As D became a dark dot on the horizon, Moide, for that was her name, whispered a strange word into the wind and a small flame leapt from the earth beneath her feat, followed by a brisk breeze. "If the grandfather does not agree to these terms, he is not to survive. Do I make myself clear?"
"Yessssss," the reply was a hiss.
The flame and wind disappeared, leaving her with mixed feelings.
"You are supposed to have brought me the witch's head and my grandchild!" Lord Valshress roared furiously. "Not some spell from which more trouble could spring from!" He glared at the long white braid that had been thrown on the floor before him. "So, dhampir, do you now work for the Witch?"
D's face was expressionless. "I do not work for her. She should have delivered this message in person, but I cannot allow her to reach you ahead of me."
The human's bushy white brows came together to form a quizzical expression. "So you're my bodyguard now, dhampir? I do not remember those being our terms." He crossed his sinewy arms. "And when did your kind start caring what happens to us?"
"You should accept her terms. It will make things much easier." D had his head tilted, listening to something outside of the room.
"It would, wouldn't it…?" Before the human could finish the rest of his statement, a large pale furry blur made an entrance through one of the stained glass windows above the long table.
D had long since placed himself between the threat and the human, his sword drawn and ready. The blur was a rather large creature, twice the size of an average man, and had the mixed appearance of large feline and canine. But it wasn't all fur that covered the animal, some patches were feathers. It was undoubtedly spawn created by Nobles, a Were of some sort.
Saliva dripped from greenish colored fangs. A barely audible voice rasped from its throat. "We do not have business with you, dhampir."
Valshress was on the other side of the fireplace on his knees, trying to be as small of a target as possible. He was trembling, and he raised his head to call out for his men. The call was caught in his throat, for a long grayish, twisted hand had appeared through the wall behind him, cupping his soft neck flesh in long black claws.
D had sensed the new presence appearing and leaped to the help the human. But the Were made his move, costing D to change the course of his blade and cleave the creature in two. In the fraction of a second it had cost him to change the blade's course, one of the long claws cut through the human's soft flesh while the blade came down to sever it. An ugly screech erupted from somewhere above him his sword cut through, but the scent of a different type of wood burning besides the logs in the fireplace alerted him. A fire had been started downstairs.
D saw that the human was still alive, but his main artery had been cut. D tore the human's blouse and quickly bound the neck as tightly as possible. He then slung the man over his shoulder.
From outside, D could hear the cries of scared people and the call-to-arms calls of the men. He leaped through the shattered window and landed below on some large storage crates with his sword raised.
The small club of an angered human was severed as it met sharp metal. He gracefully leapt backward, careful of his burden, beyond the reach of the humans. More Were animals appeared behind the city dwellers, poised and ready to feed. D had to find somewhere safe to deposit his burden and dispose of the creatures.
The fire next to them raged hotly, causing the humans to retreat to other side of the street. As D placed Valshress on the rooftop of the nearest building, he could hear painful howls come from inhuman throats. Someone was succeeding in fending off the Nobles' spawn. He caught a familiar scent on the wind.
She was below, a slender silver sword in each hand, and her face covered in white silk scarves now splattered with purple ichors. All the creatures lay in dark pools of their own blood around her, and many of the humans were froze in confusion and terror of their savior.
"Put out the fire!" Someone called from a window at the end of the street.
"No. Let be. It will not spread. I promise." The Desert Lady said.
D picked the human back up and jumped back down into the street. Many of the humans shuffled away from him as he came nearer. "Take him. He needs your help."
A large man dressed in tattered brown trousers and vest came forward reluctantly and took the city Lord in his arms. A woman with scarlet hair and dressed in a green skirt rushed forward to help, and the both of city dwellers retreated in the nearest building.
"He refused, didn't he?" She had sheathed her swords, long violet blood stains showing on her garments where she had wiped them clean. A marble white hand peeked out beneath her sleeve and two fingers gestured ever so slightly in the burning house's direction. A strong wind tore through the wide street, causing some of the flames to leap and spark down upon her. The creatures' corpses caught fire and began to burn into cinders. She remained untouched, however.
"Witch!" called out some of city dwellers in response as they stood and watched the scene.
"Witch, Desert Lady, Phantom, Sand Ghost. It makes no difference. You have my protection." A beautiful silver eye winked at D. "And maybe someone else's protection."
Both D and the Desert Lady looked up at the roof of the building on her left simultaneously, weapons ready. She began to dash about madly as small supply barrels from on the roof were tossed down into the street with incredible speed. D silently and quickly appeared on that roof to stop the trouble. The humans below screamed and fled the scene where more trouble was beginning.
The stench of Undead Hands hung upon the air. And as D cleaved away at the undead servants on the roof, he could hear and see the Desert lady struggle from the corner of his eye. She was truly a skilled swordswoman, leaping and seemingly floating from place to place to dispatch the Hands.
An even fouler stench had begun to rise though, a stench of something long buried over thousands of years and now unearthed. But it was rising off her skin and clothing. Something in the barrels had splashed upon her when they broke, and she was doing her best to make it burn away with her clothing as she bounded about like a dot of flame against the night sky. But the fumes were strong and make even D feel slightly ill. But for her, they seemed devastating, for she was faltering.
The undead that came near her also caught flame and began to cinder away, their inhuman screams echoing though the empty streets. But her flame was diminishing. She cried out in rage and the flame she produced roared into a pillar as a wind came and whirlwind around her. All the undead became piles ash on the earth, and the fumes disappeared.
D raised an arm to protect his eyes and face from the bright flames and sparks that raged around her and waited for it to fade away.
"You know," said a voice from the raised hand, "You can enter those flames and calm her if you want."
"What?"
"Would I tell you to something that turns us both into barbacue?"
D sheathed his sword and slowly took steps toward the column of fire, his arm still raised, testing the sparks. They faded and cooled on the black material of his suit, not even leaving a scorch mark to his surprise. The oxygen in the air around him was being sucked into the tornado of fire, feeding it. He had to move quicker.
He zipped forward with inhuman speed toward the center of the pillar of fire and snatched the figure in the middle from its depths. The flame ceased the moment his hands met her flesh. Most of her clothing had burned away, leaving white skin that was strangely splotched green in different places. She was unconscious and obviously ill, for she was sweating and jerking feverishly in his arms.
D knew that she was cause of the fire that had destroyed the mansion, perhaps with the intention of killing the human, but he couldn't leave her to the mercy of the humans. They would sooner destroy something they misunderstood. He didn't think she was so deserving of death just yet.
His dhampir ears made out the soft crunch of a foot upon dry earth and the steady beat of a human heart behind him. "What do you want?"
It was the tall leader of the bounty hunting band. His head was bandaged, tufts of dark hair sticking out at odd angles. He approached the dhampir. "I want the witch." The man's hand moved to pull something from inside his outer vest.
D had his sword drawn in a flash, the tip a breath's span from the tip of the man's nose.
"You wouldn't deny a man a cigarette, would you, dhampir?" The man smiled and slowly withdrew a long white cigar and a lighter from an inside pocket.
The man's grin only grew wider as he placed the cigarette in the corner of his mouth and lit it. D's nose twitched. Something wasn't right. His stomach lurched and the nerves of his body felt like liquid fire, and the night became bright as day. Time-Bewitching Incense. The man had it rolled in with the tobacco of his cigar.
D's sword faltered, but caught the man in the shoulder. The man yelled out, exhaling more incense, and backed off the tip of the blade. "Ack!"
Breathing became harder for D, and he collapsed to his knees in front of the bleeding human, his arms limp with the Desert Lady on the ground in front of him. Blood. The smell of it was awakening something primal inside of him. Sweat poured from him as the world continued to become an unbearable day and spin around him. Time-Bewitching Incense was incredibly hard to come by. What was a human doing with it?
"Life's unfair, isn't it, dhampir?" He wafted more incense in D's face. The man laughed while clutching his wound. He picked up D's sword in one hand and raised it in an arch over D. "Ironic too."
"Nooo!" The Desert Lady's call was simultaneous with a powerful wind that knocked the man off his feet and the sword from his hand. He landed with a hard thud into the brick of a building and was silent. The incense was extinguished.
She rolled over once and crawled her way over to the dhampir. He was still breathing heavy, but the sweating had stopped. Weakly, she laid an arm over his chest as an offering. "Drink quickly, he comes."
D glanced down at the lovely white arm resting on his chest. When weakened to his primal state, such an offer was tempting of course. D clenched his teeth and closed his eyes. He could resist. This was nothing new to him. His body still throbbed in pain.
"I am not human, taking my blood will not kill me nor make you a monster. Now, quickly, drink." She whispered from his side, her breath also becoming heavy.
A deep but musical laugh sounded from the other side of street, making her gasp. She raised her hand and one of her swords came to her call. She rose, her legs unsteady, but her sword held in a perfect stance. "I do not know how you came to have the Waste. You have crossed boundaries made by your Sacred Ancestor. You will not have what desire."
The shadows of a nearby alley parted and revealed a tall cloaked figure with long dark hair pulled away from his peerlessly beautiful face. "Can't blame me for at least trying, my lady. Can you?" It was a Noble.
Flames danced in small circles around her bare feet once more, and her eyes narrowed. She was quick, faster than his eye could follow, but he anticipated where she would strike and was dealt a blow from another angle, not deep, however.
She was still wasn't completely recovered and she slightly lost her balance as she came around for another attack. He struck out when she was near. She yelled out as the tip of one of his fingernails nicked her arm.
"I always come prepared, my lady."
Crimson blood trickled down her arm, mixed with a yellowish fluid. Her body began to tremble violently and her sword clattered to the ground as she fell forward. A long blue-sleeved arm caught her and she felt something cold and wet on her arm as her eyes closed and darkness claimed her.
D sat up to the clang of her sword hitting the ground. He was beginning to feel slightly better. His sword was far from him though to make any offensive moves against the Noble. All he could do for the moment was watch.
The vampire lord was licking the Desert Lady's wound. He turned to face D and spat the blood and yellow fluid on the ground, a grin on his face. "She offered you something very precious, dhampir." He laughed and enveloped her within the voluminous folds of his ebon cloak. "You foolishly refused. You're foolishness shames the Noble blood you carry in your veins."
A long fingered gloved hand flickered from underneath the cloak. A small silver dagger flew toward D, forcing him to dodge. D rolled into the direction of his sword.
The vampire lord disappeared in billow of fog, leaving a dark laugh and a disturbing comment behind. "Now you can bring the mortal his grandchild and collect your money, Hunter."