Vampire Nightlife

Theodore revealed his presence to the other four Vampires with varying degrees of surprise. Lukas and Chaerin were both completely stunned and Stacy and Alexei barely ruffled with his presence.

"You're alive?" Lukas blinked.

"What's supposed to have happened to him?" Alexei raised a brow.

"Long story." Lukas sighed and waved a hand idly, before looking at Theodore who was in completely perfect shape except for the fact that he was a bit muddy and dirty. No signs of bear chew marks or anything.

"I suppose the two Vardokens remain oblivious as always." Theodore shook his head but then motioned for them to step inside of the hut. "I was captured by the mistake of some demihumans."

"The woman named Ursa and her followers, right?" Stacy frowned, wanting to at least prove that she knew something.

"Hardly could call a singular guy as a follower." Theodore said. "Anyhow, the situation seems to be far more complicated than what either party seems to suggest and I'd rather that we leave the Veil Forest now than get ourselves involved."

"We were supposed to save you and deal with them." Lukas tilted his head. "How'd you get unscathed? Even someone like you would have trouble escaping if you were able to get captured anyway."

"I'm pleased that you have so much faith in me." Theodore dryly said. "But the reason is obviously because of the giant snake below us."

"Giant what now?" Chaerin's eyes widened.

"See for yourselves." Theodore motioned down. "Be careful though, his vision is weak and he might–well, he probably won't. He's supposed to be gone now but I asked him to stay for a bit to show him."

Lukas pursed his lips and then decided to go down the rope ladder to confirm Theodore's words–and true to the man's statement, there was a huge white snake below them.

Not as large as the sandworm in the Imago Desert, but it was still sizable enough that it could have swallowed Alexei and still have room for Theodore and him. The reason why it probably didn't climb up the trees was because it was incredibly heavy.

It was a good thing that Vulpine chose to travel via the trees, otherwise it would have been her end. Or not. Lukas didn't know if Vulpine even detected it.

"Okay, big snake."

"His name is Nievu." Theodore said and then made a small whistling sound. It was a signal for the snake to slither away as fast as he could and soon he vanished into the mist without even leaving a trace whatsoever.

"Fine, Nievu seems to have spared you–but that doesn't mean that we can easily leave and let them resolve this by themselves, right?" Lukas raised a brow. "They'd just kill themselves and that…"

"I would assume that you'd be the first to willingly leave." Theodore crossed his arms over his chest. "Whatever problems they have is not for us to intervene in… what changed?"

"It's just that…" Lukas sighed.

"There's no elderly here in their place and it strikes us–" Stacy began, but was cut short by Theodore.

"Okay, so Cervus and the rest here also have their own customs." Theodore grimaced. "I'm not sure what had happened but I've met Ursa and she does not seem willing to speak and Cervus twists his words–so shouldn't it not matter?"

"So you suggest that let's just try to find the van and then make our way out?"

"Yeah."

Lukas tapped his foot on the wooden platform for a moment. He was a bit unwilling to suddenly just leave with something afoot and it being right under their noses, but Theodore did have a point.

"Okay, let's wait for Vulpine to come back and then we can–"

"Or we could find Reos and ask her to lead us there." Stacy approached the tree of the hut they were standing in and then fumbled for a bit on the trunk, before finding a small hatch that she opened.

It seemed like a simple dark hole at first, but it was carved out in a way that indicated that it was hollowed out with a purpose and not just by chance.

"That's…"

"They were using this to communicate through the forest too." Stacy shrugged. "They seemed hesitant to use it at first, but it's one way to reach someone here."

Lukas couldn't believe that they were hiding this much from them, but then again that also made sense, didn't it? "That doesn't leave us much of a window to move–and are you sure that a young kid knows where the van is? And can we trust her?"

"Kids love poking around," Stacy started, but then smiled. "And Reos said that she liked the sparkly and pointy weapons we had. So these people led us away from our van to inspect and steal under our noses too. I think we can trust her."

"Great investigative work then." Lukas said. "Let's go give it a try."

Chaerin pursed her lips and tried not to feel too jealous with how Lukas praised Stacy. She thought that the small bunny child was more honest with her, but it seemed like Stacy was able to figure out important information.

"Ugh, someone got shot with an arrow and you're making them move right away huh?" Alexei complained, but even he looked serious and was ready to act. "Well, whatever. I didn't like this place anyway. Should have known that we're stuck with a bunch of unsavory folks."

"You guys want to leave now?" Reos pouted once she arrived and stomped her feet childishly. "Vulpine thought you guys just needed something!"

"Lead us back and we'll give you something for your trouble." Lukas promised, though he didn't know what. A free blood bag? Whatever was left untouched in the van.

"O-okay, but they'll get really upset." Reos shuffled uncertainly.

"We know, but we have to leave now." Chaerin explained kindly. "We have a friend that needs us to get back as soon as possible. You'll be helping us out a lot and her too."

"Ohhh." Reos hesitated. "Is that so? What is she like? Why isn't she here with you guys, right now? Is she okay?"

Lukas thought that he'd have to answer it by himself, but then Chaerin surprised him with a smile of her own.

"I think Lily would have loved to meet an adorable girl like you. She's really pretty and kind too–not to mention really strong. I think she'd be able to throw you up into the air and past the trees, even."

"Wait, really?" Reos' eyes widened. "She sounds even stronger than Ursa! I wish she could be here, then we wouldn't have any fights anymore."

Lukas coughed and Chaerin simply quirked her lips at that, slightly amused but also a bit deflated that even a small child had to think about the ongoing battles occurring in the Veil Forest.

"I'm sure that she would have loved to help, but right now… she's a little sick and we have to leave this place and find her medicine so she'll be all better. That's why we need your help, little one."

The young rabbit girl paused for a moment, as if lost in thoughts before she finally nodded seriously. "Okay. If she can still get better and you guys care for her even if she's not able to help… I want to help too."

"Thank you."

Lukas blinked.

He knew that it was hard enough to talk about Lily in a positive light, Chaerin was a bit of a jealous type–but he was also impressed enough that making a child feel useful made her more willing to help them out, and so they found themselves back in the van.

There were a lot of questions still, but soon Theodore revved the engine and then they were leaving.

All seemed well at first–even with the initial scare of Cervus' warriors hearing them and seeming to give chase. But then they wound up in another part of the forest and soon, they'd realize that Reos wasn't exactly lying.

The elderly were in a village of their own.