Kaev could smell her. He almost couldn't believe he was this close. It seemed impossible. For nearly twenty years he'd followed lead after lead. Hunted through these foreign forests and valleys and finally he could smell her. It was real. SHE was real. As he stalked closer the scent grew stronger, threatened to overwhelm him. Though now it mixed with that dull odor of humans.
He crouched at the edge of the trees and watched the small village. Less than fifty humans scrapping out a life with their little fields, their herds of frantic goats. He smirked. He saw the humans just as they saw their own livestock. He could still smell her, but hadn't spotted her yet. Somewhere she moved within this village. A breeze tickled his nose and his head snapped to the field on the far side of the village. There. He moved silently through the trees, circling the village until he had a clear view of the field.
He knew her instantly. How could he not? She was his. How could she not see how different she was from the small humans she toiled next to? Her bronze hair fell long and wavy down her back and she kept swiping it from her face in annoyance as she worked.
He could see her father in her stature. Tall—compared to a human—with broad shoulders and coiled muscles under her lightly tanned skin. He wished he could see her eyes. But he was surprised to see a bit of that human softness to her, likely from the unnamed mother of hers. He had no idea who the woman was, but she must have been pretty. Even from his vantage he could see her delicate chin, high cheekbones. She was magnificent.
He watched all day, crouched in the shadows of the trees. Every move. Every time she bent to harvest the barley she moved through. Every time she stretched her back and turned her weary face to the sun. The hunger grew within him as the sun crept across the sky. He knew he could charge forward, take her then and there. These small villagers she thought she belonged to couldn't stop him.
But she hadn't yet been awakened to her true self. He knew he must have patience. For someone who'd lived as many centuries as he had he knew he should have mastered that by now. He generally had. But when his quarry was so lovely, so deliciously close it took every bit of his considerable strength to keep his body motionless.
~~
Anahid stood slowly, felt every inch of her spine ache as she arched her back and threw her head up to the sky. It was a brutal blue. The blue that smacked you in the face with its unrelenting brightness. She glared at the sun. Still barely passed its high point. Still hours of work to be done. She sighed and dropped her basket. She needed water.
Nodding to her brother who toiled a few yards away she moved out of the field toward the well at the edge of the treeline. She pulled up the bucket, took a gulp of the cool water. Dipped the rest of the bucket over her head. She giggled as the rush of water finally cooled her burning skin, snapped her mind back from the threatening despair. She hated that field. Hated the stupid barley. She glanced to the forest edge, back to the field where her family worked. She moved slowly into the shade of the trees. Just for a few minutes. She just needed to be out of the sun. Needed the comfort of the shadows of the deep forest. It seemed the only place her mind could finally still. The only place her shoulders could un-tense.
Moving through the trees she let her mind wander. Eventually after walking several minutes she sensed something was off. She stilled, glanced around the trees. It was silent. She shivered. Where were the calling birds, the sounds of scurrying creatures? Unsettled, she turned to head back to the village.
A man stood in front of her. For a moment she thought it was an apparition. It was so unexpected. So unlikely that her mind rebelled at the sight.
He was huge, her head would barely reach the top of his massive shoulders. Short cropped black hair, a sharp nose that dominated his intense face. But it was his eyes that held her motionless. Almond shaped and slate gray, they watched her. Curiosity and hunger warred in his expression and she took a terrified step back, unable to break his gaze.
"What's your name?" his voice rumbled through the space between them. Though she sensed the danger, sensed this man was a threat to her, his voice was like velvet against her ear.
Anahid finally broke his gaze, glanced around for an escape route, if it came to that...
"I'm Anahid," she said, flicking her eyes back to him. "Who are you?"
