Her light frame darted across the terrain, her feet only touching the ground for a fraction of a second before powering forward once more. 

Accelerating almost instantly and covering several meters in a single step she rapidly distanced herself from Horst’s position, her pace quickening with every step. 

As her pace increased, she could feel the shards of the rain that stung her face, becoming sharper and sharper with each passing second. The blonde hair that adorned her head was a mess, caked in filth, as were the rags she wore. Her left arm, well what remained of it burned with unbridled pain. 

“Damnit!” she cursed aloud, how could she of been so unaware that someone else was there? Her previous pursuers had already been problem enough but what she truly feared was this new unknown element, whose actions she couldn’t predict. 

This unsettled her greatly, it was almost as if she could feel the noose tightening around her neck, her plans falling apart before her very eyes. 

A few minutes later she reached her destination, a clearing filled with tall grass. A large oak tree sat, rotten and hollow on the opposite edge of the clearing. It must have been over a hundred years old she thought as she approached the tree, the tension releasing from her body. 

Bending down she reached into the hollow of the tree grasping hold of a bundle of cloth and animal skins. Delicately she unfolded the layers that were wrapped tightly around each other, a wide beaming smile plastered across her face as she did so. 

Within the bundle a baby lay sleeping peacefully, his pale skin as delicate and translucent as her own. Faint wisps of dark black hair adorned his scalp, while a full set of teeth could already be seen within his mouth. 

Stepping back from the tree she gently cradled him in her arm whispering an old nursery rhyme into his ears. 

“So this is where you’d hidden him” before she could even react she felt the air ripple, slamming into her at a breakneck speed knocking her from her feet. 

Instinctively her body contorted to cushion the child’s fall, sending her sprawling to the floor. 

 Stepping out of the shadows a cloaked figure approached speaking as he did so, “that was quite touching really, almost human in fact. Protecting your child from harm even at your own expense is the unwelcome privilege of a mother, isn’t it?” 

“But then again you are quite inhuman, even before you became this pitiful creature. I mean most of those who lapse into that coma never wake again but you... you did it all while pregnant!” he exclaimed, his face still hidden beneath the hood of his cloak. 

“Don’t look at me with those eyes. I almost admire you... almost. Though I do feel this little one is even more admirable and well worth further detailed study,” he mused, stooping down to pick up the baby.  

She threw herself at him with a reckless abandon, her hand racing towards his face in a vicious sweeping arc, intent on cleaving his smug head from his shoulders. 

In response he simply brought his outstretched hand upwards, the flat of his palm facing her. The air rippled around them, slamming into her, sending her flying backwards into the oak tree, its bark shattering under the force of the impact. 

 The collision broke several of her ribs leaving her to fall limply to the floor. Before she even hit the ground she could feel her inhuman body repairing itself at a monstrous pace, re-knitting her flesh and bones back together. 

After quickly glancing over towards her the figure stooped down once more, wrapping the baby in it’s bundle of skin and cloth. All the while she watched through blurred vision, her fangs bared. 

“I told you not to look at me with those eyes, it hurts me as much as it does you to do this.... Although I do believe on second glance that one of your ribs has punctured your lung, so maybe this does hurt you more.” His tone slowly adopting a sense of superiority over her, the cruelty of his words and the pleasure derived from his actions, was plain to see. 

“Not that this hasn’t been fun but I really must be on my way,” with that he turned to leave. 

As she slowly staggered to her feet, he unexpectedly turned to her once more, placing the baby down by his side as he did so. 

“Now that I have this little one it means I don’t need you. And you? Well you, having no further purpose, leaves you just as a threat to my goals, nothing more nothing less..... So sadly I can’t allow you to leave here alive.” 

“Feelings mutual then,” she spat through blood soaked lips, dropping forward onto all fours like some wild creature, hackles raised and fangs bared. 

“I wouldn’t if I were you,” he began, yet his words were lost upon her as she launched herself at him once more. The ground splintered and gave way under her as she pushed off from it, such was the fury that burned within her. 

Seeing this he quickly motioned with his hand, rippling the air and sending the baby skidding into the undergrowth. In an instant she was upon him, her leg swinging down like an greataxe towards his head. 

Once again he motioned with the flat of his palm, sending another wall of air slamming into her, yet this time she was ready for it. 

Deftly she brought her leg crashing down upon the wall of air, the resulting impact sent her flipping backwards away from him. As she landed their eyes locked. 

Desperately he clicked his fingers together and from between them a torrent of fire burst forth, exploding towards her. The fire engulfed her completely, leaving not even a trace of her silhouette within the sea of flames. 

After the flame died nought but a smouldering and charred wasteland could be seen. He breathed a sigh of relief, the tension fleeing from his body. He had been unsure if he could escape unscathed after facing off with a vampire, even if she was extremely weakened, though that fact in itself had scared him even more. 

She had barely emerged from the vampiric coma before the arduous process of her child birth had begun and not once had she been able to feed since her turning, yet somehow almost unbelievably so, she had survived it all. She was an anomaly, a uncertainty, that made her unpredictable and dangerous to him. 

Casting his gaze over to the long grass, he pondered their encounter somewhat intensely. From what he had seen of her physical capability she would have had no issue avoiding his attack, yet she clearly had been swept up in it just then, that was for certain. 

“Maybe the lack of regular feeding had left her unable to sustain heightened physical performance or maybe she thought that somehow it would help her little brat... interesting,” he mused. 

He began to move through the grass searching for the bundle, almost instantly he realised his mistake. From behind the sounds of ash compacting under footfall and hoarse, ragged breathing could be heard. Slowly he turned, his body resisting at every turn due to the true sense of dread he now felt, unsure of what would await him.

Before him she stood, the rags she had worn still smoldered in places and in others her flesh had fused with it. Almost all her skin had been severely burnt, so severely in fact that in some areas you could see bone from where the flesh had been completely burnt away. 

All that remained of her left arm was a few strands of ragged, burnt flesh that hung limply by her side, the force of the explosion from earlier having torn the rest of it away from her body. 

 Her once beautiful face was now horribly disfigured on one side, with almost all her hair either singed or burnt away completely. On her left side her eyelid had been burnt away along with the surrounding flesh, leaving that blood red iris that had shined dreadfully in the evening’s twilight to stand there unfocused and lost. While below where once her cheek had been only a few muscles and tendons remained, revealing the pearl white fangs beneath. 

 All in all it was a miracle she could still stand with all the countless lacerations and blood loss, not to mention the horrific burns that covered her. She was broken, teetering on the very precipice of life and death yet at this moment in time, he had never been more afraid. 

His mouth was bone dry and his body had begun to tremble. It begun at the tips of his fingers but soon enough it had spread throughout him, taking over. His knees were weak and in the pit of his stomach he could feel the unease that had now taken root within him. 

His mind raced in confusion, unsure of her, unsure of himself. From deep within one word reverberated, why? It happened quietly at first, before becoming something that he couldn’t help screaming aloud in desperation and fear. 

“Why!?” he repeated again and again, each one becoming more frantic and fearful than the last. Yet there she remained, unmoving and silent as the dead. 

 “Why!?” he screamed once more, in utter desperation, his breathing ragged and uneven. 

“Damn you! Answer me!!” he roared, his face contorted as he motioned with his hand. The air rippled, once more slamming into her, a cloud of ash and smoke swirling in it’s wake. When the dust cleared she remained where she had been stood. 

"Damn it!" He thought, his panicked mind unable to muster the focus needed to properly control his magic. 

“Calm down. She’s dead on her feet. Just calm down and focus.” He repeated these words within his mind, one sentence at a time, driving it deeper and deeper into his subconscious, until finally his body was once more under his command. 

Clenching his fist tightly he marched towards her, his previous fear and trepidation replaced with a seething anger. Twenty meters, fifteen, ten, the distance continued to close without any hint of a reaction from her scarred and disfigured features. 

 Clicking his fingers once more he summoned a ball of fire, that slowly grew. The heat it gave off was tremendous. All around steam could be seen rising into the air before being drawn into the fireball by the rising air currents. Still her eyes remained unfocused and lost, almost as if she was unaware of his presence. 

Time passed by slowly, the seconds falling into minutes as the two enemies stood face to face until he could no longer stand it. Roaring in anger he tossed the fireball at her determined to be rid of her once and for all. 

Not even the ground could withstand the heat of the fireball as it drew closer, a pathway of molten slag trailing in its wake. Once more her figure was lost among the onrushing flames. Then everything was lost within the burning light of the flames as they burst apart, clawing outwards and devouring an area spanning several meters across. 

An even larger area was bathed in an unbearably dry heat, that scoured and scorched the skin as it washed upon it. Blinking he tried to clear the image burned into his retinas, while all around the forest burned. 

Before him nothing remained, except her standing defiantly as smoke coiled around her. As he continued to blink the image before him became clearer. 

There before him she stood once more, her body enveloped in a solid, twisting, mass of shadows that protruded from where her left arm had been. Across the jagged surface of these shadows droplets of blood spread out dyeing the shadows into a creation of the deepest black and most dreadful red. Above the swirling shadowy mass her eyes now gleamed that dreadful red once more, while upon what remained of her lips a sweet peaceful smile could be seen. 

"Ahh so you have fed," he casually remarked through clenched teeth. 

“Fine then, let us see you survive this!” he exclaimed, clasping his hands together before drawing them apart slowly. Between them multiple strands of lightning arced back and forth, growing and coalescing together. When he had drawn his hands roughly a foot apart he flicked them apart causing the lighting to condense into a solid form, a lance made of pure energy. 

 Seeing this she disappeared from view, reappearing directly behind him. He spun to meet her, lance in hand, driving it towards her torso before he had even finished his turn. The shadows struck out blocking it with a fiendishly shaped hand, with fingers shaped like daggers. The arm it was connected to looked just as unnatural, almost completely skeletal in construct, devoid of flesh, with only the few charred scraps of her original arm that had become entwined within the shadows. 

There they stood, their faces inches apart for what felt like an eternity before she spoke, breaking the silence, “There must be a reason you haven’t set this off, right? How many more times powerful is this then the last spell you threw at me? Tenfold perhaps? Too much risk to yourself for you to set it off at this distance?” 

As she spoke the spear tip continued to dance across the palm of her hand, screeching as it did so. 

“What would happen then if I did this?” she remarked, grinning wildly, as the daggers closed in around the haft of the spear, it’s screeching growing more painful by the second until the spear shattered completely. 

Gritting his teeth once more, he charged up another spell, bathing his arms in lightning that arced across the surface of his skin. Before she could even react he struck out once more, driving both palms directly into her torso. 

In response the shadow convalesced, trying to defend against the blow, causing the lighting to arc violently across it’s surface before dissipating. 

 “Defended against the initial impact did you? Lets see how you deal with this,” he thought twisting his palms, releasing all the lighting that had been focused on his arms, sending it directly into the shadows. 

The force of this discharge sent her flying backwards, across the clearing. He smirked, everything had been leading up to this, straight away charging up another even more powerful spell, enveloping his body in lighting before leaping towards her. 

The instant his foot left the floor his body disappeared, in it’s place an tremendous streak of lightning arced savagely towards his prey. Before her she could see him, as his body emerged from the lighting. 

One hand grasped tightly onto her shoulder while the other stood raised high above his head, its form lost within a sea of arc lightning. His whole arm strained, the muscles taut and rigid, his fingers arranged side by side bound tightly almost like the head of a spear. All the while the lightning arced viciously, searing his flesh. In the next instant he brought his arm cleaving down, his hand thrusting towards her torso. 

Again the shadows tried to protect her from harm, convalescing before him, while simultaneously striking out towards him as a wicked, whip-like set of tendrils that tore at his flesh. 

Still under such an attack even the shadows could no longer protect her from harm, being torn and scattered to the winds as he ran her through with his hand. As she felt his hand pierce through her, all she could see was the true delight that radiated from his twisted features. 

The next thing to greet her sight was the view of him standing above her, his left arm torn and bloodied, his other arm was similarly bloodied yet showed no visible signs of injury. In his hand something rested. 

It was at this moment she realised the blood wasn’t his, it was her’s, and what he held tightly within his hand has her heart, still and un-beating. 

“Wretched creatures vampires, you can wrench out their very heart and yet they still won’t die immediately.” he said, tossing the heart to the ground almost out of disgust. 

 Satisfied with the result he turned to leave, only stopping to pick up the baby long forgotten within the undergrowth, before marching out of the clearing. 

All the while she lay there, unable to move, slowly dying without the strength to heal herself and only her own regrets to keep her company. 

It was just then as she thought this that she noticed another figure over towards the edge of the clearing. A woman dressed entirely in white, her face hidden by a veil that hung loosely before it. She could hear the woman saying something but she was too weak to make out what she was saying. 

The woman in white bent down, looking over the sight before her, a woman lay there, her body burned, broken and dying. Her heart had been torn from her chest and half her face had been burned away, yet even as she lay there dying her eyes did not beg. They did not beg for peace, They did not beg for death, nor did they beg for power, instead they burned with defiance. 

The dying woman’s mouth moved slowly, as if trying to speak but she had lost too much blood she was too weak, too weak to even speak. In defiance she tried to lift her head, a single tear rolling down her cheek as she took her last breath, her lifeless body falling onto the ground beneath her, with a solid thud. From beneath the veil only a smile could be seen. 

Next Chapter: In The Shadows