Mierna closed her eyes tight.

"You don't have to do this," Elden said after a few seconds, lowering her hand but without letting go.

Mierna opened her eyes and looked at him. The hunger was still there, now accompanied by concern.

Had he guessed how scared she was?

"How do you ... feed usually?" she asked to distract herself.

"Animals. Demons, sometimes. They taste as bad as they look, though."

The tone of his voice hinted at a joke, but Mierna couldn't make herself find humor in his words.

"And people ... I mean humans ... taste better?"

A slight smile curved his lips. "They do. And they're much prettier too." She gave him a hesitant smile, unsure whether he had just paid her a compliment.

Talking with Elden, along with the slow motion of his thumb ma.s.saging her wrist had calmed her nerves.

She took a slow breath and nodded slightly.

"I'm ready."

His eyes remained on hers a little longer then broke away. Once again, he pulled her wrist to his mouth.

Mierna tried to remain calm, and this time she kept her eyes open so that she saw his mouth open and the quick gleam of a fang before he bit down. She let out a surprised gasp at the pain, but it didn't hurt as much as she expected. In fact, the feel of his lips and mouth when he started pulling on her blood was ...

strange, and not completely unpleasant. It awakened quiet sparks inside her, like embers ready to bring a fire back to life. Before she knew it, however, it was over. Elden's lips lingered a moment longer on her wrist and then, very gently, he lowered her hand to rest on her knee. Mierna wasn't sure whether she was imagining it but he seemed less pale, suddenly.

"Thank you," he murmured.

She nodded, unable to say a word, and watched the slow smile that came to his lips, full of the same warmth she could see in his eyes. This smile stayed at the forefront of Mierna's mind long after she had left Elden's lair.

Chapter 3.

For three weeks, Mierna followed the same routine. She rose before dawn, rushed around the farm to finish her part of the ch.o.r.es before the middle of the afternoon then changed into the borrowed clothes that had become her fighting outfit and hurried on the trail through the woods to Elden's lair. He took her blood twice more during these three weeks, and each time was less painful-more thrilling.

As the season advanced, she had to trudge through the rain and mud more than once, her cloak a weak protection against the elements. She never faltered however, the idea of the fire roaring in Elden's fireplace pushing her forward even when the first snow of the season caught her off guard one afternoon.

When she knocked on the door that day, her gray cloak seemed white from being covered in snow, and she felt frozen to the bone. She had held the cloak closed with her fist the entire way, but the snow had still seeped in, and her wool tunic, undershirt and pants all clung wetly to her, the wool giving in an unpleasant wet animal smell that made her wrinkle her nose every so often. The only part of her that was still dry was her feet; her high leather boots, at least, had kept the snow and mud out.

When Elden opened the door, his blue eyes widened in astonishment and he urged Mierna in with both gesture and words.

"By the G.o.ds, child ... Come in!"

As soon as she pa.s.sed the threshold, he closed the door and pulled Mierna's cloak off her shoulders.

"You shouldn't have come in this weather," he said as he ushered her toward the fireplace.

"It wasn't snowing when I left," Mierna replied, then clamped her mouth shut before he could hear her teeth clattering. "Then you should have turned back when it started."

Wood was piled up in the fireplace, and with a few prods of a metal rod Elden made the flames jump, high and bright. Mierna stepped as close to it as she dared and raised her hands toward the fiery heat.

Immediately, the snow clinging to her started melting to form a puddle at her feet. A few moments later, wisps of steam began rising from her sleeves.

"Take off your clothes," Elden said as he threw another log in the hearth. "You'll catch your death if you stay in these."

Mierna lost her breath at the casual tone on which he had suggested that she should undress.

Wide-eyed, she stared at him, unable to say a word and ask him if he truly believed she would present herself in anything less than proper attire in front of him. He noticed her look and frowned at her for a moment before sighing.

"Of course," he said then. "I had forgotten. You humans are so shy of your bodies."

A roll of his eyes said exactly what he thought of that, and Mierna felt like arguing with him. Hadn't he been human, long ago? Would he have undressed in front of a young woman, then? The idea brought heat to her cheeks and she turned back to the fire to hide it. She heard Elden walk away, then a door opening behind her. She wondered if he had left to give her some privacy and looked back curiously.

She had gotten used in the past weeks to Elden's quiet ways, but that didn't mean she was any better at guessing what his silences meant.

He returned after only a minute or two, carrying a piece of thick fabric as long as his arm and almost as wide.

"Here." He handed the towel to Mierna. "Dry yourself. There are clothes in my room that should fit you."

Mierna patted her face dry before looking at him, then at the door he had left open at the end of the hallway. All she had ever seen of the lair were what Elden called the common room where she now stood and the weapons room where he taught her. She had guessed that the other doors led to bedchambers-after all, at least eight people had lived in the building at once in the past-but she had never had the occasion to go into any of the other rooms. Curiosity drew her forward before she could wonder whether it was proper for her to enter a man's bedroom even if he wasn't inside.

With each step taking her away from the fireplace, she could feel the cold settling on her again through her wet clothes. She walked a little faster toward the open door, and closed it behind her once she was in the room. The strong smell of a couple sap candles made her sneeze at once, but she got used to it, as well as to the faint light they cast. The fireplace, smaller than the one in the common room, was empty. A bed, a chair and a chest of clothes completed the furniture of the austere bedroom.

She noticed the clothes resting on the bed, a long sleeved tunic and trousers, both of the same fine but heavy material, both of what seemed like a deep red in the wavering light of the candles. With a quick look at the closed door, she undid the leather fastenings of her scabbard and rested the sword on the bed. She then pulled off her boots and undressed down to her smallclothes. She used the towel to dry herself quickly and slipped the dry clothes on, shivering the entire time. The clothes fit her too well to have belonged to Elden, she realized. And they also seemed a little dusty, when the rest of the room seemed well kept. Had they belonged to someone else-someone who had been dead for centuries?Why would Elden keep such clothes for so long when he had no use for them? He could hardly have foreseen that a human soaked to the bone would one day knock on his door.

Having slipped her boots back on, she was about to walk back to the common room and its warmth when she noticed the second chest of clothes almost hidden behind the bed. The chest she had noticed earlier at the foot of the bed was very plain, whereas this one would have been fit for a woman with its lid engraved with roses. She had the impulse to open it, just to see if more dusty clothes lay inside, but a call behind the door startled her before she could get to it.

"Mierna? You should get back to the fire, child."

Annoyance surged through her, erasing both her many questions and the uncomfortable feeling of being cold, albeit dry now. She picked up her wet clothes and the sword and opened the door to find Elden just behind it.

"I am not a child," she told him for what felt like the hundredth time.

Even in the near darkness of the hallway, she saw his eyes widen for a second before he turned his head to look away.

"Regardless," he said, very low. "You should get warm."

He led the way back to the common room and she followed without arguing any more. He had pulled two chairs close to the fireplace. Her coat hung from a peg on the side of the hearth. She placed her sword on the seat on one chair, put her clothes to dry on the back of it and sat down on the second. She felt warmer already, both from the clothes she wore and the proximity of the fire. She started undoing her braid so her hair would dry faster.

From the corner of her eye, she could see Elden where he had sat at the table in the center of the room, watching her. He was very still, very quiet, and after a while she became unnerved at his silent observation of her. She turned her face fully toward him, catching a startled look on his features.

"What is it?" she asked, feeling very tense.

"Nothing," he replied defensively.

"You're staring at me."

He immediately looked away, as though to deny he had been. "I had never seen you with your hair down." He let a few seconds pa.s.s in silence, then added, barely louder than a whisper: "You reminded me of someone I once knew."

"Who?" Mierna asked without thinking, but the word was lost in the sc.r.a.pping noise of wood on stone when Elden pushed his chair back and stood.

Without a word, almost without a noise, he slid to the weapons room. She heard the characteristic chime of metal on metal when he picked a weapon from the hooks on the wall, followed almost immediately by the swish of a blade slicing the air. She couldn't see him from the doorless archway, but she could see his shadow dance on the far wall. Unable to stop herself, she tiptoed toward the room, stopping to lean against the wall and peer inside. Elden moved almost too fast for her to follow, his sword slashing through the air, parrying imaginary attacks, never still for more than a second. The look on his face was intense,determined; his every moves reflected strength and focus.

The thought that he was beautiful struck Mierna, coming out of nowhere and leaving her breathless. She couldn't remember ever thinking such a thing about a man before that instant. But then, she couldn't remember either ever wanting to kiss a man before she had met Elden.

She pulled her gaze away from him with some difficulty and returned to sit by the fire. The slight shaking of her hands had nothing to do anymore with the cold. She clasped them in front of her, and turned her face to look at Elden's shadow again. She should have joined him; after all, she had walked through the bad weather to come and train with him. She had a feeling, however, that he would guess the treacherous path her thoughts were taking as soon as he laid his eyes on her, and she would die of shame if he did.

She didn't know how much time pa.s.sed until Elden came back in the common room. The sword now hung from a scabbard at his belt. He returned to the table, but instead of sitting down he leaned against the back of the chair.

"Do you feel warmer?" he asked without looking at her.

"Yes. Thank you."

He nodded. "The sun has set. I will take you back to Riverside."

"I will be fine," she said quickly. "You don't have to-"

Already he was striding away without listening to her. He picked his cloak and gloves by the door, and, when he was ready, finally looked at her.

"Let's go."

His tone left no room for hesitation or arguments. She stood and put on her cloak and sword, then picked up her clothes and looked at Elden questioningly.

"You can keep the clothes," he said, turning his gaze away. "At least they will be of use to someone."

He preceded her outside. By the time she joined him, he was sitting astride the horse he kept in a separate building behind the house. She had seen the elegant horse before, sneaking into the shed while she was out to get water from the well, but she had never seen Elden mount it. He seemed fully at ease even when the animal stomped its foot nervously in the muddy mess the melted snow had left behind.

"Let's go," Elden said again, holding out his hand toward her.

Mierna breathed deeply before clasping his gloved hand. She missed the feel of his skin, cool but strong as he pulled her up to sit behind him. She had been on a horse before-her father's old, short, stocky mare-but she had never ridden such a fine animal. And she had never ridden at someone's back, with a hand clasped at his side and the other holding her still damp clothes to her.

"Hold on tight," he said, and heeled the horse forward.

The animal started at a trot. Mierna let out a gasp and let go of her clothes, letting them fall across her legs. She threw both her arms around Elden's waist, her fear to fall greater than her embarra.s.sment at being pressed against his back. With each step of the horse, she could feel Elden's body move againsther, and a slow warmth spread through her. After a while, she closed her eyes and rested her cheek against the fabric of his cloak as lightly as she could. She felt him tense against her and immediately moved back.

"I think it is time to stop your visits."

The words seemed loud in the near silence of the forest, louder than Elden's voice had truly been.

"No!" Mierna sat up as straight as she could. She wished she could have seen Elden's face. "There's so much I still need to learn!"

"The cold season is here. You won't learn anything if you come in frozen as you did today."

His words made sense, but Mierna refused to see their truth. She couldn't imagine stopping her training so soon. She could imagine even less not seeing Elden until the return of spring.

"Demons don't stop their raids in the winter, do they?" she asked, her voice shaking.

"No, but-"

"And you won't stop fighting them, will you?"

"No, but I'm not-"

"Then I won't stop either. You can't force me to stop."

During the few minutes of silence that followed her words, Mierna tried to believe she had convinced him, but even she could see the flaw in her argument. She could trudge through wind and snow every day for the entire cold season, but that didn't mean Elden would teach her anything or even open his door to her.

"Is there a place near your village where I could train you?" he asked at last. "An old barn, or-"

Both relieved and excited, she didn't even let him finish.

"There is. Near my parents' farm. This way."

They had reached the edge of the woods. In the distance, the village was a scattering of wavering lights behind small windows. Mierna indicated the way to the old barn where all children, including her, had played at one time or another. It had been abandoned for years but it was in good shape.

"It will do," Elden announced after seeing the place. "I'll come here every other night, instead of you coming to me."

"Every other night?" Mierna protested as she slipped off the horse. "Why not every night like now?"

He seemed amused when he looked down at her. "You can train on your own the rest of the time. I've shown you enough."

There was the hint of a question in his words. Mierna didn't know how to answer it. She could have trained on her own, yes. She might even have been good enough with a sword now to best one of theFighters and earn her place amongst them. She wasn't ready, however, to stop seeing Elden.

"I'll see you the night after next," he said after a few moments. "Stay warm in the meantime."

That simple admonishment slid over Mierna like a warm blanket. She watched Elden go, only shaking herself into motion when he had disappeared. As she started toward her parents' farm, she glanced back at the old barn and smiled. She couldn't wait to return and see Elden again.

The snow had all but disappeared over the fields, and she reached the farm in no time. She would get in through the back door and the pantry, she decided, and try to avoid anyone seeing her in the clothes Elden had given her. When she walked in, however, and despite her care at being silent, the old door creaked loudly and revealed her presence. Her mother appeared in the doorway that led to the kitchen.

Of short stature, she had an air about her that commanded respect even from men two heads taller than she was.

"Good evening, Mother." Mierna crossed the room, trying to hide the still damp clothes she held beneath her cloak. "I will come help you in a minute."

She slipped past her mother and into the bedrooms hallway. She intended to change once she reached her room, but her mother followed her in. Mierna dropped her clothes out of sight before lighting a candle.

"We were worried. Were you ... training again? You shouldn't be running outside in this weather."

Mierna didn't know how to answer. She hated to lie to her parents, yet she had had no choice but to tell them she spent her afternoons training on her own. She couldn't begin to imagine their reaction if she had admitted she trained with a vampire.

"I found a place," she said slowly. "In the woods. Where I found the sword before."