Christa could hear muffled yelling down the hall that started making sense the closer she got.
"She told us she saw you take the girl, where is she, demon?"
"Did she tell you what shape I left those wolves in?"
"Where is she!?" As Christa drew closer she could hear clinking of metal, a swish and a thud. She had just reached the edge of the hall and if she rounded the corner she knew she'd see the scene.
The young girl waited and listened. The person that had spoken before Ymir had been a man, but this time a woman spoke.
"You have either drained her or kept her. If you still have her alive you will hand her over or face death unyielding. Understand, leech?" Christa heard Ymir growl.
"Let's say she is here, what do you plan to do with her? Kill her? I can't imagine you'd want someone like her wandering around. Why don't you just go hunt those disgusting wolves, I've done nothing to the people of this settlement." The man spoke again.
"Your mere existence is sin. My assistant should know better than to make deals with the devil, we will not be leaving while you still live."
Christa couldn't take it anymore, fear and anger pinching her veins and swimming in her brain. She peeked around the corner just in time to see Ymir angrily bare her teeth, which, to Christa's shock, had long fangs protruding and dripping with saliva. Ymir's stance was tense and ready to strike, fury dancing in her eyes like fire.
The man and woman standing across the room had swords drawn but the man clearly had a gun-powder pistol at his hip. He was stout with black hair that threatened to obscure his eyes, which seemed focused, intent, and nearly emotionless.
The woman had black hair also, reaching her shoulders. She wore a dark red scarf around her neck and her eyes were filled with smoldering hate on a face that looked like it was from a foreign land.
They both wore smart looking uniforms, but to what Christa did not know. It looked like standard military uniforms but the color was wrong, as was the image on the crests at their shoulders. They, like Ymir, were crouched in a fighting stance, hands tightly gripped on their swords.
The room they all stood in seemed to be the entrance hall, but the door had been blown wide open by what looked like explosives. The wind blew around the space carelessly.
Ymir snarled and lept with strength and distance not natural to a human. The uniformed woman spun on her heel, her sword coming with her, to strike Ymir. Blood sprayed as it sliced a line down her arm, but she didn't stop her assault. She landed with her legs crouched in front of the girl and made to grab her with the claws that her nails had extended to. Before she could the man swiftly kicked Ymir in the stomach, making her falter. She growled nastily and turned in her crouch to grab on to both of the man's legs. She pulled hard, toppling him over then rolling to avoid the armed woman's downward swing. The man was back on his feet in an instant. Christa noted that Ymir's arm that had been bleeding a moment ago, now looked totally unharmed. The two intruders started closing in on Ymir, who was almost against a wall.
The tall woman backed up against the wall completely, spreading her hands against the cold stone. Then, as her hunters closed in, she lifted one foot to lie against the wall as well. Defying reason she then lifted the other foot and quickly climbed up the wall, almost scuttling. When she hit the ceiling she swiftly dropped behind the dark haired girl, grabbing her hair ruffly and ripping away her scarf, exposing her neck. Again Ymir bared her fangs, ready to bit down when a sword was suddenly pressed along her neck, the man standing behind her, hand on his pistol. He breathed a short laugh when Ymir froze.
"Your head is mine, vampire." And all of a sudden everything was moving in slow motion. Christa saw the man's sword slowly move, slicing and parting the flesh of her friend's neck, Ymir's eyes widening in horror. Abruptly from somewhere deep in Christa's chest, deeper than she knew was possible to feel, a force rose with immense pressure and burst from her every pour, accompanied by her scream of,
"NO!" Time sped up to normal and all three of the people in the entrance hall were blasted back with an invisible force. They flew through the open portal of the busted front door. Ymir was first on her feet, the other two groaning in pain. Her eyes linked with Christa immediately and she ran with inhuman speed and scooped her up in her arms, never stopping. Christa looked up at her face and saw raw fear, and the slit in her neck visibly healing before Christa's own eyes.
"We have to leave here right now, I'm taking you to your room. Dress quickly and we'll be gone." They were ascending the stairs now.
"Ymir, what-"
"No time right now, we will talk but only once we're safe. I don't know how badly you hurt them, we can't take any chances."
"Me?" They had reached Christa's room and burst inside.
"Dress, now." Ymir ordered.
"My...my crutch got left behind when you picked me up..." Exasperated Ymir barked,
"Just put your boots on, we need to leave now."
Christa did as she was told as quick as she could with her injury. Once the boots were on she was scooped up once more and whisked out of the room and back toward the staircase, but this time they went up. The stairs just didn't seem to stop.
Christa couldn't even say what she was thinking right now. So much had happened in such little time. Finally the staircase ended in a door which, after shifting Christa in her arms, Ymir flung open with force, stepping on to a tiny balcony jutting out from an incredibly tall spire. Ymir made sure Christa was secure in her arms again before saying,
"Brace yourself, and don't make a single noise." She hugged Christa closer. "Ready?" The blond girl didn't know what she needed to be ready for but nodded anyway. They jumped and fell through the air with terrifying speed. Ymir held the girl closer still, bending around her to try to shield her from cutting branches once they penetrated the trees from above. Limbs snapped and bent for Ymir's boots until they finally hit the ground. Seemingly unfazed, though audible snaps had been heard from her legs, Ymir pressed on after only a moment to recover from the landing.
"Where are we going?"
"Away from here. You aren't safe here, neither am I. We have to leave the valley altogether, I'm sorry." Christa was silent after that as trees whizzed past, thinking about everything since that fateful night that Sasha had woken her and convinced her to sneak out. Would any of this have happened if she had stayed in bed? She would have lived an honest life, maybe have a farming plot of her own someday, a mule and some seeds, no trouble just hard work to put food on the table.
Now where was she? She was practically flying over the hills that had surrounded her entire existence for her whole life. She was in the arms of tall, handsome, frighteningly dangerous Ymir. They crossed over the crest of the hills and started the decent to a world of places Christa had never set eyes on. She gasped at the horizon, stretching on for miles and showing her rivers and towns and trees as far as she could see even in the night's blanketing darkness. When Christa gasped Ymir looked down at her, and she saw the awe on her face and couldn't help but smile, even as her feet endlessly left ground behind them. After about half an hour they reached the edge of the trees and Ymir set Christa on her feet.
"We both have blood on our clothes, if I don't act injured too it would be suspicious. We are going to try to find shelter. Are you alright?"
"I'm not really sure yet. It's starting to get pretty cold wearing just this night gown..."
"Here." Ymir removed her cloak and wrapped Christa up in it. Then she grabbed Christa's arm and led it to keep a hold on her back, as she was too tall for Christa to be supported by her shoulders. "Lean on me, it's okay."
They made their way slowly past the trees and toward a dirt path. After what seemed like an hour, but was only twenty minutes of silent travel, they saw lights from a small house. Christa couldn't have been happier as her stomach was beyond empty and questions were burning the surface of her mind.
Upon arriving in front of it Ymir knocked on the door. There was shuffling inside but the door didn't open. She knocked again.
"Please, me and my friend are badly hurt and starved!" she tried. A face peaked out of the curtains and was gone just as fast. The door creaked open slowly. A very scrawny man looked out at them, worry carved in his feature. Examining them he said,
"I'm sorry, there has been a lot of trouble in these parts. Please come in, clean yourselves up."
"Thank you," said Christa softly. Ymir led her to a chair at a quaint little table.
"What happened to you girls? That one's limping pretty bad."
"Wolves." Ymir said curtly.
"I'm sorry, sir, we've had a long journey already, we just really need to rest up. Do you have anywhere we could sleep?"
"Nowhere but the barn, I'm afraid. You can sleep there in you need to, but the sun is rising soon, have you been traveling all night? It's a good thing I'm always up at this hour to get a head start on the day."
"Something like that." Another short response from Ymir.
"Alright, well I have bread and cheese I can share, and there's a water troph in the barn where you can wash yourselves off."
"Just out of curiosity, what did you mean by 'trouble in these parts'?"
"Thieves and highway men, miss, they've been robbing and killing all over these parts." As the man explained he also put together two plates with bread and thick slices of cheese on them. He handed them to the girls.
"We'll take these in the barn."
"If you don't mind." Chimed in Christa, trying to make them seem more polite to the stranger. "I'm Christa and this is-" Ymir grunted and looked meaningfully at her friend. "Sasha."
"I'm Christof, just a humble milk-cow farmer. Hope you don't mind company in the barn."
"So long as it's just the cows." Ymir blurted rudely. The man faltered, confused for a moment.
"Can we see the barn now? We're both very tired."
"Um...yes, of course." They were led inside a building larger than Christof's house but right next to it. They entered and closed the door as Christof went back to his house.
"Ymir, you didn't need to act that way..."
"Why not?"
"He was being very kind to us." Ymir sighed deeply.
"We have a lot to talk about, don't we?" After a pregnant pause Christa mumbled her agreement.
"So, I guess my first question is about what that man called you. And the things I've seen you do. Is it true? Are you really a vampire?" They were laying comfortably side by side on a hay pile, each looking up at the ceiling.
"Yes, I am...but I suppose that's easier to believe after the wolves, eh?"
"I...guess. Do...do you hurt people?" Ymir shifted so she was on her side, gazing at Christa.
"I haven't hurt you. I would never hurt you." Christa was still looking at the ceiling.
"That didn't answer my question."
"I don't think you want to know the answer." Finally Christa rolled over to meet the vampires gaze, always a piercing gold.
"You're probably right...so I guess I have to ask what happened back there."
"Some poor farmer gave us a place to crash, jeez, do you even remember what you had for breakfast?" This earned Ymir a flick on the nose.
"Alright...you are a witch of some sort, or at least I think you are. I was pretty sure for a while, you give off very powerful energy. Those two people were hunters of unnatural beings that somehow threaten the church. I knew one of them, Levi. He's been after me for years."
"How did he know where I was?" Ymir paused, perhaps to think.
"I think your sister is alive. I think she saw me save you. They probably were coming after me but now they have a reason to be after both of us."
"A witch...is that what happened at the castle? I did that?"
"Yes, you cast some sort of spell or something. I know next to nothing about witches, they aren't well documented." Christa moved closer from her side of the hay pile.
"And what about...y'know, before that?" Ymir's eyes filled with confliction.
"I guess I have the same question for you..." Christa giggled a little,
"You asking me questions? Almost seems absurd." Ymir smirked but it fell when she said,
"Really though...is that something you actually wanted?" The younger woman sighed and searched her mind.
"I'm not sure...it just kinda happened, like it was what needed to happen."
"Did...did you like it?" Christa paused, looking at her friends face intently.
"...yes...I liked it." Ymir scooted closer, caution etched on her features.
"Would you...want to do it again?" Meaningful silence settled between them Christa reached out her hand, running her thumb across Ymir's freckled. She leaned her head in, eyes hooded.
"Yes..." Their lips met tentatively, softly, sweetly. They parted.
"You are sure about this? I'm..."
"A woman, I know."
"No, that's not what I was going to say." Christa's hand moved from Ymir's cheek to her hair and pulled her in for another kiss. Ymir hummed pleasantly and started moving her lips, gently bringing her arms to hold the small girl's sides. The kiss was innocent, loving, thankful. They parted again, slowly, and the vampire breathed out, "You saved me, thank you. I'd be an ash pile if you hadn't-" Christa silenced her with a quick peck and pulled her close, breathing her in. She smelled like winter, like the earth, like rain and so many other indescribably wonderful things.
Christa snuggled herself into Ymir's chest and, as she was falling asleep, noted the lack of a heartbeat.