When Gavyn crested the mountain path into the village of Silverbrook, all he saw were flames. It was pretty from a distance, this giant bonfire that lit the night. The Guild rarely sent him so far away, though, and the view did little to mollify his ill temper. When the ravens had given him this destination, he had been sceptical about his mission’s importance. How difficult could it be to retrieve a girl from a place in the middle of nowhere, small coven of vampires or not? He knew better than to challenge a raven about an instruction but really, couldn’t they have sent one of the tigers? Why did this mission need him? Surveying what lay before him now, he understood. For all their strength, tigers were not immune to flame. The ravens would have known they needed a serpent; their visions were always true. Still, he found himself irritated by their typical lack of explanation or warning.

  He moved down the pass at a brisk pace. The village dipped back out of view, but the acrid scent of burning began to sting his nostrils. As the voices of the suffering grew too unpleasant for his tastes, he drew on his power. As he did, the serpent scrawled into the flesh of his lower back stirred, and moved to coil around his left forearm. He slipped into the In-Between. There, he could see the ghost of his world, and the village before him, overlayed by spectral images from places unknown. Now unrestrained by the obstacles created by his surroundings, he made quick progress. Slipping through the wall of the first building, he found nothing but charred corpses and continued on. He visited several more dwellings before coming upon a living person. He stepped out of the In-Between to find an old man slumped against a wall that was as yet untouched by flame. The man didn’t stir as Gavyn appeared and his chest moved shallowly as he breathed. Assessing him, Gavyn identified a significant puncture above his hip. He knelt and applied pressure. The man’s eyes flew open and he screamed.

  “Hush,” said Gavyn, considering the state of the him.

  “W-who’re you?”

  “I’m looking for a girl,” Gavyn said, ignoring him, “Ara. Where is she?”

Unauthorized usage: this narrative is on Amazon without the author's consent. Report any sightings.

  “She—” the man was briefly overcome by coughing, “Dunno. She lives north of here, but in all this… am I going to die?”

  The serpent moved until its jaws covered Gavyn’s fingers. He let it bite the man, whose eyes immediately unfocused.

  “No,” Gavyn said soothingly, “You’re going to be fine.”

  The man smiled as he drew his next, and final breath. Gavyn stepped back into the In-Between. There were a number of buildings north, but many of them were no longer standing. He ignored those. If the girl was inside, she was already beyond rescue. He saw the outline of a figure dash towards the house, and moved to intercept. He stepped out of the In-Between once more, driving his open palm forward as he did. It connected, solidly, with the vampire, and it fell backwards with an ‘oof.’

  “I am looking for a girl,” Gavyn said again.

  The vampire bared its teeth, “She’s ours,” it hissed.

  Gavan willed the serpent once more into his fingers, and slashed the air in front of the vampire’s face. It hissed again.

  “This is no business of yours, Ink Serpent.”

  Gavan yawned, “The ravens tell me that it is. So, I’ll ask you again. Where is the girl? Is she here?”

  He touched the vampire’s face with the serpent’s fangs when it failed to answer. The creature swore, and then spoke.

  “She’s not here. She’s in our caves.”

  Gavan rolled his eyes. What a pain.

  “Why are you here, then?”

  The vampire looked beyond Gavan, to where another, female vampire lay on the ground. A metal pickaxe had been driven through her chest and she wasn’t moving. Not dead, he noted, just very damaged. He stepped back into the In-Between and left them to their business.

  It did not take him long to reach the vampires’ caves. He knew that were he wholly in the physical plane, it would be pitch black. Caressed by the ethereal light of the In-Between, however, he could see just fine. Stepping through inconvenient walls, he located the girl. She was tiny. Beyond that, he could tell very little from the plane he was on. He stepped forward and appeared before her. As he’d expected, it was too dark to see, but he knew where she was. He reached out and took her wrist, which made her yelp.

  “It’s okay,” he told her, “I’m human.”

  “Who are you?” she asked.

  Her voice trembled with fear, but she spoke clearly.

  “My name is Gavyn,” he said, “I’m an Ink Serpent.”