cheeks and the wolf slowly walked up to him as it morphed into a woman. She smiled and patted his chest with her dainty hands.
"Warrior." she said it so confidently that even though she butt naked he didn't blush, he just cried.
The woman smiled as she patted his chest and said with a struggle "Warrior…is….strong."
Asher shook his head, he wasn't strong. He had run away from the Empire in order to avoid getting killed by his family and he couldn't even fight off that creature. He wasn't strong, he was a coward.
The woman smiled and said "Believe…. Asher."
Asher's tear ceased as a faint smile touched his lips. This cold savior of his had never called him by Asher the whole trip. Though it was not his real name it was one he chosen for himself. He nodded and the woman smiled as she took a step back and transformed once more into a wolf. Her green eyes seemed to glow as she turned and walked towards the mountains.
He smiled broadly. He would be strong as his savior believed he could, but as she began to walk away he realized he never asked what her name was. He quickly took two steps forward as he called out "Wait!"
The white wolf turned back and looked at him with her green eyes which seemed to be glowing more brightly now. He smiled, it was a beautiful green. He pointed to himself and shouted "Asher!"
The wolf nodded and he quickly pointed to her hoping she would understand, when suddenly her green eyes began to slowly change. He watched as they slowly turned from green to a deep blue, and he gasped as his gut dropped.
This wolf who had saved him from death countless of times, was a large white wolf with deep blue eyes that pierced the night as they gazed upon him. This wolf resembled the bedtime stories of Morse Alba so much he could not longer deny his suspicions. This wolf was in fact the white demon of the Somar Mountains, Mors Alba.
The wolf looked at him a bit shocked until she looked in the water and saw the blue eyes. The wolf looked at him with her intense blue gaze and his knees buckled causing him to fall on the sand. He was gasping for breath wishing to scream in fear as he crawled backwards, when the wolf's intense gaze looked past him and then turned back to him. His heart clenched as he saw the hurt in the wolf's eyes.
She turned away and suddenly Asher realized what he had done. He had been saved by that wolf many times and when he finally understood who she was, he screamed at her as though if she was a monster. He jumped to his feet calling out to her but the white wolf did not turn back as she continued on towards the Somar Mountains.
He was once more alone and this time it truly was his fault.