Arc 1: Chapter 18: The Dhampir
Catrin stared at me, bloody eyes wide with shock. She lifted the fingers of her left hand and studied them. They were blackened and blistered, trailing smoke. The same fingers she’d touched me with.
Her true form was very different from the “girl next door” look she’d had before. Her hair had bleached to silver, her skin corpse pale, her eyes vermillion in the room’s dim light. Even the sclera had darkened to red. The pointed ears and narrow features made her look like a gothic artist’s paranoid depiction of an elf.
Her fangs had been so close to my neck. I breathed to calm my racing heart, aware how close I’d just been to disaster. Fool, I berated myself. You let your guard down in the enemy’s own house.
I expected her to attack, tensed for it. I knew she could move faster than the human eye could track, perhaps even do nastier things like assume a bestial form or become a devouring mist. There was no room for mistakes or hesitation.
She didn’t do any of those things. Instead, Catrin clutched her burnt hand to her chest, wincing. “The fuck was that?” She asked, distress coloring her voice. “Are you some kind of priest? That hurt.”
The pain and disbelief in her ghoulish features were genuine enough to give me pause, despite my better sense. I frowned, watching her. Another trick? Trying to get me to let down my guard?
“Bastard!” Catrin scowled at me. “And I’m not a vampire, fucker. Rip your arms off if I was. Ow.” She shook the injured hand, wincing.
What is this? I stepped to one side, giving myself space from the bed so I could move more freely. “I’ve faced your kind before,” I growled. “You were about to go for my neck.”
Catrin’s transformed features shifted into something almost petulant. “I mean, sure. I might have gone in for a sip, but I wouldn’t have hurt you. Not much, anyway. Already fed tonight.”
“You were in my head,” I snarled. I could still hear her voice in my thoughts, drifting there like a stain of oil through water.
The fear struck fast and venomous as a viper. Not again, I silently pleaded. Never again. I took a step forward and amber flame boiled along the axe, causing the vampire to flinch away.