Great Heroes and Gods of the Ages

In the thriving city of Sorine, home to worshipers of Sortine, there were much going on. The people were intellectual, and the buildings were spread about. The city led itself independent of governments and was well respected and renowned through the land. 

It was a popular opinion around that the city was basically impregnable to enemy armies, as the guard was a veritable army that worshiped the goddess of war herself, Sortine. Furthermore, there really didn't seem to be any particular enemy to the city-state, at least not that anyone was publicly aware of.

Within this city, many things happen on the surface that seem quite good, such as a bustling marketplace filled with good shopkeepers and neighborhoods that were well kept. But underneath it all, there was still a darker side. Currently there was a rumor going around that there was actually a vampire in the town. It's also a well known fact the thieves' guild has eluded the guard for quite some time in the area, although very little is really known about that outside of rumor. While there is no major cause for unrest, whispers abound about the underworld that seems to be building up in and around the city.

--

"Rick what are you doooing?" Kabshiel, a small child-looking angel, complained aloud as she fluttered next to the boy Rick.

"What does it look like, I'm scanning this shopkeeper to see if he's an undead," His right eye was shining a bright red as he stared down a shopkeeper who was not even budging, staring right back at the boy as if he'd lost his mind.

"Oh yeah, try to scare me. You ain't gettin' NOTHING for free brat!" the old shopkeeper shook one of his cabbages at Rick's face. Rick sighed and closed his eyes.

"That's so rude of you to do that Rick! I'm trying to help you but you can't act like that and expect me to be nice to you!" She crossed her arms as she looked at him angrily.

"Yeah, yeah, cause I actually asked your opinion..." Rick muttered as he turned away from the stand.

Katerina ran down the street; with three armed me in hot pursuit. All three were armed with knives; and seemed to know how to use them. So trying to fight them with the knife was out. 

If she stopped to get out her bow; they could be on her by the time she was ready to fire it. Plus, one of the men currently had an arrow sticking out of his throat. Judging from the fangs he'd shown her; he was some species of vampire. Well, at least he wasn't one of the super-fast types.

Her third option was attempting to lose them; but that didn't seem to be working so well. She was a fast runner and climber; but these guys seemed to be able to keep up with all of her moves. 

This was Sortine's fault. The goddess had INSISTED she got to Sorine; not caring about the many, many enemies her champion had made on her last visit. 

She was also fairly certain she'd made at least some of those enemies doing Sortine's work. She really needed to rethink this whole "Champion of Strategy" gig. 

She hoped the "unlikely allies" she was supposed to meet in this town showed up soon. Some backup might be helpful around this time. 

Fortunately, this was around the time she ran past a guy with an odd-looking red eye.

Achilles liked Sorine. He wasn't particularly recognisable here, it was relatively trouble-free and, most importantly, no one had tried to kill him since he had arrived. He had purchased an apple from the shop where the shopkeeper was arguing with a child and Akky could help but keep an eye on it. His power had given him responsibility and it did not please him.

Then he saw a girl around his own age being pursued by three men, armed men. They were the worse kind. Of course, the knives would be pretty ineffectual against Akky; not only was he wearing a plate mail but he was a powerful hero and knives didn't tend to pose much of a threat to him.

"I hate knives. This is just going to be trouble. I could avoid a-" As if on its own, Achilles' arm extended to parallel with the floor, bent at the elbow. His knees slightly flexed and arm clad in a heavy metal armour, the lariat would be a powerful blow to the sprinting chaser's neck. "Oh you've really done it now, Akky!" He groaned at himself.

"Why don't you just stake everyone we come across, you might just get lucky and actually find a vampire," Ulric quipped, his voice dripping with sarcasm. He really did not like the vampire hunter at all, but he felt an obligation to look after the angel girl who insisted on following this asshole. He narrowed his uncovered eye the other boy.

"I don't know why you bother, Kab," He said, continuing to glare at the back of Rick's head, "He's a lost cause."

"Because, Ul! This man, Rick, he is severely troubled! You may think of him as a lost cause but I just think he's a little down and needs a boost!" Kabby fluttered about and got into a pose where she was pumping her arm, certain of her goals.

"Hmph." Rick made as if to leave but noticed a woman being chased. He knew he'd sense something strange, just he'd gotten the direction wrong. Again. His eye turned red and sure enough there was one vampire following, seemingly unaffected by an arrow jutting out of his neck.

"Gasp!" Kabby said, literally stating it instead of actually gasping, "There's a maiden in trouble! Quick, guys, lets go help!" She flew towards the chase but Rick cut her off.

"Stay back. That one's a vampire, I'll handle him," He pulled out his Double Slayer, a red glow following its motion as he sprinted towards the chasers. This vampire was slow, which would be good for Rick. He probably had some sort of great power, or was very strong, but none of that would matter to someone with the element of surprise.

Rick did take note of another man joining the fight but left him alone. His only target was the vampire, "HMP!" Rick stabbed directly for the heart, intending to take him out instantly so there'd be no drawn out fight.

"Ohhh," Kabby was left behind and sort of floated there waiting for the results. She was very tense, her wings even having stopped moving.

One of the humans chasing Katerina was caught off guard by a hard bow to the neck. He suddenly fell to the ground; and didn't move. 

The vampire stopped, and turned towards the one who'd just attacked his comrade.

"you've made a grave mistake mor..." 

He didn't even get a chance to finish his sentence as a red blade was suddenly plunged through his heart. He instantly turned to dust. 

The last survivor of the group stopped chasing the girl upon realizing his two comrades had fallen. Just as he drew his knife, however, an arrow struck him through the heart. He was dead before he hit the ground. 

"Guess that one's not a vampire," said Kat, as she lowered her bow.

There was a flurry of violence and the pursuers were dealt with rather quickly. It was rather anti-climactic really, not that Achilles was complaining. Really, he wasn't. He definitely hated action.
He was alerted by the word vampire. He didn't like the sound of that. Well the vampire was already did, but what he heard wasn't 'vampire' it was 'trouble'. His fingers twitched.
He decided to make friendly conversation, and definitely not to investigate. It dawned on him that the pursuants that were dead or incapacitated could have been the goodies and he could have just assisted a criminal, but he didn't think so.
"Hello. Why is there a vampire? Why is there a vampire chasing you? Why is there humans helping a vampire chase you?"

Ulric was about to respond to his angelic companion, when a flurry of motion caught his attention. A girl was being chased by strange men and the lycan reflexively reached for his swords. He was about to spring into action when his unwanted comrade, Rick, moved before he could. 

The men were quickly dispatched before Ulric could lift a finger, causing the young man to slump slightly. Leave it to the vampire slayer to kill steal without a second thought. At least the woman was safe. 

"I'd like to know what's going on, myself," Ulric asked after Achilles asked his multitude of questions.

"Wow!" Kabby exclaimed but then she started falling, "Oops!" she hit the ground, but bounced right back up, flapping her wings furiously as her hyperness continued to push her, "This is great! Everyone is so great!" 

Rick sighed as he put away his weapon, "Indeed. What did you do?" Rick looked almost accusingly to the girl he had 'saved'. Then there was a white blur that went right over Rick's head, "Ow!" Rick grabbed his head.

"That is not how you treat someone you just saved! If you want to be a GREAT HERO like I want you to be, then you have to be more polite!" Kabby had apparently smashed him in the head with her fist.

Katerina paused at the question; not entirely sure how to answer. She'd had so many people trying to kill her over the years that it was getting difficult to tell them all apart.

Even narrowing it down the the enemies she'd made in Sorine didn't help much. 

There was that group of assassin's she'd pissed off when she'd unknowingly killed their target.  

Could they be from that group of assassins she'd pissed off? 

Maybe they were hired by that slaver she'd shot through the knee? 

There was always the chance they were from that cult that had wanted to sacrifice her to that...thing they worshipped. 

They could even be some group she'd never even met before that had a problem with her. 

There was really only one answer to the question...

"Oh, I'm one of Helias' kids," she said. "This shit happens all the time,"

"Oh wonderful," Achilles replied. "I guess there's a monster or something hiding around town that someone is going to have to stop, right?" He was joking, before he realised that shit, there was an issue. Vampires. Vampires tended to post a risk to towns. Although vampires with human buddies was just bizarre.

"Oh bloody hell," he groaned. After all, he was going to get pulled into this: it's just how life worked. But he could resist as much as possible.

"Well, if you don't know I'm sure that no one will come after you again. Especially seeing as we just killed two people and knocked out a third. You're probably safe now." He was only trying to convince himself really.