The Vampires Slave - Editing in Process

.:Chapter 22:.

*Authors Note*

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.:The Vampires Slave:.

.:Chapter 22:.

*Samantha's POV*

I was glad none of my new companions tried to talk to me. Though I did get the urge to question them about our next destination. I frowned into the darkness as I remembered my carelessness before. I shouldn’t have hid in that tree, I should have tried to get as far away from his body as possible. Cursing myself silently, I found that I didn’t even care if they thought me a murderer. I was a murderer. ‘I am a murderer’, my mind corrected.

“John!”

I nearly fell off of my horse as the old man riding behind me began to yell. The grim looking man that led our group stopped quickly, turning his horse to face the rest of us. He studied the old man with a weary impression, before urging the man to continue talking with a wave of his hand.

“We can’t go riding on through the night. We’ll have to stop and camp here ‘till morning.”, the old man called, making John sigh loudly.

“It’s not that far, Karsten. If we stop now, then we’ll have to spend another night in these god forsaken woods.”, John replied more quietly. I tried to ignore the urge to ask where we were heading as he began to speak once more. I also noted the way Karsten sighed in exasperation. “But I guess we can just open camp for the night.”

We continued to ride on for a few more minutes, before we came to another area which was sparsely covered with trees. There were four of us, three men and me, as I noticed in the minutes after they tied the six horses to the trees. Two of the horses were pulling big wooden carts, one filled with bodies and the other one carrying the groups food and tents. I rather guessed it was filled with bodies, though it was covered with some sort of a brown cloth, I wasn’t too keen on finding out for sure.

Karsten went on to walk around, gathering small sticks to use to make a bonfire. John and the younger man were putting up the tents, so I went on to help Karsten with the wood. I shuddered as a cool gust of wind rustled through the trees. I felt something being dropped on my back and couldn’t suppress the gasp escaping my lips. I turned slowly, expecting to face my attacker, though it was only Karsten. He’d laid his leather jacket around my shoulders. I smiled apologetically, though he only nodded in reply.

After that, we lit a fire as Eugene, the youngest of the group, began to fix some food for us. After we were all settled down with a plate of bread and cheese, they began to try to talk to me.

“What’s your name?”, Karsten asked merrily, scooting closer to the fire as he swallowed a piece of bread.

“Samantha.”, I replied quietly, still hoping they would leave it at that.

“What were you doing out in the woods, at nightfall? And who’s that dead fellow?”, Karsten continued to question. It was then, that I sighed in defeat and began to tell them how he was killed. And what kind of a monster I was.

“A murderer? A little too young to be off on your own, killing people.”, John muttered as he watched me intently. “You sure you killed him? Maybe you just fell asleep and some other fellow killed him.”

“No, I did it.”, I whispered almost inaudibly. They were silent for a while, though it felt as if the silence, which hung heavy around us, was mocking me. I ended our conversation, getting to my feet, as I walked away.

I looked around the campsite, trying to find a place to sleep. And seeing as I fell out of a tree earlier, I didn’t feel like repeating the experience again some time soon, so I looked for a soft patch of grass before lying down on it.

Sleep overcame me as I closed my eyes. I still had Karstens jacket, so I didn’t freeze as much on the ground. I woke up about half an hour later. The fire was still burning and I still saw the huddles shadows of Karsten, John and Eugene as hushed voices were carried around with the breeze. I sat up slowly, though I froze as I heard their whispers.

“You can’t possibly think she killed that fellow!”, Karsten murmured in annoyance.

“She could have. She even said it herself. I say, we take her with us, and hand her over. She could have some sort of a mental illness. I bet she’s crazy. A crazy murderer.”, Eugene whispered quickly.

“Don’t want to hang about with a ‘murderer’, son?”, Karsten chuckled in reply.

“That’s not it!”, Eugene screeched awkwardly.

“Hush, you’ll wake her.”, John muttered flatly. I saw him get to his feet, before he stretched. John muttered something, which I didn’t catch, as he stumbled over to one of the tents that Eugene had put up earlier.

I wasn’t really surprised, I did guess that they would talk about me once I’m fast asleep. Though I didn’t think they’d go as far as to hand me over to whomever. Keeping quiet, I waited until Karsten and Eugene also went to bed, after that I got to my feet and crept over to one of the horses. I emptied the saddlebags, only to refill them later on with various foods, water and a few blankets. I knew I shouldn’t be stealing from them, though I had a feeling they wouldn’t starve on the spot because of the little food I had taken.

I climbed onto the horse, though I was still debating on whether I should take Karstens jacket with me or not. Deciding to take it with me, I began to steer the horse slowly away from the campsite.

As soon as I got back into the woods, I picked up the pace. The night air was cool, though all I really noticed about it was that my nose was beginning to freeze. All sleepiness vanished as the cool air embraced me.

Hours flew by, thought I still didn’t stop. I had to make sure I was far enough away from them. The sun began to rise, so I stopped near a small lake. I led the horse to the water, then back to the patches of green grass. I ate some bread for breakfast, before continuing my journey. I didn’t get too far this time though.

A group of middle aged guys stopped me, some began to circle around me. They eyed me suspiciously before one of them began to speak.

“Where are ya off to, this early in the morning?”, a brown haired man asked, high deep voice echoing around the trees.

“Just want to get to the next village.”, I replied confidently, straightening my back a little more. I was glad I still wore Karstens jacket, because my dress was probably caked with dried blood. The less they saw, the better.

“Next village isn’t in this direction there, filly.”, another one called from behind me. I was getting a little nervous, they didn’t exactly seem to be the most friendly type to begin with.

“Well, then I got lost.”, I stated, sighing loudly. I heard a few chuckles from all around me, though I ignored them.

“How much would you pay to go on an’ pass us?”, the brown haired man questioned me, a smirk creeping onto his face as he spoke.

“I haven’t got money.”, I replied truthfully.

“A mighty nice horse ya got there. Maybe we’ll take it instead.”, the man replied, a chuckle following his statement. He seemed like a sleazy kind of guy, a thief maybe.

I was going to ignore them now, to just go on riding past them at full speed. Maybe even knock a few of them down if I had to. They wouldn’t expect it.

Though, what I wasn’t expecting, was being yanked off the horse by a bulky guy behind me. A groan escaped my lips as I hit the ground. I tried to get back to my feet, but didn’t even manage to make even a sound as I felt something being smashed against the back of my head as I sat up.

Stars circled my vision as I collapsed limp on the ground, blackness surrounding me.