I never knew what lady Baris really was until she changed my life. A sickness and death swept over the land and eight out of ten people died. They said it was caused by evil witches or demons or a curse. I was left alone when my family died and the house was burned. It had been on the very edge of the city.

My mother had been a seamstress and my father a miller. The mill was where I lived and took over the hard job from my father. We had a dozen cats I would catch each day and wash and brush. They never liked it but I had been doing it since they were kittens. Unlike other cats or animals that died like the people, not one of mine got sick.

The summer ended with a fire blackened and almost empty city. Half the farmers that had brought grain to be milled into flour never returned. That was when lady Baris returned from some distant trip. She was the one that had gotten me started on baths and why I washed my cats. She never came out during the day and just appeared again one evening.

Four large men had come to the mill and from the look it was not to buy or sell. Their eyes flickered over everything and paused on the many barrels of flour. One grinned with broken and rotten teeth, “we came to collect our flour.”

I shifted as my hand tightened on a barrel thumper, “I do not know you.”

He sneered as he pulled a long kitchen knife, “just you stand back while we take our flour.”

I lashed out and the thumper struck his wrist. He yelled as the knife flew away and the wrist broke. I twisted and tried to jump back as the other three men leaped at me. I brought the thumper down on a head and my knee up into the groin of another. The last hit me and we went down. I yelled as I felt a knife in my side and twisted and struck into his throat.

I rolled and came to my feet and swung the thumper at the first man as he rushed me. It broke against the side of his head and the one I had kneed slowly came to his feet. I staggered and looked down at the knife still in my side. I coughed and took a step and suddenly lady Baris was behind the last man.

He stiffened and then just fell and I saw what looked like a long hat pin in her hand. I slipped to my knees and she was quick to come to me, “Alec?”

I touched the knife and her hand caught mine. I could see something flickering in her eyes before darkness came. I had flashes of her biting me and more of forcing me to drink from her cut wrist. There were vague images of her repeatedly cutting her wrist and making me suck on the wound. I woke in my bed and could feel it was night again.

My body felt strangely light and tingled. Even in the dark I could see clearly and hear a distant wagon on the streets of the city. I turned my head and found lady Baris in the shadows watching me. I tried to speak and had to clear my throat several times, “what happened?”

She moved closer and knelt beside me, “something I promised to never do.”

I searched her eyes and she sighed, “Alec I am not human or at least not anymore.”

I did not know what to say but shook my head, “no lady you are more.”

She snorted and then smiled and caressed my cheek, “you have always been to kind.”

She looked around and then at me once more, “many lifetimes ago I was born and walked the land. I was a girl and then a young woman. I had children and a husband.”

She touched my hand, “they were your many times ancestors.”

She looked into the dark, “a demon came one night while I was walking back from helping a neighbor give birth. It bit me as I fought and struggled and then it took my life and ... and made me what I am.”

I shook my head and tried to sit up, “that is the story of an undead creature...”

She nodded, “that is what I am, what I became.”

I turned and reached for her hand, “no.”

She smiled and squeezed my hand, “yes.”

I stood and pulled her up, “if you were undead you would not feel. You would feed on any and everyone. You would always be cold and...”

She shifted and then smiled, “perhaps I do not feed on people. I have taken many lives though they were not human.”

I felt my side and then looked at her, “but not your family.”

She shook her head, “I stayed away and watched and now I only visit as a stranger.”

I looked around and pulled her towards the door, “so you are an undead but not.”

She followed, “you do not understand Alec. When I saw you wounded and knew you were dying ... I had to save you and ... I used what I am to make you like me.”

I stopped and turned, “a not undead?”

She snorted, “a monster.”

I cupped her face, “you are not a monster.”

She shook her head and I touched a tear, “an undead creatures can not shed tears.”

She sighed, “you will never see the sun again or feel the love of a woman. You will not know your own family.”

I felt myself, “I will see the sun and I will find a woman ... maybe. Girls never seem to want to be around me.”

She followed, “we will see.”

That was her gift of life and my gift was showing her that she was still human. I did walk the day and see the sun. At first it was very painful but I refused to give it up. As for a woman, there were none for such as I. I left in the spring after I sold the mill. I traveled with lady Baris, only I did and do not watch our family from the darkness.

I have met and told them who and what we are. I earned money working here or there doing odd jobs. When the blood thirst comes I have drank my own blood or searched out animals. I take blood but do not kill and leave them unknowing after I am done. It was centuries before lady Baris and I parted and went separate ways.

We keep in touch using our family which has grown a great deal. Year after year, decade after decade, century after century. It has been many millennium since that night. Man has gone to war I do not know how many times. There have been plagues and sickness and we have spread wings to fly. Finally we stepped off our world and the universe opened up.

I have found those like us and if they are evil I take their heads. If they are not I leave them alone. I have been many things from a farmer to a scientist. I know what changed me or us is not only in my blood but in every cell and atom. I have seen many aliens and a hundred different kinds of peoples but they are not like us.

Each time I settled I started over, this time I was once more a miller only not on a human world. I came because this was the last place I had heard from lady Baris. The milling machines were more modern and produced a finer flour from many types of grain. They called it a artesian mill.

I set the container down and looked at the door when the chime sounded. I smiled at the sidhe women, “welcome.”

They smiled politely like all of their kind but it did not reach their eyes. I wiped my hands on the cloth from my apron, “how may I help you?”

One moved to a set of containers, “we are looking for coarse wheat flour.”

I blinked, “coarse? Not many want it coarse.”

I heard her almost silent murmur, “you would have no idea how it was made.”

I looked at the others who were looking at the many different types of flour, “with raw wheat that has been separated. The milling stones were huge and turned by either water or animals. Normally the miller only let the grain travel through the stones once which was coarse.”

She blinked as she stared at me, “you heard me.”

I shrugged and moved to the counter, “I can set the grinders and make a coarse flour for you.”

When I turned she was still looking and moved to the counter. She ignored the others, “tell me human, how old are you?”

I smiled, “I am a new born compared to your people.”

She snorted and then her hand snapped out and I reacted. Mine brushed her hand away as I slid back and aside. She hissed, “you are not human.”

I looked at the others before I looked at her, “I run a peaceful shop.”

She leaned on the counter, “how old are you?”

This time she had not been quiet and the others turned. I smiled, “probably as old or older than you. I have not harmed any of your kind and I stay to myself.”

She moved around the counter, “and yet you move around in sunlight.”

She touched my mouth and lifted the lips to see the fang like canines, “how often do you crave blood?”

I pushed her hand away, “it comes and goes. I use artificial blood.”

Her hand was extremely fast and a nail cut my arm. I shifted and glared, “enough!”

She bent and stared and then looked up, “do you know a lady Baris?”

I froze, “what about her?”

She turned, “she is ill.”

I moved after her and growled, “stop!”

She looked back and pulled a card, “come to this house.”

I hesitated before I accepted the card and they left. I looked at the card and went to check the machines. I finished the current run and bagged it and then put up the be back later sign. I knew it could be a trap. I had stayed hidden all this time and now someone knew. I looked at the card and took my vehicle.

When I saw the estate on the edge of the city I could feel others watching. I pulled in at the gate and it opened before I stopped. I parked close to the front doors and got out and looked around. I walked to the door and the sidhe female opened it. She turned, “she is this way.”

I looked after her, “you do know what I am capable of?”

She looked back, “you are fast and strong but need blood.”

I started after her, “not exactly.”

She went down and then into a sub basement. She stopped by a door and gestured, “she is in there.”

I looked at the door and gestured, “after you.”

She snorted and shook her head, “I do not...”

I slid in and my left hand snapped out and caught the back of her neck, “I do.”

She struggled but I squeezed and lifted and she stiffened like a kitten. I took another step and my right hand yanked a locking bar back. I pulled the door open and looked into the dark room, “my lady?”

I heard the hint of something on the stone floor and then the flash. I spun and shoved the sidhe across the hall as my other hand caught a wild beast with red eyes. Her hair was a mess and she struggled and hissed and I moved to the side and pushed her back against the wall. If she had caught the sidhe I knew she would have drained her.

I caught her face and tried to look at her through the hair as her hands and claw like nails grabbed mine. I spun to look at the white faced sidhe, “you have been starving her.”

She shook her head, “she is a monster and...”

I heard others in the house and on the stairs, “and you would kill us slowly to watch us suffer. You are a dark sidhe.”

She stood, “how dare...”

I held lady Baris and took a step back towards the stairs, “I dare because that is what you act like.”

I spun and caught lady Baris and lifted her, “fight my lady. Soon I will have what you need.”

The two sidhe warriors were carrying rifles and pointed them. I continued to move fast and tightened my hold as I leaped and ran. They tried to adjust but I crashed into them and they went flying. I went up the stairs and out the stairwell door. I went straight across in a full run as more sidhe warriors fired and missed.

I turned at the last moment and shielded my lady as I shattered a door. I kept going and ran through a kitchen and spun to use my body to break through the outer door. I staggered and turned and ran towards the walls, “close your eyes my lady.”

She howled and struggled while both hands went to her face. I did not even slow as we reached the wall and I leaped. Time had made me into something that was not human and I rose up and over the wall. I heard shots behind us and the crack of rounds. I landed and continued to run as my mind spun.

I held lady Baris and called the king’s watch to report dark sidhe. I turned into a shopping area and stopped to search around us. I could not return to my shop but ... I moved to a public vehicle rental booth. I used my comp and ordered a flyer and then set lady Baris down. I turned her away from the sun and cupped the side of her face, “lad...”

I froze as I got a good look at the strange slanted eyes looking into mine with a deep hunger. She was a half breed sidhe but almost looked like lady Baris. She growled and I shook myself and looked around and shifted to pull a small knife. I cut my wrist and put it to her mouth, “drink.”

She caught it and sucked and bit as if she were starving which she probably was. When I felt my heart pounding I tore my wrist free, “enough.”

She growled but my other hand cupped her face, “you have enough for now.”

She looked into my eyes and quieted. I covered my cut and torn wrist and applied pressure. I could feel the wounds already closing and the flesh knitting together. The flyer landed and I checked around us again and pulled her to it. I pushed her in and got in and confirmed the rent before I lifted.

Hours and they would be searching the entire city. We would not be able to leave the planet and they would hunt us. Unless ... if I could reach the Ashtear we might be able to get one to open a realm gate to earth. I flew as the half wild girl slowly calmed. Her eyes kept looking at me like she was searching.

She took a deep breath and relaxed, “you are Alec.”

I glanced at her before I nodded, “how do you know me?”

She smiled, “mother said you would come.”

I looked at her, “mother?”

She looked ahead, “she said you would call her lady Baris.”

My eyes widened as my mind spun, “where is she?”

She turned away, “they killed her and my father a month ago.”

I looked ahead as I felt the pain of loss like many times in the past. I tinted the windows as the girl shielded her eyes, “how old are you?”

She looked at me and reached out to touch my face, “only thirty.”

I shook my head, “lady Baris would not have done this to you and I am sure it can not be passed to a child.”

She looked ahead, “when mother refused to drink from me or father they stunned us. They ... took her blood and fed us and we were forced to watch her die. Father was next and ... fought and used his magic and they killed him. They bound my magic away and put me in that room and tortured me with the smell of blood.”

I checked the sats and turned onto a new course. She moved closer and a hand slid down my body to my pants. I caught it and looked at her and she shivered, “you need nourishment. I can get it but you must wait.”

She smiled, “mother said you taught her that she was alive.”

I smiled, “yes.”

She rubbed my cock, “when she became pregnant she did not believe at first and then ... she told father what she was and about you.”

I looked at her and tried to ignore her tempting me, “how did those others find out?”

She shook her head, “I do not know. I was taking a break from my classes and they just struck in the middle of the night.”

We talked as I flew and finally I slowed and began descending into a clearing. Many vehicles were parked along one side. I landed and opened the door and pulled her out. I reset the controls and closed the door before the vehicle lifted and started back the way we had come. I looked around and then bent to lift her in my arms while she covered her eyes.

I started toward a large stone building that looked like it was made from one stone. Before we reached it a man wearing a robe appeared in the doorway. Moments and dozens joined him wearing body armor and they all held weapons. I did not slow until we reached them, “I did not think you would judge before acting.”

I shifted the girl, “I have not harmed any that has not attacked and threatened me. This girl has been locked away and ... and forced to become like me. They were torturing her to death. If you are like the dark sidhe that kept her and attacked me I will find another way.”

The one in robes held up a hand as the others looked at him, “you are a blood drinker.”