Jeanne patted Cid’s shoulder, spotting a quick smile out of the corner of his mouth as she left the room. She looked around the hall and spotted Gabriel moving down the stairs. “Hey,” Jeanne called out she went over to the vampyre, “Gabriel!”

“I’m sorry,” Gabriel said firmly, “but I can’t be in that room right now.”

“It’s all right,” Jeanne said.

“No, no it’s not,” Gabriel said, her teeth clenched. “That woman is spewing falsehoods about my people. Lies that have led to pogroms and full scale massacres, one of them claiming my sister. And …” Gabriel let out a long exhale as her shoulder loosened downward.

Jeanne put her hand on Gabriel’s shoulder. “I know. Or, I have a good idea.”

“I’m tired of people looking at me and all they see is a monster. Some fiend out to feast on their children and turn their families into hordes of the undead. And hearing her say that … I’m sorry.”

“Nothing to apologize for,” Jeanne said. “You didn’t do anything that’d no one else would do in the same situation. Hell, I’d probably punch at least one person on my way out. Though given the woman we’re talking to, that’d be a bad call.”

“That’s why I left before I said something I’d regret. And she doesn’t know any better about these things.”

“To be fair, I knew little about vampyre either until you join our group,” Jeanne admitted.

“And seeing all this carnage those two men are bringing. All the death, all the destruction. I just know my people are going to be given the blame for it. Even if we do stop them, people won’t know these aren’t real vampyres. They won’t know these are thin facades of what we really are. They won’t take the time to see the truth, only take what they want to tell the story they want to hear. That we’re villain, knaves, wild dogs needing to be put down.” Gabriel ran her fingers through her hair, groaning as she leaned against the wall.

Gabriel walked over to a nearby window and looked out at the town outside. “I’ve been fighting this battle for over five hundred years, Jeanne. Five hundred years living in these lands. Over a dozen generations of lives to your people, come and gone, and still not a damn thing’s changed. Our faces must stay hidden, our names and language unspoken, our songs and stories slowly dying away. All for the slim hope of not fearing some uninformed fool firing up a mob and torching us while we sleep. I don’t know how much more of this fight I have left in me anymore.”

“For what it’s worth, that dedication is beyond admirable,” Jeanne said.

“I appreciate that, it’s nice to not have to hide myself just to live.”

Jeanne walked over to the window and looked out at the town. The building reflecting a soft red glow as the sun rose up and people went about their morning routines. She turned to Gabriel and saw the longing for the simple life, where all you worried were the simple things and only those. Tilling the soil, feeding animals, chopping wood for the coming winter. No great machinations of rulers or generals, no armies slaughtering each other wholesale. No monsters to hunt in the darkness of the world.

“It’s be nice to breath and not worry about being your last.”

“It would be, gods it would be.”

Jeanne turned to Gabriel. “Is that your name, Gabriel?”

Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

“It was tweaked a bit so it wouldn’t sound so foreign.”

“You mind if I ask what your name actually is?”

“It’s Gavrila Kustov Hristova.”

“That’s lovely name,” Jeanne said.

“Thank you. I was named after my grandmother,” Gabriel said, giving Jeanne a sad smile as water started forming underneath her eyes.

Jeanne turned back to Cid’s room as Kveldulf opened the door and began walking their way. “I think they’re done with the meeting,” Jeanne said to Gabriel.

“Everything all right here?” Kveldulf asked them.

Jeanne nodded. “More or less, what did we have?”

“Cyneswith gave us a few clues about where the bastards rest their heads around here. They’re not easy walks, but we can start narrowing down the search a lot more.”

“When does Cid want us to head out?” Gabriel asked.

“Today, once we get some food in our stomachs, and he wants us all together, no separate groups.”

“How come?” Jeanne asked.

“He wants it to where if we run into the men, we can take them out before they can do anything. And nine blades sticking through them will kill the curs that much faster.”

“Well let’s not keep the others waiting,” Jeanne said, patting Gabriel on the shoulder.

“About time we finished this,” Gabriel followed.

***

Maeryn knelt down next to a fire pit, holding her hand out over embers softly glowing within the deepest recess. “Not much warmth, I’d say it was lit a day ago.”

Jeanne turned to Cid, looking at a pile of bones resting nearby, a horde of flies buzzing around them as they feasted on the remaining bits of flesh still clinging. “One damn day behind,” she said to him.

“Yes,” he said. “And not caring to cover their tracks anymore, either. Any tracks leaving here, Maeryn?”

Maeryn looked around, pointing to some light impressions in the ground. “There,” she said, “seems to lead out and away from town.”

“What do you think their plan is?” Kveldulf asked.

“Probably reach a part of the Meadowlands and wreak whatever havoc they can before someone comes looking for them,” said Cid.

“Hey!” Benkin cried out. “I found something over here.”

Cid, Jeanne and Kveldulf came over and found a partially eaten body of a elven man. “Doctor!” Cid called out, “we need you.”

The doctor moved up and spotted the body. “Oh gods, not another one,” he said before moving closer. Rolling the corpse over they could see the elf’s flayed face.

“Shepherd’s mercy,” Jeanne said, covering her nose and mouth with her hand.

Cid did the same. “I’m not sure if I like how little this is beginning to hit like it used to,” he said to them.

“You and me both,” said Leonidas as he looked the corpse over. “Looks like the man was beaten to death, probably with a rock,” the doctor paused as he noted a large and bloodied branch laying on the ground nearby, “or that.”

“Anything to see who this was?” asked Kveldulf.

“Not at the moment,” Leonidas said, then he looked down and picked something off the man’s torso. “Here, take a look,” he said, holding a clasping pin to them.

Cid grabbed the piece and examined it. “Local vigilant,” he said as he shook his head and handed Jeanne and Kveldulf the pin.

“Got a lot more than he could handle, poor bastard,” Kveldulf said, tucking the article into a pocket.

“I’m surprised he was trying to take them on by himself,” Leonidas said, throwing on a glove and gently moving the elf’s head to the side. He pulled his head back while letting out a harsh cough. “Oh, that is wrong in so many ways,” in a hoarse voice.

“What is it?” Cid asked.

“I think they kept him alive while they were feasting on him,” Leonidas said to them.

“How do you suppose that?” Kveldulf asked.

“Well, if you look here,” Leonidas said, pointing to the neck, “the blood’s already long dried up, probably a days, but …” he stopped as the corpse grabbed his hand and lurched up and let out a low roar. The doctor let out a yelp as an arrow struck the corpse in the head and the figure fell back down to the earth. All four turned to Maeryn, who had already notched another arrow.

“T-thanks Maeryn,” Leonidas said, trying to catch his breath.

“Anytime,” she said, tapping her forehead with two fingers.

“Should we burn the body then?” Kveldulf asked.

“I think that might be for the best,” Cid said, helping Leonidas to his feet.

The doctor brushed off the dust and other debris from the front of his clothes. “Yes …,” he said, giving himself lone last breath to calm his nerves, “yes I have to agree.”

“Cid!” they heard Gabriel cry out as she and the rest of The Wolves raced up the path.

“What is it?” Cid asked.

“We followed the path,” Gabriel said, “it makes a sharp turn towards the road, and to the town.”

“The hell are they doing moving towards there?” Jeanne asked.

“I don’t know, but we need to get there fast before there isn’t a town left,” said Cid.