Dance with the Devil

Chapter Two

   An empty gurgling sound sputtered past the vampire’s lips as what little air he had was forced out of his lungs as I jerked my blade upwards. Liquid warmth covering my hands as his blood ran from him, the flow becoming stronger as I sliced open his flesh, stopping only when my blade hit bone.

   “You…” he breathed, his red eyes fading into a muddy brown as he finally resigned to his death, his weight now falling a top me, “…trouble.”

   “That’s the consensus,” I grinned and jerked my blade out of him, causing him to choke one more time.

   Before I could push his dying body off of me there was a loud thunk above my head as more boots met floor, then the vampire’s head jerked upwards before a torrent of blood poured over my body.

   “Luke,” I murmured as I spat the blood from my mouth. That too was a punishable offense, to consume the blood of the dead. It was once practice amongst our barbarian forbears, but to do so only made us like our enemy and it was quickly outlawed, “I had him.”

   I rolled the now headless body off of me with a grunt and shoved my dagger back inside my boot before looking up to the man loomed over me.

   He wasn’t handsome in the traditional sense, not like the lords at court. He did not wear a powdered wig over his long brown locks or white his face anymore than I did. And his brow was long, his nose crooked and his jaw strong. A far cry from the almost feminine appeal of the men of the aristocracy, but to me, that is what made him attractive. Luke was all man, all strength and power.

   “He had you pinned to the floor,” he said sternly as he cleaned his own blade with the vampire’s shirt before sheathing it at his side, “and he had begun to disrobe you, I had no choice but to protect your honor.”

   “I was the one who disrobed myself Luke,” I took the hand he offered me and he hefted me easily from the floor, “I fear that tailor took you for a fool, that jacket was not for fighting.”

   He frowned and picked the garment in question from the floor, “its seams are strong,” he gave it a tug, “and the wool is of the strongest weave.”

   “That is my point, it doesn’t move with me. It restricts rather than gives.” He held it up for me so I could slip my arms through its sleeves and I slid my own blade inside its sheath on my back before I demonstrated the problem, “See,” I said as I hunched over, mimicking the slicing move I had used on the vampire just a moment before, “It stops me mid swing, I was unable to go deep enough because of it.”

   He nodded disapprovingly, “I see,” he grumbled, “I shall have a word with him the next time we happen that way.”

   “I still appreciate it Luke,” I added on when I realized how ungrateful I was sounding, “It is not you I am unhappy with but the tailor. He seemed…reluctant at all to fit me in men’s clothes.”

   Luke gave me that shinning smile of his, the one that reached all the way to his brown eyes and took my hand in his, bringing it to his lips for a kiss, “I know love, but he should not have woven his prejudices into his work. That was very disreputable of him and he has lessened my gesture because of it.”

    Since that day he found me in that alley, bruised and broken, both physically and mentally, Luke has taken a special interest in me. More than just one of my brothers, Luke was my teacher at first, seeing the great potential in me that others would have overlooked simply because of my gender. He started as my mentor though that quickly turned to friendship, and then he became my confidant before finally, my love. Though only recently I had found the feeling was mutual.