The Vampire & Her Witch

In the darkness of Nyrielle’s bed chamber, the Harbinger of Death’s eyes fluttered open as she drew a deep, cleansing breath before exhaling the last of the cold, dead air that lay in her lungs during the day.

Next to her, Ashlynn started to move as well, stretching out her arms and legs like a cat waking from a nap in the sun. Her hair hung in knotted clumps and the ache of exhaustion clung to her body after the previous night’s exertions, but at the moment, in the few breaths between asleep and awake, everything felt distant and fuzzy. It was as if the world beyond the bed she shared with Nyrielle was only a dream and this dark place was all that was real in the world.

”I’m sorry, my darling,” Nyrielle said as her midnight eyes blazed in the darkness, casting a faint blueish light across the luxurious bedchamber. A heartbeat later, Ashlynn’s eyes glowed a matching midnight blue as Nyrielle withdrew her power from her lover’s mind.

”What, what happened?” Ashlynn asked, clutching her head as the events of the previous night suddenly became much clearer in her mind. Isabell, her outburst in her sitting room, the long walk through the forest at night in the middle of a furious rainstorm... all of it came back to her in a flood, as if Nyrielle had removed a dam holding her feelings at bay.

”If you’re angry, please, let yourself be angry at me,” Nyrielle said gently, reaching out to brush a lock of tangled blond hair out of Ashlynn’s face only for her hand to freeze half way there, hanging in the air uncertainly, caught in the fear that her touch might upset Ashlynn. ”Last night, I did something to you that I promised myself I wouldn’t, but, forgive me, my darling, I didn’t know what else to do.”

”What, what did you do?” Ashlynn asked, scooting toward the edge of the bed and fumbling on her side table until she found the crystal lantern that Nyrielle had given her. Releasing a thread of power into the lantern, a soft, greenish blue light filled the room, revealing a look on Nyrielle’s face that Ashlynn had never seen before. Guilt.

Desperately, Ashlynn prodded her mind, trying to think of what her lover could possibly have done to feel guilty about. She remembered falling to the earth and sobbing, shouting at the skies and pouring out her grievances as the storm raged around her. She remembered Nyrielle’s arrival, descending from the skies on her dark, feathered wings before she carried Ashlynn away.

Was there something she’d said last night that she felt guilty about? But words alone couldn’t make Nyrielle feel so... desolate, while she looked at Ashlynn. Something much worse must have happened for Nyrielle to feel this way, but what?

”You understand Zedya’s mesmerizing gaze, Ashlynn,” Nyrielle said, lowering her hand and clutching at the blankets. Ashlynn’s confused, trembling emerald gaze felt like daggers to hear heart and for a moment, she wondered if Ashlynn would ever forgive her for what she had done.

”None of my progeny possess gifts that I don’t also possess,” Nyrielle said, approaching the topic in a roundabout way. ”I promised that I wouldn’t use the Voice of Command or the Mesmerizing Gaze on you unless I absolutely had to, but last night, I broke that promise,” she confessed.

Nyrielle bit her lower lip as her eyes searched Ashlynn’s face for signs of how her lover felt. At this distance, looking was completely unnecessary as she could feel the confusion rippling through Ashlynn’s heart as the echo of her lover’s heart beat quivered in her chest. That confusion quickly mixed with fear as Ashlynn’s emotions became turbulent and muddy, unclear to either of them.

”Why?” Ashlynn asked as her eyes brimmed with tears and her heart trembled at the sting of betrayal. ”Why would you do that to me?”

”Because you ran away,” Nyrielle said, forcing herself to meet Ashlynn’s wounded gaze, even though she wanted nothing more than to hide from the accusation in the young woman’s eyes. ”Because you were hurting yourself. Because I was afraid that, while I slept, you would escape again.”

”I, I trapped you here all day,” Nyrielle confessed. ”I clouded your mind enough that the pain of your sister’s betrayal was distant and I carried you into memories of our best nights together. Dinners, dancing... other things,” she said with a slightly awkward look. ”I wanted to give you a night of peace before you had to confront your wounds again, but I also trapped you here and I, I distorted your mind.”

”You crossed a line,” Ashlynn said in a voice that cracked with the strain of the emotions swirling within her heart. ”And now that you’ve done it, even if it was ’for my own good’, how can I trust you? How can I trust my own feelings and memories if you’ll use power like that one me?” Ashlynn asked.

”You can’t,” Nyrielle said flatly as she drew back away from Ashlynn, sliding to the edge of the bed before sliding out from underneath the blankets. For a moment, the subtle curve of her naked, alabaster back shone like a candle flame in the darkness before she fetched a dark robe from the bedside and wrapped it around her body as though it were a suit of armor.

”Ashlynn,” Nyrielle said softly as she turned toward the door, unable to face the weight of Ashlynn’s gaze. ”I know you can’t trust me right now, but I love you, more than anything. Even if you come to hate me for what I’ve done, I’ll still love you. My heart can’t feel anything else for you.”

”But right now, I’m going to be forceful with you,” she said, forcing herself to say the words. ”Thane will come for you soon to help you prepare to face Owain with a sword in your hand. Sybyll will arrive tomorrow to help you more. Neither of them will allow you to leave the Vale until I give them permission. And,” she started to say, swallowing heavily as a knot formed in her throat.

”And when the sun rises each day,” Nyrielle said in a voice that sounded like she was driving nails into her own coffin. ”They’ll bring you back to me, to keep you through the day, just as I did today. I’m sorry, Ashlynn,” she said. ”I promised you the freedom to claim your revenge, and I’ll make sure you have the chance to do so... but I can’t let you throw your life away in the process.”

”I, I need you too much for that, and I can’t... I can’t live in a world without you in it anymore,” Nyrielle whispered. ”So, even if you come to hate me for forcing you, it’s better than losing you to your own grief and pain.”