46. Frigid Journey

Kinn looked over at the horse. He was right. The beast wasn’t bred for what they were going to need. She shook her head, resolved because the horse was going to die. If that were the case, it might as well be by her and give Marcus a little more time before she couldn’t control herself any longer.

That thought, though, opened up a new road that she hadn’t seen before. It was a long shot, but pretty much all of them were for him at this point.

“I could drain the mare,” she said, her face showing her disgust at the idea. “I will be warm again, at least long enough to carry you to the city. You can use my heat to stay warm. I won’t be the most dignified way to arrive, but you would be alive.” She said, looking hopeful.

Marcus fell silent at this. Dignity was not a factor for self-preserving. She had a point. It could work. Vampires did not exhaust easily. However, there was a minor problem. If he judged correctly, they were two days from the city walls. The chances of finding shelter during the day were slim.

“Take me as far as you can. As far as the night allows, then find yourself somewhere to rest for the day. We’ll figure out where to go from there,” he said, firm now in this new option. “I’ll not let you risk your life saving mine. Is that clear?”

She swallowed hard, thirsty. She nodded, hearing his words.

“We can either go now, and I can drain the horse quickly, or we can spend another night and day here. It’s a gamble for a few reasons.” She looked him right in the eye. “I won’t lie to you, Marcus. I’m hungry. And right now, you are looking better and better as the minutes move on. If I wait to feed until tomorrow, there’s no telling if I will hold out for the horse.”

She knelt down and drew out a rough map on the dirt floor. “There’s a cave here,” she marked with an X, “and one here.” She drew another one. “There are also a few abandoned houses along the way. It would be more comfortable for you, and more dangerous for me. Someone could stumble across us during the day and there wouldn’t be anything I could do to help you.”

“I’m not helpless,” he said in a low growl. He was defensive now. She had offended him in so many words that it brought his hackles up in a heartbeat. She might not have been like the rest of her kind, but she had shown him now that she still thought herself better than him. He ground his teeth, breathing in slowly to calm himself once more.

“I never said you were,” she said, not a hint of irritation or anger in her voice. He may want to take her words as thinking he was as helpless as a babe, but she knew that wasn’t the case. She had seen him hold his own against outstanding odds the day before. She knew he was in pain and the fact that she was a woman helping get him to safety probably irritated him as well. What she was notwithstanding.

With one fleeting glance towards the mare, he moved towards the saddlebags nearby and drew on the two shirts that he found inside. Two layers would have to do, since his own clothes were unwearable.

“Do it then. Do it quickly so we can move.”

She stood and walked over to the horse. She pulled its muzzle down, moving her hands over its neck and whispering soothing words. The only thing that he might make out was that she was telling it she was sorry, a strange reverence for life from one of her kind.

She knew it would not be easy. Horses were much stronger than humans and could panic at the drop of a hat. There was no telling what kind of damage she could do in such an enclosed space. So, she kept petting her mane, whispering what she could until her mouth was right over that main vein. Slowly, she allowed her fangs to descend and slower still; she let them pierce the hide and into the vein, allowing her blood to flow freely into her mouth. Even as she fed, she continued to pet the animal, trying to soothe her and keep her calm.

Eventually, she was too weak to stand on her own. She went to her knees, as though she would sleep, the vampire moving with her. Everything was done slowly, for the horse’s benefit. Eventually, her eyes closed and her breathing still. Only then did Kinn release her hold on the animal.

She stood back up, wiping her mouth with the back of her hand. She had her eyes closed, feeling the fresh blood work its way into her system. Her skin took on the blush of life, warm from the blood that she had imbibed. She took a few moments to let everything settle before she turned around again. She took purposeful steps to her clothing, pulling on her coat from the floor. It might be too small for him, but he could use it as a blanket. Her cloak would have to be draped around them both as she carried him, used to keep her heat inside and close to him. She looked at him, wondering if he was ready.

Kinn had been absolutely right. This form of travel was not dignified. Through the night, the vampiress carried him awkwardly like a child. He stayed bundled in the blanket instead of her cloak, leaving it to her to keep herself warm longer. The storm did not show them any mercy. The wind blew harshly, coating the icy, clinging snow to both their forms. Throughout the first hour, he tried to stay as unobtrusive as he could in his current position. But when the snow started layering on his bearded cheek, he gave up what little dignity he had left and buried his face against her warm neck. It had been a difficult trek for both of them. She had to move slowly, for both their sakes. Her body wanted to move slower in the frigid conditions. But she didn’t stop, and she didn’t slow down any more than she had to. Going too slow would just kill him, and she couldn’t let that happen.

As the dark lightened into gray, he demanded Kinn find a place for shelter. He was once more cold and wet despite her body heat. Though she had been against it, the nearest thing to them was an abandoned home and he urged her towards it. By the time he insisted, twice, that she stopped and find shelter, she was stiff beyond measure. As gently as she could, she set him down. She walked over near the bed, trying not to get snow everywhere. She took her cloak off and then the rest of her clothing. The cold didn’t bother her like it would a human. It just made it a bit more difficult for her to move around. It was good to get his feet down again, though they were stiff from disuse. Once she set him down, he limped slowly through the darkened house, closing shutters and stripping off his wet clothes to plug up holes in windows to make sure no sunlight would leak through.

The house was dusty, stripped of nearly everything. The only blessing was the bed. It still had sheets. Though they were dusty as well, they were dry, and it was all he really cared for.

“Get undressed and in bed. I’ll take care of building a fire.”

She went and lay down in the bed, smiling slightly to herself while wondering how long it had been since she had slept in a proper bed. She tried to stay off to one side so that he could have most of the bed and any warmth it provided.

She could already feel her own body temperature dropping rapidly. Animal blood never really did much good, other than giving one night or so reprieve from the hunger. She could already feel it looming again. She would have to get Marcus to the city and then away from him tomorrow. There was no way around it. She just had to.

Even though he was soaked to the bone, Marcus moved around to find leftover furniture to sacrifice for the fire. The movement circulated his blood and took the numbness out of most of his joints. He pushed himself, carrying chair after chair and even a small table into the bedroom, and broke them apart, placing them in the fireplace with a fairly enormous pile set aside to add more later.

As he crouched down to light it with an old flint and tinder kit he had found on the very table he had destroyed, his knee popped. It was an entirely unpleasant sensation, but not painful. He held still, making sure that his joint hadn’t popped free again and had only cracked from the stiffness before he continued his task of lighting the debris.

Once the fire was crackling merrily, he struggled to his feet, wincing as his knee popped once again with the change in position, and limped over to the bedside. The smoke might raise suspicions if anyone saw it in this weather, which meant he had to be on his guard. He did not sit down, but he slipped off his clothing, hanging it near the fire to dry.

“Regain your strength. I’ll watch over you.”

Kinn watched him move in, out, and around the room. Her eyes followed every movement as she noted his stiffness and injuries. She smiled slightly when he came over to her and slipped off his clothing, offering to watch over her again.“You’ve not slept much either,” she said softly, weariness in her voice because of the coming dawn. “You need your rest as well.” She moved a bit, giving him a place to sit if he wanted to.“I have to get you to the city tomorrow. There’s no choice. The horse won’t hold me over for very long.” 

It was clear she was right; already her skin was as pale as it was before they had set out that night. Come dusk, there was no telling what state she would be in. 

Marcus’ hand lifted as if he meant to touch her, but he thought better of it. Supplying comfort would not be comforting to her at all. It would only put the temptation of his blood directly in her face and she was trying to very hard to control herself. He dropped his hand, giving her a faint smile instead.“When you wake tonight, I’ll be ready to make the journey. Sleep now,” he insisted, lifting the blankets to slide in beside her but left space between them for her sake.

Her eyes were drooping and her lips parted as though she were going to say something else. But the dawn had come and the sleep that claimed her kind had no mercy in its hold. Her eyes shut and her body went limp as she looked like death. Kinn slipped into darkness and screams as her mind worked its way through the dreaming world. She would have given anything to be like the ones that simply went to sleep and then woke with no kind of dream. It was her personal hell, and she went through it every day.