Scarlet Soul

Chapter 5: Consequences

Chapter 5

Kayla regained her senses a lot later than she would care to admit- it was a late afternoon hour, almost twilight, and the air was growing colder. The scent of blood was fresh in the air around her, so fresh that it made her now satisfied thirst urge her to not drink any more.

"Uhh boy?" She could sense him somewhere to her left, relieved that he did not leave her. She did not expect a reply, of course, but he would usually at least move to confirm that her voice had reached him. Getting up, Kayla did not fail to notice the numerous wounds now decorating her body and she assumed that the man on top of which she had been lying was responsible for most. She could not remember much from the fight but the fact that her regeneration was not fast enough to completely heal her in several hours meant that it was a pretty decent one.

She did not take long to figure out that her companion was not lying of the earth because he was exhausted from the fight he had obviously fought in -knife against sword- and probably won. She could tell the scent of his blood apart from the other man's- just as she thought, the mate's blood smelled a thousand times more appetizing and she almost drooled as she thought how rich the essence in it would be once he is healed. She touched the spot where blood was still escaping his body faster than she'd like. The skin around the wound was burning and she did not need to touch his face to tell that it was the exact opposite. He lost a lot of blood but the wound was not as big as the amount of blood around him indicated- was the blade poisoned?

She did not want to taste his blood to test her theory but there really was no other way. She was afraid, actually, afraid that she would become addicted to the blood of a mage like so many others of her kind were. Her companion needed her, though, so she had to trust herself and hope for a good outcome.

Her lips stopped a breath away from the wound and instead of biting him, the vampire licked the blood- and spit it out immediately. She coughed several times and spit out some more of the disgusting liquid in an attempt to force the taste out of her mouth. It wasn't poison for humans but for vampires! Did the man not know what he coated his weapons with?

Actually, she knew what effect that type of poison would have on a human. Human blood cells -platelets, if she were to be precise- were no longer able to function once they came in touch with the poison. It was probably the reason why the boy was suffering so much over a mere flesh wound.

She did not think twice before kissing the wound gently and filling her mouth with as much of the fluid as she could extract from the wound without sucking on it. She ignored her own unwillingness to continue with the task and repeated the process until she could tell that the next time she tastes the boy's blood it will be as delicious as she always thought it should be. The bleeding stopped a few seconds after she was done and she immediately grabbed the leaves of a nearby bush and chewed on them, blessing the bitter taste for what was, at the moment, her redemption. She was relieved that the taste of poison and blood was no longer lingering on her tongue.

She had no trouble cutting the noble's robes and bandaging Edrich's wound with the soft material. Her patient was still and it was almost as if he was helping her treat his wound when he sighed in relief. After grabbing some more of the material as spare bandages, Kayla picked up the previously poisoned sword and its sheath to. She carefully attached it to her companion's hip. He will not be needing the knife anymore so she did not take it with her when she carried the boy away from the corpses and towards the nearest water source.

Farkleath had plenty of those. There were rivers and lakes wherever you turned to although it rarely rained during any season other than winter. The water came from the tall mountains spread across the whole country, the mountains that were covered by a thick layer of snow throughout the whole year. Going near those during the winter was nothing short of a death wish and even fools stayed away from them.