The Calm of the Night
Zaigar heaved a sigh of relief as she landed onto the bed. The last time she came to the Lotus was because she needed a swig of Bloody Baron. She had one right now in her arm and she was downing it while checking the hunt for the day. Nothing much, really, just a few quills and some foxes and a rabbit or two, but that was all. Usually, when the day was good she could get more than that.
She stared up at the ceiling listening to the sound of the night as she drank the bitter-sweet liquor. Perfect drink for her. Signified her past, sweet in the tongue, bitter in the after-taste. What could be more better than that?
She began to remember the things that she had encountered. She had met the half-celestial who had problems being chased after some girl with a toy bunny. Then it was an elf whom she tried to help her end her misery but ended up saving her life instead for some reason yet unknown. Then she met up with a young Pyrox who didn't seem to get the hang of his powers just yet. Then a weird herald whom she finally was able to get rid of that herald power he infected her, though that memory was slightly vague. She remembered the vampire she met and tried to kill herself by feeding him her blood, but did not succeed. After that was the half-breed she had rescued from the sewers. Then it was the man who convinced her that death was not the answer to her problems. That was the most memorable of all.
She stared at all the bandages that covered her wrists, shin, ankles and elbow, all covering the wounds that her Ormack had made. She kinda lost her hatred and remorse towards him, but there's still a lot she needed to do to get past all these nightmares that had haunted her for so many years.
One step at a time.
As the liquor took effect, she slowly slipped into a deep slumber, not knowing that somewhere out there, someone might be watching her every move...
Dante slumped into the Lotus. He'd had a bad day - what with ruining a rather nice pair of pants by sliding into a large mud pile. He had slipped, along with several others after him, on the unseen, slippery part of the road. Someone had used dirt to fill up a large pit in the pavement, but the dirt had gotten wet, which just made a complete mess. He had went to his rented rooms, and found that while he could easily clean his boots, the pants were just too damaged for anything other than rags. Trying to recoup his losses, he went out on what was supposed to be a petty theft spree, but ended up netting a few coins and three tubes of unopened lipstick. Fuming aobut his day, he ended up deciding to go to the Lotus for a drink and to save the lipstick for any nice girl he might come across.
Entering the building, he ordered a simple beer, and took it upstairs. He was bored, wandering among the hallways of the dimly lit inn, nodding cheerfully towards the few who gave him odd looks. He noted a slightly open door, and decided to sneak in.
Silently taking a sip of his beer, he did so, and saw a strange-looking, bandaged woman lieing on the shoddy bed. He wrinkled his nose - he'd never stay here for the night, this place was a shithole. He'd stay in his own shitholes, thank you very much.
However, the woman was not entirely asleep, though she looked very close to getting there. If he had come in several minutes later, he'd have been able to ransack the room, but now what could he do? Stand here for awhile while he waited for her to fall asleep? Surely she'd awaken at feeling someone's eyes on her - Dante always did. Damn. The night could have turned out better than the day, but too late now.
He heard someone approaching the door, and he quickly ducked behind it, squirming into the smallest position as possible. The door opened some, and a burly man entered, along with a heavy stench of alcohol. Luckily, the new entrant didn't have a light, which would have definitely shone on Dante's bright hair, quickly betraying him. He had dressed down in navy and black tonight, luckily - bright green would have shown off in this dim light, whether or not another source was added.
The man heavily staggered towards the bed, but was still rather quiet for being dead drunk. He seemed to giggle a bit, but made no noise. Leaning over the perhaps now sleeping woman, he went to move her over on the bed, attempting a caress, but the nymph had soundlessly set his beer down and knifed the back of the man's leg. The resulting scream and stream of swearing would probably wake the dead. The man fumbled about for a light, while Dante swiftly retreated back into the shadows behind the door.
Nice idea.
Zaigar woke up at the sound of screaming and swearing, her alcohol-induced mind barely cleared. One look at that burly man in his bleeding leg was enough to tell her that he was up to no good.
The man was prepared to take off and run. Without asking questions, Zaigar took out her double-daggers from behind her loincloth and aimed them straight at his heart, delivering a fatal blow. She pressed harder until it was deep enough to cut off his life force. After making sure he wasn't moving anywhere but to the afterlife, she took out the daggers and wiped them clean with his clothes before putting them back behind her loincloth.
"No one sneaks up on me without my permission," Zaigar whispered to the ear of the dead body and watched coldly at the blood coming out of him, staining everywhere.
The commotion brought the guests and the innkeeper to her room to see what was going on. Most of them recognized her and shrank away fearfully, fully aware of what her terror and wrath can do. The innkeeper was about to shout at her for staining his floor but decided against it when he saw Zaigar's eyes glowing bright in cold anger.
"Get this bastard out of my sight. You're lucky he aimed for me instead of your princess of a daughter."
Of course, she meant that sarcastically.
The innkeeper hastily ordered his lackies to clean up the mess. Some guests lingered to watch but Zaigar sent them splitting with a 'What the hell are you looking at?' glare. After everything was done, Zaigar heaved a sigh and slammed the door closed with her eyes closed, trying to will off the glow.
As she moved towards the bed and threw herself on it, she said quietly, "You can come out now, pauper. The cost is clear. By the way, thanks for saving me from being defiled by that bastard."
"Eh," Dante said offhandedly, peering out from the shadows. He was actually somewhat impressed with her coldness, but didn't feel like showing it. "You're welcome."
Hell, if she didn't know that he was in here before the man, he wasn't going to tell her.
"Perhaps you should lock the door, though. Then people wouldn't be able to get in, you know?"
He turned, knowing he was stating the obvious, and examined the door. The cheap lock mechanism was easy to break into, but it did seem to be in working condition. He shut the door, pressing the button in the center of the doorknob to lock it, then rattled the knob.
"Eh, see? It works."
Easy to pop, yeah, but a bit of a lock was better than no lock when against a drunk rapist. He twisted the knob, causing the button to loudly pop out, and opened the door again, letting a pale beam of light in the room.
Zaigar watched nonchalantly as the pauper stated the obvious. Of course she could've locked the door, but she didn't bothered to. If the pauper hadn't helped her wound the rapist she would've still taken him down easily. When the pauper opened the door again and light streamed softly into the room, she sighed boredly.
"Yes, you made your point quite obviously," Zaigar said as she took another swig of her Bloody Baron. "Don't think I didn't know you were here before that man. I caught a glimpse of you when I was sending that bastard into the afterlife. Half-breed, you see? A half-gargoyle with the same night-vision as the real deal."
She lay back onto the bed, her body slightly heating up by the booze she just drank. One thing about Bloody Baron was that although it had a great taste, it delivers a rather nasty heat all over your body and send you into pools of sweat in about an hour after you consume it, and it was taking effect right now.
Ignoring the presence of the pauper--a man nonetheless--she removed her boots and every armour she had hidden in her, then the knots on her loincloth and upper body clothing and left it at that, letting the cold night air rush in to cool her off from the heat created by the booze.
She realized she was being stared at and whispered in her drunken state, "What? Have you not seen a woman undress before? Remember what I can do to you if you have any bright ideas."
With that, the alcohol quickly took over her state of mind and sent her into a deep slumber, her clothes left neglected and exposed.
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