Annabelle La'Crain - The Prophecy

Chapter 3 - A Slave Trader's Trick

"But why do you have to go?" cried Selena, as Annabelle and Harry left, leaving Selena and her sister with Harry's friend, the prophet. "You know why, because it's not safe for you two to be seen with me, and anyway, I need to go with Annabelle and help her okay. So you two be god, and maybe, one day, we'll be able to be a family again." Harry replied, his voice breaking. Annabelle, noticing his sadness, walked over and,

while putting a hand on his shoulder, said, "Come on, we should go. Before it becomes too hard for you to leave." Her voice was sympathetic and compassionate, and Harry took comfort in this, before getting up, and walking towards Nightshade and his horse, Starlight, a beautiful, white mare. She bore a perfectly shaped, black star on her forehead. Annabelle then said goodbye to the girls and did the same, they both then mounted their horses and rode off, Harry, with one last glance at his beautiful sisters' tear stained cheeks. Harry and Annabelle spent the rest of the ride to their destination in silence, it took 6 hours.

By the time Harry and Annabelle had reached Lasline, the town that had requested her help with a vampire problem, the sun had almost set, and the town was gathered in the town square, all arguing over how to deal with the vampire problem. Annabelle walked over to the mayor that was at the front of the square, and said, "I understand that you sent for me to deal with a vampire problem" she put a lot of emphasis on the words 'vampire problem', because often she is summoned to a town at it's simply slave traders disguising their crimes by draining a few bodies of blood and leaving them in obvious places to cover their tracks. The mayor looked Annabelle up and down and decided that, judging by her weaponry, she was 'the hunter'. "Yes... at first there were the strange sightings of people drinking the blood of random travelers, but no bodies were found, so we passed it off as lies, and hallucinations, but then people from our town started going missing, one of these people was my daughter, but she escaped and came back, claiming that vampires took her, and so now, here you are." The mayor said, somewhat quickly. "Yes, well, it sounds like vampires, I will investigate for you, and decide whether you're dealing with vampires or slave traders. You see, often slave traders cover their tracks by blaming vampires." Annabelle said, before turning to Harry and saying, "We'll go and investigate where the girl was allegedly taken, okay." Harry nodded and smiled. Annabelle then turned back to the mayor and he said, "An abandoned farm house on the outskirts of the town, by the woods." "Yes, I know where that is, vampires have been known to frequent there, because the travelers in the woods are easy pickings." Annabelle replied knowingly, before turning around, mounting her horse and trotting off, with Harry behind her. "Thank you" the mayor said, as they left. Annabelle just nodded, before disappearing into the distance.

"So, do you think they've got a vampire problem?" Harry asked Annabelle as they made their way to the farmhouse. "Well, it is possible," Annabelle said, thinking of how she had already wiped out a nest in the same farmhouse, "But it's more than likely that we will have to deal with slave traders, not vampires, as vampires aren't stupid. They prefer not to go where they think I will find them, and they most definitely don't stay in the same place where I have already killed vampires. You see, they can sense it, they know that a nest was once there, but was killed. And anyway, they aren't usually obvious about where they are feeding anyway, so it's doubtful that we are facing them." Annabelle turned to look at Harry and he was gazing at her, "What?" she asked him, feeling uncomfortable in his gaze, "Nothing. It's just, you really know what you are talking about and what you're doing, don't you?" He finished with a small smile on his face. "Yeah, I guess I do" Annabelle answered, smiling at him. They spent the rest of the horse ride in silence, until they reached the farmhouse. Annabelle dismounted her horse, and Harry followed. She walked over to a tree and stood behind it. Turning to Nightshade, she then said, "Stay here, okay. I'll be back once we've dealt with these people, okay." Nightshade seemed to understand what she was saying, because he then bowed his head as if to say, 'okay'. Harry then turned to Starlight and said, "Stay, okay" and she too bowed her head. Harry then followed Annabelle, as she crept closer and closer to the farm house. Annabelle stopped behind a tree and peered around, her eyes locking on two men that were standing in front of the building, talking. "I can't believe the town is actually believing our vampire story." The first man said. "Yes, well, as long as the girl keeps telling them the same story of course they'll believe it, I mean she is the mayor's daughter after all. But, did you hear, the townsfolk want to send for the hunter. Ha! They actually believe that she exists." Said the second man, and the first man replied with, "Yeah, well, soon they'll find out the difference between fantasy and reality, but by the time they do, it'll be too late." They laughed. "Okay, look, I'm going to take those two out, but, I'm going to be quiet about it, so that means that you need stay here until I have, and then we'll take the building together, okay?" Annabelle said, devising a plan in her head as she said it. "Okay" Harry replied.

With that, Annabelle left Harry behind the tree, pulled her hood over her head and walked over to the two men. "Who are you and what are you doing here" one of the men asked Annabelle. "My name is Belle, and I was trying to get home, but I got lost." Annabelle replied in a quiet and innocent voice. The other man smiled and walked over to her, pulling her close to him and the other man, "That's okay, we can help you". Once she had been pulled next to the two men, as one of the men pulled back her hood, she pulled out her dagger and slit both of their throats before they could make a sound. Annabelle then, with Harry's help, dragged their bodies away and out of sight. They then went back to the front of the farm house, "Okay, we enter on three, 1... 2... 3... Now" Annabelle said, and they entered, pushing the door open and peering inside, on one end of the barn was a cage full of young girls that had been kidnapped, and on the other end was a big man with guards around him. Harry and Annabelle made their way over to the man, still unnoticed, and then suddenly, Harry was behind the man with a dagger to his throat. "Make a move, and your boss gets it" Harry said, a threatening tone in his voice. "Drop the knife or I'll shoot." Said a man holding a cross bow that was aimed at Harry. Suddenly the cross bow was sent flying out of the man's hands by a kick from Annabelle, and she then pulled her knife out and slit his throat. Before any of the men could react, Annabelle was onto them, and in the blink of an eye, Annabelle had killed them all, some had been stabbed, others had their throat slit, but they were all dead. "So," Annabelle said, cleaning her dagger on her cloak and then sheathing it, "What are you doing here, and who sent you" Knowing that she would do worse than kill him if he did not speak, the man said, "I am here to collect slaves for my employer. I was sent by the vampires, vampires of Blood Raiyn." "Vampires of Blood Raiyn?" Harry half asked, half yelled. "Well, you can tell your employers that I repossessed their slaves, and that.... I'm coming for them, one day. Tell them, to watch their backs." Annabelle said, anger in her voice, although Harry was unsure why she sounded so angry. "They'll kill you before you get the chance" The man said with an evil grin on his face, Annabelle walked over to them and punched him in the face, her rings leaving harsh marks on his face. The man was laughing, "I'm not taking your message, if they find out I ratted them out, then the hunter could find out, and if she finds out, well, they'll torture me." "It's a bit too late for that I already know" Annabelle said, before stabbing the man with a stake. He was reduced to ash and Harry was left with a shocked look on his face. "I guess I'll have to deliver the message myself" Annabelle said, before walking over to the prisoners with Harry followed behind, asking, "How did you know that he was a vampire, and if he was a vampire, why didn't he just kill me when I was holding the knife to his throat?" As Annabelle opened the cage, and let the prisoners g, she said, "Go home guys, you're free now." And then turned to Harry and said, "One of my many abilities, or powers as some call them, is that I can sense evil. And the reason he didn't kill you is because when the blade I gave you was forged, it was sort of imbued with holy water, which burns vampires, like this cross on my neck, the cross burns them" Annabelle finished, pointing to the cross. "Oh, well thanks." Harry finished handing the dagger back to her, "No keep it, you'll need it, especially if you're still with me when I go to Blood Raiyn" Annabelle said, in a matter of fact way. Harry nodded and they left, leaving the slave traders' dead bodies behind.

"So this is what it's like.... traveling with you?" Harry asked Annabelle as they mounted their horses, after having the entire town thank them for saving their girls. "Yep," Annabelle replied smiling, "Still staying with me?". "Of course" Harry said smiling, as they rode off into the sunrise