She felt the heavy weight of the Duke's presence in the room, making the small space feel even smaller than usual.
She knew she had to find something truly special to satisfy a man of his high standing. She moved away from the shelves and went to a protected corner of her shop, where she kept the fabrics that were too expensive for the average villager to buy. After searching through several rolls, she finally found what she was looking for.
She pulled out a roll of elegant purple velvet. The material was thick and soft, with a deep color that reminded her of the sky just before the stars came out.
Beside it, she placed a piece of dark red silk. This silk was so fine that it seemed to shimmer and change color whenever the sunlight from the window hit the folds of the fabric.
She brought them both back to the counter and laid them out carefully, smoothing the wrinkles with the palms of her hands. She looked up at the Duke, who was standing perfectly still.
His eyes were cold and sharp, watching her every move as if he were trying to read her thoughts.
"These are the finest materials I have in the shop, your grace," she said. Her voice was steady, but inside, she felt like a bird trapped in a cage. Her heart was beating a fast, nervous rhythm against her ribs.
The Duke tilted his head slightly to the side, looking at the fabrics as if he were studying the very threads they were woven from.
He did not speak immediately, and the silence in the shop became so heavy that Zora could hear the sound of a fly buzzing against the windowpane. She felt the need to say something more, just to break the quiet before her nerves gave out completely, after all he came to hunt vampires.
"Would you like an accessory to go with the fabric, your grace?" she asked politely, trying to sound like a professional shopkeeper. "I made these myself. I find that a nice hairpiece or a set of hand made beads can really make a gift special for a noble lady."
The Duke gave a small, slow nod of approval. Zora moved to a polished wooden tray where she kept her most delicate work.
She carefully picked out a silver hairpiece shaped like a small, elegant leaf. It was a fine piece of work that she had spent many late nights perfecting.
Along with it, she chose a set of beaded jewelry that matched the deep purple velvet perfectly. The beads were dark and smooth, and they felt cool to the touch. She laid them next to the cloth on the
counter, hoping she had made a choice that a man from the capital would think was beautiful.
"I will take all of them," the Duke said. His voice was deep and calm, and it seemed to fill every corner of the small room.
Zora blinked in surprise, she had not expected him to just accept her choices without asking to see anything else or trying to negotiate the price.
She felt a small spark of pride in her chest. She guessed she did not have such bad taste after all if a powerful man like him was satisfied with her work.
Without realizing it, her mood lifted just a little bit. The fear that had been weighing on her all morning pulled back, and she even began to hum a very low, quiet tune under her breath as she started to pack the items.
She wrapped the fabrics in clean, thick paper and placed the jewelry into a small wooden box lined with soft, white wool.
She turned back to him and passed the package toward the man standing beside him.
She assumed this man was the Duke's personal servant or a close companion, as he stayed silent and followed the Duke's every move.
She decided to be generous since he was such an important customer who had not made her life difficult.
"I will give you a discount on these," she said, naming a price that she thought was fair for the quality of the materials.
The Duke did not reach for a coin purse. He simply looked at his companion. The man reached into a leather pouch at his belt and pulled out two bright gold coins.
He placed them firmly on the wooden counter. Zora's mouth hung open in shock. She stared at the gold, the bright metal glowing in the afternoon sunlight. This was far too much money.
The items she had sold were worth maybe a silver coin or two at the most. Two gold coins were a fortune to a girl living in a small village like Gayle.
"This is too much!" she said quickly, her voice rising in surprise. She wasn't thinking about the Duke's rank or her own safety.
She was just shocked by the amount of money sitting on her counter. Mindlessly, she reached out and grabbed the Duke's hand, trying to shove the coins back toward him. "I cannot take this. Please, it is far more than the price I asked for."
The moment her skin touched his, she felt a strange, cold jolt go through her entire body. The Duke froze, his brows rising in surprise at her sudden boldness.
Zora stayed there for a heartbeat, her small hand resting on his much larger one, before she realized exactly what she was doing. She slowly raised her head and saw his expression.
He wasn't angry, but he was looking at her with a look of intense observation, as if he were staring right through her skin and seeing her secrets.
She jumped back as if she had been burned by a hot iron. Her face turned a deep, bright shade of red, and she quickly bowed her head, her heart hammering in her ears like a drum.
"I am so sorry, your grace! I was not thinking. Please forgive me for being so rude and touching you," she stammered, her voice full of panic.
He did not say anything in response. He didn't scold her or even tell her to stand up. He simply turned around and walked out of the shop, his heavy leather boots clicking loudly on the wooden floorboards.
He stepped back into his carriage, and his companion followed him without a word. As the carriage began to roll away, the horses' hooves clattering on the stones, Zora let out a long breath she hadn't realized she was holding.
"What was I doing?" she scolded herself in a whisper, rubbing her face with her hands. "I just grabbed a Duke's hand like he was a common villager. I must be losing my mind from the stress."
___
On the evening of that same day, the rest of the group from the Duke's mansion in the capital arrived in the town of Lardin.
The streets were filled with the sound of more horses and the heavy rattling of wooden wagons. Once the new arrivals were settled at the inn and the horses were fed, Avner called for his personal aide, a man named Gideon, to come to his private room.
Avner sat in a tall chair near the window, watching the shadows of the evening grow long over the rooftops of the town.
He spent a long time giving Gideon very specific and careful instructions. He knew that by the next morning, the sorcerers sent by the King would finally arrive in the town to begin the real search for supernaturals.
The reason Avner and his men had arrived so much earlier than everyone else was because they had left the capital long before the rest of the King's delegation had even been formed.
He had wanted to see the village and the girl for himself before the chaos of the search started.
Now, everything was ready and the pieces were in place. Gideon would be the one to stay behind and play the main role in the plan to lure Zora to the mansion.
He would be working with a contact in the town so that everything happened exactly as the Duke wanted it to. Avner stood up and began to prepare for his own trip back home.
With the help of his aide, he gathered his gear and checked his horse. He did not want to stay in Lardin any longer than necessary.
That night, while the town was quiet and dark, he left for the capital with his companion. He had seen what he needed to see, and now it was time to let the trap begin to close around the little vampire.
____
The next day, Zora arrived at her shop at her usual time. She tried to act like it was just another normal day of work, but she could feel the tension in the air.
People in the market were talking in low voices, and no one seemed to be smiling. A little before noon, several carriages appeared on the main road leading into the town.
They were not fancy like the Duke's carriage, they looked more practical and sturdy, built for long travel. Surrounding them were many soldiers on horses, their armor looking dull and gray in the light.
Zora's heart skipped a beat as she watched the line of soldiers pass by her shop. She felt a cold sense of dread settling in her stomach.
Some of the people in the town began to gather in the street, whispering about the arrivals and pointing toward the town square.
Suddenly, there was a loud commotion further up the road. People began to run toward the noise, their faces filled with curiosity and fear.
Zora didn't want to go, but she felt as if she had no choice but to follow them. She ran with the others until she reached a large, open area near the center of the town.
When she reached the open square, she saw a man wearing long, heavy purple robes. He was standing in the middle of a circle of soldiers, holding a glass ball that was glowing with a strange, flickering green light.
Three soldiers were struggling to hold down a woman who was kneeling in the dirt. The woman looked like she was in terrible pain. Her hair was messy, and she was gasping for air as if she couldn't breathe.
It was a witch. It was clear that the soldiers had done something to stop her magic from working, making her weak and helpless.
The crowd watched in a terrified silence as the witch struggled. It was obvious that the glowing ball held by the sorcerer had been used to find her hiding place.
But suddenly, the witch found a final burst of strength. She let out a piercing scream and used her magic to push the soldiers away from her.
They were thrown back several feet, hitting the hard ground with a loud thud. In her panic, she used her power to pull a sharp sword from a soldier's belt.
The blade flew through the air like an arrow and pierced the man in the chest, killing him instantly.
The townspeople began to scream and run in every direction. People were tripping over each other and knocking over market stalls to get away from the violence.
Before the witch could do anything else, the sorcerer in the purple robes reached into a leather pouch and threw a handful of white powder at her. As soon as the powder touched her skin, the witch doubled over, screaming in agony as if her skin were on fire.
The other soldiers quickly moved in and grabbed her before she could move again. They used a thick green rope that seemed to glow with its own magic to tie her hands and feet tightly.
Zora watched everything with wide eyes, her breath coming in short, panicked gasps. The arrival of the sorcerers was much more violent and sudden than she had ever imagined it would be.
She looked at the sorcerer in the purple robes as he stood over the captured witch. For a moment, it felt as if he could sense someone else in the crowd. He slowly started to turn his head in her direction, his eyes searching the faces of the people.
Zora didn't wait to see if he would spot her. She turned and ran as fast as she could, her heart pounding against her ribs. She made sure to run like a normal, scared human girl, not using any of her vampire speed, but she moved quickly through the narrow alleys.
She needed to get back to her shop and hide before anyone noticed her. The danger was finally here, and it was much worse than she had ever imagined.
She realized that no matter how well she hid, the sorcerers and their glowing magic were a threat she might not be able to escape.