This time, the camp did not fall asleep quickly. After dusk, it was decided to send people out to hunt. The population was divided into dozens and taken out on a free hunt. All vampires were strong enough to deal with the most formidable predators they could meet. But in these mountains there were also goblins, so people were divided into dozens, and not into threes, which would be more logical. The division of captured weapons among everyone made such a dozen a formidable force in these places and guaranteed the safety of the hunters. Only children were freed from the hunt. It was necessary to additionally instruct people on the subject of moderation, since almost three hundred people could quickly make the area completely uninhabited, destroying all animals, including mice. The only bad thing was that they failed to defend the idea of the central distribution of blood. Alexey Gennadievich insisted on his opinion that each group feeds on what it will get itself. After a little debate about the unreasonableness of this, Alexander spat. He only managed to defend the children - and then only by promising that he would personally get their blood if their parents could not do it. If the boss had the will, he would have sent the children to hunt together with the adults. During the two hours spent on the hunt, the vampires were fed up and received a lot of new emotions. Now the whole camp was buzzing like an anxious hive. People exchanged their thoughts and emotions, not wanting to go to sleep.
A small team, rallied around Alexander, did not follow the instructions of Alexei Gennadievich, and only two left for the hunt. The rest were engaged in the arrangement of the dugout. Maria lined the floor with another layer of foliage and spruce branches, conjuring something at the same time. The men erected a hut over the exit and received a fairly spacious dressing room, which could accommodate two more people. Another small hut was erected next to the dugout, in which all clothes and weapons were folded. Despite the resistance of Alexei Gennadievich and the hysteria of his assistant, all the weapons used in the hunt were returned to Alexander. Having abandoned the idea of common blood, the deputy director could not give any reasons as to why the trophies should belong to everyone, and not to the one who got them in battle.
Olga conjured over the skins of hares. When it became known that they had the ability for some magic and they could do very versatile things around themselves, she, as soon as she had free time, took up the normal dressing of skins, starting experiments, first on hares. The girl already had about twenty skins, which even the most fastidious tanner could not find fault with. Then she wanted to take care of the bearskin that she had previously given to Alexander, and "save" her.
Having dined with the wild boar brought by the hunters, the friends listened as other vampires who had come from the hunt returned to the camp. I had to go and make sure everyone got the blood and didn't forget to bring it to the children.
Various emotional conversations now and then reached the ears. The people were very excited by the evening outing and discussed it in every way. Who caught who, who found out what, who drank how much. Fresh blood invigorated people and demanded a release of energy.
Sergei, who was sitting near the dugout and watching the flying insects, got close when he realized that someone was walking in his direction. The sound and smell left no doubt about it. People began to like new abilities. His old and new friends had already rested in the dugout, although they had not slept yet. And he was thinking about how to repeat yesterday's actions of Alexander and take a night walk. There was something that he wanted to check, but so far he could not decide on a solitary wandering through the forest. The guest turned out to be Leonid, a friend of Oleg with whom they always discussed the history and especially war together. At the firm, he held a non-dusty position of deputy head of the personnel department and always helped security workers in matters of hiring or firing. Approaching the dugout, he greeted Sergei.
- Sanya, come out, - he called softly.
There was a scuffle from the hole, and soon its source appeared.
- Hey. What do you want?
Leonid hesitated.
- I ... well, I wanted to thank ... this ... in one word more thanks to you Sasha. If it were not for you, we would all have already fought here and drunk each other's blood.
Leonidas stretched out his hand and firmly shook the hand extended to him in return.
- And further. Gennadievich muddies the waters there, - the guest switched to a whisper, - you be careful. He doesn't like that you ignore his power so much.
- And you?
- What do I need?
- What do we do for you? - Evgeny appeared from the dugout.
- If anything - I'm on your side. - This asshole does and says the wrong thing.
Nodding to everyone at the same time, Leonidas left.
- But he touched on an interesting topic.
- Yes, you do not pay attention to Gennadievich, you know these quirks of his about power and subordination. Will go crazy.
- I'm not talking about that, Seryoga. What if we drink our blood?
The three people looked at each other.
- Very interesting, but really, what will happen? - Eugene pay attention flax looked first at one and then at the other interlocutor.
- Why think, - Sergei got up, walked to their improvised warehouse, took a knife there, and, returning, cut his palm deeply and quickly, until the wound healed, brought it to Alexander's face.
Realizing that a friend has the highest confidence in him, because most likely his whole life after that will be in full view of the person who drank his blood, Alexander did not just put his hand to the wound. Instead, taking his friend by the wrist, he brought his hand to his lips and licked the almost healed wound, thus showing how much he appreciated the trust placed in him.
The blood cheered him up. Strongly. Stronger than humans and significantly stronger than animal blood. Once again, the idea was confirmed that different blood has a different degree of "energy" and nutritional value.
But Sergei's life did not become his property. More precisely, the blood this time showed all the memories from the life of its owner, but in the case of the vampire, it was exactly from the moment they were in this world. Past life memories were not available. It was funny to watch myself from the side through the eyes of a friend, but it all lasted less than a second.
"Well?" Two pairs of attentive eyes stared at him.
Instead of answering, he took a dagger and cut his palm. Sergei chuckled and repeated Alexander's actions, licking his friend's blood, and not touching it with his hand. Then Sergei and Eugene exchanged blood. Everyone was silent for a while.
- So, our bodies were not in this world, - Eugene was categorical, - otherwise, we would have received a full memory and not the last two days.
- Well, I wouldn't be so sure, although it's hard to disagree with you, - Sergei scratched his ear. - Let's go to sleep already. Chur, I'm at the entrance, suddenly I want to wander at night.
The men were about to climb into the dugout when their attention was attracted by the sounds of running approaching them. Soon the reason for the creation of sounds appeared, a girl of about 14. Running up, she stopped and stared attentively at her friends.
- What do you want?
- Why did it smell so much blood here?
- We experimented.
- Exactly?
- More precisely, nowhere, - Alexander laughed, - What are you interested in?
- And my mother sent me. We live in hut yonder, - a careless wave of our hand in the direction of the forest, from where she came running, - We smelled blood here, so my mother says, run and check - what is there, otherwise the smell of the blood is strange. Well, here I am.
The little girl twirled uncertainly in place, examining first one, then the other.
- Tell your mom that we are all right. We were just doing another experiment.
- Well, well ... tell me, is it true that there are elves here?
Alexander laughed.
- Truth!
- Great, - she was sincerely delighted, turned around, and already running away, said, - And more, thank you. You saved us.
*****
On this night, Oleg did not forget about his duties, which he performed in his old life. Guards were posted around the camp. His immediate superior, responsible for the security service, Semyon Markovich, did not manage to drive up to the moment the phenomenon began, which threw them into a new world. Therefore, Oleg turned out to be the de facto leader of six security guards who were present at the corporate event and did not carry out their security service for the company. He also had two guards at hand who worked in the sanatorium. Of these eight people, he could completely rely on five, whom he selected and hired.
The young guys did not find their calling in life, and after the army, they began to work in security structures. Almost everyone thought about pursuing a career in the police force or a contract with the army. The sanatorium guards were still dark horses. But the last of the eight guards was an outspoken protege of Olga Viktorovna. It was through her patronage that he was hired at one time. Being the son of some acquaintance of hers.
Without further ado, Oleg, with his authority, forced the guards to serve that night, and not sleep. I chose places for them and agreed to stay in the huts, which were closest to their sentinel points if the need suddenly arises. As you might expect, the only problems were with the son of a friend. The guy, and under normal conditions, was distinguished by a bad character, and here he generally did anything just out of the stick. Even Olga Viktorovna's screams had little effect on him. Oleg, in general, had to threaten him with physical harm to force him to go on patrol.
The security came in handy. Attracted by the smell of meat, nocturnal predators came out to the camp several times. They were all caught and eaten by watchful guards. Only "sonny", as Oleg christened him silently, was left without additional food at night. The head of security himself climbed out of the dugout several times during the night, but never intervened in the situation.
The morning brought bad news. With the beginning of dawn, there was still hope for another cloudy day and the sky covered with dense clouds, but as soon as the morning fog dissipated, the clouds disappeared with it. The light hurting the eyes was unpleasant. K ntAstyu, the low-hanging Demur had not yet pierced the dense crowns of trees with his rays, and this bright pain in his eyes was the greatest inconvenience so far.
Vampires, having got out of their hiding places and realizing that there was a sunny day ahead of them, in a hurry checked their homes and did their daily business.
"No one should leave their hiding places. No one to go out. Yes, I understand that you are uncomfortable, but try to hold out until dark, or at least until the moment when we make sure that the sun is not dangerous.
Alexander ran around the camp like a madman, admonishing, persuading, threatening, and simply warning.
- Yes, I will warn you if you can go out.
He was dressed in the same outfit that he had chosen for himself on the first day. But today he added gloves and a hat to it. Unfortunately, people on the road did not have any wide-brimmed hats, so first a hare skin was put on the head and the back of the neck, and only then a regular hat was put on and pulled low over the eyes - to create at least some darkness and give the eyes, albeit a little, but getting rid of too bright light. In addition to him, all the guards dressed today, as well as Sergey, Oleg, and Yevgeny.
Before the sun rose over the trees, people managed to do all the main things and hid in their hiding places. If someone needed something, he just had to shout, declaring his desire and they had to approach him. Nobody knew if all these preparations were necessary or if they were wasting panic. But in such a matter as life and death, it is always better to play it safe a little.
"But the legends didn't lie," Sergei, who was sitting in the dressing room of their dugout, showed his hand, momentarily exposed under a lone beam of light that broke through the foliage.
The hand was burned.
- The sun is dangerous! - with all the power of his lungs he screamed, - the sun is dangerous! Don't go out of hiding!
A couple of seconds later, his cry was supported by Alexander, who was in the center of the camp, at the "headquarters" hut, along with bearskin and a spare set of clothes.
Putting a glove on his already healed hand, Sergei again exposed it to the light. This time everything was fine. The fabric served as a reliable barrier for the rays of the demur and did not allow light to reach the surface of the skin. He did not experience any burns or discomfort. Then the man took off his glove again and exhaling noisily, put his open palm under the beam. This time he did not withdraw his hand, but gritted his teeth and endured wild pain. The skin quickly charred and began to frankly fall off, it smelled of burnt meat. It was only when flames appeared on his hand that he withdrew his hand. Some five seconds under the sun and his hand was burned almost to the bone. Curling in pain, he set in motion a magical process of tissue regeneration, focusing on his healing. No matter how fast their natural regeneration was, she should have been helped in such a matter.
- These are the things, guys, - he said to his friends looking at him, - These are the things.
The local luminary was deadly for aliens from another world.
*****
Several people walked confidently along the road. An excellent clear day was uplifting. People turned their faces to the rays of the sun when the turns of the road made it possible for Demur to illuminate their children. At the same time, no one forgot to carefully look around and even it did not occur to anyone to take off the armor.
The baron's guards, sent to find out the fate of a dozen of their comrades, who went on reconnaissance and disappeared without a trace, did not want to share their fate at all. Along with the five soldiers was a paladin, a mercenary who happened to be in Savoyardi this holiday month. Upon learning of the disappearance of his people, the baron forked out and temporarily hired him to reinforce the detachment sent to search for the missing. The main force of three dozen vigilantes and a knight with his spear * followed the same road, but in a half-league * behind the soldiers of the patrol going ahead. It was the paladin who had to allow them not to die in battle with a possible enemy and give time to approach the main forces.
(* spear - a small group consisting of a knight, his squires, swordsmen, archers, and servants)
(* league is the local unit of distance measurement, equal to approximately seven hundred meters)
Uncle Micah, who was walking first, stopped and pointed with his brush to the side of the road. The bushes were badly broken as if someone had walked there more than once. Having examined the road a little further, the soldiers found traces of a battle that had happened here a couple of days ago. The paladin raised his horn and blew on it, signaling the main party to approach, but indicating that there was no danger.
Searches in the forest quickly yielded results. Goblin tracks were everywhere. As well as the most important trace - the gnawed bones of a person. The only odd detail was the lack of traces of any clothing, which the goblins did not appreciate at all and usually threw at the places of their gruesome feasts.
The knight and paladin exchanged glances. In principle, the task was completed. The missing squad was found. Chasing the goblins after so much time was a senseless idea, they had long reached their caves, and if one of the vigilantes survived, then all that was left was to pray for his speedy and painless death.
- Let's go back. We have nothing else to do here.