The Lady of Shadows

Steady paces

Using magic constantly was tiring. The old man made sure to use up everything I had daily. First with building a town center, then houses and stores, then a large wall to surround the village and fields... including vents for the river I made... It had barely been a month and life had began to return to the area. Crops were growing, the hunters had better hunts, so much so that I could avoid going with them most the time in favor of building up the village.... But leveling areas and building houses completely from magic gets exhausting no matter how much power you have. Still the people accepted me and would shower me with praise for all the hard work. And Seeing as they had nothing I wanted aside from growing enough to establish a trade route and build a reputation from the gossip that would follow, I only accepted a good meal with the villagers and a place to call home for the time being. 

    "My Lady Shadow!" Someone called. I looked up and saw someone slumped against the village gate. I could smell blood. The labored breathing... but the form was far to big and the muscles said it wasn't anyone from the village... Life was better for them but none of them had gotten that much muscle mass. I stood and walked over. The man was bleeding enough to have killed him twice already, but his eyes gleamed with a red hue. A vampire then? 

    "Please help..." He gasped. I steadied him as he began to fall. The smell of blood made me gag but I helped him to the house I called home and laid him on the floor near the fire. I lifted his eyelids to see if he was still with us, and his eyes reacted to the light. I took a deep breath and summoned any magic I could to stop the bleeding. It worked well enough. I tried so hard to keep myself from being drained normally, but... for some reason this guy.... I looked down at him and even with the look of pain something about him made my heart hurt. He was tall easily 6 foot or more, with tan skin, and firm tones muscles. His hair was a dusty blond where the blood wasn't soaking in, and his eyes were in fact red, but more of a ruby hue than the blood red I was used to back home. I was sure that once he was at full health he could be a great asset. I sighed and offered my wrist to his mouth.

    "Drink. I can tell what you are and this is the only way I can help you right now." I ordered. He latched on at once and accepted my wrist. The pain as he bit in made me flinch but I sat still and waited. After a moment I felt his tongue run over the wound and it closed itself up. He looked more alive now and sat up with a grunt.

    "Thank you..." He grumbled. I looked up at him. He had a strong manly face. Any woman would swoon over him. So he could work two angles... the brute or the Casanova. Either way he could be useful. I suppose I was quiet a moment to long because he took my wrist in his hand and looked it over before leveling himself with my face.

    "Sorry, Lost in thought. I'm fine." I said shoving him out of my face. He sat  down and looked around. 

    "I don't remember a town here..."

    "It was a poor village. I happened across it and began helping them improve it." I said.

    "Oh... so kind of you." I picked up a bit of sarcasm in his voice and turned to look at him.

    "Considering I just saved your life as well, you may want to limit how rude you are to me." I said calmly. 

    "I get it. But you aren't actually kind... You're helping them and me for a reason, right?" He asked.

    "Sort of. I want to advance my skills and eventually be a renowned adventurer. Having this small village spreading my name once a trade route is established will help get my name in the air, but it does them more good than me. So basically I'm helping them for a huge discount. You other the other hand... were not planned. I can tell you have skills and some uses, so I figured why not." I answered.

    "What kind of uses do you have in mind.... cause I'm not one who likes to owe people, so the sooner I pay you back the better." He growled. I laughed as the sound reached into my chest and echoed in my heart.

    "Well, I could use your body to help the village, or you can stick around with me and when I move on I can use your body to get people to take notice. Either as a guard or as a woman distractor." I laughed again. 

    "What?" He asked.

    "Nothing. I'm tired. For now get some rest and we can get details settled in the morning." I said. I stood up and made my way to my bed... I was almost there when the world faded to black. 

I woke up on the floor still dressed. I stretched out making some unnatural popping sounds come from my arms and neck. I sat up and rubbed my face. So that's what happens when I over use magic. Noted. I got up and cleaned up for the day. 

Walking outside I was greeted by a bright sunny sky and the village children running by screaming about who would be the best hunter when they grew up. I shook my head and went to find the old man. 

    "Ah, Welcome back to the land of the living Lady Shadow." The old man greeted me as I walked up.

    "Hello. Thank you... What's happening today?" I asked as I stretched again ready to get to work.

    "Well Dominic has already done most of the work for today... We were just about to break for lunch..." 

    "Dominic?" I asked. Then a heavily muscled chest filled my view. I looked up to see the gigantic vampire. 

    "Yes?" He asked. I guess Dominic was his name. I hasn't even asked that... Oh well. For now he was helping and that was good news. Because a few days off was exactly what I needed right now to make plans to keep the village growing....