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[Lady Avella]

---

Zento


The anguish of night is my protector.
Like a moonless cloak thrown across my shoulders the darkness envelopes me.
I am fierce in my desire.
Reticent of law I eye the rising tide …

****

My ship, The Valkyrie, slips silently into the harbor of Zento and slides gently against the docks.
The first to fall; a sailor drunk on sake.
His throat a gaping hole where blood and air mix in a choking gasp of surprise.
Or was it understanding?

What did they expect, these barefoot fishmongers?
What result did they envision?
Their cherry blossom dreams turn nightmarish as I climb the hill and stand outside their walls.

Six hours till dawn.
I will wreak such vengeance upon this land that even their gods will quail at the slaughter.
The daemons of their legends now come alive to walk their streets and avenues as I speak the words and bring the dead to life.
Daemon knights they stand as twisted version of their former selves.
I send them east and west to add carnage to the score.
Nothing stands.
No sacred bird.
No dog.
No cat.
No horse.
No dark-haired merchant girl.

I snap the neck of guards and slip between the houses.
I stand at the center of their city and cast my white eyes upon their buildings and their fallen, bleeding bodies.
My back is bent, my claws outstretched.
My hair sticky with the lifeblood of their race.
I have not come to negotiate.
I have not come to write Haiku or whisper poetry to their noble lords.
I have come for vengeance and nothing more.

I am called “lady.”
Perhaps once that was true, long ago, when my mother taught me poetry and art.
When my father showed me the nature of a Noble.
A kind word.
A nod of approval.
A curtsy to a King.

I bow to no one now, save one, but even He is absent from my dreams.
No longer “lady” I am naught but the undead vision of perdition.
“Wreck havoc” they cry, these swollen, festering souls.
I shall bathe naked in the blood of the living.
Draw from them the life of their kindred and satiate my own selfish hunger.

Stay true to thy nature I was told and so my nature now is death.

The wooden docks of Zento run slick with blood.
My feet are stained with it as are my hands and face.
My hair a matted knot of gore.
And yet I smile and twist my lifeless eyes back toward that city on the bluffs.

I stand before the sail and guide my Valkyrie queen into the sheltered night
To await the sleep of day. Tomorrow another night; another taste of life
for I shall return again and again until the citizens of Tokuno kneel in abject horror and whisper my name in fear.

[Lady Avella]

---

New Haven


From the shadows I watch as the mortals prance and sing in celebration. Giving thanks they sing. For what I wonder, their lives? Perhaps.
I suppose even the mouse or rabbit give thanks to be alive for one more day, safe from the talons of the raptor or the quick claws of the cat.
But for how long I wonder. How long before the nightmare becomes the real.
Before the talons strike and the fang bites deep their flesh.

I watch amused, until I see my own kindred sitting among them.
Wearing the mask of mortality they break bread with the very creatures upon which they feed.
I wonder which is the greater lie; a human pretending to be powerful,
or the truly powerful pretending to be human.

I was mortal once. I pranced and sang upon the tides of Yule and bandied after a young Lord's wink or smile.
A lovesick school girl. A maiden fair.
But no more.
Now this mockery of life does not permit such eccentricities.
Does not permit such dreams of celebrations.
Now I feast upon living souls and watch their thanks spill out upon the cold hard stone.

Some may call me hypocrite for taking to my bed a mortal lover.
A minor Lord of Trinsic, yes. And perhaps rightly so could be their cry of foul. For the Laws are clear and the violation undebatable.
But I keep my oath upon the Laws for he too, this Minor Lord of Trinisc, will go the route of all my lovers, be they male of female.
He will die as surely as his Paladin’s Oath would compel him to destroy me were he to learn the nature of my true self.
Perhaps he knows already but finds his dreams of Fay and Sprite much too pleasant to abandon.
It matters little, for I will drink my fill of him and take his pleasure as a sign of his humanity born out upon his youth.
I will fill my coffers of affection until my boredom overwhelms me and he will die as quickly as the others; with surprise upon his lips.
And thus the Law is kept.

I watch my Kindred play upon that stage. How quaint our need to remember who we were.
Blend in with the mortals with a smile upon our lips. Smell their blood as they sit next to us.
As they praise our beauty and intelligence, we nod and act the part.

Call them in my lovesick sisters!
Call them in as the shadows deepen their resolve to live while ours expand to embrace their lovely bones.

And thus it ends this night of celebration.
This giving thanks for our misery and loss.
They go their way to house and home.
I follow, mindful of my needs.

[Lady Avella]

---

Trinsic (just after sunset)


I step barefoot onto the docks at Trinsic and walk towards the clean broad avenues as I have a hundred times before. A light snow has fallen and the breeze blows it through the sails of my ship like confetti thrown for a returning Hero. I bow, open my arms and express my gratitude at their most generous reception then laugh that my schoolgirl imagination permits me such moments of levity.

I stroll past the familiar shops and wonder why the streets seem devoid of traffic. Surely it is not the hour. For, even though the sun sets early now that the Equinox has passed, the time for closing of businesses has not yet come. Perhaps it is the chill as winter has already set its sights on this city by the sea. But then, as I approach the palace and the silver strewn paths of its central gardens, I begin to notice a change in the air. A tense foreboding bordering on fear. Do I dare imagine my landing has sent the entire city on edge? But no, I am not worthy of such conceit for I am careful in the Hunt and take only those I deem equal to the task. I have, over the last few months, developed a keen taste for the Lords of Trinsic. Their blood is sweet and warms me like no other. Better still, their Paladins’ for theirs is holy blood bound to an oath and sworn to destroy evil. The irony is not lost as I turn the corner and stop. The gardens are empty, devoid of the finery of class and station and here the sense of fear is strong. No, this is something else, something sinister and more ancient than even my own bloodline.

Carefully I enter the garden where, three months past, I met my sweet Lord of Trinsic and spent many a night in his arms enjoying a brief respite from my own sad failings. But to no avail, for he too has gone the way of dust; as the Laws demand. But here, under the now leafless trees, I find instead a tattered, wind torn scroll nailed to an ancient Ash. The night deepens and the stars wheel overhead as I read.

Fascinating. So the old ones I have read about in the lost and scattered libraries of this world, the slaves of the Uviel’en, have returned to claim the city theirs and to rule as did their masters before them. Their war with the humans renewed, I suspect, as the warning on the parchment states. I glance around the empty garden feeling somewhat sad for the mortals who still inhabit this grand city. Fear taints the blood and turns it bitter. But no matter. Our hunting grounds have evolved to mark the transient nature of our prey. As the humans abandon or are pushed from one parcel of land to another so we will follow as we have for centuries upon countless centuries. As the lines on a map and the names of cities change, so shall we follow suit. Call the city what you will it still remains subject to the passing of time. And even as its brilliant walls crumble into dust and the names of its rulers are long forgotten, the Kindred will hunt and pass the time reading the ancient histories. I toss the parchment to the ground and begin the long, slow walk back to the quiet docks of Trinsic. I will find no Minor Lord here this night. No Paladin of the sanctified blood or wealthy merchant. Perhaps tomorrow I will sail to Cove. I have a cousin there I have not seen in years.

The night sky bends over backwards as the stars weep for the City of Trinsic soon to be called another name. Provided, I would imagine, the warlords of this land permit the change, but then I am not prone to politics or the petty squabbles of mortal beings; be they human or otherwise.

The Valkyrie sets a true and steady course for Cove. I hear their blood is just as sweet. Their Nobles just as versed.

[Lady Avella]

---

Nujel'm


“These belonged to my mother,” he says, handing me a box. “I wish for you to have them.”

Aghast I stare at him, this Knight of Trinsic,
this Paladin of virtue, this man of pious faith.
The diamond earrings sparkle up at me like some brilliant memory of past lives, past romances.

I turn away.
Hide my face in the flickering shadows of the dinning hall.
My silence misinterpreted, he moves toward me,
his voice filled with honesty and concern.

“Dear Lady, I meant no disrespect. Only to enhance your beauty with this simple gift of my affection.”

I hear his words and my mind bleeds with confusion and doubt.
This was not the plan!
This was not the result I sought!

Does he not see?
Should he not touch my icy flesh and recoil?
This symbol of his affection is naught but a silver stake through my heart.
A reminder of loves lost and lords of standing who once vied for my affection
but who now lie dead beneath the earth.
Along with countless others, driven to their end by my unrelenting hunger,
my thirst for breath and life; for blood and horror.

What now, I ask myself.
What now?

A moment to compose myself, to push aside these thoughts .
I turn and thank him for his gift.
But the hour has grown late and his weariness speaks of the coming dawn.

“You shall remain here, in Nujel’m, as my guest,” I say.
“A room at the inn has been set aside for you.
Come I will accompany you there and see to it you are well cared for.”

He bows and accepts my invitation.
We walk, in silence, the short distance to the Inn.
The eastern sky blushes with the first pinks of dawn while opposite,
my loving moon bows low.


***********

Unsettled is my rest.

While the hours pass I lie entombed with thoughts of darkness.
Unsatisfied passions rage within until the early setting of the sun.
I rise once more, take up my mantle of responsibility and see to the safety of my city.
The moon has risen full and bathes the streets with her anemic light.

I am drawn to him. To the Inn.
Silent I approach and stand behind him.
He has not heard me enter and reads from his book
as if no danger in the world could ever touch him here.

“Good evening sir,” I whisper.

He moves, not startled, but deliberately he turns.

“Good evening Lady, I was expecting you.”

I study him.
He is not like the others.
Does not fear me.
Does not flinch or withdraw.
I need not glamour him for he knows; of this I am sure.

“It is a fine evening sir. Perhaps a walk along the shore?”

He agrees and we walk a long way out
to the spit of land that ends far beyond the docks of my sweet city.
Here we sit and talk of things long forgotten to my mind.
The simple grace of conversation, of duty and honor, of nature and of life.
He speaks of life, of love and the immortality of faith.
I listen as the sea laps the shore beneath my feet.

He knows; he must.

His touch is warm against my flesh.
His words speak of sweet abandonment.

He knows; he must.

I take him, there, upon the sand,
under the moon whose light shines as pale as my own flesh.
My passion overwhelms me, my hunger howls.
I shall not kill this Knight of Trinsic.
Unlike the others he shall live to die, only to live again.

In my passion I take him, bleed him and make him truly mine.
If I am forbidden the Lord I most desire, then this one will serve.
This one will stand at my side as one in death.
As one in terror.

It is done.
The irony of life still holds, for me, some semblance of mercy,
some recompense for loss, some kiss of humanity that slumbers in my soul.
Another crime.
Another sin.
The card is full.
Payment shall come due.

He knows.
Now he knows.
Now he knows for certain.