bryn n sinjin 02.5 - blood lust Read Online Free PDF Page B

a little knowing smile. “But you already knew that.”
    I chose not to respond.
    ###
    It was the dead of night.
    And the fourth night in a row that I was camping out in the forest just beyond Luce’s training facility. Betta informed me of the wards surrounding the perimeter of the facility that were designed to deny me entry. There was also a handful of human guards walking the grounds, but they did not even deter me. Magical wards, on the other hand, did. As with all well-conceived plans, I could not rush my preparations. I had to, instead, be patient. Despite having lived a very long life by anyone’s measure, I could never describe myself as a patient man. Regardless, my sole intent was to be ready for the moment I could enter the camp without tripping the wards.
    He who is prudent and lies in wait for an enemy who is not, will be victorious. I had to remind myself of Sun Tzu’s words more than once. I had schooled myself on Sun Tzu’s The Art of War and now those lessons came flowing back to me, concrete in their truth and practicality.
    Fortunately, on the evening of the fourth night, that revered opportunity came. Having ventured into the nearest town in order to satiate my persistent hunger, I was painfully aware that I could be no good to anyone, including myself, if my sustenance were jeopardized. After encountering a willing, albeit inebriated, female donor who eagerly supplied my supper, I returned to the woods. I made my bed beneath a gargantuan, ancient oak tree. During the few days of camping in the woods, I avoided the sun’s lethal rays by hiding inside a large hole which I dug into the ground. I covered myself with the remains of a half-rotted tree. The hulled-out trunk provided ample shade and shielded me from would-be spectators. In the evening, I simply awaited an opportune moment.
    This particular evening, I did not wait long. While leaning against my tree and studying the map of the facility for the umpteenth time, I heard a sound. Shooting to my feet, keen to investigate, I followed what sounded to me like a ruckus, the nature of which confounded me. At perhaps one hundred yards away from the commotion, I concluded the sounds were merely people giggling and overall merriment. Although the intimate words spoken between the man and woman were whispered, I could hear them as clearly as if the couple stood directly in front of me, owing to my superior sense of hearing.
    The dark forest concealed me effortlessly, especially as I was attired in my customary black clothing. I ventured closer to the couple and levitated perhaps a foot or so above the ground lest they hear the crunching of leaves and other forest debris underfoot. When I was fifty feet away, I managed to identify them: the male was a human, and the female, an Elemental. How was I able to infer as much, you may inquire. It is not a difficult feat in the least. In general, humans are quite easy to detect. I can sense a human simply by the rushing of their blood and the beating of their hearts. Those who possess skills in magic, on the other hand, emit an electrical force field that surrounds them. This force field thrums with the energy inherent from their magic. The Lady Bryn’s electricity, for example, is magnetic. I have a difficult time unleashing myself from it. The sound of the shrew’s force field is like that of a tsunami, crashing in my ears.
    I approached the couple, keeping my feet fully airborne so as not to make a sound. They were lying on the ground now, exchanging sexual promises. They frolicked for a few moments before the man asserted the dominance natural to his sex and held the woman beneath him. The whispering ended as the woman circled her arms around the man’s back and he leaned down to steal a kiss.
    When I was close enough for an ambush, I dematerialized through the air, reemerging right beside the man’s head. Perhaps the disruption in the air caused the woman to open her eyes. She saw me immediately before