Chapter One: The Third Age

The hoard of goblins hissed and spat at me, bearing their pointed jagged teeth as they chattered menacingly. Goblins were small creatures, but together they gave true meaning to the phrase strength in numbers. Their attitude changed drastically when a few of their kind came to back up a single goblin. A smirk crossed my lips at their ridiculous attempt at being threatening. It might

have worked against a small dog, but certainly not me.

   

The smirk angered them further and they chattered more, dancing and bobbing about with

spears. I bared my teeth back at them and growled, deep and low. Their noise stopped for a split second as they realised what they were dealing with. But I was hungry and not in the least picky. A goblin hoard would suit me just fine, unfortunately for them. I charged at them, unnaturally fast, grabbing one by the neck and snapping it instantly. The goblin went limb in my grasp and greedily, I latched my fangs onto its flesh, breaking skin and gulping down sweet sweet blood. I tossed the body aside when I'd drained it. One goblin was not going to sate the hunger clawing at my belly, the things weren't even big enough to classify as a snack for Nicneven's sake. Though with the taste of fresh blood coating my tongue, my hunting instincts were fully awake.

   

Some of the goblins had already tried to scatter, but a few resolute ones were still pointing their crude spears at me. I took off after the fleeing ones. They'd be so much more fun to chase. As my feet began to fly across the ground, a rustle in the undergrowth behind me caused me to hesitate. It could be a new threat, but it could also be a more satisfying kill. Suddenly, a larger than average

lynx leapt into the fray, swiping at any goblin it could reach. Ooo this was going to be fun.

The lynx pinned one down, nodding at me. I nodded back and continued after the couple that had fled.

   

They were easy to find, no attempts to cover their tracks or be quiet. I was on them in seconds, ripping their skin apart with my fangs and sucking them dry. By Nicneven that tasted good. It must've been longer between feeds than I'd realised. Once I had myself a nice little pile of dead goblins, I picked them up by their feet, dragging them back to where I'd originally encountered the blighters.

  

The lynx was still there, as I knew she would be, munching away on what meat she could get

from her kills. Her bloodied muzzle rose as I approached and I held up the bunch of goblins in my hand. "You have the meat from these and I have the blood from yours?”I offered.

The lynx nodded and I dropped them. She eagerly trotted over and tucked into more goblins as I lapped up the remaining blood from her kills.  

Finally feeling the hunger ebbing away, I wiped my hand across my mouth. The lynx also satisfied, wandered over to the tall grass. Moments later, the sounds of bones cracking and limbs twisting, along with the odd pained yowl reached my ears as I waited patiently. A little while later and a panting Lixiss emerged from the grass, perfectly donned in travelling garments that she must have stashed there earlier. 

"So do goblins have a slightly rancid aftertaste or is it just me?" She queried, spitting on the ground and coming to sit next to me.

"Maybe their meat does, the blood however was divine.”

"Next time we get sent on an assignment, I'm bringing extra rations.”

"You know you loved the opportunity to hunt.”

"Corisande, how could I not love the hunt?" She grinned, her eyes shifting briefly to a lynx's before changing back.

"You'd think the little monsters would know we have territory here by now, we've only been in Cofraystan, what, two hundred years?”

Lixiss nodded. "Yes, they're not exactly the brightest things are they? What with Cofraystan's nickname being the vampire capital." She pointed out before rolling her eyes.

"Then again, if they weren't dense, we wouldn't have gotten an easy buffet to keep us going.” I countered as we sat there digesting. I really hadn't had the energy to expend on a more voracious hunt. Running into goblins had been some kind of blessing.

"Would have been even easier if you'd just stunned them with magic.”

"But a lot less fun.”

"True.”

I cast a glance at her as we remained sitting there, the memory of what she'd been through, what we'd both been through echoing in my mind. But now no one could take us down. We'd made sure of it. Still…Breaking the silence, I dared ask “Do you miss it?”

Lixiss looked surprise at my question and I couldn't really blame her. We hadn't overly discussed such things in centuries, but she didn't need me to elaborate.

"Sometimes I do. I miss the flow of the arcane through my body and being able to throw out a spell just for fun. At least I can still sense it. I'm still connected to the arcane in some way, some remnant of it is still inside of me. I may not be able to do magic anymore, but I don't regret what happened to me. And being a lynx is certainly better than being back in the Circe Coven." She smiled at me, sharing an inside joke. When we'd become other, the Coven's reaction at the time hadn't exactly been welcoming of our tainted blood.

   

It was an incredibly sincere answer from her, I felt it was only right to return the favour. "I felt so bad back then, still being able to perform magic after my turning, whereas your change had stripped you of that ability.”

She shrugged. "I know and it wasn't like we expected you to still be able to do magic. We can't help what we are Corisande, but we've had centuries to get used to it.”

"You know, you're the most amazing friend a vampiress could ask for." I said honestly, smiling at her.

"Same to you, though replace vampiress with lynx shifter.”She grinned back.

We stayed there for a few minutes more, before I rose to my feet, patting down my blood

stained clothes. I was such a messy eater when I was hungry. Lixiss stood too.

"Ready to carry on?” I asked.

"Yeah, it's not much further to the Clan now anyway.”Lixiss answered, sniffing the air for good measure. Becoming a shifter may have stripped her of performing magic, but by Nicneven, it had left her with much less complicated methods of divining things.

"Let's get going then, I can't wait to sleep in a decent bed!" The longing entered my voice as I pictured plush pillows and cosy blankets.

"I'm with you on that front." She agreed as we continued onwards, leaving the carnage of goblins behind.

Maybe the stupid beasts would finally get the message there were more dangerous things lurking in Cofraystan than them.