Path

"It's still too early for you to decide on your path. Now, I can give you a few things to help you. You'll find yourself alone often and I don't want to see you defenseless."

Nora stands and offers him her hand.

"Come with me."

He stands up and takes her hand. She takes him to one of two rooms that the small house possesses outside of the main area where her kitchen and living space is. She takes him to a room that could only be described as a work space.

A large cauldron takes up the center of the room. Tables and bookshelves take up most of the walls and each is filled with books, vials and other mysterious objects. The whole room is cluttered with magical paraphernalia. Next to the cauldron is a wooden box that is covered with a blanket.

She takes him to the box and smiles as she removes the cover. Within the box are four black puppies. Marcus may be young, but he's seen his fair share of dogs and none of these look like any he's ever seen. To say that they were made up of shadows would be too simplistic, yet and over exaggeration of what they are.

"Go on, check them out. If one of them likes you you may keep it."

He looks up at her a moment then reaches out to pet the pups. They squirm around and three of the four move away from his hand. The fourth pup holds still for him to pet it then suddenly bites him.

Marcus pulls his hand out and tries not to cry as blood freely drops from the bite. Nora chuckles and searches through a shelf, coming back to him with a bandage and a small dagger.

"It's ok, that means he likes you. His bite is similar to a vampire's servant bond. This means that from now one he is yours and will risk his own life to protect you."

She takes his hand that's still bleeding and smears his blood across the blade of the dagger. She then cleans his hand and wraps the wound. Marcus is focused on the dagger and the fact that the blood on it disappears.

"What's that?"

Nora smiles as she places the dagger in a sheath and holds it out to Marcus.

"This is a magic dagger. The blood binds it to you. It can be used as a focus and enhancer for magic, but it's main magic domain is blood."

Marcus frowns, "Why does everything need blood?"

"That would be because I specialize in blood magic. I am The Great Blood Witch."

His eyes grow wide. Stories of the Blood Witch are told to children of all races. One of the original witches, she has been the downfall of kingdoms and whole races. It's also said that she died centuries ago.

"You're not as scary as they say."

She had fed him and been patient with him. He didn't see her as any scarier than his own mother, and his mom could be scary.

Nora laughs, "Your auntie Nora is only scary to those who are mean or break the laws. Now, take your pup out. I can't touch him now that he's chosen you. You'll need to name him and feed him."

Marcus attached the daggers sheath to his belt then picked up the pup. It wagged it's tail and licked his face. Marcus smiled for the first time since he had come across Teril.

"I think I'll call you Vail."

The pup let out a bark to show it's approval and he hugged it close. He had never been able to have a pet, his time had always been spent training since he was the son of the village chief. He had to play with the dogs in the village when he could sneak away from his training.

"Would you like to get some rest? You can use my bed."

"Yes, please."

She led him to the other room, which turned out to be her bedroom. The bed was simple, there was a small dresser by the bed that was cluttered with jars full of random items. Herbs were hanging everyone, left out to dry. This room only had one bookshelf full of various trinkets, herbs, jars and whatnots.

Marcus climbed onto the bed and she pulled the blanket over him. He fell asleep almost immediately, Vail held close.

Marcus woke up midday. It took him a moment to remember where he was. The sight of Vail laying next to him kept him from becoming too upset. He got up and walked to the main area of the house, Vail following closely behind him.

He found Nora in the work room. She was looking over a book and putting herbs into a jar.

"Did you sleep well?"

She asked without looking up.

"Yes." He walked further into the room and watched what she was doing.

Nora picked up an item wrapped in a white cloth and turned to him, giving him the item.

"You'll want to feed Vail. It'll finish the bonding process."

He took it and opened the cloth to reveal a piece of raw meat. He offered the meat to Vail who happily took it and devoured the meat.

"He's not a regular dog, is he?"

"Not in the least. Vail is a hellhound."

"What?"

He looked hard at the pup who just sat and looked at him, tail wagging. The food was gone and Vail looked pleased.

"I made a trade with a demon for the pups. I just had a feeling that they would be needed. Same with the dagger."

It was all just too much for him so he just shook his head and decided to not think about it. Vail was his now and that was all that mattered. He wouldn't be alone anymore as long as Vail was with him. There was something that he wanted to know about.

"Auntie Nora, what are the laws?"

"Ah, that one is easy. The first law is to not take what belongs to another. The second law is the law of reparation which says that if something is taken you can take something of equal value. The third law says to respect all lives, especially those who are weaker. This includes humans and creatures like Vail. The fourth law says that you should respect your life first. This means that if you are attacked, defend your life even if it means killing.

"These are the laws that we created after the death of the gods. Teril wanted simple laws for his people to live by. Unfortunately, humans did not want to sign the pact that would put them under the law. That's why humans and hunters do not abide by the laws.

"It is our job to enforce the laws. It's not often that our people break them, but when they do we are the best option to enforce it."

*******

Marcus and Teril stayed with Nora for a month before they moved on. Teril wasn't pleased about the hellhound. He felt that it would be a hindrance, but his sister didn't give him an option. She further scolded him about caring for the child.

"Treat him like he was your own child, Teril. He still needs a parent to watch over him."

Her words stayed with him as they traveled. After about two months they came to a mountain range. Teril flew until he came to a cave that was hidden deep within the mountain range.

"Greetings, Teril. It's been a while."

A figure, shrouded in darkness, stood at the entrance of the cave. The voice was deep and authoritative. A second later a tall, broad, man stepped out of the cave's mouth. He was dressed casually in a brown tunic, his long red hair was a mess of curls and lent a wild aura to him.

"Karson, old friend, how have you been?"

The two men embraced. Karson turned his attention to Marcus who was standing beside Teril.

"Well, well. I suppose this is the hunter child that Nora was talking about."

Marcus bowed, "I am Marcus."

"I didn't think the two of you were communicating."

Karson laughed as he waved his hand back and forth.

"Some days she hates me, some days she tolerates me. She knew that you would be coming here next and wanted to warn me ahead of time. Apparently she was worried about how I would react to you having a child."

"She seems to be quite taken with him."

Karson went down on one knee in front of Marcus so that they could be eye to eye. Karson was tall enough that he nearly towered over Teril. Compared to the child he was a giant.

"I see that Nora has gifted you well, a hellhound and a blood sword."

Marcus' face was filled with pride when he glanced down at the hellhound. The two of them had spent a lot of time together and Marcus had been training the hound on different commands. The hound had almost become big enough that they could hunt together.

"Well, I cannot let her out do me. Your uncle Karson has a gift for you as well."

Karson made a motion with his right hand and a necklace appeared. It was a red gem that hung from a plain looking chain.

"This is a dragon's stone. When you wear this it will give you the ability to create dragon wings and fly."

Marcus' eyes grew wide in amazement. He had only heard about dragon stones in passing. Still, he knew how rare they were. Karson put the necklace on Marcus then tapped the stone with his finger.

"All you have to do is think about flying and wings will appear. We won't mess with it right now as I'm certain you're tired. Come morning, while your master sleeps, we will have some fun."

"Thank you, uncle Karson."

Karson stood, his face lit up with a grin. He caught sight of Teril rolling his eyes and could only laugh.

"Part of the reason we left Nora was because she was spoiling the boy. Now you're going to spoil him as well?"

"I don't see it as spoiling him, and neither does Nora. We are simply investing in the future."

Later that day, as the sun rose on the horizon, Teril went to ground for the day and Karson took Marcus outside.

"I will show you something before you start learning how to use the stone."

Karson walked to the edge of the cliff and jumped off.

Marcus found his heart beating wildly in fear. Why did he do that? A moment later he was filled with awe as a red dragon rose into sight.

~Come, climb onto my back. Flying with a dragon is far more comfortable than with a vampire.~

Marcus let out a gasp as he heard Karson speaking in his mind. It was all so new and amazing, more so than the things that Nora had shown him. Once he overcame the initial shock he climbed onto the back of the red dragon and held on tight as they flew through the mountains.

When they finally returned to the cliff face Marcus was grinning uncontrollably. Flying with Karson did not upset his stomach. Karson transformed back into a human and stepped onto the cliff face.

"My species of dragon can shift it's form. I've lived in this form for so long that I spend more of my time like this than I do as a dragon. I am also old and do not wish to fight humans that seek to kill dragons."

"Did you travel with master and Nora?"

Karson laughed and sat crossed legged on the ground, motioning for Marcus to do the same.

"Yes. There were five of us at the time. Oh, the adventures we had! When we were young this world was wild, filled with chaos. The gods were numerous and humans were so few."

"Is it true that master killed a god?"

This is the story that had most caught Marcus' attention. Nora had told him some of the story, but to hear it from another would give him even more information. The thought of someone, even if they were a vampire, killing a god was just too much for him.

"He did, we all did. We killed more than one god during that period. The gods promoted the chaos on the mortal lands, they would watch the battles between the different races as a form of entertainment.

"Teril didn't like the imbalance of it all and whatever Teril did, we all followed him. We lost two good friends during the war with the gods. One of those friends was the woman Teril loved. After her death he lost himself, not that he will admit it. Once the gods were dead and the world was at peace he chose to sleep.

"Sometimes he would sleep for centuries before awakening. He never stayed awake for long. Nora and I have watched over the world in his stead. You cannot tell this to your master, but Nora and I both hope that with you around he will choose to remain awake longer."

Marcus looked down at his hands and let out a long sigh, "I feel like I'm an annoyance. He hardly ever talks to me, I don't think he likes me."

"Nonescense. If he didn't have at least a small fondness for you he wouldn't have brought you here, or to Nora. It's rare that he comes to visit Nora when he awakens, even more so that he comes to see me. It's been over four hundred years since I last saw him.

"No, do not underestimate your value, child. Now, let's get to the matter of your dragon stone."

By the time the sun set Marcus had mostly mastered the dragon stone. He could produce wings and fly several feet off the ground. He couldn't maintain it more than five minutes, this would improve the more he used it.

Marcus had been sent to bed shortly after Teril rose for the night. While staying with Karson he would get a break from his duties as a protector. He was tired as he laid on the bed, but he couldn't stop thinking about how amazing it felt to fly. Vail whined when Marcus sat up, he decided it was better to get up than continue to argue with his body to sleep.

"It's ok, I'm just getting up."

Marcus planned to find Teril and Karson and sit with them. During their travels after leaving Nora's house Teril had started taking time out to sit and talk with Marcus. He had been enjoying those moments. The vampire didn't treat him like a kid, even though Marcus knows he's still young he has opinions. Elders don't always listen to the opinions of those younger than them.

"If you don't plan on keeping him, what will you do? You two are already bound."

Marcus stopped at the mouth of the cave as he heard Karson talking.

"His family wouldn't be able to tell that. I doubt they'd have a problem taking him back. It was foolish of me to take one so young."

"Are you sure he wants to go back?"

"I don't want to go back."

Marcus stepped out of the cave. Both men turned to look at him and realized that he had been listening in.

"It's better this way. You're too young to take away from your family, I shouldn't have done it."

Marcus raised his head and puffed out his chest. "I know the laws, it is my duty as the chief's son to take the place of the protector my people killed. I am your protector, Master Teril, this is the path that I choose."