Hi everyone.  I have finally been able to finish chapter three… although it is not quite as long as I expected it to be, but it's here and that's all that matters, lol. 

Thanks for those who have reviewed so far, you've been a huge help.

Chapter 3:  Crystallized Tears

            He relished with the new life he felt as the blood coursed slowly down his throat.  The warm vibrate sensation pulsated outwards throughout his entire body, filling him with strength and energy.  It never ceased to amaze him how wonderful feeding felt, especially with one who deserved to die in the first place.

            He had caught this thief just outside Olendalyn's barn, trying to lead away a stray cow; her only one left after many of his kind had "helped themselves".  This particular thief had just about been ready to slit the cow's throat and load it onto his wagon when Liare had emerged from behind the barn and caught him. 

            The roguish man would have been fine if he hadn't had drawn his dagger out at Liare; he would have been able to just walk away with a few cuts.  But after the blade was drawn, Liare's senses kicked in and his hunger took over.  He attacked the man, throwing the dagger far into the woods, and dragged the unconscious thief into the depths of the woodland.

            Seconds after emerging within the dark canopy of pines and maples, he was at the man's throat with not a moment delay.   He drank deeply and soundlessly, crouching low within small bushes and although the man deserved it, Liare did not kill him.  Killing this filth before he even knew why this man was a thief to start with, would make him lower than the punk who tried to kill Olendalyn. 

            A twig snapped abruptly, sending loud vibrations through the silent forest.  The noise echoed, and even though normal mortals would pay no notice, to Liare's acute sense of hearing, the noise seemed to bounce endlessly off trees and rocks, alerting every living creature who resided among the trees.

            Liare's head shot up at the sound, and instantly he flung the human body into the bushes out of sight.  It rolled through the leaves, causing more ruckuses to issue forth and Liare became slightly panicked of being found out. 

Turning to the sound he saw nothing, no animal, or more importantly, no human soul.  No further noise was made, but Liare stayed alert and cautious, despite his senses telling him that no one was there.  So he stood there for several minutes before he breathed a sigh of relief and turned back towards the body.

There stood a young girl… the one with copper curls, the one who had stopped him from killing that insolent jerk.  The one who held his gaze captured with just the blink of her emerald eyes, Tilainne.  She seemed to have appeared with no noise but that one cracking of the twig, nothing more… nothing less.

Her eyes did not hold wisdom this time, only deep sadness, endless to the point of insanity if he chose to gaze too fully into their depths.  Her curls were matted, full of leaves and thorns, and she panted slightly as if she had run for quite a distance.  He noticed now that her simple gown of dark sky blue was torn in many places, claiming it unfit for eyes to see. 

 He noticed one place especially where her dress had been torn, the bodice dangling low; just barely covering her innocence, one deep cut oozed blood across her face, from earlobe to chin.  Yet she seemed to have yet to notice it.

Instead she stared at him, mouth open as if trying to say something, panting and trembling.  Her hand came up and reached out towards his face, where it grazed small stubble only, and drew away just as quickly as it had come.  She looked at her hand, and tears welled up.

Liare stood still, completely confused, and angry.  Something had happened to her to have caused that cut and the ripping of her dress, and he had an idea of what happened and who did it.  But she did not cry for her misfortune, not for the cut, nor for the dress.  Instead she gazed at the hand that had grazed him and shed her tears.

Tilainne looked up to see his confused face, and gently turned her hand outwards to him.  Thick red streaks ran down her hand, dark and crimson. 

Blood… blood from his chin.  He quickly brought his arm up and attempted to wipe away the blood from his feeding, but too late to stop her from seeing.

Humiliated horror broke out on his emotionless face and the urge to run was great.  He knew he hadn't the heart to kill her for what she saw, and lacked the courage to stand there as she looked so brokenly upon him.  He found it untimely ironic however, that he, who had killed many just for possessing one wrong thought, did not have the courage against this young woman with the ageless eyes.

It was because he didn't understand her; she was similar to a bomb ready to detonate at anytime without a timer.  Emotions passed through her, without reason, and then flowed right back out again, without time enough for another thought.  She did not possess anger as far as he knew, only sadness or nothing.  And it was that nothing that made him scared of her.  She knew a lot more than she led to believe and he didn't even know why.

 "I'm sorry."

It came to him so small, so weak, like a snowflake trying to reach the ground and not get swept up in the wind, and it held such despair that it squeezed his heart, making him wince.

Staring down at her now, he saw that she had stopped staring at her hand, fixing her eyes at his.  Her tears continued to build, but she did not wipe them as they pooled out the corners, and ran down her cheeks unchecked.

He answered with the only thing he knew at that moment.

"Why?'

Her face didn't change; it remained blank, despite the many emotions held within her eyes.  Pain, regret, despair, all twisted deep within her green pools.  She did not answer.

He tried a different approach and asked, "Why are you so sad?"

She seemed surprised that he asked and looked away. 

"Are you not happy with your life?"

This brought her head back up.

"Life means nothing in the end," she answered finally.

Liare swallowed and replied, "Why?"

He kept his voice soft and soothing, a change from his continuous cold.

"Life is full of ugliness.  Lies, betrayal," she glanced up at him, "and hate rages through the world on an endless rampage and everyone has the power to change it, and yet… they don't!"

She crouched down slowly and beckoned to something inside a bush nearby.  A small deer crept slowly out and nuzzled her hand gently, all the while keeping a cautious eye on Liare.

"No one understands the true beauty of this world," she told him sadly as she pet the doe softly, "they are only concerned with fortune and pride.  Look around, and tell me that this is not true beauty?"

At her command the forest came alive, birds sang out their opinions through chorus's of soft ringing of twitters, wolves howled soundly and fully, every forest animal voiced themselves and regardless of their different races, all blended together to form a beautiful song of the forest. 

Looking around, Liare was sent into a daze, the forest had come alive.  Birds filled the branches, deer, bears and racoons filled the forest grounds, and smaller animals like rabbits occupied the little space between the larger animals.  All gazed up at him sadly, reflecting eyes similar to Tilainne's. 

Finally he looked at her.  She looked upon the animals with warmth in her eyes and a slight smile on her face, the only emotion on her face he had ever seen that resembled happiness.  It in return, brought a slight glimmer of joy to his heart, forcing his forever held scowl into a small smile matching her own.

"Is this not beauty?"

She looked at him once more, the smile gone, replaced with despair once more.  He glanced at each animal, all with sad eyes, and understood what she was asking.

"This is the true meaning for life," he answered her, amazed at how much he had missed in his self-hatred.

Tilainne then asked, "Then why do they seek to destroy it?"  Anger flashed through her eyes, barely contained behind a cooler exterior.  "Why do they consistently destroy what is so right?  Why fill the world with deceit and hate?"

"Tilainne, the world is just like that.  If you can't accept that, then you won't survive," he told her, the cool edge back in to his voice. He was desperate to make her understand that she couldn't change things… that it took much more.

"Then I won't," she stated simply, "but I won't let them destroy this."

Liare went to look at the animals once more, to see if they held the same emotion as Tilainne did, but they were gone.  Vanished without a noise or even sensing their presence detach.  This was rather concerning for Liare.

But glancing back at Tilainne vanished his concerns from his mind.  She wobbled slightly on her feet, and exhaustion was evident throughout her entire body.  She was going to collapse soon out of over exerting herself.  Her eyes wavered slightly and slowly rolled back into her head and gradually her legs gave out.

Using his quick-reflexes, he shot over to her and grabbed her before she could hit the ground.  The shock of her weight hitting him so fast forced him to the ground, taking Tilainne with him.  Gently he laid her against his chest and checked her for further injury.

 Other than the cut, she had a badly sprained ankle, a swollen wrist, and a few other cuts and bruises.  He was amazed that she had crept up on him without making a noise with such injuries.  Slowly he ran his fingertips along her cheek, not daring to touch her should she wake, and marvelled at her strength.  Moving his fingertips down, he used his refreshed vampire power to slowly heal the cut on her face.  Slowly the flesh melded together and wove tiny fibres as the skin healed, without a scare.  He then moved on to her ankle. 

He continued to heal her, until all cuts and bruises had been removed, becoming invisible.  He used his mind probing to read her body signs, making sure nothing internally was wrong.  Except for a mild dehydration and exhaustion, she was perfectly fine.

After taking off his over-shirt and placing it over her to cover what had shown from the rips in her dress, he picked her up effortlessly, and headed out towards the village.

While walking, he could hear her whimper and cry silently in her sleep, so as he held her close as to keep further danger away, he sent subtle happy thoughts within her mind, to help ease her pain while she slept.  This seemed to help, for after a few minutes, she ceased making small noises and snuggled closer, becoming peaceful. 

He did not know why, but it brought a small smile before the pain of a similar woman who brought the same feeling came back to him, and he became cold once again to stop the memories from surfacing. 

Once reaching the village, he left her resting peacefully on the porch of a cottage where he could tell from probing, that the people would take care of her.  He knocked on the door, and left to become once with the shadows.

Tilainne started to whimper in her sleep once again.

"I'm sorry."  Was what was whispered into the wind.

~Please let me know what you thought, R/R~
~Thanks~