The storm howled, it’s wind biting at the forest that sprawled below. Tree’s shook and groaned while at their feet animals scurried to and fro desperately seeking shelter. Yet while animals cowered and hid several shadowy figures on horseback charged across the landscape, their pace not once slacking as they traversed the uneven terrain at a breakneck pace.
A flash of lightning raced across the clouded night sky, dyeing everything awash with a purple hue. The figures stood out in stark contrast to their surroundings, their silhouettes clearly highlighted as the lightning danced and traced a path above them. A few seconds later another burst of lightning flared, taking over the sky and illuminating everything in its brilliance.
The figures plate armour and chainmail shimmered in the incandescence, it’s surface slick with the mud and rain. Below them their horses breath ran ragged, great plumes of steam rising away from their mouths. They had been ridden hard, that much was evident from the sorry state of their caparisons, which hung tattered and torn besides their bodies.
As they continued to ride onwards a low mist began to roll into the forest drowning everything in a thick sea of white that hung listlessly in the air. Since they had set out their vision had been minimal at best, with more than a few of their numbers falling victim to the treacherous condition and seeing the mist roll in the men could only despair at their situation.
"Lord Horst! Lord Horst!" A voice desperately cried out, panic staining the knights face.
"Lord Horst, I beg your pardon sire but we’ve nay seen a sign of her in the past quarter hour..... I’ve lost three men to the woods and another score of men back at the mansion. How can we even be sure she is out this way?"
“Damn it all to hell!” a man roared, reining in his horse as he did so, bringing the company of men to a halt.
Seeing no sign or trace of her, the man reluctantly relinquished his pride, acknowledging what his knights proclaimed to be true and calling forth the tracker they had accompanying them, “Dillios! Get up here and find this wretched harlots trail before this accursed storm claims any trace of it and our lives with it!”
“Of course my lord! At once my lord!” replied a voice from within the pack of men, his rough and gravelly voice straining over the roaring storm.
The pack broke ranks allowing for Dillos to emerge from within and slowly make his way towards the lord. Dillios wasn’t an attractive man, with a flat and somewhat crooked nose that sat awkwardly perched upon his uneven and pockmarked face.
Dillios held no love for nobles and their ilk, but they paid well enough for the services of a lowly man such as himself and in the end that was all that mattered to him. Though drenched and caked head-to-toe in mud, Dillios couldn’t help but crack a simple toothless grin as he approached the lord, thinking of just how much coin he would be getting from this worthless nobel fool.
Seeing his dishevelled appearance the lord turned away, sighing in disgust. The thought that he was forced to rely on this creature to achieve his goals displeased him greatly. If anyone found out about this it would become a great stain upon his name and he had secretly planned to dispose of Dillos before the completion of their task.
Sheepishly Dillos greeted the lord before promptly dismounting from his horse, dropping heavily into the cold, thick mud below. Slowly he began to fan out away from the group, his eyes scanning across the environment, hoping to glimpse some sort of hint towards the location of their prey.
Yet never did he nor the rest of the group dare to think that they were now the ones being hunted.
High above a figure stood motionless, her bare feet gripping tightly onto the branch below, her right hand resting lightly upon the rough bark of the tree. As she silently watched, her eyes focussed intently on the men below her.
She had been observing them from before they even decided to stop here, patiently she had waited awaiting the right moment to make her move. Biding her time she relaxed slightly, taking a deep breath as she did so.
Just then Dillos dropped to his knees and began to hurriedly sift through the mud before him. After a few seconds he began to holler and yell loudly clutching tightly onto something as he did so.
“My lord! My lord, look ’ere! It’s part of that wenches manacles!” his thick accent, muddying his words in his excitement.
“Well done Dillos... and here I thought you’d struggle to prove your worth,” lord Horst exclaimed, his excitement quite evident, due to the massive and somewhat giddy grin that adorned his ageing features.
Excellent! With this we’re bound to find her soon, he thought. "Taylor! Keep your best men mounted, the rest with me!" Horst barked, quickly dropping from his horse as he did so.
Behind him Taylor, the head knight quickly organised his men, several quickly dropping from their mounts accompanying their lord as he marched towards Dillos.
The thick, wet mud grasped at their feet with every step but scant moments later they all stood surrounding Dillos. Each and everyone of the men bore a mixed expression of relief and excitement. Their lord stood still, his hands outstretched as he waited to receive the manacles.
Quickly he snatched them from Dillos, his armoured fingers clasped tightly upon the heavy iron bonds. His hands shaking slightly as he examined them, though this was not from excitement, but fear!
He had personally requested these manacles from a blacksmith of local renown, at no small personal expense. And he had been assured that not even the fiercest stallion in his stable would be able to escape their cold iron embrace. Yet here they lay, rent and torn, as if made from the soft silks of a ladies nightgown.
“Spread out!” the lord yelled, his fear only just now making him question what on earth their prey truly was. At his command his men immediately jumped into action, their swords quickly unsheathed glimmering faintly in the night.
All the while Dillos stood completely frozen, unsure of the sudden commotion that had erupted around him.
“My lord? My lord!” he desperately cried towards the lord, who stood a bare few feet away, his hands still clutched tightly upon the manacles.
Ignoring the frantic pleas of Dillos the Horst scanned the environment, dropping the manacles and grasping for the hilt of his sword as he did so.
Around him the forest had become a hive of activity, men on horseback, quickly patrolled the perimeter, while the men on foot slowly waded their way outward through the swamp like soil beneath them, their bodies spinning wildly at the faintest sound.
Above she watched on in amusement at the scene that unfolded before her. Their calm professionalism shattered in a mere instant yet she still knew they wouldn’t be easy prey. She continued to observe as one of the men on horseback strayed out beyond the rest.
Sensing an opportunity she readied herself, drawing in a deep, deep breath as she did so. As she exhaled her breath frosted on the cold air, creating a thin trail of white that snaked away from her. All the while, eyes unblinking focused in on her unsuspecting prey.
Just then an unexpected gust of wind blew in, igniting the forest with sound and movement. The wind caught hold of the mist drawing it upwards, obstructing the men’s vision and isolating them from each other.
As her pursuers were swallowed by the mist she released her grasp, gently leaning forward, letting gravity embrace her. She fell forward. Her feet remaining fastened to the branch swung her to the underside of the it. As she did so she coiled up her body as tightly as possible ready to launch herself into the fray.
Her eyes scanned through the dark mist, trying to pinpoint her target once more. Quickly she found him. His guard was loose, his body was facing her but his eyes were elsewhere.
Her face brightened up in delight, a wicked smile across her lips as she pounced. Before her, outstretched as if grasping for his neck, her hands strained, the muscles taut and rigid.
She easily pierced through his plate armour impaling him, her hands shattering his sternum, tearing through his chest and crushing his spine into pieces with one violent motion. His limp body crumpled, falling off the horse below.
His eyes glanced up at her, shining with a dim brilliance, much like the light of a dying star, deep within those eyes she could feel surprise and vast terror he felt. In the next moment the impact brought them both crashing to the ground, spraying mud high into the air, and dispersing the mist that hung around them.
“Samuel!” one of the men exclaimed, his eyes wide with shock. The other men turned violently at the unexpected, and sudden attack. What awaited them was the sight of her sitting, straddled across their comrade’s shattered torso, her hands firmly embedded within his chest and hot blood adorning her face.
Noticing their gaze upon her, she lazily tilted her head backwards over her shoulder towards them, her lips still twisted in the same wicked smile, while her eyes blazed a deep dreadful red. Lord Horst stood still, frozen stiff.
To his right Dillos sat cowering, his own piss and excrement mixing with the thick mud that already clung tightly to his body.
In the lord’s eyes a monster resided, its’ slim frame and delicate ashen skin were but a simple disguise, designed to fool and beguile. This woman, this creature, this monster it was born from evil with strength far surpassing human.
As he stood frozen, he realized that he and his men had become the hunted and this monster would not let them leave this forest alive. From behind Horst, Taylor bellowed orders, one of his men on horseback charged, heading straight for her, his blade drawn.
Noticing this she tore her hands free from the dead man’s chest, spraying herself in blood and viscera. She stood slowly, as if she barely deemed the charging horseman a threat. Twenty meters, ten meters, five, the horseman continued to bare down upon her, his sword aloft looming meaninglessly yet she there she remained, still and unmoving, her crimson eyes focused.
The blade swung down, its edge aimed directly towards her neck. Seeing this she instantly charged forward, leaving only a small ripple on the waterlogged ground in her place.
Her right hand outstretched, grasped ahold of the horses reins as she leapt forward. Jumping off her left foot and using the momentum of the collision she flipped herself upside down, vaulting upwards off the horse’s flank. Her hands stretched out before her, gently latching onto the gorget of the man’s armour.
Grasping it tightly she flicked her hips, her waist and torso following suit causing her to violently rotate, her hands still lying firmly upon the gorget.
At first the steel withstood the sudden tearing motion expressed upon it, yet it could not resist for long, the steel quickly crumpled, twisting and tearing as easily as a leaf upon the breeze, before being ripped cleanly in twain.
She landed, skidding across the ground, her feet searching for purchase on the sodden terrain. Behind her a fountain of blood poured from the horseman’s severed neck, as his horse boldly continued to charge off into the forest beyond.
Around her the rest of the men stood, terrified. She moved too fast for a human to react, the horseman had been completely unaware of her attack. The sudden searing pain of his neck being twisted apart swiftly replaced by an overwhelming sense of nothingness.
And for the men who stood observing it? They couldn’t believe their eyes. One moment she stood defenceless, a knight on horseback intent on running her down. In the next she stood several feet beyond when she had stood, disappearing and reappearing in the blink of an eye. While behind her a fountain of blood flowed from their companions neck, his head torn cleanly from his shoulder.
Unable to make any sense of the sight before them the men began to panic their weapons wavering. Without letting them pause to recover and regroup she pressed the attack, her body jerking forward violently towards them.
One of the men closest to her was slow to raise his blade, before he could even fully brandish his blade the woman had stepped inside his guard with in but a single step. The last thing he saw was her claw-like hand flying towards his face and a dreadful grimace following close behind.
In the next moment she was several paces past him and behind her his corpse crumpled to the ground. She stood, her back facing the remaining men, the head of her third victim gripped firmly in her hand.
The remaining knights stood frozen, unable to free themselves from the fear that enveloped them. Before them the woman stood, swaying gently in the breeze that flowed through the forest. In a slow and delicate manner that could only be described as graceful, she turned her head to face the men, her blood red eyes fixed on them, as if studying them.
She felt starved, unable to remember how long it had been since she last had eaten anything. Had it been days? No! Weeks had past since she had last fed, her mouth watering at the mere thought of sustenance, a good meal in a warm house was what she desired, she wanted her life back but deep down, she knew that was not what her body now craved for.
After what felt like an eternity to the men she turned her attention towards the head held firmly within her hand. A gentle gaze poured forth from her features as she ran her fingers across the heads rugged features, caressing them softly.
Then as both hands tenderly grasped it, she lifted it upwards, towards her lips, tilting her head backwards ever so slightly as she did. From it’s severed neck a stream of crimson blood flowed, pouring over her mouth. Much of the blood overflowed from her small mouth, coating her chin and neck. Not until the last drop of blood had flowed from the skull did she tossed it aside, levelling her gaze at them, her fanged maw glistening in crimson.
Christopher Taylor had been a knight for as long as he could remember, and had fought against almost every conceivable enemy his province had faced, from bandits in the north, to raiders from the east. From invading armies to internal revolts, each being handled with it’s own cost in blood and steel.
Yet before him right now stood something he had never faced, something that should not exist, and none of his martial skill or tactical prowess could prepare him for it. On the surface he remained calm, barking orders and issuing commands to his panic struck men. But even that could not stop the tremors that shook beneath his calm exterior.
“Monster!!” one man screamed.
"Square formation! Rally and regroup on lord Horst!" Taylor yelled, his men scrambling backwards through the mud towards him.
Taylor knew they stood no chance in a one-on-one engagement but he hoped against hope that their numbers could at least garner them enough of an advantage to put their opponent on the back foot.
Before her a sea of panic writhed, scattered and broke. The wind blew through the grotto once more as she leapt forward, sprinting towards them with a reckless abandon. A faint almost childlike smile breaking across her lips as she faced her once would-be pursuers.
The knights had no time to react, as the woman bore down on them. The first to face her was just able to raise his sword into a high guard, hoping to defend his head and chest against her initial charge.
A fools gambit, this woman, this monster had strength beyond that of any of them. Springing forward, her leg kicked out, the heel striking directly into the flat of the sword, sending the knight staggering backwards, breaking his guard.
Before he could even steady himself she had twisted in mid air and brought the heel of her foot flying back around into the side of his temple. The sound of shattering bone could clearly be heard, as his lifeless body was sent sprawling to the forest floor.
At a speed almost too quick to see another man fell, his arm amputated at the elbow, in the next instant two men collapsed several feet apart from each other, their bodies bisected cleanly. In a scant few seconds almost half of their party had fallen.
Taylor bit his lip, cursing under his breath. These were all master swordsmen, veterans of over a decade, yet here they fell one after another as if made from paper.
Another blood curdling scream echoed out from his left, Taylor’s head snapped round just in time to see another one of his men cut down without resistance, his ribcage crushed beneath her foot.
Slowly she looked up, their eyes locking for a brief moment before she pounced towards him. Out of the corner of his eye a shaped quickly shot into focus, desperately he swung his sword towards it, parrying a vicious swipe aimed his face. Instantly he changed stance, sending his sword flicking out towards the woman’s neck, causing her to retreat out of his range.
Slowly she circled him, looking for a opportunity to strike. Taylor on the other hand raised his sword into a high guard, baiting her to charge headlong into him. Seeing this she smiled gently rushed directly towards him.
Sensing his opportunity to strike Taylor dropped his stance and once more sent the sword flicking out at a frightening pace. Realising she was in danger the woman dropped, sliding just beneath the silvered edge of the blade it’s steel cutting at her hair that trailed behind her.
Without a moment to pause she changed her rhythm sending forth her third strike, a vicious palm strike from beneath his guard, up towards his jaw. Just barely he managed to dodge, at the last second flicking his head back violently to avoid the strike rolling backwards to recover his footing.
But the unexpected attack had broken his guard completely. Seeing an opportunity the woman closed in and brought her knee upwards towards his solar plexus at a lightning fast pace, slamming it into the him with an inhuman level of force.
Taylor could tell that even through the steel plating of his armour that her knee had shattered his ribcage. Blood pooled in the corner of his mouth, undoubtedly that strike had ruptured several of his organs.
Yet even as his strength fled from his body Taylor did not fall. Instead he clung to that monster with all his remaining strength, refusing to let her escape.
Taylor gritted his teeth, “Finish it, kill her!!” he screamed through the pain.
“I’ll hold this monster here, just kill her!” As he yelled the two men nearest to him rushed over, their swords plunging down towards the pair.
Never had lord Horst expected such a scene to unfold before his eyes, his knights, warriors through and through, slaughtered like pigs. And Taylor his closest aide and confidant lay dead, his crumpled body lay where he fell as he boldly tried to sacrifice his life to finish of the monster that had caused all this one-sided slaughter.
He had watched terrified as man after man had fallen, cut apart or crushed beneath her monstrous strength. Yet he had hoped, maybe even believed that amongst all his knights Taylor would be able to stop her rampage.
And he nearly had, even though it had come at the cost of his own body he had managed to restrain her movements long enough for what should’ve been a killing blow to be struck. Alas it was not to be, for before cold steel could even connect with her flesh, that monster had already made her move.
Her free hand stuck out, stabbing deep into Taylor’s abdomen, causing him to vomit forth a vast amount of blood, while breaking his rigid posture, exposing his leading leg.
Seizing her opportunity her leg scythed into the side of his right knee, completely destroying it. Greatly weakened and with his footing all but gone, Taylor could do nothing to resist as she effortlessly tore free from his grip, casting him down into the cold mud.
Free from his restraint she quickly leapt upwards, flipping herself backwards, over the knights who had tried to strike her down. Landing just as their swords sunk deep into the sodden ground.
They reeled to face her but quicker than they could even register she had stepped in between them. Her hands struck out and in a blink of an eye, a monstrous palm strike aimed squarely at their solar plexus sent them flying back beyond where lord Horst stood. Their unconscious bodies clattering to the ground with a solid thud of meat and steel.
Just like that, in an instant lord Horst had seen his forces soundly beaten and routed, all by one single woman, no! What stood before him, coated head to toe in blood, and mud, a creature that gorged itself on human blood. There was but only one thing this creature, this monster could be!
"Vampire!!" he screamed as she lunged for him, her hand grasping for his throat.
Yet before she could even clear the distance a raging ball of fire burst from between the trees catching her squarely in the torso, the following explosion of white flame enveloped her, tossing her upwards into the air.
Cinders that swirled much like the fireflies of summer rained delicately from the sky as she lay on the floor writhing in pain. The blast had torn her left arm to shreds, the heat of the fire had seared her flesh, burning it black like coal. All the while her eyes desperately tried to focus, in hope of catching even a glimpse of her attacker.
Almost as soon as she did this another fireball burst from darkness of the forest towards her. Quickly she sidestepped it, rolling to avoid the subsequent explosion, retreating away into the darkness of the forest.
Behind her, way off in the distance a shadow could be seen, lurking within the trees, observing her with utmost interest, a wicked grin upon its’ lips.