Chapter 5 - Jael
Jael
V
When my eyelids dragged open yet again, most of the fog was gone. I had no idea how much time had passed, but I was able to take in my surroundings without the world going off-kilter every time I moved.
Not that there was much to see. From the rock wall and ceiling, I was in some kind of cave, but the furniture suggested it wasn’t a random location.
Someone had converted this space into a warm, homey hideaway.
There were two crevices breaking the monotony of the walls, one on either side of the room.
One was narrow, and I doubted anyone would be able to slip through.
By the breeze coming through, I guessed the other was the exit.
I debated the wisdom of using it.
I had no idea who had saved me, just the faint memory of a pale, delicate face looming over me and then blackness. The sound of a soft voice. The darkness. Candlelight.
My gaze drifted to a narrow, rickety table against the wall across from the bed and the three beeswax tapers flickering in plain stone holders sitting on top of it. Had I not imagined her, then?
When I looked around, I found myself alone in the room.
My clothes were nowhere to be seen, but what looked like a black shirt and breeches were folded on top of a woven basket on the floor.
I couldn’t see my daggers anywhere, which caused me more concern.
Depending on who this woman was, I might need to defend myself.
In my current condition, I was useless without weapons.
Not much more than an exhausted lump of flesh and pain.
I rolled onto my side and sucked in a breath at the stabbing agony that shot through my gut and around my back. Moving was a bad decision, but I couldn’t lie here and wait for trouble to find me. That was how I ended up bruised and beaten. That was how I’d wound up with my flesh covered in scars.
Never again would I not fight for myself. Even if I had to fight from the floor.
I slid my legs over the side of the bed, and the floor in question came up to meet me, generously catching me with its firm, cold embrace.
“Oh shit.”
The voice from before echoed softly through the room, then cool hands were on me, helping me sit up.
“I didn’t think you’d be awake already. I’d hoped to be back before you were.
Are you all right? Bad question, you’re not okay at all.
You look like shit. But hey, you’re alive, right? That has to be unexpected.”
She helped me move until my back rested against the side of the bed, then sat back on her haunches and stared at me, making sure I wasn’t about to fall again before releasing me. “There. We’ll get you back in bed in a moment, but maybe catch your breath first.”
As if that were possible. At the sight of her, I wasn’t sure I’d ever be able to catch my breath again. While I’d hovered on the brink of death, she’d given me the impression of a spirit, a figure of such perfection that my fae brain couldn’t process it.
Now I could see I’d been wrong. She was flawed—the small scar on her chin and slight bend in her nose standing in the way of perfect—but because of those flaws, she was even more beautiful than I’d originally thought.
She wore all black leather, and her attire was designed to draw the eye to her figure.
Her shirt covered her shoulders, crossed over her breasts, and created an upside-down vee that left her midriff bare and revealed the low-slung waistline of her leather breeches.
Her skin was radiant. In the candlelight, it seemed to emit a glow of its own. Her hair, a deep crimson, hung in a thick braid over her shoulder. Her lips were curled in a faint smile, and those eyes... as soon as I met her stare, I couldn’t look away.
They were a darker blue than I remembered, and so deep I could imagine falling into them and never wanting to climb out. So full of life I wasn’t sure how I’d ever confused her with a creature of death.
Vampire.
The reminder slapped me, and I blinked as I jerked away from her, memories pouring over me. Her fangs bared, her focus on my neck. How I’d offered myself to her.
Why hadn’t she drained me? Everything I’d learned about vampires was that they were ravenous, soulless parasites. Doomed to eternal night, born to be beautiful and alluring to draw in their prey. I should have been a bloodless husk by now, and yet…
I looked down at the bandages wrapped around my waist. My thoughts, dazed with confusion and wonder, spun like spiderwebs in my skull.
“You saved me.”
My voice was hoarse, and the vibrations set off a coughing fit that triggered more agonizing spasms around my middle.
“Stay there,” she said, as if I could go anywhere, and rose to her feet. When she returned, she pressed a cup into my hand. “Drink. Slowly.”
I took a small sip of sharp, cold water and did as she ordered, taking my time until the cup was empty. When it was, I handed it back to her.
“Better?” she asked.
I nodded.
“Ready to see if we can get you into bed?”
I wanted to say no. I wanted to tell her I needed to leave and see if she would allow it.
Was I a prisoner here? But even as I opened my mouth to pose the question, I accepted that for now her answer didn’t matter.
I wouldn’t get far as I was. So instead, I nodded again, and she slid her arms around my waist and helped me to my feet.
With a bit of shuffling, I lay down and settled against the pillows.
“Why?” I asked once I was as comfortable as I could be given the pain.
“Why what?” She adjusted my blankets and frowned at the blood seeping through my bandages.
“Why didn’t you kill me?” Why did you drag me back to this world of suffering and torment?
I needed to know, because without a reason, I could only assume I was still breathing for the sake of someone else’s sadistic pleasure, and if that were the case…
Well, if that were the case, I would try for that exit, exhausted or not.
Death would be better than going back to what I’d already escaped.
Without speaking, she peeled back the bloodstained fabric and went over to the table where a jar of something vaguely greenish sat waiting.
She took so long to answer I believed she wasn’t going to, until finally, she said, “I was recently told that I need to surround myself with something other than death. Then I found you.”
She offered the explanation with a tight smile, and her head tipped forward as she applied more salve to my wound. I clenched my teeth at the burst of pain that quickly softened into a gentle numbness.
I wasn’t sure if I believed her, though she gave me no reason to think she was lying. Yet for her sake, I hoped her reasons ran deeper than that. Otherwise, she’d wasted her efforts. For all she’d done for me so far, I hated to disappoint her. “You saved the wrong man, then.”
She looked up, her blue eyes so clear I swore I was swimming in them. “Why do you say that?”
“Because death is the only thing I live for.”
The effort of falling out of and getting back into bed had exhausted me, and my eyelids sagged. I struggled to keep them open, which she noticed.
With confident, practised movements, she tied off the last of the new bandages. “Sleep. I’ve fed, so I’ll be awake and nearby if you need anything.” A pause, and then, “I’m Kalla, by the way.”
Kalla. A name that reminded me of the fields of lilies that sprang up across Soldara when the season was right. Kalia lutrena—song of the lily—we called them, for the sounds they made when the wind blew through their leaves.
“Jael,” I murmured. “My name is Jael.”
As I fell asleep again, I considered how fitting it was that this woman should be named for the music that had once fed my soul.