"sterfelijk wezen"
A scorching heat emanated from her body and clouded her mind. The events of the last days, hardly more than thin threads she could not grasp, vanished into the farthest corners of her subconscious. The result was a confused jumble of memories to which she could not attribute time, place or importance.
The departure of her parents, various popular festivals, the lessons with her father, the bookshelf in the shop with the most wondrous folios, the meeting with Regis, the incident 16 years ago, the Trastamara hunting lodge and the wondrous encounters with the Beauclair beast.
On the banks of the river she had seen his human face for the first time and was more than surprised by his well-groomed appearance. The tense posture was reflected in his face, with his bright blue eyes always fixed on her. It is said in common parlance that eyes are the mirror of the soul, but never before had she been so sure of the truth of this popular wisdom as when she saw these eyes.
His lips pressed tightly together, the facial expression seemed quite reduced, but in his eyes a war was raging, which could best be described with the words "Sturm und Drang". A suffering being, which did not know where it belonged. It possesses a home among its own kind and still feels attracted by the diversity of mankind. An emotional individual, who has to restrain himself in the presence of humans, taking care not to reveal his true nature. Curiosity paired with fear of a repulsive reaction towards him. The certainty that even the smallest mistake will neither be forgiven nor forgotten. A permanent sword of Damocles, which can hardly be ignored and can only be mastered with an incomparable strength of will. Livia came to the conclusion that she could only feel one thing for the beast. Pity.
The deed committed could not be approved of in any case, but considering his situation and the tendency to strong emotions, his action was at least to some extent comprehensible.
She was torn from her dozing state when something cold lay on her forehead. With great effort she tried to return to reality and opened her eyes. Her vision was blurred and thanks to the fact that it was already dark, she could only make out shadowy, black-grey color gradients.
She blinked a few times before a chair creaked and the flame of a candle enveloped the immediate surroundings in a soft yellow light. The vampire sat down again on the chair next to her bed and looked at her with sincere concern. Her throat was dry as dust and when she opened her lips to say something, little more than a pathetic rattle came out. Her counterpart leaned forward so that their faces were close together and put one hand on her forehead. Only now did it dawn on her that the laying of the rag soaked with cold water must have woken her.
He dipped the cloth into a bowl of water that stood on the ground, wrung it out and laid it back on her forehead. As he pulled his hand back, she reached for it and interlocked her fingers with his. She could actually feel the increasing nervousness in him and squeezed harder for confirmation. Livia swallowed with the greatest effort and produced a broken "Thank you".
It seemed as if the vampire had held his breath before he timidly returned the touch and handed her a glass of water. "How are you? Can I get you something to ease the pain?"
Livia blinked and tried to sort her thoughts while trying to empty the glass in one go and of course swallowed immediately. The coughing fit burned like fire in her throat and she drank the rest of the glass.
"I've been better, but in consideration of the recent events, I guess I should consider myself lucky to be alive."
The vampire pulled his eyebrows together and continued in a subdued voice. "It was rather careless of you to enter the forest. Had you not used the sphera sensum, you would now be dead." Livia raised an eyebrow in surprise. Did she hear an accusation in his deep voice? Did he speak to her almost in a whisper to restrain himself?
After a short break she started. "Downstairs in the workshop is a large desk with various bottles. One of them is filled with a light blue liquid and another one next to the feather pen with red. I would be very grateful if you would bring me both."
The vampire stood up silently and was about to leave when he was stopped by Livia. " Wait."
She cleared her throat embarrassed and continued unsteadily.
"So far it hasn't turned out that we introduce ourselves. My name is Livia Moreau. How may I call you?"
"Dettlaff. Dettlaff van der Eretein," the vampire turned away and went downstairs.
As he stood before her with a serious expression and the two potions, the alchemist reached for the vial with the blue tincture. A "plop" broke the silence as she pulled out the cork and tried to start drinking immediately. Her lying position made the task more difficult, but this did not escape Dettlaff's attentive gaze. With a smooth movement he placed his hand under her head and lifted it slightly. The touch caused Livia to stop thinking for a moment before she started drinking again.
The pain-relieving effect was immediate, after which she let herself sink back into her bed with her eyes closed and relieved.
A tiny smile was on her lips before she turned back to Dettlaff and gave a resigned sigh. "It should be my job to look after you, not the other way around."
Her eyes widened in disbelief as her counterpart timidly returned her smile.
"I took the remaining potion after our first meeting. As you can see, I can now easily take my human form again."
The alchemist examined the black-haired man and seemed to make an extremely puzzled face. Still holding the bottle with the red liquid, the vampire sat down again on the chair next to Livia's bed and looked at her with his blue eyes piercingly.
"If you wish, you may ask me questions about my nature. I will try to answer them as clearly as I can."
The young woman blinked in surprise. "Thank you. But the conversation need not be one-sided. You can ask me questions as well, of course." After the vampire nodded in agreement, she continued. "Van der Eretein, that sounds a lot like a title of nobility. Do you own land?"
The little smile remained, but his eyes took on a melancholy expression. "I have no last name. To make up for this and to be less conspicuous among you people, I merely added the name of my home, Eretein." Livia noticed now his strong Nazair accent and nodded affirmatively.
"An interesting choice of name." She pointed to the vial in his hand and looked at him questioningly. "You should take the potion. I doubt the incident in the woods has contributed much to your recovery."
"Regis's blood is in it."
Thoughtful wrinkles formed on Livia's forehead and she cleared her throat embarrassed. "I thought vampires had no problem with blood?"
Dettlaff laughed softly, so that his shoulders trembled slightly. "Neither did we. But blood has an extremely intoxicating effect on us. Especially if you stop drinking suddenly after a true bloodlust."
"You mean what happened in Beauclair."
This was not a question, but more a statement of the young woman and the vampire nodded. She closed her eyes and went over the potential further questions in her mind. She wanted to know more about him, but not to appear too intrusive.
"I think that I have already tested my luck sufficiently in the last few days. I can therefore easily go without a thirsty vampire. Nevertheless, it wouldn't hurt if you took it to the Trastamara Mansion later on. After all, it was primarily my task to help you and not", she looked down at herself "the other way round."
"Thank you. I appreciate your concern."
After a fairly long pause Dettlaff continued. "How did you meet Regis?"
Livia's gaze darkened as she told of the terrible event 16 years ago. "After regaining consciousness, Regis bent over me slightly and tended to my wounds. However, as a result of the rough touching of the men, I was in shock and assumed that he wanted to continue where my consciousness had previously disappeared. I reached for the next stone and threw it with a scream against his head. When he recoiled in shock I noticed the small laceration on his forehead.
Ready to defend myself further, I reached for the next stone and stayed in my tense attack position. It was only at this point that I noticed the dead men around him and his case of bandages. I looked up at him from my crouching position and was blinded by the bright midday sun, so I lowered my eyes and to my horror I realized that my counterpart had no shadow.
He seemed to see certainty in my eyes and slowly approached me with soothing words. I did not reply and did not resist either when he looked me in the eyes. After a short time a pleasant feeling spread inside me and the panicked fear was blown away. All that remained was a pleasant feeling of high spirits. He took care of my wound on my wrist and then took me home. As we stood in front of my house, I noticed that the wound on his head was completely healed and wanted to apologize for my behavior, but he only shook his head gently and said that he would visit me more often now".
Livia looked into the vampire's ice-blue eyes for a long time and finally added: "Dettlaff. I owe Regis my life. He saved me from those men and guided me home safely. He never showed me his true form and the only condition on his part was that I should never reveal his intervention in this case to a human soul. I am eternally in his debt and will never be able to repay it. The vampire remained silent while he laid his eyes on Livia.
Now it was up to Livia to ask the same question. "And how did you meet Regis for the first time?" He told her about Regi's condition after his encounter with Vilgefortz and then went on to discuss other events of the past, trying to avoid Rhenawedd as much as possible. After the vampire had finished with the events from Beauclair, he lowered his eyes in shame and did not dare to look up. Livia had listened with her eyes closed and wanted to sit up to talk to Dettlaff about this very serious subject on an equal footing.
While sitting up painfully innumerable muscle strands came up and cried out collectively for a relaxed position. Suddenly, however, she noticed with irritation that she was not wearing any clothes at all. With eyes wide open, she jerked the blanket over her flat bosom and saw a desolate mountain of clothes on the floor, surrounded by a small puddle of water. The thought that she had been unconsciously undressed by a stranger seemed unbearable to her. She was about to make a biting comment when her gaze fell on the suffering creature in front of her, who, due to his dejection, seemed to have noticed nothing of her involuntary exposure.
She noticed that Dettlaff was still wearing his wet clothes and must have spent the last few hours taking care of her solely. Since the accident, she has always kept physical contact with the male sex to an absolute minimum. The young woman pressed her lips firmly together and looked determinedly at Dettlaff.
Trembling, she lifted one hand from the blanket and tentatively touched the vampire's cold cheek with her fingertips. His body tightened instantly and he looked at her with the expression of a chased animal.
His teeth protruded, his fingernails extended into monstrous claws and his ice-blue eyes turned almost white, while his face took on vampire-like features. Her heartbeat quickened and her mind urged her to flee as quickly as possible.
Instead, she clenched her teeth and tried to control her trembling body. She resisted his angry gaze and now enclosed his cheek with her hand. The skin felt firmer than the human skin, his cheekbones were now very pronounced and almost every vein in his face was visible. His nose was slightly flatter and at the same time wider, the auricles tilted sideways and pointed.
A threatening growl rose from his throat and made Livia flinch. Despite the monstrous sight, she felt fear, but also overwhelming pity for this lonely creature of darkness. At first he sought contact with people and now he seemed frightened and broken, his previous world view lay in ruins before him.
"You do not have to go through this alone. You can share your grief with friends and find comfort. Relying on others is not a sign of weakness."
"No, but to misjudge one's counterpart and fall for his words. I trusted once and was disappointed. I will not make that mistake again."
"You will have put your trust in more than one being."
"Yes, but there was only one HUMAN I felt worthy of my trust. This trust also damaged the bond between me and my blood brother. I will not let it happen again!"
As in the Trastamara estate, Livia was overcome by an unexplainable rage and she pulled back her hand. She moved the mountain of blankets aside and stood up in front of Dettlaff. The fact that she was completely exposed in front of him had no meaning for her anymore. Her hip-length golden hair covered most of her upper body and when she bent forward so that their faces were only inches apart, they fell smoothly onto the man's thighs. His intermittent breathing left goose bumps on the affected areas of the alchemist's skin.
"Stop it! Stop that pesky self-pity! Stop with the generalized recriminations! Face reality and the consequences of your actions. Learn from your mistakes instead of demonising them!"
The vampire's body radiated an unnatural heat and trembled with rage. With an almost hissing voice he addressed her: "I have drawn my consequences from my mistakes sterfelijk wezen. In future I will keep my distance from human civilization and prefer solitude."
Furiously, she grabbed the upper buckles of his black leather coat with both hands and pulled him closer to her with a force that was surprising for her. Her narrow nose tip now touched his and in her eyes the flame of determination burned.
"Then why are you still here? You listened to me at the Trastamara estate, rushed to my aid and saved my life and provided for me. Seclusion looks different to me, or is this a misunderstanding between our cultures?!"
A threatening silence set in and time seemed to stand still for a moment.
No one wanted to break eye contact or reciprocate. Too great was the fear of a thoughtless statement and its consequences.
Livia's weakened body solved this problem after some time, as the lips and individual areas of skin began to turn blue from cold. Dettlaff's attentive gaze did not escape this circumstance. He rose, transformed himself back into his human form and reached for the top cover behind Livia. With a stoic mine he put the blanket around her shoulders and breathed out deeply.
"You saved my life. Please give me the opportunity to repay you."
He looked down at the petite woman and saw a wild determination in her eyes. He gave a resigned sigh and turned towards the stairs. "I'll just go and put some wood on the fire. Shall I bring you something special to drink?"
Relief spread through the alchemist's body and she responded with a timid smile:
"A tea, please. Could you explain to me what "sterfelijk wezen" means?"
His eyes softened and the corners of his mouth twitched: "Mortal being."