The Hunt

18


River went out. For four days on end. He drank a lot and danced his feet off. All he wanted was forget about everything that had happened in the last months for a short while. The first night, he had gone to a disco he had heard was popular amongst homosexuals. He had danced and flirted heavily with one guy, but when his lips had met those of the stranger, something in him had revolted. Bastard. That was going to be Andreji’s new nickname. So he was doomed to lean back and wait for Andreji to… -well, to finally forget a man that had been dead for fifty years or so. That was his competitor, was it not? A long rotten corpse. Seeing it from that perspective, it should not be too hard to convince Andreji that River was the right choice, should it? His body was still warm.

However, before he took to that patience-demanding task, he partied some more, although not in gay clubs anymore.

The rest of the first week of Andreji’s absence, River spent trying to come to his senses again. On the first morning, it took him some time to figure out that - thank the Lord or whomever – he was safely in his hotel bed, albeit still dressed in sweaty clothes that smelled of cold cigarette smoke. His hangover killed him. The strongest headache tablet could not rid him of it. River did not even manage to take a shower – or even think of doing so. His whole grand actions that day consisted of pulling off his shirt and trousers and sink back into the pillows. In the evening, hunger woke him, but he did not dare go and find a decent dinner in his dejected state. A chocolate bar he found in his jacket had to do.

The next morning, a cold shower and another headache remedy helped him to at least sneak down to the breakfast buffet, prepare a couple of rolls with butter and cheese and take them up to his room as supply for the day. When he tried to watch TV, however, his headache grew worse again. He switched the device off and listened to the sounds of people passing by his room in the corridor outside.

The third day, River went down to breakfast as usual and took a long walk afterwards to air his brain. It had been a while since last he had taken things to the extremes, and he surely never before had overdone it like this. He also was not eager on repeating it.

Luckily, his appointment for the first tattoo removal session had already taken place the afternoon before he had started the madness. Less lucky was, however, that he had been told the next session could take place in four weeks at the earliest because his skin needed time to heal. His tattoo was simple, single-coloured, and had faded already noticeably. The lady had assumed they might be done after another two to three meetings, which was very fast.

On day eight, River found a cinema that showed an English movie in its original language whose summary sounded interesting. It turned out to be a bit lengthy, but he did not mind.

Afterwards, he sat in a bar, sipping a beer-coke mix (that left his head unharmed) and idly wondered how long he would be stuck in the city. If he had been able to speak German, he could have found himself a job. Such as it was, he lacked a task. He wished Andreji would take up his lessons again. Perhaps a more active tutoring, fight training or something. Of course, that required the man to be actually present.

In the corner of his eye, River saw someone slip into the seat beside him with graceful movements. When he turned around to glance at the person, he was surprised to be met by a familiar face. He put up a smile. “One might think you are following us…”

A warm smile of thin lips appeared beneath the unnaturally big, dark eyes that rested on him with a strange mixture of knowledge and curiosity in them. “As a matter of fact, I do.” Her voice still had this special, dark timbre to it. She held out her hand. “I don’t think we have been properly introduced. Most people call me Sage.”

He shook her hand. A wristband was dangling on her delicate arm. She was unusually thin, but her grip was tight. “River. Nice to meet you – again.”

“Yes. Well, last time was a bit short and eventful. The two of you disappeared sooner than I was able to talk to your Master.”

“I’m afraid I can’t help you with that at the moment either. He’s out of town.” River looked at the woman who had appeared so unexpectedly at the vampire meeting with some interest, drinking his coke-beer mix. He would love to have a nice, insightful conversation, and she looked the right person for it as she seemed to know Andreji a little better and longer than he did.

She glanced at her watch. “Oh, that’s not a problem. I will stay here for a few days. Now, however, I’m on my way to meet a friend of mine. I just wanted to say hello when I saw you through the window.”

River’s hopes were disappointed.

“We could meet some other time. Perhaps the night after tomorrow, same place, same time?”

He agreed gladly.

On day ten, at the appointed time, River sat down at one of the small tables the bar was equipped with and ordered a non-alcoholic cocktail. He wanted to keep his head clear for a hopefully interesting conversation. He guessed he truly suffered from a lack of socialising.

A few minutes later, Sage sank down on the seat opposite him. “Good evening,” she said with a smile that at first glance looked benevolent, yet also held a spark of philandering, which made her look several years younger than… -her body usually looked. River guessed she had been turned at some point in her late twenties or early thirties. The reflection in her eyes of the cool light that illuminated the room contrasted sharply with her dark irises, as did her still strawberry blond hair. Andreji’s Master definitely had had taste, River decided.

“Hello,” he greeted back.

Sage studied the small menu. “I guess there’s not much on it for you,” River remarked.

She smiled meaningfully. “I’ll survive.”

River’s cocktail was brought. “What may I serve you?” The barmaid turned to Sage.

“Nothing, thank you.” River’s gaze was momentarily distracted by the two crinkles that bracketed her mouth whenever she smiled. As if she had laughed so much in her life that it had left deep traces on her.

The barmaid left.

“So, what are you doing here in Vienna?” she asked him. “I’ve never seen Andreji here before.”

River looked down on his colourful drink. “It was my idea to come here. Perhaps that’s why he’s fleeing the city so much.” He shrugged.

“Where is he, now?” Sage wanted to know.

“Off to some client. What happened after we left?” the young Japanese changed the subject.

“Well, the grand chaos, I suppose. Commotion about Andreji suddenly turning 180° in his attitude and attacking his Master like that. No one had anticipated anything like that. I didn’t stand by to watch too long, unsure how they would come to react to my presence eventually when they had rearranged their thoughts.”

“I guess that was smart,” River conceded. “How did you and Andreji meet anyway?” he asked curiously. A second later, he took the question back. “Stupid of me. Through your Master, of course.”

“No, no, not stupid at all,” she replied. “It was the other way around - I got to know Demyan through Andreji. Roaring twenties, you know, and me drinking a glass of champagne too much at one of those parties and stumbling into Andreji’s arms…” She smiled with gleam in her eyes.

River returned the smile. He really felt comfortable in Sage’s presence. “He seemed pretty cold towards you. Was that just because he was concentrating on what he was planning to do later or…?”

“At the assembly, you mean? I was surprised myself. Don’t know what that was about. Perhaps he was mad at me for not seeking contact with him earlier, for leaving him alone after our Master had been executed.” She played with the beer mats of which several had been stacked in a metal stand on the table. “Then again, I was forbidden to enter the cave for half a century for having – rightfully – accused the leader of murder, so it would have been much easier for Andreji to approach me than the other way around. I have to admit, I was a little taken aback by how willingly he yielded to his ‘new Master’. How could I foresee it was only for revenge? A very strange kind of revenge, moreover. In addition, Andreji and I hadn’t met for some time before that. He’d gone away after I had become Demyan’s fledgling. Demyan said they often parted for a while.”

River nodded in acknowledgement. “Yeah, Andreji doesn’t seem to be the type to settle down somewhere, not even for a few weeks. He’s always on the move…”

“Do I hear some resentment there?” Sage eyed him attentively.

River glanced at her, hesitating to talk about something that was between him and his Master. In the end, he caved in. “It’s just that… -I don’t know. I guess he’s trying to be a good Master, explaining things, not setting up any strict rules and so on. But I’d hoped we’d be more than Master and fledgling. We share bed sometimes, as seems to be part of the bond, but… I don’t think he cares about me as much as I do about him. In fact, he’s admitted it. I think he’s not gotten over the loss of your Master yet. He’s not ready for something new.”

Sage looked at him sympathetically. “Don’t worry,” she took his hand into hers, “he won’t be able to cling to the past forever. The bond between Master and fledgling won’t let him. Just as you grow more attached to him each time you drink his blood, his feelings for you are enhanced each time he drinks yours. He won’t be able to resist that much longer. That is a natural mechanism to dissociate the fledgling from his Master when he becomes a Master himself.”

River grew pale and looked down, his eyelids quivering.

“What is it, now?” the woman opposite him asked concerned.

The young man was even more reluctant to answer this question. It would mean revealing intimate details. However, he needed to speak it out, needed to know what it meant. “A… Andreji never drinks from me…” He looked up at Sage to see her reaction. The thought of Andreji sucking his blood was nothing he enjoyed; still, if it was necessary to complete the bond…

Sage’s face showed surprise and disbelief. “He doesn’t? But he said you were officially his fledgling?! That means you have drunken his blood already, haven’t you?”

River nodded curtly.

“Commonly, he would have fed from you long before the need to drink him overwhelmed you…” She frowned in puzzlement. “How can he withstand the temptation, the pull?!”

“Through self-restraint. Something that you have never possessed,” a dark voice said beside their table suddenly, filled with hardly suppressed anger. The two of them had been so absorbed in their conversation that they had not noticed Andreji’s arrival.

Sage jumped up in surprise, as if she had been caught at something that was prohibited. “Andreji…”

Andreji apparently ignored her, pulling a ten-euros-note out of the bundle of cash he held in his hand and throwing it on the table. Putting the money back in his coat, he looked up at her, stony-faced, ice-cold stare. “From your reaction I take it you are aware that it is unseemly to approach another vampire’s fledgling in his absence.”

“I just wanted to hear a bit about you,” Sage started to defend herself.

Andreji overrode her. “It is also impertinent to tell my fledgling what bad Master I am to spare him from the act of sucking his blood, when I was merely trying not to frighten him off.”

River’s cheeks warmed in embarrassment over the disappointment he had felt seconds before. Andreji held his jacket out to him. Subdued, he took it and got up.

Andreji turned without another word and headed towards the exit. River followed him.

“Wait,” Sage called out to him.

“I have nothing to discuss with you. I never had.”

They walked in uncomfortable silence for a while, River half a step behind his Master. From the tension in his face, River could tell that Andreji was very upset. He thought it was better not to stir him further by speaking up.

A few blocks from River’s hotel, Andreji lifted his voice. “I will wait for you in front of the hotel in two hours. I expect you to have packed by then.”

“We are leaving?” River asked perplexed.

Andreji left him without an answer.

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