Duke Avner walked into the small kitchen with slow, heavy steps. He looked around the room with a sharp, calculating gaze, taking in every detail of the space.
To any normal person, it looked like nothing more than a basic, neat kitchen. The wooden table was wiped clean, the copper pots were hung in their proper places, and the scent of dried herbs lingered in the air.
It was the home of a simple girl who lived a quiet life. But Avner was not like most people. He was a man trained to notice the things that others missed, and his senses were far more acute than those of a common soldier.
He walked toward the window at the far end of the room, intending to open it and let in the afternoon air. However, as he moved across the floor, he stopped. Most people would have missed the subtle change in the sound of the floorboards, but he caught it instantly.
The part of the wooden floor where his heavy leather boots had stepped felt slightly hollow. It gave the slightest creak, a sound that was just a tiny bit different from the solid thuds of the other steps he had taken since entering the house. It was a small detail, but in a world of secrets, small details were everything.
He stopped moving and looked at Zora. The silence in the kitchen became heavy and tense. Without saying a word, he squatted down, his eyes never leaving the spot on the floor.
He looked up at her again, his expression cold and unreadable.
"Come and open it," he said. His voice was calm, but it carried the weight of a command that could not be ignored.
Zora hesitated for a heartbeat. He noticed how she nervously rubbed her hands against the fabric of her dress, a clear sign of the anxiety she was trying to hide.
Despite her fear, she moved toward him. She squatted down beside the Duke and reached for the hidden latch. With a small click, she opened the secret compartment her father had built so long ago.
Avner took over from there. He reached in and opened the wooden box hidden beneath the floorboards. Inside, he saw several large blocks of ice, which were still cold enough to send a chill into the air. He also saw some cleaned meat resting on the ice, kept fresh and red.
Before he could even ask a question, Zora began to explain. Her words came out in a hurry, as if she were desperate to fill the silence.
She told him that the ice was for preserving her protein and sometimes her vegetables, as she lived alone and didn't want things to go to waste. she explained that her foster father used bought the ice for her from the city when he went on his trips.
It was a practical explanation, one that a human girl in a small village might reasonably have. Avner listened to her, his face showing nothing of what he was thinking.
He simply nodded his head once and closed the wooden lid. He stood up, his boots clicking on the floor again as they made their way back out of the kitchen and into the living room.
He turned to face her, his tall frame dwarfing her modest surroundings. "You are clear," he stated simply.
Zora just blinked at him, her mind momentarily frozen. 'Is this man dumb or what?' she thought to herself.
She looked at him as if he were actually stupid for not seeing through her. She was a vampire, a creature of the night, and he was standing right in front of her after finding a hidden compartment. To her, it seemed like he had missed the most obvious secret in the world.
Avner took no offense at her expression. He simply turned and stepped out of the house, standing in front of her door in the bright afternoon light. As he stood there, one of his men, a tall, serious vassal approached her.
"I would like to offer you a job," the man said, his voice professional and firm. "We are looking for more staff to work in the Duke's mansion in the capital. We have heard that the girls from these villages are very hardworking and reliable.
The pay is exceptionally high, and all of your feeding and well-being will be taken care of by the estate. It is a very good opportunity for a girl living on her own."
Zora was completely surprised by the offer. She looked from the soldier to the Duke and back again. She couldn't understand why a grand house in the capital, filled with wealth and status, would want to hire a simple village girl when they could surely find more refined and trained maids in the city.
She did not know that the offer was nothing more than an excuse a way to bring her into the Duke's world where he could watch her more closely.
But she was not willing to take the offer. She had no desire to leave the life she had built. If she ever left the village of Gayle, she felt she would be at a much greater risk of being exposed.
This village was her safe haven, the place where everyone knew her as a human and where she knew every hiding spot. She looked at the officer and gave a polite, kind refusal.
"Thank you for the offer," she said softly, "but I have my shop and my life here. I cannot leave my home."
The officer simply nodded in understanding. He didn't push her or try to change her mind. He stepped back and signaled to the other men.
They began to prepare to leave, their armor clinking as they moved toward their horses. Zora followed them to the door to see them out, her heart still beating fast from the encounter.
When they got onto their horses, the Duke turned back. Just as he was about to ride away, he locked eyes with her for a few long seconds. In that moment, Zora's heart skipped a beat.
She felt a cold shiver run down her spine. It felt as if he were staring right into her soul, seeing every secret she had ever kept and knowing every thought that was currently running through her mind.
It was a piercing, terrifying look. But then, as quickly as it had happened, he turned his horse and left. Zora was left standing in her doorway, wondering if that intense moment had been nothing more than her own fearful imagination.
She let out a long, heavy sigh as she closed the door behind her and leaned against it. Today had been a complete rollercoaster of emotions.
She felt exhausted, mostly from the sheer terror of having the Duke in her kitchen. She told herself that she was a vampire, she should be braver, stronger, and fiercer than any human.
But she couldn't lie to herself. She had been raised with softness and love by human parents. While she could be wild and was known for being mischievous, and she always tried to put up a brave front, that was really just a part of her self-preservation.
She realized that she truly needed to toughen up if she was going to survive this world.
She shook the dark thoughts away, trying to clear her head. She went back to her work table and picked up the bead necklace she had been making before the knock came.
She still hadn't seen any sorcerers in the village, and she didn't know if the search was truly over for her. She wondered if she was free to go back to the market tomorrow or if she should stay hidden for another day.
Soon, she heard another knock on the door. What now? she thought, her frustration rising. She was already so tired and drained from the Duke's visit.
Her annoyed thoughts flew away, however, when she opened the door and came face to face with a group of worried neighbors and her friend Eunice.
"What is going on?" Zora asked, looking at their concerned faces.
Her neighbor, Mrs. Gwen, was holding her young son, Bubu, by his shoulders. She looked at Zora with wide eyes. "We were so worried about you, Zora! We saw those soldiers at your house and didn't know what was happening. We wanted to know what they wanted from a girl like you."
Eunice then spoke up, her voice trembling slightly. "Zora, Madam Lucille said that the soldiers actually asked for directions to your house specifically. They didn't just stop here by chance. When I heard that, I got so worried. Why would they be looking for you?"
Zora felt a shock run through her system. She had thought it was just a general search of the village, but to hear that they had been looking for her specifically changed everything.
'What if they know?' she thought, a cold lump forming in her throat. But then she reminded herself that they hadn't found anything wrong.
They had even offered her a job. Surely, if they knew she was a vampire, she would be in chains by now.
But she couldn't help but overthink the situation. She forced herself to stay calm and reassured her neighbors that everything was fine. She lied easily, telling them that the Duke simply had some questions about the rogue vampire attack that had killed her parents years ago.
She claimed they were looking for any clues that might help them in their current search. The neighbors seemed to accept this answer, their worry easing as they talked among themselves.
When they finally left, Zora closed her door and tried to stop her mind from racing. She went back to her beadwork, her fingers moving automatically while her thoughts remained on the Duke.
Meanwhile, on the road back to his inn, Avner allowed a rare, small smirk to appear on his face. He had expected Zora to refuse the job offer, and he had only made it to see how she would react.
He was deeply intrigued by what he had found. Who would have thought he would ever see a vampire who lived so calmly and acted so perfectly human?
He had observed her closely, trying to figure out what it was that made her different.
He still couldn't tell exactly what placed her scent apart from all the other supernaturals he had hunted. 'Was she a mixed breed?' he wondered.
But even as he thought of it, the idea didn't quite add up. He had come across all manner of mixed beings; faes, witches, and vampires, but none of them were as peculiar as this girl.
He had given her a chance to make a choice, to come to his mansion willingly, and she had said no. Now, it was his turn to make a move.
Throughout his life, Avner had killed many supernaturals. His special bloodline made it easy for him to track them and destroy them without mercy.
But for some reason, he didn't want to kill this one yet. He wanted to unravel the mystery of this little vampire. He wanted to see how long she could hide her nature and continue to play the role of a human girl until she could no longer keep up the act.
He was a hunter who had finally found a prey that interested him, and he was not going to let her go so easily. He rode into the town of Lardin, the fire of curiosity still burning bright in his eyes.