Vampire

The door opened. Another large woman welcomed them. She made them sign to enter and to follow them into some office.

A man was sitting behind a large desk. Arja realized that he also was dead. The man smiled at her and she could see long fangs like hers.

His hair was short and dark, contrasting with the white tone, almost translucent, of his skin.

The woman who brought her there started to shout, explaining that she surprised Arja while drinking from a human and left the body behind her without any extra care so she had to apply the "procedure". Hagalaz was standing in a corner, ready at any sign of Arja.

Arja was listening but she was not able to understand most of what happened. She crossed her arms, waiting for explanations, and she started to be a bit impatient.

The man joined his hands on the desk and placed them in front of his mouth.

"How should we deal with you... Who is your creator?"

Arja opened her eyes, she never heard this word before, for her, until now, all night creatures were night creatures. The man realized her expression and asked her. He frowned in suspicion.

"Again, who created you? Do you have any names to give us?"

Arja had no idea what the man was asking her. She wanted to murmur her name but after considering that she was of royal blood in one of the first rebel zones of the country she considered it to be a bad idea. She thought about a name, but she had no inspiration so she just said the first name she could think of.

"I am Zuline, I come from the south near Rika's desert"

Inside her, a voice was laughing. She thought. "Seriously? You had no other idea?"

The man in front of her was very interested. Hagalaz hearing this name seemed to turn his head to the side, surprised.

"We never received someone from this region before, why did you come there?"

Arja considered this as a way to finalize her mission faster.

"I heard about the Shadows master and I came to see if things are true about him. I heard some people are his adepts, so I came to meet them."

The man opened wide eyes, he watched Arja with a horrified glaze.

"Do you have a death wish? The adepts are in the temple. Nobody can approach them. I don't know from which peasant country you come from but here we call him the Prince. Show respect."

Arja smiled a bit and thought.

"I already did die, it was overrated. I didn't like it, thank you."

The man laughed at her reply, then he asked her again.

"Who made you? Didn't they teach you how to behave? This is a crime to transform someone and not educate him. Your master should be punished."

"My master?" Arja was shocked by this word. Altraya was not her master and neither was Miroïr. How could there be a hierarchy in such relations?

"Yes, your master. When a vampire creates a new one he has to take full responsibility for him. Every clan has its own rules and traditions but this is one of the recurrent."

He frowned, the tension slowly building in the room.

"If you want to cross my territory, you must have my consent. I want you to bow to me. I will teach you to behave properly in the presence of a leader."

Arja laughed brutally. His words were hilarious to her. This little being who thought he was a ruler commanded no respect. She could not contain herself any longer and with a burst of laughter, she turned and headed for the door. She knew she had to go to the temple and that was enough. There was no need to continue this meaningless discussion.

The man was shocked and his jaw dropped at Arja's aplomb. The girl in the room jumped at him in fury.

"You are not leaving! I'll make you regret what you said, you vermin!"

The girl hit her in the face. Arja was pushed into the wall under the strength of the impact, and when she stood up she saw that the wall was damaged. She shook off the dust and threw off her cloak. She smiled with all her teeth. It had been so long since she didn't have a real fight like this. She was very happy that this girl punched her because now, she had a solid reason to answer. Hagalaz came to her side growling, the other night creatures started to gather around them but were kept at a distance by the wolf. They seemed scared by the animal.

Arja took a fighting stance. She positioned her legs and raised her guard. When the girl assaulted her again Arja avoided the impact and punched her jaw, then she slipped behind her back and lacerated her with her claws as an instinctive reflex. Her silver claws pierced her skin without effort and her bones were sliced on the spot. The girl screamed out in pain and fell on the floor, her blood was everywhere.

Arja always had been brutal but she discovered herself a new level of violence... She smiled, satisfied as she saw the creature at her feet crying.

Hagalaz attacked the other creatures that were coming, his massive body smashed them into the walls of the room and his powerful jaw destroyed their members.

They were both covered in blood in no time.

The leader stood up immediately with wide-opened eyes. He understood that Arja was from the same blood as Jäwell. The silver claws existed nowhere else. He had no doubts about her identity.

His creator, Lady Fluffy, was an ancient vampire at the service of Zarkhaïm and it was natural that he, as her descendant, served Zarkhaïm's creations.

This is how he became the leader of this exiled zone. His mission was to watch over the Prince of the Ombrae.

As he realized she lied about knowing Jäwell he understood that her intentions were not good. He stood up in front of her. Ready to fight even if he knew that he had no chance. Anyway, dying was always better than having to explain to Lady Fluffy that he had failed to protect Jäwell.

Arja took a deep breath. She didn't want to lose time, Altraya was waiting.

"I had no intentions to kill you. Just let me pass."

He swallowed, he had no particular sense of honor but he was mortified by his master's reaction if she were to learn what had happened here.

Arja raised her eyes at him. She understood that he had no choice but to obey. She watched him carefully and it was his end. In a second Arja pushed her claws inside his throat. He could do nothing and she was enjoying these new abilities.

She gloated as she felt his blood running down her fingers.

After the leader was killed, she went away peacefully. She left the room full of blood, and a light breeze carried the scent of death as she was walking away. The night creatures around her hid from her and the wolf.

She wanted to be discreet in her mission. Miroïr told her to not catch the attention. Now everyone was whispering about the new descendant of Zarkhaïm. The new silver-clawed creature and her wolf roamed the streets, chilling those who saw them.

She turned her head to the Little star in the sky.

"I guess I failed to be discreet. Oops. Little Star, do you judge me? I don't know how to behave."

Then she chuckled as she was going to what seemed to be a temple.

The scent of the blood and her red armor was making her look like a death messenger in the night. Nothing good was about to happen, everyone knew it, her included.