Chapter 1 Introduction

• Isadora was a drifter, something of a rogue of sorts. She had been on her own for a very long time. The only time she could ever remember having someone that loved her was when she was discovered by an old gypsy woman named Eurielle. She was told that she was discovered sleeping next to a fully grown, blue-eyed lynx that Isadora would call Jett. For most lynx were never solid colors, her pet was solid black only the lynx eye's standing out. Isadora remembering the old woman telling her how she was discovered that winter night on the out skirts of the woods known as Hoia Baciu Forest. The woman too old to leave her homeland for the caravan she was part of had left her because she had no one to help for she was somewhat blind. The year was 1753, so finding an infant that appeared to be of need of someone as she was the gypsy woman being left to fend for herself. Though as time went on, the little girl never knew anything about her real mother only that the blind woman took her in as her own. Isadora could see for herself she was different and though the old gypsy woman didn't get to see the little girl as she grew up see the changes, but it didn't matter. Eurielle loved Isadora as her own daughter, for Eurielle had lost her family so many years ago. Isadora learning by watching Jett her blue-eyed lynx moving through the trees without making a sound, she too learn she wasn't human like the gypsy woman. When trouble was to later come, for the small family, for rumors had spread that there was a child who was cursed, and that the gypsy woman was the one who had conjured up the little girl from the dead. Isadora wasn't dead and she learned she couldn't be easily killed as many times as she had fallen off of high points and landing on her feet. It was because she had been seen by the village people, that superstitions were beginning to arise. Already vampires and werewolves had made the masses cringe now there was a little girl who may have been brought back from the dead. Isadora didn't tell the woman exactly where they were going for it was said the forest was just as dangerous as those who sought to burn the two alive at the stake. Once Isadora managed to get her mother to safety, she would go and find food and make sure they were in fact safe and sound.
• By the time the little girl had reached the age of thirteen, she had managed to learn about her transformation from being a litle girl to shifting into some sort of beast like cat creature. Though she didn't crave blood but it was something else her body longed for, that she would learn the hard but sad way.
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• It was like any other summer day where she had went fishing, bringing back food for their dinner that night. When she saw a cloud of smoke, though she knew the village people would never come through the forest but she dropped her kill and started running towards home. There on the ground she could see her elderly mother, dead and the bandits who had murdered her mother were trashing the home that was once Isadora's haven. Something in Isdora chest rose up as they saw them picking up her mother's body and throwing the woman's corpse into the fire, they were laughing and making jokes until they heard an angry roar. It was then they saw Isadora shifting into a creature that stood nearly six feet, her fur dark and smoky but it wasn't the fur that made the bandits trembled. It was the razor sharp teeth and claws that was used against the meat of the tree.
• They didn't get a chance to run away when she came through the brush and thickets with blood in her eyes as rage fueled her into a rampage. She slaughtered ever last one of them and from them she had taken a few of their life forces as their bodies dried up into ashes. It was then she learned that she was able to steal a person's lifesource by bleeding them until the victim dried up into nothing but bones and skin that looked like it was thousands of years old. There was nothing left of the bandits for she had feasted on them not to mention the fish she had caught earlier in the day. Once she morphed back she quickly put on clothes off the bandits taking a few of their weapons, gathered what she could that could give her some coins. She went through everything before burning everything down to the ground for she knew that she wouldn't be able to stay here. Leaving here and never coming back for if the rumors were far and few once someone discovered this, they would be hunting her down. She only took the necklace that belong to Eurielle, it was all she had. She found the bandit's horses, taking only one and the rest she brought with her to sell at the market place the next day. She would be carrying light because she was leaving what she knew was home. She had what she had with, turning back once more before the ship left the port. She worked whatever she could, though she tried disguising herself as a boy from time to time, but she knew hiding wasn't who she was. She started making a name for herself, always known to be with blue-eyed lynx. Over the years, she learned to fight and even fought in some wars just to earn gold and silver. She had no alliagance to anyone and though some believed because she was a female she would be weak. Those who tested her learned very quickly that she wasn't one to triffle with. Even as she closed in on being close to seventy years old, she didn't appear a day over seventeen. It was as though she would forever be young, which wasn't bad on one hand but on the other hand she wasn't taken as seriously as others were. She earned the nickname Keket for she would only wear black and always she was seen with the blue-eyed lynx which had became her trade mark.
• When she was sick of wars, she would take on bounty jobs, ones that no one else wanted were the ones she had gotten but regardless it was a job and it put coins in her pockets. A few times she had learned when the Hunter's moon could be seen it was best for her to be away from others for that was when it was best for her to be alone. This night however she wasn't as lucky for the Hunter's moon was out and she had been tracking down the bandits for the last two days. She wasn't looking to turn them for coins, it was their lifeforce she was craving.
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• She had made herself a promise that she would never harm the innocent, always she would go after a criminal before allowing herself to loose control. It was when she discovered the farm where the farmer and his family had been slained. She was angry at herself because she had caught the scent of the two different scents that were humans, but she had followed the wrong trail. She wasn't paying attention to the scents and more focused on her hunger. Why didn't she follow the stronger of the scents, she should have known the difference. If she had paid attention, she would have ran into the bandits instead of the farmer's children. The little girl that she saw playing in the water now would play no longer. She was angry that she was tracking a child and punishing herself for not searching for the bandits sooner. Maybe if she had found the bandit camp the farmer's family and he would still be alive. When she felt herself loosing it she left, fear made her run away and because of her weakness blood was now on her hands. Isadora would forever remember this day, the moment she had to bury the family. Even though she didn't shed a tear on the outside, inside she kept apologizing over and over for not saving them. She had failed them as she had failed her elderly mother. Once she found the bandit's scent she could at least give the family justice, again the Hunter's moon revealed itself as she allowed herself to turn.
• They were not paying attention to what was going on around them, they were enjoying the fact they had plundered and bragging what they did to the farmer's wife and the eldest daughter. They had robbed the family then slaughter them; and now they were enjoying their celebration which was about to be short lived. Jett her lynx were her eyes on the came, she was able to see how many and what they had. They had victims in the cages, these were those who were going to be sold as slaves. There were a few young boys and some were a little younger but they were all boys. They might be going to be put to work in the mines or forced to be soldiers. She remembered she didn't bury any boy child, so she wondered if any of these boys were children of the farmer. The children could see something moving as the bandits were laughing in their drunk stooper.
• One or two were taking a piss but they were quickly dispatched. The boys in the cages were huddled together for they seen the two men being torn apart by some kind of wild beast. Her eyes were glowing copper gold, they saw the creature's fur of sable and cream with smoky brown, though she moved quickly not staying in one place too long. Three others were coming towards the children's cage throwing muck and whatever else and yelling that was the children's food for tonight. Though the boys were huddled and the bandits unaware of what was above them, in the trees. Soon the boys realized that the beast that was here amongst them wasn't here for them instead realizing the beast was after the bandits. By sunrise, the
• boys who were in cages were running for their lives. They had seen a creature suck the life out of some of the bandits, the rest had been slaughtered. It was the bandit chief that had it the worse. He was left alive only she made sure he would never be a threat to anyone else. She had freed the children allowing them to take what they could before she would begin scavenging. Before the townspeople came back to the bandit camp to see for themselves they however didn't see the creature that the boys recanted about. She was already gone and back on the road away from this place just like she had been back to her homelands. She didn't like taken from bandits because they had taken innocent lives in the process. However, she needed to live and already she had no home to call her own, but she still had to live, too. She did clean up after herself the best she could, leaving no traces of her beast behind.
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• That was the part she hated the most, not when she was in the moment but the aftermath. It was what she seen her mess that made her think of herself as the monster. For over seventy years, she always felt it was necessary to clean up after herself maybe it was a reason for her to keep whatever humanity she had left. These were bad guys she knew, but she wasn't a saint either. She could easily be called a murderer for what she did. At least that is what she heard about herself, the creature that roam the night, she heard the songs about this were-creature or what others called a skinwalker, not a werewolf or a vampire, or in other cultures known as vampyre.
• She was none of these and yet she was still an outcast. While other creatures of the night had a place to go when they needed to hide she had nowhere but a tavern where everyone would go whenever they needed to drown their sorrows. She didn't have sorrows like the others she was amongst, none of her problems involved love or heartache or money and whatever else these bastards here were trying to forget or chase after. Her troubles involved finding out exactly what she was, or who her mother was? Sitting in the back of the tavern while the music played and people sharing drunken laughs, she looked around keeping her face covered as much as possible, for her eyes were not normal. Especially when she was on the hunt or when she made her kill, her eyes turned solid black but not right now. Her eyes were more like Jett, her lynx. She kept in the shadows which is why she kept the nickname Keket. She put a few more coins down for another ale and another stew with another loaf of bread. She would have her fill tonight for the next few weeks she wouldn't be around anywhere like this. There was no guarantee where she might end up. Others left her alone even though she remained very much guarded. She caught the scent of death though the humans here would never know it, even it was to hit them right in the face. She looked up not enough for her eyes to be revealed but enough to see who came into room, who was the one that was the undead, a vampire or ghoul or who?
• She looked up to see a vampire, more like a barbarian size vampire whose locks were nearly golden blonde, his eyes brown liek the wing's of wren's wings. Though he stood, towereing over her but he signal the barkeep for a drink before sitting down.
• "Ms. Keket, you are one lady who is hard to find."
• She said nothing to him only taking another drink before eating her stew and bread; she had nothing to say to this vampire. She didn't know him or why he had been searching for her but he wasn't easily swayed.
• "My master, is very interested in your work, Keket or should I say Isadora."
• She put down her drink as her eyes glowed for a second, long enough for him to see but not nearly enough time for any mortal eyes to see what just happened.
• "Now that I got your attention, my master Dagen von Draak, has taken an interest in you and your skills. That is a compliment that shouldn't go unanswered."
• She of course knew the name Dagen von Draak, but she fear no one, not a vampire or lycan, if it be her time then it would be her time.
• "What does he want then?"
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• "He wants you to come to with me, it could be worth your while."
• "You or your master have nothing that I want."
• "He said that you might say that but aren't you tired chasing ghost of yesterdays? Always looking for your purpose, searching endless and yet at the end of the day, you have nothing to show for it."
• He saw her fangs much like his only that her teeth had more to gain than his.
• She didn't smile as she took another drink, "I can see why your master had selected you to fetch me."
• He smile as though she had just given him a compliment but to each their own. He looked at her, "Then tell me or do you wish to keep me in suspense?"
• "You sit in front of me blocking but it wasn't about size. He knew that it was about words so you must either be one who is cool and calm, not one to get short tempered. He might have thought I would lash out under the right circumstances so this was about peace and level headed kind of conversation. Not for someone who would be quick with their mouths and slow with their brains. You know not to speak from both sides of your mouth, it's why you were up front. Now was it worth the journey for you to search for me or if I refuse do I face many more than just you?"
• "Considering you are not even older than a hundred, you are very keen. I like it."
• "Don't, my patience is wearing thin. But your master Dagen von Draak sent one of his best, that was wise of him. I will meet with your master. Not because he sent you and not because of your words."
• "Why then?"
• "You took the risk of using my real name. No one alive knows me by that name. So that intrigues me on how he of all knows it?"