A fabled wall, marking the territory of the werewolves and adorned with the severed skull of a once great alpha, stands between Natalya and her prey.
When she finds the body of Anesa, her beloved mentor, she is determined to hunt down the vampire r...
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Far beyond the shadow of the hill, inside the ivy covered house with peeling white paint, Natalya lay sleeping soundly under the waning moonlight. As the hours passed quietly she had dreamed peacefully while the elder had been slain in the tower. And as the night came and went, she was unaware of the changes that were unfolding in her city. She had no way of knowing that a storm of destruction was already brewing in Valwood. Nor did she know that it could have been stopped by the very elder who now stared sightlessly in the night from the northernmost watchtower, having crossed paths with a vampire.
It seemed as if the coming morning could never be fully enough to erase the pain and loss of a night before, no matter how much one could try, and so it was the case with Natalya. She awakened at her normal time, dressed into her usual clothing and purchased her breakfast rolls at her favorite bakery, but nothing about her day could be called normal. She had returned home, her basket bulging with food, and now she walked purposely towards the woods, her bow slung across her back.
At regular intervals she checked behind her to ensure she was not being followed or seen, though she had grown so used to relying on stealth it had become second nature.
She disappeared amongst the trees, and they enveloped her form in their depths, hiding her from view. Natalya felt relieved in her solitude, without the somber conversations of her people buzzing in her head. Here she could mourn privately to only the sounds of the birds and insects.
She walked a long ways without stopping; she did not wish to run into anyone now. It was not long before she came across a secluded clearing, and she sat cross legged on the grassy floor. She bit into the first of her chosen bread, trying hard to banish the grief that had been gnawing at her gut.
By now Anesa's body had been discovered, and her corpse removed from the forest. It had been moved to the church where it was being prepared for the burial ceremony.
Natalya was no stranger to death, given her profession, but she had taken the wise old woman's particularly hard. She hid her grief well, but the elderly fortune teller had much in common with her own dead mother. Anesa had always commanded such a strong presence, showing a remarkable lack of fear about her own aging and the ever present threat of death. Just like Irena had.
Natalya turned her thoughts away from her dead mother. She was used to pushing painful memories to the back of her mind.
She stood up. She scanned the trees that were aligned in a circle all around her, searching for any distinctive markings. One tree had a large weathered cavity that was sunk deeply into it. That would do.
Natalya knocked an arrow into her bow and took careful aim, shooting for the large hole. It was stretched open, almost like a grotesque mouth, and she had no difficulty in pretending it to have a vampire's face. She closed one eye, concentrating. The next moment she released the arrow. It sailed through the air and struck the center of the hole, while the vampire in her mind screamed and died. Natalya smiled in grim satisfaction and stalked towards the tree to retrieve her arrow.
