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"Lord Raditz, it's the Duke! I found his cowl."
"Very good, Aldwyn." Heartened by the news, the smiling nobleman-- a towering, burly man with long black hair-- dismounted from his stallion. "Stand down, men. Good fortune has led us on a promising path. The Duke's will is stalwart and passionate. Yes, indeed. I know he lives. My… brother in arms lives."
Their doubts notwithstanding, the search party's members nodded in agreement. Raditz had been an optimistic beacon, offering hope for finding his lifelong friend Vegeta, the Duke of Sadala. The hot-tempered nobleman's absence -- now considered a disappearance -- stirred gossip-laden tongues across the kingdom.
The party's attendant, who couldn't have been older than eighteen, monitored the horses' restlessness as a few other men alighted. Animals often sense presences that men lacking paranormal talents overlook.
"Lord Raditz, please listen to me. Something is not right. With all due respect, perchance his grace would be displeased knowing we're out here without ample provisions?"
"Krillin, boy, irrational fear undermines your good sense," Raditz replied, unsheathing his long-sword. "You aren't traveling with amateurs. Moreover, considering that you are a commoner, opinions should either be smart or kept to a minimum."
"Yes, my lord," the youth replied, appearing embarrassed. Despite the humiliation, Krillin felt assured in his belief. Sunset's approach raised his caution.
The youngest member of Raditz's assemblage turns out to be the smartest, Vegeta thought from his shadowy hiding place. Unlike the other unfortunate souls, the boy wouldn't be executed for deserting because he wasn't a soldier.
The Duke roamed through the holts, searching for light despite his baptism in darkness. He felt painfully parched watching them now.
His core shape-shifted as the craving swelled.
Perhaps the boy will run soon, as he should. Raditz can take care of himself. He… always does.
By dawn, congealed blood smelling of iron and copper drenched what had been fecund soil. The vegetation had shriveled into an unrecognizable, hideous mess.
All within the search party but Krillin and Raditz were dead. Luckily, two battle chargers weren't. Those brave horses appeared to have more resolve than the shaken souls who mounted them again.
A third man who took up arms with them -- a shrouded, wraithlike figure whose brilliant swordsmanship helped them survive the horror -- had disappeared.
They had been spared... barely.
The sickness hastened Vegeta's departure. Having his pride mocked by an all-consuming passion shamed him. He had permission to wander freely -- albeit in a somewhat delirious condition -- but could only travel so far.
Despite the prior evening's fog, his rheumy eyes photographed the surroundings for immediate observation -- for someone else's knowledge.
"Very good, my love. You mustn't suffer more on my behalf."
"Then set me free."
"But you love me too, Duke of Sadala."
"I am not so sure now. However true that may be -- or what you have convinced yourself to believe -- it doesn't justify your machinations. You bewitch me."
"Leave any time you want, but the hunger stays with you. Come now. We must rest until our visitors arrive. Come lay with me. I need… your taste in my mouth."
Her enchantment drew him back to the misty castle where, almost two years earlier, she and her "sisters" nursed his illness-ravaged body back to health.
Their lovely appearances belied cunning intentions.
She ravished him into erotic submission before their mutual slumber. Each intimate encounter eroded Vegeta's connection to his past. Bygone hurts and offenses wouldn't matter eventually as her psychic influence intensified. Otherwise, his exceedingly strong will would likely cause her far more trouble.
From the time they met, she wanted this brooding, handsome, intelligent, and introspective man for herself. Vegeta's pneuma matched and challenged hers in every manner except one -- but not for long. She couldn't have it any other way.
She, the foolhardy alchemist, paid a hefty price for her pursuit of the dark arts a century ago, but now...
Lonely roads must have led them to each other. Enlightenment was imminent.
Yes. That’s what she told her sisters.
He would soon be reborn like a butterfly emerging from its chrysalis, taking his rightful place in her realm as king -- an honor denied unfairly within his.
He would look forward with her, not back.
Her blood "saved" his life. Tasting his saved hers.