Protector

"Daida, what..?" She shushed him and kissed his lips gently, he placed his hands on her hips and thrust up against her hand as his cock grew hard, she undid his shirt and pushed it from his shoulders. She ripped his trousers from him and he frowned at her strength, she took hold of his cock in her small hand and stroked gently, his fingers dung into her skin and he pulled her closer needing to be inside her. She smiled and gently bit his lower lip, still stroking his cock she raised herself so he was positioned at the entrance of her pussy and he pushed up trying to bury himself in her wet heat, she shook her head each movement brushing her lips against his.

"No no handsome, you stay still." He groaned but stilled and let her do as she pleased, she gripped him tighter in her hand and he closed his eyes leaning his head back and gritted his teeth, she laughed softly. "Aww not used to being helpless are you? You're always in control of your women?"

"Daida," his voice was low, almost warning her and she laughed again, she dug her hands into his hair and tilted his head back, kissing down his neck she lowered herself onto his cock feeling it stretch her open and moaned as he filled her. She began to move slowly but he took hold of her hips and moved her himself finding a rhythm that made her gasp and her head fall back, he lifted her and thrust upwards hitting deep inside her and she whimpered biting her lips, piercing the skin. He leant forward and kissed her, tasting her blood against his mouth, wrapping a hand around the back of her neck he pulled her down to meet his thrusts feeling her juices cover his thick length, she placed her hands on his shoulders and pushed him back against the wall. She fucked herself on him her tight pussy wet and hot around his cock, he dug his fingers into her skin and he kissed her neck marking the pale skin.

A loud knocking on the door made him jump and he sat up looking round the room, he was alone, it had been a dream. He stood and walked to the door, she frowned up and him and beckoned with her head.

"Come on we gotta go," she looked him up and down. "You look like shit."

"Not much sleep," he picked the book up and put it in his bag, packing quickly he followed her downstairs and they saddles the horses, climbing up they set out through the forest. The wolves joined them in the trees and they rode quietly, he couldn't stop thinking about the dream, she had felt so real.

"Are you sure you're alright?" Her question caught his attention and he nodded. "Are you sure? There's been a lot for you to take in the last couple of days, if you're going to come with me I need you to be focused."

"I'm fine, just tired."

"We'll try and find village to sleep in tonight and be there by tomorrow. So no reading, just sleeping tonight."

"Yes ma'am." He saluted and she shook her head but couldn't help grinning. They rode for the rest of the day and as sunset came a village came into view in the distance, within the hour they were there, they spent the night and by midday the next day they had arrived at the village Hyde had spoken about. She slid from the saddle and stretched hearing her back click.

"God I don't want to do that again any time soon." She stroked the wolves before sending them into the trees to wait for them.

"So what do we do?"

"We go ask around, find out what people know of the legend make sure it is a White Lady we're dealing with."

"OK who do we ask first?"

"Whoever wants to talk to us, drunks mainly. I could use a drink."

"I never say no to a drink."

They tied their horses outside a tavern leaving them to drink and rest and walked inside, it was full for being so early and she sat at a free table while he got two mugs of ale, the table next to them sat four men and she listened into their conversation.

"Another one went last night, my sister-in-law found him. Poor bastard."

"He must have been looking elsewhere, those are the ones she goes for."

Hyde joined her and she motioned to the table, turning she spoke to the men. "Excuse me, I couldn't help overhearing."

They looked at her their eyes widening at as they took her in. "It's not a problem little lady." He held out his hand and she shook it. "The names Irwin."

"Daida and this is my friend Hyde," she smiled at them. "So what happened?"

"A man drowned in the lake last night, its a shame he was a friendly type."

"You said another one?"

"Yeah," the second man spoke. "He's not the first, men have been dying here for fifty years, all drowned in that lake. She takes them."

"Who?" She asked leaning forward resting her chin on her hand.

"Farah, she lived here and found out her husband was messing. Its said he was with another woman and their children were playing by the lake, they drowned."

"That's awful."

"It is, she lost her mind when she found out and drowned herself in the same lake. People say before she takes one you hear her crying for her children."

"Crying," she looked to Hyde. "Really?"

"What's really strange though is how those babes died. They were strong swimmers, everyone here is. We all spent our childhood in that lake, those children shouldn't have just drowned. They weren't even out that far."

She nodded and smiled at the men. "Thank you." She turned back to Hyde and drank. "We're going to need a room."

They finished their drinks and walked to the bar.

"Two rooms please, one night."

"I'm sorry dear we only have one room left available." The elderly woman at the bar looked from one to the other, Daida sighed and shrugged one shoulder.

"OK, we'll take it thank you."

They took the key and walked up the stairs, in the room she dumped her bag and turned to him. "OK, we're definitely dealing with a White Lady. The crying before someone is taken undeniable sign, she weeps for her own loss before she takes someone, its the children that's bugging me. I smelt something as we came in, I think those children were killed by something." She checked her guns, knives and axe. "We need to go look at the lake."

They walked through the village, the houses were small and the people looked at them whispering as they passed, they reached the edge of the lake and she grimaced.

"Ah shit I knew it," she turned to him. "A Naiad, at least one. She would have taken the children, it wasn't the husbands fault, even if he had been here with them he wouldn't have been able to stop them."

"What's a Naiad?"

"A water sprite, normally their harmless keep to themselves but sometimes they get bored, like to have a little fun. I'm guessing this one saw the kids and went at it."

"So they're like mermaids?"

"I guess, in the water yes, they have the tails and look like the myth of mermaids but they can walk on land like a human. Their invisible in the water if they want to be, those poor things wouldn't have seen them coming."

"So what do we do?"

"We wait, a White Lady cant be summoned, she will come when she pleases. We'll just need to wait for her to take another victim."

She walked back to the tavern and he followed, back in the room she sat on the bed and removed her boots, rubbing her small feet she sighed. He sat in the chair at the desk and watched her.

"What do we do when we find her?"

"Tell her the truth, let her know what happened to her children. If a White Lady weeps it means she is still mourning a loss, normally the loss of children. She is still here because she blames her husband for what happened to them, I'm hoping when we tell her she'll be at peace."

"You can talk to them?"

"They were people once, they still are under everything."

"So we wait until we hear her cry?"

"That's right."

He leant back in the chair and placed his feet on the bed, she lay back against the pillows her feet beside his and they waited. They did not need to wait long.

As the sun began to set a mournful cry reached her eyes, she sat bolt upright and he watched her.

"You hear it?"

"Yeah," she pulled her boots back on and ran from the room, him following right behind. "Come on, we have to be quick, if he gets in the water calling her off might not save him, the Naiad could take him."

They ran through the trees and stopped at the edge of the lake, it was deserted and he spoke quietly to her. "What do we do if she doesn't let him go? What if she is just pissed at men?"

"Then we make her," her eyes scanned the trees until she pointed. "There she is."

A tall woman walked from the trees towards the lake, her long black hair was lifted around her head as though she was underwater and tears streamed down her face. She stepped onto the smooth surface of the water and began to walk out into the middle of the lake, a man emerged from the trees after her concern on his face.

"Why are you crying?"

The White Lady said nothing but held out her hand to him, he reached out and stepped into the water, Daida stepped from the trees and called to the woman.

"Farah?" The White Lady turned and stared at her. "Farah stop, it wasn't his fault."

"He wasn't there, they drowned because he was with her."

"No, they drowned because something took them." She stepped forward and motioned to Hyde, he crept round through the trees and caught the man around the chest pulling him away from the water. "Farah, there is something in that lake. Something that took your children, it wasn't your husbands fault. He wronged you but that isn't what this is about any more is it? You're doing this for your children but it wasn't his fault."

Farah stared at the girl. "Something took my babies?"

"A Naiad, I think it might still be there, its her you want. No one else."

"A Naiad?"

"Yes, she's in this lake." Daida still approached the woman, her feet were now submerged in the water but she spoke only to Farah. "Please, you don't need to kill anyone else."

A hand wrapped around her ankle and she was pulled beneath the surface, she heard Hyde's muffled shout through the water and struggled as she was dragged down to the bottom of the lake. The Naiad looked at her with large blue eyes and with a flick of her tail swam round looking the girl up and down.

"You ruined my fun, I've had that woman bring me playthings for fifty years and then you come along and ruin it."

"I wish I could say I was sorry." Daida opened her mouth and spoke, the Naiad looked confused before understanding dawned on her face.

"You're a Feeder."

"I've met one of you before," Daida looked down at her body, where her legs had once been was a tail, the scales were a pale blue, shining in the moonlight coming through the water. "The bitch bit me, I guess it does have its perks though."

"You're the Halfling aren't you?"

"I'm more than that now." She took hold of the Naiad's throat and brought her face close to it. "I'm your worst nightmare." She thrust her powerful tail and together they shot to the surface, she shook her head back throwing her wet hair from her face and the Naiad clawed at her.

"I'll get you for this Halfling."

"I don't think you'll be hurting anyone any more."

The Naiad frowned but a hand reached down and took hold of the creatures hair, Farah pulled the Naiad out of the water.

"You took my children away, you took my whole life away."

"Let me go."

Farah shook her head and a bright light enveloped the two, there was a high pitched scream and the two vanished. Daida swam to the edge of the lake and pulled herself onto the ground. Hyde fell to his knees beside her and pushed her hair back from her face. She jumped from his touch but he didn't scream, didn't seem to feel anything at all.

"Are you OK?" His voice was filled with worry.

"That didn't hurt you?"

"What didn't?"

"That, just then when you touched me, it didn't hurt you?"

"Of course not," he looked down at her, her tail shone in the moonlight and he shook his head. "You're just full of surprises aren't you sweetheart?"

"You know I said I was a Feeder? I was bit by a Naiad, their deadly when they want to be." She looked at him almost embarrassed. "Could you help me get back?"

He laughed quietly and lifted her into his arms, she looked around. "Where did he go?"

"I sent him home, to his wife. He's going to have to explain why she wanted him and if I'm honest I would rather deal with Farah."

She couldn't help but laugh and he felt a rush of pride at the sound. Holding her close to his chest he walked through the trees but she held up a hand.

"I don't think we should let people see me like this." He nodded and holding her to him with one muscled arm he shrugged off his large coat, draping it over her he hid the shining tail from sight and hurried through the town and into the tavern, back in the room he lay her on the bed and locked the door. He sat on the chair at the desk and leant his elbows on his knees watching her.

"How long does this last?"

"I'm not sure," she stripped off her coat and looked down. "It's only ever happened once," she cut off abruptly as a soft glowing blue light engulfed her and when it faded she was back to normal. Instantly she covered her naked pussy with her hands and blushed, pulling her coat over her lap she turned to him. "Eyes to yourself."

He shrugged a shoulder and smirked. "I cant help myself sweetheart."

She draw a small circle in the air, her finger facing the floor and the chair spun round so he faced away, he laughed and nodded. "OK, I wont look."

She dressed quickly in her nightdress and sat on the bed brushing her hair, he turned to face her again and she looked confusedly at him.

"Why do you want to do this?"

"What do you mean?"

"Why do you want to be a Protector? I was born into this life, my father taught me to use weapons before I was five, I've been training since the day I was born to do this job. No one chooses this life, if I could have been anything else, done anything else I would have. I wanted a normal life and I could have had it if I had never been a Protector, I never would have known about any of this, I would have found a man, got married, had kids, seen them grow up, died an old woman surrounded by grandchildren. Instead I'm stuck like this." She motioned to herself.

"What do you mean stuck?"

"I was bitten by the Vampyre when I was nineteen, I haven't aged since then. I should be dead by now Hyde but death has forgotten me." She seemed to shake herself and looked back at him smiling. "So tell me why do you want to be one of us."

He looked down at his hands. "When I was a kid something happened to my sister, she seemed to change over night. She was a sweet child, friendly but then one day she changed, its like she wasn't my sister any more. The doctors said she was sick but I knew she wasn't, its like something took over her body. She was still in there but something was controlling her, making her do things. She hurt people. The priest was called and he read her last rights, I was there and as she lay in the bed I saw something stood beside her. It was dark, it had no face but it was watching her. I saw it there every day until it died and when she finally went it looked at me, it smiled. I told people but they never believed me, I thought I was going mad until I saw you and heard what you had to say about Mary. After you told me about everything out there I thought maybe I had seen it, I wasn't going mad, I just want to know what happened to my sister."

"Something was watching her?" He nodded looking back into her eyes. "I think I know what happened," she reached into her bag and pulled out a book. "It sounds like Demon possession, Demons are sick creatures, they feed off the misery of humans, by possessing your sister it found a body to use to hurt people. They can only live in humans for so long before the body is used up, if she was young it would have been quick, she wouldn't have even known what was happening most of the time."

"No, she knew. She spoke to me one day, she was scared, she didn't want to hurt anyone any more."

"I'm sorry Hyde." She reached out but stopped herself before she touched his hand, she looked down at her bare skin, she had taken off her gloves. "I cant promise anything but I will try, I will help you look but the Demon that did this could be long gone, it might not appear for hundreds of years. I will try though."

"How do you even start?"

"I don't know, I've never gone looking for a particular Demon before. My best idea is to wait for a possession to come up and try and get information from any Demon we find."

"How do we find a possession?"

She handed him the book and he looked down at the page, a dark shape was drawn on the page and he scanned over the small writing. "There are signs, changes in weather, animal behaviour. We look for those we find a Demon."

"How long do you think it will take?"

"I don't know, all I can do is promise I will try."

He read through the book. "It says here you can summon a Demon? We cant do that?"

"Not until we know what is was that did it. We need its name, without it we could bring a whole lot of shit to us and that's not what we need." She dug her hands into her hair and sighed. "I'm sorry I've never had to do anything like this before, I just need you to be patient I'll try as hard as I can."

"Thank you."

She nodded and he watched her for a moment. "Why didn't it work in the bath?"

She frowned. "Why didn't what work in the bath?"

"You didn't change when you were in the bath before, why didn't you?"

"I'm not full Naiad, when I learn how I will be able to control when I change, the two times I have I've needed to and I guess it was instinct. I still haven't figured out the changing back part yet either. I guess I just need practise." She covered her mouth as she yawned and looked sheepishly at him. "Sorry, I guess its been a long couple of days."

"We should get some sleep," he looked at the only bed. "I'll sleep here," he pointed to the chair he was sat in. "You take the bed."

She looked back and forth from the bed to the chair then sighed. "No, you'll get no sleep there and you're no good to me if you're tired. Sleep here."

She moved across so she was pressed against the wall, the bed was narrow but there were just space for him to lay down without her skin touching his, they lay in silence looking up at the dark ceiling. She could feel the heat of his body close to hers and her mind warred with itself. He had touched her before, it had been brief but he had touched her and she hadn't hurt him.

She slept fitfully her dreams filled with dark shapes and a deep voice she hadn't heard in many years, she woke in a cold sweat, her chest rising and falling quickly. He watched her pushing himself up to sit against the pillows.

"Are you OK?"

Without warning she reached out and grabbed his arm, where her skin touched his was hot but not painful and he watched her with one eyebrow raised. "This doesn't hurt?"

He shook his head. "No, why would it?"

She moved quickly and straddle his lap, she placed her hands on his cheeks and looked into his eyes. "I'm not hurting you?"

He smiled and rested his hands on her thighs. "No sweetheart you're not hurting me." He gently pushed her hair away from her face the thumb of his other hand still stroking the soft skin of her thigh. "What makes you think you would?"

"Humans cant touch me, because I'm a feeder I would drain the life from them if they did. Its too painful for humans to touch me but if I touch them I can hold on until they die. Feeders use it to stay young forever, thanks to the Vampyre I don't need to."

"So you cant touch humans?" She shook her head and he leant forward brushing his lips against hers softly. "What does that make me?"

Something flared in her stomach as he kissed her and she dug her fingers into his hair and kissed him again, he was warm and she pressed her cool skin against him. He placed a hand on the small of her back while the other pushed the skirt of her nightdress up so he could feel more of her, holding her close he bit her lower lip and she gasped, her hips thrust gently against him and she felt him grow hard through the fabric of his trousers.