The Gather Members in a Story. (Part three, actually)

Eric stood on the rampart high above the valley floor. Even in full sunlight, he was cold, very cold, but he couldn’t bear to go back inside. His headed pounded with pain and the light hurt is eyes, but he needed to be alone, and he knew Mary did too. They had agreed to lie to the Vampire queen but she had laughed at them.

“You will breed for me.” Kate had laughed. “You will breed if you want to breed, or if you do not want to, but you will be bred.”

That first night they had spent with their clothes on, Eric on the stone floor, Mary alone in the single large bed. The next morning a hideous creature had arrived by wing. It brought food and wine, and it watched them carefully for half the day. After they had eaten they drank the wine and it seemed as if they had both lost all sense of time and direction, and sense of who they were. Eric felt as if he was sinking into a dark pit and he tried to climb out of it, but could not. He heard screaming, and only afterwards did he realize it had been Mary. The wine had been drugged, or enchanted.

The next morning they awoke to discover their clothes missing, and the cold setting in. The bed was the single warm spot in the entire cave, some spell placed on it also. Mary threw up, and could not look at him. She had been a virgin. The winged creature appeared far overhead, like a malevolent eagle. Eric wondered how he could breathe the air so far above the mountain, but there was much that wasn’t real here.

The creature landed and placed a large basket on the rampart.

 “The Queen will be pleased that you have obeyed her.” The creature said. Eric was taken aback that it could speak. The creature’s head was shaped like that of a man, but its ears were large and dog like. It had a short snout that was filled with tiny sharp teeth and its nose sat on its face like a black toad. “ My name is Becca. Is there something you wish that you do not have?”

“I wish to be off this mountain, I wish to be away from your queen, and I wish that both of you would burn in the flame that carries her to where she hides.” Eric said. “Can you do that?” Eric stepped back from the creature, thinking it was going to attack him. An odd sound was coming from its mouth but then Eric realize Becca was laughing.

 “You think I chose my service?” Becca asked. “You think your plight worse then mine? I too lived here with someone I cared not for at all, and one night I cut his throat after the wine threw us together. The Queen took me to one of the highest towers she had and fed me raw meat and poison until I became what you see here.” Becca motioned at herself with clawed hands. “Throw yourself from this rampart. Death is a sweet escape from the Queen.” With that she flung herself from the cliff side and flew away.

 “I have seen her before.” Mary stood behind him. “There are others like here, and even death does not cheat the Queen. Those who kill themselves are filled with life again, yet their bodies rot away. “ Mary still did not look up. “If you kill me cut my body apart, I do not wish that fate, and if you throw yourself from this place, do it early in the day, so she may not have a chance to bring you back here, dead, yet alive. If we choose to die, we should die together.”

Eric took the basket of food and flung it off the rampart. Becca delivered nothing to them the next day, and they wondered what it meant. The next night the bed went cold, so they huddled together for warmth. The morning brought no sun, but clouds, thick wet snow, and wind. The temperature dropped as the sun withdrew what little light she had shed, and Eric knew that Mary might not last the night. “Some of my punishments are more subtle then others.” They heard the voice of the Vampire Queen, but could not see her. “You know what you must do, Eric, if you wish this one to be alive tomorrow morning. If this one is dead when I return I will leave her with you for a while, and under my power she will service you well, whether you will it nor not. Then I will bring another.”

Nee looked at the jewels spread out on the table before her and wondered what could come of this. She trusted witchcraft very little, but had little else to trust to now. For years she had wanted to sink a blade into the Vampire Queen and had watched as Rose had done just that. All the years of desire were for nothing. The Vampire Queen tossed the blade aside, as if it were a toy. That blade lay on the table among the jewels now. “The blade was poisoned, Nee, the steel tainted with both the blood of the dead, and the gum of the skeleton mushroom. Rose did well, exceedingly well, but to no avail.” Penni looked through a small jewel at the blade. “No blade. No poison. No arrow shaft. No fire. No freezing rain or snow.” Penni sighed. “There must be a way, but it is beyond my sight.”

 “I have an idea.” Debbie said quietly. “But it is risky.”

“Risky?” Nee asked. “Do we not know of risk? Speak!”

“My sister.” Debbie said.

 “Becca?” Nee gasped. “She has become a monster!”

“She is my sister still.” Debbie said. “With the Vampire Queen focused on her newest breeding pair, we might have a chance. "

End of part two.