Chapter 19

There was no use trying to go back to sleep so we started getting ready for the day. We would leave the attackers where they had fallen. The animals need to eat as well after all. I would tell the town guard where we had left them if they wanted to come out and search for them later. We made up some breakfast and sat around the fire while chatting. We had gotten used to this sort of thing. This wasn't the first time we had been attacked in the night and I had the feeling it would not be the last. After breakfast we got up and headed off to another nearby location. This was supposed to be another small cave. It had been used in the past as a place for people to hold out during bad weather. It hadn’t been used in a while supposedly but we needed to check either way. Close by there were more promising locations including a network of underground tunnels. While walking through the forest we saw the trail that our attackers had used to get to us. We decided we would try to follow it and see where it led. It may just lead us back to town but there was a chance we could find the vampire's lair. Walking through the forest it felt like the trees were creeping in on us. The foliage got thicker and the trees seemed to come closer in. Within a few hours we came across an opening in the trees that led into a clearing. In the middle of the clearing sat a well. It was crumbling and surrounded by weeds. Though the trail was unmistakable. There was a well trodden path that led straight to the well. We approached it slowly, but we didn’t see anything amiss so we walked straight up to it and looked over the rim. There was a ladder built into the side of the well. Unlike the unkempt exterior of the well these steps looked very well taken care of. There wasn’t much need for talking about what we should do. The obvious answer was to go down the well and see where it leads. We made our way down the ladder taking care not to slip and fall. Once we were at the bottom there was only one way to go. So without much choice we headed down the tunnel to see where it would lead us.

The tunnel was made of stone that had been slotted together and then filled in with concrete to hold them together. There was a well worn path leading deeper down the tunnel. The tunnel looked like it had been well taken care of as well. Which made sense if they were using this so often to get in and out of town it was only natural that they would take care of the tunnel maintenance. Making sure the tunnel was well kept up would make it much easier to get where they needed to go. We had been walking for a little while when the path branched off in six different directions. “Well this complicates things quite a bit. Splitting up isn’t an option with all that we've seen so far. We will just pick a tunnel and see where it leads. There is no tunnel that looks like it’s been used more than any of the others. So we will work through them one at a time.” Sora replied. “That does sound like the best option. I would hate for either of us to be attacked down here alone. Also while this tunnel looks well taken care of the others may not be in as good of shape. We don’t want to be in a tunnel alone if one of them collapses on us.”

With that decided we picked the tunnel to the far left and would work our way through them systematically. We made our way into the tunnel. There wasn’t much difference in it and the other but we needed to see where it would lead. After walking for over an hour we still hadn’t seen anything. This was going to take a lot longer than we had expected. If all of the tunnels were like this where they seemed to just go on forever. We walked for a little while longer before we decided to stop for a quick break. We still had to keep in mind that the group we had killed may not be the only group that was sent after us so we had to remain vigilant. We pulled out some stuff to make sandwiches quickly and sat with our back up against the wall. To my surprise Sora was the one that struck up a conversation. “I really wish we could just find these vampires already. All of this wandering around really is tiring. At this rate it could take us days to search this tunnel network.” “I agree with you that I’d rather find them sooner than later, but that isn’t an option right now. We need to find them before we can fight them and I don't think we are done being attacked by their pawns. I expect another attack tonight.” We ate our sandwiches and then continued on. It didn’t take much longer for us to reach the end of the tunnel. It led into a small cavern that was mostly empty except for some old barrels that may have contained some sort of goods in the past. It led me to believe this must have been used at storage at some point. The barrels were empty and looked like they had been down here for a while. I didn’t see any sign of an entrance into this cavern so the barrels must have been brought in from a different tunnel. We spent a while looking around but after some time had passed we realized that searching anymore would be fruitless so we decided to turn around and make our way to the intersection. Once we made it back we decided we would choose to go down the far right path.

Maybe it would lead somewhere more interesting. We walked down the path that seemed the same as the last. After a few hours of walking we once again made it into a cavern. This one was different from the other. There was no doubt that this room was currently being used for storage. There were barrels and boxes everywhere. I could also see a ladder leading to a hatch at the top of the cavern. “This looks a bit more promising.” Sora nodded and said. “Yes, this may be an entrance into the town. Perhaps this is how they are entering and exiting the town. The only way to know for sure is to go up that ladder and see where it leads.” I agreed. “If this leads to the store that the man we had killed owned this would strike one mystery off of our list. We can also check in with Frank if this does take us into town. We need to tell him about the people we killed and to tell him about this entrance into the tunnel system. This may all lead to nothing though if this doesn’t lead to town.” WIth that being said we headed up the ladder and into a dark store room. Well at least we knew this ladder led somewhere. We looked around the room but it was more of the same thing as was in the cavern. Nothing seemed out of place so we made our way over to the door. It was unlocked. That wasn't very surprising to me. When we made it into the main room I was once again proven right. It was the shop of the man we had killed. We decided to search the shop and See if we could find any information that would help us find the vampires. We went into the upstairs part of the shop that acted as the living space for the owner. There was only a kitchen, a living space, and a small bedroom. There was a small nightstand next to the bed in the room and there was a small black book sitting there with the pages spread open. On the open page was a detailed explanation on how they had captured the mayor. It explained how they had been watching her office until the receptionist had left and then gone in to take her. A vampire had joined them to actually do the taking but had needed the human help to make sure the coast was clear. In the book were similar tales of how all of the other victims had also been taken. They would wait until the night time when the person was alone and then strike. There was also a bit at the end about them keeping surveillance up on us as well. That didn’t surprise me. Anything that puts their plan in jeopardy would need to be dealt with quickly. We apparently merited such scrutiny. We took the little book with us and headed back into the shop portion of the building. We decided that we would seek out Frank and tell him what we had found and since it was also getting late we would head to the Inn after so that we could sleep safely. We made our way towards the door and then headed through the town towards the guard post. It looked to be mid afternoon right now.

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When we got there the guards on duty told us that Frank had finished his shift already and returned home. We asked for directions and they told us where we could find him. We headed in that direction and in just a few minutes we were there. We knocked on the door and Frank opened the door. “Why are you back? Have you already found the monsters and dealt with them?” “Things have gotten more complicated than we originally thought.” I replied. “We were attacked while we were outside of the town. The people that attacked us were working with the vampires. We even have proof.” I handed him the book that we had just found in the store as well as the note from the dead man. He looked over them and his face kept getting more and more grim. “This is very concerning. I never would have guessed that my fellow townsfolk would work with these monsters to kidnap their neighbors. I will spread this information through the rest of the guards we will go around and collect the people mentioned in this book. We can’t have anyone else trying to interfere with your plan to wipe out the vampires.” “That sounds like a good plan. Though I’m sure that some of those people have already disappeared. Hopefully you can still round up a few of them.” With that being said Frank left us on the doorstep and he headed off in the direction of the guard house.

While he was off taking care of that we headed for the Inn. It would be nice to have a meal and a full night's sleep. I had a feeling tomorrow would be even more exciting than the day before was. I figured that one way or another we would have a run in with our first vampire. They would either come after us down in the tunnels or we would find their lair. We got to the Inn and sat down at a table. Without being asked the waitress brought us heaping bowls of stew and a large loaf of bread. The food was delicious just as it had been every day before this one. None of the people from the Inn were a part of the vampire attacks. So we felt comfortable staying the night here without too much worry. After we finished our food we headed upstairs. We decided we would take a bath to wash off the grime from our travel and from the bloody fight yesterday. Much as had become our custom Sora went down to have a bath first and then I took mine. Feeling refreshed and ready for bed we both climbed into our beds and went to sleep.

We woke up early the next morning and headed down for some breakfast. After breakfast we went to check in on Frank.He was at his normal post and the guard station. He informed us that unfortunately all of the vampire's accomplices had fled from the town. While it wasn’t surprising it was a little upsetting that we couldn’t catch any of them. We told Frank that we were going to head back into the tunnels and he wished us luck. We walked back across town and into the store. We made our way into the back room and down the ladder. We followed the trail back to the room with all of the choices. We had already been down two of the tunnels so there were only four left. There was no reason for which tunnel I chose to go down, I just chose one at random. We went down the tunnel three from the left and hoped that maybe this one would lead us to where the vampires were. We had only walked for a couple of minutes when Sora spoke. “I can feel something watching us again and I don’t think it’s those dumb humans from the last time. I think we may have finally come across a Vampire.” That was when a voice came out of the dark behind us.”It's so nice when our food knows a little about us. It’s too bad I’m not allowed to play with you. You two have been digging into things that do not concern you and for that you both must die.”