Twilight

Disclaimer: I Do Not Own Adventure Quest (Except my own characters). Maria Despair belongs to Xenolord and is used with permission.

-'Thoughts'

-"Speech"

Ch.3

Blood Moon

The two figures sat and laughed. They looked completely harmless at the moment, but she knew better. She had seen what the silver one was capable of and knew him well. After all, it was hard to walk through the guardian tower without hearing some story surrounding the dracomancer Drake.

'Not for much longer though.' She thought to herself with a grin and hurried off quietly.

"Milady, mistress Despair has found the dracomancer, he has slain one of the captains and taken his weapon." A vampire relayed to Queen Safiria, "Apparently, he did not like your generous offer." He added with a slight grin.

"I'll have none of your cheek, Evan," Safiria said annoyed' "I want you to take a squad of your finest and run him down. I can only spare one of my vamps accompany you, the rest are on a special mission for me. Now get going, I want that filthy human to pay for his impudence."

"Yes milady." Said Evan, he gave a short bow and turned to leave the room, his cloak flowing behind him. He motioned for his men to follow him and glanced at the scout before he left, the only vampire he ever knew to wear white. He wouldn't dare comment her on this habit though, he had seen the last one to do such a thing. The warrior vampire didn't have time to think before a blast of light shot from the woman's sword, impaling him and blinding everyone in the room. When they could see again, his ashes and sword lay in a heap on the ground.

Maria stared back at the leaving commander. She grimaced in revulsion at his smile. She knew he was just a wise guy that only looked after himself. Maybe after having him go on this mission, she wouldn't have to put up with his wise cracks flying around the castle. With luck, Drake would target him first. She suddenly remembered that Yulgar had gotten a new shipment today! She cursed herself for not remembering. Quietly, she slipped into a deserted room and summoned her copy.

"You may be able to fool the others, but stay out of sight in case Safiria wants you to go on another patrol." She told her counterpart. It nodded in approval and left the room while the real Maria slipped out the window and headed for Battleon.

Drake and Fang were by now wending their way through the dense forest, talking and joking, but in low voices so they could keep their ears peeled for any sign of movement other than their own. Drake had just finished explaining his childhood love of dragons that ended up leading him to dracomancery when he became a Battleon guardian.

"That's the second time you've mentioned this 'Batteon' place, what is it?" Fang whispered.

"WHAT!" Drake said, not bothering to whisper. In his surprise he nearly ran into a dead tree. "You have never heard of Battleon! You had to have traveled through there before ending up here." Fang shook his head.

"No, I was born and raised in the den; I have never left the forest. I have heared some of the others speak of lands beyond and especially, well," he glanced at Drake, "Dragons." Drake looked dumbfounded. He had never heard of being born into a sub-race.

'Well, you learn things every day, eh?' Drake thought to himself. Suddenly a spear rocketed past his head and lodged itself into a nearby tree. Drake didn't even bother turning around before transforming. His slitted eyes turned to the small platoon of vampires. One of them, brawny in stature with shoulder-length black hair, was smirking at the two. Drake supposed he was the leader.

"Well, well, well," Evan said leisurely, "I was sent to kill a lizard, but I wasn't counting on him having a pet." Fang growled at him. "Aw well, I guess I could use a new floor rug, the old one's getting ragged. Get them!" Evan smiled wickedly as the warrior to his right threw another spear, this one aimed at Fang who dodged under it and brought his sword out.

"Great we're surrounded…" Said Fang backing into Drake, "I would say we're outnumbered twenty-to-one."

"I like those odds!" Said Drake, assuming a battle stance, a manic gleam in his eyes. The group of vampires charged them. Drake grabbed the first one to reach him and flung it back into the oncoming crowd. The three that had become tangled never had a chance to dodge the oncoming fireball. Fang was locked in a duel with a rather skilled warrior. The two seemed evenly matched, blocking eachothers blows again and again. They locked swords and stared eachother in the eyes, Fang baring his teeth and growling, the other wore a triumphant smile.

'What's so funny?' Fang thought and stopped growling. Without the extra sound, he could pick up a faint whistling and instinctively ducked. The warrior stumbled backward, clutching the spear that had pierced all the way through his chest. Fang turned to the stunned vampire behind him and brought his sword across his neck. Meanwhile Drake was holding one of his assailants over the ground with his tail and wrestling with the lord who had thrown the spears earlier. They locked arms. "You like trowing things, eh?" asked Drake wickedly as he brought his tail around and using the suffocated vampire as a club, smashed the juggernaut undead into the ground, making a sickening 'CRACK'!

"Hey big boy!" said a voice behind Drake. He turned and saw one of Safiria's elite vamps in a fighter stance. She winked coyly at him.

"Oh, cheap shot." Drake said shaking his head. 'I promised I would never hurt a girl…'

She launched herself at him, punching and kicking for all she was worth. Drake kept ducking and dodging, which for a creature his size was no easy task. Annoyed, she pulled a spear out of the tree next to her and began advancing with ferocious swings. A few feet away, Fang wasn't having an easy time fighting with Evan. Both had been disarmed and were now quite literally were fighting tooth and nail.

"What's wrong furball, too fast for ya?" Evan taunted as he dodged yet another wild swing of Fang's claws. Fang aimed a kick at the vampire only to have it blocked and be countered by a hook to the muzzle. He backed up and then launched a huge punch at Evan's turned back. But he had been waiting for this. Before the fist reached him, he jumped into the air and caught hold of an overhead branch. Swinging around it, he landed right behind the shocked Fang, who now found himself being strangled for the second time that night. He struggled and kicked but Evan's vice grip was digging into Fang's windpipe and slowly draining the life out of him.

"Fang!" Drake shouted as he was grazed by the oncoming spear.

"So, Fang is it?" Said Evan, "Well I think it courteous to let you know the name of your executioner. My name is Evan, and I…Arg!" He never finished his sentence. Fang's head had turned just enough to be face-to-face with the arm cutting off his oxygen and now his jaw was closed firmly around Evan's arm.

"Ahhh!" He screamed, letting go of Fang and ran off into the blackness, cluching his arm. Fang stumbled to the ground and gulped down the air now flooding back into his lungs.

Meanwhile, Drake had abandoned his dragon form and was now moving more easily through the trees. The vamp showed no intention of letting up her furious onslaught and she swung her spear with wild determination. Drake's foot suddenly snagged a root and, taking his loss of concentration, the vamp slammed him into a tree with the back end of the spear.

'Well, that's what you get for making a life-vow, moron!' a voice in Drake's head shouted at him. 'Wait a minute, "He" could do it for me, it's okay for someone else to do it…'

"Any last words dog lover?" The vamp asked with a wicked grin.

"Yeah," Drake said. He raised his head and she saw his eyes glowing. "Kethorat, take out the trash."

The vamp saw a strange glow coming from behind her and she turned. She barely saw the green scaled colossus in front of her before she was reduced to ash.

Drake straightened up and brushed off the ash and dust from his armor. He strolled over to where Fang was starting to stand up, still massaging his throat.

"Well, I seem to have made quite a name for myself in Darkovia." Drake said glancing at the battlefield around them. "I don't think Safiria is used to people telling her 'No'."

"We've gotta get out of here," Fang said in a raspy voice, "There might be more."

"Where is there to go? I'm completely wiped out and I'm not up to flying us out of here."

"The den is not too far from here, if we can get there, we will be safe." Fang said, his voice returning to normal. Drake gave Fang an apprehensive look. He got the message. "I'll ask the king if you can just 'visit' for a while. He'll understand." Drake nodded his head in agreement. They made their way quickly through the darkening forest, Fang leading. They finally reached a rocky outcropping shaped like a wolf head.

"I'll go in first, I'll let you know when it's safe to come in." Fang said. Drake nodded and watched as Fang made his way nimbly to the cave's entrance. There was a strange smell in the air that Drake could not put his claw on. Suddenly, he heard a wailing howl echo from the depths of the cave, it sounded mournful…

"Oh god…" Drake murmured as he sprinted toward the cave. He could recognize the strange scent now and hit himself mentally for not realizing it earlier. The smell the saturated the air around him, was blood.

Dun, dun, duuuun! Finally finished third chap! Things only get more intense from here on, so hold on, it's gonna be one heck of a ride!

Special thanks to Xenolord for lending me Maria. Chap.4 coming soon!

-Drake