* * *
In another part of the coven, Lina cleaned, pushing a broom through the hallways to capture all the accumulated dirt and dust that settled throughout the floors of the caves. It was an endless task, but Vad only required her to do it for an hour or two at a time. Every vampire had their assigned task and she, as the least senior vampire in the coven was left with sweeping the floors.
She finished up a careful sweep of the upper floor and sat down for a break. While seated Vad appeared around a corner, and she immediately picked up her broom and pretended to have not been sitting. He told her to put down her broom for the day, explaining, “There’s a meeting in the Great Hall.”
She walked with him there, where a large crowd of vampires was already assembled, quietly waiting for Asha to speak.
The light that streamed in through the gaps in the roof of the Great Hall was almost completely absent, indicating that it was early night now. This light was the only sense of any passage of days that most of the vampires would perceive, since the coven was mostly kept in a continuous twilight of low light and flickering flames.
After a few moments of waiting, Asha announced to the vampires in a forceful screech, “Silence!” and the many quiet conversations that had produced a continuous murmur throughout the room, ceased and quietly faded as an echo through the caves.
“As you know, I’ll be visiting the village of Terem for an agreement that will officially end all hostilities between vampires and humans. Thus, tonight is our last night of freedom. We’re going fill it full, to overflowing. I want four teams, and I want you to bring back four humans in your nets. Four pathetic humans, who will wail for mercy at my feet,” Asha explained, “Success is essential. Failure will be punished.”
Asha successively addressed three of her most aged and experienced vampires to lead three separate teams to three separate villages. She saved her favorite for last and gave Vad the most important destination, telling him, “You’ll attack Vallaya. Bring three with you. Also, take your little minion. This’ll probably be the only time she’ll ever get to experience the thrill.”
Vad turned to Lina and smiled after Asha said this, telling her, “You’re with me tonight.”
Vad organized a party much like the one that had fetched Lina, Nicoleta and Oana, including Fane and two other vampires named Lea and Sil. They gathered together their equipment, including a weighted net, an unweighted net, a pair of bolas, and substantial lengths of rope. They stuffed these into bags that felt overwhelmingly heavy to Lina. Fortunately, she wasn’t required to carry anything. She only had to follow along. They dressed lightly in loose fitting clothes that moved just as silently as the vampires moved while they walked about.
To fortify themselves for a long run through the night they all drank hearty bowlfuls of nourishment. Lina, too, drank the still unpleasant red mixture, but as it suffused through her body she felt a rising energy, which thrilled and excited her.
Before they left Vad explained to Lina, “You’re just a passenger on this ride. Do what you’re told and be sure to stay close. Vampires that stray away on their own have a tendency to get sniped by vampire hunters.”
The five of them walked up through the halls to the exit where Vad opened the door for them and they all three departed in a line, stepping out into the moonlit forest.
Lina could already run faster now than she was able to before and was noticing both her speed and her strength improving, but next to the four aged vampires she was with, she was slow. For this reason, Lina again had to climb onto Vad’s back. Vad bent down, and she wrapped her legs around his midsection, gripping him tight around the neck and resting her head on his nape. Even in the cold of the night, Vad felt so warm, and she could hear the quick thumping of his heartbeat.
Before she had a chance to brace herself, Vad was off in a mad dash through the woods, raising clods of dirt beneath his feet. Just to show off, he leapt into the air, landing on the branch of a tree and leapt from it even higher into a grand arch above the trees. Lina screamed as she was carried with him high into the air and gripped him even tighter as she looked down at the receding ground below. With his hands, Vad snatched a bat flapping through air, and dropped to the ground with the panicked animal between his two hands. Before the bat had a chance to bite him, he threw the animal out of his hands and continued on his run.
The first building they passed was the complex belonging to Andrei, where his business and his home were joined into a solid stone structure. Lina asked if they were going to attack this building, and Vad told her, “No, that’s Andrei. It’s well built. Very hard to break into.”
Instead they passed by it, zipping through the heart of Vallaya, across the main street and by the church, moving rapidly and unseen. They headed beyond the village center, towards the nearby farms and the small houses that the farmers occupied.
Several houses sat atop the horizon in front of them, including the small, single-room farmhouse inside which Josif, Viorica and Constanta silently slept in their beds.
“Which?” Lea asked Vad.
“That one,” Vad said, randomly picking a house directly in front of him. But as they passed near Josif’s house, Vad smelled the air and slowed down. “No, this one,” Vad said, pointing at Josif’s house, “One of the people in there smells of vampires. Must’ve been eating vampire wares recently. Yes, this one.”
Vad and the other vampires closed in on Josif’s house. They slowed themselves down to a quieter step that wouldn’t disturb any of the sleepers inside. Silently they pattered towards the house, equipment on their backs.
Upon arriving, Vad walked around the house in search of an entrance. The window shutters were closed, and the door was locked. As he walked, he smelled the air to ascertain who was inside and where they were. He could smell three bodies inside on the side of the house opposite the door.
They decided that they would enter through the window nearest the three persons, net the youngest of them, and speed out of there immediately.