Chapter 91 - The Raising of a Dead Child part 2

The shaft was still sticking out of him. I shifted toward him as he sat up. "Let me get that arrow out of you," I said. He nodded, and I put my hand on his chest and yanked the bolt out. He winced but did not cry out. Pulling his shirt open, he examined his torso. Though he was covered in tacky blood, the wound had begun to vanish. He looked at me with wonder.

"Yes," I said with a chuckle. "Your injuries will heal quickly now."

He touched the place where the arrow had wounded him, sketching his fingers over his ribs, but of his mortal injury, there was no trace. Not even a scar.

"Come," I said. "Let us rise. We must find a place to hide before daylight comes. I fear the Oombai will send their warriors after us."

I put my hand on the boy's elbow and helped him to his feet. As he rose, he bent forward with a gasp, clutching his guts. "Oh! My stomach! It hurts!"

"I know. I've afflicted you with my hunger for blood. I'm sorry."

He blinked at me, confused and in pain.

"Come," I said. "We need to move quickly. I will help you feed and then we must find shelter."

We walked quickly from the dark of the wood, out into the moonlit plains. The grass hissed as the wind tilted earthward and blew across the low hills. As we travelled side by side, I educated him. "You're a Blood Drinker, now," I said. "There is a demon inside you that ravens for the life fluid of the living, but it grants you strength in return. Strength and speed and the ability to heal rapidly. All this, so you may hunt your prey more easily. Your senses have been sharpened, your thoughts and reflexes quickened. I've made you a god, but I've also cursed you."

"For love," he said, and I nodded.

"I could not bear to let you die."

He nodded, looking at me with awe… with awe and abject adulation. His flesh seemed to glow in the moonlight, as if there was a nimbus of light surrounding him.

"I can see every lash in your eyelids," he said then. He squinted. "Every wrinkle in your lips. Every—"

I put my hand up with a chuckle. "One of the first things you must learn to do, boy, is try and block all that out. It serves only to distract. Your senses will overwhelm you if you allow them to. You must be the master of them, and not let them rule you."

Ilio glanced away, frowning in concentration. "Yes. Yes, I will try."

I turned my face south, toward the country of the Ground Scratchers. We'd traveled a couple kilometers in my brief, mad flight. I stretched out with my senses then, searching for pursuers. Yes, the hunters were coming! A large group of them. I could hear the distant babble of their voices, angry and vengeful.

Foolish men, I thought. I recalled the face of the slave woman Aioa. I would teach them about vengeance!

If I'd already tested the strength of my vampire child, I would have set us against our pursuers, but I did not know yet how powerful Ilio had become. I had not trained him in the use of his new skills. I could not risk a confrontation… not yet.

Turning away, I said, "Let us see how powerful and swift you have become. Follow me."

With that, I flung myself into the wind.

I flew at about half the speed I could actually summon. As if launched from a catapult, my body rose silently into the sky in a smooth, controlled arc. I landed near an alder one hundred meters to the north and turned around to watch the boy.

I could see Ilio, small now with distance. I watched him crouch down and throw himself into the sky.

He landed well short of me. Tripped. Rolled across the grass. He rose and leapt again. This time, he travelled much further, the arc of his leap higher than his first attempt. I watched him descend from the sky toward me, flapping his arms and legs, his eyes wide and frightened.

I moved out of the way. He crashed into the foliage of the alder, vanishing from sight with a swish and the crunch of breaking branches. An instant later, he dropped from the boughs with a thump.

I rushed to his side, trying to restrain my mirth. "Are you hurt?" I asked.

My careless new vampire child sat up with a strangled cry. A splintered tree branch was sticking out of his belly.

I kneeled down beside him and pulled the broken limb from his abdomen. He healed, but his healing was nowhere near the speed at which my injuries vanished. "Before you leap, you should take heed of where you're going to land," I scolded him gently.

Ilio nodded. "Yes, Thest."

He looked embarrassed. I ruffled his hair.

"Have no shame. You'll catch the trick of it," I said. "I flailed about like a buffoon the first night I was a Blood Drinker. Your body has been transformed, but your mind is still a human mind. You will discover your strength and a wealth of new talents, but it will take time for your human mind to take ownership of them. You're like a child who must learn to walk again. You will fall many times before you can run."

"Yes, Thest. I'll be more careful."