Chapter 20 A Message not Delivered

I

"Are you telling me that Orla has disappeared? But, how can that be?" An evidently distressed Lord Aelderic reacted about the incident.

"Milord, no one has seen her for two days. The last time Orla was seen it was in Lady Ardith's chambers. Yesterday, we searched the whole castle for her but since you were absent we weren't able to do much more. Orla is gone and there no trace left." Jamison, the butler, informed with preoccupation in his tone.

"Something must have happened to Orla. She would never leave without informing it. The woman had never left before. She has no relatives in the nearby regions... Jamison, please keep searching, underneath the rocks if it's necesary, but we must find her." The duke ordered and Jamison left immediately to gather the men to start searching again.
Leila entered the living room in that precise moment, moving with her usual cadence and exuding sensuality to greet Lord Aelderic with exaggerated enthusiasm. Like an act of magic, the preoccupation on the man's face vanished away, his gestures switched immediately from sternness to fascination in a second. "Oh, Leila, it's a pleasure to see you this morning. You look radiant, as usual." He kissed her fist.

"Oh, you are such a fine gentleman, Lord Aelderic. The pleasure is all mine and I'm so glad you're back. But please, tell me, how did the conversations with the neighbor county went? Any positive results?" Leila continued with her coquettish attitude. Her conversation casual and her voice softened as if to cast a spell on the duke.

"Oh, well, the conversations had very positive results indeed. Saxony, as a realm within the empire, is very solid economically and politically speaking. The feud has responded very well and taxes has been collected on time." This was uttered more like a coherent babbling. Lord Aelderic responded spell bounded by the beauty of the raven haired woman.

"Oh well, of those businesses I understand nothing, but I see everything is fine and that is what really matters." Leila was standing just a few inches from the duke. Their eyes locked.

"I'm afraid everything is not as fine as it should be, my dearest lady." Lord Aelderic lowered his gaze, crestfallen and distressed.

"Oh, why not? What's wrong milord? You are scaring me." Leila caressed the duke's face. He looked back at her.

"Oh my beautiful angel, something terrible has happened. Orla has disappeared and nobody knows where she has gone. I'm afraid something bad happened to her. The wild animals attacks have grown more frequent and I... Oh God I hope we can find her, safe." Both Leila and the duke held hands. She was really close to him now.

"Oh, my Precious Lord, how can that be possible! That's terrible!" Leila faked to be worried about the poor servant's fate and she was a marvelous actress in fact.

"I ordered Jamison to search again. I only hope she's fine and that she hasn't suffered the same fate the other servant had." The duke was sincere in his words, he was deeply affected by her disappearance. Orla was beloved by him and his daughter, the woman had been a loyal and trustful servant for decades.

"Oh, God no!" Leila kept her theatrical reaction going on. Overreacting, she released the duke's hands and stepped back, opening her black eyes widely and covering her mouth. The raven-haired woman walked towards the window, pretending to stare at the horizon with preoccupation, while on his face a mischievous grin formed.

Lord Aelderic followed Leila and placed a hand on her shoulder. The woman turned to face the duke and talked to him in her alluring tone. "Milord, with all this happening, I mean and we pray Orla will be back with us alive, but imagine... Poor Ardith is sick and we know nothing her fiancé. You need someone else to trust your estate, someone who besides you grab the reins of this place and help you, while you're out attending your duty as the highest duke in hierarchy in Saxony. I ask you, have you ever thought of marrying again? I mean, you are an extremely handsome and wise man. A fine gentleman in all the extension of the word... Women might fall surrendered to your feet. I truly believe you must have hundreds of admirers amongst the Germanic aristocracy. You're still young and virile. You need a woman to bear you a son. "Just a few inches separated Leila from the duke.

Lord Aelderic was captivated one more time by the exotic belle in front of him. "Im afraid is not what you think, my fair lady Leila. No woman had caught my attention since I became a widower... no one, until now." Lord Aelderic couldn't resist any longer and grabbing the woman by her waist, he sealed his live confession giving Leila an passionate kiss.

II

The messenger's horse galloped swiftly through hills and plains. He was just one day away from the Cuthberth's mansion. Geoffrey hadn't rested, neither his beast. In the past weeks he only stopped when it was needed; to sleep a few hours or to eat. His mission was by far more important than his own fatigue. The lives of those who lived in the mansion depended on his prompt arrival. If he couldn't make it on time, it would be late for his masters. They weren't aware of the danger that Leila represented. She was a monster!

The sun descended behind the Harz mountain range. If his horse made it faster he could make it at least to the lodging by the hillsides before night fall. In the morrow he would leave early to the mansion, but he won't venture in the darkness. The hillside and the dense forests of these region were extremely dangerous, even more for a solitary traveler. He would have to ride bordering the edges of the mountain range and the woodlands in the gloomy night and that was a complete madness. There were creatures, evil monsters lurking in the shadowy paths of the night ready to attack and kill, roaming demons like Leila that fed on the blood and souls of the mortals.

Goeffrey kept riding his horse down the hills when all of a sudden he distinguished a silhouette within the darkness. What ever it was, it advanced towards him at great velocity. Goose bumps rose on his skin when he saw it was a human shape that seemed to float, advancing forwards at a supernatural speed. It was dressed in a white robe-like gown that fluttered with the wind and her long black mane waved frantically as it approached.

Inside his chest, the messenger's heart hammered arrhythmically, urging to burst out. His mind and body filled with the most terrible of horrors.  It seemed like a ghost at the beginning, but it was not. No, it wasn't a spirit! He realized it was something worst coming after him. It was a woman... it was that woman! Leila Von Dorcha! And just when his trail of thoughts came to an end, in a blink of his tired eyes, she was already in front of him. Scared, the horse startled and neighed. The dark stallion stood in his back hooves and moved from side to side anxiously, as the beast knew of the danger they faced.

Goeffrey tried to tame the horse so he could escape immediately of that place, but the animal was out of control. Leila laughed out loud evilly, her mocking laughter echoed in the hillsides of the mountain range sounding like a dozen Leilas cackling at the same time.

"Why the haste in leaving, messenger? I came here to receive you and you want to leave this soon. No, no... you men are so ungrateful." Leila spoke in a sarcastic tone, her lips curving up wickedly.

"I know what you are Leila. You are a vampire, a demon that feeds on human blood. Where is my master? What have you done to him?" Geoffrey managed to ask, concealing well her fear in an authoritative tone, while he tried to tame the stallion.

"Me? Nothing. I have done nothing to anybody... I think you have a misconception of me. You know what messenger, I'll show you how a good lady I am. I will let you go... You better go now before I'm repentant. Go!" Leila was ironic in her tone, first, then she was angry.

This time, even knowing the truth, he wasn't going to stay to prove his theory. He needed to escape right away, and so he did. The horse reacted and the man left galloping swiftly away without even looking back. In the back, Leila's laughter reverberated in his ears. No matter how fast he rode it seemed that her voice chased him and it gave him the feeling that she was almost on him, right behind grabbing him with its sonorous fingers.

Goeffrey knew that everything had been set up by Leila. It was a trap. He was the prey and Leila was after him ready to strike at any moment. She fed on his fear -because he in fact was scared to the bones- in the same way she would feast on his blood. He lashed the animal and it responded neighing louder and moving even faster. The horse sensed the danger in which both were.

All of the sudden, the laughter ceased, and the silence wasn't any relieving, it made it worst. The messenger was now deaf and blind and didn't have a point of reference. He knew he'd been chased, but there was no way to locate the monster related to him, but he sensed she was near.

In the distance the flickering torches in the citadel were his north as they emerged from behind the hills. There was no other way, no other place to go. It was Harzburg or grave. It was the time to ride not to deliver a message but a race for his life and he only prayed God would take him there safely.

The burning fire on the walls of the city was closer for his hope,  the light at the end of the road. Hope replaced fear somehow and he only needed to keep riding without looking back and he would make it. Quietness, stillness... The sound of his own agitated breathing and his pounding heart was everything he heard. The torches! The torches!' He cried in his mind. They were closer, yes, just a hill away. His hope of surviving revived.

But this time hope was taken abruptly out of the coffer when Leila reached the man. Amidst the darkness of the night, the vampire sprinted over the messenger and his horse. After giving an agile bound, Leila almost flew in the air to climb up the back stallion and knocked off the man down to the ground. Both Leila and Goeffrey went down rolled over the dust while the animal left without its rider.

After struggling, Leila placed herself on top of the beaten man who in vain tried to escape because she was a lot more stronger. With a single blow, she tore his face and neck. There was not much more he could do. As a simple human, the messenger couldn't fight for his life. This demonic woman powerful beyond everything he knew. He lied on the floor, blood bubbled out of the poor man's mouth and wounds, while Leila sank her fangs in his neck. His tearful eyes opened wide staring at the starry sky as Leila drained his life. Geoffrey's body quivered in a pain that gradually faded away with his last exhalation.

It was done. Once the vampire drank the last drop of blood out of the messenger's corpse, she wiped her mouth with her hand, graciously stood up. She stared for the last time the man and smiled knowing herself victorious. She'd been hurdled another obstacle and there was only one left: Edmund, if he made it back to Harz before her plans were accomplished. Leila grabbed Goeffrey's arm and dragged him to the woods, licking the last traces of blood on her lips. Her bare feet almost floated over the moistened grass and her black mane glistened with the moonlight, the only witness of what she had done... The messenger would not deliver his message.