Chapter Two

    When the King realized no one would punish her, he had her taken from the pillory and tied to a massive pole in the center of town and stripped of her ragged clothes and was whipped fifteen times. Her screams seemed to cover the silence of the town and the surrounding farms. No one spoke and no one moved. They merely watched.

           Peter had then arrived moments after her last lash, hired by the King for some freelance work, he was known well across the lands for his bravery and his toughness. But when he saw the beautiful, crying woman in the middle of town, he could not let that stand. He removed himself from his horse and walked to her punisher and snatched the whip from his hands, turned it around and whipped him so many times so quickly he couldn’t react. “Leave now, or I will take this and steal the life from your worthless body!” His menacing dark eyes bore into the man and he took off running.

           Peter walked toward Lavinia and knelt on the ground in front of her and looked into her agonized eyes. He used a thumb to wipe away a tear and swallowed hard never had he looked at a person the way he was looking at her. He ripped the chains in half and then tore the shackles from her bloodied wrists; she looked at him in astonishment. “What are you?” She whispered quietly like a mouse.

           “I am…something and would you like me to take you from here?” He took off his coat and set it gently around her gashes.

           “Anywhere is better than here, but why?” She felt immediately safe and drawn to him and wanted nothing more than to be by his side.

           “You are beautiful and no creature that is as beautiful as you deserves to be punished so savagely. I heard the whispers of you and why you were being punished and they were not justified in their actions.” He helped her to stand and she was so weak, so he lifted her up into his arms and held her close against him. He wrapped her in a blanket, his horse lay to the ground and she carefully sat on it. He then climbed in behind her and he rode her away. They got to a riverside far from town and started a fire. Peter bit into his thumb, making it bleed and crawled beside her. “Take some.” She looked at him, confused and a little disgusted. “Do you trust me?”

           “Yes.” She looked deeply into his eyes and took a deep breath.

           “Then, just do it. It will help you.” She couldn’t bring herself to do it, drinking some else’s blood. He was somewhat frustrated, so he sucked his own blood till it healed, leaned in, and kissed her. She, for a split second, made a move to pull away but didn’t; she instead leaned into it, their tongues caressing each other.

           Lavinia could feel the sting and throbbing of her back fading and was soon gone. She pulled away from his kiss and wrapped her hands around her back to feel no gashes, just dried, caked-on blood. She looked up at him, her eyes wide, bewildered, and amazed. “What did you do?”

           “My blood…Healed you.” He nodded his head to the river. “You should go wash yourself of the blood.” She stood up weary of what to do; she had no clothes, nothing, and though she would be bare while in the water, what would she dry herself off with? Surely not the blood-soaked blanket. She was confused about the entire thing, surprised by a man like that. A creature like that to save her from such pain and agony. The whipping would have only been the beginning.  This she was sure; the men would have finished what their fellow soldier had tried to start. All of them. Peter stood up, combed his hair with his hands, and gave a slight smile. “Hold on a few moments. I will return.”

           Lavinia didn’t have a chance to speak, for he had dashed away in a blur. Again, her eyes were wide with bewilderment. She couldn’t believe what she had seen, what he had done; perhaps it was a pain-induced hallucination or dream. A being like that surely could not exist.

           She sat back down and wrapped the blanket around her tightly, looking into the blackness of the forest. In the dead black of the night, she swore she saw movement. Something was stalking her. The delicate blonde hairs on her arms and neck stood stiff on edge. She felt the terror that would come for her, and no matter what she wanted to do to survive, she knew whatever it was would get her.

           Thoughts circled around her mind at high speed. Would it gut her? Eat her? What would the creature that she felt do? In fact, her main question was, what was it?

           The monstrous animal leaped from the trees in front of her lunging its massive frame straight to her; she closed her eyes, but there was no impact, and when she opened them, she saw the creature dead. Beheaded and Peter standing over it, his chest rising and lowering quickly, huffing hard and even in the dark where the moonlit him up, she saw black eyes; solid black eyes.

           Even though he looked like that and was able to behead a creature five times his size so quickly and so quietly that she hadn’t heard him, she felt even safer and more drawn to him. Perhaps his power, his beauty, the kindness he had shown her. Her eyes again widened in shock as the beast began to shrink and change; it changed into a man. Her blue eyes shot up to look into Peter’s, who was actually surprised her terrified reaction was to the beast becoming human than to how he looked and what he did.

           “Wh…wha…what?” She sputtered, “What. Was. That? What are…you?”

           “A lycan, he is a lycan. I am a vampire.” He was straight forward and honest, no use in beating around the bush.

           “A lycan? A vampire?” She hadn’t heard of these creatures before, and it worried her that there may be much more. If creatures like them could live in their world and no one knew then what other kinds were there.

           “Lycans are men that are half-man and half-wolf. They transform and become savage beasts. He would have killed you. Most of them are gone now.  I’ve hunted them all down. Most of them have been hunted down.” Peter held onto the head and grabbed the arm of the now man and pulled him deeply into the woods. He went back to the woman, who sat quietly, in deep thought. He didn’t speak; he just patiently waited for her to grasp everything, and she had a lot to grasp. Peter was already over three hundred years old, and so time meant very little to him; he had an eternity to wait for her to speak. She, however, did not.

           Peter had run off to the nearby village Lavinia had lived, and an old maiden gave him clothes and a blanket for her; to thank her for her bravery and to apologize for not defending her, a neighbor gave him some apples and a loaf of bread, and he was gone. They sat for a while in heavy silence. Peter had never been so taken by a human before, by anything actually and so he did not know how to act, what to say or do. Thus, deciding to set down one of the dresses he’d been given on her lap. She still didn’t speak. She said nothing, but her gaze moved to the dress from the woods.

           Lavinia rose, still without a word, and walked to the river. She set the dress on a rock and dropped the blanket to the ground and stepped into the cold water and washed away the blood. Peter wanted to look away out of respect for her, but he just couldn’t, she was so beautiful all of her, and he was mesmerized. Sirens would envy her beauty. She was quick. It was dark, and she was cold even from a distance he sat. Peter could hear her shivering, so as she began to exit the water, he disappeared quickly. He had the fire burning even hotter before she had taken her last step out. He did, however, turn away from her while she clothed herself. The dress was very well form-fitting. He met her halfway and pointed to the fire.

           “I built up the fire for you. So, you would be warm and could dry yourself.” He was so quiet and caring as he spoke. She responded with a nod of her head and walked around him. She sat beside the fire and wrapped herself up in the other blanket. Peter went to the water and washed off the one soaked in blood and spread it out on a huge boulder. He sat beside her, and she looked at him with loving eyes, and he smiled slightly. She leaned against his side, and he put his arm around her. She fell asleep leaning against him like that. He moved gingerly to avoid waking her and wrapped the blanket around her; he curled himself up beside her and went to sleep as well.

            Peter woke up first to the sun, just beginning to rise and birds singing. She was still in a deep slumber, and he couldn’t help but smile to himself. She seemed so peaceful, a chance to be free of the stress and burdens of the last few days. Murdering someone, even out of defense, takes a toll on someone’s soul, and her soul was burdened. He could see it. She took a deep breath and blinked her blue eyes, adjusting to the light and sat up her hair a mess.

           “I have heard stories of creatures like you. There was never a name to call you, other than monsters. Drink the blood of humans. Godly speed and strength and beautiful.” Was the first thing she spoke upon sitting up, blinking her eyes rapidly, failing to adjust to the bright sun. He nodded. “You are known to be monsters, are you not?” Her curious eyes stared directly into his.

           “Do I seem like a monster to you?” She shook her head, “do I scare you?”  Again, she shook her head. “Then what you think of me is all that matters.”

           “Just my opinion?” Her inquisitive side relieved him; it told him she was caring to get to know him, to understand. “Is it true you can live forever?”

           “For the most part, yes, we can be killed. It is just…difficult, especially for humans.”

           “Do all of you have to drink human blood? Do YOU have to?” He nodded his head.

           “It’s essential for our survival. We don’t die if we don’t, we desiccate. It is a painful process forever in agony.” She nodded, then stayed quiet for a few moments.

           “How many people have you killed?”

           “I am three hundred years old. I have killed many, which is a question I cannot properly answer. I am sorry for that.”

           “Why are being so honest to me?”

           “Because… You are special?”

           “Am I? How is that so?”

           “You just…you just are.” The eye contact they shared became more intense as the moments passed by.

           “What is it like? To be a vampire?” He was surprised it took her that long to ask him that.

           “It can be quite amazing. The strength, speed living forever young and the compulsion, but the hunger; the desire to feed is overwhelming and all too powerful. If a vampire learns to control that impulse, it can be a good life, but many cannot, and they slaughter humans by masses. I can… Control mine. This is why I did not kill you yesterday, even while you were covered in blood.”

           “Will you end up killing me?” He smiled sweetly and shook his head.

           “Never you.” She returned an innocent smile to him. “We should probably not stay here much longer. I believe the King will probably send his men after you…And I.”

           “I cannot go back. My punishment yesterday will pale in comparison to what they would do to me now.” She looked shaken up again.

           “I will not allow them to hurt you.” She believed him vehemently, and he could see that she did. “But we must leave now. I would prefer to not kill anyone today, especially not in front of you.”

           “Alright.” She agreed quickly, taking his hand as he stood, pulling her up with him. He pulled her close and looked her right in the eyes.

           “I will never let anyone hurt you for as long as I live.”

           “That is a very long time.” She murmured, and he nodded. He called to his horse and rolled up the blankets since the one that had been covered in blood was mostly dry. He jumped on and then pulled her up behind him. She squeezed him tightly, and off they went into the dense forest.

           The two of them rode in silence; neither one knew what to say, so Peter and Lavinia just enjoyed the physical touch of one another. They rode until the dark settled on them, and they had reached a nearby village.

           Peter stopped at an inn and had a young man take his horse to the stables while he got a small room where they would share the night together. The primary reason for sharing the small room was for her safety. She sat close to the fire lit opposite the bed, and he sat close to her, and they sat in silence; it was filled with an electricity neither one understood.

           “Thank you again…for saving my life.” He looked her up and down, meeting her gaze once again with a soft smile.

           “You are welcome.” He leaned close to her and slid a hand across her soft, fair-skinned cheek and into her hair. His lips touched hers lightly. He wanted to be gentle; she’d been brutalized so recently that and with what he was too much could lead to her death. She’d need to be like him for things to be…rougher. She didn’t kiss him back initially, and just as he was about to embarrassingly recede, she leaned in and met him again. Their tongues met, and the kissing was passionate and sensual. His strong hand slid up her dress; he gripped her thigh and pulled her to him, directing her on top of him. He stood up, holding onto her small frame and took her to the bed, laying her down gently following along.

           Their first night together was passionate, and he was gentle with her. Gentlemen were something she didn’t know even existed. No man in her village, no man she’d ever been in contact with were gentle or respectful. Including her deceased father, who beat her and her siblings, her brothers turned into disgusting brutes upon adulthood as well. Her father killed her mother, beating her till her life slipped from her lungs.

           Her baby sister fell to the same brutality at only the age of three. Lavinia felt guilty, occasionally, for having been the one to survive. She was thirteen and powerless and stunned with fear every time he was angry.

           Peter showed her good men did exist as he lay right beside her keeping her close. They did not know one another very well, or at all, but they felt within each other, something that told them they would be together forever. Dedicated till death separated them. Lavinia was also so sure he would never become a different man towards her, so sure she was scared of how it felt to not be scared of a man.

*Author's note:This book contains violence, sexual scenes and talks about rape. Reader discretion is warned. I appreciate all of the support my reader's provide for me and my kids.  Please don't forget to give gems and votes and reviews please.  Every little bit helps!