Sixth

The fire illuminated the thick trees around the small encampment, the crackling of the flames along with the songs of insects under the moonlight was a rather serene atmosphere. It was the first time Gawain's been in the presence of humans who aren't mindless husks of what they used to be, he looked at the children who were playing by climbing on top of their cart. It warmth a now useless part of his body, seeing the little girls trying to gang up on their only brother was amusing and nostalgic.

He used to play with his sister like that a lot, even though he was older than her she always put up a good fight. Probably toughened up by the beatings their father used to give them, as sad as it seemed, he had joined hoping to return strong and ranked enough to save his mother and her from him. Now he finds himself doing his best to be away from them, for fear of the rejection that will come due to his affliction. He couldn't even claim it was forced, he had chosen undeath over death.

"So Gawain?" A old voice said to him.

"Yes?" He said in a soft tone looking back at Lavia who sat on the carriage, away from the light of the flames with her eyes set on him.

"Do you two head to Bluewaters too?" Ben said softly, his daughter laying on him asleep.

"We didn't plan on it but if what you say is true about the plague, it might be nice to. The village might not be too hospitalable by the time we return if that curse spreads." Gawain kept his tone in check to not wake the young woman, now looking towards the children. He could hear their tiny heartbeats, if focused he could distinguish them. Each seemed a little unique; he turned his golden gaze back at Ben.

"Aye that might be true, I simply ask because it's better to travel in larger numbers. These roads aren't the safest, and you two" The man glanced down at Gawain's sword "Seem capable"

"I suppose we do" He said through laughs, composing himself "Aye the woods so far north tend to have villains both dark and chaotic no?"

"It's not like the shade woods or the wasteplains to it's east but creatures of all sorts wander south from up there." Ben brushed his daughter's hair "I'm not young anymore. I can't protect them like I use to." He clenched his jaw, it seemed to hurt the old man's pride to admit out loud.

Gawain could smell something rotten in the air, he heard Lavia move on the carriage but ignored it. "A lot to ask of a stranger, but we'll do our best to kill anything dangerous within our reach. Just stay within it." He said waving his hand at him before looking over at Lavia, she was standing staring off at the cart where the children played.

Gawain's gaze shifted towards the kids, one, two, three, four, five, six.

"Ben, how many kids were with you?" Gawain whispered without looking away from the kids, he didn't know which one he didn't recognize. There was five girls and one boy.

"Five, why?" Ben shifted his gaze as he asked, looking at the kids before gasping softly. "Who's that little girl?"

Gawain could see perfectly in the night, with all his vampire vision he couldn't see which one was aloof. The kids all had red hair and similar dark color clothes, the only thing that seemed out of place was that one of the heartbeats was extremely slow. The beat wasn't methodical, it didn't have a song to it nor did it cry for him to feed on it. He glanced at Lavia, he could see she was tensed, she must have realized something was wrong too.

"Fredrick come back with your sisters" Ben cried out a bit of panic in his voice, all the kids turned to face him with an expression of disappointment as their fun was cut short. At that point was when Gawain noticed how quiet it was, insects weren't making noise anymore. The only sounds were of the fire and Ben and Gabby's breathing.

All but one, who kept their head facing the little boy named Fredrick. It's head turned as Fredrick and the other girls came back towards the fire, it seemed like they had just picked up a stray child. As the boy walked past the odd girl, her head continued to follow, until her face was facing them while her body didn't. They all had heard the cracks in her neck. The kids turned back, Gabby has woken up and also stared at the child with dropped jaw.

"What the fuck" Gawain said before a the twisted little girl's armed reached out bending unnaturally back and grabbed Fredrick by his arm. The yank made and audible snap, followed by a cry before her head snapped back to face the same direction as her body and she ran. Dragging the little boy along the ground like a rag doll as he screamed in pain.

Gabby cried out, and Ben rose yelling as he tried to run forward but stopped as soon as Gawain dashed past him. "Stay here" He said in a gasped breath, Lavia had jumped off the carriage to run after the kids as well.

"What was that!?" She exclaimed as she caught up to Gawain, she kept up with the vampire well enough however her vision in the night wasn't as sharp as his so she stumbled and trip over roots and rocks often.

"I don't know, some creature of dark!" He said back to her, he moved quickly, the further they got the from camp the more he sped up until the trees in bushes whipped by him like a blur. Gawain could still see and hear Fredrick in the short distance between them, the child cried in pain his voice rippling as his back got the ground while he got dragged.

Whatever the thing was it seemed it had shifted it's shape, it no longer appeared like a child. It's fair skin seemed to stretch over thin limbs losing its color and becoming a pale grey. The joints in the limbs appeared misplaced, misshaped, and it move unnaturally with stuttering but still kept a high speed. The child stopped screaming suddenly, a loud fleshy noise came after. It had gotten out of Gawain's sight but he could still hear it and Fredrick's heartbeat. Though one weakened while the other got farther away.

Lavia and Gawain reached the child, Lavia gasped while he gritted his teeth at the sight of the fleeting heartbeat.

Fredrick's arm was connected by just a few strands of flesh and muscle, it's arm had chunks where meat was bitten off while the other had bones poking through flesh. The beast still ran off, a high pitch cackling noise filling the air. The smell of rot was slowly being replaced by a delicious scent, one of red. It made him hungry, Gawain's eyes focused on the child's wound. His mind serving twisted thoughts of drinking the child's pain away, to end his pain through death. He stepped forward, before freezing in place.

He needed to control himself, he didn't need the blood, his dark body simply craved it. Gawain couldn't let that beast take over him, he knew that, it would simply forsake him, his soul perhaps Belona would still accept.

"Passed out from the pain" He said stepping into the blood puddle that was soaking into the dirt beneath the boy's body.

"I'd imagine…" She said absentmindedly, looking off at the direction the creature went. "It mocks us. I'll kill it" She growled, Gawain could hear her rage through her heartbeat. It's never bounded that quickly when she spoke to him, this must be a new anger, the urge to avenge seems to consume her.

"We can't right now, we gotta save the boy" Gawain picked up the boy, gripping his loose hanging arm while pressing his hand into the wound to slow the bleeding.

Lavia didn't look at them, instead still stared out into the woods. A growl escaped her lips, before she turned back towards the camp and began running .

Gawain followed.