He had been wandering around the town trying to pick up on the strange new scent for weeks now. He had felt an incredibly new sensation a few weeks ago at the town fair but no matter how much he searched, he simply could not locate who it belonged to. This has never happened before. Sensing and locating were his biggest strengths. His senses had never been this confused. He was almost trapped in that scent.
After weeks of roaming aimlessly, today was the day he was going to find out. Something made him find a faint trail of the scent and he followed it like a mad dog. He was soon almost near the edge of the town when he passed by the old manor house. The scent suddenly became wildly strong. It was a bit different this time. The same, yet different! It felt more like a stress signal.
His senses were attuned to detecting even the slightest of changes in the pheromones. This way he could always know the real intention of a person even if their body language and words concealed their inner feelings. Today, the signal meant grave danger!
He jumped over the boundary wall and swiftly made his way up the railing on the side of the old house and in a jiffy he was up two floors. His body was moving as if the scent had a rope tied to him and he was being pulled right towards it. He found himself in front of a large wooden door, heavy with wrought iron handles and giant bolts. He heaved it open and pushed through.
There, there it was. The scent was incredibly strong now. He scanned the room quickly and found a large four-post bed against a massive window through which the sun shone harshly onto the ageing wooden floors. What was that on the bed? He tried to peek. There were long white coloured lace curtains flowing from the ceiling towards the floor around the four-post bed. His eyes suddenly widened with a bit of shock and curiosity as they followed the torn curtains to the floor.
Wrapped like a cocoon, on the floor was the outline of a small person, almost lifeless. The floors creaked as he instinctively stepped closer. The scent was now almost tormenting him. His senses were on overdrive. He was no longer thinking and yet his body was moving on its own.
He cradled the person into his arms and looked around quickly. He could not spot any immediate danger and decide to jump out through the window. He leaped two floors down but landed softly onto the grass below. The person was knocked out cold and a cocktail of thoughts clouded his head as the scent drove him nuts. Almost in a daze, he set out into the woods outside the edge of the town.
He ran hard, almost leaping with giant strides and continued deep into the forest towards a hidden waterfall. This was his secret haven.
He laid her gently on a mound of soft grass and wildflowers. The gentle roar of the waterfall nearby and the droplets from the spray against the sunlight made it even more magical. There were at a hidden spot in the forest that was below the forest floor surrounded by cliffs and a waterfall. It was the golden hour when the sun was on its way down. The rays bathed everything around, making them glow golden against the sun.
It had been an hour now and he was watching her breathing. She was in a deep sleep and he was not able to wake her up. It may be some sort of spell he told himself and waited impatiently.
This waterfall was his escape from everyone and it was near impossible to track him here. The place was packed with wildflowers and strange plants and herbs that filled the air with complex scents that only he could discern. He had been coming to this waterfall for a few hundred years now.
The cool breeze played with her hair while the sun’s warm rays bounced off her cheeks highlighting her slightly parted lips. They were almost translucently pink as the sun rays got caught in them. Cherries he thought, nope, strawberries maybe! Peaches! He was trying to imagine how they would feel to touch. Luscious and ripe like… “What am I thinking!” He was shocked at his own thoughts.
A sudden splash nearby jostled him. The waterfall was just a few metres tall and he never figured out where the source was to date. It never dried up and always had the same consistent flow no matter what time of the year. Strange indeed. It was a few metres wide and as it hit the bottom it created an almost bluish-purple pool below. The edges of the pool were iridescent blue almost turquoise and in some places a deep green.
He had never seen someone so delicately beautiful before. He was mesmerised by her face being caressed by the soft locks of her hair that flowed down her shoulders like the waves. Her enrapturing scent was driving him crazy, her lithe body that his rough hands now wanted to hold so dearly, were afraid they might hurt her somehow. Her softly heaving chest and her thumping heartbeats, her light cottony floral dress that fluttered gently with the breeze almost as if they were teasing him.
He slapped the back of his head hard enough to let out a soft yelp. He scanned his surroundings to ensure no one had followed him here. His eyes came to rest on the mystical pool nearby. There were strange fishes in the water that glistened every time they came up for air. There were birds that looked like magical creatures, with long flowing tails and a myriad of colours that were a sight to behold. Their chirps were a practised song, the waterfall was the background music. The mystical fishes breached occasionally creating soft ripples and it was an orchestra that always calmed his soul.
A rustle of leaves and her fluttering dress brought his attention back. What was this creature, he wondered! He saw glimpses of a silver chain running across her torso under her torn blouse. The blouse – he noticed, there were small pink flowers on the pale blue blouse. A couple of buttons were missing from the top and the bottom ones were hanging by a thread where the blouse had torn off. The buttons were shaped like roses, dark silver roses. The flowers on the blouse were dainty and pretty. What flowers were these? Cherry blossoms, he assumed and nodded to himself.
His eyes followed the chains underneath and something right at the centre of her chest caught his eyes. Glinting under the sunlight, almost blinding him each time it shone brightly. He wanted to part the blouse and check what it was. It was too low to be a pendant. He could see her skin, so it wasn’t a corset. The leaves of the trees above kept making patterns on her skin as the sun’s rays played catch through the forest crown above. His hands were itching to touch her.