Yo! I am very very sorry for the late update and because I was so late in updating I made this chapter extra long! I hope you will all enjoy reading it.
As for the disclaimer, yes konami still owns suikoden.
Snake: will you just show your cards or give up!
M2D: fine shows cards
Snake: damn!
M2D: eat that mr.mustachio full house!
Snake: don't diss the mustache pulls out his gun
M2D: yes sir…
A flock of doves flew through the air, no bird of prey or strong wind was present to stop their graceful glide through the cloud filled sky, they fluttered their tiny wings causing a feather or two to fall down to the earth. One of those white feathers slowly descended towards the landscape belonging to the Dunan Army, which was now a witness to a bloody battle.
This battle like many others was unfair, not to the four frightening strangers but to the pack of monstrous wolves that were bigger in size than normal wolves and to the female human like lesser demon that led them. Two wolves ran swiftly through the grass lands, fangs bared and claws ready to rip their enemy, but it seems they were unwise to choose the enigmatic winger for an adversary.
One of wolves jumped to the side of the winger while the other took the front side of their dark winged prey. To this behavior, Sid only gave a sadistic smile before he partly spread his black wings and did a three hundred and sixty spin, slamming the blunt side of his spear into the wolf that was in front of him, and greeting his companion with the blade of the spear.
The short sharp blade of the spear easily pierced through the furry neck of the wolf, causing it to give a wallowing yelp of pain, but it was cut short when the creepy long haired winger impaled the wolf to the ground. While this happened the other wolf slowly began to recover from the shock the blunt object has given it and jumped at the ignorant winger's back.
Another side of the battle involved Bob the lycanthrope and three grey wolves that surrounded him; they growled and barked, in an attempt to scare the lycanthropic warrior. Not intimidated by their actions, Bob charged at the wolf in front of him ignoring the rest of the fanged beasts.
Holding his staff with his two hands he quickly slammed one of its ends into the right side wolf's head, continuing this move by raising his staff upwards then slamming it with a roar into the grey monster's forehead. Not even giving it time to yelp in pain, Bob quickly stepped into the grey beast's left side and launched a swift kick towards the wolf's injured head causing it to fly a few feet away from the raging lycanthrope.
Picking up the sound of the two wolves running towards him, he grabbed the end of his staff and did a one hundred and eighty spin, smashing the other end into one of his enemies head, not ending the move their, Bob gave more strength to his arms and swung the wolf hit by his staff into its companion.
As one of them began to regain it senses, it only found the end of the lycanthrope's staff bashing his head in. Bob soon continued his assault, slamming the tip of his staff into the grey furred beast countless times, aiming upwards, downwards and to the side keeping the monster airborne with his countless hits. His weapon hitting random spots on the wolf's body, finally he pulled back on his staff to get enough momentum and then released his blunt weapon into the beaten wolf's body finishing it off.
His ears warned him once more, forcing the lycanthropic warrior to turn to his side. Only to see a raging wolf lunging at him with full force, Fangs bared and ready to rip anything apart.
Not far away, the Coven Mistress 'played' with the 'cute puppies' or so she thought of them. Evading their relentless attacks with minor effort as if she anticipated every move they made. One of them ran towards her aiming to bite her arm with his sharp fangs. But his teeth only met air as he saw her a few inches away. Another jumped at her hungering to latch into her neck with his killer jaws.
To this she simply lowered her head a bit, just enough to avoid her attacker with pure elegance. A third wolf, hoping to catch her off guard, jumped at her from the back, to the grey furred attacker, it seemed that his fangs would soon meet flesh, but at that moment its teeth only bit into air. To his left, Sierra stood showing no sign of previous movement as if she teleported there.
Before the wolf could land on his feet, the Blue moon rune bearer raised her hand into the sky and brought it down on the wolf's exposed upper neck. Cutting through the fanged beast's flesh, meat and bone with ease, when her hand reached the end of the wolfs lower neck its head fell down and rolled towards its other comrades, accompanying it was an eruption of red blood from its beheaded body.
The other wolves looked at their companions lifeless head, knowing from the stench of blood that filled the air that it was dead. Their growls got louder and more ferocious, eyes glared at the one who killed their friend. Sierra simply stared at them, her lazy smile not leaving her pale face. "How cute" she said in a low whisper like voice.
Charging towards the vampire queen, one of the three wolfs jumped at her, his aim was her neck, while the other planned to assault her lower body. This make shift plan made by their hunter like minds seemed perfect, but to sierra this was merely…"child's play". Those words were released from her lips as she jumped into the air meeting the airborne monster face to face, at that moment she smiled at the wolf before he could do anything to her and brought her arm back and quickly extended it forward, at the same time piercing through the grey wolf's chest and coming out of its back, causing the creatures blood to gush out of the forcefully made hole in its chest like a red waterfall.
She pulled her hand out just as fast as she placed it in, giving the chance to more of the red liquid to leak out of the now dead beast. Its body tumbled to the ground, upon lying on the grassy carpet, the pool of blood that surrounded its body left a red stain on the land that was smothered with greenery.
Upon landing she placed her feet on the back of one of the wolves that attempted to assault her from the ground. Using its furry grey body as leverage to throw her self in the air once more, while in the air she elegantly side flipped to the right of the raging beasts, her glide like motion through the air soon ended as soon as her white shoes touched the blood drenched ground, causing a light ripple to rumble through the pool of blood.
At that point the two monstrous wolves came to a complete halt and shifted their eerie yellow eyes to the girl clad in white who at that time didn't seem to look in their direction, her attention was stolen by something else or someone else, quickly sinking their teeth into this chance the two bloodthirsty beasts ran toward the pale girl, their objective: to make sure that their enemy will become their dinner.
The one to snatch the vampire queen's gaze was the Dark Knight Pesmerga; his silent, dreaded advance toward the lesser demon and the two monstrous wolves next to her was to Sierra a more interesting sight than the sight of her enemies.
Glaring and barking at the knight of darkness, the two wolves hoped to at least make him fall into a pit of hesitation. But to no avail the steps of the vengeful knight did not stop, their almost soundless trampling on the grass beneath them sent a chill down the demon's spine. The lesser demon immediately motioned her henchman to attack and watched them as they dashed towards the man in black armor.
Pesmerga reacted simply by drawing his runic broad sword from its sheath. Holding the weapon in his right hand, he simply let his hand fall by his side. Not even bothering to get into stance to face his opponents. He simply stood in place, awaiting the two beasts to draw near.
In those few moments Pesmerga's vengeance obsessed mind took a ride on his hate filled train of thought. Drifting upon thoughts of the vampire queen who he started this pact with, does she have a clue where Yuber is? Or might appear? Is she taking this seriously? Is she toying with him? These thoughts only seemed to serve as food for his hungry flame of rage. He halted the stroll through his trail of thoughts and jumped back to realty to see the two grey beasts that were quite a distance away from him, airborne and only a few inches away from his body.
Almost instantly the dark knight raised his double bladed weapon, so that the hilt of his sword would reach his shoulder level and pulled back at it with all his might then unleashed it upon the head of the grey wolf that was on his right side with a fierce diagonal slash. The sword cut through the fanged monster's body with ease, drawing blood at the instant it made contact, causing a multitude of drops of the red liquid to splash on the black armor of Pesmerga.
Not wasting a moment, the vengeful knight with a twist of his wrist changed the position of his King Crimson and delivered a swift diagonal slash that was aimed to the sky. Slicing through the grey furred attacker on its way to its highest possible reach, causing another out burst of blood to connect with armor of the knight of darkness, making the sword wielding knight look like a blood drenched demon.
Saying that the vampire queen would end up like those two lifeless wolves now lying beneath his feet would be a lie, for if it turns out that she is toying with him, Pesmerga made a resolve to make her death much more painful, but before he could go on with his after battle thoughts, he heard a loud screech and as the knight of darkness looked towards the direction the sound came from, he only saw flames engulfing him in a massive blazing inferno of red and yellow.
Noticing that blazing fire was very easy, but to a person like Sid who was still not even caring about his adversary, who was at the moment ready to bite into his back, that flame was only something to be ignored, just as the distance closed between Sid and the wolf, the creepy winger spun around while extending his left leg delivering a swift spin kick to the grey furred beast.
Not taking any permanent damage from that attack, the monstrous wolf slowly regained its composure and looked around. Its yellow eyes scanning the area to find the spear wielding fighter, but to its dismay no sign of the winger was found, it was as if he phased into thin air.
Suddenly a shock of pain ran through the wolf's back, not even having the time to see what caused it or when it happened, blood gushed out of the wound and kept pouring into the ground and there stood the winger, smiling sadistically as he gripped his spear firmly, impaling the beast to the ground. No sound was heard from that area of the battle except for a frightening, dreaded laugh.
The wicked smell of blood filled the nostrils of Bob as he saw the raging wolf latch into his left arm with its large fangs "Damn it! I'll make ya pay for that!" shouted Bob his voice rich with the tone of anger.
The lycanthropic warrior held his bitten arm up high and threw his weapon into the air with his right hand. In an instant he swung back his fist in a half circle to get enough power and in one full swing he unleashed his punch into the exposed abdomen of the grey beast. The sound that resulted from the lycanthrope's knuckles crashing into the body of the wolf would be complimented if it was called sickening.
After that attack the grey wolf's jaws no longer had any pressure on Bob's arm, the reason he was held up in the air was gone and so its body quickly surrendered to the power of gravity and fell to the grass filled land with a thud, its eyes still open, their final stare was that of pain and agony.
Her eyes did not miss a single movement the dark knight made. Just recently she has witnessed as he disappeared in a wild fire that has fully stripped his appearance from her. To this she could only feel a stream of excitement running through her body, threatening to change into a dangerous flood. But before she could continue her enjoyment she sensed the two grey wolves that she ignored a few moments ago get closer to her.
"Must someone always ruin my fun…" she said with a sigh of anger as she faced her backside and extended her arm. She started to focus on the rune placed on her forehead. The rune glowed in response to her command and showed its thunder like appearance, in no time at all Sierra's hand emitted a lightening like blast, that began its travel across the land ripping the grassy surface from under it, as it made its path to the enemies it was directed to, brimming with a whitish blue hue.
With no chance to stop or evade, the beasts witnessed as the electric spell ran through them. Frying their bodies changing what was once grey into a coal like black, killing them in seconds not even allowing them the time to release any screams of pain and despair.
The lesser demon watched on as her flame continued to assault the knight of darkness. By now she expected that she would not find a trace of his existence. But it seems that she was too taken in by the meager power of her simple fire spell, slowly but surely a dark figure started to materialize in the blazing flame, slowly he began to walk out of the ball of fire, Pesmerga's solid figure stood out of the flame, his armor showed no sign of burns what so ever, as if he was not even inside that blazing inferno.
Holding the hilt of his broad sword in his two hands, he began to run towards the lesser demon, His movement was not that of a man who carried that bulking armor over his body, but it was the stride of a man who seemed unburdened by any weight.
Fear started to fill the wicked heart of the demoness; the dark knight she deemed dead ran towards her, his sword clutched and his body moving as if it had not suffered any injury. That fear slowly triggered panic; acting under the command of that emotion she started screeching, causing fiery explosions of red and yellow flames to erupt from the ground.
Each blast was close to catching its target but never close enough, flames appeared randomly to the right and left side of the dark knight, but he did not seem to care as he continued his blaze ridden path towards the lesser demon. When he was in range to strike, Pesmerga pulled his sword to the edge of his right side and in one swing he delivered a horizontal slash with all his might, letting his broad sword cut through the light purple skin of the lesser demon, spilling blood that shared a somewhat similar color to the female demon's skin excluding the fact that it was a bit darker.
In less than a second the sword came out of the other side of the purple skinned lesser demon, cleaving her in half. Pesmerga watched as the upper body fell from its place and met the ground. Causing a flood of dark purple blood to spell out of the massive opening covering the cleaved demon in a pool of purple separating it from the ocean of green grass, the lower body tumbled to the ground as well, letting an eruption of blood cover the armor of the dark knight.
Not bothering to take another look at his dead enemy. Pesmerga sheathed his King Crimson and turned around; his cape spinning about as he did, then he slowly began his silent embark from the battle field marred with blood. At the same time Sierra gave him one of her trademark smiles, that she made sure he had seen, knowing before the response came that he would ignore her. Bob grabbed his weapon as it started to descend from the short flight it took and looked towards the vengeful warrior. Sid slowly removed his deadly pole arm from the dead monster, observing sadistically as blood gushed from the wound as his spear was released from it, then he got up, his creepy smile never wavering.
The four figures treaded through the lifeless battle field. Their paths slowly yet surely meeting, the road they walked would lead them to the trade town of Radat, The first stop in their malice motivated journey.
As they stepped into the famous trade town, they saw scattered groups of people all around the shop district of this town. Some were bickering with the salesmen about the high prices, others were merely window-shopping and another group was trying to inquire on information. All this was taking place above the paved streets of the building infested city, under the cloud filled azure sky. The many different people that walked the city were easily recognized by the way they dressed, rich nobles were dressed in fine robes that were bright in color and clean in surface, while the less fortunate labor workers donned dirty tunics that had almost lost whatever color they possessed, on the other hand, merchants differed the most some were dressed like rich men in fine cloths that showed their prosperity and the other type wore travel ready tunics of green and brown, prepared to take on the harsh weather and the long travel hours.
The four warriors treaded through the crowded streets of the trade town, sticking out like a sour thumb in the middle of the casual looking masses that surrounded them, Pesmerga probably stood out the most, his damaged black and silver armor attracted the eyes of many for a slight moment before he glared their stares away. Sierra on the other hand was welcomed by heart stroke gazes of many men, who did not know her true nature but before they even considered talking to her, the look of her companions drove off any romantic ideas out of their heads. The creepy winger on the other hand was the one doing the staring, his eyes shifting to all directions, as if he was studying his surrounding, frightening many in the process. Bob on the other hand was glaring at the people who gave him dirty looks, actually hoping that they'd try to start something.
"What the hell do you expect to find in this damn place?" asked Bob, as he started wrapping a bandage made out of white cloth around his bitten arm, his tone of speech a mix of doubt and anger.
"The hired help doesn't need to know everything" spoke the vampiress in a sarcastic and mocking way of speech, her movement through the busy street, graceful and elegant, her steps not too wide or too small, causing more eyes to fall upon her.
"Shut the hell up with the servant crap!" shouted Bob, drawing many suspicious and frightened eyes towards him, his glaring orbs never rested from returning these gazes back at the people who sent them.
"First you want me to talk, then you want to shut up…make up your mind servant" replied Sierra to the lycanthropic warrior as she pushed a few hairs away from her face.
Bob growled at Sierra, while he strengthened his grip on his staff. Glaring at the vampiress with sheer rage and anger in his brown orbs, his ultimate desire at this moment was to beat some respect into her head, but he knew that this was a wish he would not receive unless a miracle would intervene.
The queen of vampires simply smiled at Bob's reaction, enjoying this display of displeasure that he showed at this moment, but alas she had no time to fool around with the 'silly lycanthrope' for she had more important matters to attend to.
Without warning Sid separated himself from the group by swiftly walking on a different path, he didn't even bother to say a word to give a clue to where he was heading. Noticing this Bob was about to tell his other companions about the wingers sudden change of direction, but he noticed that they weren't around him either.
Feeling ignored and unwanted, Bob's anger increased by ten folds, which resulted in the clenching of his fists and the appearance of a sudden murderous look in his brown eyes, his facial features quickly shifted into those of man possessed by anger, obviously his façade was reflecting the emotions that ran amok inside of his soul.
"DAMN YOU ALL!" screamed the lycanthrope, his voice echoing to the farthest ends of the crowded city.
Moving through the crowds like a specter, not a sound was made from his armor as he walked on the stone paved street. Pesmerga's eyes shifted to the left side of the road, noticing a couple of shops that had to do with arms, armors and the like, each shop was similar to its neighbor, all of them were made by grey stones, while a wooden roof covered the tops of the buildings. The sounds of hammers slamming into metal rang through the whole street, annoying some of the walkers while attracting others to come and see what goods these shops had to offer.
Putting his focus to what was in front of him once more, ignoring these shops, as if he had a premonition that to him that they didn't have what he needed, continuing his stroll through the streets, he slowly began leaving the busy paths and started entering the shady part of this town. The streets started to lose their tidiness and the buildings that came across his eyes had some cracks or marks of age, the only people who walked in this part of Radat either looked like thieves or beggars. The only similarity they had with the many merchants and nobles was that they yielded the same look for the knight of darkness, one of fear and worry for their lives.
Before he could move on from this neighborhood a sudden bang of a hammer hitting metal stole a small portion of his attention. He barely turned his head to the right to see an old building, its roof made out of metal that shone against the midmorning sun, the stone walls of the building showed the scars of time all over them. As if he was lead by pure instinct, Pesmerga stepped into this old building that was the source of the noise that attracted his senses.
As he entered the building, the dark knight saw a man who appeared to be in his early fifties, pounding at a sword on his anvil with vigor and keenness, from the ring it self Pesmerga knew that this old man was skilled. Living for hundreds of years gave him a knack for finding talented blacksmiths among the lesser practitioners of this noble skill.
"What do you want?" spoke the old man as he stopped to push the many drops of sweat that accumulated over his forehead and were threatening to fall over his eyes, his grey hair was pulled back in a short pony tail, a beard covered half of his facade its color similar to that of his hair along with a few wrinkles that seemed to have gathered on his face.
"I want you to fix my armor…" spoke Pesmerga in his usual emotionless tone of speech, cutting to the chase immediately.
The old blacksmith looked at the taller knight in black armor while he stroked his unshaved chin, then he went back to his anvil where he delivered five smacks to the sword he was working on, after that he quickly cooled it down in his water container, causing steam to irrupt from the liquid as soon as the hot metal touched its surface.
"You know that this is going to cost you…" said the old man as he placed the sword on a handle and sat down on a short wooden stool.
In one swing of his hand, Pesmerga threw a brown leather sack at the old man, almost as if he saw this coming the old blacksmith caught the sack and shook it in his hand, and then he shoved it under his working garb, it almost seemed that both Pesmerga and this old man shared an invisible conversation and have already established a deal.
"Hey boy! Wake up damn it!" shouted the blacksmith, grabbing his hammer and looking at the backroom of his store.
In a second a young man came dashing out of the room "yes sir" he mumbled as he stopped in front of his master, the lad was in his early teens, messy brown hair covered the top of his head and some black stains covered his face as well as his work apron.
Letting out a long dry sigh the old blacksmith scribbled a few names on a small piece of paper and handed it to his apprentice "get them from the usual place" he said as he pushed the boy out of the shop in haste.
Pesmerga simply started to unbuckle the almost unseen belts of his damaged black armor and then he began to take it off. When he was done with removing it from his body he slowly placed it on the ground and stood there as silent as he was before. His eyes moved towards the forge next to the anvil, the sizzling embers and flames sparked, reflecting upon the front side of his helmet, it was as if this flame signified the ever burning hatred in his heart. In this moment he went back to his thoughts, everything around him disappeared, except for the fire; it was always there, always.
Several voices came rushing back to him from the distant past, they spoke his name constantly. Each voice different, some harsh as the rumbling of the ground, some soft as a breeze of wind. Many faces sled into his memory, sorrow was the only emotion that these facades showed him. Was it sorrow for him? Sorrow for what he is going though? Was it pity? He did not care; he simply continued staring into the burning flame.
'Soon I will avenge you all…' he thought, emotions of hatred and malice gripped his soul ever so tightly at that moment '…and no one shall sorrow his death…' he continued his thought, the pain he felt accumulated as he recalled those memories and dwelled upon these feelings. At these moments he was always and constantly reminded that the path he has chosen will constantly make him suffer.
Burning and consuming the pieces of wood offered to it to stay alive, was a bright flame in the chimney of a store not far away from the old blacksmith's place. Behind the old wooden counter that started to lose its color thanks to the passage of time, was a man wearing a simple brown leather vest over a white shirt, his pants were darker than his vest, that was almost similar to the color of his eyes and hair.
The store vendor was looking at old records of deliveries, sales and the like, obviously trying to pass away the time, because it seemed that he had nothing better to do. He yawned as he turned away from the papers and looked around his store in boredom, hoping that a customer would stop by and purchase something from this old antique store of his.
Suddenly the store clerk was alerted by a thundering noise that shredded the silence that has loomed over his workplace, he traced the sound to the window but he did not move because of the fear that has taken over his body. Forcing him to remain paralyzed in his wooden chair.
When nothing happened, he began to calm down and relax, the feeling of fright that have consumed him for a few moments dripped away from his soul ever so slowly, but then a creepy laugh echoed through the whole store causing all the fear and despair to find its path back into the shop vendor's cowardly heart.
He got up and started running toward the door of his shop in hasty and nervous strides, but before he could exit his store a long haired figure blocked his path, a wicked smile was on Sid's face and his spear was held in one hand and was balanced on his shoulder.
"Take whatever you want! But please don't kill me! Please take it all" pleaded the frightened shop keeper, the terror in his body and soul now fully grasped control over all of his actions, causing tears to bloom from his eyes, tears of fear, agony and despair, while he waved his hands fanatically obviously noting the contents of the store.
"I want to buy something" said Sid in a wicked tone of speech, his constant laughing did not stop as he passed by the shop keeper and walked into the store, looking at the many objects and antiques it offered for sale.
"Oh…well..um welcome…Sir. Are you here for something specific" sighed the shop keeper as he spoke those words that were cut short at times by his deep breaths of relief and embarrassment.
Sid's eyes shifted all over the store, as if he knew what he was looking for, but he couldn't find it, but still he kept silent not counting his creepy laughs that haunted the shop from time to time.
Recognizing Sid's behavior, thanks to his years of experience with many different types of customers, the shop keeper walked behind his table and started pulling open the drawers connected to his table, taking out various items of different shapes and sizes from the drawers, hoping that his new customer would find what he was looking for in one of these items.
The winger's eyes fell upon the table after he had searched through the many different items of the shop, his orbs failing to recognize anything similar to what he desired, but suddenly his eyes fell on the dagger placed next to a pot and an old emblem 'this is it' thought the winger as he grinned at his reflection in the oddly shaped old dagger.
Looking more like a ritual tool than a weapon, its edge was wavy on both sides, the blade it self had many strange markings, ranging from lines to strange letters in an ancient language, the color of the blade was no different from other daggers. The hilt was no exception in design, excluding the fact that those markings were made on a leather hide wrapped around the whole hilt.
"This…" spoke Sid in a sinister tone of speech, his lips parting in a creepy smile that showed his teeth as he made a swift grab at the weapon, grabbing it before the store vendor could react.
"Uh yes…good choice sir…but…I don't think you're the type who could affor…" spoke the salesman in fear of what kind of reaction he would receive from the creepy winger, but before he could ponder any further on that trail of thought, the sound of coins slamming against each other filled his ears, looking towards the direction the sound came from, he found a brown leather bag filled with coins on his wooden table.
"Th-thank you sir this will be more than…" Again the storekeeper's words were cut short when he turned to look at his new customer but found nothingness instead.
Bob walked through the crowded streets of Radat, the number of people, accompanied by the shouts and screams of the traders only served to fuel the anger inside of him. The squall on his face did a good job of warning all the people in front of him to move out of his way. His mind pondering the reason behind joining his new companions which did not help his enraged state, he held his staff even tighter as his thoughts went back to Sierra, the one who persuaded him to join this group 'that damn vampire…asking me to come along then ditching me like this' thought Bob as he continued his slow stride through the busy roads of this town.
As he went through the populated roads, a very familiar scent dug its way into his nostrils making him forget about all the smells around him. Following the lead of his acute nose, the lycanthropic warrior slowly pushed through the humans around him with almost no effort at all, his steps firm and swift, making his way through corners, streets and dark alleyways, finally Bob found himself stopping near a meat stand. It was not surprising for him to be lured here by the smell of meat, for his hunger has reached its peak, because he did not satisfy himself with a single meal since the time Sierra "talked him into" joining this group.
The stand was stationed near the entrance of an alley, Bob having emerged from that man made crack between the buildings, has allowed a bit of suspicion to sneak its way into the heart of the young owner, the butcher appeared to be in his early twenties, he had long dark brown hair that was cut short at the edges, a white shirt matching his trousers and apron along with a few blood stains that were painted over his working uniform. His skin was partially tanned thanks to the hot sun and the color of his eyes was a bit darker than that of his skin.
Before he decided to speak any words at all to the owner of the stand, Bob's head turned from left to right swiftly 'She better not ruin this for me…' thought Bob "damn her!" speaking out loud this time, starting a ripple of weird looks to be directed to him from the pond of people that stood in those noisy streets.
'Great …a guy that has a problem with his woman, it's just my luck to get a customer like this' thought the man behind the meat stand, as he tried his best to not look at the wolf lycanthrope, hoping that this particular customer wouldn't notice him.
"HEY! Ya damn runt! Don't look away from me bitch! Gimmie a piece of meat before I rip one of ya instead" shouted Bob; his voice bearing anger and annoyance at the same time, making the look on his face completely match his tone.
"Uh…yeah…um…right away" mumbled the butcher in haste as he grabbed his knife with his right hand and started cutting away at a massive piece of meat that was hanged by a metal claw behind his stand, his left hand grabbing the object that is being subjected to the cutting to bestow balance upon it 'great…had to piss him off by ignoring him…damn it...he wasn't going to disappear if I looked away, I better get used to dealing with his type' the butcher's lane of thought carried him on about this and that, Not stopping a bit to even concentrate on what he was doing but surprisingly the outcome of his unfocused work was a clean chunk of meat any customer would be glad to have.
He then grabbed product of his work and handed it to his impatient customer, who almost took away the young butcher's hand off when he lashed to grab what he was waiting for 'sheeesh…some thanks I get from…' before he could conclude another ride on his usually treaded road of thought, he saw what teleported him back to reality. Bob munching away at the raw piece of meat like a wild animal, his hands sinking into it while his fangs and teeth grinded away.
This particular action earned the messy haired warrior even more looks of suspicion from the people on this street; did he not care or not notice how he was being stared at? That was a question that swam through the heads of the merchants and villagers around Bob but one thing was clear in their minds, it was clearly better to keep a large distance between them and this man.
After finally finishing his meal, the lycanthropic warrior licked his fingers clean and then placed his hand into his pocket and pulled out a clenched fist instead that he opened over the wooden counter of the stand, letting a small barrage of silver coins scatter over the smoothed wood. Then Bob continued his slow stride through the town of Radat, taking his time to glare back at every single person who even looked his way.
In another part of the town, a crowded inn stood proudly, neighboring many shops and markets. Like the buildings it stood next to, it was primarily composed of walls made of bricks along with a solid wooden roof, a decent number of windows were aligned on the ground floor, if one would look above he would see the same number of windows above the first line, all of them were covered with fine red curtains that seemed to do a fine job of blocking away the sun.
'Perfect' thought Sierra as she made her way towards the building in an elegant manner, all the orbs that were aimed at her could swear she was the daughter of a noble or even a king or maybe she had some ties with royalty and they were right, she was and still is a queen.
Inside the Inn, traders of noble ilk could be seen by the dining tables consuming expensive meals and chatting over the many business deals they have made, the troubles they have faced and of course what little adventures they had let it be against the elements or the long roads but among the young bachelors of the merchants there was another popular subject to be discussed and it was 'women' how many have they've been with, how beautiful they were and whatever there was to discuss about them.
These discussions and talks appeared to be unending, it surely seemed that nothing would disturb the flight of these words under the wooden sky of this inn, but as the wooden door of the inn opened slowly, and residents of the inn saw the beautiful pale woman step in, all their jaws ceased movement, giving the phantom of silence the opportunity to haunt this inn. The men inside the building wasted no time in noticing every detail of this girl's movement or cloths as she gracefully made her way towards the dark colored wooden counter of the inn, All of them were about to get up and talk to her but when they noticed that one of them has already made his way towards her they all halted and sat back down, obviously he got up once he saw her enter the inn and didn't even wait to study her well enough.
"Excuse me miss" these three words interrupted the coven mistress as she was about to speak to the innkeeper, she turned to see who addressed her to find a man obviously well within his late twenties, long pushed back black hair came down a bit further than his shoulders, a well trimmed mustache covered the space between his upper lip and nose, his orbs had a greenish color that matched his long trench coat that covered his white shirt and grey pants.
"Yes?" answered Sierra in an orchestrated innocent tone, as she turned to face the merchant who desired many things beside speaking to her, she had already read his mind and saw what he craved from her so there was really no need to bother with his kind, nonetheless she decided to have a little 'fun' with him.
"Have I seen you before? If I may say I would never forget a beauty such as you" spoke the trader in a faked romantic tone, as if he was returning the favor.
"No, I don't think so, you see I live far away from here" responded Sierra not letting up on the innocent tone of speech she equipped when she took part in this conversation; she also acted as if she was in deep thought, adding a bit more body language to her performance 'honestly! For the past one thousand years haven't men taken the time to think up a better line than (have I seen you before?)' remarked the pale girl mentally, wondering what has really changed in these years that has passed over this land.
"Oh but I am sure we have met before…you see I travel a lot as well, I've been to Rockaxe, Highland and I've also been to Greenhill" The man stroked his hair back as he continued his speech, hoping that news of his travels would impress Sierra.
"Hmmm that might be true sir, you see I have been to some of these places as well" said the vampire queen as she placed her right hand near her face, letting her finger tips touch her bottom lip, Not planning to stop toying with this fool yet.
"I knew it, how about it we discuss this over some tea? It may bring back a few memories of our prior meeting" These words were ejected from the romancing merchant quit quickly, although this did not surprise the vampiress not one bit, for she knew that he passed judgment on her from her features, those of a sixteen year old.
"Oh that would be wonderful but…" The coven mistress paused in mid speech, making her last word trail off in a sad tone, knowing that this will make the trader more anxious to hear what she had to say next.
"What is it? Is something the matter my lady?" questioned the black haired merchant as he showed a false worry filled frown on his face.
"Well it's nothing really I just forgot I had to get rooms for my husband and brother before they came here" answered Sierra, giving the merchant an innocent smile worthy of his act of worry for her.
"Your husband and brother?" the merchant showed with these words the first true emotions he felt since the beginning of the conversation with Sierra, those feelings were of fear and embarrassment 'great she's married and she also has her brother along with her…with my luck her husband probably treats her in the wrong way…but I can't ask her that I'll just have to work my way to that question' thought the mustached merchant before anymore words could escape from his mouth.
Prying through the merchants thoughts, the coven mistress saw what he has planed for his next move. Even if she has not ran through his thoughts her next role in this game would have been already decided whether he chose to continue this game or to forfeit it "is something wrong?" asked Sierra her tone unchanged from before but this time her face carried the mask of false worry.
"No its nothing my lady…so you tell me your husband is with you, what does he do?" questioned the young merchant, hoping that this little enquiry of his would be the first stepping stone in his journey to reach the ambitions of his lust.
"Well he didn't tell me exactly what his job is…but he always told me that his job constantly kept his hands dirty" Her acting and facial expressions blended quite well with her impersonated naïve tone, at the same time noticing the involuntary changes in the merchant's facial features as he heard those few words that have quickly obliterated all his hopes and dreams of getting a slightest chance with her.
"How…interesting…" Speaking those words felt like swallowing sand to the young bachelor who was now trying to recompose himself to make a swift retreat, obviously he planed to escape before his body would give any sign of what he was feeling now "oh I totally forgot about a meeting with…some fellow partners…yes…if you'll excuse me once again my lady" continued the merchant this time a hint of nervousness accompanying his usual tone, wasting no time in walking towards the door in fast steps as soon as he finished laying his words to his now former target of the day. Not even bothering to wait for a reply from the vampiress.
Mentally giggling at the poor fool, Sierra felt a bit amused, but the feeling that was holding hands with that slightly happy emotion was that of grief 'is this how men of this era act?' she asked her self rhetorically 'it feels so much different from the way you treated me…each word you said…about us…felt so true' continued sierra on the terrain of lamenting memories of her past love, driving away all other emotions she felt at this time except for the longing for him.
'No…I am not fit to think of you anymore…because with this hand I…' Sierra stared at her right hand; the feeling of sadness that flowed through her soul at this moment suspended her motion along with her mental awareness. Leaving her in these mournful moments an empty shell, this feeling of misery slowly yet surely threatened to devour her; to leave her as she is at the moment, a soulless puppet with no strings. At first she showed no sign of fighting back this emotional invader but before this legion of grief could continue its trek, an image from her memory halted this foul hurricane of depression; a mental vision of the dark knight she was accompanying was summoned before her 'yes…you'd probably leave me here if I broke down…that's what you want? Isn't it?' she continued her mental conversation, ignoring all her surroundings.
'Sorry to disappoint you because you're stuck with me until we are done with our little promise…. ' at this time an eruption of confidence and determination burned all the traces of sadness that advanced further than her subconscious 'I've been through a lot I won't let a memory of the past destroy me' those words quickly returned her to reality, the same boring reality she lived in for almost a thousand years.
Turning to face the innkeeper behind the wooden counter, Sierra's eyes fell upon a man who appeared to be in his early forties, his light brown hair was combed back, not leaving a single bang to lean over his forehead, his cloths appeared to be only fit to be worn by a man of wealth and who wouldn't be wealthy if they owned a successful inn like this; they consisted of a green jacket, along with a white shirt that could be seen under the jacket, the shirt was also decorated with a lot of black markings that made it look like a painting more than a piece of simple attire, his pants shared the color of his jacket, his eyes stared at the vampiress like they would to any other customer, a look that held only neutrality, they gave a clear message to who was perceptive enough "you pay the right price, we offer the right services."
"I would like to rent four rooms" spoke the vampiress, this time speaking in her normal tone of speech instead of putting up an act.
"Sorry we only have three rooms left" replied the innkeeper to her request in a tone that did not touch the border of any specific emotion, while he checked through the list of rooms that was in front of him.
"Fine, I'll take them" the blue moon rune bearer crossed her arms over her chest as she spoke those words 'we'll have to work something out' she said to her self mentally.
"How long will you be staying?" asked the old innkeeper as he grabbed the pen that was flat on his wooden desk, while with his other hand he opened his lodge book to a blank page.
"We'll leave tomorrow at night" said the vampire queen casually, as she snatched the pen from the middle aged man's hand and signed the lodge book.
Then the brown haired man turned to his cabinet that seemed like a forest of keys seen from above and handed the vampiress three metal keys, his expression still unchanged "the rooms are on the second floor, they are to the right of the stairs" spoke the innkeeper his tone of speech not showing any sign of change.
"Do you trust your guests so much that you give them the keys to the rooms before they even pay you?" said Sierra as she shook the keys in her hand emitting a metallic ringing sound from them.
"No, lets just say I know some people like your husband that owe me a few favors and who wouldn't mind handling none paying customers" replied the innkeeper ever so casually "you can pay before you leave" he continued as he closed the lodge book.
Sierra simply smiled as she placed the pen back on the inn keeper's table and began her trip to the stairs that were on the left side of the counter "oh I almost forgot, my friends should come to this place later on, please direct them to our rooms" spoke Sierra as she started scaling the stairs upwards.
"How will I know them?" asked the innkeeper in a voice dipped in boredom, his hands busy wiping the wooden table in front of him, giving his attention to the table instead of giving it to the one involved in this conversation.
"Oh don't worry about that little detail, they tend to standout in a crowd" those words were that last sign of the vampire queen on that floor, leaving the middle aged inn keeper in a whirlpool of confusion and suspicion.
Walking through the small wooden corridor of the inn's second floor, Sierra soon found herself facing three wooden doors that would lead to either one of the rooms she rented "hmmmmm" she put her finger to her lower lip and stared at the three doors, then she walked to the middle door and proceeded to open it with one of the keys 'lucky me' she thought to her self as she opened the door and stepped into the room.
Meeting the vampire queen was a room that could be called nothing less then a first class room; the walls seemed to be built from a fine type of wood that had a brilliant light brown color. The windows as plain as they looked still felt like the hailed from the hands of a talented crafter, the simple engravings they had were enough to add to the room a classy taste. No different in style and beauty was the floor, for it shined under the rays of the morning sun that entered through the opened windows, proving that it experienced careful and thorough cleaning daily.
The furniture of the room consisted of a double bed; its frame was constructed from the finest kind of wood, the sheets and pillows were well arranged, they both shared a creamy white color. Standing against the wall was a cabinet that was dark brown in color, it did not have any engravings but like the windows it seemed to have been crafted by an expert. To the left side of the bed was wooden table and a chair, the table like the cabinet on the opposite side was facing the wall, the chairs seat directly under its base.
Not bothering to even pull the curtains over the windows, Sierra immediately made her way to the bed, as she placed all of her body on it, she covered her face with the white sheets and faced the right side of the room, before she could close her eyes, one more image greeted her. It was an illusion of a young man, a young man who was all two familiar to her "I guess you'll never stop tormenting me Rein" spoke the vampiress in a tone that was outlined with sadness and filled with longing.
With that the coven mistress finally closed her eyes, ignoring the lonely tear that dripped down from her left eye, and rolled down her pale cheek. She hoped at these moments that her sleep will not be filled with any dreams concerning her past or memories, but it seems every time the thought of Rein stumbled upon her, she would be swallowed by another nightmare of the past, even though she promised herself not be broken by any kind of memory, she did not how long the chain of her promise to her self would hold, before shattering and leaving her defenseless against her bloody past.
M2D: I hope that you all enjoyed reading this chapter and you should know this by now but I'll say it anyway comments, complains and flames are all welcome and ohyeah I bet not a lot of you can guess the name of the lesser demon. Cookies to who ever gets her name right.