Chapter 9 - Night and Rain [2/5]

Panting, Vex drove out of his sleep. Cold sweat made him glue the shirt to his skin. The wind howled around the house and whipped raindrops against the windows. For a moment, a flash of lightning lit up the room, followed by a roaring thunder. The dying embers of the fireplace dipped the room in a soft red. Slowly Vex's wild beating heart calmed down. He was in his bedroom. Nowhere else. Not in a cave, not in the cold embrace of a monster…

The door of the room flew open. Vex twitched, which was acknowledged with a stabbing pain in his head. He pressed his fingers to his temples.

"Vex, is everything all right?" he heard the worried voice of Leysha. Immediately afterwards, he felt her blonde curls on his skin as she leaned over him. "You were screaming terribly!"

I'm fine." Vex forced himself to smile. The headaches punished his words for lying, but he did not pay attention to them.

"It was just that dream again…" he said instead, and as he recalled it, his intestines contracted. It was not easy for him to breathe in calm trains. His neck was still pulsing where the monster had bitten him.

He involuntarily drove his hand over it. Leysha hugged him tenderly and gave him a long kiss. Vex let it happen and enjoyed feeling her lips on his. He took a deep breath of her smell and for a moment forgot the horrors of the dream.

Her lips detached from each other. "I'm worried about you," she breathed into his ear.

Vex stroked her back reassuringly. It was good to feel her warm body with her. "You don't need that. I'm fine. Well, except for the headaches.Leysha's

eyebrows contracted and she began to respond, but he shook his head. Immediately he regretted the gesture, for it was punished with greater pain. A wretched smile stole into his face.

"It's not as loud as you think," he tried to reassure her. Using the expression on her flawless face, he was able to assume that he had failed thoroughly. His gaze lingered on the deep rings under her eyes.

"Tell me why you're not sleeping again. It must be after midnight!" Leysha turned her gaze away. "I've been thinking."

Vex sighed and stroked her hair. "You know you can talk to me about anything." Her lips twisted into a cheeky smile. Then you first tell me why you still haven't been to Dr. Lutz. You should at least let her give you a cure for the headache."

Vex nodded. Even though he didn't like the idea of pulling Dr. Lutz out of his sleep, he really had to do something about the pulsating pain in his head. He would have preferred to just curl up in his bed and wrap his arms around his head, but as he knew from painful experience, it wouldn't get any better. The idea of a quiet, dreamless night seemed too tempting for Vex not to take a walk through the rain. Slowly he rose, which only stirred up the pain further. He clenched his teeth and staggered to the bedroom door under the anxious gaze of his beloved.

"Until I get back, you should be in bed, too, dear Leysha."

I'll wait for you. Not that you break a leg on the way or get lost in the storm.«

Vex gave her a look with raised eyebrows, which elicited a bell-light laugh.

"Don't look like that! You can do all this.Leysha followed him into the hallway. Leaning on the door frame, she gave him light with a candle until he had put on his leather boots and wrapped the cloak around his shoulders.

Vex gave her a kiss on the cheek. As he pulled the hood deep into his forehead, he prepared himself inwardly for the cold and rain that would await him outside.

As soon as he had opened the door, the wind struck him with a thousand pinpricks. Tediously, Vex pulled the door shut behind him and started. Again and again violent gusts seized him, tugging on his cloak and making it difficult for him to walk straight ahead.

After a few minutes, Vex was already frozen to the bone. Relentlessly, the icy wetness seeped through his clothes. If he also got sick now, the visit to Dr. Lutz was worth it – then she could give him something against the cold. Right now, he would put up with anything just to get rid of the booming headaches.

Every now and then a flash of lightning lit up the night, but as soon as it faded, Vex could hardly see the houses of Korss around him. He could only orient himself on the ground under his feet: where once the path had been, he now sank ankle-deep into the mud. After leaving his house and that of his neighbor behind, Vex saw, to his surprise, a glow in the dark. Behind the windows of Doctor Lutz's house there was still light.

Relief spread through him. At least he wouldn't wake her. With the light, it was also easier for him to find his way around. He waded safely through the mud towards the building. Because of the cold, his hand was so numb that he hardly

the wood felt as he knocked on the door. It wasn't long before the peephole was pushed open.

"Who's there?" a bright voice pressed to his ear. Vex shuddered back his hood, even though he doubted that Doctor Lutz could recognize him in the dark.

"It's me, Vex," he called against the storm. A click told him that the door was unlocked. Dr. Lutz stuck out her head. Unlike the other women in the village, she wore her hair shaved.

"Come in quickly."

Vex couldn't say that twice. It wasn't until he stepped over the threshold into the candlelit hallway that he realized his shoes were full of mud.