MATHEW STRUGGLED TO keep pace with Eldra as she ran through the forest, his massive body might have made him invaluable in battle, but it was not built for running, especially over fallen branches and rain slicked leaves.
Eldra finally slowed when she caught sight of the woman bound upright against the tree in the center of the clearing.
There was something about it that reminding her of the circle of stones she had seen in her vision.
She prepared to sprint into the clearing and free the helpless woman. But before she could do so, Mathew caught her firmly around the waist with one of his massive arms.
Eldra turned toward him, and Mathew immediately raised a finger to his lips, signaling for silence.
Then he pointed toward the surrounding trees. Eldra followed his gaze.
Nothing moved among the shadows.
Mathew leaned closer and whispered, "They're here."
Eldra glanced around seeing only shadows beneath the trees.
"How do you know?" she whispered.
"Because Mowbray would never leave his bait unguarded." His eyes swept cautiously across the darkened forest.
"He and his men must be hiding nearby, watching the clearing."
Eldra looked back at the woman, her heart aching at the sight of her terrified struggles against her bonds.
His grip tightened around Eldra's waist.
"But if you run out there now, you'll be giving Mowbray exactly what he wants."
Eldra stared once more into the darkness surrounding the clearing.
Chastising herself she thought, Mowbray had set his trap and like the fool she was, she had walked straight into it.
Eldra only hoped that Vincent would be wiser than she and Mathew had been.
* * *
Vincent could smell the woman's blood as he slipped through the field that bordering the forest like a ghost.
Though it was not Eldra's scent, fear still gripped him.
He knelt down dipping his fingers into the blood that had not yet soaked into the wet earth. Raising them to his nostrils, he inhaled deeply.
Then he slowly licked the blood from his finger, tasting it.
His eyes momentarily flashed crimson as the unfamiliar blood lingered upon his tongue.
Not Eldra's blood.
Relief washed over him, this was the blood of another.
Vincent's gaze fell upon a trail of blood leading away from the field and into the forest beyond.
Rising to his feet, he followed the trail toward the trees. There, his keen eyes caught something else.
Footprints.
Smaller ones pressed into the damp earth among the much larger tracks left by the boots of Mowbray's guards.
Vincent froze, his heart leapt within his chest. Eldra, she had been here.
She had followed Mowbray and his guards into the forest.
Vincent slid through the trees, following Eldra's footprints, stopping from time to time to listen for the sound of her movements somewhere up ahead.
A scream of terror split the silence that lay within the trees. Not Eldra's, it was the other woman's desperate cry for help. The one he had first mistaken for his loves.
Vincent's mind raced.
Had Eldra followed Mowbray into the forest to rescue the woman? "Hells teeth!" he exclaimed to the darkness that surrounded him. Of course she had.
Why had he not realized it before?
Eldra could not bear to hear the cries of another in distress, and not go to their aid.
With no thought for his own safety, Vincent sped through the darkness, following the woman's cries in search of his love, and the unknown woman she had stupidly risked her life to rescue.
Vincent stopped at the edge of the clearing that Mowbray's guards had hacked from his forest.
In the center stood the woman, secured to a sapling that had been left untouched in the center of the scarred earth.
His eyes swept across the clearing before settling upon the surrounding trees, darkness lay beneath their branches, thick and impenetrable.
Vincent searched the shadows, his keen eyes straining to detect the slightest movement.
Mowbray and his men were well hidden, but Vincent could sense their presence, and he knew this was a trap that had been set to ensnare him. He reached for his father's sword grasping only empty air, before remembering that it lay, forgotten, at the tavern in his panic to find Eldra.
"Hells Teeth." He repeated under his breath.
Not knowing how many of Mowbray's men lay hidden beneath the darkened tress put him at a distinct disadvantage, and without his father's sword and only the dagger secured at his waist, the odds of him surviving a full on onslaught were reduced to nil.
Vincent closed his eyes, offering up a silent prayer for Eldra to forgive him for sacrificing his life for that of the woman.
The thought of his Little Raven was enough to give him the courage he needed.
Without another moment's hesitation, Vincent raced across the clearing toward the woman who lay at its heart.
As he had done for Eldra when she had faced the threat of death at the stake, he moved swiftly, cutting away the ropes that bound the woman to the tree, her restraints falling to the ground at her feet.
Mary's eyes widened as the sight of the handsome stranger with the silver-blue eyes who had suddenly appeared at her side, but before she could utter a single word he leaned close to her ear.
"Run," he whispered.
Mary stared at him in confusion.
"Run. Now!" Vincent commanded, his voice barely more than a breath. Mary needed no further encouragement. Gathering the tail of her cloak within her hands, she stumbled away from the sapling running towards the shelter of the forest.
Vincent watched as she stumbled forward across the uneven ground, and then disappeared into the darkness.
Vincent then turned, walking slowly toward the edge of the trees, his expression hardening as he faced the shadows within the forest where he knew Mowbray, and his men were cowering.
"Mowbray!" he shouted.
His voice echoed through the clearing.
"Come out and face me like a man!"
Vincent spread his arms wide, deliberately exposing himself.
"Is this not what you have wanted ever since you heard that I was here?"
For several moments, there was only silence as Vincent stood alone beneath the moonless sky, waiting.
He knew he had made himself the target, and that was precisely what he had intended.
As he stood exposed, Vincent held the faint hope within him that Mathew had somehow found Eldra, and that the giant would be able to restrain her from coming to his rescue.
Mowbray stepped from the shadows, his sword already drawn and held at the ready, behind him his royal guards emerged from the darkness beneath the trees, while his mercenaries moved to flank Vincent on either side.
For a moment, neither man spoke.
Vincent stood perfectly still, his silver-blue eyes fixed upon the man who had helped slaughter his clan.
Then his gaze swept across the clearing, quickly counting the men who surrounded him.
Sixteen men. Sixteen men, not including Mowbray.
Vincent's jaw tightened.
He knew what his capabilities were, and with his speed and agility, he could perhaps dispatch ten, if he had his father's sword.
But without it, Mowbray held the advantage.
Aurelius Spatha had been forged for battle, and over the years, through many battles had become like an extension of his arm, but without it, he would have to rely upon his bare hands and his dagger, his speed, and the darkness, against sixteen well trained men and their blades.
Vincent slowly flexed his fingers at his sides. He had willingly stepped into Mowbray's trap.
Now he would have to try and fight his way free of it.
* * *
Mary ran blindly into the shadow that lay beneath the trees, having no idea of where she was or in which direction would lead her to safety.
Her panic made it difficult to make out the details of her surrounding in the blackness around her. Mary's cloak became entangled in the undergrowth as she stumbled forward, until suddenly her foot struck the protruding root of an ancient oak.
She fell hard onto the mud covered ground, and for several moments she lay where she had landed on the rain soaked earth, sobbing.
She wished she had never believed Mowbray's lies.
She wished she had never come to this dreadful village, and she wished with all her heart that she had remained at court.
But most of all, she wished her husband dead!
A movement in the darkness made her lift her head from the damp earth from where it lay, as a hand reached toward her from out of the darkness. Mary let out a bloodcurdling scream, scrambling backward, and pressing herself against the ancient oak as she tried desperately to escape the approaching shadow.
"It's all right! You're safe!" Eldra whispered, quickly raising both hands to show that she was unarmed.
Mary stared up at her, terror filling her eyes.
The woman's once finely coiffed, red hair was now streaked with mud, loose strands clinging to her tear stained face. Her eyes held a wild look of desperation as she stared at the girl before her, unable to decide whether she was friend or foe.
"Please," Eldra whispered gently. "I'm not going to hurt you." Mary continued to stare at her, with terror filled eyes.
Then from somewhere in the darkness a scream rang out.
Mary's eyes widened.
"What was that?" she whispered. Eldra's heart tightened. "Vincent," she answered.
A single tear escaped from the corner of her eye, tracing its way down her mud streaked face.
Mary suddenly understood.
The handsome stranger with the strikingly blue eyes who had freed her, had not escaped with her, but had stayed behind. He had sacrificed himself so that she could live. "Who is he to you?" she asked the girl gently.
Looking into the Mary's mud streaked face Eldra replied simply: "My everything."
Before turning away and brushing the tear from her cheek.
Mathew moved out of the darkness behind Eldra, his massive form suddenly looming over the frightened woman. His distorted face was made even more frightening by the shadows, as he reached out a hand to offer Mary his assistance in rising from the muddy earth.
Mary yelped, terrified by the sight of the disfigured giant standing behind Eldra.
Sending her scrambling backward across the ancient oaks roots once more.
Mathew closed his hand, and immediately withdrew it.
His expression crumbled, and without a word he turned away, lowering his head as though ashamed.
Eldra glanced over her shoulder at Mathew before turning back to Mary.
"Don't be frightened," she said gently. "Mathew may look scary, but he is really as gentle as new born lamb."
Mary continued staring warily at the giants back.
"I was frightened of him too when we first met," Eldra continued, keeping her voice calm and conversational in an effort to ease the woman's nerves.
"But then I got to know him."
She offered Mary a reassuring smile.
"He has a good heart, and he would never hurt anyone," she added at the woman's dubious stare.
Mary glanced cautiously toward Mathew.
The giant remained turned away from her, making no attempt to approach.
Slowly, some of the frightened look began to leave Mary's eyes. Perhaps, she thought, the massive man truly was as gentle as Eldra claimed, or at least she hoped.
"My name is Eldra by the way, and this is, as you know now, Mathew, our village smithy." Eldra stated, feeling perhaps that if the woman knew their names she would feel more at ease.
"May I know your name?" she asked gently.
Mary looked up at the large man, Mathew, then down at the girl before her.
"Lady Mary Mowbray," she replied, straightening her back, trying to look regal, but failing miserably with her mud streaked clothing and face. "My Lady, I am sorry if we have taken liberties above our station. Please forgive us," Eldra said, half in jest.
Mary laughed, then suddenly realized it was the first time she had done so since leaving court.
"I suppose I can forgive you," she said. "Since your, everything. Saved my life." Mary replied.
Eldra smiled was tinged with sadness at the mention of Vincent.
Suddenly the noises from the clearing ceased, leaving only silence in its place.
The silence was far more terrifying than the screams had been. El-dra's smile faded, an arrow of sorrow piercing her heart. "Vincent." She sobbed.
She stared into the darkness, listening desperately for some sign that he was still alive.
There was nothing.
Only the ominous silence that hung heavy in the chill night air.
Eldra swallowed hard, refusing to let the fear rising within her take hold.
But what if Vincent had sacrificed himself for Mary knowing he would never survive the battle?
The tears that she had been trying not to let fall flowed unchecked down her cheeks.
"Mathew?" she whispered.
She turned toward the giant, trying desperately to keep her voice steady.
"Would you please see if Vincent survived?"
Eldra quickly lowered her head, hoping Mary would not see how truly frightened she was.
Mathew looked in the direction of the clearing, for a moment saying nothing.
Then he gave a slow nod.
"I'll find him," he promised.
Eldra opened her eyes and looked up at him.
"Please," she whispered. "And if he is there bring him to me. No matter what you find. Do you understand?"
Mathew gave her another nod of his head before disappearing into the darkness moving in the direction of the clearing, leaving Eldra and Mary alone.
Eldra clasped her trembling hands together, waiting and saying a silent prayer that Vincent had survived the battle, and that Mathew would bring him back to her.
Mary reached out and embraced Eldra, pulling her close, as they sat together in the quiet beneath the ancient oak tree.
For a while neither woman spoke.
When Mary finally broke the silence, Eldra looked up into her face. "Tell me truly, child," Mary asked softly. "What is your Vincent?" Eldra looked down at her hands and sighed.
"He is a good man, my lady," she replied quietly. "But he is also a vampire." She looked up and gazed into the Lady's face.
An astonished expression passed over Mary's face as she stared into Eldra's emerald eyes.
"A vampire?"
Mary's gaze darted toward the darkness surrounding them, as though she expected a monster to suddenly emerge from the shadows.
She drew a little closer to Eldra. "But you... you love him?" Eldra nodded.
"With all my heart, my lady."
"Mowbray had bragged of how he and his father had hunted and killed his kind," Mary said, still struggling to reconcile what she had been told with what she had witnessed.
"But in his stories, Vincent's kind are vicious killers, who prey on the weak and innocent. Yet the creature who saved my life tonight was not of that ilk. Tell me, how can that be?"
Eldra looked down, remembering the lonely years Vincent had endured. "For many years, he was as his kind has been described to you, my lady," she answered quietly. "But when his clan was wiped out by Mowbray and his father, something within him changed."
Mary listened intently.
"Vincent no longer feeds upon mortal blood," Eldra continued. "He spent many solitary years wandering the world, until he came to this place, and found some measure of peace."
She paused, her voice hardening.
"That is, until he rescued me from being burned at the stake as a witch." Mary sucked in her breath.
She moved slowly away from Eldra, staring at her with renewed fear.
"You were the witch Mowbray and Johnas spoke of?" Eldra lowered her eyes.
"Yes, my lady."
Mary glanced toward the darkness once more.
Suddenly, the stories Mowbray had told her seemed far less certain than they had before.
"But have no fear, my lady. I am no more a witch than you are." Eldra lied.
"You see the steward of the village, a piggish man, tried to force his attentions upon me, and when I refused to bend to his will, out of spite he accused me of being a witch, and that is how I came to meet Vincent. He saved me from the village men and Johnas. Spirited me away, and took me to his home deep within the forest, where we were happy for a time, until Lord Mowbray and his men arrived." Eldra finished bitterly, lowering her gaze.
Lady Mary gazed at the child before her, a look of understanding crossing her face.
"I believe you speak of Johnas?" she asked. Eldra nodded.
"This is not the first time he has been accused of forcing his unwanted attentions upon young women, I am sorry to say."
Mary's thoughts turned to poor Lady Anne, and of what she had endured at Johnas's hands. Then she recalled her own experience with the vile man only a day before.
A shudder passed through her, but Mary thought it better to leave that particular memory unspoken.
"My dear child, I am sure that your good man, Vincent will be rewarded in heaven for his acts of valor if he did not survive the battle. And if he by chance he has survived, I promise you that I will do everything within my power to help you both." Mary said, taking Eldra's hand gently in hers.
Eldra tried to summon a smile at Mary's kind words, but all she could think of was Vincent's fate.
Of him standing alone against Mowbray and his men. Vincent, who had sacrificed himself so Lady Mary might live.
She could not bear the thought that she might never see him again.
"Thank you, my lady," Eldra whispered.
Lady Mary's head rested in Eldra's lap as she slept.
The poor woman had been so exhausted by her ordeal that she had nearly collapsed when she tried to rise.
Eldra had gently lowered her back down and allowed her to rest her head upon her lap.
She had not had the heart to wake her when, after only a few moments, Mary's breathing deepened and she began to snore softly.
Despite everything that had transpired that night, Eldra found herself smiling faintly at the sound.
Mary had endured enough, and she had earned her rest.
Eldra stroked a stray lock of mud streaked hair from the woman's face, then gazed into the darkness that lay beneath the trees, anxiously awaiting Mathew's return.
Mathew should have returned long ago.
And now, with the first pale rays of dawn beginning to filter through the branches, Eldra could no longer keep the terrible thoughts from entering her mind.
What had happened to Vincent?
And why had Mathew been gone so long?
Mathew stepped beneath the bare branches of the ancient oak as the first rays of the sun began to peak over the tops of the mountain.
"Lady Mary, Mathew has returned." Eldra whispered, shaking her softly to wake her.
Mary yawned, and stretched before studying Mathew's distorted face as he stood above them.
Eldra had been right, in the clear light of the day Mathew was not as frightening as he had appeared in the darkness, she thought.
After sitting up Mary reached out her hand to him so that he could help her to her feet.
Sleeping on the cold ground had left her feeling stiff, and more weary than she had thought possible.
In one swift movement Mathew reached down and lifted Mary to her feet.
She fell against him using his body to support herself, her sleeping legs making it difficult for her to stand on her own.
Eldra rose from the ground, assisting Lady Mary by rubbing the life back into her legs, with her hands.
"Thank you?" Mary murmured.
Giving Mathew and expectant look.
"What did you find in the clearing?" she asked, her voice barely more than a whisper.
"Nothing but a lot of blood," Mathew replied. Blood.
The single word seemed to drain the strength from Eldra's body. Her knees nearly giving way beneath her, before Mathew reached out and steadied her with one of his massive hands.
"Why did it take you until dawn to return if all you found was... Blood?" Eldra gulped, dread tightening its grip around her heart.
Mathew hesitated.
"I followed Mowbray and what remained of his men back to the village." Eldra's eyes widened.
"Vincent was with them."
Her breath caught in her throat.
"He is pretty badly injured, but he lives," Mathew continued, a look of deep sadness showing plainly upon his distorted face.
"but for how long I canna say."
Eldra stared at him, relief and terror warring within her heart. Alive.
Vincent was Alive.
But he was in the hands of Mowbray, and most likely Johnas as well. Eldra slipped to the muddy ground and wept.
* * *
Vincent lay barely conscious in the back of the wagon, his body shackled beneath a heavy chain that burned through his clothing, leaving the flesh beneath it blackened. The chain must have been blessed by the local priest and doused in holy water before they had used it to bind him.
Every jolt of the wagon sent another wave of agony through his body, the pain almost unbearable in his weakened state.
What he could not understand was why he was still alive.
Mowbray's men had advanced upon him as he stood alone in the clearing, their blades drawn and murder in their eyes.
At first, they had moved with the discipline of trained soldiers, surrounding him and striking at him from every direction.
But Vincent had danced between their attacks, ducking beneath one thrust, sidestepping another with unnatural speed.
Then their fear had turned to rage.
One after another, they had abandoned their training, rushing at him blindly.
That had been their biggest mistake.
Vincent had seized the first man by the throat, snapping his neck as easily as breaking a twig.
The second had barely managed to raise his sword before Vincent tore his throat open with his teeth.
The scent of blood had filled his nostrils, and the beast had awakened He remembered little after that.
Only flashes of crimson.
The screams as the beast tore Mowbray's guards to pieces.
The sickening crunch of bone beneath his bare hands sent Mow-bray's men fleeing in terror as the creature within him hunted them down one by one.
He could have killed them all, but someone had managed to bring him down.
Vincent shifted weakly, the chain scraping the raw skin from his muscles.
Why had they not killed him? The answer came to him slowly. They were not fools.
They had seen what he was capable of.
After all these centuries, and all that he had seen, Vincent had allowed himself to do the one thing he had sworn he would never do. He had allowed himself to be taken alive.
Vincent had watched kingdoms rise and fall, and witnessed horrors that would have driven a mortal man to madness, and yet he had survived by trusting no one, never allowing himself to become helpless.
Yet now he lay chained in the back of a wagon, barely conscious and at the mercy of men who had every reason to want him dead.
And for the first time in centuries, Vincent wondered if he, had finally made a fatal mistake.
*****
"Where did they take him?!" Eldra demanded from Mathew after she had gotten over her initial shock of hearing Vincent was alive.
Mathew looked down on her not knowing if he should tell Eldra the truth of what he saw Mowbray and Johnas doing with Vincent, but under Eldra's intense gaze he finally began to speak.
"I watched from the street as they took him into Johnas's house. I heard one of the soldiers say something about moving him to the cellar, where they had prepared a cage to confine him. They also mentioned something about the parish priest." Mathew confessed." Think we should make our way back to the tavern. Robert knows this village like the back of his hand, he will be able to tell us where we can find the cellar in Johnas's house."
Lady Mary stepped forward after listening to Mathew's plan.
"I know where the cellar is located," she said. "Johnas showed it to Mowbray and myself when we first arrived. He has a grotesque collection of torture devices he keeps on displayed down there. The look of sickening delight on his face as he described, in vivid detail, how each item had been used on their victims made me quite ill. I will spare you the details of the terrifying nightmares I suffered as I slept that night. All I will tell you is that I hope never to experience the likes of them again."
Mathew exchanged a grim look with the woman.
"If Johnas has Vincent down there," he said quietly, "then we had best pray we reach him before Johnas decides to put those instruments to use."
Eldra's face turned pale as she listened to Lady Mary recount the horrors of Johnas's cellar and his grotesque collection..
"Dear God, protect Vincent," she whispered, her heart clenching as she remembered the dream she had experienced, the terrible vision of Vincent trapped inside a cage, calling out to her, begging her to help him.
The thought filled her with dread.
If Vincent was truly in Johnas's hands, every moment they delayed could bring him closer to unimaginable suffering.
She would find him, and Somehow she would get him away from Johnas, and Mowbray no matter what it cost her.