I do not own…
There was something wrong.
He could feel it.
Vlad knew that something had happened to his mate or his daughter. He made Shadow quicken his speed to the farm house. During the whole time he has tried to reach her with their minds but Alice wasn't answering. Even though she was young he tried with Maxine. All he got was her crying until he heard that Andrea shot Alice. Now all he saw right now is red. When he reached the farm house he saw Andrea sitting on the porch with a guilt look on her face. Dale saw the anger on Vlad's face as he looked at Andrea and told Glenn to get Rick while he tried to calm him down.
"Vlad, wait." Dale said
"Dale, back away." Vlad growled and stalked towards Andrea. "What did you do to Alice?"
Andrea got shaken but didn't run away.
"How did you know?" She asked
"A gut feeling. What did you do?" He glared
Glenn came back with Rick and Shane at toe.
"Vlad, before you do anything, I need you to calm down." Rick said
"Don't make me ask a third time." Vlad warned her, ignoring Rick.
"It was an accident." Shane said
"I thought there was a Walker and she...got in the way." Andrea replied
"Andrea." Amy scowled
"Okay, she said that the Walker was Daryl and told me not to shoot. But...I...didn't believe her. I mean how could she have known. He was so far away I couldn't see who or what it was." Andrea said "I knew that I could hit it and she… When I pulled the trigger she got in the way."
"Why did you shoot when she told you not too? Who else was out there in the field?" Vlad asked
"Shane, Glenn, T-Dog and I followed Alice to deal with it, what we thought was a Walker." Rick said
"So five. Five people went to deal with the so-called Walker." Vlad glared "So why shoot."
"I was trying…" Andrea argued
"It wasn't needed! When someone gives you an order, you do it! You know very well Hershel doesn't want guns shooting off here! And you're not even that experienced with one." Vlad yelled "You didn't have to shoot! But like a child that needs to prove that you were in the right you did it anyway. Now Alice got shot because you didn't want to listen!"
He was so fed up with anger that he wanted to slap her or hit something. Vlad was never a man to hit a woman so he ended up punching one of the cars. He was able to hold back from tossing the car across the field and just left a big dent. Big enough to scare Andrea a lot.
"Stay away from me and my family. I don't want you anywhere near us. And I suggest that you stay as far away from me because right now I might do something that I might regret..." He glared and into her face. "...or not. Because we both know that wasn't an accident."
He walked away and headed inside looking for his mate and daughter. Everyone quickly moved out of his way as they feared him and his wrath. Andrea's eyes widened from what he said. She really didn't mean to shoot Alice but a small part did as she was still envious of the woman and was tired of her telling her what to do. It was all from blind rage and wanted to prove that she was just as good as the Dixon woman. She quickly felt guilty the moment she heard Ricks and Daryls' cry. Since Rick was closer to them he heard it too and looked at Andrea. He knew she didn't get along with the Dixon woman and has seen the looks Andrea gives her. Now he is wondering if she was safe to be around.
When Vlad found his mate, she was laying down in one of the rooms with their daughter laying right next to her. He mentally sighed in relief that she is resting.
"Hey. I thought I heard you yelling." Alice said "Is Andrea still alive?"
"For now." He replied as he sat down next to her. "Scowled her like a child before punching a dent in one of the cars. Scared her a bit."
She let out an amused huffed.
"I would have punched her. What part of 'don't shoot' did she not understand?" She sighed "Her blood told me the truth. I know it wasn't an accident. I don't want to tell Amy this, as their relationship is already strained. But I'm not gonna let this go. I don't trust her."
"I already warned her not to come anywhere you or Maxine again." He said
"Good." She said
He sat right next to her and wrapped an arm around her.
"Besides that, did anything else happen?" He asked
"Hours after this Maxine, Amy and I found some animal carcasses in the woods." Alice said "There were no tracks that could identify what killed them. Hershel checked the bite wounds but he couldn't identify them either."
"I'll go check it out later. I'm familiar with animal bites." He said
"So what did you find?" She asked
"Just what you and I thought." He said in a whispered
She knew what he meant and nodded.
"But that wasn't all. There were also a few Walker corpses crushed face down. It was as if something tossed it up in the air and dropped it." He said "There were a few of them."
"Have you told Rick?" She asked
"Not yet. Once I felt your pain I had to see you." He said
"I'm good, Vlad. It'll take more than a bullet to kill me." She smiled, "I've always been hard to kill."
"I've heard the stories." He said "Do you need me to get you anything?"
"I could eat." She said "I was helping make dinner but…"
"I'll see if it's ready and bring you two something to eat." He said
He kissed her forehead and got up to leave. Waiting for him on the other side of the hall was Rick. Knowing that Vlad didn't want to talk about what happened right now so the sheriff told him about the doll that Daryl found. Then he showed Vlad where Daryl found it on the map before the vampire told him what he found at the high school. Vlad took notice of how tense Shane got when he said that. He had also brought back the bullet that was in Otis's leg that he dug out. The vampire planned on showing Alice and Daryl first before showing Rick. After he told them the story Glenn, T-Dog, Dale and Shane were having a hard time believing he saw.
"I've seen soldiers killed by failed parachutes a few times and they looked just like that." Vlad said "Splat to the ground. Dead by impact. Perfect way to kill the dead."
"What could lift them up like that?" Dale asked
"Maybe whatever killed those animals that Alice found." Glenn suggested
"So what, are suggesting a giant hawk is roaming around now." Shane scoffed
"Then what do you suggest, Walsh? Where they dropped, there were no buildings for them to have a deep impact like that." Vlad said
"Whether it's real or not, we should keep an eye out." Rick said "Hershel said those animals were attacked last night. Who knows whatever killed them will get close to this farm and come tonight. Alright."
Dale, Glenn and T-Dog were the only ones that nodded while Shane just scoffed and rolled his eyes.
It wasn't long till Dinner was ready. Vlad had got dinner for both his mate and child while Carol gave a plate to Daryl. When dinner was nearly over Maggie secretly passed a note to Glenn, wanting to know if he wanted to have sex tonight. He quickly wrote his answer and pasted it back to her. She couldn't read it right away as she noticed her father watching them. When she was able to be alone Maggie read the note and nearly panicked. Glenn wanted to meet her at the hay barn, where they kept Walkers in. She hurried outside and saw that Glenn was already climbing the ladder to the window. It was dark but once he was inside he noticed the horrible smell and heard the familiar growls and moans. Aiming his flashlight at the bottom he saw almost a dozen walkers inside. He backed away to run out and tell the others till he was met with Maggie.
"You weren't supposed to see this." She said
After she had begged him not to say anything they headed back to the farm house. Glenn stopped when he heard strange noises. Flapping and clicks. At first he thought it was just a bunch of birds. That was until something grabbed him by the shoulders and started lifting him up in the air. Maggie screamed at the sight. Human sized bat had grabbed Glenn and was trying to fly off with him. To his luck the bats grabbed the shoulder with the blanket on it so he was able to get loose a little. He pulled on one of the wings and the bat let him go.
"Run! Run!" Glenn yelled
He grabbed Maggies' hand and the two ran as fast as they could to the farm house. Maggie let out another scream when another bat came and started swooping down at them. Her screaming alerted the rest of the camp and everyone came out of the house, the R.V and their tents.
"Holy Shit!" Shane cursed
Both he and Rick grabbed their guns and started shooting at them. Vlad saw the creatures from the window and grabbed Alices' bow and arrows.
"Stay inside." He said to Alice and Maxine.
"What? No." Alice said "Don't you…"
He shut the door on her before she could finish her sentence and head upstairs. Vlad opened one of the bedroom windows and climbed out of it before climbing to the roof. Three more arrived and started joining in with the others. With his eyes, Vald took aim and was able to hit one of the bats in the head. Dale and T-Dogg were able to get Glenn and Maggie inside the R.V before one of them got grabbed. Carol and Amy had stayed inside the house with Lori and the Greens' family while Andrea headed out to join Rick and Shane. One of the bats broke through one of the windows, scaring everyone. Amy grabbed the broom that was next to her and held it like her bo. When it went after Beth and Jimmy, Amy hurried over and hit it to the side. The creature hissed at her with hate and charged after her.
"Go upstairs! Now!" She yelled, before swinging the broom and hit the bat again.
Patrica got the two teenagers and they hurried upstairs. Hershel went to get his shotgun but the bat started going after him. That was until a blade was thrown at it.
"What the fuck are those things?" Alice asked
A large bat came circling the house and managed to dodge Vlad's arrows. When it tried to swarm down to the house Vlad placed the bow down and jumped at it. He managed to close its wings and they fell to the ground. Rick and Shane were able to kill the last one and went to check on Lori and the others. T-Dog and Dale went to help Vlad but he was able to snap its neck. He was hoping to study it but it was too strong to keep it caged or chained.
"What the fuck are those things?" T-Dog said
"For once I don't know." Vlad said
After burning the bats and boarding up the broken window everyone tried to sleep but couldn't. Last night really scared everyone and wondered if there were more. When morning came Hershel had let Vlad take one of the tables to use to dissect the large bat. Hershel had gone to help as well since he is a vet and this was a strange evolution for this species. He set his tool on a chair and handed Vlad some goggles, a face mask and some gloves before putting some on himself.
"Ever heard of anything like this before Hershel?" Vlad asked
"Not at all. Some species evolved to adapt to a new environment or their genes mutated." Hershel said as he did the measurements. "7ft, length." He carefully spread the wings out. "10.9ft wingspan."
"I don't believe this is mother nature that's doing this. Military experiments maybe." Vlad said, as he checked the face.
The head of the bat was the size of a Pitbull and the fur around its head and neck was mane. Eyes and nose looked normal. The mouth was a bit strange as it had many sharp teeth and the tongue was a bit weird. When he opened the bottom part of the mouth it surprisingly opened in half. That's where he noticed the two fangs inside and its tongue had formed into some kind of sucker. He looked at the fangs that were inside and he had a thought. After putting some pressure on the main caines a strange liquid came out.
"Hey Hershel." He said
Hershel looked over and saw the liquid. He placed the wing down and went to grab a little jar to place it in.
"Could be some toxin to paralyze the body when they feed." Hershel said
He looked at white clear liquid before passing it to Vlad. The vampire could only hope that's what it is. If this is the same as vampire venom does it only work on animals and other bats or would it infect humans too.
"Should we look at the inside?" Vlad asked
Hershel nodded.
He took out a scalpel from his kit and started to cut a line on its chest and to its midsection. When he cut deep enough he carefully removed the chest off it.
"Organs look like they're in the right place." Hershel stated "But they have sherival up and the color is way off. The lungs are nearly gone. It shouldn't be able to breathe, let alone fly."
He checked the liver, kidney, heart and then its stomach.
"This is both amazing and a disturbing fine." Hershel said, taking the gloves off. "I wish that I had the equipment to analyze this more."
"I think we should look at the toxin later." Vlad said "See if it does paralyze...or something else."
While they were cleaning up Vlad noticed Glenn keeping a lookout on the barn. Vlad believes that Glenn found out what was in the barn last night and hasn't said anything because of crush on Hershel's oldest daughter. Maggie looked over at Vlad and saw him noticing Glenn watchful look at the barn. Worried that he must know something she hurried over to Glenn.
"Could you be more obvious?" She asked and placed down a bucket of peaches. "Here, enjoy."
"Are you trying to buy my silence with fruit?" He asked
"Of course not. There's also jerky." She said
"Will you please tell me why your dad has a secret barn full of Walkers?" He asked "It's creepy. You know that, right?"
"Shh...just trust me on this, okay?" She whispered
"But I suck at lying." He whispered "I can't even play poker. It's too much like lying."
"You have to keep this to yourself. You have to. Please." She pleaded before leaving.
With a sigh Glenn picked up the bucket and passed around the peaches and jerky. He did his best not to say anything before he noticed Lori and wondered if she told Rick her secret.
"What did Rick say?" He whispered
The look she gave him told him that she didn't.
"You didn't tell him?" He sighed before whispering. "Okay. But you have to. You're pregnant. You need vitamins, medicine, and a nice pillow." Then he grabbed his share of the jerky. "You can have my share."
"Honey, I didn't want your food, okay? Eat." She said
"You need to eat. You're too skinny." He said "And if you're not gonna let Rick take care of you, then someone has to. Lori, you have a medical condition. I'll make another run into town. Just tell me what you need."
"I need you to be quiet about this." She said "All right? Please."
He couldn't say more when Shane called him over for the peaches. Seeing that he had no choice he left her alone and brought over where Rick, Shane and Jimmy were.
"The creek flows south, past that farmhouse Daryl found. Maybe Sophia dropped the doll there, the current brought it downstream." Rick said as he looked at the map.
"So what, you think she and the dog took this road here and then they went north?" Shane asked
"Yeah. What's up that way?" Rick asked jimmy.
"A housing development." He said "It went in maybe 10 years ago."
Rick nodded and looked at Shane.
"Take a run up there after gun practice. I'll hold down the fort here, but take backup." Rick said "After what went down with Daryl. I don't want anyone going out alone. We stay in pairs."
"I'll take suggestions on a partner." Shane said
"See how they do on the range, then take your pick." Rick said
They all took peaches from Glenn and noticed how weird Glenn was looking. He quickly left after giving Shane his binoculars. Rick and Shane just looked at each other with a raised brow but ignored it. When he left Beth and Patrica came up to them saying that they wanted to learn how to handle a gun. Rick wasn't sure as Hershel made it clear that he didn't want his people involved with theirs. Beth told him that her father agreed with this after what happened last night. If there were more of those bat creatures he wanted them to be ready. So to make sure they won't get in trouble Rick was gonna ask Hershel himself.
Against Hershel advice Alice got herself up and walked around with her daughter. She went to check on her brother and saw that he had moved back to his tent.
"Couldn't stand being in there either?" Daryl asked
"Well I was never one to stay still for long." She said
"You need to show these people that you are human." He whispered
"For how long Daryl. Vlad and I can't keep this up for long." She said "After what happened last night, there must have been other vampires around. We have to find their nest."
"This isn't like the old days, Alice. Merle is missing. Sam and Dean are somewhere far off." He whispered
"I've gone hunting on my own before, Daryl. I'll go and check things out. I can handle myself." She said
"And you had Demon as your backup. That's why we were okay with it." He said "And Vlad? How are you gonna get pass by him?"
"You know that I can make more. Maxine can keep Vlad occupied while I'm gone." She said and looked at the group. "Everyone in the group will be at the gun range. Everyone keeps themselves busy and they won't know I'm gone."
Knowing his sister better than anyone Daryl had no choice but to agree. If there were other vampires around Alice, Maxine and Vlad won't be able to hide much longer.