Chapter 10

Snow had seen mistreated creatures before. This was a cruel world where people accepted that their neighbor might beat their children just as brutally as their mule, but this sight still shocked him.

She was burned. She was so badly burned. He could see all the blackened marks because she wore so little clothes. Even now she was using her long dirty hair to try and cover what skin might be exposed to midday sunlight streaming in from the new opening he created. She trembled in a fetal position in the furthest corner from the boulder, but it was not deep enough that Snow couldn’t take a few strides and touch her. He thought about stepping in and closing the makeshift doorway, but there would be little space should the injured thing turn and fight.

“Easy,” he found himself saying. “We’re not here to hurt you.”

She was indeed a vampire. No human could take such burns and still be breathing. The flesh was bubbling red or black, the latter falling off in chips the size of small leaves. They had to be the result of silver or the sun and most looked fresh, as if she had been walking in partial daylight recently. They would heal eventually, but some looked so deep he wondered if she would be scarred.

The vampire continued its huddled trembling as if she hadn’t heard him.

“What the hell,” Titus starred in disbelief behind him until Snow elbowed him back.

Snow looked up at the rocks above them. They were a haphazard jumble, crammed together to make a jigsaw roof. He wanted to pull them forward and extend a stone canopy, but he knew immediately that he would risk a cave-in. He cursed under his breath and huffed.

“I’m going in. I’m going to shut it behind me.”

“Are you kidding?” Titus replied in shock.

“This isn’t right. She might have killed those men but look at her. No vampire would do that to itself.” Snow gestured.

“Maybe she’s insane,” Titus shot back.

“My hero?” A weak feminine voice whispered from inside the cave.

Both men immediately stopped arguing and peered in through the opening again. A pair of unnaturally bright blue eyes were peering through matted hair at the two of them

“My hero?” Snow repeated before his eyes turned back to Titus. The swordsman was still staring into the shallow cave.

“Is that my hero?” the voice gently sobbed.

“Fuck,” Titus cursed.

“She seems to know you,” Snow said it like an accusation, and he meant it. He waited for Titus to turn to him and explain, but the man only stared at the vampire in what was clearly disbelief.

After an unnerving moment, Snow turned back to the vampire and said, “We do not wish to hurt you. Will you let us step inside safely?”

There was a tiny nod, but the vampire did not uncurl herself. She remained with her knees up and her arms wrapped around them.

“Get the hell in there, hero,” he said to Titus with shove to the man’s side, though it was no use. Titus was a boulder of a man and he suddenly didn’t seem capable of moving forward.

“MOVE,” Snow barked in anger.

Then, with awkward small steps, Titus ducked and slid in through the tight entrance and Snow came in behind. Titus had to remain hunched to keep his head from knocking into roots, while Snow was able to stay upright as he closed the boulder behind them so only a slim crack of light came in.

They were now nearly hovering over her. She could have jumped to her feet and began slicing them to ribbons, but she remained in her huddled position even as the light dimmed. Now it was Snow who was on edge as he stood among the two with no knowing what story lay between them. He wanted to believe it was the damsel in distress tale he imagined earlier, but it didn’t feel right anymore. Something darker was afoot here and Titus was involved somehow.

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Snow gave Titus another sharp glare before addressing the vampire in a gentle voice. “Now, please, tell me what is happening here? Two men are dead. Did you kill them?”

The vampire slowly nodded with a sniffle. “But I did not want to.”

“Why did you then?”

“He made me do it. The hunter who holds my leash,” she then started to lift her head. Snow saw more black burns and peeling flesh on her jaw, but a much bigger one encircled the whole of her neck. There a thick silver collar sat. He could see the ancient writing carved despite the heavy amounts of black ash that was once her fair skin.

Snow slowly came down to one knee and cautiously inspected it, still aware that this could all be an act. The collar, though, looked very real and exceedingly painful. It was a solid circlet, too thick to cut without blacksmith tools. He knew the letters upon it and could read the spell. He had seen it used before, but this was a cruel twist to set it in silver and put it on a vampire. Every inch of flesh it touched burned black as if fire had scorched her skin. Snow had never seen a vampire endure this much constant contact. Then again, most vampires he’d met were never in this position.

“Who put this on you? The hunter?” Snow asked as he called a candle-like flame to his hand to illuminate the dark shadows beneath her hunched form. Under the cracked black skin and dirt was the beautiful face of a young woman, pale and fearful. She stared at Snow pitifully like a beaten animal ready to accept death.

“The humans who attacked Bal Lorn. They killed my master. I wanted to run, but they hunted me down. My hero,” she looked up stiffly to glance a Titus. Skin cracking as she did so. “He tried to help me flee, but they caught up to me. They put this on me, and one gave me to the hunter so I can always be the monster he hunts for pay.”

Snow glanced back at Titus.

“Anything to add, hero?” he asked, not bothering to hide the suspicion in his voice.

Titus took a moment before replying. “I was in the area when I heard battle sounds. I was curious. That’s when I found her huddling under some ruins at dusk. I thought she was just a villager at first. I... I didn’t have the heart in the moment to... I never saw one like her before.”

Snow waited for more, but Titus fell silent. He didn’t like it. He didn’t like how composed the response was. He didn’t like how each word felt measured. It was the same tone Titus had used when he had explained his conversation with the baker at the Fraeling the other morning.

But first thing’s first. Snow turned to the vampire and again spoke to her with care.

“What’s your name?”

“Lia,” she whispered.

“Lia, can this hunter move the earth like I have done?”

“Yes,” she said, her voice becoming more pained as she moved and talked. Snow then started to peel off his coat.

“Will he go to the village soon or will he come for you?” Snow was careful as he laid the fine long duster over Lia, and then, very slowly, he bent close to lift the circlet collar and pull his jacket collar through it.

The vampire flinched until she realized that his coat collar now sat between her neck and the silver. She sighed with a soft whimper as he continued to gently secure the coat around her despite the black flakes dusting his white sleeves.

“He comes to the town first – three or four days after he has me kill,” her reply came easier though bloody tears of relief began to fall down her face.

“Now now, none of that. I want my coat back in pristine condition,” Snow chided gently before sitting back and leaning on his one knee. “So, it’s safe to say he will not call upon you again until he comes to the village?”

Lia nodded as she tried to wipe away the tears with the back of her hands.

“What are you going to do?” Titus asked from over his shoulder.

“I can’t have a fraud running around fleecing my customers,” Snow then stood.

“What happened to ‘no more trouble’?” Titus asked.

“Like you said, there’s plenty out here.” Snow then turned to Lia and warned her he was about to open the cave again.

The vampire huddled, pulling up the coat as close as she could around her body and ducking her head against the incoming light.

Once Snow and Titus were back outside, Snow closed it again, sealing the vampire in. He even encouraged loose dirt to trickle down along the boulder’s cracks as Titus continued to question what they were about to do.

“You’re going to confront this hunter whose clearly another magician?”

“I doubt he’s as well versed in the art if he’s the type to look for an easy payday. This fraud has likely already stripped all the excess money from the neighboring villages. Now they have nothing to offer me.”

Titus scoffed as he sheathed his sword. “You’re upset over losing a few jobs?”

Snow turned on him with a chilly glare as the morning breeze picked up.

“I also don’t care for the level of cruelty this liar is comfortable with. What about you?”

Titus fell silent.