The Hunt

5

Quiet sounds of inhaling and exhaling emerged from an armchair as Andreji moved through the room. He stopped in front of it, looking down on the sleeping form of the young human that had suddenly tumbled into his lone existence. The messy light brown and golden strands of his hair covered his exotic face.

With a sigh, he knelt down, placed his arms under the young man, and slowly lifted him up. River stirred in his sleep and nestled up against Andreji’s chest. The tall man slowly stood up and went over to the curtain that divided the main room from River’s bed chamber. The light human in his arms, he slipped past it and placed him on the bed in the dark. Pictures of himself in River’s stead flashed up before his inner eye and filled him with a warm feeling, but he pushed them aside.

He removed River’s shoes and covered him with the eiderdown. Bent over River’s face, the tip of his tongue moved over the young man’s temple. He licked his soft lips as well. Then Andreji straightened up and looked down on his ‘fledgling’ in the dark. Was this supposed to be the one? Granted, he was interesting to look at. Granted, he was a nice guy and neat bed company. But did Andreji truly want to make him his companion for good? Did he want a companion at all? He had done his best to postpone the moment when it would be demanded of him to take a fledgling in again and again. Repugnance built up in him. However, that feeling led to nothing. He would have to push that aside, too. He had no choice.

River dived out of a pleasant dream into the blackness of his chamber. He blinked into the darkness, trying to shake off the last remains of sleepiness.

As he stumbled into the living room, he found it completely empty. The only light came from a single lantern at the ceiling. River could not remember going to bed, but what dislocated him even more was the absence of any time measuring device. He had no idea if he had slept only two hours or ten. The absence of light did not help either.

Drowsily he climbed on one of the armchairs again and got hold of the lantern. When he moved through the cold corridors this time, he found them empty. The higher he climbed, the warmer grew the air. Sitting silently on the toilet, he could hear dim sounds like hammering. Was Andreji’s smithy close by? He decided to check that. After all, nobody had forbidden him to move freely in the tunnels.

After having taken a wrong turn or two, River felt he had found the right path. The noises grew louder and the air warmer. Finally, he stood in front of a wooden door. He could not say that he recognised it, everything looked the same down here, but the sounds were unmistakable.

His heart hammering a little faster since he was not entirely sure that he was allowed to be there, River opened the door. A heat-wave rolled over him. Andreji stood at the anvil like he had the first time, handling a glowing piece of metal. River stepped inside and shut the door behind him.

He sank down against the wall to sit on the floor and watch Andreji. The man seemed experienced in what he did, from what River could tell. Again and again, he heated the metal, hammered, cooled it rapidly down with cold water, heated it again… The routine almost had a calming effect on River. On the other hand, watching the strong man work tirelessly without once looking up and paying him any attention, seeing the muscles move under his skin and seeing the strict determination in his face put River in his place. Andreji was superior to him; it would not be easy to escape him.

River stood up and went over to the right, where Andreji held his stock. Several metal bars were piled up there. His eyes fell on bars that lay on an old, weathered wooden shelf. Beneath the name of the manufacturer, ‘999 fine silver 50 troy ounce’ was imprinted in the metal. “You use silver?” he asked surprised. “I thought vampires were intolerant to silver?”

He could see Andreji smirk as he stopped working to answer. “Look at me and you know we are,” he replied.

River frowned. “I don’t understand. You look perfectly healthy!”

“Do I? And here I was thinking for centuries that I was looking like an albino,” Andreji said mockingly.

River stepped closer and seized a strand of Andreji’s long, white hair. “That’s due to the silver?” he asked disbelievingly and rubbed the smooth hair between his fingers.

Andreji turned towards him. “Do you always touch the hair of people that frighten you?”

River stared at him, let go of the strand perplexedly as he realised how close they stood, and took a step backwards. “I’ve touched you in much more intimate places,” he countered before he knew what he was saying.

Another smirk crossed Andreji’s face. “Is that an offer?” There was the old, playful note in his voice.

His gaze suddenly seemed much more intense to River. He could not help but let his eyes drift over the half-naked form of Andreji’s strong upper body. His nipples hardened. What was wrong with him?!? “Why do you use the silver if it has a negative effect on you, then?” he managed to stammer after a few moments of his mind being blank.

Giving his smirk a very special meaning, Andreji turned back to his work. “Some creatures are hardly controllable without silver weapons,” he explained. “I’ve gotten used to it over the centuries. It does not affect me as severely as it affects the others anymore. Lucky for you, if I may add. Otherwise that wraith would have killed you – well, perhaps it would have killed me, too.”

“But there was burnt flesh on the sword hilt,” River recalled.

“I never said I was immune.”

Andreji moved over to the fire and heated the metal again. River watched him silently, still catching himself at marvelling at Andreji’s body.

“Go back to my rooms, take a shower and eat breakfast. I’ll come down later to talk,” Andreji ordered without turning to look at his fledgling.

River turned, confused by his own body, and went to the door. “Oh,” he suddenly remembered, “a man wanted to speak to you yesterday. He said he would try again.”

“Fine,” Andreji replied curtly.

River did as Andreji had proposed and took a shower to relax. His breakfast consisted mainly of the fruits Andreji had brought him, even though there was a new pack of buttered bread in the entrance area.

When he sat down with a cup of water, he heard the front door open, and then a second door lock clicked, indicating that Andreji had disappeared into the bathroom. A while later he stepped into the room, enveloped in a bathrobe, his hair in one wet strand lying on his chest. He sat down in the spare armchair and relaxed.

“So, what is it you want to know?”

River goggled into his cup. Where was he supposed to begin? He decided to start with summing up what they had already discussed. “You said I’m your apprentice, now, I’m supposed to study and I’m to comply with your instructions.” He paused. He had to fight his negative feelings down to be able to address everything without saying anything that might anger Andreji - that would be counterproductive for his escape plans. “How is this supposed to continue? I mean, when are you…” He exhaled heavily and jumped up to move about in the room. “When are you going to turn me?” he finally managed to blurt out.

There was no answer. Since he had gone behind the armchairs, River could not see Andreji’s facial expression either. ‘Andreji?’ he wanted to say but remembered not to. Instead he went to face Andreji, feeling unable to call him ‘Master’. The older man gazed up at him with mild interest.

River frowned. Andreji had promised him answers, and now he just sat there and stared at him?

Eventually, Andreji pointed to the second seat. “Sit down,” he demanded calmly.

Dread crept up in River. Hesitantly, he did as he was told.

Andreji carried amusement in his face. “So we are having the talk about birds and bees, now?”

River looked away, into the empty fireplace. “I don’t feel like joking,” he murmured.

“What do you believe to know about vampires?” Andreji enquired, ignoring his comment.

River stared up at him. What was he to say to that, now, that did not betray his true opinion? He shrugged his shoulders. “Much of what I’ve been told has proven itself wrong lately.”

“Tell me.”

River looked aside again. “Can’t we light a fire first? I’m freezing.”

Andreji’s knowing stare bore into him. “Fine. I light a fire; you talk.” He got up and pulled out a stack of old papers that he crumpled and set fire to first, before he piled up shakes around the tiny flames. “I am listening.”

River sighed. “You cannot tolerate silver and sunlight burns you to ashes. You feed from blood and you fall to sleep at daytime - from what I can tell, the latter is wrong. Lukas claimed you were mindless, walking around zombie-like, just seeking your next victim.”

“A misbelief that cost his life,” Andreji annotated.

River paled. “So they are dead, now?”

“The stench of burning corpses is unmistakeable. I smelled it yesterday on my way out.”

For a moment, River sat petrified. “Perhaps it wasn’t them?” he suggested at last.

Andreji’s voice bore a cynical coldness as he answered with his back turned to him. “You wish. This is no killing factory. Such things are human inventions. Vampires only kill when they are threatened.”

“How noble,” it escaped River before he had the mind to consider his words.

“Not noble at all,” Andreji countered, sitting down again. The flames of a small, healthy fire now licked at four chunks of wood. “The fact is we never claim to be noble or moralistic. We are instinct-driven; we are hunters. However, we have refined our techniques. There is no need to kill in order to feed. It may happen, but it is not what we usually do.”

“So people merely end up in hospital with a few bites, anaemia, and a shock that lasts for the rest of their lives? That’s a comforting thought!”

Andreji smirked. “That is nature.”

“Vampires are not natural.”

“Ah, another of your little prejudices. Indeed, a being that falls to ashes in the face of a few rays of sunlight, that cannot freely decide when it sleeps, and is brainless like a zombie does not sound natural. Fortunately, such a being does not exist.”

“Well then, why have I never seen you in daylight? Why don’t we take a walk outside; I miss the sun!” River retorted.

He could not disturb Andreji’s calm. “I never said I particularly like the sun. It does hurt me, but it does not kill me.”

River nearly asked ‘What does kill you, then?’ but kept himself from doing so at the last moment. “You still haven’t answered my initial question,” he said instead.

“Because I wanted to push some of your prejudices out of the way first. As well as I cannot die from a ray of sun and I do not kill a few hundred people a year, I can also not make you a vampire in an hour or one night. That is a natural process that takes years and a regular exchange of blood. I do not know a single case in which the fledgling has been turned against his will; so stop agonising about it.” Andreji let that sink in, before he asked, “Do you have further questions?”

“Why me?”

Andreji nodded, pressing his lips together. “My fault. I meant, do you have any further questions that I see myself able to answer at this point?”

“I fear, I’m not familiar with the criteria.” River knew that his tone was far from what was expected of a fledgling; yet, Andreji did not seem to mind. “What about ‘How long will I be forced to remain down here?’?”

Andreji folded his arms, considering the answer. “Finish your studies; then we will see. If you are studious, ‘then’ might be in three to four months.”

The blood left River’s face. “Wow, that’s generous,” he remarked sarcastically. “You do know that I’m a human, don’t you? Humans need light or they get physically sick and depressive.”

“That is why I bought the fruits for you, so you take in the necessary vitamins. In one of the drawers in the entrance area, there is an ultraviolet lamp, if you feel you need it.”

River just shook his head in disbelief.

“You need to come to terms with the situation. If I let you out earlier, people would grow suspicious. Believe me; I do not fancy being stuck down here with you either.” He stood up from his seat. “Speaking of being stuck down here – I’m going out. Any preferences for your dinner?”

River refused to answer.