Vampire Nightlife

"We're stuck." Theodore frowned as he peered through the mist. He kept trying to rev the car and start the engine, but no matter how much he tried to make it work, it didn't.

"Well, I'm on it." Alexei quickly rolled his shoulders a little and prepared to go down. "Someone's gonna lift the van a little–could be mud or something else."

"Are you sure about that?" Lukas asked. "Need some help? I'm actually decently–"

"Sure, sure, whatever." Alexei said as he opened the door. "As long as we finally get out of this place."

"That sounds like an idea to me." Lukas nodded as he came down right after him.

However, it didn't take too long for something to whoosh through the air. Lukas couldn't see it clearly, but then something thudded in front of him. His eyes widened and Stacy suddenly went for the door at the same time as Chaerin.

"Lukas? What was that? Alexei–?"

"Alexei?" Lukas asked worriedly and then looked back into the van. "Close the door."

The second arrow came flying and hit the van's door directly. Some purple liquid dripped down from its arrowhead.

Lukas barely managed to dodge it and then the rest of the arrows came flying in. He tried to make his way to Alexei, and tried to find the guy among the mist. "Come on, come on. Where are you–"

He thought he saw someone move in the mist and went over there.

"Alexei?" Lukas whispered quietly, but then looked up to see a young woman lift her foot and then smacked it directly against his head. He crashed against the van and felt the air knock out of his lungs.

"We have you surrounded." a voice called out within the forest. "Come out or we'll cut off the heads of the ones outside."

"The hell?" Lukas rubbed his sore forehead and tried to see through the mist and he did see numerous silhouettes. Far more than their entire group and Lukas tried to make a signal for the others to leave.

And maybe they could have left, but the driver's car seat opened and Theodore stepped out.

"Forest Dwellers, we come in peace," he said. "We only wish to pass through the forest."

"You knew they were here the entire time?" Lukas hissed at the assassin.

Theodore's face didn't move that much, but he shot a look at him that seemed to say to shut up. Meanwhile, Stacy and Chaerin were still stuck inside and didn't know what to do.

"Let me handle this and we'll be able to leave unscathed."

"And what about, Alexei?" Lukas glared at him. The mist didn't seem to settle, but then he finally found Alexei on the ground and the same purple substance was visible across his shoulders.

It didn't look good, but luckily there was no blood or anything.

"That's a knockout berry." Theodore said. "They're not hostile."

"Shot several arrows and not hostile–"

"Please remain silent."

"Could have warned us–"

It didn't take too long for all of the Vampires to get rounded up and brought away from the van and into the mist. It was hard to see, but somehow, the people, or the Forest Dwellers were able to navigate with ease.

"You were aware of them this entire time?" Lukas glared at Theodore as they were led further down. Theodore didn't answer and Lukas glanced at the other two women. "Stacy–Chaerin. Surely, you agree with me that this is–"

"Is my brother going to be okay?" Stacy looked worriedly as Alexei was getting dragged by two of the Forest Dwellers. "What was that… berry? I smelled that it's a little fruity…"

The person in charge of them threw them a hard glare, and Theodore gave them a close second look that topped it.

"I think it's best if we stay silent and just focus on getting out of this thing." Chaerin murmured as she watched the back of the people with interest. "I don't really know why Theodore chose not to mention it, but we can still negotiate, probaby."

"Alright, fine. You're right." Lukas chose not to summon his dagger–it was a probably bad idea anyway. A really bad one, but he didn't understand Theodore at all. He thought that they'd reach an agreement, but he had to hide something like this.

Instead, Lukas chose to observe the people as well.

As far as Lukas could see, they seemed like people who fitted with the stereotype of Druids in games he'd played in the past. Their outfits were fashioned after the forest themselves and yet each one was distinctive in their hair color and body builts.

Not to mention that they also had some strange smells, that he couldn't quite put his finger on.

When they've finally arrived at a clearing though, he wound up seeing something that made his jaw drop. There was someone seated at a wooden stump, a woman with orange hair, purple eyes and a voluptuous figure and in her hand–she was caressing a black rabbit with red eyes.

"Midnight!" Lukas shouted.

It didn't take too long for him to find pointed their own wooden spears at him, which inevitably sent a good enough message for him to stop. But then he threw a look back at the rabbit.

It had to be the same rabbit, right?

"... This is quite a group, isn't it?" the woman laughed quietly and petted the rabbit, before turning to Lukas. "How long has it been since we've encountered such a thing? Who are you people? Can you introduce yourselves? What about you first, pretty boy?"

She had an aura that was slightly sultry, and both Chaerin and Stacy looked far from happy at the encounter. Unfortunately for them, they were surrounded and Theodore did say they were not hostile.

Lukas prepared to turn on some of his old-fashioned charm to get them out, but was interrupted.

"Vulpine, please get out of the seat and don't distract them any longer." A loud sigh sounded and some figure came out from the mist.