Chapter Text
Chapter One
I took a deep breath in, the fresh autumn breeze rushing over my smile. The sun was still strong, even though it wouldn’t be long until the winter started creeping in. So I closed my eyes and just felt the warmth, listening to the sounds around me. Birds were chirping, leaves were rustling, in the distance, a dog was barking and on the road behind my little house a motorcycle seemed to be nearing.
I opened my eyes again and continued walking towards the mailbox.
But then there was a loud crashing sound, the screeching of tires and the scream of a man, that tore through the air. The mail dropping into the mud, I turned and ran towards the street behind my house. A red car was speeding off into the distance and at first I thought that I’d misheard that scream.
But then I saw the motorcycle on the side of the road – it was completely wrecked.
“Where’s the driver?”, I mumbled, but then I heard a weak cough coming from afar and rand in that direction.
I found him lying several feet away from the street, and quite a long distance away from his ride. He seemed to be around thirty, his hair and beard were red and his face grimaced in pain. His jeans and leather jacket were completely covered in blood, a little pool of it already forming in the grass beneath him, one arm was bend in a weird angle.
As soon as I saw him, I knew that he was a vampire. I felt it.
But I didn’t care. His wounds were severe – a human would have been dead the minute they’d received them. So I dropped to my knees next to him. Even though he seemed to be fighting to stay awake, he knew what I was, just the way I knew about him.
“You’re a witch.”, he coughed, a strong Scottish accent leaking through.
“And you’re a dying vampire.”, I replied, and he tried to smile.
“I’m fine, it’ll heal.”, he muttered, but I knew he was lying.
“Don’t be stupid, even your body can’t heal that.”, I gestured to his wounds, then his head lolled back and he was unconscious.
Awesome.
“Liza? What’s happening?”, a voice from behind me shouted. It was Nate. He was only seventeen, his dark skin shimmering in the sun.
“Nate! Come here! We need to get him inside, he needs help!”
Nate came rushing over to us, but then he hesitated.
“He’s a vampire.”, Nate breathed and I was impressed that he recognised that so fast.
“He needs our help.”, I corrected and started to reach for the man’s arm.
Nate shook off his hesitation and helped me (for which I was glad, the man was REALLY heavy).
As soon as Nate and I carefully laid the man onto the couch in my living room, I prepared my stomach for the worst, opened his leather jacket and lifted the shirt beneath it.
“Shit.”, I muttered, unable to hide the shock. Nate gasped loudly beside me. Bandages, stitches and even a ride to the hospital would not be enough. The wounds under all that blood were so severe, it was miraculous that the vampire was still breathing.
Without hesitating, I started gathering the ingredients.
“What are you doing?”, Nate asked, a little out of breath.
“I’m preparing a spell. He’ll die otherwise.”
Nate shook his head. “And then what? You heal him, he wakes up and kills us both?”
“Don’t be stupid, Nate.”, I replied not looking up from the cupboard, “He’s a vampire, not some evil monster. Now, could you please get me some water from the river?”
Nate looked from the man to me, then he nodded, grabbed a bucket and left.
Finally, I had all the ingredients.
“God, I hope this spell works.”, I mumbled, since I had never done this spell before. I had invented it, of course, but that wasn’t any guarantee that it actually worked.
I mixed the ingredients and started chanting the words. Light flooded the room and I could feel the power of the spell. It was moving, fluid. It was, as tough it was trying to escape and I had to hold onto the spell.
But then the light died out and I released a heavy breath. I needed to sit down and so I collapsed into the armchair next to the couch.
The front door opened and Nate stormed in, water dripping from the bucket.
“Which spell did you use? Did it work?”, he was just as out of breath as I was.
“The spell I told you about last week.”
His eyes grew wide and he placed the bucket on the table. “Did it work?”
I nodded. “I think so. I can feel its power. Like a rope that’s pulling on my hands.”
Nate also sat down. “Awesome.”, he whispered, “I mean, not awesome that you had to use it in the first place, but awesome that a spell like that actually worked!”
For a moment, we were both silently catching our breaths.
“And now? What are you going to do with him?”, Nate asked, his head nodding towards the unconscious man.
I shrugged. “Waiting to see if he wakes up? Maybe you could come back later and bring by some clothes. His’ are covered in blood.”
Nate swallowed. “Sure. I’ll be back. Just… be careful. He’s still a vampire.”
Then Nate left and for a few moments, I just watched the man breathe. But then I remembered that he was still technically dying, possibly.
I gathered a few clean towels and drenched them in the river water. It was rather exhausting, getting a leather jacket off an unconscious man, but it worked. Then I sat down at the edge of the couch, carefully lifting his shirt and preparing my stomach to look at the wounds.
But my spell had worked, the wounds were there, but at the same time they weren’t. Like they couldn’t decide if they wanted to be there or not. Kind of like it was just the ghost of a wound. But his skin was full of blood none the less. I reached for the wet towel and moved it towards his chest. But the second the towel touched his skin, his hand shot up and grabbed my own, his eyes open and looking at me.
“It’s okay.”, I soothed, “I’m not trying to hurt you. It’s just water.”
He blinked as if he only now remembered what had happened and quickly scanned the room. Then, he nodded weakly and released my hand.
“Sorry.”, he mumbled and I carefully placed the towel on his wound, which made him wince.
I had to wash out the towel eleven times before I had cleaned all the wounds on his torso and neither of us spoke during that time. But when I stood and started walking towards the kitchen, I saw that he was lifting his shirt once more to look at his wounds himself.
“What the-? What is this?”, he asked, looking up at me.
“Never seen magic before, have you?”, I chuckled and flushed the bloody water down the kitchen sink.
“I’ve seen a lot of magic in my days, but never… on my own body.”
Now I had to laugh. “Well, you’re welcome. Your wounds would have killed you.”
He tried to sit up, but seemed to realise that it was a stupid idea and let himself fall back onto the couch.
“Thank you. You saved my life.”, he said and I looked up to find him smiling sincerely.
“Anytime.”, I answered.
He laid his head back and ran a hand over his face, probably fighting a bad headache.
I took a glass from the cabinet and then a knife from the drawer.
He smelled the blood as soon as the first drop escaped my hand.
“What are you doing?”, he asked, his gaze now alarmed.
I watched the blood drip into the glass. “I didn’t heal your wounds, you know. The spell I used works different. It’s basically like a pause-button. The wounds will come back, but slowly – which gives your vampire body enough time to heal them each, I hope. We’re not out of the woods yet, so you’ll need your strength.”
“I don’t want your blood. I can’t…”, he started.
I placed a band-aid on the cut and walked over to him with the glass. “Don’t be a fool. You don’t even have enough strength to sit upright. And I really don’t want you dying on my couch.”
The extended glass rested between us for a moment. I could see that he wanted to refuse it, but couldn’t, for which I gave him a lot of credit for.
While he drank, I walked back to the kitchen because the situation was kind of awkward.
After I’d put away a few random things in the kitchen, I came back to retrieve the empty glass.
“Thank you.”, he said once he gave it to me.
I just smiled and put the glass in the dishwasher. “So, are you going to tell me your name? And tell me how that accident happened?”
He smiled and finally managed to sit upright before he answered. “My name’s Gallowglass. And honestly, I don’t really know either. One second it was fine and the next second, the car was there. It was on my lane, I’ve no idea why. I tried to move out of the way and lost control.”
“Well, then you were incredibly lucky. If you’d been a human you would have been dead right then and there and if you didn’t crash right behind my house, you’d probably have died a few minutes later.”
He chuckled. “Well, lucky me, I guess. But you didn’t tell me your name yet. Or do I have to guess?”
“Hm, that would be kind of funny, I guess.”, I hummed in agreement.
“Liza?”, a voice and a knock came from the door.
“Well, so much for that, Liza.”, Gallowglass muttered and put a lot of emphasis on my name.
I recognised the voice as Nate’s and called: “Come in!”
He did and carried a stack of clothes in his hands. Only when I saw my opened front door I realised that it had gotten quite dark outside withing those few minutes.
“How is…”, Nate started but then saw that Gallowglass was awake.
“Oh. I, uh…”, he stammered, and I helped him out.
“Nate, this is Gallowglass. Gallowglass, Nate. He lives next door and helped me get you inside.”
“Thank you, then.”, Gallowglass said and Nate nodded, even though he still seemed nervous.
“Gosh, Nate, calm down.”, I jokingly punched him in the shoulder, “If he was going to kill us, he would have done it already.”
Gallowglass nodded. “Can’t argue with that. But I can assure you. I don’t kill humans. Or witches.”
That seemed to calm Nate somewhat and he remembered he was holding the clothes.
“I, uh, brought you some clothes. I hope they fit.”, he said and placed them on the small coffee table in front of the couch.
“That’s very kind of you.”, Gallowglass answered.
I looked from one to the other, an awkward silence spreading between them.
“Thank you, Nate. I think that’s all. If I need anything, I’ll call you, ok?”
He looked at me and nodded. “Sure. I’ll just… be at home.”
Once he had left the room, Gallowglass asked: “So, I’m really glad you saved my life, but how long until you think I’m good to go again?”
I sighed. “Well, the spell is kind of the first of its kind and I have no clue how long it’ll take. It’s like an invisible rope, that I’m holding. And every time I release a piece of the rope, a bit of the pain and the wounds will come back to you. And I need to give you enough time between them for you to recover. So, maybe a few days. But I can’t say for sure.”
He nodded, not arguing.
“How about you change your clothes while I make us dinner. The bathroom is up the stairs to the right. You think you’re up for that?”
“I think so.”, he said and carefully got on his feet. He swayed a little, but stood. Then he took the stack of clothes and slowly got up the stairs.
While I started making dinner, I smiled to myself. It didn’t feel as though I had a dangerous vampire in my house, but more like an old friend.
Maybe I should be more careful?
“So, Gallowglass, what were you doing on the road anyway? Were you travelling somewhere?”, I asked and shovelled another spoon of soup in my mouth.
He took a sip from his glass before answering. “No, not really. I’ve been on the road for a few months now, but I don’t really have any goal.”
I saw it in the way his eyes dimmed when he spoke. And involuntarily I reached for my necklace and played with the ring.
“So you don’t know where you want to be. You just know where you don’t want to be?”, I asked, offering an understanding smile. His eyes shot up at me, brows furrowed, wondering how I could know such a thing.
“I know that look. I’ve healed so many illnesses in my lifetime. But a broken heart… that’s something I’ve never been able to cure.”
He gave a weak smile and then lowered his eyes to his plate.
“You wanna talk about her?”, I carefully asked, hoping he didn’t feel pressured or anything.
But he just sighed. “Not really. It’s rather complicated anyway.”
I nodded.
“Do you want to talk about him?”, he asked and I froze, suddenly realising that I was still playing with his ring at the end of my necklace and releasing it.
“How did you…?”, I started and he smiled.
“Takes one to know one.”, he answered and I smiled back.
“Fair enough.”, I replied.
“Tough I fear it’s different for you. Since you have his ring and yours, I’m assuming he’s died?”
I nodded, not looking at him. “He’s been dead for four years now and I still carry his ring. Stupid, isn’t it?”
“Not in the slightest.”, he answered and the sincerity in his voice surprised me, so I looked back at him.
His smile was warm and comforting. “You wanna talk about him?”, he offered.
“Not really. It’s complicated as well.”, I replied and we both smiled.
After dinner, I’d brought him some blankets for the couch. “I’ll drive into town tomorrow to get you some proper clothes. Nate is quite a lot shorter than you are. You wanna join me?”, I asked as I handed him the blankets.
“Sure.”, he answered.
“Great. See you tomorrow. If anything’s wrong, my room is upstairs on the left.”
He nodded. “Thank you again, for everything. Good night, Liza.”
I smiled.
“Night.”, I replied as I headed for the stairs.