Sired: A Unique Bond

The rest of the night passed slowly, with Scarin spending most of his night sitting on his bed, letting the cold breeze continue to flow inward. It wasn't just the incident with Freya that bothered him, but he had an army to assemble. Some of those he had picked to help lead his forces would be hesitant to join his cause, for it was dangerous and full of peril. He was confident that they would see the mountainous benefit that his brethren would reap after the dust settled.

Just as the sun began to peek over the horizon, Scarin exited his bedroom and made his way immediately to the washroom to splash some cold water on his face. Soon Freya would be up; somehow he knew that she wouldn't sleep much, if at all, knowing he was distressed. He would relay his plan to her and together, they would start to map out the details and roads they would take.

Freya dressed herself and waited for the sun to begin to rise, watching at its rays lit up the earth, making creatures of the night scurry for shelter. Just before it could reach her in her room, she stood and exited her room, making her way to the front room, unsure of what she should do. Under Kols tyranny there wasn't much to do aside from go find whatever he wanted. When she was with Finn, his breakfast ha to be on the table before he got to the kitchen, or else he got angry. With Scarin it was confusing, as he left a lot of room for her to do nothing. Freya had no idea what he liked, what he didn't like, what he wanted or didn't want. She did not like it.

Her thoughts drifted from Scarin to his 'mission' and what she could possibly do to help. She was a Collector, not a representative of supernatural creatures. Finding people was easy, finding creatures was easy. Convincing them to join his cause was, hopefully, his duty as she was unsure if she could do it, and she would hate to fail him so soon. Freya did not like to fail.

The vampire stood at the living room window watching as the city slowly began to come alive, her thoughts wandering. Her hair hung down her back, still slightly damp from her midnight bath, the strands curling a bit, but she paid no mind to it.

A brief spit of fire got the wood in the fireplace going rather quickly, the magical flame far hotter than any naturally occurring heat could ever produce. Whether it startled Freya or not made no difference; Scarin was plotting, which generally consumed the majority of his attention span. Others had seen him go weeks without eating just to formulate a plan for one thing or another. World domination being a critical and difficult task, it was no wonder that he paid so little attention to the outside world.

When finally he realized where he was and the fact that he wasn't alone, Scarin lifted his head and focused his pupils directly on his subordinate. "Good, you're awake. We have much to do today." Scarin moved across the room and took a seat by the window. "Your first task will be to locate a few items for me. Nothing too dangerous or difficult, but still needed. I have listed them here." The dragon in human form placed a piece of parchment on the table with several items scrawled in red ink across the page.

"Those are the easy things. Once we have them, you'll be locating individuals for me, creatures of great strength or cunning, or both. Once we have our generals assembled, we'll work on building our armies. But for now..."

Scarin pulled his eyes off Freya and out the window. "Now we must hunt. Before the sun is high in the sky. How do you feel about heights?"

Freya grabbed the parchment paper looking over what had been written. Already her mind began to work, the Collectors gift showing her the General locations of the items he sought. Once she commuted the list to memory, she folded it and put it in her pocket, just to be sure.

"No, I am not afraid of heights. May I ask, why?"

Turning to look at her Master, she raised an eyebrow. Why would she be afraid of heights? Fear was fleeting for the vampire. She once had fear of the sun, but her ring got rid of it. She once had fear of uncontrollable bloodlust, but she learned moderation. She feared Finn, and Kol, but again the deaths of those two vanquished the fear. Failing was a constant fear. Scarin growing angry with her, beating her, was a constant fear. But heights? Definitely not.

"Outside, then." Leaving her question in the air a moment, Scarin made his way to the door and exited the dwelling, taking several steps away before he stopped. Popping and cracking could be heard as his joints began to expand, causing his body to twitch and spasm wildly. Skin stretched until it split, though only a minuscule amount of blood reached the ground. Slowly the cream colored skin gave way to scale, until it was cast to the dirt like a body suit of worn leather. The imposing size of the dragon took full form, scales glistening with a thin layer of blood.

Opening his eyes, Scarin turned his snout to the sky and took several deep breaths through the nostrils. "We'll face many challenges on our quest. You must learn to fight mounted on my back, to protect me from what I cannot see. But I am hungry for roasted beast. You will kill it. I will cook it. We will eat it. Simple, yes?"

Scarin unfolded his wings, stretching them out as if he had just awoken after a night of still sleeping. It felt good to feel them spread them. Human forms were so claustrophobic and confining. But being a dragon meant being free, and he planned to take advantage of that whenever possible.

"Yes, Master." Freya follows Scarin outside, watching him unfold himself from his human form. It must be awful to have to confine himself into such a small space when he was meant to be so much bigger. He was a beautiful creature, and freya couldn't resist the urge to run her fingers along his bloodied scales.



Freya let her fingers linger for a moment longer, then pulled away. Fighting from his back shouldn't be too hard, and while heights wasn't a fear, she'd never flown. If she fell off his back it wouldn't kill her, unless she was impaled on a piece of wood through her chest.



"I take it you want me to... get on your back now?" She wasn't just going to climb up on him without permission. That was grounds for punishment.

Scarin's response came in the form of a shift in his posture, making it easier for her to climb up his leg and onto the back of his neck. "Mind the edges of the scales. They're sharp." A defensive adaptation, sharp scales made it painful for another creature to grip onto him or try to bite through his armored scales without thinking. They weren't perfect, of course, but they were a lot better than the thin, dull scales some of his kin were known to bear.

Once Freya was sufficiently seated atop his back, Scarin began a slow walk into the forest, giving her time to get used the way his body shifted as it moved. Slowly he upgraded his speed, until he was running full speed. He wasn't the largest dragon ever seen, but he was quick. They broke the tree line and Scarin's wings flared to life, thrusting downward hard as his legs pushed off the earth, sending them both into the air. The dragon set their course for a cloud bank to mask their presence, carrying them far away from the home so their hunting would not lead someone back to their abode.

"Still not afraid," Scarin asked sarcastically. He figured she wouldn't be, but it was fun to joke around with someone again. After all, a mission could not be all seriousness all the time.

The wind blew through her hair as they flew, and she couldn't help but grin. It was freeing. Never having flown before, the act ignited a new feeling in the vampire. As the got into the clouds, Freya shifted slightly, lifting her hands and closing her eyes. No wonder Scarin preferred to fly, it was amazing.

After a moment or so, she put her hands back down, looking at her Master. "Fear is the opposite of what I feel." It may have been a bit hasty for her to think this way, but she was enjoying her time with Scarin. He was just like the fresh air. Freeing. In the same thought, however, their bond was different, more flexible. Unpredictable. And Freya wasn't too fond of that.

Scarin kept his flight smooth and even. His passenger seemed to be enjoying herself quite well enough. He did not feel the need to disturb it with any death-defying feats of aerial acrobatics. She'd never flown before, that much was obvious even without having to be said with words. It actually brought the young dragon some comfort.

"Good. When you don't feel fear, you don't have to worry about falling off. A dragon adjusts only a little when it carries a rider. I provide the stability, but you have to make sure you utilize that stability whenever possible. Learn where my muscles flex and when and why. Learn to listen to the wind to adjust your stance. Once you've mastered it, it will come as easily to you as fighting with your feet on the ground."

After a while longer to cruise, Scarin turned his eyes to the ground to scout out their breakfast. As luck would have it, not far away was a mighty Stag, a beautiful creature with antlers that were sometimes mistaken for trees. An adult would make a great first meal of the day for the dragon. "There... in the valley by the brook. There's breakfast. Do you prefer human over animal blood?"

Freya paid attention to the way he moved and shifted beneath her. Scarin was right, she had to get used to his movements if she were to be fighting from her seat on his back. Though she was confident in her ability to do so as she was great at adapting when needed.

After a few moments, she adjusted her position slightly and looked down to see the stag he had his eyes on. Animal blood was all good and well, but human blood is what really gave them strength. The animal would hold her over until she could get a human; it was really only the difference like a tofu burger and a steak. Then again both could be good with the right seasoning and if they were cooked right.

"Animal blood is fine, Master. Do you wish for me to catch it?"

"Wait..." Scarin's wings ceased their flapping, gliding for a moment before he tucked them in tightly, putting the pair into a dive. Air rushed by them with great force, but the way they pierced the air made their descent dead silent. The dragon's streamlined form made it easy for them to achieve terminal velocity very quickly. When the moment came, his wings extended, slowing them down dramatically. "Now!" Scarin flicked his body, flinging Freya off his back toward the target, banking on her preternatural nature to keep her protected from most of the added speed. Scarin banked hard, taking him away from the stag, which was just beginning to rear up and take to a sprint.

The sudden move startled Freya, but flying through the air she quickly adjusted herself. The stag was about to take off, but the vampire was not about to have that. Her Master wanted it for breakfast, so breakfast was what it was going to be. The air whipped her hair in all directions, but her hues remained locked on her target.

The second her feet hit the ground, Freya took off after the animal, leaving behind a small crater from her impact. Within seconds she was on the animal, her legs wrapped around its neck. It bucked and shook its head to throw her off, but with a quick jerking motion, the stags neck was snapped, and it crumpled to the ground. With a soft huff, Freya grabbed it by the antlers and began to pull it in her Masters direction.

Gliding in a wide circle above, Scarin observed the clean kill with a measure of satisfaction. Freya had impressed her Master by the way she so quickly dispatched the animal. She was extremely efficient, and did not torture the poor buck, for it had done nothing to warrant a messy, painful death. Tucking his wings slightly closer to his body, Scarin began his slow descent until he finally touched down in a small clearing not far from Freya.

He waited patiently, knowing it wouldn't take her too long arrive with their breakfast. He did not plan on staying there to prepare it, or to bleed it and devour it whole, but keeping a lower profile was never a bad thing. There were always hunters about, scanning the skies for others of his kind. The threat of dragon slayers was always prevalent and in the fore-front of his mind.

When his ears finally caught the sound of feet heading his direction, Scarin perked up and watched the treeline. But something didn't seem right; his ears picked up the subtle difference between one set of foot prints, and several steps falling at almost the same time. At first, the dragon dismissed it as the sound of the deer being dragged behind Freya, but when he caught the noise of breaking twigs and other steps alerted him of the danger. Before he could take to flight, hooks flew low toward the dragon, looping around his ankles and biting deeply into his scales.

A fight had begun.

Freya felt the danger before her sight and hearing clued her in. Her first instinct was to drop the stag and run to her Masters aid, but an idea formed in her mind and she acted before logic could stop her. With the deer carcass in her hands, she blinked to Scarin. Her presence seemed to surprise a few of the men, and using that to her advantage, she swim the dead buck with all of her might.

It's hefty body slammed into a few of them, knocking them backwards, and into the trees. Freyas eyes turned a bright and dangerous crimson, as she positioned herself between the offenders and her Master. Baring her fangs and growling, the vampire snapped the antlers off the animal, and leapt forward with a speed no immortal being should possess. Two men moved for her once the shock wore off, but she blocked every attack, parrying every blow, and attacking back.

Freya was a blur as she worked her way through the troupe of soon-to-be dead men until only a few were left standing. Again positioned between the two, she hissed angrily.

"A vampyre. It will be dead when the sun breaks through the trees."

Bloody antlers clutched in her hands, the girl merely smiled. A moment later the sun bathed her in its light, and her laughter, deep and cruel, echoed through the field.

There wasn't a single human in the fight that wasn't unnerved by the ominous and maniacal laughter that echoed through the trees. Even as the sunlight bathed the undead woman in it's holy presence, she remained, without so much as a smolder. Quickly, however, they regained their resolve, each one being an experienced hunter. While they weren't expecting to be going toe-to-toe with a vampire who could survive in the daylight, they were not completely unprepared for surprises.

Quickly their numbers began to grow as reinforcements surged ahead, surrounding the vampire and the dragon several rows deep. A small army had been assembled, armed and armored well. These were no ordinary bandits or wannabe hunters trying to make a name for themselves, but were equipped both physically and mentally for the horrors of battle with unnatural creatures.

Scarin pulled hard on the hooks, driving them deeper between his scales and into his flesh, though he did not care. Those manning the ropes were flung toward him, and each found their ways into his claws and his jaw. Six men were skewered on talon and tooth, their death rattles cut off briefly and violently. Twenty more rushed forward, brandishing silver swords and iron hooks. A large group splintered off from the main force, circling around on horseback, each holding something in their hands, though Scarin was too distracted to focus on what it might be.

To most, the thought of facing a small army of men armed to the teeth with supernatural specific weaponry would cause fear and panic. To Freya, however, it only exhilarated her. She had already lived well past her time, and while the thought of death terrified her to no end, to go down fighting was an honor no woman in her time could enjoy.

As men swarmed her, she fought back hard. It was mostly her slicing at, and tearing apart, them one by one. Only when she felt the slightest bit weighted down by exhaustion did she move and take a chunk out of a mans neck with her teeth, draining him of blood while still fighting off more of them. The second the blood was in her system Freya fought harder than before, her one and only goal to protect Scarin. Yes, he was her Master and the bond commanded she lay her life on the line for him, she did it for more than that.

As one after another came at her age remembered how he had freed her from Kols abusive grip, she remembered the necklace he had gotten for her, for no reason other than he wanted her to have it. The piece of jewelry still hung around her neck, she hadn't taken it off, and she never would. Even from her long since dead husband, Finn, she had never received a gift. It was something Freya cherished deeply, and she held on to that as she cut down soldier after soldier without an inkling of remorse.

No one went for her Master and lived. No one.