Rain overcame the guards that were supposed to watch over her door. Free to venture on her own, she blended in with the shadows to find her way to the deacon’s chamber. It took her three previous attempts to learn the quickest way to the room. During each of her previous tries, Rain had been caught, yet this time she was able to slip by unhindered. 

      Rain wasn’t proud of how she earned her freedom. Needless to say, she had learned how to please a man during her time in the alienage. There were few other ways for a half-elf to survive in this world, other than indulging in crime perhaps. 

      Applying her talents to the burly men, both of whom hadn’t experienced the warmth of a woman in weeks, had proved taxing. One of them had been an over-abundance of stamina; his girth was far larger than she was use too, and his pent up aggression bordered on malice. Rain left them passed out on the damp floor, snoring loudly in satisfaction. 

      She hated wearing the scratchy robes, yet Rain found the itchy fabric a way to distract her from a deeper soreness between her legs. Once she made it to the deacon’s chamber, she paused to hear a pair of voices arguing amongst themselves coming from the other side of the door. 

      “The thing must go,” the muffled voice clearly belonged to the deacon himself. There was a drawn out weariness to his voice, as if he had been drinking too much alcohol.

      The second voice, while distant, was clear and sober. Rain was surprised not to catch the slightest hint of exhaustion in the Knights voice, given the time of day. “You know we cannot allow an afflicted to roam free.”

     “Then don’t! Dispose of the thing, if you don’t have the heart to put it down, I’ll find someone who will.” Rain froze as she heard him speak. A pit formed in her stomach as she contained her fear.

      There was a long pause before the deacon spoke again, Rain could hear the two of them pacing the room. “Don’t tell me you are sympathetic to the thing.”

      “No.” The knights voice was stern.

      “Then why the hesitation?”

      “I’ve hunted the cursed in the forests. I’ve seen the monsters they become. Trust me, I know first hand what it looks like. And you know what else?” The knights explanation was straight forward.

      Rain leaned in closer to the door, her ear pressed into the solid oak. The wood felt rather warm against her skin. She could hear the deacon’s muffled groan of displeasure.

      The Knight continued, “While I killed my way through the Demon Lords armies, I got to experience their cruelty firsthand. I’ve seen it on the battlefield, and hiding among the streets in no-mans land. The thing about the Devil Lord, and his ilk, are that there is no truth in them. The girl however, when I looked into that things eyes, I see nothing but truth.”

      “What are you talking about?” The deacon asked.

      “She’s not corrupted like the others. At least not yet.” Rain could hear the knight pick up what sounded like a chalice, and take a drink.

      “Didn’t she kill a guard?” The deacon interrupted the knight. Rain felt her heart skip a beat.

      The sound of metal clinging to a wooden desk meant that the knight had sat his chalice down. “She told me what happened, she didn’t even try to hide it. I investigated her report, and there was a guard found dead near the alienage. His wounds matched those of a lightning strike. We even discovered where the strike occurred.”

      The deacon didn’t sound pleased, “Maybe she summoned it?”

      The knight wasn’t amused, he was starting to sound frustrated. “Yeah…I doubt that.”

      “Her tainted blood is an abomination! Gods only know what she’s capable of!”

      “If that’s how you feel, why don’t we just clear out the entire alienage?” Judging by the knights voice, Rain got the impression he was exaggerating. 

      “You have a point. The King would certainly not approve.”

      There was another pause between the two voices. Just before they continued, Rain’s elf-like ears could pick up a pair of heavy footsteps approaching from down the hall. She uttered a curse under her breath, and swiftly fled into the shadows. 

      When she made her way back to the guest chamber, she found both her guards were still fast asleep. Rain supposed she should’ve be grateful. Had they awoken with her missing, they certainly would’ve alerted the entire cloister. 

      In a way she was proud to have been able to so thoroughly drain them. After taking a deep breath, Rain took off her tunic and leggings, and laid back in between them. Her elvish reflexes allowed her to slip in without disturbing them. 

      She was glad to share in their body warmth, it was extremely cold sleeping alone. Just as she closed her eyes, she could feel the tingle of her curse brand. It burned the arch of her lower back, and warmed her spine. Something had changed in the way it spread. There was pleasure mixed in the pain. It no longer felt like a knife sinking into her backside, but rather a gentle kiss scratching against her skin. Rain wondered, if she looked at herself in a mirror, what the brand must’ve looked like by now? 

      Rain rolled to her side, so that one of the guards could unconsciously wrap his arm around her waist. Her face was close to the other man’s scruffy beard. It might’ve just been her imagination, but she cold’ve sworn he had a little less gray in his hair before?