The Taming of the Shrew

[Zhou Lei]

The scryers say she stays in the ruins. I've had them tracking her for the past two days and she hasn't moved around much at all. But be careful. She's not just another demon to hunt. This vampire has killed close to a dozen people and nobody has figured her out yet.
Remember what I told you, Zhou. Win her over, don't try to force her, and if she disagrees, don't try to kill her. He wants her alive.

Moryldar's last words to Zhou did their rounds past the inspectors in his sharp mind. He wants her alive. And he was the vampire of Shim, the one who held all their lives in the palm of his hand, who could crush Zhou's life out of him in a slow, agonizing, torturous display. This was something the vampire himself demonstrated to Zhou when he was first recruited to work for the Judges. He wasn't sure if Ryxa or the other battlemages had seen what he saw, but he was sure that they all knew death was the consequence of total failure.

Zhou led his horse beside Ryxa's, down Dravusaar Path, directly through the shanty town towards the ruins of the old fort of Marn. He wore the full standard battlemage armor, red gloves displaying his power to the numerous gawkers along the path. The poor people took up their rags and meager possessions and shuffled out of the way, their pathetic figures outlined in orange torch light. Some stared, some scurried off to hide within one of the single-roomed shacks that polluted the landscape, some pretended to be cool and not care that a pair of battlemages were traveling right through their illicit market.

Zhou's thin, dark brown eyes paid little attention to them and seldom left the horizon. He ignored them in a way that might be mistaken for zen-like tranquility, if not for the obvious contempt with which he held most people, especially the poor. There was no empathy to be found in him, only smug superiority backed up by an intimidating amount of skill.

Only when they reached the eastern edge of the market, where the centuries old remnants of a wall supported the last row of makeshift, shit smelling houses, did Zhou speak up.

"We should leave the horses. I have doubts that she will be easy to find in this place." His voice had a thick eastern accent. "But we should stay together."

He swung off his horse gracefully and landed on the dirt with barely a sound. Even in light armor, the martial artist carried himself like a cat with no problem.

[Blood Ravenous]

The closer they got to the ruins, the quieter it became. The people were few here, and the ones that were visible were only piles of rags, huddled against themselves and completely still. It was an eerie effect, as if they had wandered into the last place on Pal Tahrenor. She paused, looking toward the crumbling wall, as Zhou Lei made his suggestion and dismounted. She barely understood him with his thick accent, but got the drift of it. For the moment she paid it no attention, because she was thinking.

Ryxa had been here just the other night, where a cult had gathered. Anger stirred in her eyes as she thought about their treatment of her. And now, Moryldar had distracted her from her personal mission and sent her after a vampire. She had been surprised to find there was another one, and one that was closer to Marn than Shim. Despite her shock, she hadn’t said a word or moved at the mention; she had watched Zhou Lei to see if he had known, but his features were, as always, unreadable. Damn foreigners. Perhaps they had already discussed it when she arrived, because Zhou Lei had already been standing in Moryldar’s office. She had been suspicious of them both, but it seemed like a mostly normal mission.

She didn’t want to be here, and it was fairly obvious. Her face remained cold while inside she burned, but she dismounted, anyway. Being unfamiliar with horses, she fell more than got off. She stood tall, smoothed down her hair, and ran her hands over her armor, straightening it unnecessarily. It was tight enough that it never shifted. A vise-like grip on the reins kept the horse still as it ignored her. When she was done recovering, Ryxa led it over and tied it to a gnarled tree away from the smelly huts which served, somehow, as houses, then quickly stepped away from it. The whole time she had been riding the usually amiable mare, it had wanted to buck her; she had felt it. God, she hated animals.

The battlemage stood a yard from Zhou Lei, now. From one of her pouches she drew a looking glass and checked to make sure her red lipstick and kohl-rimmed eyes were perfect, then her strawberry-blonde hair. When she was done she put the little mirror back in its pouch and looked at Zhou Lei. “I’ll be sure to watch your back,” she said sarcastically, finally paying attention to him. He was a kindred spirit, and therefore she hated him. However much she disliked the idea of being around him any longer, he was wise in this situation. She would never be alone with a vampire on the loose. “Perhaps we should bring it a snack,” she suggested, having thought over their best options to winning over a monster such as a vampire. After learning of the existence of [Belatucadrus] she’d read books about them, and they seemed partial to young, healthy blood. She eyed the people around, but none of them looked very suitable, or tasty.

However, she didn’t take her idea very seriously, and knew that vampires were an intelligent species that could be reasoned with. That’s all they had to do, right?

[Jenica Sabiny]

The corpse had finished rotting, the ribcage gleaming a dull gray as the moon's light reflected against it. The bones were picked clean by vermin and scavengers now; if there had been a smell before, it was gone with the decayed flesh. Only a skeleton remained with flecks of dried skin and gristle attached, and these were frail enough to crumble at the touch.

The vampire sat about fifteen feet away with her knees against her chest, arms draped over them and chin resting on arms. Staring at but not seeing the skeleton which had once been a mentor. She'd been here since dusk had settled over the ground, and she did not yet feel the urge to hunt. Instead, she was distracted and distant, focusing on her internal monologue. A fly settled on the motionless creature's cheek, crawled in a disjointed circle before settling on her moist eye to clean its feet. She took a full minute to notice and blink it away.

She was concentrating hard, calling up memories from far before, when the body's heart and lungs still functioned. It hadn't been so long that the memories were completely gone, but it took real effort to call them forth and analyze what was there. And she was not a very good thinker.

The memories she needed were settled about a human mentor she'd had some years ago. He'd been one in a list of many, and she could not recall what he had taught her, but this was not what she cared for. Instead, something he'd said to her - a phrase he'd thrown at her as a critique - something he'd determined to take away from her, something he'd hated about her mindset. Something he'd worked to break.

The memory flashed through, and she shuttered her eyes as the words came back in a sudden lurch. She took a moment to sort through, place everything in its right place. He said this, I said that - and this is how it went:

He struck her across the face, a full-muscled backhand that took her by surprise and sent her sprawling to the floor. He straddled her chest, knees restraining her arms, and pressed a knife to her neck where throat met chin, snarling. His eyes burned with rage; she'd said something wrong.

"Your skill is worthless if you keep thinking like that."

"Like what?"

Speaking made the blade cut into her skin, enough for a small slit of blood to appear, but she knew he wouldn't let her up unless she played through the game.

"What the hell kind of people you think are gonna come to you? You really think you'll be helping anyone?"

"I won't work those jobs."

"You're an idiot and a fool. You chose the wrong path. I should take you back to your family."

He'd discovered quickly that this was the only threat he could make that would make her eyes widen in fear. Neither death nor pain scared the girl, but home represented a hell that he could exploit. The knife slackened as he felt her body tense underneath him, but he didn't bother waiting for her to beg. She never begged.



The scene began to blur, and the vampire closed her eyes and flinched, fighting not to lose it. The next bit was what she was looking for.

"You've got a head full of flowers. If you don't kill the part of you that hopes for something better, you're useless."

Her face slackened as she remembered this. Anything before or after remained lost; she only wanted this one piece, and ignored the rest.

She had blood-bonded again. Three blood bonds in as many years, starting with her sire and ending with an idiot female. In that moment, with the sword crashing through her stomach and pinning her to the road, it had seemed like the only option. Hindsight told her differently now; it called forth the moment, again and again. It mocked her for even considering the idea, called her an idiot over and over. Told her she was a fool. And she understood why.

She'd had no reason to do it. She should've killed the mortal the moment their hands clasped, instead of following through. But she hadn't. And the reason for that lay within the memory.

She focused on the skeleton now, her eyes following the pattern in the bones as each connected to another, and lifted her chin to shake out her arms. She lifted one wrist to the other hand and began scratching, digging her nails in until muscle and blood were bared to the night air. It had been a stupid, idiot, fool thing to do, and she was disgusted now that she understood why she'd done it. She needed to kill whatever part of her still wanted that connection; needed to dig and scrape until it was scratched out and laid bare. But this would take a conscious effort, a real decision that she would need to follow through with.

The question was if she cared enough. The answer was already obvious. She slapped one palm into the ground and began pushing herself up, glaring at the skeleton as she straightened at her own slow pace, languid and fluid. She couldn't possibly care so much as to make the effort; and so the pain would just continue. Pain was constant anyway.

She couldn't help a small tilt in the lips, enough for an almost-smile to play across her features. She stepped forward now and placed one bare foot over the skull, pressing down until the bones ruptured and collapsed under her pads, the sharp edges digging into her rough skin.

Pain, she was used to.

[Zhou Lei]

From the corner of his eye, Zhou noticed Ryxa adjusting her armor and fixing her makeup. Rather than shake his head or show any outward signs of disdain, he waited and kept his eyes and wits about him. He knew better than to underestimate the female, even though he was quite certain he could best her in direct combat. She had her abilities and her priorities which he respected as different and unique from his own. Whatever she did, even a narcissistic need to apply makeup in the middle of the field, was acceptable as long as she proved useful.

Besides which, Zhou's anger never showed until he decided to do something about it, at which point it was usually too late for the offending party. He was the type of man who kept others guessing about just when he was going to lose it and put a knife in their gut. He was known to do so without warning, even to other battlemages. The look of death, the suggestion that he was going to kill you then and there if you said the wrong thing, was always in his eyes.

He took advantage of the pause to keep his ears open for signs of their target. Muffled, quiet voices came from the shanty town. Torches crackled. His horse snorted and hoofed the dirt. The quarter moon hung low in the clear sky, playing shadow games along the ground with wisps of fast moving clouds. Nothing stood out as important.

I’ll be sure to watch your back

He glanced back at her and let her guess what he was thinking. Testing her resolve, perhaps just to see if she would flinch, he drew his sword while maintaining a blank expression. A second later he looked away, back to the array of half destroyed buildings and dead trees to try and decide on the best route to take between them.

Perhaps we should bring it a snack

"I have a better offer..."

He stopped and turned his head to the side. He either heard something, or felt something nearby, because he waited in mid sentence while staring at nothing in particular.

He looked at Ryxa again and said, "she is here. Watch my back, as you say."

He began creeping across the dirt, hugging the side of a nearby wall that easily shrouded his short frame.

[Blood Ravenous]

Ryxa watched with detached interest as he drew his sword. At his words, she frowned slightly. So, he was already prepared. Very well. Obviously, he had confirmed her place: just another body, in case something should happen; just someone to watch his back. Disgusted, she stood still, observing him move. Graceful like a cat, his physical prowess obvious in every subtle movement, even with the standard armor.

Then, the snap to attention in a random direction, as if something had invisibly pulled at his face. Ah yes, he had that almost-elvish sensory ability. It would come in handy, so she didn't begrudge him for it in this situation.

Nonchalant, she felt at her belt and pulled out a stick of very expensive wood about five inches long, for precaution's sake. Then she walked idly to where he was, but without taking cover. This wasn't an assassination, and if she was the vampire, she wouldn't like being snuck up on. Furtive little man, just be my hound, she ordered him in her thoughts. She wasn't the underling.

[Jenica Sabiny]

Complete with her task of thought for the night, the vampire took up her stolen sword and absently buckled the swordbelt around her waist as she stepped forth to exit the ruins. She was hungry, but this was no different from normal - she was perpetually hungry, a biting nag in her stomach. She never fed enough to satiate herself. Partially because she didn't particularly want to take care of herself, and partially because the gnawing ache in her abdomen reminded her that she still inhabited the body, even if under protest.

What changed was the intensity of the craving. A night like tonight, she could still focus enough to move on her own will. The craving wasn't so strong that it overpowered all of her senses. In comparison, it was weak enough that she might just not feed for the night. She enjoyed pushing the body she inhabited now, testing it to see how long it could go before simply shutting down on her. She considered this a personal amusement at the body's expense, and she had learned quickly that it could heal itself from quite a lot of damage. This took some of the fun of hurting herself away, but also made it possible to hurt herself in more complex ways, which was an interesting task on its own.

As she moved forward, she scratched her wrist to re-open the already healed wound from before. If she wasn't going to feed, it left her with little to draw her attention away and entertain her. She would need to make her own amusements for the night.

She stopped walking now, focusing inward. Her senses expanded outward to listen for breath and heartbeat, searching for the nearest human. The shanty town was close enough that plenty of heartbeats greeted her ears. She'd learned through her own exploits that the guard seemed to mostly ignore this area, but didn't worry about being caught regardless. At least it would lead to something like a fight, which would be better than nothing at all.

Still hazy with distraction, she walked towards the shanty town, dropping her hands to her sides as she moved. A small stinging greeted every other step - a piece of the skull she'd crushed had wedged into her skin and was poking her foot. She ignored it.

[Zhou Lei]

The small Xianian could sprint across uneven ground and barely make a sound, but he could not move fast and listen for the vampire at the same time, so he compromised by stopping every half dozen steps. His sixth sense told him that she was in the area but was good for nothing more unless she strengthened that awareness by noticing him. It was a double edged sword in that as long as he could not pinpoint her, he knew that he was safe.

Like that he moved from wall to wall, shadow to shadow, soon rounding a corner that took him out of Ryxa's view. A twisted statue of an alien creature, half broken and buried in the dirt but still large enough to obscure his frame loomed over Zhou when finally he was close enough to the vampiress to alert her. Whether it was his heartbeat, his breath, or the small crack of a joint in his ankle, he didn't know what gave him away. All he knew was that she'd been alerted, and that she was suddenly closing in on him.

His breathing remained calm. His heartbeat barely faster than a sleeping man's. There was no fear for her to smell.

Ryxa was still two dozen paces behind when he lost sight of her. If the vampire was as swift a killer as he'd heard, she could kill him before Ryxa even knew contact had been made.

Never one to leave someone else with the upper hand, Zhou immediately retreated. In a blink he was gone, first a few paces back, then over and behind a nearby wall. The only sound his teleportation made was the sucking of air as it filled the void left by his body.

Once satisfied that he was too far away for the vampire to keep track, he waited again. If he could not sneak up on her, Ryxa would make first contact. If the vampire was going to kill someone at random, it was going to be her, not Zhou.

He closed his eyes and listened.

[Blood Ravenous]

The sky was cloudy, but the bulky wisps of condensation moved slowly, with large gaps that let the bright moon shine through. At the moment the area was relatively well-lit--at least out in the open, where Ryxa slowly walked. Where Zhou Lei crept at light-footed speed, it was almost pitch black. She could see his movement, and followed at a distance. She watched him round a corner of the wall. As she approached it, there was a strange whooshing sound emanating from where Zhou had gone. She hurried her steps, her boots crunching gravel and dirt. She rounded the corner after him...and Zhou was gone. All that was there was a corridor of broken walls to each side, and a strange statue... Her eyes continued to search, when a cloud swept over the moon.

In the sudden darkness, she blinked, and a chill crept up her spine. There was something there, a good few paces away. It was darker than the night around, and for some inexplicable reason she knew it wasn't Zhou, and it wasn't human. It was then, after she felt that supernatural unease, she smelled death: like a dungeon where a body had rotted into the stone, or an unearthed grave after dogs had been digging. At the same moment she felt the danger: she was very alone in the ruins at night--with a monster nearby. Fear tingled up her spine and gripped at her throat. She found her body frozen, stopped in midstep as she looked down that open "corridor."

And where was Zhou?

Anger burst through her fright. Damned little cowardly weasel... She wanted to scratch off his beady-eyed face... Leading her right to it without a fair word of warning...

She couldn't see, and she needed to see, in order to make her next move. So as her flash of fear passed into the all-consuming rage, she completed her step, to stand a few feet away from the walls and monuments where she had walked in the moonlight following Zhou. She raised the gloved fingers holding the stick of wood, which was as big around as a drinking straw. With a probe of her mind, the tip ignited. It fizzled as the wood burned, then grew into an abnormally large, blue fire, four inches in diameter, which in turn tinted everything it lit up to blue. The flames waved wildly at the air as she stretched the stick out far away. She could feel the heat on her face and the red leather on her hands, and she knew it was hot. The money for this tempered wood had been worth it.

Her eyes scrunched up at the sudden light. After the seconds it took to adjust, what she saw sucked a gasp of night air into her lungs.

[Jenica Sabiny]

Distantly, the vampire became more aware that she was being observed. Her eyes took on a red tint, and she shuttered them as she scanned the area around her while walking. She saw nothing of immediate interest, but the prickle remained distinct and solid, rolling up along her spine. She flared her nostrils as she inhaled deeply, trying to scent what it might be that had drawn her focus.

Another moment, and a female rounded the corner ahead of her. The vampire halted in motion, unmoving and silent as the woman paused, then stepped to the side and drew forth a small stick. Curiosity drew the vampire's eyes to the end, where a sudden flash of light made her wince and look away.

Stark-white skin gleamed against the sudden light as the vampire raised a hand to shield her eyes a moment. As a whole, she looked a mess. Scraggly, jagged hair topped her head, stiff and matted with over a week's worth of dirt and gore. Bloodstains coated her pants and ripped shirt, as well as flecks of dirt and blood still adhering to her hands, arms and face. The shirt was tattered beyond repair, clearly in need of replacement, and likely would be tonight; the pants were generally ignored until the knees began to rip, and thus were in far worse shape.

It only took a moment to turn her curious gaze back. The light from the burning stick hurt her eyes, but she ignored this, her natural lazy gaze unmarred as she eyed the stranger. She tilted her head as she considered this female.

It was possible the female wanted to play. Another sniff brought the scent of leather armour, and the costume looked vaguely familiar. As though they were something more common to see within the city. The vampire couldn't piece it together, but she remembered seeing humans moving away from those dressed this way.

This one wore make-up and cared for her appearance. The eyes and lips were lined and exagerrated, the feminine figure emphasized with tight-fitting clothing. The armour meant nothing; this female was trying to attract a male's eye. Or perhaps all of their eyes. Standing alone in this area, staring wide-eyed into the dark, she was tempting fate or worse. Either she was certain no male could ever best her, or she desperately wanted one to try.

The vampire's lips curled up into a sneering grin, fangs bared as she drew amusement from the woman's circumstance. A damaged voice rose from her throat, crackling around the word.

"Whore."

[Zhou Lei]

Whore.

Zhou did not have an elf's hearing, but he made out the sound of a single word spoken. The implication of this word, if he heard it correctly, was unclear. He passed his confusion off as a result of the strange Eyropan dialect commonly spoken in Marn, because if he heard correctly, someone, presumably the vampire, had just called Ryxa a whore. Amusing though it was, it could not be what was said.

Now that he knew someone was found, he stopped standing perfectly still and backed away from the wall that was between himself and Ryxa's position. After a few paces back, he looked up to the top of the broken wall, sheathed his sword, and crouched low.

A second later he was on top of that wall, still crouching, but now able to see Ryxa. The glow from her stick blinded him and prevented him from seeing beyond her at whoever might be there. Fortunately, the same light that was blinding him would be blinding whoever else was there. He was also farther away, so that the light would not reveal him so easily.

[Blood Ravenous]

The thing before her was one of the most disgusting things she'd ever seen in her life. It was also one of the most frightening. The combination made her gag on her shocked intake of breath. She stared, the adrenaline pumping through her partly distracting her from details, and partly enhancing their intake. Through the tattered shirt she could make out the rise of breasts, and it matched the feminine face. Somehow, the monster was a woman. Her mind raced through details of vampires, but she didn't really need her brain to figure it out. Somehow, she just knew. Was this the one they were after? There was no nobility about this one, nor intelligence. It--she--was standing awkwardly with a blank, stupid expression.

Then the lips parted, and a gravelly voice spoke a word. "Whore." Ryxa frowned, and then her anger simmered. The grip on the stick tightened and her eyes narrowed. This thing was calling her a whore? Ryxa was speechless.

Where was Zhou? He was the one with the plan. Thoughts of bargaining with words seemed out of the question at the moment. But she didn't want to turn her face away from the monster; there was no telling what it's next move would be. So, with her eyes still locked on those dead pits for eyes, she shouted, "Zhou Lei! Where the hell are you? I think this is i--the one. We are looking for." Her voice echoed hollowly off stone just once, then faded into the light breeze. By her body's posture, she was talking to someone else, but she watched the other so intently, it was obvious it was for the other's benefit, too.

[Jenica Sabiny]

There was the game now - a flash of anger, narrowed eyes. Offense had been taken, and the sneering smile widened with amusement. This one would be fun.

The female's voice carried about the area, echoing from the walls as she called to whoever else might be there. The vampire's eyes moved to scan about the area as well, but the female's gaze never left her. The call wasn't to bring the other forth. It was to alert the vampire that another was present.

Oh yes, this one would be very fun. The fact that she was being sought out was neither here nor there; she'd expected to be sought out eventually by the city. She left quite a trail in her wake. But this human had the scent of arrogance around her, and giving out the name meant she didn't feel loyalty towards whoever else might be present. Idly the vampire wondered if the other felt any loyalty in return, or if the other would let this female die. There was an easy way to find out.

The vampire took one step, then two. Further restraint of motion ceased, and her natural ability carried her forward in a burst of speed; she could not teleport, as one of her observers could, but she was fast enough to startle.

One arm wrapped around the female from behind, over the midriff to pin the elbows against her sides. The other hand came up to grip her chin roughly, keep her gaze straight ahead as the vampire pressed forward against her back. The light hurt her eyes, but she only shuttered her lids against it and ignored the pain. The voice that now emerged was quieter than before, a bare whisper to spare the vampire the pain of actually speaking.

"Pretty female wants to play."

She inhaled deeply at the woman's throat, her lips parting enough to reveal the tips of her fangs. Not that the female could see this. The smell was clean and vaguely scented, though there was no actual perfume to drown out the human's natural scent.

"I could help. Take off all the little pieces."

Here the free hand moved down from the woman's chin to grab the armoured collar and give a token tug at the material. Not actively trying to remove it, but demonstrating a point.

"Leave you for the males to find."

Red began to build in the vampire's irises as her bloodlust steadily built. The game was making her hungry. She'd decided earlier not to feed tonight; this decision dissipated at sight of a bared throat before her, waiting patiently to be torn open.

"Wouldn't that be fun?"

[Zhou Lei]

Zhou smiled to himself when he heard Ryxa's cries. He could hear the combination of fear and anger in her voice, and it amused him somewhat to see her in such a bind. He thought about leaving her there to die, but there was little to be gained from doing so. Ryxa didn't have anything he wanted, though she made some fine cannon fodder.

Then, before he could react, the vampire was on her. It moved so quickly his eyes couldn't keep up, but he could see that she wasn't teleporting, but rather moving the distance at inhuman speed. The smile fell from Zhou's lips just as quickly.

She was behind Ryxa then, locking her in an apparently helpless position without an ounce of effort. His eyebrow twitched as he studied his opponent. It was not the speed that impressed him, but her mind's ability to keep up with that speed and pull off such a move without fumbling. He speculated that she must have control over time. From where he studied her, he was able to gauge how much room he needed to react in time to escape. She was fast, but not impossible for him.

He strained to hear what was being said to his battlemage companion, and couldn't make it out. It left him guessing that she was whispering some threats to her pray.

There was a sucking motion and Zhou appeared three meters in front of Ryxa and the vampiress. His sword was not drawn, but he was tense and ready.

"Jenica." Moryldar had given Zhou her name for safe keeping. The rest of his words followed in a thick eastern accent. "I have an offer for you."

[Jenica Sabiny]

And suddenly, there was a man.

The vampire left her face in the curve of the woman's neck, twisting only her eyes enough to glance at the male who now stood in the road before them. She couldn't have said for sure if he'd been there moments before, but she felt strongly that he hadn't. Which meant he could either move very quickly, or he was a hallucination.

It was possible. She had imagined people before. But now his scent came to her, and she flared her nostrils to take it in. She snorted next; this male was real, and could move quickly enough to not be detected. And yet he stood far enough that she could not easily reach him. Nor could he easily save the female. Moving so quickly, he could have appeared behind the vampire and saved this female from what could only be seen as a threat.

But he'd abandoned her to the vampire. How very interesting.

Again she turned her eyes to the throat before her, the leering grin growing further until she felt her lips begin to strain. She whispered again, even more quietly, intending these words for the female's ears alone.

"This one could have saved you. Do you see?"

She inhaled, blew out the cold air against the woman's neck in a slow breath, then inhaled once more to speak in her quiet whisper.

"Would anyone in this world care, if I kill you right now?"

The red eyes shifted to the male now, to ponder him. He had used her name. Only one other in this area knew her name. Either he was an agent of her sire, or...her thoughts stopped dead. She did not know who else it could possibly be that had provided her name to him.

"What?"

The word was spoken in a louder tone, coarse and harsh against the relative silence of the air. She sounded annoyed and demanding, shifting and tightening her grip on the female she held. Can't you see I'm busy?

[Blood Ravenous]

Ryxa stiffened as she saw the monster begin to move. She blinked. Bad mistake. Her arms were pinned to her sides, shaking her enough that the burning stick faltered and began to fall. It was her only hope, and she fumbled at it, managing to reaffirm her grip. The heat was closer to her body now, and she felt it warming her arm and thigh. The light blinded her, and she closed her eyes. "Pretty female wants to play" Ryxa's eyes snapped open. She was about to struggle when she felt breath at the exposed portion of her throat. She stiffened, straining against the binding arm, pressing her cheek against the fingers tight on her face, stretching her neck more. Blind fear made her want to struggle, to get away; her mind stopped it.

"I could help. Take off all the little pieces"

A low whine was muffled in her throat and closed mouth, and she stopped it as soon as she realized it had come from her. That smell of death was so strong.

"Leave you for the males to find. Wouldn't that be fun?"

No. No, it would not be.

There was the strange noise she had heard before, and she could make out Zhou Lei's dark shadow past the light. "Jenica. I have an offer for you." Bastards. Did they tell her nothing? There were so many things she was not allowed to hear. He had known her name. Why didn't he say so before?

"This one could have saved you. Do you see?" Ryxa shivered as she felt the breath against her neck again. "Would anyone in this world care, if I kill you right now?" Well, that was interesting. She kept quiet. Was she supposed to care if no one wanted her alive?

"What?" Shouted, like rocks scraping on rocks, in her ear. A distraction, she could perhaps use to her advantage. If not, she'd probably survive the bite to her neck; her collar protected the jugular. She yanked her arm, pushing the things's arm as much as she could. Her other arm slid out of the hold, the vampire's claw-like nails scraping over the leather. The arm with the fire freed, she thrust it over the opposite shoulder that was still encased in "Jenica's" arm.

Fuck killing the thing. It was its own fault if its face got burnt off.