The moon was high in the sky as a figure swept through the Shadow Woods, moving so fast that all one could see was a blur of crimson. Animals fled from the figure, desperate to get out of the way. Even the most feral beasts of the forest were afraid.

For this was the ultimate predator; a creature that was deadly to both man and beast.

A vampire…

However, this particular vampire was hunting neither man nor beast.

Leaping high up into the trees, the vampire climbed higher and higher, perching on the highest up tree branch it could find. Pushing back the hood of it's cloak, the vampire bared its face.

A head of short, spikey, bright red hair emerged, save for a small lock stemming from her skull that was just as pale as her skin. Two glowing orbs of blood stared out at the surrounding scenery that stretched on for miles and miles.

To the far north she could see the Thial Mountains, majestically shooting up into the night sky, and just before it, set towards the edge of the forest was the town of Harburg, shrouded by a heavy fog, but not heavy enough to hinder her sight. Most of the city had already retired at the hour, but she could pick out a few stray humans who were still out and about.

"Where is he?" Te'ijal mumbled to herself.

Pushing off her perch, she descended back to the forest floor, breaking out into a dash as she followed her senses straight to Harburg, only stopping once she had reached the outer wall

Closing her eyes for a brief moment, she inhaled all the scents that wafted through the air, searching out one in particular. There were a group of men gathered by the waterway, smelling of a mixture of smoke and animal blood. Hunters, obviously. There were a few others, smelling of sewer water and their own grime. She assumed these were the thief's and street urchins that were known to litter the town. None of these stood out to her.

It hit her all of a sudden… a scent that she would recognize anywhere. The scent of death that clung to all vampires, barely masked by the scent of musk and pine. And of course, there was the lingering aura of magic that hung in the air, suggesting that a spell had been cast in the not too distant past.

It was Gyendal.

This couldn't be a good sign…

Focusing on his scent, she sprung off the edge of the wall in pursuit of it, leaping from roof to roof, the scent growing gradually stronger with every leap. She was getting closer. She only hoped that she wasn't too late to stop him.

A piercing scream filled the night air, alarming the owls perched nearby and sending them flying off. An urgency overcame her at the sound, fueling her to move even faster.

She was almost to the other end of town now, the district belonging to the town nobles. Fortunately for her, there weren't many houses in the particular district, only one or two, one of them more grand in stature than the other. There was no doubt in her mind which Gyendal had chosen to play host to.

"If you value your life, Darkthrop whelp, shut up!" a rich masculine voice echoed through the air.

He had definitely found who he was looking for.

She heard a voice reply to his, a feminine voice she noted, but she paid no attention to the words that were spoken, for she knew that, whatever they were, they surely didn't matter. Gyendal could only be distracted for so long before he grew impatient, and when he did… Well, it certainly wouldn't be pleasant…

Then she spotted them. Standing on the highest balcony of Clockwork Manor was the tall, broad-shouldered figure that could only be Gyendal, his face hidden behind a cloak identical to hers, and before him, held firmly in place by his two thugs, was a young girl, thin in build, with ebony black hair and dark blue eyes.

"Hyudren Tal Morvus!"

The portal appeared just as she landed on the neighboring rooftops. Time was running out, and she knew she needed to act quickly. The time it would take her to make the leap between the two roof's was all it would take for Gyendal to grab the girl and go.

"What is that thing?"

Gyendal turned back to face the girl, though irritated, he still seemed prepared to give her an answer.

Taking advantage of the opportunity given to her, she pulled an arrow out of her quiver and fitted it into her bow, aiming it at one of the thugs dressed in black. In the blink of an eye, the arrow was fired and soaring through the air, hitting its target within seconds.

The thug to the right let out a blood curdling scream as his body crumpled to ash. No sooner had he fallen, then she fitted another arrow in and fired it at the other. He too fell.

The girl let out a startled yelp, her eyes blinking rapidly as she stared at the piles of as on either side of her.

With them out of the way, she took her final leap, landing firmly on the other end of the balcony.

"Run, Girl!" Te'ijal shouted.

Luckily the girl had enough sense to do as she was told and ran as fast as she could, backing into a dark corner, a hand reached out to the door handle beside her, ready to leave if she should need to. Te'ijal wasn't sure whether to applaud the girl for her obedience or chastise her for being so foolish to think that she could actually outrun a vampire.

"You!" Gyendal spat, as he pulled at his hood, his long jet black hair blowing out around him as a sudden gust of wind came down upon them. Two dark red orbs bore into hers with such an intensity that it would've made any mortal shiver.

Fortunately for her, she was not mortal, and was not at all afraid of him.

"Hello, Gyendal," she greeted him nonchalantly, as if it were the most normal thing in the world. "Give me the orb, or join your friends."

"Never!"

She let out a small sigh. "I don't wish to kill you, brother. Do as I say, or perish!"

Glancing down at the swirling dark orb clutched in his hand, he raised it up, holding it out towards her. For a split second, Te'ijal thought that he would actually give it to her, but the moment she reached for it, he quickly retracted it and tucked it into one of the pockets in his cloak.

"You want the orb? Come and get it!" he taunted, his arms spread open wide, inviting her to come at him.

She gritted her teeth, searching his eyes for even the slightest hint of hesitation. When she failed to find any, she made up her mind. She had hoped that it would never come to this, but it seemed he left her no choice. The two of them would become enemies this time around.

And so they fought...

He managed to hold his own fairly well, only losing his footing once, as they fired arrows and spells at one another, both of them easily dodging the other's attacks. It continued that way for quite some time, neither of them dealing any damage.

However, Te'ijal soon noticed something most intriguing. As time wore on and with every spell he cast, Gyendal's magic seemed to grow weaker and weaker. This was not an ordinary occurrence. He was usually nigh unstoppable. Everyone in Ghed'ahre knew better than to challenge him to a magic duel.

"Your magic is weak in the Overworld!" she smirked at him.

It seemed that he too had noticed this, judging by the way his eyes narrowed at her remark.

"I can fight without it, sister."

Discarding their respective weapons, they transitioned into a much more primitive if not less dignified means of fighting. Lunging at one another, they tackled each other to the floor, kicking and pulling the other's hair like children fighting over a toy.

Rolling her eyes at this thought, she allowed her vampire instincts to take over, and pinning him down to the ground, plunged her teeth into his arm. His blood was ice cold, and held no particular taste to it, but still she let it slide down her throat. It wouldn't harm her, seeing as he shared the same blood as her, but the venom she injected into him… Well, that was a different story.

Gyendal howled with pain, pushing Te'ijal off of him and yanking his arm away. The wound itself had already begun to heal, but you could still see where she had bitten him.

"You'll pay for that!"

Te'ijal pushed herself upright into a standing position, watching as Gyendal did the same, feeling pleased with herself for besting him. "You never were much of a fighter."

By the time he had risen and had dusted himself off, the wound was all but gone. However, judging from the way he glared daggers at her, she could only assume that he could still feel the internal effects of it.

"This has only just begun," he seethed, his gaze flickering between her and the girl hiding behind her. "As for the girl… You cannot watch the whelp forever. I shall find her when you are not looking. She is mine, and when I am through with her, she will be worse than dead!"

Then, with a swish of his cloak, he turned and charged through the portal. Te'ijal started after him, but it closed before she could follow after.

"Curses," she swore.

Gyendal had gotten away, with the orb in his possession. This was not good… not good at all...

At the sound of the girl's frantic heartbeat, she realized that all hope was not lost. Gyendal may have the orb, but she had the girl, and he was sure to return for her. She didn't fully understand why he wanted her so badly, as she had a rather plain look about her, most of her skin streaked with filth.

Yet, if she focused hard enough on the girl, she could sense something… different… about her. It wasn't something that could be seen, but she could tell that there was definitely something special hidden deep inside of her, much like she had seen in Rhen, just waiting to burst through the surface. She knew in that moment that this girl was destined for great things.

"What's going on?! W-Who are you? Who were those men?" the girl stuttered as she cautiously began to approach.

Te'ijal easily caught on to what she was truly asking. It wasn't so much who they were that she wanted to know, but rather what they were. She would have to be blind not to realize that there was something inhuman about them after witnessing their fight, even from a distance.

"Vampires."

The girl let out a shaky scoff. "Vampires don't exist."

Te'ijal laughed. A typical mortal answer. It seemed that the mortals of this age were hopelessly ignorant towards the existence of vampires. She supposed that it was for the best, remembering the days of old when humans hunted them for sport.

Turning swiftly towards the girl, she opened her mouth to bare her fangs, a bit of Gyendal's blood still dripping from her fangs.

"Don't they?"

Startled by the sight, the girl screamed at the top of her lungs, and Te'ijal wasn't sure which was louder; this scream or the one she had let out when Gyendal tried to kidnap her.

"Vampire!" the girl started to back away, turning to run from her.

Te'ijal rolled her eyes. Humans could be so hopeless at times, making themselves easy prey. It was all too easy for her to reach out and grab her by the nape of the neck, plucking her off her feet and dangling her in mid air.

The girl, of course, chose to fight against her, despite the odds that were obviously against her. "Put me down!" she squirmed under Te'ijal's grip.

Te'ijal shook her head. "Not until you promise me that you won't run."

The girl continued to struggle against her for a few minutes before relenting. With a sigh, the girl sagged with defeat. "Okay, okay, I won't run."

Te'ijal set the girl back down, retracting her hand from the girl's neck. Much to her pleasure, the girl kept her word and did not run, taking a moment to massage the back of her neck before slowly turning back to face her.

"Fine! You're a vampire; they're vampires," the girl admitted at last. "Who are you? What's going on here?"

"My name is Te'ijal, and you have just had the privilege of playing the fool for my brother, Gyendal, and his thugs."

"I'm not a fool!"

Te'ijal pinched the bridge of her nose. This girl was starting to try her patience.

"I don't have time to argue with you, human!" she snapped. "You have just given my brother an orb with the power to destroy light!"

The human girl's eyes widened briefly before they narrowed once more. "That's insane. It was just a family heirloom."

"Your family heirloom, not his."

"I'm not a descendant of Mordred Darkthrop!" she insisted.

The girl was clearly in denial, not wanting to believe the inevitable truth of her dark heritage. Of course, she would have some knowledge of Mordred Darkthrop at the very least, seeing as he was the founder of the town.

As irritated as she was at the girl for slowing them down with all her questions, she still tried to reassure her as best she knew how.

"Being the scion of the most evil sorcerer in two-hundred-years does not make you a bad person."

"Lies!"

What an ungrateful little human she was… However, she chose to look past it for the time being, as she was reminded of the risks that came with them remaining in one place for too long.

"We don't have time to chat," Te'ijal pointed out, glancing up at the horizon where the sun would surely rise in a few hours' time. "My brother will be back soon, and you don't want to be here when he returns."

She imagined that Gyendal was back in Ghed'ahre, gathering reinforcements as they spoke. While she had managed to fight off Gyendal one on one, she wasn't so sure if she could take on him and his supporters all at once.

"We must leave the city," she continued. "I shall explain everything when we are safely hidden."

Thankfully, the girl didn't seem to oppose this.

"Where are we going?"

"Thais. I have friends there who will know what to do."

Yes, Thais would be a safe place to hide out until she could figure out their next course of action, but they would need to hurry. They had already wasted far too much time on talking, and she couldn't afford to let the human slow her down even more.

Grabbing hold of the girl's arm, Te'ijal pulled her into her side, securing a firm grasp on her. Then, before the girl could protest or even fathom what was about to happen, she leapt off the side of the balcony. To her, jumping from the top of a three storey building was nothing, but to the girl, it must have seemed like suicide based on the way she buried her face into the vampress' shoulder.

She needn't have bothered though, as they soon landed in the garden below with little to no impact, as if the fall had been much shorter than it really was.

Sensing that they were once more on solid ground, the girl hesitantly pulled her head up and looked around at the ground they were standing on before glancing up at where they had come from.

"Don't ever do that again!"

Ignoring her complaints, Te'ijal lifted the girl and slung her tiny frame over her shoulder before taking off into a run out of the city and back into the woods.

The girl put up a bit of a fuss at first, but it didn't take her long to realize that the arrangement probably was for the best. She tried to talk a bit as they ran, introducing herself, seeing as she hadn't before, as Mel.

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Mel Darkthrop."

"Just Mel!" Mel exclaimed angrily.

She was quiet after that, either because she was still angry about the remark, or because she found it hard to speak upside down with the blood rushing to her head. It suited Te'ijal just fine, regardless of the reason, for it allowed her to focus on where she was going.

They sped past trees, dodging branches left and right. A few of them scratched against Mel's dangling arms, leaving some minor cuts in their wake. Te'ijal found that her blood didn't smell all that appealing to her. It resembled that of a rabbit's, which had never been her favorite flavor.

Still, it wasn't good to leave her that way, as Te'ijal was pretty sure any vampire would be able to smell her from miles away, but at the same time, stopping to heal her meant wasting more time that they had very little of at the moment.

However, she soon found that she had no choice but to stop, when the smell of death filled the air again. She focused on it for a moment. There were two of them… Two thugs… They were stationed at the Thial Mountain Pass, ready to apprehend them when they came.

It would seem that they were trapped.

"What's going on? Why are we stopping?"

Crouching down a bit, she let Mel slide down from her shoulder and to the ground.

"They've found us, haven't they?"

Te'ijal nodded her head.

Mel began to panic, going on about how they were doomed. She even started beating herself up about the whole thing. While it was true that none of this would be happening if she hadn't given Gyendal the orb, Te'ijal recognized that the poor girl hadn't had much of a choice in the matter. Gyendal would have probably killed her had she refused to do as he wanted.

Te'ijal pondered the situation they were in for a few moments, trying to figure out a way around them. They didn't have many options, and even less that didn't involve putting Mel's life in too much danger. There was one option that seemed less risky than the others, and even then, it could still be risky, but it seemed their best bet.

"I must leave you now."

Mel's eyes widened. "What? You're just going to leave me here? Alone? With them?"

"Be a good rabbit and hide. I am going to lead my brother's men away from here," Te'ijal clarified. "Wait a while after I am gone, and then continue north to the Thial Mountain Pass. Once you reach the other side, you must head west to the Kingdom of Thais. There, you must seek out a man by the name of Ulaf. You should be able to find him at the School of War and Magic."

Reaching into her cloak pocket, she pulled out a couple of objects that she had prepared. One of them was a vial of water taken from the stream of Aveyond. The other was a letter that she had written before she left home, which she handed to Mel.

"Give Ulaf this note for me. He will keep you safe until I can return to collect you."

Mel took the note and stuffed it into her own pocket.

"Where are you going?"

Curious little rabbit, she was. The question seemed harmless enough though. She doubted that Mel would try to follow her, and even if she did, she wouldn't be able to get past the gate.

"I must return home for the time being and retrieve my husband," she told her. "He has escaped again."

Mel's brows scrunched up with confusion. "You're married? Er … Your husband escaped?"

Te'ijal laughed at the rabbit's reaction. Such amusing expressions she bore. "It's a long story."

Indeed it was, but now was not the right time to tell it.

"Good luck with that."

Te'ijal handed her the vial of holy water, instructing her how to use it and advising her not to go out on particularly dark nights. Gyendal's magic was known to be stronger when the moon and stars were hidden by thick clouds. Seeing as how he had lost tonight, she imagined that he would probably wait until such a night to strike again.

She tried to prepare the rabbit as best as she could, feeling confident in Mel's chances of survival. The girl had survived on the streets of Harburg for most of her life, after all. Getting herself to Thais shouldn't be too difficult if everything went according to plan.

"I have one last gift for you."

Before Mel could even process what she was doing, Te'ijal bit into her own wrist, and pressed it to Mel's lips. The rabbit pulled a face as the cold thick liquid seeped into her mouth, but she obliged and forcibly swallowed it down.

Not too long after she had done so, then the cuts on her arms began to heal, vanishing completely from sight.

"H-How did that…"

"You don't want to know," she cut Mel off.

Then, without further delay, she left the girl, running once more at full speed towards the Mountain Pass.