Waterfall by night.

[Carey]

Wounds are never fun, especially the really messy, bloody ones. I had one such wound after fighting some nameless beast in the woods, and I was leaving an awful bloody trail down the rock that I was attempting to slide down the side of. I'm very particular about not leaving signs of where I've been, so the whole blood stream on the rock thing was kind of irking me. I mean, come on, it's not exactly subtle. Then again, it's not like I could have helped it.

This thought train sort of stopped as I twisted my arm in a weird direction. The deep laceration was swelling and sore, and the slightest movements were making me cry out. Having made it down the rock, I shoved my arm unceremoniously into the water, gritting my teeth at the extreme cold, seeming like ice against my burning flesh. Not exactly the most comfortable sensation.

I took a spare piece of cloth from my knapsack and wrapped it tightly around my now somewhat cleansed arm, and tied it with a bit of twine. I had to remove the glove on that arm in order to do this, which always made me pause and stare at the delicately curved lines that twisted and curved in the shape of a pentagram. I had one for each arm, right on my wrists underneath my palms. I have had these things for years, and still have not explored all the powers they give me. It's not as if they produce flowers or butterfly's; they come from dark magic, so I'm pretty sure nothing particularly good and wholesome can come from them. And once again I wondered if anyone else had them--how many people are able to escape from sacrifice rituals?

I swiped away a tear and returned my focus to the now throbbing and pulsating arm, and grimaced as a particularly bad jolt shot through it. I sighed and took a drink of the water, which felt refreshing on my dry tongue. Then I sat back and listened to the roar of the falls, slowly feeling myself getting more and more tired... then I was drifting off....

[[ st r yder ]]

Blood. Lots of blood. The corner of my mouth pulls away from my teeth in a grimace. Kazeielan, control yourself. I clench my mortal fist, feeling the nails of my hand cut half-moons into my palm. Thirst, something that I have felt many a time before. A... blood lust. But a vampire I am not. Just an addict. I follow the trail, the powerful scent pulling me along more than the blood as red as my hair, to a girl.

So, she was what that beast had been chasing. She put up quite a fight, there was not much work for me to do. Still, she had my prey before I did. That vexes me. Passed out from blood loss, I do not doubt. I walk over, my fists still clenched, and examine the wound from a bit of a distance. She is going to bleed more. I reach up and gently shake her shoulder, prepared to leap back if she draws steel on me.

[Carey]

I always hate the feeling of realizing I let my guard down. Such instances leave me a bit annoyed at myself... such as falling asleep slumped against a rock and waking to find yourself looking up at a beastly looking man with a hungry look in his eye (eye singular; it appeared he could only see out of one of them.)

I stared at him for a moment, taking in his whole appearance. Scarred face, black cloak, and as luck would have it, very pointy teeth. Yep, definately the kind of guy I want to wake up to. But on the plus side, at least he hadn't killed me in my sleep. I allowed myself a small bit of hope that he wasn't plan to tear me to pieces.

Normally I wouldn't necessarily think he could. The powers that I had discovered from my marks were pretty handy in a fight. Many a time I been able to simply plunge my hand into a beast's chest and basically strangle an organ. Usually it caused them so much surprise and pain as I did this that they couldn't even fight back... which is good because most of them had very unpleasant looking claws.

But in my current state I wasn't so confident. I was aching from my fight, and sleeping against a rock hadn't helped much. Not to mention I was exhausted. In other words, no reflexes. I was really hoping he wasn't planning to attack. So I decided to be polite.

What do you want?

Okay, so maybe not all that polite. But I wasn't in the best of moods, so this was pretty much all I could muster.

[[ st r yder ]]

"You will bleed to death if you do not care for that wound any better."

I say, my voice carefully controlled. Formal, even. I take a silent step backward, watching her. Carefully. Cautiously. Every one of my senses alert for the sounds of another demon, but I am also aware of the beat of her heart, of the pulse of blood through her veins. I could taste it on my tongue, though it had been a long while since there has been any crimson in my mouth. It is driving me mad.

I drop my eyes from her, the pupil of my eye shrinking to a pinprick. My control is slipping, I know that. But I am used to this, so much blood. Usually, though, it is mine. Then I turn my piercing gaze back to her, stand with calm sureity. If she does not do something soon, I cannot be blamed for the actions of my instincts.

[Carey]

I'm not exactly a healer.

I said it gruffly, even rudely, for I was trying to stand and not having the best of luck. My knees buckled and I fell against the rock, cursing loudly as my wound hit the stone. I managed to shift myself so that I was actually sitting on the rock. A bit unstable, but at least not on the ground.

I returned my attention to the "man" before me, who looked as if he expected something to come and attack. I wondered if he knew something I didn't.

I looked down at the wound and sighed. It was healing, but slowly. Courtesy of the dang marks. I wished they would hurry up. I was already barely conscious, and the continued blood loss wasn't helping. The cloth covering the wound was deep red, and I unraveled it and tossed it to the side.

Are you waiting for something?

I eyed him suspiciously. He seemed to alert and wary for my liking.

[[ st r yder ]]

"I very well may be. Those things hardly travel in anything other than a pack."

My voice shakes as my control slips another notch. It sends a shudder through me, and I have to pull my eyes away and put a hand over my nose to keep from sinking my teeth into her throat. I hear something moving in the trees, and I whirl and draw a knife. A bird flies overhead. Nothing more.

"You ought to get out of here. There are things in this forest that would devour something in your condition."

Me, for instance.

"You need help. No doubt you are going to pass out soon."

[Carey]

I would have gone paler if I could. But with the loss of blood and fair skin as it is, it wasn't all that possible.

Ok, so he did know something. And not something good. Apparently he knew what had attacked me, and had a general idea, at least, of what they were. But he didn't seem to notice I was healing, or just wasn't showing it.

I looked down at my arm and grinned slightly. The skin had closed together. It wasn't all that neat, but I stopped losing blood and started feeling the slightest bit better. Not quite good enough to fight some more, mind you, but I could now stand freely. Stupid healing was so dang slow. I was lucky he was the only thing around.

Or was I? Sure, he hadn't attacked me yet, but he looked like he was losing some serious control, and when he covered his nose, it just clicked.

You feed off blood, don't you?

My voice was small, but not scared. I just said it matter of factly, putting together the many glances and momentary shifts of facial expression. He was a vampire or something of the sort, and suddenly I was even more wary.