He had walked out of the inn as she mounted up on Nephrime. Black leather vest and bracers on, sword at her hip, and dark grey cloak over it all. She couldn't help the smile, though she tried to keep it small. Chill grey dawn made them both even paler but the dark contrast of hair and eyes framed in black made him striking.

She saw him glance at the large bundle of dark cloth lashed behind her saddle, before walking past. There was a low buzz of awareness now, in the back of her mind. Shields back to a normal level so she could have a general feel of the people here with D just a slightly sharper note than all the rest.

"Where do you head, D?" The question was out of her mouth before she could think. She winced before turning to look over her shoulder.

"East."

Dark amusement rolled through her at what he would find, but she kept that to herself. No fun to be had if he knew to soon.

"I go west. Perhaps we'll cross paths again soon." If he was hunting who she thought, she was anticipating the reunion.

"Perhaps."

"D," wait for him to turn with a faint look that said yes? I'm busy, "In truth, I am honored to finally have met you. Keep well." Turn back straight and gather the reins.

"Court manners."

Uh-oh. It was a statement, but he felt puzzled. She turned the horse a step to the side so she could face him without looking over her shoulder.

He was studying her.

She kept straight and tall in the saddle and matched him look for look. She had no intention of backing down. She was not ashamed of what she was, but… "I wasn't raised in a court."

Another long moment while the world held still. Then he bowed. Not deeply, just slightly, but she recognized the acknowledgment all the same.

Court manners, indeed.

She nodded back, turned Nephrime to the rode and left the inn behind.

She waited until well past the edge of town before pulling up the deep hood, it was better to let the town's people see her leaving, and raised a hand to the few people that nodded to her.

So D is heading east. I wonder if he'll be surprised.

A secret smile as she glanced at the bundle half hidden by her cloak, before urging Nephime onward.

The wind tugged at his cape and threatened to carry his hat down into the ravine. Loose dirt crumbled away from the broken edge nearest him. The storm at the inn had not made it this far leaving the scene undisturbed.

Four days of riding to discover ribbons twisting and snapping in the wind. Wood and steel were scattered like broken bones and the carriage itself looked as if a giant had stepped on it. The horses were long gone and the scattered ashes and lingering aura gave testimony to the battle and demise of a vampire.

A fight took place here, short and brutal. The shattered remains of a coffin, the damaged cliff face, the great sweeping gouges in rock and sand. All gave testament to the fierceness of the attack. A fierceness that felt off, wrong, more viscous than expected. Something lingering in the shape of the tracks and the pattern of the fall.

Adrian hadn't stood against her long. He had no doubt it had been the young woman who had been the aggressor. The taste of her aura clung to the wreckage below.

D dismounted and picked his way down the cliff, passing the being in his hand over the deep grooves.

"These weren't made with a blade, D. Some kind of magic, I'm guessing from Adrian. Quick to tear into things, that one."

The bottom of the canyon was littered with debris but the main body of the carriage was against the far wall. Sand shifted underfoot as he approached but there was nothing besides himself in the area.

"I wonder how she finished him off? I mean the girl was good in a controlled spar, and don't get me wrong that figure could distract anyone that ain't dead, but Adrian wasn't a light weight, ya know?"

"I don't know."

Turning over pieces of broken door and roof he saw where hands had torn open the frame, possibly to yank the coffin out into the sun.

"And the assault? He didn't strike till after the carriage was falling."

" There were solid marks at the top. It didn't swerve off the cliff. He was stopped and then pushed over."

"You really think a little thing like her could do that? Just shove a whole carriage off a cliff before Adrian could react, no way. I don't buy it. Hey what's that?"

He had unearthed a shoe, small and scuffed and most definitely a child's. He closed his left hand around it and felt the parasite shift.

"Hmm. This is the same kid. Uh oh."

"What?"

"The kid was turned. It lingers in the scent, in the taste. He was already dead and turned before we left that last town."

D took a breath and stretched his senses outward until the light sharpened to near painful levels. The sound of wind echoing off broken walls, the scent of sand and heat and rage, the taste of Wren's aura clinging to shattered wood and torn canvas, all wrapped around him. And a child's shoe settling as the central focus. Now he knew what was off, what had caught his attention at the top of the cliff. Closing his eyes he opened himself up and felt.

The canyon screamed her fury.

"She saw the child."

"Huh?"

He looked up to the cliff edge, over the wall, across the ravine floor, at the coffin torn apart a horse length away, and finally at the broken remains at his feet with its damning little shoe.

"They were stopped in the shade. She would have asked for the boy. She found him already turned." He could almost see it, hear it. She had left a strong impression, over a week later and it still echoed. "She lashed out, the carriage fell. There is no blood and she was not injured. He missed when he retaliated, and he couldn't leave the safety of the dark. Adrian was a distance fighter. She tore him from the carriage, but was careful to only break open what was needed. She left him in the sun, then waited until dark."

"Are you fucking with me? You think she burned the bastard and then waited for the kid to wake up?"

He didn't respond, releasing the press of his senses back to normal, hyper awareness falling away. The memory of moonlight and shadows played, thoughts on strength and kindness. And the violent nature no control could truly banish. She had not reacted well to the child being turned. But there was still kindness.

"Hey!"

She would not have needed full dark to get the boy. Just wait until the canyon was without sun, remove a corpse cold body, and take the head in one blow. Wait still more for the sun to set to take body and head up the cliff. The child was newly turned and would not have been able to wake headless. Keep the pieces separate and wrap it all in oil cloth and the shape would match the bundle she had carried west.

"Are you even listening! Why would she do something stupid like that? The kid was turned, she obviously killed one vampire why not the second?"

"Kindness."

He gripped his hand closed before more questions came. The mother's family had not mentioned releasing the bounty to other hunters but it did not surprise him. Her being near two weeks ahead of him did. She must have been near when the attack happened to respond to the cry for help so quickly. At the inn she had been heading back the way he came, had already stopped for the day, likely for similar reasons, and stayed even longer than probably intended. She would have missed the storm if she had not helped him.

The strength and grace, he had thought, the fierceness and the control to keep it reined.

The sadness.

Unnecessary kindness, storm drenched laughter, and the manners of Noble court. She was taking the child home.

A/N: Thank you so much to those who review, I look forward to what you think of this most recent chapter. Any one care to guess what happens next?