Page 2 of Ashvale: The Vampire's Thrall

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We seemedto cover the open ground surprisingly quickly, though I had no idea how the blond stranger knew where to go. He seemed to walk without direction and appeared unbothered by the sunlight that continued to make me cranky. It wasn’t pain exactly, just discomfort. Like seams rubbing on a fresh sunburn. The agony in my gut had faded to a dull ache the longer we walked, so I at least knew that the stranger was taking me in the right direction—as far as my body could tell. The absence of the pain would have been good, except it meant that my attention settled instead on the gnawing burn in my throat and my growing irritation toward the stranger.

We’d left the cemetery behind and made our way across dry grass that rose higher as we moved further in, until eventually it reached my waist and the stranger’s hips.

“Do you have a name?” I asked, finally breaking the silence and he glanced back at me with a look of intrigue that instantly made me wish I could snatch the words back out of the air.

“I do.”

Okay, then. “Do I have a name?”

He paused in between strides, a hesitation so slight I didn’t know how I’d caught it. “You do.”

“I suppose telling me would be too much to ask.”

“It would,” he said but I could hear the smirk in his voice and I could practically feel my blood pressure rising in response. Who was this arsehole? Why was I still traipsing after him in this fucking field? It was so noisy I could barely hear myself think, the bugs practically screamed at me and the long stalks slid across each other with a ceaseless dry rustle that was maddening. I had the urge to cup it in my palms and rip it from the ground as we moved, just to make everything shut. The fuck. Up. “Come on,” he said without glancing back, and I scowled. He’d done that a lot so far, somehow knowing when I’d stopped moving or when I was hesitating without even turning around.

I grunted in response and hoped it accurately conveyed the meaning offuck off and die.But I started moving again. Whatever had happened to me… whoever had done this… it was possible he could get me answers. He certainly seemed to know more than I did right then, anyway.

I wasn’t sure if I was a violent person, but considering the rage I currently harboured, smouldering hotter the longer we walked, my suspicions were veering onto the side of ‘yes’.

“Where are we going?”

“Somewhere safe.”

I tried to keep my tone pleasant and largely failed. “Safe from what?”

He stopped, considering my words with a gleam in his eye that made me tense as he turned to me. “From you.”

What the hell was that supposed to mean? He smirked like my confusion was palpable and I closed my eyes, letting out a sharp breath through my nose.

His footsteps crunched on the dry grass as he continued walking and, after a second of staring at his retreating form, I followed.

A gleam up ahead made me squint as sunlight broke into refracted rainbows that made my head ache and eyes blur. A lake. There was barely a path around the outside but the stranger continued marching in that direction and I stumbled along after him, cursing the heavy combat boots that, though comfortably worn in, kept catching in the long grass.

“You said you were sent for me. By who? And why you?”

His heavy sigh made my teeth grind as he spun abruptly around, the amusement falling from his face as he stepped closer to me. “You ask too many questions.”

“Maybe if you answered some of them I wouldn’t keep thinking of more.” I scowled and was pleased that he was the one left looking annoyed this time.

“It was my turn.”

His turn? I opened my mouth and he turned away, resuming his walk at an increased speed that forced me to quickly follow.

The sun felt like it was getting hotter as we walked and I groaned, my tongue feeling too big for my mouth. I was just so damnthirsty.

I squinted at the blond head walking in front of me. I couldn’t remember why I was following him, only that I had to, but right then it didn’t matter. “Hey. I don’t know who you are, or what’s going on here, but I need water. My throat is on fire.”

He didn’t stop moving and my vision blurred as I stumbled after him. “Hey! I said—”

“I heard you the first time,” he said, voice casual and I frowned.

“Who are you?” I rasped and his footsteps didn’t falter. “Did you do this to me?” There was a stutter in the rhythm of his feet, like he was listening to me, before he resumed his pace. “Do you have a name?” I let the tug in my stomach continue pulling me after him, my head feeling stuffy like static-filled cotton wool. “Do I?”

He shot me a look and the strangest feeling of deja vu hit me. Where were we going? Why was I following him? My throat hurt too much to ask, so I continued in his footsteps instead, hoping this wasn’t a mistake.

A lowthud-thudjoined the cacophony of buzzes and chirps and I groaned, covering my ears with my hands. What the fuck was that? Some bastards dragged bongos out to the lake to swim and vibe with the earth? It was like the universe was conspiring against me, the drums beating hard behind my closed eyelids until eventually I couldn’t separate it from my own pulse that seemed too quiet in comparison.

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