Recovering Heirlooms

Wandering down the long dirt road, she held her hand against the wound in her neck, using the other to balance herself. Usually the injury she had received would have long been healed, but the sword that cut her was enchanted against those of her kind. She looked back over the previous day, fighting for each step on.

The black motorcycle pulled up outside the ancient house, it was easily set a mile back from the road. Her keen eyes peered into the woods, dark and dim even in the noon sun. Sniffing the air cautiously she nodded, turning around and taking the bike back down the long dirt road, leaving it hidden in the bushes at the edge of the turnoff from the highway. She started jogging back up the long road, finding a spot to hide in the treeline.

A few short seconds later, a huge gold wolf emerged from the trees, carrying folded clothes in it’s mouth. She loped up the road, taking in any possible paths that could be hidden from human eyes, sniffing the air constantly. She smelled only the normal things one would in the woods, and started to speed up as she reached the edge of the yard.

She found a spot shaded from the sun, and far from the view of the drive, and shifted back to normal. Her bones popped and lengthened as they resumed their normal human form. She stretched slowly, her pale skin glistening, as she worked out the kinks in her muscles and joints. Her curvy figure cast it’s shadow on the white paneling of the house as she pulled her jeans and shirt back on. Pulling a band out of her pocket, she pulled her brown hair up into a ponytail, then pulled up her boots.

"Now, basement first, these are youngsters."

She crept through the unlocked door, eyes narrow as they adjusted to the light inside the dim house. She felt more comfortable here, she could walk in the sun, but she would never be as comfortable in it as she was before she was turned. She smiled as she found their scent, and moved to the living room to wait for them to awaken.

Sunset finally arrived and a group of vampires walked into the room, eyes widening as they found the woman in the chair.

"What you doin’ in our house?" The eldest of the group snarled at her.

"I came to speak to all of you." She responded calmly, not intimidated by them. She let some of her age and power show in her voice, and watched as some of the group moved to press their backs against the wall, growing nervous.

"Yeah, whatcha want then?" He held his ground, motioning to the woman beside him who left the room, returning mere seconds later with a sword.

"I wish to offer you friendship, and to reclaim something one of you has. It was a gift an artist friend of mine gave me centuries ago, and I know you have it."

The man growled more. "You ain’t gonna take nuthin from this place. Anythin in here is mine, ya got it bitch? We don’t need your friendship neither. We do just fine on our own."

Na’Amah laughed. "Fine, you don’t have to accept my friendship, but I will be taking my painting, whether you like it or not child."

The man snarled and lunged at her with his sword. She easily sidestepped the move, running into a woman. Reaching with her mind, she probed the young vampires in the room with her, looking for any sign of hope. She sighed and shook her head as she found none, they were lost to their bloodlust and the power of what they had become.

Barely moving in time, the other girl lunged at the neck, but Na’Amah easily countered, wrapping her hands around the head of the girl, and snapping her neck as though it were nothing. This caused the others to roar out in anger. Her eyes traveled the room, sizing up each of her opponents, and weighing her actions carefully.

Jumping across the room, over three of the others, she grabbed the two she landed between by their hair. She smashed their heads together, crushing them like pumpkins, nose wrinkling at the foul odor that emanated from their fluids.

One of the men saw this, his eyes large as he fled into the night, not willing to risk his life any further. This left only Na’Amah, the leader, and another young woman. She stood face to face with the man, and grinned.

"What will you do now child, the advantage is no longer yours." He glowered at her as he circled, eyes only once shifting to the other woman, before launching himself at the woman.

She saw this coming and leaped over his head, launching a rear kick at his back, knocking him to the floor. Grabbing the sword from his hand, moving so fast he never saw it coming, she cut off his head. When she looked up, she was alone in the room.

She walked through the rooms, checking them one by one. She found quite a few stolen objects in the bedrooms, but none what she was looking for. She finally climbed the ladder into the attic. She dug through trunk after trunk, finally finding the portrait she had come to reclaim.

As she laid it by the door to the house, her sensitive ears heard a noise coming from the living room, where the bodies still lay. She moved silently into the room, looking through the open door, and saw the girl laying beside the now headless body, blood tears streaming down her cheek. Na’Amah shook her head and turned away, moving again to leave when she heard a loud shriek, and felt cold metal against the flesh of her neck.

Na’Amah reacted instinctively, throwing the body from her back, snarling like a wounded wolf. She raised one hand to her throat, feeling the fluid gushing down her shirt, and she raised her head to the girl on the floor before her. Kicking the long thin dagger away from her she ripped a piece of wood out of the wall and plunged it into her chest, silencing her forever.

Kneeling on the floor, Na’Amah tore her shirt off, tying it around her neck, unsuccessfully trying to stem the flow of her precious blood from her body. She picked up the dagger, enchanted by the glow of the glyphs carved into the metal of the blade. She recognized the language as that used by hunters over the centuries, the words a spell to enchant the blade. The girl probably didn’t know what she was holding, Na’Amah figured, throwing the blade down the hall and through the open door to the basement.

She had left the blade there, as well as the painting. She now walked, topless, back to her bike, where her cellphone was stored. She would call Mykael to come and get her and the bike. After the wound was healed she would return to a place she felt was safe, the house in Kaitown.