The Wellington Supernatural Summit and Team Building Retreat

Chapter 7 - Homesteading

Viago was never very good at being a bat. He was also not a good hunter, a messy feeder, and bad at hypnotism. In fact, other than keeping peace in his household, Viago didn't really have any vampire-related strengths.

But it was easier to be a bat in the wilderness. Viago had been a city dweller so long that he forgot that. Without technology and human structures to mess up his sonar, it was far easier to navigate. His senses were meant to see through the trees and detect movement.

He actually found the hunters almost immediately. They were dangerously close to the cabin, but luckily for them, the path to the cabin was heavily overgrown. Viago doubted anyone who didn't have super senses could have found it.

He landed awkwardly on a high branch of a tree and watched about a half dozen hunters in the clearing. Most were bedding down to sleep, but two were chatting over a small fire. He couldn't spot any supernaturals with them, but he did recognize stakes, guns that no doubt carried silver bullets, charms, and religious iconography. They also had what looked like some pretty sophisticated night-vision equipment that they weren't, thankfully, currently wearing.

Viago didn't dare get closer. The weapons laden with silver bullets were close at-hand. All he needed to do was make a little too much noise and if they were good shots, he'd have a similar fate to the vampire they found at the Jack and Jill Wilderness Retreat.

But his little bat-ears were good enough to pick up snippets of conversation.

"...Nigel says they caught two more of 'em down by the river."

"So what's that, then? Four dead, ten live capture, the rest at large?"

"Yeah. Plus the camera crew. Some of 'em had to have gotten away by now. But any of the ones traveling with vampires have to hunker down during the day, and most of those pointy-toothed bastards are still at-large."

Viago was so focused on trying to overhear the hunters that he didn't realize there was a ball of energy coalescing on the branch beside him. When Jeremiah shifted into his human form, the sudden appearance of the ghost caused him to let out a little batty squeak that almost drew the attention of the hunters.

"Sorry," whispered Jeremiah, "Didn't mean to startle ya."

Viago made sure he had a good grip on the tree and transformed out of bat form. He grabbed tight to the tree and looked down at the good thirty foot drop to the forest floor. "Jeremiah!" he whispered back, "We thought the hunters had got you."

"Nah, nah. They think they've dealt with all the ghosts, so they haven't got traps set out. But this whole area is boobytrapped. They picked up your trail but your werewolf friend did a good job of covering his tracks and he lost them." Jeremiah conjured a spectral pipe and puffed on it.

"But they are trying to capture but not to kill?"

"Oh, they're killing if they need to, but yes, they seem to be trying to capture you lot for whatever reason and they're bringing their captives back to their resort. I can't travel that far, but I've been eavesdropping on their conversations." Jeremiah snorted and spat a bit of spectral energy in the direction of the hunters.

Viago shifted and nearly slipped out of the tree. He tried to get a branch out of his ass crack, but only succeeded in wedging it in worse. He winced. "So we are pinned down. This is not good."

"Not good. Not good indeed. But, if you and your werewolf friend can lure one of them away and knock him out, I could possess him. If I've got my hooks into a mortal body, I can travel a lot further."

"Oh...hm." Viago squished his cheek against the bark of the tree and bear hugged the trunk. "I think maybe I should ask Anton for a plan for this. He is better with the tactics."