Lilith Thornveil's Arc

Chapter 3 of 11

Selene slept through the night by the pale pool. Lilith rinsed the wound twice more and watched the water swirl pink and clear. By dawn the bleeding had stopped. By midday, Selene's skin had gone the color of old paper, and her lips cracked when she tried to speak. Lilith understood then. Water would not feed a vampire. Nothing in this cavern would. Selene opened her violet eyes near dusk. She looked at Lilith's throat first. Not at her face. She dragged her gaze up and held it there by force. "You have to go," Selene whispered. "Leave me at the arch. Close it behind you." "No." "I can smell you." Selene's fangs showed when she spoke. "Your pulse. I'll wake up on top of you and I won't stop." Lilith stood. Her hands shook once, then stilled. She knew every tree in this ravine. She had climbed down here alone for weeks, mapping what grew in the cracks. She had seen one thing that might serve. She had left it alone because she hadn't understood it yet. "Stay in that alcove," Lilith said. She pointed to the deepest one, where the stone curved shut on three sides. "Face the wall. Don't turn around until I call you." Selene crawled to it and pressed her forehead to the rock. Lilith climbed back through the thorn arch and up the ravine wall. Halfway up, in a split of stone where the sun barely reached, the spindly tree still stood. Thin branches. Dark red fruit in tight clusters. She had passed it a dozen times and never picked one. She reached now and closed her hand on a cluster. The skins broke easy. Red ran down her wrist, thick, warm from the stone. Not sap. She knew the smell of sap. This smelled like an open cut. She filled her cloak's fold with as many as it would hold and climbed back down. In the cavern she crushed one fruit into a wooden bowl. The pulp ran dark and heavy. She carried it to the alcove and set it by Selene's hand. "Drink." Selene turned her head. She saw the bowl. She grabbed it in both hands and drank without breathing. When she lowered it, her mouth was stained and her eyes had cleared. She stared at Lilith. "What is that." "A tree up the wall. I found it before I found you." Selene pressed the empty bowl to her chest. "It's enough. It's — it tastes wrong, but it's enough." Lilith sat down against the opposite wall. Her legs finally gave. She had a shelter. She had food her guest could survive on. She had proof, now, that this place could keep someone alive. Then Selene said, quieter, "He'll smell me on the wind by tomorrow. He always does." Lilith looked at the pile of red fruit in her cloak and started counting.