Freedom From Blood Longing and Lust

Chapter 2

My stomach can't be ignored any longer. I push myself up out of the nest of blankets I'd made. The blankets barely cut the chill but they are far better than when I take them off! My teeth start chattering almost immediately. The cold hits me even harder with the wind seeping in through the cracks in the walls. "Okay Jadis, get down to the kitchen, get food, go home and sit by the fire." I say out loud. I start moving to the doors. "Warm fire waiting at home." I try to convince myself. It's enough to get me unbarring the doors, slipping through them and relatching from the outside.

I pull my cloak as close as I can, the wind tries desperately to whip it away. I realize immediately that I can't see the wooden pathway that leads to the stairs, I can't see the cliff edge either! The cold is now almost unbearable, everything hurts. I cringe back against the barn. What do I do? I growl at myself, the beast master always ties lines from the barns to the wooden railing in storms. I hadn't done it, and now I would die out here from lack of thinking ahead. I flex my stiff numb fingers, oh ouch. Okay, I could try to find the path but that most certainly would lead to me walking straight off the cliff. I could stay in the freezing barn, or oh! The tiny cottage behind the barn, at least I'd be able to make a fire there. Oh duh, the cottage is where the beast master stays in this kind of weather! Alright warmth over uncertainty it is at least for today. Turning to the left and keeping my hand on the barn, I begin to move around the largest of the barns.

"Jadis." I hear through the wind, "Jadis where are you?"

"I'm here!" I yell back, and move back the few feet I'd just moved, keeping my hand on the barn.

"Jadis," the voice is much closer. One of the cloaked men stands in front of me. His hand moves to my back, "Don't be afraid."

I can hear his voice clearly, even through the wind. "I'm not." I whisper. Heat spreads through me starting where his hand is touching me. Magic, I think, I know at a later time when I'm not freezing I'll question that. Another sensation moves through me not a warmth but shocks of delight. The shocks shoot throughout my body settling deep in my stomach. I gasp, what is that? I have never felt THAT so strong.

The pressure on my back increases as I realize he wants me to move. Instead of waiting he scoops me up, cradling me to his chest. As we move I try to curl my hands into my cloak, now I can't feel them at all. Apparently that warmth only went to certain areas of my body. Great, I groan, I'm going to get frostbite and lose my fingers. Is the last thought I have before I give into the darkness and cold.