sky, better illuminating the brush around her, the same ear-bent hare scampered past her feet. It came to a screeching halt, sniffing the air briefly before darting into the brush further away from the river. Reeling, Lilac’s pulse eventually slowed and she continued on, chuckling uneasily. After all she had been through, she surely wouldn’t begin to fright at the normal critters who called Brocéliande home.
A blue jay landed in the branches above her, giving a couple frantic yaks before taking off after the hare. Lilac frowned to herself; she wasn’t an expert on the outdoors by any means, but she didn’t think the jays were nocturnal. Then, a raccoon—the same one from before, perhaps—followed suit, staggering as fast as it’s shaggy rotund body could go.
Lilac stopped abruptly in her tracks. Something had frightened these creatures. Something headed her way.
Fists balled at her sides, she took a deep breath and dared turn around.
Nothing.
Yet, goose pimples descended down her arms. Almost instinctively, her heart began to quicken as if in preparation to bolt. “Gar—”
Her knees and knuckles skidded into the mud. She gagged, drawing in a ragged breath and struggling to regain the breath that was forcefully knocked from her. Her hand flew down to her belt—she cursed, remembering that Garin was last in possession of her blade. Why hadn’t he given it back? He’d probably forgotten, just as she had. Though the supposedly enchanted alloy hadn’t done anything magical to him, stabbing someone in self-defense was better than nothing. Now, she had nothing.
She rolled onto her side; her sack lay open just feet away, her box of matches wedged in the mud beside it. She scrambled for it—she could set her assailant on fire—but two strong hands dug vice-like nails into her ankles and dragged her back as if she were weightless.
Lilac screamed as the hands flipped her onto her back, slamming her into the dampened earth like a trout on the dock. For a moment she was immobilized. The crescent moon had finally peaked, just visible through the leafy canopy. A dark figure moved over her, blocking out the moonlight and straddling her legs to keep her pinned.
The creature was surprisingly petite, but wielded the weight and strength of a grown man. Lilac thrashed, writhing and screaming as she tried to escape the creature’s painful grasp. Sharp, broken nails clawed against her arms like iron prongs until the hands they belonged to had wrestled her flailing fists to the ground. Long vines tickled Lilac’s face, the most foul, pungent odor embedded in them. Lilac gagged between screams, realizing with dread that it was hair trailing over her face.
The creature snuffled at her shoulder before Lilac felt the wave of pain. It built slowly, then hit her altogether, its crescendo mixing with the cold. Lilac tried to scream for Garin, for anyone, but all that came out were incoherent sobs. Struggling against her assailant, she let out a hideous wail into the dead of night, her voice rising into a lilt as she felt the creature pull hard against her skin, drawing her blood out and into its mouth.
It wasn’t like the time she was out in her mother’s rose garden and decided to prick her finger on a thorn to see what it would be like; it wasn’t like the time she absentmindedly placed her hand on a bumblebee that’d perched on her balcony railing last Spring. The pricks of both fangs were monstrous, merging into a single searing inferno as her life ebbed away with each gulp.
But then… then.
The pain had faded to an icy sensation, seeping into her limbs and calming the primal panic in her marrow. Her screams died as the traveling sensation of liquid ice ignited every single nerve in delicious fire.
Lilac convulsed, gripping the vampire’s shoulders—and instead of pushing the creature away, she clung tighter. She closed her eyes, embracing the attacker. It felt as if she would float away…
The weight upon her hips abruptly disappeared, followed by a crashing thud.
The ecstasy was replaced by an unbearable pain. A shape—Garin—crouched over her, eyes black as pitch in the low light. Glancing her once over in panic, his desperation turned into a fatal rage. The adrenaline pulsing throughout her limbs was almost painful, pushing her to scramble to her feet in earnest—but Garin caught her before she stumbled back onto the damp earth.
“Be still,” he commanded. He gently pushed her back down. “You’ve lost blood.”
But Lilac wasn’t paying him any mind. Across the clearing, a