Valki
This is the first scene of the story (fantasy – urban/rural, set in Australia). Enjoy!
The stink — what was it? Sylv frowned but kept her eyes closed as she dragged air in through her nose. Slow, deep. The first scents were close. Sour, old. The whiff of blood turned to vinegar, of crypts greasy with newly-dead mortals. All smells she knew well. The carrion, decomposition, gore — Sylv discarded them. Something else, something different. She widened her search, sent feelers to the boundaries. She sorted through the known and unknown scents of her lair. Ah, there. Faint, but unmistakable, the taste of sylph; specifically Denaiad. Valki? She wanted to taste the enemy, feel how close it dared to tread. Sylv deepened her senses, breathed in the disgusting freshness of it, ran the flavour over her tongue before she allowed herself a thin, mirthless smile. Not a Valki.
Her breath whooshed out in a gush. This was the worst time to have to fight. If she had to take on a Valki, a trained Warrior of the Way, it would delay her plans. But this one was untrained. Unblooded, too. The most dangerous Sylph of all to a normal gnaDenaiad. Sylv was not such a creature. She had evolved.
Sylve laughed. A baby Denaiad sylph sent out on a task to become Valki. This would be its first task, the test to force it to become a killer of the gnaDenaiad.
Unless Sylv dealt with it before the black moon.
Her eyes opened to full daylight. The middle of a summer day. The worst time for her, but she had to prepare. So many years of being aware of the filthy Valki chasing her honed those senses, kept her alive through some close calls. To ignore the potential for danger was to be old and near death. Sylv was neither. She was only a day or so away from being able to produce young again, to regenerate her bloodline for the first time since … oh, too long since her clan was almost decimated, left with only Sylv and her mentor. Now it was only Sylv, the last gnaDenaiad of clan Harridan.
No one could stop her. Not a sylph, not a ghost, not the wards. It was too late. Unless … had that old bastard got a message out? Was this his doing? Was there…?
She roared her frustration and was satisfied when the windows rattled. Robert, in the next room, swore and dropped his phone to the floor with a clatter.
It was too risky to ignore it or run from it. What if the old goat told of what he’d stolen? What if he left clues? What if it was here to … Sylv sniffed again.
Unblooded. Untested. Unskilled. Alone? It could be an opportunity. Could she find a way to make an untrained sylph find what she needed, and bring it to her?
It would be fun, at the very least. And then she’d feed the remains to her offspring, give them their first taste of the enemy.
“Robert, sweetie,” she whispered, “Come to me, my love. I have a small job for you.”
He opened the door. “Sylv, you’re up,” Robert said, master of the obvious.
“Hello, darling. Yes, I’m up.” She put a hand on his arm to ensure his compliance. “There’s a stranger in town,” she focussed intently on his eyes. Sylv waited until the edges began to tremble and the dark blue iris shadowed with a haze of cloudy strands. “She needs some help, I’m sure. Maybe Rod asked you to drop in on her. Maybe you can find out what she wants. Maybe you can get her to feel comfortable for a day or so. Can you do that for me, darling?” Sylv smiled as his eyes spun anti-clockwise on the right and clockwise on the left. She smiled at the tension in his face. His head wobbled a bit as she eased off the link.
“Of course, my love. Of course.” He frowned, as if he’d forgotten something, then turned and walked back out the door.
“Thank you, darling,” Sylv whispered, as her lips snarled and her nostrils widened. One fingernail tapped at the shiny link in the air. Solid. She’d be able to see and hear everything the silly man said or heard. No, she wouldn’t exactly be able to ‘see’ as clearly as she’d like, not during the day, and not while he was in that place, but she’d get a sense of things.
Soon, she’d know all there was to know about this new little naif. Oh, maybe if she put some charm on Robert – have his big baby-blues look at her as if she were as desirable as Sylv.
Yes, that would do it – have the silly sylph fall for a man already under claim by the Harridan. The smile widened as she felt the delicious shiver of anticipation. It wasn’t the right time for a fight, but it was still worthy. And there were two potential prizes from this bout. She rubbed her palms together.
“Robby, darling. Why don’t you see if she wants to come to dinner tonight?”
Due for completion in April 2018 (previously titled The Valki of Three Salt Springs).
[image error]
pic from Pixabay
