Author's note: Thanks for all the reviews! Pleeeeease keep them coming! Sorry about the wait. P.S. Muchas gracias to my editor Stacey. Much love. (;
He stopped. On the floor, between his bed and the window and completely blanketed in the moonlight, lay the girl from The Forest. She was on her side, her back to him, her head resting on an outstretched arm and her hair fallen in front of her face. The thin strap of her dress had slipped off her shoulder and rested on her arm… She was positioned exactly as she had been when she was unconscious.
Bade crouched by her, just outside of the circle of light that guarded her. He could not think; his thoughts were distant and quiet murmurings at the back of his mind. He could only look at her. Her arm, resting on her side… pale and flawless silk. Her dress slid like liquid silver along her back, tightening at her tiny waist, and fanning out at her hips to spread in a large half circle across her legs. Somewhere in Bade's mind he numbly realized he had moved himself a bit closer to her… Strange that it was not the moonlight that called to him, but the girl it concealed.
He couldn't take his eyes away from her, he couldn't even see her face and yet she was the most beautiful thing he had ever seen… She looked so radiantly angelic in the moonlight; the very barrier that kept him from her, trapping him in his own body. Light imprisoned him in darkness.
Before he new what he was doing, Bade's hand was reaching for her, submerged in the silver light. A hot pain shot through his fingers to his nails, they were extending… his fingers were curling to paws, sprouting black fur…
Jumping in alarm, he fell backward from his crouched position to his back on the floor. Bade awoke to a bright light; the girl had vanished and Aida was standing above him, opening his thick velvet curtains and flooding the room with morning sunlight.
His hand hurt; apparently he had fallen off of his bed and landed on it. Aida was watching him and laughing.
"Startled were you? Are you alright?"
Bade stood up and stretched with a sore groan, squinting at the brightness. "Yeah…" His eyes fell on the floor where the girl had been.
"I made muffins." Aida said, walking toward the door and looking back. "What's wrong?"
"Oh…nothing… strange dream…" He shook his head and followed her.
A bell somewhere tinkered as Rowena pushed open the heavy door and stepped into the apothecary's shop. The space was narrow and cramped; the walls were filled with shelves of bottles stacking to the ceiling, and tables overflowing with odd packages blocked any comfortable room to walk. As the shelves left no liberty for torches, candles burned randomly about and struggled to provide the room its dim, flickering glow. A mixture of a thousand different scents clouded Rowena's mind, and even as she removed her scarlet cloak and hung it on the blackened silver hook by the door she did not see the tall albino man standing next to her.
"Can I help you miss?" Rowena jumped and spun to face him. Mr. Mallory's voice was smooth, monotone, and quiet, as if he were tempted to whisper. It reminded Rowena of the way one would speak at a funeral. He stared at her with ominous red eyes. His appearance made her uncomfortably cold, coaxing her to turn and run. He was about thirty, but completely bald. His white eyebrows made him appear entirely hairless, save for his pallid goatee that curled like smoke just below his chin. The paleness of the apothecary's skin seemed to glow in contrast to his black cloak, his long fingers like reaching spider webs. Touching his fingertips together in a powerfully intimidating patience, he waited for her response.
"Uh… yes." Rowena stuttered. "Yes, Mr. Mallory, I am Ramona Locke's granddaughter, she was feeling too weak to travel, so I am to fetch her medicine…?"
Mallory continued to stare at Rowena until she felt his crimson eyes were burning hers. When he spoke his voice was even softer and lower than before.
"Too weak…? She will die." Rowena gave a sharp intake of breath and stepped back from him in anger, only to stumble on a low table.
"No." She said in hasty defense, catching the tipping stand at the back of her legs and straightening. "She is simply tired today. She is well cared for and she is fine."
"Who are you convincing Miss Locke?" He said, raising an eyebrow.
"She is fine!" Rowena said firmly. Her grandmother was fine. What was this man playing at? "The medicine, please."
Blank eyebrow still raised, Mr. Mallory turned on his heal, and disappeared into a shadow Rowena had not before noticed was a doorway.
Just as she was scowling at where the apothecary had been standing, the distant bell tinkered again and someone stepped into the shop behind her.
Moving with an awkward sidestep out of the doorway, Rowena turned and found herself face to face with a tall, dark haired man in his late twenties, dressed entirely in black and lowering the hood of his traveling cloak to allow the room's candlelight to caress his strong face and high cheekbones, and glow like fire in his mesmerizing, golden eyes.
Bade barely caught his gasp in time. It's her. For a moment he could only stare, she looked far more beautiful even than he had remembered… She wore a skirt of deep purple and a black corset embroidered with shimmering purple thread over a loose, low-cut white blouse. A simple, black leather string held a small amethyst to her throat… And her eyes… they were searching his, as brilliantly dark emerald as ever… her red hair framed her face softly, and oh, her skin… her skin looked so warm and soft by the golden light of a nearby candle…You're staring…
So is she…
The appearance of the apothecary from out of thin air shook Bade out of his trance.
"Who are you?" The man, albino apparently, asked bluntly, handing the girl a vial but watching Bade.
"A man from Pleoh, Banbhan Borden, was wrongly sold something I need," Bade said irritably. "I could not find him, but was told he made trade here recently."
The albino laughed, softly and low. This man was furiously creepy and it was starting to get annoying. And there was something about him… he was not quite familiar, but Bade knew something in him…
"Banbhan Borden is dead." The albino spoke with no concern, but rather a mysterious emptiness. His red eyes narrowed and a bizarrely knowing smile twisted his lips. "He was murdered." He leaned closer and lowered his voice to a soft whisper. "By a wolf."
Bade frowned and narrowed his eyes suspiciously at the albino. What the hell was… No…
Bade stumbled at his words. "Uh… right, well do you have the…"
"Vampire venom?" The albino interrupted. "That is what you want, is it not? Yes. For a price... it is extremely rare and… not entirely legal…"
The girl had been watching the odd conversation with a slight frown on her face. Bade noted that the confusion seemed out of place on her. She raised her eyebrows. "Vampires have…?"
She stopped when the apothecary whipped his head around dramatically to face her. "I believe you have what you came for, Miss Locke.-" Miss Locke…her name is Miss Locke…"-Unless there is something further that you require… shut the door on your way out." The girl, Miss Locke, glared at him for a moment, and he returned her angry gaze by stepping closer to her with a strange smile and looking her over with an intensity that made her cringe in disgust and hurry to leave.
Something in Bade roared. An unfamiliar protective anger coursed through him, and, although foreign, it was still anger and he felt the hair on the back of his neck not only raise but thicken… he felt a tugging at his teeth and nails… and he had to clench his fists and take a deep breath to force it back and to keep his voice calm.
"It would be to your benefit to reserve that venom for my purchase." He said carefully. "I wish to step outside for a moment, but I shall return in a few minutes." Bade noticed he was blocking Miss Locke from her exit, so he leaned back on the door and held it for her. As she passed, her shoulder brushed against him lightly and a warm, tingling feeling exploded in his chest. Instantly his anger was gone and he no longer had to force back the urge to change. She was looking up at him and smiling… he realized he was already smiling back.
Rowena brushed against his strong chest as she passed him, she felt almost as though shivers ran down her spine, being this close to him… Who was this man? His presence was so familiar... but he was so obviously a stranger here. As she left the shop and started towards the woods, she looked back over her shoulder. He was leaning against the wall, watching her with a hint of a smile playing at his lips and eyes. Rowena grinned shyly at him, turned, and continued.
As she left the road and entered the trees, Rowena could not get the mysterious man out of her mind. Would she ever see him again?
His eyes… they were so… so much like that wolf's. Such an amazing color, and so deep… Rowena looked around her and wondered where the wolf was now. Mossy branches twisted around her, rays of glistening sun fell in edged columns, and pastel wildflowers dotted the needle-strewn forest floor… she couldn't fathom such a creature here. The Forest's nighttime mystery had completely transformed with the sunlight. Part of her wanted it back, to see the wolf again… part of her was beginning to doubt the beast had even existed…
Rowena tried not to think about it and looked at the vial she held. It contained possibly the most unappetizing mixture she had ever laid eyes on. Thick, slimy, transparent green liquid rolled lazily in the bottle, and little bubbles of reddish brown gas dotted its surface. Rowena wrinkled her nose and lowered the potion from her sight.
Her grandmother would be fine. She would. She wasn't violently ill, just… sick. The apothecary didn't know what he was talking about. Besides, Ramona Locke would never consume such a repulsive substance unless she knew it was doing her good.
Well, I shall see her soon, and she will be fine and she will prove that man wrong.
Rowena froze. She heard rustling a ways to her left. Staring through the trees, suddenly she saw something black move quickly past in the distance. She started walking curiously in the direction. Could it be…?
The wolf paused, and set the bundle of clothes he was carrying in his teeth down to sniff the air. Was he officially mad or could he smell her? She smelt of vanilla and cinnamon… He was answered when he saw a blur of violet pass through a gap in the trees. There she is.
In a flash Bade was a human and pulling on his clothes as fast as he could. Sliding his feet into his boots he could hear her approaching now…
"Shit." He muttered. There was no time to button his shirt or vest, so he closed his cloak securely over them and picked up the folded red velvet he'd set by his feet just as she came into view. She stopped in surprise when she saw him, about ten feet away.
"It's you." She said. "I mean…" she scrambled to correct herself but relaxed at his smile. He walked to her and bowed gracefully.
"Miss Locke." He said. She smiled and blushed slightly. I made her blush.
"I'm glad I found you. You left this." He handed her her cloak, praying that it's return would make her smile for him again.
"Oh!" She exclaimed, taking it from him. "I hadn't even noticed! My grandmother made it, she'd have been so upset, she always…" She stopped, blushing harder. "Thank you so much, Mr….?"
"Bade." He said, laughing. He hadn't felt the warmth of laughter for a long time.
"Bade." She repeated, smiling. She gave him a small and casual curtsy, keeping her eyes on him. "Well, where are you headed now, Bade?"
"Home," He said, careful to gesture in the very direction she had been going. "Where are you headed, Miss Locke?"
"To my grandmother's house. Same way as you."