Chapter Six

The Night Hunter

Kassadin awoke with a start, the room he was in was dark and cold. He had a nightmare in which his daughter was taken from him by some vile man from the void and that we was stabbed and killed. He tried to sit up but felt an extreme pain in his chest. He recognized the pain immediately and fell back on his pillow in despair. "Selena!" he shouted and wept. He cried for what seemed like an hour before he regained some kind of control over himself.

"Hello?" he said aloud as he looked around the room he was in. It wasn't a room in his house. By the looks of it, he appeared to be in a cellar or basement. Once his eyes adjusted to the dark he saw large barrels of ale with the words "Targon Tavern Brew" burned into their sides. So I am in the tavern? he thought. How did I get here? He looked around again for some clue as to what had brought him here but found nothing except an ashtray with a few spent cigarettes in it. Next to the ashtray was the dagger that was plunged into his back. It was wickedly curved, just like a scimitar but in a dagger form, it had a purple hilt and a gem at the pommel which swirled with some kind of malevolent power. He reached for it but stopped when the wound in his ribs sent waves of pain throughout his body.

"Damn it." he swore and rested back into his pillow again. He heard many footsteps above him as the bar bustled with activity, he thought about yelling in hopes of them hearing, but he knew that somebody knew he was down here, and if they wanted to kill him they would already have done it. Again he tried to sit up. He pressed his hand do his wound and pulsed his energy into it, the pain was there but weaker and he was able to endure it and sit up. A wave of nausea hit him and he almost fainted but held strong.

"You have been asleep for a few days now, you should be more careful when you sit up. You could get seriously hurt." the last sentence was spoken ironically. Kassadin looked into the darkness from where her heard the voice but saw nothing. He couldn't hear anything either except for the sound of footsteps above. He brought forth the blade from his arm and lit the area around him in a purple light, again he looked towards where he heard the voice but this time he did indeed see someone. It was a woman, sitting in a chair with her left leg crossed over her right, clad in black leather with an extravagantly long pony tail.

"Who are you?" he spoke softly, not wanting the people upstairs to hear. The woman stood up and walked towards his bedside. She placed her hand gently against his forehead.

"Your fever has gone down, that blade you were stabbed with was poisoned. That strangely dressed man must have really wanted to kill you." She took her pale hand off of his forehead.

"He took my daughter." he said frankly.

"I saw that, I watched from the shadows the whole time, but I did not hear what you were discussing. I was tracking that beast you killed, they have been appearing all over Valoran and have been killing many innocent people." she drew up a chair and sat next to Kassadin who now looked into her eyes.

"Why did you not act?" He shouted and reached for her neck but she leaned back.

"I could not risk loosing the beast. It knew I was there and acted very wary."

"You could have saved my daughter!" he grabbed for her neck again and this time she let him. He held his large hand around her throat but then quickly let go. He wept again for his daughter, his wife and for his weakness.

"I may have been able to, but there was no guarantee. And if that beast had escaped it could have killed a dozen men, women and children. One life is not more valuable than another." She spoke gently and wiped a tear off of his check with her hand.

"I am sorry. I did not mean to hurt you." Kassadin said as he looked into his hands. The woman smiled faintly at him.

"I know, do not worry."

"Can you tell me who you are?" he looked up into her dark brown eyes.

"My name is Shauna, Shauna Vayne." she bowed her head elegantly as she said her name. "I am a hunter of the men and beasts that plague the night." She grabbed a metal gauntlet from the floor and put it on, the large metal device upon it split open and turned into a small crossbow.

"Why?" Kassadin asked, he knew it was a stupid question but he wanted to keep her talking. She sighed and looked down at him.

"I am not at liberty to discuss it any further." she spoke grimly. Kassadin grabbed her hand and held it.

"I've lost my loved ones too, I know how you feel." Shauna rose out of her chair.

"You have no idea what I have been through!" her faced red with anger and her eyes were holding back tears. "I should-"

"When I was a child," Kassadin interrupted, "I was out alone in the yard in front of my house when the ground caved in right under my feet. I fell into a deep crevice that was underneath the lawn. I screamed for help and my father came. He tried to climb down to help me but as he climbed his foot slipped and I watched him fall to his death." he sighed. "I do not know how I survived the fall, maybe the dirt that was under me when I fell cushioned my fall, but I do not know."

Shauna looked up at him and he continued to speak. "When I was thirteen I ran away from home, my mother had been living in anguish ever since my father had died. She did not blame me, although I felt like she had vented out her sadness on me. I could not live out in the wilderness on my own, I tried but one night I was attacked by a pack of wolves and barely survived. They felt and understood my fear and sadness I think. But after they had gone I limped my way back home. It took me five days to find my way back and when I finally reached home I was greeted by the sight of my mother hanging from the second story balcony with a rope around her neck." Shauna gasped lightly at this. "there was a note on the front door. It said she was sorry for being such a bad mother and decided to do what she thought she deserved."

"Recently I had my wife taken from me, by that same man who took my daughter. He was an agent of the Void, just like I was. But I could not live with what the Void wanted me to do so I separated myself from it. That was the day before you found me." Kassadin looked back into his hands. "I am not saying that what I have been through is worse than what you have been through. I am just saying I understand."

Shauna let a tear go down her cheek and grabbed Kassadin's hand. "When I was a mere child a witch grew fond of my father, but he was a married man. His honor prevented him from committing such adultery and the witch broke into my house. I was hiding in closet, paralyzed with fear as the witch raped and killed my father. When she was done with him she..." Shauna choked up a bit and continued. "she called out to me, 'little girl come out or mommy is going to get hurt' she said. I was a cowered and did not move and she tortured her, ripping skin off of her bones, stabbing her, burning her... countless methods of torture. When the witch finished her off she lit the house on fire and told me that I could have saved them but I was too much of a coward to do anything. I barely escaped the fire. Ever since then I hunted down those who practiced the dark magics." she looked at Kassadin, "people like you."

Kassadin looked at her again. "I studied the dark arts, but I never used them. I just wanted to learn. Until I went into the Void that is, then I became this... monster." he gestured at his body. Shauna moved her hand to his chest.

"You are no monster. I-I never caught your name." She said and looked down towards her feet.

"My name is Kassadin." Shaua smiled.

"I could make you feel better..." she whispered. Kassadin turned towards her.

"How do you propose to do that?" Shauna sighed again and stood up. Kassadin watched as she moved her hands to the zipper of her jacket and pulled it down.

"No please, do not degrade yourself like that." Kassadin smiled.

"I'm sorry. I just... feel something with you." She took a few deep breaths and zipped herself up. "It was a moment of weakness." she regained her calm composure. Kassadin laughed and Shauna chuckled very lightly.

"Shauna," Kassadin's voice was serious. "I am still... I still love my wife very much. But she would not want me to live alone and unhappy, not after hearing what I had gone through when I was young." He looked up and smiled. "Maybe I will take you up on that offer some time. But not now, not while all of this is happening." Shauna blushed.

"I do not know what you are talking about." They both laughed.

The two spent the rest of the day together talking and laughing, Shauna declaring that she will watch over him while he recovers, not to the disappointment to Kassadin. She had the same passion for her work as his wife had with hers. She was a nurse.

It took a few days before Kassadin could walk again. With the help of Shauna he made it to one end of the cellar to the other, he tried it on his own but only made a few steps before he fell. When he hit the ground he reopened the wound a little and started bleeding on the floor. Shauna got on her knees and restitched it. Once she was done she tried to stand and slipped on his blood and dramatically landed on top of him. She laid there for a few moments and brought her face very close to his but he turned away.

The next day when Kassadin woke up he found that Shauna was gone. He stood up slowly and used the bed frame as support, walked towards one end of the room. Using chairs as supports he was able to safely make it. He began to walk, unassisted, to the other end of the room. He stumbled a few times and almost fell once but he made it almost the whole way across.

Suddenly a massive wave of energy toppled him off of his feet, he slid across the ground leaving a trail of blood as the energy physically manifested itself into a black ball in the center of the room. It hummed gently as it grew and grew and suddenly shrank and disappeared, leaving an extremely beautiful woman standing defiantly with her chest exposed and a glowing symbol in Icathian in between her large breasts.

She looked at Kassadin and growled. She gestured with her hand and lifted him off of the ground using telekinesis and floated him over to her. "Are you the one they call Malzahar?" she asked, her voice echoed off of itself and her eyes were a glowing purple.

"No, I am Kassadin. A victim of the monster called Malzahar.

"Liar!" she screamed and pressed her middle and index finger into his wound, breaking the skin that was slowly building over it. Kassadin writhed in agony as she mercilessly twisted her fingers in the wound. "You did this to me!" she screamed again and took his hand and pressed it against the mark on her chest and a wound to her breast, directly over her heart.

"No! I did not!" he protested but she threw him back and sent a black orb flying into his chest, breaking a few of his ribs. Again he screamed out in agony.

"Do not lie to me, fiend! I felt the darkness inside of you! I felt it from the faraway land on Ionia and I have come here to return the favor." She rose a finger and bolts of black energy jolted around her hand. She screamed out and pointed her hand towards Kassadin and the energy burst forth into black bolts of lightning. The blast took a sudden shift to the right and struck the wall a few feet away from Kassadin. He opened his eyes to see that the woman was lying on the floor and Shauna was standing, with he crossbow loaded, over top of her.

The woman pushed Shauna off of her with her magic and stood up. She launched a fierce blast of darkness at her but Shauna tumbled over a chair and shot a bolt into her arm. It went clean through and pinned itself on the wall. The woman shrieked out of anger and recklessly sent orbs of darkness directly at Shauna but she was nimble and rolled, jumped and feigned past them, the orbs knocked over a stack of barrels that were behind Shauna causing a great deal of noise. She raced towards her, dodging more blasts, when she got close enough to land a kick the woman caught it and threw her back. Shauna tried to stand but the woman pushed her back down and bound her arms to the ground with dark energies.

"Did you really thing you could kill me? I refuse to die until I destroy you, Malzahar!" she roared and Shauna looked to Kassadin and he shrugged lightly.

"This is not Malzahar! Malzahar is the one who injured him!" Shauna pleaded and the woman snorted at her.

"You cannot fool me, I felt his energy. That dark mysterious energy that only him and I share." Her eyes glowed even brighter with purple light as she channeled two orbs of energy in each of her hands. Suddenly she stopped. She walked over to Kassadin and crouched down next to him. Shauna screamed and kicked in protest but she was ignored.

"So you do speak the truth. I feel him now. His power is far greater than yours." She looked to the east.

"He hails in the forgotten city of Icathia. Deep in the bowels of the eastern desert." Kassadin said and the woman looked down at him. "He has my daughter there."

"I care not for your daughter. I care only for power and revenge." she stood looking down at her breasts she placed both of her hands on them and her purple and black garb stretched itself and covered them back up. "When I am done with him," she spoke to Shauna now, "I shall come back to see that you and I fight once again." She turned back to Kassadin, "My name is Syndra. You should learn it soon for I shall rule all of Valoran one day." She stepped back a couple steps. Her snow white hair started to rise and she began to float into the air and suddenly disappeared in a flash of light.

The bindings on Shauna's wrists disappeared and she ran to Kassadin who was bleeding profusely. She pulled stitching once again from one of the pouches on her belt and immediately began to stitch the wound back up. Kassadin put a heavy hand on her shoulder and she looked up. He was smiling. "I almost made it, I was so close." Shauna looked at him as proud parent would look at a child and smiled. Then Kassadin uttered a cry in pain as she set his broken rib.

"I think this is going to set you back a little." Shauna and Kassadin locked eyes passionately and her heart started beating almost audibly. They both leaned forward and felt each others breaths against their lips. Shauna turned quick towards the stairs to the main floor and the Innkeeper was standing there with a wooden club.

"Aye what was all that commotion?" He looked towards them but could not see them very well for it was still dark.

"Kassadin fell again and fell against that stack of barrels again," she pointed towards the pile of barrels that had fallen over during the fight. He grumbled and swore and walked back up the stairs. Kassadin could hear her heart beating as the door upstairs closed and it got quiet once again. She turned to face him and Kassadin made no move to avoid it. She wrapped her hands around his blue tinted neck and met his lips with hers. They kissed for minutes and would have kissed forever if Shauna had not pulled herself back.

"I've never kissed a man like that before." she said as she looked down at the ground blushing. Kassadin smiled a broad smile and held her hand. After a few moments Shauna got back to tending his wounds.