The Law of Three

Chapter 28

Chapter 28

Night Moves

 -- Syrmia, Croatia : Winter, 1241 AD --

It...hurt.

Essen gazed in wonder at her left breast through her torn tunic. The flesh, pale in the moonlight, showed the faint remnants of a deep cut. The area around the healing wound itched madly. She ran a hand over the fissure feeling the raised contours. She desperately wanted to dig her nails into the skin to alleviate the crawling fire.

Once you have fed the wound will heal rapidly.

This can happen?

Essen looked at the face of her master. Drusus showed concern. He reached out and pulled her hand away from her chest. His second experienced a sensation she hadn’t felt in two hundred years, vulnerability.

Now you know.

Essen looked back down at her naked breast and let her eyes linger.

I can die.

Drusus lifted her chin until her eyes met his.

You can die.

But the pain...

Lepidus dropped out of the tree and laid a hand on her shoulder.

We told you everything you needed to survive. Do you remember your lessons?

Essen nodded.

Silver can harm our kind. We cannot mask the pain. It takes our strength.

Yes. What else?

A wooden spear through the heart can destroy our kind. Fire can consume us, the same with the rays of the sun.

Lepidus wrapped his left hand in Essen’s long dark tresses and slowly pulled her head back revealing her neck in all its pale beauty. He rested his right forefinger on her throat, where no pulse had throbbed in two hundred years. Lepidus drew his finger along the line of her jaw; nail digging into flesh drawing blood.

And?

Essen hissed.

Well?

If they take my head they take my life.

Lepidus released her. She immediately moved a hand to her neck feeling the wetness there. Lepidus let his eyes fall to her naked breast. Essen moved to cover herself, an action she hadn’t taken since her turning.

Lepidus.

Lepidus turned away and stared into the forest.

Forgive me, Essen.

He disappeared into the tree, resuming his watch.

Let this be a lesson, a lesson we all must learn if we are to survive. There is pain and death if we let our guard down. I learned that lesson nine centuries ago from a priest and I’ve never forgotten.

A priest like the one we hunt?

Drusus raised his head and sniffed the air. A howling emanated from deep within the forest. A wolf answered from across the valley, a signal to its own kind and a warning to all others.

I think it may be the same priest.

How is that possible?

Drusus did not answer. The priest seemed familiar in a way that others of his kind seemed familiar, but this priest walked in the light of day so he knew that wasn’t possible.