A Past Reborn

Alexa rode out into the woods hard. She ignored any path she came across, not caring where she was at the moment. She wanted to get lost. She wanted to be gone, to have space, to have time to think. That was what she needed, to think about what had just been revealed to her. There was no way that it was true. Was there?

As she rode, she ignored everything around her, earning her a scratch on the cheek from an errant branch. It wasn't terrible, getting red but a drop of blood never fell. Misty avoided most thick sets of trees, choosing a random path of least resistance. They raced through the trees until Misty suddenly stopped at the edge of a clearing.

A large crowd of people were there. There were some in chains and others that were sitting around a fire looking rather comfortable. None of them looked all too clean. At her sudden appearance, the ones sitting around the fire looked up quickly. The ones in chains shivered a bit as they saw the lustful looks in the eyes of those that were focused on Alexa. One of the ones around the fire stood and started walking slowly to her. "Well 'ello there. Out fer a ride on yer own, are ya?" he asked attempting and failing to seem merely curious.

Alexa froze, nervous as she sat on Misty's back and watched the man approaching her. When he asked if she was alone she knew that she had to lie. What sort of self respecting woman would tell a group of men that she wasn't alone right now? "No. My husband is coming shortly," she finally answered, pulling Misty to step back slowly. "I should go back to find him."

The man gave her a look that showed he wasn't much convinced of her lie. And he had a reason too. "Strange man, yer 'usband. 'as enough money for a 'orse but not enough for a ring," he pointed out to her. He suddenly had a knife in his hand and was twirling it around lazily. "Why dontcha stay and 'ave a small bite with us?"

"No, I don't think-" Alexa started but a whinney from Misty cut her off. Behind her, a man related to the camp had snuck up behind Misty and had just slapped her hind quarters rather hard using the butt of his own knife. Misty reared quickly and pawed the air furiously. Alexa, not having been prepared for such a thing, let go of the reins in her hand and slid off the back of the horse, landing hard on her rear. Misty for her own part took off out of the clearing and ran back the way she had come.

"Meh. Ya wone need ta do that anymore. Thinkin'," the man scoffed. A few of the men around chuckled as well. The people that were chained up were still cowering to the side. They had obviously already been scared into submission well enough.

Alexa, on the other hand, was still defiant and already emotional. She had always heard stories about bandits and slave traders but for all her years had managed to avoid them this far. To see that they were here and so close to her town was both frightening and infuriating. It was too bad that she didn't have a weapon on her, not that she had ever been taught to fight. At this point, she figured stabbing at least one of them with the pointy end of something would likely be extremely satisfying. As it was, there was a man in front of her and another behind, both advancing on her. Her nose curled back as she sneered at the one who had been talking to her so far. "Stay away," she warned him. Her voice gave way and shivered slightly as she growled at him.

"Ya 'ear that lads? We're suppose ta stay away," he mocked her before he made a grab for her, laughter surrounding them.

Alexa flung an open hand at the man, arching her fingers to try and claw at him. She connected, and heard a rather high pitched scream as the man grabbed the side of his face that she had swiped at. When he stood straight again after bending to avoid a second swipe, it was clear why he had screamed. Across his cheek and neck were a total of four deep gashes, looking as if they had been caused by some...sharp...knife?

Alexa's jaw dropped and she looked down at her hand. What moments ago had been a human hand, completed with skin and fingers, was now a scaled claw. It was the same size as her hand but was red, shining and glinting in the sun. At the end of each digit was a talon the length of her fingers before, sharp, tips gleaming. What? What was this? She hadn't asked for this! This couldn't be! This was all a horrible, horrible nightmare.

While she took some time to stare at the claw that had replaced her hand, the men around her were going frantic. "Get her!" "Cut off the hand!" "She's a devil, she is!" among other more unkind things were being shouted at her. The man that was behind her rushed up and attempted to swipe down from above with his knife, going to cut the claw off.

But a broad knife was no match for her newfound dragon hyde. When the knife bit into her scales, she barely felt it. Both her and the man that had swung the blade looked at it surprised. Maybe. Just maybe. What if the story her father had told her was true? Could she be part vampire too? Clearly she had to be at least a little part dragon. How else would this claw have shown up? What did she know about dragons or vampires? Dragons were notoriously strong and hard to kill, obviously. Many of them could breath something and a full blooded dragon could change its shape to human at will. Well what about vampires? They burned and died in the sun. Could that be why she had always had burned skin if she stayed out too long in the sun? They were also incredibly strong for their size.

This could be good. Alexa smirked. She pulled the blade out of her wrist, not a drop of blood falling, and then backhanded the man who had swung it. With little effort she had him flying across the clearing before he landed hard against a tree on the other side. With a sickening crack and then thud, the man fell to the forest ground, never to rise again. Wide eyes only lasted for a moment for Alexa as she realised just how much power she would have against these men.

The wide eyes on every other person gathered in the clearing remained on the body for a long while before moving to her as she turned to face them all. What an opportunity she had here! The people who were obviously captured as slaves held a glimmer of hope in their eyes for the first time since she had entered the field. The men were much more uneasy at this point. Not only had she carved one of their friend's faces, she had just thrown the other across a field effortlessly. The odds were not looking good. There were only three men left who hadn't been harmed yet.

The one with a carved face, kept his hand on his cheek and growled, "Com on. Get 'er!" Two of the three pulled out longer daggers and started walking towards her.

Alexa didn't seem as frightened and happily squared up against them instead. "Alright," she said happily. She had this strange curiosity to test out her newly acquired abilities. Thankfully, one seemed more eager and approached her first. He swung down one side of her and Alexa managed to duck out of the way with a blur of speed. The man tried again on the other side but again Alexa managed to avoid it. The third swipe he made was straight down the middle. Alexa crossed her wrists and raised them above her head, willing for her second wrist to also change into a claw. She was happy to see that it did. The happy smile on her face as she looked at the man who was trying to maim her stuck as she lifted a foot and kicked into the man's chest hard. He flew back and hit the other that had tried to approach her, both of them hitting the cart that was parked at the edge of the clearing.

Alexa pulled her wrists off the dagger that had stuck between her scales and faced the last man and the one who had his face torn apart already. They both seemed uneasy now. Alexa took the opportunity to take a quick step towards them. Smartly, the both faltered and then turned to run, the two that had hit the cart running not far behind. "Well. That's handy," she said looking down to her claws.