"Fuck... How did this happen?"

Axel walked home, dragging a corpse of a horn-hoof. "Here," he snapped, dumping it at the feet of the girl. I haven't touched it," he said quickly, when her eyes narrowed suspiciously at him. Lowering her gaze slowly, she whipped out a hunting knife and slowly began to butcher the animal, slicing it up in expert arcs. Axel turned away and started to look for another quarry, this time for his own sustenance. He was stopped by a stone twinking against the back of his head. Glancing over his shoulder, he saw Christine holding out a bowl of red liquid. "You don't have to hunt," she called. "One is enough."

That was the third day they were travelling together.

Over the next two months, they spent thir days milling about in the Greenmaw, hunting when they had to, fending off bandits and other annoyances, and getting to know each other.

Axel sat down next the Christine, who was stoking a roaring fire, crackling and crisping. Although the light hurt his eyes, he felt strangely warm and dozey.

"You know," Christine turned to look at him sleepily. "You're not as bad as I first thought."

Axel thought he would never be more comfortable in that moment, firelight dancing with shadows in a playful tango.

"Where are we going?"

"I'm trying to make it to Consortium territory. Maybe I can catch an airship back to Tassel."

"You might want to try Flerschdorf. It's about," Christine pulled out a star-compass and stared through it, fiddling. "Thirty miles from here. There's quite a large fleet of airships stationed there."

"Mmm." Axel nestled his face in his knees.

"Is it too bright?" Christine took out a stick and stirred the coals up, extinguishing some of the flames and smothering their bonfire to a sleepy orange glow.

Axel opened his mouth, but nothing came out.

He stared at this human girl, so like him, but a world apart. Even with her entire family crushed and taken, she could still find it in her to sit next to one of her enemies.

Axel respected that.

"Actually, Dhampyre, what's your name?"

"Ax--Axel. Axel Roengel."

"That's a nice name. It means Crimson Angel, you know that? Roengel."

"Yes."

"Axel, are you going to leave soon?"

"Wait--what do you mean by that? Do you want to leave? Are to tired of me?"

"No, just asking."

"Promise?" Axel quietened.

Christine smiled. "Promise."

These memories swirled together in Axel's mind as he was kicked against a tree. Christine, all traces of warmth gone, pinned her knife to his neck, pressing, hurting.

"Chris...tine?"

The hooded figure stood in front of him, blue eyes glowing like hateful icicles in the night. "Silence, Dhampyre."

"Wait! What.."

The girl giggled. "Silly, pitiful, little animal. You look like a puppy that's just been kicked in the ribs!"

"No...! What are you doing?"

"Why, killing you of course."

"But--but we promised?"

"Oh?" Her lips curled up in a hateful sneer. "Was my acting that good?"

"You mean...you mean all you said was a lie?" Axel's shock was rapidly melting, solidifying into anger.

"Yep! A lie!"

"Now lie still, pig. I'm going to gut you like a fish!"

Axel surged forward, grabbing Christine's leg and throwing her against the floor.

"Gods...For these two months, I walked with you, I stayed with you, I trusted you! What the fuck?"

Christine's figure blurred as Axel advanced on her. Having seen this trick before. Axel quickly guarded himself, casting glances in every direction. A brown blur whizzed around him, too fast for the eye to see.

"O great Lume, lord of the skies, lend me your light today! Smite my enemies and burn them with your holy light!" Axel caught a glimpse of twin blue streaks filled with unbridled hatred. "Bemoan not your fate, for the flames of redemption bring pain and mercy in equal measure!"

"Holy Smite!"

A white beam shot out from the darkness, beaning Axel in the chest and throwing him backwards. Axel glances down and saw his chest smoking, singed by the blast of prayer magic.

[Sanguine Whip] [Crimson Blade]

Blood broke the skin of the ball of his palm, cording together and binding into a tight, red, spiked whip. A second weapon formed from his other hand, this time from his elbow, turning his forearm into a large, dangerouly sharp blade three feet long. Swinging the whip around, he tried catching the hunter jumping around him.

The blur smashed into him, throwing the Dhampyre off his feet. Staggering, he quickly brought his large blade around to counter the attack. Blood scraped on silver, throwing bright orange sparks into the air. The blade was deflected off to one side, Christine using the opportunity to slash at Axel's face, forcing him to duck. He wasn't fast enough, however, and a burning pain rapidly grew in his cheek. His right eye filled with tears.

Growling, Axel swung his whip at Christine again. "Gaia, Mother of All Life, bestow upon me your protection, Ward away the blows of the enemy with your holy presence!" The sanguine weapon glanced off a dome of light.

Enemy? I'm the enemy?

"Why don't you just die, vampire?" Christine's voice was high and mocking. "You're the enemy of all mankind! A pest! Something to be killed! Trampled!"

"Destroyed!"

Axel screamed, a fell sound that cut the night air like a banshee's keen.

Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why?

Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why?

Whywhywhywhywhywhywhywhywhywhywhywhywhywhywhywhywhywhywhywhywhywhywhywhywhywhywhywhywhywhywhywhywhywhywhywhywhywhywhwwwwhwhyyhywhywhywhyhyhyywhywhywhywhywhywhywhywhywhywhywhywhywhywhywhywhywhywhywhywhywhywhywhywhywwhyhywhywhywhywhywhywhywhywhywhywhywhywhywhywhywhywhywhywhywhywhywhywhywhywhywhywhywhywhywwhwhywwhwhwhwhwwhwhyyhyyywhyyyhyywhyhywhywhywhywhywhywhywhywhywhywhywhywhywhywhywhywhywhywhywhywhywhywhywhywhywhywhywhywhywhywhywhywhywhywhywhywhywhywhywhywhywhywhywhywhywhywhywhywhywhywhywhywhywhywhywhywhywhywhywhywhywhywhywhywhywhywhywhywhywhywhywhywhywhywhywhywhywhywhywhywhywhywhywhywhywhywhywhywhywhywhywhywhywhywhywhywhywhywhywhywhywhywhywhywhywhywhywhywhywhywhywhywhywhywhywhywhywhywhywhywhywhywhywhywhywhywhywhywhywhywhywhywhywhywhywhywhywhywhywhywhywhywhywhywhywhywhywhywhywhywhywhywhywhy

"Fuck you, you little shit! When I talk, you don't answer!"

"Look at that weirdo. Even his parents didn't want him!"

"Even if you join the army and get killed, you'll at least be useful for once."

"You useless maggot. Why can't you follow simple orders..."

"Hello, 2447."

First them.

Now her.

"I'll kill you." Axel's pale face slowly broke into a smile. Withdrawing his hand weapons, he drove his foot into the dirt, and lances of red exploded in every direction. The blur hissed and shot up into the sky, the plunged down. From this angle, he could see Christine's hateful face and the knife pointed at him. Jumping aside, he made a pulling motion in the air.

[Blood Strings]

As Christine came down, she felt herself caught between thin, invisible strands. Slashing her knife wildly, she tried to cut herself free. But the bonds rapidly hardened, and as Axel pulled on the strings, the force multiplied by using the lance as pulleys, she felt them cutting into her body, slowly, painfully.

Her eyes widened in fear and agony as the strings sliiced through her clothes and armor easily and deep into her body. A few scraps of cloth fluttered to the ground, accompanied by drips of blood. Coughing out blood, she managed to choke out, "No! Please, I wasn't thinking straight! I'm sorry! I'm sorry!"

Axel hesitated. For a split second, but he still hesitated.

"I'm sorry, Axel!"

The Dhampyre's face hardened. No hesitation.

No compassion.

No forgiveness.

Kill and eat.

With a final tug, Christine was sliced, pleading and screaming, into dozens of pieces. As flesh and blood spattered the floor, Axel sank to his knees, exhausted by the long fight. The scabious constructs exploded into mists of blood as the fell magic binding them dissipated. Now, when he could think, the anger and the rage at being betrayed abated slowly, replaced with a dull, throbbing grief.

Crawling over to the carcass of the girl that he though he was his first friend, he picked up half of her face and cradled it, rocking from back to forth. The smell of the blood was already starting to overwhelm him, saliva building up in his mouth and the base of his canines, the curse of his race, starting to ache, urging him to sink his teeth into flesh.

"Why? Christine, why?"

Just before the thirst overtook him and he no longer knew what he was doing, Axel dropped his head and started to sob, resisting the urge to scream his anguish to the uncaring world.

But no one heard him cry, save for the unfeeling pale face of the autumn moon and the cold stars, glimmering with distant, uncaring light.