The vampire was a young woman, around twenty-five years old, pretty with ginger hair styled in a mangled ponytail. It was hard to tell whether she had freckles on her cheeks, or whether they were splatters of blood. Dried specks of it dribbled from her mouth and her fingers were caked in dirt and grime, mimicking the ruined quality of her clothes. She stared unblinkingly at Gwyn, who was best suited for an attack due to his long reach with his halberd and thus leading the group. She took a step towards them, then another, and another. Arwen let out a low whimper. She knew a recently fed vampire could easily square off against them all. She was going to die. She was going to die. “You better stay back!” Gwyn shouted coarsely, his voice rough with unspoken threats.

The vampire woman ignored him and continued her approach. She was now a mere ten metres from the group and was not slowing down. Arwen could now tell that, yes, the woman didn’t have freckles. Her eyes were animalistically wild and wide. A crazed spark danced in her irises and her hunched posture with her dangling left arm seemed shudderingly inhumane. The woman had gone mad long ago, and it was impossible to tell whether or not this was her first feed.

Cai grabbed Eryk by the arm and pulled him close. “If I cut my arm and you feed off of me, will you be able to take her on?”

Eryk pulled back, a horrified expression crossing his face. “No! Never! I would never do that,” he hissed. “I’d rather die.”

“We will attack if you don’t get back!” Gwyn reiterated his warning. But it was for nought. Arwen had no idea what had clued Eryk in on the incoming attack, but he suddenly dashed out from behind Gwyn and launched himself at the vampire woman, who had almost simultaneously leapt towards Gwyn, arms outstretched and a crazed smile adorning her face.

Eryk collided with the vampire woman mid-air, and the two fell onto the ground in a messy heap. He immediately tried to get up, but the vampire woman displayed an almost dazzling show of strength and speed when she jumped up onto her feet and grabbed Eryk’s neck one-handed as if he were a ragdoll, sending him over her shoulder and then slamming him brutally into the ground in front of her. Gwyn let loose a cry and charged, while Cai’s sword lit up in a radiant fire and his skin began to glow a pale light in the slightly murky twilight air. Owen roughly pushed Arwen further behind him and readied his bow, but he couldn’t take a shot without risking hitting any of the other boys.

Satisfied that she had done a number on Eryk, the vampire woman turned her attention to Gwyn and moved with a blinding speed towards him.

A moment later, she let loose a cry as she tumbled onto the ground. Despite suffering an attack that Arwen was half-convinced would’ve broken bones, Eryk had launched himself from the ground and had grabbed a hold of her ankle, tripping up the crazed vampire enough for Gwyn to stab at her with his halberd. A crazed shriek filled the sky as the blade pierced her stomach, but she swatted at the polearm with her hand with such force that the thick wooden hilt immediately snapped in two. She then rolled onto her feet and forcefully removed the halberd from her stomach, sending a spray of blood and bodily fluids cascading onto her legs and torso.

Eryk tried to tackle her from behind, but she reacted with an impossible speed and darted out of the way, launching an underhanded swing that barely glanced Eryk’s hunched form but was enough to send him soaring into a tree, where a deep grunt of pain escaped from his clenched teeth. Without any warning, the vampire woman sent a swipe at the charging Cai and then followed up with a front kick to Gwyn, catching him square in the chest and sending him into a backflip. He landed on his back with an almighty cry and began to wheeze in a shaky, pained way that sent Arwen’s heart to her throat.

“Damn it!” Owen cursed loudly. “Run, Arwen! Just run away!”

“Wh- what?! No! I won’t leave you!” she cried back.

“Go! Or you’ll die!”

Just ahead of them, Cai had managed to catch the vampire woman with his enchanted sword, and a putrid smell of burning flesh filled Arwen’s nostrils as the radiant flames clung hungrily to the slice on her forearm. Cai rolled underneath her deranged swiping and danced back onto his feet. His right hand lowered his flaming white sword as he raised his left hand, palm outstretched, out towards the vampire woman.

The white flames on her arm immediately began to spread as Cai fuelled it with his magic. The smell intensified into one reminiscent of badly overcooked and charred meat and the woman went berserk in pain, waving her arms around and gnashing at the flames as if she could somehow eat the source of her agony. By this point, her entire arm was on fire, but it would take far more to take down a blood-fuelled vampire. As if to prove that point, the woman dove at Cai and managed to latch onto his left leg, sinking her teeth into his flesh.

“Argh!” Cai let loose a loud growl as he fell backwards. The woman started to claw her way up his leg until she reached his torso, where a raised fist promised death by impalement.

“Cai! No!” Arwen screamed. Owen let loose an arrow, which whistled through the air and buried itself in the vampire woman’s flank, but she didn’t even bother reacting as she readied herself for the kill.

A vicious kick from a somewhat recovered Eryk sent the vampire woman tumbling off of Cai, saving the radiant knight’s life. The vampire quickly recovered and burst up onto her feet, but Eryk intercepted her with a punch packed so full of force that she was knocked back onto the floor in a barely perceivable instance.

The arrow lodged in her flank snapped from the force of her weight landing upon in, no doubt burying the tip further into her body, and the vampire’s head had smacked loudly onto the ground, but she somehow still kept going and let loose a torrent of wild kicks that caught Eryk completely off-guard. He managed to dodge out of the way, but a glancing blow sent him spinning onto the floor with an ‘oomph’.

The vampire woman stood up, resembling was an utter mess of blood and gore. Her head was bleeding, the wound in her stomach leaked blood like a water feature, her arm was completely black as Cai’s light magic dulled into a dim glimmer, and an arrow protruded painfully from her flank, but she seemed completely willing to keep going for as long as she wanted. “Go for her head!” Eryk cried from his kneeling position. “We won’t take her down with anything else!”

Arwen had to do something. She couldn’t just stand there and watch! Gwyn hadn’t moved, Eryk was obviously both winded and wounded, and Cai had a hopeless look painted onto his expression. Only Owen beside her remained reasonably calm, but only because he hadn’t actually been in the thick of it.

The vampire woman turned to the sound of Eryk’s voice, but her movements were slower and less coordinated from the head trauma. Arwen watched in horror as Eryk braced for her inevitable attack, which came as a lunge towards him with a harsh cry.

A scream followed, but Eryk remained unmoved. He had unsheathed his sword after recovering from the kick and used it to impale the vampire woman, using her own momentum from the lunge as leeway. Arwen could see the gleaming tip sticking out from the vampire’s back, yet she still clawed and snarled as Eryk lost his grip on the hilt. A slash at his face struck true, dragging four nail marks across his cheek and just under his left eye, drawing blood.

Cai tried to sneak up on the woman, but she caught him coming and lashed out with her arm, forcing him to block the blow with his sword. The force sent him staggering backwards for a second before he lost his balance and fell onto his back, and although the vampire’s arm was caught alight by Cai’s light magic, it quickly died out without the light mage’s attention to compel it to spread. The vampire woman turned back to Eryk, who grabbed her arms and begun to try and push her back from him with an almighty cry.

Eryk was deceptively strong, and Arwen almost grew convinced that he’d be able to hold her off, but his cries of exertion grew more and more pained and she saw him quickly losing ground to the woman as his arms shook and his face perspired with an such intense effort that she was worried his bones would snap. It was enough for her to act.

Arwen tucked her dagger into the small of her back and ran past Owen, who immediately yelled after her, and sprinted towards the vampire, aiming to try and disable her with as much lightning as she could muster. She wished- dearly, dearly, wished- that she didn’t have to physically touch the vampire, but she couldn’t risk turning attention to herself with a failed attempt at a ranged bolt. Instead, she’d have to tap the vampire on the back and disable both her and Eryk, since the magic would no doubt course through his body too. She could control it if physical contact was maintained, sparing Eryk from harm, but she wasn’t about to risk her life.

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The Princess grabbed a hold of the vampire’s shoulder and begun to channel her magic into her fingers, but the split second she needed to force it into her was interrupted when the vampire sacrificed her grappling with Eryk to launch a backwards elbow at Arwen, who barely had time to move her head back in panic as she saw the blood-covered arm rock back towards her head.

It wasn’t enough. The vampire woman’s elbow just about caressed her cheek, but it was enough to cause an explosion of pain as Arwen’s entire vision turned white for but a small moment. She screamed in pain before another breath-robbing agony blew up down her back as she fell back onto the ground, but sheer panic and survival instinct forced her onto her feet before the woman could finish her off.

Thankfully, Eryk had used the vampire’s distraction to push her off balance, landing an uppercut to her jaw that sent her sprawling onto the ground next to Arwen, whose eyes widened in horror at the implication.

This was it. The vampire was going to turn her attention onto the Princess, and she would die a horrible, painful death. Arwen’s lip trembled as her mind frantically searched for a way out- anything! But it was already too late. As the woman’s eyes locked onto Arwen, the Princess did the only thing she could think of and pulled the Light Gem from her pocket, feeling herself being involuntarily pulled away from the scene as she prayed to anyone that her leap of faith would somehow work.

ELAIN GOWER SLOWLY edged her way to a vendor selling Alaru’s famous dried meats. She was watching the shopkeeper himself intently, like a predator fixated on her prey, for the aim was to swipe one of the many assortments of drumsticks, wings, legs, and cuts laid out on his ceramic trays and escape before he even realised she was there in the first place.

The vendor laughed, deep in conversation with a pretty blonde who had stopped by to converse with him. Elain slowly outstretched her arm, slowly, slowly, her fingers twitching with the anticipation of food at last. Her empty stomach was already rumbling in celebration when a dirty hand clasped her arm.

“What do you think you’re doing!?” the vendor yelled, his bushy eyebrows set in a horrid scowl.

“I- I was just looking!” Elain protested her innocence. But it was for nothing, for the man’s thin eyes searched her dirt-encrusted face.

“I’ve seen you before,” his voice rose in anger. “Same ragged clothes, dirty ginger hair, even the same piece of mud stuck to your ear! You’re the one who stole from me yesterday!”

“How savage!” the blonde exclaimed, enjoying the unexpected drama.

The vendor pulled Elain closer. So close that she could feel his hot breath of her cheeks. “Alaru’s very friendly with you vampires, but that doesn’t mean you’re entitled to a free meal.”

“She should pay for her theft,” the woman egged the man on. “See if she has any money on her.”

“Good idea,” the man leered, misconstruing the woman’s intention of an innocent shake-up.

Oh, no.

As his hand drew closer to Elain, she bit down on his forearm and pushed her teeth deep. She didn’t mean to draw blood, honestly! She didn’t! But adrenaline had boosted her ferocity and desperation. “Arghhh!” the man cried out as a burst of pleasure filled her mind at the taste of his blood.

A shattering pain smashed into the side of her head as the vendor used his free arm to hammer onto her skull. Elain fell to the ground with a cry and barely had time to react before a kick caught her in the stomach.

“Serves you right, you savage bitch!” the vendor screamed. The sadistic woman had let loose a yelp of fear when the fighting got physical and ran off, never to be seen again. Elain, meanwhile, lay clutching her stomach, fighting off deep, raw retches as her body reacted to the physical trauma.

“What’s going on?!” another male voice yelled. “Leave her alone!”

The uninformed bystander thankfully diverted the vendor’s attention. “She was trying to steal from me,” he shouted back. “Again!”

“Doesn’t mean you hit an innocent girl!” the other male shouted a retort.

“She bit me! The blasted vampire bit me!”

Elain took her chance, using the distracted state of the vendor to dart to her feet and take off. She was momentarily caught by surprise by the large crowd of Alarunian citizens that had gathered around, curious and prying of what was going on, but she pushed past them and sprinted as far away as she could.

“Get her!”

“Thief!”

The men who gave chase may have been physically stronger, but Elain was used to the chase and was fuelled by a desperation none of the men could match, for her life was at stake if she was caught. For all she knew, they could beat her to death before the guards or a morally-inclined bystander stepped in to stop the abuse. So, she ran as fast as she could, her light body gaining her a speed advantage over the bulkier pursuers, but not enough so that she could slip into a hidden nook or cranny undetected.

Instead, she ran directly towards the open gates of Alaru’s protective entrance. Normally, they were sealed shut, but some sort of military party expected from the Kingdom was due to arrive any day now, so it was left open during the day in a very fortunate stroke of luck for the fleeing vampire.

She blasted past the confused guards and ran straight into the closest copse of trees she laid eyes on. Another fortunate turning came when the utterly bemused guards stopped the running tide of the three men, vendor included, who were chasing after her. “What’s going on?” one of the guards yelled roughly as she gained distance.

“She’s a thief!” the vendor explained. “She just tried to steal from me and ran away!”

“Well, you’re not going after her in the forest!” the guard’s fading voice retorted. “Not with that creature out…”

Elain’s heavy footfalls, laboured breathing, and rapidly growing distance from Alaru completely dimmed any voices from her pointed ears. It was only when she thought her lungs would explode when she slowed down to a walk, though that became a mistake when her abused legs buckled underneath her, too exhausted and energy-starved to continue supporting her weight. With a small screech, Elain fell half-way into a patch of brambles, scratching her face and hands as she rolled off of it and onto the floor where she lay panting, staring up at the beckoning twilight sky.

It would be night soon, but Elain would rather face the wilderness and that evil creature which lay in its twisting midst than return to Alaru anytime soon, where the guards would no doubt be looking for anyone returning to the town. The thought of ever laying eyes on the vendor’s twisted face sent an involuntary shudder over the vampire woman, and the small act begun to flood her eyes with tears as a crashing wave of despair washed over her mind.

When Iago died and left Elain a mourning widow, the supposedly vampire-friendly citizens turned on her almost immediately. No one ever liked her, and although part of her wanted to blame it on her vampire heritage, she knew it was mostly because she had managed to ‘seduce’ a human man. Vampire-human relationships were highly frowned upon in Alaru, yet the likeable and respected author, Iago, didn’t catch any form of hostility from his apparent friends. The cruel words and harsh stares were instead reserved for his vampire wife, who was too quiet and meek to ever speak back, afraid it would tarnish her perfect relationship with her husband.

Without her Iago to support her, Elain lost their house and was tossed to the street, left to starve by herself unless she stole from the citizens. For two excruciating weeks that were supposed to be reserved for grieving, Elain snuck around the streets as an urchin, pilfering and stealing where she could to stave off her hunger. She couldn’t clean, and a dirty and bedraggled homeless vampire was bad news to anyone who would even look at her long enough to consider employing her, and so she was sucked further into a pit of decay.

Elain had no idea when it had happened, but she found herself weakly wandering deep into the woods without any sort of purpose. Although her shattered mind had given up on life, it appeared as though her body had other ideas. It wanted to survive.

It was then that fate struck. Without warning, a thick and viny bush nestled between two tree trunks was parted, and an incredibly frightened young man hopped out and almost fell over when his eyes met hers. Elain jumped back, instantly scared and wary of the stranger that had just burst forth from nowhere. “Oh, thank Lye!” the man cried jubilantly. “You have no idea how relieved I am. I’m a merchant hailing from Deilen. I tripped and really hurt my ankle,” he pointed downwards to a sickening mess of gore on his left leg, where tiny meshes of white bone protruded and gleamed in the dark shelter of the forest, “and I got lost on my way to Alaru. Please! Take me to Alaru, I need medical attention.”

Elain instinctively shook her head. “No,” her voice was shrill. “I can’t go back there.”

“Please!” the man hobbled forward painfully. “I need help!”

Elain took a step back. “I can’t.”

But the man insisted. He begged and begged and wouldn’t stop inching closer. Elain pleaded and cried. All she wanted was to be left alone. But when the man tripped and inadvertently fell into her arms, he clasped her shoulder tightly with a grip so intense it begun to hurt. “Help me!” his irises were diluted and unfocused. Elain thought he had gone mad with pain. “Help!”

“Get off me! Please.”

But the man didn’t let go. Instead, his fingers dug deeper into her skin, causing Elain to cry out in pain and struggle against him. “No! Get off of me!”

The next memories were a haze to Elain, but her next recollection was of such a sweet and sickly caramel-like substance running down her throat that her entire body convulsed in pleasure. Her teeth were buried into the wounded merchant’s throat and her tongue was licking incessantly at the spurting blood bursting from his neck. She didn’t know how it happened, but her thoughts were clouded in relief as the hunger in her stomach faded. The aches and pains of her body finally relented and she felt herself growing stronger with every slurp and sucking motion that ejected blood into her mouth. She didn’t stop until but a trickle emerged from the dead man’s neck, where she lifted her blood-stained teeth from the soft skin of his throat and stared into his glassy eyes, staring wild and frenzied at the eternal sky.

That felt… good. Elain felt strong. For the first time she felt… happy. In control.

She had to do that again.