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Of Hidden Wings
Category:
Fantasy
Type: Fiction
Pages: 175
Copyright: 2007
The eyes of a good man hide many secrets, some of which not even he knows the truth of...
When the vampire hunters come to the strange, small village, expecting a normal hunt, they find nothing about the place, or people, to be what they're used to. Unwelcome, unwanted, they refuse to believe the stories of a strange pair who call the nearby forest home... A demon, and an angel.
Watched by one who knows the truth, who is watched in turn by one who loves him, the trio fall deeper into the unexplained, dream-like world that has formed to accommodate what doesn't belong there.
He is a good man...
He would not wish to believe that his soul, such as it is, is defined by the blood his strange existence bears... Were it not for the heavy stain of death he can never seem to wash from it.
It's such a simple, unremarkable place to find either demon or angel, much less both. No one knows when they came, no one knows why, but while it is certain that one protects those who dwell within it, the other seeks nothing but the blood of those who would dare trespass uninvited in his home...
The children with nowhere else to go, those baptized by blood or torn between races, they come here too, drawn by something they don't understand, and for some reason they are welcomed. Perhaps it was in this way, mysteriously drawn, that these otherworldly ones once came here as well.
But now here, it is clear that neither has any intention to leave. Those seeking prey here, die, murderer or hero. Broken seeking refuge, are sheltered without question. And somewhere between the two, the woman who was once a girl, drawn here in her own time of need. Her for whom the truth of these tales has since unfolded... And whose heart will be held by a man remarkable for nothing but his gentle sadness, and the wings he hides within.
But in the coming days of demon hunters, vampire elders, and those who would steal her for their own, or call blood debt on him, where will the two stand when it is done? For he will do anything to protect her again, as he has before, and she will likewise do whatever it takes to save him... Body and soul.
Excerpt
“What are you doing out here?” He demanded, his tone cold and dangerous. She wondered if that was for her benefit alone, or for his brush with the other, moments before. “I thought you were the one that told me about the demon who hunts these streets at night!”
I’m less worried about demons, than vampires, she noted to herself sourly.
She glared at him with a stubborn set to
her jaw, as if somehow he were the one at err here. “If I wish to risk a demon, that’s my right.” She said finally, less strength in her tone than she would have liked. “Same as you.”
“She has a point.” Noted a voice from the side, perhaps hoping to catch her off guard. She though, had already known that the halfling was there, and didn’t even turn to face him. “If we want to be stupid enough to wander around with a demon on the loose, she has as much right as we do to end on his fangs.”
He clapped a hand over the top of her head, as if she were still a child, and ruffled her hair with a laugh. “She’s more dhampir than I am anyway!”
“An interesting truth,” Observed the third of their party quietly, “And one I haven’t quite figured out to my satisfaction.”
This voice was anything but cheerful, and before she could register the threat, the other female dhampir had
grabbed her by the collar of her shirt. She twisted, and shoved her against the already crumbling shed, hard. “Who is your father, half-breed?” She demanded coldly.
Damire smiled. It wasn’t a deliberate reaction, it was simply the idea of being called a half-breed, by one no less so. Then the question registered, and her smile only grew.
“My father?” She echoed sweetly, amused by the fact that this woman probably assumed it to be the very vampire she hunted. “I’m afraid my mother never told me that... And that was two lands distant. I don’t think you’ll find him here.” This served to make the other woman pause.
Damire wasted no time, grabbing her by the wrist, and bending it back, hard enough to make the other drop her.
She caught her weight on her fingertips as she fell, and was on her feet again, darting to the side. Damire considered the stranger, this time with a smile that she was certain well-befitted her heritage. “My blood is still too thin for your interest, hunter... Why don’t you spend more time on vampires, and less time on their get?”
Something in the other woman’s answering gaze almost made her smile falter. Instead she made it deliberately sweeter, trying not to show how her heart quavered within her.
“I’ll do that.” The hunter agreed after a moment, answering with her own smaller, but no less dangerous, smile. “Just as soon as I find him. But don’t think I’m done with you yet, either.”
With this, she turned and strode away, the walk of a hunting thing, and the two men hesitated, each with their own thoughts. After a moment, the big guy followed her, never saying anything more.
The slighter man though, rubbed his chin with the edge of his stave, looking annoyed. “Now you’ve convinced her.” He muttered, then cast her one more glance. It seemed as if he might say something more, but then he simply shook his head, and followed them glumly.
Damire only allowed herself to shake once they were gone from sight, so hard with the first shudder that she lost her balance, and ended on her ass. “Vampire
hunters.” She whispered, drawing at her mouth with her fingertips. “And now vampires too...”
She cast an uneasy glance at the sky, as if the demon might choose now to make his presence known, but tonight the heavens were still. One wise enough to take blessings where they were offered, Damire decided to do now what she should have done to begin with, and headed
home, staying to the shadows the whole way.
And the whole way, she felt the eyes, and knew there was reason to be afraid.
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