Hello, I am truly sorry that this chapter took so long to come out.  I had finished it a while ago but the one person who always gives me their opinon (to make sure my characters stay in character) never got a chance to read it.  So I hope that the characters are in order and that this chapter has the same feel as the rest of the story. 

Chapter 4: Locked Emotions

            He waited silently outside the castle grounds just before the sun had set, anticipating the changing of guards.  He had learned centuries before never to underestimate a castle's guards when they were posted to kill, one could never tell if he would be seen or not.  Besides, if one guard came upon another's body, an alarm would be set out and his task would be impossible to complete.  Looking up once again he saw another guard approach the first, now was the time.

            Slowly, keeping to the shadows of the twilight, he snuck up to the castle wall.  Once there, he pasted himself there, becoming one with the shadow and as silent as the night around him.  He became at once the hunting death, an old nickname issued forth within a town where he had been assigned to take down a victim.  He had never been seen, never had they known just who they had given their nickname to.

            After slipping through the gates, he followed the wall, taking the long way around the courtyard.  Snipers, if any, were usually posted within here, to take down trouble before they reached the main part of the castle.  As far as he could tell, there were none, but he kept his senses alert in case of a sudden arrival.

            He was not worried, he had a goal.  Never had he been stopped; giving up on life and becoming twisted did wonders on a person, changing them, becoming unstoppable.  Lacking the fear for death, possessing no loved ones; he had no ties to the earth, nothing to be used against him.  This he cherished, the thrill of the hunt; all he possessed was his sword and his purse, and gold meant nothing to him.  His only love was the obsession of his weapon. 

            His sword would be the only thing on the entire earth he owned that could harm him, but to him, death by his own blade would not be the worst way to die.  But swords could only kill him with a slice of his head, as far as he knew, so there was no worrying about that anytime soon, not like it mattered anymore.

            Slight stinging pain snapped him back into awareness.  He had brushed up against a bristly pine tree.  He silently cursed himself for letting his mind become off-track.  Taking in one deep breath, he shut off his mind all together and let his hunting instincts take over, filling in the rage, pain and hurt.

            Up ahead he saw the archery range a half a league away.  He smiled wickedly when he saw an archer had let to finish their practices.  They continued to knock and shoot arrows as the sun continued to set, casting more shadows across the sky.  There was no moon tonight.

            He let out a mental scan for any guards or unwanted company and found none within his sight.  Pleased with this, he stalked slowly up to the archer.  The archer, who once came into sight, was Yiel, but Liare knew this before laying eyes on him.  His filthy aura had drifted down with the wind, carrying repulsive thoughts.

            One thought in particular struck him hard, and try as he might, he could not stop from being swept up into it.

            " Tilainne... come..."

            He noted that Tilainne had shivered when he called her, and he cherished it.  He fed on her fear, lived off of her resistance, strived to find more ways of servicing the hunger that grew inside him.

            "Tilainne... what is wrong?  Are you cold?"

            She looked up at him, emotionless, and replied, "No."

            Slowly he became outraged, she held no fear, no love, nothing but empty eyes.

            "Why don't you love me?"  He demanded.

            "I just don't."

            "You will love me!"

            He grabbed her arms and drew her to him roughly, delighted when she grabbed at his hands, trying to force his grip off.  She continued to struggle even as he threw her down upon his bed, and pulled out his dagger forcing it up next to her neck.

            "You even move, and I'll slice your neck."

            She nodded slightly.

            "Good."

           

            The thought ended.  Liar had never felt so much rage; it filled his entire being, leaving him colder than ice.  Hate entered his eyes, darkening them to the sight, a death glare forever glued upon his face.

            He had approached Yiel, the thought from him still fresh in his mind.  He now knew where Tilainne had received the cut on her face, and Yiel would pay dearly for it.

            Yiel had yet to notice Liar; he continued to shoot until he had only two arrows left.  Which was a pleasant thought for him, he had been practicing most of the afternoon and his arms started to feel the strain.  After his last one, he peered down at the target and sighed in disapproval before he turned around to head back.  Then he saw Liare.

            "What the hell are you doing on my grounds?"

            Liare noted the hostility and set it aside.  He slowly drew his sword.

            "What the hell do you think your doing?"

            Liare smiled, hatred still shone through his body, created a horrific feeling to run down Yiel's spine.  He knew that something was terribly wrong.

            "You've been a bad little boy, Yiel."  He spat the words out, slightly chewing on each one, "I do hope you don't mind your punishment."

            With that he laughed, cold and scary, Yiel shivered, but fear did not show on his face.  He would not give Liare that pleasure, not yet. 

            Whoever this incompetent is, and wherever he came from won't save him now, Yiel thought to himself.

            Liare heard him and snickered.

            "You really are pathetic aren't you?"

            Yiel, outraged, grabbed an arrow, knocked and let it fly straight at Liare.  The arrow whistled through the air, flying so fast it was none-detectable.  Yet once he heard the arrow hit, it was much later than it should have.

            Liar still stood where he was, unhurt, the arrow within a tree far behind him.

            "What the...?"

            Liare laughed harder, Yiel started to become slightly worried.  But just as he thought so, several of his guards approached them, alerted by the sound of the arrow.

            Liare very carefully sized up the small group.  Two short and stubby ones, one favored their left side, most likely their weak point, the other stood hunched and was not use to physical exercise.  There were also two others, one very large, carrying a hefty size axe dented in places, and another who was also large, but dwarfed the other; more agile than the rest.  He appeared to be the leader.

            As they approached, Liare changed his stance ever-so-slightly, getting ready to go for the one weak on the left first if need be.  He knew that the leader would not enter the fight unless all others were down, and if he picked of the weak ones first, he could get the stronger ones without risk of tripping on the others.

            "Your highness, is there something wrong here?"  The leader asked.

            "Brucke, yes this gentleman has come upon me quite threatenly."

            "Is this true sir?"

            Liare flashed the leader a cold glare as he replied, "I have matters with this man."

            "That man is the crown prince."

            "I know that."

            "What matters you have with he prince, you have with me."

            Liare smiled cruelly and replied, "Ah I see.  Well then," he addressed the whole squad, "Let me make this clear then, what matters I have are with him, and him only."

            The weak one laughed and asked, "Can't we just take him down Bruc?  He's a small litt'l fell'a."

            "Sure by whatever means."

            Liare sighed in annoyance; he couldn't kill these fools, it would lead to complications within the village.  He would have to be careful for once.

            As he thought the weak one charged him first.  One quick blow with his hilt to his left side and he collapsed.  The other stout one came next, but he was to slow.  Liare dodged his flimsy attack and flung his fist, hitting squarely in the jaw.  This left him stunned enough for Liare to give him a nock on the skull; the second guy collapsed.

            Brucke was not happy at the fact that two of his men had been knocked down cold in two minutes.  He looked at the other guard and nodded.  The guard smiled and started after Liare, axe raised.

            He knew this would be slightly harder, he was hoping that the leader was the moral type and would stay out of the battle until this guy was down also.  But because he couldn't trust the guy to not, and because he hated the fact that he had no other choice, he regretfully left it up to fate, something he was not fond of.

            The big one came upon him faster then he should have, moving with unremarkable speed.  He swung his axe and Liare cursed himself for letting the big guy get so close.  As the axe came down, Liare flew to the left, the axe sliced part of his forearm as a result. 

            Liare stared at the wound and went extremely cold and rigid.  He was not happy, vampires hated being outwitted by humans, and this one did not look very bright.  Gathering up as much negativity as he could muster, he sent a blistering shockwave right into the big one's brain, over loading it for the time being.  His body collapsed.

            Brucke's face showed nothing, but Liare knew he was horrified by what he witnessed, he saw the black cloud come forth from the young man and disappear within his guard just before he collapsed.

            The thought left Liare wondering, how could this guy see that?  He looked further into it and found his answer, the guy was a witch.  A night worlder like himself... Working for a human... Liare was sickened.

                 Glancing over in Yiel's general direction he saw that his little blast had affected him too.  He was stone cold, passed out onto the crisp grass. 

     Liare laughed and looked back at Brucke, amusement within his ice exterior evident.

     "Well witch," he smirked, "this is going to be interesting."

     Brucke looked surprised for one instant, but recovered quickly, the sign of a true soldier.  He studied Liare, remembered his movements, his lithe animal like behavior.

     "So it shall Vampire, so it shall."  Brucke put his hands together and between them formed a large red burning fire.  The flames twisted around his fingers, weaving white flicks of flame tongues over his palms.  He concentrated for mere seconds before hurling it towards Liare.

     Liare dodged it easily, stepping over to the left, and threw a sharp mind telepath towards him.  Brucke winced but withstood the pain, but not before Liare had snatched his sword and swung at him.

     Brucke looked up to see the sword, and raised his hands chanting softly.  Liare hung in the air, immobilized, before being thrown back onto the ground.  But this only continued to provoke Liare's fury, forcing him to attack more carefully.  He planned on distracting him by attacking, while charging up for one final and fatal mind blow.  Liare could taste the black mind energy already.

     Brucke anticipated his moves and quickly dodged his moves, while also charging his own attack.  White lightning started to form within his palms just as Liare was surrounded by black static.

     But just as they would unleash their attacks, a flash of copper was seen and between them stood Tilainne, once again placing herself between him and someone he intended to kill. 

     She stood still and determined, her eyes as cold as Liare's own, arms outstretched to make sure that if any attack issued forth, she would absorb it all.

     "Stop!" She commanded.

     "Damn it Tilainne," Liare yelled, "Get out of my way!  You do not know what you're going against, you will not stop me this time."

     She turned to him, tears brimming slightly, "I cannot allow you to make this fatal mistake Liare.  Please step down."

     Liare cursed loudly and yelled, "Tilainne move!  I will strike whether you are there or not!"

     "I know you would.  But I ask you not to.  You cannot have the blood of this man on your hands."

     "Why do you give a damn about such a thing?  You do not know me!"

     Tilainne smiled and said nothing.

     Brucke stood witnessing the situation.  His eyes passed back and forth between the two, wonder and interest in his eyes.  The strange relationship between the vampire and this young woman intrigued him.  Finally he came to a conclusion.

     "Another time then, for maybe you would but I would never jeopardize the life of an innocent over petty differences."

     He slowly vanished into the oncoming night.

     Liare cursed under his breath and turned to Tilainne.

     "Why?  Why must you always get yourself involved in my life?  You have no idea what you are doing... Next time you won't be so lucky."

     "I never have been lucky."

     He looked up suddenly.  There was something odd in her voice, something that shot through his awareness.  Tilainne stood defeated, hunched and crying.  She looked lost, a child without a family. 

     Thoughts of his family closed off his throat and he found it hard to breath.  Why should this girl keep affecting his life so much?  She was weird, insane, crazy, and stupid but... she was also the most sane and intelligent person he had ever come across.  He couldn't understand it.

     She turned up to him, her eye's no longer crying.  She looked determined; set on accomplishing a goal.

            "Why do you drink the blood of others?"

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