Chapter 3: Ghost of Herself
Gavril, his companion, and Elaina sat upon two horses. Gavril and Elaina sat upon one of the horses, while the other slayer sat upon the second horse. Elaina herself had never been riding on horseback all that often and due to being young and short required the help. Just as Elaina tried and failed to mount the beast, Gavril was quick to notice that Elaina was in need of some assistance. He lifted her up so that she could climb onto the horse's back. For most of the horse ride they had kept at a steady pace.
The green and browns of the varying foliage of trees and shrubs floated past the trio as both of the horses rode through the forest. Elaina paid no attention to her surroundings, the only thing she could focus on was the scene she was rescued from. The events of the night kept playing on repeat. The young girl remained silent as only the sound was that of eight hooves hitting the earth beneath them and crickets singing off in the distance. The night could have been peaceful had it not been for what had happened. The more she thought about it, the more Elaina seemed to get lost in her thoughts and the more she spaced out. While her mind wandered, She recalled the eyes of the creature that she had come face to face with. It sent shivers down Elaina's spine. It was like looking into the eyes of a demon. Whatever it was, was certainly unnerving.
Somewhere off in the distance a twig snapped. Although a subtle sound it was enough to break Elaina away from her own mind for the moment. She nearly jumped out of her skin and nearly fell from her spot on the horse. Gavril however was quick to react and catch the girl before she could fall off the horse.
"You alright?" He inquired with a little concern in his tone. Gavril paid little to no attention to the snapping twig. He simply wrote the sound off as some animal or something. The other slayer that accompanied them, however, paid very close attention to their surroundings.
Elaina glanced back at Gavril when he had spoken to her. "I'm fine." She confirmed. "Thank you for not letting me fall." Elaina had said. Gavril simply hummed in response, which she took as a nonverbal 'you're welcome.'
Another twig snapped, followed by a whooshing noise and bushes rustling. The sound alerted both of the hunters. "We're not alone and whatever the thing is, it is following us.." the unnamed man spoke. Both of the adult males shared a glance at one another before looking straight ahead. Simultaneously they snapped both of the horses' reins to tell the horses to go faster. The animals were quick to respond and take off in a gallop.
"Hang on tight!" Gavril spoke up loud enough that Elaina would be able to hear him over their horses running. Her tiny hands wrapped around the horn of the saddle so she wouldn't be flung off the back of the horse.
It wasn't all that difficult for whatever was lurking in the shadows to keep up with the two horses. A humanoid, a vampire figure appeared in front of them. Blood covered its entire torso, the creature's eyes glowing a fiery red with hunger in the dark of night. It had managed to spook the horses and stop them in their tracks. The slayer, who Elaina didn't know the name of, tried to run around the creature but was stopped and thrown off the horse by the vampire. He laid on the ground mostly motionless other than to grab a wooden stake that was strapped to his leg. The horse that the male slayer was sitting on previously fled in fear from the creature.
"Viorel!" Gavril was surprised but relaxed once he saw that the other male was fine. Viorel… So that was his name. Elaina couldn't help but think to herself.
Viorel waited until the vampire had pounced on him with its animal-like claws extended. In one quick motion he sat up in time and drove the stake through the creature's heart while he was in mid pounce. In response it let out an inhuman high-pitched screech that seemed to almost echo before It fell limp. its skin became ash gray and eventually became dust in the slayer's lap. Viorel stood up back up and dusted himself off as best as he could with his hands.
"That is that dealt with.." He murmured, mostly to himself. With a single sharp whistle and a few short moments of waiting, Viorel's horse returned to him. It had seemed that the animal had not ran that far away. It was still within earshot of its owner. Once the steed was beside him once more, Viorel hopped back onto his horse. With a nod, he confirmed to Gavril that he was ready to proceed back towards the Order of the Dawn's fortress.
"We are almost there," Viorel had stated confidently after they had been traveling on horseback for about half an hour. He was primarily talking to Elaina. The young girl turned her attention towards the man and nodded briefly. Due to not really having anything to say, she simply remained quiet still. She wasn't sure what she could say aside from one simple word, ok. She had so many questions but had no idea where to start with any of them. Elaina was still trying to come to terms and understand. Whether or not she ever would, was something else entirely.
Elaina had been so lost in her own thoughts she never noticed that they had arrived at their destination. It took Gavril to speak up to break her out of her own thoughts. "Welcome to Fort Aurea, Home to the Order of the Dawn." Elaina looked up to see a colossal structure before her. It was almost impossible to tell the age of the fortress, she saw that it was so well taken care of. Not a single stone seemed to be out of place. The grounds themselves were also well taken care of with not a single blade of greenery out of place. White banners that depicted a circle surrounded with elongated spikes gilded in gold decorated the place. Elaina assumed that the banners were the symbol of the order. She noticed that the gold symbol resembled that of a sun.
The courtyard was filled with dozens upon dozens of different individuals. Some of them had taken to training with a crossbow, while others found themselves sparring with others in combat. There were people of all ages, some even close to her own age. She figured they were all members of this Order of the Dawn that Gavril had mentioned. After several minutes of taking in the sights around her, she finally spoke. "What is the Order of the Dawn?"
"It is a group of vampire slayers. Most members are trained from a very young age. Some as young as you." Gavril responded, finally stopping to drop the horse off at some stables. He was the first to hop off before he helped Elaina down from the horse.
"Vampire?" She whispered quietly almost as though trying to sound out the word, not knowing what exactly it was that he spoke of. Gavril and the young girl made their way into the castle and once more she ended up admiring the structure. Although there were no windows within the main chamber, the area had a lot of candelabras and similar sources of light. The roof of this part of the fortress was made of glass, which allowed for natural UV light to flood the chamber during the daylight hours.
"That creature that killed your family, That was a vampire," Gavril stated. "Nasty creatures that have a habit of hurting and killing humans."
"Oh.." Elaina said, almost wishing she could forget tonight. A soft yawn had escaped from her. She had lost track of whatever the time was since she had been woken up hours before. Thankfully, Gavril had stopped in front of a room on the second floor of the castle.
"This shall be your room." He informed the young Elaina, before walking away to go to his own room for the night. Elaina entered the room that Gavril had mentioned would be hers. The room was fairly simple with a floor length window that looked out into the courtyard. It allowed her to watch those below as they trained and worked on their skills. When it came to furniture, it was rather simple with just the bed, end tables on either side, a desk, wardrobe with a room divider and chaise lounge. Elaina crawled into the bed that was provided and fell asleep almost instantly.
Gavril had just began to descend the stairs in the main fortress chamber when Viorel had approached him.
"What are we to do with the girl?" he questioned Gavril. Viorel waited a few seconds before he began walking alongside the order's leader.
"She stays. It's not like she has anyone to take care of her." Gavril said simply, not really paying much attention to Viorel.
"I get that, but what if she doesn't want to join the Order?"
"I wouldn't be so sure she won't. She may need some time for what happened to sink in and come to terms with, but I believe she will join us. Something tells me she will become one of our best slayers yet. But regardless, the girl stays." Gavril's words were final. Not many dared to argue with him.
"Very well, Sir." and with that, Viorel separated ways with Gavril. He returned to his private chambers for the night.
Once the bright morning sun had began to shine through the windows of Elaina's bed chambers, she stirred awake. Despite getting little sleep, we felt fairly rested. Whether or not it would last remained to be seen as the day progressed. She was in a new place around people she didn't even know. Truth be told, she felt out of place like she didn't belong there. Where she felt she belonged, however, was no longer an option. She was so young that if she had stayed behind she would have been sent to an orphanage. Leaving with that man Gavril was better in her opinion. Was it stupid and dangerous? Possibly. Things seemed to be working out so far though.
After laying in the bed and letting her mind wander wherever it dared to take her, Elaina sat up and approached the window to sit on the floor. She rested her forehead against the cold glass to watch the people below. There weren't as many people there this morning as there were when she first arrived. There were some, but for the most part it was a quiet morning. That was, until there was a knocking at the door. Elaina stood back up and approached the door to reveal that it had been Gavril knocking.
"Oh.. So you are awake.." He smiled softly. "Join me for breakfast and then I can show you around?"
"Uh.. Sure.." Elaina responded with a gentle nod and excited her bed chambers.
The two of them walked through the stone halls with one another until they reached the dining hall of the fortress. Food had already been prepared and set out on the tables for people to grab and eat. Some stayed and ate in the dining hall while others decided to take some food and go elsewhere that Elaina had no idea where. Not that she cared all that much, she was more interested in the food then the others around her. Gavril scooped some cornmeal porridge and placed it in one of the wooden bowls, before doing so again to fill a second bowl halfway which he gave to Elaina. She waited until Gavril had sat down and began to eat his food before she joined him for the morning meal.
The two ate without saying much else to one another; it was evident that Elaina wasn't very talkative. Whether or not that's because of the night prior, or if she was in a strange place with people she didn't know, or just who she was remained to be seen. Gavril hoped that with time, Elaina would become more comfortable as this was now her new home. He had finished his meal first, so he had waited for Elaina to finish hers before he would show her around.
Their first stop wasn't all that far from the dining hall. The room was approximately two stories and filled with rows upon rows of bookshelves that were all filled with various books. There were also some chairs, desks, sofas and chaise lounges which offered people a place to sit and either read or study. Elaina was amazed by the amount of books that the room had.
"This is the library," Gavril stated the obvious, taking a glance around and extending his arm before him as if to say 'behold the glory of the books'. After Elaina was able to take a good look at the room, the two continued on with their tour.
The next room that Gavril showed was the chapel followed by the thermae and the place of arms. He had also shown Elaina the various secret passageways in and out of the place. All of the rooms that Gavril had shown her were on the first floor.
"Second level and above the fortress are all bed chambers, each with a private lavatory attached." He said.
Elaina nodded so that Gavril knew she was listening. Her lack of sleep the night before began to catch up with her though. "May I return to my bedchamber?"
"Go ahead, Elaina." Gavril nodded.
Once he had finished talking, Elaina took off back to her room. Once she had reached it, the first thing she did was lay back down and fall back asleep.
As the weeks passed by, Elaina had barely left her room. She spent her time either thinking, watching others train in becoming hunters, or reading. Once the shock and disbelief of losing her only family had dissipated, she found herself missing them. Most nights she ended up crying herself to sleep silently. She may be young but even she knew they were gone and she would never see them again. Elaina hated it and she wished that things would be different. If Gavril and Viorel had just been there sooner, maybe he family would have survived, or at the very least, her mother and sister would have. Her heart began to darken and she wanted whatever, or whoever killed her parents to pay for their deaths. That was, assuming the creature was still alive at this point. Even if it was dead, she knew what she had to do. Elaina refused to let any other innocents die in front of her. She knew exactly what she needed to do. First, she needed to find Gavril.
Once Elaina had found him, a determined expression crossed her face. "Gavril, I want to become a vampire slayer!"
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone