Daughter of the Forest

Daughter of the Forest

The vampire Nathan stood in a forest glade, utterly naked. He had just emerged from his bat form and hadn't bothered to put on clothes. Instead, he let the moonlight clothe him.

The vampire had matured, yet his face was still that of a twenty-year-old. He was so pale he might have been drenched in garden-fresh milk. Combined with the moonlight, he had the appearance of polished bone.

Yet as he moved, the motion lent him a human-like appearance again, and he remembered who he was. As if encouraged, the vampire began to whisper his secrets of loss to the forest.

As recollection bled through his inner eye, the world blurred and folded itself around his mind, and he saw the wood-elf Yllaria, whom he had met the night before.

"Do sit down. I, however, am in dire need of a meal." Her raw vitality not only struck the vampire with an odd warmth but also hurt him, like a burn.

"A creature of the La." He repeated her words.

Yllaria's skin was a shade of deep-earth green, her hair vibrant red.

Even more oddly, the two of them struck up a conversation that shook the vampire to his core. He sensed secrets hidden in her that he knew he would never learn.

"Once you tell a secret, it loses its power," Nathan said, choosing his words carefully.

"The story of the forest is not my secret, and it is not 'inscribed' in me. It is me. As much as my own hand or my own leg." Yllaria's response was swift and natural.

This stunned the vampire.

"It is no secret life has chosen you. You are placed firmly in your chair of life. Some of us, however, do not sit on the chair of life or that of death. They are in between. Neither here, nor there." The vampire stretched with unnatural slowness and silence.

Nathan knew it was time to leave. Not only would the sun rise soon, but he felt a strong craving building within.

The vampire left the La-bound a gift, for he was grateful for the conversation: a forbidden cloak, crafted by his own hands. It was not a taunt, but a symbol of yet another unseen aspect of the invisible world. A secret. For he knew all too well that secrets have a way of revealing themselves, should they align with one's calling.

Secretly, he hoped he would meet her again. But he had lived long enough to at least try not to form attachments that ended up hurting him. And in the end, he wasn't sure if that would even be a good thing, or perhaps, very bad.