The Last Vampire Hunter

Chapter 53

It had been three days since I'd seen Philip. Most of my men had returned to the Mage camp, Druidhbaile. Sawyer had refused as anticipated, but then he was called to assist Alaric with another mission and had to leave with one of Alaric's Hunters yesterday. He had been reluctant to go. He and Alaric had never really hit it off. However, once I confirmed with him that our plan for the next few weeks was to scope out a new camp and relax in the nearest village, he reluctantly left. We agreed to meet in three weeks' time.

I wondered how Alaric was doing. He hadn't spoken to me since the day he found out about Philip and me. At least not in person. I received regular written or video reports and I've sent him my own reports, but he hasn't made any effort to see me or call on me to help with any of his strategies. Callum and my father had been his go between for communication. I can't say that didn't hurt. The problem is that I'm not certain what I would say to him if I did see him. I'm sorry? Seeing Philip again a few days ago only confirmed that I still cared about him. Or at the very least that I was still very much attracted to him...enough to enjoy the kiss.

This afternoon we began to travel along a long wide roadway. We were heading into Sector 405, via a small merchant road to a tavern just outside of Dublin proper. Or at least these were all former names. Names I shouldn't know. Names that had been lost long ago.

I once read an old book that went through the history of extinct languages and how they came to be extinct. Many were absorbed by the language spoken by the larger population, some were eradicated for political reasons and then there were those that were purposefully killed off. Linguicide.

I felt like our history. Our true history has been purposefully killed off. Those who knew the true history have been silenced. Long dead or too afraid to speak. Any records of our true history have been eradicated. There are too few of us left who know the real origin of our peoples. The true languages and cultures of where we are. The significance of the things around us. We've been fed lies. Lies to make us believe that we are inferior and that Vampires are superior. I'm reminded of a quote in one of the books I'd been reading by an author named George Orwell. He said, " Who controls the past controls the future. Who controls the present controls the past." It appears he was correct.

"My Lady." I was drawn out of my contemplative state by Connor, one of the men in my little group." We had been walking all morning, staying hidden in the outskirts waiting for night to fall before heading into the village.

One of the men had managed to borrow some horses, which would make us less conspicuous as we entered the village but for now we continued alongside the edge of the road hidden inside the woods that grew just off the sides.

As we got closer to the village we'd get on our horses since we'd be more believable as travelers if we rode in on horses. Few people traveled long distances on foot, especially in this day and age when horses were so readily available and inexpensive to rent.

Connor signaled to a clearing and I nodded. We'd found a place to rest before continuing our journey. We made our way to the clearing and the men started a small fire and pulled out some of our food rations.

I was currently grooming one of the horses when one of my men came over. A young Mage named Craig. I smiled over at him. "My Lady. The men were talking and we thought you should stay behind in the village with a few of the men while the rest of us scope out our next campsite. Honestly, we don't need a large group. A few of us will be less likely to draw unwanted attention. Finn over there is familiar with the area. He knows the hunting trail and a small group of us could pass for local villagers on a hunting trip. If you came along, we'd have to engage the enemy. They'd never believe such a large group, especially one traveling with a woman, has gone hunting."