Chpt. 2

Miko sat at a table out in a busy human village hugging her legs as she pondered about why she was the way she was. Miko felt extremely uncomfortable even in the black hooded cloak she was wearing. She was often criticized and made fun of by even her own brother and sister and without her parents around to comfort her she felt low. The only thing that kept her even a little at ease was to be alone. She couldn’t even think of going to anyone else for comfort. Humans were out of the question. Even the thought of them made Miko’s blood boil. Even non-humans weren’t of any comfort to her, because they even found her scary. She saw her sister coming and she looked up. It was her sister, Mally.
“Miko, are where have you been all day? Come on, your brother and I have been searching for you. You can’t just run away whenever you please, especially here. What if someone catches you? You’ll be killed on sight!” Miko stood up and brushed past her sister. She hated her sister the most out of her family. Ever since her mother died Mally has been trying to take her place and Miko hated that. Mally grabbed her by the shoulders and was about to give Miko and good scolding when a whistle blew. Patrolmen were pushing through the crowd and were coming directly towards the tow sisters. “Miko, move, Now!” Miko cast a quick glance at her sister and Mally gave her a stern look and nodded her head. Miko ran in the opposite direction as the soldiers, her hood flying off in the process. People were gasping in horror as they saw Miko’s white eyes and some were even trying to catch her. Compared to her humans were extremely slow. Where is my brother? As if answering her question she heard her brother’s voice yelling.
“Trevor!” She called out as a group of patrolmen were tackling him.
“Miko, run! Get away from here!” Tears started to flow from Miko’s eyes as she watched her brother being killed in front of her. Someone then grabbed her from behind.
“Got another one!” A gruff voice called up. “That makes three.” Three? That means that her sister had been caught as well and was probably dead too. With all of the grief inside of her she screamed as loud as she could. People felt as much as heard the scream. That man behind her sunk to the ground, dead, with blood coming out of his eyes, ears, nose, and mouth. Miko ran with all her speed out of the town to follow her sister and brother’s last wish for her.
 

It was either very early morning or very late night when Adriana was awakened by Pinder telling her to get up. She drowsily looked over to see him gazing out of their room’s window, which was open now. “Pinder what are you doing?” she asked as she put her feet on the floor. Something was wrong, she could feel it.
“The Patrolmen are here,” he whispered. “I have to leave.”
Adriana was immediately moving around, throwing her cloak back on over her clothes. They’d been through this before. She had to leave by the human way, and he had to flee some other way…
A loud crash downstairs drew their attention, and Adriana paused to listen. The sound of soldiers shouting at the management and many bodies moving around. “They’re already in the building,” Pinder hissed. When Adriana turned to look at him, he was already leaning against the window sill.
“Where will we meet?” Adriana asked hurriedly, moving to the door.
“Just travel out of this town. Use the roadway, don’t do anything that might make them suspicious of you. I’ll be watching over you, and meet up with you when I can.” With that, his body shifted, blending without seam into a large, brown eagle who’s feathers glinted soft gold in the moonlight. The eagle that was now Pinder, looked back at her one more time, and then spread it’s wings and flew away into the night sky.
Adriana stared after him for a long moment, praying that he would be safe. Then she left the room, and walked slowly down the hallway and down the stairs to where they had entered the inn earlier, trying to look like an average human just going about her own business. A Patrolman was questioning the woman who Adriana had paid for the room. Adriana walked past them without glancing their way, and continued on to the door.
“You, wait there,” one of the Patrolmen told her. She paused as he strode up to her, looking menacingly down on her. “You aren’t allowed to leave until we’re done with our questioning. Where are you going?” He stared into her eyes, but Adriana stared unflinchingly back.
“As you can see sir, there is no magic in my blood,” she spit her words out angrily. The man actually drew back, surprised by the forcefulness of her voice. “As to where I’m going, my mother lives in the next town over, and I am traveling to visit her. Now, you’ve already interrupted my sleep. Why don’t you just let me go on my way?” He gazed at her for a moment longer, then finally chuckled nervously and turned away.
“Go on then. Travel safely.”
Adriana made no comment in return, simply opened the door and walked out into the town. Outside, there was more confusion than she had expected. Patrolmen usually traveled in groups, but this was an unusually large number. She slipped away, trying to go unnoticed by the people who rushed back and forth in the streets. She just had to make it out of town, that was all.

Dormang awoke to a loud pouding on his door and a faint voice calling his name.
"Dormang Malkovich?"
He quickly got out of bed and put on an old worn tassel, one of the few things he had left of his homeland, and went down to the door.
"Hold up! I'm coming!" He yelled as he came to the door and opened it. A group of five patrolmen were standing on the other side. Two had their weapons at the ready, spooked by his appearance. The leader controlled himself better, keeping his arms at his side.
"Are you Dormang Malkovich?"
"Yes sir. Is there a problem?"
"There's been a complaint about the non-humans in this town. We've been ordered to take you into custody until it can be sorted out."
"Complaint? Who filed a complaint?"
The innkeep Marla, and another who wishes not to be named at this hour." Dormang could already guess who. He heard shouting from a couple houses down and looked out the door, praying to the Shadi that it wasn't Sylas.
Sure enough, the werewolf was shouting at the group of Patrolmen at his door. Dormang could see that he was steadily increasing in size, his arms getting hairier by the moment. Dormang made to move over to his friend, but two halberds inched closer to his face.
"Please sir, we would like as little trouble as possible. We know about your agreement with the people of this town."
"Please sir, stand down!" Dormang could hear a Patrolman yell, and he turned again. Sylas had grown about a head taller than the tallest Patrolman there, and his face protruded from his head like an oddly shaped muzzle. 'Oh no,' Dormang thought.
'Oh yes.' A voice said, the same voice from that night.
"No." Dormang whispered.
"What was that, sir?"
'He's going to kill them. Just like you should. They do not deserve to live.'
"No."
"Excuse me?" the Patrolman said, hand on his sword now.
'Taste the blood again. Kill again. The leader looks like the one who ratted you out.' Dormang shook his head and looked at the Patrolman. For a moment he looked nothing like him, broad nose, dark skinned and square jawed. Then he shifted. His nose thinned and elongated, curving at the end like a hawk's beak. His skin turned pale, and his chin stretched. He opened his crusty lips and smiled evily with crooked, pointy teeth.
"Come, you stupid lizard. We'll carve you up and feed you to our dogs! Come! Stupid lizard, stupid lizard, stupid lizard..." Dormang heard, but his lips didn't match.
"No! Stop it! Get out of my head!" Dormang screamed and clutched his head.
"Take him in." The Patrolman really said, but Dormang heard "Kill him!"
Dormang slammed his fist into the lead Patrolman's face, crushing bones and teeth. Blood sprayed from his mouth as he sprawled to the ground, unconscious, maybe even dead. One Patrolman stabbed at his heart with his halberd, but the blade scraped off the metal, leaving a gash instead. Dormang grabbed the haft and spun, flinging the the man into the other wielding the halberd. He grasped it with both hands and thrust, spitting another Patrolman along the length of the blade. The last came at him with a strangely shaped axe, and Dormang parried with the spike that had grown out his elbows last week. He sent a right hook to the man's face, crushing more bones and sending him into the dirt. He quickly picked up the lead Patrolman's sword and stabbed the halberdier trying to stand again. Dormang could hear the last of the Patrolmen at Sylas' door scream in agony as they were killed. Sylas emitted a piercing howl, and Dormang added to it with a bestial roar such as he had not done in years.
'Yes! Yes! The killing begins again!'

Bash could hear the commotion long before he even reached the walls of the city his ears twitching every time someone yelled in pain just before there death. Judging from the smell and sounds there weren’t a large number of non-humans in this particular city but a couple of them were putting up quite a fight. Bash sneezed as the distinct smell of particularly powerful dark magick filled his nose. He never liked dark magick although he did try once or twice, all it ever did was kill or cause pain. Still… it must come in handy at times like these. Bash thought almost regretting giving up on dark magick. His thoughts were broken by two distinctive sounds. The first was the sound of a number of armored beings in tight formation heading towards the city walls heading in his direction, probably using the cover of the forest to sneak up on any unsuspecting non-humans. The second sound was a single person the faintest hint of dark magick emanating off of this person, meaning they weren’t human or at least not human by human standards… and judging by her current path she was about to run right into the rather large sounding group of patrolmen. Rolling his eyes Bash ran ahead positioning himself between the what was now identifiable as a girl and the oncoming patrolmen. Keeping an eyes on the scythe hanging from the girls back, Bash tackled and held the girl down behind a bush covering her mouth as row after row of patrolmen passed by. Bash could physically feel dark magick tugging at his insides and he could feel pressure on his skin a couple cuts and bruises popping up at random places throughout his body. Taking a moment to, for the first time in his life be grateful for being half demon (makes him pretty resistant to dark magick) After the patrolmen were a safe distance away Bash attempted to explain himself… Which is difficult to do while dogging swings of a scythe that for whatever reason he couldn’t phase through.
“I was…” Bash bairly had enough time to duck his head before the razor sharp blade whizzed pass his head. “…just trying to…” This time bending all the way backwards in a way he didn’t think he was capable of and would surely be feeling later. “save you from those patrolmen! Look I’m not human either.” Bash said revealing ears and a tail. The Miko stopped swinging but did not lower her blade…
Miko starred at the person standing in front of her with her blank eyes for an elongated time and finally lowered her scythe. She calmed herself to stop her dark magic from emitting wildly. She still had trouble controlling it but this time it had seemed to help her for once. This man had just saved her and protected her from those patrolmen. Her scythe seemed to disappear from her hand just as she heard the sound of patrolmen shouting and advancing towards her. The group was only of four infantrymen. She turned back to the man and acknowledged his ears and tail.
“I’ll take care of this. I have a score to settle.” She said in a quiet menacing voice. She recognized the leader as the one that had killed her brother, Trevor. The man tried to stop her but Miko took off before he had the chance. She knew the group was after her and darted into a nearby dark alley. The patrolmen suddenly turned the corner into the alley in pursuit. They were fully armed and were approaching Miko with weapons drawn.
“State your name and race!” One of them called out.
“It probably can’t even understand us.” Another infantryman said with arrogance. Miko’s anger renewed with an even farther hatred for the people that wiped out her family. She glared at the troops with her white eyes making them shuffle with nervousness and she started to slowly approach them.
“Halt!” The leader called out once again, shaking. He knew this situation would not conclude peacefully. Miko let out a mocking grin at the infantry’s cowardice. The head infantryman suddenly lunged forward, stabbing, with his sword. Miko dodge to the side in a swift motion and swung a small steel wire from her sleeve, severing the man’s head. The men gasped in horror as their captain’s body fell to the ground but the disciplined men stood their ground. The steel wire seemed to move by itself and continued to emerge from Miko’s sleeve and form into a larger blade. The patrolmen watched in awe as Miko took out several small cylinders and put them together forming a six foot rod.
“A scythe!” One of the men whispered. “We have angered Death herself! She’ll kill us all and drag our souls down to the Underworld.” One of the guards turned to run but froze in his tracks. His body seemed to be paralyzed and wouldn’t move. A soft voice drifted to the patrolmen’s ears.
“There is no escape. Only death is the means of escape. Repent for the death you have caused. The only way you’re leaving will be by your souls flying away from your pathetic corpses.”
“Witch!” A guard called out and charged at her. He swung horizontally at Miko’s body but was blocked by her scythe. She kicked out one of his legs causing him to drop to his knee. Miko then took her scythe and stabbed him with the blade. She swung him in a circle and slammed the guard back to the ground, dead. The two remaining guards rushed her at the same time. They didn’t notice the fire starting to emit from the blade until they were upon her. Miko swung the scythe with such ferocity that she completely shattered the sword of the guard in from. The force knocked him back to the ground but the second guard swung at Miko’s head. She ducked and swung around to stab him and then flung him into the air behind her. She turned and slammed down the man to the ground, making him bounce high off the ground. Using her blade Miko raked the man and threw him behind her again. The body hit the remaining guard directly behind her and knocked him down again. She spun her weapon and plunged the pointed end of the scythe into the patrolman’s chest. She broke down her weapon and concealed it within her cloak again.
The man with the tail and ears ran in the alley and looked around at the dead men.
“How many must die because of this prejudice?” Miko said sadly. “How could the humans be so naïve? Is there not a single human being who can hold feelings of compassion for any creature besides their own?” She suddenly fainted and the man caught her before she fell. Some where inside of her was happy for once in a long time. Someone had finally been able to catch her when she fell.