Heart of Ashes

Mercy's Daughter

Caine folded his hands over his stomach. He kept his eyes closed, he was ravenous and he didn't want Evelyn to see the bright, burning red colour he was certain they'd turned. Evelyn had rested her head on his chest and he could feel tears soaking through his shirt, though it was welcome as it helped sooth his feverish skin.

He heard the door open and two sets of footsteps. Light, purposeful ones which could only have belonged to Dmitri and even lighter ones that belonged to a woman. Definitely a woman, a human woman.

Caine, overwhelmed by his hunger, sat upright, forcing Evelyn aside, and his eyes snapped open. Dmitri had definitely done well in choosing. He began ushering everyone out of the room and closed the door behind them. Caine swung each leg over the side of the bed, individually, and got to his feet. He smiled when he saw her, she stood somewhere between five foot four and five foot six and she was thin. He could make out the shape of the bones in her shoulders under her bronzed skin. She had hazel eyes and thick, chestnut coloured hair. Her face was expressionless but he could see the sadness in her eyes and immediately knew she was leaving someone behind. Yes, Dmitri had chosen excellently.

He moved towards her, slowly. He reached out and gripped her face, turning her head from one side to the other, his smile broadened. He let his little and ring fingers in each hand slide under her jaw. Her pulse was steady, she wasn't the least bit frightened.

"Brave woman," he said, "what's your name?"

"Marianne," she replied, calmly, there was, however, a hint of hatred in her voice.

"Lovely name," Caine brushed an errant lock of hair out of her face. She tensed and looked a little like she wanted to slap him, he turned his left cheek toward her, "go ahead, it's nothing I am not used to."

To his surprise she didn't slap him but she did offer a sharp retort, "Didn't your mother ever tell you not to play with your food?"

He chuckled, "Well you're rather to the point."

"Hurry up."

He pulled her closer, turning her head to the right, and lunged for the pulsing artery in the left side of her throat. All her muscles stiffened and he wrapped his arms around her to keep her from falling backwards and hitting her head on the dresser. Her blood was sweet. It was perfectly satisfying. He was both surprised and pleased that Dmitri knew his tastes so well.

She wriggled a little in a fruitless attempt to fulfil her natural instinct to get away. He held her tight until she slumped against him, weak and unable to fight. He pulled back, keeping his arms around her half conscious form. He gently laid her down on the plush rug.

Her eyelashes fluttered as she fought to stay awake and she managed to speak, "But..."

He put a finger to his lips, "I keep my promises."

Caine watched as her face went slack and she lost consciousness. He looked at her still, sleeping form, watching as her chest rose and fell. A sign of something he could've easily taken from her, something he wanted to take from her. Life. Something he'd held in his hands often but never before had he held it for very long. Usually he gripped it and broke it. Now, he was holding it. Watching it. He let it go and crouched to pick the woman, Marianne, up off the floor.

He carried her through his bedroom doors then down to the kitchen. He opened a cupboard and took a hooded robe that he'd stashed there, for protection from the sun, out. Once he'd donned the robe, he threw open the door to the servant's courtyard and made his way across it towards the ruin of the watch tower.

Standing on the bank of the river, he looked across the the little gypsy camp where the mood seemed to be dreary, one of despair and grieving. Then someone pointed, shouting about him standing on the bank. A row boat was sent across, rowed by a girl who couldn't have been older than twelve. He seated himself in the boat and was ferried across to the opposite bank where he set Marianne down on the grass.

The people stared in awe at him as he stood there, staring back. A man came out of a caravan and stalked towards him.

"I see you have the decency to return this one," he spat.

Caine looked the man up and down and eventually came to the realisation that he was the woman's husband, "She lives," he said, "I made a promise to your ancestors a long time ago. I fully intend to keep it."