"Baelfire!" Yelled a woman through a wooden house, the only colors: Brown and grey. "You need to wake up." The woman called again.

Up the stairs, down the hall and into a small room with a bed, a wooden desk, and a dresser, laid a boy. He had pale skin covered in dirt, shaggy brown hair, skinny arms and legs and was wearing grey rag clothing of a shirt and pants that stopped above his ankle. The boy yawned as he sat up.

"I'm awake mom." He responded as got off the bed and stood up, the wooden floor creaked as he stood on it. He walked to the dresser and pulled the top shelf drawer out. It was empty, except for two grey rags. He pulled them out and shut the drawer. He started to wrap them around his feet, covering them except his toes.

He walked down the narrow stairs as a series of creaking followed. He walked to the kitchen which had a small round table with two chairs. He saw his mother, a old woman with wrinkles on her face and grey hair tied in a bun. She wore a apron in front of her long dress.

"Good morning mom." He told her as she sat two wooden bowls on the table. He sat down and started to eat the soup

His mother sat down across from him.

"I'm going to need you to get us some eggs." His mother told him. Baelfire looked up at his mother as he was swallowing his soup. He stood up and grabbed a Shepard staff. He already ate his food.

"Alright mom." He opened the wooden door. "I'll get eggs and come back to herd the sheep." He told her as he walked out and closed the door behind him. Baelfire was met with cold air of the cloudy day. It was always cloudy and cold.

Baelfire walked up a short trail to the village and saw men, young and old dressed in worn clothing, working or trading with each other. The buildings were worn down with small holes in them. Baelfire walked up to a old man sitting at a table with some eggs.

"I'll take 2 dozen, please." He told the man as he reached into his pocket and pulled out 3 silver coins. The man grunted as he pushed two cartons of eggs across the table. He gave the man the coins and grabbed the two cartons and walked back to his home.

Baelfire sat in a clear field with a straw of hay hanging out his mouth. as sheep and goats roamed the field, eating the grass. A baby goat was laying against Baelfire's side. Baelfire smiled as he rubbed the baby goat. He looked up at the mountain. Overlooking the village was a castle nearly covered by the grey clouds.

"Castle Dimitrescu." He spoke as he stared at it. The castle was owned by the Mistress of the village and her daughters. They would demand a person to be brought to the castle as tribute for their lives. None came back.

Baelfire shuddered as he thought of the mistresses. He saw them as a child years ago when the rarely came down to the village. They were the ones who took his father.

The mistress of the Castle was

Lady Alcina Dimitrescu, who has ruled over them way before his grandparents were born.

Baelfire snapped out of his train when he spotted a bat on all fours infront of him.

It wasn't like any bat he seen before. This one was as big as his hands put together, length wise. It's wings were as long as his elbows and were pointed backwards as it's two claws were in the ground. It's fur was a dark blonde color. It had two pointed ears in the air. Dark brown eyes. And it's fangs were shining silver daggers, half as long as his pinkie.

Baelfire found it fearful, and beautiful.

They just stared at each other in silence till Baelfire coughed as he maintained eye contact.

"Well, hello." He choked out. "I'm Baelfire. What's your name?" He asked the bat. The bat furrowed its eyes as it looked at him like he was a idiot, which he kinda is. "Sorry, I know. Kind of stupid for me to ask that." He laughed awkwardly. "Mom was right, should of stayed in school." He looked at the bat again and saw it has decided to sit down.

"So are you a boy or a girl?" He asked the bat and slowly reached to grab it and confirm it's gender. The bat hissed, standing on it's hind legs and flapped it's wings and nearly bit his finger off. Baelfire fell backwards, waking the baby goat up, causing it to run off. "I'm sorry! I'm sorry!" He told the bat as he put his hands up. The bat calmed down as it sat back down and growled lightly.

The bat alluded Baelfire to sit back up as he looked into the eyes of the bat.

"I didn't mean to upset you. I just," Baelfire looked at his lap. "Don't really have any friends." He admitted. "You see, ever since the mistresses of the Castle Dimitrescu- you probably see it when you fly- took my father away, I had to stop school and do this. My mother's sick and she hasn't been getting better." He looked back up at the bat. It was unfazed and had a bored look. He could of sworn he saw it's eyes role. "Here I am boring a fearful creature like you." The bat's ears perked up and it's eyes widened a little.

For some reason, Baelfire believed the bat couldn't understand him. But when he praises it, it understands completely.

"You like being called fearful?" He asked the bat. The bat seemed to nod it's head. "Well your more than fearful. You're deadly!" The bat puffed its chest out with pride as it waited for more praise. "Your huge and deadly! The real definition of a Monster Bat!" He remarked as it closed its eyes as well. The moment was interrupted when it's stomach growled.

"You must be hungry." He said as he reached behind him and pulled a grape out of his pouch on his belt. He held the grape out in the palm of his left hand. "Here you go." The Bat sniffed the grape and pulled it's head away in disgust. The Bat perked it's head up as it looked in around and flapped it's wings, and flew into the air. Baelfire stumbled to his feet as he followed it. "Hey! Where are you going!?" He asked as he ran after it. The bat dove into a bush.

Baelfire ran up to the Bush and looked in it. The Bat had its fangs on a Rats throat. The rat squealed in pain as it tried to escape as the bat held it down. The rat stopped struggling as it became limp. The bat stayed there for a moment, then looked up at Baelfire. It's fangs stained with blood.

"Well, guess your a vampire bat." He said as he looked down at the bat.

Some time has passed and Baelfire has been seeing the Bat more often in the field. Turns out it was female when it allowed Baelfire to confirm it's gender.

It started to rest on his shoulders and sleep. She only came out when the sun wasn't out or it was to cloudy. One night it followed him to his house and hanged on the ceiling above him when he slept. Those were happy days in the shitty life he lives.

But today wasn't a good day. She bit his hand and sucked on his blood when he was petting her. The bite left two big holes between his index finger and thumb on his left hand, which was now wrapped in bandages.

But tonight, Baelfire was walking with his mother to the village meeting.

"What happened?" Baelfire asked his mother as they passed by empty buildings. "Nothing happened for the last five months."

"I don't know." His mother said walking beside him. "But it can't be good if they woke us up in the middle of the night."

They made their way to a huge bonfire as every villager sat around the fire. They found a seat in the middle of the crowd of villagers. A middle aged man with long black and white hair and beard, the village chief, stood up and spoke.

"I want to thank you all for coming here tonight. But I must be the bearer of bad news." The chief took a neat letter from his jacket and unfolded it.

"I received a letter from Mistress Dimitrescu. She demands tribute."

The crowd gasp as mothers held their children. "Please Calm down! The mistress wishes for this, and we must provide. But there's something else." The crowd went silent as the chief read the letter again. "If the tribute does not appear by tomorrow, they will take one of the children."

The crowd cried and yelled. Baelfire fire looked around and saw mothers holding their babies to their breast.

"I'LL GO!" He yelled as everyone stopped screaming and looked at him. "I'll be tribute." His mother grabbed his hand.

"What are you doing! You can't go!" His mother told him. Baelfire looked at her with a painful look.

"If I don't they'll take a kid. Who knows what happens up there!" Baelfire argued.

"But they can't take you! I'll-"

"Mom I have to go!" He responded.

His mom was about to talk back but fainted. "Mom? Mom?!" He yelled. The chief walked up and checked the woman's pulse.

"She's alright. Just fainted." He said.

Baelfire looked at his mother and kissed her forehead.

"Take care of her. Please." He told the chief. The chief nodded. Baelfire turned around. The crowd made a path as he walked into the night.

Baelfire made it up the mountain with a bag over his shoulder band hiking stick. "Here we are."

He noticed the gate was opened and walked in. He was in a garden from the looks of it. There was dead plants and trees and a empty water fountain.

He saw a door and went to grab the handle.

He was hit over the head and black out.