"Argh!" she exclaimed, stepping back as the large animal, hackles raised, strained at its rope leash to try and get at her.

"Stop that this instant Butch!"

Triane saw a young, smart looking man come out and calm the dog, patting it and placing a comforting hand around its collar.

"I'm terribly sorry young miss, he's never usually like this you know."

"Heh, it's quite alright," Triane laughed, if not a little nervously. "Guess he doesn't like strangers."

"Where you from," the man asked after quietening the dog, who even then would still not take his sharp eyes from Triane and growled softly in the back of his throat.

"I come from quite a way away, I'm a traveller in these parts you see, and was looking for supplies for my onward journey."

The man, who then introduced himself as Gurrien, the eldest son of the village leader, said that she would be more than welcome to purchase anything that she needed here. Outtencroft was a friendly village and had many travelling types pass through it.
 
 
 

The sun was just going down as Triane was led by Gurrien through the village square, washing the sky in a pale pink and orange sheen, liquid and almost translucent. There were a number of people coming out of their houses and shops, almost as if they were running on clockwork as they started to light the many torches and lanterns which were bolted onto the walls of the buildings all around, bathing the place in a warm and friendly glow.

"So whereabouts are you headed?"

"Grichdenstein, a Sarafan Stronghold, it was recommended to me by...a friend."

"I have been there once," Gurrien smiled. "A lovely, most beautiful place, but it's a dangerous journey for one so young as yourself, if you don't mind me saying."

"I have come this far," she smiled back, not at all offended, "And I am not travelling alone, my companion decided to...go on while I am gathering the things we need here, I am going to catch up with him later."

"You're not staying at the inn?"

She shook her head, "No, I'm quite fine."

Gurrien looked at Triane with a critical eye. "No offence Miss but I couldn't help noticing your wounds."

He pointed to the bloody makeshift bandage which was round her arm. "Are you sure you wouldn't like someone to see to them at least?"

"If you could direct me to a place where I could buy the things I need for them as well as other items, that would be more than helpful," Triane smiled pleasantly. "I prefer doing things for myself you see."

Once again Gurrien frowned slightly, however he eventually resigned himself to Triane's stubbornness and took her to where she wanted to go. There was something about this woman that interested him, so he decided to stay with her throughout her shopping trip, despite sensing her slight irritation at his constant presence. Yes, there was something about her he could not quite place, and Gurrien was determined to set his mind at ease and get to the bottom of it. Unfortunately for Triane, he did just that.
 
 
 

"Raziel!?"

Raziel looked up as Triane returned, her pack once again full and her wounds nicely dressed, she had even brought a delicately braded crimson cloak which she now had wrapped around her shoulders.

"Did you enjoy your shopping trip?"

"Let's go."

Raziel's eyes narrowed slightly, "And what, prey tell, is the rush?"

"I thought you were the impatient one, look let's go. I don't want to camp here tonight after all."

In the distance it seemed that there was some kind of commotion coming from the direction of the village and as Raziel looked back to Triane, he saw that she was already making her way quickly towards the deeper part of the forest.

"Could you please explain what is happening Triane."

"Nothing...nothing..."

He hurriedly caught up with her, glancing behind himself as he heard a commotion of voices and a smashing of branches, wildly flaring torches smashing through the low branches and the forest's undergrowth.

"Triane I demand you tell me what is going on! Those villagers are pursuing you!"

"There's no time to explain!" she panted, her trot turning to a full out run as she spread her lightly gloved hands before herself and pushed branches away from her face as she bundled through as fast as she could.

"You're not going to out run-"

A crossbow bolt came whizzing past Triane's head and buried itself in a tree, inches away from her left ear. She let out a small gasp of horror as Raziel grabbed her and pushed her head down as a rain of missiles came hurtling above their heads and thwacked noisily into the surrounding undergrowth.

"What did you steal?"

"NOTHING!" Triane hissed as she was dragged along by Raziel, her arm almost being wrenched out of its socket.

Behind them, the villagers were gaining fast, their torches now bright and menacing against the overhanging branches which cast darkened shadows across the narrow dirt path Triane and Raziel were now stumbling down. They had weapons too, the blades and spikes glistening in the flames, the rough guttural shouts of male voices causing Triane's pulse to rise, her heart thumping in her throat as she allowed herself to be dragged along.

"This way," Raziel hissed, dragging her off the path and into a densely overgrown section of the forest. He was hoping to be able to lose the villagers by going off the path, but a length of Triane's new cloak became entangled in a branch and by the time Raziel had managed to free the struggling woman, the villagers were almost on their heels. 

"Hold it right there!" A young yet hard male voice ordered, holding his torch up to the shadows.

"It's me they want," Triane whispered harshly at Raziel. "You'd better go."

"I know there's two of ya!"

"It appears it is a bit late for that," Raziel replied nonchalantly.

"Come out immediately or we'll shoot you where you stand!"

Triane looked at Raziel, then look a few steps forwards, coming into the light, her hands slightly raised.

"You shot my companion, it's only me here."

"Told you I got summat," a voice from behind cut in. 

Triane recognised the man who seemed to be in charge, he was the village elder's son, Gurrien. He had also been the one who had given her the cloak she now wore, and the one who had accidentally found out her secret.

Raziel watched on with interest from behind the dark cover of the nearby bushes, ready at a seconds notice to spring upon anyone who made a move for their weapon. 

"If you come back to the village you will not be harmed." 

"I know that is not true," Triane laughed. "Why would you have brought all these weapons along if you only wanted to escort me back."

"She knows Gurrien, kill her now!"

"Yes kill her."

"Burn the evil one!"

"Quiet!" Gurrien snapped back at his companions, bloodlust rising in their eyes as he turned to Triane.

"I promise I won't let them hurt you."

"You were shooting at me earlier."

"As you can see a number of them are rather trigger happy, I give you my word as a gentleman Miss Triane."

"Then what would you do to me if I was to follow you," Triane asked, her voice gaining a mocking quality, her eyes glistening. "Lock me away like an animal? Laugh at me? Study me?"

"I....we'd find something for you to...."

"Enough!" Triane snapped, drawing her sword before any of them could blink, "If I am going to die, I would rather it be fighting for my freedom."

"I quite agree."

"Gurrien!"

Gurrien span round just in time to see a shimmering wraith like blade sever one of the villager's axes in two as the rest split in terror as a vile blue skeletal being laid into them, its spectral weapon slashing through their meagre armour and weaponry as if it were made of butter. Grasping this opportunity, Triane raised her blade and swung it at Gurrien who was in fact a lot quicker at drawing his weapon than realising what was going on behind him. He met Triane's blow full on the mid point of his sword, pushing her back with all his strength. She was surprisingly strong and retaliated fiercely, the clashing of their blades intermingling with the screams and shouts of those desperately trying to stop Raziel and his bitter onslaught.

"Call them off and I'll get him to stop!" Triane snarled, swiping a low cut at Gurrien's feet, which he jumped over easily. 

"What kind of demonic scum are you?" Gurrien snapped back at her, hitting Triane across the left shoulder with the hilt of his weapon. She screamed in agony and fell slightly to her knees as Gurrien savagely kicked the sword from her hand and slashed the blade across her arm. Grabbing Triane's cloak, he ripped it from her shoulders, twisting his sword blade to her neck, preparing to plunge the weapon down into her prone helpless form.

"Not so fast."

Gurrien's wild eyes looked up and saw Raziel standing above him, slightly bloodied, the Reaver's tendrils curling round his arm. His gaze continued past Raziel and to the ground where the rest of the small group of villagers lay along with their weapons, a few remaining shouts of those running away echoing back through the darkened forest.

"W....what have you done."

"The very same you were trying to do to us," Raziel informed Gurrien. "Now leave the woman."

Gurrien hesitantly got up, Raziel snatching his sword off him.

"Y...you don't know what a mistake you are making..."

"Oh do I not?" Raziel sneered, gesturing to the fallen men. "Now go follow your cowardly brethren, or I will personally help you on your way to where your other companions are now, and I can tell you personally that you would not like it."

Gurrien gulped, trying not to look at the bloodied remains which lay around him.

"He means it!"

"I'm going, I'm going," Gurrien snapped, stumbling away angrily, "but we'll be back to get you, you haven't been the first and we won't rest until all fiends such as you and your vampiric companion are scourged from Nosgoth. On that you have my word. Your deaths will be slow and painful, we will make sure of that!"

"Yes, I can see how you can talk your enemies to death," Raziel replied, pointing the Reaver towards him. 

"You will not survive the week, we will hunt you down monster!"

"Just leave! Leave me alone! If there's any monster around here it's you!" Triane cried angrily, shakily drawing her throwing dagger from her belt and flinging it in Gurrien's direction missing him by only an inch. Seeing that this would probably be a good time to make a hasty retreat, Gurrien turned and ran as fast as he could after the remaining villagers.

"Are you alright?"

Triane turned back to Raziel who was standing beside her, his claw gently touching her bloodied arm, her bandages now loose, the old wounds across her back reopened.

Triane looked at the bodies around her and sank to her knees. Worried she was wounded worse than he had at first imagined, Raziel picked up Traine's cloak and tried to wrap it round her shoulders.

"We should be taking our leave of here," he said slowly, trying to help her to her feet and get her to move but she seemed shocked and stunned. "Most of them are only wounded, they ran before I could do more."

"It...it's not that."

"Then what? Come Triane, you heard what he said, there may be more shortly, or are you badly hurt?"

"No...I.."

She looked down at the bloodied material of her shirt, trying to cover her left arm more closely.

"Do not cover it, you need to bandage it. Tear off the sleeve and use that."

"No...I can't...."

"Triane, you are losing blood."

Shaking her head at the slightly confused Raziel she grabbed her sword and used it as a prop to help herself walk.

"Let's go then."

Deciding that questions should be asked later, Raziel led Trine from the forest and into a clearing. From here he could see their original path some way to the north east. Mountains rose up in the distance and a small stream ran through a valley some way below them. It appeared that there were a number of small hamlet type settlements further along, which would probably be a good idea to avoid after what had just happened. Knowing that they really should find somewhere safe to settle for the evening, Raziel chose to take a small dirt track which seemed to lead into farmland. It was open, but at this time of night no one would see them, a number of old stone buildings, probably used for storage could also be seen and used as cover.
 
 
 

It was well past midnight when Raziel was happy that they had travelled far enough and set the weary Triane down by the edge of a small brook and brought her some water to drink, filling up her canteen and placing the rim of the bottle to her lips. Triane accepted it and drank thirstily.

"Why...why are you looking after me?"

Raziel shook his head, and came to kneel by her, "I am not quite certain."

Placing the canteen down she looked up at the shining white eyes which looked down upon her with a concern she had not expected.

"Are you going to tell me now what has been going on? Those villagers were treating you as if you were some kind of demonic being more likenable to my current self than to a young human female."

Triane looked down at her hands and then to the bloodied sleeve covering her arm.

"I...." she said, her voice almost a whisper, "I'm....."

She seemed unable to complete her sentence and instead gently moved her hand to her the left sleeve of her bloodied shirt. With a sharp tug she ripped it from the main body of the garment. Raziel gave a short sharp gasp for instead of having soft pink flesh, her arm was deathly pale, almost grey, a shocking contrast from the rest of her skin. Her hand which had previously been covered in a light leather glove she now exposed, her fingers which instead of having feminine type nails were tipped with short yet undisguisably vicious looking claws.

Triane sighed and looked up at Raziel.

"This is why they ran me out of the village. When I was trying the cloak on, that man Gurrien offered to help me. I said I needed none, but he ignored me, and I struggled a little, my glove coming off in his hand. It only took a second before he was crying out that I was a monster. I pushed past him, grabbing my things and ran back towards where I had left you. They grabbed forks and torches, yelling kill her, kill the vampire, but I'm not...I'm no, I wouldn't have hurt them, but then I don't know what I am...I..."

Her head fell into her hands.

"Triane...."

She eventually raised her head, trying to compose herself but a wetness glistened about her large expressive eyes.

"When I used to live in the Boarderlands, myself and a party of others who had been out gathering food were attacked by creatures we had never encountered before that were heading for my hometown. Myself and a number of others fought them off, but I was injured by something, I'm not quite sure what, and when they took me back to the infirmary they realised something was wrong. I was beginning to change...change into one of them."

She looked disgustedly down at her arm.

"The healers did all they could but all they could do was slow down the process. They would not have banished me from the town but I knew they now all feared me and I was scared that I may turn against them against my will.......There was also no chance of a cure if I stayed there and I didn't want my family to see me degenerate into....." she paused, "So that is the true reason why I set out on my journey, why I hope the Sarafen can help me, but in the few places I have been and told those of my problem, all I have been met with is hostility."

"Do you know why?" Raziel asked slowly.

"Yes," she nodded, "The vampire curse. There have been more and more around Nosgoth over the years. It's becoming more like a plague than a curse. The people are so frightened, anyone who shows any kind of understanding or similarity to them, or any of the other monsters which can now be found around Nosgoth, is treated like scum."

"I know," Raziel replied slowly, touching her arm softly. "When I was a human, I was a Sarafan, a violent being with a lust for killing but then as a vampire I was exactly the same. Now as this, I look back on everything I was with a self loathing you could never understand, neither side are more righteous than the other and yet they continually fight."

"I know, I have seen both sides now. I saw the same light as was in the monsters eyes in Gurrien's. He wanted to kill me just as much as the ones which did this to me, but.....but I'm scared, I don't want to forget who I am, attack those who were once my friends, not all humans are like that, you must know this!"

"Yes, I know."

Triane sighed and lent up against Raziel who held her gently in his arms, supporting her tired and bloodied form.

"My wounds heal quickly, I have found. I need no healer, just some water, they heal on their own accord. But I'm still not infallible, I am only part.....well you know what I mean."

"You should do best to sleep.." Raziel told her softly, "I do not believe we will be troubled by anyone again this night. I will keep a watch nevertheless."

"You won't fall asleep."

"No, I will not," he replied, and would have smiled if he could.

"Alright," she said, pulling her blankets out from her pack and laying them across the ground. It was a fairly warm evening and all she needed was the covering of her cloak to keep her warm. Raziel watched her snuggle down into her bed role and wondered why the other humans he had met were not more like her. She had a strong flame of fierce humanity burning inside her, yet used her lust for life in a way which helped others and for once Raziel wished he could have had a more positive memory of himself when he was human. 

"Good night."

"Good night, Raziel."

Triane smiled as she closed her eyes, tentatively reaching out and laying her hand upon Raziel's claws. He said nothing but slowly closed them around her small hand as she shut her eyes, now able to sleep safely in the knowledge that she had found a kindred spirit, someone who understood her plight and actually might even help her.