Feeling the wind rush through my hair and over my wings had always been a pleasure. But this day I was particularly enjoying it. Perhaps it was that the wind was deliciously frigid and crisp. Or perhaps it was because I felt warm and full from a young woman's blood. Or, perhaps it was because I was no longer dead.
When I had awoken, not one week ago, I lay on a ledge of my master's castle. The very ledge on which the Valerious brat had stabbed me through. At first, I thought it had been a dream. A vivid dream. One so much so that I would have sworn on my own life that it had been real.
Until I saw the moonshine glinting on the silver. For it lay beside my hand, the loathsome thing that had been driven through me. Needless to say, I leapt away, glaring, searching for the princess. But she was gone. I sensed no human, no heartbeat, within range.
It was then that I found Verona. Or rather, she found me. "Aleera!" she had cried, flying towards me in a very gawkish way. I had felt confusion and weakness and delight all at the same time. Stumbling to my feet I had proceeded off the ledge, meeting her in the air, laughing, crying, touching her face with my fingers, verifying that she was as real as I.
She was.
We had returned to our Master, and he had taken us in his arms, holding us to him. He had been shivering, weakened. Our master was never weak. What had happened, we asked him, pulling him to his very favorite chair, urging him to sit and tell us of what we did not know. And he had. He did not know why we were alive, said he did not want to speak of the matter then, and Verona and I had comforted him. But where was Marishka? She had also been slaughtered by the horrible Van Helsing man, yet she did not live now like the rest of us? Indeed, we were all perplexed and dismayed. We wept for her, and our master had in turn soothed us.
He said we must make good of this opportunity. Of this miracle. Of being granted life after death.
We promised we would.
Verona flew up behind me, having finished her own feeding.
"We must return now, Aleera!" she said to me "We mustn't leave our poor master all alone!"
I agreed, and together we glided over the patches of forest and snow. Until my eyes took notice of something down upon the ground. I paused in the air, flapping my wings, and inspecting it with wonder. It appeared to be a camp, a human one of course. I cocked my head. So far up in the mountains?
It was strange, indeed.
Verona called to me. I turned and nearly starting again towards our home, but again hesitated. I was so very curious, for what silly mortal would try to scale the mountain on which lived our master? I wanted to see the fool.
"Verona! Go ahead to our master!" I cried, turning my wings back towards the small camp "I shall return soon!"
She seemed puzzled, but heeded my request and flew on. As for myself, I sped down to the earth, hovering just above the rickety shelter. I searched the abandoned snow, feeling disappointment at the absence of occupants. Then I saw the footsteps. A single pair, heading back to the foot of the mountains. I grinned wickedly, and followed them. This could turn out to be very amusing.
They went on for quite some miles. At times, I had great trouble judging which way to go; there had been a nasty blizzard the previous day, and the flurries had filled in several of the small markers.
I had just been wondering if I'd gone the wrong way, when a dark figure on the ground caught my eye, about fifty yards ahead. I giggled and soared lazily to it. Taking a rest, perhaps? What a foolish human.
My surprise was enormous when I fluttered over the creature, only to discover that it did not look like a man, as I'd been expecting, or even a male at all. I landed upon the snow, and flipped the body over. I had been right.
It was a girl.
I stared down at her. She appeared to be dead. Her body had been cold when I touched her; the skin was white and mouth blue. The child had probably frozen to death in the storm.
I pouted my lip. Poor little thing. I blinked. Then caught a sound. One thump, a second thump. Another one. Another one. Another one. A heartbeat? I pressed a finger to her throat, and yes, there was a pulse. I licked my lips. A lovely pulsing a blood, flowing through her veins. I frowned. But I was not hungry. The young girl from earlier had quite filled me up.
So now, I had to decide what to do with this girl. I could leave her here, of course, to die, or perhaps bring her back to a village. The idea of returning her to humans did not, however, appeal to me. Nor did abandoning her. As I silently observed her, I felt a very strange sensation.
For I wanted nothing more than to take her back with me.
The very notion was, indeed, preposterous. A human living with vampires? And with the great Count Dracula none the less! But even as I thought of the absurdity of the concept, I found a wistful kind of pang echoing through me.
All of my children were dead. Killed off, before they had lived an entire night. There was no chance of bringing them back to life, or of any future young being revived. And here before, was a child, still young in comparison to others of her kind, parentless, friendless, alone in the snow.
All alone.
I glanced around quickly. There was no one, nothing, except cold, barren landscape. My eyes again flickered onto the frozen creature before me, and I smiled. It was settled. I would bring her back with me. She could live at the castle as my daughter, and I would raise her, teach her, provide for her.
With a great leap, I transformed into my winged form, and gingerly picked my new child up and flew the two of us back home. I giggled softly, and grinned down at my passenger. She was nothing extraordinary, but she was a pretty thing in her own way. Indeed I would have a great deal of fun fostering this girl.