The sky was red just like a summer sunset. The snow had stopped falling even though the road was still covered in it. The wind also died down but the chill still lived in the air. Sylvia listened to the sound of a robin singing from the branch of a tree as she stared out across the skyline. It was the first sign of life she came across since she saw Joan in the car not too long ago. She was sitting on her motorcycle by the edge of the mountain road that came from the woods. The strong glaze of the sun blinded her as she stare it straight on but she soon turned her attention below her in the distance. What lay below her that stretched for miles were the towering buildings of the city Avalon, resting on the coast of the ocean to its left.
“You have to be down there.” She spoke to herself. Even though it was miles from, she stared down at the city as if she was hoping to spot him but not even an eagle could try to search for anything like that.
Sylvia turned her attention to the sheath of her sword. She placed her hand on the symbol of the small bird with the lantern at the end of the sheath. She tapped the inside of the lantern, which was blue, and the sheath and the sword disappeared to the naked eye. “That should avoid me unneeded attention.” She said to herself, still feeling the weight of the sword on her back.
With that, she started up her motorcycle once more. The sound made the robin fly off in the direction of the ocean, ending its chirpy song and headed down the mountain road towards the city.
Within an hour she found herself driving through the brightly lit streets of the city. Avalon was known for its nightlife; clubs, bars, late night theatres and restaurant were open every night for people to pick from. Some market stalls out on the streets and shops were open till late also, some never even closed. No matter what it was there was something for everyone going on all night long making the city full of life. Of course this meant that life in the city was never quiet. Cars would fill the streets, music blaring loudly out of there windows. People of all ages would walk around the streets till at least midnight. It might have been only seven o’clock but Sylvia could tell that there were prostitutes already roaming the streets. Men and women could be seen down almost every dark alleyway doing all different things; selling drugs to god knows what.
Sylvia stopped at a red traffic light at a crossroads and looked around at all the people as she waited with thin patience. Traffic’s a fucking bitch. The car on front of her blaring music out didn’t help with her patience either and saw that it was going to turn the way she was going according to its indicator, frustrating her even more.
She could smell the scent of humans, werewolves and vampires off the hundreds of people that moved around her. Of course, neither vampires nor humans would be able to notice this as it was only werewolves that could tell with there high scent of smell. It was always unusual to Sylvia how each could smell different from one another even though they all looked the same but she was thankful for the fact that that was the way it was.
“There’s no way I’m going to find that guy by simply just hunting him down by smell.” She thought to herself. She soon turned her attention to the car on front of her as well. “It might be better as well to check around on foot too.”
Sylvia started to ride off the moment the traffic light went green and overtook the car on front on the inside as she turned left. The car beeped at her but she ignored it as she followed the street down, taking her next right. She drove on for a few more minutes until she came to a public parking next to a park.
She drove the bike in-between two cars and parked it. The parking lot was small and compact but thankfully she got the last space. She got off and took off her helmet before shaking her head letting her hair fly. The cold air felt good as it hit her face along with the rare drop of rain that fell. She crouched down beside her motorcycle and chained her helmet to the underneath of it, hiding it from view.
The area was quiet around her; the park had only a few couples walking through it, some sitting down by the pond in the middle. “Nothing here it seems.” She thought to herself as she looked across the park before eventually leaving.
She walked back towards the main street and looked around.
Christmas decorations hung on just about every building and street pole around and were even hanging up above the road from buildings across from each other. The words ‘Merry Christmas’ or ‘Happy Christmas’ could be seen in just about every shop window. The sound of well known Christmas songs and the ringing of bells being rung by people in Christmas outfits could be heard.
“I doubt I’m going to get any leads this early in the night.” She told herself just before she heard her stomach growl. “Might as well eat while I kill time, been almost a day since I last ate.”
With that, Sylvia blended in with the crowd becoming anonymous and walked the busy streets of Avalon, as she waited for it to get later. Eventually she found a hotdog stand and remembered in was ages since she last had a hotdog.
“Hey.” She called out to the owner of the stand. “Could I have one with a garlic sausage and then onions on top of it?”
The man eyed her and smiled, “Sure thing!” He whipped one up quicker then what she could do and gave it covered underneath with a napkin.
Sylvia handled it carefully before putting her hand into her pocket and taking out some of the money she was giving to Roger. “Keep the change.”
“Thank you, girl.” The man replied, delighted with even just the small amount he got extra. The moment he put it into a tray underneath the top of the stand he notice Sylvia was already walking away eating her hotdog. “Merry Christmas.” The man shouted after her.
Sylvia’s heart skipped a beat as she heard him which made her turn to wave at him before walking off in thought. It won’t be I’m afraid. Not again. Her own words though didn’t stay for long in her head and she soon got back to eating.
While Sylvia walked around with the hotdog in hand, she notice one or two people that passed her by moving quickly away from her when they smelled the garlic coming from the hotdog. Some vampires... I still can’t believe there’s some afraid of garlic. She remembered how people were always told that to protect oneself from a vampire back in old times was to hang garlic around you or your house. She of course learned from her parents that doing it did not protect you at all. Even though most vampires realised it, some still believed it was harmful to them. Although it was none of her business that people believed such things or not, it actually annoyed her when some still held onto such ridiculous beliefs. It was the same with religion. Sylvia stopped believing in any religious beliefs at a very young age. Of course this didn’t mean that she did not believe in a god, but after the way her life has been up to now, she wondered if she was considered a forsaken by her god.
The hours soon passed by and the clock tower in the centre of the city stuck ten, ringing its bells as it did. Sylvia looked up at it from a distance watching the hands slowly slide into place. A mist seamlessly started to fall as Sylvia continued to walk the streets with her hands now in her jacket pockets. She watched one or two shops beginning to close and people leaving them, carrying on with there happy lives during this festive season. The streets started to come less dense in people and cars, making it easier for Sylvia to search for any leads.
Sylvia soon stopped at a crossroad. She stared up at the crescent moon in the now cloudy night sky, the mist falling and resting on her face as she did. At that moment she felt a loneliness she hasn’t felt since she was a child. It made her feel...happy and at peace yet sad at the same time. I feel so unstable.
Her thoughts though came to a stop as she caught a scent of both vampire and werewolf in the air. She turned to her left, facing in the direction of the scent. A sinwalker? Her heart remained calm even as it picked up an extra beat every now and again. She made her way down the street across from her becoming brisk in her walk as the scent got stronger.
The street soon started to become quiet as it was heading away from the main section of the city. It seemed more run downed compared to other streets she walked through tonight. Some small buildings, the size of size of houses were closed down some even boarded up. It was one of few streets in the city where people could escape the noise and get away with things easier.
After walking for a few minutes, Sylvia could still get the smell of werewolves, but the scent of vampires was stronger and she could guess why.
On the path ahead of her were two men talking, leaning against a small old theatre, which was already closed for the night. One of the men notice Sylvia as she came into there vision and he walked from the wall of the theatre out to the middle of the footpath and stood in front of her way.
“Hey sexy. What’s a hot young girl like you doing all by your lonesome?” the man called out to her with a smile across his face. He was averagely built but Sylvia knew his looks could easily make any girl notice him. The other man could be described the same but his main difference was his fair hair compared to the other’s black hair.
“Get out of my way...” Sylvia asked him as she slowed down. Her attention was focus more now on them instead of the scent. Even though she could have just easily have walked to his side and continued, Sylvia was too stubborn to do it. She would never let anyone push her around, even when she was younger and she was definitely not going to let that stop now.
“Hey. I’m only trying to be nice to ya.” The man said coyly making the other one laugh. Sylvia notice when he did that his canines were too sharp to be a human’s.
He can’t even control when to hide his fangs? She knew that sometimes some vampires didn’t naturally know how to use there ‘abilities’ when they came of age. Some had to learn from others at times, some never learned at all. Sylvia looked away and ignored the man on front of her as she walked towards him, pushing him to her side as she continued down the road.
The man seemed to stumble a bit as he was pushed. “Hey you stupid bitch!” the man said as he grabbed her right arm and pulled her back.
The moment he pulled her, Sylvia reacted quickly and twirled with the pulling momentum, taking her gun out while doing so and pointing it straight at his head. The two men stood there in shock.
“Now I’m a bitch am I?” Sylvia asked him. “Well let me tell you how the night would go if I went along with ye. It would start with a few drinks, then heading back to your place...if ye have one and then I suppose one or if, the two of you would probably try to fuck me while at the same time trying to drink my blood.”
Sylvia pushed the gun in harder towards the guy’s forehead and moved her arm away from the man’s grip on it. “Now been the person that I am, I would get pissed off at that and have to painfully rip out your insides and strangle ye both with them.” Watching them trying to stand as statues, Sylvia’s ears shivered as she heard a scream coming from down a side alley, further down the street at the other side. She didn’t take her eyes off of them for a second even as she notice that the smell of werewolves was coming from where the scream came from. “Sorry, but it looks like I can’t play with ye tonight.” She said to the men as she took the gun away from the man’s forehead before hitting him across the face with it.
She ran off in the direction of the scream leaving the men in a state of shock leaving the vampire on the ground, nose bleeding, with his friend helping him to get up. Getting to the other side, Sylvia stopped at an alleyway and stared down it to see a young woman thrown up against the wall by two tough guys.
“Please stop, just take my handbag and let me go please!” the woman cried out as one of the men had her caught by the arms, squeezing them tightly.
“Sorry.” The man said as he drew his face nearer hers. “But I’m only interested in you.” The man looked like he squeezed her arms tighter as he drew in near and started to kiss her.
The moment Sylvia saw blood pouring down the arm of the woman; she raised her gun and pointed it at the man, “Hey!” The woman and the men turned to look at her and when they did she pulled the trigger and shot the man holding the woman right between the eyes. The woman screamed as she heard the bang and watched the man fall to the ground dead, the blood dripping from the tip of his nose.
The other man looked in shock at the body of the dead man. “Jack!” When he saw that his friend wasn’t responding to him his anger started to build up.
Sylvia started to walk down towards them as she put her gun away.
“Hey! Hey!” she shouted at the woman, who was too afraid to move. “You better get out of here.” The woman didn’t respond to her as she looked at her speechless. “Now I said!” Sylvia shouted at her and the woman finally ran a past her.
“Thank you.” The woman said as she pasted Sylvia. The sound of those words made her ears jump as if she wasn’t use to hearing them.
“You don’t know what you’ve got yourself into bitch.” The man said as he looked at Sylvia who now turned her attention to him.
“Why is everyone calling me a bitch lately?” Sylvia responded with a smirk. She began to walk towards him, getting out of the light coming from the street. “I know what you are, werewolf.”
The man’s head tilted as if to let her know she was right and without another delay he attacked her, swinging his fist towards her. Sylvia blocked it with not too much effort and kicked the outside of the man‘s left leg pushing it away which made him fall on one knee. She quickly grabbed hold of the fist he threw before he could pull back and she pulled the man towards her. As he fell she kneed him straight into the face breaking his nose. She left go of his arm straight away as he reacted and got to his feet and jumped back but she didn’t give him any time as she moved in on him and came in from below with an elbow to the chin. She combined it with a spinning elbow straight into the centre of the man’s chest. The man staggered backwards, coughing and trying to catch his breath. The blood came out from his nose and fell down around his mouth to his chin.
Sylvia wiped the knee of her pants that she hit him with. “Thank god I didn’t stain my pants.” She realised that there was a scent of a vampire and another werewolf coming off him, the exact same as the man she was after.
Her tone soon turned more serious once she realised. “You...You were talking to that man weren’t you.” She asked him then. She glazed around the rest of the alleyway behind the man and also up at the walls around her to see if there was a sign of him or anything at all.
The man coughed once more before he answered, “So this is what this tonic does when you drink it.”
Sylvia stopped her eyes wondering around and narrowed them as she looked at the man confused. His words made no sense to her.
“You wouldn’t be so confident if you didn’t drink that.” The man continued. He wiped the blood from his nose and stared at the stain on his hand.
“What are you talking about?” Sylvia said looking more puzzled as she listened. “What tonic?”
The man clinched his fists tightly. “There’s no way I’m going to let myself be beaten by a human. Even if it means I have to run.” The man turned quickly and ran down further into the alley.
“Hey! Wait!” Sylvia shouted at him but once she saw that words wouldn’t have affect she knew she had to chase after him.
The man knocked trash and anything he could get his hands on as he ran to try and slow Sylvia down but it didn’t stop her one bit as she dodged anything and everything he knocked over. Eventually he came to a metal fence and jumped onto it and started to climb over. Once he flipped over to the other side and he dropped down and landed on the ground. Sylvia only reached the fence as he did but it didn’t help him one bit as he was unaware of how agile Sylvia was. She jumped up on a bin that he never knocked over and jumping off it to the wall on her left, she wall-kicked off it and landed on top of the fence. She leapt off it and landing right in front of the guy facing him. The man tried to avoid her but was too late as Sylvia caught him and threw him against the wall.
She grabbed the man’s throat and started to squeeze tightly as the man tried to free himself, “That man, the one that had the scent of the werewolf and vampire, where is he?”
Sylvia loosened her grip a bit so the man could speak, “I...I don’t know what you’re talking about.” He told her.
“Wrong answer!” Sylvia’s patience was growing thin. She punched the man into the stomach that caused pieces of bricks in the wall to fall on the ground. She pulled him towards her before she threw him straight to the ground. Sylvia took out her sword which became visible as it left its sheath and sat on the man who was stretched out on the cold concrete ground winded from the punch. She dug her sword straight through the man’s left hand into the concrete, trapping him. The man screamed in pain as he saw the blood splash from his hand. “Don’t mess around with me!” Sylvia told him, her voice becoming more frustrated, “I know you’re a werewolf and that you can pick up scents, so you know who I’m talking about. Where is he!?”
“I don’t know!” the man said who was now terrified and Sylvia could see it in his brown eyes.
Sylvia started to become infuriated, almost insane at the fact that the man she was after seemed so close yet she was getting no where. She pushed the sword down further, the wave part of the sword going through making the cut wider; making the man scream once again. “Stop lying to me!!”
“I don’t know honest, honest!!” the man cried out. “He wanted to know where our boss was.”
“Boss?” Sylvia asked gripping the blade firmly in case the man refused to answer.
The man looked in horror at Sylvia gripping the sword and knew what she’d do if he didn’t talk. “His name’s Rox. He’s boss of most werewolves in this city.”
Sylvia stopped to think and realised what she should try to find out now. Maybe if I find Rox, I’ll find him. Sylvia started to tap the tip of the handle with her finger. “Where is this...Rox?”
The man knew he had no choice but to answer if he wanted to live. “His den is at the ‘Silver Tiger’, a club for werewolves.”
“Where is the club?” Sylvia asked immediately. It was just then though that Sylvia heard the faintest splash from a puddle on the ground up ahead. She moved her attention down to the end of the alleyway and heard the voice of a girl as she did.
“Hey!” the voice shouted out from the end of the alley. She was hidden in the dark so there was no way Sylvia could see who it was.
Sylvia picked up the sound of a string being pulled, like a bow and the moment she did a small shine sparkled for a second and an arrow came straight at her. She reacted quickly, pulling her sword out of the man’s arm to block the arrow. The force of it almost pushed the sword against her head.
Sylvia lowered her blade as she saw the figure move closer. She still couldn’t see her clearly however due to it being so dark, but see could soon see the glint of something slivery pointing right at her. Sylvia raised her sword once more to block another incoming arrow.
“Don’t you dare touch him!” the voice shouted once again as it prepared another arrow so quickly after the last.
“What the hell.” Sylvia muttered to herself. She forgot completely about the man she was on who was still focus on her.
The man, realising his opportune chance, pushed Sylvia off him with his uninjured hand, and made her fall flat on the ground. The man stood up quickly. Sylvia saw his eyes glinting with excitement. “Never take your eyes off a wolf!”
The man didn’t even have a chance to take a step towards Sylvia before he cried out as he was struck with an arrow straight into the back.
The man was fortunate that the arrow missed his spine and he turned to the silhouette of the woman who hit him and left out the roar of a wolf. However, he was also unfortunate that it didn’t hit his spine and that he was able to turn as the next thing he knew he was spurting out blood as Sylvia thrust her sword straight through his chest.
“You should follow your own advice.” She told him before she watched him fall to his knees. She got up from the ground and took out her blade which let the man fall onto his pool of blood. There was an air of silence as she cleaned her sword while she watched the man to make sure he wasn’t breathing but she knew she wasn’t safe yet. “Aren’t you going to continue shooting at me?” Sylvia asked the woman as she stared at the man’s dead body eventually looking at the shadowy figure.
The figure stood there briefly before preparing to shoot once more; Sylvia raised her blade.
“Kira, wait!” a man’s voice called out from behind the woman. Sylvia could see another figure appear, as it walked a past the woman who had the arrow prepared still and showed no signs of lowering it. The man walked towards Sylvia. He didn’t seem to have any weapons ready, but the Sylvia couldn’t tell anyway. “Don’t worry, if you lower your sword we won’t use force.”
The anger in Sylvia’s heart started to quench down and listened to what the man said. She became curious, yet remained focus as she stared at the figure. A smirked came across her face. “It’s hard to trust a shadow, and the fact that your friend tried to kill me.”
The man stopped walking. “That’s true. I suppose there’s no way is there?” His voice was calm to the point where Sylvia didn’t seem threaten.
“There is, if I can talk to you as I can see you clearly.” Sylvia told him. “Maybe I should light this place up. If I may...”
Sylvia slowly raised her sword up into the air in front of her. The woman was just about to point her arrow and fire at Sylvia but the man stopped her as he stuck out his hand in front of the arrow.
Sylvia notice this and started to act slower to show that she wasn’t looking for a fight although she didn’t care even if it came to that. Sylvia closed her eyes the moment the sword was high up into the air in front of her. “Mico!”
The moment she spoke that word her sword glowed white and shined lighting up all around her. The man and woman were blinded by the light and this gave a chance for Sylvia to see them when she opened her eyes.
She took in there appearance. The man was slightly taller then her. If Sylvia was to guess his age then she would definitely say that he was in his thirties. He had a black topcoat on him that was tied up, covering everything down to his knees. She could only see that he wore beige combats and brown runners. His eyes were a dark blue and his hair was black and wavy which fell down to his neck, hovering just above the gray scarf wrapped around his neck.
Her eyes then turned to the woman, a young woman, just probably a bit younger then herself but clearly smaller in size. She wore a long sleeved maroon coloured leather jacket and a white top, probably a t-shirt, that had outlines of dark blue stars in the top left section of it. She wore royal blue coloured jeans with a white belt. They were tucked into knee-high brown boots. Her eyes were green, which had a burning passion behind them. Her hair was straight and brown, dropping to her shoulders. In her hands she held a bow; from just looking at it you could see it was made of metal. The limbs of the bow were silver while the tip of each one was shaped in the design of angel wings, painted white. A golden string attached each of the wings together. The arrow, that was prepared to be fired, was unusual, it was gold, but the head was a shining silver. Sylvia wondered where the arrows were coming from as she notice that that was the only arrow the girl had, there was no quiver, nothing.
“There, that’s better now.” Sylvia said to them as she held out the sword towards them. Both opened there eyes once they heard her and could see now clearly what she was like, too.
The two though were in shock at what Sylvia had done with her blade but it was clear that the man was more shocked then the girl as his eyes widen more at the sight of the blade. “The nightingale sword, Lucinia.”
Sylvia’s own eyes widen in surprise when the man called the sword by its name, “How do you know about this sword?” She always thought that outside of her family that no one really knew what her family’s swords could do.
The man’s eyes averted to hers. They were still wide but not as much as they once were. “Are you...Sylvia?”
Sylvia took a step back almost as if she was scared of the man. The face he knew about the blade and also herself began to make her feel unease. “How the hell do you know my name?!”
“So it is you.” The man said before signalling with his hand to the girl behind him. “Lower your bow...she’s not our enemy.”
The girl looked at him. Her mind might have been confused but her eyes were filled with anger. “No way! She can drop her sword first before I even think of that!”
“Kira! Do it now!” the man told her with more conviction this time as he looked at her. The girl hesitated at first but finally lowered her bow. Sylvia watched her do it and notice that when she did, the arrow simply vanished into thick air, like magic.
These aren’t ordinary people on front of me. Sylvia thought for now that it was best to try and avoid any fights with people like this, especially since her wound down the side of her waist was still sore. She didn’t know what it was but something about them made them feel more dangerous than your normal werewolf or vampire.
The man returned his eyes to Sylvia’s. “Forgive us, we don’t intend on fighting people who don’t fight back at us.” He took a step forward towards Sylvia. “My name is Lucas Casher, but please call me, Lucas. And this girl here is Kira Silverlake.” Sylvia looked at him before her eyes moved to Kira who looked like she was looking away in disgust. “Your name...is Sylvia Maria Craneheart, right?” Lucas asked Sylvia.
Sylvia just about had it with how he knew her, even her full name. “How do you know me?!” she demanded.
Lucas stared up at the night sky that was now filled with rain clouds, which started to drop sprinkles of rain, “I’ve seen pictures of you, from your parents.” Sylvia’s face almost when white in shock and a nerve in the back of her neck tingled as she heard this. A mist started to drizzle down from the sky as the three stood there in the alleyway. “How are they, if I may ask?”
Sylvia lowered her sword in silence and started to stare at the rain drops splash against the puddles. She didn’t know why but something told her that he wasn’t an enemy to her. She always a good judge of character her parents thought so she knew in her gut that if it told her that she could depend on him for help then she would believe it. She looked him straight in the eye as she spoke her words. “My parents are dead...”
Lucas stared at her, a bit shock from her words. The same couldn’t be said about Kira but it could be seen that she took it into her head. Lucas closed his eyes for a brief moment before opening them to face at Sylva. “I see...We should talk somewhere else.” Lucas suggested. “Sylvia, please follow us.” Kira’s eyes quickly found them self staring at Lucas but before she could say anything Lucas responded to her. “No arguing Kira, ok?”
Kira muttered to herself and without saying another word, she pushed a button on the connecting part of the limbs of the bow. The string looked like it was being sucked in as it disappeared into the back of the limbs through a tiny gap in them. The limbs then joined together and started to shrink into towards the shelf of the bow until the whole thing became a simple metal box that she clipped onto her belt.
Sylvia watched the bow folding up while she thought to herself. After watching, she stopped her sword from lighting by saying the same word once more and then put it back into its sheath. The moment the sword was back in fully it hid itself from the naked eye once again. Her attention turned to Lucas then who she saw kneeled down next to the dead man. He took out what appeared to be a bottle of alcohol and threw it all over the man. “What are you doing?”
“He can’t stay here dead.” Lucas answered her as he emptied the bottle and put it away before taking out a box of matches and lighting one up. “Burn him to hide anything that happened here. Cremate it.” He threw the lit match on the man and watched as the whole body caught fire.
“There’s another one at the other side of the fence.” Sylvia told him trying to help.
Lucas walked past her and looked through the fence to see the other body down the alley. “Thanks.” He told Sylvia and walked back next to her. He took out another bottle of alcohol and turned to the fence and threw it right over. Sylvia watched as she saw that it landed right onto the body and smashed. Lucas then took out another match and threw that over as well and that landed right onto the body also causing it to go up in flames. “Watch yourself.” Lucas said as he began to walk over the body on front of him and out of the alley with Kira following next to him.
Sylvia looked at the body which burned through the light drizzle that was falling down on the city. She was right to think that they weren’t ordinary people but she knew that this could help her with her goal. Not having anything else to go by she followed them leaving the body burn away into dust.
