The Hunt

In a forest, a figure ran into the woods with her long white hair blowing against the wind.

Amazing! The wind against my face, the smell of trees and berries. Everything feels fresh, or should I say freedom? What a good feeling. If only my dear sister would be here with me. No Carmilla, freet not for her soul rest in great Lucifer embrace.

More importantly, work for Lucifer's will, but I do not know what is his will... feeling inside me, there is an instinct telling me to reproduce, why would having children make Lucifer happy? Makes no sense. Must be related to expanding his blessing if im not mistaken. I have a feeling my instincts shall guide me on this matter when the time comes.

I jump onto a branch using it to jump higher into the sky, the moon illuminates my figure in the air as I fall further forward. The feeling of freedom makes me crack a happy smile on my swollen and dirty dry-blooded face. My feet reach the ground resulting in cracks and dust spreading in the air.

Hahaha! What a great feeling but im starting to get thirsty from all this running. On the horizon, my senses pick up a deer running away scared. Shall I taste deer blood? His blood smells somewhat bad but there are no people around here. Could not be this bad, blood is blood.

I dashed running behind the deer who quickly got caught by my fangs in no time. It squirms while I drink its blood, but with my firm grip on its body, it can not get out of my embrace. Surely distasteful, blah... horrible actually yet better than normal food, it shall do for now.

Letting the dry body of the dead dear on the ground, I continue to run. Now full, I must find a place to spend the day away from the sun. There is no apparent reason why but my instincts are telling me, 'The sun means death', in this dire time of uncertainties, it is better to trust my instincts than to die in vain.

~~~~~~~~~~

Days later. In Carmilla's old village, a duo came to investigate the suspicious calamity that fell upon all the habitats.

The duo stops at the stake where Anna is hanging with her toasted body, a pile of dead people, and a Priest bowing at Anna's feet. They stare in shock but not exactly the shock a normal person would be having.

"What exactly did this? It can not be a werewolf, these patterns are too different even though the brutality is the same" Says Jean, the witcher with a thoughtful tone

His companion Bernard, expressing confusion says.

"I purified the surroundings too, no sign of any type of spirit. But in my search, I came across a couple who were the only ones dead inside their houses, the man with a dilacerated throat and the woman with a stomach completely open. Both possess bite marks on their necks. Firstly, I thought it was a ghoul but no organs were missing" 

They are both confused by what they found here. It is so humane, like someone did this in a burst of rage, unlike other beings who do this to eat or by instincts this thing who did this stopped to pile the bodies. This looks more like a maniac than a monster.

Bernard proceeds with a sigh of disappointment.

"Probably not our field, Shall we go back? and try to warn the other hunters who got word of this"

Jean frowns his eyebrow in annoyance. Did they come all the way here for nothing? No no, there must be something. Jean's guts are telling him something is not right.

Jean, then stares at the priest's corpse. Why is it the only one alone? And he is the only one with broken hands and no eyes, there must be something to do with him, Jean thinks. 

"It may be a waste but im considering using a ritual, I feel something here" Says Jean looking for Bernard's approval

Bernard sighs while putting his backpack on the ground. Witchcraft ritual materials are not exactly easy to come across, if it turns out to be a false alarm then the waste would be felt later on. But Bernard trusts Jean's guts, they travel together for years. Jean's instincts saved them more time than Bernard could count.

Jean then pulls out a knife from his waist, cutting his hand, he uses his own blood to draw a circle in the dirt ground with a few unknown letters around it. While waiting for the blood to dry he takes a type of dust from a flask, drops it on the mouth of the priest, and the blood circle.

This is a common setting for a memory ritual with a minor drawback, seeing the memories of the dead requires a stronger price. You will feel the same as what the dead felt before dying and weak-minded people might fall in madness, but for Jean, this is an easy feat.

The blood quickly dries in the sun. Jean and Bernard carry the dead priest putting him in the middle of the circle. Jean then sits down in front of the corpse putting a dark feather on the priest's head and a white feather on his own head.

"Onthul die laaste oomblikke"

Jean's vision blurs and soon, he is seeing through Priest Pierre's eyes on the day he was killed.

Priest Pierre was holding an assembly in the church as normal, but strangely his eyes kept following a woman sitting in the front row, looks around 20 years old, with a blue tunic dress, wavy brow hair, white skin, and beautiful body shape.

The scene changes to the girl and Pierre inside a meeting room. Pierre seems eager to touch her but she refuses abruptly with a fearful look on her face she rushes out of the room. Pierre clenches his teeth and starts to scream something about witchcraft, a few villagers appear and surround the girl.

The scene cuts to the night sky, the girl is being burned alive in the same place Jean stands doing the ritual. She screams, cries, and tries to tell the truth but no one listens.

The scene cuts again, and now the priest is hiding under a bed, he prays while screams of pain and cries of children come from all directions in the village. An unknown person enters the room, Pierre can only see its legs barely covered by some dirty rags, they are pale like snow. In a mere instant, the bed flies to the other side of the room.

The figure is revealed to be a woman, around her 20s but her expression is of shee rage yet she cries. Her clenched teeth showcased a pair of fangs that Jean automatically associates with the bite marks on the couple's neck.

Jean sees everything, her cries while screaming for her burned sister, her inhuman feats while grabbing a 50s old man by the neck without effort and running with him. In the end, she asks for them all to repent and runs into the forest.

*Slap*

Jean woke up with a slap on his cheeks coming from Bernard with a worried expression.

"Fool, you spent too much time there!" Says Bernard with a worried-angry tone

Jean's head is spinning, he slowly touches his nose feeling the blood dripping from it. He spends some time resting, drinking, and eating alongside Bernard. Sitting on the ground leaning against a house Jean finally speaks of what he saw.

"The priest is a bloody bastard! And it is not an 'it' but a 'she' im not sure of what she is but is highly intelligent, seems like the girl burned at the stake there is her sister, in a burst of sadness and anger she killed everyone" Says Jean annoyed

Jean elaborates further to cease Bernard's confusion. Bernard is surprised by this discovery, he has never seen a monster like this in all his years as a hunter. The physical feats are enough to put this being on par with a werewolf, but adding human intelligence its dangerousness increases tremendously.

Jean with a casual tone says.

"What should we do? Sincerely, as a witcher im glad she killed this bunch of fanatics, but as a human being seeing these women, children, men, and even babies dead in a pile, is rather disturbing"

"As a sorcerer I understand thou, yet regardless of what these people did, they are people" Bernard says assertively

Jean sighs and they proceed to get up arranging their things to depart into the forest. The duo knows where the monster is going, if she has not changed directions then she probably is going toward Toulouse.

~~~~~~~~

"Haa... another day another cave" I say with a tone of dissatisfaction

How many days has it been? I hate this! In the start I enjoyed running in the forest, feeling the wind blowing in my face, all of it. By Lucifer, animal blood tastes all the same, dégoûtant! My raiments are completely dirty with blood and there is no river anywhere!

The worst part is to wait until sunset in a dusty cave with no bed, no clothes, and no BLOOD! I can barely stretch my legs in this hellish cave, a good day of sleep is impossible. If not for my fear of this cave crumbling in me I would punch this wall.

Cramped places might be my bane, 20 years in one is more than enough for me. Regardless, a bad sleep is better than no sleep at all.

...

Night came, alongside a great surprise. Running a little more I came across a river.

Oh! great Lucifer, thou never fail to answer my prayers! Thank you. Unjoining my hand after thanking Lucifer, I take out my dirt rags and jump in the river with a big smile.

*Plash*

What a blessing... A little bit of human blood right now would make my night perfect. After washing the blood from my body, I proceed to float around the river looking at the moon, distracting myself with silly thoughts.

When did I stop considering myself a human being, I wonder. Haha... who am I trying to fool here, outside Anna, no one ever saw me as one. My parents have called me 'it' ever since my first day in this world, why would I care now?

Time for me to leave, but what about my clothes? The thought of me running in the wilds completely naked is born but a wave of shame quickly sends it away. I should just wash those rags, it is the best manageable right now.

Going to the edge of the river, I get up going toward my dirt rags direction. Hm? What is this smell?

*Boom*

!? Argh!

~~~~~~~~

Bernard smiles arrogantly as his stone spike spell pierces through the pale woman's heart. The monster falls like a puppet without strings on the ground, a mark on Bernard's palm that was glowing previously stops and he and Jean rush to see the corpse.

The monster girl is impaled by a spike made of stone coming from the ground. Judging by the looks it is completely dead. The symbol on Bernard's left palm glows and the stone spike disappears leaving no trace. The corpse falls on the grass followed by a grotesque sound. 

Bernard looks around to see if there is more meanwhile Jean checks the body.

"It is definitely it, although I possess no knowledge of what it truly is" Says Jean pocking its body curiously

Jean opens its mouth showcasing sharp fangs he checks its heart and veins to make sure it is dead for real. After checking everything Jean gets up and sighs.

"This whole scene seems somewhat... wrong" Jeans says with a hint of melancholy

Anyone who passes by now would have guessed that the pale and naked girl lying on a pile of her own blood, is a victim. More precisely a victim of two serial rapists and murderers.

Bernard lets out a giggle and proceeds to speak.

"Thou said it was somewhat intelligent so I used my all in hiding our smells and noises but it died to a mere stone spike, should I feel disappointed or relieved?" Says Bernard playfully

After all the physical feats this new monster presented Jean, it is indeed disappointing. They thought it was somewhat intelligent but it left a trace of dead animals the whole way like a fool. Tracking was easier than tracking a feral ghoul Jean thought.

"Anyway, thank god it is rather slow, a little more and this thing would be in the city of Toulouse. The Visigothic Kingdom is said to be sending non-stop raids there to try and retake its capital" Jeans says relieved

A monster in a warzone is bad news. A long time ago in the middle of a war, a werewolf appeared, and let's just say no one claimed victory that day. Regardless of what happened, the werewolf was successfully killed and all the surviving soldiers were diagnosed as madmen by the people.

"Indeed. Now, let's wrap this up and bury this corpse before our faces stop in wanted posters all over Aquitaine" Says Bernard casually while pulling two little shovels from his backpack.

They bury the corpse unaware of the consequences of this encounter. The duo will come to regret this dearly in a few hours.

...

Making their way toward Toulouse, the duo hear a roar that shakes the whole forest. Birds and bats alike fly away feeling the danger, rabbits run to hide and the duo feels a cold sweat running down their foreheads.

~~~~~~~~~~

A pale hand gets out of the ground with claws showing. Right now, Carmilla is not in control.

With bloodshot eyes and dirt on her whole body, she fights to get out of her grave like an animal. Blinded by thirst and fury, she runs naked like a mad person clenching her teeth following the smell of the ones who pierced her heart.

*ROAR*

Carmilla transforms into a swan of bats jumping into the sky and falling very far away. Her body comes back as she touches the ground and her wild hunt continues nonstop, until, her eyes meet a human back.

The fearful Jean pulls his knife but it is in vain, Carmilla jumps in the air falling with her fangs on the witcher's neck like a meteor, resulting in both of them falling to the ground but Carmilla dominates Jean making him unable to move with she sucks his blood.

A gasp comes from Bernard who is on the left, his expression screams anxiety while he extends his left hand showcasing a symbol that seems like an upside-down triangle on his palm, the symbol glows.

"Fire whip!" Bernard yells anxiously

A whip appears going toward Carmilla. The uncontrolled vampiress feels the dangers of fire, and before the whip catches her, she transforms into a swan of bats that rush at an unimaginable speed into Bernard. The sorcerer fails to react and Carmilla's claws find his neck tearing everything apart like a mere piece of paper. The green grass swiftly turns into red.

Carmilla returns to her previous prey, Jean, who is still on the ground as the shock appears to render him useless. The vampiress jumps on top of Jean and starts to tear his body apart with her deadly claws transforming the witcher's body into an unrecognizable pile of meat and blood. 

When both perpetrators are dead, she drinks their blood to the best of her abilities and snaps back to reality on top of Jean's dilacerated body completely naked. Her body is completely socked in blood and dirt, she is barely recognizable.

~~~~~~~~

Argh... what happened? I... I- argh my head. Where am I?

I look around in confusion. What in the bloody hell is this?! My eyes open wide in surprise and confusion as I jump away from what seems to be a person's body. And why am I naked on top of someone!? What happened?! 

I cover my important parts in shame and look around anxiously to check if people are looking. To my relief, there is no one else around outside another dead body with a dilacerated throat lying on a pile of his own blood.

Please... great Lucifer, let my innocence be untouched. I should check on it when in a suitable state, right now im covered in dirt. Injecting my finger there would be loathsome!

For now, seems like im safe. Relief washes over me and my mind comes back to a normal state. If I recall correctly, I was leaving the river when an unnaturally sharp stone came from the ground piercing my heart, then my mind blank waking up here... I was under the wrong assumption that my heart was useless as im partly dead but that does not seem to be the case. 

Something is pocking my mind... What did they do to hide from my senses? This really hurts my newly acquired pride. Im confused about this smell of fire too, nothing is burning around, so why?

With a confused and curious expression, I walk toward the body with a dilacerated throat. Investigating the body, I found a backpack and a strange mark on the guy's palm.

"I do not know who thou are, but if my memory does not fail me, thou tried to dispatch me, so im going to take thy things as tribute" I mumble to myself as I open the guy's backpack with a silly smile

Opening the backpack, I found a variety of things, most of which im unaware of its uses. This is a very strange purse, what exactly is this bunch of items? At least there are two pieces of clothing. Wait... a map! and is this other compartment there is a book, is this man a scholar? Anna said to me scholars know how to read. Regardless, it is useless for me but for now, im going to take the whole backpack with me.

With a watchful eye, I open the map to try to decipher my current location. Let me see, oh! There is an X mark placed in a place called, river Garonne, alongside some other words. If my guess is correct, That is the river I was bathing in, judging by the footsteps coming from the west this must be the direction. Hopefully, no maniac will attack me in the bath this time.

I run back to the river devoid of clothes, my body completely covered in dirt and blood, and holding a backpack. If someone sees me, I shall die of shame! Please great Lucifer if there is someone in this forest, make them blind.

Praying my way toward the river, I arrive and immediately jump in. After washing properly, I stop to hesitantly check if my innocence is intact, for my relief, it is. Thank Lucifer... what was I thinking? Me, on top of a man, naked! Shameful!

I wear some men's clothes which are rather unfit for me, both in gender and size. A brow robe with a belt around the waists to hold it firm, as there are no boots, my feet shall stay naked for now. I recall seeing my father wearing something very similar, probably all men use this same type of clothing.

Let me see the map again... Hmm, if this direction is west, this must be north. No idea what north or west is but judging by the little arrows forming some kinda of ball, these must be directions.

North will take me to a place called Toulouse, not sure of what it is... This land as a whole is called Frankish Kingdom and im in a region called Aquitaine. There are a few bigger marks, in places like Orleans, Paris, and Allemanni yet im completely ignorant of what they are.

Toulouse it is then.