Katie sat in front of her parents’ grave while the priest prayed for all the souls to rest in peace. By the order of the Valerian Lord, all the bodies had been taken to Valeria and had been given a proper burial in the public cemetery in the morning. Names were carved on the tombstones using the help of the high priest who was disguised white witches, having the ability to find names of the deceased bodies.

Sylvia stood next to the young girl, wondering where things were going to head from now on. Vampires and humans co-existing was rare, as only a few showed respect and mercy towards each other.

She looked to her right to see the Lord and the third-in-command Elliot, talking about the half-vampires that were captured. Returning her gaze towards the girl her eyes softened. Was it the right decision to take her to the Valerian empire? She thought to herself. A kingdom full of vampires with very few humans wasn’t exactly a safe haven but if not Valeria then where would the girl go? She had known Lord Alexander for quite a long time and she was one of his trusted friends. She knew him well and that’s exactly what worried her; Alexander being the only son had taken over the empire and could be one menacing man if someone got to his bad side. Maybe this one will change him for good, she thought, nodding her head. And if he wasn’t able to take care of the little girl, she and Elliot would provide the care and need.

“Come on Katie,” Sylvia said offering her hand to the girl after spending an hour in the graveyard, “You can visit them later anytime you want.”

Katie took hold of the hand that was offered and rose from the ground. Her mother had told her to stay strong, therefore she held back her tears, at least most of them but a few escaped from her eyes. She looked up to see the eyes of the woman whose hands she was holding right now. She seems like a nice person, Katie thought to herself.

“My… such a cute little thing. I could just eat it up,” the third in command said looking at the girl as he walked towards them.

“Do you wish to be beheaded, Elliot?” the Lord asked next to him with narrowed eyes. Elliot raised his hand in surrender and bent down but not before glancing towards Sylvia in question,

“Look at the rabbit, so white and cute,” he said making Katie clutch the rabbit closer to her, “I’m sorry, I was joking and what might be your name beautiful?” he asked her.

“Katherine,” she replied looking up at him while standing close to Sylvia.

“The carriages are here,” Alexander informed them as he heard the sound of wheels heading towards them becoming more prominent.

Two more carriages followed the first one. One of the brown carriages stopped and the man who rode it jumped down to open the door for them with a slight bow. The four of them got into it and settled down comfortably. Katie had taken the seat next to the woman while the Lord and the man named Elliot sat in front of them.

As the carriage started, she looked outside the window as lush green trees passed by as though each one was running towards them. Elliot and Sylvia were talking about something when she felt the Lord’s eyes on her. She gave a small glance towards him and saw his dark red eyes staring at her before darting her eyes away, looking anywhere but at him. After some time she looked down at her lap and brushed the rabbit’s fur with her hand.

Alexander observed the girl as her hand brushed the animal’s fur gently. No matter how young a child was, the character and nature of the person he or she would become were always readable. Even when a vampire was about to kill her she was worried about the animal rather than herself. He had come across many humans but this one spiked his curiosity.

As minutes passed, they heard something fall on the ground making everyone look at each other in question. Suddenly an arrow’s head pierced the side where Elliot sat and he exclaimed looking outside the window.

“Oh boy, we have company!”

“We have half vampires following us and our charioteer is dead,” Sylvia informed taking out something shiny from her back. She was glad she took out the armor she wore before.

“Sylvia take the front seat and drive towards the West, Elliot take the sides,” Alexander ordered quickly moving behind and taking a gun out, pointing at one of them. Arrows flew towards them and they dodged it, Elliot missing one of them narrowly.

“What, are they in medieval times to use arrows?” Elliot asked pulling the trigger of the gun, “Get upgraded men,” he said to them as he shot one after the other.

“They aren’t simple arrows. Smell the air, it’s rustier,” Alexander said shooting two half-vampires at the center of the head simultaneously.

He pulled out the arrow when one of them was shot in his arm, pulling out the arrow he noticed that the head of the arrow was made of poison that could paralyze a vampire. Unlucky for them, he was no normal vampire. There were three types of vampires in the entire Empire, the normal vampires, half-vampires and lastly the pure-blooded vampires. The normal vampires and the half-vampires were the ones that fed blood from animals and humans while the pure blooded ones could feed even on the vampires, making them the highest creatures in the entire hierarchy that ruled the lands. The turned humans were the half-vampires, and their transformations mostly went wrong when the human body couldn’t cope with the new internal systems. He wondered where a group of half-vampires could obtain the poisoned arrows and why they were attacking them out of nowhere. There were too many of them, someone must have turned them, he thought to himself.

As the half-vampires were shot, they turned grey before their body began to disintegrate to dust, vanishing into the thin air in no time but one of them was faster and quicker than the rest, seemingly smarter as well, with the way it avoided all the bullets. When Elliot concentrated on killing one of them, the smarter one got into the carriage. Katie who didn’t know what was going on suddenly screamed seeing the half-vampire baring its mouth to show a set of jagged teeth. It caught hold of her hand and jumped out of the moving carriage.

“Sylvia, stop the carriage!” Alexander shouted before heading towards the half-vampire that had taken the young girl. Sylvia stopped the carriage as she pulled the reins, making the horses halt suddenly. Elliot got down from the carriage and fought the creatures as he kicked and shot them.

Dusting herself, Sylvia took hold of another gun, wielding two guns now. Three of the half-vampires looked at each other smiling widely as they saw the woman standing alone without any men to help her.

“God, I hate that look,” she muttered before raising both her hands, “Let’s see who’s smiling now,” she said pulling both the triggers.