Stella hovers over me, her white shift floating in the cool breeze. Her bony feet hang inches below the hem of her dress, suspended in the air a foot away from my face. The skin is so translucent I should be able to see the blue veins, but all I get are dark criss-crosses, as if cut by some sharp knife.

Her long, jagged toenails are grey green, years of mould accumulating in their ridges. The stink of corruption is so overwhelming, my stomach churns with nausea.

She swoops down to sniff at my face, her ragged breaths heaving as hunger dribbles down her chin.

“Virgin. Just as I expected. He told me virgins are the best. Their blood is the sweetest.”

My heart stops thudding.

Help… A silent cry echoes my head to whoever can listen. I do not even know if anyone can hear me. All I can focus on is Stella - her panting breaths, her putrid stench. Her innocent, yet hungry eyes.

Poor, poor soul. Or a poor ghost?

Her pearly eyes turn even more opaque as a dreamy smile splits her lips. She leans closer, her nose twitching with excitement. I scrunch my eyes shut as bile rises to my throat.

Help…please!

“Hang on Danny! I am coming”. A voice screams in my head as a shiver runs down my spine. My eyes snap open. Is it…Adam again?

“Keep talking!” He screams over the link, a frantic whoosh accompanying it. “Keep her busy until I’m there.”

“You… you can hear me?” I hang on to his link, my eyes still on Stella. “How come it’s always you? Why not someone else?”

“Is that a problem?” He snaps in irritation. “If you want someone else, you can wait for them. I’ll not bother.”

“N…NO. Please! I need you!”

“Then keep talking.” He barks. “Don’t stop until I’m there.”

Right. I would have rolled my eyes had they not been glued to Stella. She looks at me like a starved child. A child who wants to sink its teeth into its food, not chitchat with it. How am I supposed to do this?

“Umm…she doesn’t look in a mood to talk.”

“She is just a silly girl.” Adam snaps down the link. “Or the ghost of a girl. It’s not so difficult to talk to a fourteen-year-old. Or do I need to teach you that?”

My irritation flares. This man! If I ever get my hands on him…! And how does he know Stella is fourteen, unless…?

“Stop looking through my head! That’s invasion of privacy!”

“I don’t give a shit about your privacy. And now if you don’t get on, you will get killed before I reach there.”

A visceral grunt escapes my lips as turn my fire on Stella.

“That’s just stupid! Whoever told you this is just clueless. Virgins are the silliest, most gullible creatures and their blood tastes horribly bland. I much prefer the blood of young men.”

For a moment I stare, trying to process what just said.

I blink. Stella blinks her silver orbs back. Pulling away slightly, she gives me a confused look.

“Young men?”

“Yes.” I plod on nonchalantly. “The best blood, Stella, is that of young men. Especially when they are so arrogant you want to strangle their neck with your bare hands. Like the Beta of the Silver Shadows pack. Have you heard of him?”

“Beta of Silver Shadows?” She frowns, looking crestfallen. “No.”

I tut, shaking my head.

“You see, whoever told you about the virgin blood didn’t have a clue. Maybe they never had any other blood. But I know. I have had many men. And women. And girls, virgins included.”

“Really?” Her eyes pop.

“Really, Danny!!” Adam’s disdainful grunt sounds somewhere down the link. I scrunch my nose and choose to ignore him.

“Of course! Take it from me - the best blood is that of arrogant and powerful young men. The more arrogant the man is, the hotter is his blood. And the more the power the sweeter it becomes. It’s a lethal combination. And the Beta has it all.”

I wait for the effect. Stella looks agitated. She grinds her rotten teeth as irritation flares in her dead face.

“I don't believe you. He always said virgins are the best. That’s why he took me so young.”

“Who…who took you so young?”

“He.”

“He who?”

“Master.”

“And who is your master? What’s his name?”

“We don’t speak his name!” She hisses, the mechanical screech of her croak setting my teeth on edge. Her eyes flare again, the coals in them burning brighter than ever.

“Master knows the best. He came to my village when I was thirteen. He was so good my parents made him a gift. Me. He loved me, he loved my blood. He gave me a taste once of my own blood. I did not like it then, but now….”

She licks her lips, looking starved and ravaged.

I do not know what to say. So this girl…when she was alive, was ‘gifted’ to some bloodsucker. And he told her virgin blood was the best, which she remembers now even after her death.

This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

The hair on my neck stands upright. I wish Adam comes soon. The surrounding air is fast turning to ice. A thick wall of fog is formed, shielding us from the rest of the camp. I cannot see anything beyond. I don’t know if anyone can see us from outside.

I cannot breathe. An invisible rope tightens around my neck, strangling it close. My windpipe blocks as I gasp at the air.

“Breathe!” The link sounds. “Don’t stop talking.”

“Your master… was he good to you?” I choke out a random question.

Stella laughs. “Yess…he was a very good master. He waited long…for as long as he could before he lost his patience. That night he drank from me and… took more. I was no more a virgin and then was no use to him. That’s why I am here.”

What is she saying? My brain confuses as I try to link some threads. So he drank from her and raped her and that’s how she died? I have heard this story before…somewhere something similar.

But I don’t get much time to ponder as Stella gets impatient. She smacks her cracked lips, grunting in delight.

“Yes, I died. Too bad I never got to see Master again. But now I am here. And you are here. And I cannot wait more.”

She lunges at me, grabbing my throat with her rotten hands and angling her face to my neck to open her foul mouth. My head swirls with nausea. Try as I might, I cannot shake her off. My body goes limp as two sharp canines protrude from her mouth.

“Are you…. a vampire…?” The question escapes my mouth as a last try to hold her off. She halts her advance to run her scabby nail over my throat.

“No, silly. I was a vampire’s gift. They call us slaves, but I wasn’t one. I loved my master and Master loved me. He told me I was a good virgin.”

She stretched her mouth again and I close my eyes, my heart sending one last call to whoever listened. The last I heard was a loud crack as the icy wall around us shattered to reveal a thunderous Adam.

*****

The fog shatters to a thousand pieces as a shriek pierces the air. Adam swoops in on us to grab Stella’s neck and hoist her up. A clamour of metallic grinding fills the air as she screeches, flailing her limbs. He glances at me, then moves away with her into the lake.

My chest heaves with laboured breathing as I scramble up to my feet. He is already knee deep in the water with a kicking and screeching Stella. His tall frame sinks slowly as he moves further away in the water, the darkness swirling and churning as he moves forward. The tense muscles of his arms and neck look ready to burst with strain. HIs eyes blaze with anger, a red-hot geam emitting his entire persona.

The air fills with more screams, coming in from all directions. The water around them turns into a black swirling whirlpool, pulling in the dead branches and leaves floating into it. Adam stands firm with this hand locked against the girl’s neck.

Behind us, the camp is in chaos. People are waking up and rushing to the place that is the source of the sound. Patter of shoeless feet thumps on the wet sand as one by one people gather around.

“Adam! What in the name of…” Phyllis’s voice trails away as she and John stride forward. The boys come rushing. I sense Gabe on my left as Tammy grabs my right arm.

Behind me are the girls, watching with unabashed horror.

No one speaks as the scene unfolds ahead. The lake shimmers and churns with the fog swirling around our heads. Wind whistles and whooshes as if calling for help. Adam hoists Stella over his head in his both hands.

“In the name of the Moon Goddess, I sentence you to death.” His voice booms, eyes to the sky where the clouds still cover a feckless moon. Yet Adam’s intent eyes stare at it with undying faith.

“Help me, O Mother. Help me to bring this creature to its just end.”

Closing his eyes, he mutters something. A bright white light burns out of him, heat emanating his being. His giant frame illuminates like a beacon in the dark. The lake water shimmers, reflecting the upright column of brightness that is Adam, while the frail apparition of the girl in his hands starts to diminish. The water churns as Stella’s body withers to a thousand small droplets. Adam’s scorching heat evaporates them into a smoke that the wind carries away to an unknown destination.

We watch as the screeching dies down as our eyes turn to the Anadin Peaks. The wind is blowing in that direction. We can see a dark cloud floating up the goddess. It floats upwards smooth and soft, like a dandelion before being dissolved into the night.

Adam stares at it until the cloud completely disappears, then turns back. Striding through the water, he comes out, his red-black gaze pinned over me, taking in my state.

“Are you okay?” A silent question thrums over my heartstrings.

I nod weakly when Gabe’s possessive arm wraps around my shoulder to tug me in.

*****

We all are back to the little camp, huddled around the little fires. The wood is long burnt, yet the flames dance merrily, thanks to Adam’s magic. The entire camp glows like a warm fireball. I feel fuzzy as I curl into my sleeping bag by a roaring fire. My joggers are wet, the damp soaking to my skin, making it feel clammy, but the heat reaches me easily, warming my tired bones.

In some distance, across the fire, Adam sits with his parents. The murmur of their voices is so low it does not reach me. I do not know what they are talking about, yet I know it’s some kind of argument about me. They are probably telling him I should not have come on this trip. They have more important things to do. It’s a difficult time for the family and they need to pool their resources. I am an unnecessary distraction.

Come to think of it, I agree. Olly needs to be here as she is bitten and it’s her best chance to turn at the Goddess’s shrine, but I…

I was not needed. Instead, I should have stayed behind at the camp. I could have said Tammy a farewell there as well. My being here has just added extra strain on Adam.

A strange tiredness sweeps over me. Sleep clouds my brains, a heavy fog settling over it like a clamp. The nerves are clogged like I have a severe case of cold. My eyes burn, body hurts, brain is numb. Tammy says it’s the combined effect of yesterday’s wolf-ride and Stella’s icy walls. She was either a dead vampire or a girl who died of vampire bite. In Stella’s own words, she died when her master could not ‘control himself’. I wish I knew more, but that chance is gone.

Yes. She is truly dead now. And I am alive, thanks to Adam.

I feel feverish but my heart is quiet. Stella’s fear is long gone. A serene calm has replaced it. I do not know the reason. Or rather, I do but do not acknowledge it. Some things are better left unsaid. Some visions are better left abstract. Every dream does not need to make sense, nor every person in your life must mean something. Not everything must be tangible, measured by the names of worldly relations and adjectives.

Yet that does not mean they don’t exist. They do exist, very much, in a secluded part of your heart where no one ventures. Even you don’t go there very often. It’s better to leave them alone, lest you open a can of worms.

Adam. I do not know what I think of him. What he means to me. I have let him in that secluded corner. He has lodged himself there like the certainty of the north star. I do not have to look at him to acknowledge him. I know he is there. He will always be.

I let out a sleepy sigh and turn on my back. It’s still the wee hours before the dawn. People are trying to catch some last hours of rest before the climb to the peak. Around me, the girls laze – Tina is fast asleep. Myra stares at the sky, making me wonder if she ever sleeps. Olly looks her usual annoyed self.

“You can’t help but to be a nuisance, right?” Wearing my cozy joggers, she stands over me, curling her lip. She looks so warm and comfortable I pout with envy.

“I told you to be careful, but you just have to run around causing trouble. Typical Danny.”

“Leave her be, Olly.” Tammy’s sharp voice cuts Olly off. “I would say it’s you who needs to behave. Just make sure tomorrow you don’t fall off and make another scene.”

Olly humps, then turns her back on us to hide into her bag. Tammy turns to me.

Her eyes are quiet, a strand of her red lock plastered to her face where the sweat has made it sticky. Unlike humans, the wolves don’t get cold easily. Their bodies are naturally tweaked to survive in the wilderness. Yet at this moment she looks cold, shivering with a fear she cannot express.

She rolls to her front, propping herself on her elbows. “Are you okay?”

“Are you?” I ask gently. She is such a brave girl. Tonight’s incident must have affected her badly. I now know why she was so disturbed for the past few days and how much courage it must be taking her to behave normal again. All I have faced is one vampire, one ghost. Tammy is going where it would be a thousand times worse.

“To tell the truth, I am not.” She bites her lip. “That girl… It could be me in a year, six months, or even in a week. I am scared, Danny. Really scared.”

A pit opens in my stomach as I lean forward to grab her hand. My clammy fingers fist around her shaking ones, stroking it until she falls asleep.

***** *****