To Taste You

To Taste You

Chapter 1

To Taste You

The night was cold as the October sky cleared itself of clouds. The full moon was out, which made it an excellent opportunity to hunt for him. Seven years in training had left my reflexes sharp and strong. A monk at the base of the Carpathian Mountains had taught me to see in the dark, and more importantly, how to smell death. They called us hunters. The villages showered us with praise and food, but we really weren’t that noble. My entire family had fallen victim to the nosveratu, and more specifically, to him. My father had been killed in an ambush, my brother learned the trade of the Deathwatchers to avenge his death, only to meet his own on a night very similar to this in a castle somewhere so close to his goal. My mother took up the stake and sword soon after, only to become that which she hated so much. She chained herself to the altar of a church, awaiting sunrise to be with her family, and so that my sister or I, the only remaining heirs would not have to hunt her down as well. My sister ran away soon after her death to stupidly confront this murderer. I never heard another word from her once she reached the mountain. Her letters stopped. I even swore my blood began to run thinner in my veins. There were other Deathwatchers, other names, other brothers or sisters or wives or fathers who had all vowed to kill the sire that killed their kin. I waited seven years after I found my mother’s ashes on the altar of the church. I trained. I studied, and now, I hunted.
I inhaled deeply. The graveyard on the other side of the town had it’s own level of death. New and fading. There was the dark and wet smell of death of the nature around me, and another smell. Deep and old. Death that smells like sharp copper or metal. That was them. They all smelled like that. The smell got stronger after a fresh kill. But only one smelled the deep and old smell stronger than the rest. His was a smell that even now I could remember, like it was an evil laugh wrapped in something else, a more seductive scent. A scent that all evil could smell. It was the smell of deep evil, successful evil. It left a person with curiosity and wonder, and above all, lust and wanting. It was the smell that made maidens turn their heads to be fed upon and men go into darker than normal corners, testing their bravery. It was His scent.
I walked up the base of the mountain to the caves above. The trail was riddled with rocks and sharp turns. I had quit my horse at the edge of town. They were the only other animal I knew that could smell death as I could. The shadow of the mountain stole all my warmth. I didn’t dare use a torch so close to his terrain. I could smell other smaller vampires around me, but their powers of perception would tell them I was more of a threat to them. The moment one spotted me, if I didn’t take them down with my bow, they would most certainly raise the alarm, leaving my surprise arrival more of a hassle than a threat.
They told me not to take him on alone. They all did. My brother even said that going alone was stupid before he left, but he said anyone else killing Him would be an even darker mark on his soul. So I went alone. My arrows were blessed and bathed in holy water, silver tipped for extra power. My bow was made of the waxed and blessed cloth of some forgotten saint. My arsenal was well planned and stocked. My courage was not. My brow started to sweat as I climbed. His scent was getting stronger.
“Aren’t you a bit out of your league little brown hair?” Came a voice inside my head. My blood turned cold as my heart froze. Any shadow could be my enemy. I raised my dagger, ready to defend myself.
Laughter echoed in my head as his voice swept into my thoughts again. “Oh no, it’s just too easy. The last living line of the Angels…” he laughed again and I continued my climb. “You think I can’t hear you out there? So close to the entrance to my lair? I have enough of your family’s blood in my veins to be a relation. When your blood is near, it warms me. I’ve been so very hot lately. I knew you must have been at least twenty miles from this mountain by sunrise yesterday.”
I cursed inside my head for not thinking.
“Let us end this, shall we? I will even let you have a fighting chance.”
With that, a rush of shadowy wind exited the cavern entrance now fifty yards up the trail. A dark cloud exited into the night and flew straight away.
“No guards, no demons, no minions to spoil our happy reunion.” He said smokily.
I took out my bow. The voice inside my head got louder. “Now now, how is that any way to repay my hospitality?”
“How are you doing that?” I said out loud.
“Your mind’s thoughts are fed by your blood, which I own.” He said. It was as if I could feel his breath on my neck. It made my skin shiver.
I reached the mouth of the cave, now lit with torches. I walked in, sticking to the walls. Part of me wanted to run in the opposite direction, smelling a trap, but if he was truthful and there were no guards, I would have an easier chance of killing him now than ever.
“Courage Marie.” My father would say. “You’re an Angelini. We don’t run away from our shadows.”
“How touching.” Came the slithery voice once again. “You two were close, weren’t you?”
“Silence Monster!” I screamed into the cave.
I heard a laughing echo. I followed it deeper into the entrance. It seemed abandoned.
“Monster? I the monster, madam? I have been hunted since your kind was smart enough to pull off a bit of a stick from a tree to poke at me. I the monster? I once loved, once existed- but now here I am. Hiding in caves from a girl…”
I followed the cave’s lit tunnel until I reached its end. It opened into a long, wide chamber with a smooth base. Candles on tables spread out along the walls and deep pillows and carpets decorated his harem. It smelled of him, deep and dark. I shook my head to keep it clear and focused. I must not fail. I knocked an arrow and said a silent prayer, which I was sure he could hear and was laughing at.
I hid in a corner, waiting.
“Your father, your mother, your sister, your brother…” He called into the darkness, and for the first time, I realized that the sound was not coming from inside my head. He was in the room. “The blood of thousands, the souls of hundreds, one by one, composers, lovers, peasants, kings, they all have fallen to me.”
He stepped out of the shadows, clothe din a thick black robe. His wavy brown hair spilled to his shoulders in a careless way, like he hadn’t even bothered to brush it out of his eyes to try to kill me.
“The blood of the Angels was always a favorite of mine. I drank from your ancestors and their ancestors, and now… we are left with one very rare cup.” His eyes were cold and dark as they stared at me, hungrily.
I took my chance I pulled back my arrow and fired straight and true. As soon as it had flown, I knocked another and pulled back again. I looked after to see that they both had stopped just inches from his heart and were floating in mid-air. I cursed him under my breath.
“Like a rare wine.” He said. I suddenly felt a crushing rip around my neck. My blood ran icy cold and my hands dropped my bow as they tried to fight something that wasn’t there.
“Oh Maria. Saintly Maria. Pure Maria. Your blood screams to me.”
The grip was released and I fell to the floor, coughing. Instantly, his shadow was behind me and grabbed me. We struggled and I fought. I reached for my dagger, but my wrist was wrenched and twisted until the dagger fell from my hands. I was thrown across the room. The hard stone walls beat me to the ground and I fell onto the carpeted floor.
“A woman of few words, I like that. I haven’t had this kind of spunk in a meal in a long time. About seven years to be exact.”
At the thought of my mother I screamed and lunged at him again. The holy water in my hands spilled on his arm as he blocked my direct attack. He screamed in a high pitched wail and I was tossed across the room once more. I would fight until I no longer had the strength to spit on him.
His screaming stopped. I looked over at the side of the room he was on. He was holing his arm healing himself. His appearance was now slightly more disheveled.
“Enough of this child’s play.” He said. His hand waved in a motion toward me and instantly, arms and hands shot out from the walls toward me, dragging me kicking and screaming back to the hard cavern walls.
“Damn you to hell Drakon! Or should I say Kaaran?” I struggled against the hands made of rock, but they held me fast to the wall by my hands, elbows, shoulders, and knees.
A deathly silence penetrated the room. “So. You are a very clever little girl.” He said. “No one has called me by my real name in hundreds of years. What a clever little virgin. Let’s change that, shall we?”
A lump in my heart jumped to my throat as he came closer. I could smell his seduction, much stronger than I could have imagined. His smile broadened as he started at he helpless, pinned to the wall.
“Don’t you dare.” I threatened.
“Or what?’ Drakon said. “You will spout Hail Mary’s at me until my ears burn? You forget little brown hair. Your blood is my blood.”
My heart pounded in fury. That was the second time he had called me by the name my mother had given me. Little Brown Hair, she had called me. My bother and sister were both blondes. I fought back tears.
“Now where was I? Oh yes.”


****************** To be Continued………………