Face to face with the past

In one go, Zeke sliced off one of the creature's arms. It screamed in pain and knock Zeke off with its tail. Zeke fell to the ground, his sword hitting and piercing into a tree.

Without giving him a breathing space as Zeke didn't give it any with his swift and vicious attacks, it picked him up by the neck. Zeke held the creature's hand that was on his neck.

The creature removed one finger and pointed its sharp nail at his neck. Zeke wrapped his legs around the creature and suddenly, with one movement Zeke was at the creature's back, his legs still wrapped around the creature like a koala.

One of his hands around the creature's neck and the other bent the creature's remaining arm backwards. Zeke torn off the arm effortlessly. The creature screamed once again and started to move in a fidgeting manner, even hitting itself on trees to get Zeke off of him but Zeke only clinged on it even more.

"You may not have a heart. But everyone has their weaknesses, and yours is your spine," Zeke whispered like the devil himself, to the creature.

"No, no...no!" the creature yelled as it tried to get out of Zeke's grip before he executed his plan, but Zeke has gotten him right where he needed him.

Zeke removed his small dagger hidden in his boots and he stabbed the creature at its spinal cord inches below its neck, only then did Zeke let go of it.

It fell to the ground like a bag of pudding as it screech in pain. Zeke's eyes returned to grey as he stared emotionlessly at the creature, almost sadistically.

"Zeke?" Luisa called. Emotions returned to his eyes as he turned to face her, her bright round green eyes staring at him in worry.

"Are you alright? You're bleeding badly all over," she worried and walked closer to him. She was shocked at his actions as Zeke grabbed her suddenly into a warm embrace. Luisa hugged him back, he slowly let go of her and took a long glance at her from head to toe, before saying;

"I'm alright, what about you? How do you feel?"

She gave him a thumbs up which made him smiled. 'I thought I lost you,' he thought.

'Thank you for fighting,' he thought again and smiled even broader. Luisa turned her gaze towards the creature who was still on the ground in pain.

"Would you like to do the honors?" he grinned at her and she smirked at him.

"The pleasure is all mine," she replied and walked towards where his sword was.

She removed it from the tree and walked towards the creature. It glared at her with a killer look and then she kicked it in the face that made it to fall on its back.

"You little, b*tch!" it glared at her and the next moment, its head was separated from its body. It screamed again and gritted its ugly spiky teeth.

"Where are the kids?" Zeke asked and the creature laughed, his snake-like tongue coming into view.

"I'm not one to play with my food or to procrastinate my food. So who ever you're looking for is long gone in my belly," it answered and continued to laugh sardonically.

"How many people have you successfully possessed?" Luisa asked this time.

"Huh nuh uh, that's a secret," it mused.

"I thought your kind had gone extinct, how many of you are still out there?" she added.

"You thought wrong, little witcher. And, I'll leave you to worry about our number," it continued laughing again.

"Tsk...no need to torture it for answers. Demons like it are very rigid, I'll relate the issue to the council of witchers when we get back," Zeke told.

"FYI, witcher... I'm a male Li`cabur," it informed.

"Do I look like I give a bloody flying shy what your gender is. I'll refer to you however I like. Luisa? Finish it!" Zeke responded.

Luisa dropped the sword, then inclined her index finger and thumb on both hands to form a triangle. She shut her eyes and the wind started to blow on her long blonde hair.

She opened her eyes again and this time it was golden. Markings appeared on the ground below the creature as the wind carried her whispered incantations.

Zeke's dagger and the markings glowed with a golden hue and fire appeared on the makings. The creature screamed as it slowly and painfully dissipated into ashes. The makings disappeared, Luisa's eyes and Zeke's dagger returned to normal.

She turned towards Zeke and got him into another embrace. He hugged her back.

"You did great, shortie," he appreciated.

He felt her body stiffen, "Luisa?" he called as he turned to face her. She looked stunned and hypnotized, he began to trace her line of view and he finally saw what hypnotized her. Luisa had come face to face with the past.

He knew but didn't find the need to tell her because he thought she would know. Was four years enough for her to forget that that human town was the one close to her elf village? They had wandered way too far that they were now at the elf village.

Luisa began to move closer towards it, tears in her eyes as she began to ask herself if what she was seeing was real. Zeke didn't stop her, he picked up their weapons and followed her.

Every detail from the last time she was here was still there. The burnt houses, the scattered places, the buildings...grounds and walls tainted with blood which has turned old, the only thing missing were the bodies. She walked heading to see if her house was still there- It was!

She opened the door, she didn't have the will to walk in, she just...stared. She turned towards Zeke.

"The place has been left abandoned like this ever since. People even turned it to a horror bed time story for their kids. How a whole elf village was massacred by the...vampires. The elf council are thinking of turning it into an elf graveyard, they think of it as the place of the dead," Zeke informed.

"What...W-What happened to the bodies?" Luisa choked on the lump in her throat, she started to hiccup as tears walked down her cheeks.

"They were taken by the elf council...buried," he answered.

"W-Where?" she asked.

He came closer to her; "You don't want to know. People killed in a massacre like this are not buried befittingly. They're all put in one dip grave without coffins," he grabbed her towards him as she finally break down into tears. He held her head on his chest as his other hand patted her back.

"Let it out. Let it all out on me," he told her. Luisa cried like there was no tomorrow, her chest tightened up and her throat burned in pain as she wailed.

"Why? Why? What did we do wrong?!" she asked no one, Zeke couldn't reply as he had no answers to it.

He tried investigating the issue on his own but all his findings were futile and they all led to a dead end. He knew seeing this again had just increased her hate for his kind, he didn't know how to tell her to just let it go.

It was way too unfair and painful to let go, would letting go really ease the pain? Would it free her from the grasp of revenge? He would rather die than see her turn out like him, he would rather die than see her fall into the darkness that comes after accomplishing your revenge.

Luisa clenched her hands and teeth, she wished she had the power to just wipe every single vampire, whether good or bad, away from the face of this earth. She wished she could just go out there, go berserk and slay every single vampire in sight like the goddess of war- But she couldn't.

But it doesn't mean she will just let those filthy night creatures off the hook that easily, to continue walking free without a single remorse in their cold hearts. She is coming for them very soon and she is going to make them beg for death.

The thick dark smoke wrap around them, it was midnight!

...