He had a point, and we arose topside. It was nice to smell and see the night air again, especially since I didn't smell or see any signs of the stake-wielding mob. I also didn't recognize where we stood. We were surrounded on all sides by trees and dry brush. To our left lay a tall hill, to our right was the same, and in front was-well, a hill. "I know it's been a few years since you were out here, but do you happen to know where we are?" I asked him.
"I explored the area two nights past and found hillsides I recognized. We are at the base of the hill that leads to the village," he told me, indicating the hill to our left as the one we wanted.
"So we have to climb?" I guessed.
"Yes."
I pointed at the top of the hill to our left. "All the way up there?"
He smiled. "You don't believe that will be easy, do you?"
"It hasn't been an easy night so far," I pointed out.
"True, but you have yet to stretch your wings, as it were," he countered. Dmitri walked over to the base of the hill where sat a rubble of rocks between which grew prickly bushes. Tall, scraggly trees covered the hillside and enveloped us in their piny scent. Dmitri crouched low near the ground and sprang upward. I expected the white man to jump a foot, maybe two. Instead he practically flew over the mess of rocks at the bottom and into the branch of one of the lower trees. It was a distance of ten yards, and he didn't even appear to be winded.
My jaw dropped open. I snapped it shut and glared at him. "Could you give me a list of these abilities so I can study them?" I requested.
Dmitri chuckled and crouched low on the branch. He held his hand out toward me. "Now your turn," he told me.
I glanced from his branch to the rocks at the base of the tree, and took a step back. "I'm not sure I can do it." Actually, I was positive I would bash my head in.
"Focus on this branch and jump," he encouraged me.
"Are we sure this treasure is worth it? Maybe we can mesmerize some rich guy and convince him to give us all their money," I suggested.
"That is not one of our gifts," he told me.
"And that's another reason why I need a list of abilities. I'm just guessing here. Can't you give me a summary of what we can and can't do?" I pleaded.
He grinned. "We cannot mesmerize people and we cannot turn into bats," he replied.
I rolled my eyes and would have strangled him if he wasn't up in that branch, and if it actually would have been able to kill him. No breathing made strangling kind of a mute point. Then my devious mind hit upon an evil plot. I crossed my arms over my chest and slyly looked up at him. "I bet you don't know what we can do," I commented.
He raised an eyebrow. "I do," he argued.
I strolled along the edge of the rocks and shrugged. "I doubt it. How long were you free before those villagers trapped you in your coffin and stuck the guy in there with you? A day? Maybe two?" I guessed.
Dmitri pulled his hand back. "Two days," he replied.
I stopped and glanced up at him. "Really?"
"Truly," he affirmed.
"So how did you learn to do all this stuff so quickly?" I wondered.
"The sorcerer explained my abilities before he perished in my tomb," he explained.
I winced. That touchy subject. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to bring that up."
He shook his head and held out his hand to me again. "The past is the past, but if you wish for a good future we need my treasure and in order to climb this hill I need you to trust me and jump."
I sighed and dropped my arms. "All right, but I warn you I was never very good at the high or long jump."
"I'm sure you will see a marked improvement now," he returned.
I stepped back five yards for a running start and pursed my lips together. "It was fun while it lasted," I murmured, and sprinted forward. My feet pounded the ground and at the edge of the rocks I jumped. I nearly sailed over Dmitri's head. He caught me before I flew by and pulled me onto the branch. I clutched onto him and stood on shaky legs, and the shaky branch didn't help. "W-wow," I chattered.
"Do you believe me now?" he teased.
Crack.
We both froze.
Crack.
The noise came from the trunk behind me, and we glanced over there in time to see the branch give way beneath our weight. Dmitri swept me into his arms and leapt upward into a nearby branch of the same tree. That one also complained about our weight, and through a game of branch dominoes Dmitri was forced to hop from branch to branch up the hill. I didn't have time to free myself from his grasp before the branch we stood on snapped. Take my advice, never trust the tree branches of scraggly trees growing on a rocky hillside.
We reached the top of the hill and Dmitri jumped from the last branch onto solid ground. He set me down and we both glanced down back at the destruction. A trail of downed branches showed us our path, and the cracking noises still echoed down the valley behind us. Inconveniently, that was where the camp and our enemies lay. The only way they could not have heard the noise was if they were all in their tents with their pillows stuffed into their ears.
"Perhaps that wasn't such a wise plan," he murmured.
I snorted and patted him on the shoulder. "But think of all the dead branches you cleaned out of the trees," I teased.
"Yes, well, we had better hurry. There are still some miles to go and then we must find a place to sleep," he told me.
"Wait, you mean the treasure hole isn't big enough for us?" I asked him.
"No. It only fits the chest," he replied.
I grabbed his hand and dragged him up the hill. "Then let's hurry before we become dust."
"Mary?" he mused.
I stopped and turned to him. That was the first he'd said my name. "Yes, Dmitri?" I returned.
He smiled and pointed to our left. "The village resides in that direction."
I followed his finger and my face fell. "I-I knew that. I was only-well, only testing you," I defended myself.
We set off on the right-er, left path toward the village.
Chapter 11
We hurried on our way with a speed that made the trees pass like green blurs on a Post-Modern Art landscape. Dmitri was much faster than I judging by how he could keep at that great speed over several miles of rough terrain without so much as pausing to admire the beauty of the night. Unfortunately, I was exhausted and very hungry by the time we reached the small farms that surrounded the village. I stopped and slumped against a tree. My lungs no longer worked, but I was still in the habit of breathing and gasped for air. I was also very hungry.
Dmitri stopped and came back to me. "Did you wish for me to carry you?" he suggested.
I shook my head and swallowed some air. "No. I. . .just need. . .a breather," I told him.
He smiled. "No, you do not," he argued.
"You may have had two thousand years to get used to not breathing, but I've only had a day," I reminded him.
"The night only gives us so many hours. We must hurry," he insisted.
"All right, all-" I froze and my nostrils flared. Something was in the air, and it wasn't Christmas time. Rather, it was the sweet smell of sustenance. That mainstay of vampires everywhere was nearby. My eyes dilated to pinpricks and my head moved to and fro trying to find the source of the deliciousness.
There! A hundred yards through the trees and one house door away! Blood! Sweet, delicious, tasty—
I slapped myself on the cheek. I would have fallen from the shock, but Dmitri grasped my shoulders and held me up. "It is the blood, isn't it?" he asked me.
I gave him a shaky smile. "Maybe," I sheepishly admitted.
"We cannot reveal our location by adding a victim to our trail," he scolded me.
I snorted. "You're right, a corpse wouldn't look right among those piles of dead tree branches," I quipped. Dmitri swept me into his arms and pressed me close to his chest. If I was the swooning type I would have performed a very adept swoon then, but I wasn't so I didn't. Instead I clung to his shirt and glared a
t him. "I can walk," I told him.
"I know that very well, but I fear you will walk into that house and appease your hunger," he countered.
"Can't I get just a little bite? Maybe a pint or two? Just a little sip to stifle the hunger? Or maybe a chicken? I could get a chicken and sip on that," I pleaded. It was the vampiress in me talking, but she had a really good argument going.
"After the treasure is recovered," he insisted. He sped off and the speed flattened me against his chest.
Dmitri skirted the lone house and after a mile we neared the village. Everything was quiet, too quiet. My sensitive ears picked up on nothing in the village. Nobody snored, nobody was up late watching TV that had no chance of reception out here in the middle of nowhere. There was nothing. Dmitri slowed and eventually stopped on the outskirts of the houses.
"What's wrong?" I whispered.
"The village has moved since I was last here. The rocks at the base of the hill must have been a rock slide which forced them to move to higher ground," he quietly replied.
"So?" I returned.
"My treasure was hidden on that higher ground."
"Oh crap."
"Perhaps not all is lost. Before my sealing in the sarcophagus I hid the treasure myself beneath a large stone, one too large for a dozen men to move. It may now reside in the village," he encouraged me as he set me down.
"You mean the quiet village with the inhabitants who want to kill us?" I pointed out.
"Unfortunately, the very same," he replied.
I tilted my nose up and sniffed the air. "I smell blood, but I don't hear anyone," I told him.
"Yes. They're lying in wait for us," he explained.
"So what do we do?"
"We will separate with you searching for the rock and I distracting them with my presence," he told me.
"Um, no, I don't like that plan. What else do you have?"
"I am afraid that is the only plan that would protect you."
"Yes, but it won't protect you."
"That is a risk I am willing to take."
"But I'm not. I'm not going to let you get staked while I hide in the shadows hoping they don't notice the cowering vampire in the corner," I argued.
Dmitri's rebuttal was to race forward onto the main road of the village. Near the grocery stood a large wooden barrel, and beside that was a few hanging metal wind chimes. He tore the chimes from their hook and beat the metal against the hollow barrel. The noise echoed through the village and beams from two dozen flashlights flickered on and pointed at where he stood. He snarled and raced into the roads between the houses, and the people followed after him shouting in angry, foreign voices, but I understood Mob. They were going to destroy the the demon spawn.
With the villagers distracted now was my chance to search for that stone. I crept up to the village and wracked my brain for any memory of a large stone. Nothing came up, but that told me it wasn't on the main road. I slunk between the houses careful to avoid making any large noises against hollow barrels. There were still a few warm bodies in the area, all with deliciously warm blood. I licked my lips as I thought about all that pumping fluid going to waste inside their bodies. It'd only be a little drop, just aI smacked myself again and cringed when the sound echoed through the empty streets. I had to deal with this blood lust or I'd end up the terrible monster everyone feared I was. Besides, I had buried treasure to find, and my pirate senses told me I was getting warmer.
It turned out the warmer I was getting to was a body, or rather a half dozen. I was so focused on the treasure that I forgot my blood lust and stumbled through the open doors of a small barn. Flashlights clicked on and blinded me. I instinctively hissed and backed away.
"Away, foul creature!" I heard a familiar voice yell. It was the professor.
"Get back, fiend!" another voice chimed in. That one was Stacy.
"Stacy? Professor?" I replied.
I peered into the brightness and recognized their terrified faces huddled against the far wall of the barn. The rest of my peers were huddled around them including Ed, who had a bandage and a blanket wrapped around his neck. Added to all this trouble was the large rock in a corner of the barn near them, a rock too large to move so they built the barn around it. I took a step toward them and the rock, but the professor brandished a stake in front of him.
"Back! Back, or I'll use this!" he warned me.
I'd had it up to my bitten neck with all this kill-the-monster crap. "Are you guys insane? I'm still the same me! I'm not going to hurt anyone!" I told them.
The professor's eyes narrowed. "The village elder warned us you would attempt to use our past association with you to have us drop our guard, but we won't be fooled."
"This isn't a trick! I'm not any smarter or more cunning than I was before. I'm just as stupid as I've always been!" I insisted. That was probably one of the few times a student wished for their professor to believe they were an idiot.
Unfortunately, he still wasn't believing it and he stepped forward with his stake pointed at me. Kind of. "If you're really still yourself then you'll lay on the ground and allow me to release your soul," he demanded.
Uh, no. "But why do I need to be killed if I'm still the same old me?" I argued.
"Because your soul is tainted and taken by that monster, and you need to be destroyed," he persisted.
"Listen, I'm not going to bite anyone and-" Distracted as I was trying to convince everyone I wasn't out to drain them like a pony keg at a frat party, someone stepped up behind me.
I swung around and grabbed their arms before they jammed the sharp stick into my back. It was a male villager and they screamed something at me that sounded like death, destroy-you get the picture. I wrenched the stake from their hand and grabbed their throat with my other. With my new strength, and a lot of anger, I lifted them off the ground and snarled at them. They changed their octave from bass to soprano, and beneath my fingers wrapped around their neck I could feel their heart pump their blood through their veins at a speed just below Mach five.
The sweet, delicious blood was so close, too close. I pulled him to me and buried my fangs into his throat. He screamed and flailed, but the sound and struggles drowned in the pleasure of my bite. His warm blood streamed into my mouth and filled me with the warmth of life. It was intoxicating, it was delicious, it was-wrong. Wrong on so many levels, not the least of which because I was draining him dry.
I wrenched myself from his neck and saw his eyes were lolled back in semi-consciousness. There was also a stupid grin on his face from the desirable side-effect of my bite. I dropped him, stepped back and turned to my former peers and the professor. Their mouths were all agape as their eyes flickered from me to my victim and back to me. There went my attempt to convince them I wasn't a monster.
Their eyes hardened and the professor stepped forward proudly brandishing his stake and flashlight. "Get the monster!" he shouted.
His battle cry was echoed by the others, and they stampeded toward me waving sticks, stakes, and the occasional pitchfork pilfered from the barn. I did what any sensible, outnumbered, ill-trained new vampire would do: I ran like hell.
Chapter 12
I raced from the barn with the mob following close behind. I covered ground a lot faster in my fear and vampire speed, and lost the mob on the next block of houses when I ducked into the shadows behind a stack of boxes. I wished for the ability to sink in to the shadows, but Dmitri still hadn't quite explained the metaphysics about how to perform that neat and very useful trick. My former friends and professor rushed by screaming monster and all the variations of the word found in a thesaurus.
I sighed and leaned against the side of the house at my back. Things were not looking promising right now. Dmitri was gone somewhere getting himself destroyed, my friends thought I was some sort of bloodthirsty monster, and the rock with the treasure was in a barn. My only consolation was my stomach was satisfied and I felt more energy now than when I'd first awakened. It was amazing what a fe
w pints of blood could do when you were nearly starving of thirst.
"I instructed you not to drink," a voice close by reminded me.
"But I was so-" I froze and whipped my head around to find Dmitri seated beside me. I opened my mouth to yelp, but he clapped his hand over my lips and dragged me close to him.
"We must remain quiet. I led the villagers far from the village, but they may return at any moment," he warned me.
I pulled off his hand. "And the natives have my friends convinced I'm a monster," I added.
"Have you found the stone yet?" he asked me.
I nodded in the direction of the barn. "Yeah, it's in a barn that way."
"Then we must-" There came a cry from the direction my peers had gone, and in a moment three dozen flashlights shone down the road coming toward us. They stopped twenty yards away and through the bright lights I could see the grim faces of the village elder and the professor, along with all the villagers and students.
"The monster has evaded us," the elder told the professor.
"And the she-demon escaped us, too, and it attacked one of your people you left behind," the professor admitted.
The elder glanced around the village and frowned. "They must be searching for something they are searching for, or they would not have risked traveling in this direction and coming into the village," he deduced.
"Another hidden part of the treasure?" the professor guessed.
"Perhaps, but we must find them and destroy them before they escape these woods," the elder advised.
The people spread out in groups of four and began a sweep of every street. My still heart pounded as the group assigned to our part of the street came closer and closer. Dmitri grasped my hand and his eyes narrowed as he glared at the incoming party. "No matter what, we must reach the barn," he whispered to me.
"Can't we just sink into the ground and get to the barn that way?" I asked him.
He shook his head. "We can't be sure where we would appear," he reminded me.
"What about staying in there until tomorrow night? We'd have more time then," I pointed out.
"We may not be able to stay in the darkness while we sleep and our powers also slumber," he warned.
"But what if they see us? We'll be sitting ducks in that place," I argued.
"We must take that chance," he insisted.