I reached for the carriage door when Devlin suggested we keep a little distance between ourselves and Xion. The draw of the mated blood and all that. But Devlin shook his head and slammed the door back shut.

"I don't think you need to see those bodies again, do you?"

I had wondered where they had gone, but had been too frightened to ask. I think part of me was worried I would be told that they had sucked the blood out of the dead, muddy men. I didn't know if I felt better or worse now, but I followed Devlyn to the other side of the carriage and tried not to think too much about it.

I held out my hand when asked and winced a little at the pain, but was otherwise unbothered when he pricked my wrist and tipped it just so. Maybe it was the shock of everything that had happened that made a little bit of blood seem so inconsequential. He moved expertly, a little pain for a decent amount of blood. Just when I began to feel dizzy, the bleeding stopped. After a scab started to form, Devlin went to work on his own arm, digging in hard and deeper. And more blood came out, a steady drip into the waterskin.

And suddenly whatever shock I was feeling was no longer enough.

I staggered around the back of the carriage, one hand on the wood as I went, the other clamped over my mouth. I didn't know if I was going to be sick or if I was going to faint.

"Lark?" Xion said, immediately alarmed. In no more than a handful of seconds he was by my side, boot squelching in the thick mud. I stumbled right into him, falling against his rigid chest, my hands practically slapping against his chest. "Sweetheart, are you—" Even in my ill state, I didn't miss the way his eyes fell onto my wrist, the one Devlin had just cut open.

I should have felt fear knowing that my wound had not healed yet and that Xion was still very much a vampire. But I only felt dizzy and when he tipped his head back, a flash of fang exposed as he groaned, something twisted low in my belly. Would it be so bad? He needed my blood, didn't he? I could just give it. didn't I owe him that much? He had saved my life.

He let out a long breath as his grip tightened on me. I was hoisted upwards, my feet dangling as if I were a little doll. He was going to bite me wasn't he? The need was too much.

Within seconds I was deposited on the same stump I had been on before, a hand pushing my head down. "Put your head between your knees and take some deep breaths." And then Xion was gone, yelling for Devlin to hurry up.

I did as I was told, clenching my eyes shut so hard they ached. But I took slow, easy inhales that expanded my ribs and let out long loose exhales until my stomach settled. When the feeling of physical sickness passed, I was unfortunately left to confront the equally uncomfortable feeling of emotional illness.

Why the hell had I thought he should just feed from me? What on earth was wrong with me? I just had to get through three months. That was it. I would do the best I could to take care of my family from a distance, then I would return home. One of the last times a vampire had fed from me, I had nearly died. And here I was offering myself to a vampire on the verge of bloodlust. I needed to keep my head on straight.

"Are you okay, little dove?" Xion murmured, suddenly beside me again. I suppose it had taken longer to calm myself than I thought.

"Yes." I lifted my head slowly and opened my eyes even slower as to not startle my senses. "Sorry, I shouldn't have put hands on you like that, especially so soon after--"

"It's okay, Lark." His fingers roamed the edge of his mouth as if he were double checking to make sure that there were no traces of blood left.

"How are you feeling?" I asked.

"Better. I'm pretty much healed at this point and I am not experiencing any kind of hunger right now. But we need to get going. We have already wasted too much time. We need to cross into the merfolk's province before nightfall."

So, there was no time for mourning Xanthos, no time for me to properly collect my thoughts. It seemed these kinds of attacks were not the kind that were dwelled on. Xion and Devlyn got to work discarding everything deemed unnecessary and detached the driving horses from the carriage. The small pack horse was relieved of all his goods. There were no saddles and the pack horse only had a halter on.

"Are you good to ride by yourself or would you like to ride with me?" Xion asked.

I thought for a second about leaning back against his chest, resting in his strong arms as the emotions ripped through me. Then I remembered how willing I had been to giving him my blood. "By myself is fine."

So, I climbed onto the back of the sturdy black pony and we were off. With one less horse, one less driver, and no carriage. The world went on. For now.

We rode for hours. We rode on dirt tracks, dipping in and out of the woods whenever Xion or Devlin decided that we were too exposed, the wind was blowing too hard, the shadows looking ominous. I never complained. I just held on. Xion held the lead line in his hand that connected to my pony's halter. I didn't have to steer, encourage, cluck, nothing. Just hold on. So that's all I did. Even when the sun started to go down and we started to ascend up a deep slope. Even when we ambled down a rolling foothill or splashed through a stream.

I held on even when the exhaustion seeped into my very bones. Then, I would only release one hand to rub the place over my heart. It was tired. It had been tested. But it was my own heart and the beat was steady.

I jolted on the back of the pony when something pressed into me. Something sticky, but invisible, something that gave way. It was like stepping through a spider web when breaking trail. If a very diligent spider made a web large enough to cover my entire body.

And then, as quickly as it came, it was gone.

I gasped, twisting back and forth to see whatever had touched me. There was nothing.

"Have you never crossed the veil between provinces before?" Xion asked, dark eyes set only on me.

"No," I choked out. But the air felt different in my lungs. Wetter. Saltier. Even though the mountains around me were the exact same that they had been just minutes ago.

"Well then, welcome to the Merfolk's province," he said with a tired grin. 

~~~Question of the Day~~~

Are you introverted or extroverted?