Haldred Chronicles: Alyssa (3 page)

“Thanks” she
said.

He wasn't hiding
his goofy grin.

“You can stop
that now.” she said, raising an eyebrow.

“Sorry.”

“See you
tomorrow.” she said with a smile, before turning to head off.

She glanced back
to see him still at the door, watching her go.  They waved to each other.  Only
when he closed the door did she step into an alcove and giggle in delight.

“I just got
flirted with!” she giggled to no one in particular, hugging herself with a
beaming smile that could have melted ice.  She had not felt this happy in a
depressingly long time and wanted to savour the moment.  Even her normally pale
complexion seemed to be beaming with an inner light.  She was doing the oddest
of little hops at the same time.

She had met a
boy.  A human boy.  Whom she'd kissed!  She was unable to stop smiling.  But
just like most things in Alyssa's unlife, reality decided to step in and ruin
things a just little bit.

“Are you alright
Miss?”

Alyssa almost
leapt out of her skin, suddenly doing an impression of someone with their back
glued to a wall.  She found herself staring at two Larrick City militia men on
the street, their round rimmed metal helmets and red and blue padded jerkins
identifying them, each holding a lantern and evidently trying to figure out
what the hell was going on with the young woman in front of them.  They had
curious, critical looks on their faces.

“Oh...sorry!”
she stammered.  “I just, ah, the guy.”

Both of them
seemed wary of her, exchanging glances.

“I just got
flirted with!” she blurted out.

“Okay.” said the
one on the right after tense seconds, his frown deepening.

She suspected
that they, unlike James, were affected by her unnatural aura.  She took a step
forward to check.  Sure enough both of them stepped back, hands automatically
going to the swords on their belts.

“I'll just be
going then.” she said, quickly turning on her heel and walking off at a quick
trot before either of them could enquire further.  She could feel their eyes
watching her as she left, with hands she strongly suspected, still on weapons. 
Secretly, she had hoped her experience with James had meant that the aura was
gone.  For good.  That even her vampiric condition was suddenly cured, but the
militia men had confirmed that was not the case.

She wasn't in a
fairy tale; this was real life.  Damn it.  Quickly she turned a corner and was
out of sight.  At least it meant James was unique, her kind of unique.  She
liked this.  She checked the night sky, still very dark.  Always darkest before
the dawn, so they said.

Best to hurry
off then.

* * * * *

Alyssa's
adventures were not done that night.  She had one more odd situation to
encounter, which she found as she rounded a corner onto Holt Street.  There in
an alleyway off the street she saw a very fat ugly man in mucky work clothes
with his hands around the throat of a young and completely terrified looking
girl in a brown dress.  Even from a distance, she could smell the alcohol. 
Instinctively she acted on seeing someone in danger.

“Let her go!”

Alyssa had found
that one particularly useful aspect of being a vampire was the commanding voice
which, when used right, compelled weaker willed individuals to do exactly as
she told them.  Unfortunately the fat man before her was rather drunk; it wasn't
working.

Fudge.

“Blah ha ha!” he
slurred, letting go of the girl regardless but now turning his formidable bulk
toward Alyssa.  “Wa's thes?  Annather little girly?  You's stay aut ah this. 
Me and her gonna ave sum fun!”

The girl was
backing away down the alley on all fours, her frightened breath misting in the
cold night air.  Her face was as pale as...well as pale as Alyssa's, although
given her current circumstances Alyssa was pretty sure she wasn't a vampire;
she was just terrified.

Alyssa wasn't terrified. 
Something the fat drunk in front of her was about to learn the hard way.  She
took an authoritative step forward, and the drunk reacted by pulling his right
hand back threateningly.

“Ga autta it!”
he growled and swung for Alyssa with the back of his hand.

Alyssa didn't
consider herself a good fighter.  Indeed in most circumstances she preferred to
avoid close combat in all its marred and horrible forms.  She did have a
problem with falling over, after all, whether she had been hit or not, but she knew
her strengths, one of which was blocking.  Like a lightning bolt, her hand shot
up and with more strength than a young woman of her size or stature had any
right to command, she stopped the drunk's arm mid-swing.

He blinked;
sudden confusion and shock written plainly on his ugly face as the small girl's
hand held his much larger arm in a vice-like grip.  Alyssa allowed herself an
evil grin.  She brought her other hand up to grab the drunk’s elbow, and
twisted; he suddenly found his arm twisted at a very painful angle round behind
him by someone two foot shorter and several feet thinner.

“Grah!” he
managed.

“My guardians
always said you have to beat manners into a boy,” Alyssa whispered in his ear
with an air of menace.  “here's how.”

She pushed, with
a significant degree of force, and the fat man’s head impacted hard on a wooden
storage crate stacked by the alley wall, making one impressive hole in the
crate, and one very unconscious drunk.  She let the limp body collapse to the
ground like a sack of potatoes, before turning to find the damsel looking at
her in mute shock.

“Ah,” Alyssa
said.  “hey.”

“Hey.” the girl
managed in a whisper, her eyes wide in fear and surprise.

This close
Alyssa could see the girl was no older than her (in human years).  Maybe
sixteen?  She had long blonde hair in curls, which had been slightly messed by
the drunk, and deep blue eyes, watery with tears.  She was beautiful, with the
kind of features you either admired greatly or were very jealous of.  That
beauty was marred only by the terror on her face.  The drunken man at least had
taste. 

“Are you ok?”
Alyssa asked, taking a step forward.

She was ready
for the expected reaction.  Normally after rescuing someone like this
(something she at least got right more often than hunting bad guys), the aura
thing would kick in and the rescued person would suddenly become very wary of
their rescuer, then very scared,  eventually running off without so much as a
thank you.  This one however, did none of these things and so Alyssa was entirely
unprepared for the real reaction that manifested.

“Oof!” she said
as the youngster leapt forward and hugged her tight, burying her face in
Alyssa's chest.

“Thank you!” she
practically screamed, sobbing.  “I was so scared, thank you. Thank you!”

Alyssa made to
speak but she just managed to mouth a few indistinct noises.  It was now her
turn to be shocked.  This was entirely unexpected and that made twice in the
same night!

“You're
welcome?” Alyssa hazarded after a few seconds, though it was a little hard to
breathe.  Alyssa didn't need to breathe but she preferred to mimic it.  Seemed
only natural.  It was a very tight hug.  The girl continued to sob into
Alyssa's chest.

“Hey,” Alyssa
said, looking down and stroking the blond curls of the girl's hair.  “it's ok, 
it's over now, alright?”

S
he's like a
frightened puppy dog.

For a few
moments they stopped embracing each other, the young girl starting to calm down
and Alyssa attempting to figure out just what the hell was going on.  First
meeting a guy who wasn't immediately afraid of her and now, a girl in the same
position, apparently unperturbed by the fact she was hugging a freaking
vampire!  Not that she was advertising that fact, but still.  The aura that she
had didn't seem to be working at full strength tonight.  It felt nice actually,
almost human.  She nearly broke into tears herself at that thought, but
resisted.  Best to remain the stronger one for the sake of the lass
.

“What's your
name?” Alyssa asked as the girl's sobbing abated.

“Katy” She said with
a sniff, wiping her eyes.

“Well Katy, I'm
Alyssa.  You going to be ok?”

“Yeah.”  She
flicked her long blonde hair back behind her ears, trying to fix it.

“Gods,” she
sniffed again.  “I'm such a mess.”

“Could have been
worse.” said Alyssa

“Yes, if not for
you.” She smiled up at Alyssa, being just slightly shorter.  She was still
trembling with fear.  “Thank you so much.”

“Right place,
right time.” said Alyssa with a shrug.

She secured her
glasses again before peeking out of the alley, looking up and down the street. 
Despite the commotion they had caused not another soul was in sight.  The city
was fast asleep, unaware of the situation the two of them had just resolved.

“Where you
headed Katy?”

“Just home I
guess.  I live down the Barnsburn.”

“Well, that's
not too far.  How about I give you an escort?”

That seemed to
straighten the youngster a little, and she nodded enthusiastically.  Alyssa
gave the unconscious inebriated man a glance.  That glance generated an idea.

“Just do one
thing for me.  Wait outside the alley for a sec.”

“Oh?”

“Just going to
tie this guy up, you know, leave him for the militia.”

“Oh right.” Katy
nodded.  Fortunately she seemed all too happy to be given a chance to move away
from the alley and her would-be attacker, and not to question how Alyssa was
going to tie anyone up without any rope.  Alyssa, of course, had no intention
of tying up Katy's attacker.

Once Katy was
safely out of sight, Alyssa allowed herself the second evil smile of the
night.  The drunk was still unconscious.  She knelt over him, by his throat,
and opened her mouth.  Her fangs extended with a sound not unlike a cat
hissing, canine teeth jutting forth from her upper jaw into pin sharp points. 
They were long, reaching past her chin.  Sharp, pointed and intended for only
one thing.

Without
hesitation she plunged the tips of her protruding teeth into the man's
unyielding throat.  The blood ran freely.  Eagerly she swallowed it down
through
the fangs, the two bony points hollow and draining the blood just above her
tongue and down her throat.  It was the basest thing she ever had to do and she
hated doing it, but it was necessary to survive and she had learned to adapt to
it.

As she had
become more experienced at drinking blood, she had learned that the taste of
the blood would change to match whatever she imagined.  If, for example, she
imagined fine Tornar Red wine (smuggled in during one of the nights at the
orphanage all those years ago.  Her dorm had been bored of flavoured water),
that's what the blood tasted like.  If she imagined water, well, it just tasted
like water.  Whatever she thought of, the taste of the blood matched, as long
as she had tasted the real stuff before, which was a huge relief considering
her first drink had tasted of, well, blood, and she had had a hard time keeping
it down afterwards.  Her teacher had only told her of the method of changing
the taste after her first taste.  Apparently it had been an initiation of some
kind.  She'd thought it was just a cruel joke at the time.  Now however,
changing the taste to suit came more or less naturally.

The drunk was
taller and much wider than she so there was no chance of her totally draining
him, even accidentally.  She knew she had to be quick in case Katy grew
suspicious and wondered what she was doing.  It took a very short time to fill
her stomach and quickly she retracted her fangs with a vile sounding slurp; she
really hated that sound.  She then had the unwelcome task of licking the blood
from the two minuscule wounds (another precaution drilled into her) that always
seemed to shrink when she was done drinking.  Tasting the blood was fine but
his skin was another matter.

“Yuck!” she
concluded, smacking her lips from the drunk's sweaty taste once she was
finished.  She stood, feeling the contents of her stomach shifting inside her.
She realized she might have gorged herself a little too much in her haste.  Her
stomach felt swollen under her dress.  No matter, just meant she didn't have to
drink again for longer.

Checking that
there was no sign of blood on his clothing (or on her lips) she turned neatly
on her heel and left the even-more-unconscious fat man lying on the frozen
cobbles.  With any luck he'd awake with a worse hangover and wouldn't be
causing trouble for a long time.  Katy was waiting for her

“Ok?” she
asked.  She seemed to have calmed down a lot.  
Bless,
thought Alyssa.

“Yeh, well
stuffed now.” grinned Alyssa. 

“Stuffed?” Katy
queried.

Oops!

This is what
happened when you didn't have a great deal of human interaction in your life.

“Ah I mean,
he's
well stuffed now.” Alyssa stammered hastily, rather quickly removing her hand
from her stomach.  “Once the militia find him.”

“Oh right.” Katy
smiled after a few agonising seconds of hesitation (for Alyssa anyway), not
seeming to notice Alyssa had suddenly become rather more plump in the last few
seconds.

“Anyway,” said
Alyssa next, doing her best to move the subject on and forget what an ass she
had almost made of herself, “lead on.”

The two of them
started off down the street.  Alyssa was walking with particular care.  Her
stomach was very full with Blackice sweet water (her selected taste this
evening) and the last thing she needed was for the girl to be inquiring as to
when she had had time to eat between beating up the drunk and tying him up.

“So what's your
trade?” Alyssa asked, doing her best to cover another gurgle coming from her
middle.

“Barmaid,"
Katy replied rather timidly.  “I work at the Hanged Man.”

Yikes
thought Alyssa.  The Hanged
Man had a reputation as something of a hole cunningly disguised as a tavern,
said hole occupied by a variety of ne'er-do-wells. 

“I'm a barmaid
too” Alyssa settled on.  “Though I'm at the Elk's Horn.  You're a bit out of
your way here are you not?”

The Hanged Man
was in the poorest district on the other side of the city.  Far away from where
they were now.  Katy nervously flicked her hair back before replying. 
“Actually I'm looking for new work.”

“Oh?”

Katy fidgeted
with her blouse sleeves.  “The place is a bit scary.”

Alyssa nodded
sympathising. “It does have a reputation.”

She looked
thoughtful for a moment.

“You know, we're
hiring.” she said, looking across at Katy.

Katy seemed to
perk up.  “You think it could work?”

“No harm in
trying.  I warn you, a lot of our customers aren't human.  That a problem?”

Plus
neither am I.

“Not a problem. 
Actually I get on with non humans quite well.”

She hesitated
for a moment.

“Except...there
aren't any bearkin are there?” Katy asked, sudden concern appearing as a
spectre behind her eyes.

Alyssa shook her
head.  “Nah.  Ceiling's too low for them.”

Bearkin were
nine to ten foot tall creatures, taller even than ogres, possessing broad
shouldered, muscular bodies and bear-like heads full of sharp teeth, with claws
the length of daggers and a demeanour to match.  With that in mind, Alyssa
could understand the apprehension at serving them.  Katy looked relieved.