— Jacke Jaywood, “Beasts, Men, and The Hunter’s Dilemma,” page 113
The previous morning…
“I saw a vampire by the forest!” shouted a man in a black tailcoat. “I swears I did!”
Emily whipped around as the man ran frantically toward the crowd. Her mundane, early morning commute had abruptly shattered, and her curiosity had been piqued. She edged closer, trying to overhear more before they’d have to part ways at the crossroads.
“You sure you weren’t just seeing things?” someone else asked. “Hawthorne said he saw one yesterday, but I haven’t heard of anyone getting bitten.”
“I’m sure it was a vampire! I saw the silver in its eyes!”
A wave of concern settled over the growing crowd.
“Silver eyes don’t make a vampire, idiot! Fangs do!” another man in an overcoat argued.
Emily’s heart raced. Another sighting? Was it the same vampire? Or maybe another one? For two days now, the rumors had been circulating, and still, no one knew if they were true.
“I hear vampires can crush steel with their bare hands!” a woman muttered.
The man beside her scoffed, adjusting his hat and shaking his head. “That’s just tall tales. You know nothin’ of vampires.”
Arguments and speculation broke out as Emily split from the crowd with a few factory workers at the crossroads. As she hurried along the rows of pink brick buildings, she couldn’t help but theorize. The rumors had started the other day when a man claimed to see a shadowy figure standing by the nearby riverbank, the very one that was carrying water through the hissing pipes that ran along the town’s walls. The man claimed to see the vampire in the afternoon, and that it had large claws, elongated fangs, and a cloak billowing in the wind. But that didn’t make sense. Vampires couldn’t come out during the day, right? The sun would hurt them, just like how it hurt all sorts of monsters. But then again, how could she be so sure? She hadn’t seen many monsters for herself, much less a vampire, and all she knew of them came from old books and fairy tales.
“Ain’t no vampires out here,” one of the workers muttered under his breath.
“What makes you so sure?” Emily asked.
“All this talk of a monster about, yet not a single fella has been bitten.”
Another worker turned to him and chuckled. “Better to be bitten and killed than forced to work another day in textiles.”
“No, you bloody idiot, you’d be turned into one of ‘em!”
“Then, it’s better to be feared and all-powerful than to work another day in textiles.”
“I’d go straight for Foreman Razmoth,” one of them joked, prompting the other to laugh.
Emily only gave a light chuckle to blend in, though she didn’t really find it all that funny. She liked Foreman Razmoth, mostly. He was at least kinder than the seamstresses where her mother worked. They were nothing but rude and bitter women. They would have likely thought all this talk of vampires was nothing but fear-mongering. That’s what her mother called it. ‘They’re just trying to scare us. If vampires come, the Hunter’s Lodge will make swift work of them.’ The Hunter’s Lodge, the freelancer group that the town of Pillio’s Watch had hired to safeguard them. Apparently, they had asked for the help of a monster hunter employed by the crown, but he had gone missing, so the freelancers were the next best thing. They were everywhere. Emily had even passed a few already this morning. They had guns and knives. They were smart, strong, and fast. If there were a vampire, Emily knew they would keep the town safe. That’s why she hadn’t been so worried. What reason was there to be worried when you had armed guards patrolling your streets?
As Emily and the other workers neared the textile factory, the damp air settled into her bones. Gray clouds filled the sky this morning, and only a few rays of light were able to shine through, casting an ominous backdrop to the building that loomed over Pillio’s Watch like a castle. Emily shuddered, her tattered cap and jacket barely shielding her from the biting wind. She had asked her mother to borrow her shawl, but she argued the walk wasn’t that far. ‘You’ll be alright without it,’ she had said, though she probably just didn’t want her to bring it home dirty again.
Bells started clanging as Emily reached the front gates, signaling the start of the workday. She wasn’t the only one running late, thankfully, and was able to shuffle into the building with the other grown men and children, the ones from Pillio’s Orphanage, not two blocks away.
Clattering looms and the metallic clinks of gears echoed as workers toiled diligently, operating the machines stacked among the many floors of the towering building. Foreman Razmoth, a stocky dwarf, was talking to some of the managers on the main floor. He glanced past them as Emily strolled in and waved at her from across the room.
“Good morning, Emily!”
“Morning!” she shouted back.
The foreman’s voice trailed, and several other workers on the main floor turned to Emily as she passed by, greeting her with the same, shared, tired tone.
“Oi, Em!” called a worker from the second-story catwalks, leaning against the thin steel railing. “Lift me up that there box o’ tools. I need one of ‘em wrenches!” He pointed down to a bright red box near a cart of supplies.
Emily eyed it. A whole box of them was too heavy to lift. “Which one?” she shouted up.
“Screw wrench. One jutting out from the side there!”
Emily plucked the wrench and tossed it into the air. A pulse of magic shot from her hand, pushing the tool into the worker's grasp.
“Much appreciated, dear!” As he pushed off the railing, the supports snapped, and the worker stumbled. His comrade caught him by the back of his shirt and pulled him to safety. Though the railing didn’t fall, it was left broken and loose. “Damn it,” the worker said. “Place is fallin’ apart. I’m tellin’ ya, it ain’t gonna take much before these damn heavy machines come crashing down.”
Emily hung her jacket in the back of the factory, and hurried up to her station on the third floor. Her worn shoes scraped against the gritty wooden floors as she navigated the maze of catwalks, spinning frames, and looms. Several of the orphans were already hard at work, and Emily greeted each of them with a good morning as she passed.
Surprisingly, her friend Lux was already here, working the carding machine. Emily usually didn’t expect her to arrive for a few more minutes, often signaled by Foreman Razmoth chastising her so loudly that even the men working on the fourth floor could hear him. Lux was wearing the same clothes as yesterday: a worn apron, patched and stained, over her long-sleeved shirt. She wasn’t wearing any earrings today either, leaving her pointed ears bare.
“You’re here early,” Emily said as she hopped to her side.
The young elf grumbled.
“Did you hear there was another sighting?”
Lux sighed tiredly. “No…”
“Oooh, someone’s grumpy.” Emily looked her over. She was backlit by what little light shone through the dusty windows. It highlighted the frizziness of her hair and the unkemptness of her clothes. She didn’t even smell like flowers. “Hmm. I think you snuck out again last night.”
Lux gave her a look that screamed ‘Obviously’.
Emily smiled and reached for the cotton fibers, each strand soft against her calloused fingertips. “Who was it this time?”
“Doesn’t matter,” Lux said and returned to work.
“John?”
No answer.
“Elliot?”
No answer.
“Hmm,” Emily flashed a teasing grin. “People are saying a vampire was spotted. It was them, wasn’t it?”
A small smile crept up Lux’s face. “You’re crazy! A vampire would’ve ripped my guts out!”
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“Nah.” Emily puffed her chest. “If it got dangerous, you’d just come running to me.”
Lux laughed. “Right. What are you going to do? Push it over with some magic?”
“Hey, I can do more than knock things over.” Emily held her hand out towards a roll of fabric propped up nearby. It flew through the air and knocked into Lux’s side.
“Hey!” she said with a laugh, stumbling. “If that’s the best you can do, I doubt you’ll save me from a vampire. Maybe if you were still at that school, you’d learn something more useful.”
Emily shot her a playful glare, her pride momentarily deflated. She knew Lux was just joking, but she would at least like to have a bit of confidence thrown her way. “Just you wait. I don’t need that school. I’ll become the best witch ever without those professors.”
“Right. I’ll believe it when I see it,” she said with a chuckle. “Anyways, I doubt there’s a vampire. People are just dumb,” Lux said, a faint smile playing on her lips.
“What about the sightings?” Emily asked.
“People have said they’ve been seeing vampires for a few days now, and there hasn’t been one bite. No one is dead!”
“Doesn’t mean they aren’t out there. Maybe they’re scoping out our town, looking for the right victim!”
“Again, I’ll believe it when I see it.”
Emily’s muscles strained as the day went on.
It didn’t help that she never knew when the day was going to end. The only clock in the entire factory was on the first floor, and far from view up where she was, up where she couldn’t escape the fine mist of cotton hanging in the air. It settled on her skin and brown hair like a shroud, and she could never seem to brush all of it off. But it was still better than work in the cotton fields, where the sun was constantly beating down on her, or even with the seamstresses in the slopshop.
“God, can the day get any more boring?” Lux groaned, stepping away from the machine for a minute. She leaned against the guardrail, stretched, and then looked down to the bottom floor.
CRACK!
The guardrail gave way, and Lux went over the side.
“Lux!” Emily shouted.
A sensation shot through her body, and then suddenly, everything was weightless. Emily’s clothes, the dust, the strands of cotton fiber, they all floated as if gravity had vanished. A stabbing pain shot from Emily’s hand to her brain. She clenched her muscles as her arm started to shake. This feeling was strange, tense, like the weight of a full person was pulling her down.
Lux was floating between the first and second floors with the broken guardrail, flailing her arms and yelling for someone to help her.
Was she doing this? Emily tried to hold the feeling as long as she could, but her body could only endure the strange sensation so much. She let go, and the world felt normal again.
Lux plummeted, only to be caught this time by several workers.
Emily collapsed on the catwalk as an uproar of voices echoed from below. Her heart was pounding so hard she felt as if it might burst from her chest.
“The bloody hell happened?” Foreman Razmoth asked as drifts of dust and cotton were still gently falling like a snowstorm had blown into the factory.
“I don’t know,” Lux said. “I think the guardrail broke.”
Emily peered over the edge, panting, her forehead slick with sweat.
“I have eyes. I’m askin’ about you. Where in the hell did you learn to fly?” Foreman Razmoth craned his neck back. Their eyes met. “Emily, get down here!”
Weakly, Emily made her way to the bottom floor. She forced herself to walk normally, despite her aching legs. She couldn’t think of another time she had felt this tired so suddenly or anything like it. The strange tingling sensation still coursed through her, like her veins were on fire.
The workers dispersed to let Emily through. When she reached Foreman Razmoth, she straightened her back and tried to look calm.
“Did you do that just now?” the dwarf asked.
“I… I think so.”
“She did indeed!” said a loud voice. The crowd looked toward the front of the factory, where a tall man in a wide-brimmed hat stood. He was dressed in a sharp coat, with leather gloves and a reserved smile. “It was quite impressive. For someone so young to have such control and power over telekinesis is truly remarkable.”
Emily stared awkwardly back at him. “I-It is? I mean, I practice but—”
“Hold on.” Foreman Razmoth stepped between them. “Who the hell are you? You heard about that last shipment? I already told the Orsella people that their boxes were full.”
“No, no, I am here on a different matter. The name’s Emeric Ordwell. Forgive my intrusion. I’ll keep things simple and straight to the point. I am here because my mistress is in need of children.”
“That so,” Foreman Razmoth nodded casually. “Check the orphanage instead. My factory can make a chemise, not a child!” He laughed at his own joke.
Emeric laughed. “No, you misunderstand. She is a businesswoman, overseeing a pearl diving operation off the coasts of the Morlean Isles, and she is in need of workers small enough to fit into the undersea crevices.”
“I can’t part with my workers.”
“I am looking only for exceptional talent. My mistress only trusts her pearls in the hands of the most skilled of scamps, and from what I have heard, you have one that is most exceptional.” His eyes were hidden behind a pair of tinted lenses, but Emily could still feel his stare.
“Me?” Her eyes grew wide.
“I recognize talent when I see it. How old are you?”
“Sixteen,” Emily replied hesitantly.
Emeric smiled. “Fascinating. You’re a bit old, but you’ll do perfectly.”
Foreman Razmoth looked back at Emily and shook his head. “Unfortunately, Emily ain’t one of the orphans. Neither is Lux here. Nor are any of ‘em for sale.”
“It matters not for my mistress.” Emeric removed a shimmering red pearl from his inner coat pocket and displayed it in the palm of his hand. “My mistress is serious with her work. Pearls like this go for a fortune, but they’re hard to obtain, requiring the smallest and nimbliest of fingers. And if they know magic, well, she’ll make it worth your while.”
“It matters for the girl’s parents. Can’t just give the girl away; otherwise, I’ll have a whole other problem on my hands. The other children here don’t have ‘em. If you’re really in need of some workers, you gotta take it up with the Pillio’s Orphanage. I’m sure a few of these lil’ scamps’ll be happy to go spend some time in the sun.”
Emeric stared intently at Emily, his smile slowly dwindling. “I am offering you an escape from this place. A chance at a better life, and you will not take it?”
Emily gulped and glanced around. All eyes were on her. After a moment, though, she shook her head. “A man like you came to me once with an offer like that. I’m not ready for another. Not yet.”
Emeric sighed and tucked the pearl away. “Well, quite unfortunate.” He looked around at the other workers. “Again, pardon my intrusion. Perhaps the orphanage would have been a better place to start my search, but I wanted to see the diligence of your workers before I made my decision.” He backed toward the entrance, but before turning to leave, glanced at Emily. “And you… Perhaps our paths may cross again. And when they do, I implore you to reconsider my offer. I’ll be in Pillio’s Watch for a few more days. Discuss it with your parents, if you wish. You might regret it otherwise.” With that, he gave a graceful bow. “Good day.”
The workers remained silent until he left, then started mumbling amongst themselves.
“What a creep,” Lux said as he disappeared from sight. “What are we, slaves?”
Emily shrugged and tried to peer around for another glance at him. “It doesn’t sound too bad of a job, getting to work on an island with the elven tinkers. Who knows what they’re making over there?”
“Yeah, but you can’t swim, remember?”
“I can dream, can’t I?”
“You tried that already, and look how that turned out,” she replied with a snort.
Emily merely rolled her eyes.
“Right,” Foreman Razmoth said. “Emily, Lux, stay here a moment. Everyone else, lunch.” The workers dispersed. “Now, nothing’s broken, is it?” he asked Lux.
She flexed her muscles. “I don’t think so.”
“You can get back to work then. As for you, Emily, don’t be goin’ around and usin’ magic in here like that, got it? Helpful as you are, we don’t need the whole factory floatin’.”
“Sorry, I didn’t mean to do that. I don’t know how I did that.”
“I know, but no good will come from it if you keep doin’ shit like that.”
Emily rolled her eyes. Of course, a dwarf would think this way. “I just haven't mastered it yet. I can control it! I will control it… one day.”
Foreman Razmoth paused, then let out a low, hearty chuckle. “Yeah, because you’ve done such a good job learnin’ already.”
Emily furrowed her brows.
“Ignore him,” Lux said. “He’s just jealous because you can actually do magic.”
“That so?” Foreman Razmoth crossed his arms. “Thought you knife-ear goodie-too-shoes were supposed ta be attuned with magic, eh?”
“At least I’m able to learn it one day.”
“Least ya got plenty o’ time then. Yer kind only lives forever ‘cause ya can’t figure out how to do it right.”
Lux opened her mouth, but nothing came out.
“Look, maybe I’d be singin’ a different tune if she hadn’t flunked out of an opportunity handed to you on a golden fuckin’ platter.” He looked at Emily. “I appreciate what you did, but keep to what you know while you’re here. I don’t need another accident on top o’ the one we just had.”
“At least she caught me,” Lux said.
“You wouldn’t have fallen if she weren't so careless all the time.”
“Maybe if the guardrail wasn’t so old, I wouldn’t have fallen,” Lux said with a groan. “You need to replace it!”
“Don’t lean against them so much, and I wouldn’t have to. Don’t know how the hell you broke it anyway, that steel’s too dense to break.”
“What, like your skull?” Lux snapped back.
“That’s enough outta you, you prissy little elf. Now, to lunch, both of you. The Hunter’s Lodge says I need to let you wee ones home before sundown, so back to work at the top o’ the hour, you hear. Gotta get some use outta you two.”
“Alright…” they both said quietly and watched Foreman Razmoth leave.
Lux stood there for a moment before letting out a soft chuckle. “Fucking dirt-licker,” she grumbled under her breath.
“You’re sure you’re okay?” Emily asked Lux.
“Yeah, yeah, I’m fine. You really used your magic on me?”
Emily flashed a playful grin. “Maybe.”
“Didn’t think you had gotten any better at it. That was… really impressive.”
“Didn’t believe me when I said I was practicing?”
“Not at all… but thank you.”
“See, I did save you!” She laughed.
“Whatever,” Lux said, rolling her bright blue eyes, and made her way back to the third floor.
Emily lingered for a moment, staring down at herself. Did she really just do all that? That had to be why she was feeling so drained. This must have been what those professors were talking about, feeling the magic flow through her. When Emily peered down at her hands, though, something was off. Her palm was cracked. Not like a cut or anything, it looked like broken glass webbing out. There was a faint, white glow emanating from the cracks. Emily rubbed it with her finger, but it didn’t feel any different than skin. It didn’t hurt either, and it definitely wasn’t there this morning.
“Come on, Emily!” Lux said, already walking away.
She sighed. It was something to worry about later.
So, I write really long chapters, long enough that I need to split them into multiple parts. I try to treat them more like episodes of a TV show, with a clear beginning, middle, and end, but each chapter ends up with varying degrees of success. Anyways, every chapter for this story will be split up into multiple parts. This not only helps me keep a steady flow of chapters, but the release schedule guarantees me the time to put as much quality and care as I can into future releases. I’m a firm believer in quality over quantity, and that is exactly what I want to give you. It may mean that releases will be slow, but it will all be done with the intent of providing you with a well throughout story, and decent prose.
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