The sun was high over Estermere, but it wasn't warm. No matter how hard it tried, no matter how powerful its rays, it failed to bring even a sliver of heat to the cold graveyard on the outskirts of town.
No-one went there anymore. The living were to busy with their own lives to care about the dead. The graves would be lost to vandals and vines if it wasn't for the efforts of a small handful of devoted gravekeepers... and one very unique girl. 
Liesel Steinhartz had become something of a mascot for the graveyard. Every morning, she could be found playing amongst the tombs and graves. She never stayed for longer than an hour, but she was always back before the yard was locked up for the night. She must have slept in the mausoleum, or perhaps she had found a warm catacomb to hole up in. 
She was a welcome addition to the dreary grave, which was not something everyone said about her. Little Liesel was scary. She wasn't mean or rude, and she didn't say or do anything particularly sinister. But her eyes, her fangs and her skin all terrified the residents of the town, and her unusual association with the undead just alienated her further. There were some who wanted Liesel gone - to another town, another country, another world. Estermere could be a harsh place.
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"Hey, freak!"
Liesel turned around. She didn't know what she was expecting - she was so use to getting abuse that any taunt or insult was enough to grab her attention. Maybe she just wanted to see who it was, or maybe she was hoping that it was someone else getting it in the neck for once.
Alas, such hopes were in vain. The cry was most certainly directed her way - in fact, she should have expected it. She was walking down Harkness Street after all. And who lived in Harkness Street?
Tarush Gra-Maluk.
 Tarush three things: She was smart. She was attractive. And she was an Ork. Add in the fact that she despised every fibre of Liesel's being and she made a formidable foe. She was a couple of years older than Liesel, too, and far stronger.
"Long time, no see, Liesel." Tarush was flanked by her usual crowd of punks and thugs, leering nastily. "Where have you been? We've missed you."
"Oh, you know" Liesel started nervously. This was not what she needed right now. "Just kind of... drifting."
"Huh. That's funny." Tarush took a few steps closer. "If I didn't know any better, I'd say you've been avoiding me."
Liesel's silence was all the Ork needed.
"Aww, what's wrong? Are you scared of me, Liesel? The little vampire is scared of the big, bad Ork?"
The gang giggled at that. Liesel finally found some words she could use.
"I'm sorry, Tarush, I really must get going." she stammered out, taking a few steps back.
Tarush wasn't having it, though. "What's the rush? Me and the girls want to catch up.". As she spoke, Tarush's assembled gang walked around Liesel, creating a circle with her and her rival at the heart. She was well and truly trapped.
"It's been a while, little witch. Where have you been hiding all this time?"
"I've got a job, up by the old cemetary."
"Oh?" the Ork's ears picked up, warning Liesel she was on thin ice. One wrong move and she'd be dealing with midnight visits fron Tarush and her gang. "And what job would that be?"
"I'm a... I can't say"
"Oh, but you will say," Tarush smirked, the circle around them tightening "whether you do so willingly or not doesn't matter. Believe me, Liesel, I have ways to make you say anything I want to hear"
Liesel didn't doubt her for a moment. She'd seen what happened when someone disobeyed Tarush. It wasn't pretty. "I'm a night guard. I look after the cemetery when the diggers go away"
"You? A night guard? You can't even protect yourself, much less a whole cemetery."
Liesel said nothing. Tarush took that as acceptance.
"Unless, of course, you have someone helping you. Who's the lucky guy, witch?"
"There is no guy..."
"So it's a girl, then?"
"What? No! I don't..."
"Woah, calm down, you crazy bitch! It's not as unnatural as the rest of you."
Liesel looked around nervously. Some people were staring. Others were hurrying on, as though they didn't see what was going on. Not one of them came to her aid.
Tarush continued "Or maybe it's not a person at all? Is the corpses? You get turned on by the dead?"
"It isn't like that at all..."
"You sneak into the graveyard, find a nice lady corpse and settle in for the night, is that it?"
By now, no-one could ignore it. The kids had started chanting "Fight! Fight! Fight!" and the adults just stared. No-one moved a muscle.
But Tarush was relentless "Maybe you could get through two, three bodies a night? Have you got a favourite? I always wondered why you carried that shovel around."
But little Liesel did not want to get in a fight today. She knew she would lose to the comparitavly huge Ork, unless she had some otherworldly help, and she was not summoning a Ghost in the middle of Harkness Street. Enough people called her a witch already.
"Leave me alone, Tarush."
"Or what? What are you going to do, creep? Cry? Run away? Hide?"
Gods above, Liesel hated her grin. It took every ounce of her not to lunge at the bullying greenskin and wipe that smirk off her face.
"Face it, you stupid necro-slut, you can't do shit to me. You're just a little pussy who's scared of the light. No-one gives a crap what happens to you. They wouldn't even bury you in the graveyard you love so much. They'd just toss you in a ditch and let you rot."
"Seriously, Tarush, cut it out" Liesel was fighting back tears. She would not cry, she told herself. She could not allow herself to cry.
"Make me."
Little did Tarush know those two words would unleash a whole hellstorm.
"I tried to warn you." Liesel was crying openly now, but it wasn't from what Tarush was saying. It was because she knew what was going to happen next.
The spell was a quick one. No fancy words, no evil chants, just lift your hand and will the creature to appear. Necromancy was easy when you knew how to do it.
It took all of three seconds for Tarush to notice the Wraith. In those three seconds, all chanting had stopped, all smirks had fallen and the tight circle of thugs had reformed into a ragtag group of cowards running for their lives. A lot can happen in three seconds, it seems.
Tarush's screams matched the Wraith's ear-piercing, high pitched wail. Before the shadowy ghost could do anything, though, the Ork had scarpered, showing impressive speed for one so heavy. Pretty much everyone else joined her, the few who didn't standing statue still.
"Thanks." Liesel muttered to the ghost. In return, the Wraith did a sort of levitating bow, before being sent back to its own world. He might start attacking anyone who looked at him funny if he stayed.
When it was all over, Liesel turned to the remaining onlookers and shrugged her shoulders "What?"
Before any of them could reply, she smiled and walked on. The taste of victory was in her mouth and it was sweet.