A slash whirled toward her face, and Charu leapt backward - but not far enough. Locks of hair went flying.
"Aie!" cried the young woman, clasping a gloved hand to her face, blood pouring out behind her fingers, sword clattering away from her limp fingers.
"A pity." He smirked, lowering his blade and looking over her as the blood splashed her cloak and the floor in front of her. "You were quite pretty. Now you're just useless blood."
"A pity," mocked Charu, still looking down, face covered. "You might have won." The slim woman whirled up into movement, impaling the vampire on her second blade. She met him face to face, looking into his shocked eyes, and letting him see the wide slash going across her forehead - and bleeding freely - but it missed all vital areas. "If you hadn't been busy gloating." A second whirl tore the noble in two, and a third brutal slash sent both pieces of his head flying in opposite directions. His body fell to the ground, blood pouring out, obscuring the thin splatters of her own life force.
"Huh," she breathed heavily, covering her wound with her hand again. The young hunter shook blood from her blade, re-sheathed it, and reclaimed her other weapon.
"Kelan!" the dark skinned hunter remembered and ran for the limp form of her advisor- her friend. He didn't seem to be breathing. "Oh no."
The only thing worse than remembering every fight, was the times she did not remember. Sometimes, where her emotions ran too high, she wouldn't remember what happened. When she was ten, in the midst of her first crush, she had realized what part of the Hunter's code meant - she couldn't remember three days. Seeing her friend - her brother's body lying there in the darkness, she felt the grayness of that loss start to fill her mind, and she forced it away, desperately. She wanted to remember whatever happened now. Charu bit her lower lip and turned him over. What little color he normally had was gone and a dark stain covered the front of his armor. Blood dripped down her face, mingled with what tears she couldn't suppress. They splattered on his face. He flinched and his eyes opened. His eyes were dark and hidden in shadows
"Kelan!" she gasped, grabbing his shoulders, and hauling him partially upright.
"A light..." he muttered. She fished in her pouch and pulled out a small lamp, which she lit, and almost jerked back as the light flooded over them both. His eyes had lost pupils, and whites, being a solid, thick blue - and the dark stain, instead of being crimson, was the same blue as his eyes. He blinked a few times, and the blue receded, becoming his normal eyes again.
"What happened?" he asked.
"You were dead!" she choked.
"Ah, I wasn't as dead as all that, little sister." He wiped blood and tears from her face, and smiled gently. "Calm down, neh?"
"But you... what are you?"
"Not now. The noble...?"
"He's dead." She managed to scrape up a handful of courage. "As 'dead as all that', I'd imagine."
He smiled, and tried to stand, weakly, she automatically braced and helped him stand.
"I'll be alright, little sister," he said, seeing her concerned expression. "Just feeling old, is all. And stupid." He sighed, as they stumbled towards the door. "Sorry. Little light headed." Pausing he picked up his sword and sheathed it carefully.
"I'm not surprised." She looked at the long dark stain on his armor, and her mouth twisted. "I'm sorry. If I hadn't..."
"No blame, little sister," winced Kelan. "Let's get out of here."
"Uh... how?"
A loud howl split the stillness.
"Ah yes. That." He sighed, deeply. "In all honesty, I don't think I'm up to taking on that many werewolves." He coughed, and looked at the blood it produced in his hand. "I think it's the lung wound, honestly." He pressed his hand to his chest again, and winced. "I don't suppose in the large range of books you've read, you've learned lighting magic."
"You're light headed."
"You're right!" he chuckled. "Which way's the door?"
"Kelan, I really don't think that this is a good idea."
"Just let me rest my hand on your shoulder..." He leaned on her and adjusted his cloak so the bloodstain was hidden beneath it. "Just walk beside me and look annoyed, little sister. That shouldn't be too far a stretch for you." She glared up at him, annoyed by his flippant manner, but gave him the support he asked for. Approaching the doors, still cracked a bit, they could hear the growling mutters of some very confused minions.
When the door opened, they turned to look, wondering if it would be the vampire they had been following. The sight of two blue clad figures framed in the large door, caused a wave of surprised silence.
Kelan raised the hand he wasn't supporting himself on.
"Urai-toru!" A bolt of lighting like energy leapt form his hand and struck the largest wolf, tossing him into the curtain wall. He kept his hand up, charging for a second bolt.
"Right, if I have your attention...?" he asked the assembled mob of lycanthropes. "We have nothing against you. We will walk away if you let us through. Or, you can all burn. Your choice."
There was a brief pause of mumbling, and Charu felt his hand tighten on her shoulder. He was trying not to cough again. She blinked blood away, but stood firm. Any weakness shown would be attacked.
"Right then." He moved his hand and smaller bolts flew out jumping like chain lighting along the path of his hand. This decided them and they moved out of the way, dragging the fallen.
They walked down the clear space towards the gate. Charu remained tense. It wouldn't surprise her in the least if they attacked as soon they were in the center of the courtyard nearly surrounded by the creatures. She blinked blood away again. She could feel it soaking into the cowl of her cape. They were almost out of there - if they let them out of the manor grounds, they'd probably get away cleanly. The horses. She'd have to get her whistle out of her crossbow pouch. She kept her mind on just not getting distracted. If she got distracted who knew what would happen. She just wanted to get out of there. She could taste the blood on her lips. What she must look like... Hell, with Kelan putting forward such a strong front, she probably looked worse off than him. At the gate he suddenly stopped, forcing her to stop and turn.
"One last thing - You aren't from around here - I can tell. So leave - go back to wherever you came from. I wouldn't want to have to come back."
Outside the curtain wall he melted the lock shut. She'd already whistled for the horses when he fell over onto her, blood trickling out of his mouth again. No amount of shaking would rouse him.
Kelan woke up slowly, still sore. He blinked at the blanket that covered his chest, and beneath that, blankets. He pushed sweat damp hair back from his face, and thought about standing up and looking for his clothes strongly. That thought was abandoned when Charu came in. He pulled up the blankets to his nose.
She raised her eyebrows, forehead swathed in white bandages, looking a bit pale and wan.
"I dressed your wounds," she said, calmly, eyebrows still lost under the bandages. "So you know. I didn't think you'd want anyone else that close to you." She set the bundle on the foot of the bed. "I also washed the blood out - for the same reason. If you didn't care about people knowing, you would have told me before now."
Kelan kept the blankets where they were, as she sat down in the chair beside the bed.
"So, you're going to be alright?"
"I should be. It was only a lung shot and a few shattered ribs." He tucked his hands under his chin. It was obvious that she wasn't leaving anytime soon.
"I'm very glad he didn't hit me like that," she said, tugging on one lock of hair. Kelan suddenly noticed that the locks of hair that generally covered her forehead were gone completely.
"You should keep you hair like that."
"Hmm?" Charu said, confused.
"Without the bangs - you look older."
"Thanks." She put a hand up and touched the bandage that went across her forehead. "I think I might." Charu leaned back onto her elbows and sighed. "I need all the help I can get, I'm afraid."
"You'll do alright." He smiled at her "Someday, you'll get a reputation that'll overcome your appearance."
"Riiiight."
They looked at each other for a few moments.
"I don't suppose you'd care to leave so I can get dressed?"
"But I've already seen it," she said mischievously. "Why?"
"I was unconscious at the time. Out."
She stood up and head to the door, then grinned over her shoulder. "I could knock you back out and dress you."
"Out," he repeated dryly. Obediently she headed out the door, as she was about to close it he called to her. "Little sister?"
"Yes?"
"You did a good job."
"Really?"
"Really."
Her smile flashed bright like a flare with pleasure and her eyes lit up. It faded just as quickly back to her normal smile. "Thanks."
She left, and he gingerly got up to dress. He was glad that he knew her, and glad that she was going to such a great hunter, but at times like that, he wished that she was actually the 'little sister' he called her, and that he could protect her, and give her more opportunities to smile.
The tall man smiled, and shook his head, running a hand though his light colored hair. He almost always felt that way about the children he trained. They never stayed children long, though. He tugged on his earbob and sighed, trying not to breathe too deeply. It still hurt a bit. He hoped Charu was as chipper as she seemed. He wasn't the only one that had lost a lot of blood last night, and she didn't heal as fast as him. Kelan picked up his socks, and stared.
"I will never understand what goes on in that girl's head," he said at last. "At least they look warm."
He heard a giggle from the hall outside. "Don't surprise me with things like that again, alright?" There was another giggle. He shook his head, smiling just a bit. She might just be alright.
"Ah, how good to see you." The sheriff jumped at the sound of Kelan's voice.
"Good to see you up and around," he choked, staring at the tall hunter who was folded into a chair beside the sherriff's desk. He turned as Charu closed the door behind him.
"Have a seat." She smiled. "We're just here to talk about what happened."
"Ah yes... uhm... how's your head?"
"Not infected." She sat on the edge of the desk. "What more can you hope for from a head wound like that?"
"Oh yes. Uh."
"I was wondering - you spoke for the town when you sent a messenger and hired us - " Kelan said, raising his eyebrows. "How did you feel about it?"
The sheriff's mouth opened but no sound came out, glancing back and forth between them.
"Does this have something to do with why you lied to us?"
"He wasn't hurting us," muttered the sheriff. "They were worried about nothing."
"He couldn't have controlled all those werewolves forever," Charu said, eyes as cold as metal. "That would have hurt the town. A lot." She stood up and glared up at him. "Beyond that, it did hurt us."
"Little sister..." Kelan held up a hand warningly. "I am curious how people would react to that opinion."
The sheriff looked panicked.
"How precisely is what we just did ethical?"
"What made you think it was ethical?" Kelan chuckled, glancing over at the young woman.
"I thought you were supposed to be showing me how to be a good hunter."
"Trust me, that was an important part of it."
"Blackmail. Right."
"Blackmail is a harsh word little sister. We didn't force him to do anything - if you'll recall, we didn't even ask for anything."
"You've got a twisted mind."
"And you'll learn from it."
"Dear god."
