Hidden Fangs

Chapter 4 - The Sickness

The vampire turns around and walks up to you cockily. There's blood dripping down his face and his clothes are stained red. He grabs you by the neck and you feel him sink his fangs into your collarbone. Minutes go by and you realize he's going to kill you. You can't die. You can't let yourself die until you get revenge.

Back at camp, Sebastian walks up to you and says, "Somethings wrong. A few of the previous RoseVale villagers are getting sick. Really sick."

"What do you mean?" you ask, intrigued and concerned.

He goes on, "There's around 10 people who all have fevers and are throwing up anything they eat."

"Do you know why?" You're growing increasingly concerned. If there is a disease going around, then they might all be dead.

"No, but they've been asking around and it has started happening in the village as well," Sebastian sighs wondering if they might be able to cure it.

"Well, find out what they all have in common. If it's poison or even a sickness then there should be something they all did to get it. If we find what it is then we might be able to find an antidote," You start thinking of reasons they might've gotten sick. Sebastian nods and walks back over to the section they set up in camp for the sick people.

You walk with him for a few minutes, wanting to see the sickness for yourself. There seems to be a scent mixed with their blood. It doesn't smell like any poison you've ever been around, but you haven't been around any poison, since your nose became as strong as a dogs'.  Sebastian is too busy asking around, so you don't tell him about the scent.

Too many people that might overhear.

You would ask around, but none of them trust you. Sebastian is the only reason you have any interest in this. You don't want him to get it, and knowing your guys' luck one of you will get it, so you have to find a cure before that happens.

Might as well go search the town for any clues.

The town is quiet, but nothing unusual for such a small village. The only place in the village you visited was the tavern, so this time you walk through the streets and look through the various shops. There's a blacksmith, a clothing shop, a butcher shop, and a shop for grain. The main shops you look through are the butchers and the grain. You don't find anything in either that appears out of the normal.

The grain shop is small and filled with rice, wheat, and soybeans. The shopkeeper seems friendly enough and even has a purple pet spider. If this wasn't the middle of a possible epidemic, then you would definitely bring Sebastian here.

He HATES spiders.

You can't help but chuckle at the thought of him seeing the spider. A certain scent makes you focus again. It is barely there, but it's definitely everywhere around the shop. After searching as inconspicuously as possible, there doesn't seem to be anything out of the ordinary. It quickly dawns on you, the food might be poisoned.

You sprint at a human speed to the butcher shop wanting to see if the meat is also poisoned or just the crops.

The butcher shop is slightly bigger and just what you would expect; there are deer carcasses along with rabbits, squirrels, and other small animals hanging all over. The walls are covered in animal skins that are for sale. You look around quickly and find nothing. You leave quickly, not liking to stay in the shop that just smells like blood. It just smells like animal blood, there is no other scent mixed into it like the grain shop.

You walk around the streets and hear two people talking about all the sickness lately," There's been so many deaths recently."

"I know, it's so tragic. They get sick and less than 24 later, BAM! They're dead," the two ladies discuss sorrowfully. "Oh, I'm so sorry about your son, he died a few days ago didn't he?"