Copyright

 

Copy Right © Victoria Sinclair

All rights reserved. Except as permitted under the U.S. Copyright Act of 1976. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed or transmitted in any form or by any means, without prior written permission from the author.

 

Publisher's Note: This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are a product of the author's imagination. Locales and public names are sometimes used for atmospheric purposes. Any resemblance to actual people, living or dead, or to businesses, companies, events, institutions, or locales is completely coincidental.

New Beginnings

 

A small sweat bee landed momentarily on my nose, causing my head to jerk back. Alex took the momentary distraction to lunge, striking like a serpent. I jumped back just in time. I shoved my knife into its sheath and then lunged forward, snatching Alex's right wrist in my right hand. I threw it back behind him while I used my left hand to gouge his eyes.

Alex swore and swung wildly with his left arm. I quickly pulled his blade arm and myself behind him. At the same time, I grabbed his jaw with my left hand, pulling it left as I attempted to force him to the ground. Alex wasn't going to lose easily. I could feel it in the way he pushed back. His heels dug into the dirt, legs bracing against my weight. My arms were starting to hurt, I knew if I didn't finish this quickly, it would be over.

I kicked off with my weight, letting my feet bear down on his arms as I tried to break his defensive stance. I heard his knife hit the floor with a clatter that brought an instant smile came to my face.

"Yes! Finally!"

"Oh Aurora we are not don't yet!" Alex said. He had picked his blade back up. He quickly twirled around and sent the blade flying toward my face. I knew I was not going to have time to dodge it. I quickly brought up my hands up together and caught the blade between my palms, the blade was less than an inch away from my nose.

Alex walked over to me and took his blade out of my hands. "That was perfect! Don't get me wrong though, I went easy on you," Alex shot me a wink.

I gave him a smile, "Whatever you say old man."

"Ouch, throwing insults now are we? That's no way to treat your mentor!" Alex dramatically leaned his head back.

"Oh please, you're the one who raised me this way," I stated as I headed toward the door of the training room. I could see that the sun was getting lower in the sky, we only had an hour or so before nightfall. A chilled breeze rolled over my shoulders as I walked out the door. It was getting close to fall and the trees were already turning beautiful colors of red and yellow. Alex and I had been living in a small clearing a couple miles from the closest village.

I walked across the clearing toward a small cabin covered in green moss. I stopped a couple feet before I had reached the door and looked he little cabin over one more time. It had been my home for thirteen years now and tomorrow I could finally I would be leaving it to start my own life. Tomorrow was the day I turned eighteen, the day I could finally take on my own contracts, the day I would finally be a step closer to avenging the death of my parents. I chill went down my spine as I recalled the memory, forever fresh in my mind.

Alex had rescued me after after my village attacked by rogue vampires. He had heard my cries and had come into the house to find me hiding in a corner covered in my parents' blood. They had been massacred. I never knew why the vampire that had done it left me alive, but I knew I would never forget those wicked ice blue eyes laughing at me and his wicked smile. Alex took me in after he tried, and failed, to find any of my relatives and trained me to become a monster slayer like him. Ever since that night I have sworn to find the vampires who had destroyed my village and my way of life.

I had been training since. From dawn until dusk I had trained myself to the point of exhaustion. I was already considered one of the best knife fighters at a young age. When I had turned fifteen Alex had let me work contracts with him. Well, 'let' is an overstatement, I had bugged and nagged him to the point where he would let me do small contracts with him, such as a rogue werewolf or lone vampire. However, he would never let me do big jobs with him such as a nest of vampires or a griffin. But that was going to change after tomorrow.

Tomorrow was my eighteenth birthday, the day I had been waiting years for. The day I could finally take on my own contracts and make my own living. The day I could finally be on own. A shiver of excitement went down my spine as I thought of all the possibilities that were opening up in front of me.

To be a monster slayer you had to be at least eighteen. I never really knew why this was in place. I guess to keep young kids from going out and getting themselves killed. Walking into the cabin I started toward my back bedroom to finish packing my supplies. Tomorrow Alex had agreed to take me on a big contract. Alex said the person who issued the contract was going to pay a lot of coin and has promised to split it with me so I would have coin to start my own life. With all the excitement I was feeling I didn't know if I would be able to sleep tonight or not.

"Are you sure this is something you want to go through with?" Alex said from my doorway. "You could just stay here a couple more years" I turned around and smiled at him. "I'm going to miss you too Alex." I rapped my arms around him and squeezed. He was a good 6'3 and I was barely 5'5 so he had to lean down and kiss the top of my head. "Don't you forget about me, you are always welcome here."

"I know that and I promise I will at least come and visit for the holidays."

I looked up at Alex and could have sworn I saw the beginning of a tear begin to form. Alex quickly blinked and backed out of the door. "I'll go. You get some rest, we have a long road ahead of you tomorrow." He turned around and left leaving me to my thoughts. Walking over to my dresser I pulled out the bottom drawer and got out a couple things I would need. My clothes mostly consisted of leather shirts and pants and a couple of black cloaks. I also pulled one or two dresses out of my top drawer that I rarely ever wore except for recon. Putting all these into my leather riding pack, I then went to the middle drawer. As I opened it the shine of silver met my eyes. This is where I kept all my knives and blades that I used on the job, my most treasured possessions. Which mainly consisted of 4 different blades. My favorites were two seven inch blades made of pure silver with turquoise hilts. They were a gift from Alex on my sixteenth birthday. I pulled out the last two knives that were slightly smaller, about 5 inches of steel with leather hilts. I sheathed all four blades and put them aside.

Those would not go into my back, I would straps those on before I left the cabin tomorrow morning. I hunter could never go out without her safety. Next I went over to the chest at the bottom of my bed, inside lay my second most treasured possession. Pulling out a long steel broadsword I looked into the metal and saw a perfect reflection of my pale face, my amber colored eyes looking back at me. I stared at my reflection for a moment, I had thick black hair with a patch of white blonde on my right side. I had an oval face that I didn't really like. I had never thought of myself as pretty. My body looked more like a stick than anything. Don't get me wrong, I had a little bit of curves to my body but nothing like other woman I had seen in town. On the rare occasions I had gone into town when I was younger, I remember the other girls laughing at me because of how pale and skinny I was. They would call me 'vampire girl' and had told me I would never find a man with the way I looked. But I hadn't really cared, my focus was not on finding a man.

I shook the memory out of my head as I laid the sword on my bed. Those times were behind me and I was ready for a new start. My goal was to become the best monster hunter in all of Clearwater. My second goal was to hunt down and find the vampires who killed my parents. Alex always said to never hold a grudge, that vengeance will get me killed. I had told him I would not seek vengeance, but with the recent nightmares I had been having on that fateful night I knew that I was lying. Loudly sighing I turned around and reached for the last thing I would need on my journey. My bow and arrow. It has saved my life a couple of occasions and I was a good shot. It was made of sanded oak and had cost me a good bit of coin. But it was worth every dime.

I laid down on my bed as the sun finally set behind the mountain. As I was beginning to relax into the bed, I heard a loud SNAP. I jumped out of the bed and grabbed one of my turquoise blades from beside the bed and unsheathed it. Slowly I walked over to the window, listening for any other noise. It had probably just been an animal passing by in the woods, possibly deer or boar, but I had learned to never take any chances. As I reached the window I slowly peeked over and looked out, the moon was just starting to come out and the forest lit up under its eerie glow. 

I'm not sure how long I stared out the window, but I didn't catch any movement until I was about to put my blade back in my sheath.

SNAP

Another twig broke and I quickly scanned the tree line again. Come on Aurora there is nothing there other than some animal. You are worrying yourself for nothing. I thought to myself as I surveyed the tree line one more time. Only this time I swore I saw a flicker of movement coming closer to the cabin. My heart was pounding in my chest with adrenaline as I kept studying the tree line. After about ten more minutes of waiting I didn't see anymore movement and decided I was just tired and had been seeing things.

Walking back over to my bed I laid down and yawned. I really need to go to sleep or tomorrow is really going to be a rough day. I thought to myself as I pulled the my covers up over me. I was still staring at the window when sleep came for me, before I succumbed to slumber, I couldn't tell if it was a trick of the light or my imagination but I thought I saw two ice blue eyes staring through that window.

 

Hectic Day

 There was a slight chill in the air as I slowly walked outside to stretch my legs. Nightmares had plagued me all night of a blue eyed demon. No matter how far or hard I ran in my dream I just could not get away, waking up in cold sweats multiple times. Walking over to the far left side of the clearing I saw Alex saddling the two brown mares that he had bought last winter. "Aurora, I see that you are finally awake. Thought I was going to have to leave without you." Alex stated as he gave me a wide grin. I shot him a glare as I tried to stifle a yawn. "Just didn't get a good night's rest is all." Alex looked me over for a few minutes as I walked over to one of the smaller mares and double checked the straps.

"You know you don't have to go with me on this hunt, you could wait a couple of days. A hunter is no good if they are not in top condition. That is physically, and mentally Aurora." "Yes, I know this and I'm telling you Alex, I am fine." I knew we would be having this conversation, because it was something Alex had preached many times before. Not wanting to get into an argument this early I quickly turning around and walked back inside to get my gear.

As I entered my room I grabbed for my bigger blades first. Quickly strapping them against each of my outer thighs. I then took the smaller blades next, strapping them under my forearms for quick access. My sword belt came on next, I tightened it to the point it almost hurt my hips, but at least I knew it would not fall off. I then slowly pushed my sword into the sheath. I took a deep breath and exhaled. A smile quickly spread across my face. This was finally happening. All that was left was my bow and my bag. Strapping the bow onto my back, I decided to just carry my pack in my hand and put it in one of the horse satchels. Maybe, I thought to myself, I have too much gear. I could never outrun anything in all this gear.

As I started walking toward the door, I suddenly stopped in my tracks. An eerie feeling starting to creep up my spine, slowly I turned around to inspect my room. There wasn't much in the room, a small full-size bed made of oak and a small oak dresser next to the bed. Other than those two items my room was void of any furniture. As a rule, hunters didn't keep very many material things in their house. This was for multiple reasons, the two main was because you never knew when you would have to leave your home behind forever, or if a monster ever found your home they would destroy everything.

My eyes then flickered to the window. Feeling compelled to walk over I slowly walked over to inspect the window, feeling the chills down my spine thicken and the hairs on my arms started to stand on end. Faintly marked into the windows were the words. 'I'll be watching.' What the hell is this? I thought to myself as I slowly ran my fingers over the glass.

I jumped back in horror as I realized the carving was on the inside of the glass, not the outside. Does this mean the blue eyes I saw outside my window were not a dream? Why here and why now? Trying to calm my nerves, I quickly left the room and headed back outside. Should I tell Alex? After a quick moment of contemplation, I pushed the thought out of my head. No, that would not be a good idea. I decided as I made my way back out front. I forced a smile as Alex brought both of the horses over. "Are you finally ready?" He huffed as he lifted himself on the saddled horse. I gave him a quick grin and nodded my head. "Good, come on then!" He quickly turned the mare facing toward a small, almost invisible, dirt trail beside the training room. "No time to lose!" Alex shouted as he disappeared behind the trees.

Giving one last glance at the cabin I quickly pulled myself up onto Eliza and followed Alex onto the dirt path. The sun was finally starting to come out and it gave the forest a warm feeling to it. Yellow and red leaves glowed under its shine as we made our way down the winding trail. It had been so long since I had been to the village. Almost a year now and I wasn't sure if I was dreading it or excited by it. That's when my mind went back to the window. What on earth did that message mean? I'll be watching. I was lost and confused. Does this mean a vampire was in my room? In the house? Was this vampire crazy enough to go into a house with not one but two monster hunters? Or...was it the same vampire at all? Shaking my head, I decided to push all these thoughts to the back of my head and focus on what was head of us right now. That's where my focus needed to be and I was not going to let the blue eyed vampire ruin anything else for her.

After an hour of steady riding we finally left the shadow of the woods. It was weird not being under the cover of the forest, considering that was where I had spent most of my time. After about another ten minutes of riding through slightly tall grass, we came upon the flattened trail that lead to town. As we got closer to the market I decided I was more nervous than anything, since it was only Alex and myself on the mountain I was not used to being around so many people.

We stopped right before the market entrance and gave our reins to a stable smith who was sitting outside, the barn next to him already filled with a couple horses. As I dismounted my horse a could feel a knot forming in my belly and I went ahead and pulled my cloak closer to myself. Alex walked over next to me and gave me a wide grin,

"You might as well get used to it. If you are sure you want to go out on your own that includes going to markets and buying your own provisions without me."

I glanced up at him for a moment. "I will be alright, just will take some getting use to, I guess." I muttered the last part. We made our way into the market, it was getting close to midday and the market was already alive with people buying and selling goods. The smell of fresh baked bread invaded my nostrils and my mouth started to water. I had forgotten to grab a bite to eat this morning with everything going on. As we passed by the bakers Alex turned to me and put a few coins in my hand. "Go ahead and go and get us some bread and pastries for the road. I will go down here and buy the clothing and seasoning."

I looked him over for a second and smiled. "So you finally trust me to buy things now I see." The last time he had given me coins to go into the bakery I had bought nothing but pastries and spent almost all of our money. Alex chuckled a moment before giving me a wink and disappearing into the crowd. As I went inside the shop the smell of fresh bread hit my nose even harder. As I took a look at all the different pastries the ship had to offer I noticed the baker in the corner of my eye giving me a weary look. It was only then that I realized it was not common to see a woman in pants, black pants at that. The knives on my hips probably didn't help me either. The poor soul probably thought I was going to rob him.

,

I walked over to the shopkeeper and bought a couple loaves of break and about 4 meat pastries. The whole time he did not say a word and continued to give me a weary gaze. I put everything but one meat pastry in a medium cloth bag. The smell was making my stomach growl and I had to go ahead and have one. As I walked back out onto the street I had a stranger walk directly into me. I stumbled back for a moment, my temper rising. After I regained my footing I whipped around to give the stranger a piece of my mind when I stopped and my jaw almost dropped. "I'm so sorry, I didn't see you there! I didn't hurt you, did I?" The man before me was the most gorgeous man I had ever seen.

He had shaggy blonde hair that stopped just before his eyes, which were a soft blue-gray color. He stood about six feet tall and from what I could tell from under his cotton shirt he was very well built. He had a perfect chiseled face and no hair on his chin or cheeks. I felt my knees go weak. What is this feeling?

"Are you ok?" He gave me a curious glance, snapping me out of my trance. My angry quickly came back when my should started to ache, "You need to watch where you are going!" I snapped. I checked the bag which contained our bread and noticed to the disappointment of my stomach I had dropped the meat pastry on the ground. The man before also noticed it. "I'll buy you another, I am so sorry." He went to go into the bakery shopped and I sighed and shook my head. "Don't bother, just watch where you are going from now on." I stated as I started to walk away. I didn't know what it was about that man, but he made my heart skip and I did not like it. Which was a complete lie, but that's what I was telling myself. This had never happened before and it almost unnerved me. Deciding it was time to find Alex I weaved in and out of the markets to try and make my way toward the spice vendor.

As I was going through the last alley that lead to my destination two dark figures stopped me at the very end of the alley. They wore leather jerkins and were armed with long knives. "What do we here?" On of them said, a greedy look in his eye. "A little girl running around with some goods and coin? Down an alleyway? Sweetie, I think you are lost." The other one chuckled and slowly started creeping forward. "We can help you find your way sweetheart, it will just cost you though." Feeling their eyes crawling all over me, I took a step back and slowly reached down with my left hand touching my blade hilt. I couldn't believe the arrogance of these two men and almost felt a bit of pity for them. They didn't know who they were messing with. One of them noticed me reaching for my blade and pulled out two of his as well.

"Darling, why would you treat us this way? We are only trying to help?" He snickered before taking a step forward. I tensed myself waiting for an attack that would never come. Before I could even move the man on the left jerked backwards, then sideways, his head slamming into the wall closest to him. He fell quickly and the other man on the right whirled around, both blades drawn ready to attack. Before he could react a fist connected with his nose, blood spraying everywhere. Dropping just a fast as the first one I blinked my eyes to adjust to the third figure standing in the alleyway. Damn him, I thought. It was the same man from the bakery. He looked up and gave me a dazzling smile that made my heart skip a beat another beat. Stop that. I'm going to have a heart attack at this rate! I thought as I huffed and started walking forward toward him. "Saw these two giving you trouble, though I would swoop in to save the day!" He again smiled proudly and looked down at his handy work. Both of the thugs seemed to be unconscious.

"Thank you, but I could have taken care of them myself." I growled as I pushed my way past him. I was not some damsel in distress needing a man to come along and rescue me. "Hey, wait, please wait!" He shouted from behind me. The anger swelled in me as I weaved my way in and out of the crowd. I had already had enough of him today.

Not paying attention to where I was going I ran smack dab into Alex, who had just finished buying the rest of our supplies. "Aurora? Are you ok? You have a look on your face like you have been running from the devil!" He chuckled, however, I did not miss the movement in his eye. Alex was checking behind me just to make sure I was not, in fact, being chased by a devil. I turned my head myself, looking for the man who was ruining my day, but who I couldn't stop thinking about. He was no where to be seen. I heaved a sigh of relief and quickly put a smile on my face. "No, it's nothing Alex, I just hate large crowds. Is it time to leave?" I asked a little too quickly and Alex gave me a suspicious glance. "Yes, we have everything we need. I just need to stop on the outskirts of town to get the contract from a local villager. Come on." We slowly made our way through the market, as we walked by the alley I had came out of I took a quick look to see if the two men were still there. To my surprise they were not. Guess the recovered quickly.

Once we finally walked out of the market it felt like a giant weight was lifted over my shoulders. I think I'm just going to deal with small traders in villages instead of going into another market in my life! I thought to myself as we walked over to get our horses. Alex paid the stable smith and we both got our horses and guided them to the trail. As I was about to mount I saw a glimmer of blonde hair in the corner of my eye. Oh no... Not here.... Not now. "Miss, please wait!" It was the same blonde haired man from the bakery and the alleyway. Alex turned to look at him, then turned a curious glance toward me. The blonde haired man finally reached me and gave me another wide smile, "I don't mean to bother you both," the man looked at me and handed me a small brown cloth. "However, I was serious when I said I was sorry and would repay you." The bag felt warm to the touch as I took it from him and looked inside. It was a meat pastry. My cheeks became slightly flushed as I realized he must have been trying to pay me in the alleyway. "T-Thank you." I stammered as he gave me a quick smile. "Don't thank me, I owed it to you."

The man flashed Alex a smile as well. "I will let both of you be on your way then." He turned around and started walking back into the market, momentarily he turned around and gave me one last look. His eyes shinning. "I'm Bryce by the way, hope to see you back around sometime."

With a quick wink he disappeared through the entrance and back into the market. I quickly mounted my horse as Alex gave me another curious glance. "So anything you would like to share Aurora?" "No." I replied to quickly, my face turning slightly more red. Alex gave a laugh and steered his mount west toward a small village to get the contract from. I took a quick bite of my pastry, my stomach roaring with hunger. I decided to give one more quick glance before the market disappeared behind us. I could have swore I saw a shine of blonde hair at the stables. Bryce, I liked that name.

Contract

It was almost half a day's ride to the village, which actually was pretty far away from the market. The entire time my mind was not on the dirt trail ahead of us. It was on blue-gray eyes and blond hair. I'm sure why I couldn't get his face out of my mind, I was about to go crazy.

"So Aurora, you never did explain who that was back there." Alex said as he looked over to me, amusement showing in his eyes. "Just a stranger is all. He ran into me, causing me to lose one of the pastries. I told him not to pay me back." I said all this while looking down.

I could feel my face reddening slightly. Alex gave me a knowing smile. "You say it like that is all that happened, but your face tells me there is more!"

I continued to keep my head down, not wanting to go into any more detail. Alex gave me another glance over before turning his attention back to the path. "Fine, don't tell ol' Alex anything." He said and gave a dramatic sigh. "Young woman, never want to share anything unless it is with another woman." I laughed as he finished his sentence. "Alex really, nothing else interesting happened," I said. He gave another dramatic sigh, clearly not believing me. It seemed he let the situation go though, as we continued on for another ten minutes without a word. It was almost night time before we reached a small village, devoid of almost any life. You would have thought it would have been a ghost town if it was for some of the lanterns that had been hung up to lighten the dirt roads.

There was a small barn right next to the entrance and both Alex and I dismounted and went ahead and tied the horses. I shuddered slightly as the wind started to pick up. I was tired of fall already and just wanted it to be summer again. Seeing Alex start to walk toward the village entrance I quickly trotted over to him, seeing the uneasy look on his face. "What's wrong?" I said, trying to see where he was looking.

"Something doesn't feel right here, I could just be over paranoid." He quickly started walking into the village.

Startled, I followed after him. This town gave me the creeps as well, but I figured it was just where it was dark. As we walked through the quiet village I couldn't see any lights on in any of the little houses. When we finally reached what I assumed was a small tavern in the village I did see one light in the window. As we entered, the smell of alcohol and stale bread entered my nostrils. Stopping for a brief moment I tried not to gag at the horrible smell.

I had never understood how people could drink that stuff. As I finally got my composure back, I looked around and saw there was only two people in the tavern. One was, of course, the barkeeper and a frail man sitting at a table in the corner. He was a curious thing. He was dressed in a black cloak just like ours and kept it wrapped closely to his small frame. From what I could see he looked to be in his late thirties early forties. Anything else was obscured by his hood.

'Why does he have his hood on in the tavern?' I thought to myself as Alex made his way toward the small man. 'Was this the guy we were getting our contract from?' I quickly followed behind Alex. We both sat on separate sides of the table, leaving the frail man in the corner seat. He quickly gives me a suspicious glance and turned his full attention to Alex.

"She has no business being here." I was taken aback by his sudden raspy voice and felt my tempter start to rise.

Alex gave me a warning glance as he addressed the old man. "Jarvin, I have no time for this argument today. Please, let's discuss the contract." Jarvin glared at him for just a moment, I will only discuss it if she is not in the room. Jarvin turned his head and glared at me. I had absolutely know idea why this little man hated me already and I didn't really care. My tempter getting the best of me, I rose quickly and started walking to the door. "I'll just wait outside, then since my presence intimidates you." I said as I walked out of the tavern. The nerve of that man was infuriating. Was it because I was a woman? Or had just turned eighteen? Either way it still angers me. It also, I had just realized, make me walk outside on a dark night in an unfamiliar place. Leaning against the outside of the tavern I tried to take in my surroundings. The village pretty much had a one way street with two turn offs at the tavern, small cottages were on both sides of the roads extending all the way down the road. The tavern I was leaning against was at the end of the dirt road, both paths going on into darkness on either side. It made me uneasy that none of the cottages had any movement or lights on in the windows, of course that could be because it was night. Still, I felt like there should have at least been some kind of life going on, if not in the cottages at least at the tavern. Everything was silent. I was in the middle of mentally scolding myself when I thought I saw movement out of the corner of my eye. It was quick and brief but I swore I had just seen someone run across the street to my right.

Not wanting to person to know I had seen them, I decided to completely turn my head in that direction. Instead, I slowly tilted my head left, being able to get a somewhat better view of the street on my right. 'Why is everything weird happening today of all days?' I thought to myself as I continued to keep an eye on the street. After another five minutes I started to think that I was just delirious from the long ride and needed to get some rest. As I was about to straighten my neck to avoid cramping when I saw another blur of movement. Now I knew I was not delirious. Straightening my neck I decided to go ahead and fully turn my head towards that road where I saw the blur. Whoever, or whatever, it was not going to take me by surprise. It was then that Alex walked out of the tavern, making me jump. I had been so focused on the blurs I had seen I had forgotten all about Alex being in the tavern.

He gave me a curious glance and looked down to where my hand was touching my blade. I quickly pulled my hand up, but I knew it was too late. "What's wrong?" Alex said as he slowly looked around. "Oh, nothing. I thought I saw movement but it must have been my imagination." Alex looked at me for a long moment before scanning the village one more time. "It's too late tonight to begin the hunt, we will start first thing in the morning." He started walking down the path that lead to the entrance of the village. I quickly stepped in beside him. "So what's the contract? Why was that old man so upset with me being there?" I looked up at Alex, who had a grim look on his face.

"I will discuss the contract in the morning. We will sleep just outside the village tonight since they do not have an inn. You will have to overlook Jarvin. He is very old and in his time women were not allowed to hunt monsters because they were considered weak and a risk." The last part made me grind my teeth, but I kept my tongue. Alex put his hand on my shoulder. "I'm not saying you are weak or a risk, I was only explaining his thought process." I nodded and decided it would still be best to hold my tongue. As we made our way back to the outside of the village we went over and grabbed out sleeping bags from our packs and decided to sleep next to the rugged barn.

As we laid out mats down I looked over at Alex, a grim expression still showed on his face. "Alex, I know you said to wait until morning, but I'm really curious about the contract." I said. Alex looked over at me and sighed. "Would you like to know why all these people are barricaded inside their houses with no lights on?" I slightly raised my eyebrow, waiting for him to go on. "There is a pack of rogue werewolves running around. Not just one, but four of them. They have been terrorizing the villagers. They have already killed most of the livestock." Alex looked at me then and I understood why he had a grim look on his face. Rogue werewolves were rare in themselves. Usually werewolves kept to themselves and only killed livestock. It was even more rare to have two rogue werewolves together, but it did happen. Having four together? Is simply not heard of, that is until today. "If we can both get through this alive then I have full confidence you will be the greatest hunter alive some day!" Alex tried to lighten the mood. "Go ahead and get some sleep Aurora, I will take first watch. You will need the rest." I doubted I was getting any sleep tonight.

 

No Sense

 I tossed and turned most of the night, werewolves invaded my dreams all night. Ripping and slashing with their long claws. Alex woke me up just as the sun was starting to creep above the horizon. I stifled a yawn as I sat up and ran my fingers through my hair. Trying to sooth the hair back into place, I was sure my hair was sticking up everywhere. Before I stood up I slipped my boots on and looked around for where Alex was. He was already putting his rolled mat in the satchels the horses were carrying. I jumped up and started rolling my mat as well, not wanting to be a delay. As I walked over to where Alex was and starting putting up my matt as well I noticed that Alex had stiffened a bit and was staring at the ground next to the barn.

"Is everything ok?" I asked as I was trying to look over and see what he was doing.

"No, no it is not." He bent over and pointed to what looked like footprints in the mud. They were fresh. Alex had a troubled look on his face as I examined the footprints myself. They could only have been made less than an hour or two ago.

"I've been up all night and I did not hear a sound or see anyone." Alex said more to himself than to me. I patted Alex on the shoulder. "I wouldn't worry about it too much Alex, neither or us are harmed. That is what's important."

"No what is important is someone was watching us in the shadows and didn't make a sound. They could have taken us by surprise and killed us." Alex almost shouted.

"Alex, they didn't though. No one wants to mess with monster hunters. We kick ass." I was trying to lighten the mood. It didn't work.

"But do you know who does? Monsters." Alex huffed as he straightened himself and headed back to the horses. "We have wasted enough time. Lets make for the west mountains. That's where I'm told the werewolves are coming from." He hopped up onto his mount and looked around and me, not wanting to leave me behind. I mounted my horse as well and gave him a thumbs up, letting him know I was ready. As we started off towards the west I glanced back at the small village, it still looked like a ghost town. No one had came outside even though it was day break. I sighed and tried to focus on the task at hand. Although my mind kept creeping back to footprints beside the barn. I can't say I'm one hundred percent sure but I had thought I had seen a strand of blonde hair. Which could have been from anyone, I tried to tell myself my mind was just playing tricks with me. Or was it?

"Don't look now but I believe we are being followed." My hands tightened slightly on the reins as I tried not to immediately turn my head and look behind us. We had just started up the mountain trail, the sun was almost directly above us. "I said don't look." Alex said again. My head had started to turn without me realizing, I quickly drew my attention to the road in front of me. I wasn't sure how he knew we were being followed but I also trusted Alex's tuition.

Since our horses were only walking and not trotting or running I decided to try my luck and focus in on my hearing. After a moment of concentration it felt like someone turned the volume up in my ears. It happened so suddenly I slightly jerked in my seat. 'What was that?' I thought to myself. Something like that had never happened to me before and I'm not even sure what it was. I decided to try it one more time. I again focused on the road and shut my eyes, focusing on the sounds around me. This time when my hearing enhanced, I was ready.

It all hit me at once, the birds flapping their wings in the air above us, the slowly movement of the wind as it swept the leaves over the forest floor. The sound of our horses hooves beating the ground like a drum in perfect rhythm. I could even hear the sound of small animals moving through the forest. 'This is amazing!' A slow smile was coming to my face. Then I remembered there was a purpose I was doing this. Trying to focus on the sounds coming from behind us I caught the indistinct sound of hoof beats. I knew it couldn't of been ours because the sound was so distance. 'So someone is following us.'

"So Alex, what do you want to do?"

I was trying to be a quiet as possible but loud enough Alex wouldn't have trouble hearing me.

"I'm not sure just yet, I might just have us turn around and face him head on. If I'm not mistaken it is just one." Alex stated while stilling looking at the path in front of us. I mentally nodded as I tried to focus on not turning my head around. However, a thought kept coming to me, one I couldn't quit shake. 'How did Alex know we were being followed? Unless he had hearing like mine, there was no way. Was there?

"On my call we will turn around and face whoever is following us. If we are lucky it is just simply someone riding behind us unaware of who we are." Alex said.

As we went around and large bend in the road Alex quickly turned his horse around facing the opposite direction. I was a bit slow turning my horse around but after a moment I was facing the opposite way myself. My hands tightened on my reins as I heard the distant hoof beats get closer. Where we were in the bend the rider would not be able to see us until he was right on top of us.

As the rider came around the bend I saw that he was sitting on top of a beautiful brown and white horse, and he was wearing a black cloak about like ours. The stranger pulled on his reins before he collided with us. We all sat in silence for a moment before the stranger pulled down his hood.

"Jarvin, what the hell are you doing us following us like that?" Alex said with a scowl on his face. Jarvin gave him a a cold glance before turning his attention to me. He slowly got off his mount and dug around in the sack his had attached to the horses saddle. Jarvin pulled out what looked like a long glass tube filled with beautiful white flowers with yellow centers. I had never seen anything like them.

Jarvin walked over to me stifle and raised the glass tube toward me. "I'm sorry for being so harsh. Take this as my apology. It is a werewolf repellent. Only use it when you know werewolves are near." His voice was gravely and flat. Carefully taking the tube in my head I nodded as thank you and put it in my bag. Looking over at Alex I saw a suspicious look cross his eyes briefly but then it was gone. It happened so fast I almost thought I had imagined it but I knew Alex too well.

"What king of plant is that Jarvin? I've never seen it before and too my knowledge the only werewolf repellent is wolfs bane."

Jarvin looked over to Alex, his facial expression never changing. "It is called Paper whites. They also repel, it is a well kept secret within our society." He stared at Alex a moment longer before Jarvin walked back over to his horse and mounted.

"Safe travels my friends. You will need it." Jarvin said before pulling his horse around and taking back off down the trail. Blinking with curiosity I watched as he disappeared and looked down at my saddle back. I had never been taught about Paper whites and looking over at Alex I could tell that he was just as troubled to learn this information just now as well. "Come on Aurora, lets continue up the path. We will make camp when we get close to the top of the mountain." Alex turned his own horse around and started back up the path. I stayed turn around for a few more moments reflecting everything that had just happened.

It made no since why Jarvin would follow us all the way up the mountain to give us werewolf repellent that we had never even heard of. As a gift to me to top it all off. That made even less since because it was very obvious he still did not like me. Was there maybe a more sinister reason he gave it to us? I looked up at the sky, there was three giant black birds circling us. That was never a good sign. Sighing I turned my horse around and went to catch up with Alex. This day was starting to make less sense. In fact, the past two days were just not making sense. I thought things were suppose to get easier after I turned 18, not more difficult. I thought to myself. Little did I know things were about to get a lot more difficult.

Valley

As we made our way up the mountain everything that had happened to me in the last two days was starting to weigh on my mind. First the incident at the market with the fair haired man. He was still an attractive mystery and I just couldn't figure out why he had affected me so much. Then there was the incident in the streets of the village where I saw a shadowed blur crossing the street. Finally there was the foot print next to the stable and Jarvins strange behavior.  Was life always this strange away from home? I hopped not.

Snapping out of my thoughts, I realized that the trail ahead of us was about to open up into a small valley. As we entered the small valley the first thing I noticed that the grass was not as high as you would expect it to be. In fact, it looked almost like it had been cut short. There was also no wild flowers in sight, was a bit odd for this time of the year and region. I got a very uneasy feeling as Alex dismounted.

"Since it is only about mid day based on the sun I think this is a good as place as any to set up a fire and eat." Alex said as he tied his horse to the nearest tree, giving the rope plenty of length so the horse could graze.

I was not comfortable in this clearing and I wasn't sure why, Alex didn't seemed too concerned. Or maybe he was and just didn't give any indication.  Running my hand through my hair for a moment I dismounted, my stomach growling. Whether I was comfortable or not with this clearing, I couldn't deny that I was hungry. I went and tied my horse to the tree next to the one Alex had used and lengthened the rope so my horse would have room to graze as well. Looking around for a moment I didn't see Alex and figured he had went to get firewood. 

Not sure if Alex needed help or not I decided to go into the woods myself and look for some firewood. I was not going to be useless if I could help it. I wasn't even a couple steps away from the valley when I heard a sharp crack of wood not to far off from me. Immediately freezing I look around slowly, trying to identify what made the sound. 'It was probably just Alex, stop being so uptight.' I thought to myself as I continued to collect some sticks for firewood. Still though, I had the strange feeling of being watched.

When I finally had an armful of sticks I turned around and made my way back toward the clearing the feeling of being watched weighed heavier on me. The feeling was so intense I almost started jogging back to the clearing.  That was when I heard another loud crack behind me, something big was definitely behind me. However when I spun around to face whoever it was nothing but trees, leaves, and grass met my stare. 'Aurora you are going crazy.' I thought as I turned back around and walked quickly into the valley. 'It was probably just Ale-' I couldn't even finish the thought as I looked up and saw Alex a few feet in front of me, building a fire pit with some wood beside him.

'Ok, so it was not Alex behind me. Maybe just a bear then, or a mountain lion. Stop getting yourself so worked up.' I thought again as I walked over and laid down my pile of sticks next to his. He looked up at me and smiled. "I appreciate the help, I even brought you back a surprise!" Alex then pulled up two dead rabbits by there back legs. "It's been awhile since we had rabbit and I don't feel like living off bread today." He smile widened as he tossed one of the rabbits over to me. "You can skin it by yourself though, since your a big girl now." He winked at me before pulling out a knife to skin his own rabbit.

About an hour and a half later we were stretching our legs one good time before we finished the ride to the other side of the mountain. I felt amazing, not only did I get a break from riding but I had at cooked rabbit for the first time in who knows how long. Alex was scattering the put we had the fire in when I felt the all too familiar sense that we were being watched again. Not being able to place the feeling I scanned our surroundings. Nothing seemed out of place that I could tell. Alex noticed me looking around. "Did you see something?" He started scanning the valley and the edge of the woods himself.

"No, I just can't shake the feeling we are being watched."

Alex glanced at me for a moment before continuing to scan around him. "I don't see anything and I haven't felt that yet. It could just be where this is your first big job. I wouldn't worry about it until we actually see or hear something." Alex walked over and patted my shoulder before going over to his horse and untying the rope. "We still have a few hours of sunlight before dark. Lets make the most of it and get as far as we can. Woods are a scary place to sleep without a home." 

As soon as Alex had the rope up he walked over and mounted his horse and waved for me to hurry up. Running over I un-tied the rope quickly, but not without noticing a giant claw mark in the tree about a foot above where the rope was. It was fresh, maybe a day or two old but it still unnerved me. Quickly putting the rope in the saddle I mounted my horse and quickly followed after Alex. In a day or two we would be facing a nightmare and I was still not one hundred percent sure I was prepared.  As we were leaving the valley I had the sudden urge to turn my head and look back. I can't explain why but I was compelled to look. Sure enough just as the valley was about out of few I thought I saw the sun shinning off of pale hair.

I pulled sharply at the reins making my horse come to an immediate stop. After focusing my vision for a second what I thought I had saw was now gone. There was no way this man could be following us, why would he even want to follow us. Realizing then that Alex had not noticed me stop and was still continuing up the trail I went ahead and squeezed my thighs slightly, signaling for the horse to continue forward. 'I'm going crazy. That's all that is. I am just crazy.' I thought to myself as I continued behind him. I couldn't wait to lay down and rest, maybe that's all I needed was a good nights sleep. However, I had a feeling in my bones that I wasn't going to get a good nights sleep for a long time to come.

Hunted

 

It was almost night-time as Alex and I reached the top of the mountain. It felt almost as though I hadn't eaten anything all day by the time we dismounted. Alex had decided we would make camp off to the side of the trail about one hundred feet, that way we were far from the trail but not too far. We also had our horses tied a couple of feet in front of us. That way if they where spooked by something on the trail they would alert us. We didn't have anything that would cover us so we could have to hope that there were enough leaves to cover us incase rain fell.

Looking at the sky, I did not see a cloud in sight so for tonight anyways I was not worried about the rain. Alex had gone back out to check some of the surrounding forest for bear or wolf caves. Just to make sure we were not in their territory. Since Alex was gone for the moment I decided now was good of time as ever to pull out the glass tube Jarvin had given me. I turned it around in my fingers, looking over all the beautiful flowers in the glass. It looked to be about six flowers total and they were snow-white, it was rare to ever find flowers this white.

Getting a little more curious I wondered what these flowers smelled as good as they looked. I jerked the cork out of the tube and put it up to my nose. The stench that tore through my nose was one of the most awful I have ever smelt. I immediately dropped the tube and the glass shattered on impact. Which was weird because the tube itself had seemed a lot thicker when I was holding it. The horrible stench had given me an instant headache and made my eyes water.

"I can definitely see why this is a werewolf repellent. In fact this is an everyone repellent." I said quietly to myself. I quickly kicked dirt over the flowers while trying to wipe the tears out of my eyes. "Jeez, that was terrible." Rubbing my nose I walked away from the buried paper whites to get some fresh air, the stench still fresh in my nose. 'Hope we didn't really need those, but at least we will be safe for one night.' I thought to myself as I continued to walk toward the trail. Still not understanding why pretty flowers smelled so horrible I decided I had gone far enough and should probably return to camp. The sun was starting to set and night was falling, causing my line of sight to be greatly reduced.

As I started walking back to where our horses where I got the all too familiar feeling we were being watched again. This feeling was really starting to get on my nerves, I was about to just start ignoring it until I saw that the horses where stamping their hooves. Their eyes were also wide as if they were scared of something. I instantly pulled one of my blades out and crouched low, looking around my surroundings to try and find the source of their uneasiness.

I was trying to focus in my hearing again when some large rammed itself into my back, sending my flying into a near by tree. The pain that went down my side as I impacted with the tree almost made me black out. Laying on the ground for a couple seconds I couldn't comprehend what had just happened. After a moment of laying there I realized the horses were in a frenzy, I could hear their hooves stomping on the ground. Propping myself up on my good arm I looked over and saw the horses were running back and forth, trying to great the ropes they were attached to so they could flee.

Realizing my blade had flown from my hand when I was knocked into the tree I decided it was time to get up and face whatever was causing the horses to go wild. After a moment of agonizing pain I was able to fully stand. My entire left side hurt like crazy and I could feel blood starting to drip down my face. Pulling my hand up I realized I had a small gash just above my eyebrow, however I could tell form the minimal amount of blood that It wasn't bleeding too terrible.

It was then that I noticed to black shapes stalking towards me. It was hard to make out because of the darkness, it seems the moon was covered by clouds. I silently cursed and reached for the other blade at my side and pulled it out. Like an idiot I had left my bow and sword behind the horses with our sleeping bags. I wouldn't be as worried if I knew what I was up against, from the large hunched forms it looked like it was two giant black bears.

Alex came running up behind me just a moment before the clouds finally cleared, his sword was gripped tightly in his hands. It was at this moment I realized it was not bears stalking toward us, it was two black and grey werewolves who had been down on all fours. When they saw Alex they both slowly started to raise.

When they stood they had to have at least been seven or eight feet tall. The moon was shinning brightly down so I could see every bit of them. Their face was more like a wolfs than a mans, their arms were long and their hands still looked like human hands with long sharp claws. Their feet however looked more like giant paws then like human feet. The one thing that I couldn't take my eyes off however was their amber eyes. It was always creepy to see a creature who had the exact same eyes as me, but theirs had a sinister look in them.

They both sprung at us at the same time, Alex rushed in front of me with his sword drawn. I took a step back and tightened my drip on my blade, cursing myself again that I didn't have my own sword. Not wanting Alex to take on two at once I sprinted back toward where I had left my sword. I knew at least one of them would follow me.

I saw one out of the corner of my eye turn and race towards me to my satisfaction. I was only a couple of feet from grabbing my sword when I felt a burning pain in my back, falling just out of reach out of my sword. Rolling over I saw one of the giant werewolves standing over me. Their was a slight gleam in his eye as he stared down at me. "You will not get away from us that easy little girl." The voice that came from his maw was extremely raspy and deep shocking me for just a moment.

As the best lunged forward with his mouth open I quickly brought up my blade and sent it flying toward its face. I had better aim under pressure than I thought, the blade struck the best directly in the eye causing him to jerk back. It was the opening I needed to grab my sword, pushing back with both my feet I slide upwards and grasped the blade in my hands. It was one of the best feelings in the world right now. I looked up in time to see the beast pulling my blade out of his eye, he swung his head back toward me. His one good eye glowed with hatred.

Before I could process his movement he was already back overtop of me, his jaw wide open and coming down. It hadn't realized I had grabbed my sword. Quickly pulling my blade across my chest I held the hilt in my hair hand and braced the end of my sword with my hand. I knew that I was going to slice my hand but I would rather slice my hand than have my neck ripped out.

As his jaw came down I pushed the sword upward, I could feel hot breath on my face as the sword met with the corners of his mouth. Blood quickly started to drop on me as the sword cut in deeply, I could also feel a burning pain in my hand as the blade cut deeply into my palm.

The beast jerked back and brought its hand up towards its mouth. This gave me just enough time to hop onto my feet. I wanted to look around and see how Alex was doing but I knew this would cause me precious time I did not have. Quickly running forward I slashed out as the beast was turning around. My sword connected with its belly, slicing from hip to hip. Blood poured out of the wound quickly.

The werewolf quickly swiped at me with his right hand. I jerked back just in time, I could feel the end of a claw grazing my cheek. In doing this the werewolf gave me the perfect opportunity to bring my sword upward, striking the beast in the chest. It stumbled backwards as more blood poured from his chest. He gave a low growl before dropping down on all fours and charging me.

I braced my feet in the ground as the werewolf got closer, all my concentration focused on the werewolf. As it was about to run right into me I jumped in the air, and twisted hard to my right bring my sword down on the back of the werewolf's neck. I heard it hit the ground with a thud. I hit the ground with my left shoulder and rolled, gasping in pain as I remember this was the side I hit the tree with.

The pain dazed me for a moment but I quickly recovered and jumped back up to my feet. I could see the werewolf starting to try and raise himself back up. Running over before it could completely regain its footing I lifted my sword over my head and brought it down with all my strength. Severing his head. It was the only known way to kill a werewolf was to severe the head. 

As the head rolled away I quickly turned over looking for Alex. If this werewolf was this easy to beat I knew that Alex would have his foe defeated as well. However the forest around me was quiet. An eerie feeling crept up my spine as I ran over to where the horses were suppose to be. Neither were there, it looked like the ropes had been cut.

Walking a little farther up I thought I saw a form lying in the grass. Before I could get any closer to investigate a strong hand wrapped around my neck and pinned me to a near by tree. Pain shot through my head as I tried to focus on the horrible fury face in front of me. "Don't think because you killed the new blood over there that you have the skill to face me. He was just turned last week. I have been a werewolf for centuries." He said to me, his raspy voice barely making sense to me. The pain in my head was becoming worse by the minute as he hand tightened, starting to cut off my air flow.

My vision was starting to dim, I felt my sword clatter to the ground as my hand let go. 'Why did I just take a swing? Why am I so useless right now? If this werewolf in front of me, does that mean the form lying in the grass is-' My thoughts were interrupted as the pressure around my through disappeared. I fell to the ground and laid there. I could feel my conscious slipping, I wasn't sure what was going on or what happened to the werewolf. The last thing I saw was blonde hair and blue eyes bending over me before I was engulfed by darkness.

 

 

The Witch

You are weak. You are nothing.

The voices build up inside my head until they are overwhelming, beating like the ceaseless echo of a drum. There is no worth to my life. I should just die now and let God condemn me forever. I can feel the heat rushing to my face as the words cross my mind. There is no lucidity to these words, no reason what so ever.

I doubt that I could ever explain logical fallacies. All I know is that these thoughts cannot be true. There is nothing that words can do to bring me down. The wickedness  must end now. No weakness will be accepted.

The sound of a crackling fire is the first thing I noticed before my eyes opened. The light aroma of cinnamon and cider rolled over my nose. I slowly sat up, expecting to feel burning in my side and back, but oddly enough I felt nothing.

It was then that I looked at my surroundings. There was a deep fog spreading across the sky and forest, I could tell by the lighting that it was still daylight. The forest I was surrounded by all looked dead, there was barely any leaves on the tree. Looking at the ground I saw that there wasn't many dead leaves on the ground and the grass almost looked grey.

I felt a chill go down my spine and I wrapped my hands around myself.

"Come here little one, this fire will take away the chill."

My head snapped around and the sound of the woman's voice, a voice that sounded familiar yet angelica to my ears. The woman looked small and petite the way she was sitting in front of the fire, her hair was black and cascaded down past her shoulders to her waist. 

The woman then turned her head to look at me, her eyes were a deep ember color just like mine and her face looked smooth as marble. She gave me a smile and motioned for me to come sit beside her.

"Don't be afraid, I will not harm you nor will I let you be harmed."

I'm not sure what compelled me but I slowly rose to my feet and walked over to her, I was not sure what it was about this woman but she put me at ease.

"What is this place?" I whispered. My throat was dry and I could feel my lips beginning to crack. The woman smiled at me and handed me a glass cup of water that seemed to have appeared out of no where.

I didn't question its existence as I greedily drank from the cup. Feeling much better I looked back over at the woman who was now focused on the fire in front of us.

"My name is Eve." The woman said suddenly, still looking into the flames.

"My name is Aurora." I stated as I continued to look at her. I couldn't place my finger on it but this woman in front of me was so familiar to me.

"I know who you are Aurora Black. I'm sorry we had to meet under these conditions, but everything will be well soon enough."

"I don't know what you mean?" I stared at her in confusion for a moment before looking around again. "Also, you never answered my question. Where are we?" 

Eve smiled sadly for a moment before looking over at me. "There are many names for this place. Gehenna. Lake of Fire. Second Fire. Eternal Retribution. Hell." She chuckled to herself. "All of which is wrong by the way. This isn't even a place."

I stared at her, more confused than ever. "What do you mean this isn't a place? We are sitting right here!" I looked down at myself and pinched my arm, just to make sure. Yup. Still hurts.

Eve laughed, it was a beautiful sound to my ears. 'What is wrong with me?' I thought to myself as I put my head down.

Eve touched my shoulder with her hand, I was surprised at how cold they felt. "Don't worry darling, you will not be here long enough to truly understand. We are in Purgatory."

I tilted my head to look at her, I had never heard the term before. "What is Purgatory?"

"Purgatory is not a place it's a state of existence in which the individual is being purified of their venial sins and temporal punishment before entering Heaven. Its also the home to almost all supernatural creatures. Most of them never wanted to be what they are, but since they were turned it is considered a 'sin' thus if they are worthy they come here to cleanse themselves just like other people before they move on."

I stared at her in horror, the realization of her words wrapping tightly around my brain. "I'm dead? Surrounded by creatures that I-"

Eve gently put her finger to my lip. "That's enough worrying child, you are not dead. Like I said this is not a place it is an existence. An existence that anyone's mind could travel over to, You had a near death experience, such traumatic events can bring you here - for a short time." She pulled her hand away from me and looked up into the sky.

A million questions went through my mind as I let her words sink in, I knew she would not answer all but I had to get some of them answered.

"What do you mean near death experience? I don't remember anything other than riding up a mountain with Alex?"

Eve looked over at me, a hint of pity in her eyes. "You really don't remember do you?" She sighed and tossed a couple sticks in the fire. With a wave of her hand the flames danced high into the sky, after a moment the flames died down. As they went down a noticed a figure a few yards away from where we were sitting.

As the figure came forward I quickly scrambled up and reached for the blades I usually had at my side, however they were not there. Eve sat there as calm as ever watching the figure. "Does he not look familiar to you?" She whispered.

As I stared at the creature I saw that one of his eyes were missing, his other eye showing pure hatred. As he stood up on his hind legs I also saw the massive slash across his belly. It was at that moment that my memory came flooding back. Alex and I camping, being attacked by werewolves, I killed this werewolf, seeing a body on the forest floor, and being slammed against the tree by the other werewolf.

The emotions I felt were so overwhelming that I crumpled to the ground, feeling defeated. 'I was too weak, Alex is possibly dead because of me!' I thought as a tear slid down my face.

"Now now little one, none of that." I should feel Eve's hand running through my hair. "There is something I want you to remember. Not all is what it seems, sight can be deceptive, and people more so. Be wary of everyone, even those who state to have good intentions. You have a long road ahead of you Aurora Black. If you listen to my advise you will go far in life and do many great things." She smiled at me sadly.

"Our time is almost at an end. It is almost time for you to go back. I wish we had more time but fate has other plans."

As Eve finished this last the werewolf in front of us started charging straight toward me, I braced myself for the incoming attack. However, before the werewolf even got close to the fire Eve flicked her wrist and the monster went flying into a tree, falling with a loud thud.

I stared at Eve for a moment, not comprehending what was going on. Eve looked over and smiled again. "Remember my advice Aurora."

My vision was starting to go black, I was not ready to leave yet, I had so many questions. "Wait!" I yelled as a strange mist started to surround my body. "Who and what are you?"

Eve laughed for another moment. "Dear, my name is Eve. I am, as some people call them, a witch. You will see me again one day, hopefully on better terms." She winked at me before my vision was completely black.

Rude Awakening

 

My eyes fly open, not comprehending what is happening. The first thing I feel is the burning sensation in my back, it feels like I had been burned with a hot iron. The next thing I noticed is that half of my body felt like it hand ran over by a heard of horses and my head was pounding.

Why am I suffering like this? What the hell happened? My memory was fuzzy and trying to think about it hurt my head more than it already did.

It was then that I realized that I wasn't out in the forest, I was inside someone's cabin. I slowly rose up and looked around, a fire was burning in the corner, and judging by the amount of light coming through the window next to me I calculated it was almost nightfall. The bed that I was laying on wasn't the most comfortable thing in the world but it was just a piece of board either. I almost didn't want to get up.

But then again I was sitting there, in a strangers house, not knowing what was going on. As I went to stand my legs buckled underneath me and I hit the floor hard. My vision went black for a moment before coming back into focus. 'What the hell happened to me?' I thought as I slowly sat up and lead back against the bed.

Before I could make an attempt to get back up a figure walked through the door, making me instantly stiffen.

"Are you alright? I heard something hit the flo-"

The man walked into my view, a look of concern on his face. "You fell didn't you? I knew I shouldn't have went outside!"

It was Bryce, the man from the market that had haunted my thoughts. My face must have mimicked my confusion. Bryce walked over and sat down beside me. "I didn't plan on us meeting again like this, but here we are!" He was trying to lighten the mood but I still couldn't manage to say anything.

Had he been stalking me? Where where the werewolves? How did I get here? Then a thought struck me hard, making me lurch forward. "What happened to Alex?" My voice croaked, almost not wanting to know the answer.

Bryce put his head down for a moment. "He um, he didn't make it Aurora. I'm sorry."

I dug my nails into my palms as tears starting to form at the corner of my eyes. "I failed him. I left him to die. This is all my fault!" I yelled as I banged both of my fist against the floor.

Bryce hesitated before sliding closer to me. "It is not your fault, you would have died too if I hadn't come along. I got there too late to save him, but I was at least able to save you."

I looked up at him, my emotions turning to anger. "You don't under stand! He was the only person I had left in my life! Now I am alone." I paused for a moment as the truth of the situation started to set in. "Truly alone." As I finished my sentence I leaned back again the bed and closed my eyes. Trying to avoid the inevitable tears that were to come.

I could feel my anger slowly turning into despair, I felt so weak and vulnerable. The emotions going through my I knew all too well, they made me think of the night I was orphaned, and now I was re-orphaned all over again.

I felt a reassuring hand fall on my shoulder, it was Bryce. "Where you stalking me?" My face reddened instantly as I realized I had said it out loud. Bryce through back his head in laughter.

"No, I really just happened to be passing by when I heard you horses going crazy."

"Where are the horses? I think they ran off. I don't remember, everything is so fuzzy right now." I heaved a sigh as I rubbed my temples. "How did you defeat that werewolf anyways?" I stared at him curiously. The werewolf has completely taken me off guard and had killed Alex. How had Bryce beaten him?

Bryce looked over at me thoughtfully. "I didn't."

"What do you mean you didn't? He was going to kill me, don't tell me he just saw you and left?" I muttered.

Bryce stood up for a moment and walked over to door, leaning over to grab a bag that was lying by the door. When he walked back over I realized he was carrying a quiver full of arrows. He pulled one out and handed it over to me. As I took it in my hands. The wood looked like it was made from birch, it was about 30 inches long and had black feathers at the end.

What I was interested in was the pure silver arrows at the top. The arrow heads itself where about 4 inches long with jagged edges. "Where did you get these?" I asked him. I had never seen silver arrow heads like this. They were usually about and inch in a half to two inches long and never with jagged edges.

"I made them myself, my dad was a blacksmith and taught me a thing or two." Bryce gave me a brief smile before taking the arrow back and putting it in his quiver. "This things really do the trick when you have an angry werewolf that won't go away! Sends them packing real fast." He chuckled again as he took the arrows back over and placed them next to the door.

He walked back over and sat down beside me. "Plus, that werewolf wasn't in his right state of mind. Those paper whites you all put on the ground not only attracts werewolves but it sends them into a frenzy as well. You being a monster hunter I figured you would have known this. Unless you guys where planning it that way." Bryce had passed and had a thoughtful look on his face.

As Bryce finished his sentence it took me a minute to fully process what he was saying, I could feel my blood run cold. "How did you know I dropped paper whites? I covered them."

Bryce paused and gave me another thoughtful look, it was starting to annoy me something fierce when he did that.

"Covering them did not cover the smell, plus, it was uncovered during the fight." Bryce said before looking out the window at the sun going down behind the hills.

"It is late and you should get some rest so your body can heal." Bryce said as he stood up and extended his hand down towards me. "Come on now, I wont bite." He said as he winked at me. I shot him a glare and ignored his hand as I painfully got to my feet. "I am not going to sleep without a bath." I said before realizing all of my clothes had been left at the campsite where the werewolves had attacked Bryce and I.

I groaned as I slowly sat down on the bed. "I have to go get my bag, it has my clothes in it." Bryce chuckled as he walked back over to the door. "You can wear mine, I think you would look cute." He turned back around and winked at me. I shot him another glare and looked for something to throw at his head. 'The nerve of this man!' I thought as I grabbed on to the pillow and turned around.

He had already left the room, and my chances of nailing him with the pillow. Although I highly doubt I could have threw it anyways, my entire body felt like I have been flattened by a tree. As I was about to lay down Bryce came back in the door with a bag in his hands. After a moment of looking a big smile crossed my face as I realized it was my bad full of my clothes.

"You got my bag! How did you manage that?" My excitement turned into instant suspicion. 'There is no way he went all the way there and all the way back, unless we are close by?' I was so troubled with this thought I realized that Bryce had walked over and was standing right next to me.

"I grabbed this bag when I saved you, I had been hoping there was some medical supplies in here but I see that I was wrong." He lifted one eyebrow at me. I groaned again as I realized I had been so excited about leaving that I had forgotten all about packing medical supplies for the trip. I was turning out to be a horrible monster hunter and it only added to my depression.

"No matter!" He said as he walked back over and picked up another bag by the door. "Your partner remembered to pack his." He said as he pulled out some herbs and ointments. "They will come in handy. You have some nasty gashes on your back from that werewolf. Need to get those cleaned and dressed before it becomes infected." He said as he laid aside some things I can only guess where going to go on my back.

"I wasn't kidding, I need a shower first." I said firmly as I slowly stood up off the bed. Bryce turned and looked a me for a moment. "And where did you plan on taking that bath? In the waterfall in my bathroom? Or the watering hole I have in there." He said with sarcasm thick in his voice.

I thought I saw something flicker in his eyes for a moment before he turned his head back, it had happened so quick I thought I was just imagining things. "I didn't mean to snap, its been a long day and I'm tired myself but I shouldn't have taken it out on you. There is a pound outside about 15 yards north of the cabin. You are more than welcome to take a bath out there. Just be care." He stopped and looked at me. "The sun is gone and that means most of the creatures are out and about. They shouldn't bother you here but you can never be too careful." He said as he started sorting through the medicine again.

I nodded and quickly looked through my bag, not that I really had a choice for clothing. I pulled out a pair of my black leather pants and a black cotton shirt, as I pulled out the shirt some small fell back down into my bag. Curiously I looked down and saw a small comb made from bone, it was mine that I had thought I had left back at Alex's cabin.

Thinking long and hard for a moment I couldn't remember if I had packed this or not. The more I thought about it, however, the more nervous I got thinking about what this meant if I hadn't packed it. Shaking my head I clasped the comb in my hand and slowly made my way to the door. Bryce stopped me before I left and handed me an oil lantern. Taking it greatfully I lit it and headed out the door.

 

Visitor

 

The night air nipped sharply at my skin as I walked outside, I hadn't realized how cold it was getting until just then. I slowly made my way toward the pond Bryce had talked about, I could barely make out its shape in the moon light ahead of me.

My mind was jumbled from everything that had happened in the last 24 hours. At least I think it was the last 24 hours, with everything that had happened I couldn't even make sense of the time anymore. As I reached the edge of the pound I looked around to make sure I was alone. I looked behind me and could barely make out the cabin behind me so I was confident that I was not going to be seen by certain unwanted eyes.

Surveying they forest around me I could hear crickets and birds chirping, which was a good sign in my book. Looking down at the pool it looked like a giant black hole in the ground, nothing was touching the water to disturb it. I sat down and took off my boots, deciding I was going to try the water out first before I let my body slip in.

I slowly dipped my top toe in only to jerk it right back out, the pound was actually warm! Which was not natural in the least bit and put me on edge.

It didn't help when a figure appeared beside me suddenly, making me reel back and land on my back. Ouch.

A small child's voice filled my ears with laugher.

"That was fun! Who are you? Do you want to play?"

I blinked my eyes slowly and turned my head in the direction of the voice, I saw a small child no taller than my waist line. She had long auburn hair and striking green eyes. Freckles covered her pale face and she grinned at me. "What do you want to play first! How about, hide and seek!"

Before I could respond she disappeared right in front of my eyes. I could almost feel my mouth hit the ground as I looked around, assuring myself my eyes where just playing tricks and I did not just see a small child vanish into thin air. 'I am going crazy, that's all just simply going crazy.'

"Where did you go?" I manage to mutter as I looked around, my mouth probably still wide open. 'Yup, just crazy.'

Before I was able to get up and start looking around the small child appeared out of thin air right in front of me, her eyes as wide as dinner saucers.

"OH! You're a human!" She started giggling and dancing around me.

"It's been forever since I have seen a human!I was so surprised I didn't even realized she had walked over and was playing with my hair. "What are you?" I managed to stutter as she continued to play with my hair.

"I'm a forest faerie. I always come here because of this hot spring. Although I guess you can't really call it a hot spring, its more of a warm spring." She giggled as she finished the sentence. "When it gets really cold I love to swim in here, makes for a very relaxing night!"

I had always heard about faeries but I had never actually seen one, faeries weren't something a monster hunter would deal with since they didn't cause too much trouble. Faerie folk, or the fae, are an ancient race of people and for the most part didn't interact with humans too much. Although it was common for some to manipulation it never got to a point where it needed to be taken care of.

Looking over at the faerie I gave a quick smile at her grinning face. Her face was so innocent and had the look of true happiness on it as she played with my hair.

"What's you name?" I asked her as I sat there and let her continue.

"TSK!" She said before jumping over and sitting in front of me. I guess it was also true what they said about faeries, they always kept moving.

"I can't give you my name! Don't you know names hold power?!" She said in a high pitched voice before starting to giggle again. "You can call me Sunny, I like that name." She said with a smile.

I couldn't help but to laugh with her when she said this. I didn't even know why I was laughing, but I almost couldn't stop. Once my laughing fit stopped I looked over at Sunny, she was twisting her hair around her finger as she stared at me. "It was nice to see you Sunny but I really need to take a bath, I'm exhausted and just want to get this over with to I can sleep."

As I said this Sunny instantly started pouting. "But I was having fun!" She whined loudly. I shook my head and started to stand. Sunny looked at me angrily and pointed her finger at me. Before I could make sense of what was going on I was crashing hard against a tree. My vision spotted for a moment as I slumped to the ground. 'No, not this again.' I thought to myself as the pain I was already experiencing double.

'I haven't been away from the cabin more than a few days and already I'm getting tossed around like a rag doll by monsters. My life is turning upside down.'

"I want to play!" Sunny yelled as she started stomping forward me, her green eyes were now a menacing red color. 'Aurora, what have you gotten yourself into.' I thought as I decided to keep my back against the tree. I knew I was useless at this point, just like I had been useless yesterday. 'Maybe I just wasn't cut out to be the monster hunter I had thought I was going to be. Maybe I should just got ahead and give up.'

Before Sunny reached me there was a rush of cold air that hit us both, the smell of cinnamon and cider hit my nose. The smell triggered something in my memory, it was so familiar but I just couldn't bring a picture to my mind. As the wind instantly died down I realized Sunny was no longer in front of me.

Looking around I decided to sit by the tree for a few moments before getting back up, feeling like this was another trick Sunny was playing. 'This day has gone from weird, to more weird. Just my luck.'

After a few minutes went by I decided Sunny was not coming back and got up, slowly making my way over to the pound. I carefully stripped, looking all around while doing so expecting to see a raging faerie coming at me again. I had no idea what caused the faerie to disappear but I was very grateful that she had. 'Note to self; Do not mess with faeries, if one talks to you. Run.' I thought to myself as I slipped into the pound.

The warmth of the water was welcoming to my skin. I didn't realized how bad I needed this until I put my head under the water and scrubbed my face with my hands, feeling the grim and blood come off my face. As I resurfaced I reached over and grabbed the bone comb I had brought out and ran it through my hair. I couldn't go more than an inch with out running into a tangle. "I just need to cut it all off, this is too much." I said out loud.

What felt like an eternity later I finally had all the tangles out and could feel my skin starting to prune. Pulling myself out of the water the chill of the air hit me hard, almost making me want to just go back into the pound and stay there. Sighing to myself I rung out my hair and quickly dressed into my clothes before I limped back to the cabin.

As I entered the cabin Bryce was sitting in a chair near my bed next to an oil lantern reading a book. When he heard the door open he looked up at me and smiled. "You look great! Not that you didn't look great before just less bloody." He gave me a quick wink before hopping up out of his chair and going over to the opposite end of the table to were some salves and ointment were laid out next to a basin of water and a wash cloth.

I looked over the supplies and then looked up at him, the confusion clearly showing on my face as Bryce motioned for me to come sit on the bed. "You may feel better after that bath but I'm sure you've realized you have a nasty gash on your back that needs to be taken care of before it gets infected. On the bright side, the gash on your brow doesn't look half as bad as what I predicted." Bryce said was waggling his eyebrows, bring a small smile to my face.

He would trying to make me feel better and I appreciated his efforts.

"Now, in going to need you to turn around and take your shirt off." Bryce said as he picked up what looked like to be honey and a vial of purplish oil. "I am not taking my shirt off in front of you!" I quickly huffed as I took a step back.

Bryce frowned, "Aurora, I need to take care of the wound on your back, if you are not comfortable taking the shirt off that fine but I at least need you to pull the back of your shirt all the way up."

I glared at him for a moment and sighed, the pain in my back was starting to come back so I figured it would be for the best to go ahead and get this stuff healed. I turned around and lifted the back end of my shirt til it was touching my neck. I could feel Bryce pulling my hair to one side and throwing it over my shoulder so it would not get in the way of my wounds.

There was a moment where Bryce said nothing and nothing touched my back, getting nervous I turned my head to try and look at him. "What are you waiting for?" I muttered as I turned my head back around, my neck was stiff and trying to look behind me was just a pain I didn't want to endure for too long.

"Your wound is healing, slightly faster than I thought it would. Just caught me off guard is all. I'm first going to rub some lavender oil on your back, its really good for its healing properties." I could feel his hands gliding down my back with the oil on them, at first it stung making me wince. But after a two minutes of him doing this I could feel a cooling sensation start to turn down the gashes.

"Next comes honey, it fights the bacteria away and will help the gauze stay in place when we are all done." Bryce said as I could feel him putting the honey on my back, it smelled amazing. However, I didn't really like the sticky feeling it was leaving on my back. After several minutes of Bryce applying the honest he went over to the basin and washed his hands.

My arms were getting tired of holding up my shirt and I could feel them beginning to drop lower. "Bryce are we almost done?" I grimaced as little as I realized I had sounded a little whiny. No one likes someone who whines a lot.

Bryce walked back over to me and quickly wrapped a bandage around me, going from my back, around my stomach then back to my back. Wanting to insure that the gauze was not moved while I slept. When this was finally done I released the hold on my shirt and slowly fell over on to the bed, rolling around so that my back was to the window and my face to Bryce and the fire he built.

"Thank you for everything. You didn't have to do any of this you know." I said, weariness was starting to creep on me. After everything that had happened to me I just needed a long nights sleep. Bryce smiled as he went to sit back over on the chair next to the table. "I wanted to do it, I couldn't just leave a damsel in distress!" Bryce said with another infamous smile of his.

"I am not a damsel in distress, one day I will be able to take care of myself and not have to worry. I thought that day was today but I was very wrong. I wish to be like the witch, or that faerie in your back yard." I said as my vision was starting to go black, fatigue was holding me with an iron grip and I couldn't fight it any longer.

"What are you talking about?" Bryce said as he quickly jumped up and walked over to me, I thought I saw the flash of anger in his eyes.

"When you first brought me here I had a dream of a witch, she was very nice. When I went to the pound there was a faerie out back, she got upset with me but she disappeared. Its been a very strange day Bryce." He nodded and patted my head. "Go to sleep Aurora."

I could see Bryce straighten and turn around, heading for the door to the outside. I wanted to ask him where he was going but I couldn't hold my eyes open anymore. Sleep had finally come for me and I was more than welcome to embrace it.  

 

Dreams

 

The small of fresh baked rolls hit my nostrils as I jumped up out of my bed and quickly made my way to the small wooden kitchen. As I quickly turned around the corner I almost ran smack dab into a tall lanky man with dark brown hair and deep welcoming brown eyes. "Good morning Rory! Did you sleep well?" 

I looked up at him and gave him a warm smile, Rory is what my dad had called me for as long as I could remember instead of my birth name. I looked over a saw a long black haired woman at the kitchen table laying a loaf of fresh baked bread on the table. Her back was too me but I knew it was my mother. 

I started to run over to hear when their was an eerie knock on the door, I couldn't explain it any better. As soon as I heard the wood been knocked on chills were sent down my spine. I could see my own stiffen and look towards the door, her left eyebrow arched slightly. 

Quickly standing up she ushered me out of the kitchen and past the door, telling me I needed to go to my bedroom right away. Turning my head I could see my father walking toward the door, my mother still urging me to go to my room. 

As soon as we had made it past the doorway my mother quickly turned around and headed back toward the front door, saying again I needed to go to my room. Being as little as I was I did not understand the tone of her voice and decided to investigate this strange occurrence instead of going to my room like I probably should be doing. 

Tip toeing to the edge of the door frame I peeked around the corner to see if I could get a glimpse of the person putting dad and mom in a uncomfortable fit. What a saw was not an individual, it was a monster with piercing blue eyes. It lunged for my father, fangs long and sharp. I remember blood, blood was everywhere....

 

*******

I quickly shot up  out of the bed clutching my sides, I could fell the sweat coming down my face as I wildly looked around expecting to see blood. Not recognizing my surroundings in my still dream life state I quickly stood up and looked around for one of my weapons. Not seeing anything or anyone in the small cabin I slowly sat back down and took a moment to collect.

It had finally dawned on me that I had just had a bad dream and there was nothing to worry about, then the memories of Alex and the werewolf came back, finally coming back to Bryce and this cabin. Heaving a sigh I laid back on the bed and let my thoughts overtake me for a second, I hadn't had a proper chance to grieve over Alex yet and that was weighing heavy on my mind.

Before I could help it I felt warm tears starting to slide down my cheek. After the first few came I blinked hard and wiped the tears off the side of my face. This was not the time to let my emotion show, I would have to grieve for Alex later when I was alone and had had my revenge on the werewolf. 

'Welcome to the list Mr. Werewolf. You have just made yourself lucky number two on my list.' I thought.

At that point I realized that the sun was shining through the window, giving the small cabin a warm homely feeling to it. Sitting up I peeked out the window to see the sun was not all that high in the sky yet meaning that it was still the early hours of the morning. 

Bryce was nowhere to be found. I rose again from the bed and stretched out my muscles slowly, seeing the extent of the damage this morning. To my surprise my body didn't hurt near as what it had yesterday and the pain in my back was only slightly stinging this morning.

This was a good sign and meant that I was one step closer to getting out of this cabin and enacting my revenge on not only the blue eyes vampire but upon the werewolf as well.  My thoughts were interrupted as Bryce walked through the door with what looked like a small pale of water and a wash cloth. He gave me a once over before smiling. 

"Good morning love! It's a beautiful day and I'm glad to see you are in much better shape than yesterday!" He said happily as he walked over and sat at the table next to the bed. "Are you ready for my to take the gauze off? If it looks well I wont even have to apply another layer! Unless that is unless you want me to." He said this with a quick wink. 

I rolled my eyes and walked back over to the bed and sat down, turning myself so that my back was facing him. "Lets quickly do this, I need to start excising so I can go back after the werewolf." I slowly lifted the back of my shirt up and bent forward, lowering the chance anything was exposed to unwanted parties. 

Bryce slowly began taken the gauze off of my back, causing more stinging in my back. "Oh darling, you can't fix yourself by breaking someone else. Don't waste your time on revenge. Those that hurt you will eventually face their own judgement." He took the last piece of gauze off then began cleaning the dry honey off of my back. 

"That's easy for you to say, and honestly I've heard that before. However, those words are not going to bring Alex back, nor my parents. That werewolf took a loved one and I'm not going to sit here and wait for him to face his judgement because who knows when that will be." The warm cloth felt good against my back and helped the stinging in my back ease a lot more than I thought it would.

"He took everything away from me, so I need to return the favor." When the cloth was taken away from my skin a slight chill ran down my back as the cold air hit the wound on my back. "How bad does it look?" I asked, almost afraid of the answer as I lowered my shirt down and turned around on the bed.

Bryce was washing off the cloth in the basin, from what I could see there was no blood on the rag. "It's actually looking a lot better than I expected and shouldn't need anymore gauze. You will have to go easy on yourself for the next day or so or you will tear the wound open again and this will be all for nothing."

He came rubbed his hands against his pants to get them dry then looked over at me, and odd expression on his face. "You mentioned your parents, what happened to them?"

I looked away and straightened my back a little bit, not really wanting to answer the question. "That is something I really don't want to talk about, just know they were killed and I am going to find the man who did it to them and show him the same courtesy he showed my parents." I could feel my throat starting to swell as I tried not to cry, the dream I had this morning still fresh in my mind.

After a few moments of silence I blinked away the tears and looked back over to Bryce who looked like he was studying me. It was then that I realized he had slight grey bags under his eyes, almost like he hadn't slept last night. His skin was also a little paler than yesterday. "Are you ok? You look like you are getting sick." I said as I got off the bed and walked over to him, my hand outstretched to feel his forehead for fever.

He tensed for a quick moment almost like he was going to refuse then just as suddenly relaxed. When my hand touched his forehead it was cool to the touch, its always when I realized this was the first time I had actually touched HIM. My heart started to race and I could feel the blood rushing to my face as I blushed. I jerked my hand back as Bryce gave me another sly smile of his. 

"I'm fine, just didn't sleep like normal is all." Bryce said as he stood up and stretched for a moment. "Come outside, I have a surprise for you." He said as he quickly walked to the other side of the cabin and left out the door. 

I had to stand there a moment before I followed him, when I had touched him something strange had happened inside of me and I was still having a hard time coping with the turmoil this was causing. After a shaky breath in an attempt to calm my nerves I followed out the door and was surprised to see a fire hand been started and there was a pan strung up by two poles on either side of the fire. 

Upon further inspection it seemed the pot had meat sizzling inside of it, it already had a light brown tint to it and the smell made my mouth slightly water.

"I realized last night that I didn't know the last time you had ate anything so I decided to go hunting this morning and bring you back something to build up your strength." Bryce said as he put some of the meat into a wooden bowl and handed it to me.

I sat down a couple feet from the fire, enjoying the warmth. Even though the sun was shining down on us the air around us was still chilly with the morning. Taking a bite of the meat it made my mouth water even more and I closed my eyes with satisfaction as I realized this was deer meat. 

For the past couple months the only meat I had eaten was squirrel or rabbit meat. Alex hadn't wanted me getting used to deer meat because he said that when you're on a hunt you don't always have time to enjoy the luxury of hunting, skinning, cutting, cooking, AND eating a deer. You usually had to go with something quick and on the go. 

I looked over a Bryce who was throwing a couple more logs into the fire, I didn't see a bowl for him anywhere. "Aren't you going to eat too?" I said before taking another bite of meat.

"I ate right before you woke up." He said, not looking at me. Suspicion clouded my thoughts for a moment, but I decided to hold my tongue on them. "Why are you doing all this for me? Offering your home, your bed, cleaning my wounds, and making me food? You didn't have to do any of this you know?" I had been wanting to ask this question since I had awoken here but had not had the guts to ask it until now.

"I'm not saying i;m not thankful, because I am, I just have never had anyone other than Alex be this nice to me." The last part I did not mean to come out, it seemed my mouth had a mind of its own anymore. Probably won't do me any favors in the future. 

Bryce finally looked over at me, another off expression on his face. "Why wouldn't I help you? You obviously have no place to go, you were injured, you're quite beautiful, and people are suppose to help others in need. Right?" 

He walked over and sat beside me, I could again feel my cheeks getting read. This time with embarrassment at my previous question. Almost as if he was reading my thoughts he quickly sat down beside me. "You have nothing to be embarrassed by." He looked away into the fire, giving me time to eat the rest of meat into my bowl. 

"I really am thankful. Since I have a day or two that I'm not allowed to do anything, can I stay here and rest? Then I will be gone. I promise." 

"You can stay as long as you need, and who says I'm going to let you go after a day or two anyway." As he said this he shot me another wink. He was the most flirtatious man I had ever met! As much as I wanted to despise him for it, I couldn't. In all reality it made me feel special and...happy? 

"Im going to take a trip into town, you stay here and rest ok?" Bryce said as he was getting up. "This fire should go out by itself in about an hour, so enjoy it while you can alright?" He gave me a smile as he stepped around the fire and was quickly lost from sight. 

Scooting a little close to the fire I wrapped my arms around my legs and looked into the crackling flames. I couldn't wait until I was better, I couldn't wait to find the two beings that had made my life a living nightmare. I just needed a little patience, a little more training. 

Since my belly was full and the warmth of the fire and warmed me up considerable I decided to go back inside and lay down. Might as well sleep while I can, because once I got out of here nothing was going to stop me from achieving my goal. 

 

Determination

 

It had been almost a week since Bryce had taken me in, I had spent most of my mornings stretching out my muscles and running laps around his house. I had made sure to stay close because the forest unnerved me every since the run in with the faerie. Not seeing any sight of her all week made me more relaxed but I still was not ready to go near it again. For washing's I had decided to walk down to a river that was on the west end of the house, there was still forest but not as thick as the woods around the pond. 

I was finally feeling like myself again and as far as I could feel my wounds were finally healed. It has been awhile since. Today was finally going to be the day that I left, I had already told Bryce last night that I needed to go and thanked him for all that he is done. When I asked him how I could pay him back he advised me not to worry about it. 

I had spent most of the morning jogging around the house, building my stamina back up and occasionally glancing over toward the mysterious pound. After about my tenth lap Bryce walked outside and waved at me. Today he was wearing nothing put black leather trousers and a white cotton tight that looked to be a little tight on him, not that I had minded. He has kept a distance from me since I had been there, sleeping on the floor while I slept on the bed. I had offered multiple times to switch places with him but he always refused.  

Although it was odd, I had always went to sleep before he did and it seemed like he was always up and out whenever I came to in the mornings. Of course, maybe I was just a late sleeper who knew. 

Bryce gave me a smile as I slowed down and stopped a few feet away from him, slowly moving my hands through my hair to get all the strands out of my face. "Its about time, I'm going to head down to where me and..." I stopped a moment, frowning. "Where Alex and I were." It was still hard to think let alone talk about him, Bryce hadn't let me go back out there. Bryce said he had buried the body for me, another thought I didn't really want to think about. 

Bryce gave me a small smile and handed me a medium leather bag containing all my clothes. I grabbed the bag gratefully and smiled at him again, "It was nice meeting you, again thank you for everything you have done." 

"It was really not problem, but you can't count me out just yet Aurora." Bryce said as he walked back inside the house. I stood there for a moment, confused. Before I realized it Bryce was right back outside with a leather bag of his own, his blue eyes twinkled. "Figured I'd hang around with you for a little bit." 

All I could do was stand there for a moment, my mouth slightly agape. "What?" Was all that I could manage to stutter. Bryce walked off the porch and started walking past me towards the trail, "Come on slow poke, if you want to make it to town by nightfall!" I kept staring at him for a moment as he took off, when it finally processed what was going on I went to take a step forward to follow him. At that moment a small hand grabbed mine, shocking me and causing my to jerk to the side. Looking over a saw a familiar oval face with red frizzy hair, it was Sunny. 

"Wait! Wait! Don't be scared, I won't get mad again. I know you're leaving, and it might be a long time before you come back. I want to warn you." Her face was serious, giving me chills down my body. "Warn me about what? I really need to go.." Bryce hadn't turned around yet but I could barely see him through the tree line. Sunny pouted slightly as she saw where I was gazing, "I know you like him but you can not trust him! You have to believe me." I sighed loudly and begun to walk in the direction Bryce had went, I was not going to listen let alone trust a creature that had thrown me into a tree. 

Green eyes appeared in front of me, I saw her golden wings in action as she floated in front of me. It was a beautiful sight, almost reminded me of a hummingbirds wings. "Listen, just take my words as fruit of thought. You are a powerful being and can not fall under his lies." I narrowed my eyes and move around past her, "What do you mean a powerful being? A powerful human sure, and I have not fallen for anything he has said." I started walking faster, needing to her away from the faerie. However she had other plans, appearing before me once again. "Do you remember on the trail when you could hear the rider behind you?" 

This made me stop cold, "How did you know-" Sunny put up her hands, making me pause. "Just listen, he will be back in a moment and I do not have time to argue with you. You will learn everything in due time. You are not normal, your fate is tied to his and not in a good way. You will have a difficult choice to and you need to make the right one. Don't trust anyone." With those final words, she was gone. Her words bothered me and stirred something in my memory, but I couldn't place it. I didn't have long to think before I realized Bryce was coming back toward me, worry displayed on his face. 

"Is everything ok? I figured you would be right behind me?" I smiled and nodded, trying to forget all the words Sunny had just put in my head, she was just a faerie that didn't know what she was talking about. At least, that's what I was telling myself as I started walking with Bryce toward the trail. I couldn't explain how she had known about the incident on the trail, or what she was going on about the  me being a powerful being. I pushed it to the back of my mind as Bryce and I finally reached the trail. I looked over at him, "Where is the closest town?" Bryce stopped for a moment, looking towards both sides of the trail. After a moment he finally pointed toward the winding path that was going up the mountain. "There is a tiny village on top of the mountain we can stop at, from there we can continue down the other side and there will be a bigger village there. We could pick us up a contract or two." He said smiling. I, however, frowned at this. I was not sure if I was ready for another partner or not, but I also was not ready to travel alone after the accident. "Alright, lets move on then!" 

 

Tavern

 

My feet were aching by the time we reached the end of the mountain trail and had arrived at a small town named Winhaven. The small lodge at the top of the moment had not been able to offer them any rooms, they were all filled with hunters. The sun was dipping quickly in the sky, casting a purple shade over the town. I stared at the scene in front of me in wonder and fascination, this was the biggest town I had ever seen. The town was nothing like I could have imagined, it had been built into the side of a ruff and scraggly cliff face. 

I usually only had seen the village down in the valley, or the small one on top of the mountain, but never one built into a cliff. If I was seeing right there was also a giant manor like house at the top of the craggy mountain, it made me wonder what luxury was inside that giant place. The town was built lower down the mountain face, a series of tall but narrow buildings with highly slanted roof lines that were connected together, though they came in all sorts of variety and shapes. 

Lower down, along the flatter lands, was another series of buildings. If I had to take a guess, there where maybe about several hundred people living in this town. I had never seen anything so big and was completely overwhelmed and beside myself. "I want to turn around and go back, I can't do this." I muttered quickly as I tried to turn around and go back up the mountain side. "Ah, come on you haven't even walked inside yet! I promise I will stay next to you the entire time." Bryce arched and eyebrow and tugged me forward. 

Lanterns and torches were already being lit, giving the town a peaceful air to it. I then looked up at the manor house, wondering if there would be lanterns or torches lit up there. However, to my disappointment no lights came from the manor, maybe it was abandoned. "This is a very good place to find a contract, hell maybe you will run into some of your monster hunter friends." Bryce said with another smile as he again tugged me towards town. 

"There are many inns and travelers here, you see this town is on a crossroad." Bryce pointed to some of the connecting dirt roads. "These roads will take you anywhere you need to go." I could see Bryce start to look up toward the giant manor on the mountain top. "That is the kings manor, he almost never stays there but it's there for him if he chooses." Bryce pointed toward the place midway up the cliff. "Those are for the rich traders, so lucky for you we will not be staying up there." He chuckled slightly as we started to make our way into town. "And over this way, he pointed to a little haunt near the bottom edge of the cliff. "That is where we will be staying. Easy to hide, easy to flee, not too many people know of it. The people there keep to themselves and," he said looking over towards me. "That is where you find all your contracts for vampires, werewolves, griffins you name it." 

"I take it you've been here plenty of times before?" I looked over at him with a smile. "Seems like you know this place like the back of your hand." I saw him giving me a side look, possibly a hunt of a smile on his face, I couldn't be sure. "I did a lot of growing up here." 

I craned my neck the best I could to get a good look at the place, being small was not helping my situation at this moment. The streets were crowded, which brought me a strange sensation of safety I have not felt since the last night I saw Alex. I did my best not to gawk at all the strangers that where passing me by. There were so many races, so many different clothes, so many different hair styles and clothing. It was unreal. 

We walked down the main street, ignoring the shopkeepers and the traders for the most part, but I couldn't help myself but to look at some of the items. I had never seen so many gems, silver, and fresh goods in all my life. We hadn't even been walking ten minutes before we stopped in front of a two story dwelling. The roof appeared to be made of slate and heavy shingles. It had two wings, beautiful brown wood around the windows and ivy climbing up the sides. 

Bryce entered first, stomping his boots on the rush matting as he entered, and the smell of wine and roasting meat made my mouth water instantly. I was not aware how hungry I had been until that moment. There was a main hearth, full of lively flames that seemed to dance, and a room bustled with patrons who joked and bantered with each other. Stag antlers hung from the walls. The main room was narrow but deep, two sets of stairs flanked each wall, I was presuming that's where people went to go to there rooms.  

I wasn't sure if this was a comfortable setting for me or not, on one hand it almost felt nice to be surrounded by people. On the other hand I was just not use to seeing and hearing all these people around me. I was beyond weary from the journey and just wanted to sit back and savor the commotion going on around me. It was interesting seeing all these people from all over interacting together as if they had known each other for years. 

My eyes gazed around the room, taking in all the details of this strange but wonderful place. It was then that I noticed to my far right hand corner there was a man sitting in the corner table alone, watching the patrons like I was. From what I could tell he was tall and broad, but nothing else could be seen because he was wearing a black riding cape like mine that shrouded his face. I noticed he was swirling a cup of what I could only assume was wine in his hand. Bryce pulled m over to the corner table in the opposite direction. 

I gave one last look to the man in the corner, for some reason I felt a strange sensation to keep looking at him and I could not figure why. I could see his head turn slightly in my direction and the swirling of his cup stopped. Not wanting to look like I was staring I quickly turned my head around and focused on where Bryce was pulling me. As we sat down I saw Bryce glance quickly over at the gentlemen who was sitting in the opposite corner. A slight frown appearing on his face before quickly disappearing as he focused on looking for a waitress. 

A giant burly woman walked over to us, her mouse brown hair was tightened back in a bun. She had a deep frown on her face that made the wrinkles around her eyes and lip deepen greatly. "What can I get you folks?" Her tone was extremely glum and counter acted with everything else I was seeing in the room. Bryce frowned slightly at her before quickly turning it around into a giant smile. "Why yes, my lady, two cups of wine please. We also need to inquire about two rooms." I felt a weird sensation go over me as Bryce spoke, at this same time the lady in front of us smiled slightly and turned around quickly, scurrying toward the kitchen. 

I looked over at Bryce and raised my eyebrow in question to her strange behavior. "What was up with that?" I asked as the lady disappeared in the crowd of patrons. "She doesn't talk much, I have been here plenty enough to know." Before I can say anything else the gentleman who had previously been on the other side of the room appeared suddenly before our table. My hand instantly went to the knife on my thigh as Bryce eyed the man up at down, the frown coming back to his face. 

The man still had not lowered his hood, making me go a little rigid since I still did not know who this was or what he was doing. Bryce on the other hand was staring at the man, his eyes had darkened slightly. Before Bryce or I had a chance to say anything the man took something out of his cloak pocket and placed it on the table. It looked like a crude drawling of a map of some sorts. "Meet me here," He pointed to the castle on the top side of the drawing, "In three days time. Consider this a contract." His voice was extremely rough, making me frown. Something was tugging at the strings in my memory and I just could not place what it was. 

"How do you know we are even monster hunters? Nothing we have said or do indicates that we do any such business." Bryce said, his gaze never once leaving the man.  The man then turned his head in my direction, the hairs on my arms starting to rise. My grip tightened on the handle of my blade. "I'm sure this is an opportunity you will not want to miss." At that point he pulled back his hood just enough for me to see his eyes, his bright ice blue eyes. Before I could finish pulling up my dagger the figure in front of us vanished in smoke. Leaving me sitting there with a half drawn dagger. Anger involved me as I angrily stabbed the table with my dagger, embedding it deeply and making Bryce flinch. "Was that something I should know about?" Bryce said with a concerned look on his face. At this moment the lady came back with our wine, I took the wine in my hands and looked down at the map he had laid before us. "We are going to the castle."

 

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Tag der Veröffentlichung: 05.08.2017

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