With Tristan far behind me and a newstrength of character and body I started my journey home to the far off distantshores of the Normandy coastline. It was imperative I felt, to make my way backto the Atlantic Ocean and back to my William. In the time that I had been Tristan’sprisoner, we had crossed much of Europe. It could have been six or seven weeks,I lost count after the first few and preferred not to remember any of them.
It was dangerous for a woman totravel alone, even for a woman such as I – now vampire. I travelled under thecover of darkness and hid from the light of day in caves and under the densecanopy of the forest understorey. It took me almost as many weeks to get backas it had to cross Europe in the company of the host. I knew I was following theright course when every now and then I would come across a village, burned tothe ground, bodies decaying in the ruins. I hunted stags at first – for theblood-meals I now required, but they gave me so little energy that I had tohunt more often than I had expected and finally relented to the taste of humanblood at one of the untouched villages along the way. I was careful not to taketoo much blood this time and to heal the wounds with saliva not blood. The manseemed none the wiser and I had an energy boost that lasted three days.
The journey was long and lonelyand I craved my William’s touch so desperately that I could almost feel him inmy dreams. I had the ocean in sight when Tristan tracked me down again. Hisonly companion Marcus. They had come on horseback and had even given me a headstart – they enjoyed the hunt so much. I heard the horses thundering hooves andlooked down upon the vampire men from my hide in the canopy. I could notpossibly hope to survive an encounter with the two of them. There was not achance. If I surrendered would they keep me or decapitate me as Tristan haddone the boy I had accidently sired? I remained still and motionless in mycanopy hideaway. They set up camp, perhaps thinking that I had made it to theocean and another day would be needed to capture me, or maybe they knew I wastrapped above them.
As the stars lit the twilit sky Iheard Tristan’s familiar moans of pleasure and realised that he and Marcus werefornicating. I was intrigued and silently descended my tree to take a peak. Ipeered through the lacing at the corner of the tent and observed Tristan on allfours like a dog mounted by Marcus who kneeled behind him. It wasn’t aggressiveas I had expected two men to be, but quite tender if unusual to my eyes. Marcusgripped Tristan’s hips and plunged deeply within his orifice; both of themseemed to be enjoying the activity. Tristan came into his own hand and Marcusobviously within Tristan. I had thought that Tristan was Marcus’ toy as I hadbeen Tristan’s, but that did not seem the case at all. Marcus genuinelyappeared to adore his lover and Tristan seemed to reciprocate that affection.Their adoration of each other was no different to William’s and myrelationship. I was sure to incur Marcus’ wrath when I crept in and decapitatedhis lover this night, but that was the punishment this man deserved and I fullyintended to be rid of him.
I waited outside the tent until Iheard the sounds of two men snoring. My heart beat hard as I pulled the daggerfrom its sheath and prepared myself to enter the tent. I feared that thesleeping vampires would hear my heart the way it raced. I crept in and lookeddown on the men in the cot, cuddled together as though in love, cuddledtogether as William and I would have been had I not been taken from him.Marcus’ encircled Tristan and their bodies fit neatly together.
I carefully, grabbed a handful ofTristan’s hair and raised the dagger ready to slice through Tristan’s exposedneck. His hand caught mine and froze. He pulled it in to his chest and I wasforced onto my knees. His eyes were closed, but he held my hand fast, tenderlyagainst his heart. I didn’t know what to do. Could I tug my hand free? Wouldthat wake them and I’d then have two angry vampires to contend with. Did hethink my hand belonged to Marcus? Was he snuggling into his male lover ratherthan his female one? I had no choice but to finish the deed I had come here toperform.
The blade cut cleanly and quickly. I was verymuch surprised with the ease of it. I was also surprised with the result.Tristan turned to dust. A pile of dust lay beside the sleeping Marcus; in thecentre of it lay the ring, my ring, but one that I could no longer bear to wear.I contemplated killing Marcus too, but decided that I he deserved to know loss– it would be his punishment for all of the pain he had inflicted on my villageand others, and so I crept silently from the tent and continued my journey…Iwanted him to suffer over the loss of his lover as I was sure my William hadsuffered since my disappearance.
It was a few more days before I made it home and foundnothing but rubble and the blackened remains of the burnt out village I used tocall home. I ran, weeping, towards the humble cottage William and I had shared.The door swung broken from its iron hinges and the roof was missing, burnedaway by flames. I stepped into the living room and looked around at what hadbeen my happy home. I wiped the tears from my face and leant back against thesupport of a stone wall. Everything was ruined. If it hadn’t been damaged bythe flames and heat, then Marcus’ men had smashed or shattered it or theravages of weeks of exposure to the weather had ensured that destruction wastotal. Not even my figurines stood on the mantle. William had carved them forme, whittling them from soapstone while on campaign, but not one of themremained for me to treasure. I longed to stay and search the contents of myhouse more thoroughly, but the distant thunder of hoof beats startled me intoaction. Marcus was bound to pursue me for decapitating his lover – he couldn’tbe sure it was me of course, but he wouldn’t wait to replace out if his suspicionswere right either – and so I left. I picked up the bundle of goods I hadcarried since escaping Tristan’s clutches and disappeared into the forest.
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