"So", a voice drawled, "we're going after that Lord Adrian, hmmm? He's not exactly at the bottom of the Vampire food chain, ya know. But then, when did you ever care if it's easy? You don't even like company. I'm surprised you're not out hunting down that other dhampir we've heard rumors about….hmmm? Fine, don't talk to me."
D just kept riding, dressed head to toe in black. Only his pale hands and part of his face showing. A wide brimmed hat covered half of his face, thick wavy brown hair fell to his waist. Broad shoulders tapering down to a thin waist then narrow hips. Long legs ended in calf high boots. His sword was strapped across his back, the handle protruding over one shoulder. A large blue pendent hung in the center of the deep chest. D, the son of a human woman and the Vampire King, rode on.
He was tracking the vampire's trail down a barely discernible road. On to the next town, and then the next after that.
A vampire who had slaughtered a whole family and taken the only boy. A 5 year old with big green eyes and pale brown hair named Calebb. Why Adrian had taken only the boy and not any of the sisters, D didn't know. Nor was he very concerned about it. All he wanted was to get the boy and kill the vampire.
If luck holds the boy will be alive, though I doubt.
As he crested the last rise, the town he had been headed toward spread before him, dry fields leading the way in. As he made his way toward it he could hear the nagging start going on about passing out from overheating and needing out of the sun. He kept at it until D stopped in front of an inn. There was another cybernetic horse tied up to the post. A boy came out with a bucket, stopped, and stared at D.
"Mama, there's some'n else here!" After making his announcement he raced off around the side of the building.
A small plump woman with bright eyes and a nervous smile came out.
"Howdy, sir. Will you be stayin' for the night?" D nodded. "Well, tie up that horse and my boy will be back around to take it the stable. Now you just follow me on in here and I'll show ya your room. I'm Rachel, by the way, my husband, Thom is upstairs, and..." she was cut off by the sound of heavy boots on the stairs. "That's him now!"
"Oh, Thom, we have another guest. Now," she said, turning back to face him", dinner will be in about an hour and its included. So, Thom will take you on up to your room. Is there anything else? Hm...?
"No."
"Well then, come on lad, this way." The man,Thom, turned and went through a short hall to the stairs. Up the stairs and then down the hall he followed the other man. At the last door on the right they stopped. "Now, this be your room. And that'un" a gesture to the door next to his, "belongs to a lass. I expect since your both so quite and all you'll be given each other no trouble." With that the man left, boots clomping down the hall leaving D to close his door and look around the small room.
The room itself was nothing spectacular. A bed, just large enough for his tall frame, a small side table with lantern, and an oval shaped thread-bare rug on the floor. A thin door would lead to a closet, another to a small washroom. The best thing about the room was the window. It was near four feet off the floor with a deep padded sill perfect for sitting, even for him. The view was of the stable and yard.
D walked over to the open window and sat on the deep sill to look out over the stable yard and the two horses. Past the stable he could see men coming home and women taking down laundry. The ringing sounds of laughter gave testimony to children still outside playing. He sat for a while just watching the animals grazing on barren ground and listening to the sounds of a normal life when he heard a call for dinner from below.
On his way to the stairs he heard a muffled cursed come from the room next to his, but paid it no heed.
When he came into the common room he saw two bowls sitting on one of the tables in the room. The table was off to the side of the room and he took the chair that faced both the stairs and the door. Rachel came out of another door carrying two mugs filled with water. She set them on the table and smiling said, "I'll just leave you to eat and you just call if you need anythin, we wont get folks in here for another hour or so", while trying to see his face under his hat. She turned and moved a step, stopping almost immediately. He looked at her and could clearly hear the whispered, "Oh, my..."
He saw that where the woman had stopped blocked his view of the stairs. There was the soft scuff of someone coming onto the common room floor.
"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to frighten you", soft voice.
As Rachel stepped toward the kitchen with a quiet, "That's alright, dear," he couldn't help but stare. There seemed to be amusement glittering in her eyes, very odd eyes at that, they were that strange golden color that only a cat's eyes should be. As she turned back to look at him D felt his face settle back into perfect blankness.
Impossible, he thought looking at the girl while she stood there studying him, absolutely impossible. I was sure I was the only one left, the last, regardless of rumor. When in hell's name was she born?
There was no doubt, though, what this girl was. She was as pale as he, as pale as death, the paleness of a vampire. She wore a deep red, loose cotton shirt, black fitted pants tucked into soft leather boots. Her forearms were wrapped in black cotton strips, as his were beneath his armor. She was slim, muscled, but petite, she looked as if she wouldn't even reach his chin. The most startling, aside from her eyes, was her hair. It was silver, not the pure white of some vampires but true silver, like silken strands of moonlight and fairy dust.
"Do you mind?" She gestured to the table and the second bowl, he shook his head. She came forward in an almost silent glide, settling into the chair gently.
As both began eating he couldn't help but to study the girl further. With that remarkable hair braided over one shoulder it was easy to see that her ears came up to a point like his and her delicate aristocratic features were a blatant sign of the ancient blood that ran through her veins. She was slender through the shoulders, narrow of waist, with lean hips leading into long legs. Though small she had still moved with a predator's grace.
All the while they had been eating he knew she too was studying him. With only a little over half their bowls empty both seemed to have come to a stopping point. He was surprised that she had even eaten at all.
"Your name is D, isn't it?"
He shifted his eyes to hers and nodded.
"Then you must be at least fair with that sword of yours, yes?"
He said nothing, just sat there watching. Seeing as she was actually waiting for an answer he nodded once more.
She smiled slightly, "Will you show me how good?"
A moment of silence before rising from his seat and starting outside. He was actually curious how good this girl might be, if at all. He heard the light sound of her going up the stairs as he exited the building. A few heartbeats later and she was close behind, following him to the bare area behind the inn.
"Are you sure?" He couldn't help but ask her, she knew. Dhampir or no she was sure he didn't think she strong enough to truly fight him.
"What is your name, child?" Irritation at the implication.
"You may call me Wren, hunter. It is the only name I will give you."
The name was not one that was real, even as amusement flashed through her and a smiled curled her lips.
She could feel his doubt; could also feel the brooding sadness, the loneliness that was overwhelming. Even shielding as hard as she could she could still feel the press of his emotions, the bitter taste of them sliding down her throat. The ability to feel others emotions as her own made such things distracting. Her mother had called it a gift and she swore it was a curse.
No, best to not dwell in the past. Not to remember such things, such times.
She knew, better than most, the pain and price of dwelling on the past. She suspected that he did as well.
Swords drawn and at the ready both opponents studied each other, gauging stance and strength in one glance. Even as he stood there D couldn't help but notice that her silver hair looked to have glints of fire in the glaring light of the late afternoon sun. Or that for all the hot dustiness surrounding them she seemed to be this quiet oasis. The kind that beckoned a man to rest without worry or care.
D realized with a shock what he was thinking, what the mere sight of this girl had him feeling, wanting. Giving himself a mental shake he shifted his stance just slightly then lunged.
She was ready in a sideways guard stance, even as his blade arced up and back down with blinding speed she was swinging hers up to meet and block. Breaking away he came in with a side cut; Wren parried and darted back, out of reach, circling warily. At least she's cautious, he thought.
D spun and hacked: blocking his powerful swing made her shoulder ache. Stepping back, she assumed a two-handed guard position. He cut down and in; she responded her blade moving as rapidly as his own.
The exchange stretched out in strikes, blocks, and parries, neither opponent gaining an advantage. Both D and Wren had begun to sweat in the oppressive heat, a testimony to the effort both were actually putting forth. Throughout the exchange she had studied D's style , as she knew he had studied hers, searching for and flaw, any she blocked swiftly, parried his return cut, blocked him again – and came up into a split second opening, barring his sword are with her shoulder as her blade snaked up to kiss his throat.
They froze in place for a moment, both slowing their breathing and bringing their heart rate back under control.
"You're good." He lowered his sword as he said it and Wren stepped back. "I haven't lost to any one in a very long time."
"You held back, didn't you?" Those curious laughing eyes watched as he sheathed his sword. "No, I didn't." He watched as a single pale eyebrow arched.
"Oh, really. You could have fought as well without your sword, if you had used anything else I would have been out of the match."
"Perhaps," he murmured, "but you asked to test yourself against me with a sword, and in that we are equals." He saw the surprise flash across her face before she started laughing. It was a pure sound, something he wasn't expecting from one such as her.
Turning towards the inn, Wren a step in front of him, the sight of an awe struck audience greeted them. Tension washed through him as the crowd stared. A sudden roar of clapping startled them both. They seemed to have nearly every towns member show up to watch, and now they were applauding.
Rachel came forward carrying two skins full of cool water, explaining that Jacob had spread the news of their little display of swordsmanship.
The crowd began gathering around them shouting questions. Some asking if they gave lessons, others of where they had learned such skills. Surrounded on all sides Wren stepped back into D, making a solid line with their bodies from her soldier to her hip. He lifted a hand to press into the small of her back and felt the parasite shift. She glanced back, face as impassive as his own, but there was a tension to her as well.
This close Wren could feel his unease at the crowd, though he showed nothing, and the slight burst of surprising concern directed at her, as well as a faint buzz of something underneath. He turned them slightly, hand directing her in the direction of the inn. She slipped to the side and followed, watching as the crowd parted before him like waves of the ocean pulling back in that old fable about a man and a Sea.
When they left the last of the crowd behind the people all turned on Rachel with their questions. She just looked at them with haughty dignity, asking wasn't there still chores to be done, why be standing in the street?
Entering the relative darkness of the inn, they both relaxed slightly as the last of the curious eyes were blocked by the closing of the door. Wren's laughter rang out again.
"The last time I had a crowd staring at me like that I ended up hanging from a tree," a wry smiled played on her lips as she headed up the steps, "what about you?"
"D?"
Only a few steps from the stairs and D collapsed to his knees, water skin forgotten on the floor. Wren turned to see him braced on hands and knees struggling for air, before he collapsed completely.
A/N: And here is the first chapter, whole and complete. Those returning will notice that it was combined with the following chapter to make a more fluid, longer first. I'm endeavoring to make fuller chapters. We'll see how it goes from here shall we?