Shadow Rider (Vampire Academy Fanfic)

Chapter 65 - Thanatia

It was past midnight, and everyone was asleep.

I moved carefully and silently in the shadows, tiptoeing over to where Shadow slept after having delicately closed the door to my cottage.

This was the dumbest plan in the world - heading out into the night armed only with a backpack containing some rope, my phone, a snack and a flashlight, my silver stake securely tucked into my belt - but it was the only viable plan I could think of.

I had to face the Strigoi alone, and hoped to god nobody would notice my absence before the beginning of our morning shift. It gave me five hours to complete my mission, and maybe a couple more before I was discovered. More than enough time, right? Or so I hoped.

Still, I had to give it a try. I grabbed Shadow's reigns and urged him into a silent trot, trying to put as much distance between ourselves and James' farm as possible. When I deemed we were far enough to not be heard, I mounted Shadow's back. We rode out into the watchful night.

Finding the little village was a non-issue, but again I was forced to sneak around like a thief in the night, taking all possible measures to remain undetected. I mean, this was America we were talking about. If they noticed a figure moving in the dark, they'd shoot first and ask questions later. And though I was a force of nature when it came to physical combat, I blanched at the possibility of getting shot. Again.

I hid Shadow as best as I could, but left him untied in case I'd have to make a hasty retreat. I managed to zigzag my way closer to the location where the cave ended, which was hauntingly close to the little village.

So imagine my surprise when I discovered that, instead of a little cottage residing over the cave, as I had expected, I instead found a big, two-story house, complete with lit windows and subdued, nocturnal noises.

I paused in my tracks. How to proceed?

A two-story house. Either with an inhabited basement, or an abandoned one. Maybe even an undiscovered cavern, instead of a basement. Hell, I didn't know. Whatever the case, I couldn't very well beat down the door and walk in.

My intentions warred with each other. I wanted this threat dealt with here and now, but at the same time, I didn't have enough information to really proceed.

Had I still been shadow-kissed, I could have just barged in and dealt with everything as it came, knowing that I had the ghosts as a last resort. But now? All I had was my body and my brain, and a very permanent, looming death in case I failed. Begrudgingly, I realised I had to approach this much like a certain someone else would.

It was time to adapt Casimir's strategist approach to things.

But that still left me stranded in the middle of the road, in the middle of the night, with a potentially Strigoi-infected villa ahead of me.

I didn't have enough information - no. But could I let this chance go?

I considered what I had to work with.

If the family living here did not know about the basement, then they were very much at risk of becoming a midnight snack. I couldn't let that happen. In this scenario, barging in felt like a very liable and viable option.

But then there was the tiniest possibility that the family did know about the Strigoi. But how likely was that? A village family in the middle of nowhere in America, conspiring with Strigoi? For what? Or maybe they'd been threatened. But again - why? There were easier pickings in the cities; Strigoi hanging out in suburban areas was heavily unlikely. It seemed to me more and more that this was just a stray Strigoi with unique tastes.