Ok, I've been bitten by some pretty strange plot bunnies this time; it's been a while, but here they are. Please bear with me on this tale, for I promise it will be like nothing you've seen and certainly like nothing I've ever written.
The standard disclaimers apply: The characters portrayed in my little work of fiction to follow are solely the property of their respective artists and creators and I am receiving no profit for the spinning of this yarn, much to my dismay. So let us procede…
Chapter 1 –Be Careful What You Wish For
Three horses flew over the ground, their hooves thundering madly on the hard packed terrain. In pursuit of these was a lone figure also on horse back, gaining ground quickly and certainly not about to let up when his prey were so close to being within his grasp. Unbeknownst to him, a third rider followed.
Branches whipped at the white hair of the lead rider, her cloak flying behind her with the force of the flight, her white dress whipping like a sail at her sides, and her two female companions' clothing suffering similar duress at the hands of their pace. No words were exchanged between the three, for none were needed. Sisters they were in mind and blood and the urgency of their movements were communicated in subtle fashion by the tension of their posture and the guarded glances behind.
Their chaser grinned as the gap between them shrank. He was almost fully upon them when he felt the presence which dogged his steps. Too late. He turned in time to meet the steel edge of a sword as is slashed towards his throat, severing his handsome head from his well attired body and slackening his gleeful leer. His horse thundered on without him as all others slowed, its rider having become dead weight in the saddle rather than a thinking, controlling entity. It was free too do as it wished and so did, disappearing into the darkening shadows of the wooded area the strange assemblage was now riding clear of.
Clearly out of danger and nearly in unison, the trio whirled around and stopped dead, the white rider at the lead rearing her horse in challenge.
"State your name and your business in following so closely, stranger, or we will be forced to be rid of you in a less than pleasant manner!" White hair cascaded down the sides of her head, framing a face that was neither old nor young but was none the less beautiful to look upon.
At a distance behind them, the figure the came last in the chase sat in perfect stillness on a black horse as dark as the clothing he wore or the thoughts that lay in his heart. "I am D, the hunter." He looked up from under the brim of his hat and met the steely gaze of the woman and her companions before adding, "and you're welcome."
He quickly took note of where they had ended up. The mud road they had traveled on to this point had become rutted and seemed less used. It forked a short distance ahead and a faded splintered sign that had seen too many seasons of rain stood at the crotch. A crossroads.
"We thank you for your charity but had it not been for you we would have dispatched that animal ourselves." Her tone was cold but not thankless. A powerful woman was she but not unkind. Her two companions came forward and she inclined her head slightly, her face softening. "These are my two sisters, Shannon and Ranka and I am called Mirror. We are practitioners of long lost arts including sorcery and the studies of old lore and are perfectly capable of taking care of a mere vampire."
"Or a dhampiel for that matter," Ranka spoke up, her dark hair shimmering in the light drops of rain that had begun to fall. "Regardless, we are honoured to make your acquaintance."
D tilted his head in a look of silent questioning before dismissing their knowledge of his heritage. It was as plain to see as the paleness of the skin of his hands and face. He asked for nothing in return for what he had just done, for whether or not he had been hired to slay the vampire who pursued the purveyors of magic in front of him, he still would have felt it his sworn duty to do so. He had chanced along the event at the right time so he decided to take up the chase in his systematic cleansing of earth of the parasitic filth. To him it was nothing.
As if reading his mind, Mirror questioned, "To what do we owe the pleasure of your company. And what price would you ask for your services rendered?"
"I will ask nothing from you, for you have nothing that I want. I don't think you could grant me what I desire even if I were to ask it of you." His shoulders dropped slightly as well as his chin as he took a moment of self pity. It was well deserved as there was only one thing that he could ever long for. But how could anyone ever make someone stop hating themselves for what they were? No. These women could not grant him his want and he would not beg it of them. D started to turn his horse around when the voice of Mirror once again stopped him cold.
"If you are referring to being human…?" She let her voice trail off enticingly.
D eyed her with suspicion and surprise warring on his handsome features. A gust of wind blew his hair and a sheet of now heavier rain into his face.
"…that can easily be arranged," she dangled the carrot in front of his nose. "But if you're not interested we can't—"
"Wait." He paused as if to consider his next words, "I'm listening."
The sisters looked at each other meaningfully and once again communicated their thoughts without words as they had done when they were running from the fiend. Shannon came forward slowly, her red hair dancing like a flame around her eyes.
"It is entirely possible to do what you ask, hunter, but there would be many sacrifices you would be forced to make in return. One cannot just start a new life in the midst of an old one, abandoning all they are. For think about it, is that not what you would be doing?"
She rode her horse forward and began to circle around where he sat mounted, almost taunting him. He watched her go around and come out in front of him again.
"I enjoy a challenge." He met her taunt with bravado he didn't feel. Inside he was actually a ball of anticipation; good or bad, this was yet to be determined.
"Well good. Because it's going to be one. Let's take your situation, for example. You've lived hundreds of years as whom and what you are. You've formed habits as defense mechanisms. You've come to depend on enhanced senses…" she was cut off by her sister.
"Senses you would not be in possession of if you were not what you are, dhampiel." Ranka smiled at him, waiting for him to understand.
Shannon continued, "You have also become adept at living on the go. This is not how humans live. You are intensely independent to the point of isolation, save the creature that resides in your body, correct? Not to mention the fact that you would rather avoid humans completely rather than live with them."
He was once again startled at the amount of information these women seemed to possess about him personally. He waited pensively, absorbing all the information they fed back to him, almost like a review of his existence. Finally he spoke, "I would give it all away. I could learn."
Mirror nearly glared at him in frustrated fascination "And do you think you can cast your mantle of silence and stoicism far enough aside to fool them, hunter?" She was dumbfounded at the idiocy of one such as him even considering what they had just outlined for him. He couldn't possibly grasp what they had told him. Maybe it was time to spell it out.
"We would take your memories, hunter, all of them, lock them away inside yourself forever. You would be like an infant again, learning the ways of the world. But you would be mortal then. You would not have the time to learn the things you needed to survive. You would age, you would be prone to illness, injury, suffering." She watched as his features remained motionless. "You would die!"
"I would still wish for it, ALL of it."
"Then let it be granted." Ranka dismounted and motioned for D to do the same. "We need to remove from you all the vestiges of your old life. Remove your weapons." This he did with some reluctance, but from his weapons she handed back to him a dagger so as not to leave him completely defenseless for what his upcoming ordeal would be. "Now, remove your armor."
"D…?" Finally, the voice spoke up from his left hand, the other organism in his body that the sisters had spoken of, "Don't I get any say in this?"
"No." And with that, the other voice fell silent, unsure of the determination he felt from his host. He couldn't possibly be serious…? But on the other hand, he'd spoken of it for centuries, 'if only I was human,' and such lines had entered into his unconscious thoughts on many occasions and it was something that he had longed for secretly and dreamt about on many dark nights now passed.
When he had removed his armor and his cloak, he realized he felt more vulnerable than he had in as long as he could remember. He never walked unprotected around humans, male or female.
Just when he thought it couldn't get worse, he was given a final command. "Now remove your clothing. All of it." He rubbed his left arm in discomfort before he slowly complied. He did not question their motives and they looked harmless enough. If this was going to be what was needed then he would do it, albeit grudgingly.
When he stood fully exposed to their neutral gazes, his dark heavy clothing was taken up from the ground by Ranka and Mirror removed her own white cloak and rolled the outside of it in the mud that was now forming on the road until it looked suitably worn and grubby. Satisfied, this she then draped over his broad shoulders. It covered him decently enough and to his detached fascination reached to mid-calf. He was also allowed his boots as they were travel-worn enough to almost need replacing anyway.
The sisters stepped back to admire his appearance but still unsatisfied, Shannon smeared a line of mud across his cheek. She gave a slight grin of approval and once again congregated with her sisters. They agreed that all was ready.
"As we explained before," Mirror began, "we needed to remove all traces of your old life from you. You will be sent away from this place with your money and what you now wear which should be enough to at least get you started. As you are going to be starting a new life, nay, a new existence, you will be starting it from the bottom and working your way up."
D suddenly felt unsure of what he was about to do. There was so much that he was abandoning with this, so much left unfinished; his mission betrayed. He would grow old and die. What would happen to the creature in his hand? He almost raised his voice to protest but was interrupted.
"Your clothing will be left here, at the crossroads, available to you should you ever remember this place and why you were here. Just call for them, and they shall appear for you, your weapons, your horse, all of it. You are either very brave or very foolish and I am not going to be the judge of which one for it is evident that you have already chosen your course. Good fortune to you stranger, you're going to need it."
Already in the background to Mirror's final instruction, the other 2 women had begun to chant. An unnatural stirring graced the air, nothing at all having to do with the storm. D felt himself become lighter all of a sudden. His mind started to drift so far that he felt it would never return to him. In essence, that was exactly what was happening. Without warning all of it stopped and he was back in his body.
D felt strange. He dropped to his knees in the mud and his body seemed clumsy and foreign to him. Dark strands of wet hair struck wildly at his face as he struggled to find a balance with what felt were like new limbs. He had become an infant learning to use a new tool; his body. He couldn't remember what it was like to ever be this weak. Each movement felt strained and awkward. Is this how human males felt?
Brushing a strand of hair out of his face, he noticed his hand as if for the first time. The skin, once pale now held a healthy toned flush. He examined it closely, first the right then the left. Funny, it seemed like something was missing from his left hand but he couldn't put his finger on it.
He stood on shaky legs and that's when he found his senses awakened for the first time. It was COLD. He couldn't remember ever feeling the cold like this—or the rain, but he must have felt rain before…he seemed to be old enough to be on his own, wasn't he? Questions flooded his mind all at once as he realized all memories of life up until now had become really fuzzy or else faded away completely. He was aware then of three odd looking women standing before him; he was also suddenly aware of his nudity below the dirty cloak that covered him. He wrapped his arms around himself to try to trap the heat and cover himself better, as if their gazes could penetrate the fabric that wrapped him.
The one seeming to be the eldest, she had white hair, approached him cautiously. "Excuse me stranger, are you alright sir?"
He looked at her and his brow furrowed in confusion, the first expression the sisters had seen him actually portray. "I don't know."
He watched as one of the women behind her stuffed dark clothing—strangely familiar dark clothing, into a canvas sack, disappearing with it behind three horses. Funny, hadn't he been riding a horse? He had thought so, but he might have been mistaken. Why was everything so hazy?
"Well if you don't need our assistance, my sisters and I would like to get home then. Have a good evening sir."
D watched as the women mounted their horses and turned to leave. Just before they road off, the redheaded woman turned around to ask him, "By the way stranger, what's your name?"
He looked at her blankly and started to shiver. It felt strange to do such a thing, but it was natural…wasn't it? At last he broke off his own thoughts and in a voice that was swept away on the wind he replied, "I don't know."
Yeah, I couldn't resist writing this one. It's been forming in my head for about three days now and it was comprehensive enough to actually start putting into words. So please review and let me know what you think. Or just say hey. Let me know you've been here.
later,
Mannariel