Chaos

Baited

With last nights events preying on my concentration, I had almost forgotten that Lucille and I planned to hunt today for Runaways. I was already dressed and ready, waiting downstairs for her to join me. I was prepared to wait a little bit she was taking a bit longer than I had anticipated.

"Lucille, are you ready?" I spoke firmly from outside the bathroom door. I worried she wasn't feeling up to it and wished to rest some more.

"Almost! Go ahead without me", she yelled back. I hesitantly backed up, wondering what would have kept her. Either way, I did as she asked, stepping away from the smooth, dark wood door and walked to the back porch of the lodge. I sharpened my throwing knives once more in the meanwhile and quietly waited for Lucille to join me. I wouldn't go without her, she was safer by my side.
In about 8 minutes, i heard the back door creak open behind me. From the smell I knew it was Lucille, so I turned to face her, sitting in one of the lounge chairs.

"Okay, i'm ready." Lucille closed the sliding door behind her and locked it. Her hair was thrown up into a pony tail with the curls bouncing behind her. Her eyelashes seemed longer, darker, and her lips were glossy as were her cheeks rosier.

I decided to dismiss the change, since I believed the difference was my imagination.

"Let's go", I said absentmindedly.
I stood up and sheathed my knives as I stepped down the short stairs into the crunchy carpet of the woods. Lucille bounded up behind me and took my hand. I was uncomfortable with the preoccupation of my hand whilst on a hunt, but-
But I couldn't pull my hand away, even if I wanted to, which I don't.
Lucille clutched my hand so strongly, I couldn't slip my hand out without forcefully doing so. So I kept my hand there anyways.

"Where are your weapons?" I inquired.
"I have two guns and four daggers", she responded. I scanned her curvy bodice to find evidence of her weapons and came up empty-eyed.
"Where?"
"Nunya."
"Nunya?"
"Nunya business", she giggled. I rolled my eyes but a small smile wiggled its way onto my lips.
We made it a little ways, almost half a mile from the house when Lucille quickly clutched her stomach, as if she were in immense pain, doubling over and squeezing my hand unbearably hard. I winced and kneeled down to get to her eye level.

"What's wrong?" I asked, taking her hand from the place of discomfort and pressing my ear to her stomach. Nothing unusual, she wasn't hungry, we had eaten together this morning. Okay, well, she'd eaten, I fed the night before.

"Nothing... nothing." Lucille stood up straight and walked on without me completely unfazed. Ok.

I followed after her, three feet behind her to be specific. Without her holding my hand, I was less distracted by the warmth of her hand and delicacy of her fingers, however coarse they were, pressed to my cold palm. I sensed movement from our left. I halted and- upon hearing the absence of another set of feet behind her- Lucille stopped too.

Our guest noticed our intent listening, glancing around us for its presence. The curséd male dropped from a slim tree it was clutching to and begun running westward. Lucille turned toward its direction and went to run after it but I clutched her to an unexpected stop with a firm grip on her arm, pulling her behind me whilst my other hand pelted a dagger into its calve.

"Chaos! You missed!" Lucille exclaimed angrily. I gave her a cut eye but she ignored it, watching her supposed prey disappear. The curséd had long gone at this point.

"I didn't miss, Lucille", I calmly stated, looking around for anymore lurking vampires; I couldn't smell any, so I assumed they weren't here altogether. Now if I remember correctly, this should be his hunting spot, then that means...

"You clearly missed, why did you stop me?" she crossed her arms and huffed in frustration.
"That dagger drew blood. This blood trail, coupled with it's stench, will lead us straight to their lair." I sifted through the leaves, looking for dirt beneath the guise of dead leaves, I dug with my hands into the dirt.

"Oh... What are you doing?"
"I'm looking for bodies-"
"Ewwwww, Chaos!"
I pinched something rotten beneath the moist dirt. This soil was full of nutrient, likely feeding off of some fertilizer- or someone.

I mentally marked that spot and then dug around the peak of that object, revealing a face attached to the rotten cartilage of its nose jutting out of the ground.

"Oh my god..." Lucille gasped, coming close behind me and crouching to my side. I stood up and looked toward the direction the cursed went. Westward.

"Curséd leave trails of bodies to mark their route, all the bodies intersect at their lair. I think these might be previous tenants of our 'home'" I brushed my knees off then continued, offering a hand to Lucille who still crouched at the tiny ditch I made, "It was likely this particular vampire's territory. Curséd use their own kills to mark their patrol spots, keeping the lair protected and setting up a security system of sorts."

It's primitive technology though; I can't imagine how far off another patrol-lee may be; If we're trapped in the middle of a single strand of the web they've built, if we're close or just at the beginning of that strand. Besides, rapid communication is nullified for the lack of technological devices, or even radios.

I wouldn't have been able to tell if we had to go forward, backward, or sideways. I looked down at the head once more, the unrecognizable being's head was directed approximately northwest.

"Chaos? What are you thinking?"
"The head..."
"What about it? Do you recognize them?"
"No... no, nothing like that." I kneeled down again. Could its direction be significant? Is it feet first or head first? hmm...

"I think it's head first."
I jerked my head in Lucille's direction. "What-"

"I think the head points in the direction of other bodies", Lucille responded, her eyes downcast and peering intently at the corpse.

"How did you know what I was thinking?" I furrowed my brows.

"I- what?" she answered in confusion. Then her eyes got really wide, caught in the headlights of epiphany. "Ohh, it's a mate thing."

I opened my mouth to speak, choking back on my words as I caught a whiff of someone's unwelcoming stench. It disappeared soon after.

"I think it's time we go", I demanded.