And her name is…

The air is fresh. I’m alone at a lake a few hours horse ride from home. I like it out here. It’s quiet and away from people. It’s my own personal tradition to go skinny dipping before my birthday to remind myself to grow up but never grow boring. I’m checking the area for predators or other travellers when I see a body. I can tell from here he’s alive, but probably not for much longer.

I run up to the man, he’s cute but not enough to give this random mouth to mouth, luckily it just looks like a lot of broken bones from a nasty fall. He’s out, so I drag him to a tree and sit him against it before taking a rope from my bag and tying him to it, including his hands. This is as much for my safety as his right now, to keep him away from me and from moving too much.

I go to my bag for a knife, but I don’t know that he’s starting to wake up and sees me. I cut my own hand and add some of my blood to a cup of coffee I’ve brought in a thermos, mixing it will a clean stick I cut the bark off of. When I turn around my footsteps startle him into sitting upright.

“Hey man, you’re alright,” I say calmly. “I’ve got you tied up because your injured to shit and I need to make sure I’m on the right side of helping you.”

He stares at me. “What?” He scoffs.

“Glad to see you still have your possibly shitty personality,” I chuckle. “What do you remember?”

He thinks for a minute. “I was hunting, family tradition to hunt alone to get your stripes. I followed a…” he glances at my ears and over my eyes, which tips me off.

I look to his ears, hidden by a head scarf, and they clearly have the outline of a tip. Looking over him as he does me, I can sense it now, a very light thrum of that energy I’ve only ever felt from my mom.

He is Sioga.

My heart is racing but he doesn’t see my panic behind the mask as he assesses that I’m human and continues, “a moose. I thought it would be a good prize but something else snuck up on me and I tumbled off that ridge.” He gestures with his nose over to the sheer drop of the mountain that shades half the lake for most of the day.

“There’s a large pack of wolves around here,” I explain, “and they don’t much care for hunters. Here,-“ I bring the cup to his lips, lying through my smile. “It’s coffee, with some pain relief. It will help you feel better.” He sips the cup slowly and I give him a second between each sip as I talk. “I’m from a town a few days that way,” I point in some direction further from the mountain where I know there is no town for more than a week. “You’re lucky I happened by you, there’s not much you can eat out here and the wolves would have found you by nightfall.”

He visibly cringes. “Thank you. Could you untie me now?”

I shake my head. “I’ve given you something for the pain and it’ll do wonders, but if you have a reaction I don’t want to be within swinging distance of you.” He looks shocked and stops drinking but I urge him to take another sip and something in my face makes him do it. “It’ll only last like ten to twenty minutes, and when you’re passed it you’ll feel amazing. Then I can take you to a trail that’ll head you back up the mountain.” His eyes widen and I smirk.

Of course, humans are unaware of the Sioga they share a mountain range with, but they don’t mix. Sioga believe they are above them, and humans don’t like dying enough to challenge them regularly. I flick my ear and gesture to his.

“You’re not scared?” He questions and I shrug.

“I didn’t know what you were when I started helping you, and what kind of person would I be to stop after I figured it out.” I admit.

If I could go back.

I made up an excuse to wander off for firewood while he experienced the effects of my blood so he wouldn’t link it to me directly, returning to see him grinning like a fool.

“I feel amazing!” He admits.

“Good,” I return. “Did you have a reaction?”

He nods. “That wasn’t super great, but just like you said it didn’t last long.”

I split my sandwich with him and then have him mount my horse in front of me so I can take him up the trail. He told me several times how he was sure he had broken bones and was sure he would die. I told him not to question his fortune that he’s okay, and he seemed just fine with that answer. When I got to the boarder between the two realms I stopped and apologized for not being able to take him farther.

“Are you kidding? You saved my life, I’ll never be able to thank you enough for just bringing me this far,” he returns, and then marches off like he is sure of exactly where he is.

I skip my birthday swim. The sun is setting when I get back to the lake and my towel is missing. Not willing to start the long trek home with soaked hair, or stick around incase other Sioga show up, I go home after just washing my face in the lake.

It’s about a week later when I saw the man again. Our heads were all faced up to watch the fireworks in the field. They used all my favourite colours and I couldfeelthe love from everyone that surrounded me. As I follow another explosion of colour movement catches my attention. It isn’t until the next firework exploded and lights the night that I see the full team of horses and carriages that are coming towards us.

Their faces are more than sinister, but I approach them and urge everyone back to their homes. One man strides ahead of the rest and beside him, dressed in armour, is the face of the man I had helped. I catch his eyes and he holds his head high but looks away from me and drops his shoulders.

“Can I help you?” I ask. “It’s not very safe to walk through a field where there are fireworks being lit.”

“Is this her?” The man in the lead, Kheliq, asks the man to his side.

He simply nods. “That’s the one that gave me her blood and healed all my broken bones.”

I can’t believe it.

Kheliq nods once. “Alright, grab her. Kill the rest. We don’t need any rescue attempts.”

“No!” I shriek, trying to lash out through the ground to drain anyone I can reach, but I don’t do this, I don’t take from people.

It feels like my magic is crippled inside me as I panic and try to pull back one of the men’s horses, but the man just boots me in the shoulder. I fall to the ground and then leather gloved hands are on me, restraining me.Drain them.I’m laying on the ground and my lips are pried open to pour a sweet liquid into my mouth.Drainthem.The first time I manage to spit it into a guards face, but then one punches me in the stomach and while I’m gasping another bottle is poured in my mouth and I choke on it.

It takes seconds for my head to feel heavy and my limbs to feel heavier. I can barely move my mouth to talk, and I’m restrained tightly. Meanwhile there are screams. Screams of pain, screams of panic, screams that end abruptly.They’re dying.I start trembling in anger and I can feel the different strings of life in the tapestry that surrounds me. Something in me is growing, festering, trying to leap free, but a boot to my head knocks me out.

I lay on thon the ground as blackness takes over, hearing my friends screaming, feeling the hands that hold me hostage, smelling smoke, and developing a taste for blood.