A/N: Ages have been moved up by 7 years making the main characters between 19-21 and the royal children around 13 and 16. Yes this has vampires but think Bram Stoker's Dracula and not Twilight.

Chapter 1: Behind those empty walls

The sky was Dragon's endless playground. Dodging through clouds. Breaking the V format with the birds. Scaring the cows into a wonderful frenzy. There was nothing in the skies that could get any creature such as himself down. Unless, of course, he stopped avoiding the tower at the far corner of the Royal Garden. He always swung himself around whenever he neared it. Dragon scoffed at the thought of being scared of anything; after all he was no shortlife. But ever since Jane became a knight, he noticed the beginning of strange events in the Kingdom just outside the walls and it always led him sniffing back to that crooked tower. Jane had once told him a Wizard lived there but no one had ever seen him. How did the shortlife eat or drink? Was his survival magical too? He wondered if the so called Wizard ran out of food because small numbers of livestock had gone missing. So help the old man if he dared messed with the cows next. But how dark could this human be if the King allowed him to remain on castle grounds? Unfortunately, Dragon had a feeling he would soon find out. He swooped into the practice yard where Jane and Gunther, even after becoming knights, were still battling each other over which the better one was.

Gunther, no longer even a teenager, had grown a slight goatee and his hair was long enough to be tied back. Jane had developed into a more feminine figure but her hair hadn't changed too much although occasionally she did tie it back to prevent it from being in the way when she fought. But had anything else changed?

"Pig Breath!"

"Dung Dweller!"

CLANK SHHIIING

Dragon shook his head and perched himself on a castle wall. "You shortlifes will not be happy until the other is dead, will you?"

Jane's eyes widened, looking to Dragon incredulously. "How morbid of you!"

Dragon glanced from her to Gunther. "Oh look he can dance."

Confused, Jane turned to see what he meant when a cold sharp metal surrounded the front of her throat. "Yield." Gunther commanded. His voice, like his looks had also changed over time. Deeper but still with a smooth tone at times. More so it showed when he was snide. Gunther had made a short turn around behind Jane and held his sword to her. "How novice of you, Jane. It was far too easy, really." He let his hold drop but not the smirk on his face.

Jane felt the anger swell within her. She signaled to Dragon to halt, already anticipating a stream of flames set to make Gunther extra crisp. Gunther tilted his head, wondering how she'd lash back at him but instead she sheathed her sword and walked away. "You are not worth it. I will be the true better knight and walk away from your immature ways."

Gunther's smirk fell faster than Dragon's dung in the Royal Garden. He wouldn't let her just merely walk away from him. "The bloody hell I am. You are just mad because you made a careless mistake and lost."

Jane turned around, her face attempting to compete with the color of her hair. "How dare you tell me how I feel? Who do you think you are? Might I remind you, it was you who constantly picks battles with me?"

Gunther sheathed his sword briskly and marched toward her. "And it is you who never once quite seemed to say no to me, have you? It takes two to battle, does it not? And since when does anything that overgrown lizard says distract you from battle?"

"Human's got a point there, Jane." Dragon finally spoke up. "I believe the word "dead" had something to do with it though."

Jane felt a pit in her stomach and let her hair fly over her face as she abandoned them both by running off. Gunther scoffed. "What has got into her?"

..............................................................................

In a window of the crooked tower in the far corner of the gardens, a slender but aged hand appeared at the edge of a hanging royal blue fabric. It gripped the curtain between its fingers and pulled it all the way across, voiding the room of light. A man of near Sir Theodore's age looked back into his dimly lit quarters. His hair was short like Sir Ivon's but kept much neater and was an almost dark gray color. He wore a white robe that made him appear holy and pure but the elaborate pewter jewelry that adorned his body said a much different story. He wore a crown marked with the symbols of Gods who ruled the Underworld and war itself. At least three or four pendants hung from his neck at different lengths. One a tiny apothecary jar, one of a miniature chalice that seemed to harbor a realistic flame, a sword that appeared to have blood on it and a hand holding a piece of Chrysoprase stone.

"I cannot hide here any longer. I must act soon. You have done well over the past few years, child. I only ask of you that you continue just a bit longer."

"Yes, sir." A familiar voice answered in the shadows surrounding the candle light.

"I have had enough of that Gardner's crops and the Kitchen Maid's bland slop. I want something more from them. I do not care who you choose but I demand it by next sun up."

There was a long pause before. "I understand, sir. I will not fail you."