Diana takes a moment for me to find. She was in her room, curled up on her bed studying from a math textbook.

She now wears a necklace around her neck which hides her powers from detection. A smart move, if a little late.

The workmanship on the necklace is familiar, and I suspect that the old bag of bones from the council had stopped by for a visit while I was away.

I turn my gaze to the sky. The sun is just beginning to set, creating a plethora of orange and purple colors in the sky.

My power begins to increase as the world starts to turn to night.

The god was specific, he said that a danger would come tonight, so I will wait patiently outside of Diana’s dorm room window, ready for a long night.

I wonder what I will do when the choice to kill comes to me tonight. I feel almost fooled by that god, he said I could redeem myself by protecting the witch inside her room.

In order to truly protect her, I will have to kill the creatures that come for her tonight and every night after. But by doing that, aren’t I just damning myself further?

Who am I, or this god for that matter, to weigh one person’s life above another? I can’t stop my thoughts from turning to the Huntsman I killed this morning.

Amy said that I did not sin because I only took his life to save her. For how long does that statement hold true? If I’d been forced to kill every Fae in the winter court in order to save her, could I truthfully say that I have not sinned?

It seems to me that no matter what path I take, I simply fall farther into the darkness. Perhaps that is my nature; I am not a creature of the light.

My only path to follow is the one that my newfound morality tells me is good. But I have been around for a long time, and I understand that most choices that I make are not black and white, they are not so morally clear.

I sigh, watching as Amy opens the door to their dorm room, a thoughtful look on her face as she greets Diana.

So should I have let the Hunter kill Amy if I could go back? I would not have directly taken another life, and yet something tells me that leaving Amy to be killed would have been the wrong choice. I know that my inaction would have hurt me more than the choice I made.

It doesn’t make logical sense. Perhaps it is the motives behind the choice and not the choice itself which decides if something is evil or good. If I had not interfered to save Amy, my motive would have been fear of killing. But when I chose to interfere, my motive was to save the life of another.

I am arguing to myself that the means justify the ends. Even if I killed hundreds, if I did it out of a desire to save someone, then I am not evil. I think that way of thinking is the only way I can live with myself.

I am not a creature of peace, or healing. I only know how to take lives, to hunt.

All of this is incredibly annoying to think about, and I really just want to blame that pesky god.

He didn’t do a very good job of explaining how redemption works.

I definitely don’t believe that a mass murderer is the best person to figure out how morality works.

My attention turns back to the girls as they finish up with their nightly routines and turn off their light.

I hope that whoever is coming, they get here soon. I dislike being left alone with my thoughts for so long.

With a stretch of my back, I start performing martial exercises used for calming and focusing the mind.

It’s for the best that I don’t think about what comes next too hard. I know what I will do. I will do what I have been doing my entire life. I will kill someone.

This time however, I won’t be killing them for personal gain or some slight against me. I will be killing them to protect another from being killed.

An hour or so later, I smell a familiar scent of blood and death. Knowing that the killer is here, I step forward into the moonlight, looking at the person who had previously been studying the dorm where the girls slept.

“Oh. This is a surprise, I thought I hid myself fairly well.” The woman says, her red lips curving upwards in a toothless smile.

I smile cheerily at her, grabbing my sword from the shadows. The black blade reflects the silver moonlight, showing the complicated line of runes that travel down its length. “You’ve let the scent of death follow you, an easy mistake to make Duchess Salvatore.” I say calmly, still showing my smile. “But you should have enough experience to know better, It’s almost like you wanted to attract whatever guardian was here to you.”

The Duchess’s eyes stiffen at the sight of my sword, narrowing slightly as her body is put more on guard, a blood red fencing sword of her own coalescing into her hand. “You know of little ol’ me?”

“I make it a habit to know when a new Ancestor joins the ranks. Your rise to power a couple hundred years ago was quite impressive. It’s amazing how no one in your clan realized that you poisoned the previous Ancestor.” I state calmly, looking for a reaction.

Any facade of a smile leaves her face as she stares at me seriously. “Who are you?”

“I forgot that we never formally introduced ourselves” I say, my smile staying. “I am the man who poisoned the Ancestor for you three hundred years ago. Most people call me shadow, but I prefer Leo.”

The woman’s grip on her sword tightens ever so slightly, “You’re dead.”

“True. You have no idea how many times I’ve died.” I respond, before stepping forward to swing at her.

She parries the blow, before immediately using her fingernail to cut a long line of blood down her forearm.

Blood bursts out from her wound, turning into daggers that shoot towards me.

A dark smile covers my face as I fall into the shadows, leaving her daggers to cut ribbons through the tree behind me.

Her blood returns to her, forming a circle around her as she readies her sword.

Old habits return to me as I start humming in the darkness, the sound coming from all around her.

Her eyes start shifting nervously, studying the darkness, trying to find me. “Whatever they paid you, I’ll triple it.”

“Hmm.” I say into her ear, causing her to swirl around to hit me with her sword. By the time she does I’ve already disappeared, her blood slicing through nothing but air. “Is that fear I hear from you?” I say from her other side, melting into the shadows again.

She curses as she subconsciously takes a step back.

“I used to have some fun with this you know? I found it fascinating to watch as people slowly gave into their fear.” I say softly, my voice coming from my shadows all around her. “First it’s a look in their eyes, as they look every which way to find me.” The Duchess slows down her own eyes, trying to breathe deeply. “Then it’s a shaking in her hands as they realize that they’ll never see me coming. I wonder if your own victims feel how you’re feeling now, terrified as your fangs seek their blood.” I pause thinking, “That’s another new feeling. For some reason I want to avenge all those helpless souls. Empathy really is something else.”

I reappear right in front of her as I stab forward, pushing her last minute sword block out of the way to pierce her heart. “This game isn’t as fun anymore.” I say to her wide eyes, sorrow in my voice. “I truly feel horrible for doing this to you. May you find some sort of peace in your next life.”

Her eyes look at me with an emotion that I can’t describe. It strikes at the core of me, making me almost drop my sword as she turns into dust.

Then the feelings hit me. The fear as someone plays with my life. The knowledge that there is nothing I can do, that I am going to die. The pain as the sword pierces my chest into my heart.

Then a strange relief, knowing that it is all over. I look into my killer’s eyes, almost grateful.

Tears fall from my eyes as I live the woman’s final moments. Now I know what she was feeling when she looked into my eyes. I’m… glad that she didn’t hate me in the end, that I did grant her some peace.

I look at her blood red sword that now lies on the ground next to the dust which used to be her.

Gently, I pick it up, putting it away into the shadows. I glance up at the window leading to Diana’s room.

Amy’s eyes meet mine. I’d been so distracted that I hadn’t realized she was awake. She looks at me with something other than pity, something a little more meaningful.

I nod at her, deciding to not analyze it too deeply as I let the shadows consume me, blocking me from her sight.

****

No one else appears in the night, and I find myself at the University Cafe the next morning, drinking some ginger tea as I watch students travel to their classes.

A soft weight hits the chair across from me as I take another sip from my tea.

“Can you teach me?” Amy asks, making me turn to her and raise an eyebrow at the unexpected question. “I want you to teach me how to use Fae magic.” she clarifies at my look.

“I’m not Fae.” I respond, looking into my half full ginger tea.

Amy looks down at her hands, “There’s no one else I can ask.” She says after a moment. “Your power works with darkness, just like mine. There must be some similarities.”

I consider the girl, who’s gaze rises to reach mine, a strange hope in her eyes. “I’m not the kind of person you want to learn from. I know how to kill, not much else.”

Amy’s eyes brighten, sensing that I might be willing, “Are you kidding? I’ve seen you do so much more. You teleported us halfway across the country, and when you hide, not even a royal Fae can sense you in his own lands.”

I like her, and not in a romantic way. Even if she is attractive, she is a few hundred years too young for me. No, I like her as a person. She’s brave, smart, and maybe a little clueless. She reminds me of her grandmother.

“I can teach you what I know of Fae magic, and I will help you with understanding the nature of the dark. But you’ll have to figure out most of the rest on your own.” I say slowly, trying to not make too big of a commitment.

“Great.” Amy says, a wide smile appearing on her face, before disappearing as she thinks.

I can see that she wants to talk about something else, so I wait patiently for her to ask me.

“Who was that last night?” She asks once she gathers her courage.

The question wasn’t totally unexpected. “Duchess Salvatore is the name she went by. She was an Ancestor Vampire that managed a clan in Washington state.”

“What was she doing here?” Amy asks seriously.

“She was here to kill your roommate.” I respond honestly.

Amy’s expression turns to confusion, her tone questioning as she asks, “Why would she be after Diana? Diana is just a normal human.”

I pause mid sip of my tea. I put my cup down, gracefully swallowing what was in my throat. Then I let the laughter hit me.

Once I’ve calmed down, I turn to a bewildered Amy. “You should ask her yourself. It would be awkward for me to explain it.”

Amy nods, a frown appearing on her face. “Ok…”

I chuckle to myself. It was a coincidence. A complete coincidence that the most powerful witch in a thousand years and a future princess of the winter court were sharing a dorm room.

Life can be funny sometimes.