Regis sat down on a large rock at the water's edge and slipped his worn leather boots from his aching feet. He let a soft sigh escape his thin lips as he laid back and stretched out on the rock. The heat from the sun's rays penetrated his body, along with the residual heat from the stone, causing his body warm up quickly. It was the first time they had been able to relax on their trip. He was glad for the momentary respite; his ageing body needed it. He brought himself upright, into a sitting position, and rolled his pants legs up to his knees.

His legs were tired form their trek through the woods. He ran his calloused hands up and down his claves, massaging them slightly as he did so. He slipped a bare foot into the crystal-clear water and sighed at the refreshing feeling it provided. He closed his eyes and focused on the moment, allowing his body and mind to relax further.

"Oof!" Evangeline tossed something into his face as she headed toward the edge of the pool. "What in Hell's name..." He muttered pulling the item from his face, blinking a few times at the heavy cloth in his hands. A confused look crossed his countenance as he examined the material in his hands. He looked up and around for Evangeline. Another bundle was flung at his face, he quickly snatched it midair and redirected it into his lap. "Was that really necessary?" He asked turning his dark eyes up to the woman before him.

She was stripped down to her black cotton panties that tied at the hips, and her brown leather bralette. Her crimson hair cascaded down her back, accentuating her porcelain white skin. She glanced back over her shoulder at Regis and shrugged before diving into the spring. Regis rolled his eyes and shook his head. Evangeline disappeared from his view, diving deep beneath the water's surface. He smiled to himself and took his time folding her clothes; he enjoyed the aroma that lingered on them. It wafted into his face as he folded the cloth. Her scent was distinct; the sweet smell of perspiration mixed with her perfume, an aroma that reminded him of ripe blackberries with the hint of vanilla. He propped up his arm on his knee and scooted closer to the water's edge as he waited for her to break the surface.

"Eva? Come on now, you're starting to make me worry." He shouted towards the water's surface after a while of waiting. He peered down into the deep spring, searching its depths with his dark eyes to spy her. He waited a moment before pulling his feet out to stand erect on the rock. He leaned forward a bit out over the springs edge. "Don't make me come in there after you. You know I don't like getting my clothes wet." He yelled. He paused a moment, straining to hear her over the pounding sound of the waterfall. "Eva, this isn't funny!"

Regis grimaced and clenched his teeth. "Damnit woman." He muttered as he pulled his shirt off over his head. "Evangeline!" He yelled over the roaring waterfall, his hands wrapped around his mouth in order to carry his voice. "Eva!" He shouted once more, pausing for a beat before diving into the pool. He opened his eyes and took in his surroundings.

The pool was deep and relatively clear most the way down. The bottom was dark, due to its depth, and covered in what looked like a type of freshwater seaweed. Buckthorne. He thought, quickly surmising that the witcher had dove down to gather the rare plant. He turned a complete revolution, looking for any sign of Evangeline before moving further down in the water. He pushed further down to the depths, scanning back and forth for any movement.

Then he saw her; her hair floating upward, swaying with the undertow, almost blending in with the buckthorne. She reached out for him sluggishly, her eyes rolling back into her head as she did so. Damnit. he thought swimming towards her with more speed. He realized as he approached that she was stuck in the buckthorne and weeds along the pools bottom. His memory flashed back to the image of her before she had dived into the pool; she didn't have her weapons, not even her backup dagger.

He realized she had no way to cut away the thick plant wrapped around her ankle. Perhaps, for once, it is a blessing that I don't exactly need a blade to lacerate things. He thought as he flexed his left hand; the fingernails extended into long talons that swiftly cut through the weed holding her prisoner. His right hand wrapped around her waist while the other returned to its normal form; its nails receding back to their normal length. He kicked off the muddy bottom, stirring up muck and sand as he did so. He maneuvered their bodies together, careful to avoid the swaying plants around them as he pushed toward the surface.

Regis felt his heart beat faster as his air supply ran low, he kicked his feet more swiftly as they neared the surface, propelling them up out of the water with a loud splash. He gasped for air, trying to fill his lungs with large ragged breaths as they bobbed along the ponds surface.

"Eva!" He gasped, giving her limp body a shake. "Evangeline!" He yelled as he pulled her with him to the rocky shore. He dragged her body with him onto the pebbly sand and pushed her hair from her face. She was pale, more so than her normal alabaster tone. "Damnit!" He muttered, turning her onto her side, pounding his palm onto her back. "Breath, damnit, breath!" He yelled as he tried to force the water from her lungs. He watched as a thin trail of water trickled from the corner of her mouth.

Regis grimaced as he realized his efforts weren't working. He rolled her over onto her back, tilted back her head and opened her mouth. He pressed his thin lips against hers, her lips were softer than he had imagined, and he breathed into her mouth, hoping to fill her lungs and expel the water trapped there.

Suddenly her body jerked, her eyes flew open, and water gushed from her mouth. Regis pulled away and forced her onto her side, he hit her back helping to force the water out of her lungs. She coughed harshly as her body jerked in efforts to clear her lungs. Her coughs died down as less and less water came out. Eventually, her lungs were cleared and her coughing ceased. Regis rubbed her back with a sigh before turning and rolling onto his own back, settling onto the shore beside her.

"Thank the Gods." He muttered running his hand over his face. His chest still heaved up and down, as he tried to gather his nerves. He took a moment to inhale a few deep breaths, before speaking again. "I thought," he began with a raspy voice. "that you had left me for a minute there." He felt her shift beside him. "Don't ever," he said taking in another deep breath. "scare me like that again, please." He felt her shift again. "Eva..." He turned to check on her. She had curled up next to him and was taking in shallow breaths. "Darling, are you alright? Talk to me, please, say something..." He said tilting her head up to face him.

"I-I'm okay... thanks to you." She muttered tilting her head back down resting her forehead against his shoulder. "I'm sorry." She whispered.

"It was just an accident." He said slightly confused by her actions. "It could have happened to anyone. Please, don't apologize. We're both okay, right? That's all that matters." He said reaching over and stroking her wet hair from her face.

"I put you in danger, yet again." She muttered, shifting away from his touch. "Without a thought I pu-"

"Don't think that way. It's done and over now, let's just enjoy the view, shall we?" He said tilting her face back up to his.

Tears. Her beautiful golden eyes were welled up with tears.

He sighed gently and rolled onto his side to fully face her. He took her cheeks in his hands and thumbed away the tears. "You're always full of surprises. I never thought I'd live to see the day that a witcher cried." He teased with a thin smile. She closed her eyes and tried to hide from him again. "Eva... Eva please look at me..." He said pulling her back to him. She sniffled and hesitantly opened her eyes again. He held her gaze with his dark ones, and gently thumbed over her bottom lip.

She felt her stomach flip at his touch. She was ashamed of what had occurred. She had put them both in danger, quite haphazardly. Something a witcher should know better than to do. She had let her guard down for the first time in ages and this was what happened. She almost died and so had he in his effort to rescue her. She tried to look away from him again, it hurt too much to hold his gaze, but he refused to let her have her way. He pressed his lips against hers in a soft kiss. He brushed wet strands of hair from her face, letting his fingers weave into her long locks.

He sighed and pulled away.

Evangeline froze.

She stared up into his eyes, not having felt the emotions he made her feel currently flow through her in years. She felt nauseous. A fire burned between her legs. Her cheeks flushed. Her eyes teared up again.

Regis cleared his throat. "I-uh-I.." He cleared his throat nervously again. "F-forgive me, I don't know what came over me." He said beginning to push himself away from her. She grasped at him; wrapping one arm around his torso, the other around his neck, and pulled him back to her. She shook her head at him and leaned her lips up to his. Her heart thudded in her chest; she hoped that she hadn't just ruined what chance she had for his affection.

Her doubts were quickly quelled as he pulled her closer to him and deepened their kiss.

She allowed her hands to roam his back; feeling his muscles beneath the smooth skin and finding scars she didn't know he had. He let a hand rest on her hip and the other twine into her hair as he kissed her more. She felt a soft moan escape her lips as he let his tongue roam over her lower lip. Startled by her vocal response she tried to pull away, embarrassed by the natural actions her body took. He held her forehead to his, and with a crooked smile chuckled.

It was a feeling neither of them had felt in ages.

"I'm much too old for this heroic nonsense, you know." He murmured against her lips trying to ease a smile from her. "But, I'd have to say it was definitely worth it." He smiled, pulling her into another passionate kiss.

They laid there together on the rocky beach, in each other's arms for what seemed like eternity. Regis worked his way from her lips, down her jawline and her neck. His teeth scraped her skin, sending goosebumps across her flesh. He kissed her neck gently and with a sigh, forced himself to pull away from her.

"What's wrong?" She asked staring up at him. He sighed heavily and sat upright.

"There's something I need to tell you; something I've been meaning to tell you but lacked the courage needed. " he said with a grimace running his hand through his damp hair.

"And you chose now, of all times, to tell me... what exactly?" She said sitting up beside him on the sand.

"Well, yes." He scoffed. "It's something you should know before... before we take our relationship further."

"I see... Regis, I know you're aware I had suspicions about you when we first met but I left that weariness behind a while ago. If that's what-"

"Please, let me finish." He said cutting her off with a gentle tone, his hand hovering in the air motioning her to stop speaking. "This is something you need to hear, albeit something you're not going to want to hear, in the end... nevertheless you deserve to know."

"Know what?"

"Bloody hell this is a lot harder than I imagined it being..." He said with a shake of his head. He took to his feet and paced back and forth before her.

"Regis... You're weirding me out here."

"My apologies, that was not my intention." He said with a finger to his lips, deep in thought. "I suppose there's really no way to do this with ease. I honesty had hope you'd deduce it on your own, maybe you have?" He asked shooting her a questioning glance, his chin clutched between his thumb and forefinger in thought still.

She shook her head at him, an eyebrow cocked at him in confusion.

"Ah, alas, I should have surmised as much. It's not something one easily infers; the signs are there but one has to be quite conscientious to see them and piece them together." He murmured twirling his hands in the air as he talked. "Not that you aren't meticulous and good at your job. That is to say-"

"Regis. Out with it."

"Right..." He said running his hand through his hair again. "Well, promise me you won't overreact... That you'll listen until I'm finished and not to jump to conclusions..."

"I'll try, but I supposed it depends what you're trying to tell me."

"Quite right." He said with a deep sigh. He turned to face her, she went to stand and he motioned for her to stay seated. "It might be best if you stay sitting for this. What I have to say might come as quite a shock." He said wringing his hands nervously. She nodded and arched her eyebrow at him again. "Okay, there's no easy way to say this to you. Just keep in mind this isn't something many people know, and there are very few whom I chose to share it with, at that."

"Regis..."

"I'm a Vampire." He blurted out with a shrug.

Evangeline blinked a few times, trying to process what her companion had just iterated to her.

"W-What?" She mumbled, her eyes narrowing at him. Her heart skipped a beat as her brain finally processed what he had said. Her eyes searched over him trying to find answers to her thoughts before he could speak again.

We cook with garlic, that doesn't affect him. He's obviously fine in the daylight... Shadow, his shad- her thoughts stalled as she looked down to see that he cast no shadow. Her eyes shifted to the water's surface. Reflection? Again, her eyes confirmed his statement more. He's touched silver before. He not afraid of fire. He's never tried to harm me, has he - Unknowingly her hand moved up to her neck where his lips had just been.

He scoffed at her motion, rolling his eyes and looking away from her. "I'd never hurt you Eva. It's a foolish myth that vampires seduce and suck the blood of young maidens. A legend to fill the erotic wants and needs of foolish humans."

She sat there still in shock, gazing at his handsome form, confused by her thoughts and wants. Her eyes darted to her swords, nestled in the rocks behind them. Regis sighed and shook his head.

"Please don't go and get it in that witcher head of yours that I'm some monster you must exterminate. One: I'm obviously no threat to you. And regardless of what actions you take now, I refuse to do you any harm." He said counting his reasons off on his hand. "Two: You're smart enough to know you stand no chance against me in my true forms. And three: Even if you did manage to inflict a mortal wound on me, I'd only regenerate after a short period of time. Here's a true fact for you: higher vampires, such as myself," he said placing a hand on his chest for emphasis. "can only die at the hands of another of our kind." He paused for a moment. "So please," he began, staring into her eyes as he talked. "feel free to gather your weapons and have at it, if you must." He said with a venom in his voice she had never heard before.

She could see he was hurt by her reaction. It pained her to see him in such a way. All the years of training and life lessons were telling her to act just the opposite of how she felt. She bit her lip and looked away from him, breaking his gaze. She felt sick to her stomach, not from the knowledge of what he was, but of how she was reacting to it; how she wasn't being supportive and comforting him. She realized it must have taken a lot of willpower and courage for him to tell her, of all people, his secret. It made her feel even more guilty.

"Regis..." She whispered getting to her feet. He had turned his back to her, not wanting to see her reaction; feeling dejected. His arms were crossed in a defensive manner, quite unlike the man she had grown to know. She sighed to herself. She needed time to gather her thoughts, but she couldn't think straight with him brooding beside her. Hesitantly she reached out to him, laying a hand on his arm. "We should make camp and get some food for tonight." She said looking down into the water's surface, sad that it was only her reflection staring back at her.

Regis clenched his teeth but nodded in agreement. He grabbed up his satchel, leaving his shirt behind, and dissipated into a large dark cloud that floated towards the top of the waterfall. Evangeline sighed and felt sick to her stomach again. He wasn't lying, he wasn't toying with her, she realized that now. She shook her head and set to work gathering kindling for their fire. She tossed around plenty of questions in her mind as she worked. Things that she wanted to know about him, things she wanted to know about his kind.

She laid out their bedrolls and started a fire. She glanced over her shoulder up at the top of the waterfall, where she found Regis gathering fish for their supper. The sun almost reflected off his pale skin. She realized as the sun set that her underclothes were still wet and as the sun dipped further behind the treetops the colder she became. She looked around for her clothes, finding them in a neat folded pile by the water's edge. A faint smile crossed her face. She gathered up her clothes and picked up his shirt as well as she made her way back to the fire. She made a makeshift drying rack next to the flames out of some spare sticks.

She looked back up at Regis, for a moment they made eye contact, he held her gaze. She could tell, even from a large distance, that his eyes were still filled with hurt. She forced herself to turn away from him and slipped her still wet bralette off, tossing it onto the rack before her. She then slipped his shirt on, giving the hem a tug to cover her bottom completely. Regis watched her as changed. A slight smile emerging on his face as he realized she had put on his shirt instead of her own. In turn, she pulled up each corner of the shirt and untied her panties at her hips, before laying them across the drying rack.

He decided that it was a good enough sign for him to return to camp. He gathered up his net and the fish he had captured in it and made his way back down the cliffside.

Evangeline was kneeling before the fire, racking the coals with a tapered stick as he walked up. He felt a smidge of hope return to him as he wasn't met with hostility. He laid the net full of fish on a large rock and knelt beside it. She joined him with a knife and set to work gutting and preparing the fish for roasting. He sat immobile, watching her as she worked, wondering what she must be thinking of him.

"You know this would go a lot faster if you helped out." She said giving him a sideways glance.

He nodded, flexed his hand and once again his nails shot outward like beastly claws. The movement startled Evangeline, but she quickly regained herself and watched silently as he cleaned the fish with her. With the fish prepared and roasting they took up seats beside the fire, a few feet of distance separating them. Regis watched as Evangeline shivered. She rubbed her hands up her arms and realized she still had on his shirt.

"Aren't you cold?" She asked turning her eyes to him. "Don't you want-"

"I'm fine. My kind can withstand extreme temperatures well." He paused for a moment as she looked away from him and back to the fire. "In addition, I'm quite enjoying seeing you wear my things." He said with a smirk. She gave him another sideways glance, a small smile on her face from his compliment.

"So... I thought of a few things... that I'd like clarified... about... your kind, as you put it, and about you... If you don't mind." She said making eye contact with him.

"I presumed that you would. Go ahead, I'll answer to the best of my ability." He said leaning his back against the large boulder behind him. Evangeline nodded.

"Well, I guess for starters, why did you even make initial contact with me, knowing who and what I was..."

Regis snorted. "Really that's your first question?" He asked gazing over at her.

"Should it not be?"

"Oh, I didn't mean that it shouldn't be, merely that I was surprised by your route of interrogations. That definitely wasn't what I was expecting. But to answer your question, I was purely intrigued by the woman before me. I knew the risks involved, I stated that to you before, if I remember correctly. Moreover, no disrespect to you Dear, but I've yet to encounter even a witcher who could best me in combat. There wasn't any trepidation in my mind."

She nodded. "Okay, that makes sense based off of what you said earlier. Next question then... Well, it's more of a statement in a way. All of the vampires I've encountered or read about have a... need to feed..."

"Ah, this was the line of questioning I expected." He said with a nod. "There's a significant difference between the species of my kind. A higher and lower order, if you will. Lower vampires, primitive creatures, such as your average garkain, felders, and ekimmarra need blood to survive. They feed on blood to sustain their life. Higher vampires such, bruxae, alps, and katakans do not, they do it for pleasure."

"Pleasure?"

"Yes. Higher vampires are a bit more complex, you have the average ones that I've already mentioned, as well as those like myself... if you will, superior vampires, elders I suppose. We partake of blood recreationally, although some, myself included during my teething phase, can drink in excess... to where it seems to humans that it is out of some carnal need. It's wholly to the contrary though, as a drink of blood to us is the equivalent of a good wine to you. We get drunk off of it. And like humans, we can become addicted to it..." He paused for a moment, reflecting back in time. "Which, I regret to say, happened to me in my youth. But, it made me who I am today, I suppose, it was a good thing for me in the long run. I, like many of my brethren, went on binges. I lost control... and I paid for it. I spent fifty years regenerating underground. Buried in a deep pit with bits and pieces of my body strewn about me." he shivered at the memory. "I vowed after that I'd never take another innocent life, never to take another drop. And, although, I've kept that vow for... more years than I care to admit, I did break that vow once... About a fifteen years ago... and paid, yet again, for it. It took me less years to regenerate this time, as I had the help of a vampire friend nurse me back to health. He's gone now." Regis said somberly.

"What happened to him?" She asked scooting closer to him, wanting to comfort him but not sure how. Regis shook his head.

"He lost his way. He fell down a bad path, he inflicted enormous pain on innocent people, he... caused the deaths of many races." He said solemnly. "I had the choice to choose between a dear friend trying to do the right thing, or chose the friend who had lost himself, much like I had all those years ago, and caused the slaughter of an entire city." He sighed. You can deduce what happened from there..."

"Regis..." She whispered pulling herself to his chest. His voice caught in his throat. She felt him swallow hard. "You don't have to say anymore, if you don't want to. If it's too painful-"

"No, I need to tell you. You deserve to know. Not only did I keep my nature from you, I also kept how I really know about you... from you, as well."

She pulled back from his chest and gazed up into his eyes. "What do you mean?"

"The friend I mentioned... the one who helped me defeat Detlaff, that was his name... the vampire who nursed me back to health..." He lost himself in thought for a moment. She saw it in his eyes, he was remembering a time and place where his friend was still alive and hadn't strayed down a bad path. He shook his head, shattering the thoughts that he had recollected. "The friend who made the right decision, one of my dearest friends in the world, is Geralt of Rivia."

She pushed back further from Regis, staring at him with wide eyes. "What?"

"It's another long story." He sighed tilting his head back to rest against the rock, closing his eyes as he did so. "But the jist of it is; I met Geralt when he was on his journey to find Ciri, years ago. I'm sure you've heard tale of it, of the Elder Blood and child surprise."

"Yes, I've heard many stories of Geralt over the years." She paused in thought for a moment. "You died to help Geralt, didn't you? And he helped you with your friend because he owed you." She said connecting the dots.

"Yes."

She nodded. "And he... he told you about me?"

"Briefly. The man was so obsessed with finding Ciri nothing else mattered to him. But there were a few nights, when we wintered in Touisant, where he opened up to me about his past; about you."

"Why didn't you tell me before?"

He shrugged. "It didn't seem prevalent at the time." He said with his eyes still closed. "I wanted to get to know you myself. He didn't specify any details about your past together; just merely mentioned you were his first love and he wondered about you often." He opened his eyes and held her gaze. "I knew the minute I saw you in that inn who you were, solely based off of the rumors after the war. I suppose part of me wanted to know why Geralt had fallen in love with you in the first place, and to see if the rumors that such an amazing, talented, beautiful woman were true." He finished with a lopsided grin.

She turned away from him to hid the blush in her cheeks at his words. "I suppose, it's good to know he carries no ill will toward me. I'm glad he's moved on and has a family now. He deserves it, Geralt is a good man."

"That he is. So, when I first heard about you from him I realized that you must assuredly be a special woman. And that was over a decade ago."

"You have a good memory for someone... your age." She quipped.

"You're not exactly a spring chicken yourself anymore." He chuckled playfully.

She joined his laughter and rested her head against his chest again. He wrapped his arm around her waist and rested his chin atop her head. She breathed in deeply, taking in his scent; various herbs, smoke from the fire, and his natural musk. It was something she had smelled often on their voyage but until now hadn't understood. The herbs that he always had on hand helped to mask his natural scent; the pungent smell of decay. It didn't bother her anymore, she found his aroma just as enticing as his personality.

"Regis?"

"Hmm?" He hummed as he stroked her hair.

"Thank you for telling me everything. I'm sorry for how I reacted at first." She said hugging him more tightly. A faint smile crossed his lips.

"Thank you Dear," he said kissing the top of her head. "but I should have told you before now."

"I understand why you didn't though, really. And about Geralt as well. I think it was for the best that things happened this way." She said pulling away from his chest to look at his face. "You're not still mad at me are you? You got pretty defensive earlier... I've never heard you talk that way before."

Regis sighed and glanced away from her. "I suppose I did, didn't I?" He said turning his face back to hers. "My apologies. I spoke harshly and without cause. I let my previous experiences guide my actions without thought; you didn't deserve that from me." He said brushing hair from her face, tucking it behind her ear. "Can you forgive me?" He asked staring into her golden cat like eyes.

She felt herself blush again. "Depends." She shrugged, biting her lip, focusing on his chest instead of his intense gaze.

"Depends?" He chuckled. "What must I do to get back into your good graces then?" He said caressing her check, coaxing her back to his face.

"Kiss me again, like you did before." She said, her eyes moving from his dark eyes to his lips and back again.

"Gladly." He grinned as he slipped his fingers into the hair at the base of her neck and pulled her to him.