In the black of night, a strange duo tramped through the Greenmaw. A half-thing and a human. Axel looked behind him at the diminutive little girl trailing him, somehow being able to keep pace with him despite his superhuman speed. Even though they were traveling at night, when the sun's rays weren't around to irritate the Dhampyre's skin, Christine moved with unerring skill, always training her ice-blue eyes on Axel. Those eyes, radiating freezing cold, could have made a grown-man's skin crawl.

"How intense..." Axel thought while paling slightly (as if he could).

"We'll make camp here for the night." As soon as those words were uttered, Christine jumped, catlike, onto a tree branch. Axel stared at her for a second, then leaped up as well.

"Forest wolves and things around here, vamp." Christine smirked. "Don't want you poisoning the entire forest."

"Screw you," snapped Axel.

As Christine wrapped her dark cloak around herself, Axel leant back and stared at the sky. He didn't need to sleep, not as a vampire, but he still could, if he wanted to.

He didn't want to.

This girl is...different.

She doesn't harbour any killing intent against me. Not anymore, at least.

Not after the first few days, when she had glared daggers at him the entire week. It had taken three times. Three times he fought alongside her against the local wildlife, or bandits, or some equally annoying pests. Then she had begun to relax and stop casting hateful glances at him. She was still weird though. Once he was practicing his blood strings, and turned around to watch her unnatural-blue eyes staring at him, choreographing his every move like an owl.

People were weird. No reason for her not to be.

Axel leaned back and stared at the sky. Due to being out in a wilderness that would have eaten conventioanl travellers and settlers alive, the Greenmaw was unpopulated, and as a result, no smog clogged the view of the sky. Stars glimmered like little dots of water suspended over a black shroud, and for once, they didn't feel cold and distant.

He stayed that way until dawn.

"Ow!" The poor Dhampyre jerked awake as he felt the sun stinging his forearm. Drawing it backwards, he leapt down from the high tree branch, he landed in the forest floor, where most of the light was shaded by the canopy. Pulling his cloak over himself, he paced below Christine's tree and waited.

"Good morning."

Axel hissed and turned around to see his companion standing on the floor. "How the hell--" He was sure he'd seen her body on the branch as he leapt. How did she manage to get down without a sound?

Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation.

"Are you coming?" She began to move away, flitting from tree to tree. Axel quickly followed. She was his only hope of getting out.

Half a day later, they decided to take a small break. Axel killed a horn-hoof and divided it as such: meat for Christine, blood for him. It worked out, at least for the past few days.

"Hello."

"Oh come on--"

"What the hell--"

Both turned to face the man who had spoken behind them. "Not another damn bandit."

"This is getting repetitive."

Axel clenched his fist, and three red, scabby claws shot out from between his knuckles. "Go away, or I'll kill you."

The man didn't react. No Oh god, a vampire! or You monster!

Not very entertaining.

Axel charged. Focusing the strength in his legs, he exploded forward before Christine could even react, pivoting mid-air and slashing down viciously with all the strength in his body. The man, clad in a tattered black robe, raised his hands. As the fabric slid down, it exposed his pale forearms.

"Yes! Surrender!" Axel yelled. Jokingly.

However, it was with less-than-joking force that Axel was smashed aside.

As soon as he came within striking distance of the man and cut down with his claws, his opponent sidestepped with astounding speed and punched him in the ribs. Axel flew and crashed into a tree.

He had been crashing into trees often lately. Maybe it was because trees were the only things around to crash into.

"What the--"

The man was on him again, like a bat from the depths of hell. Eyes covered in a red film, the bared forearm smashed into Axel's solar plexus. The Dhampyre coughed and yelled as he felt his organs get crushed. However, instead of withdrawing the fist, the man pushed it in deeper, and Axel howled as he felt the foreign fingers grasp his spine.

A jerk later and Axel lay on the floor twitching, with three inches of his spine in his adversary's hands. Licking it fondly, the man slurped up the blood, saying between gulps: "I'm here on the orders of the Great Archon Lamiar. To kill you. You are no longer a successful experiment as you have betrayed the Archon. Your blood is tainted and must be erased."

"A vampire...are you kidding me?"

In a moment, Axel Roegel had been totally defeated.

Smiling, the man raised his arm, summoning a long blade of congealed blood.

He never brought it down.

A brown streak passed behind him and something glinted. An arm fell to the ground.

"How..."

Christine descended on him again, like a banshee. Her blue eyes glinted, stony with hate.

"Vvvvvaaammppirreee."

The vampire gasped.

[Congealing Stars]

Sudden globs of blood discharged from the man's skin and zoomed towards Christine, solidifying into little spiked balls. There were over fifty. Axel felt his stomach sinking as he realised she couldn't dodge them all.

Waltz of the Sun and Moon Blade Art: [Crescent Blitz]

Christine swung her sword in effortless half-arcs, slicing every star into red bursts. "Wow..." Axel had never seen a user of the Blade Arts before. They were swordsmen trained in ancient techniques of weapon-wielding that gifted them with unnatural and amazingly strong abilities.

[Full Moon Decapitation]

Christine dashed forward with a similar speed Axel employed earlier and spun in a tight arc, making her body as small a target to hit as possible. Holding her sword straight out, she passed by the vampire before he even had a chance to gasp.

Nothing happened. Then blood spurted from an infinitesimal crack in the man's neck.

"Agh.."

[Perfect Alignment Thrust]

Christine's sword stabbed straight into the vampire's heart, undoing the fell magics binding him together. In a few moments, he was an unresponsive heap.

"So that's the power of a vampire hunter..."

She stooped down and hacked off a hunk of flesh from the corpse. Walking over to Axel, who lay, unable to move, she gently set it down beside him. "Eat. Eat and heal."

As Axel took small bites of the flesh, aided by his companion, he felt his spine slowly regrowing.

Maybe this world isn't so bad after all.