First Thirst (Craving 1)

I think she needed a change from m’constant display of loathing for her, because she dinnae coom after me.

M’time to leave had come with the passing of all I held dear. She couldna threaten me any longer.

I returned to MacLeod. Wealth that had been mine had tripled with m’investments over the years and I had already arranged for documents to be created, should I need them.

Without Allora’s knowledge, I had met with a gypsy some years past. I paid her well and she gave me what I needed to become a day-walker. It was so simple. A long forgotten herb. A weed really, that I perfected and spelled with m’own dark magic for extra potency. It doesn’t work as well on vampires that drain and kill humans.

I used to have to take the potion every single day, but now, m’body has acclimated to it, and absorbed it in such a way that I only need a booster once a month.

We grow it all over MacLeod. I dried enormous amounts and kept them with me when I traveled. Moonweed—a wonderful botanical miracle.

When I was sure Allora had forgotten all about me, I decided to remain at MacLeod permanently and reestablish m’roots at home. I began m’research for a cure for vampirism.

I couldna give up hope, but a part of me believed there wasnae one. Even so, I have found some solutions over the years with m’experiments in botany and discovered another rare plant. Wolf-Rose in small doses seems to curb m’need for blood and reduces the craving. I had to build up a tolerance for it, as it made me quite ill at first.

And then, twenty-two years ago, I met a lovely lass, och aye, m’darlin’ Sarah Ascot. She was soft and good and m’love for her was as gentle as she. She was m’hope for a relatively normal life.

When in the presence of another supernatural…we are able to sense one another. Maybe nae at first, but after a bit, ye can feel the magic in the other.

I felt it across the room, and I knew she was a witch.

I took her to dinner and confessed immediately what I was and waited for her to confide in me as well.

And one day she did. She told me that not only was she a witch, but an immortal one, and Jeremy, her brother, was a warlock. I thought then, how lucky am I to have found someone to share m’life forever.

I thought perhaps redemption was mine. I liked her so very much and that

like turned into a soft love. It dinnae have the wild passion I had dreamt of as a young man, but it was good.

But apparently repentance was not enough. The fates decreed I still must be punished.

Apparently, on a whim, Allora decided to visit me at MacLeod.

She couldna have entered had Sarah nae invited her in.

I was late getting home. Jeremy and I had been to town on business and we stopped by the pub. I was late…too late.

M’young bride had nae notion…and if she did, it came to her too late.

I was only ten minutes away. Ten minutes!

I never thought to tell m’bride about Allora. If I had told her about Allora and cautioned her never to invite the bitch inside, I would have been on time. She wouldna have allowed Allora inside.

Instead—

I returned to find m’new bride’s head on our bed.

Allora left the ashes of m’bride’s body beside it. Her note read, I will kill everyone you love.

I collapsed in a heap of agony.

Pain spread through m’body and mind. I cried to the fates that had done this to an innocent, for Sarah had been an innocent. I vowed then to find Allora and tear her apart, bit by bit.

That was all I wanted. I could think of nothing else and nothing else in m’life mattered.

I tracked Allora down, but I am ashamed to own that each time I found her, I was unsuccessful in m’attempts to kill her.

She is an ancient with great skills, and abilities I had nae then acquired. She knows how to stay alive, however, each time I learned something new and incorporated it in m’plans. And I had Jeremy’s magic to aid me.