"Man of my word, I am. Get you there and back. Kept half my promise now."
"This is it then? It looks like a Sliver…"
Grieg nodded under his heavy robe.
"Not sure what a 'Sliver' is, but yes sir. These things have been showing up all over the place."
Razel circled it slowly, caressing the smooth stone with an outstretched hand. Its pointed aesthetic thrummed with redirection as it coerced power from its surroundings towards a terrible purpose.
"I've seen things that work in a similar way, but not exactly the same. That one fed to an individual, this one…I don't know. Almost a beacon…or a network? Both?"
Grieg shrugged.
"More things I don't follow! Tell you what I do follow – the sun. It's dropping now, and we should head back. We don't want to be in the woods after dark."
Razel stepped back to mentally note the design for later re-creation and study. After a pause he nodded to himself.
"Alright, I'm done. I just needed a minute to memorize some features."
He stepped casually to his guide, keeping pace as Grieg turned to start back on their path. The farmer was fond enough of the area to know when it was wise to leave. Their trail grew dimmer as the sun sank towards the horizon, Razel looking at the woods uncertainly.
"…are you sure we can make it back in time?"
Grieg frowned and rubbed his chin.
"Well damn. I suppose we have to take a shortcut past Maurer Estate."
"You say that name as though I should be aware of something terrible."
"Recent calamity, much like the rest of the Strad. I haven't yet been there myself, but I've heard it wasn't a small thing."
The path took a well-trodden turn to the right, the trunks they passed growing thinner and less numerous. Water burbled away out of sight nearby. Within minutes a village emerged from the woods, the clearing filled with buildings and silence. A small, unassuming settlement, Maurer Estate was now a ruin. Carts were overturned in the street that crossed the river bisecting the village, now reflecting a moon high in the sky. Silence broke only to whistling wind and clapping of abandoned shutters. Razel smiled.
"Charming."
Grieg seemed much more shaken by the display. Anguish twisted his face as he walked to the edge of the bridge, resting a hand on the nearest post and peering across the water.
"I knew a few people that lived here. I don't even see any bodies. No survivors…and no dead."
"I wouldn't be sure of that."
While approaching Razel pointed at a lone corpse, facedown by a ruined vendor's stand. Grieg gasped and whimpered to himself. At the sound, the door beside it creaked open to reveal the head of a frightened child. Hesitantly, she stepped out of the building, followed by what appeared to be her sister in an identical dress. Out of earshot, they mumbled something to each other. Grieg tensed as Razel restrained him with a firm grip on his shoulder. The first one cautiously ambled over to the body and tugged on its sleeve, sobs drifting across the open space. The second of the twins looked up, her eyes catching Grieg's and causing him to jump slightly.
"We have to help them."
Razel shook his head.
"Too dangerous. I already feel like I should be on a tricycle."
Grieg furrowed his brow, turning to Razel in angry confusion.
"Danger? They're children!"
"Who somehow have survived several days without assistance."
"Maybe they're resourceful!"
"Maybe they're undead."
He stepped back, aghast at the suggestion.
"They're Children!"
"Children can't be raised? Isn't that what you do with them?"
Grieg sputtered his lack of a reply. Behind her sister, the other twin cocked her head and stared at the argument.
"If they're vampires, why haven't they killed us yet?"
Razel gestured to the river.
"Running water reflecting a silver moon. Is this why you didn't become a Cathar?"
"Wh…nonsense! That's just a superstition."
"Like people turning into wolves or exsanguinating friends or women with feathered wings or walking corpses?"
Grieg paused again.
"If they're vampires, why aren't they covered in blood? HMM?"
Razel looked at the twins before looking back to Grieg.
"They are. See those stains on their aprons?"
"Aprons? It's probably food or something! Besides, how can you make that out from this far in this darkness?"
One of the twins shouted to them.
"IT'S JAM!"
The other one smacked her sister's arm and mumbled something. Razel gestured at them emphatically.
"See?! How would they hear that?"
"Kids have great hearing!"
Razel buried his face in his hand, coming back up with a realization.
"Grieg…I think they're glamouring you."
"Children can't glamour you. What do you think they are, vampires?"
"Yes."
"Well maybe they're glamouring you into thinking they're vampires."
"That is the dumbest thing I've heard while here and I had to listen to that guy in the street go on about shrews. Are you telling me they're Fae?"
"What is with you and these things that make no sense?"
Razel turned to the children once more, cupping his mouth and yelling.
"HEY KIDS! COME HERE."
The far one grabbed the closer one's arm, shaking her head and watching warily. Grieg scoffed.
"Why would that work? They're obviously scared!"
"They're obviously undead."
Both of the girls took a few careful steps forward. Slowly but surely they came closer, stopping a stone's toss across the water. There was no mistaking the splashes and stains now.
"Look at that brown and tell me it's jam."
"They must have been attacked during a meal!"
Razel looked to the children and spoke firmly.
"So do you control him or is this all suggestion?"
"Stop acting like they glamoured me! If they did, why haven't I abandoned you to go to them yet?"
Razel thought about this as he turned back to his companion.
"That is a surprisingly good point. I know they've got their brainy hooks in you, but…"
"But what? If you don't want to help, fine, but promise me you'll wait. I need to lead three people back now."
Razel raised an eyebrow as he made a connection. With pointed words, he replied.
"I can find my way back on my own. Your services are no longer needed."
"Why couldn't you say that sooner?! CHILDREN! WHERE ARE YOUR PARENTS?"
Grieg hurried over the cobblestone bridge. At the first fall of his feet on the other side, the two monsters bared their fangs and leapt, tackling the peasant and ripping into him without hesitation. Razel walked to the top of the bridge and shook his head, looking down on the grotesque scene. He addressed the creatures through their gory feeding frenzy.
"Alright, I lied to him. Do you two know how to get back?"
The closer of the two looked up from half of the limb she was consuming, cocking her head in inquiry. Her voice rasped against the flesh crowding her throat.
"Why did our charms not affect you?"
"I'm not from here. That's also why I don't know how to get back."
Her sister piped up beside her in un-juvenile curiosity, wiping bits of thigh from her cheek.
"Are you a vampire too, then?"
"I try to tell people I'm not but I kind of fit the bill so I really don't know. If nothing else, I don't do that fang thing."
To make his point, he flicked his wrist and extended two needle-like claws from his middle fingers, retracting them in the same fashion.
"Oh no! Were you going to eat him?!"
"We didn't know…"
They both dropped their pieces, looks of despair overtaking them. The further one extended a forearm, her lip extended in a show of solidarity.
"No thanks. I really only needed him to get back. I mean, I could get back another way, but that's got costs and is not the point."
Relieved, the children resumed their carnal consumption. After giving them a moment to finish he again implored their assistance.
"So…which way is the town?"
The closest waved a degloved hand in the general direction they had been traveling.
"There's a fork further on past the overlook, keep left and you'll see wagontrail."
"Thanks."
He turned to leave, catching himself and facing them again.
"Actually…I know someone who would LOVE to meet you two…"
...if only to show you how to eat cleanly, he added in his mind.
