“We’ll see. Erika said something along those lines, and she’s been wandering through the world as a vampire ever since our encounter. I hope you’ve enjoyed your time as a human.” Alastair smirked as he succeeded in getting the stake a little too close for Selena’s comfort while he tried to push her to the ground. She called upon every ounce of strength left in her and somehow was able to bring herself to reverse her foe’s efforts, sending the stake right through while pushing him away from her, pinning him the ground with strength that she never knew she had when she was at her best, let alone in the state she was in now. She would have thought about what just happened if she was not presently in the middle of a battle, and had no interest in giving her opponent anything resembling a chance to escape as she drew her dagger and slowly walked toward him.

“How humiliating. A vampire of my caliber slain by a child who has learned what her elders never did.” Alastair bemused, completely immobilized. “Though killing me will not affect your transformation since it has already begun. I have no idea how long it will take since it changes for every person, but know that just a single bite from a great vampire with the intent to transform is all that is needed. Whether the vampire dies during that time or not does not change the outcome. Perhaps one day you’ll take my place.”

“Great vampire? What in the world is that?” Selena asked as she positioned her blade alongside his neck.

“A title granted to the most powerful vampires who’ve ever lived, and don’t even bother attempting to hunt them down. They are for the most part impossible to track down since they tend to keep to themselves. If you meet one, they will make the first move. Not that any will bother making a move against someone like you, providing that any are still alive.” Alastair laughed.

“Then I’ll keep that information locked away in the bottom of my mind. See you never!” Selena grumbled as she swung her dagger, separating Alastair’s head from his body in a single blow. She watched as he almost immediately crumbled into dust which collected on the ground along with his clothes and jewelry.

“Wow. That’s never happened before.” Drake remarked as he stood over what was left of Alastair. “I guess that means he won’t be returning a third time?”

“Nope. I think he’s gone for good, though he was surprisingly calm about it.” Selena replied.

“To think that we only needed to perform one more step all this time. You’re an intelligent girl, Selena. I am quite certain you’ll one day be as renowned a monster hunter as your father. Mark my words.”

Selena laughed. “We’ll see.”

Drake then bent down to pick up the stake along with the pendant that was around the vampire’s neck. “Speaking of your father, here.” He said as he handed the pendant over to Selena.

“Ah. A memento from my first successful hunt?” Selena asked.

“I guess in a sense, but I want you to show that to your father.”

“I was planning on it anyway, buy why?”

Drake smirked. “I think Gabriel will be in a better position to answer that question. Anyway, are you coming back to the village or heading straight home?”

“I think I’ll be heading back to Roguebourne once I’m done here.”

“Then I guess I’ll be seeing you. Tell your father that my inn is always open to your whole family. I’ll also extend the same courtesy that I give your father: I’ll send word out to all of my friends in the innkeeping trade to keep an eye out for you if you ever find yourself on the road anywhere in the kingdom and beyond. I might even ask them to send any monster hunting requests your way.” Drake laughed.

“Thanks, I guess. I think I just might need that eventually.” Selena said.

"I’ve no doubt you will if you keep up with this. Safe travels, Selena Ravenson.” With that, Drake turned around and headed out. Selena then carefully avoided the pile of dust that was once Alastair Krovaloc as she ran over to the table and looked around it for a quill, some parchment, and an inkwell as she assumed there must be some near it. After all, Erika did have to use something to write her message. Selena found a drawer under the the table and pulled it out, seeing all of the items she was looking for and then some. She tore a piece of parchment off of a roll, dipped the quill in the inkwell, and wrote,

Good evening, Aunt Erika.

You don’t need to worry about doing Alastair in since he is now dust, as I’m sure you can see. I know this may sound strange since we’ve never met, but you were a great help since one of your books gave me the information required to kill him. I hope our paths will cross one day as I would love to meet you in person.

With love from,

Selena Ravenson

Her last step was to dip the pommel of her dagger into some ink and press it into the parchment just below her name, leaving an impression depicting a raven carrying a small wolf, one of the Ravenson family crests specifically made for those who could take the form of their namesake bird. She left it on the message so Erika could know who she was and where she was from. With that, she left the watchtower and started the journey back home.

The trip back to Roguebourne was mostly uneventful as she took the road south while only making a few stops along the way for reasons such as catching her breath, catching a quick bite to eat, and when the bite on her neck occasionally irritated her. One such stop occurred early in the afternoon when she had come across a small forested area and decided to hunt something for lunch. The only thing she found of interest in the area was a small boar that she quickly killed. “It’s something at least.” She sighed as she sat down to eat.

As she was just about finished, she happened to spot a wolf walking along the road coming from the east and heading in the direction of Windmore. Normally she would’ve hunted it down without hesitation since wolf meat was easily her favorite, despite wolves being one of the family’s sacred animals. This was likely because she spent much time learning from various masters in the lands to the east when her family temporarily relocated there on official business and wolves were a popular delicacy, but something felt different about this one. The color of the eyes were different from what she saw most of the time outside of very specific ones in her family, and suspected that this was one of them. As the wolf walked past Selena they stopped and stared at each other for about a minute, neither having to speak a word to know who the other was. Selena simply nodded. “Ah. I guess I’ll see you later.” She said. The wolf seemed to nod in response before continuing on its way.

Selena continued along herself a few minutes later in the opposite direction of the wolf and when there was only a few hours of daylight left, she spotted the familiar sight of Roguebourne’s castle towers. Before returning to town, however, she headed west to make her final stop in the form of the ruin used as a lair for the vampire who captured her as a kid, feeling a strong presence the moment she set foot in the ruin. She proceeded to head over to the vampire’s coffin and opened it with some effort to find a skeleton lying within, her father’s stake still wedged through its heart.

She breathed a sigh of relief. “Good. Looks like nothing has been disturbed here, but it doesn’t hurt to be on the safe side.” Selena then drew her dagger and severed the neck in one swift stroke. The presence she felt dissipated almost immediately as the bones crumbled into dust and passed from sight. “Huh. That was odd, but at least it’s over now. Time to go home.”

Selena arrived at the west gate a few minutes after sunset, passing by one of the nighttime guards.

“Back from another training exercise, Selena?” The guard asked.

“Yeah. I guess you can call it that.”

The guard smiled. “I really admire your dedication. I wish my sons were half as dedicated to their training as you are.”

Just give them time. They just might." Selena replied.

“Perhaps you’re right.” He laughed. “Anyway, I hope you have a fine evening, Selena.”

Same to you!" Selena replied before walking off. She was soon passing by the front door of her house when Maria, who was watching from a window, opened it.

“I see you’re back from your training.” She remarked.

“Oh. Good evening, Maria.” Selena replied.

“Aren’t you going to come in?” She asked. “Or are you going to stay out there all night? Not that either is unheard of.”

“No. I was just about to come in, anyway.” Selena said as she walked in, Maria closing the door behind her.

“What is it with you and your late night studies?” Maria asked as they sat at a small table in the dining room.

“I don’t know. I guess it’s just an ideal time since everything is usually quiet.”

“Hmmmm. I guess that makes some sense, even if it isn’t the expected behavior for a lady of noble birth.” Maria commented.

“Would you prefer it if I was?” Selena asked in response.

“Personally, No. Your way of life is unique and with skills that are invaluable to the realm, but I don’t know if you’ll be able to keep this up forever. You might considering you’re the youngest daughter of a noble family, but some suitor might come along eventually who doesn’t like your way of life. What if something were to happen to me and you ended up being the only daughter of this branch of House Ravenson?” Maria asked.

“If nothing’s happened to you by now, Maria, I doubt anything will. Besides which, do you think I’d accept anyone who didn’t like my way of life?”

Maria thought about it for a minute before answering with, “Probably not. Anyway, do you want anything to eat?”

“Yes please.”

Maria then left the room and came back with a simple meal.

“Thanks!” Selena beamed as she dug in. As she ate, Maria happened to get a good look at her neck.

“Sis, what exactly happened during your training mission?” Maria asked.

“Huh?” Selena then saw where she was looking at. “Oh. Just an injury I received due to a careless mistake. Nothing major.” Selena replied as fast as she could, which she often did at the time when she did not want to talk about a certain subject. Actually, she still does that sometimes.

“If you say so.” Maria sighed. While she knew little about fighting and monsters, she did know a vampire bite when she saw one. However, she knew better than to pursue the matter further.

“Is father back yet?” Selena asked as she finished her meal.

“Not yet, though we did get a message earlier saying to expect him by morning.” Maria answered. “Do you need anything else tonight?”

“I don’t think so. In fact, I’m probably going straight to bed after this.” Selena replied.

“Then I’ll leave the rest to you. Good night, little sister.” Maria said.

“Good night, big sis.” Selena called back as she saw her sister head out of the room and up a flight of stairs before vanishing from her sight. She soon finished cleaning her area up before heading to her chambers, ready for a good night’s sleep on her own terms. As she lay in bed waiting for sleep to take her, she heard the unmistakable sound of her father’s carriage as it arrived in front of the house. She thought about going to him to talk about her encounter, but decided it would be best to wait until the morrow for both of their sakes. Selena drifted off a short while later and woke up about an hour after sunrise. As she got ready for the day she looked in a mirror and saw that the bite mark was still there, though she was not surprised. “Ugh. I’ve got to ask father if he knows of a way to deal with these.” Selena groaned as she made her way to Gabriel’s cabinet and knocked on the door.

“Come in.” He responded. Selena obliged and saw him going through scrolls as he looked up at her. “Oh. Good morrow, Selena. Up early like usual, I see. I hear you went on another one of your training missions while I was away. I trust you remained in the kingdom this time?”

“Yep. I didn’t go very far at all. In fact, my mission is why I’m here.” Selena began. “A request for a vampire hunt came in and I answered it.”

“A request from where?”

“Windmore.” Was her response, and she saw her father’s eyes widen upon hearing that place mentioned. “It was sent by your friend Drake.”

Gabriel chuckled. “So you met Drake, huh? He’s quite an interesting character, isn’t he?”

“He is.” Selena laughed. “Though he seems like a nice man. He’s currently running a place called Bradley’s Inn.”

“So he’s the one who ended up taking that place over. That isn’t surprising in the slightest, but a vampire appearing there after all this time? That does surprise me.”

“Yeah. Drake seemed to recognize him and the feeling sounded mutual on the vampire’s end. Oh. He wanted me to show this to you.” Selena said as she took the pendant out and tossed it onto the desk.

Gabriel gasped as he picked it up before putting it back down and ran over to his collection of treasures, digging through it and bringing back what appeared to be the other half of it. “Why I’ll be. Where did you get this?”

“From what was left of the vampire I destroyed there.”

“Tell me. What did this vampire look like?” He asked. Selena then proceeded to give her description of him. “That is a perfect description of Alastair Krovaloc, but I killed him decades ago!”

“So Alastair really was the creature back then! Not that I had any doubt.” Selena thought.

“But how was he alive?!” Gabriel asked “I staked him after he--never mind.”

“After he spirited Erika away?”

Gabriel was shocked to hear her say that. “Yes, but how did you know about that?”

Selena contemplated telling her father about Erika’s note and transformation, but decided against it for the time being. “Drake told me. As for how Alastair was alive? That’s simple. Someone removed the stake you drove through him.”

Gabriel sighed as he sat down. “I guess that book you found really did have some information of merit, but how did I go as long as I did without ever discovering this? I remember you said something about decapitation them after driving the stake through. I trust that’s what you did with Alastair?”

Selena nodded. “Sure did, though it wasn’t easy. I swear he was just as strong during the day as he was at night.”

“You actually had to fight him during the day? I’ve never heard of a vampire doing that! Then again, he was probably on his guard from last time and was one of the strongest vampires I ever met. Now are you sure he’s gone this time? That man was trouble, and this marked his second return from death according to our family records.”

“Second?” Selena asked.

“He troubled our ancestors in distant lands long ago and was said to have eminence power even when he was alive. I’ll leave it at that.”

“Oh.” Selena responded, now understanding why he was as strong as he was during the day. “But it is safe to say he’s gone now considering he crumbled into dust.”

“That…is something I’ve never seen, though that is a sure sign that he’s never coming back, thank the gods!” Gabriel exclaimed as he stood up. “Anyway, let’s get some breakfast before heading out.”