A V I V A

As we make our way through the village, Alistair waves at some of his friends who pass by. Dwarves are out and about, selling and trading whatever they can. When we arrive at the cottage, it takes a minute to open the door due to my clumsy fingers. It's like I can't hold a stupid key or something.

Alistair and I step inside the cottage, turning the leaf covered lamps on. I rummage through all the drawers I can find, but none of them have what I'm looking for. Frustration is about to take over me, but at that exact moment Alistair drops a small, yet heavy pouch into my hands.

"Found it!" He flashes me a toothy grin. I smile and thank him, then stuff it into my leather boots, since I don't have any pockets with the rest of my outfit: an olive green tunic flowing over black tights. The leather bodice matches my boots and is tight enough to hold the bandage on my stomach in place. The dark cloak I wear has a hood that's just the perfect size; not too big and not too small.

Alani had filled my wardrobe with clothes she designed all by herself. She told me it was her dream to become a fashion designer. Even though pursuing her dream will be unlikely due to her current position, that doesn't stop her from putting a thread through a needle.

"Alright, let's go get that set." I say to Alistair. He's so distracted fixing my bed for me that he doesn't seem to hear me. I roll my eyes with a little smile and walk over to him, the pouch in my boots feeling a bit uncomfortable.

Wait, I swear Alani left me a bag of some sort somewhere here. I glance around the hut and spot the old, worn out bag slouching by the bed, right next to Alistair's feet. This time, I call tap his shoulder. He lifts his head, looking like a deer caught in head lights.

"Could you pass me that bag over there?" I ask.

He hurriedly swoops it up from the ground and hands it over to me with a nervous smile.

I raise a brow. "You know, you don't have to make my bed for me."

"Sorry. I guess it's a habit of mine now." He says with a sad smile.

This child is working much harder than I did when I was a kid.

Sighing, I shake my head at him and shove him out the door just like he did to me when we left Jon's shop.

Something that did not happen while we were leaving his shop but is happening now, though, is an attack. The sound of screams and cries fills my ears, as well as an ongoing ringing from the loud explosion. My eyes widen in shock as they travel to the fire that devours Jon's shop. Alistair's clutching onto my arm as he bursts into tears, watching Dwarves run in the opposite direction from where we were headed. They're coughing madly from the smoke and their entire faces covered in ash. Children are crying out for their parents while mothers and fathers are pushing through the stampede of Dwarves, trying to reach their kids.

Some are too late. Vampires appear from the smoke and swoop up the children like a bird of prey does to rodents. It's like a nightmare. More explosions destroy the village and dead bodies lay across the ground. I feel so frozen until my eye catches a familiar Dwarf, frantically looking through the crowd with a little girl resting at her hip. With determination, I run across with Alistair still holding onto me. Dodging Vampires becomes more and more difficult, but once we reach Alani and Alistair's sister, Vela, I feel like I can breathe again without having to worry about the boy.

"Alani! What's happening? Why are these Vampires suddenly attackin'?" Alistair tugs at her hand. She ushers us away from the crowd of Dwarves that continue to bleed.

"I don't know!" She yells over the blood curling screeches and turns to me with terror in her eyes. "But the blacksmith is still alive! Barely, but he's still alive. When his shop was attacked, I was right there. I went in to go help him, but he was badly injured. He begged for me to save myself, that poor man!"

More screams.

More explosions.

More blood.

My heart is pounding wildly against my chest, and my brain is urging, me to stay put. Don't do anything stupid. You need to stay alive. But I don't think I could live with myself if I run away without at least trying to help, knowing I can help.

"Alani, where is Fiske?" Vela frowns.

"I-I'm not sure." She admits. My heart aches for her and all these villagers.

That's all it takes for Vela to burst into tears just like her brother.

"Alani, I need to go help Jon, and hopefully retrieve whatever weapons I can if anything is left." I tell her. She begins shaking her head furiously, but I only sigh and press a pained forced smile. "Thank you for saving my life, but now you must save your own and your cousins'. Find a safe place to hide. Run. Surely all these Dwarves are fleeing somewhere. They must know someplace to run to."

She hesitates, biting her already bleeding lip. "Yes. There's another town, not too far off. If these kids can keep runnin', we'll be there by dawn. Stay safe, Miss. I hope to see ye again soon."

I give her a hug before kneeling down to say goodbye to Alistair. "Be brave, kid. For Alani and your sister. I'll see you later, alright?"

Tears begin trickling down his cheeks once again. "Please don't go, Aviva! It's not safe, not one bit!"

Trying my best not to reveal my sadness, I wink at him. "Sometimes we got to live a little dangerously, don't we? I'm going to miss that delicious tea of yours, though."

This earns a small laugh from him. "I'll teach ye how to make it once ye find us again. Or who knows? Maybe we'll find ye instead."

I nod, ruffling his hair once again before pulling him into a tight hug. I don't waste anymore time after that. With one final wave to the three of them, I turn without looking back and run into the thick layers of smoke.

It's almost like running blindly right into death.

I run behind the tossed over wagons, giving me some cover. Rubble is scattered everywhere from the cottages and shops that once sheltered happy Supernaturals. Bodies litter the ground, drained of blood that has been sucked by Vampires. This is wrong. Vampires shouldn't be needing to feed on other Supernaturals. Blood of birds and small mammals is the only thing that should be on their menu.

So why are they attacking?

Somehow I manage to go unnoticed by the Vampires. They're too busy feeding off the dead Dwarves and chasing after the ones that remain. I can only hope Alistair and his family are out of sight, but with the many Vampires that cloud the sky along with the smoke, there's little of that hope left.

Once I finally reach what's left of Jon's shop, I creep inside and search for him. Yes, the place is still on fire thanks to all the wood used, and yes, it's falling apart, but with the amount of adrenaline I feel pumping through my veins, that's the least of my worries

The cobblestone around me begin to crumble, so I move faster. The bag on my back is probably tearing because of all the sharp rocks I keep running into. Smoke continues to fill my lungs even though I'm covering my nose with my cloak.

Still no Jon.

My feet kick against something that is obviously quite heavy. Confusion crosses over me while I crouch down to take a look.

It's the bow and the quiver.

Excitement rushes through me as I look to see that all of the arrows are still there.

Looks like I won't be paying six hundred and fifteen coin after all.

I retrieve the set from the floor and continue to search. I finally find Jon, but it's not how I wanted to.

I'd hoped he'd be alive.

The vampire crouching over his body obviously doesn't seem to care about my wishes.

He's dead. There's no time to sob. You can't do anything. Just run.

I don't.

The creature isn't facing me, giving me a clear view of it's paper white skull. I had read somewhere that this species of Vampire has a weak spot, right where the neck meets the head at the back.

My shoulder burns as I reach for an arrow and stand upright, moving my feet apart a little bit. I attach the arrow to the bowstring in one swift move and raise the bow, pulling the string towards my face and draw it back as far as it can go. Pain ripples through my shoulder once again as I aim for the head, but I ignore it and focus until I release the arrow, watching it dig into the back of the Vampire's neck.

It lets out an ear piercing screech and claws at its neck, pulling the arrow out with black blood gushing everywhere. It turns around so quickly and charges, making me stagger back and shoot at it once more. I didn't expect it to get as close as it did, so when it's long claws swipe at my legs, I have to thank my reflexes for forcing me to get out of the way.

My fingers find a handle of a dagger on the floor. The blade is literally on fire, so I don't even think before hurling it at the Supernatural. My aim isn't the best, especially now with my shoulder that I just injured even more. The dagger pierces its chest, some of the flames licking away at whatever flesh there is. That is the last blow before the Vampire finally collapses.

Justice for Jon.

♡♡♡

Eeeh, double update! It's 1:00 AM, and I'm updating now XD Ah, the things I do for you people.

Heh, so the Vampires seem to be attacking quite often, huh? First the palace, now Nogrud. Aww, poor Jon :( But hey, at least Aviva isn't defenseless anymore lmao. So she's on her own again. I wonder what'll happen next 🤔

Thoughts?

Anyways, Imma go sleep now before my mom starts screaming like a banshee again. Also, if you see any errors in the writing, please let me know because I'm too tired to proofread lol.

Don't forget to vote and comment!

❤ Chloe