2 Chapter Two: The Elven Princess (2)

Jack hesitated, unsure of what to do. Something was nagging at him, and he couldn't quite put his finger on it. What was this elf even doing here? From what he saw of her body, she did not have nearly enough muscle tone to be a warrior. Female elven warriors were rare, but she did not strike him as a warrior; she was tiny, probably barely above five feet standing up, even smaller than most elves. He did not know how age worked with the elves, as she appeared to be an adult, or at least close to one. The fallen bodies of her comrades were also odd, wearing armor he had not seen before, and he had been in many battles with the elves. He sighed with frustration, deciding that he was getting nowhere thinking about it. He would wake her up, question her, and come to a decision after hearing what she had to say.

He approached her, going to kneel down and gently shake her, when his sense of smell was overpowered, making him stagger back and cover his nose. Was this her blood? The mere scent of it made his head feel foggy, feeling himself salivate as his instincts told him to partake in such delicious smelling blood, and feast to his hearts content. He forced himself to calm down, slowing his breathing that had picked up. Once he felt more in control of himself, he approached her again, doing his best to ignore the smell of her blood as he knelt down and grabbed her good shoulder, gently shaking her so he did not aggravate her wound.

"Wake up. You are safe for the moment."

Her eyelids flickered, and he stood up and took a step back, not wanting to be overpowered by her blood again. She slowly opened her eyes, blinking sluggishly and looking over at him. When her eyes found him they instantly shot open, filling with fear as she attempted to get up. She seemed to have forgotten her wound, as she put weight on her right arm and it immediately buckled, the elf crying out in pain and falling back to the ground.

He sighed as she tried to get up again, tears of pain welling up in her eyes as she panted and looked at him again, panic joining the fear in her gaze. Now that he saw them, he noticed that they were a dark emerald green, and it had slipped his mind that other races have different eye colors than red. He decided to try and calm her down, or he would not be able to get any information out of her.

"Stop panicking. I am not going to kill you, and you are only going to make that gash worse."

She eyed him warily, using her remaining strength to scoot back a foot and sit up. His cloak began to slide down, the elf noticing it for the first time. When she saw her skin start to show, she blushed red and pulled it up again, looking at him with her brow furrowed and clearly thinking this was his doing.

"What happened? I r-remember being attacked, something h-h-hit me, and I passed out."

Jack was not one to hold back, pointing at the two vampires he killed moments ago.

"You did pass out, and these two were going to rape you."

She looked at the bodies, her expression growing confused as she slowly looked back at him.

"But...t-they are dead."

He sighed again, trying his best to be patient with the elf; she was injured, scared, and most likely not thinking straight.

"Yes, because I killed them."

She only looked more confused, hissing in pain from her shoulder before responding.

"But...y-you are a v-v-vampire."

Well, she wasn't wrong. He crouched down to her level, looking her in the eyes.

"I am a Night Stalker, and rape is against our laws. The punishment is death, so I simply did my job."

Finally she relaxed, but only a bit, still eyeing him like he might leap at her at any moment.

"You have laws? T-they never seemed to stop your kind before."

He had no response to that, knowing that she was right. He could not be present for every single battle, and if a Night Stalker was not present, there was nothing to stop the soldiers from doing what they pleased. He decided to move on, needing to know more about this odd situation.

"We have laws, and it is a Night Stalkers job to keep them. But what are you doing here, right next to where a major battle just took place? You are to skittish to be a warrior, your comrades are wearing odd armor, and your blood smells different than normal elven blood. Do not lie to me; your answer will determine what I am going to do with you."

She grimaced, looking offended at the thought of him smelling her blood, before gritting her teeth and glaring at her shoulder. She looked back at him, the pain from the wound clear in her eyes.

"Give me a second to take care of this wound first."

He raised an eyebrow at her words, although she could not see this because of his helmet. He simply nodded, watching as she lowered the cloak off her shoulder, revealing the gash that was still slowly bleeding. She closed her eyes, placing her left hand over the wound, and his eyes grew wide with surprise when her hand began glowing with a golden light. The gash also began to glow, and he watched with awe as the skin slowly began to knit itself back together, healing before his eyes. It was not long before the gash was gone, not even a scar in its place, only her blood left as evidence that it was even there in the first place.

She sighed with relief, looking back at him and blushing when she saw him staring at her. She pulled the cloak tighter around herself, glaring as she spoke.

"Why are you staring? Surely you have seen magic before."

He had, and that was why what she did made no sense to him. No chant, no magic words or circle, no charging of mana, and the color was one he had not seen before. It baffled him until he remembered a rumor he had heard about the elven queen, who was able to use a powerful golden magic instantly and with ease.

"That magic...is different. You do not strike me as queen material...so a princess maybe? Are you the princess of the elves?"

She gasped, answering him without meaning to as she quickly regained her composure and chose not to speak. The pieces of this puzzle were slowly starting to fit together, slowly forming a clear picture. The elves were losing the war, and it would make sense that the queen would have her daughter flee in the face of defeat. They must have thought they could slip by during the chaos of the battle, and were proven horribly wrong.

He had all the information he needed, standing up and crossing his arms as the elf kept her eye on him, still wary. What was he going to do? As a soldier in the army of the Nation of Blood, taking her prisoner was what he was supposed to do. But the thought of that did not sit right with him, seeing how helpless she was. He did not have any personal grudge against the elves, no reason to hate or despise them. He was a soldier, and he had always done what he was told. This was the first time he had been faced with a situation where he questioned his orders, and he did not want to kill her or take her prisoner.

He was pulled from his thoughts when the elf stood up, clutching the cloak to her chest and looking at him with desperation.

"What...are you going to do?"

That was the question of the hour. He could just let her go, but she would most likely get caught again, as he knew that the commander of the army and ruler of the Nation of Night, Zillion Nomad, would start marching towards the heart of the forest and the last standing city of the elves, Silvith. Scouts have most likely already been sent to scout the area ahead, and he doubted the elf would get past them safely.

He only saw two options; one, leave her to her fate, and two, try to help her somehow. Leaving her to her fate sounded cruel, but she would have more of a chance fleeing back the way she came than being taken prisoner. He still remembered how powerful the scent of her blood was, and any vampire that smelled it would not hesitate to end her life. Better to let her go and hope that her luck holds out.

He looked at her, slightly shaking as she waited for an answer, scared and desperate. A breeze suddenly blew through the land, shaking the trees and allowing some moonlight to peak through the trees and shine against her long blond hair. No matter how much he tried, he just could not see this poor defenseless elf as an enemy, and sighed as he decided to go against his better judgement and help her.

"Alright, listen up. I am going to-"

He stopped as the sound of movement hit his ears, making his heart skip a beat as he turned around, seeing the light of a fire in the distance peering around the trees. He had taken too long, and someone had decided to check up on him. Of all the times for a vampire to give a damn about him, it just had to be now.