JAEGER

We had been at Derkshin for hours.

All the dogs easily warmed up to Izzy, but only one warmed up to me. It was a small brown fluffy one. I wasn't playing with the dogs like Izzy was, the most I did was pet the ones that occasionally came to me where I sat under the shade of a tree. Eventually, the brown one didn't bother leaving my side.

"Can you quit petting the poor dog so awkwardly," Izzy said.

"What do you mean?"

"That's not how you pet a dog. You're supposed to stroke him, not whatever you're doing."

"I'm petting it."

"No. You look like you're delicately pulling his fur."

"Same difference. Plus," I added. "The fact that it isn't leaving means it likes it."

She rolled her eyes and said, "He's not an it, he's a he."

"No, I think I'll stick to it," I said, solely to spite her.

She seemed to realise this and narrowed her eyes at me before throwing a stick in my direction. 

"You missed," I smirked.

"Did I?" She smirked back.

By the time I realised what she had done, the dogs had already started charging in my direction. I could hear her laughter over the pants of the dogs as they raced for the stick. Several bumped into me in the process. 

She bent down on one knee to receive the stick, only to be tackled to the ground by one of the other dogs. But she didn't mind it. She loved getting piled on by the dogs, and laughed anytime they leapt on her.

She seemed like a whole other person when she wasn't trying to kill me. 

I remained seated beneath the tree, watching her as she laughed and I lost track of time, lost my sense of place. I couldn't tear my eyes off of her even though there were so many other things I could look at. The dogs, the sky, even the ground, yet my eyes stayed on her. 

The way the sun kissed her burnished brown skin and brought out the natural brown highlights in her kinky hair. And the way her laugh travelled throughout the field. It was rather strange how intrigued I felt by her. Her joy was infectious and anytime she laughed I felt my own lips tug, threatening to curve into a smile. 

She finally ran out of energy and plopped down in the shade near me, panting.

"Tired?"

"No, I'm so full of energy that I could run several laps around the field," she deadpanned, and I couldn't help my laugh.

"Should we keep moving now?"

"No, one more hour."

"One more what? You could go for another hour?"

"Yeah, I just needed a little rest," she said, laying down all the way. "I hope you gave him a name," she gestured toward the fluffy brown dog I was still petting. "You can't just call him it."

"Why not?"

"Because it's not a name."

"I happen to like it."

"Give him a proper name."

"No. I don't need to."

"You do. What kind of psycho pets a dog as cute as him and doesn't give him a name."

"The kind of psycho that's better than the psycho who speaks to dogs even though they don't understand what you're saying."

She scoffed. "Just give him a name."

"Fine," I gave in. "Dog."

"You can't call a dog, Dog."

"Why not? That's what it is, isn't it?"

"I don't call you Annoying even though that's what you are."

I snorted, "fine... Brownie then."

She sat up, pleased. "Brownie. I love it." She smiled, focusing her attention on Brownie. 

He was seated between my legs so she shifted closer to pet him, and I didn't know why I suddenly felt so tense. She was looking at Brownie, but I was looking at her. At the way she was beaming. The way she was so tender in the way she pet Brownie. The way she seemed to have completely dropped her guard. 

I could tell that she was no longer conscious of my presence, at least not now. Her fingers didn't twitch towards the nearest weapon, and neither did her eyes wander, scoping out any possible escapes. She just looked happy and, seeing that dogs had this kind of effect on her, I couldn't help but wish I had brought her here sooner.

Her smile didn't falter even as she looked up from Brownie and found me watching her. 

"What?" she asked when I didn't say anything.

"You should stop that," I found myself saying.

"Stop what?"

"Smiling. It's making me nauseous."

Her smile disappeared for a second but then reappeared, twice as bright. "Shall I gauge your eyes out for you then," she offered, unsheathing her dagger.  "That way you won't have to see my blinding smile. Great idea, no?"

I couldn't help my own smile. "Only if you can get close enough to gauge them out."

"Don't tempt me," she advised, sheathing her dagger before jumping to her feet to play with the dogs.

****

We set out just as the sun began to set. It was just the two of us now, having left the dogs back in Derkshin.

"So are there a lot of cabins around the forest?" She asked.

"Yes."

"And are they all empty? Why don't vampires stay in them?"

"Some do, but I know which ones are empty and which aren't. Or at least, I did," I added.

"What do you mean you did?"

 "I only knew of the two cabins."

"Like the two we passed?" She asked tentatively.

"Precisely."

"Like the two we just came from staying in?"

"Exactly."

"Then where are we going to stay now?"

I shrugged. "I don't know."

"You don't know!?" She stood in front of me, blocking my path. "What do you mean you don't know?"

"Don't worry, Izzy," I said. "I know how to make a shelter."

"A shelter?!" She exclaimed, "I am not staying in some hand-made shelter with you."

"Then you can stay outside the shelter." She narrowed her eyes at me making me stifle a chuckle, "you're quite gullible, you know that?"

"So you actually have a destination in mind?"

"There are several cabins that are empty, but we're no longer going to stay in a cabin."

"Why not?"

"Because I'm not sharing a bed with you again." Since there was no dog, there would be no barrier between us, and I wasn't keen on experiencing all the sensations I had before I fell asleep.

She nodded, agreeing with me. "Okay, so where are we going?"

"A village," I told her. 

"One that's been ambushed?" She asked and when I nodded she continued. "Vampires are staying in those villages."

"Some of the villages, but not all of them. And I know which ones are ghost villages, like Derkshin."

"So you're saying—"

I heard a crackle a distance away, like a branch breaking somewhere in the forest and immediately placed a hand on Izzy's mouth to quiet her. My eyes darted left and right, searching for the source. There was something in the forest, I knew that for sure. 

I waited, listened, and then I heard footsteps, approaching rapidly. Then I heard more, and more.

There were vampires, several of them.

And they were coming for us.