Dipping sunshine lay before her. Crimson and orange cloaked the land with the ball of light descending on the horizon. Shadows cast forth from the standing army of wood, with a slight breeze present as opposed to earlier. Birds clung to branches, being some of the last visible things in the region.

Elise strode forward, a backpack attached to her filled to the brim with canisters and thick packs of leaves. Red dripped from the leaves, blood in fact, with some just open enough to reveal meat. Canisters sloshed all around, hooked to the bag. Upon her shoulder sat a long pole, rope and more canisters hanging right off of it.

The ground slopped beneath her feet mostly, with only some crunching, a couple twigs snapping. Another step and a snap. A flutter of feathers and cawing came from above, crows quickly flying off with squirrels scurrying along the branch right through where the birds had been. Rabbits around Elise flew off, darting into brush.

A sigh left her, as they typically do. Her head shaking, her feet stopped, her eyes began to drift around. The golden and orange sun bathed over her; though slowly it began to ebb away. She looked to a squirrel that fell right before her from above, one that quickly tore off.

“Great, something else I just so happened to ruin. So much for the tranquility.”

She moved on with the grass bowing for each step she took, a grunt leaving her as she bent her knees. The backpack and pole were both hoisted up a notch, resting easier on her now. She moved ahead faster than before, eyes still moving around though. Not a creature stirred around her, not a thing left.

CRACKLE

Her head perked up as she stopped in place. Twigs had snapped to her right. Her head drifted towards the right, facing it head on. No sign of movement other than the brush moving due to wind. The pole shifted, her left hand holding it up firmer with support from that shoulder. All the while her right arm moved over, hand grabbing her left arm.

A twig snapped to the left, her head turning quickly. As she shifted around she was struck. A massive object flew into her, knocking her right off her feet. The straps of the backpack ripped, the pole went flying. Canisters slashed and clattered against one another, against the rock, and right into the mud.

She rolled off in the direction she had been heading in, rolling through mud. She flipped around onto her knees and hands, huffing. She faced now the object that hit her, as well as her backpack. The pole lay bent against a tree with half the canisters having rolled off. Slowly standing, she caught view of the shape.

A man stood before her dressed rather well. Black dress pants, a white vest, a black coat in the fashion that a conductor might wear, black and white tap shoes, white gloves. Blood dripped down a partially burned face, black hair mopped right in said face. Steam rolled right off the burn, the red of it slowly disappearing giving the man back his normal color.

He looked to Elise, his eyes glowing silver and red. Fangs also made themselves visible with a curl of his lips. She stood tall, shook, “{A Vampire!}”

The man growled, “You wretch, you’re going to be in my way. No, you’ve promptly gotten in my way.”

“Look, I’m sorry for that but you ran into me. I don’t want any trouble,” Elise replied.

“Bah, too bad missy, you’ve got trouble now!” he spat pulling from his sleeve a black rod.

Blood dripped from the point at the end of the rod. He stood ready, eyes sharpened, “Human, I will take you and be on my way!”

“Human? No buddy, I’m a Drachen of Vulfax so I suggest you settle the hell down! {On the off chance that he is like every other Vampire, he’ll go shit faced and leave me be. If not, damn, I’m going to have to chance defending myself.}”

“Gah, Drachen of Vulfax you say? Hrgh, yes, I smell it on you. That stink, disgusting. Well it doesn’t matter, I need a hostage anyway. I’d take anyone, especially one of your people. Those damn Hunters are right behind me and I will be damned if I get caught, quite literally. So how about you help a brother out and let me take you hostage, they won’t know the difference between you and a civilian.”

Her eyes skimmed over him, widening not more than a moment later, “I know you- you’re Kensa of the Blood Mist. You’ve hunted and killed everything from humans to Drachen, infant or otherwise- no way in hell will I help you!”

“Listen bitch, I don’t have time for this-”

“He’s here, stop him!” came a voice.

“Dammit!” he barked.

People with crossbows and crosses on them poured out of the brush, several including an elder. Elise stumbled back a pace, “{The guys from before.}”

“Ah hell no, I am not falling here and now. You will be my hostage and get me out of this!” Kensa spat, launching himself forward at Elise with the rod raised.

“Hold fire!” the elder man yelled.

Elise stepped back, watching Kensa draw near. His rod flew forward at her gut, her eyes widening as the weapon got close. Her left foot flew back, stomping down as her back arched. She side stepped out of the way, dodging the lunge of the Vampire who in turn flew right on by. Her head shot right, staring at the pole, “{There-}”

Her body turned and her feet floored it. Kensa stomped down and turned sharp a whole one-hundred eighty, bolting right after. Elise leaped up and somersaulted through the air, coming down right next to the canister pole. Both hands grabbed hold, hoisting it up with a swing. She turned and swung, slamming it right into Kensa’s weapon. Elise buckled back a single step though held, pushing firm back as her feet sunk into the ground.

The Vampire stumbled back following, “What?!”

“Did that girl just block a Vampire’s strike?” a man from the Hunter party called aloud.

“I carry hundreds of pounds of weight a month for my people all by myself. No way in hell am I getting my ass beat down by some lowlife thug!” Elise barked side stepping to the right.

Her pole rose up with canisters shaking. Kensa flipped round and swung again, thrusting the rod right into the middle of the pole.

SNAP

The pole snapped in half at the impact point. Elise’s right arm fell as that half of the pole’s weight went loose, falling right on down, “Hrrgh!”

She swung the right pole as it fell and slammed it right into Kensa’s head. He yowled out and fell to the left as water canisters flew off in every direction off the right pole. Again she swung, this time with the left going up. Kensa’s rod swung and blocked, only for more canisters to fly off and nail him in the face. He coughed as he stumbled right, struggling on his feet.

He shot backwards with a cough, staring at Elise with eyes wide, “What the hell is this girl?! Drachen or not, she’s holding her own-”

Elise huffed more with the two halves of the pole, or rather twin poles now, holding each up ready to go again, “Come on Rusty, try me!”

“Rusty?” Kensa murmured.

Elise blinked, looking to the two poles, lowing them in the process. With that one glance she looked back to Kensa and growled, holding them ready once more.

“You got more than just a few lucky hits despite having such a sloppy form, ignorant cow,” Kensa growled.

His eyes darted round as did Elise’s, the Hunters clearly moving into attack-ready positions. Kensa gulped, stepping back a bit, “But I don’t think I’ll be able to take you without them jumping in any longer. Guess I’ll have to keep moving, maybe find a fricken toddler I can actually kidnap.”

Her eyes sparked and her form shot forward. Yells rang out from the Hunters at once as Elise charged the distracted Kensa.

“Don’t do it girl!”

“Madam, stop!”

“Blast it, move in everyone!”

Kensa’s attention moved back to Elise as she roared up on him. She hung in the air after a leap, her right foot flying round. He blinked, thrusting his rod forward at her. A miss as her foot connected with the side of his head. It practically snapped at the bend, his body folding off to Elise’s left with the rod flying off. A clang could be heard as it banged against a rock, bouncing off and onto the ground. She landed over him, both pole halves flipped. The ends facing Kensa’s throat now were sharp, jagged, they being the parts where the whole pole snapped in half.

“Nyeh- wait,” he murmured looking up at her with eyes shaken.

Footsteps and squashing filled the air as the Hunters moved in. Elise simply continued to look down upon the Vampire, her own eyes still fierce with no indication of letting up with the weapons in hand.