to migrate
to the other continents – possibly hadn’t even traveled from Europe
into Asia yet. So this was our chance to stop them at the
source.
Clearing out an entire continent of vampires
sounds easy, when you’re looking at ancient maps. We only needed a
week to realize the land mass would have been a challenge for seven
hundred of us. It was laughable to think the seven of us would
manage to make a dent in the problem. Especially when we realized
if we wanted to eat, we had to make our meager gold last, which
meant we couldn’t buy horses.
“ Find the pattern,” David
said, whenever any of us mentioned the seeming futility. “There’s
always a pattern. We find it, we can trace it back to the source.
Find the source, stop the spread.”
“ What if the pattern leads
us thousands of miles?” Jonathan would ask in return.
“ Then we walk those
miles,” was always David’s reply.
Because bathing wasn’t commonly done, we had
to hide the fact we cleaned ourselves regularly from everyone we
encountered, and, despite our European heritages, we already stood
out more than we’d hoped. We took to dirtying our faces and kept
all our clothes on, including our gloves, even in warm weather.
Bathing made us stand out in other ways, and
one of those ways was we smelled different to the vampires, when we
finally found some.
In our time, the vampires were learning what
a blood-altered human smelled like, but here we were different
because we didn’t stink. It was an odd way to attract our prey, but
we didn’t argue with the results.
Our first few run-ins with ’Pires – solitary
and clans – were successful. Although many things weren’t working
as we’d expected, we persevered and had positive results to show
for our efforts. We got to thinking about what we’d do once we’d
eradicated the plague, as we called it in this time, about having
lives together that didn’t involve vampire hunting.
What none of us had taken into account was,
before our time, most people didn’t believe in vampires.
It’s one thing to tell a populace you’re
fighting an enemy they know and fear – they might assist you or at
least get out of your way. But when you’re fighting what they
consider a figment of your imagination, you don’t get support or
help – you get persecuted as crazy or evil.
We’d been prepared for the people to be
superstitious – we’d planned for it, assuming it would help us win
over anyone’s help we might need. Unfortunately, we were earning a
reputation that far outweighed the dangers of presumed vampires or
demons.
“ Should the women disguise
themselves more?” Jonathan asked, after a particularly unpleasant
journey through a small village.
“ I’m tempted to say yes,”
Liam said with a sigh.
“ You can’t seriously
believe we’re having problems only because of the three of us,”
Adrienne protested.
“ It’s not helping that the
people we meet can tell you’re women doing what’s considered a
man’s job,” David said carefully. “But I agree, I don’t believe the
three of you are our biggest issue.”
“ Let them notice us,” I
said. “Let them know who we are. We’re here to save all of
humanity, and they’re a part of that. Those who realize and
understand our purpose will join us, once they realize the virtue
of our ways.”
“ I agree,” Hannah said.
“We’ve given up everything else. I refuse to give up being who I
am.”
“ We need to wear the Stars
of David hidden, though,” Liam said firmly. “More people we meet
stare at those than our female team members.”
“ You mean they hate Jews
in this time even more than they hate women,” Marcus said under his
breath. “They don’t hate ’Pires, just people.”
“ They don’t know any
better,” David said. “We do. That’s why we’re here.”
“ Let’s hope they learn,
then,” Marcus replied.
“ We’ll teach them,” I
said. “We’ll show them the way. We’ll gather
to the other continents – possibly hadn’t even traveled from Europe
into Asia yet. So this was our chance to stop them at the
source.
Clearing out an entire continent of vampires
sounds easy, when you’re looking at ancient maps. We only needed a
week to realize the land mass would have been a challenge for seven
hundred of us. It was laughable to think the seven of us would
manage to make a dent in the problem. Especially when we realized
if we wanted to eat, we had to make our meager gold last, which
meant we couldn’t buy horses.
“ Find the pattern,” David
said, whenever any of us mentioned the seeming futility. “There’s
always a pattern. We find it, we can trace it back to the source.
Find the source, stop the spread.”
“ What if the pattern leads
us thousands of miles?” Jonathan would ask in return.
“ Then we walk those
miles,” was always David’s reply.
Because bathing wasn’t commonly done, we had
to hide the fact we cleaned ourselves regularly from everyone we
encountered, and, despite our European heritages, we already stood
out more than we’d hoped. We took to dirtying our faces and kept
all our clothes on, including our gloves, even in warm weather.
Bathing made us stand out in other ways, and
one of those ways was we smelled different to the vampires, when we
finally found some.
In our time, the vampires were learning what
a blood-altered human smelled like, but here we were different
because we didn’t stink. It was an odd way to attract our prey, but
we didn’t argue with the results.
Our first few run-ins with ’Pires – solitary
and clans – were successful. Although many things weren’t working
as we’d expected, we persevered and had positive results to show
for our efforts. We got to thinking about what we’d do once we’d
eradicated the plague, as we called it in this time, about having
lives together that didn’t involve vampire hunting.
What none of us had taken into account was,
before our time, most people didn’t believe in vampires.
It’s one thing to tell a populace you’re
fighting an enemy they know and fear – they might assist you or at
least get out of your way. But when you’re fighting what they
consider a figment of your imagination, you don’t get support or
help – you get persecuted as crazy or evil.
We’d been prepared for the people to be
superstitious – we’d planned for it, assuming it would help us win
over anyone’s help we might need. Unfortunately, we were earning a
reputation that far outweighed the dangers of presumed vampires or
demons.
“ Should the women disguise
themselves more?” Jonathan asked, after a particularly unpleasant
journey through a small village.
“ I’m tempted to say yes,”
Liam said with a sigh.
“ You can’t seriously
believe we’re having problems only because of the three of us,”
Adrienne protested.
“ It’s not helping that the
people we meet can tell you’re women doing what’s considered a
man’s job,” David said carefully. “But I agree, I don’t believe the
three of you are our biggest issue.”
“ Let them notice us,” I
said. “Let them know who we are. We’re here to save all of
humanity, and they’re a part of that. Those who realize and
understand our purpose will join us, once they realize the virtue
of our ways.”
“ I agree,” Hannah said.
“We’ve given up everything else. I refuse to give up being who I
am.”
“ We need to wear the Stars
of David hidden, though,” Liam said firmly. “More people we meet
stare at those than our female team members.”
“ You mean they hate Jews
in this time even more than they hate women,” Marcus said under his
breath. “They don’t hate ’Pires, just people.”
“ They don’t know any
better,” David said. “We do. That’s why we’re here.”
“ Let’s hope they learn,
then,” Marcus replied.
“ We’ll teach them,” I
said. “We’ll show them the way. We’ll gather
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