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Warning: While I won't be going into the heavy, gory detail of it, there's blood and bodies being torn and all that jazz that werewolves and vampires tend to get up to.
Lightning settled a hand on her hip, a crossbow resting on her shoulder. "How's it look?"
The man kneeling beside the large wagon wheel dropped his shoulders and sighed, shaking his head grimly. "Not good. It'll take some time to fix." He raised his head to the sky, dark, ominous clouds in the distance. "An' I reckon time is the last thing we got."
They had tried to outpace the storm, which was moving with unnatural speed. Now the horse was lame, and the wagon broken. They'd been damned either way.
"Right," Lightning said, more to herself than the wagon's owner. She dropped the crossbow from her shoulder and placed the tip on the ground. With practiced hands, she pulled the string evenly into place.
The road between Nautilus and Bodhum was a long one. While the weather was hardly ever easy to predict, it never indicated anything like what was headed toward them. It was much too early in the season to even suspect a storm of that size. There was no telling how long they could be stuck in it. They still had some supplies, possibly enough to hold out for a week if they stretched it.
"I'll see if I can scare something up before it hits."
A young boy with a small afro poked his head out from the back of the wagon, his little hands gripping the side.
"Daddy, the horse is hurt."
"I know, Dajh. Stay in the wagon."
She only had a few hours at best. It was a long shot, but Sazh would be able to handle preparing a shelter for them out of the wagon, and even a small rabbit could make a world of difference in their survival.
While it wouldn't bother her to use the horse as food, and they would if it came to that - she'd gut it herself if she had to – the animal was like an old, trusted friend to Sazh, and he would only agree to it if it was so his son didn't starve. Sazh had hired Lightning to protect them, all of them, and she'd do whatever it took to achieve that. The horse was just, for obvious reasons, ranked at the bottom on her list of who to save first. And it's body heat could provide a substantial amount of warmth
With a bolt carefully loaded, Lightning pushed her scarf up around her nose and strode away from the wagon.
It was only the middle of autumn, and yet it felt like late winter. To be this cold was nearly unheard of.
The first hour went by, and there was already a blanket of snow for Lightning's boots to crunch through. She realized then how quiet it had become. Not even the peep of a bird. The mere absence a warning in itself.
She needed to turn back.
At that moment, the rustling of bushes made her turn a split second before a doe burst into the opening, nearly knocking her over as it bolted past. Without thinking, Lightning set her sights on the direction it had come from. There was more than just fear she'd seen in the deer's eyes. Mindless terror had taken over it, its limbs flailing in a desperate, wild plight to escape, froth visible on its mouth, eyes wide and unseeing.
Wolves, perhaps? A large pack. She'd be able to get off one shot, and then she'd need to go for the sword and knife at her belt. And pray that her leather clothes and fur coat were thick enough to guard against the worst bites.
Nothing else emerged. But behind her, a thump was followed by a short, choked-off whine. Lightning whipped around, and the terror that once seized the deer now froze her in place.
She'd seen a werewolf only once in her life, when she was very young. Her mother had stepped between her and it just seconds before it would have torn her to pieces. Even though she could only remember the werewolf through the mind's eye of a child, the beast before her was beyond comparison.
If it stood tall instead of crouched over the deer's carcass as it was, she would probably not even reach its shoulders, which had to be over three times as wide as her own. Black was its fur, highlights of red visible against the snowy white backdrop, more snowflakes collecting on its body. Its massive frame was filled in with thick, packed muscle.
Lightning couldn't quite hold back the sound of a shaky breath leaving her, emerging as a small cloud from her scarf. The werewolf's eyes and pointed ears snapped up, shock quickly becoming apparent on its features as blood dripped off the flesh hanging from its mouth.
They stared in silence, though the pounding of Lightning's heart was deafening to her own ears. Out of pure reflex and instinct, her crossbow was aimed between the beast's eyes. But even with her marksmanship, it was too far to guarantee a hit. What little she knew about werewolves, she did know their speed was well and above that of a human. It had gotten in behind her so fast, so quiet. The deer killed in an instant.
But unlike the werewolf she remembered as a child and in her dreams, the eyes of the one before her held remarkable intelligence. And perhaps that was all that stayed Lightning's hands. It was easy to forget that a beast such as this one had a human side.
The stillness stretched long enough that she noted the blood trail behind the creature. She realized it was wounded, a deep gash across its chest, more along its limbs, and a particularly large chunk was missing from its shoulder. Dark crimson blood seeped down its fur onto the snow and deer. Its shoulders shifted from deep, ragged breathing.
It moved, slowly. Lightning twitched, but held her ground, waiting. Just its arm, reaching to the back of the deer.
The sight and sound of it ripping the deer's hindquarters off like it was paper was not something she cared to witness again anytime soon. Rising just enough for leverage, the werewolf tossed it to her, the legs and rump landing not far from Lightning's feet.
Lightning didn't move, not right away.
The werewolf tilted its head, eyes narrowing. Lightning could almost hear it say: You wanna do this the hard way?
Keeping the crossbow held in one hand, eyes never leaving the werewolf, Lightning shifted closer and crouched to grab hold of one of the legs. It wasn't a big deer, but it wasn't a small one either. It was an effort to drag it through the thickening snow, but she refused to lower her weapon. Not until she was out of the beast's sight.
…
Her mind was as blank as the untouched snow hindering her progress back to the wagon. It was stiff and packed, crunching under her boots rather than giving way. She nearly dropped the deer's hindquarters in favor of running. But she would not give in to fear. For all that was holy, she could at least prove she was tougher than a deer.
When the wagon was in sight, she was able to shrug off a good portion of snow from her shoulders. A few moments longer and she wouldn't be able to see her hand if she held it in front of her.
If she hadn't been so shaken from her encounter with the werewolf, she might have noticed the signs that something was wrong. The heap of snow at the front of the wagon where the horse had lain down. A trail of blood nearly covered up by the snow. She'd missed all of these, and her mind took a moment to catch up when she spotted the two pale figures dressed like highwaymen lounging in the back of the wagon.
"There she is," one smiled lazily, straightening as though getting up from a pleasant nap. The smile turned to a grin, openly displaying the elongated incisors.
His companion chuckled, hands playing with a bloodied knife. His voice gravely and hoarse sounding. "The little boy was worried about you. We told him we'd wait and make sure you got back all safe like." He stuck his tongue out and dragged the flat of the blade against it. "Making us wait, though. I'm actually a bit hungry. Wouldn't hurt none to have a taste before we take her back."
"Just what I was thinking," the other agreed.
"Where are they?" Finally her voice was back. The familiar even, steady sound of it grounding her.
"Oh, they're safe. You'll see'em soon enough. Right after we've had ourselves a little drink."
The closest one lunged, making to grab for her hair. Lightning lurched back, dropping her crossbow, and he continued after her, falling out from the wagon. Lightning's back hit the snow, heard the snap of strings as the crossbow fired off somewhere. The vampire fell on top of her, teeth snapping in her face. She grabbed at the collar of his shirt and drew her head back right before connecting with the vampire's nose. No blood emerged, but bone crunched and he reeled just enough for her to wedge her legs between them and kick him away. The second vampire roared and lunged. She rolled to the side, and in the same motion she used to lurch to her feet, she swept the knife from her belt and brought the handle to her lips.
"Lightning," she whispered.
A spark of light sizzled along the edge of the blade as it snapped from the handle. She struck just as it fully extended, slicing at the hand reaching for her. It seared a mark of white flame across the palm. The vampire screeched stumbling back with his hand clutched to his chest.
The blade continued to glow, illuminating the script along its edge.
Invoke my name – I am Spark
"What the-"
She lunged at the second vampire, managing a shallow cut in his side before he dodged away, creating some space. He swore violently, the slice causing obvious and intense pain.
Adrenaline surged within her, making her blood pound, and she welcomed the rush with open arms. It warmed her, holding the cold at bay. The fear of the werewolf was now a distant memory. Those beasts had the advantage of instilling that hated reaction long before she'd been able to fight it. These vermin, on the other hand...
The vampire holding his injured hand to his chest reached for his sword with his free one. "Well, well. This just got a little more interesting. What's that toy you got, missy?"
Lightning ignored the question, also drawing her sabre with her other hand. "Where did you take them?"
The vampire with the cut in his side wiped at his broken nose with a frustrated jerk of his arm. "How 'bout the more you keep askin' that, the more blood I take!" He rushed forward, preparing an overhead swing.
Lightning saw it easily. It was consistently to her advantage that most vampires were arrogant and overconfident, thinking themselves invincible. Especially against a "weak" human.
She sidestepped the heavy swing – not away, but closer, leveling the guard of her sabre with his face and crushing it against his already broken nose. As he fell away, she followed through with the momentum of her punch, spinning and bringing her knife out and across, slicing cleanly across his throat. Again, no blood was drawn, but the white fire and scream was just as satisfying.
Unable to block the second vampire's attack, she dropped and rolled across the snow, stopping in a crouch to face him, the hand with the sabre braced on the snowy ground, her knife raised to the side.
He paused, bared his teeth at her. "You've got some nice tricks, human. It's been a while since I've had to really fight for my food."
Lightning blew some hair out of her face. "It shows."
The vampire snarled and charged. Lightning surged forward, drawing her sabre arm back and then chucking it in a spinning arch at his head. As he raised his arms to block, she dropped onto her side, skidding across the snow and latching on to his pants and ankle, halting her momentum and causing him to greet the packed snow rather soundly.
She was already scrambling up his back, repeatedly shoving him down into the snow, stabbing him anywhere she could reach as she crawled forward. He was screaming, releasing his sword as he writhed from the unfamiliar pain of the knife, trying to get away. Instinctually he turned to fend off the attack. Lightning sliced at his arms and hands, smoke and fire billowing from the cuts and at last forcing an opening. With one hand cupped over the back of the handle, she plunged the knife into his chest.
When she withdrew it, white fire erupted from the wound. The vampire's body spasmed and twitched as his heart was burned to ashes in his chest. Lightning rolled away, focusing her attention on the last vampire, who'd only just recovered from the slice on his throat. It was blackened now, an ugly scar in place of where the fire had touch.
The vampire stared in shock and fear as his friend burned in front of him. Pure fury was in his eyes as he turned to Lightning.
"You-" he choked, his voice rasped from the injury in his throat. He clutched it with a hand.
"Enough!"
Both Lightning and the vampire's head whipped up. Circled around them were at least a dozen more people.
Vampires. They all stood with that stoic, statue-like pose as if time and tired muscles meant nothing to them. Lightning hadn't seen or heard any of them approach.
Where had they come from? Why were so many here?
The woman who had spoken stepped into the circle. Though shorter than Lightning, she held herself with absolute authority. She wore thin-framed glasses, and her blonde hair was incredibly long and thick, going well past her waist.
She approached the injured vampire.
"Mistress, I-"
"Quiet." The female vampire whipped out a baton-like weapon and smacked it on the other's shoulder, driving him to his knees. "You had a simple task. It seems my trust in your abilities to handle a human was misplaced." She looked up and nodded. Two burly vampire stepped forward and grabbed the protesting one on his knees.
There was no preamble before they started tearing him apart, limb from limb. And only afterward did one of them plunge his hand into the chest and extract the heart. Lightning felt sick, thinking of the deer.
"Burn it," The woman instructed. Then she turned to Lightning, took off her glasses, and looked her over. "Well then, it looks like we have some openings on our roster. And this one actually appears to have some backbone."
Lightning grit her teeth, tightening the hold on her knife. "Go to hell."
The vampire tilted her chin down, an almost coyish smile appearing.
Then she struck. Lightning hadn't even blinked as a rush of cold air whipped past her. Her eyes widened, long strands of hair fluttering out of the corner of her eye just as pain lanced across her side.
A choked gasp came from her throat, a hand going to the gaping wound spraying blood below her ribs. She fell to her knees in the snow. Hands grabbed her arms just before she fully crumbled, forcing her back up.
Behind her, the vampire's baton cracked against her shoulder, sending the remaining air from her lungs. "Your resistance is amusing, human. But I'm not giving you a choice. You took one of mine, and now I need a replacement."
Her head was tilted to the side and teeth sunk into her neck. Lightning couldn't hold back a cry from the sharp, intensity of the pain. It was like poisoned needles were sinking in from the bite, furrowing in along her veins and spreading like a burning fire under her skin. Lightning clenched her teeth to hold back further sound, instead trying to wrench herself away. She surged against the arms holding her down, but it was useless. There was no way to budge any of the vampires, and she was forced to endure the bite for what felt like an eternity.
When she was released, she didn't realize it at first until she crumbled into the snow, the cold shock of it pressing against her sweaty face. She was nearly paralyzed, unable to do more than squirm and writhe on the ground, anything to get away from the agony festering in her neck.
Through blurry, tear-filled eyes she watched the female vampire bend to pick up her knife. She dropped it immediately, hissing as smoke formed on her fingers and the blade snapped back into its handle. She withdrew a piece of cloth and threw it on the ground, gesturing for one of her followers to come and use it to pick up the weapon. Then she moved toward the wagon.
Noticing something – the hindquarters of the deer – her eyes darting to her people. Amidst the pain, Lightning could just make out the snarl in her voice. "The other mutt is still in the forest. Find her."
Whimpering, Lightning ended up curled into a ball in an attempt to drown out the sounds and movements around her, wishing only to steady and calm the waves of pain and nausea overtaking her body.
It was strange, then, to notice a white horse silhouetted in the distance amongst the falling snow. As Lightning twitched and shuddered, she tried to focus on that image, not caring if it was merely an illusion. She felt calmed by it, and a tear leaked out of the corner of her eye.
Serah, I'm... sorry...
Her vision blurred further and the pain receded, as did everything else.