Chapter One

Jadea stood at the top of the barren hill, looking down on the remains of her home. The air was thick with hate and the smell of death and blood. Though she couldn't remember the battle, she had a feeling of despair and loss. She knew she was the sole survivor of a failed time.

A warm breeze hit against her face, playing with her crimson locks. She pulled a black hood over her head to mask the smell that was flooding her nostrils.

The sound of thunder rolling in the distance brought the hope for rain to cleanse the dead earth. Looking up at the sky, Jadea felt warm drops on her face. When she licked her lips, her eyes opened wide in surprise. She knew that taste, the taste of blood. A strong hunger came over her as she continued to look to the sky, her face becoming covered in the red liquid.

A low burning pain in her chest brought her to her knees. The crystal fragment at her neck burned against her bare skin and she cried out in pain. Her own blood started to flow freely onto her black corset.

Screaming, she pulled the crystal from her neck and held it out before her, letting it dangle by its silver chain. Panting, she let herself fall to the ground, her hand still clutching the crystal.

"Jadea." a voice called out to her, "Jadea."

She sat up slightly and looked around, trying to decipher where the voice was coming from. Suddenly, a shrill ringing began in her ears as she hit the ground again, screaming in pain. From where she lay, tears rolling down her cheeks, she looked at the crystal, pulsing with light. The rhythm of the light matched that of her heart and she lay still, closing her eyes and waiting for death.

Jadea shot up in bed, breathing heavily. Her body was drenched in sweat and her heart felt as if it was going to explode out of her chest. She leaned forward, bringing her hand to her crystal. He hand relaxed around it. It was cool to the touch, as always.

"It was a dream," she whispered shakily, "It was just a dream."

Jadea looked around the cold room. Early signs of dawn peeked through the cracks in the walls. Her five other companions were still under sleep's spell. She sighed and got slid out of bed to dress. She knew that the dream would not allow her to return to sleep.

Jadea kneeled the make-shift bed, pulling her clothes out from under it. Looking around the room bitterly, she couldn't help but despise the surroundings that she had been reduced to. Her own parents had deserted her because of what she was as had Lord Rian. He had raised her as his own, until he found out the truth. It was then that she seemed to no longer matter. She had to give him credit, though. She should have been put to death, but he had instead banished her to his own personal tribe of assassins. Looking around, she scoffed quietly and rolled her eyes. Jadea supposed that she could call the dank room charity.

She dressed quickly, cursing her large hands as she fumbled with the dainty strings on her corset. Jadea grabbed her cloak and closed it with a jeweled brooch just above her dress. Carefully, she slid the crystal into the folds of the cloak, concealing it. She wasn't sure why she wore it, really, except that it concealed to others what should have been obvious about her. But it was her curse. With the crystal had come strange dreams and urges that she was finding increasingly difficult to deny herself.

Jadea pulled the hood of the cloak over her head and, grabbing her sword, buckled it around her body. The sword was a good three feet long and the blade had a red hue to it. The guard resembled a pair of angel's wings, which Jadea herself tended to find ironic, inlaid with onyx. Its sheath was a silver metal inlaid with rubies and onyx. Lord Rian had given it to her on her fourteenth birthday, much to the disapproval of Lord Valstd. Since then, she had become quite skilled with it.

Carefully, Jadea began to make her way to the door, stepping over the makeshift cots of her cabin mates. Her boots made no sound on the hard ground.

"Jadea," she heard a small voice whisper. She froze and looked back in the direction of the voice.

"What do you want, Rosemary?" she asked, immediately knowing who the small voice belonged to. A small girl sat up underneath her tattered sheets. Her dark hair was still fuzzed from her sleep.

"Where are you going?" Rosemary asked, her brown eyes wide with curiosity.

Jadea continued towards the door, "I'm going out," she answered simply.

The little girl started to get out of bed, "I want to come with you," she said rather loudly. Jadea grimaced at the volume of the child's voice as Fedrine, another of her companions, stirred beneath her sheets.

"Just stay here, Rosemary. Besides, Karin will be angry if she finds you gone."

The child sat back down on her bed and pouted, "I don't care about Karin. I can handle the old hag. And she's just going to be just as mad if she finds you gone," she hissed.

Jadea turned back to Rosemary and gave her a smile, "Karin and I have an.. understanding," she said as she left the room, quietly shutting the door behind her.

Walking out into the early morning, Jadea cringed at the anticipation of the sun that would be fully risen soon. She felt a bit of guilt at leaving the girl behind, but she needed solitude at this point. Rosemary was only twelve, but she had become Jadea's best friend and adopted daughter from the day she arrived. The little witch, it seemed, was her only true ally in the entire organization and like herself Rosemary was a half-breed. The charm she wore around her small neck was one that Jadea herself had made to keep the child's Lycan side at bay. It wasn't very effective, but at least she could pass as human at night.

Jadea walked from her home and down the path that led to the town. It was shaded and the road was usually deserted at this time of morning. Karin would not miss her. After all, having her around was only a complication. Karin knew Jadea was a half-vampire and threatened her with her secret constantly. Of course, she knew nothing of the midnight hunts that Jadea had been embarking on lately. It was becoming increasingly difficult for her to lead a normal life during the daylight hours, but for reasons she could not understand, the crystal protected her.

In the distance, Jadea could see the beginning of the homes that meant the beginning of civilization and Gortangue, a small village established by Lord Rian in the name of Doranquen. She smiled as she remembered a time when it seemed to take an eternity to walk this road, but now the trip was made in a matter of minutes. She knew every rock and tree along that path by heart now. After all, she had walked it nearly twice a week for the past three years, when she joined the assassins at the age of fifteen. Jace waited at the end of the path and for her that was reason enough to make the journey.

As Jadea approached the first small home, she caught the faint smell of blood. To anyone else, it would have gone unnoticed, but it sent a chill down Jadea's spine and a wave of desire through her body. Racine had given birth to her child recently; the smell was still fresh. To her own horror, her mouth began to water at the thought of sinking her teeth into the child's neck. She shuddered and began a slow run down the path and into the town.

The sun was almost completely raised and the small town was beginning to come to life. It was a place full of energy and merely being there excited Jadea. Even when she lived with Lord Rian, she rarely left the confines of the castle save when Jace snuck her out to ride her horse, Malakiy in the woods. The memories, though, brought only sadness to her. Her black gelding was one more thing she'd had to leave behind. Lord Valstd had convinced Rian not to let her take the horse.

Jadea tried to keep her mind focused on her destination and Jace. The sun was beginning to beat down heat on the village and she pulled her hood further over her face to protect it. Jadea knew that she was an oddity in the town. It wasn't because she was Lord Rian's own adopted daughter. No, to the knowledge of the townsfolk, Lady Jadea had passed away after suffering many months with a fever and delirium four years ago. She no longer wore the luxurious dresses or slept in her own suite. She was no longer a lady. She now wore the uniform typical of an assassin and a whore and a black cloak pulled over her head at all times of the year. To the townspeople, Jadea was a familiar face with no name, no past and no future. She only appeared in town once a week, quietly, never making a stir, to visit Jace. Then, she would leave as quietly as she had come.

She stopped in front of Jace's shop, a small place where he had apprenticed for four years at crafting saddles and shoeing horses and taken over when the owner died. The stench of horses was already strong in the morning air and Jadea couldn't help but wonder how Jace managed to stay here all day and night. He had set up a small apartment in the back of the shop when he took over the business. That was also the time he had left Lord Rian's estate for the last time. Jadea always felt a tinge of guilt at the thought of his leaving his life of luxury. Though Jace would never come right out and say it and had on a few occasions even denied it, she knew that she was part of the reason that he had left Lord Rian.

Jadea shook her head and pushed the heavy door open. It was still dark in the shop, which meant that Jace was probably still in bed and asleep. She walked past the four horses that had seemed to become constant customers over the past four years and to the door that led to Jace's apartment. About to knock, she decided against it and simply pushed the door open slowly so as not to make any sound. The silence in the room was deafening. She had expected to at least hear Jace's soft, even breathing in the dark room, but not even that reached her ears. Her heart dropped in disappointment. She had hoped to see him today.

Jadea turned to leave. There was no point in waiting for him. Jace had most likely gone to the market early this morning and it would be too bright for her when she decided to return. Soon, they would be gathered and taken out on their daily hunt. It was their duty to make their presence known in the areas and to scare any possible traitors into submission. If that didn't work, the traitor was killed before any townspeople who happened to be in the area at the moment.

Jadea despised the way Karin ran things. They were the personal assassins and bodyguards to the lords and the strongest the Western Lands had to offer. Even Rosemary at her age displayed remarkable strength and skill with her weapons. There were about thirty of them in total, mostly males. They were royal soldiers in essence, but each one of them had a shady past or dark secret that they were running from. Most had themselves been skilled thieves and murderers and were treated like dogs. They didn't even have a real bed to sleep in or a window in their room. The royal assassins were no more than prisoners and each one of them knew it.

She stepped out of Jace's shop and into the town. It was busy with townspeople going about their daily lives. Jadea envied them for their freedom and yet despised their ignorance to their own fortune. They had a luxury Jadea could only dream of, the luxury to live. In time, the children that now raced around the market, playing and taunting each other would grow and fall in love and have children of their own. They would raise those children and when their job was done, they would go back to living their lives as they pleased until the day they died. Throughout it all, Jadea would still be watching in the shadows silently, cursing her mother's lust and her own immortality.

The morning was still cool and Jadea knew that she still had time to linger in the town if she pleased. She loved being there, listening to the conversations of the townspeople. There was so many different people, all with their own personalities, their own loves, their own defeats and successes, their own lives. The thought was invigorating and what little pleasure Jadea derived from life was usually during the times she slowly and aimlessly drifted through the marketplace.

Conversation carried on casually all around her and she smiled at the simplicity of it all. Jadea thrived on the daily news that these people seemed to take for granted. For them, it was mere gossip, but for her, it was her only existing tie to a world she had never really been a part of.

Walking through the crowd, she stopped at a cart surrounded by townspeople chatting. They were obviously excited about the news that one older man was sharing and she decided to see what kind of amusement she could get from it all. Standing nearby, she eavesdropped while inspecting a bolt of material.

"It's the biggest news in years," she heard the old man say, "do you know what this could mean if it were true?"

"The scandal of it all." Jadea heard another woman add. She smiled slightly in amusement at their simple pleasures.

"You're talking foolish, old man," a younger boy said above the crowd, "it's a mere rumor and you have no proof."

The old man chuckled, "Who needs proof, boy, when I heard it with mine own ears?"

"Heavens above, take your lies elsewhere, old man! Your gossip has no place in front of my cart. If you are not going to make a purchase, then leave." The crowd had obviously taken up residence in front of the cart a time before and the vendor was becoming visually agitated at the throng that was beginning to form.

The old man grunted and shot the vendor a malicious glare, "You ought respect your elders, son. And you'll be sorry when you find the news I bring is true. Lady."

The vendor cut him off, "I don't want your gossip old man, now be gone!"

To Jadea's dismay, the crowd dispersed and she was left alone at the stand, investigating material that she had no intention of buying.

"May I help you Miss?" the vendor offered.

She looked up to see a young man with clear blue eyes and black hair. He obviously wasn't from the area. His features were slightly feminine and his voice had a softness to it. His smile, however, dripped with agitation and frustration. She hesitated a moment before answering.

"Actually," she started, not meeting his gaze, " I was wondering if you could tell me the topic of their conversation."

His voice had a slight edge to it, "It is mere town rumor. That old man is full of lies and he is loosing his wits. He believes that Lady Jadea still walks."

Jadea felt a wave a cold spread throughout her body and her heart dropped. She tried to steady herself and unconsciously pulled her hood further around her face before she lifted her eyes to meet those of the young vendor.

"What makes him say that?" she asked, trying to hide the panic that was beginning to rise inside her.

The vendor shook his head in aggravation, "I know not the source of the rumors of these simpletons. Madame, I am sorry, but if your only intention is to draw from me some silly rumor, then I must ask you to move on."

Her face hardened at his shortness and she dropped her hand from the material.

"Of course," she muttered as she turned away from the stand and made her way back into the crowd.

Looking at her shadow, Jadea knew that Karin and the rest of her group would be awake by now and her whereabouts would be demanded. She decided to start back.

As she made her way back through the crowds, though, she couldn't enjoy the simple chaos that thrived in the town. The news the old man was spreading was a frightening one. Though it was but a rumor, for others to know of her existence was too risky, especially if her place of residence became known. If people came poking around, Karin would be more than happy to share Jadea's misfortunes with the outside world.