Night Lords

Chapter 4

Chapter 4

'Petra, these are your nieces and nephew.' Violet smiled. 'Everyone, this is your aunt Petra.' Staying where I was, I nodded my head in respect.

I was unsure of what to say as it was an odd situation to be in. So I said something kind. 'It's lovely finally meeting you. You have become such fine people; my mother and father would have been very proud of you all.'

'I have received your gift,' my pregnant niece spoke. She held it up for me to see. 'Thank you very much. It's so beautifully carved. Er, Yolin, my brother, is a carpenter,' she nodded to him. 'He could learn a thing or two about intricate details.'

He frowned. 'You liked my crib!' He snapped.

'I'm sure your work is very fine,' I interrupted, not wanting to cause an argument. 'Um, I would love to come into the village and speak with you, but I still have not located the other two Night Lords. I was hoping to find them tonight.'

'I thought you were to protect us from the hidden death,' Violet's husband said. 'That is your job, isn't it? To protect us?'

'Yes, but if it is a nest of fire Deemons that are slowly starving you as I suspect,' all of them looked horrified I mentioned this so brazenly, 'then I need extra help. Many Night Lords travel together in what's called a coterie. Unfortunately, there's just me.'

'Didn't other Night Lords want you?' he asked.

Violet chided him. 'Hold your tongue!'

A few members of Violet's family gasped and stared at me in fright. He was just asking a question. 'No, it's fine. The truth is that no other Night Lord ever crossed my path asking that I joined them until several days ago. I have met others, but they are just wanderers.'

'If you say yes to joining them, will they stay here with you?' My sister asked, sounding hopeful.

'Alas, no. They wish for me to travel with them. Probably to expand their coterie. Though really, it is my only chance to find a lifetime companion.'

The other niece asked, 'Are you not betrothed to another Night Lord?'

I shook my head and stared behind me in the fields as I got a slight prickly sensation on my skin. 'No. We search for them. The elders told me it could be months or centuries until I find one who is compatible.'

All of them stared aghast.

'So, it may be a long time until you have children,' the pregnant niece spoke, rubbing her belly.

I kicked the dirt beneath me and replied somewhat nettled, 'No, I cannot have children. The elders told me that during the transformation from human to Night Lord, my stomach dissolves, so I cannot consume food, but so does my womb, so I cannot conceive children. I am unable to carry any child. But when I die, my soul will impart on another human child, so really, I will always live eternally.'

'That's sweet and also slightly disturbing,' my sister said. I put my hand up to stop her from talking. 'What is it?'

The prickly sensation became more prominent on my skin. This wasn't good. 'Close the gates,' I told her and, pulling my small knife from my right boot, took off into the night to find the Deemon trying to get one up on me.

'CLOSE THE GATES!' Violet shouted from behind me.

I didn't turn to see as I heard the large creaky wooden gates close behind me. Sprinting through the un-harvested corn fields, I saw some movement ahead. Bending low, I sped up and jumped into the air. I saw the Deemon, a water Deemon, slithering through the field. It barely had time to look up when I came down upon it and stabbed it in the head. Just as I pulled the knife out of its skull and it dissolved before me in a flash of green, two familiar-looking faces were staring at me.