Edited by Mjonir77
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The Sun was up bringing warm rays through the windows. I could also hear the faint sound of birds chirping and thought :”Can’t they just die already ?”
I opened my eyes to see red hair swimming in front of me; a pleasant smell was in the air, almost enchanting, and I could feel my hands grabbing her body, making me quiver for a second. I could feel her head touching my chest and gently nestling onto it like a little bird…
– …
I slept, didn’t I ? Hmm I wondered how it happened ? I could hear the gentle breathing coming from Artemis and thought : “Huh, that’s how huh !”.
I sighed, took a breath as quiet as possible so that Artemis wouldn’t wake up and watched her beautiful face as she slept. But all good things have to come to a end don’t they ?
I gently pushed myself away from her and noticed my body regaining its previous strength. My equipment and other items were all on the other side of the hut; I was about to gently sneak over there, take everything and leave but suddenly I could feel something grabbing my arm. I froze and as I did I could hear another voice, Artemise’s…
– You are truly a dense or foolish man Leraje ! Not even taking advantage of a sleeping girl and even trying to sneak away without saying goodbye ! You are going to break a lot of hearts in the future with that kind of attitude you know ?
I wanted to apologize when I turned to her but my brain was devoid of words when I saw her face full of sadness and loneliness. I saw that expression before, the very first day she took care of me she showed me this face but just for a second… She always masked it using her smile, so much that it made me forget about everything when I looked at her, but now I could understand.
A single tear dropped from her beautiful, almost snow white face. I quickly wiped it with a finger and came closer to her, kissing her directly on her soft red lips.
For a second, Artemis seemed surprised and strongly held to my chest but slowly her grip lost her strength until it was slowly reduced to that of a mere rabbits stuck in the trap of the wolf. My demon instincts were also taking control : from the heat I was becoming more possessive but Artemis didn’t seem to mind, more like she agreed. She started to strip seeing my eagerness for it and our morning ended up becoming something… really hot (wink).
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– Woof Woof !
A hound was standing in front of me, barking and wriggling his tail. He seemed very excited as I came closer and patted its head. Behind me stood a disheveled red haired beauty with hard leather armor. Both of our faces were fairly red and flushed from the activity we had a few minutes ago, I was also wearing my equipment with an extra cloak covering my body. It felt nice to feel the touch after so much time.
– This girl will show you the way out from here…
I stopped patting the hound and turned towards Artemis; she once again made that face but I slowly got closer to her and kissed her on the lips, making her smile at me once again so I told her :
– I will return.
She smiled and said while shaking her head :
– You don’t need to hold onto me like you are now. You have things to do that are far more of a concern than me, hunter.
Hunter ? But I didn’t care, I never felt so sure than I did then in my entire life, so I told her again :
– I will return and I will stay with you, I promise.
Artemis looked happy at my promise but I could also see an underlying look of worry. I was too distracted by her to ask her so I dismissed it as my imagination.
– Let’s go girl !
I urged the hound and with one last wave I left, a bit hurt but excited about the return.
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The hound led me to a road leading to the main city which I followed and I soon arrived to the very city where I killed the vampire overlord.
I was expecting the city guards to be very alert because of the assassination but to my surprise they didn’t as much look at me while they were letting me in. One of the guards even looked directly into my eyes and I could see his expression of panic for a moment… He knew who I was… I was going to make a run for it but astonishingly, even thought the guard knew I was the assassin, he didn’t do anything. No, more like he was keeping his mouth shut for some reason ? Why ? I wanted to ask but knew it was a stupid idea, only a fool would be bold enough to ask so I just ignored him and started walking into the city.
The city was as normal as it could get, even the citizens seemed happier for some reason, I was puzzled for a second… They acted like the assassination never happened ? No this was wrong ! I could feel it; this was very wrong, why weren’t they in fear ? Panic ? Chaos ? The one I killed was a very high ranked noble. The reason I wanted to hide in the woods was because not even the king would overlook something like the murder of an aristocrat, even if he was a bloodsucking beast of the night…
– …
I didn’t care, this wasn’t my problem after all. Even I was a pawn stuck in a much bigger game that I don’t realize. Why should I start involving myself even more : it was not like I owe anyone or felt obligated to do so. I did my job so I wanted my pay as well but other than that…
I looked at the pendant I was holding : it was actually a photo locket. It contained the picture of the lad I killed on the night of the assassination, he was holding a little girl in his arms, probably his little sister…
I looked through the alley ways to the other kids that were lurking around and started going through them, each time stopping a child and looking back at the locket.
I had other problems to attend to right now.
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The day was slowly turning into night my search wasn’t going well either but I wasn’t going to give up, not yet. There was no such thing as tiredness for me who was a demon. The only thing I needed was a goal to keep me going and nothing would stop from doing it.
– Now finally we meet my sweet heart.
I stopped in my tracks and looked at person who was standing on the rooftop. It was full moon tonight. The dazzling moonlight compelled with the person’s figure, making her quite more tempting to look at, almost making her into a real enchantress but too bad for her, I preferred a huntress.
– I want my pay Elyssa !
She jumped down in a shadowy blur and swiftly came down in front me, leaned on my chest and purred while doing so… but I wasn’t impressed, making her a bit annoyed.
– I want my pay right now !
I urged her which she didn’t seem to like.
– Why so fast ? Let’s have some fun ! The night is young and other than measly gold I can also pay you with something much more alluring, don’t you think ?
She suggested while rubbing herself on me… Ii felt disgusted and pushed her away.
– You insole… Haah… I see! You’re playing hard to get, huh ?
She smiled, once again trying to mask her face with that fake smile of hers which did nothing to hide her true colors.
– How about this : let’s go to the inner quarters and celebrate your return. I will pay you with gold , jewels, a fine feast and so on ?
I didn’t care all that much; I just wanted the things I wanted to find and leave the city for the rest of my life, arguing with her wouldn’t take me anywhere so I just nodded and started following her.
She smiled at me and said :
– I thought so let’s go !
We soon started to move into the inner quarters. Only then did I put one and one together and realized her goal for that assassination… She wanted a rank up in the hierarchy… Nothing changed when it came to assassination, huh ?
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As we moved further into the quarters, I could see more and more vampires swarming around. This area was fully infested with those bloodsuckers…a nd other than that they all seemed very obedient and fearful towards Elyssa in particular. Towards me they were just leering, looking at me like a very tasty desert; who knew, maybe that was why Elyssa brought me here ? Maybe she wanted my blood. I knew very well that demon blood was highly valued by the vampire communities, it was also very scarce and hard to get.
Elyssa seemed to have noticed my gaze and reassured me, which didn’t help at all.
– Don’t worry, we’re not going to eat you ! As I said you are a honored guest.
She was still using her merry go lucky smile on me but it didn’t work. We soon sat down at a massively big sized table where a lot of other vampires sat down. I was placed next to Elyssa, to her right side, while the other vampires were sitting in front of us on each side. It seemed like this seat represented their hierarchy system and Elyssa was on top of this system… The question was : why was I sitting next to her ?
She stood up, a glass full of blood in hand, and shouted :
– Brothers and sisters ! Today is a day of new age for us !
The others started to clap, even the vampires in the back who weren’t seated shouted and clapped happily. I was getting confused about why I was here but I didn’t want to piss off hundreds of vampires on their little celebration.
– As you all know, brother Wyrm was assassinated by a foul assassin who ran into the woods cowardly; he was a good brother who honored our ways but at the same time he was fool who only stood to the olden ways and never sought any change, weakening us. But from today on I promise this will change.
I looked at Elysaa, her speech was smooth and radiating. She almost resembled one of those fat aristocrats with her speech, on top of that the assassin she was talking about was me. Her goal here seemed very obvious.
I looked at the other and saw their shining eyes. It seemed like they wanted this change anyway and no one was going to question an escaped assassin huh ?
Just in case, I channeled my shadow magic onto my back, like for emergency situations. Vampires were almost corpses so they wouldn’t be able to pick out my trace of magic other than by the smell and essence that I was exuding; thankfully I was a master assassin and an expert at hiding such traces.
– A drink for our fallen brother and may his soul travel through the afterlife !
Everyone nodded and gulped down their glass of warm blood. I cringed for a second seeing it… there was a reason I avoided bloodsuckers and one of them was the foul rusty odor they got from the blood they drank.
Soon, the actual feast started with a lot of foods being placed onto the table. Salad grilled pigs, sheep steak, other well made vegetables and soups combined with all kinds of breads and drinks. Almost all of the waiters were humans. I could see at their hollow eyes that they were already compelled to the point of no return, they were now nothing but programmable puppets waiting for their masters bindings to take effect. I now knew why a lot of the villagers seemed to be much happier : they were all just slightly compelled and this was not the end of it I assumed.
I didn’t eat anything and just waited. I didn’t want to participate in anything and just sighed. I waited for all of it to end and for me to take my pay.
One of the highest ranked vampires looked at me, his gaze held some sort of disdain, probably because of the position I was sitting at which was the right side of Elyssa. He brought his voice up for everyone to hear and with a slight smirk he said :
– Lady Elyssa, your pet seems to be really stiff at the moment, do you mind me patting it ?
I shot my eyes to him and kept them there. I could see he was no more than a one century old vampire; he was in no way as powerful as the vampire I had fought last time. I also knew that everyone here was just under the second century and Elyssa just seemed to be slightly older than anyone by maybe 60 or 80 years.
Everyone at the table was quiet at his remark and looked at me and Elyssa. I was actually not going to do anything in this because I wanted my pay but when I turned to Elyssa I saw her face contort in anger as she used her eyes to pierce holes into the guy who called me out. The next thing she said made the whole room go quiet and shocked even me.
– Mr. Marvin ! I have to remind you that you are talking to my mate here so if you are picking on him, I remind you that you are also picking on me.
The guy and I stood up at the same time, looking at Elyssa. Both of our questions were the same but spoken in a different way.
– He is ?
He shouted while pointing at me.
– I am ?
I pointed at myself a bit confused. She smiled at me with that kind of smile, as if saying “of course you are, silly” which made me oh so more nervous on what she was planning.
I pulled her over to me a, bit too close for comfort but I didn’t care. Her expression also turned into a naughty one when I pulled her over.
– Hey being forceful is okay but….
– Cut that crap ! I want my pay Elyssa and I want to leave.
Everyone was already quiet and shocked by her revelation about me but my words made them even more shocked. Elyssa also blinked a couple times while she was smiling as she asked :
– Are saying you are refusing me darling ?
She slowly started to come closer to me for an embrace but I pushed her away, showing the real bridge between our strengths which was quitelarge.
Elysaa was pushed away quite hard and in the end tripped onto one of the waiters who was holding a salad bowl which in the end was thrown on top of her head, making her dirty all over from the oil that was dripping onto her leather tunic and the green salad stuck onto her head.
Everyone was tense; no one made as much of a sound but I wasn’t worried. I was capable of killing everyone here without even as much as blinking before they knew they had actually died. If they couldn’t bead their former leader, how could they be able to beat me ?
They didn’t know my strength yet so some of the vampires snapped out of it and started growling at me, some also started to charge at me with their enhanced speed but suddenly Elysaa stood up and shouted :
– HALT !
I could hear a mix of her vampire voice springing out. It also affected some of the lesser vampires to some degree, making them stop on her voice she wasn’t that weak I’d give her that.
She put the salad bowl that was on her head down and looked at the other vampires. To my surprise, she wasn’t angry at all and still wore her smile to everyone but the unusual salad and oil that was on her body made her look quite odd.
– It seems like I have to take a leave and refresh myself. Enjoy the feast without me though.
She turned around to leave the place and gestured for me to follow and so did I. The reason for this was because I wanted to leave this freak show as fast as possible… but I still wanted my pay first !
And with that we quietly moved toward the mansion and walked side by side in silence. She wasn’t talking nor showing any expression at all and I just didn’t talk much. Like that, we soon arrived at her bedroom where she locked herself into another room where I could hear the sound of her changing clothes.
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She took her time ! I was so bored I started looking around and found out that Elyssa was quite a simple woman or had a simple taste should I say ? Her room was anything but extraordinary or extravagant. There was nothing luxurious in this room, just a boring white color, well made carpentry and a very big mirror.
– You know, living as a vampire becomes quite boring over the years : the longer you live the more you realize you don’t have any goal to live for, making you quite depressed. I lived over 2 centuries and do you know where I started at ?
Through my enhanced hearing, it was no problem to hear her. Even if we were separated by a wall there was no difference in sound.
– No and why are you telling me this ?
I sat down and closed my eyes, I was going to wait this out.
I could hear a slight laugh… no, more like a slight mocking not directed to me but at herself.
– I started out as a simple whore. I used to be a barmaid, working during the day and serving at night for simple reliable gold. I lived my life with no real goal but just to live, but one day a very strange guy came to our establishment. It turned out he was a vampire and bit me, turning me and at the same time he left that very night, not giving any guidance as to what I was but after a very long time I met him again. I then started to serve him again…
She paused for a moment; I also started thinking and said :
– Let me guess, it was the guy I killed, right ?
I could hear another round of laughter as she said :
– Yes that is correct my mate..
I ignored her and opened my eyes again. I could hear her opening the door and with light footsteps she started sneaking up on me, thinking I was a clueless prey. I could feel the air vibration distorting because of her movements and I could also see that she was raising her arms on me just about to grab until…
– (Whoosh)
With a quick movement, I caught both of her hands in mid fall but soon realized that the force was a bit too weak for a heavy strike. I then a understood another thing : she was only wearing a towel to cover herself up and because I was holding both of her hands the support for the towels slowly collapsed, exposing her tender flesh and bountiful bosom with large curves. I was completely ensnared by her looks for a moment but I quickly looked the other way out of embarrassment. Elyssa thou didn’t try to cover herself up. No, she was more than just curious about my behavior and then when she realized, she started laughing hysterically.
– The… the scary demon assassin… is.. is embarrassed of me… me, a simple woman who’s naked ? Oh ! if I knew that, I would have thrown myself right into your arms, my mate !
She once again started to approach me, now thou she was fully naked, exposed to the point that no place was hidden… but I held onto my grip, once again caught onto her arms and looked her in the eyes.
– Cut this crap ! I want my pay and I won’t repeat it ! I am not your mate, I want my share of gold and I will leave ! If you are going to make this harder, then it I will use force and we both know who’ll laugh last in that contest right ?
I once again pushed her and ironically it was onto the big double bed. I kept my gaze to the other side, not daring to look at the enchantress sight once more.
I could hear her sniffle for a moment but I didn’t mind, just waited and sure enough she started to clothe herself.
– You can look now…
Her voice was chilly and flat, not that I cared anyways.
I turned back to her and noticed she was holding onto a bottle of wine and two glasses. She gestured me to sit down at the table where she had prepared the glasses. I could see a strange sadness excluding from her eyes; it was the same sadness I saw in Artemis’ eyes when I was about to leave…
I sat down on the seat. Elyssa poured the pure wine in the glasses and started talking :
– It seems like you already have someone, don’t you ?
I didn’t say anything and just drank the glass of wine in one gulp while she was sipping it and tasting it in her mouth. In the end, she just spit it out which didn’t make sense to me.
– You know, as I said : after a long time, living for vampires turns from a paradise into a living hell. We become bored of the things that surround us, disinterested from anything that happens around us because we had already tasted what it would be like to be like that.
I lived for 2 centuries : in the first century I did what I wanted to and lived a rich life with masses of gold and feasts befitting a king but soon even that lifestyle was boring me so I changed and started doing things that I wanted to try and even that soon turned into nothing more than a memory. It’s not the sun who is our mortal enemy, no, it’s the boredom that kills vampires, turning them into immortal beings walking the earth with no real goal in mind, no idea what to do but wait for death… which was already taken from us.
– So ?
I asked indifferent from the talk about immortality : I never as much as thought what I would do the next day so I couldn’t understand her reasoning which was alien to me.
– Hmm, did anyone ever tell you that you are quite the heart breaker ?
I thought of what Artemis said and responded :
– Yes, I heard that once before.
I took another gulp from the wine and just waited.
– Hmm from your girl, I assume ?
I didn’t say anything which gave her the answer.
– Very well, your gold is in the cupboard to the left.
I quickly stood up and rummaged through the cupboard, finally finding a sack of gold with a few jewels mixed into it. I was happy and started to go to the exit until she said :
– I could give you all the riches in the world, every kind of woman you desire, absolute control, everyone and everything you desire, your words could be the law; everyone would know you and fear you but that is only if you stay by my side…
She was playing with her glass while she said that and I once again felt that extreme loneliness and sadness coming from her, just like Artemis… but too bad for her, I already had a place to return to, which was in the middle of a forest where a woman called Artemis lived.
I continued to move towards the door, not heeding hear words until I heard her say a last request :
– Then can you at least talk to me, take this as a service toward me. I can tell we are never going to meet again so I will pay for every second you are going to stay here and talk to me… please.
I looked at her for a second and thought for a minute, her eyes seemed so sad and lonely… I already had someone… but talking ?
I quickly got back to my seat and looked at her. She was quite surprised I took the offer and slowly, for the first time, I could see a genuine smile on her face which made her shine for a moment.
– We can talk, but only if you find this girl for me unharmed…
I showed her the photo locket and she nodded, calling over a servant she ordered to find the person on the locket. And like that, we talked through the night while drinking. I wasn’t being unfaithful but I could see she needed it somewhat.
A Place Of Legends 