Coming Of AgeBy Medea
Chapter Six
With a heavy thud, the drained body of a dock worker fell at Willow's feet; her own body hummed with pleasure as the stolen blood coursed through her veins. It was amazing how powerfully a fresh kill could grip her after two years of austerity in the desert.
She was just grateful that the Tuaregs still traversed the Sahara regularly in caravans.
Now in Algiers, Willow could once again enjoy the comforts of a densely-populated city. She figured she would allow herself a few weeks to restore her strength before she set out to find these mysterious Harvesters that Hypnoi had mentioned during their brief encounter.
After two years of burrowing, she wanted to spend at least a few days sleeping in a real bed!
As Willow meandered through narrow streets, acquainting herself with the sprawling, North African metropolis, she sensed other vampires following her. This wasn't unusual in itself. The clans of a city tended to keep a close watch on unfamiliar vampires in their territory until they were convinced the new arrivals posed no threat.
But there was something different about the ones who followed her. There was a trace of magic about them. Willow's curiosity was piqued. In her extensive travels, she had encountered few other vampires who practiced the arts as she did.
Willow decided to seek them out. If they were adept at magic, they might possibly have connections that could help her find The Harvesters.
When she caught up to them, she discovered that it had been two vampires following her, a male and a female. Apparently, they were willing to be found; they were relaxed comfortably on the edge of a fountain in a quiet courtyard. As she approached, Willow scrutinized their faces, discerning what she could from their eyes.
What she saw there caused her to halt in her tracks.
Their eyes looked so unbelievably old.
It was then that Willow recognized the magic that enshrouded them. They were concealing their age with a cloaking spell. She wondered in awe exactly how ancient they were.
They greeted her in Arabic; thankfully, it was one of the languages she had picked up in the course of her research.
"You have been with the hermit of the desert recently," the male vampire observed.
"Who are you, and how do you know that?" Willow asked.
He bowed slightly, but with a practiced grace that made it seem a courtly gesture. "Forgive me. I am Anubis. This is my mate, Sahu."
Willow glanced between the two of them. Anubis and Sahu were strikingly beautiful. Their skin, although it could still pass for human in dim light, seemed as smooth and translucent as alabaster. Their features were chiseled and their dark, dramatic eyes shone with the majesty of the pharaohs. Like Willow, they were garbed in the traditional style of the local human population.
"You have the look of someone who has spoken with the hermit," Sahu explained in a rich, sultry voice.
Before Willow had the chance to wonder how she could tell something like that from a look, Anubis added, "You are unusual for one of our kind. You have a demon at your core, but you are animated from without -- even beyond the normal ties of blood. Is that why you sought the hermit?"
"I have no sire, no childer; the only blood ties I have are the ones I've made through magic. I am also Wicca, joined always to the natural magic. And I sought Hypnoi because I'm looking for something that will help someone I care about," Willow explained candidly.
"Hypnoi?" Anubis and Sahu looked blankly at her.
"The hermit in the desert."
Anubis tilted his head thoughtfully. "My mate and I left mortal life behind nearly four thousand years ago. In all that time, I have never known the hermit to have a name..."
"Four thousand years?!" Willow murmured incredulously. She racked her brains, trying to resurrect distant memories of history lessons. Had that been the era of the Great Pyramids?
Willow began to suspect why they used the cloaking spell. At that age, they would radiate a signature so powerful that every vampire on the planet, no matter how far away, would sense them. It was only through magic that they could enjoy the solace of anonymity.
"Then she must have given it to him," Sahu concluded.
"Well, no...I'm not making it up," Willow insisted defensively.
"I never said you were. I said you gave him his name."
Willow stared at the ancient vampiress in disbelief. Sahu let her fingers drift through the water in the fountain as her eyes stared into the night sky with the serene disinterest of one who measured time in centuries.
"How could *I* have given him his name? That's...that's his identity. It doesn't have anything to do with me."
"Doesn't it, though?" Anubis fixed her with a penetrating gaze. "If you can't accept that, then how can you believe you could find anything in the desert for this one you care about -- your mate?"
"He would be...if it weren't for his soul..." Willow confessed. It didn't even strike her as strange that she was sharing such personal information. She had the eerie feeling that, were she to try to conceal anything, Anubis and Sahu would see right through her.
"His *soul*...intriguing..." Sahu remarked lightly, without a trace of disgust.
"That doesn't seem to surprise you," Willow noted.
Sahu closed her eyes and smiled, as if savoring one of the secrets of the universe. "It is immaterial. If others of our kind are repelled by the thought of a soul, it is because they are young. They see nothing but an unwelcome restraint. Anubis and I practice restraint, but without souls. We don't need them; we have eternity. In the end, it is all the same."
Anubis cocked his head toward the horizon. All three vampires sensed the approaching dawn, signaled by a subtle build-up of energy in the air that their natural aversion to sunlight enabled them to detect.
"Stay with us at our estate while you are here," he said, rising to his feet.
"Thank you for your hospitality," Willow accepted. As Anubis and Sahu led her back to their lair, she added, "May I ask you a question? Do you know anything about a group of demons called the Harvesters?"
At the mention of the Harvesters, the serene expression that had seemed to be permanently etched onto Sahu's face faltered, but only for a fraction of a second. "The name is an old one."
"Does that mean you know them?"
"It means," Anubis warned gravely, "that the path on which the hermit has set you is a long one. And dangerous if you venture forth unprepared. Knowledge can be fatal if you aren't ready for it. That is the purpose of a journey. It isn't what you find at the end that matters, but how you shape yourself along the way. Stay for a while, and we will prepare you."