Chapter 164 - Life Among the Tanti part 10

I fed upon a mountain lion that evening.

Like me, the great cat was hunting for her sustenance in the moonless wilds. A beautiful creature-- sleek, powerful-- but the Hunger is blind to aesthetics. It knows only Prey and Not-Prey. I leapt upon her tawny form from the canopy of the forest and dispatched her with a quick jerk, snapping the predator's neck before she even realized she had become the hunted. I tore into her fuzzy throat, slicing through the big veins in her neck with my teeth, and gorged on her pungent blood.

I released the reins of my control, slurping, grunting, snarling. The Hunger had been clamoring at my thoughts all day, throughout Ilio's wedding ceremony and the rowdy feast that followed. I drank until I felt near to bursting, and then I slung the warm carcass across my shoulders and hiked leisurely back to the Tanti settlement, my stomach sloshing.

The animal's flesh had no value as food—the Tanti did not eat the flesh of predatory animals-- but its pelt, as well as its teeth and bones and some of its organs, would make good barter.

Back at the village, I suspended the carcass from a tree behind my hut, hanging it so that it would be out of reach for any scavengers that might be attracted by the smell, and then I walked down to the lake to clean the blood and dirt off of my body.

As I splashed myself, standing thigh deep in the bracing water, my thoughts returned to the mysterious woman in my dream.

As if my musings had summoned her spirit, I felt the cold caress of her fingertips on my biceps, the firm pressure of her breasts upon my back. It was real enough to make me spin around, but there were no phantoms wading in the lake behind me. The beach beyond was dark and deserted, the village silent as a tomb.

I saw that my erection had returned with a fury, all the little veins in it standing out like braided cords. I scowled down at the protruding organ, my previous amusement curdling.

I certainly hope this does not become a common occurrence, I thought. It would be a terrible inconvenience!

What strange malady has afflicted me? I wondered. This was not a natural thing! I stood in the icy water and reached out with my vampire senses, sending them into the moonless night like wavering antennae. I do not know what I was searching for exactly. A ghost? A lurking prankster? To be honest, I did not expect to find anything with my mental probes, and I cannot begin to describe to you just how shocked I was when I sensed a nearby presence.

It was a vague sensation, directionless, but it was most definitely feminine. Its femaleness made itself evident to me through a flurry of impressions, almost abstract in their fundamental nature: the image of a body, modest curves, dark skin, an identity, fleeting memories.

It recoiled in surprise and confusion as if it had felt the touch of my consciousness as well. Our thoughts brushed briefly, and then the presence was gone.

I stood in the icy lake, bewildered.

What was this strange presence? Was it a real person? A spirit? And how had our thoughts touched thusly? Was this some strange new power, like Ilio's ability to perceive the fading thoughts of his human victims? If so, what had triggered it? I had never sensed another's presence in such an unusual manner!

I searched again with my preternatural senses, but my efforts were in vain. Whatever it was, whoever it was, the presence had withdrawn.

I am going mad! I thought.

No, I reasoned with myself. You are alone again, after devoting yourself to the boy for many seasons, and anxious of your new solitude. Dreams have lingered in your thoughts, fueled by fear of loneliness. Nothing more.

Put your worries aside, old bloodsucker, I thought. You need never again go mad out of loneliness. Ilio is but a stone's throw from your door, and you are surrounded by mortals who know you. Perhaps they may even come to love you, if you can avoid fouling your own bed for a change.

At least the beast had gone back to sleep, I saw. My organ had dwindled along with the presence, dangling limply now between my thighs.

I finished cleaning myself and slipped through the dark avenues of the village, a wraith, a bone-white interloper. I did not even rouse the dogs to barking.

Outside Ilio's lodge, I paused and listened for a moment. I felt like an intruder, loitering at his door in the dark, but I couldn't help it. I needed to reassure myself the two were still okay.

Had the boy hunted tonight? I wondered. Was he being careful of his fragile mortal bride? I prayed to my ancestors that I had trained him well enough to resist temptation, that his new bride, Priss, would never have to suffer the cruel sting of our rapacious appetite. The boy would be devastated if he hurt his young wife. The Tanti would despise us. They would hound us from the village, and rightly so. But if tragedy came of this experiment, the fault lay squarely on me. Out of selfishness, out of my need for community, I had placed every one of these mortals in danger.

I listened, but for the soft sigh of the mortal woman's breathing, the hut was silent.

Perhaps the boy was hunting.

Without me.

I sighed and continued home.