The Vampire & Her Witch

In a dream, Ashlynn floated in the blissfully cool waters of a pond near the river Luath, staring up through the canopy of cedar and hemlock leaves that blocked out most of the stars, leaving only bright slivers of silvery moonlight to illuminate the tranquil forest around her.

”You see, my darling?” Nyrielle said from nearby as her lithe figure slid gracefully through the water with barely a ripple. ”The hardest part is learning to relax, but once you do, you’ll float as naturally as a leaf on the water.”

For their first day spent sleeping together, Ashlynn had asked that they have ’nothing between them, in bed or in their dreams,’ and Nyrielle had obliged when she pulled Ashlynn into a memory of her choosing to protect her lover’s dreams.

Their night had ended with hot kisses and a bite on Ashlynn’s thigh that would be hidden from view no matter what she chose to wear during the festival the following evening. After that, Ashlynn had wrapped herself around Nyrielle like a large spoon cupping a smaller one, holding her for the first time as the sun rose outside the castle.

At first, watching Nyrielle reminded Ashlynn of Jocelynn when she was very young and trying to stay up late for Midwinter’s Night celebrations. No matter how much Nyrielle resisted the pull of sleep, her body betrayed her, slowly going still as sleep overwhelmed her as if she were a young child staying up past her bedtime.

Moments later, however, she let out a slow, shaky breath as if her body had truly died, giving up its last breath of life. A cold chill crept over her and her flesh began to lose it’s pale, alabaster luster as it became sunken, dull, and lifelessly gray. Even her glossy hair lost its softness and shine, turning brittle and straw-like where it brushed against Ashlynn’s skin.

The moment Ashlynn felt it, she also felt the echo of Nyrielle’s heartbeat within her chest grow quiet, until it became faint and distant, beating weakly less than once a minute. It was a sensation she’d felt countless times before, but now, while she watched her lover wither away, the sudden loss of strength in Nyrielle’s heartbeat felt like a knife twisting in her own heart.

Nyrielle’s greatest fear was that Ashlynn would be repulsed by what she became when the sun rose but Ashlynn realized there was something far more terrifying as she watched the transformation overcome Nyrielle. Her arms tightened instinctively as she refused to let go of the woman she loved and she had to fight every instinct she had to stop herself from reaching out to the forest beyond the fortress walls for the energy to save her lover’s life.

The next instant, a different fear gripped her as she forced herself to relax her hold on Nyrielle’s sleeping figure, afraid that her tight grip would hurt her suddenly fragile-looking lover. For a moment, Ashlynn held her breath, afraid to move in any way that might harm the sleeping vampire. It wasn’t until nearly a minute passed that Ashlynn was finally able to make her trembling muscles relax, pulling Nyrielle’s emaciated figure into a soft, tender embrace.

”I’m not leaving you, my love,” she whispered. ”So don’t you dare leave me,” she added as she gently brushed Nyrielle’s straw-like hair aside to bestow a tender kiss on her lover’s leathery cheek.

How long Ashlynn spent alone in the darkness, cradling Nyrielle’s fragile body and listening for the slow, steady, barely audible beat of her lover’s heart, she couldn’t say, but eventually, the darkness of sleep overtook her and with it, the sound of vast feathered wings, beating softly in the night as they carried her away to pleasant dreams.

”You’re close, my darling,” Nyrielle said when Ashlynn found herself standing beside a large pool under the silvery light of a full moon, underneath the canopy of soft green leaves and needles of the Vale’s majestic trees. ”I, I hope I didn’t frighten you,” she added softly as she stepped close to Ashlynn, wrapping her dark, feathered wings around her lover along with her arms and holding her close.

Even though the Nyrielle before her was as vibrant, healthy and strong as she was during the nights they spent together, for a moment, Ashlynn couldn’t help but overlap the vision of the drained, helpless, corpse-like woman her lover had become when the sun rose and her body shivered with an echo of the fear she felt when Nyrielle’s presence faded to next to nothing right before her eyes.

”You did frighten me,” Ashlynn said softly as she rested her head on Nyrielle’s chest, listening to her strong heartbeat and inhaling the familiar fragrance of lavender that clung to her, as if to reassure herself that the powerful vampire was still fine. ”I felt you falling away and I was afraid that I would lose you,” she said. ”And then, you felt so fragile in my arms, I thought I might crush you if I clung to you too tightly.”

”I’m sorry, my sweet,” Nyrielle said, running her long, slender fingers through Ashlynn’s soft, pale blonde hair. ”Let me make it up to you. You wanted a night with nothing between us,” she said, pulling back from Ashlynn to reveal her naked body, gleaming like a marble statue in the pale, silvery moonlight. ”And I promised you once that I would teach you to swim. Isn’t this the perfect way to honor both promises?”

”It is,” Ashlynn said, realizing for the first time that she was just as naked in this dream as Nyrielle was. Unlike most nights she’d spent in the Vale of Mists, however, the night air was anything but cool against her skin, and the normally comforting mists of the Vale felt oppressive and warm, like a heavy, sodden blanket that reminded her of the hot summer nights in the Briar.

”I didn’t realize the Vale got so warm in summer,” Ashlynn said as she waded into the shallow end of the natural pool, relishing in the instant feeling of cool relief that washed over her as her toes sank into the soft, silty soil at the bottom of the pond.

”It rarely does,” Nyrielle said as she joined Ashlynn in the pool, taking the young witch’s hand in hers and guiding her out into water that was deep enough to lap gently at the swell of Ashlynn’s full bosom.

”I remember this year because the heat was so unbearable for the people of the Vale,” Nyrielle said as her eyes grew distant while memories washed over her. ”The river downstream from here was filled with people escaping the heat, even after the sun had set. The streams and river all ran full that year, and the High Pass opened earlier than ever before and stayed open later than usual.”

”Well, I think it’s a perfect night for a swim,” Ashlynn said, reaching down into the cool water to splash Nyrielle playfully and pull her lover out of her distant memories and back to the one she’d decided to share tonight.

For a moment, in a way that was likely only possible in dreams, countless drops of water hung suspended in the air while others glistened on Nyrielle’s blemishless alabaster skin, making her look like a pale, dark-haired goddess of the night, bathed in moonlight reflected by jewel-like beads of water clinging to her soft, supple flesh.

It only lasted for a moment, but the sight of it took Ashlynn’s breath away, leaving her momentarily entranced and completely unprepared for Nyrielle’s retaliatory splash that left her sputtering and momentarily off-balance in the chest-deep water.

”I’ve got you,” Nyrielle said, appearing behind Ashlynn with her arms wrapped around her lover, supporting her gently in the water. ”And I’m never letting you go,” she whispered as she nibbled gently on Ashlynn’s tender ear lobe. ”So relax, and let anything that troubles you drift away like leaves on the stream...”

For the two women, hours slipped by as the cool waters of the pool washed away their worries. Whether it was the intensity of the meeting where they began to set their plans in motion or fears and uncertainties of the war to come, none of that mattered as they splashed and laughed beneath the light of the silvery moon.

Soon, Ashlynn would wake, hours before Nyrielle would, to make her appearance among the people enjoying the festivities. She would transform herself once again into Lady Ashlynn, Seneschal of the Harbinger of Death and Mother of Trees, bearing half the weight of the Vale’s struggle on her slender shoulders. But for now, she was simply Ashlynn, and the only challenge ahead of her was learning how to swim.