Thaddeus' POV
The ale house smelled particularly terrible tonight. A band of knights traveling towards the capital had decided to make it their stop for the night. The smells of sweat and horse manure were particularly bad tonight. I decided not to breathe until after I had the boys clean up.
I delivered another pitcher of ale to the loud men. They were stripped to their under garments and shirts. They must have ridden dozens of miles without a stop, and they were over exhausted.
All of the men were tall, nearly as tall as myself. Only one man stood a few inches taller than me. They called him "The Bear". He seemed a bit on the slow side. No doubt due to his size alone had he even managed to attain his current status.
"Hey gent, can we gets another round? An you have rooms upstairs?" Said one of the men. He was already slurring his speech.
I brought them a pitcher of ale after I added a few squirts of river water. They tipped me a silver.
"I have four rooms upstairs, each has two beds. I can me room on the floor if need be, and the stable has a loft. The hay is warm." My voice was clear so that he could understand me.
"Great. How much for the lot?" He asked, pulling a bag of coins from his blouse. His dirty hand held out more silvers.
"Normal price is a silver a night. For all of you, ten silvers sounds fine. And I can wrap you some bread for the road." I smiled. He widened his blood shot eyes.
"I'll have you twenty. You seem like a nice man, an' this is some good ale you 'ave here." He hiccuped. He held up his cup with the rest, and the wood splintered as they clanked the cups together.
A normal night it was.
I employed three young boys. They were sent here by their families to earn wages. The families were some of the lowest of the poor, and most of their fathers didn't make more than five silvers a month if at all. I would send them a silver weekly, and give the boys room and board. In exchange, they cared for the horses and kept the place as clean as we could do. During daylight hours it made things easier knowing I had things done.
After the drunken lot had made their way to their sleeping quarters, I set out to hunt for the night. I enjoyed the woods more than anywhere else. It was peaceful, and not a man in sight.
"It doesn't have to be like this, you know." I heard a voice behind me. How had I not heard someone behind me?
I turned to see a man in a black tunic and cape. He had black slicked hair and a beard, both touched with silver. I could see his blue eyes in the darkness. He was beyond my years but still looked absolutely refined.
"I know not what you mean, sir." I bowed my head. What was a man doing so far out here?
"Feeding off of animals is both unnecessary and difficult. I'm impressed." He said kindly. I narrowed my eyes. Who was this man? How did he know?
"Please allow me to intrude, but I see you're a bit inexperienced." He chuckled.
"Who are you?" I asked harshly.
"Ah, I apologize. I am Aldred. I'm a vampire, like you." He smiled. I tried to comprehend.
Vampire. Is that what I was? It finally had a name. I had never referred to myself as anything short of a monster.
Aldred was the gift I needed in my second life. He had wisdom beyond all of my years. He showed me how to use my skills, and new ones I hadn't known existed.
"Tricks of the mind can be a weapon, or a tool. You must decide to use them one way or the other." He taught. "We live from the blood of others. We do not need to kill to feed." And with some practice, I could drink human blood. It was a simple balance of power and restraint; Aldred showed me both.
I sold my tavern to a local woman and her whóres with promise she would maintain the boys, and Aldred and I set off to the city. We spent months there perfecting my compulsion, and studying art and language. It was my first step to future aristocracy. I learned how to safely consume human food again. I could eat and drink, but it would not satiate my thirst.
"There is something I haven't told you." Aldred said one night. We sat in a quiet ale house. I watched in the distance as a man wobbled himself to an old fiddle and attempt to play before falling asleep on the table.
"Thaddeus." Aldred said in a more urgent tone. I snapped my head to him quickly.
"Sorry. Yes? You've told me many things old man, are you sure you haven't forgotten more?" I chuckled. He remained serious.
"Thaddeus, our world isn't a simple one. You know this." He said. I nodded intently.
"There are humans that know about vampires. There are humans that kill vampires." His words hit me with shock.
"What? Why haven't you told me this?"
"Because I had to make sure you were worth saving." He whispered.
"They have existed since even I can remember. Hunters. Nature's balancers. They exist solely to hunt and kill our kind."
"And they're human?"
"Yes."
"Then can we just compell or kill them?"
"No, Thaddeus." He slammed his fist on the table. I stood as still as the wall behind me.
"Hunters can not be compelled. They are immune to our charms. We can not hide from them. And killing them will only bring wrath upon you. Where there is one hunter, there are always more. You may be able to fight one alone, but in groups they are lethal. They exist to keep a peace amongst mankind. Do you know how many hunters I've seen?" He asked. I shook my head.
"One. It was years ago. I was much like you. I was young, curious, but I was good. Hunters don't care. They don't care if you've been a vampire for two months or two centuries. They exist to destroy you. I encountered a hunter one time. He found me in a city larger than this one. I hadn't fed at all, and I kept myself hidden but he still found me."
"How? How did he know?" I asked, more scared than curious.
"I don't know. I fled the city after he tried to cut off my head." He said harshly.
After Aldred's story, I became fascinated with hunters. I reasoned that the more I knew of my enemy, the better I would be to protect myself. I wish I had known how wrong I was.
Aldred left the city in some business. He was cryptic as to why. He'd instructed me to be careful in the meantime. I spent hours reading anything I could find related to vampires or hunters.
I had perfected my feeding techniques, and wenches were my preference. It wasn't hard to get them alone. They would assume I was there to bed them, and that's how they remembered it. Each of them left with a piece of silver and more pleasure than they had had in their entire lifetime. And I left satisfied.
One night I was wrapping up with a bar wench. She was a voluptuous redhead and she screamed louder than a dying mule. I laughed as she left, buttoning up my shirt.
I was startled when I heard a loud bang. A man kicked in the door, holding a long sword. He wore a black cloak and I couldn't make out his face. He looked at me with fury in his eyes.
"Sir, I assure you I mean you no-" I tried to reason with him as he ran at me. He swung the sword at my head and I dodged him.
"What are you doing?" I said as he thrusted it at me again. I moved just in time to get out of the way. He was fast, very fast. And then I realized it wasn't a human. He was a hunter.
My shock left me temporarily distracted and I hadn't seen the knife he pulled from his pocket. He lungned, slicing my arm. The mark from the blade burned like fire on my skin. What was that? I began to feel weakness radiating from the cut into my arm.
"You're fast, monster. I enjoy a challenge." He grinned.
"Please. I mean no harm to you!" I tried to plead. He laughed.
"Your existence poses harm to all, and I can't let you live."
"I don't want to kill you."
"Pity." He said lunging again. I waited for the blow but there was none. He stopped in his tracks, eyes growing wide. His mouth opened to speak, but he fell to the ground.
I looked as a figure behind him stared back at me with harsh blue eyes, holding the man's heart in his hand. He dropped it on the floor.
"We need to leave." Aldred said with a harsh tone.
We left that night, fleeing by carriage. My arm still hadn't healed from the gash. It felt like fire burning from the inside.
"Oak ash." He said quietly, running his hand over the wound. I winced.
"It will take days.. but it will heal. We have to get far away. Where there is one hunter, more are likely to follow. We are already in danger."
We were on the road for about an hour before we heard the horses come to a halt. Odd. We had told the driver not to stop.
Both Aldred and I became alert as the smell of blood suddenly flooded the carriage. Suddenly a crash sounded behind us, and the carriage started to become engulfed in flames. I kicked open my door and we both jumped out quickly. We stood at the edge of a dark tree line watching the carriage burn. The driver was shot with two arrows through his chest.
Aldred turned to me. "Thaddeus. We need to run, we have to-" a whoosh sent an arrow through Aldred's leg. He collapsed on the ground.
"Aldred!" I leaned down to help him and he pushed me back as another arrow flew in front of my face.
"Run, now! NOW!" He yelled and I took off quickly into the woods. I stood a few hundred feet away and could still see him in the distance.
He pulled the arrow out of his leg and attempted to stand. Another arrow went through his shoulder, and he cried out. Two men ran upon him in cloaked hoods. I could barely see anything, but the long broadsword that one of them unsheathed was hard to miss. It came down, quickly removing Aldred's head.