Destined To A Rejected One
Chapter 18

A NIGHT IN A WARM BED

“What now, what am I going to do?” – Bloodstain wonders as from afar, in his lupine form, he surveys the town illuminated by the night lamps.

The moon is at its highest point, indicating that it is already midnight. Bloodstain returns to his human form and the cold wind whips hard against his naked body, making him shiver. Keeping warm is easier when your body is full of hair, the young woman’s stomach rumbles and she crosses her arms in front of her belly. The energy she expended crossing a country was too much, and her lack of proper nutrition didn’t help one bit, her legs shivering not only from the cold, but from fatigue and malnutrition. Staying upright is almost an impossible mission.

The warm air from Bloodstain’s breath dances in a white hue with the cold wind, he concentrates all his strength in his legs and begins to move towards the village. As he approaches one of the houses, he sniffs the air and smells only the scent of a single human, a human woman. Summoning up his courage, he raises his hand and knocks several times on the door, but after five minutes a lady unlocks and opens the dark wooden door. For a few moments she thinks she is hallucinating, it would not be possible for a woman to be naked and scarred in front of her, and with the back of her hands she rubs her age-weary eyes.

Please… please… please… help me…

The strength drains from Bloodstain’s body, dizziness takes over her brain, her eyes blur and everything around her begins to spin, the septuagenarian lady stops her from falling to her knees on the floor.

She… is so light,” she speaks to herself as she drags the young woman into her house and closes the door immediately afterwards.

The lady walks with Bloodstain leaning against her body to a wooden chair, carefully sits the unconscious girl down and removes her arm from around her neck. As she looks more closely, her heart fills with compassion, she has never seen anything so pitiful. “What have they done to you, child?” – she asks herself mentally and heads to her room. She takes out from inside a large basket a goatskin coat, the coat is already very old, it belongs to her dead granddaughter, the girl died when she was only fifteen years old, the witches kidnapped her to make a ritual, the wolves attacked them and killed all the girls. The lady lifts her coat up to her nose and sniffs the smell again, there is no longer the smell of her granddaughter, only the smell of old clothes kept for too long. She looks back into the basket and picks up a greenish coloured cloth dress.

“They should fit her, her body is too thin” – she thinks as she leaves the room and returns to the living room.

Carefully, she pulls the dress over the girl’s head and puts it on. Shortly afterwards she goes back to her room and picks up some bearskins, puts them on the floor, a bit away from her bed and takes a pillow from her own bed, where before there were three. He goes to another basket and picks up a sheet of pieces. After arranging everything on the floor, he leaves the room and goes to the kitchen, luckily the lady had just taken some pork soup off the stove. He puts some in a clay dish, a piece of bread and goes back to where the girl was unconscious.

Hey, wake up,” she patted the young girl’s face, who didn’t react at all. Wake up, young lady.

After two slaps with a little more force, Bloodstain opens her eyes, fear was present, and in fright she gets up from her chair. She looks around and replaces herself in a strange place. The flash of what had happened a few hours ago invades her mind giving way to tears welling up in her blue eyes and leaving the lady even more stunned.

Hello – the lady catches the sad-eyed girl’s eye in the middle of her room.

Bloodstain scowls at her, her heart begins to pound, she reaches up and clutches the small bag around her neck tightly. The weight of the cloth on her body makes her look at herself and realise that she is dressed. A simple, modest and very pretty dress. A real luxury for someone who is only used to old and torn rags.

Don’t worry, I haven’t touched your belongings, miss,” he says softly and with a slight smile.

Bloodstain stares for a few seconds at the lady with grey hair and fair skin, but with some dark spots, strong traces of age all over her face. Her mouth with only a few front teeth in a thin, soft smile. But, the smell of the pork pieces cooking on the plate invades the young woman’s nostrils, and her stomach responds with a long growl.

Don’t just stand there staring, sit down.

Bloodstain doesn’t say a word, just obeys and returns to her chair. The lady places the plate in the younger woman’s hands.

I… Can I eat? – she asks without looking away from the food.

Bloodstain knows it’s not enough for her, human food, it doesn’t have the nutrients her body needs. Vegetables and fruits are not part of a healthy diet for the lycanthrope race. They can eat, but it will never satisfy them, nor benefit their bodies in any way. The protein they need can only be found in fresh, raw meat.

Sure, I’ve got it for you.

The young woman’s stomach grumbles at the delay and the lady just smiles.

Better eat, before it gets cold.

Bloodstain didn’t know how exactly to eat the thing, she didn’t even know what it really was, but she knew it was edible. But how do you eat it? The lady understands and without judgement teaches her.

Take the bread here, dip it in the soup and eat it.

And so she does, the bread is not tasty to a lycanthrope’s palate, but the hunger is so great that it is impossible to stop eating. The taste of the soup is watery, the pork is tasteless, but for someone who is only used to licking bones and leftovers, that’s a feast. That’s a feast. In less than five minutes the young woman has eaten all the bread and drunk the soup straight from the bowl, chewing the pork pieces and smiling. She has never eaten like this before, sitting down to a meal that was hers and not the leftovers of someone who could no longer eat.

Thank you, it was delicious….

Her stomach growls again, and it won’t stop until she eats something with the right nutrients. The young woman’s cheeks heat up and she smiles, unaware that the woman in front of her is a supernatural being. She goes back to the kitchen, gets another loaf of bread and more soup, this time specialising in the pork chunks.

Bloodstain receives the dish, very grateful, although it doesn’t taste good to her, it’s the best thing she’s ever eaten in her life.

What is your name? – The lady sits down in another chair opposite the young woman.

Bloodstain finishes her soup and wipes her mouth with the back of her hand.

Bloodstain, what is the lady’s name?

What a strange name, why did they give you that name, miss?

Silence filled the room. “If I tell, will she be displeased with me? I’d better shut up, I don’t want to receive even one more look of contempt, I don’t want to live this ever again” – he speaks to himself and leaves the lady without an answer.

Very well, my name is Cíntia.

Nice to meet you.

The same, my dear.

That word, querida, was the one Guila called. Her heart knew that Guila was no longer in this world, neither she nor her companion. Again her eyes fill with water, but she takes a deep breath and swallows the cake that forms in her throat.

Come and lie down, I have prepared a bed for you.

Cynthia begins to walk and Bloodstain follows her.

I don’t have another bed here, but I’ve made this makeshift one on the floor, I hope ….

Thank you very much! – Bloodstain quickly lies down on the bed, and the first touch of something so warm and soft makes him want to howl at the moon in thanks.

Sleep well.

Cynthia blows out the candle and leaves everything in darkness. The bloodstain can still see everything clearly. But her body will finally get some real rest. In a warm bed. The bloodstain picks up the shredded sheet and curls up, smile and tears flooding her eyes.

“Thank you, Guila and Brunno. You gave your lives for me… I promise I will not let it be in vain, I will survive and I will replace my mate. Also, thank you goddess, if I am alive I know it is because of you. Please continue to protect me” – as she mentally finishes her thanks, her eyes close and darkness embraces her.