Bathing in Blood

Chapter One

Branches kept hitting my face while I kept my injured arm close to my chest. I could not even open my mouth to scream - all that came out was a pitiful whine while I kept trying to outrun the beast that had attacked me, even though I could not hear anything following me.
A moan escaped me “Kwiten’” I tried not to think of what was left of my horse. I could feel wetness between my legs while I tried to command them to keep moving. In a dark part of my mind I berated myself for pissing myself, but another part could not think beyond the thought of running away from my attacker. There! I could hear it again…it was following me! Oh my God! Sobbing, I stopped for a second while trying to figure out where the hell I was. Stupid! Stupid! Instead of running toward the house, I had been running further into the forest.
“Mama, Papa..” Please, somebody! I kept running, tripping on the uneven, frozen ground while the blood ran down my mangled arm into the frozen ground.. Maybe this is the end. Suddenly, there was movement behind me and I could hear a growl.
“Oh my God…please…please” I did not stop running, making me clumsy and not notice the branch until it hit me on the chest, causing me to fall down on my arse.
There, standing behind me, was the blood-soaked wolf. It was huge! Funny how I had not noticed that before…
Soft, pitiful sounds escaped my lips while my body shook all over. The wolf’s fangs showed through its lips…I’m going to die.

A sound woke me up, making jump up in bed before noticing that it was morning. Damn it! I had believed these dreams gone but I guess it was the season making me nostalgic. I just wished that winters didn’t bring the bad memories that they usually did “I “I see that you are up.”
I lifted my arm to brush sweat soaked hair out of my eyes, wincing in pain.
“Ah, I also see that your old injury is bothering you again.”
“Felix…”
“Your bath is ready, Master Radoslav. Your mother wants you to be ready before noon to accompany her to church.”
Sighing, I threw my feet out of the covers and sat while I tried to get my breathing under control. Every so often I would get this dream and I hated it. Even though it had already been almost thirteen years, I still felt that fresh fear. Nothing had changed, not even after my father had gone out and brought back a dead wolf. I was sure that it was the wrong beast since it seemed smaller than the one that had attacked me or was that because since I had been younger that it just seemed huge? No use to keep thinking about it.
“Where’s father?”
Felix sent me a narrow look, “You know where.” The statement made me wince and sigh. Raya had died five years back, but my father still took it pretty hard - after all, Raya had been my father’s baby. Especially after overcoming the pneumonia that almost claimed her life. That did not mean that he did not care about me. I could still remember when he had found me half-dead on the forest floor. Even to this day, I do not think I have ever seen my father that afraid.
“Hmm Felix? Is father coming with mother and me to church?”
Felix straightened up from where he was laying out my garments for the day.
“I am not sure. young master. I believe it all depends on whether he gets back in time to go.”
“I see.” I walked to the bath taking off the shirt I had fallen asleep in. That was one thing Felix always frowned on; he hated the fact that I slept with good shirts while my sleeping garments were never used. Sinking into the bath helped to relax the arm that had been throbbing upon my waking. My left arm… ever since that wolf…it bothered me at the oddest times.
Laying my head against the rim of the tub did help a little; I could feel the tension slipping out of my body. Just thinking of what lay ahead of me was tiring.
Many men my age were already married and beginning families of their own while I still lived with my parents and did not even have an idea over whom I was to marry. I was interested in some girls, but I just did not feel like settling down yet. Every time my mother began talking about my future I could feel myself blanking out.
There was some part of me that feared the responsibility. Feared having to think about having to take care of other people. Take care of other people…this coming from the man that still has nightmares.
“Master Rad?”
Felix’s voice woke me up from my self-contemplation. It is better not to think about the future. Life’s lessons had taught me that. When Raya still lived, we had both planned what we were going to do in the future - like living close to each other. Raya loved horses, and of course after my little incident I just stayed away from the creatures in general. There were some nights that when I closed my eyes, I could still hear Kwiten’s screams. Hear him thrash and whine before the wolf snapped his fangs around his neck and killed him.
Once dressed on some black breeches, a baby blue waistcoat and a crisp white shirt, Felix handed me my overcoat and hat before entering the carriage where my parents were waiting for me. So it seemed my father had decided to join us for noon mass.
“Morning, Father, I trust you slept well?”
My father’s tired gaze swung from where it rested on the landscape to me. At times like this. I wondered whether he still remembered that he had another child.
“Aye, Felix mentioned you’re still having nightmares. You know, you could drink a bit of brandy before bed. It would help.”
A bitter laugh escaped my lips, “Believe me, Father, if I thought it would work I would drink the whole bottle.”
“Really Rad, you do like to make a martyr of yourself. It cannot be as horrible as you think.” And ladies and gentlemen, here is the reason why I sometimes wish I could jump out of a moving carriage - my lovely mother.
There is no reason for me to be overly rude to my mother as she is a beautiful and gentle woman. Before, when my father possessed a bit more personality, he used to tell Raya and I how he had met my mother. I believe they were distant cousins, or something of the like, which was not very good if we take into consideration my mother’s parents. They were cousins and half their offspring was daft.
As I was saying, my mother and father met at my father’s twentieth birthday party. That is not to say that my parents had not met before, as a matter of fact my father’s family had spoken to my mother’s family and wanted them both to marry. Something about not diluting the bloodlines, as many families out there were doing. Well, my father met my mother and he thought she was the prettiest thing in the room, they talked and a month later they were married. When I was younger, I thought their story sounded like a fairy tale meeting, after living with them for twenty years I realize that they are both crazy. Especially my mother, trying to have an intelligent conversation with her is like trying to pull feathers out of a dog…impossible. Nonetheless, she was a beautiful woman with her bright red hair piled on top of her head and her pale pink short bodice gown. She liked to keep things simple, and I think that is what made her more beautiful.
Family used to say that Raya and I looked like my mother with our light red hair and bright green eyes. When I was younger, children teased me about my freckles but I seem to have grown out of them, well at least from my face - the rest of my body is still covered by the annoying buggers. Sighing, I realized she was still talking to me.
“Mother, do you think I like waking up in a puddle of my own sweat?”
Her pretty nose wrinkled with distaste, “Now you are just trying to aggravate me.”
“ I would have thought you would know that by now.”
My father turned lazy eyes in my direction “Rad…”
“ I know, I know…so father, are you going to be here for Mr. Rogues party?”
A short laugh was my answer. Well, I should not be too worried I would probably be my mother’s escort. It just made it a bit harder to be able to go home with someone else; for as much as I loved my parents, I really did not want them knowing about my sex life. The rest of the ride was in silence with the small, annoyed exhalations of my mother complaining about the cold or the bumps in the road. My father kept his eyes on the road as if he could see something no one else would appreciate.
Taking my eyes off my father I turned to watch the road outside the carriage. It was beautiful seeing the layer of white snow covering all the fields. From a completely financial point of view it was horrible, but aesthetically it was beautiful and I was sure it was more beautiful when it was dark - but ever since the incident, I made it my outmost goal not to be outside after dark. Especially during the winter months, when animals were hungry and would attack anything that moved.
The carriage started slowing down now that the church could be seen. The building was magnificent, well at least that was what the architects had called it. A masterpiece. In my opinion, it looked like every other church except for the fact that it had higher archways than any other church I had seen before. The carriage finally stopped before the carriage door was opened by our coach, letting my father out,
“Now Rad darling, I know how you hate crowds but at least try to be sociable today, hmmm?”
I felt hard pressed not to roll my eyes, “Yes mother.”


Church went better than I thought it would, taking into account the fact that I did not want to be there. Going to church with the rich and famous is not what I would call trying to be pious. It’s a farce, but I won’t bore you with unnecessary details. All the people attending the church did their confessions and went on with their lives. That’s not to say that I am the perfect example of piety, but I think that at least I’m not a hypocrite. I didn’t like being in church and I think that idea should have made me realize that only the damned would think that, while the priest is telling us about the fires of hell. Nonetheless, I got through mass and went back home to get ready for the party. By now you must think that I am a complete bore, and for the most part this is true, I am not a very exciting individual unless you believe that being bitten half to death by a wolf is exciting. As it stood, I was not the first choice of many women for the simple fact that at parties I liked to observe people more than talk to them.
The party was being held at Mr. Rogues estate, which was one of the most beautiful lands in Graz. He was a Britain, we did not get many people from Britain in Austria that by itself making the man stand out from the crowd, but I liked him enough, even though many people believed him to be a bit awkward because of his fascination with crime novels. I think that’s why I thought he was fascinating, he would read these novels about impossible crimes and then relate them to me. I remember when I was younger, my father used to have more business dealings with him and would sometimes bring me along, Mr. Rogues would sit there and tell my dad about things he had read and when I was older, I would go visit him and see what he would tell me. Sometimes his son Edward and I would play around; chasing each other or tormenting his sister Malory and her friends who usually just sat in the tearoom and gossiped about all the young boys. It was with Malory that I experienced my first kiss, which we later both denied, being too embarrassed to even admit that little intimacy. There was also the le fle fact that if Edward knew that I had been sexually experimenting with his sister, I would’ve been prohibited from being in the same room as she.
As I was saying, Mr. Rogues’ house was beautiful and this is not because of Mr. Rogues’ influence on décor but that of his lovely second wife, Anastacia. Anastacia was a lovely blonde girl for she was clos my my age. Mr. Rogues had met her on one of his business trips. Remembering back to that time it was weird, one day Mr. Rogues had left to Vienna and the next time he came back, it was with a lovely young bride who was more likely to have been one of his daughters than a wife to share a bed with him. Well, to tell you the truth I was a bit taken with Anastacia the first time I saw her, with her beautiful blonde hair piled up on her head, her creamy skin and the bluest eyes I had ever seen. That is the first time that I remember having a physical reaction to a woman, it was bothersome because this was a married woman. Thankfully, I outgrew the reaction and was able to have a normal conversation with the lady that mostly consisted of “Hello, Lady” and “ Good day, Lady”, but at least I no longer felt like a lecher.
I arrived at Mr. Rogues a little after the tenth bell had rung, in the company of my lovely mother.
“Radoslar!”
Turning, I was graced with Malory’s brilliant smile and Edward’s quieter smile.
“Lady…” I said as I carefully bended and kissed her fingertips.
“I saw you at church today, you didn’t seem too happy,” said Edward as my mother left to sit with some of her bridge friends.
“Didn’t sleep to well,” I said while I looked around the room to see who was there. While I was looking around, my eyes locked with those of a man that seemed to be in his late twenties. It was odd, I just remember how Malory’s voice seemed to fade into the background while I kept staring at those eyes. They were the oddest shade of brown, light brown but they seemed to change colour while I stared. Taking a deep breath, I studied the rest of the face and found it flawless, with full lips, and surrounded by dark hair that spilled over his shoulders…
A hand fell on my arm, “Rad, are you even listening to me?”
Blinking, I turned to see Malory looking at me with a small pout. Taking a deep breath I flicked a stray lock from my face; that was odd! I had been studying a man with almost the same kind of interest I used to study Anastacia.
“I’m…I’m sorry I was a bit distracted.”
Edward had a small smile and exchanged an odd look with Malory, “Oh yes, we saw who had your complete attention. Really, I thought you were about the only guy that had no interest in grazing the other side.”
Those eyes still had me confused so it took me a bit longer to get what Edward was saying, but when I did it surprised me, “Grazing…? Oh no! No…I was just thinking that I’ve never seen him before.”
Edward studied me a bit; his green eyes steady until he seemed satisfied with what he saw and said, “ I have no idea who he is. I do know he’s a Count of some sort, but you know my father. They met on one of his conventions and I believe they found a friendship out of that. No matter, just don’t go near him, half the people father meets are odd.”
“Oh yes!,” smiled Malory as her eyes roamed the room for the stranger. “I hate how Papa just picks up strays.”
I frowned a bit at this, “Strays? But didn’t Edward just say he was a count?”
Malory sighed a bit as she flipped some dark curls from her shoulder, “I call all the people father meets abroad that. Why do you think Anastacia has such a foul face whenever she sees me?”
Malory and Edward laughed at this. “I never knew you and Anastacia had problems.”
“Well yes! If father thinks that after mother he can bring a mere child to his bed, well, he’s in the wrong.”
“Hmm, I think I need a drink,” I said as I left them. I needed something strong, but if I were to make a good impression I could not get drunk. A boy had just given me a glass of white wine when I felt someone standing behind me. It bothered me enough that I could feel the hairs behind my back standing on end.
“I believe your friends have forgotten about you,” said a rich cultured voice. Turning, I realized it was the same man Edward had accused me of switching sides for.
Suddenly, I felt my throat go dry when I became the main focus of those eyes. Now that I think back on that, I should’ve thought it odd but at the moment I was so mesmerized.
“Umm…Hello Sir.”
The man in front of me smiled as if I were a mere child, which put me in the defensive even though deep down I still felt a kind of attraction that was beginning to bother me - well, at least the part of me that could still think. It was like I was divided, one part of me didn’t care as long as I could talk to him while another part of me thought he was a pompous prick.
“ I saw you watching me.” Was he hitting on me?! “ I’m Count Philippe McArthur from Vienna, and you would be?”
I was a bit confused, this man had seemed to be flirting with me and now all of a sudden he was acting proper, “Radoslar Bretagne.” He was still studying me but now a small smile appeared on his face. Nervously, I sipped my wine while my eyes tried to find my friends in the room. McArthur seemed nice enough, but he was making me nervous, perhaps because I could feel myself blushing under his watchful gaze.
“ I take it you are not much of a social butterfly,” this was said with another small smile.
I shrugged my shoulders a bit at the statement, who was I to say I was one? I’ve never really liked parties especially after Raya left me.
“It’s a shame, I would think the ladies would be swooning over you.” That made me laugh.
“Count, you really do not know me. Now tell me, what brought you here besides Mr. Rogues eccentricity?”
A small sigh escaped the Count while I tried to pretend to not be watching his lips. The thoughts that kept popping in my mind…
“My family used to own land here, so when I met Mr. Rogues he said he knew a nice piece of property I could get here.”
I smiled, “That’s Mr. Rogues for you. Always trying to help people.” I had been staring out toward the ballroom where a few people were dancing, but when I didn’t hear anything from the Count I turned to see him watching me. The worst part is that he seemed to be staring at my lips, making me flush in embarrassment. I was sure I was blushing an interesting shade of red.
What’s wrong with me? I’ve never…I mean I like women. At that though a soft sigh escaped me as if confirming it in my mind was enough to reaffirm my sexuality.
“Yes, Mr. Rogues is an interesting character. I was not very sure how productive this trip would be but now I am glad I made it.” This was said while the Count studied me with a predatory look in his eyes.
I broke contact by turning my eyes once more to the room and could see Edward and Malory laughing at something one of them had said. When both turned to look in my direction, I was positive the joke was at my expense. I could feel myself starting to blush while I promised myself to give Edward a good thrashing the next time I spoke to him.
“Umm…”
The insecure tone made me turn back to study McArthur who was fiddling with his wine glass.
“Would you like to go sit in the balcony?”
A part of me wanted to tell the man that he should leave me alone but when he asked, I found myself accepting his invitation. We both walked away after picking up new drinks and stood outside on the balcony studying the night.
The Count was the first to break the silence, “One never knows what the night will bring. It’s like Mother Earth is taunting us, telling us what happens when we don’t respect her.” Those words made chills run down my spine. As McArthur kept talking, I could feel myself beginning to sweat, I could remember the smell of gore. I could feel Kwiten’s blood covering half of my face while I ran with my injured arm through the forest. That night had not been kind to me and had fuelled many other nights of nightmares.
“….okay?” The voice broke through my musings making me realize that I was holding my glass a bit too tightly and would break it if I didn’t let up. McArthur was watching me warily, trying to see something in my eyes.
“Excuse me?”
“ I asked if you were okay. It seemed you were drifting away there for a while.”
A small smile escaped me, “Yeah.”
“Ah, well we all have our secrets,” this was said with a lot of amusement from McArthur’s side. Oh God, but he looked good laughing. That thought bothered me more than anything because I was sure that I had never thought that of any man before. McArthur was stug meg me and seemed to he contemplating something. I was already starting to get nervous around him. Maybe I should use the excuse that I need to look for my mother to get away.
McArthur seemed to be able to read what I was thinking because he shrugged and said: “It seems you are a bit busy at the moment, but I would love for you to come visit with me. There is something about you…”
And ladies and gentlemen, even though I fervently denied the fact that I was attracted tm I m I was very flattered by the statement. So flattered that I found myself saying yes while accepting the card bearing his hotel’s name and room number.
“Well, Rad, it was very nice meeting you,” he looked around us before lifting his hand to touch my lips. I was so surprised that I couldn’t find anything to say before he gave me another smile and disappeared into the crowd.
I exhaled slowly thinking there was no longer a reason to avoid looking for my mother. There was also the fact that I was exhausted, the lack of sleep catching up to me since I hadn’t been able to rest properly for a few days.
“Mother…” she was talking to one of my father’s business partners. I had no idea why she was talking to the man except that maybe she was grilling him for gossip.
“Rad…I was just telling Mr. Kornic how lovely this party is.”
“Yes mother…lovely…”