Paper Moons Part 14 (Patreon)

We had nothing. The supplies we brought with us were only just enough to get us back home.  There had been no expectation to find anyone out here and part of me had not been expecting to even find this so-called child of the moon.  It was clear we were wildly unprepared with the information we had received. Then again, I didn’t know how I was supposed to prepare for a blood starved vampire that communed with the night.

“Nothing,” I said simply, trying to give the woman a warm smile.  “I’m sure we can just speak with her.  Find a solution.”

The woman dismissed us when it became clear we were not going to buy or trade for anything.  Standing awkwardly before her for a long moment, I realized that they probably didn’t get a lot of outsiders within their small village.  We had probably looked like hope to this woman.

“Perhaps we can return here at a later date,” I said. “Bring some food and–”

“Don’t bother,” she said quickly, busying herself within the small hovel.  “We don’t need anyone from the market out here.  Besides, if you’re out here with us, I can guarantee you’re not going back to the market any time soon.”

“Why do you say that?” Gabriel asked.

“‘Cause no one returns from here,” she said with a shrug. “We’re all exiled out here for a reason. The Guard isn’t going to let you back in.”

I glanced at Gabriel but kept quiet after that.  Instead, the two of us bid our farewell to the lady and stepped back outside into the sweltering heat of the cave.

“Now what are we to do?” Gabriel asked. I watched the way his eyes moved around the cavern, looking for the weak spots. The point of opportunity in which someone might take advantage of us.

“We need the information from that girl,” I told him.

“We have no blood to give her,” he pointed out absently.

With a sigh, I looked back towards where she danced. Just on the outskirts of light.  The bones of her ankle were frail and knobby and I thought they would snap given one wrong step. “Yes we do,” I said firmly.  My father had always instilled in me that we help the people who are unable to help themselves. That we were blessed but we were only blessed because the Almighty wished for us to care for others.

Walking across the way, I pulled my knife from my boot. I wouldn’t have to give her much. Just enough that I could feed her.  Keep her sane.  Perhaps if I just sliced open my palm it would stem some of the bleeding.  Vampires traditionally sipped from the arteries but I didn’t think that decision to be the wisest course of action and….

“What are you doing?”  Gabriel stepped in front of me, his bulky form blocking my view.

“We need answers,” I told him.

His eyes ticked down towards the dagger. “Answers should not come at the price of your pain.”

“It is my decision, Gabriel.” And it would help.  It would help him.  That was my job, after all. My purpose.

“I am not comfortable with a feral beast taking away what essentially keeps you alive,” he told me firmly.  “There are other options.”

But as I looked around, I noticed how the people looked at us. How they were giving us a wide berth.  There were other options but they were ones that would take time we did not have and resources I was not confident we could obtain.  Ignoring him, I made to step around his solid form, heading towards Kavatti once again. His hand shot out and grabbed my upper arm before I could get far.

Slowly, I turned and looked at the grip he had on me. Almost immediately, he let it go, dropping his head. “Apologies,” he whispered. “I just– I do not want you to do this.”

“Gabriel–”

“If you do this and you die, then I am dead as well, am I not? I would have no Graceling to help me. I would slip into madness.”

That, gave me pause.  The idea of leaving him out here all alone was not ideal.  And I had made a promise to both Reese and Elias. To take care of him. The sadness on Elias’s face and the disappointment on Reese's was not one I wished to see.

“Perhaps we could just bleed me and give it to her through a cask?” It sounded silly to say but it was a solution.  One that made Gabriel shoulders drop in relief as he nodded his head.

“We can empty one of her canteens and bleed you that way. Nothing much, however. I do not wish for you to become faint.”

We moved away from the village at that. Away from Kavatti. Finding a secluded place where the heat did not seem so sweltering and the eyes so curious, we settled down against a rock wall.  Gabriel emptied the canteen we had brought for drinking, looking at me warily.

“I’m just going to slice open my palm,” I told him.  “Give her a small bit of it. Nothing much.” My words were meant to assure both of us.

As the dagger slid across me, splitting open my skin, I tried not to wince. I remembered how my father used to butcher pigs. One quick slice against their throat that ended up staining the hay red.  Steam had risen from the barn on those mornings.  I used to sit on the fence line and watch him, twisting the corn husks into little dolls for the children of the village.

Squeezing my fist together, I held it over the opening, watching as a few drops dripped within.  It was agonizingly slow and I had to make one more pass with the blade as I realized it was not deep enough. Gabriel sat by my side the entire time.

When I got all I thought I was willing to give, I handed him the canteen.  He set it aside before gently taking my hand. Already he had brought out the bandages from our pack and he began cleaning me up efficiently.  His fingers were rough and dry, still cracked through with the lack of grace that was coursing through him.

“May I ask you a question, Gabriel?” I asked, watching him tie off the cloth around my palm. “Do you feel the madness? Do you feel it sometimes coming for you?”

He didn’t look at me as he began putting away our first aid. “Yes,” he said simply. “It gets worse every day.”

I felt the urgency of the situation latch onto me much differently then.  I was not willing to let this kind man fall.  Not if I could give him a second chance.

~~~

Eagerly, she drank from the bottle we handed her, slurping at the contents and allowing none of it to spill.  I could see my own blood glowing as it slid down her throat, lighting up her paper thin skin into a healthier flush.  When it was gone, she whined into the opening, trying to tear the metal apart to lick it clean. I felt my stomach roll at the sight of it.

“More,” she whimpered.

“We have no more,” I told her.

“I need more!” The canteen clattered against the cave wall as she stared at us with bright, lavender eyes. I watched as she grew a bit taller, the appearance of the gaunt child fading as she rose to her feet, her body filling out in a much more womanly manner.

Gabriel stepped in front of me, ready to defend me. I shook my head sadly though. So much fear went into the things we did not understand.  I doubted anyone had ever given this woman enough of their time to make her feel understood.  “I want to help you,” I told her. “I will help you. But I also need information about the moon.”

She perked at that, the word penetrating through whatever haze the blood had just taken away.  “The moon?” her voice was softer. Set within a dream.  She was still thin, the bones of her collar jutting out in painful edges. But the swell of breasts had formed and the sultry pout of her lips were crimson with my own blood.  “I know plenty about the moon.”

“We need to harvest its light for a spell.  We need a way to mimic celestial grace.”

“Oh,” she breathed. “How pretty.”

“Can you help us with that?”

“I can ask.  You cannot take from the moon. You would have to ask. Do you wish to take all the light or just some?”

I didn’t know how much light we even needed.  The very idea of bottling it felt beyond me to begin with.

“We only need some,” Gabriel told her. “Is this something you can do?

“I shall ask,” she giggled.  Thought when she smiled again, it was something far softer. Far more inviting.  “Would you like to come with me, warm blood?” Holding out her hand, she looked directly at me.  I felt my blood thrum in response to her.  “We can leave the broken one behind.”

[[Go with Kavatti]]

[[Go explore the village]]

[[Demand that Gabriel comes with you two]]