Chapter 5: Resistance Part 1

"So how did the subservience spell work?" The cloaked mage said from beyond the door. 

"It worked better than I could have hoped!" Fredrick, Maria's father, responded. By this point David had silently snuck up to the other side of the door to listen in, there were no servants walking the halls at this time so he would be safe to eavesdrop a little without getting caught. Besides, he had a bad feeling that what they were talking about might be related to him.

"I'm glad to hear that my lord!" The mage said enthusiastically. "It was just a small spell but after I heard about what troubles the young boy gave you, I had a feeling it would come in handy!" 

"It certainly did." Fredrick said, happy with himself. "Everything went exactly as you told us!" In little over a month he went from a pest to a quiet little slave!" David now knew for certain that they were talking about him. 

"Magic that made me subservient. It can't be, I knew that I was tortured but..." As he thought this to himself, he remembered, he was tortured, brutally at that. With all the recent events having happened the way they did, he nearly forgot that he was locked in the dark, beaten, and treated like livestock for so long. 

"The magic was just some simple mind-altering spells!" The mage continued. "Brainwashing magic like this is very tricky and highly unreliable, it requires very specific circumstances to unleash. In order to completely sap his willpower, he had to stay in range of it constantly over the course of at least a year." 

"What about the other half of the spell? The one that affects perception of time?" Fredrick asked. 

"Well this one is the ingenious part, for the first spell to do its work normally you would have to keep him imprisoned for a long period of time. But that spell is able to slow down a person's perception of time to make a moment last longer." By this point David's eyes were wide open, he was seething with hatred. 

"These bastards! What did these bastards do to me!" He thought to himself as he continued listening through the door.

"But the best part is that the same spell can cause a person to relieve moments over and over again over their perceived stretched time!" 

"Hahaha!" Fredrick laughs loudly. "So, every time I sent someone down to beat him, he thought he was getting beat multiple times?" Fredrick said with a boisterous laugh. 

"Yes, that is right my lord!" Magic like this is little more than a trick but when applied in the right situation it can be very effective! My only regret was I wasn't able to be here to see it in action!" The mage said as he laughs to himself. David was now overflowing with rage, 

"Everything! Everything had been these bastards' faults!" David was almost at the point of bursting through the door to accuse them, but with his last ounce of restraint managed to not do so.

"But still I have to thank my daughter." Fredrick said happily. "If it wasn't for her, I would have never thought about force feeding him to keep him alive and break him further! Hahaha!" All the anger that David had, all the pain he had been feeling, in one fell swoop changed to a lump in his gut, absolute despair hit him like a truck. 

"Maria knew, she knew what I was going through and had a hand in it." David thought to himself as he slowly pulled away from the door and began walking again down the hall. His whole body was slumped as the weight of this revelation was too much for him to bear. As David walked away crushed, the conversation continued in the other room.

"Still though." Fredrick continues after stopping himself from laughing and gaining a more serious tone. "That girl was a pain every step of the way." He said as he uncorks a bottle. 

"Almost every day we had some kind of argument about the human." He said as he pours himself a glass. "Is the human eating okay? Is the human sleeping alright? Is the human getting enough water? Is the human still breathing?" Fredrick said with a slight mocking tone. 

"I tell you; I love my daughter more than anything in the world, but she dotes on that human way too much. I really wish we could return to the days when she had her whole attention on me and would follow me around everywhere with her puppy dog eyes." Fredrick said with a regretful smile.

"I'm sure she will appreciate all the things you do for her someday sir." The mage responded before he shares a glass of wine with the Duke. However, David was long gone by this point, this entire latter half of the conversation was unknown to him. Instead the mistaken knowledge that Maria had something to do with his treatment still replayed itself loudly in his mind. Still dejected, David carried himself through the hall slowly. 

After a few minutes of walking in silence a guard, presumably on break walks down the hall. David who is still not mentally together yet accidentally bumps into the soldier. 

"Hey! Watch where you are going!" The soldier said to David angrily. The soldier then stops after noticing who David was. "Hey, you're that human the miss keeps as a pet!" He said as he laughs to himself. 

"Hey pet!" He said with an evil grin on his face. "Sit!" He throws David onto the ground violently causing David to land awkwardly on his butt. The plate David was carrying was thrown several feet away, but David had reflexively held onto the knife as he was falling and thus prevented himself from accidentally being stabbed. David slowly looks up at the soldier, and immediately recognizes him. 

"It was you." David said quietly under his breath.

David recognized this soldier, he was the one who every single day, while he was down in the dark, would carry out his beatings. He remembered each and every hit he took, every single blow that landed on his body as he gleefully carried out his duty. Oh yes, David remembered him. Perhaps he was away at one of the other parts of the estate for the past months because since David was released from the dark, he had not seen him. Seeing him reminded David of all the pain he went through, the torture, the magic that was casted on him, and the betrayal by the only one here he trusted, Maria. In a flash all the dejection he felt boiled over into an inferno of rage, of hate, and of malice. Nothing could sate his anger in this moment, His pain had reached the point where it all was translated into ire, a hatred for the entire species of Vampires. 

"Every single one of you." David said quietly as he slowly stands up. 

"Haha, what? Come again little doggie?" The guard said sarcastically as David continues to walk even closer to him. 

"Every single one of you." David said quietly again.

 David took another step closer to the guard until he was basically in his face. Every piece of information he could find on vampires made them seem completely different to what the legends he knew of vampires to be like. They had almost no weaknesses to speak of. The sun seemed to have no effect on them whatsoever, they seemed to have a minor preference for the dark, but there were many vampire soldiers stationed outside even during the daytime without bursting into flames. On top of that they didn't even seem to be nocturnal by nature. Garlic was nothing of note, many of the dishes served in the manor contained garlic seasoning. Silver didn't bother them, as Maria had plenty of silver pieces of jewelry, many of which he had seen her wear. And as far as a cross goes, he found no mention of it as a weakness in any of the books he read, and he sincerely doubted that putting two sticks in the shape of a cross was going to do anything to stop them. However, many of their special powers were also untrue as well, they could not transform into a bat or a wolf, nor could they hypnotize you with their eyes. They also seemed to have to contend with the rules of gravity as far as he could tell, as there was never anyone walking upside-down or on the walls or flying. Overall the only thing they truly shared in common with the vampires he knew was that they had enhanced senses and strength, and they could drink blood, but even that was not a crutch as they didn't have to drink blood in order to live, it was merely optional. Still though, the past 3 months had not been completely in vain, he did learn that vampires had one fatal weakness, one that was not mentioned in any books or legends. Vampires were prideful.

To be exact Vampires carried pride in themselves as the absolute superior race, a race so much better than everyone else that it was inconceivable that a lesser being such as a human could hurt much less do any real harm to them. It was this pride that David capitalized on. As such David does something unexpected. with his body nearly pressed up against the soldier's and his eyes purposefully filled with fear he moves the knife. The knife, still in his hand moves swiftly along with his hand until it has embedded itself into the neck of the soldier. The soldier gasps for air but finds he can't as blood pours down the side of his neck. As swiftly as he had plunged the blade in, David unsheathes the knife from his neck allowing even more blood to flow from the now dying soldier's neck. Both of his hands reach to try to stem the bleeding, but the blood just continues to pour down, through the cracks of his fingers. He falls to his knees and he stares at David with a look of abject terror on his face before finally falling face first on the ground where he bleeds out only seconds later. As David stares at the no longer moving soldier he takes stock of the situation with a cold look on his face.

To an outside perspective the whole event seemed like an impulsive action on his part, but this whole event, while rather spur of the moment, was all part of his plan. The way he got back up like he was in pain, that fact he moved towards the soldier slowly like he was unsure of what to do, the fact that he stared at the soldier with eyes full of fear all were to serve one purpose. To make him underestimate David. Even if a Vampire has improved reflexes, even if he has enhanced vision, even if he had enhanced speed and strength, it all meant nothing if he let his guard down. David only needed that one single moment he let his guard down to strike. The exposed flesh of the neck was an easy target for him to hit, much like a human as long as he stabs the neck correctly, they will die quickly. 

Even David knew in his state of seething righteous anger, that he couldn't jeopardize his plan for his anger, he had spent too long in the prison of his own mind to be overcome by something as petty as emotions at this stage. From the beginning, escaping now was always a possibility. The time that Maria had let him go happened to coincide with around the time there is a changing of the guard, the disarray of the event would lead to a delay in the information getting out that he escaped. Tonight was the night of the full moon, so while Vampires who have heightened senses in the dark, the light of the full moon would level the playing field for him. The fact that it was cloudy today meant a high moisture content in the air which would make hiding his scent from pursuers easier, furthermore if it were to rain it would only further help him hide from whoever comes after him. Lastly if he were to make his escape the small bag that all the soldiers carry with them would be an invaluable tool, containing, flint and iron, tinder, some small amounts of food, some coins, and a cloth rag the soldiers use to dry themselves off after training. Most of which would be helpful if he were to make an escape. The coins however were unhelpful, would only weigh him down and would make noises when hitting against each other which would just be a liability. Not only the bag but the small dagger the soldier kept with them would be an invaluable tool. Made to both be used for fire making and combat, the sturdy blade certainly had its uses.

It surprised David how easy it was to kill the soldier. Puncturing the neck was no harder than cutting steak, the unusually pointed butter knife slipped right in with little resistance. It surprised him even more how little he felt after ending this man's life. He knew that with all he had gone through he might be less resistant to killing someone if he had to, but when he had done the deed, he found it much easier to cope with then he thought. Any remorse he may have had went out the window when he thought about the savage beatings he used to get by this man. No, even if it was a different guard, or a different servant, not even one of them treated him like a person, they all treated him like dirt, abused him, hurt him, tried to bring him down to their level. He doubted he would have felt any different had he killed someone else in the manor. The most surprising thing of all however, is the fact that this final act, his intention to kill broke through that last little bit of delay that he still had, the last little bit of disconnect between his brain and his body was now gone, he had full control over himself.

Still while David stood over the now dead soldier laying at his feet, he knew he had to get to work, he had committed, it was too late to go back, tonight was the night he'd make his escape. The hallway he had killed the soldier in was not frequently used, so likely it would be some time until someone noticed his body, even longer to figure out that David was missing. A conservative estimate gave him around 20 minutes from now until they knew he was gone and followed him. He had just 20 minutes to put as much distance between him and the manor as possible. Luckily for him there was a window next to him that leads directly into the forest that he tried to escape into last time. 

David had to hurry, the longer he spent here the less time he would have to escape. He quickly grabbed the bag the soldier was carrying, took out his pouch of coins and threw it on the floor, he then carefully unbuckled the knife sheath from his pants and attached it to his own belt. He then walked over to the window and opened it. David stepped out the window with one leg before looking back at the manor where he had suffered so much pain and misery. As he turned back around one last time, he left behind any regret he might have had by leaving, at this moment, David had chosen freedom over comfort, he was done living a lie in a gilded cage, it was time to end his slavery. And with that David swiftly exits the window and enters the forest.

Maria had just finished the rest of her work and begun to wind down for the night when she heard people scrambling outside her room. Cautiously she opened her door and took a look around, she saw guards running past her door in a haste heading towards the outside, she saw maids in a frenzy unsure of what to do, and she saw the head butler run past yelling to some of the servants about something. The whole manor seemed to be in a tizzy about something. The noise level was loud so she doubted yelling would get anyone's attention, so instead she made her way through the panic and snagged one of the maids. After pulling her off to the side she asked.

"What's going on here?" The maid, panic on her face, replied quickly. 

"It's David, he escaped at some point and he killed the guard Ayner before he left!" Immediately Maria's face completely shifted to one of fear. She ran off without another word, straight to David's room to check the validity of what happened herself.

It had been 3 hours since David made his escape, he couldn't be sure how long it took them to find out what happened, but he was sure that they must be after him by now. For the entire 3 hours he was constantly moving north through the forest, purposefully avoiding any major roads or foot paths. He knew that best case scenario a 3-hour head start sounded good on paper, but with horses and the innate ability of Vampires they could close that gap rather easily. But it made no difference, he had to keep moving otherwise, Vampire or not, they would find him. 

Over the 3 months he was serving Maria he had at one point managed to sneak a peek at a map that was laying out on a table in one of the rooms, on it many major cities and lord's manors were clearly labeled. David didn't really have enough time to study the entire map, but he did note that the closest settlement to the Manor was the capital city, coincidentally the largest city in the Empire. Judging by the relative positions of the map he estimated that he could arrive there on foot in a week or so, possibly more if he sticks to the forest. Luckily the city was basically due north from the manor house and all David had to do to find north was keep the sunrise to his right, and the sunset to his left and he could just walk forward. Doing the same at night would be much harder on when the moon isn't visible, but he should have enough time since it was the full moon tonight to make it to his destination, even still as long as he kept heading in the general direction he would get there eventually. His plan was to get to the city and blend into the crowd of the capital and then make a new life for himself. After a while they would stop looking for him. But before he could head into the city, he had to completely shake his pursuers, which meant even if he arrives near the city, if he's still being chased, he can't go in yet.

All of this was his plan anyway, so many things could go wrong in his plan. But he was mentally prepared to live in the forest for a long time if he had to. He was by no means a nature boy, the few times his father took him camping was the sum of the nature experience he had, but he had confidence he would manage through it if it meant getting away from that house of nightmares. For now, he just had to keep walking. He hoped to put at least 10-20 miles between him and the manor before he stopped for the night to rest. The forest itself spread out around the perimeter of the entire north, west, and east sides of the manor. The south side was all grasslands, it wouldn't take them too long to realize he didn't go that way, but the forest was big and even if they can track his scent it won't be that easy. David stops for a moment, and puts his hand out, he can feel the cool wetness of rain drizzling down from the sky. 

"It seems like someone up there is on my side tonight." He said to himself with a chuckle as he resumes his hike. 

The rain, while not down-pouring like he had hoped, would still hinder their efforts in finding him. Furthermore, he had already planned ahead just in case, as soon as a bit of distance was put between him and the manor, he had covered himself in dirt to help mask his smell if only a bit. 

"Still," He said to himself as he steps over a fallen tree. "Perhaps it's better that it's not down-pouring, if I were to get soaked, I could easily get hypothermia and then catch pneumonia, or worse. I can't afford to make a fire tonight because that would attract too much attention so I wouldn't be able to dry off either myself or my clothes. In the end, perhaps this is the best outcome for me anyway." He keeps walking for a while longer as his thoughts begin to trail off. 

"I wonder how Maria's doing?" He said before he catches himself saying it. 

"No, she was part of the problem, she was the reason I was tortured, she made my time in the dark, no, the dungeon worse." He said as he fixes his old infantile terminology for the days he spent in the dungeon. 

"What I'm feeling now is nothing more than Stockholm syndrome. Nothing more nothing less." David said as if to reassure himself he made the right decision. Still he can't shake the feeling that something is not right in his understanding of the situation. He might not be a savant when it comes to judging people, but he still likes to think he's a decent judge of character, and everything he knew about Maria suggests that she wouldn't have taken part in his torture, willful or otherwise. There's also the fact that he heard her voice arguing at the top of the stairs after she came to see him on the third day. There's also the anguished look in her eyes when she saw him lying there in the cell, half broken. No, he had heard it from her father himself, she was the reason he was force fed, she had a hand in it. With doubts still lingering in his mind he continued his hike for another 2 hours. 

After he had been hiking for 5 hours straight he was exhausted, after all by now it was late in the night, and he had been working the whole day before he began this excursion, he had been running on fumes long before he hit the 5 hour mark. After deciding he can go no further tonight he plopped down into the dirt and pulled out the canteen from the bag. The few precious drops of water left in the canteen passed his lips as he greedily wished for more. The trip had been long, and he had, despite his best efforts to partition it, managed to drink all of the water in one day. Oh, how he wished that he had a huge hiking backpack full of food, water, and camping supplies, the kind he and his father would bring on their camping trips. If nothing else the extra water sounded divine right now. But he knew full well that he would not have been able to make it as far as he did if he had a huge backpack weighing him down. It was precisely because he was unburdened that he was able to make it so far. That did not prevent him from wishing for it, however. Still though, even this was within his calculations.

While he had hoped to ration his water out a little longer, he was heading in the direction of a small river that he noticed on the map. It would be the perfect way to resupply his water reserves, the issue is getting across. He still had no idea how big this river was or how fast it was moving. He wasn't even sure he could find a place to naturally ford the river. In the worst case he'd be forced to head to the main road and cross via the bridge. But that was his last resort. For now though, all he had to do was rest up and regain his strength so that he could resume tomorrow. And with that he covered himself with leaves to act as simple camouflage and fell asleep. 

He awoke the next morning with the sunrise. Which was not ideal, it was certainly a good idea to keep moving as soon as possible but he had hoped to get a little more sleep since he had gone to bed so late last night, but now was not the time to complain. He really did have a lot more ground to cover today. So, with that in mind, he started to get up when he heard the sounds of people talking nearby. Immediately he stopped moving and quieted his breathing so as not to attract attention. Listening closely he could tell that there were two people nearby, not near enough for him to make out what they were saying but close enough to tell that they were heading in his general direction.

Was it the patrols? So soon? How had they caught up to him so fast, the forest is huge and there are hundreds of different paths he could have taken. Even if they sent out small teams to check out every direction it's not like they had enough people at the manor to check everywhere. The search radius must be huge! Are they tracking him by his scent? No, that can't be it, if it were the case then there would certainly be much more than 2 guards coming his way. So that leaves one explanation he could think of left. Bad luck. 

"I can't believe after all my planning, luck is my greatest adversary." David thought to himself. He quickly shook off the depressing thought and changed to strategy. The only real option he has right now is to press on even with them on his tail, if he were to stay still, no matter how wet the environment is and no matter how much dirt he covered himself with, chances are they would find him. So, he had only one option, he had to move.

As silently as he could, he removed the leaves he covered himself with and made his way towards the river carefully avoiding any noticeable sticks or twigs laying on the ground that might give him away. Even though they were still quite far away he didn't want to take any chances, so he stayed silent. It didn't take long for him to realize though that no matter how long he walked, no matter how much he diverged off from his original trajectory they were still behind him. 

"Damn." David softly mutters to himself. It appears he couldn't shake this tail no matter how hard he tried. How were they keeping so close to him? It had to be his scent; there was no other explanation unless one of them was tracking his path through the forest somehow. But with the latter explanation they should have been moving fast enough to catch up and overtake him by now. So, the former seemed more likely but if that was the case and they could smell him why weren't they getting closer? Is it possible that his measures had some effect? If they did, that just means that vampire noses aren't as sensitive as bloodhounds which works to his advantage. Still it did not change the fact they were behind him and he was fast coming up on the river. He was running out of time, especially if he couldn't ford the river. He had no choice; he had to split them up somehow. 

As he continues walking ever closer to the river and begins to hear it in the distance, a plan that can only be called a gamble forms in his head. He takes off his suit jacket and wraps it in a ball around a rock, he then makes sure to dry his sweat off with that suit jacket and then throws it as far as he can off to his right. The hope is that the scents will now split off into two different directions, so they will, naturally, go two different ways each to a different scent. Once again, he was playing to the Vampire's weakness, vanity. When hunting like this you should never stray out of the eyesight of your partner otherwise there's no reason to have a partner in the first place. But despite the fact he had left the mansion after killing one of their kind he was still betting that they would be underestimating him. Yes, this was his big gamble, a lot could go wrong here as he didn't have a backup plan if it failed, and he knew if he ran, he wouldn't be able to outrun them, so everything was coming down to this.

It didn't take long for David to learn how his plan panned out. On one hand his plan had succeeded in splitting them up, one of the two soldiers was now far enough away from David that he didn't have to worry about him for a while. On the other hand, he now finds his path blocked in front of him by the soldier now in view. Somehow, whilst tracking him this soldier managed to walk right by him and is now standing between him and the river bank. In fact, He is standing on the river bank at the very edge of the forest right before a small grassy area is taken over by what looks to be no more than a slow moving creek. If it wasn't for the soldier directly in his path everything would be going perfect. 

Going past the soldier wasn't an option since he had a large line of sight along the riverbank and would spot him immediately. Going around him wasn't an option either as he would have to take a significant detour in order to get out of his line of sight. So, there was only one option left. Going through him, which meant either incapacitating him somehow or killing him. David had already taken a life before so he felt confident he could do it again if need be, but somehow he now had an uncomfortable feeling in his gut when he thought about it. David sat there for a few minutes while he ran through an itinerary of different ideas of how to incapacitate the soldier without killing him, but every idea he came up with was either too far-fetched or relied on one lucky hit, David did not have the confidence to be able to pull it off. He was also now running out of time; he had to make his move quickly, not only was the soldier in front of him going to find him eventually, but the other soldier, the one he misled would eventually find his jacket and rendezvous with his partner. It was now or never. David knew what he had to do.

David picked up a large rock near him and chucked it as hard as he could so that when it landed it would cause the soldier to have his back to him when he turned to look. As soon as it landed, David began to walk towards him, it was now time to unveil his greatest secret move. When he was a child, he had a fascination with martial arts movies. He loved seeing bad guys getting beat by the hero with some new crazy and flashy move. But the thing that grabbed his imagination the most was when the hero once walked completely silent through an entire house of bad guys like a real-life ninja. The movie had some bullshit long winded explanation for how he managed to move with no sound, but it captured his imagination when he was young. He begged his mom and dad to teach him how to do that. Obviously, they didn't know how to do that so instead they managed to track down a book about a technique called- 

"The Namba walk or something? I don't quite remember what it was called anymore." Either way, the book had step by step diagrams on how to "Move without making sound." David practiced it over and over until he had legitimately mastered moving silently, even his parents were surprised that he was able to do it. But that was over 8 years ago by now, until he came here, he had long since forgotten the skill. But he still remembers the diagrams, as they were burned into his mind. So, alongside his daily exercise, he would practice his footwork until he could once again move silently like he did when he was a kid. The only reason he hasn't been using it the entire time he was in the forest is because it drains a lot more stamina than normal because of the way you have to move, plus with less than 3 months of practice under his belt he wasn't as good as he could be.

Now with the technique partially remastered he, as silently as an assassin, moves behind the guard and slips the knife into his throat. It takes even less time for this guard to fall to the ground dead. Once more David marvels at the ease at which he managed to kill a vampire, despite all their bluster they die just as easily as people do. However, unlike the other guy he killed, the death of this nameless soldier hurt him emotionally a lot more. Perhaps it was because the other one he had a grudge against or perhaps it's because, for some reason, he imagines this one having a family he can no longer go back to, whatever the reason his death hit David much harder. Still though David felt no urge to throw up, nor any desire to break down and cry. The remorse he felt in his stomach was the only clue that he was still human. 

He didn't have much time to dawdle though so he quickly grabbed the contents of the bag the soldier had and threw them in his, with the obvious exception of the coins. He also changed out his now bloody dagger for a fresh one, the smell of the blood on the dagger would only let them track him easier, his best bet was to leave it here. Quickly he heads over to the river and opens his canteen letting it fill completely, meanwhile he takes a big drink from the river himself. The second canteen he just got from the dead soldier he also refills with fresh river water. David wasn't sure how clean this water was, but it was moving so at the very least it had that going for it. As soon as he was done filling the canteens, he immediately threw off his clothes and dove into the creek. He needs to hide his smell as best he can, while rinsing the mud off of his body will get rid of the earthy smell, he will also clear his trail. He can always get more dirt on him later. As soon as he was completely wet, he hurriedly threw some of his clothes back on and set off to the other side of the river before the deceased soldier's buddy returned.

It had been well over an hour since David killed the guard at the river, he had not heard nor seen any signs of pursuers, so he felt safe enough to take a short breather. While he caught his breath he went over the mental map he had in his head. He by no means had a photographic memory but in this crazy scenario he found himself in, he did his utmost to burn an image of the map into his head. What he got was a largely incomplete mental image with many missing areas, but it was enough, so long as he knew where the manor was in relation to the capital, he would be able to chart a course. His issue lied in the fact that since he was making a concerted effort to avoid any roads, it meant he had no way of finding any notable landmarks to ensure he was still on course. The river was a good sign, but since he didn't see the bridge, he had no way of knowing how far upstream, or downstream he was. 

"No wait." David thought to himself as he took a drink of water from the canteen. "I have to be downstream of the bridge. Since I left the manor from the north west side, and never once crossed over the main road, the bridge can only be to the east." Then, the issue is how far west had he gone, was he still on track or was he notably off course. 

"Still, as long as I fully lose my pursuers, I will be able to make my way to the capital eventually by using the roads." David thought to himself as he pulls himself to his feet. "Well, let's get moving."

After hiking for most of the day, David decided to stop for the night. 

"Taking stock of the situation," David said as he gathers some sticks to make a small fire. "By this point, if they are using the roads, they should have gotten ahead of me. But that makes my job easier, it just means they have more area to search, as time goes on it should be harder to find me." David said as he sits down next to his pile of sticks and begins trying to light the fire with his flint. After a few moments of this, eventually the tinder he had placed underneath the sticks catches fire and a warm glow soon follows suit. David continues to tend to the fire as he plans out his next moves. Suddenly though, a dark thought dawns on him.

"Wait. What if the people coming after me aren't just the soldiers of house Velma? What if they ask for help from other places?" David was suddenly made somber by this thought. 

"In fact, what if they just brand me a criminal and the regular peacekeeping forces come after me?" David said with a grimace. "I'm not sure how much influence the Duke has, but he certainly has a lot of connections judging by the letters I saw, it wouldn't be that hard for a "reputable" Duke to brand one human a criminal." David said as he hides his head in his hands. 

"No more to the point, I am a criminal, I have already killed two people so far. I can only imagine what the punishment is for a human to murder a vampire. If they start putting up wanted posters of me, then getting into the city will be hard enough, but living there will be even harder." David said as the weight of this realization starts to bear down on him. 

"Shit!" David said as he angrily kicks a rock that was near him. "I planned all this so far, but I couldn't think of such an obvious thing!" David continues as he rages at himself. 

"Fuck! Am I going to be stuck in this fucking forest for the rest of my goddamn life?" Again, David kicks a rock nearby in anger. 

"No," David said as he calms himself down for a moment. "At this point this is all speculation. For all I know this could be a closely guarded secret right now. After all, a "mere human" managed to kill not one, but two vampires while lightly armed. This must have hurt their vampire pride quite significantly." David said with a smug grin on his face. The fact he had murdered two people still didn't sit all too well with him but imagining the look on the Duke's face as he received the report could only make him smile. 

"Hey," David said as a different kind of smile creeps across his face. "If I killed two vampires, doesn't that mean I'm technically a Vampire Slayer?" David said with a now cheeky grin. But even this fleeting moment of enjoyment, David knew, was just to hide himself from the disasters that were possibly coming. He wanted to distract himself from the fact this whole thing might have gotten too big for him to handle. 

"Well worst case I can escape the Empire and run to a neighboring country. I think the Zenith Kingdom is currently on bad terms with the Empire, so I could always try to escape there if need be. But let's hope it doesn't come to that." David said as he sits back down and reaches into his bag. 

"After all, I don't even know where the Zenith Kingdom is." He said with a dry chuckle.

With the fire now burning well, David puts some more fuel on it and pulls out a few strips of jerky and lets it sit by the fire to warm up. He also pulls out a smoked fish that the first soldier had in his bag, wrapped in cloth. Since it was already diced into pieces David just took a few pieces and placed them by the fire as well. 

"Not sure how this will affect the flavor, but hot food definitely tastes better than cold food." He said with a hungry smile. Then, he suddenly hears branches breaking behind him and he immediately stands up, blade in hand to face whatever threat it could be. 

After a few tense moments a small brown bunny pokes its head out of the bush. David breathed a huge sigh of relief, he had expected the worst and assumed he would have a fight on his hands, but it was just a small critter. He was about to shoo it away when he realized that perfectly good game fell right into his lap. Despite the food he already had, there was very little of it, even with rationing it wouldn't last him more than 2 more days. He desperately needed to replenish his supplies. So, as he looked down upon the innocent creature, he knew what he had to do. In a flash he dove at the small bunny. The bunny sensing the hostility and intent, immediately made a move to turn around and run but found itself caught for a moment in the bush. However, it was this one moment that made all the difference as David's blade came down swiftly on its head, killing it instantly. David's first hunt came out successful purely by luck.

David spent the next hour butchering the rabbit, however it did not take him long to realize that he had no idea what he was doing. In an effort to mimic the whole chicken he would see at the supermarket, he cut off the rabbit's head and set to work cutting off its pelt. However, after an hour of work all he had to show for it was a mangled carcass. Much of the fur had not been fully cut off and the meat was full of stab wounds and missed cuts, it looked rather unappetizing. Still though he had done it, it was, at least partially, edible. David quickly pulled out the other rag from his bag and wrapped the rabbit up in it. 

"I'm not too particularly fond of using another man's sweat rag to hold the meat but beggars can't be choosers." The smell of the rabbit was quite noticeable, even to David, so by wrapping it up in cloth it would dampen the smell coming from it. David knew that he would have to leave early tomorrow as the blood from the rabbit had left quite a noticeable smell around the place. So, David quickly ate the now hot food and went to bed.

The next several days were largely uneventful, with no sightings of pursuers David only had to focus on his hike and conserving his energy. However, on his 7th day he finally managed to arrive at his destination. A large river that ran the length of the forest. He knew exactly where he was, the fact he was seeing the river meant that he had gone too far west, but it also meant that directly east was the road that would take him into the capital. This was a good sign, all he had to do was wait it out for a while until the heat on him was gone and then he could head into the city. However as soon as he started to breathe a sigh of relief, he heard the noise of something approaching.

Quickly he hid himself behind a tree away from the sounds and waited. The sounds got louder and louder until it was clear what they were. "Soldiers." David muttered under his breath. This was bad, they had managed to track him all the way to the forest near the capital. He was sure he was covering his tracks and his smell. He had gotten pretty good at it by now. 

"They aren't bloodhounds so how did they find me?" David thought to himself. Was it bad luck again? That in this whole forest they managed to run into him. Well they were still far enough away that he could escape them. Immediately David began to move to try to avoid them. 

This proved to be a long drawn out game of cat and mouse, over the course of several days David, while sleeping only a little bit at various increments continually evaded his pursuers. However, no matter how well he managed to hide, or run, they always managed to stay on his tail. Much like the last bunch they kept following him wherever he went. Eventually David realized that no matter how he tried he couldn't escape them, so he was left with one last option, deal with them. Even putting the moral implications aside, which was the least of his concerns at the moment, he had learned that there were three of them and unlike last time he didn't have a good method of splitting them up. So, he needed a new approach. After thinking it through for a while he came up with an idea, another gamble, but this time the stakes were higher, and his chances of success were that much lower.

So, David waited for them. He took up position on a low branch of a tree and waited for the three of them to get close. Predictably when they got close enough, they split up to try to find him in the limited area. 

"They are acting as if they have some way of tracking me besides smell..." David thought to himself as he continues to observe their movements. Once the three of them were sufficiently far apart. David decided he had to make his move.

Silently David climbed down from the tree, he then carefully and quietly snuck up behind the soldier nearest to him and plunged his knife into his neck. Then, before his body could hit the ground, David slowly placed him on the dirt so the body wouldn't make any noise. Not missing a beat, he got moving, this time he couldn't afford to let them go, if even one of them made it back with information that someone was killed here, this whole forest would be crawling with them. He had no choice he had to take out the other two. Quickly switching his bloody knife for a clean one he set out to his next target. Now, more skilled in the Namba walk, he snuck up behind the second soldier and eliminated him before he even knew David was behind him. Once again David caught the body before he hit the ground and switched out the knives. 

"One more to go." David thought.

David began to silently walk to the third one and was only a meter away when he made a mistake. With the adrenaline of the other two kills David was eager to finish the third one off and end this quickly, however in his haste David forgot the second important part of the Namba walk. To watch where he is stepping. 

The sound of a twig breaking under his foot immediately alerted the soldier causing him to turn around and see David. There was no time, David had to make a move now or else it would be too late. David lunged for the soldier's neck, knife in hand. The soldier, surprised by David's sudden appearance, was caught off guard for a moment before quickly reaching for his sword in an attempt to defend himself. The whole exchange lasted only a moment. 

In the aftermath the soldier lay dead on the ground, knife in his throat, and David also laid on the ground clutching his stomach. In that short exchange David had managed to land the killing blow on the soldier before he could stop him, however because the soldier was reaching to unsheathe his sword, the pommel of the blade hit him hard in the stomach, knocking the wind completely out of him. David lay on the ground motionless for a minute before shakily getting himself up. It was becoming easier, killing these people. David hated that he felt that way, but it did not change that it was necessary for his survival. 

After picking himself up and catching his breath he set about looking at the bodies, this time he did take the coins as he felt that since he was getting closer to his goal, he would soon need money. After he had finished looting, he stared at the three bodies with mild pity. 

"I can't just leave them like this can I?" David said as his human sensibilities came back to him. So, he decided to dig them graves, luckily one of the soldiers had a small trowel for some strange reason in his bag. Using that, and a lot of time, he managed to dig three holes for the soldiers. He didn't have anything to use as tombstones and he didn't know whether vampires would appreciate a cross at their graves, so instead he piled up a bunch of smaller rocks at the head of the grave. There were practical reasons for burying them of course. First, it served to hide the smell of the bodies, it kept many carnivores away from scavenging them, and second, it hid the evidence, even if someone were to happen upon this area there was a good chance they would never find the graves anyway. But even saying all that, the truth was David just felt like he had too.

Unfortunately, this was not the last time David had to deal with this. Over the next month David found himself once again constantly on the run from the soldiers, he kept having to change his locations every few days to ensure they didn't find him. Unfortunately, they still came too close to him more than once. Once again, he was forced to kill more people to hide his presence, the first batch was another group of two, he used the same method he used to kill the last group to bring them down. Later he encountered a group of four, this was by far the hardest challenge he had faced so far, but he managed to lay down several "traps" to confuse and disperse them. Mainly the traps just consisted of potholes, or pressure sensitive branches that would swing at them, but it provided more than an ample opportunity for David to capitalize on. What shocked him though was, that after he had dispatched 3 of the 4 soldiers, the fourth soldier, rather than standing his ground and using his superior strength and agility to best David, instead ran from him. 

" A vampire running from me?" If David weren't in such a life or death situation, he would laugh at the absurdity of such a scenario. But David could not let him escape and report back, luckily for him, the soldier, in his panic, smacked face first into a tree and gave David the perfect opportunity to finish him off. It still perplexed him though why a vampire ran from him.

Little did David know that over the course of the month he had been on the run, he had built up quite a reputation, rumors of the "Invincible Human" circulated amongst the soldiers. Stories of how he personally bested several vampires in armed combat, stories of how he was a bloodthirsty killer, and stories of how he moved like a ghost through the woods. This last story in particular, proved to be the most accurate. It seemed, to that fourth soldier before his death, that David was like a shadow moving through the trees, he could not see him, hear him, or smell him, it was not until David had suddenly appeared behind him that he even became aware of his presence. So, he ran, he ran from the ghost murderer of the woods, fear had so overtaken him that he had forgotten a very simple fact, his opponent was a mere human. Had he turned to fight David the battle's winner would have been a foregone conclusion, but he was so entangled in fear he could not think straight. All of this was completely unknown to David of course.

So it was that after nearly a month of fighting a guerrilla war in the forest he had become quite proficient at it. Still he could not let his guard down at any moment, one day however as he was preparing some fish, he managed to catch by spear fishing and was cooking them over a fire, when to his left, he suddenly heard a female voice speak. 

"Hello?"