"Eyes up, we just got word that the ground sensors have picked up unusual movement near the eastern border. Two minutes, and we're moving to check it out."
The bark of Rhys' voice is a common enough noise, but no one in the small room will blow him off. Rhys' stature demands respect; his loyalty and ruthlessness in service to the house have made him feared. The small quartet in the team's break hall pushed aside the non-important things they were doing and got to their feet. A few steps and moments later, they're pacing through the halls behind the compact, trim, and muscular Rhys on their way to the garages.
The first through the door is naturally Rhys, who temporarily diverts to harass one of the recently turned who is slacking off with someone beneath his class. It doesn't take him long to break up the little social entanglement and return to the group of four, getting the golf-cart-sized ATV ready to head out.
"Hurry it up."
He sits in the front passenger side of the four-seater, with his right leg hanging out slightly in a relaxed state. While Rhys waits, Opal works on making sure the tanks are fully gassed, Vincent and Javier each check two of the tires to make sure they're not running low, and Christina takes a "seat" by cramming herself between two safety bars in the back with her hands holding on to the roll cage for support.
"Let's go, hurry it up. We don't have all night." Having given them precisely two minutes, Rhys claps his hands together while speaking.
The final checks of the all-terrain vehicle are done, and Javier smoothly takes the driver's seat while Opal and Vincent slide into the small two-seater back seat. After only a couple of moments longer, the garage door rolls up electronically, and the open-aired vehicle rumbles out. Initially, at a slow pace, the ATV speeds up as they hit the ground just past the homestead's interior protective and defensive fence. They aren't worried about being heard, and the motor of the outdoor vehicle screams with power as they bounce and zoom over the land in the direction of the triggered ground sensors.
Of the group of five, Rhys is the more apparent physical specimen, but each group member has their own set of skills. Rhys looks as though he could have come from any corn-fed midwestern American home before he went into the military. Opal looks nothing close to that; more like a waif who's simply in the wrong place and is being taken along as a mascot. Vincent has strong but average features; he's almost too average and mundane-looking. Regular people often have difficulty remembering his generic features and face if called on to describe their attacker by police or friends. Javier is masculine and youthful–appearing to be in the prime of his life with a skin care and hair care routine to die for. His teeth are gleaming white, his deep brown eyes a pool of welcoming warmth. He is the perfect predator for preying on social events and parties. Lastly, the caramel-skinned Christina tends towards fitness at first glance, with an athletic frame and tightly wound rows of braids following the curve of her head. She could easily pass for classically beautiful, were she not covered from the neck down by ornate tattoos and ritual, decorative scarring. Her accent is hard to place, almost as though any trace of her origin has been purposefully unlearned and forgotten.
The drive is long enough for it to be uncomfortable for everyone sitting crammed into the ATV. The homestead's property area covers a vast amount of acreage, and they have to pass through two perimeter fences on their way to the outermost one, where the warning sensors were tripped. As they finally draw near the area, Rhys gestures for Javier to cut the engine. Complying after parking the rugged outdoor vehicle next to a relatively large thicket, the party of five disembarks from the vehicle and draws out their preferred weapon for dealing with the unknown: assault rifles. No one speaks, and all of the party's faces are masks of veritable focus. While the vehicle noise that was made coming into the area was likely heard for quite a distance, once on foot, the five advanced in complete silence.
Vincent moves ahead, his clothing and body mottling against the darkness of the evening, becoming almost like an unseen presence stalking through the brush. Even if one were to be watching him when he drew up his camouflage, his presence would be lost to all but people trained–or with the capability supernaturally–to see him. Opal weaves her way through the underbrush two paces behind Rhys, her thin and delicate stature at odds with how she smoothly moves without fear or concern. Javier shadows a few paces behind and to their left, spacing out their advancement and maintaining the same pace as those in front of him. Following the group is Christina, who has taken up the rear guard and is following the others as they advance while also scanning regularly behind them with her calculating and cautious eyes.
After a few minutes of walking and stalking, a clicking noise sounds up ahead of the party. The group pauses, recognizing the clicker cricket noise used by Vincent. One-click meant he'd seen their quarry–whatever it might be. As the four remaining group members draw nearer, they take a more crouched approach. They creep slower and closer until they hear the sounds of many, many people. Javier doesn't even pretend to hide his surprise; he mouthes at Opal, "What the fuck?" while Christina takes up position next to Rhys and slowly nudges some shrubbery aside so that they can get a good view.
Those unknown people were in a natural field clearing and looked to be trying to set up simple a-frame shelters to protect themselves from the elements. At least forty to fifty people are in the glade, and they aren't anything like Rhys' group anticipated. There are young and old, some few animals–a few of which didn't look "normal." Some of the young children were crying, comforted, and quieted by others in their large group. It was bewildering. All five likely have similar thoughts: how did these people get through the outer fencing, or even past the outermost perimeter's sensors?
"Uh, unexpected. What's the plan?" Christina murmurs, turning her head towards Rhys. While Rhys didn't appear to her to be flabbergasted or anything past "intrigued," it took him a full thirty seconds to respond to Christina.
"Subdue with non-violence if possible. They don't appear to be combatants. Be prepared for some of them to want to defend the young and old, though." He doesn't miss a beat before adding, "Victor, make sure you tranq one of those weird birds."
None of the group on the ground could see Victor, but they knew he wouldn't be far since they'd all worked so closely together in the recent past. With the moment of engagement fast approaching, Javier, Opal, and Christina prepare themselves by tensing and untensing while Rhys stretches his shoulders back, loosening his muscles unnecessarily.
Once Rhys gives the directive to act, all four visible party members charge out from the underbrush. Javier fires three rounds into the air from his assault weapon, and Rhys bellows in his most commanding tone.
"DO NOT MOVE, YOU ARE TRESPASSING AND MUST BE VETTED."
The initial shock of the gunfire and yelling triggers some of the people in the clearing to scatter and trip over each other after being startled. Though the initial chaos passes much quicker than Rhys anticipated, several individuals rush to put themselves between the larger contingent of people and Rhys' group. A brisk chuff noise sounds behind them, and one of the strange-looking birds careens from where it was flying and crashes down into some of the grass.
Rhys and the group–sans Vincent–continue to advance with weapons in hand, and Rhys continues to yell at them in his most authoritative manner.
"YOU ARE ON LAND THAT DOES NOT BELONG TO YOU. YOU HAVE NOT BEEN GIVEN LEAVE TO TAKE UP RESIDENCE HERE. PUT DOWN ANY WEAPONS YOU MAY HAVE, AND YOU WILL NOT BE HARMED."
Though he's sure he sounds pretty intimidating, the people who have taken up a line of defense do not look intimidated or deterred; they also do not put down some of the items they've grabbed to use as weapons. As Rhys and the others get closer, they notice those unknown people wearing relatively simple clothing. Some of their clothing resembles old hand-me-downs from a thrift store or clothing drive. These look to be salt-of-the-earth people and do not fit in with the unpopulated area.
Javier fires another shot into the air, which causes some of the gathered people in front of them to flinch, but again, they don't back away.
"Okay… now what?" Javier murmurs.
Rhys either ignores him or doesn't hear. Instead, he bellows once again.
"PUT DOWN YOUR WEAPONS, OR WE WILL BE FORCED TO TREAT YOU AS HOSTILE."
The totality of that statement puts everyone on edge. Some people look back and forth as if trying to decide what they should be doing or what the others near them look like they're going to do. An older woman jogs up and forces her way through the line of the would-be defenders. She turns her back to Rhys and the others with him, instead seeming to speak to those ready to defend. Her hands gesture with calming movements, clearly trying to get them to stand down, and after a few tense and long moments, the defenders slowly begin to do just that. While they don't disarm themselves completely, they do lower the makeshift weapons they have in hand down to their sides, which is to be somewhat expected. Once they've done that, the woman turns around and slowly walks toward Rhys and the armed group. She holds her hands carefully to either side of her body, showing no visible weapons.
As the woman draws near, Christina is the first to speak and not yell like Rhys has been doing until then.
"Stop. That's close enough. Turn slowly so we can see if you have weapons on you."
The woman acquiesces to the order and follows the instructions to the letter. She stops and looks at the gathered quartet once she's done a full circuit turn.
"Hello. We mean you no harm. We didn't realize this was a populated area."
Christina gazes towards Rhys, who then nods in her direction. Once that happens, the group carefully lowers their weapons or slings them to their back. They are still easily within grasp but not openly being used to intimidate. Opal looks behind her and whistles once. A few moments pass, and Vincent walks from behind them as if he were simply lagging behind.
The woman standing before them is older, perhaps in her 60s if going by looks alone. She has silvery gray hair, with crow's feet on the corner of her eyes, and a thin mouth, but she doesn't appear frail. Her eyes are a shockingly vivid and deep green, easily seen even with only the moon illuminating both groups.
If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.
"It's a nice night; let's not ruin it with a misunderstanding that leads to violence. My name is Tallulah, and I can speak for these people." Tallulah's voice is amicable but cautious.
Opal clears her throat pointedly, and Rhys turns his head from "Tallulah" to look at Opal. Once Opal has his attention, she speaks in a language unfamiliar to the unknown older woman, who is calling herself Tallulah.
"My sight can see them for what they are, Rhys. These are not people. They are something else. Several have magic swimming around them."
While Tallulah doesn't understand the speech, the five armed individuals seem to all understand. They tilt their heads ever so slightly, and Rhys responds to Opal in the same language.
"Are you sure?"
Opal quickly nods her head but doesn't say anything else. Rhys looks at the others, his gaze hardening. Rather than redraw their weapons, all five turn to look at Tallulah, drawing back their upper lips to reveal lengthening fangs.
Tallulah immediately steps backward, shocked to be encountering supernaturals. She immediately puts her hands up in front of her chest as if it were going to keep them from advancing on her. She starts to back away, which encourages the defenders quite a distance behind her to redraw their weapons to a ready state. Seeing the change in atmosphere, several weans squeal in fear and run further away.
"What are you? Why are you here? Answer plainly, now, and this might not escalate." Rhys snarls at Tallulah.
Vincent steps backward, his skin and clothing mottling once again as he visibly "disappears" from sight, becoming a ghost amongst the forest backdrop. Tallulah doesn't respond but instead continues to slowly back away. She looks somewhat afraid or unable to decide what to do. Her eyes flit back and forth across the faces of Rhys, Opal, Christina, and Javier as they continue to advance menacingly and match her step for step. They seem wholly unafraid that following Tallulah in this way keeps them closer and closer to the line of individuals set to defend their people behind them.
On the next round of Tallulah looking between faces, Javier catches her gaze. Like a beacon of an emperor or a king of old, he snarls at Tallulah, his voice golden and authoritative–a tone that no man, woman, or even beast could dare think of speaking falsely against.
"What are you?'
Tallulah's eyes widened, and seemingly despite herself, she quickly answered Javier's question.
"We are the people of the Wilds. Faeries, or fey, whichever you prefer."
This doesn't seem to placate Javier or the other three vampires, who continue to advance and match Tallulah's retreat step by step. Javier continues to force his presence on Tallulah, demanding through a sheer vampiric will that she answers his questions.
"Then you are a long way from home, faerie. This is not your territory. Why are you here?"
Whereas Tallulah answered quickly with the first question, her answer this time came slightly delayed. It was as if she had to think of it while also answering, so it did not seem like she was choosing to be evasive.
"I–we–We don't know where we are, and we don't know how we got here. We were in our village, and then suddenly, we were drawn away and found ourselves in this field with nothing but the clothes on our backs and what we had in our hands the moment we were taken. That is the truth!"
The distance between Tallulah and the defenders has grown small enough that several of them rush forward with weapons in hand. The first to get closest pulls back a hammer to strike Christina, but she deftly sidesteps the untrained attack and tackles the man to the ground, using his weight against him rather than her own strength. Before Tallulah can scream to stop, Christina has already bitten down on the man's throat, using her fangs in a vicious attack that leaves the man gurgling, spitting blood, and with his throat torn out. Tallulah's voice pierces the air–a screech like a banshee in the deepest, darkest night.
"NO! STOP THIS!"
Her eyes are suddenly hollow, sunken, and black pooled pits that reflect the moonlight. The change is sudden and stark, pulsing a pause to the defenders rallying to attack the vampires and the vampires themselves. The thrumming was almost like a stunning pulse that expanded outwards from Tallulah–it didn't hurt or injure.
A few moments pass with no more movement, but as soon as the stunned nearby move again, Tallulah is grabbed roughly by an unseen force. The force turns out to be Vincent, who appears once more once he has grappled Tallulah's arms behind her. Vincent quickly drags her towards the other four vampires, twisting so that his body and back are protected by his allies and making Tallulah a meat shield. Rhys, Opal, and Javier quickly launch themselves at the closest three would-be attackers, and the promised brutal violence ensues. The three that are chosen to be attacked are not prepared for the speed and strength of the attackers. They quickly find themselves taken to the ground, much like Christina did with the first. Tallulah howls, kicks, flails, and screams, but her initial startling voice and change seem to have no more effect on the group of vampires.
Pulling herself from the ground and the body of the first victim of her version of self-defense, Christina turns and backhands Tallulah with enough strength to knock her unconscious in Victor's grip. Opal and Rhys both are drinking down the blood of their two victims noisily and greedily, while Javier is already starting to stand away from the woman he killed, his clothing and protective vest darkened from blood splatter. The fight-ending killings have the effect of sending the rest of the large group into a fearful tizzy, and it takes Rhys' bellowing to stop them.
"ENOUGH! LAY DOWN ON THE GROUND NOW! LAY DOWN ON THE GROUND AND WE WILL NOT HARM ANY MORE OF YOU!"
Those closest to the violence that took place quickly dropped the thick branches and assorted tools they would use to defend themselves. Before long, the young, old, and all others slowly kneeled and lay down on the ground as instructed. Goats and donkeys, a pair of cows, dogs, and cats, all seemingly domesticated, seem very unsure of what to make of the whole host of people suddenly lying down in the grass. Strange birds circle overhead, and the less strange ones mix in with them. They do not flee or stray from the people on the ground over much.
"Sure, everyone gets a meal but me," Vincent grumbles a little, which only those who are close to him can hear. He grudgingly drags the unconscious Tallulah next to a tree and sets her down with her back propped up against the base of the trunk.
Even with his grumbling, he doesn't stop to feed or inflict more violence. Instead, he jogs over toward the area where the strange-looking bird was made to fall from the sky earlier in their encounter. It doesn't take Vincent long to find, and he quickly makes his way back towards the vampires, who stalk through the lines of people lying on the ground as commanded.
Vincent slowly turns the large black bird over in his hands. He finds himself suddenly shocked when, during the inspection, several of the bird's feathers open razor-thin slices on his hands–and without any pain on the infliction of a wound, like a scalpel.
"Wow. Come look at this."
When Rhys and Opal both come close, he holds out the limp bird in his undamaged hand and shows off the sliced flesh of his other hand. The bird has the occasional red feather as if it were warning others not to touch it. Its legs are like normal birds except that they are a vivid blood red in coloration.
"I thought it was just an oversized crow, but look at its red eyes. Some of its feathers are like knives, too."
He holds up his sliced hand as evidence. Opal and Rhys look between the bird and Vincent, their eyebrows raising slightly. Rhys and Vincent both look at Opal next. Opal lifts one shoulder in a shrug towards both of them.
"I'm not a Diviner, guys. I wasn't trained in that shit, so I have no idea. We should take it back and let one of the actual ones investigate."
Rhys doesn't seem to disagree with Opal's assessment and, in fact, doesn't say anything at all. Tallulah groans and starts to rouse from the unconscious state that Christina's backhand put her in. Instead of saying anything, Rhys walks over and crouches down next to Tallulah, so when she opens her eyes–no longer black as pitch or sunken–his is the first face she sees. Tallulah jerks back from the sudden face-to-face contact, her back pressing into the tree's bark behind her.
"Please… we are just lost. We don't even want to be here." She mumbles.
Rhys moves like he's going to pat her shoulder, and he does, in fact, do just that once, but afterward, he curls his fingers around her shirt and lifts her by her shoulder from the ground. Once Tallulah returns to her feet, with a red bruise from Christina's slap across her face already starting to appear, Rhys points behind him.
"You will tell your people to come with us peacefully, and we will house them somewhere until our liege lord decides what to do with you all. You may carry your dead with you, or you can leave them. It's up to you."
Tallulah looks stricken initially and gazes past Rhys to the four bodies on the ground, not far away. Tears well up in her eyes, but to her credit, she does not wail. Instead, she breathes deeply through her nose and brushes Rhys' hand off her shoulder. Tallulah stops next to one of the four bodies–a young man, not seemingly older than his late teens or early twenties. Her eyes harden slightly, and her left-hand rests on his chest. She murmurs something, but softly and in a language the five vampires don't recognize. From her gesture and movement, the vampires can tell it's some farewell, perhaps a prayer of Tallulah's people, and they don't interfere.
Christina watches Tallulah with a well-practiced, dispassionate gaze. As the group is seemingly pacified, she and the other vampires seem to have no reason to inflict violence and death further. Instead, they wait for Tallulah to gather her people. Rhys turns from watching Tallulah as she moves from body to body to focus his attention on Vincent.
"Vincent, take the vehicle and head back to the compound. Tell them that we're bringing–" Rhys pauses and looks back at the group before returning his gaze to Vincent "–tell them we're bringing a large group, possibly fifty, of unknown supernaturals. Have them clear out one of the larger horse barns and temporarily move those horses into one of the others. Tell them to have ten guards ready to be posted inside and outside the barn when we arrive."
He pauses, letting Vincent soak in his command before he adds one more thing.
"Also, ensure the bird doesn't get harmed on the way to one of the Diviners. Off you go."
With Vincent immediately moving away at a jog to do as Rhys ordered, he looks back to Tallulah, who is still bent over the last body. He clears his throat, and Tallulah seems to get the drift. Without looking back, she turns and walks towards her people, still lying on the ground. She initially speaks to them in the same, unknown language. Rhys doesn't like that–she could be telling them to attack all at once or something else–so he immediately interrupts Tallulah.
"No, speak in the same language we both understand."
Tallulah looks back at Rhys, eyes still hardened, but acquiesces to his demand when she turns back to her people.
"As I was saying–I need some of you to help us carry the fallen, and we're going to follow these creatures…" Tallulah almost spits the word to describe the four remaining vampires, "…back to where they will shelter us until they can 'sort out' whatever is happening. I don't think they will harm us further; this was all a misunderstanding. Please get your things, get your animals, and peacefully follow them. They don't want us here any more than we want to be here, so it's in their interest to help us figure out how to get back to our village in the Wilds."
There is some discontent, as is to be expected, but ultimately, the group packs up the few meager things they have and their animals. The dead are carefully wrapped, or at least covered, in old blankets or clothing and pulled along on makeshift sleds made of branches and thin logs. Before too long, the large group is moving behind the vampires at a reasonably healthy pace. Rhys is leading the front of the group and setting the overall pace, with Tallulah a few paces behind him. Opal and Javier are essentially on either side of the herd of people and animals, with Christina following in the rear and keeping a sharp eye around. The four vampires don't need to look up at the moon to know they have plenty of time to walk the group back to the homestead proper before dawn.