JAEGER

I perched myself up in a tree, watching the moon as it lit up the dark sky. Being off the ground made me feel secure, it was easier to detect danger and execute surprise attacks from up in a tree.

I was on the outskirts of one of the ambushed villages which were now inhabited by vampires, and I was on the verge of sleep when I suddenly heard a commotion below me.

"They're trying something different," I heard a male voice say. It was a vampire, I could tell by how cold his voice sounded.

 I silently unsheathed my dagger.

"I still think they should stick to the plan, we aren't supposed to attack the big villages. Not yet anyway," replied a female voice.

"Yes, but most of the Vanquishers went out, so the village is almost like a small village with them gone."

"I guess it doesn't matter so long as we're killing humans."

"Exactly, it doesn't matter how and when they die, so long as they die."

"Should we go join them and kill the humans?" Asked the female vampire eagerly.

"No, I'm not in the mood to run. Lilliville is way too far out."

Lilliville?

"Then why did you bring it up in the first place?" The female growled. "I'm craving blood now."

"Get it some other time," the male said then sped off.

The female groaned before following after him.

Lilliville. That was the village Izzy stayed in. I imagined the havoc that was taking place in her village right now. It was late, so they must have all been asleep when the vampires attacked. An ambush would be quite the wake-up call. 

It had been a while since I saw a village being attacked, and I decided I wanted to change that. I wouldn't mind watching Izzy's village crumble to ashes. The run would exhaust me too, which would help me fall asleep, so I decided to go to Lilliville. For entertainment purposes, obviously.

It was a good 14 or so kilometres out and it took me several minutes to finally reach it, but I heard the screams before I saw the village. 

I climbed a tree so I could get a good view and pulled down my cloak and mask so I could see and breathe better. There was so much movement and havoc but it didn't take me long to find Izzy. She was just as high up as I was, perched up on the sound tower and had her bow aimed down at the ground, but she didn't release the arrow. She wasn't shooting and yet bodies were dropping by the second, but judging by her expression of panic and confusion, I assumed the bodies dropping were those of the villagers.

I drew my eyes away from Izzy to watch the battle properly for the first time. The humans were being slaughtered, and they didn't seem to be fighting back. I realised that, though the humans were afraid of killing their own kind, the vampires had no problem identifying who was a vampire and who wasn't, which put them at a massive advantage. They were all going to be dead in no time.

Suddenly, a loud ear-piercing shriek rang from the sound tower and I threw my hands to my ears with a groan, as did every other vampire there. With our sensitive ears, the sound was ten times more amplified and I almost fell from my tree from the suddenness of it. 

The vampires had their hands to their ears, and even though they weren't killing any more humans, the villagers suddenly started falling to the ground, one after the other in quick succession. My brows rose but I couldn't help my grin when the Vanquishers ran their swords through the vampires. It was no longer difficult to pick them out, not when all the villagers were on the ground and the Vanquishers had a uniform on. 

Was this one of their tactics? Not bad.

The vampires, perceiving their defeat, started fleeing. They almost always fled when they realised they were in trouble, and as usual, they never fled alone. One vampire after another, they began running towards the forest after having snatched a child or two, and the children were screaming their heads off. Poor children. They were goners for sure. 

What a shame.

I looked back at the village as the vampires entered the forest beyond me and noticed Izzy was aiming for one of the vampires. I couldn't tell which one until she released her arrow and it hit her target, but it didn't take the vampire down. When she realised she failed to take down the vampire, she began scrambling down the tower. 

Was she going to chase after the vampire? 

I huffed a laugh. She wasn't going to catch up to it, and even if she did, it would be too late. The child would be dead. But something about the way Izzy moved told me that the child that vampire had was one Izzy cared about.

I wanted the child for myself then.

I headed back into the darkness of the forest, keeping my eyes on the vampire that had taken the child Izzy seemed to be attached to. The chorus of screams from the children reduced as the vampires below me drank from the children. 

Gross, I could hear their slurps. Could they not drink quietly? Such greedy creatures.

I didn't stop for the children, only pursuing the one Izzy wanted. Though I did throw my dagger at a vampire who was slurping viciously at one of the children. A vampire who drank like that definitely didn't deserve to live. The child it had been drinking from stumbled to the ground along with the vampire and judging by the child's whimpers it was still alive. But if it whimpered any louder it wouldn't be for long.

I focused my attention on the vampire Izzy had shot again. It eventually stopped but it barely brought its teeth to the child's neck before I leapt from the tree, the wind against my face reminding me that my cloak and mask were still down. I landed right on top of the vampire, planting my dagger through its head. Even if it had seen my face, it didn't matter, it was dead now. 

I turned and looked at the child. It was a girl and she was shaking uncontrollably. Her face was scrunched up as tears streaked down her face snotty face. What an ugly crier.

"Hello there... child," I awkwardly said, standing and pulling my mask back up. "Don't worry, he's dead now, see?" I kicked the limp body so she could see but when a soft cry escaped her mouth I realised that was probably not going to calm her down, so I tried something else.

I bent down and looked at her, "you're alive, that's all that matters, right? At least you're not dead like the rest of your friends." Her cry became louder and I imagined that probably wasn't helping either. If she broke down crying, I didn't know how long my patience would last before I left her for dead.

I racked my brain for a way to shut her up. "Do you know Izzy?" I asked, and her cry softened. She looked at me now, slightly confused, so I clarified, "Izel, the Vanquisher." 

The child sniffed, swallowed, then nodded and asked, "Can you take me to her?"

"What did you think I was going to do?" I asked the child. "Keep you? Drink your blood?" Her face scrunched up more, showing she was about to cry again. I needed to remember I was talking to a child. "Yes," I said quickly, "I'll take you to Izel, just stop crying." 

She took a deep breath but managed to say, "okay." 

"What's your name?" I asked her.

"Raya."

"Raya. Come along then," I mumbled then began walking. I heard her rush to catch up to me then felt her tiny hand close around mine. I quickly pulled it away. "I've got blood on my hands," I explained then continued walking, arms folded across my chest. 

The last thing I wanted to do was hold her hand, I wasn't a fan of physical contact. She scrunched her tiny hand around my cloak instead, which I supposed was better than physical touch.

I heard Izzy's voice calling Raya's name far off. I imagined that Raya might just run towards Izzy as soon as she saw her, and I couldn't allow that. I stopped walking, and only when she looked up at me did I speak. 

"Don't run to Izzy as soon as you see her," I told her.

"Why not?"

"Because... a blood-sucking vampire could grab you before you get to her," I said to scare her and make sure she didn't run away. "So you need to make sure to never leave my side, no matter what Izzy tells you because if you leave my side you'll die. Got it?"

A soft cry escaped her mouth but she nodded.

Satisfied I scared her well enough, I continued walking. I wasn't sure what I was going to do with the child yet, but I knew I wanted to use her to torment Izzy, just because I could. A smile pulled at my lips at the thought of it.

"Are you a vampire?" Raya suddenly asked.

"Kind of."

"But you have fangs. So what do you mean by 'kind of'?"

"Nothing," I dismissed, "Yes, I'm a vampire."

"Then why did you say 'kind of' first?" 

"My tongue slipped."

"So you don't think we're monsters?"

"Humans? I do. All humans are monsters."

"Izel says vampires think we're monsters, and we think they're monsters, which is why everything is the way it is."

I released a groan, "You're talking a whole lot for someone who almost got killed." 

She giggled. She actually giggled. What kind of child giggled after having experienced what I would have thought would be a traumatic experience? 

"I know, I talk a lot when I'm scared or nervous," she told me.

"I feel so bad for your parents."

"Parent. My dad is dead."

My step faltered. That turned dark fast.

"Izel tried to save him, but didn't manage to," she told me.

"Is that why she's so obsessed with you?"

"Obsessed? No, just protective," she clarified. "She wants to end the war so no one has to go through what she did or what I did, but doesn't know how," she explained. "She thinks she owes me because she didn't manage to save my dad's life. She—"

"Okay, let's not talk about that." I cut her off because it didn't seem like she was going to stop talking anytime soon.

"How come you wear a mask?" Raya asked instead.

"Because I don't want people to see my face."

"Why? You're not that ugly"

"Not that ugly?" I asked, feeling offended. "I'm not ugly at all, I'm the complete opposite."

"I guess," she agreed. "I didn't see your face properly, that's all."

I paused and slowly looked at her, "you saw my face?" 

"Kind of."

"You can never tell anyone what you saw, okay?"

"Why not?"

"Because..."

"Is it a secret?" She asked when I trailed off. "I can keep secrets."

"Oh yeah, it's a secret. And if you ever tell the secret I could get killed."

"So it's like a secret agent secret, no one can know your identity?"

"Exactly. Now let's stop talking about that."

"Okay. Can I—?"

"Quiet," I said, not up to answering any more questions or hearing her talk, "you could attract the blood-sucking vampires if you make too much noise."

A slight gasp escaped her mouth but she pinched her lips together and we continued in silence. I couldn't help my grin. She was so innocent and so gullible.

It didn't take long before I saw the outline of Izzy's shadow, but what I saw caught me off guard. She was crying. I had never seen her cry. How... baby-like. Raya was young so it made sense why she cried, but Izzy was double her age, and it wasn't like Raya was her kid—I asked Raya just in case—so why would she be crying? 

"She was only 7," Izzy croaked, and I could tell she was fighting to hold back the tears but it wasn't working. "It's not fair."

"I know," her Vanquisher friend, Aleksander, said, wrapping his arms tighter around her. "I know."

"I hate them, I hate them all," she growled through gritted teeth. "I want them dead. All of them." Aleksander began patting her back in soft slow taps to calm her down.

Tears were glinting in her eyes, but thankfully—unlike Raya—there was no snot. At least she wasn't as ugly a crier as Raya was. Bust still, Izzy was more vulnerable than I had ever seen her before. Losing Raya was clearly tormenting her and I should be glad, right? I should be content that she was suffering and delight in her misery. I should be feeling anything but sympathy. 

Why the blades was I even feeling sorry for the damn Vanquisher?

I couldn't bear watching her like that, it made me uncomfortable in a way I couldn't explain, so I decided she could have Raya back now, only because I didn't think she could remain quiet for any longer.

I bent down and faced Raya, "you can run now, there's Izzy—I mean, Izel."

Raya shook her head, "the blood-sucking vampires will get me."

I sighed, "there aren't any." When she didn't answer I said, "I promise you'll be fine," just to get her to leave, but when she still didn't budge I added, "I never break my promises."

Raya lowered her eyes but finally nodded. I blew her face, trying to get rid of the wet tears but not wanting to wipe them off myself, though I got a giggle from her in return.

"Go, now," I told her, and she listened.

She began running toward Izzy, but just as she noticed her a vampire suddenly appeared out of nowhere and grabbed Raya. 

That darn greedy blood-sucking vampire. I was pretty sure it had already drunk from other children, how much more blood could it possibly take? 

Izzy started for her but was intercepted by more vampires. 

She wasn't going to get to the child on time. Again. And I was tempted to leave Raya this time. To call it a day and let the vampire indulge. I saved her once already after all. But, sadly, I made the wrong choice of promising her that she would be fine. And like I said to her, I never broke my promises.