16 Twilight (14)

The moon hung high in the sky above the garden. A thick layer of fog had covered the entire place, shrouding it with a layer of dense air. A breeze of wind swept through the tree branches and bushes as their rustling made the quiet night more eerie. The cold could spike through the skin as a knife cutting through meat, the effect of both, were equally disastrous.

Inside the fog itself, stood a single wooden hut. It was the gardener's hut, Yohan's hut. Usually he would only light a single torch, which would illuminate the front yard of his house, but tonight was different. Two rows of torches, twelve on each were placed neatly in front of his house. They were carefully paced so that 4 men could stand shoulder to shoulder between the torches and not touch one another.

However, at the end of the two rows was a single elven woman, tied to a pole. She was wearing a maid outfit that was standard for castle servants. However, her eyes, and mouth were wrapped with black clothes, and her body was left naked without protection against the cold night wind. There dozens of beating marks that dotted her skin, something that was only the appetizer of what was to come.

A normal person would've cried or screamed as if they had been kidnapped, but the maid was silent. She knew this would come, and so, she wasn't surprised when a dozen or more footsteps slowly made their way to her.

She couldn't identify any of the footsteps, who they belonged to, but that was redundant when a single booming voice was heard from the general direction of them.

"Yin of Aleanwel" The voice said, calling her name.

It was masculine-sounding, belonging to a man, older than most, but she already knew that. The footsteps closed in on her and a hand pulled the mouth wrap off her. The tight wrap had been tied to her head, so when it was pulled, the resulting force almost snapped her head. Yin took a breath, it was a luxury she probably won't have any second after this.

"S...Spy…master…" A mandatory address must be said, no matter the situation.

"I wasn't supposed to be here, oh dear Yin" The spymaster quipped. "I was supposed to be halfway to Richtersfelden when one of our seer informed me an attack was happening inside out very own headquarters"

Yin didn't dare to answer, or more precisely, she didn't know what to say.

"I was on a very important mission at that point Yin, I was relaying a message for our lady, our future liege…who was supposed to be in YOUR protection, Yin!"

The spymaster closer in on Yin. His hand rubbed the neck, and then gently pushed against it, causing Yin to be strangled. She tried her best to breathe, but she moaned in pain harder, grunting and panting as the spymaster's hand toughened around her neck.

"So…? What do you have to say for yourself?"

For a moment, Yin mustered all her strength to answer one single honest question. There's no way she would lie, the spymaster knew all about everything.

"I-i…was…mopping…th-e..wwet-floor..in..h-her….room"

"MOPPING FLOOR!" The spymaster exclaimed. "The life of her highness Elissa sil Elizaron, chosen of the moon, future grand princess, was at risk and you were MOPPING HER WET FLOOR?!"

"..."

"Ha-ha.."

Yohan intensified his strength on Yin's neck, causing Yin to faint before he slapped him in the cheeks, preventing her from losing consciousness.

"I entrusted you with a sacred honor to keep her highness from danger, and you paid my trust back with this?" He chuckled.

The spymaster let go of her neck. For one second, Yin was feeling grateful to whoever was in heaven, but then she could smell the obvious odor of metal, before long, a sharp edge was placed firmly on her neck.

"Have you ever thought, dear Yin. What if she didn't survive? What would happen when the goddess's own Avatar died because you thought mopping floors were more important? Have you ever thought about that? Hmm?"

His breath so close made Yin tremble in fear. The air that he exhaled made the chilling air even more colder.

I don't want to die.

I don't want to die

I don't want to die

"Oh, Yin…What should I do with you…?" Yin was biting her tongue when the sharp blade pushed against her neck. The sound of her heartbeat could be heard as it pumped out blood faster than Yin had ever experienced. This is it, this is where she died.

"STOP!" Another footstep, this time lighter than the others, moved fast from behind her and pushed Yohan's body from Yin. She took a deep breath, and another, and another, all in rapid succession.

"Ugh…" Yohan quickly recovered from the ground. Murmurs started rising as he looked forward and saw the child that was standing between him and Yin.

His heart skipped a beat, as he realized who she was.

"Sera…"

"Enough of this, Dad! Leave Auntie Yin alone!" she shielded Yin's body with hers.

The crowd around them didn't bother to comment, the initial whispers began to quiet down as Yohan looked at each one of them.

"Sera….you don't know anything dear…c'mon, come to dad here" Yohan opened his embrace as much as he could, imitating someone requesting a hug, but Sera was stubborn.

"I heard what you and auntie Yin were talking about, I know what you want to do with her!" Sera stood defiant even as Yohan's face slowly darkened and he began walking slowly to her.

Oh, child, run with your life! Yin said in her heart.

"Then…you should know who you are protecting right now is TRAITOR!" Yohan's voice was harsh, it was nothing Sera had ever heard from him. It broke her heart somewhat, a certain emotion slowly crept up from inside her, when it reached her head, it began flowing down in the form of tears.

"Don't you hear what she said?! It was a mistake! We always make them! Cut her some slack! Besides, I was there with Elissa when it happened! I protected her! There were also her guards!" Sera talked unusually fast, the pace was faster than the slow walk Yohan was having to reach her.

When She stood opposite of the intimidating tall figure she mustered everything that she could and said. "I won't let you touch her! I WILL SACRIFICE MY LIFE IF I HAVE TO!!"

The air stopped for a second, as Sera unconsciously showed her two pairs of fangs, both in her upper and lower teeth. She hissed, as she stared at Yohan with her blood red eyes, unwavering. Yohan couldn't help but to chuckle, she reminded him of a life he had abandoned for this job.

He signaled one of the crowd members, one of his assassin agents, to give Sera a sword. An alaric gladius, short sword, an antique piece, which could predate even the oldest living vampire. As Sera confusedly took the sword and pointed it at Yohan, he also drew his own.

Sera hesitated, She didn't realize her father would take her words so seriously. Her grip loosened as she looked up from the sword and stared forward 4 steps from her, where Yohan was in his battle stance. She gulped, a fear came up replacing her tears with sweat.

"C'mon then, show me that you would defend Yin from me! You know what would happen if I win right?" Sera gripped her sword tightly, She wouldn't let the nice lady whom she had been close to these couple of days be taken away from her.

Sera moves forward, with her sword way above her head.

"RAAAAHHH!"

But, her supernatural strength made little impact as the attacks were masterfully or-more accurate-carelessly parried by Yohan. It was obvious he was toying with her. He didn't even bother to properly parry as a simple force was strong enough to divert Sera's attack away from him. Sera grunted.

"HYAAAAHH"

Now, she tried to stab him instead of slash. Yohan simply sidestepped away, letting Sera's imbalanced stance take her body down to the ground on its own. As she fell, the sword slipped away from her right hand, and dropped several feet away from her.

"Grrr.."

She pushed her body off the ground as she looked left and right trying to find that damn sword. When she found it on her far left, she crawled to it, but found the foot of her dad stomping on it, preventing Sera from taking the sword.

"LET GO!!"

There was a slight pause, then Sera felt her entire body being kicked away by a strong leg. Her light and fragile body landed right by Yin's pole, she grunted again and again, trying to dispel away the pain so that she could continue fighting.

"You're holding back, I can feel it!"

She lifted her entire body and got up as soon as she could. Her eyes now filled with hatred and anger as the red in her pupil continued to darken. She imitated a wolf, opening her palm and stretching her fingers as if there were claws on them

"In a real fight, dear daughter…you enemies will not hold back, and so, neither should you!" Yohan threw Sera's sword back, it landed on her feet.

As Sera gripped the sword, something awoke inside her. Her eyes became wide and opened, stiff as she was having a vision.

Dark castle.

Blood moon.

A man, sleeping in a sarcophagus.

Yohan saw Sera as a dark hue began covering her body. The entire atmosphere suddenly was tight, there were signs of red skies as the girl that was Sera was slowly turning into something horrifying.

Sera smiled as she spoke in a horrible demonic voice, one that Yohan had heard all those years ago.

[HELLO THERE YOHAN, LONG TIME NO SEE]

Yohan stood silent as each assassin in his entourage began unsheathing their blades and trying to protect him. Yohan stopped them with a simple hand gesture as he stared down his possessed daughter.

"LUCIAN! BEGONE FROM MY DAUGHTER, YOU GOD-FORSAKEN VAMPIRE!!!!" His voice boomed as if chanting a powerful spell.

[OH?] Lucian looked down to inspect his new possessed body, then he let out a dreadful wheeze that shook the core of the other assassins, so much so that they had to cover their ears. [YOU MUST MEAN MY DAUGHTER, THEN? HAHAHA, OH YOHAN…HOW I LONGED TO FINISH OUR FIGHT, BUT IT SEEMED IT IS TOO LATE FOR THAT]

The vampire gazed at the old man. His eyes were sharp, but it was fragile. His figure might be bulky, but it wasn't resilient. His skinny was no longer tight, there were spot where you could pitch it without any force.

Suddenly, the dark hue around Sera started disappearing as her body fell to the ground, unconscious. The sky reverted back from red to dark and the fog retained its gray color.

"Sera!" Yohan rushed to pick up his unconscious daughter, who was lying on the ground.

He quickly sat down to look at her closely. His hand gently touched her for any injuries she might have had. Then, he stuck the back of his hand to her forehead, it was hot.

"It's just a fever" That's what the physician turned assassin beside him said. "She'll be alright"

Yohan's mind raced to think of what to do, such caring activity had never been done before by him. He never felt this much worry for some, not even for 'her'.

He stood up, carrying Sera with both of his hands. "She should rest, it's getting late at night" He looked at his agents again, one by one. This time, they saw not the face of a man they feared and respected, but a worrying father. "All of you, disband!"

They both began to disappear out of the garden, one by one. Yohan looked at the last one to stay, he remembered about the maid he was supposed to punish tonight, but now, there were more pressing matters.

He tore the eye wrap that blinded Yin, and loosen the rope that tied her to the pole. She fell down, by his feet. Her two hands had barely any strength left to prevent her body from touching the ground. Yin looked up to the man, with a relieved face, something she never thought of having a few moments back.

"Thank you, for this second chance, spymaster, thank you, thank you, thank you!" Yin repeated the words for a long while.

"Perhaps the Goddess had forgiven you for your past mistake, Yin of Aleanwel"

Yohan said, as he slowly made his way back to his small hut, leaving Yin alone dragging her body out of his sight.

"And hopefully, she would forgive mine"