Archives: Vampire Hunt
Chapter 14: Sanctuary
After running for some time with no one chasing them, Aryen and Ileta hoped they had lost their pursuers for good. Now, however, they needed rest and blood—at least rest though. There was nothing for quite a distance, however. Though shielded by their cloaks, the sun was sapping their strength. It wasn’t until dusk that they finally came across shelter. A ruined tower in the forest, looking as if it had been abandoned centuries ago.
“Look!” Ileta said, pointing out the crumbling tower. “Maybe we can find a place to rest there.”
Aryen continued onward with Ileta at his side, although his body was stronger due to age and experience, his strength was still being sapped the same as hers. He looked up, his gaze previously focused on the ground in front of him, and responded to Ileta’s sudden words, “Ah, that is a good idea, best to rest there and regain our strength, rather than travel in the sun and risk being too weak in case our hunters catch up to us.” He spoke quickly and his movement changed to move towards the crumbling tower.
Ileta hurried along behind Aryen. The tower had no door. If it did, it had deteriorated long ago. Ileta stepped in through the archway, and once she was inside, she tossed off her hood finally. She breathed a sigh of relief, though she no longer needed to breath—it was only a force of habit. She stepped back, out of the light, reveling in the cool darkness.
“I’m starving...” she said, running her hands over her stomach.
Stepping in with his gaze searching the darkness, attempting to see what he could, Aryen slipped his hood away as well. Stretching, he viewed their current surroundings. “Maybe we should see if there is anything we can drink here, or if worse comes to worst, you can feed from me,” he said stepping up by her.
Ileta reached up and touched his face. “You need it though, I don’t want to make you any weaker,” she said lovingly.
A smile came across his lips as he felt the touch to his face. “You will need it more than I if things come to that. If our hunters catch up with us, I at least want you to be able to make it away if matters worsen,” he said smiling.
Ileta gave him a small pout. She didn’t want him to talk about such dire things. The last thing she needed so soon after her rebirth was to lose her only teacher. “I guess we have to feed on animals out here?” she said, turning away from him to go deeper into the tower. As she followed the curve of the building inward, she noticed a shadowed staircase heading underground. Perhaps there were animals using this place as a den...
Aryen followed close behind her, just in case anything still inhabited this apparently abandoned tower. “Animals it is, hopefully something still resides here,” he said, looking around as they went deeper, noticing the shadowed staircase. “Perhaps down there?” he asked.
Ileta began to descend the stairs and looked at the path ahead. They were littered with leaves and twigs, and all sorts of debris that had been blown down. It seemed like a good place for an animal to be hiding to her. “Aryen, go ahead of me,” she said, realizing that he would probably be better to lead in case they were facing bears or wolves. She had the enhanced skills of a vampire, but he fought better.
Aryen gave her a nod, quickly moving in front of her as he descended down into the dark staircase. Step by step he took cautiously, even though they were both vampires, they were both weakened a small amount, so he had to be on guard at all times. As they continued on, his ears picked up a sudden sound in front of them, not far down the rest of the staircase, the sounds of an animal of some sort before them. “What is this?” he said curiously.
Ileta stopped behind Aryen, pressing against him and keeping him between her and the wall. “Is that...growling?” she asked. Indeed, the sound growing louder was that of a large cat. Maybe they had bitten off more than they could chew... Ileta looked around for anything to use as a weapon, but she found nothing.
A pair of yellow eyes glinted in the darkness a few steps below them, and the sharp eyes of the vampires soon recognized the large cat as a clawbeast. The cat crouched and hissed, warning them to leave. A part of Ileta called for flight, but her stomach growled just as threateningly as the cat.
Aryen nodded, his ears picking up the sound of the growling before them. And what was more troubling is what he discovered when he saw Ileta searching around them, there were no weapons, and his spear had been left behind in their escape.
“Seems like this is the source of our growling,” he said, a slight grin appearing on his lips. Even though they might have been taking on more than they could handle, he was always up for a challenge. “Stay back, this beast may be tougher than we think,” he said, his hand motioning her back. A wide smile appearing on his lips, showing his fangs to the cat, as if a challenge.
The cat responded to Aryen’s posturing by lunging at the vampire. As it did, Ileta leapt back and aside with a yelp. The clawbeast was focused on its challenger though, ignoring Ileta.
Aryen’s grin grew wider as he saw the cat lunge at him so fiercely. When it threw him down, his hands went to hold its head, which immediately went for his head to bite at him. He growled in slight pain as he felt its claws dig into the flesh of his shoulder. He braced himself, bringing his feet to the cats stomach and using his strength, pushed it off of him.
The cat flew back, landing on its feet. Aryen swiftly moved to his feet as well, eyeing the feline up. It charged at him again, pouncing with the same quickness it did before, although Aryen was quick enough, and familiarized himself with its movements as he darted to the side, laying a firm strike into the feline’s side as it went by. The beast hiss in pain at the improved strike from the vampire.
Ileta slipped away down the staircase to escape the fight. There was a floor here, where the cat had apparently made its lair. Ileta gave a quick glance around when she noticed something shiny on the walls. Looking back, she could see a set of swords on the wall, covered in cobwebs. As the battle raged on behind her, Ileta climbed up on the ruined mantle the swords hung over and pulled one down. Amazingly, the blades were still sharp.
The young vampiress took the sword in her hands, holding it in front of her. Her new strength made it easy to wield, and she realized she might be able to be of some help here. She dashed across the room, then as Aryen was facing off against the clawbeast, she attacked from behind, driving the blade into its back.
The cat shrieked and hissed, then tossed Ileta aside, though the sword remained in its back.
Aryen’s eyes went wide as he saw Ileta being tossed aside. His gaze then turned to the blade still wedged into its back. He could see that Ileta would be fine, since she was just tossed aside. Though the cat’s attention turned to her, upon seeing that she had inflicted more damage that Aryen had. Dammit, gotta move quick! he thought as he charged forward, seeing the cat lean down, as if ready to pounce at Ileta. He charged in at the side, his eyes focusing on the blade as he grasped it, putting more force down and plunging it fully through the wounded feline. It roared in pain, blood gushing from its stomach as it slumped down.
Twisting the blade, Aryen pulled it free and the wound spilled forth even more blood, gushing onto the floor. The sight of the blood made him lick his lips with hunger, however, Ileta was first in this matter.
Ileta had been tossed against wall, but she wasn’t injured. Aryen finished off the clawbeast, and the scent of blood roused her hunger. It didn’t smell as appealing as human blood, but it would do. The vampiress stood back up and walked over to the dying feline. Awkwardly, she knelt behind its head and leaned into its throat. She hesitated at its furry throat, but hunger was more important and she sank her fangs in.
Aryen stepped up aside Ileta, watching her take her feast upon the wounded and dying feline. His shoulder had healed, for the most part, though he would need that blood to heal completely. He stabbed the sword into the cat, if only for a place to put it.
The cat had more blood to spare than a human, but quantity wasn’t match for quality. Ileta drank her fill, then left the cat and began to spit and cough out the fur in her mouth. “Bleh!” she said, spitting again. “I guess...” another spit, “...food is food. Yech!”
Meanwhile, blood pooled from the killing wound had been flowing away across the floor and found a crack in the stonework and drained down to the lower floor.
Taking another step forward, he leaned in near where she had taken her feast from, leaning down and sinking his fangs into the felines neck, his hands gripping its fur as he did so, drinking forcefully from the cat. As he drank he full amount, enough to start healing his wounds and regain his strength, he pulled his mouth away, wiping the blood and fur that had been on it. “Yes, when desperate times come like this, one cannot be stingy about their meal,” he said.
“I’m going to be coughing up hairballs for a week,” Ileta said, then spat again. The vampiress turned around to look at the room the clawbeast had been using as its lair. Most of the furniture had deteriorated over time, but the three swords hanging over the hearth were in perfect condition, if not a little dusty. Usually they would tarnish and rust over time. Perhaps they had an enchantment on them?
“How old is this place?” she wondered aloud.
* * *
The scent of the blood, as well as the feeling of the warmth caressing his face, woke the vampire lord from his ageless slumber. His clothes had not faired the same as his own timeless body, tattered, encrusted and fouled by beasts over the ages. How ever long it had been, his senses were alive with that intoxicating scent. With the faint sound of people talking above him, the vampire’s thin lips widened to a smile. Slipping off the slab that had been his bed for several centuries, the vampire made his way up the spiraling staircase to greet his guests most humbly.
The closer he got, the more the scent of blood caught his attention, as well as a smell of undeath. From being overjoyed of having ‘dinner guests’ to disgusted that some wretches had dare defile his territory with their stink, the vampire’s mood had changed drastically.
The slim and pale man entered through the darkness into the befouled room, eyes focused on the two intruders that had made their way into his lair. They didn’t look as well dressed as Kastuulians, so he assumed they were from the barbarian tribes. “And by what manner of providence doth bring thee twin interlopers into this den of the most hallowed unhallowed?” he sneered, making his presence known to the two intruders.
Ileta stepped back beside Aryen, wrapping her arm around his. This was no normal man, even with her inexperience, she knew enough to recognize the scent of another vampire—she could smell the difference in Aryen, after all. Over the metallic scent of the clawbeast’s blood, she could smell that this stranger was no human. “Is he a vampire?” she whispered to Aryen, seeking confirmation.
Aryen felt his strength slowly returning, as well as the wounds the clawbeast left in his right shoulder sealing quickly. Suddenly he felt a chill go up his spine, feeling the presence of the other vampire grow near, then hearing what Ileta had said, drawing his attention to the man standing before the both of them. Hmm...the feeling he gives off, its similar... he thought, the scent and the feeling of age and strength was similar to the one that gave Aryen the gift of undeath.
“Two like you, seeking shelter from those whom are hunting us!” he said stepping in front of Ileta, though he was one of their own kind, he had great strength behind him, and Aryen always knew to take precaution around his own kind.
“Tch,” The older vampire sneered. “You two are nothing like I.” He moved forward passed Aryen and Ileta, his long nails clacking on the floor. He removed the sword from the clawbeast and wiped the blood off it before storing it back above the mantle.
“I’ll be kind enough to assume you two have names, or must I gather that you filthy barbarians have not mastered language to that degree?” He moved to one of the rotted couches and sat in it. “By all means, sit, recuperate from your ordeals, but while you are doing so, tell me your names and the nature of that which hunts you.”
“My name is Ileta, and we are not barbarians,” she said indignantly.
The vampire laughed at Ileta’s indignant response. “You are ‘not barbarians’ you say, yet you speak the barbarian tongue and not Kastuulian. I’d say that it is a fair enough assessment that you are indeed barbarians then, Ileta.” Using his teeth to clip his nails, he began to groom the length of his finger and toenails, having them so long was a bother, after all.
“Kastuul fell five hundred and thirty years ago,” Ileta replied. She couldn’t quite be offended by the ‘barbarian’ comment if he was that far out of date.
When Ileta told him of Kastuul’s fall he accidentally bit off more than the adequate amount of his finger nail. Instinctively taking the bleeding digit into his mouth he lapped at the wound before replying. “I see,” he sighed. “It is to be expected, I suppose. I was around before it began, and surely I’d be around after it fell.”
The impact of the fall of Kastuul would have grave consequences on his deal with that arch devil, possibly even nullifying his contract. Since he was still undead it was a fair assumption that the devil had no problem with the fall of Kastuul, but the vampire’s chimera research would definitely be stunted with this unfortunate development. “Five hundred and thirty years, you say? I’ve been sleeping for too long then. Ah, my manners, wherefore are they at? I am Xerephex Elsathehdfor Milaminos Thedarius El Exebathus,” he said, stating his full name.
As the vampire said his name, Ileta’s eyes went blank. “Wh...what was that?” she asked, completely unable figure out what he had said. She at least made out a few syllables, but that was hardly close to the full name.
He’s older than Kastuul? Aryen thought. He’s older than Zehenia then... Like Ileta, Aryen too was stumped by the name, but he at least kept his composure, and silently waited for the vampire’s reply to Ileta.
Xerephex sighed, his small chest heaving. “Xerephex or Xereph, or even Xer is fine.” He pointed to the rotted couches and chairs. “Please, sit. It’s impolite to stand when you have been offered a seat, regardless of the shape of the object. Please sit of your own will, I’d hate to have to force you. You are my guests after all.”
“Oh...right,” Aryen murmured, then stepped over to Xereph’s couch and took a seat hesitantly. He was afraid it would give way beneath him.
Ileta followed behind Aryen, and sat down, but apparently the two of them next to each other was too much for the decayed wood and their end of the couch gave way. Already tense, Ileta gave a yelp and a jump, then clutched Aryen’s arm when the couch collapsed beneath her.
“...Well at least we’re all seated,” Xerephex said blandly, watching Ileta’s reaction with an amused expression, belying his bland tone. “Give me a brief overview with what I’m dealing with here. Kastuul’s fall, you being hunted, whatever information you can seem to spare.”
While Aryen didn’t fully trust this ancient vampire, he decided to gamble on a possibility of refined generosity of their host and give him the information he seeks. “I’m not fully familiar with all the history, but that’s far from a pressing matter,” he stated softly. “We’re being hunted by a priestess of Marfa I failed to kill, and her entourage, a man who has almost equal strength to myself, a vampire hunter from the priesthood of Falis, and some others. We barely lost them in the forest. I never imagined I’d meet a vampire as old as yourself in these ruins.”
Xerephex shrugged. “I’ve never been hunted.” The elder vampire let out a little yawn. “In my day everyone was near immortal, didn’t matter whether you were naturally that way or augmented by mana, curse or disease.” Rising to his feet, Xerephex stretched and started walking towards the exit. “I’m hungry after my long sleep, make yourselves at home for the time being. I’ll return shortly after fending off my feeling of lethargy.”
Ileta watched the new vampire go while clinging to Aryen’s arm to keep from sliding off the remains of the decayed couch. As soon as Xerephex stepped out, Ileta hopped up and began brushing debris from her skirt. “Aryen, do you think he can help us?” she asked.
Aryen had a debating look on his face, could he really trust Xerephex, would this place be their sanctuary for the time being, and even if so he had known no other ancient vampire aside from his own creator. “That is a good question Ileta, I am starting to question that myself,” he said looking over at her.
“I guess we should stay here for the night,” Ileta said. “At least.” Xerephex intimidated her at first, in his mere age and potential power. After speaking to him a bit, she was more at ease, though slightly.
“Yes, I would think so at least to avoid our pursuers. And this would be safer than spending the night outside amidst the beasts,” he said, his eyes gazing over at her. Through his senses he could tell that she was intimidated at the sight and presence of Xerephex, stepping over aside her and bringing an arm around her to comfort her. “Are you doing alright?” he asked.
“Yes,” Ileta replied, wrapping her arms around Aryen’s waist. The new vampiress laid her head against his chest, seeking the comfort. “We should find a place to rest then,” she said. “He did say to make ourselves at home,” she tried to chuckle, but it came out rather forced and uncomfortable.
Aryen brought his arm that was around her while she wrapped her arms around his waist, bringing the other to hold her gently against him. “Yes, considering all we have been through, perhaps rest would be the best decision,” he said running his fingers through her hair.
Ileta pulled back, then gave Aryen a small peck on the lips. “Perhaps we should go downstairs,” she said, looking towards the stairs Xerephex came up from earlier, though she didn’t imagine the prospects for furniture were any better down there. At least they had cloaks to lay down on the floor.
Smiling at the peck on the lips, he gave a nod in response. “Yes, staying on our own would be the best chance, considering we don’t know much about our lord just yet, best to be on the safe side,” he said and began moving towards the staircase to head downward.
* * *
N’shara and Nakira were gone for nearly three hours while they prepared for the journey. The priestess had bought a couple tents, some food rations, and other necessities for spending the night in the wilderness, then retrieved her horse from the Dragon’s Fist Inn.
As the sun set, the two women returned to the make-shift campsite, leading Tana, N’shara’s buckskin mare whose back was laden with supplies. N’shara was exhausted, but they needed every hand they could get. She would take care of whatever duties needed tending to as long as she was able, but eventually, she needed to rest and mediate to increase her spiritual strength.
“We’re back,” she announced. “I bought some supplies, and I need some help setting up the tents. I got two, they should fit at least two people each.”
“I...” Penna started and then looked away in shame, cheeks aflame. “...don’t know how to set a tent up,” she stated softly. “I’ve never really been the outdoors type. My mother complained that it was bad for someone as frail as myself.”
Rone hadn’t said a word since they left. He had left the book given to him by his priesthood in case his companions had a desire to look through it, but he himself had almost completely ignored their presence. Staring out into the endless trees ahead, he was more of a statue than a man.
His eyes were in the direction of his foe. It was all he could see. The next victim, the next bite. The newest spawn Rone’s failure would create. Every fall, every mistake meant the loss of more lives. The sect of Falis that trained him had instilled a mindset unlike that of a knight or a priest. It was far more fervent, far more powerful. The encouragement to destroy these tainted creatures was the protection of the innocent. Every time they succeeded in killing their foe, countless lives would be preserved. If he failed, the blood of the next victim was as much on his hands as on those of the vampire he pursued. It was the reason he was so effective.
Perhaps it was a selfish desire. To avoid blame, to take the glory, to avenge the past. Perhaps he was caught up in the work. But nothing would tell him otherwise. His work was the epitome of devotion to his god. The active work of protecting good people from the darkness that Falis fought every day. When he next entered a temple of his god, he wondered if Falis would ever forgive him for the next girl to be slaughtered.
“Don’t worry, it’s not too hard,” N’shara said to Penna, then began to unpack one of the bundles of poles and canvas from the saddle of her horse. Tucking it under her arm, she brought it over to Fenix. “Maybe you could help her?” she asked the young man. “Nakira and I can take care of the other one. It’ll be quicker if we divide the task though.”
After helping unload Nakira walked over to N’shara and Penna, just as N’shara made her suggestion. Looking at the two, Nakira replied and gave Penna some encouragement, she’d once not known either, “Don’t worry Penna, I had no idea myself until after I was sixteen. I had other things to be worried about, but that’s the past. Shall we get started N’shara? Once we’re done this we should setup a watch rotation.” With everyone exhausted they needed to be on their guard. She would take first watch if the suggestion was taken, so that everyone else could sleep.
“You’ll have to decide that between Fenix and Penna. I will need all the rest I can get to regain my healing ability,” N’shara replied to Nakira. “Now, let’s get the other tent up.”
N’shara returned to her horse and unpacked the other tent. With Nakira’s help, they began setting it up.
“Looks like I’m on guard duty then,” Fenix chuckled, motioning for Penna to follow him to what was thus far of the tent. Cloth and sticks, pretty much. Fortunately, he had spent enough time traveling to pick up how to make one. “Think of it as a game... but, if you lose, you have to sleep under the stars. And maybe on a cold night. The object is to use these sticks to build the frame work,” he said, leaning down to pick up the poles, and with a slight grunt, put it into the ground, burying the end and setting it at an angle. “We just need to put two on the other end, then just hang this cloth between two trees so that it looks like a little house... not a pretty looking tent, but well enough to sleep in.”
The elven woman followed Fenix to where he was setting up the tent. At his explanation Penna nodded as she watched Fenix set up the tent. Something so seemingly easy made her cheeks burn with embarrassment that she didn’t know how to do it on her own. “...I’ll remember that for next time,” she said slowly.
“No problem.” Fenix chuckled, getting up. Considering he was the most well rested, first shift fell on him.
Nakira went and helped N’shara with the other tents, pitching them as she caught Fenix’s comment. “I’ll take a shift as well, I just need a little sleep first.” She felt useful at this point, but still she should read Rone’s book to prepare herself for what was to come.
“Rone, you can share this tent with the men. The women can take the other,” N’shara said to the vampire hunter in regards to the tent she set up with Nakira. She then went to tend to Laies. Kneeling beside him, she shook his shoulders, hoping she could get him to wake and move himself to the tent. “Laies.”
The priest of Falis did not reply. He had begun to maintain his crossbow with care. Rone was too angry to reply.
Laies opened his eyes, the haze of sleep still present. Seeing N’shara kneeling over him, he could only conclude that he was still dreaming. Wrapping his arms around her torso he pulled her on top of him and held her to his chest. Lifting her chin up so he could see her face he softly brushed her lips with his giving her a light peck on the lips. This was all a dream, after all, so why not make it an enjoyable one?
N’shara was quite shocked to be held and kissed so gently by Laies, but she couldn’t say she didn’t enjoy it. However, she didn’t want to let that on. It wasn’t right for him to be kissing her when she was unprepared and surrounded by so many people! Pushing herself back up and pulling out of Laies’s grasp, she shouted in an admonishing tone, “Laies!” The priestess had a deep blush on her dark cheeks.
“Neeh...uhrr...” came Laies’s response to N’shara’s admonishing tone. He was still three quarters asleep and hardly responsive. “So it’s not that kinda dream...” Laies muttered sleepily.
“You need to get to the tent to sleep,” N’shara informed him, then pointed out the tent she set up. Dream, hmm? she mused. I guess that explains it. Laies mumbled, still three-quarters asleep, stalking off to the tent she mentioned. As soon as inside he slumped to the ground and fell back asleep.
As he got up, Fenix noticed something rather comical. The one known as Laies kissed the priestess, N’shara, he believed her name to be. Dream? Gotta remember that one, he thought, moving to the fire.
N’shara unpacked a bedroll, then kindly laid the blanket over Laies, and tucked the pillow under his head. Once she saw to him, she stepped out of the tent and turned to Rone. “You should probably go in too. There’s no sense in catching pneumonia tonight and making me heal that in the morning too,” she said to the vampire hunter, then stretched and yawn, finally expressing her own exhaustion.
Though she might have been tired enough to just collapse in the dirt and sleep there, since she was still upright, she managed to go to unpack her own bedding without waiting for a reply from Rone. Carrying the bedroll over to the other tent, she unbuckled it, tossed it in, then crawled inside, not bothering to take off any of her adornments, aside from kicking off her boots as she laid down. Only a moment longer and the priestess was dead to the world, fast asleep.
Rone stayed awake for a while after anyone went to sleep. His aged eyes looked up to the sky, deep in solitary communion with Falis. The hardened killer thought deeply on his wounds, his failure, and his behavior up until then. Perhaps he had been too harsh on the others? His eyes may have been too focused. He treated others with unexpected and undeserved hostility, as if he deserved the right to be angry at the world. Falis surely did not approve of such dishonorable, prideful behavior.
“I will protect them,” he whispered unto the sky and its many eyes. “I will hunt for you. But I shall hunt for them as well.”
People seemed to be dropping like flies, a clear indication of lack of rest. However, Rone was still awake. While Fenix did want to ask the priest about information on how exactly you hunted a blood sucking sin against the gods, he doubted he would get anything to clear if he got it from a sleepy, wounded priest. “Why don’t you get some rest, eh? You collapsed earlier, and it wouldn’t help if you did so again tomorrow morning.”
Rone looked over at the newcomer, his eyes oddly soft. “I was done anyway.” Rone did finally join the others and passed out instantly.
Looking to Fenix, Nakira decided she would stay up for watch after him. This was going to be a long night, and she needed to be alert. “When your shift is over come wake me, I’ll cover next watch. Until then good night.” She then went into the girls tent and removed her armor, falling asleep in her clothes so she would not have to do much to prepare for her shift.
