The deciduous forest along the Youghiogheny river was only a ten-minute drive from Astrid's house and it was where she would find herself spending most of her summers at. Arnold and Astrid found themselves walking down the familiar trail of dead mans hollow that they had walked many times before. The forest was a place of constant change as well teeming full of life and it was here where her worries seemed to simply disappear as she felt herself become one with nature. She closed her eyes allowing her other senses to take over as she listened to the birds in the trees, the trickle of the water from the creek that was afar and the swaying of trees from the light summers breeze. The air was fresh, crisp, and had a sweet smell of flowers that were in bloom making Astrid ever more in love with the place.
Arnold didn't share her same fascination with the forest as he swatted the bugs away from his face while he walked down the winding gravel trail. He wore his black backpack that contained the necessities for todays hunt along with four empty water jugs that were tied together by a rope that he had slung over his back as well.
"Awfully quiet back there." Said Arnold as he noticed her prolonged silence since they entered the forest.
"I'm just simply enjoying the sights; summer will be over before we know it."
It appeared more rain was on its way as the clouds began to darken and the wind picked up speed. The two were in no rush however, with rain approaching meant the place would be deserted and away from any prying eyes that might be watching them. The Ventrue strictly prohibited anyone from feeding off mortals which led to many visiting blood banks or in Arnold's instance hunting wild game. The blood banks were costly, and Arnold wasn't always so sure the people he was buying the blood off from could be trusted with his secret. He decided many years ago to abandon the blood banks for wild game offered the thrill of the hunt and not to mention the blood was fresh.
An old building that was in ruins could be seen ahead of them as they continued to trek the muddy trail. Astrid wasn't all to sure what this building was at one point in time, but it was a frequent place they would stop to take a break. The walls were covered in graffiti from gangs marking their turf while the bed of forest that surrounded the structure was covered in litter and debris.
"It seems we are not alone." Said Arnold as he kicked the still glowing embers from the fire that was almost burned out.
"I don't sense whomever was here is still lurking around." Said Astrid before taking a seat on the concrete steps to the building.
Arnold reached into his backpack to retrieve his pack of cigarettes as it seemed Astrid wanted to take a little break in their favorite hangout spot. He couldn't help but feel concerned about Astrid's silence as he took a few deep drags from his cigarette.
"What troubles you? I've known you long enough to know when something is on your mind." Said Arnold.
There had been many things on her mind way before the news of Dracula's possible return came about. A couple weeks had gone by since she discovered a questionable email between Arnold and another woman name Cecelia. She feared to accuse him of anything she was unsure of, but more importantly she feared the truth. It was a sickening feeling to know that her husband of over a hundred years was possibly capable of such acts as adultery however now was not to time to worry or bring up the topic. A bigger issue had now presented itself, if her suspicions were correct and Dracula had actually returned, they would need to stand together not divided.
"I just have a feeling something terrible is going to happen. I don't when or how, but I can't shake off this feeling."
"I'm assuming this all has to do with Dracula. I can't blame you for feeling apprehensive about the situation, but we can't allow our thoughts and spirits be ruled by paranoia until we know more. If I don't get anything in the mail tomorrow, I'll send Hector an email and go from there. However, we best hurry up and actually catch some dinner before the rain comes." Said Arnold.
Astrid just shook her head in agreeance as she went to stand up from where she sat. Arnold threw his cigarette butt to the ground and squashed it with his shoe before walking back to the overgrown trail full of weeds. Though Arnold was leading the way Astrid focused on the noises surrounding her as she tried to pick up on a heartbeat. Being a vampire, she learned to differentiate between a large animal and small animal's heartbeat. Those animals that were smaller had a faster heart beat than those of a larger size, the trick was to focus on one heart beat at a time when there were thousands all around.
Deep in thought while focused on listening for her prey, she didn't notice Arnold had stopped in the middle of the trail as she almost walked into him.
"Shhhh!" said Arnold before turning around with two of his fingers to his lips.
Before Astrid could even question anything, he grabbed her by the arm and yanked her behind a tree where the both hid out of sight.
"In the clearing about two hundred feet from us I saw a massive brown bear." Said Arnold in a whisper.
"We would be set for a good two months compared to the scraps lately that we've been living off of." Said Astrid.
Slowly she peaked past the tree and was able to see the bear Arnold was talking about as it drank from the stream. She could almost feel herself start to salivate on the anticipation of having a decent meal that was well overdue.
"I shall approach it first; you stay behind and keep a look out." Said Arnold.
"I feel that is unwise the thing is too big to be taken on all by oneself." Said Astrid.
"I will call on you if needed, but until then stay put." Said Arnold as he dropped his backpack and empty jugs to the ground.
She watched his transformation take place in front of her while still in awe to this day for it was rare to see him in his beast form. The once dark brown eyes turned into an orangish red and his fangs elongated past his bottom lip. Reason the two of them never liked to transform often was because of the of black sharp spikes that would protrude from underneath their skin, destroying their clothing in the process. Hence why thrift shops and cheap clothing stores were essential to replacing the multitude of clothes they went through. The black spike covered the sides of his arms and legs as well as traveled some up his neck.
"Wish me luck." Said Arnold in a low growl before he took off running towards the bear.
From afar Astrid could see the bear was startled and had little to no time to react as Arnold tackled the bear from the side. The bear was powerful, but so was Arnold as he tried to get closer to the bear's neck with his sharp nails. The bear rolled over so that Arnold was underneath, the bear didn't haste in the slightest as it tried to bite and claw at Arnold. Astrid watched him as he was holding the bear's face inches away from his own as the bear bared its sharp teeth in Arnold's face.
He told her to stay put, but the situation didn't look good from where Astrid stood. Her shoulders tensed up as she held her breath for what seemed like the longest of time as Arnold continued to wrestle with the bear. Astrid was not worried about Arnold dying or getting severally hurt, if anything seeing him struggle and refusing her help was bothering her more. This charade had lasted too long for Astrid's liking and she decided to take off to assist Arnold with the bear.
Arnold had the bear's jaw in his hands as he tried his hardest to keep the bear from biting his face off. Drool from the bear's mouth covered his face while he almost wanted to gag from the horrific smell of its breath as it breathed down on him. The bear let out a loud growl in pain in Arnold's face as Astrid was latched onto the bear's back with her nails. It got on both of its hind legs allowing for Arnold to escape from underneath of it as it tried to shake off Astrid from its back.
The bear would go on all four paws then back on its hind legs while attempting at bucking Astrid off its back.
"Do something!" shouted Astrid as she could feel her grip slipping.
"Hang on!" shouted Arnold.
Arnold tackled the bear once more to where it fell flat on its back, crushing Astrid in the process. With the bear being stunned Arnold took his chance and twisted the bears neck till he could hear it snap. The bears movements ceased immediately; Astrid felt in that moment as if all the wind had been knocked right out of her for the bear had to be a few hundred pounds at least.
Seeing that his wife was being crushed by the bear he managed to push it off her before she rolled to her side trying to catch her breath.
"Never...again!" wheezed Astrid heavily.
"Ok I will admit that was way harder than I expected. Are you ok?"
Astrid gave him the death stare before shaking her head as she remained laying on the ground.
Arnold rubbed his face in the palm of his hands before looking down at the bear they just killed. He could start to feel the small droplets of rain on his bald head as it just took a moment to get himself together from the whole ordeal. He needed to bleed the animal immediately before most of it soaked into the ground leaving little to no blood left.
"I'll be back with my things. Just rest here for a moment." Said Arnold.
"Will do." Said Astrid bitterly as she watched him run back to where he left his back pack.
The rain was steadily coming down now and at this point she was now soaked from top to bottom with her wet hair glued to the side of her face. She was now sitting up while still on the ground next to bear.
"What an eventful day off this has been Arnold." Said Astrid.
He had returned with his backpack while unzippering it to pull out a funnel and clear tube from out of it. Grabbing one of the empty water jugs he went to kneel next to the bear just before cutting a deep gash in the side of its neck.
"If you are able to get up, will you bring over the other three jugs for this one is filling up quickly?" asked Arnold.
Slowly but surely, she managed to stand up on her own two feet while dragging them towards the other jugs. Times like these she thought of how simple it would be to just feed off humans. The simplicity of it all sounded enticing when it came to not having to deal with this whole mess of killing wild game and storing blood for later. They would kill when simply hungry with little to no fight from mortals that were weaker than them. Even the blood banks seemed more ideal than bleeding an animal in the middle of the woods when it was pouring down raining.
Two jugs down and two more to go before the bear would have been bled dry. She looked up Arnold who was mostly covered in mud from wrestling with the bear, but also his shirt was all tore up from transforming earlier making him look like he went through war.
"You are pissed at me now, but soon will be thanking me when we won't have to go hunting for at least a couple of months." Said Arnold as he finished up filling the last and final jug.
"This will probably last us three months since you will be leaving for Milan in a week or so." Said Astrid.
This seemed to catch Arnold off guard, because he never recalled telling Astrid about his upcoming trip yet. He went to sling the full jugs of blood over his shoulder after he put away all the other supplies in his back pack.
" How did you know I was taking a trip to Milan? I'm pretty sure I didn't tell you yet." Asked Arnold.
"So, when were you going to tell me?" asked Astrid as she followed Arnold back into the forest.
"You still didn't answer my question first Astrid."
She didn't want him to know she was snooping through his email earlier this month. It seemed every two months he would go visit Milan for what he called a "business trip". He claimed it was mandatory to meet with elders of the Ventrue, but it was rare that Astrid was allowed to come along.
"You were talking in your sleep a couple nights ago and also I figured it was about that time you needed to go back anyways." Said Astrid.
Astrid crossed her fingers hoping her lie appeared believable to Arnold. He gave her a questioning look but decided to not push the subject much more. The day had taken a toll on him and not to mention they still had a couple miles to walk before they were back at the car.
"Was going to tell you today actually just hadn't gotten around to it. I'm sorry I didn't tell you sooner." Said Arnold.
Arnold began to worry in that moment if he had allowed his guard to come down that maybe she had read his thoughts. He didn't believe that he talked in his sleep for Astrid never mentioned that he did before. There were just somethings that Astrid didn't need to know that Arnold wished to remain private. Such secrets would bring an end to their relationship and what Astrid didn't know wouldn't hurt her.
"It's ok. I know you are just a phone call away if I need you. May ask how long you will be gone?" asked Astrid."
"Hopefully only two weeks. I trust you will try to not go very far in the car while I'm away."
"Can't promise you that." Laughed Astrid.
Arnold rolled his eyes before he took ahold of her hand. He was thankful for the change in subject and continued to joke around with her about her horrible driving as finished walking the last and final mile back.