Blood in the Darness

(So this story is a slow burn. If you don't like it, find something else.)

Run, she thought to herself. Just a bit faster, just a bit father...I can do it. I can make it away from that terrible place and them. I can get to that light. A fire? In the distance. Maybe there someone will have mercy on me and help me.

She clutched the thin blanket she was using as a makeshift coat closer. It was just SO cold with that sharp biting wind. It penetrated every part of her. Still she was sure she could make it to the fire. It was just a bit further. She needed to try harder. She knew she could make it.

But, the snow in the Northern Minnesota woods was deep, it was hard to see in the dark starless night and the young woman stumbled in the thick snow and fell down the steep hill into the gully. She hit her head on a tree and passed out near the icy stream.

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He was working at his forge when he smelt it. Blood...human blood. But, that was impossible not way out here in the middle of nowhere. That's why he had come here. No humans ever ventured here. It was too deep in the forest and too far from any town. He liked it here because he had his privacy. Still, he smelt it, there was no denying the fact that there was a human, a human woman if he wasn't mistaken close by.

He tried to ignore it but minute by minute he smelt more and more blood. Now that he was paying attention. He heard little gasps of pain and soft crying.

He took his latest art project off the fire with the tongs, hammered it just right and set it aside. He had to go out there into the darkness and snow. He had to see what was wrong. He was an ancient vampire but despite all his years a shred of humanity and concern for others remained. Someone out there needed help. He was the only one who would give it.

He quickly strode towards where he heard the whimpering and the crying. There at the bottom of the gully, covered in snow. He found a woman. Her curly chestnut hair spilled over her head and she had nothing to protect her from the cold winter weather.

She had heard him coming, he had wanted her too as to not startle her. So she looked up. At first she thought it was some bear that was in front of her. It was massive whatever it was. She whimpered at the stream's edge like a hurt kitten.

"I'm Ctesasisl, you don't have to worry. I'm taking care of you now. You'll be alright. I promise."

"My name's Arda...thank you." said the woman before she fell back into unconsciousness.

Ctesasisl picked her up, she was as light as a feather in his muscular arms-much to light. He carried her back to his home. There he set her in his bed and covered her with his warmest blanket. He added more logs to the fire, now he could only wait and hope.

Ctesasisl, watched Arda. He had been trying to take care of her over these past few days but had made little progress. She was covered in bruises, they were all in various states of healing. On the first day that Arda had come to him, he had killed a deer and made a stew. He hoped he could get her to eat some. There was willow in it to ease her pain.

The stew was bubbling with fat and some leftover blood. The iron from the blood would be good for her. It would, hopefully, help her heal and get stronger. Ctesasisl, gently spooned some of the deer stew into her mouth. She coughed and alot of it dribbled out. But, some stayed with her. After three days, she looked better. Her face was less pale, her bruises were healing and she could stomach more of Ctesasisl's terrible stew.

For some reason Ctesasisl, wanted this woman to get better. She was just a human and humans shouldn't mean anything to him. He'd seen enough of them be born and die during his lifetime. He'd killed his fair share of them too. But, this woman was different. This woman had a certain something about her. One emerging school of vampire thought said that humans should just be "farmed like cattle" by vampires. Humans should exist only to serve vampires. It was embraced by alot of the younger vampires here in North America.

But, Ctesasisl was an ancient vampire. He had forgotten his precise age or when he was born. He just knew there was no one left, that he knew of, as old as him. Ctesasisl had been born in a time when tigers smoked and told tales, a time when stars visited the earth. In all of his thinking, Ctesasisl hadn't noticed the woman before him had at last opened her eyes.

He was startled when he saw the deep sea green eyes looking at him. The woman startled him even more when with great difficulty and pain. She slowly sat up. She leaned against his wall to catch her breath. Nowadays, Ctesasisl rarely felt anything. Surprised was an emotion he hadn't felt in eons. Mostly he felt the same, old and bored. This woman, who'd barely spoken, was already making him feel different.