Chapter 7 – Into Dawn

Something in the wind spoke to him as the man silently searched the Heavens for answers which would never come. Stars, so careless and remote, did little to ease the pain in his heart. Icellina had been taken from him and without her he was lost. He looked up at tiny pinpoints of light wondering if she too were looking at them. It would be dawn soon, the man knew. Preternatural instinct told him so.

But there was something more to it than that. A change was coming. Gabriel knew without knowing why or how.

The wind, not particularly breezy or still, made his skin crawl. The man squinted, feeling it roll like oil over his skin. There was something his teacher had tried to distill, long ago. Something about the wind. About change. What was it?

Suddenly the man wished he'd paid more attention to his love. But how, really, was he to do that when she looked so irresistible in leather all the time?

Down below, unbeknownst to him, a lone girl crept, bow at the ready. Malice and misguided justice darkened her face and she made silent work of stalking her prey. Those dhampir were not wanted around these parts. A scourge upon the land. After this night their presence would be all but a bad memory.

Marle focused her arrow at its target. Something about the deep resignation on the man's face gave her pause. It was a moment lost she'd never allow again. Taking aim, she took a steadying breath and sent her arrow flying.

She struck her mark in the shoulder, his once calm resignation breaking into a howl of searing pain. Gabriel had crashed to the forest floor in shock.

"Who?!" His sudden rage demanded, recoiling swiftly. He ripped the arrow from its new home in his flesh and winced. The hole wasn't closing as it should. His blood ran black.

The dhampir looked up to find a familiar face, full of hatred and glee. Without hesitation the woman pointed another at his chest. His voice was as broken as his hope for humanity. "What have you done?"

Another arrow struck him deeply in the area just above his heart. Shooting pain erupted through his chest, spidering outward callous and shocking long after he'd tossed the offending thing away.

"Poison," she explained darkly at the question furrowing his brow. "Those arrows are lined with the venom of the Marboyle Banshee. Although not fatal to your kind, they will paralyze you."

As if on cue Gabriel fell to one knee, quite at her mercy. Strong this one is, the girl thought. He'd already be down by now otherwise. She pointed another arrow ruthlessly towards his head.

"Stop, please. You do this in mistake. I…I did not kill your family."

"It doesn't matter!" Her rage broke through suddenly, making Gabriel's heart pound with courage. Momentary distraction had caused her weapon to drop. Her rage was her weakness. Keep her talking, old boy.

Gabriel furtively glanced towards his cave, hidden entrance surely compromised should he make a break for it. Keep her talking, insult her. Make her rage. His mind was beginning to fog.

"You are just like the rest! Bloodsucking fiends, all of you! Mindless, thoughtless…monsters!"

"Is that," he choked, feeling his opportunity for escape slowly closing in on him, "what the vampire who killed your family was? Thoughtless?"

"Stop!"

"Mindless? No, I think he probably," Gabriel struggled against the terrible weight pressing down on his veins. "thought about that night for a long time before…before…"

He could feel the poison coating his insides, pulling him down. His vision blurred. Instinct took over and his teeth lengthened with need. Need for her blood. "Before he ripped your family apart."

"I said stop!" The woman kicked him roughly where he knelt, exposed. Gabriel roll onto his back limply, chuckling madly despite himself. "Stop laughing! Stop! I said, STOP!"

At last he caught her leg, making the girl yelp and drop her weapon. Using the last of his strength, Gabriel tightened his hold and dragged her down.

"Help! Help me, oh God!" Marle thrashed wildly, trying to get away. She'd realized her mistake too late and now was prey for the beast. With all her might she kicked out and struck him as he held her secure on top of him, her neck quite exposed. "No, no! Stop, someone! Someone help me! Please!"

"Shhh," primal instinct had overwhelmed the dhampir and he could hear the blood coursing through her veins. He felt her heart beating rapidly against his chest. His fangs had lengthened completely, his eyes cast in bloodlust. She smelled delicious. What was that scent? So familiar…

At his voice, Marle froze. Terror gripped her heart. Mother, father, I'll see you again soon. Ellaina. Oh Ellaina.... Tears flowed freely down her dirty cheek and she closed her eyes, awaiting his bite.

Gabriel nuzzled into her flesh. His inner dhampir was fighting for control, his vampiric nature so strong in this heated moment. Self-preservation needed blood to undo this stupid girl's curse; what better way to beat her than to use her for his victory? Her fear only made him hunger for her more. And that smell. What was it?

And suddenly the answer pulsated through him. His eyes glowed red, his vision blurred.

"I…can smell your blood," His voice was no longer his. Lust had broken and with it so did her flesh. Marle's scream pierced the oncoming dawn.


"Well, it's good to know you aren't gay is all I'm sayin', you know?" A craggy old voice interrupted his quiet reverie, laughter so dry it was like choking on sawdust. A most unwelcome interruption. He'd been avoiding this conversation for the last few hours. "I was beginning to worry."

D said nothing, spurring his horse onward. The sun had risen completely and he'd long since broken free of the protective canopy of forest. In silence they had traveled some sixty or so miles over the barren desert terrain, towards the line of jagged rock which marked the beginning of the Vermeshion Mountains. Something about that castle still lingered darkly in his mind. Doubt, perhaps. Suspicion. It was a tingling sensation at the base of his brain. For all of his long years, instinct had failed him only rarely; if his mind could question something now there must be more to that castle than what met the eye.

His little…excursion…with that dhampir woman had cost him a few nights of searching. Perhaps more than that. He tried not to think of her. Of the black hole that was now his heart.

Quickening the pace of his steed, the hunter was a dark blur against sand.

"Oh, come on," chuckled that voice again. Like old creaky doors rustling in an abandoned house. "You had fun. First time, too. My little virgi—"

D clutched his hand into a fist without mercy, waiting for the parasite to recede.

"Ah, gah! Okay, okay…" the fist undid slightly, just enough for the old parasite to get in a few other words. "In all serious though, I'm proud of you."

The dark hunter said nothing, felt nothing. He had little doubt that his…hand…had enjoyed himself greatly during the night with Icellina, lavishing upon the bloodlust the hunter had felt. Lately his control over its lecherous stake on his brain was slipping. Emotions passed to it freely. Secret things D'd meant for no one. Save perhaps…her…

His pace once again quickened. His horse was objecting to its unfair torture.

D darkly attributed this weakness to his drinking of blood. What a mistake that had been.

He would give that symbiot nothing more, now that the woman was gone from his life. Many things would change now. His meeting Icellina had ensured that. Their bond was still active even after all this space between them. He'd silently reached out to her some hours back, testing his theory, and discovered her anger still fresh and raw.

But this unnatural link would not last forever. With distance and time D knew even the lingering sadness he felt would erode away. It always did, sooner or later.

"Quiet," was his only warning.

His face was an unreadable mask but inside he fought with his heart. D could still remember the smile upon her face as she took him in. Blissful. Longing. He could have lost himself in that smile for eternity. She'd been his and he…hers. The man tensed suddenly, treacherous heart wondering how the woman was doing. With resolve he willed the thought away.

Left Hand seemed not to pick up on that jolt of regret for which D was immensely grateful. A chuckle once again erupted, slightly muffled from its proximity to his reins. "So, do you think she was being serious with all that 'working parts' business?"

D said nothing. The mountain range was rapidly approaching. His steed sent an angry trill of protest once more, its flanks hurting from such brisk pace.

"I don't know about you but I have seen many a purebred in my time. Had to come from somewhere."

The man's steely gaze faltered for a moment. It was true. He'd made a career out of hunting them, and vast in number they were. Used to be. He'd never really thought on it before. Only on his own breed, the ramifications of humans and vampires mating.

Vampires had to come from somewhere.

"Seems to me," the voice continued thoughtfully, something cruel dancing in its depths, "that she may have been…using you."

D's horse stopped so suddenly that for a moment the man thought he'd lose his seat. The mechanical thing reared up indignantly, wanting no more of this abuse.

They sat amidst the barren landscape, a dash of pepper on the white salty world. Heat from the sun radiated its hazy waves down to him, cruel and unforgiving against the dark leather he wore. For several long, terrible moments D said nothing. He fought the urge to turn around and retrace his path back to that lake.

Maniacal laughter suddenly broke out, strangled from the taxation of overcoming a closed fist.

"Oh, that was too easy! Settle down; I checked her out. She's totally barren. I mean, nothing I probably couldn't fix…but she wasn't lyin'."

The man said nothing, willing his mechanical steed forward again. Slowly, the horse giving small warning protests every few feet. His voice, when it finally broke the silence, was quiet and pained. "How can you be sure?"

The hunter had relaxed his hand to allow the parasite freedom. The old pest drank up this newfound allowance and spoke with mirth.

"I had plenty of time to do so with your fingers up her p –"

"Oh," D murmured, disgusted. A wave of agony hit him then. In his lust he'd used his left hand by mistake. His anger mounted suddenly, causing his steed to sense the danger and rear up once more. D saw red, bit down against it. Icellina was his, no one else's. His… No. Not his, not any more. He shook himself free from the residual bloodlust.

Calming himself forcefully, D barely whispered, "I see."

He closed down upon his fist with renewed vigor. When at last the strangled cries had died away, D resumed his long trek towards Castle Trepp. Towards Maeken. Towards freedom and loneliness all the same.


The girl awoke with a start, finding herself in a cool dark space. Eyes adjusted to the room and she soon realized there were candles here. Tiny wells of light further down the large domed space flickered gently and cast the walls in a warm glow. They weren't quite enough to illuminate the corner of darkness she occupied, but knowing she wasn't dead helped ease her heart. She was in a cavern. How she'd come to be here was yet undetermined, but Marle was thankful to be anywhere but back out in that clearing, prey to that…that…

Beast.

Her head ached and a weight pressed down upon her. Every attempt at sitting up ended in vain. The woman closed her eyes and steadied her breathing. Think, think. Her last few memories were a blur. She remembered meeting with the town leaders. The face of her friend, Rendald, as he begged her to end this foolishness. She could still hear her soft footsteps crunching through the dark forest as she approached the area marked off-limits to their town; where those two…beasts…were thought to reside. The face of that dhampir flashed into memory. Her arrow had landed its mark. It wasn't enough. Poison, all of it.

She wriggled against her invisible bonds. The faint light may not have been enough to see by but it was enough to motivate her forward. If only she could get up, she could use those candles to see out of this hell.

During her struggle she brushed against something soft, hair perhaps, and heard a low moan. Marle froze. It was a man's voice.

"Icel?" the confusion Gabriel felt was further amplified by the taxation of healing. His body was so weak. "Mmm…"

The poison had taken its toll and although its progression had stopped, very slowly did it drain from his veins. He nuzzled into the warmth beneath his head feeling dizzy and drunk. Syrupy disorientation made his eyes blind.

"Stop," Marle pleaded to a deaf audience.

He was on top of her. That dhampir. Oh God…

When the man didn't respond to her command, the girl struggled all the more fiercely, anxious to escape her delirious captor. He'd been impaired, regardless of his temporary advantage. If she could only free herself, find a weapon…

Marle wasn't sure what all had happened in the forest, or how the two ended up in this unfortunate embrace, but the sooner she got away the better. He was so heavy. Heavier than he looked. Tears slid down her cheek. There was no moving him.

"Get off of me," Her voice was hushed and turbulent at the same time. Too afraid to wake him, too afraid to remain passive. "Help, if someone is out there…help me…"

Meekly she had no choice but give up and face her fate beneath him. The woman searched around the darkened space for anything to use against the dhampir and found nothing. Something dark was pulsating deep within her mind, in her veins. Her neck ached with it. Her neck.

Shock gripped her and a hand flew vehemently to her neck, eyes widening with horror. She'd been bitten.

"No...no…NO!"

She closed her eyes, willing herself to wake from this nightmare.