[i:0829d1b99b] December 24th, Fontevraud Forest, 10 kms from Chateau Usse, 11:55 pm [/i:0829d1b99b]

The snowy bows parted softly as she walked through them like a ghost. An ankle length silver sable fur coat and matching hat adorned the angel as she made her way through the snow drifts. Times like these made her thankful that she was Immortal... relatively speaking. There was something about the woods of the Loire Valley that reminded Eveshka of her nearly forgotten childhood back in Russia so many lifetimes ago.

Her court was holding the usual Christmas festivities. Usual for Toreadors that is: complete debauchery, drinking vitae to excess, using up ghouls and pets for their own amusement. It was all very sad in her mind. Immortality, was supposed to be different than that, or maybe that’s all there really was for the Damned. Of the seven deadly sins, Eveshka had refined pretty much all of them into an art form. There had to be more. She felt it in her soul. Eveshka was one of those who still believed in the potential for redemption. Afterall, she did not ask to be made what she was. Not initially at any rate. Certainly her choices had led her down some particularly dark paths, but just as certainly she could not be beyond redemption.

And so, she walked.

She reached a clearing on a hill several hours later. She recalled that a windmill sat upon this spot several hundred years ago. It commanded the entire area and offered wonderful views of the territory. There was not a cloud in the sky. Every star shone brilliantly while the moon cast a blueish glow upon the countryside around. Off in the distance she could see the towers of Usse and the distant lights of Tours. She started off down the hill, her fur boots crunching through the snow. Descending into the tree line again she walked, constantly thinking, occasionally she would hum a bit of a tune. Never long enough for a song to take shape, but then, she didn’t really have an audience did she.

Did she?

She crossed a trail pondering that one. She knew that gypsies often stopped along this trail to camp for several weeks at a time. It might be kind of neat to come across a camp tonight. She longed to hear the balalaikas and fiddles. Something about it would make the night complete. Alas she was only greeted by silence, and the deadening sound of blowing snow.

“Excusez-moi,” came a young sounding voice from behind her.

Having not sensed this intruder in anyway, Eveshka whirled around, her right hand slipping into her fur for the main gauche she always carried.

The little boy recoiled. He had swarthy features, a prominent nose, bushy eyebrows, and dark eyes.

“I am lost Madame, please help me.”
Eveshka activated her heightened senses and scanned the area. Something didn’t seem quite right. The boy did not seem to have any aura at all. Or maybe he was nothing but aura. Either way he seemed half frozen to death. After all, this part of France rarely got any snow at all, much less nearly the meter that blanketed it tonight.

“Where do you live little boy?”

“With Mommy and Daddy,” came the timid response.

“Where are Mommy and Daddy?”

“I don’t know,” replied the boy replied the boy sniffling and rubbing his nose.

So they walked in silence towards the only place that seemed logical to go, Usse.

“Where are you taking me,” he asked.

“My home, to warm you up.”

“You are inviting me freely into your home,” he asked with wonder.

“I am,” she said and picked him up and carried him in her arms towards the Chateau.


They entered through a rear door and went around the raucus party to her bedchamber. She lay the sleeping child down in the middle of her bed and pulled the sheets up over him. Eveshka sat down in the tall wingbacked chair and watched. She turned her head and looked into the fireplace for several moments, watching the flames dance.

She turned back to the sleeping child to discover that the bed was empty. Eveshka sat bolt upright staring in disbelief at the rumpled bedsheets. She stood up and moved over to the bed and pulled back the sheets. The boy’s outline was still visible in the sheets, but there was no boy. Instead there was a single red rose laying where the boy once was.

Eveshka picked up the rose and sat down on the bed. From her bedchamber she could not hear the sounds of any partying. She did not return to it that night.