Chapter 201 - Uroboros part 2

It was an easy thing to find the mortal settlement that Goro had discovered. It nestled in a narrow valley beside a frozen creek, deep in the wilderness at the foot of the Carpathians. The smell of smoke is what led us to the village, the wood they burned in their hearths to ward off the wintry cold. There were six huts, built in much the same manner the Tanti built their homes, and from the center of each snow-laden roof: a curl of gray, winding heavenward.

We crept down from the pines, flitting from one dark pool of moon-shadow to the next. It was late, and there was little chance that any of the mortals who lived below were still awake, but it is an instinctive thing with vampires to move in such a manner. That terrible, sneaking advance.

I did not want to do this.

Though human blood is delectable to me, animal blood is perfectly nourishing for our kind. A vampire can live on animal blood indefinitely. The bloodthirst will grow-- slowly, inexorably-- until the desire to feast on human blood is maddening, all but irresistible, but a vampire does not need to kill men to survive. It is only the excuse that we make to justify our loathsome acts.

It had been years since I'd fed on a mortal human being. I had not fed in such a manner since killing the fools who'd tried to steal my vampire blood: Kuhl, and his Pruss cohorts. As we approached the little village in the valley, my guts constricted and my flesh began to tingle. I was suddenly aware of my teeth. My fangs felt very large and very sharp in my mouth. The muscles of my jaws began to twitch.

I did not want to do this, but I could smell them. Two dozen mortals, their minds adrift in sleep's slow currents. I could smell their flesh and blood. I imagined I could hear their hearts beating, a soft susurration, like tiny drums.

They were only a few paces away now.

Zenzele slipped silently beside me.

"Which ones do we take?" she whispered.

"The old ones," I whispered back. "Here. In this hut."

Perhaps you think me cruel, but I wished only to spare the children here the terror of being devoured, the hardship of losing a mother or a father. The old man and woman in the tiny thatch hut we crouched beside had led a full life. They were arthritic, and, judging by the scent of the old man, soon to pass on to the spirit world.

A lesser wickedness, perhaps, but I still despaired. I did not want to do this, but I had little choice. If only the Hunger inside me were not so urgent, my hands so eager to the deed!

Zenzele nodded.

We glided to the door.

Silent as we were, the old woman woke when we slipped inside her home. Old bones rest uneasily, or perhaps it was the wisp of cold air that stole through the doorway around our ankles.

In the low red light of the hearth, her eyes glittered. Her husband lay on his side, his back to her, a fat old man with thick gray hair, snoring phlegmatically. She blinked at me in confusion, and then sudden dawning fear. Her eyes widened and her lips parted to loose a cry, but before she could yell for her mate, Zenzele struck.

The old man was a fighter, but a sharp blow to the temple sent him right back to the dream world. The old woman we killed immediately. We fed from her quickly, the two of us, and then fled back to the wilderness, our prize sagging in my arms, limbs flopping bonelessly.

The others would not like the meal we brought back to them tonight. I only hoped, in their frustration, they did not torment the old man needlessly.

As we hurried through the snowy landscape, Zenzele asked me if I still intended to destroy Palifver.

"If the opportunity arises," I replied.

I'm not certain why I was so set upon destroying the blood drinker. Was it self-defense or simple jealousy? Was it because he threatened me and mine, or because he had once been Zenzele's lover. I knew the man intimately, knew him through Zenzele's memories, although the images of her life were beginning to dim, as dreams fade after awakening. I felt more like my old self, though I knew I could immerse myself in the part of her that still lingered in my psyche if that was something that I wished to do.

I knew him. Born in Uroboros into a life of privilege, the son of a high caste slave. He had found favor in the eyes of his father's vampire master because of his beauty and because of his ruthless nature. He was made an immortal by that same clan master. Vain. Selfish. Arrogant. He was everything I despised, and so I wanted to kill him.

But Zenzele would not have it.

"This is something you must put out of your thoughts!" she insisted. "Don't you understand the danger? Are you really so stubborn? You will have to Share with Khronos when we arrive in Uroboros, and there is nothing you can hide from him. Your desire to kill Palifver will not provoke Khronos. We all have murderous impulses, but if you act on that desire…"

We had found the tracks of the slave caravan and turned east. We followed them through the pass.

Zenzele was silent for a long while. Finally, she turned to me and said firmly, "I cannot allow it."

I raised my eyebrows, but I did not argue.

As it turned out, the question was irrelevant. When we caught up with the caravan, we discovered that Palifver had absconded. While we were hunting in the valley, he had fled east, leaving Tribtoc in command of the raiding party. He'd made no excuses, Tribtoc said, when Zenzele questioned him about Palifver's desertion. He had simply left, taking to the sky moments after announcing his intentions.

"So he thinks to race ahead of us," Zenzele glowered later in private, "to poison Khronos against you, no doubt."

"Should we give chase?" I asked.

"It would be pointless," she replied. "He has too much of a lead. He can move just as quickly as either of us. We would never catch up to him."

It was nearly dawn. We were standing outside the main tent. The old man was long dead, drained dry by the others. We were preparing to retire for the day. The camp was secure, the captives under guard.

I looked to the east. The sky there was a delicate coral pink. The sun was not yet risen, but it was just below the rim of the world, ready to spring out at any moment.

Mountains behind. Mountains to the north and south.

There was but one path for me now. East. To Uroboros. And whatever fate awaited me there.

I said as much, and Zenzele nodded broodingly.

What else could we do?