The usual – I don't own any of the characters, except the ones I create.
WARNING – characters die in this story. If you don't like that, don't read on. But don't complain that you hadn't been warned!
1.
She had been sat in the tavern all day watching the customers come and go, there had been a couple that had seemed likely and she had almost decided on one of them when he arrived. She had watched him as he entered and ordered a drink from the girl behind the bar and then started to flirt with her. In fact, he had been flirting with the women in the bar for several hours now, although it seemed good-natured and in the end he always returned to his drink. She had to admit that he was pleasing to the eye, tall with an open handsome face with a shock of slightly unruly blond hair that only increased his good looks and, if the flirting were anything to go by, he would be charming as well.
Yes, she had decided that he was the one for her. So she had risen from her table and approached the bar.
"If it isn't too forward, sir. Would you buy me a drink?" The question got her a glare from the barmaid. But the man, although he seemed a little shocked at first, wasn't put out by the question. By the look in his eyes he actually found it amusing to be to have a woman flirt with him!
"Why certainly. A beautiful woman such as you should never be with refreshment," he replied. Oh yes, this one had charm. "What would you like to drink?"
"Wine would delightful, preferably red."
As he ordered her drink from the barmaid she had studied him. He was well dressed, but not quite of the fashion that she had seen recently in the larger cities and the language he used indicated that he was educated as well, so she had decided to be more subtle with him than she was with local men she encountered. She accepted the drink he gave her and took a sip.
"What brings you to our fair town?"
"Oh, I'm just passing though." The vagueness of the answer pleased her.
"You have been here for a while, when will your companions being joining you?"
"Oh, no one will be joining me. I can devote all my time to you." He replied with a smile.
She smiled back. He was perfect!
"I have been so rude! You have bought me a drink and I haven't introduced myself. My name is Adela."
"Mine's Will and I am at your service!" With that he reached down, took her hand and kissed it. Adela smiled and blushed slightly.
"Why don't we sit down?" she indicated a table in a dark area of the tavern, "I'm sure we have a lot in common." She led him to the table, his fate sealed.
They had talked for a while, she attentive to every word that he had said. It was when they were on their third drink that she had reached across the table and kissed him, again he seem a little shocked at her openness but he didn't complain.
"No-one can see us." She reassured him.
"You're not like any other woman I've ever met before."
She smiled, gave a quiet laugh and handed him his drink, to which she had added a few grains of the drug while she kissed him. She had, over the years, come to find the drug useful. It didn't dampen their senses, but it made them a little more open to suggestion when the time came. She sat back and watched him drink. Half an hour later she reached across the table and kissed him again, this time he was far more reluctant to let her go and she knew he was ready. She got up, thanked him for such an enjoyable evening and left the tavern.
---
She found herself a comfortable and dry place to watch the tavern and waited for the last customers to leave. She approached just the barmaid was locking up.
"Can you help me? That man I was drinking with earlier, he's stolen all my money. He must have picked my pocket when I wasn't looking."
"That filthy swine! I knew he was up to no good when he first arrived. I'll just go and get a couple of friends I know and we'll get your money back."
" I don't want to make a scene. If you would just let me in I could go and search his room, he was rather drunk when I left him so he must be asleep by now. If I can't find my money then I'll think about using your friends."
The girl let her in and directed her to his room. She would deal with her later. When she entered his room she could see him he was lying full clothed on the bed. He was sleeping and she watched his chest rise and fall. She quietly closed the door and went over to him.
She kissed him gently and his eyes flickered open, full of sleep and the drug. She smiled at him as she sat down on the bed beside him. She kissed him again and as she pulled away she felt his hands on her shoulders as he pulled her back towards him. Then she started to feed. His muscles stiffen with shock as his body realised what she was doing to it and tried to fight back, but eventually she felt him go limp as he was overwhelmed by forces he could never have beaten.
There was the initially elation that each new feed brought her and after her hunger had been sated she looked down at him. He lay there beside her, his muscles limp, his mouth slightly open and eyes half closed. They were blue she noted, she had always liked blue eyes. Now she had to decide what to do with him. She could either use him up quickly or if she stayed with him on his travels and made sure that he ate well and took care of himself he might be able to keep her fed for months!
She usually kept to men to feed her, for it was easy to find men travelling alone who were interested in company. Many were just lonely, but with the help of the drug and well-chosen words they soon saw things her way and for those that wanted more from her, they usually found that they got more than they bargained for! She would feed on them and then slip away before dawn (relieving them of most of their money before she left) and they either remembered nothing or thought they had had a rather erotic dream! If she decided that she wanted to keep one for a while she would simply wait for them to leave in the morning, follow them and return to them each night (she had ways of making her visits go unnoticed). If she kept feeding on them she did eventually drain them completely, but then it just a matter of staging a little accident to cover their deaths, it was amazing how many lone travellers could fall pray to brigands!
She had nothing against women as food; it was just that she had to be more careful. She had to match her mood to the woman's, but with the help of the drug they could be made more pliable. It could be quite entertaining to see the things that she could get them to do when their inhibitions were removed. She also had to be careful not to do permanent harm to the women, when a woman got hurt people were more likely to take action. She had once accidentally killed a woman whilst feeding on her and she had barely escaped from the uproar that had been caused by the search for her killer. But she did have a number of women that she had returned to more than once on her travels. Children were again something she fed on very infrequently for, even more than women, harm against a child could cause a commotion that was almost beyond the reward, but they tasted so sweet, so full of life and potential that she occasionally took the risk.
She decided that another quick mouth full was in order to help with the decision and put her lips to his again and soon felt his taste fill her mouth. It was then that she noticed he was different, in her initial feed she had been too hungry and had guzzled her food, now she had time to savour it. He had been touched by magic, she could taste it and what an amazing taste it was! He had been touched by both evil and good magic and they combined in her mouth to produce a sensation she had never felt before! She stared down at him with a smile on her face. She had to keep him.
She left the bed and started to go through his things; if he was going to become a long-term food source then she had to find out who he was. It was always so complicated if they ran into people that the food knew or places they had been before and it usually ended up with her having to find another food source. She checked his bag, it contained very little, just a change of clothes, washing and grooming things, and what appeared to be a hand written book. He certainly travelled light! Next she returned to him and went through his pockets. This proved more interesting; his handkerchief had the initials W and G embroidered in the corner, it looked like a child had done it, and there was a pocket watch and a letter. The letter was a few weeks old and looked to be well read, it was signed by someone called Jake.
Will and Jake G why did that somehow sound familiar to her? Where had she heard it before? Suddenly she went and fetched the book and brought it over to the light to look at it again. It had a stylised G on the front and on the first page were two words that sent a shiver down her spine – Jacob Grimm.
She stared at the man on the bed. That was Wilhelm Grimm? Her food was someone famous, or rather infamous. The two them were famous not just in the normal world. In her world they were famous as frauds, but if those that hired them were stupid enough to believe that magic and other such forces could be stopped so easily then they deserved all they got! But there had been a rumour that the two of them had run into real magic for a change and the taste that still lingered in her mouth was proof that that was true.
She had find out more. She returned to bed and Will's still form and put her lips to his again but this time she did not take anything from him, instead she blew her breath into his mouth. After a minute or so she saw glazed look go from his eyes and she knew that although he still could not move he could now understand and respond to her.
"Will, where did it come from, the power inside you?"
"Jake."
"Where is Jake?"
"Marb…," suddenly his eyes closed and feel into sleep. She reached out and took him by the chin.
"No! No sleep!" his eyes came open again. "Where is Jake?"
"Marbarden." His eyes closed again and this time she let him sleep.
---
She went down stairs, sat down and put her head in her hands and cried. She felt a gentle hand on her shoulder and looked up the see the barmaid looking at her.
"I can't find the money! It's not even mine! What am I going to do?" She wept again.
"There, there," responded the girl, "It's all right. I'll speak to the tavern keeper and we'll get your money back I promise." She took Adela in her arms to comfort the obviously distraught woman.
"Thank you," she sniffed and, with a tear stained face, looked at the girl.
With a violent jolt she pulled them together so that their lips touched. The girl fought back, but Adela had more than enough strength to hold her and their lips pressed together stifled her cries. She quickly went limp and her taste was in Adela's mouth. After Will the taste of the girl was very bland indeed, but she was not one to pass up an opportunity when it came her way so easily. When she was finished she looked at the girl, with her half closed eyes and vacant expression, then she blew her breath into her mouth.
"You will not remember my visit here tonight," the girl gave a vague nod and closed her eyes and Adela let her fall to the floor, her head hitting with a crack.
She then went behind the bar and got herself a bottle wine, making sure that it was good one this time not like the dish water she had drunk earlier, and made her way back to Will's room where she went again through his things to make sure she hadn't missed anything. It was nearly dawn when she left, taking the book with her. She poured the last of wine onto the clothes and into the mouth of the still sleeping girl and placed the now empty bottle in her hand and left the tavern.
She had waited for Will to appear the next day, followed him and here she was a few months later with his form slumbering on the bed next to her. Will seemed to enjoying his new existence as her food supply and it now only took the merest touch of their lips to get him the fall obligingly limp and allow her to feed. Deciding to keep him had been the best decision of her life. Having a companion had opened up so many new feeding possibilities that she wondered why she had never done it before. Going places as a couple allowed her to move with much more freedom and Will never objected if she brought other men back to the room!
They would enter a town and pick a tavern to stay in. There they would behave as a respectable couple arrived in the town on a few days business. She would go to another tavern and choose her next "friend" and when they were ready she would return with them (a little of the drug in tavern's food and drinking water made sure her late night visitors were ignored) and she found that their shock and indignation at finding Will waiting in the room for them made her overpowering of them and subsequent feeding much more rewarding. They would stay a few days and then move on. If there activities did begin the cause a stir no one would suspect such a respectable and loving couple that, after they had left, quickly faded from their memories.
Also having Will there had opened up another option for her, she could send him out and his natural charm made flirting with women so easy and she had her pick of them to feed on. So now she had a much more varied diet!
She had been reading the book that his brother had written. This had proved to be very valuable regarding information on where the brothers had done their "exorcisms" and therefore where to avoid any complications to their relationship. Also, if what she read in the book was correct, his brother seemed to have good understanding of magic and she had decided that she would like to meet Jake and get to know him at little better.