Road Trip with Vampires: one star, would not recommend.

Crossed Paths

It was two weeks before he found him, stumbling over snowdrifts, shaking violently, but holding triumphantly in his hand a silvery thread. Zhenya watched as the last of that limping gait faded away, and Ilya collapsed into his arms, eyes half-closed.

'I won,' he whispered. 'I took it back.'

With a shaky chuckle, his whole body went limp. Zhenya flung him over his shoulder, grabbed the thread, and began to run. 

Finding and killing an animal was of almost no effort to him, but something always nudged him whenever he took the life of an innocent creature. Well, it was too late at this point. He brought the rabbits still-warm corpse up to Ilya's lips and carefully tilted open his jaw.

He would make it. He should be able to.

Yet as the sun rose, he remained unconscious under a blanket of pine needles, and a thin sheet of snow that was beginning to land on his face.

Zhenya did not allow himself to consider that possibility. Shouldering the prostrate form of his friend, he darted from tree to tree, keeping in the shadows, his mind set on a single, unwavering goal. Esther knew about the damage those things could cause. She could revive Ilya. 

If he even got there in time, of course.

They had dawdled in that forest too long. Time did fly when you were trying your best to defeat your nemesis in a series of increasingly intense duels. Nix noted the gleam in Tethis's eyes, the hopeful twitch of her lips as she raised the stick again.

But the temperature had dropped considerably overnight, not that it would affect either of them much. Nix raised her head and sniffed. The pressure in the air could only mean one thing.

'Winter,' she said to Tethis. 'Longer nights. Better searching conditions. Hell yes.'

'One last round?'

Nix shook her head. 'We promised her.'

She tapped the slight bulge in the pocket of her coat. Tethis looked crestfallen, then guilty. Throwing the stick away, she moved to stand next to Nix. 

'No sun today. Guess it's a bonus for you?'

Nix grabbed her hand and began to walk. They had not lost the trail, fortunately. And unless they were mistaken, he was close. Nix guessed Tethis could sense it too, because she had started to move faster.

It was fine, until they reached the mountaintop. Nix shrank back from the rays of the midday sun, hurriedly checking her hands for blisters. Tethis advanced several more steps before she realised Nix was lagging behind.

'Why—oh.'

She threw her scarf at Nix. 'Take this. It's not much, but it's got to count for something. If we move quickly.'

Nix readied herself and ran, making it to the copse of trees on the other side of the mountain just before her skin started to smoulder. Tethis made it a few moments later, taking her time to jog over the mountaintop. Nix expected her to take the scarf back, but the nymph passed her, whistling an indistinct tune. 

'You don't want it back?'

'No.' She slid downhill on the soles of her sneakers, then ran back up to do it again. 'Keep it. I'd like to feel the wind on my neck for once.'

For someone who was about to die very soon, she had none of the despair. Good, thought Nix to herself. Let these moments be the only ones she can remember. 

The rest of the search was uneventful, the only highlight being several strands of dark string dangling from a sapling. Nix held it up to her nose and sniffed. Whoever this was hadn't showered in quite some time. She put it down as Ilya.