Night of the Slayers - Part 1

Night of the Slayers
Part 1
A Fictional Story by Donna Marshall

Deep in the forest digging herbs for her potions, Moon is finding some rare varieties and stuffs them into her pouch. A strange feeling comes over her, Danger. Strangers have breached the barrier between her world and the outside. As she makes her way to investigate she is staying to the forests deep shadows as the moon is not her ally tonight. She must find out who these trespassers are and why they have crossed the border.

As she slips through the forest moving from shadow to shadow, a piercing scream breaks the silence. Closing her eyes, concentrating on the direction of the scream, she connects with her another of her kind telepathically. One has lost their life, and another is fleeing for hers. Moon picks up her pace to reach the location. Running through the forest the trees are a blur to her. Arriving at the location, she stops leaning against a tree concealing herself in the shadows. Surveying the area for movement, She looks for any sign of a disturbance. The scent of blood is in the air; Vampire Blood. She crouches to the level of the brush and moves along searching for the source of the scent.

It is not long before she finds the headless body of a Vampire. Concerned she rolls the body to take a better look. Thank the Goddess it is not one of her family. Nothing about the body is familiar to her. Three arrows are embedded in the body. Reaching for one of the arrows in an attempt to pull it she receives a burning sting to her hand. Recoiling from the pain, she holds her hand inspecting the burn. The shaft of the arrow is Silver plated and covered in holy water. “Slayers!”

A cry of pain and anguish comes from the distant meadow. Moon runs to the forest's edge in time to see two arrows strike a female vampire in the back as she flees. She feels tightness in her stomach as she watches the scene play out. How dare they enter her realm and hunt her kind like animals. She watches as the woman tries to crawl for cover begging for mercy. A Slayer steps above her holding a long sword. He swings the blade separating her head from her body. A cry of victory comes from the three as one holds up the vampire’s head.

Moon starts to notice there are more hunters than she had first thought. Three more come from the thicket at the other end of the field bringing the total to six. Guilt had begun to set in as she could not help her brethren. At the very least they were not part of her clan. Now she must warn her family of the danger. She must make it to the lake to the water, at least then she could use her powers at full force if she had to.

Moon sends a psychic message to her family, clan and her mate. She sends another message to her Dragon Mist to meet her at the lake's edge. Moon is traveling as cautiously as she can, she is also covering her tracks. She had seen six Slayers but there could be more.

Liam is polishing his long sword after mending his leathers, He senses Moons warning of danger. His heart drops at the thought of her facing them alone. He knows she is not ready to face the likes of a Slayer much less several. Liam has fought his share of Slayers and knows their tricks. This group is a hunting party, not at all normal, they normally hunt in twos or alone. Having traveled into Vampire territory crossing the border, They must be searching for something. Liam straps his long sword on his side and his short blade to his leg. He also straps on a set of daggers, not knowing exactly what awaits him he is one to be prepared. He then makes his way to the other side of the Lake where he knows Moon is heading. “keep yourself safe Moon." Liam says to himself as he makes his way around the shoreline.

Moon is traveling at a steady pace she can sense her family and clan going on the defense. Thank the Goddess. They seem to have heard her warnings. She can also sense Liam as he is making his way toward her. Suddenly she catches the presence of a Slayer ahead of her. Moon stops, checking her position by the stars and changes direction, but it is too late they have detected her presence. If she is to meet up with Liam at the lake, she must outwit the Slayers.

She had miscalculated. They have her surrounded. Moon is confused as to what direction to go, it is as if they can read her movements. She crouches behind a tree to catch her breath. She hears a thud as a silver arrow hit above her head, another hit near her foot from another direction. She has no choice but to run. “Damn! I am being forced to the cliffs!, Damn it all! How many of these Bastards are there?”

Moon leans against another tree. “What the hell? They could have hit me several times already, why haven’t they? What is it they want?” Again a silver arrow hit near her. “Damn they are not giving me time to rest or think! At this rate, I will have no choice. I will have to fight." She is almost to the cliffs if only she can hold them off long enough for Liam to get there. Moon reaches the cliff. She was hoping the lake reached the cliffs but unfortunately, due to the current drought, The waters have receded. “damn too far to jump. Nothing left to do but fight. Moon pulls out her daggers steadying herself for battle.

The first Slayer comes into view with his crossbow. Chanting under her breath she is ready to throw up a deflecting spell. Two more Slayers appear, another with a bow and one with a sword. They begin to stalk her.

“You're quite fast my dear. There is no place to run now. We have you trapped.”

”What do you want with me? Why have you not killed me? You have had plenty of chances.” Moon tells him spitting the words.

“What’s the fun in that? It’s the thrill of the hunt” he tells her as he raises the bow, aims, and shoots.

Moon throws up a defensive shield. ”Protect!” She shouts, the arrow deflected. Two more Slayers shoot arrows at her. “Protect!” She shouts again, Both arrows deflected off.

“How long can you keep this up Vampire?” The Slayer called out.

“As long as I have to, you bastard!” She screams.

Four more Slayers arrive with weapons drawn. This time they all fire at slightly different intervals. She throws up her hands and shouts “Protect!” Moon finds she can not deflect all of the arrows. Two of the six arrows make it through. One strikes Moon in the shoulder, the other in her upper thigh. She stumbles backward as she tries to regain her composure. The pain and burning from the Silver it is too much for her and collapses slipping off the edge of the cliff.

”Go down and make sure she is dead and bring back her head!” One of the men shout. Another stands to look over the edge seeing Moon lying on the ground at the bottom. She does not seem to be moving. The other Slayers are excited making bets as to who will reach her first taking her head. They all race to find a quick way to the bottom of the cliff.

A sudden pain strikes Liam. His connection to Moon is severed. “No!” He shouts as he stops dead in his tracks. Liam gives a roar of disbelief and pain. “I will kill every last one of them! I will send them all to Hell!” Liam tightens his grip on his weapon.”I will not believe she is dead until I see her body for myself.” He tells himself. Liam harnesses his anger and hatred turning it into his strength. He continues on to the last place he sensed Moon, the cliffs. He pities the first Slayer he runs into.

Liam arrives at the cliffs. He see's a slayer standing near the edge of the cliff. Moon is nowhere in sight. The Slayer turns and studies Liam gripping a blade at his side. “The way you came charging in you must be the females mate. A fool rushing to his death." The Slayer says with a sly grin.

Liam grips his long sword tightly and snarls.”The fool would be you, a lone Slayer standing at the last place I felt her presence.“ Where is she? Answer me now!” Liam demands as he draws his weapon.

“The woman is over there.“ He points toward the cliff's edge. “But she has two silver arrows in her and fell. My comrades are in hot pursuit betting on who will take her head.” He grins. “Perhaps they have already sent her to hell.“ The Slayer tells Liam trying to antagonize him into losing his composure. Liam’s eyes are like daggers as he stares at the man watching his every move.

“If she is dead, none of you will ever leave this land alive,”

This man is a sword user. It will be a one on one fight to the death, he must end this quickly so he can find and rescue Moon. The two men stand on the cliff watching each other looking for an opening. Liam charges, the man stands his ground defensively. Liam fakes to the right then cuts left slashing at the man. The man deflects his blow, then slashes. Liam swings his blade to block, pulling out his second blade. The two men circle each other, evenly matched. A sudden roar comes from under the cliff, the man turns his head toward the cliff. An opening! Liam slashes with the long sword catching the slayer on the side. The Slayer reels in pain as Liam grabs him by the neck pulling his blade across his throat sending a spray of blood across the ground. “Your comrades will follow soon.” Whispering in the dying man's ear. As the man's heart beats its last Liam lets the man slip to the ground. Now he must track the other's and find Moon.

At the bottom of the cliff, Moon lies unconscious. The fall was not enough to kill her, but it did cause some damage. Her vampiric abilities can heal the damage from the fall, but she can not withstand the agony from the burning silver. She is not in good shape and at the mercy of the Slayers if they reach her. Moon groans in agony, she can smell what seems to be the water not more than 30 feet from her. Has she reached the lake? She tries to move but neither her arms nor her legs respond. She feels as if her whole body is set on fire.

The burning from the arrows is more than she can handle. Crying out in agony she grabs at the wounds. ”Oh by the Goddess please make it stop!” She passes out from pain. Moon feels wetness on her face. "Is it rain? Oh if only the rain can quench the fire from within my wounds? She opens her eyes slowly, a blur of glistening white fills her vision, she knows those large black eyes and diamond like sparkling scales. ”Mist?” She says as she looks up at the serpent nuzzling her.

Part 2 will post shortly