IZEL

Two races, both at the brink of extinction were at war, and we were losing. We were outnumbered, overpowered, and easier to kill. It wasn't fair, they were faster than us, fitter than us, we were just no match for them. 

Well, most of us weren't a match for them. Me excluded.

I was a Vanquisher, and not just any Vanquisher, I was one of the best. Don't take my word for it, I'm just repeating what I've been told multiple times.

"Izel is one of the best Vanquishers in Lilliville," was what they always said.

"So young yet so fierce," was another common one.

Vanquishers were warriors, trained to fight off the heartless bloodsucking critters known as vampires. We killed them to avoid extinction but they killed us for no reason but to get rid of our kind. Vanquishers were the ones Lilliville—and all the other villages—relied on for protection. The villagers were like sheep, Vanquishers were like the shepherds and the vampires were like the wolves. If it weren't for Vanquishers, humans would already be extinct.

I started training to become a Vanquisher at the age of eight—which was five years earlier than people usually started training—and that was because I lost my parents at that age. Both of them. There was a massive ambush late at night, and we weren't prepared for it. Half of the people of Lilliville died, including my parents.

My hatred and resentment for vampires stemmed from that loss, and I realised that I didn't want to rely on anyone to protect me. I wanted to protect myself. So I trained to the point where I was confident I could do just that. I trained, and trained, and trained until I couldn't train anymore. Until I needed an outlet for all the hatred growing in me. So, at the age of thirteen, I did the dumbest thing I could ever do. I ran away. 

I had no location in mind, no plan, no nothing. All I knew was that I wanted to kill a vampire. I needed revenge for what they took from me, and somehow, I succeeded in doing that. I found a vampire—well, more like it found me and it attacked me. I barely managed to defend myself. 

The vampire had yellow lining its irises, meaning it was a regular Vamp, but it was still ten times faster than me and it had much more endurance than I did. Vampires had some restorative ability, so any injury I managed to inflict only healed within seconds which only made things harder for me. No matter how many times I stabbed it, it didn't matter because it would just heal once the sword was out of its body. And that wasn't even the worst part about fighting a vampire. It was that a vampire could only die in three ways: a stab through the heart, through the brain, or decapitation. 

A human, however, could die in several ways.

I was uncontrollably panting by the time I finally managed to pierce my sword through its heart. I slumped against a tree, panting still, but my lips curved in satisfaction. I had done it. I had killed a vampire. Sure, I almost lost my life doing it but still. 

Once I was sure I could stand without collapsing, I rose to my feet, sheathing my weapons. The rational side of me—which was a very small side—told me to turn back, to go back to Lilliville and tell of my great adventure and victory. The irrational side, however, which was pumped with adrenaline, dripping with revenge and much bigger than the rational side, told me to keep going, so I did. 

All I had to do was keep walking and the vampires would find me like the first one did. After several unfruitful hours, I decided to turn back, convinced that the vampires were afraid of me and had gone into hiding. That was until I heard the screams.

My body stiffened upon hearing them, but then, like the irrational and unwise person I was, I began walking towards the screams. Only when I saw the source of the screams did I stop, eyes wide. I knew that this was one of the many things that would haunt me for the rest of my life. 

There was a river, wide in length, the River Terg, and across the river was the small village Tergisus, one of our neighbouring villages. In the river, however, the water was no longer clear blue, it was red. Blood red. And rather than fish in there, there were bodies. Dead bodies.

And vampires. A frightful amount of vampires. They were throwing lifeless bodies of all sizes and ages into the water. Their mouths were smeared with blood, and I immediately knew that they had drunk them to death. All those people...

A pair of dark, lifeless eyes flicked to me and I thawed before taking off into the woods. It was a futile effort because everyone knew humans couldn't outrun vampires.

But there was a river, I thought. A wide river. It would take time to swim across. There was no way it could—

I was suddenly moving fast through the air before my back connected hard with the bark of a tree. Winded, I gasped for breath, but by the time oxygen found its way to my lungs large hands wrapped around my neck and raised me from the ground. A vampire.

Everything about it brought my heart to a stop. The cold stare, the fresh blood dripping from its fangs, the fact that it could break my neck if it clenched my neck just a little tighter. But especially the orange that outlined its dark irises. This wasn't a simple vampire, it was a Supreme, meaning it was ten times stronger than the Vamp I had killed earlier.

The Supreme took one look at me and smirked. It was downsizing me, underestimating me because I was a young female and he was a Supreme male. That made my heart pick up its pace, not because of fear, but because of anticipation. It was judging me before it saw what I was capable of, and that gave me an advantage.

"You should join your friends in the river," it drawled as it brought its fangs to my neck.

I waited. Waited to feel its cold breath against my skin. Waited to feel the tip of its fangs touch my skin, knowing that when vampires drank, they were the most vulnerable.

Its fangs sunk into my skin and without a second's hesitation, I quickly grabbed my dagger from my thigh sheath—I knew that if I took too long I would be weakened and overcome by the loss of blood. I slammed my dagger into the head of the vampire and a loud shrill broke through its cold lips before it slumped to the ground.

I retrieved my dagger and began sprinting. I knew that shrill definitely got the attention of the other vampires back at the river. And I was right. I had barely made it ten steps before a hand suddenly grabbed the back of my shirt and pulled me with such force that I was thrown several feet backwards. 

My back hit against yet another tree, air escaping my lungs from the impact. The vampire was in front of me before I could even blink. Its strength, speed, and the blood-red outlining its irises made my heart stop beating altogether. 

This was a Quearus. Stronger than Vamps. Stronger than Supremes. The only vampires that could have a fighting chance against the Zas. 

The Zas was the most powerful and feared vampire, he was the ruler, the king. And the fact that I was face-to-face with a Quearus, the only vampire that could have a small chance to defeat the Zas, meant I was already dead.

The Quearus, seeming to pick that up, grinned before suddenly sinking its teeth into my neck, sucking hard. I didn't even have a chance to try and fight back because my body instantly felt paralysed. Once the euphoria kicked in, the pain would follow, and death would only be a whisper away.

My body tingled and I groaned in satisfaction, and despite the smile that spread across my lips, I was still somewhat aware and I was terrified, but there was nothing I could do. Just as the pain began seeping in, I fell to the ground. 

The Quearus had released me. No. It had been tackled off of me. I tried to stand but my legs gave in and I fell to the ground again, lightheaded and woozy. I brought a hand to my head and waited for my vision to clear, but when my eyes slowly began to come into focus I was sure what I was seeing wasn't real. Another vampire was fighting the Quearus. It had to be a vampire, what with the way speed at which it moved. But that made no sense. A vampire fighting another vampire? 

My brows shot up as realisation sank in. It was the Masked Slayer. The vampire that fought both humans and vampires. He always wore a long, dark cloak, with an even darker mask pulled over his face. People feared him more because of that presence of mystery, being unable to put a face on the infamous vampire. No one knew what kind of vampire he was, whether a Vamp, or a Supreme, or a Quearus, because no one had ever seen his eyes. But the fact that he was prevailing against this Quearus made me wonder whether he was a Quearus too.

The way the Masked Slayer fought was glorious yet terrifying and it made me fear ever being on the receiving end of that fight. He fought with a long, deadly sword, which was weird because vampires only ever used their raw strength, but the Slayer used both his strength and the deadly power of the sword.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw another vampire approaching, but it wasn't coming toward me, it was sneaking up on the Masked Slayer. Before I could process what I was doing, I had my dagger in my hand and threw it toward the vampire. The Masked Slayer had just pierced its sword into the heart of the Quearus when my dagger pierced through the other vampire, stabbing it in the heart. The vampire crumbled to the ground and the Masked Slayer whipped its head in my direction.

I couldn't see his face but he could see mine. My heart was racing. Had I just saved a vampire that saved me? That was the first.

"You just saved yourself," the Masked Slayer said, his voice mild yet deep and menacing. "I was planning on finishing you off after this Quearus, but I can't do that now."

He sounded disappointed as if he was looking forward to finishing me off. I guess he had no intention of saving me after all, he was unfeeling like the rest of his kind.

Just then he extracted my dagger from the vampire before suddenly hurling it toward me. The point snicked my face and I flinched, but the point landed in the bark of the tree I was still leaning against. I brought a hand up and touched the warm liquid running down my cheek. Blood.

"You should visit Gereb," the Masked Slayer suddenly said, but he forced out the words as if the last thing he wanted to do was tell me this. Gereb was a small village several miles from here, but I didn't understand why he suddenly said that. "Not today, not tomorrow, the day after."

I cocked my head and my brows furrowed in confusion.

"You assisted me even though I didn't need your help, so I've given you some valuable information that might just save your human life," he said. "Now you should leave before I change my mind and finish you off," he warned, his tone turned dark.

I should have left. I should have just run away and gone back to the comfort of my village, told my villagers of my quest and been scolded and praised at the same time, but something—my idiocy probably—made me say the dumbest thing I could.

"You're the Masked Slayer, yes?" I asked him despite the obvious, "the fake vampire, the most feared vampire of vampires after the Zas." I swallowed as I prepared to take my dagger from the tree, "you've killed too many innocents for me to just run away."

The Masked Slayer chuckled. It was a deep, humourless sound that almost sounded like a growl, "just leave, human." He spat the last word, but I didn't leave.

I couldn't help but wonder how many people he had killed. How many children he had left parentless. How many parents he had left childless. How many lives he had ripped away just because he could, and how many more lives he would rip away if I just ran away. For all I knew, he could have been involved in the ambush when my parents died. He could have been the one to kill my parents, and that thought had my anger doubling in size.

Before I could convince myself not to, I grabbed my dagger from the tree and tossed it in the direction of the Masked Slayer. I wanted it to go into his leg to give me an advantage and then take him out, but he managed to dodge, and it only skid his thigh. It was good enough.

I quickly stood and unsheathed my sword.

"You do know there are still vampires at Tergisus," he said.

"Yeah," I confirmed. But they hated him as much as they hated me, so he was at risk just as much as I was.

The Masked Slayer snickered and unsheathed his sword. "Just don't scream too loud when I kill you."

He leapt at me first. I didn't take my eyes off of his sword, not once. I deflected each of his attacks but I failed to find an opening to throw one of my own attacks. He wasn't tiring, but I was starting to, and I knew I would end up faltering if I didn't do anything. So I did the only thing that I could think of. It might get me killed, but I had to try.

I began retreating as he attacked, blocking all his hits but not throwing any of my own. Eventually, he hit the sword out of my grasp just as I knew he would, but my back was against a tree like I wanted and before he could stab me, I screamed.

"It's the Masked Slayer!" 

He startled and made the mistake of whipping his head back in the direction of the river, cautious of the vampires. As soon as his eyes left me I hit his sword from his hands, wrapped my arms tight around his neck and my legs tight around his waist. I quickly unsheathed a dagger from my boot and held it against his back, by where his heart was. He stiffened.

"You better run," I whispered in his ear, trying to conceal my fear, "if you don't, then we'll die together, and if you try anything, I'll—"

He began running before I could even finish my sentence and I almost lost my grip on my dagger because of the sudden, fast movement. He halted and the sudden movement knocked me onto the ground, making me vulnerable again. 

"You humans are such a nuisance," he growled, and I scrambled backwards as he walked toward me.

He unsheathed a dagger of his own and aimed it toward me, but rather than throwing it, he dropped it with a loud roar, clutching his hand. There was blood dripping from where he held his hand, and I noticed a dagger lodged in his palm. He pulled it out with a groan and scoped the forest, searching for his attacker. 

Aleksander broke through the trees and several Vanquishers followed. A Vanquisher threw a dagger and it just missed the Masked Slayers' face. Aleksander threw one of his own and it pierced the side of the Masked Slayer's ribs, and with that, he retreated. The Masked Slayer, at least, had some sense to know when to run and when to fight. Unlike me.

Alek approached me and extended his hand to help me up. I gladly took it.

"Are you crazy!" He demanded, pulling me into an embrace. "What were you thinking?"

"I wasn't thinking," I admitted.

"Izel," said the commander Vanquisher, Smith, and Alek immediately pulled away from me. "What in the world were you thinking! You need to stop putting yourself in situations like this. How many times do I have to tell you that you are not a Vanquisher!"

My shame quickly gave way to anger. Just because I was 13 years old I was not allowed to fight alongside the other Vanquishers because I was too young, but I could do a lot more than a simple 13-year-old could.

"How is a 13-year-old so reckless?" He asked.

"I may be reckless but I've got skill!" I exclaimed. "I've been training for five years now, just as long as—"

"Izel," Smith said, and his tone was laced with warning. "If you keep acting like this you will not join the Vanquishers. I mean it."

I bit my tongue, willing myself not to say anything that would make things worse. I only nodded. I didn't want to say anything about what I had been told about the village Gereb, not until I had calmed down. 

It was only once we reached Lilliville that I approached Smith and recounted the details of the events. About Tergisus, about what the Masked Slayer told me about Gereb, everything.

"And are you sure he never told you that to lure you in?" Smith asked, forever cautious. "What if it's a trap?"

"I don't know if it is," I admitted. "But it's better to investigate."

Rather than taking matters into his own hands like I knew he was capable of, he decided to follow the rules and take me to the Roi, our ruler.

The Roi was adamant about listening to a 13-year-old girl who had just come back from running away. If it wasn't for Smith, who surprisingly convinced the Roi and other Vanquishers to at least visit the village Tergisus, they never would have believed me. When they saw all the blood and gore, whatever disbelief they might have had about my story was wiped away.

I was glad Smith still believed me, even after the stunt I had pulled. He knew I was reckless but he also knew I would never make anything like this up. Because of the Tergisus visit, they decided to visit Gereb as well. Smith didn't allow me to leave with them but when they came back he told me that it was in the same state as Tergisus. Bloody and Gory.

We still didn't know why the Masked Slayer had told me about this, and it was only days later when we figured it out. When we heard of various attacks happening in village after village; the vampires were slowly taking us out. They were targetting the smallest villages, killing all the humans before moving on to the next village. They were wiping us out bit by bit.

The realisation was daunting but we quickly came up with a solution. Rather than training to attack when attacked, we trained to attack first because if we continued doing what we were doing, we would end up dead.

That was how Hunter Vanquishers were created, Vanquishers who actively hunted vampires. If they wanted to reduce our numbers, we were going to reduce theirs too. It was the only way to amend our position in this war and hopefully not die at the end of it.