A Vampires Odyssey: His Heart and Life Force

Chapter 37

For the next week, Deianeira kept to herself trying to clear her mind. She kept on feeding from Darion once or twice per day, but she did not drink as much as she used to. Feeling she was ready to start hunting, Darion brought her out during night time to do this, always reminding her not to drink the last drop of blood or to be very careful not to drink everything from a sip, how to bite to drain faster or slower. The number of animals was scarce, but Deianeira would always listen to him and did as he saidand, more often than not the hunting turned into play time, as Deianeira and him would race to catch their pray which they eventually shared with one another. He would always outrun her, but as she was more impulsive, she would try jumping after her pray in the snow, the animals fleeing her every time. She liked to stalk them, but, when the hunt turned into a game, they would both end up laughing and rolling in the snow. Her training with Darion went on as well, both of them enjoying the time they got to spend together. With him by her side and training her, Deianeira's feelings for Darion could only intensify.

Having the bow in her hand made her feel more confident and for her Darion would always be the best trainer. She started hitting targets at 100, 150 meters, not in the center, but each time she released her arrows the distance shortened. Sometimes she would try hunting with her bow, some other times the dawn would catch them together shooting their arrows in the targets that were further, him sheltering her from the sun's rays.

For her, Lyserg's memory faded more and more each day as she understood that she had to let him go and keep him in the past, he was not coming back and Darion was her past, her present and her future. She did not hate Lyserg for everything that had happened between them, but could not forgive him either, she had trusted him with his life and he failed her in the worst of ways. And all these thoughts actually helped her focusing less on Lyserg and more on Darion.

Darion was proud of how serious she took her training and proved yet again to himself that encouraging her to pick up the bow was the best decision to help her deal with all her anger. As he felt Lyserg's influence on her disappearing, he really started hoping that soon they would actually be together and he would stop pulling himself back.

When it came to Elain, Deianeira would still refuse to talk with her and preferred to keep the distance, not because she had any remorse feelings towards her, but her impulsivity took the best of her at times and feared the possibility of attacking Elain, she refused to imagine such a thing would happen. She chose instead to rely on Darion's help to teach her not only how to hunt and fight, but also how to control herself. She missed and needed Elain as much as Elain needed her and passing by her only to exchange a few words was more painful than any blade.

But Elain understood it very well, their bond was not yet back, but she did not need it in order to know her sister needed time to accommodate and take in everything had happened. She knew as well that Deianeira needed Darion more than she needed her, that he was the only one who could help her regain her strength, energy and, most importantly, her smile. She took the opportunity to fight with Eden and learn from him how to hunt, bringing the two of them much closer than they used to be. She did not see him with different eyes, but she did enjoy the time spent with him and now that she had given him a chance to approach her, now that she feared no more to let someone in her life and offer her trust, she found him a precious friend. Though such words as witch and goblin were still used between them, they had by now gotten a different meaning; they were words used to express their closeness, rather than to tease and annoy each other.

Now that Darion left him most of the time alone, Eden in his turn enjoyed killing loneliness with her and, deep inside, his respect for Elain grew. There were times when he wondered why he left her, since he enjoyed her company so much, but there were now clear boundaries between them and he would not do anything to ruin what they had now. It was not easy for him to go on with the plan, but it was more difficult to give up on it and turn his back to them. When Elain came to the dining room for dinner, she was surprised to find Deianeira already sat at the table.