The Crimson Era

Chapter 9: Her Biggest Mistake

A/N: I honestly couldn't think of a better title for this chapter and I'm not completely happy with it , so I would really appreciate it if one of  you few people who actually read my stupid little story would help me out! Thanks and Happy New Year!

After her little adventure with Julia and Laurel, Azriel went back to her bedroom and sat down on her bed, drifting off into one of her few daydreams, the one that had unknowingly changed her life forever.

Eleven-year-old Azriel was looking out the small, frost covered window of her old bedroom, and saw a fawn. She remembered thinking that it couldn't have been more than a couple months old; it was still walking on unstable legs and had a large amount of white spots on the side of it's body. There was one thing that immediately told her that something was wrong: it's tail was flipped up showing the white underside, a sign of fear.

A thought suddenly hit her: where was it's mother? Surely a fawn wouldn't stray from its mother.  Looking out around the area, she saw a brief flicker of what she thought was a dusty brown pelt in the distance.

In a spur of the moment action, Azriel grabbed her boots and cloak, heading outside. As soon as the baby deer saw her, it ran the opposite direction, but she didn't care anymore. She only had one goal now: find the mother deer.

Running past it, she headed into the direction in which she saw the dusty color move to. Coming up to a large clearing surrounded by the woods that covered her family's house, she saw two figures, and in the middle of then lay what she was looking for: the mother deer. She was tied up in rope, but still alive.

The larger of the two men had a large blade used for hunting, and the other a bow and arrows. Without thinking she charged across the clearing and tackled the man with the knife, her first mistake. Having the element of surprise after knocking him over, she took that opportunity to land a hard jab to his sternum with her elbow. Struggling to breath, he dropped his knife. Behind her, she heard the sound of the drawstring pulling back an arrow.

Acting on instinct that she didn't know she had, she quickly rolled off of the man on the ground, away from the mother deer in case the archer didn't have good aim. The man fired an arrow, missing Azriel by just a few inches. She scrambled back up to her feet holding the hunting knife. She held the knife as though she was going to throw it, hoping that the archer wouldn't call her bluff, but of course, he did.

Taking aim once more, the archer sent another arrow at her, this time grazing her left cheek and making her drop the knife. Filled with rage and determination, she quickly snatched up the knife once more preparing to throw it for real. Aiming for the neck, she threw the knife; her second mistake.

Missing completely, she froze. She realized she had no other means of defense, or what she was even doing. Why did she care so much about this damn deer!? Caught in her train of thought, she lost any edge she had left. He third and final mistake. The archer had drawn another arrow and was aiming at her. Without having a chance to react, he let go of the bow string, sending an arrow straight into Azriel's thigh. Screaming in agony, Azriel dropped to the ground, already feeling the blood dripping down and off her leg.

Then Azriel did something she'd never done before: she cried. What started as misty eyes quickly turned into tears pouring from her eyes to full out bawling. The archer looked at her and then proceeded to remove his hood from his face. He was tall, muscular man. He had grayish hair in a crew-cut and a light, matching stubble along with the most breathtaking eyes she'd ever seen. He had a black shirt and gray pants on under his cloak. What infuriated Azriel the most, was the smirk that he wore on his face.

Taking two steps forward, the sadist squatted down next to her. Examining her leg that had the arrow stuck in it, the archer's smirk turned into sadistic smile. Standing back up, he began to walk off.

Azriel, waiting until the last minute, called after him.

"Wait! Who are you?!"

Stopping in his tracks the man turned around and answered her with one simple word that would change her life forever:

"Cain."