Chapter 10: Ambrosia of Immortals

I shuddered in ecstasy as the sweet ambrosia of sanguine fluids filled my mouth and traveled down my throat. The elf with the brown sword twitched and weakly swatted at my mouth as I drained her blood.

The sensation was beyond anything that I had tasted before. Human blood was like steak but this elf's blood was chocolate, sweet and decadent. I tore the side of her neck, nuzzling it obscenely. Her eyes were clouded over, not with cataracts but unfocused, she was defending into the first stages of shock. I paid no mind to her horror filled expression, nor to her weakening heartbeat. I reveled in the heady scent and rich texture of her blood.

I only returned to myself as I heard her heartbeat beat its last. Her shining sword dimmed and dropped from her fingers as I held her body aloft. I raised my blood stained maw from her throat, sparing a moment to memorize her face. She was nearly as beautiful, even in death, as I was currently. Aristocratic features, stuck in a rictus of disbelief and terror.

Hmm, I licked my lips and wrinkled my nose as an unpleasant scent tickled at my nostrils. Evidently she peed herself. I grinned, a small part of me rejoicing in causing such terror in a little mortal. I unceremoniously dropped the elf's body.

Then I leaned down and plucked her sword from the ground, admiring the exquisite craftsmanship of the blade. I twirled it with my enhanced strength sending it rippling through a few climbing weeds. It cut them cleanly but that was to be expected. I ran my hand along the blade, even though I knew it was stupid I still kind of desired to test the sharpness.

I barely resisted snarling at the sudden pain as my flesh parted like butter against the edge of the blade. A few drops of black blood splattered the ground around the elf's head, a few droplets landing on her face. I regarded her for a moment, almost tempted to pray for the soul of such a beautiful being.

Instead I sighed and whizzed into the forest, dodging the few branches that almost mockingly seemed to appear when I left expected. Chastised slightly by my memory of the embarrassing incident when I impaled myself on a branch I quickly arrived at my destination.

I roughly plucked the loose corpse of the knight that had accompanied the elf. He had been strong and well versed in wood craft. Also, he was an admirable mortal marksman with the bow. However, he was also quite delicious and so he was dead and my belly was full.

My gratitude for his assistance in pleasing my ravenous appetite would take the form of a simple burial. I returned swiftly to the small clearing that I had dropped the elf in. She lay silent and as motionless as I had left her.

Rapidly I dug a grave for both. I momentarily considered laying both together in the name of efficiency but decided against it when I considered the question from a different viewpoint. Would I like to be buried with someone I didn't even know?

Of course not! That being decided I completed the grave, digging faster with my hands then I had ever done with a shovel in my mortal life. I spared a moment to carefully place the two hunters at the bottoms of each grave before folding their arms over their chests in the traditional burial position that I remembered seeing before.

I dropped the man's sword and shattered bow besides his body and swiftly refilled the grave with dirt before moving over to the elf. I spared another moment to admire her facial features, the unearthly beauty that was so similar to mine, before I dropped soil into her grave as well. I considered burying her sword with her but it looked vaguely familiar so I came to the conclusion to take it with me.

I covered the elf with dirt before placing a few large stones over her grave, to ensure wild animals did not discover her corpse. Then I turned my attention to the sword again. It was of a light brown coloration and must have been constructed out of an ore only found on Alagaesia, since I knew of no metal that would provide such hue.

I stiffened as I was hit with an errant thought, perhaps this was a rider's sword? That would be bad, then I would have killed one of the Forsworn and possibly derailed the whole plot of the Inheritance Cycle!

Looking over towards the elf's grave I quelled the urge to dig her up and look at her face again, would I recognize her? I sighed instead and placed my newly found blade point first into the soil.

Something large huffed noisily behind me. Slowly, as if in a b-rated horror movie, I turned to view something quite alarming. A large and furious looking dragon, stood at the edge of the woods. Its eyes were bloodshot and drool dripped from its jaws. Its claws carved great gouges in the rich ground soil under the deciduous trees.

For a second we both froze, then the dragon's nostrils flared as it breathed in. Its eyes locked onto the sword in my hand. A deep sound rumbled in the dragon's belly.

It roared, the sound shook the world and hurt my ears. I stumbled back as the dragon advanced along the ground, seemingly maddened by its rage. I jumped backwards a moment later and stabbed out towards the dragons mouth. It predictably breathed fire an instant before my blade would have connected.

With supernatural luck I danced to the side, seeing the flames emerge from the dragon almost in slow motion. I swung at its outstretched neck, the blade left a long vertical scratch along the dragon's incandescent brown scales.

It bellowed again in fury, letting loose more flames from its maw in the process and rounded on me. A wing swung towards me, attempting to bludgeon me. I ducked under and slashed the wing as it passed. The pinion swung around again, mindless of the damage inflicted even as the mouth snapped at my calves.

I jumped, using my agility to clearly get out of the overgrown lizard's range. Then I I locked gazes and attempted to dominate its mind. It shrugged my attack aside effortlessly, blanketing the clearing with flames again in retaliation.

I ignited. However, despite the burning I kept my cool and quickly tore my flaming clothes away and cast them to the side. Thankfully, I did not seem to be flammable to the dragon's fire, unlike many popular depictions of vampires being extremely burnable.

Again I dodged another gout of flames offered my the enraged dragon before I spotted an opening as the dragon reared back. I darted forward, dust flying in my wake and stabbed towards the dragon's mouth just as it lowered its mouth to spew more flames. Luckily my blade stabbed up into its jaw just before the fire erupted. Killing the beast and causing its jaws to snap shut right as it was breathing out, canceling its flames and probably saving my undead life.