Chapter 3

The town they came to was in the middle of the desert, far from any large cities. It faced the mountains that Inga and D headed towards. However, as the pair rode through the streets, people ran in fear. Shudders were shut, children were herded into homes and the doors closed and locked. It was only a matter of minutes until the entire street was empty, as if in an abandoned ghost town.
Inga observed her happenings carefully, her face emotionless, but inside, she felt so sad. Were they really so terrifying?
D stopped the horse at the gate of a churchyard, the meeting place. He stopped his horse before the gates, then gracefully dismounted. He looked up at Inga, waiting for her. Finally realizing they had stopped, she swung one leg over the horse's neck and leaned towards D. He put his arms around her waist and slowly lowered her down.
Once the hunters were dismounted, Inga looked around at the churchyard. The iron gates, covered in vines and rust, were open to receive them. The stone walls, covered as vines as well, were topped with armed men, all pointing their riffles at her. As she looked longer at them, the fear in their hearts permeated throughout their faces.
D walked forward slowly, so as not to give any alarm. Inga followed at the same pace. Once through the gates, they came to the courtyard. Trees, still green with leaves, were seemingly placed at random, but upon closer observation, they were carefully planted. A beautifully decorated, stone cross was in the center of the garden. Three people stood before that sacred symbol.
"Are you the hunter?" the man in the middle asked, most likely the mayor of the town.
D nodded in response, stopping two steps inside the gate.
"Who's the other with you?" the second man asked. He was the sheriff of the town since he wore the badge.
"She is my partner," D answered slowly as Inga remained silent and unmoving.
"Do we have to pay double for her?" the mayor asked.
"No," D replied quickly.
Relief washed through the mayor's face. He looked towards the woman and nodded. She picked up a large bag of money and jingled it, making the sound of clinking coins resonate throughout the silent churchyard.
"So what do we do?" D asked formally.
"Ten children are missing," the sheriff explained. "Vampires are the culprits, nothing new. We, the town, want you to get them back."
The mayor nodded to the woman next to him and se walked forward slowly, mystified and terrified at the same time by the two beautiful hunters before her. As she looked at D more closely, she was hypnotized by his beauty.
Inga noticed the woman's reaction to D and walked up to obtain their payment. She walked up to the woman, who was standing in the middle of the churchyard, and stopped about three paces away. She inwardly smirked at the woman's face since D did not come to greet her. She held out her hand instead to take the money.
The woman dropped the bag in her hand. To touch the hunter could be life threatening, or so it would seem to the foolish, uneducated human. She backed away as soon as the transfer was made.
Inga tossed the bag a couple times to estimate the amount. She turned around and walked to D, still tossing the money. Once she reached him, she handed him the bag of money to make sure the amount was satisfactory. D weighed it, then nodded to Inga that it was enough.
The two hunters turned towards the mayor, sheriff, and their "army" and bowed respectfully. They turned. And with D's arm on her waist, the two hunters walked out of the gate to complete their job.