UPON RETURNING TO the dwelling, Vincent half expected Eldra to still be sitting in the chair by the table where he had left her, like a faithful dog awaiting its master's return.
Instead as he entered the dimly lit room he was met with only silence. Eldra had gone.
He pivoted back towards the trees scanning them with his keen vision, though even his eyes could not penetrate far enough into the gloom that lay beneath the dense canopy of the forest around him.
A low growl emitted from his throat as he moved back towards the forest's darkness.
He stopped, scenting the air.
Sniffing for Eldra's soft lavender smell, that had radiating from her skin as he had washed the mud from her face the nigh before.
But it was no use, the smells of the forest blended too well with her own.
He crouched down, studying the dust of the path at his feet, studying it for any signs of her passing in the soft earth.
Some sign of which direction she may have gone.
Finding none, darkness filled his heart.
There were dangers in the forest beyond packs of wolves or a bear.
If Johnas had managed to organize his search party by now, there might be another, more dangerous predator moving through the shadows, creeping ever closer to Eldra, while she wandered along the deer trails unaware of their presence as she picking wild flowers, or gathered wild herbs, or whatever else the damn woman did in the woods.
He growled deep in his throat, as he stalked back into the trees to find her.
As he searched, he promised himself that he would wring her neck himself if he did discover her gathering wild flowers.
* * *
Eldra picked her way carefully over the rugged terrain, too lost in her irritation at Vincent's abrupt departure to remember that she had not been wearing shoes, until it was too late.
She enjoyed walking around her house, and out into her little garden in bare feet when she was alone.
Unfortunately last evening she had been rudely dragged from her home in the middle of the night by Johnas, and the men from the village, still bare of foot.
She briefly considered returning to the small dwelling and forgetting about her walk, but then she had thought of the claustrophobic feeling the dimly lit space stirred in her, and it was more than she could bear to be there at the moment.
She was a child of the earth, she needed to feel the sun on her skin, the wind lifting her long dark hair, and the soil beneath her feet.
So she has resolved to just step as careful as she could, trying not to stumble over on any rough stones, or sharp thorns and to pray that she did not encounter any snakes.
Snakes had always been a particular terror for her ever since she was a child. She recalled the bitterly cold day when she was just twelve summers old and her mother had sent her out into the cold night to gather logs from the woodpile to feed the fire in the hearth, where her mother was preparing a rich venison stew for their supper.
As she had been filling her arms with logs she had lifted one, under which a viper had been hiding.
The sight of the snake had ripped a scream of sheer terror from her throat, and she had dropped the logs she held within her arms, bursting through the cottage door shrieking like a mad woman.
Eldra had leapt into her astonished mother's arms, tears streaming down her face, and hiccuping between her hysterical sobs, but when her mother had inquired as to what had frightened her so badly?
Eldra had tried her best to speak, but was unable to in her hysterical state.
Her mother, god bless her, had given Eldra a strong, overly sweet, cup of chamomile tea, while speaking to her in a soothing voice.
She could remember her mother cooing to her.
"Hush my child. Hush." All the while stroking her mass of dark curls upon her head, as if petting a frightened animal to comfort it.
After many moments Eldra was finally soothed enough to be able to tell her mother about what had transpired at the woodpile while she had gathered the logs.
But to her utter humiliation her mother let out a hearty laugh!
"My sweet summer child," her mother had gasped, once she had recovered from her fit of laughter, enough to speak.
"My dearest, there are no vipers in this part of the land. What you saw was undoubtedly just a harmless garter snake hibernating for the winter months in between the shelter of the logs."
Her mother's eyes sparkled with amusement.
Eldra had felt indignation flare within her for a moment, then she had felt foolish.
Of course her mother was right.
Her mother was always right when it came to these things.
Why she had not thought of that fact herself, she could not say.
However, from that day to this, she carried in her heart a mortal terror of snakes.
Thinking of her mother sent an arrow of grief through Eldra's heart.
She wrapped her arms around herself, as her mother had always done when she was small, and in distress.
If Mother were still alive I would not have come to the village she lamented.
I would not have watched those children die in such a gruesome fashion.
Mother would have known what to do to save them, she thought to herself, brushing away a tear from her eye.
Mother always knew what to do in all situations, and she would not be wondering around barefooted in an unfamiliar forest, or have been accused of practicing witchcraft.
Eldra could remember her mother simply placing her hands onto a fevered brow, the fever retreating almost at once.
She knew mother had been a far superior healer than she herself was, or could ever hope to be.
On their long walks through the woods, and across the fields that surrounded their rural village, her mother had given her endless instructions on the best herbs and plants to use to treat certain illnesses.
She had also shown Eldra which plants were poisonous.
She gave Eldra careful instruction for the uses of some of the more deadly plants, to help the sick.
Like Foxglove. A tincture made from the plant could help to calm a racing heart, but use too much and the persons heart would cease beating entirely.
Cautioning her not to mistake a toxic plant for the harmless ones that may share the same appearance, smell or taste.
Though at times her mother seemed almost hesitant in her teachings, giving Eldra the feeling that she was holding back some vital knowledge from her.
Once, when Eldra was five or six summers old, she had asked her mother if being a healer was the same as being a witch?
Eldra had overheard some of the village woman talking as they stood gossiping, in the marketplace.
One woman, a fat cow with a dour face, had referred to her mother as 'The Witch' who had sold her a love potion that hadn't worked, before the group had moved away, beyond Eldra's hearing.
Her mother had paused for a moment, opening her mouth as if to speak, then thinking better of it had closed her mouth again.
She looked down into Eldra's emerald green eyes an unreadable look on her face, before speaking.
"No child I'm not a witch," she replied simply, before resuming El-dra's lessons.
Eldra ceased moving along the well-worn path that wound through the trees. She had been following as she recalled her mother's words.
She absentmindedly waved away a pesky midge that had been buzzing loudly near her ear, with one hand.
If mother was still alive, Eldra thought, she would not have met the handsome stranger who had saved her life.
Although at this moment, as she wandered beneath the brightly colored autumn leaves, the horrors of what had transpired the previous evening felt very, very far away.
* * *
Eldra shook herself from her reverie.
What a foolish creature she had become. Vincent held no romantic feeling for her she told herself.
He had only rescued her out of a misplaced sense of chivalry, and now she had endanger his by life pulling him into the middle of a very precarious situation.
She stood for another moment before proceeding along the path she was traveling.
Eldra slowly became aware of the sound of water rushing over rocks somewhere in the distance to her left side.
She had forgotten that there was a river that cut through the forest.
Eldra had heard about it from one of the women who came to her door to purchase healing herbs for tea, and a healing balm for her husband, the smithy. He had burned himself rather badly while working in his forge.
Of course that had been long before things her reputation had sullied, and the villagers no longer sought her out to treat their illnesses she recalled, allowing a bitter sound escape from between her lips.
Eldra looked down at her ruined dress, her still mud stained hands, and at her dust covered feet feeling as though it had been an unbearably long time since she had felt truly clean.
In body and in soul.
Not since before Johnas had cornered her in the kitchen of her cottage, pawing at her clothing, his hands gripping her by the throat in his quest for a kiss.
With a new found determination Eldra left the path she had been following making her way towards the sound of the rushing water, thinking that she would at least be able to clean her hands of mud, and perhaps soak her tired feet in the river cleansing waters.
She longed desperately to feel clean once again.
Eldra pace quickening as the sound of the rushing water grew louder as she hurried along the forest path.
Until at last she could see the river itself, its waters rolling over the rocks.
The sight so enchanted her that she began to run, paying little attention to the thorny branches of the wild blackberry bushes that grasped at her skirts.
When she saw the bank of the river she stopped, Eldra had not realized just how steep the climb down to the waters edge would be, as she beheld the expanse of the wildly rolling waters that lay before her.
She paced back, and forth along the embankment, looking for the safest way down to the waters edge.
Then she noticed a slim trail used by deer to gain access, that led down the embankment to the river's edge.
Cautiously she made her way along the narrow trail holding back the dense brush that lined the trail with her hands, as she made her way tediously down the steep incline to the rocks that separated the water from the mud covered bank.
Standing on the rock strewn beach, and looking back up to where she had been Eldra realized, much too late, that the trail would be more treacherous to make her way back up, than it had been to descend.
She was so anxious to reach the waters edge that she decided not to worry about the climb back up until the time came for her to return.
Eldra was so excited to be near the rushing waters, and the promise of their cold caress, that she threw caution to the wind rushing forward over the biting rocks, pulling off her ruined dress as she went, until only her shift remained.
Eldra felt giddy as she let the sun bathe her exposed skin in bright shining rays.
She came to a stop at the water's edge, turning her face to meet the surprising warmth of the early autumn sunlight.
As she stepped onto the first stone at the water's edge, her foot slipping slightly on its smooth surface, she cautiously made her way out onto the moss-covered rocks until one foot was completely submerged in the icy shallows.
She shivered as the river flowed over her foot.
"It's freezing!" she exclaimed out loud to the forest around her, as she slowly dipped her other foot into the water beside the first.
Eldra bent forward plunging her hands into the frigid water up to her wrist, using the sand on the rivers bed to aggressively scrub away the mud, that now seemed to be in embedded into her skin.
She splashed the water onto her face, letting its icy fingers trace wet lines along her neck, finding the space in between her breasts.
She reveled in the feeling of freedom.
Freedom from her ruined clothing.
Freedom from the hateful stares of the village folk, the suspicious eyes that had followed her every move, day in, and day out for weeks since the children under her care had died.
The freedom of being rid of Johnas, and his disgusting, lascivious looks, that she could feel crawling over her skin, whenever she caught him staring at her from the other side of the street as she did her shopping in the marketplace.
The look of desire in his eyes making her feel instantly ill.
A dark cloud passed over the sun, leaving Eldra shivering within its shadow, and she realized that her feet were becoming quite numb from too much time in the frigid water.
She pulled one foot from the water, stepping backward as she did so. But the smooth stones beneath her feet betrayed her.
Her balance vanished in an instant.
She slipped, her arms flailing as she tried desperately to steady herself, only to tumble forward into the rushing current.
A cry of terror escaped her lips as the icy waters swallowed her whole. The cold striking her like a physical blow.
Panic seized her as she fought to rise, but the relentless current pulled at her with its frightening power.
She surfaced only briefly, sputtering and coughing as she dragged air back into her lungs.
When she finally found her voice, she screamed. Louder, and louder.
But the river answered with only its roar.
The same waters she had so eagerly run towards only moments before now held her in their icy grip, carrying her farther away with every passing second.
Eldra was carried swiftly downriver, the raging current pulling her helplessly this way and that.
The rain swollen waters tossing her body against the stones hidden beneath its surface. Each impact sending waves of agony through her as the river continued its violent, and chaotic dance.
She fought desperately against the current, but the river was stronger. Much stronger.
In one final act of desperation, she reached toward the long, low branches of a willow tree that stretched out over its frigid waters.
Her fingers brushed against them as current carried her swiftly down river, and Missed.
Then, somehow, her fingers found a tenuous purchase. Her hands closing tightly around the branch as the force of the river pulled against her, threatening to tear her away.
A desperate scream escaped her lips. Not from pain.
But from the sudden, overwhelming realization that she was truly alone. For the first time in her life, Eldra wished there was someone beside her. Someone who could hear her.
Someone who would come to her aid. Someone like Vincent.
* * *
"Damn her." Vincent snarled. "Why couldn't she have just stayed put!" he exclaimed anger in his voice.
He stilled, tuning his ears to the familiar noises of the forest, trying to listen for the slightest unfamiliar sound coming from the trees, that might indicate Eldra's whereabouts.
Nothing.
Only the normal sounds of the daytime forest rang out around him.
Vincent had never before experienced any difficulty tracking his prey through these shaded woodlands. He knew this forest like he knew every line on the back of his hand.
His acute hearing could easily pick up the smallest sound, even those of a mouse moving through the dried leaves, from a great distance. However the silent movements of the woman confounded him.
What was it about the woman that concealed her location from his hunter's senses?
He felt helpless as he straining to hear any unfamiliar sound.
He was a Vampire, he should be able to catch her scent on the wind, sense her movements no matter how softy, she moved over the moss covered forest floor.
He should be able to hear her breath for God's sake! He fumed. He was beginning to grow angry.
Dangerously angry.
His bloodlust was beginning to rise.
The beast within his breast was fighting for control, and he was struggling to keep it locked away, deep in the place where he kept it caged. Vincent was about to move forward, deeper into the trees, when he caught the far off sound of a desperate cry, and he realized it was coming from the river. "Damn her!" he snarled moving swiftly to his left towards the rain swollen river.
* * *
The river was treacherous at the best of times, but with the recent storms it had become a raging torrent.
Vincent steeled his heart as he heard the cry ring out again, this time sounding much nearer.
In a flash he was off, moving rapidly through the thick brambles, that parted like a mist before the wind as he rushed passed.
He paid no heed to the thorns, or the rocks that would have cause a mortal man to stumble, and fall.
He flew over a downed tree, launching himself from its rotted bark in his haste to reach Eldra, sending up plumes of shattered wood.
When finally he reached the rivers edge, he looked wildly in all directions at once, his panic rising, causing an unfamiliar hammering in his chest he had not felt for centuries, in his desperation to find her. Then he caught sight of her.
She had been swept close to the bank on the opposite side of the river by the wild, chaotic waters.
He saw that she was desperately clinging to the thin branches of a willow tree, pulled from the waterlogged earth by its roots.
The tree must have fallen in the last violent storm that had marked the end of the long, hot summer just passed.
The tempest had dropped it where it now lay partially across the deadly rushing waters of the river.
Vincent could see the panic in Eldra's eyes even at this distance.
He scanned the rock strewn ground around him for something, anything to aid him in her rescue, some way to reach her from this side of the river. Finding nothing, he felt a helplessness that caused the unaccustomed pounding in his chest to become unbearable.
In desperation he tore the shirt from his body, exposing the well muscled chest beneath, then he began wading out into the wild river, that held Eldra in its deadly grasp.
He entered the raging maelstrom, struggling against the current that threatened to knock him from his feet.
As he wadded deeper, he lost his footing, and was mercilessly pulled below the icy depths by the powerful undertow.
Vincent stroked upwards with his preternaturally strong arms, breaking the surface of the water, but no closer to his target. He let the deadly current carry him to what, he hoped, would be a close enough proximity to Eldra, that he might be able to reach out to her.
He could see Eldra's frightened face through the spray from the water rushing over the rocks, though it clouded his vision every time he vainly struggled against the force of the rivers fury. It was almost impossible for him to keep his face above the violent waves fighting to pull him under into its icy grasp, while constantly slamming his body against sharp rocks at every opportunity.
If he was waging such a war against the unforgiving river with his inhuman strength, Vincent could only imagine what Eldra must be suffering.
Vincent caught a view of Eldra's, and could see her strength was rapidly ebbing as she fought to stay above the rivers relentless pull, while still retaining her grasp on the willows boughs.
Vincent could see her hands beginning to slip, loosening their grip, as the deadly waters fought to claim her.
He knew that he could not reach her in time. As the light began to fade from her eyes.
As she began to lose her tenuous hold on the willow boughs, just as her strength appeared to be waning, Vincent, in his wild desperation to save her, did the only thing he could think of.
The one thing that he might regret doing more than anything else in his long desolate life.
And so with what little strength he still possessed after his own battle with the raging waters, Vincent uncaged the beast.
* * *
He held Eldra close to his body willing her to breathe, willing her to come back to him, as she lay lifeless in his arms. He roared to the heavens, but was answered only by the silence of the growing dusk.
He had done the unthinkable.
He had allowed the beast within him to take the reins, and the beast had pulled Eldra from the water.
But it could not bring the life back to her body that the river had stolen away.
Vincent howled at the stars that were just beginning to show their faces in the darkening sky, like a wild animal, as he held Eldra close to his chest crying blood stained tears.
He had not cried in a more than two hundred years, yet he was crying over the lifeless body of this woman.
He clung to Eldra feeling as if he had lost something precious to him, something that had ripped out his heart, had shattered his cursed soul.
He looked at her lifeless face, then did something that he thought he would never do, he leaned close, bringing his mouth to hers, kissing her cold lips with a tenderness that he had not felt since before he was turned.
He breathed his soul into their first, and final kiss.
After what seemed like an agonizingly long time, Vincent withdrew his mouth from hers, as Eldra miraculously drew in a ragged breath, then began to cough. Vincent turned Eldra to her side as she retched up what seemed like the entirety of the river that had tried, and almost succeeded, to snatch her away from him forever.
When Eldra's retching slowly began to subside, she gazed up into Vincent's face glowing unnaturally in the moonlight, as it hovered above her own.
She had never seen such a beautiful sight in her life, than this mysterious man who had snatched her from death twice in as many days, and within whose arms she now lay.
"You..." She coughed violently again. "You came for me," Eldra croaked weakly between coughs.
She shuddered as pain ripped through her chest, causing her to began violently retching again.
Vincent cradled her in his arms, smiling down at her, relieved to have her breath on his face, to feel her heart beating steadily against his chest. To have her alive in his arms, where, despite all that he had told himself in the last day, was where she belonged.
Vincent turned his gaze up to the star filled sky, silently thanking his beast for giving him the strength he had needed to pull Eldra from the murderous river. Then returning, willingly, to its cage without harming her.