By the time the two climbed down the Black Hill, the silver-haired young man was already by the house, waiting for them. His expression was sour as he glared at the young Alex.
“Zeres! You’re here!” young Abigail exclaimed, completely missing the half-witch’s displeased face. “Ah!” Abigail pulled young Alex with her and made the two halflings face each other.
“Zeres, this is Alexander. Alexander, this is Zeres,” The young woman introduced them to each other. But contrary to what she was expecting, the two young men didn’t seem to want anything to do with one another. Zeres glared at Alex and Alex was quick to give it back to Zeres.
“Alright, shall we go look for food?” she said to try and break the ice. Her eyes glanced back and forth between them. When no one budged from staring at each other, Abigail could only sigh with disappointment. She felt like knocking their heads together to put some sense into their brains but she didn’t. Instead, she turned around to leave them to their staring contest. Eventually, the two followed her.
“Abigail, why is this vampire still not leaving?” Zeres asked Abigail. But before Abigail could respond to him, the young Alex piped in.
“She asked me to stay here until I find the place that I belong,” he muttered, causing Zeres to glare at him again.
“Did you seriously tell him that?” Zeres continued speaking to Abigail, trying his best to ignore the young Alex.
But when Abigail nodded, Zeres halted, utterly speechless. He bit his lips, obviously displeased. “Why would you ask him to stay at your place? He’s a vampire, Abigail. This guy will get hungry sooner or later and you could end us as his meal,” Zeres said, not bothering to attempt to keep his voice down.
Young Abigail simply smiled at Zeres as she patted his shoulder. “Don’t worry, Zeres. He knows not to do that because Lexus will roast him alive if he ever attempts it,” she answered playfully as she glanced at the young Alexander.
Zeres could only sigh, knowing that his words didn’t have the power to change this woman’s mind. He would have better luck trying to persuade a waterfall to run up the mountain cliff instead of falling to the ground.
That day, the trio went to the small river to find food for the young girl. The half-witch and half-vampire acted like a cat and a dog, determined not to get along. But the young Abigail was simply enjoying their company and to her, these two halflings were her newfound treasures.
“Okay, let’s head to the forest this time,” Young Abigail then declared and the trio was quick to head to the thick forest.
Young Alex and Zeres parted ways to find food for themselves, leaving the young girl in their rendezvous spot as per her instruction.
The two were gone for a long while while Abi stayed in the meadow, looking for anything edible.
Young Abigail was busy picking up berries and herbs as she hummed when suddenly, a figure grabbed her from the side, as fast as lightning, just as she saw an arrow flying fast towards her.
They fell on the ground and she looked to see who had saved her. It was Alexander. He had saved her from being hit with that arrow.
The young man was quick to cover her body with his as he pulled her up and led her towards a large tree trunk where they hid behind.
“Humans are here,” he whispered to her.
“Yes, I know… but why are they targeting me?” she asked, confused. She had heard a few people’s footsteps but young Abigail ignored it, thinking that they were just hunters passing by in the forest. She also knew that they were humans so she didn’t expect that they would suddenly attack her!
“I don’t know,” Young Alex responded. “Maybe they want something from you or maybe they want to capture you. Anyway, go back to your house. I will deal with them,” Alex quickly said as he looked back at where the humans were coming from.
“Wai-” Abi started but he was already gone.
The next thing she heard was the sound of clashing swords.
Zeres had also appeared and started fighting with the humans. The two fought against the humans using the same weapons – swords.
Young Abigail knew Zeres wasn’t that powerful yet as a witch, but he was exceptionally good when it came to swordsmanship. She peeked around the tree trunk to watch them and she was awed at their seemingly blended dynamic. They were both so damn good at fighting using their swords. As she looked at Alexander, young Abigail realized that just like Zeres, he didn’t have the strength that normal vampires had. All the two of them had was their exceptional skill with the sword, a human skill.
But for some reason, young Abigail found it hard to believe that they didn’t have more power than this. She could just sense that these two had dormant powers lying within them that just needed to be awakened.
“What’s wrong with you, little vampire? Aren’t you supposed to be using your fangs and claws to fight?” Zeres taunted as the two continued fighting.
“And what’s wrong with you, little witch? Aren’t you supposed to be using your spells and curses?” Young Alex retorted and they both attacked again, finally taking down the last of the group.
The two were about to leave to check on Abigail but to their surprise, another set of enemies appeared. It seemed there was an army of humans after them.
“Damn, where did these humans come from? Why are they here?” Zeres cursed when suddenly, arrows with fire burning on their tips began to rain on them. Zeres and Alex slashed the first batch of arrows but some arrows still got through their defenses. Zeres was shot in the thigh while an arrow grazed Alex’s sword arm.
“This is bad. We need to leave!” Young Alex said but then, another set of arrows fell like rain over them.
The two, who stood back to back, facing their enemies, could only grit their teeth. They were surrounded and there was no way they could escape these number of arrows.
Were they going to die here? Shit!
But before the arrows could land on them, a thick mist suddenly appeared.
