Dear Readers, please note that there is a death in this chapter. It is necessary to set up a future chapter.
Thank you Two4friends for editing this chapter.
The Hoarding
Uruku stood on the edge of the clearing. He could not yet see the three dots in the night sky that indicated trouble, but he felt their presence. They announced the coming of the Hoarding, a time of werewolf chaos and insanity. Only supernatural creatures could see those three stars, because those stars were born of magic. The timing of their arrival was unpredictable, magic influencing their speed at random intervals.
Uruku lived through seven different Hoardings, all of them terrible and nightmarish. During the Hoarding, those humans that lived through an attack turned into deranged werewolves.
Often history reported the Hoarding as famine, pestilence, or war. Those were simple ways to explain the depopulation of humans in various regions. Sometimes, the Hoarding actually coincided with real events. Other times, magic influenced human minds helping them to forget the trauma and remembering events in ways that didn't include the supernatural beings.
The Hoarding would be far away, centuries away. They had plenty of time to decide if they wished to battle the werewolves driven mad by the stars or if they wished to hide deep underground in a meditative sleep until the Hoarding had passed.
***
Three hundred years passed. The vampires had decided to fight the werewolves fearing an extended hibernation would allow the were creatures to conquer the world or kill the vampires in their deep slumber.
The vampires had repopulated their numbers. Martinelli, now known as Martin, recruited the bravest and noblest of men to forfeit their souls accepting damnation in order to protect humanity. For it was only one of the noble brave who would accept damnation for the sake of others', a thankless and condemning task. Most other men, driven by greed or self-importance, would easily fall prey to the dark desires of their inner demons and Martin did not want them among his ranks.
Gabriel searched out those gifted in the magical arts recruiting those for the greater good. He was not as successful as Martin, but his numbers grew, as well. People gifted in the magical arts had tasted power. That power often spurned the growth of altruistic behavior. Many touched by the power of magic sought ways to fulfill their inner desires. They cared little for others or humanity in general.
August discovering the focus of the next Hoarding with maps, charts, and magic, established a small kingdom at the epicenter. In the rugged lands, there were no real leaders. Most being thugs and bullies using intimidation and violence to establish their claims. The vampires were not easily intimidated and had no fear of violence.
As time passed a tradition developed among the people where they showed great pride in associating with places, origins, or family lineage. Many people chose surnames to help identify them with specific lands, cultures, or relatives. They took great pride when sharing their surnames.
Martin was not such a person. He found the surnames pretentious as if having an ancestor of great importance passed that importance down to his descendants. He wondered how some man could claim glory from his great grandfather's heroics in a battle. He found one's claim to a land as giving that person any importance as laughable, as well. He would never believe that anyone descended from the thugs could claim importance through stolen land.
He respected one's claim to a culture only if that person practiced the revered traditions of such culture. Otherwise, Martin believed those people hypocrites claiming honor from traditions they no longer practiced, believed in, or even knew. Because of all those reasons, Martin wanted their surname to be the Morsus. Morsus was Latin for bite or bitten. He found it humorous and honest not fearing that anyone would discover that they were vampires. They were among uneducated people who didn't study Latin.
In actuality, most of the vampires didn't study Latin or any language. A long time ago, Gabriel created a spell to make them understand and speak the language of the lands they traveled through so they could communicate easily. To the vampires, there was no need to study languages when magic made communication so convenient.
Suwon, their newest member and Marcus' wife, found a niche in the serious group of vampires. She was playful, joking around and pulling pranks on the other vampires to alleviate their trouble minds. Her antics were often welcomed, especially now, as the time of the Hoarding grew near.
Uruku and Martin spent a great deal of time with maps discussing tactics in the war room. Often, other vampires sat quietly listening to the battle plans and developing an understanding of the war to come. Death was coming to many.
Uruku feared for those in this clan of vampires who he loved as much as his own sons, who had both perished. His eldest son died at the hands of those Uruku believed to be other vampires, for his death was quick and he had been unable to send a message to his father or anyone else. Uruku felt his son's light dim in his mind and with great sorrow understood that his eldest had died. Uruku's second son had lost his wife. Due to his grief, he chose to end his time on this earth rather than live without her. He had touched his father's mind to say his good-byes. Then his light faded out of his father's mind, as well.
Uruku mourned each son's passing making this band of optimistic vampires more important to him. They had a goal to help humanity. They asked for his guidance and they asked him to preside over the crimes of their fellow vampires. He became their advisor and their judge. This group of vampires had truly become his community and his family.
***
Martin ate in the Great Hall with the other vampires. Humans from the local village worked for the King and his men. Therefore, the vampires pretended to be human, eating food, but secretly hunted for human blood when they needed to do so.
A manservant strolled in to whisper to the king, "My Lord, villagers from Greenshire wish to speak to you. They fear monsters in the woods hunting their livestock."
Many months ago, Martin spread rumors of monsters in the kingdom. He had his men go to each village and share tales of monsters that matched the description of werewolves. Then he even had some of his men wander the woods and leave signs that a werewolf would leave to prepare the people for the dangers to come.
Therefore, they never ignored claims of monsters. They would rather encourage people's imaginations than make the mad werewolves' hoarding attempts easier. Martin and his men pretended not to have heard the servant and waited for August to announce the arrival of the villagers.
August stood. "Men, monsters have been sighted. There are people from one of the villages outside ready to give us a report. Come. Let us here them."
The vampires filed out of the castle stepping into the center of a small group of villagers. There were almost a dozen adults, some clutching at children while others paced. All turned their attention to the king and his men as they passed through the castle's open wooden doors. There rose a cacophony of voices. August raised one hand silencing the humans.
He spotted Aaron, the levelheaded leader of the village and asked, "Please, Aaron, tell us what troubles your people."
Aaron rubbed his chin. "In the dim light of this morning, I saw something running from my yard toward the trees. Nothing was amiss, but when I traveled to the village storehouse, others shared tales of a monster that has been stealing food from their farms. A few days ago, one of the outlying houses caught fire when no one was around. They believed a monster set it."
August, a grim look on his face, turned to Martin. "Brother, please take some men to the village of Greenshire and search for the monster."
Martin nodded. Nothing of the events sounded like werewolves. It did sound like the villagers had thieves and he would not allow hard working people to lose their food to bandits.
Martin noticed one small girl standing away from the others looking concerned. She shook her head slightly as if disagreeing with Aaron. Martin wanted to speak with her alone.
Martin sent a mental message, a gift the band had developed, to his brother.
August, take the villagers inside for some food. I want to get the little girl alone to ask her some questions.
August said loudly, "Please, come in and sup. You need food for I will not allow you to leave hungry after bravely traveling to find aid for your village."
With the mention of food, the villagers quickly forgot their worries and followed the king inside. They, also, quickly forgot about the little girl with curly blond locks and bright blue eyes standing in a dirty, road-traveled dress.
Martin approached her slowly fearing to intimidate the child. Her cheeks reddened. She looked fearfully to the door where her family had passed, but there stood two big guards looking as scary as the man in front of her did.
Martin knelt down on one knee and pulled some dried venison from a pouch on his belt. "Here, eat some of this and then I can take you to your family." The hungry girl reached out with a shaky hand taking the meat and quickly bit into it and Martin said, "Sweetheart, I think you know a little more than Aaron does. I would like you to tell me so I could better protect you and your village."
The girl stopped chewing and wouldn't look at him. She used her bare toes to draw a circle in the dirt.
Martin continued, "I sure would hate to end up killing the wrong person fearing him to be a monster or letting a monster go that would kill your family."
