Original Stories Fan Fiction ❯ Tragic Tale of the Fallen Moon ❯ Tragic Tale of The Fallen Moon ( Chapter 1 )

[ X - Adult: No readers under 18. Contains Graphic Adult Themes/Extreme violence. ]

A/N: Yalo! Your wacky semi insane fan fiction writer, Moonlight Angel, here. Umm… Yeah….
Any who….
The reason I posted this original work is a way of paying tribute to an old series I worked on during my years in high school. I was thinking about rewriting it, but unfortunately, I don’t have either the gumption or the inspiration to write it any more, so I basically put my old vampire story in with the other ancient archives of my early writing history.
The story was a dear precious gem to me and after working on the prologue you see here, I decided that its time had passed and that I needed to move on in my pursuit of writing crazy ass works (hinting at the current twilight fan fiction)…
It took me about three months to work on this Prologue and since I decided against rewriting the story, I thought I should post this piece as an memorial to my abandoned book known as Vampire Friendship. Crappy Ass name, I know. >-> It sounded good at the time… But all and all, I loved working on it and I hope you guys can come to appreciate this piece of art as I do. It really means a lot to me because it’s a part of my past and gave me a reason to peruse my dreams. Please enjoy!

Warning: For those who are squeamish, you might not want to read this particular original story. Blood, guts, gore, and death…. Just giving you guys a heads up on what you’re in for.

The Tragic Tale of the Fallen Moon

The sound of metal colliding with metal bounced off the cracking, mild dew caped walls of an ancient fortress in disrepair, nestled high in the mountains of the Black Forest. Smoke from raging infernos blossomed in the night against a red stained sky. An eerie foreboding rust tinted full moon hung high over the war strangled mountainside. The stench of death and bloodshed saturated the choking warped air as it twisted with the meeting of bodies, clashing and struggling to stay alive. Blood sprayed across the once freshly born meadow grass out in front of the castle. Vampires baring the symbol of the Dracull clan- a snarling black dragon, leering out at its enemy- clad in black and dark grey armor charged the advancing human army. Sparks flew from the friction of metal clashing. The wild fires used to break through the immortal army, ravaged the forests surrounding the towering walls as silver armored slayers baring shields of every clan and kingdom scaled them on wooden ladders. Porcelain white faced archers showered their arsenal of poisoned tipped arrows, blacking out the crimson sky, raining down on the mortals. Cries of horror escaped past the mortal knights capped lips as they were repeated impaled by the deadly rain fall, plummeting to their dooms into the moot that waited below.

“Don’t hold back, men!!” a bearded rough looking man shouted over the cries of the dying and roaring fire. “Show these fiends that no one can deter King Casper’s forces. We shall be victorious!”

A chorus of hurrahs soon followed as more back up troops replaced the fallen, persistently climbing the wall. Catapults launched oil slicked flaming boulders toward the castles, bombarding with loud thunderous cracks, wrecking the exteriors walls.

“Hurry! Fall back! Fall back!” A young lieutenant with bizarre dark green hair cried over the collapsing of the left wall near him. “Make sure they don’t breach the inner wall! Move! Move!”

The scream of an incoming flaming boulder made him jerk his head upward. His golden eyes widen, incredulously. “Uh! Shit! Get out of the way!” he cried in warning as all of the sentry scattered when the boulder smashed into the outpost, making the entire wall crumble to the snakelike body of water below, taking out human and immortal alike in it’s wake.

“Are you in one piece, my brother?” shouted a petite dark blue haired woman dressed in a fitting black shining armor, leaping to the side, evading debris. She scaled the vine encased wall with ease, dropping next to her brother.

“Nanette!” the vampire exclaimed both relieved and weary. “Yes, I’m still whole.” He turned to the raging battle before them as human soldiers clambered over the rumble, entering the dark fortress. “For now.”

Nanette followed his gaze, watching the humans raising their shields as they met with the immortal forces head on, cries for glory erupting from their throats as they charged into battle, blindly through the thick smoke and falling rock. Blood splattered cross the ground as they hacked their way through the front lines.

“Disgusting,” her brother, Sebastian, murmured in distaste, his green bangs whipping in the wind around his chalky white face. “Humans are so vile.”

Nanette nodded in agreement. “I couldn’t have said it better myself, brother,” she sneered, reaching into her cloak, drawing forth a long gleaming rapier. Her lips curling back revealing her long dagger like canines. “See you among the carnage, Sebastian! We shall show those filthy wrenches that no mortal defies the Sovereigns of the Night!”

He nodded. “Yes. You are most definitely right, my dear sister.”

Nanette smirked. “Aren’t I always?” she demanded coyly before leaping off the rocky edge of the lookout into the chaos, her profile vanishing into the thick hazy smoke.

Sebastian sensed the presence of a lower ranking knight behind him. He turned to the bowed minor. “Tell your men to fall back to the inner most gates. If the slayers miraculously survive our frontal assault, they mustn’t make it pass the doors to the inside of the castle. We must protect Lord Ivan and Lady Sersis at all costs!”

The knight bowed. “Yes sir.” And then vanished, going to gather the rest of his comrades to protect what lay inside the castle from the human invaders.

“Let us pray to the gods above that they do not make it that far,” the now lone knight muttered warily, looking to the blazing red moon above, before descending down into the mayhem like his sister had done before him.

The pounding of hooves barreled over the blood stained, smoking ground. Mutilated carcasses littered the once peaceful landscape, now set aflame with chaos. The roars of greedy bomb fires consumed everything in their paths. Slayers exchanged blows with grinning, growling vampires, the blades of their broad sword permanently tainted red for all times. Their screams of hatred and dying curses rising up to the heavens, mixing with the stench of smoldering flesh and wood.

A figure dressed in a bellowing grey wool cloak and hood, riding a magnificent silver stallion, broke on the horizon, rapidly approaching the blood soaked battlefield. The wind raced with the rider and her horse. It blew back her hood revealing long cascading carrot hair, a common trait of true blood Irishmen, her emerald eyes all ablaze with the internal flame inside. Her leathered gloved hands gripping the reigns, ushering the beast forward with terrifying speed, closing the distance between her and the very edges of the battle. Her lips drawn in a thin line, her gaze unafraid and determined. A truly fierce woman to compete with. She drew her clan’s sword, handed down from generation to generation, entering the war torn zone. It’s blade gleaming silver blue in the moonlight. She urged her horse on as inhuman shrieks swelled from up above. Winged monsters, their claws and fangs bared, swooped down on the unexpecting slayer. Or so they thought…

Their screams were quickly choked off as the twenty-five year old slayer swung her sword, hacking through their defenses, dwindling their numbers within moments. The bodies rain down past her, her gazed fixated on the up coming castle, her fellow slayers being held at bay at the crumbled walls. Smoke swirled up from the inner and outer walls of the towering austere Black Forest vampire castle. She hastily jerked the reigns with a sharp crack, pushing her horse harder to get to the heart of the battle where the smoke was the thickest and the dark knights were mostly concentrated. The blade of her sword glowing brightly through the haze as she wielded it against those who tried to get in her way. Her cape bellowed out behind her like a great grey wings, her hair flying over her slender shoulders revealing the criss-crossing scar that ran along her jaw line on the right side of her sun kissed face. A jagged scared over her left eye slide to the middle of her cheek, slightly marred her vision.

With a mighty cry she sliced through a vampire, cutting him right down through the middle, that was about to finish off a younger auburn haired slayer named Martin. Blood spraying everywhere before the vile creature disintegrated into black ash on the spot. The young seventeen year old slayer’s hazel eyes widen at the sight of her perched high on her horse, peering down at him indifferently.

“K-Katherine O’Hagan!” the youth gasped, his mouth agape in bewilderment. A single trail of blood trickled down the side of his mouth. He had an unsightly bruised developing around his left eye and an uneven slash mark across his forehead. “H-How..?!”

“It appears you need my help after all, eh, Martin?” she inquired in a thick Irish accent.

“I-I-I!” the young slayer sputtered too stunned for words. His entire body shook, adrenaline running thin in his veins. He was far too innocent for the vices of war that reeked havoc upon a man’s heart and soul. His eyes bulged as a stealthy shadow snuck up behind Katherine. “B-Behind you!!”

Katherine’s eyes narrowed, whirling around as the vampire leaped into the air, his blood coated sword held over his head, ready to slice her in half. “So ye thinks ye can ambush me? Not on your life, vampire!” she cried taking her sword and slashing through the airborne vampire across the waist. The vile demon screeched before becoming ash like all the rest.

The horsed whinnied rearing back on its hunches as she yanked on the reigns. “Where is Hallam?” she demanded, shooting the trembling boy a look, settling her horse.

“He’s at the very epicenter!” Martin reported quickly, standing to his feet, wobbling. “He’s leading the invasion into the fortress to wipe out the vampire overlord.”

“That arrogant bastard!” Katherine seethed, casting her sight on the escalating fighting. “He’ll get everyone killed with his idiocy!”

She tugged onto the reigns sending the horses into a full gallop, heading straight for the mayhem. The cries of the dying and victorious growing stronger and clearer. The smoke swirling around the clashing knights growing thicker to the point of choking. The inhuman wails of the armored vampire warriors drowned out the dying shouts of the human knights. Many were falling. Many were being slaughtered right before her very eyes. She flashed her sword, rearing her horse to leap over the madness, mowing down any vampire who dared to challenge her. She was far more superior in skill than most slayers her age. Her demeanor fearless as she charged straight through the on coming monsters. Blood covering her tunic and ragged woolen brown pants and worn boots. It’s covered her hands and her face. There was no time to stop, to shudder at the gore existing around her or on her! She needed to find that reckless fool, Hallam, to stop his suicidal plans.

Her horse launched off a piece of wall, laying slanted, lodged in the ground, sending them both into the air over the narrow gape of water where the wide expansive moot once, had been. They touched down in the mists of a battle between a strange blue haired female vampire and a small group of human slayers.

Nanette somersaulted out of the way as a great silver stallion landed in the middle of her fight against a couple of over confident fools. They all stared at the new addition to the bloodbath. A young woman at the age of twenty-five odd, in a blood soaked blue tunic and a fluttering light grey cloak. Her long orange hair dancing wildly about her sun kissed face, her emerald eyes gleaming fiercely. The vampire snarled, launching herself at the intruding mortal, colliding with the suddenly startled woman, knocking her off her horse, the strange glowing sword being knocked from her grip as they hit the ground. The two women rolled to a stop.

Nanette snapped her looming fangs at the slayer’s throat, threatening. “Your kin should just crawl back to your caves like good little monkeys. You have no place in this world, mortal. It’s belongs to us!” she declared, glaring back at the slayer pinned beneath her.

The woman glowered back. “Me thinks you are mistaken, demon!” she spat, her hands grabbing hold onto her wrists. “It tis you who doesn’t belong among the living!”

With all her strength, Katherine heaved the vampire off of her, quickly climbing to her feet. The vampire landing gracefully feet away crouched in a primal stance, ready to spring. She drew her crystal dagger. The two began circling each other, neither taking their eyes off one another. The other slayers watched in silence as the two women measured the other up, wondering if they should joined in and help corner the female vampire slayer.

“No!” Katherine yelled sensing their intentions. “This one is mine. Go find Hallam and tell him to call off the siege!”

“But… we broke through their defenses!” protested one of them.

“Aye, ye have, but it’s has taken a great toll on our forces,” Katherine pointed out over the roar of the warring armies. She never took her eyes off the female vampire as they continued to circle each other, looking for an opening. “It would be catastrophic if we were to try to go any further. Our invasion would be pointless if we all don’t live to see sunrise!”

The other slayers didn’t dispute her any further and rushed off into the heat of battle, disappearing into the pitch black wisps of smoke, their swords clashes with immortal soldiers deflecting their attacks, so they could get to their incompetent leader. Katherine and Nanette glared each other down. Their bodies visibly tensed. Each awaiting for the other to make the first move. With an ear shattered cry Nanette impatiently launched forward, her rapier drawn back. Katherine parried her advanced; dancing out of her reached and then met another side swipe becoming involved in a dead lock with the vampire.

Nanette growled in her face. “What is it you wish to achieve by overtaking our fortress?” she spat, her eyes a blaring red. “Haven’t your people already done enough!”

“Not until every one of you demons are dead and lay rotting on the ground. We shall never give up our relentless attack on your kind!” Katherine proclaimed, pushing her back, beating down her opponent’s sword.

“You wrenched sow! You goddamn son of a bitch! I hope you burn for an eternity in the fiery pits of Hades!” Nanette shrieked her gaze murderous. She thrusted her rapier forward once more, hoping to spear the blasted human through the heart.

Katherine easily dodged and struck it back. “Guess I’ll see you there then, demon! I’m sure your master will be pleased to see you burning in the Lake of Fire like all the rest of your accursed people!” she countered. “Where are you fiends keeping the Princess of Vincentown?”

Nanette tightened their fatal dance, striking at the slayers feet. “Is that what is this all about?” she cried, successfully slicing through the thick fabric of slayer’s wool pants, cutting into the muscle of her left calf. A scream of agony escaped passed the orange haired woman’s lips. Nanette grinned, devilishly. “The brave mortal king of a tiny insignificant country hopes to retrieve his lost beloved weakling daughter- who is no more- sends an army after our prince for taking what is rightfully his to gain!”

Katherine’s eyes widened. “What do you mean, ‘no more’?!” she echoed dubiously, realization slowly sinking into her mind. She gritted her teeth and clenched her hands, trying to keep her anger at bay. Her lips curled back in her own twisted snarl. “Oh gods. You monsters! How dare ye defile the princess! Where is he? That Beelzebub! Where is the vampire prince?”

Nanette snickered. “If I knew I certainly would not tell you.”

Katherine clenched her fists. She might be too late to save the princess. She fingered the antidote in her pouched hidden away underneath her cloak. Her eyes narrowed. Her deposition turning deadly. She twirled away from Nanette‘s ruthless attacks, rolling across the ground, her hand reaching for the fallen sword lodged into a fallen pile of burnt stone.

“If you value your life,” she warned, drawing her sword, it glow brightening responding to her rage, “you shall take me to your lord, vampire.”

Nanette was taken back by the sudden change in the slayer’s stance. The battle was about to be brought to whole new intensity and she might not survive if that swell in power radiating from the slayer indicated anything. But still…

“My loyalty to my lord is unwavering. Kill me if you wish, but you shalt not get to him,” Nanette announced, bringing to her rapier to the front of her. “I’ll gladly die for his majesty.”

“That won’t be necessary, Nanette,” a voice came from behind, startling the two women, drawing their attention. Two vampires wearing the appropriate attire for high ranking generals in the nightmarish army approached them. One knight had strange green hair, a portion of his armor was shattered along the breast plate and the left shoulder; a long jagged cut went down his cheek. The other, an older man with unruly crimson colored hair and wild black eyes, spied Katherine’s rigid form, intrigued.

“My. My. This is an interesting turn of events,” the vampire with the hair the color of blood, stated, simpering, a crazed look in his eyes. He didn’t have a scratch on him. Katherine made a note to keep an eye on this one.

“You wish to request an audience with the Black Forest Overlord’s son, am I correct?” Sebastian demanded gravely, trying to read the expression on the slayer’s face. The commotion from the battle waging around them immediately faded away, the world narrowing down to the four of them.

“Sebastian! What the hell is going on in that damnable heads of yours?! She’s our enemy. Have you gone completely daft?!” Nanette screeched, panicking. “She’s a dirty rotten human. She can’t be trusted.”

What would Lord Ivan say if he found out her brother was making plans with humans for a secret meeting with the vampire prince? Surely Sebastian would be brutally punished for his betrayal if word gets out! And better yet, she too would have to face the consequences as well, for knowing, for being a part of this devious plot? And the prince! Did he know of this?!

Katherine’s stance didn’t relax, her fierce emerald orbs narrowed, hardening ever more till they seemed to borrow into the green haired vampire’s corrupted soul. She kept a steady grip on the hilt of her sword, ready for an ambush if their offer meant to be a distraction while the blue haired female went in for the kill.

Sebastian grew irritated with the slayer’s silence. “Do you wish to face the prince on a one-on-one battle or not?” he snapped, his dagger like fangs becoming visible.

The red haired demon cackled, obviously jubilant. “Me thinks the mortal woman does not trust thy, Sebastian,” he remarked, smirking.

Sebastian growled at his follow knight in distain. “Keep your opinion to yourself, Crimson. If you weren’t the prince’s second cousin I would take great pleasure in ripping that arrogant tongue right out of your mouth.”

Crimson chortled at the very thought. “Honestly, I’d like to see you try! Shall we have a go right now?”

The younger vampire snarled at him, threateningly. “Do not test my patience, Oh Wicked One,” he seethed. “I am in no mood for dealing with your mockery.” He straightened up, glancing toward the rigidly glaring slayer. “Now is not the time for us to resolve our little spat. Prince Leon wishes an audience with Miss Katherine O’Hagan of the prestigious Cathal Clan.”

“The prince wants to see her!!” Nanette shrieked, her already high pitch banshee voice exceeding new limits. All around her, both mortal and immortal, cringed at the hellish sound escaping from the vampress’s throat.

“Yes, Nanette. The prince wants to see the lowly human. Now would you mind keeping that mirror shattering voice of yours to bearable levels,” Sebastian retorted annoyance oozing off of every word, shooting his sister a vicious glare.

So distracted was he, that the vampires didn’t catch Katherine’s movement. One minute the siblings were bickering amongst one another and the next Sebastian found the sharpen blade of the slayer’s sword directed toward his jugular.

“Damn you!” the vampire cursed, his two kinsmen’s’ eyes widening in horror as the slayer had him locked tightly in her grip, ready to slice his throat wide open. Crimson and Nanette hissed loudly, inching in on the two, their fangs bared in aggression.

“Do not underestimate me, vampire,” Katherine warned showing no signs of wavering under the position she had so brashly put herself in. She kept a firm constricting grip on him. “If I agree to meet with your blasphemous prince, there are certain conditions that I want met.”

She shot the two circling vampires a glare, making sure that she had caught their undivided attention as well. “And I do mean all of them!”

Sebastian stood paralyzed on the spot. “Name your terms, witch.”

“One; call off your attack on the slayers and I shall guarantee that we will cease fire on your castle. Two; I want this confrontation to only be between the vampire prince and I. No one else must get involved. And three; the Princess Luna, mustn’t be harmed or God so help me, I will make certain that every single one of you forsaken monstrosities shall suffer the wrath of God.”

Sebastian growled deep within his throat, his fangs in full view. “I can reassure you. The princess is well,” he rasped glaring over his shoulder at her. “Now if you unhand me, I give my word that your outlandish conditions will be met.”

Katherine didn’t relax her hold, her eyes darting in the direction of the two advancing vampires. He sighed, exasperated. “Nanette. Crimson,” he ordered sternly. “Stand down.”

Nanette snarled at the slayer before backing off, giving the slayer room to release her brother. Crimson, however, didn’t ease up on his circling. Sebastian hissed a warning, his golden eyes flashing a murderous red. The red haired vampire snorted in respond, easing up, and disappointment coloring his face. He stepped away giving Katherine enough room to remove her sword from the lieutenant’s throat, pushing him forward as she did. Sebastian stumbled to a halt, shooting the impassive slayer a malicious glare. He twirled around, Nanette and Crimson gliding swiftly to his side so now they all had to at look Katherine from where she stood on the rise of rumble near the fallen castle wall. They could have easily out numbered her. Overpowered her. Tearing her apart before she would even have the chance fight back, but that wasn’t Sebastian’s way of doing things. He had become the messenger and his duty as of that moment was to report back to the vampire prince and give him word of Katherine’s agreement.

Sebastian bowed, silently, now. He motioned for Nanette and Crimson to follow suit quickly. The three of them leapt into the air, disappearing into the chaos of the battle, leaving Katherine to gaze after them, gravely. Hopefully the vampires would keep their end of the bargain and reorganize their troops and fall back. Her end, though, wasn’t so simple. She turned to the east, where the fighting was highly concentrated. Convincing that egotistical idiot to call for a cease fire and a hasty retreat was going to be like trying to move the mountains around them.

She whistled, loud and clear, for her horse to come. The great silver steep sailed over the fallen rocks heading straight for her. She grabbed onto his reigns as he passed by, launching herself onto his back. She tugged at the reigns, steering him in the direction of the epicenter.

Smoke cloaked the havoc atmosphere like a phantom, moving and shifting with the turning of the battle. The vampires were withdrawing, stealthily slinking back into the shadows of their damaged fortress. The slayers pursued thinking they were gaining the upper hand on the enemy. How foolish they were. They’re numbers were already reduced to half, if not lower. In truth, they didn’t stand a chance and Katherine for all her experience in all her years under the apprenticeship of an old master, knew this. She urged her horse on, racing through the wisps. Past the fallen and mortally wounded. The steed darted over the rumble, searching the hundreds of familiar faces, looking for the one person, who could successfully pull back the slayer army to safety before she failed on her part of the bargain.

Hallam charged at the head of the front lines, shouting encouragement to his follow slayers, waving his blood soaked sword high above his head. His ice blue eyes flashing in the murky atmosphere. Katherine growled underneath her breath, grimacing, and lashed on the reigns speeding up the steed, rushing past the scrambling warriors, who shot her looks of utter surprise, stunned to see the only female slayer to ever exist in the main continent of Europe among them, bolting out of the way as her horse raced past. Her name whispered on their lips. She ignored the contempt and astonishment.

“HAALLLLLLLLLLAAAAAAAAAAMMMMMMMMM!!!!” She screamed her low solemn voice filled the suddenly all too quiet air, echoing off into the night skies above the tree tops, hurling toward the front lines where the brute had stationed himself.

Her shout carried itself to him, making the proud German slayer glance over his shoulder as she gained on him. She nearly trampled the daft fool as she cut off him from leading what was left of the human forces any further. His platinum blonde hair crimson stained, whipping wildly about his broad forehead, his pale chiseled features contorted in fury for being interrupted in his storming of the vampire castle.

“Out of the way, woman!” Hallam ordered, impatiently.

Katherine spat in his direction, not budging. “Nay!” she declared, getting off her horse to face him. “I will not.” She snorted watching the belief and out rage flicker across his face. “Call off the attack. We’re retreating.”

Puzzled whispers came from the remnants of the once great continental slayer army.
“What does she mean ‘call off the attack’?”
“The vampires are retreating. This is our time to storm their castle and take it from their wrenched hands.”
“What is she doing here? This is no place for a woman.”

“Stand down, Katherine O`Hagan. This is not your battle, woman,” Hallam snarled, towering over her slightly shorter height. “You are not welcomed here. It’s a man’s fights we’re fighting! We don’t need weaklings like you to slow us down. The vampires are falling back. We will pursue them and take what is rightfully ours without your help.”

Katherine didn’t step aside. “And I say, ‘we are not!’” she proclaimed, looking the arrogant slayer straight in the eye. “Look around Hallam!” She now gestured toward everyone. “Everyone. Look around. Our numbers hath dwindled to mere hundreds, while the vampire army still out way us in thousands of able knights. They would gladly slit our throat and harvest the blood from our corpses if they were allowed to. If we are to charge blindly on now, all that we have done today, all those who have die would be in vain! Tell me, fellow slayers! Would you rather die a meaningless death without honor in a battle we can never hope to win or live to fight another day? It is a blessing that those fiends have decided to draw back for now. It shall give us time to regroup and attend to those who are still alive out among rumble!”

“Katherine is right,” Duncan Judais agreed, stepping forth from the surrounding men. A fellow of older age and merit much higher those still alive. The wrinkles on his weathered worn face caped with drying blood. His thick graying beard ragged with sweat and blood seeping through from cuts underneath it.

“Duncan-!” Hallam began to protest.

“It would be pointless to go on,” Duncan interrupted, gravely, his watery brown eyes tired and wary. “We have come this far, but look at us, Hallam. O’Hagan is right. We need to retreat while we still can.”

“I-I second that,” Martin said stepping forward from the survivors. His army tattered and cracked even more than when Katherine had left him. He nervously looked between his superiors. Indecisive and discourse slowly began to break out among the rest of the slayers. They all looked to Hallam for his decision.

Hallam clenched his fists in indignations, his eyes narrowed viciously on Katherine’s steady profile. She met his gaze, impassively.

He growled in frustrations and threw up his hands. “Fine! We shall cease our advances for now! Gather those who are still alive and head back to camp.”

********
Katherine and Duncan watched Hallam pace the beaten down ground in front of them. Silhouettes flickered across the thick cotton canvas dividing the small square military tent from the rest of the busy medieval camp. The sound of moaning wounded knights and chattering, laughing fireside revelry whispered in the background. A single lantern with a dancing golden flame illuminated the room, the three grim slayers’ shadows twisting and turning in it’s every flickering light, becoming distorted and creeping giants in the night.

“We shall need to resupple when we head back to Vincentown,” Duncan stated, observing his commander, carefully. Hallam’s paces grew more rapid. “And seek out more help in our cause. The option of trying to seize the dark fortress is out of the question for now. Our defenses are far too weak and breakable for another attempt.”

“We’re better off heading out at day break. Vampires can’t tolerate the sun’s rays for very long. It burns their skin and blinds their sight. It would be best to travel by daylight and camp at night,” Katherine suggested firmly, leaning against a sturdy wooden pool, holding up the right side of the tent.

“Aye, it would be,” Duncan said nodding, solemnly, his eyes flickering to the female slayer. “Hallam, we should take turns being on watch tonight. A change of two knights every hour would be sufficient enough in the case of an ambush.”

Hallam paused in his constant pace to glare, impatiently at the two. “Listen to you. Are you proposing that you are that afraid of those monsters! Are we not proud vampire slayers! We should attack again tomorrow at high noon, for those devils can’t stand the holy light of the sun! They won’t be expecting another attack so soon. It would be the perfect opportunity. We would clearly have the advantage.”

“And if we did that, it would end the same as it did tonight!” Katherine spat back, straightening up to storm over to the pompous bastard. “Your brashness will get us all killed, you fool!”

“Did I ask for you opinion, wench? Why don’t you go back to the castle and behave like a good obedient nurse and weep in the corner over the stolen princess! A battlefield is no place for a woman! Go back to the kitchens where ye belong!” the thick skulled narrowed minded imbecile, ordered, heatedly.

“And why don’t you take that ogre size ego and shove ye ass!” Katherine snarled, glaring back ten times fold.

“That’s enough! Both of you!” Duncan intervened before heads started to roll. His brow furrowed in annoyance to their nonstop quarreling. “You are comrades in battle! We’re all in it for the same cause! The return of the stolen princess, Luna, and the capture of the vampires’ stronghold in the Black Forest! Hallam, you’re supposed to be our leader in battle, but you have a tendency of putting your greed for glory before everyone else’s needs, not to mention you’re completely blind to the world when you lose your temper. A good leader should be collective and calm. Katherine, you’re one of our strongest fighters. Granted you are a woman and you don’t watch that sharp tongue of yours, but that’s no excuse. You should be put aside your differences and come together in aiding our cause!”

“I would rather die than work with a woman! Especially one who doesn’t know her place,” Hallam declared, glaring daggers at Katherine.

“And I’d rather take on a hoard of demons than work with a self-absorb cretin,” Katherine agreed, sharing his sentiments, exactly. She whirled around away breaking Hallam‘s glare. She grabbed her sword and left the tent in a fury.

Duncan sighed. “This is going to be a long journey back to Vincentown,” he grumbled underneath his breath in dismay.

Once stepping outside into the cold night air did her temper cool. Katherine sighed, listening to the merry singing of her fellow slayers around their tiny campfires as they laughed and told their wars tales from today’s battle. Their merriment reminded her of her home far off in Ireland, away from the main continent.

Martin spotted Katherine’s familiar figure as she wandered around the camp site, aimlessly. “O’Hagan! Come join us,” he called over to her, waving an iron mug of stale rum. All the men’s chattered stopped as they turned to acknowledge her presence.

Katherine raised her hand, nonchalantly. “I think I’ll decline. I’m not in the mood for revelry tonight,” she called back before continuing on her way.

She headed for the northern end of the open meadow, away from the stench of unwashed men and bleeding wounds, and dancing smoke. The trees surrounding its boarders appearing to be shadow engulfed giants, their branches extending toward the pallid indigo sky. The once menacing blood stain full moon transformed itself into a silvery ghost high above the forest, bathing it in its icy cold rays. The mountains beyond the tops of the trees, shapeless hazy blobs, their bodies jagged and looming. The laughter of men dyed down as Katherine entered the forest. The sound of silence soon followed. Thickets and young saplings grew wild. Dead twigs snapped underneath her heavy boots as they clopped through the undergrowth. Her eyes were raised to the thick intertwined canopy over head. Halos of moonlight pierced through the openings, gliding across the forest floor. She thought she heard the distance music of tiny forests faeries in the mists of their twilight frolic. The high pitch flutes vibrated off the moss covered trunks of the tall trees, carrying over the closed bubs of wild flowers and dancing fireflies.

A lone owl cooed in a nearby tree. A cool breeze whistled through the tops of the trees, rattling the branches. The cool crisp mountain air felt good, bringing a sense of tranquility within the slayer as she strolled along. Memories from her childhood, spent playing with her four older brothers in the ancient glens, running through the knurled undergrowth, laughing and tumbling. Utterly free without a care in the world. No burdens to weight them down, after long hard days of training and attending their chores about the castle.

Katherine missed her homeland terribly. Three years spent, caring for the dream struck princess of a foreign land under a detached king, who seemed more half dead than alive at times, did very little for the Irish slayer’s liking. She remembered the first day arriving at Castle Vern. Her expectations were low from the beginning. She had heard from her escorts, who dutifully met her at the docks, that the princess’s mind wandered away from her body often; she was never all there. Katherine first suspected witchcraft, but when her eyes landed on the quiet petite blonde haired child, she knew Princess Luna had been a victim of a demonic force. All victims of those admonitions, the vampire, looked ill stricken. Their eyes glazed over. Why the poor girl couldn’t even finish her sentences sometimes because she was so exhausted and disconnect from the world around her. Luna was a frail creature indeed. Katherine became certain the girl would never survive the trails and tribulations of the world outside the castle walls.

Aye, three long years of trying to bring the princess out of her daze seems all in vain now, the young slayer thought with a sigh, shaking her head in dismay. Still Katherine had grown quite an accustomed to the weary child and it was her duty to look after Luna’s well being. Even if that obligated her to stake Luna through the heart with her sword, to end the poor girl’s life. She would have no choice, but to go through with it, for the sake of the salvation of the princess’s soul and the safety of the country.

The very thought made Katherine grimace.

Sudden movement in the shadows caught her attention, bringing her out of her reverie. Katherine unconsciously grasped the hilt of her sword hidden in her cloak, her stance becoming rigid. Her eyes scanned the darkness enveloping her, vigilantly. Figures glided in and out of sight, simultaneously to each other, weaving soundlessly through the trees, slowly closing in, forming a tight circle around the slayer.

Katherine counted ten of them. No, make that fifteen of them all together. Formless phantoms draped in tattered hooded cloaks. The only visible parts were their glowing array of golden orange eyes, blinking silently in the night. They stayed in the shadows of shrubs and trees, every looming, half hidden by the natural green camouflage.

The slayer drew her sword halfway, the adrenaline pulsing through her body, her eyes fixated on the lurking apparitions. One separated itself from the shadows, stepping forth into a lonely ringlet of moonlight that pierced the thickly woven canopy above. His concealed face exposed in the silver light, making his solemn ghostly features all aglow. The golden of his eyes intensified as he appraised the frozen slayer, ready for a sudden assault.

“Come with us, Katherine O’Hagan,” the cloaked vampire spoke, his words detached and monotone. His odd green hair hung limply in his eyes, shadowing the rest of his face.

Katherine recognized the vampire also immediately. It was the one from the battlefield, who delivered the vampire prince’s invitation to a one-on-one battle.

Her eyes flickered around the cluster of vampires, slowly advancing, tightening the circle around them, giving the slayer no way to escape. Grudgingly, she gradually slid her sword back into its sheaf and relaxed her stance, but kept an indifferent yet ready composure in case this was all a trap.

The vampire, if Katherine remembered currently from the battle, was named Sebastian. She eyed him, carefully as he bowed, gesturing for her to follow him. Reluctantly, Katherine obliged. A narrow pathway opened between the other vampires as they silently stepped aside to make room for the two to exist the circle before regrouping and surrounding the two on all sides, making sure that no one inferred with the prince’s plans.

*******

Tension gripped the gloomy atmosphere of the military tent after Katherine left. Hallam stood grinding his teeth and clenching his fists until the dirty nails bit into the callous palm, while Duncan, sitting at the charter table, busily went over the quickest and less dangerous route to Vincentown.

“You know, Hallam,” Duncan started absently. “It isn’t going any one good by you sitting in that corner brooding like a child. If I were you-.”

“‘If I were you’ what?” Hallam snapped, infuriated. His beady ice blue eyes squinting in the dim light to burrow like brimstones into the bowed forehead of his general. Duncan didn’t answer. The blonde haired German growled in the back of his throat. His usually fair complexion becoming taunt and red with unspoken angry. “I cannot stand that woman! She comes barging in when we’re near absolute victory and parades around thinking she knows all. I say, we still had a fighting chance. Those fiends were retreating, weren’t they? Certainly they realized they were out matched by our superior skills and abilities!”

“Or maybe, they were simply using that as a distraction so we wouldn’t see an enormous surge awaiting for us on the other side of those walls,” Duncan interjected, firmly. He earned a sharp look from his commander. It sometimes amazed the elder how naïve some one as physically strong as Hallam could be.

“In any case, it was a good thing that Katherine O’Hagan showed up. We were down by half, if not more, in our forces. Our campaign would not have survived if we had tried to force our way into the Dark Fortress. It was a heaven’s sent that we were able to pull out so easily with no more causalities,” Duncan pointed out, going back to his maps.

Hallam nodded, frowning. He hated to admit it, but what the elder said was true. None of them would have survived if they had followed through with their plan. It still bothered the blonde haired German as to why the vampires suddenly decided to retreat so late in the game. He thought for sure such a proud race would battle to the death to defend their fortress and royalty that was somewhere hidden inside. And what did the Princess Luna have to do with all this? The vampires were planning something. He could feel it.

Hallam stalked out of the tent, mulling over the questions his mind was trying to wrap itself around. The camp’s dingy tents and scenes of gore and horror of dying wounded men in their tents did not impede him from seeking out a certain some one. He was used to it after all. If serving eleven years in the king’s military had taught him anything, it was that only the courageous that survived the brutality of war. He passed a particular group of drunken jolly makers, comfortably seated around one of the seven camp fires spread throughout the meadow.

“So there I was. Surrounded by five, if not ten bloodsuckers,” a young slayer by the name of Martin, crowed, much to the amusement of his fellow slayers in weaving in his war tale of the day. “A dagger pointed at my back. A sword at my throat. Another at my heart. Another one at my-.”

“Sure you were, boy!” chortled a bearded slayer named, Otto. “Sure you were!”

“A bit of storyteller, ain`t he?” chided another, chuckling before gulping down a huffy amount of stale rum.

Martin made a face, turning red in the cheeks. “No I am not! I’m telling the truth!” His little out busted earn an explosion of laughter around the fire. Displeasure colored his face. “Do you want to listen to the story or not?” All became quiet. Martin grinned, pleased. “So there I was about ready to gutted out by the fiends when Katherine O’Hagan came out of nowhere, her sword drawn, bathed in blood! She hacked and sliced through those demons quicker than any person alive thought possible! Left and right the monster fell! Then one came swooping in from the east. Screeching out this blood curdling scream! And just when the poor demon thought it could sink its talons into her, she whipped out that sword and-!”

Hallam cleared his throat. “Martin,” he said gaining the youth’s attention, not to mention the rest of the merry makers.

All became quiet as Martin whirled around in his seat to gawk at his superior. “C-Captain Hallam!” the boy squeaked. His gazed frantically dashed around the camp site. “W-We weren’t doing anything wrong. I-I was just…”

“Have you seen, O’Hagan?” Hallam asked, pretending not to be interested in actually wanting to know the brash female slayer’s whereabouts‘.

Martin’s jaw dropped. An eerie silence had befallen the fireside. The youth quickly put himself back together. “Y-yes sir,” he stammered and pointed away from their group. “O’Hagan when I last saw of her was heading toward the northern end of the meadow. It looks to be like she was heading toward the forest.”

Hallam nodded, impassively. “Thank you, Martin. That will be all,” he started and then continued on his way, leaving the merry makers to awkwardly stare after him.

Soft curious whispers broke out among the men:

“Looking for a bit of trouble, isn’t he?”
“Bet he wants to get back at Katherine O’Hagan for stopping the siege.”
“Not to mention biting him a new ass for being a dolt.”
“Twenty gold coins on O’Hagan ripping out his throat and force feeding it to him.”
“Aye, she tis a scary woman. I’ll double that wager!”
“Aye, I’ll triple it, if that may be then.”

Laughter once more broke out amore the fireside group, leaving Hallam to grumble and spit at them behind their backs for betting against him as he wandered in the direction the female slayer had been seen traveling in.

Damn them all to hell. The lot of them, Hallam thought heatedly as he stormed into the thick wooded forest, its greenery expansive, going on to what seemed forever. Making a mockery out of me! I’ll show them all who’s a better vampire slayer. When I find Miss Katherine O’Hagan, I’ll challenge her to a duel and show that incompetent little wench that a woman has no place among men.

Not too long into his grumbling and moaning as he prowled the underground looking for Katherine did he stumble upon the whispers of voices. Their pitches low and fluid like that like of the river that twisted and eddied their way through the vastness of the Black Forest mountain range.

On instinct, Hallam plastered himself to moss covered trunk of an ancient spruce, spotting shadows drifting silently through the entangled bushes and thorns. Cautiously, he poked his head out from behind the protection of the tree to get a better look.

Oh-ho! What do we have here? he thought in both surprise and delight. His gazed landed on Katherine O’Hagan in the company of hooded vampires in the stillness of the night. One of them approached her. The blonde haired German strained to hear what was being said. What was this? Katherine O’Hagan was conspiring with the enemy?!

That would explain why those beasts withdrew so suddenly?! Hallam nearly proclaimed out loud, but kept it to himself, only speaking inside his head. He grinded his teeth together, appalled. That traitor!

It would be best to follow them and find out what they‘re up to, he decided, watching the woman consent to being guided by the pack of immortals as they silently maneuvered out of sight. Hallam perused after them, swiftly moving through the brush, hoping to find out where they were going. At least now he had some dirt to use against the wench when it came for her to stand on trail for treason.

*******

Soundlessly, the vampires herded Katherine through the night. Sebastian was at the lead, showing the way, his sense of direction unparallel to any humans’. They moved agilely through the dense forest floor, ghostly beings on the wind, their feet barely touching the ground as they leapt over fallen trees, large boulders and thick bushes. At one point Katherine had to run to keep up with the fast pace at which the vampires traveled. It was half the speed a vampire usually flies at. Nothing in the forest stirred as they past by. Not a soul. Not a creature.

Sebastian glanced over his shoulder to see if the vampire slayer was having trouble keeping pace with them as they moved swiftly toward their destination. To his utter surprise, Katherine was running right along side them. The level at which the young woman had been trained at exceeded what most ordinary human slayers were capable of. It intrigued him to a extent that he involuntarily arched an eyebrow, before turning his gaze to what laid ahead, barking an order in their native tongue to speed things up. The faster they moved, the larger distance they put between the human war camp and themselves.

Instantly everyone in the squad picked up the pace, flying past Katherine, bounding over the lower hanging tree branches, flying over emerging roots and boulders. The slayer whipped her head this way and that, astonishment coloring her face, her eyes growing wide. She was sprinting to even match the pace the immortals moved at earlier and now it was all she could do to not fall behind, drifting toward the every edge of the small platoon.

Without warning Sebastian came to a halt, whirling around to see all under his command landing on their feet in positions scattered about the forest under story. Their body posture relaxing for a brief moment, awaiting his orders. Katherine was one of the last ones to arrive. The slayer, gasping for air, nearly collapsed in exhaustion, but miraculously kept herself steady.

Sebastian smirked. “Not worn out already, are we, slayer?” he inquired, amused, speaking in his people’s traditional language. A small snicker vibrated around the group, while he earned a deadly glare from the mortal. He chuckled, before switching over to a language she would understand more completely. He gestured to the deep slop before them. “We’re here.”

He saw her glance from him to the sloping raise in the landscape. His smirk only grew more.

“Do not fret, slayer. We are not going to run you ragged with climbing this hill,” he stated in a nonchalant tone. He graceful strolled over to a specific point in the raising slope, reaching out and pulling back a wall of lichen and vines to reveal a jagged opening in the earth. “In fact we don’t have to do any climbing at all.”

Katherine gawked in bewilderment as the cloaked fiends ushered her into the hillside, the dim forest moonlight disappearing from sight, the darkness of the earth, elapsing them into an eternal night. Only the vampires’ ecstatic glowing eyes gave off any light. The vampires’ metallic lined leather boots echoed off invisible walls. The ruffling of cloaks accompanied their movements, giving a slight hint of where the vampires were positioned around Katherine. They hurried quickly through the darkness, navigating the pitch black carven with ease.

The air thick with moisture as the sound of dripping water filled the claustrophobic space. The cave appeared larger on the outside than it did on the inside. Katherine could feel the closeness of the bloodsuckers around her. Her stomach churning with unease at the very knowledge that she allowed herself to be escorted by such monsters and now that they were so close she could actually reach out and touch their deadly cold skin if she wanted to. Her heart sounded loudly in her chest. Her mind speculated what would happen once they finally arrived at their destination. How did she know that those sadistic demons would actually keep their end of the bargain? True, they did fell back at the battle of the dark fortress, like she asked, but what if that was all a ruse to lure her away from her fellow slayers and into a fatal trap by promising a meeting with the brash prince of the night?

Her hand precariously rested itself on the hilt of her sword, an unconscious habit she harbored since her earlier training days as a mere novice. Slowly a soft iridescent blue light infiltrated the darkness, its glow outlining the silent profiles of the immortals at her side. The cavern opened up to a vast network of catacombs. Katherine’s breath got caught in the back of her constricted throat, witnessing the high arched granite ceilings sparkling with tiny gems. Coiled abstract entangled serpents weaved around towering pillars that supported the expansive ceiling as it stretched out for what seemed an eternity. Mirror images of themselves reflected off polished quartz floors leading across the enormous catacomb separating off back into the darkness of gothic curved holes in the side of the sparkling walls. The clicking of their boots ricocheted off the hollow walls. Katherine found herself awe struck that such splendor could be built by blood thirsty murders.

“We are not just murderous demons out for the lives of mortals,” Sebastian said catching the slayer off guard. He had fallen back from the front of the small platoon to walk in step with her. His hood pulled back to reveal a young man, who looked no older than her. Though his green hair and gold eyes set him apart from mortal men, still there was some indefinable human emotion set deep within his porcelain features. “Are your people so quick to judge those who are different from you that you think you are the only ones to have a culture and traditions?”

Katherine found herself speechless. She had been raised on the legends from her homeland that vampires were vile monsters with no soul or care for nothing but themselves. They only lived to feast upon the flesh and blood of human, never discriminating peasant from noblemen.

She felt all eyes fall on them, each vampire listening attentively to their conversation. She tore her eyes away from Sebastian’s inquiring gaze. “It does not matter if a race can create art or lives by a certain set of rules. You’re still nothing, but monsters in in this world,” she muttered, refusing to change her views based on what she had been raised to believe, clenching her fists.

Sebastian shrugged lightly. “If that is what you wish,” he uttered before moving back to the front of the platoon, leading them to an arching passageway. Intertwining vines with tiny pixies peering out lifelessly at the solitary world around them were etched skillfully into the doorway.

The young lieutenant turned to the platoon. “This is as far as all of you will go. The slayer and I will continue on from here. Prince Leon has requested an audience with the slayer alone,” he elaborated his eyes drifting over the fifteen vampires. They lingered on Katherine for a moment, before traveling to the others. “All of you are dismissed!”

Not long after he said those words, the vampires dispersed. Their fleeting figures nothing more than blurs as they darted into several adjacent passageways leading away from the main catacomb.

Sebastian turned to Katherine, motioning her for to follow. “This way,” he said, entering into the corridor.

“Hmph,” Katherine huffed under her breath, her eyes narrowing as she follow suite. They silently walked down a stone passageway leading straight, with no turns and twists. Torches lined the wall, spaced eleven feet or so apart, illuminating the dreary corridor. Their footsteps bounced off the closed walls. Katherine kept her gaze firmly planted on the back of the green haired vampire’s head, analyzing his every move.

“Must you stare like that? It’s very rube,” Sebastian commented, not liking the feeling two piercing emerald eyes burrowing into the back of his skull. It reminded him of how his sister would glare at him when he did something stupid. All he received was a silent snort. “Aye, suit yourself. I’m just trying to have a decent conversation with you, before we have to become enemies again.”

Katherine didn’t respond. She refused to let this vampire distract her from what she came here to accomplish. No devilish trick was going to deter her from the present task at hand.

Sebastian and her ascended a steep meandering staircase, twisting its way up a wide stone column at the end of the passageway. At the top was a double wooden door with a snarling dragon brass knocker. Sebastian’s composure suddenly stiffened as if sensing what laid beyond the thick wooden door, his demeanor grew cold and indifferent. He roughly shoved the doors open, revealing a large room constructed of the same stone conglomerate bricks, filled in with heavy set cement that existed in the narrow passageway they just came from. The secret chamber spanned across the floor onto a raised platform where he stood waiting.

A sinister grin spread across his ghostly white face. His shining waist-length raven hair hanging loosely over his silver breastplate and dragon curved shoulder pads. A long flowing ebony and scarlet hood and cape cascading off his armor. Malevolent gold eyes peered out from the bangs hanging in his face, acting like a cracked mask, only intensifying the sheer viciousness of his gruesome grin, fangs fully in sight. Standing on either side of the fiend was the two other vampires from the battlefield; the skeleton like blue haired female, clad in a gold embroidered satin black cape over a form fitting suit of armor modified to fit her lither body, and the vampire whose hair was the same color as blood. It hung on his head like an unruly tangled thicket, sticking out every which way, seemingly defying gravity itself. He too wore the traditional black armor

Katherine lingered at the doorway as if to control her reactions, from launching herself at the sneering bastard on the opposite side of the spacious chamber. What really made her blood boil, was who positioned deliberately at his side with his sick pale hand resting firm on her frail slender waist. The stolen mislead princess, Luna, standing before all as witness to the deadly duel that was to take place in her unconscious honor. Horror wrenched the slayer’s heart seeing that indeed the vampire prince had indeed turned Luna into one of the undead. The girl’s deep blue eyes looked dead and enchanted, even worse than when Katherine had last seen her. Her naturally pale skin tone a ghostly sheen like those around her. The girl was dressed in a thin formless gown of pure white silk to emphasis her sickly complexion.

Sebastian solemnly strolled to the middle of the room and knelt down before his lord. “Prince Leon, I have brought the slayer, Katherine O’Hagan, as you have requested,” he declared, his monotone voice echoing off the high ceilings and stone walls, carrying to the platform.

Leon nodded in approval. “Thank you, Sebastian. You have done well.” His glowing orbs spied Katherine in the far off corner, literally shaking with unseen fury. “I shall take it from here.”

The vampire princes of the Black Forest left the frail princess’s side, leaving her to stare lifelessly after him as he took the floor. He spread his arms in an exaggerated theatrical gesture. “Welcome to my humble castle! I would offer more hospitality if I were allowed, but there is business to discuss and I believe we have a score to settle.”

Katherine remained where she stood, impassive and primed for battle. Her hand lay steady on the now visible hilt of her sword, ready to draw her weapon at any moment.

Leon frowned at Katherine’s poker face. Only her blaming emerald eyes gave any sign as to what the woman was thinking; a deep rooted hatred for his kind, past down for generation among the mortal slayer clans.

Damn those accursed slayers and they ability to block their minds with their sorcery, he thought, feeling limited. He, the Black Forest Prince, was born of pure blooded birth. He had more power in his pinkie than any other mixed blood drinker hoped to achieve in their long immortal lives, whether they were Half Bloods, ordinary bloods, or Turn Bloods. His brow furrowed, trying hard to penetrate the mortal woman’s mind to no avail.

Casting aside his frustration, he placed the condensing sneer back on his face, looking the slayer straight in the eye. “It’s a pleasure to finally meet you, Katherine O’Hagan of the proud Cathal Clan,” he announced making a shallow bow. “I’ve hear a many of great things about your brethren. Though it depends on whether you can consider the slaughter of thousands upon millions of my kin great. Tell me how does it feel killing my people with your own bare hands? Using that special metal ore your people stole from us to be made into weapons to be used against us?”

More silence followed.

Leon’s perfect mask of absolute contempt and calm faltered. This woman was proving to be a tough nut to crack. He scowled, his stare turning brooding, a storm of aggravation waging underneath the seemingly at ease surface. He prompted himself for a moment before continuing speaking. He still, but a fledging in his people’s eyes, so he had to be sly and clever in order to seem threatening in the eyes of a slayer so ferocious and refined in her field.

His face became smooth, indifferent, his eyes narrowing intently at the poised slayer. Katherine remained motionless. Leon sighed. “Ye do not respond the way I would hope you would. Hath the many years of slaughter made your heart cold as stone?” he inquired. “To even the point of not being able to participate in a civilized conversation before battle?”

This time he got a reaction.

“Do not try to distract me, monster,” Katherine spat, daggers forming themselves out of her words. “I did not come here to chit-chat and have tea and biscuits with ye! I am here to bring the Princess Luna back when she rightfully belongs. Now draw your swor-.”

Leon could have laughed. In face he did. The vampire prince tossed his head laughing in sharp humorless gasps. “You think she will be welcome back into that place!” he declared. “How naïve are thee slayer? Did you not see how they treated my dearest mute princess?”

“Yours?”

“Yes,” Leon hissed, his eyes glowing brightly in the dim lightening. “Mine. The mortal king and his so-called loyal servants treated her like a walking doll. She was a prisoner in her own castle.” He turned to gaze toward the fragile fair haired beauty. A whimsical smile gracing his lips. “Why should she stay in such a horrible place when this world can offer her much more? The child has more freedoms among my people than she does your. Why would she go back? They’ll only burn her at the stake, will they not?

“There’s no reason for her to go back!” he chuckled, his entire frame shaking with both rage and anxiety. He whirled back to glare malevolently at the Katherine, his stance becoming rigid. “I will not let you take her from me!”

Katherine drew her sword, stiffening her footing, tensing. “We shall see. Draw your weapon, demon! And prepare yourself. Just because you are nothing more than a mere boy does not mean I shall go easy on you.”

“Very well. Have it your way.” Leon smirked, drawing his sword, his sword’s hilt etched with gold and ivory, while the blade was made of pure obsidian enforced with iron and diamonds. They began to very slowly circling each other, predatorily. Their eyes firmly fixed on one another.

“Who ever wins the battle shall get the princess as a reward!” Leon declared, grinning from ear to ear.

“And you say you’ve given the girl free reign over her destiny,” Katherine seethed, disgusted. “Ye are a hypocrite, oh Prince of Fiends.”

“Ah, but Luna has already given her consent for this battle,” the vampire countered, poised, ready to spring. “She knows the costs. She knows the stakes at which you and I are battling at.”

“Oh aye, I bet ye told her all about it,” the slayer retorted, sarcasm dripping off of every word.

Leon grunted, leaving the crude remarks behind, anxious for action. His movements became fluid, like a prowling feline, slinking across the rough tiled floor. The pupils in his eyes turning to slits, a maniac smile spreading across his shadowed facial features. A demon lusting after blood.

“Be careful, my lord!” Nanette cautioned her prince from across the room. “She is a skilled warrior! Make sure not to let her out of your sights.”

“Nanette hush! Silence your yapping,” Sebastian growled joining her, Crimson, and Princess Luna on the platform, spectators to what was about to start.

“So say I hear,” Leon commented delighted to hear the news, his tongue running over his fangs eager for the battle to commence. “Then I trust this to be an interesting battle. Now don’t disappoint me, O’Hagan.” He followed the slayer’s every moment as they proceed in their precarious dance, that at any time could spiral into a fight to the death, looking for an opening or weakness. “I’ve always wanted to fight one of the prestigious Cathal slayers in battle to see for myself the measure of their austere power and skill.”

And with that, Leon sprang forward, sword pulled back. Katherine met the blow with the same veracity, the colliding of their swords resonating through the interior of the long stone chamber like a bolt of lightening. The two sprang back, going several feet from each other. They began their deadly dance once again.

“Impressive,” Leon granted, grinning. Excitement reflecting vividly in his golden eyes. A flash of murderous red streaked in his slit pupils.

Katherine snorted in agreed, her arms slightly numb from the first clash. They stopped and bolted back in. Leon thrusting downward and Katherine thrusting upwards. The two blades sparked on contact with a loud thunderous clang. They drew back and collided again. The friction of the two different metals grinding, created blue and orange sparks to leap into air, licking at the close range of their faces. The both warriors pulled back.

Katherine twirled on her heel, swinging her sword coming from the side. Leon lodged the long black metal blade into the stone, using it at a propelling force to dropkick the unexpected slayer straight in the jaw. Katherine ducked in time, her sword hitting his. She thrusted her boot forward hoping to nail his airborne body in the stomach. She missed as he spun out of her reach, dislodging his sword in the process, landing only feet away before going back with lightening speed. The slayer cursed underneath her breath when their blades met once more, the shock of the impact rung deep in her bones. Her human body was not made to stand such force. The attack pushed her back. She stumbled.

Slash.

“Ah!!” Katherine gasped, cringing when the vampire’s blade bit into her side as he charged after her, wielding his sword with vicious intent. She managed to block the next, kicking off the ground, thrusting the heel of her boot into Leon’s chin, sending him backwards. He flipped over, his hands skidding across the ground. Leon landed on all fours. He felt his chin and winced. It stung. The bloody mortal had far greater strength in her than what he had expected. An astounded smirk spread across the fiend’s face as he stood up to find the slayer poised for another onslaught, her sword held at a slanted angle. Well, might as give the woman what she wanted, right?

He gripped the hilt of his sword tightly before disappearing from view. Katherine stiffened, all her senses going on alert. Her gaze steadily surveying the empty floor before her. A ping of sudden realization ran through her sensory organs telling her shift her weight off to the side as she craned her head to find a grinning Leon behind her, bringing the blade of his sword on top of her. She sought to dodge the attack by pulling herself downward and yet sideways at the same time in one fluid motion. It didn’t precisely work out the way she planned. The blade grazed the side of her cheek and bit into her shoulder, sending an overwhelming wave of pain from her wrist to her jaw line. Blood gushed from the wound as the blade withdrew, Leon pulling away going in for another blow.

She had to act fast, pulling out her crystal dagger out blocking his attack that was aimed toward her kidneys. She gritted her teeth, ignoring the pain in her side, lashing her leg out, spinning on the ball of her boot knocking the startled vampire prince in the head. In the process of spinning her flicked out her wrist, she aimed her crystal dagger at Leon. He ducked, but not before the blessed blade skimmed across his cheek, cutting it along the surface. Katherine didn’t wait for him to recover, bolting forward the hilt of her sword into his gut. Leon gagged, feeling the breathe forced from his dead lungs. He counterattacked. Katherine screamed as the blade of his sword sliced into her upper thigh, leaving a deep gash in its wake. The two pull back, dancing away from each other.

They halted yards away. Katherine’s shoulders heaved, her breathing coming out uneven. Crimson bled through the wound in her shoulder, staining her tunic as well as from the gash in her side. She used her sword as support as she knelt down on her semi good knee. Her body cried for her to stop, but her will did not wish to stop. Giving up was not an option. She sluggishly pulled herself to her feet, her burning emerald eyes zeroing on Leon’s grave stature as he stood unwavering several feet from her.

Katherine stumbled forward, feeling sharp pings of pain coursing through her veins from both the gash in her left calf and right thigh. She caught and steadied herself. She lifted her sword, panting, her eyes straining to focus, blurring from blood lost. Leon smirked at the pitiful site of one of the Cathal Clan’s skilled slayers reduced so quickly to another shuddering, staggering piece of flesh. Another meal waiting for him to sink his fangs into and drink deeply from, lapping up that deliciously blood that coursed through her soft breakable mortal body.

Katherine saw his blood lust. How it heightened every time he opened a wound! Every time her blood was spilled onto the floor and seeping through her clothes. His fangs were growing longer and sharper. More deadly than any knife a black smith could every forge.

No. Not here and not ever, Katherine thought summoning all the strength hidden deep within her. The blade of her sword starting to glow brighter with the power of her undaunted will. The sword was made of a special type of metal that responded to the wielder’s emotions and ambitions. The silver blue sheen that radiated out from the seeming alive metal illuminated the air around her. She lunched forward, charging toward Leon, ignoring the screams coming from her pain stricken body. She wasn’t going to back down. She be damned if she died here and now, in vain. She had a mission to complete and a child, whose awareness was oblivious to the suffering world around her, to save from the clutches of the devil, himself.

Leon sneered, launching himself forward, meeting her attack halfway. A loud thunderous crack echoed through the bowls of the chambers. A blinding light erupted from the core of Katherine’s blade as it met with Leon’s. A rush of pure raw power shook the very room they were standing in. Loose debris and dust fell from the cracks in the walls and ceilings. Both warriors became locked in a stale mate, neither willing to back down.

Without warning the double doors on the opposite side of the door busted open. The large profile of a fair haired man came barreling onto the battlefield, his sword drew, prepared for battle. His blazing blue eyes darted around the room, frantically looking, searching for a certain some one. Finally they landed on the dead lock between Katherine and Leon, widening in horror.

“What in blue blazes is going here, O’Hagan!” Hallam demanded, his voice bellowing out toward the heavens, his face a perfect of mask aversion at the sight of the two warriors stiffly locked in battle. His outburst made they other tear their attention from each other to glare at the intruder.

“Ah, acquaintance of yours?” Leon wondered in distaste, scowling at the interruption of their fight.

“That fool!” Katherine cursed underneath her breath, jumping back ending their dead lock to glower more efficiently at the bumbling dolt of a commander at the entrance to the secret chamber.

“So this is where you run off to. Conspiring with our enemy, are ye?” Hallam inquired, sneering, his hand sweeping across the room, over all the vampires present. His blue eyes glistening with the promise of triumphant. “Whilst we are blissfully unaware of your treachery! Do you take me for a fool, O’Hagan? In the name of the King of the Black Forest! I, Hallam Strogenhuft, shall righteously reclaim the stolen princess, and sentence and your conspirers to-!”

In the mists of his victory speech, Hallam did not catch Leon’s silent command to the grinning devil on the platform. He was too busy boasting to realize the red haired vampire had disappeared from his place on the risen platform, quicker than the human eye hoped to catch. A gurgled gasp escaped past the bewildered slayer’s lips as a sword was plunged through his heart from behind. The bloody blade of the sword breaching his ribcage, coming out at the other side, glistening in the darkness.

“HAAAAALLLLLLLLLAAAAAAAAMMMMM!!”

Ha llam did not hear Katherine’s strangled screams as she watch in horror as it happened. Instantly his blue eyes grew blank, the life slowly draining away from them.

“You know what? You talk too much,” Crimson mused, his black eyes glowing a malicious red in the gloom. A deranged grin spreading from ear to ear. “Why don’t you take a long nap!!”

He withdrew the sword roughly from the body. The sound of bones cracking echoed through the dense moist air of the chamber. A stunned Katherine watched blankly as the corpse collapse, hitting the now blood soaked floor with a dull wet thud. The color drain from her face. A cold sweat had broken across her forehead. Her heart skipping a beat, pounding loudly inside her skull, echoing. Stray tears seeped through the corners of her horrorstruck eyes, spilling over the long eyelashes and softly trickling down her cheeks in unspoken grief. Hallam may have been a pompous blow heart, but he was a fellow warrior and comrade too. A sickening feeling wrenched it’s through her soul. Bile rose in the back of her mouth. Her body began to shake with both fear and pure rage!

“You!” She screamed whirling around to Leon, her eyes burning with vengeance. The blade of sword erupting in a bluish white flame corresponding with her raging emotions as she wielded it. “Die!”

Leon spun in time to see Katherine’s sword racing toward him. His face contorted in pure indignation. His eyes widening in fear. He didn’t even have time to react. She came too quickly. Was this the end of him?!

A blur of white and gold darted in front of him. A hoarse scream escaped past fair pink lips as the flaming blade lodged itself into the small fragile chest. Blood splashed onto Katherine’s horrified face as she and Leon watched helplessly, alarm written across their faces, as Luna threw herself between Katherine’s oncoming sword and Leon‘s vulnerability, taking the blow for her beloved prince of the night.

“N-No,” Katherine murmured, the fiery vengeful glow her eyes vanishing. The flames on her sword dissipating. Her mouth hung agape, utter horror coloring her paling complexion. Shock vibrated through her body. Her mind tried frantically to register what just happened. What had she done?! Her hands clenching the sword pulled it loose and watched numbly as the thirteen year old girl crumble. “W-Why did she-?!”

Luna fell into Leon’s strong arms, his features contorted with anguish as he collapsed to the ground, clenching the mortally wounded girl to him. Grief ached inside of his black immortal soul as the girl’s deep blue eyes dim with every passing moment. Every breath she took inched her closer to death’s awaiting grasp.

Hesitantly he traced his fingertips along the side of the girl’s pale face. “L-Luna? Luna, my love, are you still with me?” he whispered desperately, blood red tears cascading down his cheeks. A strangled sob came, followed by another and another. He took her fragile hand into his, squeezing it gently and bringing it to his lips. “Please, don’t do this to me. I need you here. We need you here! Do not die. Stay with us! Stay with… me!”

Luna stared at him, blankly. Her lung laboring to suck air into her slowly draining body. She choked up blood, staining her pale lips. “L-Leon,” her tiny hoarse spoke, for the first time since the beginning of she left her home. She squeezed his hand back, straining to focus her fading sight. “I-I…” She spat up more blood, slowly drowning in her own vital fluids. “…l-love… you.”

The blood tears that swelled in the corners of the vampire prince’s eyes poured at the very sound of her bell like voice. It was the first time he had ever heard her speak. “Luna, please stay with me,” he begged, pain wrenching its way into his chest at the very thought of loosing her now. “You can’t leave! Everything will be alright-- Luna? Luna! LUUUUUUUUUNNNNNNAAAAA!!!”

But his pleas were in vain. The girl’s body went limp in his arms. Her heart stopped beating. No longer did her chest rise and fall. Luna was dead. Leon’s world suddenly came crashing down on top of him. Violent wave after wave of paralyzing emotions flooded his body; grief, despair, anguish, pain, regret, hatred, and finally rage.

An eerie silence consumed the chamber, leaving all in its wake sober with remorse. Nanette, Sebastian, and Crimson looked on after their lord, sympathy reflecting in their glowing eyes, their faces grim in the dim flickering candle light. Katherine remained where she was, revolted by the sight of her own blood soaked hands still clasping the sword. Tears of regret rushed down her cheeks. How could she have done this unspeakable horror?! No amount of water in the world could wash her tainted hands, especially with the blood of an innocent now on them. She had just committed a ghastly act and she would never forgive herself for it.

A shudder raced up Leon’s spine, his entire body suddenly stiffens. Something foul lurked in the dreary moist air. A low menacing snarl erupted from deep within in his chest, his lips pulled tightly over his growing elongated canines. His golden eyes shifting to a sinister red, glowing like the very fiery pits of hell. He slowly lifted his head, his face distorted in pure wrath.

“YOU!!” he hissed, leering Katherine down like a deity straight from Hades. Loathing burning lividly in his eyes, his sight bathed in rage. Fear ran cold in Katherine’s veins at the sight of ominous aurora radiating from him. “You did this! You killed her!!! I’ll kill you!!!”

His mortal profile began to disfigure. The limps inflating, joints grinding and shifting. The cracking of his armor filled the deadly atmosphere, shattering as his shape distorted. Changing. Transforming. The porcelain skin deepening to a dark grey, pulling and stretching over the growing bones and muscles as they continued to unravel. Deep blue veins pulsed underneath the skin, becoming visible. Leon’s back arched, the seems of his clothes ripping apart, snapping allowing him to grow further, the spinal cord along of his back in clear view. Three long bony spikes sprouted from his underarms connected by a transparent membrane. His face extended out, turning into a stubby snout. His ears point upwards, slowly maneuvering to the top of his head until they perched high on either sides, deeply veined dark grey animalistic ears. A tail busted out from back, whipping furiously in the air, beating the floor. His dagger like canines curled over the his narrowed chin like sabers gleaming brightly in the dim lighting, the rest of his teeth along with them, just as sharp and dangerous.

Katherine was no longer staring at Leon The Vampire Price of the Black Forest; what she saw a was primordially monster dating back to the dawn of time when great beasts roamed the land, where men hide in caves with only stone tools to protect themselves from what lurked in the night. The beast reared back on it‘s bent hunches, dropping the corpse, it’s snout opening in a haunting wail, rattling the very air, shaking the very columns and structure around them with the rise and fall of it’s voice. Katherine found she couldn’t move as the monstrosity bent back to glare with bleeding red eyes that shone with a fiery vengeance, low bone chilling snarls ripping from deep within it‘s chest. It crept toward her, stalking her, ready to in for the slaughter.

“Shit!” Sebastian cursed, staggering back, clear and utter terror gripping his very being. “He’s gone completely berserk!!”

Nanette watched, paralyzed to the spot, petrified. Her haughty mouths agape in silent horror. Her skeleton facial features growing paler than normal by the second. “M-my lord,” she murmured incredulous with shock.

Crimson appeared beside them, his black eyes flickering from his horror struck comrades to the floor where a transformed Leon prowled. “So this is our people’s true form,” he mused, softly as not to draw the creature’s attention their way. “Interesting.”

So this is the vampire’s berserk form, Katherine thought numbly, her eyes glued to the monster’s hypnotic red eyes, frozen in place. Her mind seemed to detach itself from her body, separating two different beings. One doing one and the other doing another. Cold sweat dripped down her forehead, rolling down the side of her nose, over her lips and down her chin. It hit the floor with a mute splattered. Her eyes wide like glass orbs, fixated in place. A cornered lamb waiting for the ravenous wolf to devour it at any second.

The beast grew closer, haunting growls spilling forth through its pulled back lips over the enlarged saber like fangs.

I’m going to die! Is this how it ends?! Will I die here at the hands of a savage demon?! Her mind shrieked, shocking her back into her body, connecting both mind, body, and soul.

Her eyes flicked closed for a second. Just enough time for the beast to launch itself at her, an eardrum shattering wail escaping its open snout. Motion coursed through the slayers body as she dodged out of the way. The beast landed on all fours and took off again, preserving after her, a demon straight out of her worst nightmare. It movements agility and swift. Within second, Katherine felt the jolting force of the beast hitting her hard in the back, sending her sprawling forward, and tumbling across the floor. Her body slammed hard against the stone cold stone tile, the echoing crunch of one of her rids snapping sent millions of tingling pings of pain coursing through her side. She cringed, groaning and rolled over, holding her broken rid, only to find herself face to muzzle of the grotesque beast. A pungent odor emitted from its mouth, hot breath blasting into her face as a loathsome growl came forth from the creature’s broad chest. Up close she could see the web like veins that crawled underneath the bumpy, dark grey skin. The wrinkling of the snout and intersection between the glaring vivid red eyes as the thing’s thick lips were pulled over the enormous gleaming pointed teeth in a gruesome snarl.

The beast started to lower its great head to clamp its jaw over her windpipe to silence her, killing her instantly and ending her mortal existence on Earth. She had no time to think, to reason. All she knew was that she had to act and to act fast if she was to survive her encounter with a personified form of death or else it would be the end of her!

Her hands were empty. Her eyes flickered around the floor near her. Her sword must have flew out of her hands when she collided with the cold unforgiving stone floor. A winking of something metallic caught her attention from the corner of her eyes. Her attention was divided as she inched closer to death with the coming of the beast’s powerful jaws slowly encroaching. Whatever Katherine was planning to do, she’d better do it fast or else there would be no turning back.

The emotional exhaustion and the lost of blood was taking its toll. She didn’t have much time. She rather die in victory than in vain at the hands of an enemy as disdainful and shallow as a vampire. She jabbed the toe of her iron enforced leather boots into the stomach of the beast, striking hard and true. A low grunt came from the monster, indicating he had indeed felt it. A warning growl spewed forth from its closing jaws, rearing back and then diving forward to end it all. Before it had the chance to succeed in its goal, Katherine thrusted her fist straight into its jaw, guiding its aim off course. The sound of her knuckles crunching under the sheer force of her fist impacting with the rock hard jaw, resounded in her ears. She visibly grimaced, gritting her teeth to keep from crying out in pain. The beast back off slightly, shaking its head, stunned, giving Katherine room to roll out from underneath and make a grab for her sword across the floor.

Her body ached in protest to her strenuous movements. Pain ravaged her body, making her slow and clumsy. Katherine ignored it. A thunderous roar came from the beast as it took the air. Its tattered leather winged arms spreading out, lifting its heavy body into the air, swooping down, an deafening scream bellowing out from its opened snout, that could have caused even the heavens to shudder in fear.

The incredible power behind the scream rattled the high ceilings, rolling like a wave crashing against the shoreline, breaking up the stone floor in a path of destruction. It was coming for her as she struggled to get her only weapon. She somersaulted out of the echoing invisible sound waves as they barreled through, her ears popping and jaw chattering in their wake. She landed safely out of the beast’s attack range, touching down hard, her ears ringing loudly to the point that she felt her eye-to-hand coordination failing her. Her eyes shut tight, her head spinning; she precariously climbed to her feet, staggering. She could hear the hellish screeches of the demonic creature resonating in the air above.

No doubt waiting for an opportunity to ambush me, Katherine pondered dizzily, her body’s movement not working the way it should be. She stumbled forward, and then caught herself. Pain consumed the right side of her body, screaming for her to stay still. If I don’t hurry, I’ll be an obvious target standing here!

The air whistled as the vampire dove, bellowing out its wrath. Katherine’s eyes snapped out. Her sword was only feet away from her now. As the beast swooped in, ignoring her bleeding searing wounds, she launched forward. Her hand stretched out, ready to grab the fallen weapon, her body hit the floor rolling as the beast missed her, merely inches away from its snapping jaws. Pain ripped through every part of her being as she rolled to an up-right position, sword now in hand.

With all the strength she could effectively muster, she rose. The beast was coming around again. It’s long saber like fangs fully bared, ready to rip through flesh and bone. Katherine steadied her quivering grasp, holding the sword out in front of her, prepared. The vampiric beast flew as high as the limiting ceilings would allow it to go, and then came barreling down at a menacing speed. Claws extended, pointed fangs flashing. It meant to kill her. She knew this, but she didn’t care. She raised her sword, its blade pulsating with revived energy. The bluish silver flame busted forth from its metallic body, flaring, reacting to its bearer’s will.

The demon came. Katherine charged across the floor and leapt into the air. They meet head on, tumbling, sword flashing, and fangs snapping as they fought one another. Some how, by some miracle Katherine was able to avoid the monster’s lethal jaws, swinging herself onto the back of the beast. The vampire screamed as she raised her sword high above her head and sank it into its bony back, directly hitting the beast’s spinal column, just missing its black heart.

The beast lost control of its wings and plummeted to the cold stone floor below with Katherine, clenching onto both of it and her sword for dear life. They collided with the floor, its sandstone surface giving way, shattering from the sheer pressure and force of the collision, sending Katherine flying off the beast’s back upon impact. She slammed into the floor several meters away, landing on her bad side, the sound of a few more rids breaking, filled her ears with muffled cracks. The two laid stilled, mere yards from each other. The beast had caught a flame from the scared sword impaled into its back, while Katherine lay motionlessly, bleeding and broken. An eerie silence infiltrated the room as the three witnesses to the epic battle, remained frozen to where they were on the raised platform. The carnage left behind was evident and ghastly. Sebastian, Nanette, and Crimson watched in silence as the flame that had engulfed their prince slowly dwindled down to nothing. Smoke rose up from his scorched flesh. Neither moved nor spoke. The three vampires only waited.

Katherine was the first to move. A low strangled groan escaped past her cracked bleeding lips. She coughed up blood. She rolled onto her bruised side to stare blankly at the caroled blur across the chamber floor from her. The bleak blackness slowly pouring into her sight, her body became numb with the icy cold grip of death fast approaching. Finally. The battle was done. It was finished. She had succeeded, but at the same time she also failed too…

A/N: And oh yeah, before I forget, HAPPY VALETINE'S DAY, EVERBODY!!!! I every one's sweet gets them something special this year. XD