Darkness Shining

I awoke on a cloudy night, the pale moon barely shining though the dark rain clouds, looking large enough to send drops of angel's tears on the land. I felt around my body to make sure I was still carrying all of my money, and other cvarious things I had come across. I looked into my most prized possession. It was a dark blue pouch which carried nearly 16 fangs in it. It was my trophy case, my life's work all summed up in a small item i carried in my pouch. It was rumoured to be worth nearly 3000 coins to certain powerful vampires that wanted me dead. Yes, I was becoming well known in certain circles. I stood, stretched to hear a satisfying crackle as my joints fell into place after a long night sleeping in a barn just northwest of Eria, in a pile of golden hay. Walking out of the barn, I noticed that rain began to drizzle on my head. It fell like blood on a flower petal, it was so cleansing, so pure was the rain which slicked my long, black hair. I had heard the night before that there was a vampire meeting near where I slept. They knew I had found the main meeting place, and I wasn't restricted to where they could go, as I was one of them. The rain started to fall harder, dripping down my thin face into my glowing green eyes. I walked along the roadway toward the north where I knew the meeting would take place. Lacar and Calinath said they would meet me along the way, as it was dangerous to travel alone, especially if you're hunted so by the vampires who live in the city of shadows. My legs carried me to our meeting place, only a mile from where I had awaken, Lacar was the first to stand and wave. He always knew when I was coming, I had always thought it was from my aura so mixed, what with my heritage and my will to be good. Yes, I indeed was an oddity in this land, but it seemed to attract people, that one who had a reputation of being so evil could be good. I guess it gave people hope, and now was the time to have hope for the future, these were dark times indeed.

Calinath stood, smiled at me, and brushed his hair out of his eyes, "Terek! How goes our vampiric friend?" He grinned at Lacar, then drew a sword and stabbed it in the ground. This was a sign of respect among us, as we would offer our blades to each other. I had drawn upon my custom blade, curved, the blade almost 5 feet long, the hilt being one foot in length. I stabbed the blade into the soil, unearthing a worm which made me grin slightly. Lacar took his rapier and put it next to mine, then looked at me, "You look like you haven't drank in a long time, Terek. Are you sure you're okay?"

I did, indeed, feel a bit dizzy, as if i had lost blood while I slept. "Yes, Lacar, I am fine, don't worry about me, just worry about the task ahead. You know it's alot harder to fight them when they're awake and able to move. You're probably known among the Vampires as I am, but they may not recognize you as they would me."

The young cleric nodded, Calinath pulled up his blade and looked up at me. Calinath was a very tall person for what he was, but he was still about a foot shorter than me, as I was over seven feet tall. He looked anxious. This was only his second hunting, but it was Lacar's fourth, as he replaced my former companion, Felenious when he left to study under Faux. I was eager to let him go on his journey, as Faux was a good god, a very honourable god with many values. "Terek," Calinath said, "tell me of our mission tonight. I had heard much from Lacar, but I'd like to hear it from you. Straight from the bird's mouth, if you will."

I nodded, "We're to find a vampire named Keslovich, and kill him especially. We can kill the other vampires if you wish, I doubt we'd get far in the place without killing at least four others. Make sure not to let them near your blood, that's their power source. If they run out of blood then they have no way of fighting, as they would need it badly and they would make careless mistakes. They would fight blindly."

Lacar nodded and looked over at me after picking up his sword, "What is the pay for this job, Terek?"

I grimaced, it wasn't much but it was something. I knew Calinath wouldn't like the low amount, "Only a thousand a piece. It seems that the vampires guarding this Keslovich are weak neophytes without a chance of lasting through a fight with us. Make sure you kill them before you move on to the next one, vampires are very resilent creatures you know." As I thought, Calinath looked upset when he heard the price. He didn't say anything, however, because I anger easily and he doesn't like the way my sword seems to cut through nearly anything it wants to. So, on we walked toward the meeting place, Lacar holding a holy symbol about himself praying to Faux, Calinath had his hand on his sword as he walked, his head turning at every sound that sounded hostile. The end of my blade dragged along the ground as I walked, it screeched against roadways where bandits infested, and scratched along the floor where vampires dwell. We arrived at the meeting place that was going to be sufficent for the Vampires' needs. It was going to be quite sufficent for ours as well, I thought with a slight grin. A couple of guards standing at the door looked at Lacar, then looked at Calinath, he didn't notice me, as I was hiding in the shadows near the door.

"You the new guards for Meistrak?" the guard on the left said, looking directly at Lacar.

"Yes," Lacar said, "We're the new guards. Fresh new members of the clan too. Can you tell me a little bit about this place? I wouldn't want to get lost."

The guard regarded Calinath, "What about him, is he one of us, or just some kind of escort." He looked into Calinath's eyes and saw the glimmer of life which most kine possessed, he turned to look at Lacar as Lacar was turning his head. The guard saw Lacar full in the face and saw the same thing in Lacar's eyes, and I knew what was going to happen. The guard pulled on the staff which was strapped to his back, but before he could even touch the tip of his weapon I dropped down on them from the shadows. I pulled my blade along his body, then up to his neck, slicing his head cleanly off of his body. It fell to the muddy ground, the eyes still carrying that shocked surprise which he had when he saw me jump in. Calinath wasted no time, he took his blade from his sheath and impaled the other guard upon it, who shoved Calinath to the ground with his drawn staff. The guard pulled the blade out of him and threw it to the ground, and Lacar started to mumble something. The guard walked toward Calinath, drawing a sword from his sheath. He threw his staff to the ground, and pulled up his sword as if he was going to chop him in half. I ran over to him, my blade trailing after me like a hardened silver streamer, but as I arrived Lacar finished mumbling. The world exploded into a flash of light, light blue and red strawberry flame. I turned my eyes and fell to the ground. I opened them when I heard the screaming. I looked up to see that Lacar had cast some sort of dispel evil spell which caught the other guard on fire. The burning flesh gave the air an unhealthy smell, and I thought that we would have been better off without the smell, but then I thought of Calinath, as I would have gotten there too late. The guard fell to the ground, finally dead, his charred remains smoking up the atmosphere like some kind of camp fire. The rain put out the flames shortly after the guard died, after which it started raining, as if it accepted a sacrifice we had given it. I looked around the group then I slammed down the door with my foot. I walked in, smiling at the 15 Vampires situated around a table. There were gasps and whispers all around.

I raised my arms slightly into a small shrug, looking at each and every one of the creatures around the table, "I just wanted to get into the party, no one cared to invite me." I smiled at them and walked over to the one which matched Keslovich's description. I put my boot on his chest as he sat in his chair and looked into his eyes, "We only want this one," I said to the rest of the crowd, "Keslovich looked at me again when I turned back toward him. He rolled his eyes away in disgust. I brought up my blade and twisted it in my hand, sheathing it on my back. I drew upon my dagger and put it to the vampire's throat, "How would you like it, all the blood of the people you murdered today to come trickling out upon your shirt, like rain drops so gathering in a succession, falling to the floor?"

He rasped what he could with my heavy desert boots on his chest, "I..would...order...you killed."

I smiled and looked into his eyes, "You can't if you're dead, Keslovich, and you're going to die right now. How does it feel to be a dead man?" I laughed in his face, shoving my dagger into his heart. He screamed and I kicked him to the floor. I took my blade from my back and I ran it across his neck, cutting off his head in a finalizing deathly swoop. I picked up the head by the hair, the walked out, with Lacar and Calinath travelling behind.

Calinath looked back, "Why didn't they fight us Terek?" he nearly shouted, "Why didn't they attack when we entered the room?"

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