After what seemed like hours later, through blood, sweat and tears, the grate finally gave way. I crawl through the hole and look around me. I was about ten metres from the wall and directly in front of me was a baffling forest. I’d never seen anything so majestic. The trees seemed to merge as one with the breeze, the invisible force moulding their green leaves. I breathe in the fresh air, if only I could collect it in a bottle.
I enter the forest and begin walking straight ahead, figuring if I never turned I could always find my way back.
After what felt like hours of walking, I hear the distant chatter of a crowd. Thank god. I increase my speed and follow the sound. I break free of the trees and am greeted by ten stalls and a large crowd of people. They all seemed fairly well dressed; I was definitely the poorest one here. There were five stalls on one side and the other five mirroring them. Each stall seemed a bit worse for wear, with holes in the sides and dirt covering them. I loitered around watching everyone chatter and trade.
“Ali? Is that you? It’s me, Luke, remember?” A warm voice asks from behind me. I whirl around and slam into a solid figure. I look up to see blue eyes, blonde hair and raised eyebrows staring down at me. That’s right, he’s that unregistered guy I’d run into.
“Oh hey. Yes I’m Ali and yes I do remember.” I step back and give him a shy smile. He runs his fingers through his blonde hair and mirrors my smile.
“Of all places, I wouldn’t have expected to see you here.” He laughs huskily. I give him a casual shrug, I guess it wasn’t that unusual that I’d run into him here. Right?
“I decided to check this one out, see what stuff it holds.” He raises an eyebrow at me. I eye him sceptically.
“What are you trading? I might be able to help.” I ease my backpack off and unzip it, keeping a firm grip; he glances in. He laughs lightly, bloody animal figures.
“Porcelain, very nice. Expensive too. Did you steal it?” I put a hand over my heart dramatically.
“Ouch, my feelings. Of course, I didn’t steal it. Are you going to help me or not?” I cross my arms and frown at him. I didn’t have time for jokes, I had to at least reach the wall before it got dark.
“Of course, there are ten stalls here. Clothes, food, furniture, bedding, armoury, weapons, jewellery, camping gear, water, and a superstitions stall.” He counts them off on his fingers. I roll the ideas through my head; I had ten figurines so I wouldn’t be able to get much.
“It’s your call. You look like you could use some food.” He eyes me up and down, jerk.
“Let’s stroll past them all and I’ll make up my mind as we go.” I turn and head down the middle of the walkway. I veer to my left and walk into the clothes stall. Rows of shirts, shorts, pants, bras, and underwear hang in front of me. A new pair of underwear would be nice.
“Good afternoon, my dear. What can I help you with?” an elderly woman calls from her makeshift bench. I walk over and give her a smile. She had her light brown hair pulled up in a tight bun with beginning grey hairs spurting from her scalp, she was quite small and plump. The sun had kissed her skin, bringing out her golden eyes. Luke strolls into the men’s section.
“Hi Ma’am, I was wondering if you would trade here?” I know not every stall trades some would want money. She frowns slightly.
“What did you have?” I set the bag on her bench and unzip it; she pulls the first figurine out and carefully begins to unwrap it. She gasps slightly. It was a small fox with a bunny peeking out from under his paws.
“It’s beautiful.” She looks up at me.
“I don’t usually do trades like this but I’ll make an exception for a pretty girl like you. Two porcelain figures of my choice for any four items of clothing.” Best. Deal. Ever.
“Yes, you have a deal ma’am! There are ten in there, they’re all different.” She smiles and begins looking through them. I turn and head towards the girl’s section, now what did I need. I pull out a pair of black high-waisted tights, they should do the trick. I had a few shirts, so maybe I could get a pair of nice jeans.
I casually browse through the jeans until a black pair catches my eye. I pull the jeans off the rack and fold them over my arm. I pull a dark green sweater off the rack, I run my fingers over the material; I hadn’t felt a texture so soft in such a long time. I add it to my pile. One more piece left to find. I walk around, taking in all of the colours; I settle for a black long sleeved shirt. I fold it onto my pile and walk back to the old woman.
“I have my four pieces.” I put them on the bench and scoop my backpack up. She had the fox and rabbit figurine accompanied by a howling wolf.
“Ah yes, Wonderful choice my dear.” I give her a warm smile as she places them in a plastic bag.
“There you go my dear, thank you for the figurines. They’re beautiful.” I give her one last smile and leave the stall. Eight figurines left.
“So, what did you get?” Luke asks, suddenly beside me.
“God-damn, don’t scare me like that. And it’s just essentials.” I shove the plastic bag into my backpack under my figurines. My stomach growls.
“Can you take me to the food stall, please?” He links arms with me and guides me through the crowd; we finally come to a halt outside of a fairly small stall, it was beige-yellow with a sign reading FOOD hanging above the entrance.
“Now, let me do the talking, otherwise you might get ripped off immensely.” I nod, trailing after him. The smell of old food is strong in the air.
“Good afternoon young man, what can I assist you with?” The middle-aged man asks from behind his wooden counter. His hair was greying, and he had a crooked smile matched with a potent stench. I pass Luke two porcelain figures.
“This is real porcelain. I don’t know when you’ll ever get a chance to lay your eyes on these again, or better still, own them.” He places them on the counter; there was a horse mid-gallop and an owl in flight. The man picks them up and examines them.
“Hmmm, I’ll give you a loaf of bread and half an apple for them.” He reaches behind the counter and pulls out a loaf of bread and half of a browning apple. Luke snorts.
“I want two loaves of bread and two apples. Don’t you realise the true value of these? Because I’m sure someone else might appreciate my services.” He begins to reach for them when the guy grabs them up.
“How about a loaf and a half of bread and a set of browned bananas?” He replaces the apple with four, medium brown bananas and places another half loaf onto the table. Luke turns towards me, this much food would feed me for a while. I give him the thumbs up. He passes me the bread and bananas and I carefully put them into my backpack.
“It’s a deal then.” The guy smiles, taking the porcelain figures somewhere out back. We stroll out of the stall and stop in the middle area.
“Well Ali, that leaves you with six. Do you own a weapon?” Luke looks down at me. I gulp; I’d never even held a weapon before.
“Truthfully, no. I wouldn’t even know how to use one.” I was clumsy enough as it is, I didn’t need to add unnecessary danger to that. He links arms with me and we walk towards the weapon stall, where machetes in all shape and sizes glisten in the sun.
“Luke, I don’t think this is necessary.” He lets go of my arm and holds open the curtain that closes off the interior. He looks at me and winks.
“Of course it is.” We walk in and my heart drops, there is row after row of hunting knives and swords in all shapes and sizes. He walks up to the owner and starts chatting. I walk over to the medium section of hunting knives. My eyes latch onto a certain knife and I pick it off the wall and rotate it in my hand. It had a decent weight about it, but the design of the knife really struck me. The handle was varnished oak, which led to a black blade that spiralled at the top. I was mesmerised, how could something that brings so much damage be so beautiful?
“Do you like it?” Luke asks from behind me. I fold the knife in and hold it; I can’t believe I was saying this. “It’s beautiful.” He takes the knife
from me and examines it; passing it back after a thorough look.
“I bartered with him. He said you could any medium-sized hunting knife for three figurines.” I look back down at the knife and nod slowly. It wouldn’t hurt to have a weapon, I guess.
“Yes, it’s a deal. I mean, I guess I can figure out how to use it.” I laugh nervously, yeah right. He walks back over to the guy after I give him the figurines and in no time, we are walking around the small markets again. The approaching sunset begins to touch the tips of the trees with darkness.
“I have three left, I could use some clean water.” He nods and leads the way. The woman takes one porcelain figure for two small bottles of water. My bag is beginning to weigh me down. I’m about to say my farewells when the stall at the far end caught my attention, I point towards it.
“What stall is that?” Luke gazes that way.
“The superstitions one? They have some pretty cool crap in there.” I nod and head towards it. Maybe there was something that could keep the grobblers away. I enter and am hit with the smell of lavender incense.
Pendants hang from the wall, along with dream catchers, hand-made bags and lots of other things that I wasn’t too sure of. I walk to the counter and place the two porcelain figures on it. There was a snake about to strike and a cat about to pounce.
“Hello ma’am, I was just wondering what I could get for these two figurines? They’re pure porcelain and the only two I have left,” The lady behind the counter lifts her head, peering out from under her dark dreadlocks. She eyes the figurines closely.
“I haven’t seen porcelain in years…” She reaches out and strokes the snake. She looks back up at me again.
“I may have one thing you might like.” She reaches behind her desk and pulled out a small box, she opens it to reveal a black rock shaped as a spearhead hanging from a leather chain. I eye it warily. The lady takes it out of the box and holds it up.
“It’s an obsidian stone, found very rarely in these times. Its main purpose is for protection. I fear in the near future you may need it.” Her green eyes cloud over and she places the pendant back in the box. I reach out and stroke it; it was beautiful and would look even better on.
“You’ve got a deal.” I take the pendant from the box and clip it around my neck; it hangs just below the centre of my collar bones. As I turn to leave she grabs my hand and leans in. “Beware of that vampire, he’s nothing but trouble.”
I fumble for words but nothing comes out. How did she know? She lets me go and disappears out the back before I can ask questions.
“Are you done, Ali?” Luke calls from outside the tent. I guess superstitions aren’t his thing. I walk out and the pendant shimmers in the dark, his eyes linger on it.
“Nice rock.” I slap him playfully. Trying to shake off my uneasiness.
“It’s a very nice rock indeed.” We walk in silence to the end of the stalls, where we’d first run into each other. I stop and look at him.
“Thanks for helping today, I really mean it. I would have been lost if you hadn’t found me.” I laugh and rub my forehead. He shrugs and gives me an easy smile.
“Anything for a pretty girl such as yourself. Now, will you let me be a gentleman and walk you home?” I look up at the sky; there was no way I’d get back to the wall without help.
“Oh gosh, yes please. I have no idea which way to go.” He nods and links arms with me again. I laugh lightly.
“Lead the way, most noble knight in shining armour.” He chuckles at that and begins to lead the way through the forest.
CHAPTER 5
I hold onto Luke’s hand as he guides us through the darkening forest, not brave enough to walk on my own.
“So, have you thought about joining us yet?” he asks casually, brushing aside a branch in our path. I nibble my lip; I knew nothing about him or his group.
“I honestly haven’t had a chance to think about it. It’s been a crazy few weeks. What does your group do anyway?” I keep pace beside him as my eyes adjust to the darkness.
“Uhh, well that’s the thing…” He trails off, rubbing the back of his neck. My palms begin to feel sticky.
“What is it?” I ask, my stomach beginning to churn. He looks away from me, checking our surroundings. He leans down, his breath tickling my cheek.
“We’re vampire hunters,” he whispers. I stumble, catching myself on his arm.
“Vampire hunters?” I choke, appalled at the thought of it. He looks down at me, frowning.
“Yes, vampire hunters. We’re the group that keeps them under control. We protect the other people who aren’t registered. They usually join our group afterwards. Does that bother you? They’re just vampires. It’s kill or be killed in this world.” He takes in my confused look off, my mouth hangs open. Holy shit. He was a vampire hunter.
“I just…wow. Wasn’t expecting that…for you to say that.” I stumble over my words, trying to grasp the concept. He stalks forward a few more steps ahead of me, putting some distance between us.
“We have to look out for one another, Ali. Those bloodsuckers have no mercy and an endless thirst for blood. I wish it was only humans again.” He looks up towards the stars, sorrow clouding his eyes.
“If you’d seen the things I’ve seen and had to witness…You’d understand.” He looks back to me, pulling me back into step.
“There’s some good in this world, and it’s worth fighting for. No matter what the sacrifice. No matter what the cost, good must always outbalance evil.” I keep quiet; as soon as he drops me to the wall I would not be seeking him out again.
I hadn’t had a proper conversation with another human in a very long time, it was almost primal. He’d done most of the talking while I’d choked on nearly every single word I’d wanted to say. I couldn’t seem to find my words after finding out he was a vampire hunter. He didn’t seem to mind talking though, which was good because I preferred to listen.
He’d asked my opinion about the difference in trade markets and I easily answered that one, I loved the one outside the wall. I recalled the sweater in my backpack and got giddy thinking about it. We made the last part of the trip was in silence; at least I knew why he knew this forest so well. We reach the clearing and a few feet ahead sat the huge wall. We stand in the bushes for a few moments.
“Thank you so much, I would have gotten terribly lost.” I laugh at myself, I’m such a klutz. He laughs at that too.
“Considering I saved you from tripping five times, pulled you out of the way of a bee’s nest and, might I add, stopped you from eating those poisonous berries, I don’t doubt that for one second.” He bursts out laughing at the memory; I pout my lips.
“In my defence, those berries looked really good, okay.” I roll my eyes at him and giggle. He smiles softly and rests a hand on my shoulder. The sickness I’d felt earlier was slowly subsiding.
“You know, Ali, you’re not alone out here. It’s a terribly big world and I would hate to see you restrict yourself to this small prison. You know I’d be more than happy to welcome you into my little family. We’d have a very special place for you.” His hand drops as he gazes at the wall. I step back a little.
“Yes, I know, you’ve mentioned that before. I’ll consider it, but I’m not making any promises.” I finger the pendant around my neck softly. I can barely talk to him, so I’d hate to think how I’d be trying to talk to a group of people, especially knowing they’re all hunters. He eases his hands into his pockets and shrugs.
“I’ll wait here and keep watch while you get back into the sewer, just in case.” His eyes dart around examining the area. He must be on the lookout for vampires. I give him a small smile and slowly turn away and make my way to the grate. I lift it easily and ease my way in, stopping just before my head disappears inside and give a small wave. He waves back and disappears back into the wilderness. I hadn’t realised how easily the grate had lifted for me until I’d got to the bottom of the ladder. As I’m slammed into the side of the sewer,
I curse myself for being so unaware.
A hand closes around my throat. My hands fly up and grab it instinctively. I open my eyes to find dark, sunken eyes glaring at me. The hand is bony but strong.
“What do we have here?” His voice rough from hardly using it. Apart from being scared shitless, I take in his features as much as I can from the moonlight spilling through the grate. He was unregistered, and by the looks of it too far gone from the hunger. “What…do…you…want?” I manage to choke out. He loosens his grip on my throat slightly, still holding firm. He looks me up and down, his features rough and starved.
“You’re vampire friend killed Gavin.” I hold my hands firmly at my side, guilt fills the pit of my stomach.
“I’m so sorry. He’d already… killed him. I wish I could have changed what happened.” I take a deep breath and see tears roll down his cheek.
“He was my friend. He was my friend!” He cries out, his voice echoing along the walls. This would attract unwanted attention.
“I know and I’m so sorry.” Tears spill down my cheeks.
“He was all I had.” His hand drops from my throat. I take a deep breath in and watch him. He looks utterly defeated.
“I…” I’m lost for words, there was only so far sorry could go, only so much it could heal.
“I wish I could hurt you. I wish I could make you pay.” His torn clothes hang loosely to his figure, he looks up at me.
“Here, take this.” I shrug my bag off and pull out half the loaf of bread and break off two bananas and pass them to him. He glares at me for a long time, not saying a word. Finally, he takes them.
“Thank you, but this changes nothing.” I nod; I hoped the bread would help. I blink and when my eyes open again, he’s gone.
CHAPTER 6
Immortal Awakening Page 6