It was a strange, muted sort of dread that hung over the rural sprawl. People watched through their windows with suspicion, even downright hostility, as she and her group approached. Elizabeth told herself that it was only to be expected in a town like this, hunted by a vampire for so long. They’d probably seen many like her, come and go... Or at least come.

She drew her hood down over her face, content to be the anonymous mercenary, for now. Those who found out about her dhampir blood could easily respond in any number of ways... There were even those that thought her no different from vampires.

I suppose the fangs could throw them off, she mused,
trying to find some trace of humor in it.

The sun was terrible today.

So far, no one stepped forward from their homes to offer welcome, and those in the street were grimly silent. She wondered if they welcomed all visitors this way. Perhaps suspicious that any one of them might be the
vampire, even in daylight. The fools probably didn’t even know the most basic rules of fighting one of the undead, if that was the case.

But this was far enough. She stopped in what appeared to be a town square of sorts, and put her arm out, halting the burly fellow at her side. Her partner, in a way, he’d been at her side through enough hunts to know that it was his responsibility to take it from here.

Shifting his axe, he squared his jaw and squinted his eyes, unconsciously taking up the role of the hardened mercenary for those who might be watching. It was an old game by now.

“I hear you have a vampire problem!” He proclaimed loudly, clearly examining those around him, or anyone brave enough to speak. “Those kinds of problems are our business... But our services don’t come
cheap!”

A gray-haired woman, seemingly appearing from nowhere, gave a soft moan of disappointment. “Vampire hunters, that’s all you are?” She sniffed, showing what she thought of that, and continued on her way without a second glance. As if vampire hunters were so common. Perhaps they were, here.

Either way, instantly there was a noticeable ease of tension. It seemed to her as if they simply no longer counted her as there, readying themselves to go about their morning’s errands as if nothing were amiss. Elizabeth was baffled. She’d had many greetings as a vampire hunter through the years, and never one so utterly dismissive.

Raoul likewise, looked surprised, and almost apologetic as he glanced at her. He seemed to think that he might have done something wrong in his part of it.

“Don’t seem too impressed, do they?” Victor muttered, leaning on his silver-plated stave as if it were a cane. “Maybe they don’t have a vampire problem? I’m not going to be happy if we came all the way up here for
nothing...”

Elizabeth ignored him for now, her lips tight as she considered the air of the place. Something didn’t add up. Vampire hunters, that’s all you are? Greeted in such a way, when her kind were held in reverence, and her father’s kind in abject terror? What could make an old woman say something like that?

She caught the arm of a young man as he walked past, her claws digging just slightly into the flesh of his arm.

He yelped, then looked annoyed, and utterly unimpressed by her possessing such claws to begin with. “What do you want, dhampir?” He snapped, easily seeing through her disguise, and stunning her into silence. “Didn’t you hear the old woman? We don’t have a
vampire problem here!”

When she would have pressed it, he pulled his arm free with a look of disgust, smoothed his hair back, and stalked on his way like she was wasting his time. It made no sense, and for a moment she could only stare after him in silence.

“So... Where do you suppose the pub is?” Victor sighed, twisting his weapon in his hands like an impatient child. “We’ve walked for two days straight, and damned if I’m not at least getting an ale out of it!”

“Something’s... wrong here.” Elizabeth turned, and looked from one villager to another, all pointedly ignoring them now. Were they all half-turned already? What the hell was going on? “People don’t act like this when you talk about vampires. Most towns think they have one,
even when they don’t!”

Raoul nodded wisely, looking suspicious, but leaving the spoken accusations to her. Victor on the other hand, considered a pretty young thing almost absently. She’d probably be the first a vampire-type went after, Elizabeth reflected. The woman looked more agitated about the price she was being offered for her basket of eggs though, than any threat of the undead.

Clearly, something was going on here that she wasn’t aware of, and she didn’t intend to leave until she knew what it was.

 Read more at www.dragons-honor.4t.com!  Look for the link, Of Hidden Wings!