A Lesson (Part III), by Draylth

Published: Dec 28 2007

People were terrified now. The death count had risen fast, quickly. The humans thought that there were over 80 of them dead, but the truth was, there were only 67 of them dead. 13 of the dead were vampires.

Draylth was slipping down into her mind again. Not that she was bored, or scared, or angry. She loved being who she was now, but the deep recesses of her mind were the only place that held any sign of her lost humanity. She enjoyed going there and reliving her newest memories about her old life.

"Another one," said a raspy voice from behind her, jerking her out of her meditation. She forced herself to look around, even though she already knew who it was. The Loner stood behind her in a polite stance, a small smile on his face. When she had imagined him in her mind, she saw a cold-blooded kill who would strike when someone's back was turned. She was obviously wrong.

He was very old compared to her, but she knew at once that he wasn't ancient. Colorful markings adorned his bald head and outlined his very red eyes. They looked bored. "What do you want?"

"Well," he said slowly. "I'm looking for a certain person. A certain vampire, to be exact. But I can't seem to find him. I wonder, would you mind helping me?" He smiled coldly.

"All those others that you killed, did you bother to ask them to help you?"

"Oh, yes, but they didn't seem to want to." He said this as a simple fact, and Draylth knew that she couldn't help him. She also knew that she couldn't kill him. She wasn't yet nearly as strong as she would become in later years, and this Loner had many centuries on her.

She tightened her grip on her daggers. "Well, you won't get any help from me." He lunged and she managed to slice along his collar bone before he threw her against the wall. In some part of her mind, she realized that she wasn’t only a hunter of the night. She was also a thief. As he went for her heart, she saw the shadows deepen in one corner.

Dodging him, she dove for the shadows and disappeared.