Vampire Hunter D: Stolen Sunlight

Chapter 3

Leigh felt like she was being smothered in blackness. She was fighting for consciousness but couldn't quite reach it. During that time, she thought she heard voices. "I couldn't touch it either but we both know that it's his. You checked her over completely and as far as I can tell she is human. There is something a little strange about her but nothing that would indicate why she has that."

The gravelly voice gave Leigh something to focus on. As she drifted closer to the surface of wakefulness she also felt the presence of another person, presumably the one that had been speaking. The alien feel of the presence near her suddenly brought the memories of what happened before she passed out back to her. She must have been near the man that had killed those people. That thought had her awake in a rush. With a gasp she sat up and almost fell over again right away. Her head was pounding. She placed a hand to her head while the other held her up unsteadily. She was still trying to figure out what happened.

She felt a gentle grip on her arm and a smooth voice next to her. "You should take it easy. You hit your head hard on that barrier." She suddenly felt a second presence right next to her and it made her jump again. She looked up directly into the unreadable eyes of the beautiful young man from earlier and couldn't hide the fear she felt.

She hadn't even noticed that she was trembling but the shift in emotions she was reading caught her attention. She had been feeling determination, curiosity and even a little anger but as soon as their eyes met a tinge of sadness crept over everything else. It passed quickly, like it was not accepted and pushed away.

The fact that she still had not felt any aggression from the man toward her at any point helped to calm her and her trembling stopped. Her head was still pounding, and she knew he was probably right that she needed to lie down, but she had too many questions she wanted answered first.

Once he realized she wasn't going to lay down and that she was stable enough to hold herself up he let go of her arm and moved away from her. He took a seat on the other side of the small fire next to the pallet she was on. She noticed they were in a shallow cave of some sort. After taking a look around to get her bearings and noting that the stranger was sitting in front of the only exit, she turned her attention back to the man that had presumably brought her there.

As she looked him full in the face again she noticed there was, once again, only one presence that she felt, and it wasn't the one she had come to associate with the young man. That made her brows furrow. She had only ever met one person that she couldn't read and that had only been yesterday. Had it just been yesterday? Her head was still fuzzy so that was her best guess.

It was too much of a strange coincidence to meet two people back to back that she couldn't read, although it seemed she could read him if they were touching. She finally connected those dots. She didn't see the other person though. They couldn't be too far since she could still feel their presence close by.

She wasn't sure how long they both sat there taking stock of each other, but Leigh finally decided she wasn't going to get any answers if she didn't start asking questions. "Um, you said I hit my head on a barrier? Does that mean you helped me? If so, you deserve my thanks."

The young man continued to stare at her with an unreadable gaze. Finally, he nodded, as if to say, 'you're welcome.' Leigh had to fight back a sigh. It was already an impossible situation and it was starting to look like it might be easier to pull teeth than get answers from the strange man. Instead of getting frustrated though, she took a deep breath and tried another approach. "Is your friend outside?"

At that, she finally did see a response. The young man looked at her almost quizzically. "My friend?"

Leigh couldn't tell if he was testing her or playing dumb, but she wasn't stopping now that it was out. "There is another person here, I-" She had almost said that she felt two presences but remembered most people didn't seem to care for her abilities. She decided to go another route instead. "I heard two voices earlier."