Dimwater's Dragon by Sam Ferguson

from the others that seek her.”
    “Then why not come to take her before now?” Lady Caspen asked.
    “Because until now the wards and spells did manage to keep the others at bay. That is, until last night when the shade was able to not only approach the manor but enter it as well. It seeks the darkness within her, and it will not stop until it has her. I can protect her, and I can protect you. I know you can tolerate the life you have here, but I also remember that you told me there was no love in your home. You may think me incapable of such things, but since the day you left me I have not been able to erase you from my memory. Come with me.”
    Lady Caspen felt a tug at her heart that she could not explain. There was indeed a part of her that was more than a little enticed by the offer. She also had to admit that the intruders that had come did not fit with anything she had ever known the vampire to employ in his service. Still, she knew that a vampire’s words, no matter how sweet, were only a means to an end. These were not the sincere confessions of a loving heart. They were the manipulative words of a controlling monster, a selfish creature that cared only for its own pleasures. If he did want Kyra, it was certainly not to protect her and help her grow into a happy life.
    She knew that she would regret what she was about to do. It would likely create a splinter within her that would worm its way into her heart for the rest of her life, but she also knew that it was the right thing to do. He was right, there was no love in her home. The fact that Lord Caspen had never personally gone looking for her when she had been kidnapped those many years ago had certainly never been lost on her. Nor had his lack of interest shortly after Kyra’s birth. For a while she had hoped that Kyra would help them rekindle something that had really never been there in the first place. For whatever reason, whether Lord Caspen suspected that Kyra was not really his, or perhaps he had been disappointed by the birth of a daughter instead of a son, the child did little to pull them together. Still, the life she and Kyra had now was better than any life they could have hiding and skulking about with the vampire. So, while she knew in her heart that she would always regret her decision, she knew what she had to do.
    Lady Caspen flipped the dagger over in her hand and sent it flying toward the vampire’s heart. The vampire vanished into a cloud of smoke and the dagger flew through the air harmlessly. A moment later he reformed with a long sword in his hand.
    “So, I have your answer, then?” he asked with a hiss.
    “How quickly your temperament shifts,” Lady Caspen noted.
    “I will have her, with or without you.”
    Lady Caspen sneered. “As I thought, a monster like you is incapable of love.” She rushed forward, calling down a maelstrom of fire from the sky that blasted into the trees and forced the vampire back. He tried to flank her to get close enough to use his sword on her, but Lady Caspen knew how he fought. She had not only watched him while he defeated the many rescuers who had come to save her, but she had studied and memorized his moves. When he appeared next to her and chopped down with his sword, she ducked aside and flicked a small bolt of lightning from her wrist to his eyes. It wasn’t lethal of course, the vampire could easily shake off such an attack, but it left him blinded for a moment. In that moment Lady Caspen called back the dagger she had thrown and sent it flying straight into the vampire’s heart.
    The vampire smiled wickedly, exposing his two long, curved fangs as he dropped his sword to the ground. “You kept my dagger,” he said. “Then that is what the others hunt.”
    Lady Caspen ignored the vampire’s words as she finished what she started. “You may have forgotten,” Lady Caspen began, “but every time you offered to give me the gift, as you called it, you also explained that only an enchanted