The shadow of the night hunters

Third

I wanted to leave at that moment, but first I wanted to ask that guy how he had realized what I was and I approached him.

"How did he know I was a vampire, it's impossible for you to realize"

"I wasn't sure, but it's strange that you're still alive. No one survived in that town, why would you. Besides, you don't have any wounds and you look healthy. The rest of the people in the village were almost in the bones, and you smell like a vampire..."

Hearing that, I asked him some questions that were still going around in my head.

"How long has it been since that?"

"A week, it's impossible for anyone to survive in all that time without food"

"Did you kill them all?"

"No, the main one escaped, we were there for several days, giving light to all the people who died.  Unfortunately, most of them surrendered to each other and finished with almost all the inhabitants of that place. The vampire that finished your village, escaped, but in a while we will leave and go for him. He should not go far, we have already done many things to him"

"How do you know he will be caught?"

"This is a very remote place, it is impossible for him to find another village, so he will have to kill animals and obviously he will leave a trail, you can't go in circles, you must continue on your way to a village"

I was a little confused, I kept asking him.

"But to get to the nearest town would take us a month"

"With those wimpy horses, yes, but we take horses of race, we will be in the town of Berzton in two weeks"

At their answers I was uneasy, and I wanted to try to go with them.

"Can I go with you" I asked him.

" Yes, but avoid getting into trouble. You can talk to the rest of the group, they will help you. I see you want to kill him, don't you?"

"Yes"

"You know, your people would die even if he hadn't come here, they were all skinny and wouldn't have lasted another week, he just accelerated things"

"I know, but my brothers died in a painful way, one of the vampires left them drained of blood and burned them. I still have that disturbing image in my mind"

He took me by the head, and caressed me a little.

"It's okay, I understand, just stay away from Albert, the one who spoke a while ago, he's the most radical. I haven't introduced myself, my name is Denver"

"Hey...my name is Darien"

He touched my head, treating me like a child and walked away as if nothing happened. Walking away from all the group, none of the gentlemen dared to look at me they completely ignored me. I walked back to the barn and away from everyone. I was left wondering at their response, some people had survived, maybe my parents were there, but I was not able to see them. I was a monster, unknowingly I fell asleep. The human part of me was responding a little, it made me feel somewhat good, however it showed me that I was vulnerable to certain things that I had to find out for myself. 

[...]

When night came. Those men made a fire to counteract the cold that had them very restless. They were all still wearing their armor. They sat down on some tree trunks that were lying around. They gathered a lot of leafless wood that was lying around.

I decided to go down and tried to approach them. None of them said anything to me, they seemed to tolerate my presence, but no one looked at me, apparently they assumed that Denver had let me stay here, but they started to treat me like an animal.

"You're Denver's pet, aren't you," said the same guy they had warned me to ignore, Albert"

"I'm only here because I want to kill that vampire, then I'm leaving. I will not stay with you"

He got up from his post, took out his sword and pointed it at me, without hesitation he spoke to me.

"Whatever it is, if you attack any of my companions, I will kill you myself. I will show no mercy to a monster like him or you"

He lowered his weapon from one moment to the next, but he did not stop watching me with hatred. I kept thinking about the phrase he said to me about Denver.

"Hey kid, don't listen to him, he's like that," one of the gentlemen spoke to me"

I was surprised to see them talking to me as if I was a normal person, I thought they all hated me, but they came back to me.

A somewhat fat man with a long red beard and blue eyes was the one who spoke to me. He was also quite handsome. His hands were almost the size of my face. I was a little scared to be with them.

"Don't be scared, we won't do anything to you, just sit down" he continued speaking.

I sat back down on that log. I was a little confused by everyone's attitude which made me very uneasy. I decided to ask him about it.

"Why are they talking to me, I thought they didn't want me to approach them"

"It's just strange, we killed hundreds of vampires violently yesterday and to talk to one civilized, it's quite curious. Well Denver didn't kill you, so we should respect their decision to let you live"

"It didn't give them anything to do that. Not that it bothers me, but they were all humans just like you"

They sensed my words and wanted to take the tension out of the conversation. The same man answered me.

"Don't be upset, it's just that after so many things some of us lose track of our words and become insensitive. You were all victims of that vampire, I'm sorry if we bothered you, but they also took some of our companions from us. We can't show weakness against them"

-.................. 

I didn't respond to that gentleman because I knew deep down he was right. All the people who became monsters lost the human notion and could choose to kill or turn others into something like them. The most dastardly thing was what they did to my brothers. The red-haired man continued speaking as if nothing had happened.

"Well, how about we introduce ourselves, my name is Esteban, I am the oldest of us all. The one with the crazy red hair and those black eyes is Marcos. The one next to me is Emiliano, yes the one with black hair and those serious blue eyes, his face is a little swollen from the fights we had a few days ago. Don't be scared, he's like that"

"Why are you trying to talk to me?"

"We can't ignore you all the time. You're going to be with us, it's better to integrate with the rest"

"Then tell me why Albert hates Denver?"

They looked at each other and didn't answer. Until they spoke to me after thinking about it.

What happens is that Albert was going to be the leader of this unit of hunters, but our ex-leader did not assign him, but he is the only foreigner among all of us and he has the possibility to aspire to a position with the higher commands. He also has a seat at the table and a vote in the decisions of the hunters, of course there are several who think the same as Albert here, but they must respect Denver's orders, it was the last will of his predecessor.

"And you, whose side are you on?"

"We are neutral, we were about 100, but the rest went to look for the vampire first, we are only reserves in case they do not survive. We are currently 18, before we were 25, but 7 died on this trip, we prefer not to be on one side of either of the two, but you being rejected by Albert you are on Denver's side, so you must help him," answered Emiliano.

"Why should Albert leave the group and that's it?"

"He can't, that's treason. We all swore an oath before God, to take care and help the world before the appearance of these demons. Don't feel bad at these words, you must assume that you are no longer human"

"Ok, thank you"

I stood up when I heard that and walked away from them. I didn't want to ask any more questions, I went back to the highest place in the barn, and I meditated for a long time. I wasn't able to ask why Albert had called Denver a monster. It was strange to me, he didn't look like a vampire.

I felt that someone had gotten there. I decided to go look up to the window and saw that man.

"Hey, we're leaving at this hour the vampire comes out, we can't sleep, it's the time when he starts to walk faster. Since during the day he rests a little, and we are close to catch him. We must be careful if we see him" said Denver.

"You can go without me, I won't bother you"

"Why did you change your mind out of the blue?"

"You have your own problems here, and I'm becoming another one for you"

"Ah...that, don't worry I decided that you will stay. I don't think you're a bother"

"Why did you let me stay?"

"Well, I had a brother who also went through a situation like yours"

"Like mine, he was also a half vampire?"

He leaned a little on the wooden window and answered me.

"He was bitten by a werewolf and didn't have a chance like yours, he went feral and had to be killed"

He looked friendly, and sincere as he told me that. I decided to follow him and walked up to him.

"Let's go," he said.

I felt like I was going to be accepted into the group after that. That guy really understood me, so I didn't hesitate and gave him my hand to go downstairs.

We both left the barn and rejoined the group.

Shortly after that everyone got on their horses and I could see the magnitude of what they had experienced. There were almost twenty riderless horses, which meant that that exact amount of people died and deep down they all felt resentment and hatred towards me, for being a vampire, but they considered me as a victim of what happened.

We walked until dawn. Gradually the sky began to clear. As we rode on our horses and blood stains could be seen in several places, possibly made by the vampire.

"He may be close by, everyone watch out" said Denver.

The group of hunters drew their weapons. All almost ready for any attack, all the way, but he was nowhere to be seen.

The cold began to take a back seat. The sun came out and became completely intense. There were no trees to seek its shade, so some took shelter in some caves and others pitched a kind of tent to avoid the sun.

Denver at that point joined the group of neutrals who at that time numbered ten. We were in a kind of camp. Everyone put their cloak on the ground to sit down. I was standing when he began to speak.

"Hello, comrades, I come to ask you to look after this boy"

"Why?" I asked.

"As I am the leader, I must show my strength, and watch over all my companions, it is my duty to be in front of the fight, the vampire we are chasing is quite strong, if I don't make it back alive, please help him"

"Why are you telling us that, and those who are on your side" asked Esteban.

"They can change sides at any moment, so I prefer to talk to you"

Denver gave up this small talk and went into the forest, under the intense heat under the gaze of everyone.

"Don't worry, he's like that, quite mysterious, but he's the leader. We better pray"

"Yes, who's first"

Marcos took the initiative and spoke.

"I'll do it. Our Father who art in heaven ...."

They started to pray, but I didn't, one of the hunters noticed and stopped the prayer.

"Why don't you pray with us?"

"I'm sorry, I can't"

"Why not? In your village they didn't believe in God"

"Yes, they did, but during the time I was in the barn, I decided to stop praying, and not believe in something I've never seen"

"You know, you'd hang for saying that!"

"I know, but where was he when we asked him every day to help us, while we were all dying little by little, and when the vampire showed up? There was never a sign from God. And look at me, I am no longer human"

They remained silent, none of them found an answer to my words, but Esteban wanted to appease my questions with some words that at my age I didn't understand.

"You should be thankful that among the thousands of people in that town, you are the only one alive. You are the only half alive, maybe you have a special purpose in the world and you haven't understood it, don't see what you have as a curse, see it as an opportunity for something"

"All right" I answered, so as not to hear any more justification for what happened.

They continued praying, and I preferred to corner myself in a place, I still hadn't assimilated my new reality. I wondered what Denver was doing in this heat. The only thing I could think of was that he had gone to look for the vampire in the caves nearby. I didn't make much sense of this, since the torso knights should have found him a long time ago.