a little drama this time some harsh things part of being a vamp

as always R&R

Chapter 18

As we left the top of the ramp we made I looked back, a blind man could follow our trail. That thought did not sit well with me any nomad could just come along at any time. We had almost paved a highway here. Kat looked back at me as the others started off. "What's up dad?"

I smiled, "We left a road map to our home here."

She looks thoughtful. "We never thought it would remain a secret dad. The five covens know now and even if only one person spoke about it to an outsider it would spread like wild fire. The only way to keep a secret is to tell no one."

Some of the others listened as we ran. She was making a point vampires real have no secrets if one of us wishes to know. I nodded and we ran.

It got bleak and desolate up here as we reached the North Pole. The winds reaching up to 80-100mph at times made even us have to stop as Kat's box needed to be held down. Three weeks of this and we finally saw Kat's Polar bears. The bunny eaters as most of our new friends called us were ready to feast. Elezar squared his shoulders and looked at Kat. The others with black eyes told us they were going to wait a little longer, holding out in the hopes of finding a nomadic tribe in this waste land. I shrugged my shoulders "Suet your self's."

We tore down the hill at the group eating a beached whale. Six or seven, Kat telling Elezar, "Leave the females alone they may be carrying young." She was all about keeping her food source around for a long time.

I must say they hit the spot and Elezar was surprisingly good at taking them down. He was drinking his meal with an almost pleasant sound coming from his throat almost but not quit a purr. Kat looked at him and for the first time looked a little worried. She might have to give him one of her prized king bears as she named them. He was showing his will to complete a bet for a prize he wished to obtain.

He dropped the carcass and looked Kat in the eye. "Very tasty much better than wolf, that king bear will be quite the treat when I eat him."

She gives him a fake smile. "Ya you will love it."

Lillian laughs and puts her arm around Kat's neck. "It's only one." She whispers so only Kat and I can hear. Then more loudly "Only 48 more weeks to go." Then gives Kat a squeeze and let's go.

The rest of the group is a little surly when we reach them in high spirits. "Nice and full?" Hermes asks in a spiteful voice.

"Some of us are still hungry you know." Apollo hisses at us, "You could pretend they didn't hit the spot."

Torrin the oldest there shakes his head. "No one is stopping you to go down there and eat so stop your pissing and whining." He looks at me and smiles, "I hope you all had a nice meal."

Even Toa had the grace to look down he had said nothing but was still staring at us like we killed his best friend. I knew it was only a matter of time till they broke down. I started to hope we ran across a small tribe of humans first.

Game was scarce here in northern Canada we followed the sea on our right my home was in upper Washington State as far as I could tell. We had gone another 2 weeks without seeing anything then the wind changed blowing toward the sea. Kat's box hit the ground and five vampires leaped away like arrows from a bow. Elezar looked, as his eyes turned black. "Humans, looks like our friends will eat well tonight."

Kat looks at him hopefully, "You're not going to join them?"

"No little Tiger I have given you my word no human's blood will pass my lips for a year. I see it as an experiment in willpower."

Lil smiles at him, "I like a man who can keep his word."

We left the box and followed their sent trails. A small village of thirty was set up, teepees ripped apart. Body's scattered like broken toys. Men, women, children, all of them dead. The five had sucked every last drop of blood there. Apollo dropped a baby to the ground and looked at us almost sadly. "I have not done this since my newborn year." He almost has a tear in his eyes his voice caching. "I killed his parents it would have been wrong to leave the child to die in a day."

The rest, with deep red eyes looks down. All has killed small children this day. I look at the carnage, "The least we can do is give them a proper send-off." Kat and Lil blur off and grab wood for a fire, they had a blaze going and the girls dropped wood until we had a great bon-fire going. Elezar picked up the first body and tossed it on. Apollo gently wrapped the baby in his fir skin and almost lovingly tossed it on the fire. The rest moved around and with vampire speed almost smothered the fire with bodies. We stayed till they were ash tossing more wood to keep the fire hot, reducing everything to ash.

It was five weeks, we had all been running the whole time they were on the point of starving them self. Kat looked at the group before we picked up her box. Looking at Apollo as he seemed to be having the hardest time, "So you lost yourself, we are made to hunt we have no choice. Those people were dead the minute the wind changed. It was as much a chance of fate as you that took the child's life."

He looks up, "I never eat children, not in over 6 hundred years."

She walks over and gives him a hug. "Sometimes things happen that we can't stop, feel sad about what happened but know, if not you than another of our friends would have stopped that life. What would you do try to keep the baby alive till we got home? Dad, Lil, and I have already talked we are pulling any of my blood out of the city relocating them, and then letting you feed from the rest. Our home is too close to the first city if we are to fade out into time. It is a city of over 20 thousand we are saving 2-3 hundred. How many babies will I be able to save?" Kat gives him another hug. "We save the ones we can and let the rest go. If the child was over 12 you would not give him a second thought."

He shakes himself and gives her a smile. "Thanks Kat."

No one has anything to add to that and the four men pick up Kat's box and we head out. We had 2-3 weeks at our present pace. 10 days in Kat pulled up to me, "Lil and I should run ahead and get 30 men for our guests to eat"

She always took the practical view to things. "A little grim don't you think?"

She gives me a shrug. "What can I say better them than my family?"

I give her a nod. "Good hunting girls."

Kat smiles, "We'll meet you on the west side outside of the valley."

The girls sped off, only Hermes and I can make out their forms the rest watch a blur leave. My home is up in the mountains almost an old caldera. Only one pass in or out at the east end. That's why Kat wanted to meet us on the other side to keep any of her peps from getting eaten. My family and Elezar had eaten two nights ago bears and mountain lion so we were fine. The others would eat indiscriminately like last time. We would all do anything to avoid that. Kat and Lil had blazed a trial for use pushing down trees. Our friends looking at the trees that are 6-7 times anything they had seen before.

"How can they get so big?" Serris asks me as we run and she looks up to the clouds shaking her head.

"I live in a rain forest I see the sun 20-30 days a year most days rain or are overcast." I smile at her. "It makes it easier not to shine like a rainbow outside in the day."

The wind was at our backs so we saw the girls and the 30 men standing a mile away before we scented them. The box hit the ground and 5 hungry immortals leaped to feed. Hermes was so much faster that he had his first drained and on the ground as the others arrived. Kat and Lil ran wide of the feeding Vamps.

"Hope we brought enough" Kat told her sister as they pulled up to Elezar and me.

"They do look hungry." Elezar said with a smile in his voice.

They had six apiece Serris had her last cowering behind a stone. "I can't dink another drop anyone want my last one?"

Her husband shakes his head that's all Toa needs, "MINE" he calls and the others watch as he finishes the last. "Thank you Serris I was still a little peckish."

"Give me a few days to get my humans out of the city before you hunt." Kat tells them with a stern look.

They pick up her box and we race around to the east side to the pass. My people see us pass so many immortals they fall to their faces. I don't even correct them soon most will be trapped in this valley food for visiting immortals. I feel bad but having made the decision to eliminate the city I have no choice. I can't let them go telling everyone they meet how I fed them to my visitors. Some will make it out and the stories will grow. City of the dead, land of the hunted, cursed valley, the names will grow as long as they stay away from my home I will let them live.

I know babies and little kids sorry guys but a vamp's got to eat too.