Late at night when everyone was deep in sleep. Nico got up and slowly crawled out of the small hole in the door of the hut house.
The iron pail in his hand clattered loudly.
"Gosh stop clattering."
Feeling the cold air, he trembled slightly.
In a hurry, he forgot to grab his straw coat. Shivering slightly, he walked deep into the woods.
Tonight he was on a mission. He was going to catch another elk. He was going to feed the younger vampires to help them develop.
This group only ate breakfast! only breakfast that to only a spoon full of blood jelly! How can that be enough! it was not enough even for a baby vampire!
'I'll rectify that situation..' he was determined.
It was just a day but he could already feel the familial feeling for them. it was similar to what they called the blood Link. Not all vampires have that.... only...
Nicolai froze.
Only vampire elders have that blood call. It was a desperate call from nature to nurture their own kind and to take care of them. It was said this phenomenon arose in the early 1800's during the witch trial and hunts.
'So does that make me an elder now?'
He did slumber for thousand years, but it didn't make him any stronger. He was just the same as he was when he was pushed into that coffin.
'I am old… and slightly wise, I think. But am I really an elder?'
Suddenly, a loud bellow was heard close by
It was a pleasant climate for the elks to mate. The male elks call out to attract their female.
This made it much easier for him to find his prey.
It was dark, but to his eyes, everything was in black and white. His eyes were surprisingly easy to adapt to the night times.
Partially because he was a vampire and secondly because he was sleeping for so long.
He walked further into the woods.
The bellowing got close.
Nico prepared the pail in hand and squatted down near an enormous tree.
A huge elk was sitting nearby, bellowing. It was quite close, and it was not vigilant at the slightest.
Nicolai charged at it and caught it by its throat.
The elk struggled and bellowed loudly.
He took a chomp of its throat firmly. His fangs sank in deep. Warmblood gushed in.
He snapped the elk's neck and hurriedly placed its wounded neck above the pail. The blood got collected there.
Seeing the amount of blood, he let out a sigh of relief.
"This will be enough to eat for two days for sure..." he carefully carried the pail while dragging the elk behind him.
"Nico!" Raven shouted, running up to him. "what the hell were you doing! Fuck! Come with me," he dragged him back to the hut.
Nico carefully placed the pail of blood down. "I was hunting."
"With what? You don't have a gun or a knife. You could have been stabbed by the elk...." he doubtfully looked at the corpse he was dragging. "How DID you hunt?"
Raven squatted down and checked the elk's neck. "Wait.. don't tell me."
"Yes, I have vampire teeth. Yes, it can tear through flesh. No, I don't prefer to eat humans. They smell like smoke or they just smell in general. I prefer pre-packaged donated o positive blood," he cheerfully whispered.
The man just gaped at him. "w-who are you?"
"Oh, I forgot to mention I'm your thousand-year-old elder. Nice to meet you. Now stop gaping and come in. We have things to do," he dragged the corpse into the hut.
The other vampires were awake and anxiously sitting by the fireplace.
"Nico~" Avery hugged him tightly. "I thought you were captured by the wolves again,"
"Um no, I went hunting. Look what I got," he lifted up the pail of blood. "Come on, drink up,"
The younger ones looked at him, smacking their lips. But they all stood hesitantly.
Matt walked up front. "How did you catch it..."
"Raven can answer it for you," Nico peered back at the young vampire who stood there still in shock. "Raven?"
"huh... oh fuck! Are you serious.. like actually serious?"
"Come in, let's talk," Nico poured the blood into small metal tumblers and handed it to the younger ones. Even Avery was super happy to have his share.
There was a lot more blood left for them. It would be enough for the next day's breakfast and lunch.
"Raven?" Matt worriedly patted his stiff back. "what's going on...."
"It's unbelievable... but I think I believe it.,"
"What?"
"He.. he might be our elder,"
Both Matt and Raven looked his way with a look of shock.
Nico just smiled. "I am an elder. I'm about a thousand years old or less. I was in a deep slumber all along, but a small accident awoke me,"
"no.. no... The elders are gone. The wolves rummaged the coven and burned the elders! They do not exist," Matt said in disbelief.
"Well, I'm not an official elder and I was not buried in a coven. In fact, I was buried in the old castle ruins in the arctic wolf territory."
"The blast.... Hary's sacrifice finally bore fruit...."
Nico looked at him, confused.
"Elder... just a few weeks ago we attacked the Wolf territory. Only one of us was able to get in. But he got caught close to the ruins. He self detonated to save our identity..."
"That blast must have blown a hole in the basement I was kept in. my coffin got washed out and I found myself in a small human town. I stayed there for two weeks to earn my ferry fare. Came back to see my destroyed home... to be honest I didn't think I would be asleep for this long. Time is cruel,"
Nicolai poured two more glasses and handed it to Matt and Raven.
"I'm here now. we are stronger in number. Slowly, we shall find our comrades and attack the alpha king when he is at the weakest."
"The next red moon?"
"The next red moon...." Nico smiled. "Before that, I might have to travel to the nearby human villages. Draw me a map. I'll go around and find other vampires,"