Chance Meeting
She sat crossed legged on the floor of the clearing, strange objects, and a wooden star—a pentagram—in front of her. A candle was placed at the point of each. Sadly, gently, she pulled a lock of red hair from her pocket. Her own black hair floated south on the breath of the wind. She closed her eyes and began to find her center.
Laurent sauntered silently through the woods. He didn't like being here, it reeked of some strange creature, like a mixture of wet dog, and burning flesh. He didn't understand why Victoria would want anything to do with the human girl. It was her mate that had killed James. He shook his head. It was something he had promised and the sooner he found her, the sooner he could go back to Alaska. He liked the Denali clan, although their diet was a little much. He hadn't hunted in days. I think I shall spare the girl her fate with Victoria. It should be enough for her that she is dead, she doesn't need to torture her for being alive. And I am thirsty. He hadn't caught her scent yet, but he was near the town. He would find her. The wind changed, blowing south. His head jerked north. What is that? It was intoxicating…human. Forgetting the girl, he raced north.
She began to sing, softly, then louder, random notes that solidified into a familiar song. She felt the world shit around her and suddenly she was no longer sitting still, in the clearing. She was crouching underground, nursing four young rabbits, her children, cowering from the scent of a predator. She was in the trees, frozen as a squirrel, sensing the same danger. Her sense of self expanded until it lived among the trees, in the earth the air, and reached inside the minds of animals. She became unfocused. Everything was afraid. The rabbits, the squirrels, even the hawk in the oak tree half a mile away. She tried to clear her mind, only to be pulled back towards her own body. She pushed her mind outward once more. She sensed something… different. She was no longer fearless prey, but a lethal predator, racing quickly through the trees her spirit so often inhabited. She smelled the scent of her prey, so near now, longed for blood. She was close, she could hear it singing. She slammed back into her own body with the knowledge that she was being watched. Still slightly at one with the forest, she could feel it standing just inside the treeline. Not now, not yet.
"If you are here to kill me, I must ask you to wait a few minutes. This is rather important."
Laurent POV
"If you are here to kill me, I must ask you to wait a few minutes. This is rather important." What? The absurdity of the comment caused me to laugh out loud, then the full strangeness of it hit me.
"Well, then, if I am to oblige you, I feel inclined to ask how you knew I was here." I stepped outside of the trees, into blinding sunlight. A girl sat in the center of the meadow, her back to me, black hair floating on the breeze. That smell… I controlled myself, waiting for an answer, expecting her to run. She didn't even turn.
"I sensed you. The animals are afraid, then I heard you hunting me."
Insanity.
"Why didn't you run? Why wait?"
"It wouldn't make much of a difference, now would it?" What is she? How does she know what I am? Does she know what I am?
"You could not have heard me hunting you. I am too quiet for your hearing."
At this she relaxed her posture, then swiveled to face me. Her eyes were a startling blue as she glared at me. She was…irritated? I was here to kill her and she was irritated? It had been so long since I had been human, but even I knew this was a ridiculous reaction. Her voice held an air of removed annoyance.
"If I explain how I heard you, will you allow me to finish before you kill me?''
"If you explain why you are not upset at the fact that I am here to kill you, perhaps." I couldn't help it. She rolled her eyes, then looked…sad. At least that was normal.
"We'll start with the first. Perhaps 'hearing' isn't the right word. I sensed you, just as I sensed the animals, the trees, the forest. I'm a wiccan, a druid, a witch, if you will." She gestured to the odd assortment of objects about her. I recognized a pentagram. Just when I thought I'd heard everything. "You really shouldn't look so surprised. It's hypocritical, anyway—"
"Pardon?!" I am not used to humans being sarcastic or critical of me. Hateful, scared, yes, but this casual reference to my lack of humanity? Unbelievable.
"You are not human. Obviously. I have no idea what the hell you are, but that much is clear. You were hunting me, you smelled me, even the predators in the woods are afraid of you. Those are not human attributes. As I was saying, I am a wiccan. I was performing a ritual, one that I must ask you to allow me to complete, and in order to do so, I needed to center myself. I also needed to pull power from the earth. It is something I excel at. When I center myself, I not only find my center, but that of everything around me. Thus, I can tap into the life source of the forest, and sense the thoughts of the animals, and plants—"
"Plants have thoughts?"
"After a fashion, yes. They are not really understandable. At any rate, I sensed that all the animals were afraid, and then I sensed you. You were hunting something, you smelled something. You-you wanted—blood." She stammered. At last! A normal reaction! She shook her head, then looked at me sadly. "It doesn't matter, anyway, but that's how I sensed you coming."
"And why didn't you run? Why aren't you running now? Or using some kind of magic?" She snorted. We were discussing her imminent demise and she was laughing at me. I resisted the urge to kill her, resisted that ambrosial smell the wind carried from her black hair.
"First off, you obviously don't know much about magic, and second, we've been over the fact that I know I can't outrun you." She looked me over, up and down, lingering on my face. Then she met my eyes. Her eyes really were stunning, like some kind of sapphire, but milky. I shook my head and she looked away, sad again.
"I'm not upset, as you asked, because I have already resigned myself to my own death." Well. Resigned herself to her death. That was fast.
"That was fast." I smiled at myself, despite the fact that this conversation was getting ridiculous. She frowned.
"I wasn't referring to you. This ritual. It will kill me." Now there was something I hadn't considered.
"Aren't there easier ways to commit suicide?" She frowned at me again. She looked better when she was laughing at me, laughing in the face of death. Humans were really ridiculous. She was here to end her life? How very…stupid. Why? Life was so fragile, I was proof of that.
"I'm not committing suicide. My friend was diagnosed with aggressive, terminal pancreatic cancer. I'm going to save her."
"What? How can you save her from… that is a type of disease, true?"
"One of the worst. And I am simply exchanging life force. I assume the cancer myself, and grant her my own life force. The cancer, plus the loss of life force, will kill me in a few days. Or weeks. I'm not familiar with the process. Few have performed it successfully. I'm the only one I know with enough power to do it."
"Why are you doing this?" She looked at me.
"Don't you know anyone you'd die for?" A vague memory whispered in my mind, but it disappeared like mist. A human memory.
"Seems like a strange idea to me. One life for another. What is the difference?" She looked almost angry.
"The difference? Sari's an amazing person! She could do so much more with her life than I ever could! And the Goddess is just going to take it away? Her brothers have already lost their parents, they need their sister! It doesn't make any sense!"
"What makes you think her life is worth more than yours?" She glared at me.
"It's none of your business. What do you care? You're here to kill me. "
"I'm simply curious." What indeed. She was nothing to me. A meal. A very interesting meal…"If your goddess sees fit to end her life instead of yours, aren't you saying that you know better by taking her place?" Sighing, she twisted her hair around her fingers.
"The fact that this ritual exists proves that the Goddess thinks of life the same way you do. One of us will die of cancer. A life for a life." She looked sad again, wistful. "It's probably good you're here. Pancreatic cancer…it's painful." She's going to die to save her friend, is faced by a vampire who thirsts for her blood, and she's afraid of pain? I laughed.
"I'm glad this amuses you. Goddess, what are you?" I was almost hurt by the disgust in her voice. I shrugged. What did it matter?
"I'm a vampire." Her eyes widened. Then she looked me over once more. I looked at her while she inspected me, searching for proof of my vampirism. She was striking. I couldn't say she was beautiful, at least not by vampire standards, but her eyes, they were captivating. And her hair, so dark, it flowed like liquid down to her back. She seemed so delicate, so fragile, almost enveloped by that black hair. Her skin practically glowed in comparison, nearly as white as mine, but far more…alive. I realized that she had finished her inspection and was watching me watch her. Had I been human, I would have flushed as they do when embarrassed.
"Go ahead. Finish your ritual." She looked at me, almost grateful.
"Thank you."
She crossed her legs again, then turned away. I walked over so I was facing her. She closed her eyes. Softly, she began to sing. Her voice was low, beautiful. It reminded me of a river. She began to light the candles, singing words in a strange language. As she lit the last one, she reached for a knife at the bottom of the pentagram. Before I could even think, she sliced her hand open. I nearly lost all control. The smell….I wanted her more than any human I ever had met. Bound by my word, I managed to sit like I had been carved of stone. But desire was all that filled my mind as she picked up the lock of red hair in the center of the star. Desire nearly overpowered me as she gripped it in her wounded hand, setting the hair down again, covered in her own blood. Her voice grew louder and I realized that the desire for her blood was accompanied by an entirely different desire. The realization turned my skin to fire. Suddenly, I felt weak. The animals in the forest went silent. The hair turned to ash in a blaze of fire. She collapsed against the ground.
The ritual was over. I crossed to her in an instant. I wasn't after her blood, although the desire for it filled me. I cradled her in my arms. Her eyes fluttered open. She smiled weakly.
"Sari will live now." She looked up at me, then at my arms surrounding her. A sudden resignation filled her face. I waited for the horror, the fear. It didn't come. All I saw was slight apprehension. Her blood dripped onto my skin, burning me. Those eyes…
"You're going to kill me now." It wasn't a question. Suddenly, I hated myself. Suddenly I wished to whatever higher power might exist that I could do something to help her, I wished that she could not be disgusted by me, not fear me. I wished to her goddess that I could comfort her. Those eyes were impossible to lie to.
"Yes." A tear was stillborn in her eyes. I couldn't bear it.
I couldn't think. I was a monster. This beautiful woman had given her life willingly for her friend. What right did I have to take it?
"It's okay, you know." What? My shock must have registered in my face, because she continued weakly, "It's okay. You have to survive somehow. My life is forfeit. I guess there is such thing as a free lunch," she tried to laugh, but seemed to not have enough breath. "I guess I was wrong about the couple days part. I think I'm dying…doesn't make sense but then again, what does?" She paused. "Funny, I feel so…young. Too young. Strange." I hate myself.
"How young are you?" The sound of my voice surprised me. How could I sound so calm, so effortlessly melodic when I felt like ripping my own heart out?
"I'm twenty." Twenty. Twenty years old. She seemed so much older than I in my two hundred years. "I know I don't look it. Most people don't know it by looking at me." There was so much I wanted to know…
"What's your name?" She stared at me in open shock.
"Fiona." Pause. "Yours?"
"Laurent."
"Laurent, I don't think I will last much longer. Um, if that's, you know, important." It was my turn for open shock.
"You telling me that I am running out of time to kill you?" She smiled. Beautiful.
"Waste not." Her smile faltered. I wanted her to smile again. "Will it hurt?" I remembered my own death, suddenly, it occurred to me. A strange elation filled me, countered by concern. Again, I couldn't lie to her.
"Yes, it will. I'm sorry." She flinched.
"Don't be. We all have to die sometime. I'm actually glad I'm not dying alone." She flushed. "I-I don't know why I said that." The desire for her blood suddenly was obliterated by the other desire.
"You're beautiful." I had no idea what her expression was. It went beyond shock. I couldn't restrain myself anymore. I lowered my lips.
To hers.
She stiffened for a moment, completely surprised. Then I felt the most strange and exhilarating thing in my two hundred years.
She was kissing me back.
After a few seconds, she fell back with a gasp.
"Laurent, I'm… I'm dying. Now." I kissed her again. Those eyes. I hated that they would change.
"No, you're not."
I lowered my lips to her throat.
Never in all my long years had I imagined such a struggle. This torture and ecstasy rolled into one impossible task. Her blood filled my mouth, the intoxicating smell nearly driving me insane with desire, the taste alone…Her gasp of pain brought my purpose back to my mind. I must stop. I'll kill her. Oh, but the taste! I opened my eyes and forced myself to look at her face. It was like a knife in the heart. She looked so frail, I could see the life draining from her, I could see the pain and fear in those blue eyes…I closed my lips, still pressed against her neck. A familiar voice helped pull me from temptation.
"Laurent! What have you done?"
