Aleric blinked, a bit thrown off by his brother’s odd shift in mood. Last night he’d been melancholic and almost frighteningly passive, and now he wanted to hurry along a feeding? It was usually the best part of the night for both of them. Aleric considered objecting, but changed his mind when Warin lifted his face back up to the sky and sat still, like a hunched sentinel. Whatever his brother needed him to do to get through this unsettling episode, he’d do. Even rush through a meal.
With a huff he set out toward the burned-down village to find the men they had raided with for the past couple of months. If there were no surviving villagers left, one of them would have to do for a quick feeding.
* * *
It was only after hours at breakneck pace through thick forests and across trickling streams and sweeping meadows that Aleric caught the scent of what his Elder was so determinedly chasing.
Soot and the tang of fear clung to the branches hanging over the narrow path, marking their prey as a runaway villager. The scent of woman underneath made Aleric narrow his eyes in suspicion. Warin had blabbed about some girl making him feel wrong. Given the single-minded focus he displayed as they ran through the forest, Aleric had a sinking feeling he’d soon get to see the female who’d bewitched his brother so.
She was close now. Droppings on the path and the smell of animal mingling with the human’s fear told him she was riding, but no horse could ever outrun a vampire. Judging by the smell of sweat, she’d been riding since dawn, and they would be upon her soon.
How she was even alive in the first place, Aleric had no idea. His brother’s bloodlust was as inescapable as it was gruesome. Sure, he might play with his food for a couple of hours, but in their more than two hundred years together, since the night they escaped their Sire, Warin had never let a human he’d set his sights on live to see daylight.
What was so special about this one?
Aleric's thoughts came to an abrupt halt when Warin stopped and veered off into the underbrush and sank into a crouch, his gaze locked on something further ahead.
Aleric followed him. The sounds of crackling firewood and a faint orange glow told him as clearly as his brother’s predatory prowl that they’d caught up to their prey. Curiosity burned in his veins as he sank down into a crouch next to Warin.
He arched an eyebrow at the sight of the woman who’d curled up by the small fire in the clearing ahead of them. She was dirty and exhausted-looking, with long, tangled hair and soot streaks across her face. Red rimmed her eyes and he could smell dried salt on her cheeks. She’d been crying probably all the way up until she became too dehydrated to continue.
All in all, she was a pretty pathetic sight. Pretty enough underneath all the grime, sure, but nothing special. Why had this particular girl caught his brother’s attention?
Her horse, who’d been eagerly grazing at the meadow’s lush vegetation, suddenly lifted its head, nostrils flaring. No doubt it had caught the scent of lurking predators. It let out a panicked whinny and reared up, pulling at the reins tying it to a broken tree stump with all the desperation of an herbivore knowing it was about to become dinner. Not that either vampire would ever touch an animal when there was a delectable little human nearby.
“Shh, shh, be still!” The girl got to her feet in an attempt to calm the animal, but her soothing words did little to calm the beast.
Warin chose that moment to stand up and deliberately put his foot on a dry branch. It snapped with a crack that rang through the clearing.
The girl spun around, fear plain on her face. Aleric could hear her heart thundering in her chest.
The horse used her distraction to tear free of her grip, finally breaking the reins that tied it to the tree stump. It reared back again with another whinny, spun around, and disappeared in the opposite direction at a full gallop.
“No!” the woman cried after her four-legged companion, but it was no use.
Silence fell over the clearing, save for the crackle of burning wood and her quick breaths. She scanned the tree line, eyes wide and fearful.
Warin took a slow, deliberate step forward, snapping another branch under his bare feet. The woman jolted at the sound and grasped a burning log from the fire, holding it out in front of herself like a weapon.
“Show yourself!” she demanded, her voice much stronger than her panicked heart would suggest.
Aleric caught the wry smile on Warin’s lips as he stepped fully out into the clearing.
The gasp of recognition from the woman the second she laid eyes on him cemented Aleric's hunch that this was, indeed, the same girl his brother had run into the night before.
“Stay away, demon!” she shouted, swinging the branch in front of her so the sparks flew like fireflies around her. “I am not afraid of you!”
Warin made an amused sound. “Your heart says otherwise, little bird. Da-dum, da-dum, da-dum, racing against your ribs so loudly I can hardly think.” He spoke in her language, but his accent revealed the lingering touch of the northern lands they both hailed from. They had learned this island’s language during their travels, amusing themselves with the carnage of battle when they joined a raiding party. They cared little for gold and treasure, but the blood…
For two hundred years they had wandered the European continent, seeking out human battles. They relished the fight and feasted on blood of friend and foe alike. It was their sole purpose: rise with the stars and hunt for blood until the beast within was sated yet another night.
“I hunger for you,” Warin said, advancing on the girl. She took a step back, eyes locked on his form. “I thirst. Your heart calls to me. Da-dum, da-dum, da-dum. Why? What magic runs through your veins, little one?”
She backed up as he walked toward her, prowling like a big forest cat, her gaze never leaving his. “I don’t know what you are or what you want from me, but I promise you, I will never give you anything! Not a drop of my blood, nor my soul. Begone, monster!”
Warin pounced then, moving faster than her weak human eyes could follow. He was behind her in the blink of an eye, one strong hand wrapped around her wrists. Deftly, he ripped the makeshift torch from her and threw it back on the campfire, rendering her defenseless in his grasp.
Aleric grimaced. He’d seen his brother torment countless humans over the years. He himself had slaughtered thousands. They were food, after all—food and warm, soft bodies built to pleasure. But Warin’s needs were far darker than his own, his beast’s demands more sophisticated. It wasn’t enough for him to feed and fuck, and the games he played with his hapless victims were unsettling, even by vampire standards.
Aleric hadn’t know their Sire for long, and for that he would always be in Warin’s debt. For the eighty-some years before Aleric had felt the Night’s Embrace, Warin had been alone with their Sire.
Something had broken within him during that time.