The Story of the Vampire, L (Completed | Featured )

Part 7 - Kissing the Moon

        A breath of air on my ear opened my eyes, a soft humming, in a clear high tone. With my eyes half-lidded, the sounds of the warm world came in — a dog barking far away, a whispered conversation somewhere in the house under bedcovers, the hushed rustle of linen on skin. The voice took in a deep breath, filling his lungs with air, and emptying them again. I turned my head, eyes closed, and felt his face above mine, ready to hum again.

        "Prostitute, is it you?" I asked. Quis ille est? Meretrix?

        "Come with me," he said softly. "Let go of the boy." Veni mecum.

        "Where are we going?" I asked, dizzy from sleep. I turned my face back, not having seen him. 

        Escha's hands were clutching my tunic, because he had woken up, too. I kissed his forehead, and he pushed himself against me, attached. He was protecting me. 

        "No songs, Iellus," I said. Noli cantere, Ielle.

        Escha whispered, "Noli cantere. Noli cantere. Illum odimus. Stultus est." We hate him. He's stupid.

        "Escha."

        "The stewards have gone. The children are afraid," Nataniellus said. "There is nothing for them to eat. These servants have taken your silver and stripped the gold and jewels from the shrine in the corridor. They've robbed you. You must tell me if you want praetorians to search them out."

        "Police. I have no business. I have no legitimacy in the city any longer. You're talking about police," I said, as if I were speaking to Escha, to a child. "Why would they help us without silver or gold?"

        "Nolite auxiliare," Escha said, against my tunic. They won't help us.

        "No business?" Nataniellus asked. 

        "Vasvius sold my interest to a high bidder. I have no stake now in the trade I have run in this city for these thirty years. Was he supposed to do it? No. I take it that is the denarii he stole."

        "What do I feed the children?" his voice trembled a little, and I touched Escha's hands to loosen his grip on me. 

        When I looked down, Escha's wide honeyed eyes were looking up at me. "Your eyes are green," he mouthed. "They are very green." 

        "Leave off me, child," I said. "Go to your brothers." As he scurried off, I saw that the entire left side of his head was crusted with blood. Sitting up, I found my right side was soaked through, though none had touched my hair or face. 

        "Why would he steal from you?" Nataniellus queried me, while I rubbed my face with my hands.

        It was warm morning, and the room seemed to glow with yellow light. Sleep left an aura on my vision, and when I turned my eyes on him, he seemed nervous and troubled.

        "I imagine he was protecting his second. Perhaps you know a thing or two about brothers in arms. Don't cry," I said. "There is money hidden."

        "May I touch you, Faya?" he asked. 

        I stood and stripped off the blooded tunic, tossing it away. In the large chest by the window, I found a fine long linen robe, of deep indigo, and wrapped myself in it. 

        "Please may I touch you?"

        "That is not necessary."

        "Not for you, for me," he said. "Faya. You are terribly selfish. I have known you now a year, and you have never once considered what I want. I thought it was because you thought me low, just a prostitute, but I've come here and seen that you are the same with everyone else." He took a deep breath in and out.