2.
'The past is a heavy burden on the shoulders of someone who can see the future' the blonde vampire with her spoke as she stepped up to her side. 'You've been not in your best mood today, Mistress Calista.'
'I don't know, it's been a long time since this non-beating heart feels like wrinkling ... something is wrong here Ana, but the message is not clear yet.'
'Of course, it's your racing heart ... ha! You see what I did there? Raisin, racing, huh.' The servant smirked to her own joke.
'You always cheer me up Ana ... let's go hunting!' The vampire's lips curved up in a smile.
'Yes! Hunting! The last one is a rotten corpse!' ... he soon will be if he isn't already ...
Calista let her servant take the lead just to have a look down once more to the colorful display of the moving Romany caravan, the only colors to be seen in Pallars' bleak winter.
A few miles into the deep woods, where the Catalonian Pyrenees met an end, Calista and Ana fed each on a duo of unfortunate campers, hunters that despite being armed with rifles, were not a fight to both female vampires. 'Behead them, Ana.' After taking the man's the last drop of blood, a satisfied vampire instructed her servant while rinsing her hands in a natural spring flowing down the mountain's rocky surface. 'We better move on. Someone is coming.'
'It always gives me Goosebumps when you say that', the servant hurled away the head in her hands. 'It always amazes me how attuned you are ...'
Not attuned enough so Calista might think. The thumping sound made by approaching stallions made both Calista and Ana halt. It only took a few seconds to meet the cavalcade. Not an ordinary one, but soldiers from Prince Lucio, who'd promptly dismounted to render a reverence.
'Princess Calista ...'
'A long time has passed since I last wore that unwanted crown, you fools. Update yourselves and don't have me do that for you, now, what do you want? I mean, what does that prince of a drunken leech want now? ... Wait ... do not answer. Do not waste your time or mine; tell him I'm not going back to that snake's nest!'
'I'm afraid, mi 'lady, this time you won't have any other choice.' One of the bulky vampires handed over an addressed envelope to her.
There was no need to open the missive, while she was struck by the content of it. The envelope shook in her hands.
'Your presence is requested upon the court. It's the Prince's last request.' After paying a final reverence, the vampire guards climbed effortlessly onto their horses and galloped away.
'Last request? What does it say?' The blonde servant asked.
'We're attending a funeral ... but first, we must clean thoroughly the house. Family is coming to visit.'
The ever present could have made himself known on this day though the need to do so had not been there.
That night Calista tossed and turned on her bed. Rumbling voices inside her head didn't let her find rest. 'Damn!' Throwing bedspreads asides, a fuming vampire got up from bed. "Memories! Why? Always bumping in the night ... as if there was any difference', in a daunting soliloquy, she stood by the window, staring at the dwindling moon in the sky. 'I wish you'd never existed', a tear rolled down her pale cheek, tasting bitter on her lips.
Dusk painted orange the skies in Catalonia. Calista climbed down her mare and tied it to a tree by the river. With great skills, she lit a bonfire and the lamps on her wagon ... before night can have opportunity to envelope the woods.
