The Contrast Ch. 08

When you are searching, you will find what you are looking for. Sometimes you will get yourself in trouble, and you will find out that what you are looking for is just an illusion. Sometimes it's pure luck that will help you to find what you are looking for and sometimes it's fate. But all in all, you shall achieve your aim. Balok knew he was close to his destination. Very close actually, judging by the way the snowballs would appear and he was right. They were getting slightly bigger now each time and their round shape changed to that of an arrow. He focused his attention on nothing but those arrows. He would sense some magic here and there on his way, but knew that magic was not directed towards him and meant no harm.

Suddenly the snowballs stopped which made him stop as well. The dark elf took a look at his surroundings. He was standing in the center of a circle of houses, old but well preserved and cute. This area seemed modest. With his amethyst coloured eyes he searched carefully for any sign of magic or, in this case, snowballs. Nothing. While observing the houses, he saw an old manor house with big windows and blue walls. It was strikingly different from the other houses. Was this Vetehinen's house? There was only one way to find out. The drow took a few steps and came to the front door of the house. Before he could knock at the door, it opened in order to let him enter.

'Come in stranger. You are welcome in my home.' Again Balok heard the voice in his head. The dark elf entered the house while the door was closing behind him. Balok found himself in a bright entrance hall with interesting pictures on the walls and full of wooden furniture. Well... the owner of the house obviously liked warm and comfortable things. 'Come upstairs. I am waiting for you.'

"And I can't wait to finally meet you and hear what you can tell me." Balok answered and hurried up the stairs which were on the end of the entrance hall. Upstairs was a corridor with a couple of doors, but only one door was open and there was light in the room. The dark elf hurried into the room, where he encountered a slim middle aged man sitting at a small table. His hair was turquoise green and reached to the middle of his back. He had a mustache and a pointed beard and bushy eyebrows. His eyes were deep blue, so deep blue that you could lose yourself in them without having a clue what the man might be thinking. The man smiled when he saw Balok.

"Hello. Please have a seat. We have so much to talk about."

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Today the inn's kitchen was filled with a wonderful smell of baked pastries with dried fruits. Small and delicate hands accomplished magic with dough on the kitchen table. The young beautiful woman was dedicated to her work. Rose was happy. She didn't know how long it would take Balok to find the wise man, and she wanted...no... decided to be useful and to help the innkeeper in the kitchen by preparing pastries. So she offered her help to the innkeeper who accepted it.

"You really know how to make pastries. I am impressed." The Innkeeper was a calm and good natured man in his early forties. He promised to the drow that he would keep her safe and sound, but never expected her to help him. He and his family could handle all the work in the inn without help, but he saw how determined Rose was about it and gave her the task to make the pastries and to clean the dishes.

"Thank you sir. I just couldn't sit in the room and do nothing." Well, with your attention and diligence you will be an excellent housewife." He smiled at her. Rose was slightly taken aback at this comment. She had never ever considered being a housewife. Who would take a former prostitute as a wife? She was sure that almost every man would leave her as soon as he learned of her past. No... nobody would want her, maybe as a mistress but never as a wife. And then there was Balok, her first lover and only customer. Rose was sure that he didn't have any deeper feelings than physical attraction for her.

"Thank you sir, but I think I will be happy to have a job and a place to live." She took a piece of dough and formed a shell shape of it. She was afraid to expect more than that for her life. Her escape from the brothel itself was a miracle. Actually, half accident and half miracle and Rose didn't want to try her luck.

"You can work here in the kitchen and we could give you a room to stay, but that would be wrong. Such a lovely and diligent girl like you should not have to spend the whole life on its own." Rose chuckled at this. If he only knew, if he only knew about her. The innkeeper would definitely change his opinion about her. Surely, she knew how to cook and clean, but that alone would not make her a good housewife. Every girl in the brothel had to learn these skills. The innkeeper noticed her discomfort.

"I am sorry if I insulted you or made you feel uncomfortable. What was your name again, girl?"

"Rose..." she answered.

"And the surname?"

"I...I don't have one." The man arched an eyebrow. Rose tensed, she didn't want to reveal too much about herself, fearing to be captured and returned to her city. She had to say something... anything.

"Miss, are you alright?"

"I don't have a surname because I was a slave." Rose was white as a sheet. "I was a woman´s slave; born in slavery and that is the reason why I don't have a surname. One day, there was a huge fire in the house where I and my mistress lived; almost everything burned down to the ground and that day I escaped.

"Poor child. You have been through a lot. Do not worry, I won't tell anybody about this. You have my word on it. But please, tell me how you met the drow? It seems to me that you know each other."

"I met him in the woods. It was freezing cold that night and he helped me; otherwise I would have frozen to death." Well, that was at least half true. They did met in the woods, but it was not their first meeting. Rose didn't like the idea of lying, but also didn't want reveal too much, so she told him as much as she could. The innkeeper let her continue with her work and went back to his duty, preparing the meat he planned to serve for dinner. Rose was done with the dough and took it to the oven. The fire in the oven was illuminating the kitchen and ready for the pastries. Although she was very careful placing the brass into the oven, a small flame caught her left palm.

"Watch out!" yelled the innkeeper and tore her away from the fire pit. "You´ve got a...burn..." He was sure that he saw a flame scorching her hand. But on her hand was no scorch mark; her palm was white as a snow and intact. Rose stared at him confused.

"I don't feel anything. There is no burn." She showed him her palm and the man carefully observed it, but there was nothing. "I am sorry. It must have been my imagination. After all, my eyes are not as good as they used to be."

Rose only nodded. They continued with their work. She felt uncomfortable; not because she almost got burned, but rather because the flame actually caught her palm. She expected to feel pain, but there was nothing, not even a trace of the fire on her palm. She would not discuss this matter with the innkeeper. 'I have to talk with Balok when he comes back,' she thought, looking at her palm.

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"Well, what can you tell me? What kind of danger is threatening us?" Balok was curious to know what was going on. But more than that, he wanted to get back to Rose, more precisely, back into her embrace and her warm soft body.

"I can't tell you, because I am not that powerful. All I know is, that there is a battle between your people and other races that prefer the darkness."

"I do know that much... tell me something that I don't know. You call yourself a wise man." He was annoyed. Peace was such a rare thing. More than 100 years ago the war between the drows, elves, and dwarves came to an end. Neither the elves nor the dwarves were a real threat to the drows. They would usually fight for territories or for political reasons. No, the threat was coming from somewhere else.

"Young drow, be patient! After all, you are the messenger for your people."

"That is the reason why you have to tell me what is going on."

"Dark magic grows with the power of the night. Your kind is practising dark magic; the dark magic is the threat."

"You want to say that one of my own kind wants to cause chaos? That is ridiculous! Even drows are not that violent to provoke their own doom."

"I am not talking about drows. There are other races that practise dark magic. Do you know any other race?"

Balok thought for a moment. He wasn't an expert, but knew some races that were very powerful and were practising various forms of magic. But one race came into his mind like a thunderbolt. The dark elf´s face lost some colour. He swallowed hard, trying to find his voice.

"V.... Vampires! They are threatening us?"

Vetehinen only nodded and his deep blue eyes were watching Balok, as his eyes widened in shock. For the first time the young drow was worried. Vampires were as powerful as drows; the main Difference was that drows could survive in the sunlight, vampires rarely could. Only the strongest had the ability to move around freely in the daylight.

"Why would vampires want to threaten us? Why would they want to attack us? Never before was there any kind of battle of war between us."

"For centuries, the vampires are planning to take the magic of the dark elves and to enslave them. They believe by doing that, they become more powerful and also gain the ability to survive in the sunlight. You have to warn your people. There is nothing else I have to tell you."

"You should have told me that in the first place. You didn't have to keep me in uncertainty."

"I first wanted to check, if they sent someone that is able to think clearly and now I know." Vetehinen smiled at Balok who quickly got up and reached for a bag of coins.

"No. I am not doing this for money."

"Then what do you want?" Balok knew, whenever someone would visit a sage or clairvoyant, he or she would want something in return if it was not money; there was always something. He waited patiently for Vetehinen to answer his question.

"I want to meet the girl that accompanies you. There is something I want to see," he calmly said.

"How do you know that I took someone with me and that it would be a girl?"

"Ah... that is easy young drow. You smell of her body and judging by the intensity of the smell, it was only a few hours ago since you were with her."

"How the hell can you know that?! Are you a werewolf or something?" Balok didn't like this; despite his jobs and missions, he regarded his intimacy always as a private matter. It was nobody's business with whom he shared his bed and therefore Vetehinen´s statement annoyed him.

"I am a sage, remember? And by the way, this is not a request. It's just my curiosity; but if you do bring her here, I will give you some advices how to fight the vampires and how to use their weakness against them.

Balok was speechless. What should he do? He finally had the information he was looking for; but this was something completely new to him. Indeed, he was an excellent fighter, but he had never fought a battle against vampires. Certainly he knew about them, and he also knew about their magical abilities. It took him by surprise that they were planning to take the drow territory. Neither did he want Rose to be drawn into this matter, nor did he want to bring her to Vetehinen. It was not just the promise which he had given her. There was a new feeling in his heart; a feeling which let him to see Vetehinen as a man who might be interested in Rose. Was that jealousy?

"Alright, I will bring her to you. But you won't hurt her! Understand?" Balok finally said, his eyes searching for any kind of danger from the sage but Vetehinen smiled.

"All I want is to talk to her. The girl is all yours, if you really feel that way." Vetehinen also got up.

"However, does she know you? Does she know your true self... the one that you are now and the one that you were?"

"She knows enough for now." Balok said as he stood in the doorway. Once again he looked at the sage, before he left the room.

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'By the nine hells... this can't be happening.' The power was wakening and it was happening very fast. Damn you bitch, I won't let you succeed!' thought the blonde man. He was doing his best to reach "The Crossroads", but he was very weak. He needed to feed; he needed blood... human blood. His strength was down to the limit. The vampire was sick of feeding on animals. They were weak and disgusting. There was also one more reason why he preferred human blood. He loved to watch the expression on The faces of his victims. To watch their fear, horror, disbelief; the begging for mercy, and the desperation on their faces. Yes... that was the most exciting thing; sometimes he would also rape his victims, if they were females, while drinking their blood.

He remembered how much it had exited him when he had seen or touched Meadora. Oh, how sexy and intimidating she had been. Her body was that of a goddess and would always make him horny and desperate and they really had a good time together. But all that was now history. Meadora was dead now and he had to take care of that little bitch who escaped from the brothel. He would torture her, nice and slowly and in the end he would take her power and her blood. He didn't know what to do with the drow yet, but he surely would have to do something. He wondered if the drow was powerful; he might be interested in taking his power and his blood, of course. The blonde vampire never tasted blood of a dark elf, but it's a good thing to try new things once in a while and you would never know whether you are going to like it or not.

Suddenly the vampire sensed someone´s presence. He turned around andsaw a young woman with ginger coloured hair, black eyes; she was wearing a long black dress. 'A witch... well, better than nothing', he thought. He approached her slowly. The woman saw him and smiled at him with a seductive smile. The vampire knew what kind of effect he had on women and this one was no exception.

"Hello beautiful, what are you doing here all alone? Are you not afraid of the dark?"

"Only a child would be afraid of the dark. I am a grown up woman."

"Indeed you are, indeed..." he said while looking at her curves. Apart from her blood he wanted to have some pleasure and she seemed willing enough. It would take him only a few minutes to convince her and have his way with her. "But my lady, I insist to escort you to your destination. You would not reject me, would you?"

"I would never reject an offer from such a handsome man like you. I just hope that this won´t be all you can offer me."

They walked together and talked. When it came to masking his powers, the vampire was truly a master of his art. Right now he was concealing his powers; so the witch thought he was just an attractive human male. She told him her name and that she was heading for "The Crossroads" where she was living. 'What a coincidence', he thought, 'we are heading to the same destination.' Patiently, he was waiting for the right moment; when it finally came, he attacked with full force and killed her. 'She is not a powerful witch,' he thought as he drank her blood. She was only a shape shifter, nothing more. She was not even worth of taking her power. 'Ah... this is much better,' he thought. Rejuvenated he let her body fall to the ground, now pale as the snow. Now he could do anything he wanted.