Hi! Sorry for disappearing for a few days, I had to study for an exam. I'm back now! R&R Please!
"It may have some relation to that vampire blood we found earlier," Larten suggested." There was a scrap of clothing with dried blood on it hooked onto one of the thorns. I offered the theory that they were simply cut from the barbs, but even I knew there was way too much blood on it for that to be the answer.
"That's crazy," Gavner shook his head in disbelief, "Vampaneze on the path to Vampire Mountain? That's completely unheard of!"
"Whatever the reason, it is clear we must conduct a search." We were out of the vines and we all quickly got dressed, eager to finally have some shield from the harsh weather. Larten turned to me a placed a long, bony hand on my shoulder and stretched his other arm to point to a gap under a rock jutting from the snow, "you wait here with the others underneath that ridge." As the vampires left Balto followed, which made Larten very happy. Me, the two Little People, and Pluto huddled under the cover of the ridge. The hooded creatures built a fire as my stomach rumbled so loudly it made Pluto jump awake from his resting place on my lap.
"Sorry, buddy!" I laughed, lifting to my feet, "Let's go get some food for when they get back." The wolf pup and I didn't go too far from our hiding place. I caught a few rabbits, but there wasn't much wildlife around. Pluto started to climb a really high tree in a nearby clearing, but he just ended up getting stuck. I grabbed a low branch to retrieve him, but he growled at me. I pulled my hand away, afraid Pluto was going to snap at me, but I lost my footing and fell onto the white powder.
Pluto jumped from the tree and over me, still growling. I turned to see what the fuss was about when I saw it come out of the trees...the biggest bear I've ever seen! Pluto leaped and grabbed onto the beast's muzzle with his fangs. The bear roared in frustration and flung the little wolf with no effort at all. I could've ran away and left the animal in the dust, but I couldn't leave Pluto to fend for himself. I broke the branch I was hanging on earlier and prepared for a fight. All of the sudden a flash of blue came out of nowhere and the bear's legs gave out under it. The two Little People we've been travelling with stood between me and the beast. The bear charged and reared on it's back legs, then I giant paw came down and crushed the one Little Person, who wasn't Lefty, underneath it in a spray of blood. Lefty jumped toward the beast and head-butted the thing so hard that the clunk seemed to echo through the forest. Even angrier, the bear charged again, but this time I pulled Lefty with me and jumped out of the way. The animal ran head-first into the tree behind us. While it staggered I took the chance to ripped a bone from the dead Little Person and broke it off at a point. As the bear was still dazed, I leaped into action. It swiped weakly at me, but I quickly evaded its massive paws. Once close enough, I plunged the bone into the bears neck, but I was blinded by the spray of blood that came from the wound. Luckily for me, the bear fell with a large thud. When I wiped the tears and blood from my eyes and saw the beast lying still and I could finally take a breath of relieve. I was pulled from my thoughts from Pluto pawing at my leg. I lifted him up and he licked my face happily.
"Layla!" a voice shouted in panic. Larten, Gavner, and Balto were running toward me. Once he reached me Larten pulled me into a desperate embrace, "We heard the fighting and I feared the worst!" Gavner looked at the fallen bear in confusion and looked to see the blood all down the front of my poncho.
"Whoa! What the hell happened here?" he said, baffled.
"That bear just attacked me out of nowhere!" I was crying now that the adrenaline wore off.
"It makes no sense. Bears are not this aggressive," Larten observed, still not letting me go, "and if you did nothing to provoke it."
"Maybe it's rabid," the other vampire suggested, but Larten wasn't convinced.
"I will examine it further." He made a fresh wound into the animal with his nails and knelt to sniff the blood. "As I suspected," he mused, turning to us," The bear was insane...but not with rabies." Gavner and I leaned closer to the elder vampire, eager to hear was he had to say, "It had consumed the blood of a Vampaneze!" This was the third piece of evidence that there were Vampaneze on the path to Vampire Mountain. It was obvious that the two vampires were disturbed by these findings so it was a mutual agreement to search the area for more clues. A few miles away we found what we were looking for. A pile of bloody clothes and mangled remains with a configurement of rocks at the head.
"So the bear dug this body up and ate part of it…" Gavner observed.
"Well, if this is the blood with found in the thorns then case closed, right?" I wondered, hoping that this was the end of the trail.
"Quite the contrary," Larten explained, "this is more worrying. Just look…" He pointed to rock arrangement. "the body has clearly been buried, but by whom?" After a few uncomfortable moments of thick silence we moved on to find shelter in a nearby cave. We sat around the crackling fire, all of us except the Little Person. I walked over to them and sat down.
"Thanks for saving me," I smiled, "I would've been toast, Lefty." Then they lifted their thick, gray hands and they pulled their hood down. What I saw was the last thing I expected to find. The Little Person was all gray and stitched together like Frankenstein. His eyes were yellow and green and took up most of his face. He wore a mask around his mouth that looked like it had a filter. He pulled the mask down and slowly opened his large mouth.
"N-name...not...Lefty…" they wheezed, taking a breath after every word, "Har-Harkat...Mulds…" My eyes widened and I went cold in fear. He talked! Instantly the vampires ran over to listen to what the Little Person had to say. "My memories...are not...complete...Much is...clouded...I remember...I...was a ghost." Gavner, Larten, and I looked to each other in confusion. "Made a deal...with Mr. Tiny...and received...this body...Whatever...the deal was...and my memories...are all gone."
"Mr. Tiny has the power to bring the dead back to life?" Larten wondered in disbelief. Harkat lifted his mask and took a deep breath.
"What is that?" I asked.
"I must breathe...through its filters...and chemicals...to survive...without it...I will die...in ten hours."
"If you're a ghost how can you die?"
"My body...can die like...any other...If it does...My soul goes...back to...the way it was."
"Could you agree to another contact with Mr. Tiny?" Gavner wondered.
"Not sure...but...don't think so...One shot...is all...I think I get."
"Why didn't you ever speak before?" I asked.
"Never needed to...Little People...can read...each others minds."
"In all the hundreds of years that we have known Little People, why have you broken the long silence, Harkat," Larten eyed the Little Person skeptically, "and why?" Harket looked away from us, as if he was debating on whether or not to tell us.
"I have...a message," he replied, "for the vampire princes...so I'd have...to speak soon...anyway." The two vampires practically jumped on the Little Person.
"What sort of message?" Larten cried. Harkat fidgeted with the end of his cape.
"Go on Harkat," Gavner pushed, "We won't tell them you told us." Still, he said nothing.
"You don't have to tell us, Harkat," I assured him. I wanted to know what the message was too, but I felt bad for pushing the little guy.
"You promise...you will...not tell?" he asked after a few moments.
"I promise," I vowed. Both Gavner and Larten nodded in agreement.
"Very well...Mr. Tiny...told me to tell...the Vampire Princes...that…" the slow way he talks bulit up the tension and we were all at the edge of our proverbial seats, "the night of...the Vampaneze Lord...is at hand." I was disappointed, I didn't know what that meant. I thought he was going to say something terrifying like "the end is nigh" or whatever.
"What's that supposed to mean?" I sighed. When no one answered me I turned to the two men, but they looked like they've seen a ghost. Well...technically they did, but still. Their faces were pure white and their eyes wider than Harkat's. I might not have know how scary the message was at the time, but the look of sheer terror on my mate's face was enough to make anyone afraid.
