“Astrid?”

The elf feels someone shake her shoulder.

She blinks against the early morning sun shining through the rectangular holes in the stand’s walls. Her body feels tired, cold and absolutely horrible in every way. Her back hurts from sleeping in an upright position, but at least the pain of her wounds and sore muscles is numbed by the freezing cold air on her almost-naked upper body.

“Astrid.”

“What?” she croaks.

Elijah moves back as far as the tiny space allows. His eyes are red and puffy, with dark shadows under them. He blinks constantly and can barely keep them open as he speaks. “I just wanted to see if you’re okay.”

Astrid can’t help but smile. “I'm fine.”

She takes a look at her wounds. Her pants are drenched in dry blood and so are her sneakers and the bandage. The fabric did nothing to staunch the bleeding and Astrid regrets having used her T-shirt like this. A small trail of blood leads towards the door. The young elf is actually surprised she’s still alive.

“We should get going. You go down first. I need a sec,” she tells her brother.

As soon as he opens the small door and climbs down the ladder, Astrid pulls herself out of the wooden seat. She tries to put some weight on her wounded leg and finds that it barely hurts, but as she tries to take a normal step, a jolt of pain shoots through it.

‘Okay, I have to keep the leg stiff and it won't hurt. I can work with that,’ she thinks. She does her best to put as little weight as possible on her wounded appendages as she climbs down the ladder.

When Astrid climbed the ladder last night, the adrenalin allowed her to race up without paying attention to her wounds. Now her descent is an awkward series of hops as she tries to climb with only one hand and leg. Eventually, she reaches the bottom.

 

As they walk, Astrid keeps her wounded leg as stiff as possible so as not to disturb the wound. It makes them a bit slower, but not by much.

After leaving the hunting stand behind, it doesn’t take them long to find a narrow dirt path. They follow it to a road and small parking lot similar to the one where Astrid met Lukas and Julia. Since neither of them has any idea where the road leads, they decide to go right.

They come across another house. Surrounded by a fence, it stands completely alone.

“Look over there,” Astrid tells her brother. She points at the building. Her stomach is killing her and she hopes whoever lives there has something to eat.

The house is only a single story tall, and even though it looks old, it is very clean. The roses and bushes flanking the path leading up to the entrance are well-trimmed, but the order that someone must’ve spent a lot of time maintaining has been broken by the plants haphazardly transformed by the fog. The house is quiet. No light or movement in the windows.

Astrid instinctively presses the doorbell before remembering that there is no power. Of course, it makes no sound, so instead, she knocks. She listens for any noise inside, and when she doesn’t hear anything, she knocks again. No reaction.

“I don’t think anyone's home,” Elijah says.

Astrid knocks again, then says, “Probably not. Come on.”

Elijah wants to walk back to the road, but Astrid leads him around the house, into the back yard. The relatively large building has an even larger back yard that is separated from the forest by large bushes. Astrid sees that the glass door leading into what looks like a living room is smashed. The scene at the gas station flashes through her mind. She considers grabbing Elijah and running, but the prospect of having something to eat is much stronger than her fear. ‘Besides, whatever did this is probably long gone,’ she thinks.

Still, Astrid keeps her ears on alert for any unusual sounds as she steps through the broken glass panel.

The living room is undisturbed. No blood, no upturned furniture, nothing that would indicate a struggle.  Astrid slowly creeps into the kitchen. Someone was recently here. Dirty dishes are neatly stacked next to the sink.

Elijah slowly follows his sister. “Astrid… this feels way too quiet. I don’t like it.”

“Let’s just get something to eat and something to wear and we can get out of here.”

Her first target is the refrigerator, but the moment she opens it, the stench inside it hits her like a wall. Astrid wretches and slams the door back shut before the smell spreads.

A bit angry, she rummages through the drawers. Elijah watches her open them until she finds one containing several large kitchen knives. Astrid stops for a moment and picks up one of the large blades. It's a massive downgrade from Fynn's revolver, but better than nothing. She's about to open a cabinet as she hears a staircase creak. They both freeze.

Astrid pushes Elijah back into the kitchen and peers out into the hallway. Feet stomp on wooden stairs from behind a closed door. She isn’t sure what to do. If this is the owner of the house, she doesn’t want to give them a heart attack by appearing in front of them with a knife in hand. If it's something dangerous, she doesn’t want to give up her advantage. As an easy solution, she pushes the knife into her pants. The metal feels cold against her behind, but can be easily pulled out if necessary. Then she calls out, “Hello? Is anyone there?”

The steps stop. For a second everything is quiet, then a girly voice asks from right behind the door, “Who are you?”

She sounds familiar, but Astrid can’t remember who it is.

“My name is Astrid. I'm just looking for food and clothes and thought this house was abandoned.”

The door slams open and there is the sick girl they saved from the house near High Rock.

“I can’t believe you’re here. What are the odds?” she says as she runs at Astrid with open arms.

Astrid is surprised by the sudden outburst of affection. Right before the girl's arms close around her, she sees the girl's mouth open and her head tilt. Astrid reacts without another thought and pushes the girl away as hard as she can. The girl stumbles back several paces before she manages to regain her footing. The friendly expression on her face is gone.

Astrid looks her up and down. The bite mark on her neck has healed nicely. The black veins are also gone, but the rest of her symptoms seem to have gotten worse. Her skin is still as pale as a corpse and her eyes are so bloodshot there’s barely any white left. Even though she looks like she's about to fall over dead, she keeps her back straight and her eyes fixed on Astrid. Unlike when they found her, she doesn’t seem to have any trouble walking on her own.

Now that she's standing up straight, she looks a lot older than Astrid remembers. Her instincts tell her that something is wrong and she quickly searches for an excuse. “You got a bit better. Where's Fynn's mother?”

The girl looks a bit surprised, “You mean Mrs. Rot? The sickness got her.”

“She died… but you survived?!”

“Maybe my body is just stronger. I don’t know.” The girl clenches her teeth and moves her feet.

“Where is her body?”

The girl instantly says, “I buried her outside. What are you doing here alone anyway? And why are you naked?”

Astrid stops herself from saying that she’s not alone and instead replies, “It’s a long story and I’m not really naked. Just looking for a new shirt.”

The ghost of a smile flashes across the girl's face but disappears before Astrid can be sure that it was there. “Then we should probably go back to the farm. I feel fine, even if I don’t look it. Let’s go.”

Astrid nods. She turns as though she wants to head for the door, but does her best to move in a way that conceals the knife in her pants.

She's barely turned her head away when she hears movement. Even though she is expecting the attack, she barely manages to catch the girl. The force of the impact knocks Astrid off balance and they both fall to the ground.

The impact knocks the wind out of Astrid and sends a burst of pain through her wounded arm as she struggles to keep the girl from biting her shoulder.

The girl is strong. Stronger than she looks. But Astrid is even stronger. With a painful heave, she pushes her away from her shoulder and throws the girl off her.

They both stumble back to their feet and Astrid pulls the knife out of her pants. The girl looks like she is about to attempt another lunge, but stops mid-motion. Astrid sees the girl's eyes dart to the knife, then back to Astrid.

They stand in front of each other. The girl breathes like an angry bull, while Astrid takes quick, shallow breaths. The oni bite on her arm burns from using the wounded muscles.

Even though she's afraid, her voice sounds tough and confident. “What. The hell. Is wrong with you?!” she hisses at the girl.

“Oh, come on. How obvious can it be? I'm a freaking vampire.” The girl’s face twists into an awkward mixture of a smile and a smirk.

Astrid takes a step back and leans forward, ready to catch the girl with her knife if she lunges. Part of Astrid doesn’t want to believe her but with everything that's happened, she's pretty much open to anything.

“Where is Mrs. Rot?” Astrid repeats her earlier question.

“She's dead! After we found this house, she drained the old lady that lived here and left me with nothing but a useless bit of blood. In my rage I killed her… but I'm in control now. And aside from the hunger, I feel great. Sure, I don’t have superhuman strength and speed like Edward, and that blood on you is making me absolutely crazy, but I feel more alive than ever. You know what, I could bite you too. You'd just have to soldier through a day or so of sickness and then you'll be a vampire too.”

Astrid’s eyes narrow. Even if she wanted to become a vampire, the girl would probably just suck her dry the moment she got her teeth in. “I think I'll pass.”

The weird smile fades from the girl’s lips, but she still doesn’t attack. Astrid can tell she is weighing her options. While the girl is smaller and weaker, Astrid is already wounded. Nonetheless, the urge to attack is bubbling inside Astrid. Even though she knows that a fight would at best leave her in worse shape than she is now and at worst get her and her brother killed, her most basic instincts tell her to just jump at the girl. It takes a good deal of willpower not to lunge.

They stand little more than two steps apart until the girl seems to have an idea. Without letting Astrid out of her sight, she walks towards the door to the kitchen.

‘She wants to arm herself too.’ With a single step, Astrid blocks the door, her knife pointing right at the girl’s heart. At least where her heart should be if she still has one.

“Not gonna happen. Leave. NOW!”

The girl smiles a wicked smile, “You're wounded. I'm a vampire. You can’t fight me. Even if you're an elf.”

Flexing the fingers holding her knife, Astrid hisses, “You want to bet that new life of yours on it?”

The smile on the girl’s face fades. It feels like they stare at each other for half an eternity before the girl finally says, “I don’t.” Without another word, she turns and runs out the shattered garden door. Astrid watches her disappear behind a wall. She doesn’t relax until she's sure the vampire is gone.

“I don’t think she’s coming back,” Astrid says.

Her brother’s head peeks out through the kitchen door. “That was intense. I was sure you two were going to fight. My elf sister against a vampire. Scary, but cool if you think about it.”

Astrid looks at her brother, then back at the spot the girl just stood. ‘Thank God I didn’t have to fight her. But on the other hand, I probably just let an incredibly dangerous creature run away.’ She turns back to the kitchen. Her stomach just reminded her to fill it.

The two search the kitchen until they find a few boxes of cereal. They eat as much as they can, then Astrid searches the bedroom for new clothes. The old woman who lived here apparently only owned grandma clothes and Astrid is forced to settle on a blue shirt that should be loose but fits her like a skin suit, and a thin jacket she can’t button up. Just like her old shirt, they’re both too short to cover her belly, but they’re better than walking around half-naked.