'I could be making the best deal ever today', Mel tried to convince herself as she made her way towards the mansion. Walking through the shadows had become a habit for her, so it didn't need much conscious effort. Everything was silent, barring crickets and drunks.

'This is going to get good', she said to herself again. Somehow, it didn't feel like that.

In the many years of thievery, Mel had gathered enough experience at it, but never had anyone offered so much. Usually, she worked for herself, but occasionally, someone had specific jobs for her. The way of life was simple: steal it or steak it. The rough eighteen years had made her used to eating anything from uncooked meat to stewed rats.

Mel was shocked to discover that she was already facing the grand house. The mansion was known for its snobbish owners and it's beauty. It was rumored that the owners had stashed up rubies inside for a hundred year, till the infamous raid of Harburg, that left several people begging for their lives.

Outwardly, the mansion looked positively extraordinary. The frontal face had a clock they showed a quarter to two, with the glass glimmering blue in the dark. Perched on top was a sapphire studded eagle. About half a hundred feet of garden was stretched in front. It looked no less like a palace, but Mel didn't bother much. She never liked grandeur anyway.

Treading carefully, she reached out to the door. A slight push made it give in, as Boden had said. She tip-toed inside, where the main door opened too, without a sound. Carefully closing it, she made her way to the balcony.

The interior of the house was well designed, though as she climbed up, the decorations thinned and had a cheaper look. Here and there, you would see suits of armor and tapestries. The effect was intimidating.

Though it seemed like only a few minutes, the weather outside had changed much when Mel threw open the door. Three cloaked men were seated in the balcony. By their figures, it seemed as though they were medium built but quite tall. One of them, who was wearing a red cloak stood up as Mel looked at them.

Trying to not to let her teeth chatter, she took a step forward.

'Are you Mel?' the red cloaked one said. His voice was peculiar. It was definitely manly, but slightly shrill and intimidating. It somehow commanded power.

'The one and only' Mel said, grinning slightly.

'I have a job for you' The man said. 'An object, an orb is to be retrieved'

'Where is it?'

'It's in the tunnels of the Darkthrop Keep' The man said without hesitation.

So this was it. She had been wrong after all. There was a catch, and a risk.

'Forget it!' she said angrily and turned. 'I'm not going inside that old crazy tower. It's haunted!'

'I'll double the reward' the man said almost immidiately. Mel stopped. 'Hundred now and hundred when you return'

'You must really want that thing' she said as she turned towards him again. 'Okay, I'll do it'

The man nodded. He put a hand inside his robe and drew out a bag. It clinked as he handed it to Mel. Next he drew out a rather small lantern and a box of matches.

'You'll need them. Be back before dawn' he said.

'And what if I'm not?'

'That isn't an option' he said, the voice extremely cold.

Not wanting to stay a second more, Mel turned and left.

The Darkthrop Keep was a seven floor high stone tower about a mile from Harburg. It was known to have been constructed several centuries back by the famous sorceror Modred Darkthrop. The mystery of the tower and the sounds that were rumored to come from it had created the popular belief that it was haunted by ghosts of those killed by the wizard. The keep itself was out of bounds to everyone after the assembly had declared it to be unsafe. It was perhaps the last place a Harburgian would want to go to.

As the tower came into view, Mel started becoming apprehensive again. Somehow, something didn't feel right tonight. Even a slight mist was hanging around and it was the middle of July. However, she couldn't possibly turn back now. She didn't want to repeat an earlier incidence when the payer had almost killed her for not completing the job. She shuddered. The night was abnormally cold. Her only consolation were the stars, though she usually preferred not having the moon around.

The keep had a small fortified garden around it. While the frontal side faced the road to Harburg, the entire back side was dense forest. Several chains hung from the various levels, some right to the bottom. There was no chance of climbing though, because the garden itself had been sealed off completely. For a minute, Mel hopelessly tried to pick open the lock, but gave up in the end.

'There has to be another way' she said to herself, rather consolingly. 'The man had said the heirloom was in the tunnels. Let's try the dungeons'

Mel had the usual habit of saying aloud everything. Somehow, it made it sound more meaningful.

About fifteen minutes of tedious back breaking search finally yielded what she wanted. It seemed that the old sewer line that hadn't been used in months had an opening in the bushes. It looked filled with stagnated water to waist height and smelled disgusting, but Mel was used to it. It definitely looked promising.

Working as quietly as a cat, even when no one could hear her, she took off most of her clothes and carefully placed them in the bush. Sticking an old knife in her belt and lighting the lantern, she slowly lowered into the sewer.

The initial reaction was a slight stifled gasp. The water not only smelled like rotten flesh, but it was much colder than she had imagined. As it stung her bare skin, she looked around. The tunnel seemed to be unending on both the sides, and the lantern was her biggest hope. Carefully judging the direction in which she ought to move, Mel carefully half-trudged half-swimed forward, trying to not to get her unkempt hair wet.

About what seemed like hours later, when she had almost thought of giving up, the water began to lower. She was steadily ascending, till the water was only a got high and she could walk without difficulty. Moments later, she came to a fork. The left had a heavy iron door on it. Taking a chance, she forced it open. The water outside immidiately infiltrated inside.

As the small lantern cast it's shadow around, Mel was initially disappointed. She seemed to be in a large hall, the end of which ended in a huge stone wall with inscriptions.

Curious, though there was nothing around, she moved forward. Barely five steps later, the ground shook. From the center of the wall, a single tile feel to the ground and shattered to pieces. She took a step back and looked around. In the cavity was the trophy. Somehow the orb has presented itself to her. Slightly hesitant, she moved forward.

Remembrance:
I remember it as if it were last night. As i touched the orb, it suddenly started glowing, a powerful glow that completely swallowed my lamp. I felt a warmth flow through me. Somehow, the orb felt mine, as if it always belonged with me.

Chapter 2:

The orb stopped glowing as soon as Mel put it in a bag. She suddenly realized that was shivering violently. Without losing a minute, she made her way back towards the entrance of the tunnel, closing the door behind her.

Mel was disturbed. Somehow, she again felt that tonight was strange. There was no reason holding the orb would feel so good. In her entire life, she never had felt affinity about a particular thing, but somehow, the orb pulled her towards itself. She wanted to simply run away with it.

But as she moved forward, reason took over imagination. She couldn't possibly do it. There had been times before when she had stolen objects for prices less than the values of those. The orb couldn't cost a hundred gold coins. It'd simply sell as junk.

The journey back seemed to last only minutes. Apprehensive about the time, Mel hurriedly dressed up again after drying up with a small cloth she carried everywhere. The sky was still pitch black when she reached clockwork mansion's balcony.

'I've brought the heirloom' Mel said without expression, withdrawing the orb. It glowed. She carefully placed it in the long spidery hands of the man. 'You can give me the rest of the reward now'

'Give her the reward boys' the man said. Mel stepped back as the other men stood up. In a flash, they grabbed both her arms. Their grip was so tight that Mel couldn't even move a muscle.

'What's this?' she cried out. The man ignored her. He seemed to be in some sort of fit, making gestures and chanting. A second later, a huge black abyss appeared in midair.

'It's a portal, foolish Darkthrop girl' he said. 'I'm taking you home'

'Darkthrop?' Mel cried out, surprised herself. 'I'm not related to their line!'

'Don't try to fool me' the man cackled. 'Only a Darkthrop can remove the orb from its rest. You're wasting...'

Before he could complete the sentence, there was a flash and an arrow struck one of the men holding Mel. A moment later, a second arrow struck down the other.

Bewildered, Mel and the red cloaked man looked around. From the other end of the long balcony, a voice shouted.

'Run, girl!'

Without wasting a moment, Mel ran faster than ever before and hid behind the purple cloaked figure. Guessing by her shape and voice, it was a woman.

'You!' the man cried out.

'Surprised, brother?' the other said, removing the hood.
The purple robe clashed wildly with her blood red hair. The woman had a bow strapped to her hand and a few arrows in the other. She was very tall and her face was long. Meek couldn't see her eyes from her view.

'Why are you interfering?' the man said, removing his hood in turn. The man had jet black hair and would have been remarkably handsome had it not been for his expression and terribly pale color. His eyes were bloody.

'You have to stop this, Gyendal' the woman said. In a flash, the man threw a knife at her which she blocked with her hand. A couple of more tries, at the end of which the woman shot him in the arm. 'Your magic is weak here below the stars. Why do you want the girl'

'I don't need to tell you that' he said. 'You can't hide her forever'

Throwing away the arrow, before the woman could move, he jumped into the abyss, which vanished instantly. The woman stood for a second before turning.

The first thing Mel realized was that they were real siblings. The color was same, so were the eyes and the face cut. She stood up.

'What's going on here?' Mel asked.

'Sorry for not introducing myself' the woman said, rather coldly. 'I'm Tei'jal, that was my brother Gyendal. We are vampires'

Mel took a step back. Either she was hallucinating or the woman was crazy.

'Tell me the truth!' Mel cried. 'Vampires don't exist'

'Don't they?' The woman opened her mouth. Dribbling from the abnormally large canines was, unmistakably, blood. Before Mel could run, Tei'jal grabbed her by her neck.

'You can't run from them' she said coolly. 'Trust me, it's completely useless.'

Mel turned around angrily.

'Then what do I do? Why are they after my anyway?'

'Gyendal' Tei'jal said patiently 'He wants to take the light out of the upper world, so that vampires can roam freely here. For that, he needed the orb that your ancestor created, and now you've gifted him with it, so I'd assume you doomed your world right now'

'What is this nonsense?' Mel cried out in agony. 'I'm not related to Darkthrop. Somebody has got it all wrong'

'Either way, there is no escape for you. Your best bet is with me'

Mel considered the situation. For a moment, she remembered the grip of the two men.

'What do I do?' she said finally.

'So it's agreed' Tei'jal said. 'We shall go to Thais, where I know a safe place for you'

'I'm not leaving Harburg' Mel said irritably. Tei'jal bared her fangs again. Mel nodded.

Holding Mel's hand Tei'jal directly jumped off the balcony. While she seemed to be used to it, Mel was completely shocked, happy she they she was alive.

'We'll ride instead then' Tei'jal said looking at her fearful expression. Mel groaned. She had never ridden a horse before. Tei'jal seemed to have read her mind.

'Don't worry' she said. 'You won't be riding a horse. You'll ride on me'

In a flash, she took Mel onto her shoulders and broke off into a run that was too fast for a human.