Chapter 15 - Teeth

Kuro's Village - Kuro's House - Three hours later

Two men sat inside an old dilapidated house silently listening to the pitter-patter of the rain falling overhead. A soft murmur could be heard coming from the small girl quietly sleeping in the corner. Kayae had cried herself to sleep in Simon's arms an hour ago before being gently carried over to Kuro's bed. One of the men sighs as he takes another swig from his flask, internally cursing its small capacity. Out of the darkness, a third man appears and slowly opens the hastily repaired door, careful not to wake the sleeping girl. Kurtin takes a quick glance at the small girl before joining the other two men on the floor and casting Veil.

Kuro silently hands the newcomer a flask before holding his other hand out towards Simon. Simon tilts his head up slightly before accepting the small flask in Kuro's hand with a swift motion. He opens the flask nimbly and takes a long drink before passing the flask back.

"So," Kuro said quietly, the exhaustion clearly present in his voice. "What happened?"

Simon shakes his head slightly before breathing out deeply, "When I went into the forest for the first time, I was attacked by several 'Silver Backed Wolves'. At least that's what the bandits told me they were when we scooped up the remains."

Kuro and Kuritn's expressions quickly shift to one of disbelief, their eyes widening, "D-Don't tell me those wolves in the wa--"

"Aye, That's them. I managed to take down all of the wolves without issue but in the process, I attracted some attention from a small group of bandit scouts."

Kuro closed his eyes before nodding while Kuritn asked the next question, "So you followed them back to their encampment I assume?"

"Yeah, That was when I spotted two men dragging 'her' out from the commander's tent before abandoning her in the forest."

"And that's when you brought 'her' back here?"

Simon nods his head once in conformation before taking the offered flask and downing it in its entirety, "She was alive when I found her, barely, but alive."

The two beastmen silently glance at each other before a second veil was quickly cast on Kuro. Simon watched as the elderly man gathered three more flasks from beneath a loose floorboard. Kuritn offers a sad smile as Kuro sits back down, "I knew ye was holding out on us." he finishes with a disheartened chuckle before turning back to face Simon, "What next?"

"I spent a moment examining her wounds. She'd lost too much blood. Honestly, it was a miracle she was even still alive, much less conscious." Simon says with a sigh. "I picked her up and held her close, told her the village was fine and that Kayae was still being a little shit sneaking around Kuro's house and driving us nuts." A small smile crosses his lips, "That got a little chuckle out of her. We stayed like that for a while. I'll be honest with you two, I've never really had a good bedside manner, damn near killed her when I told her about how old lady Katarina kept stealing my pants to make the crotch tighter." Simon sighed softly, "She didn't last long after that. That's when I started heading back to the village."

Kuro nods his head and passes a new flask over to the old soldier while Kurtin shakes his head.

"After that, I went back into the woods and managed to infiltrate the camp, apparently I DO look like a bandit after all." Simon pauses for a moment while Kuritn coughs loudly, clearly having choked on the vodka while trying to laugh. "While inside, I found a large cage filled with women. Judging by the wide variety of animalistic extremities, I presumed they were taken from the other villages."

Kurtin lets out one last cough before speaking, "Aye, I spotted several cat-folk and canids along with a couple kitsunes and rabbit-folk around the mess hall earlier. Didn't see any avians though. Hopefully, those bird brains got out in time. Normal beastkin have it rough as it is, avians more so. Damned monkras like stripping them of their feathers. Apparently, they make excellent beds, arrows, and quills."

Simon's eyebrow tilted upwards at the unfamiliar terms, more or less understanding their meaning.

"Ah, right. You've been calling us beastmen for a while now, haven't ya? While that's technically correct, it's actually a blanket term for anyone sharing animalistic characteristics. Coincidentally, I and the rest of the villagers are Wolfen. Apparently, we share characteristics with wolves. But I guess you already figured that out, eh?"

Kuro and Kuritn flash Simon a wide grin, proudly showing off their large white teeth.

"Yeah, although it was the ears and tails that gave it away rather than your teeth," Simon replies with a grin.

"Ou, teeth are a Wolfen's pride, you know. You won't find anything stronger than our teeth among the rest of the races."

"Really now?", Simon's grin widens before removing a piece of metal from his belt and biting it, casually showing the neatly punctured hole to the two men.

Kuro's ears briefly flatten against his head, seemingly deflated after having their pride taken from them while Kurtin merely shakes his head and takes another swig.

"O-Oi, you're not normal. You don't count!" Kuro's ears fluttered about during his miffed rambling before he waved a hand to change the subject. "Anyway, what happened next?"

"I approached the commander's tent, killed two of the guards, and walked inside."

"Was he sleeping?"

"Unfortunately not." Simon shakes his head, disgust clearly seeping into his voice. "He was beating and raping a young girl repeatedly. She appeared to be younger than Kayae mother by a few years."

Kuro's face contorts in disgust before muttering under his breath, "Damned Monkra..."

"Aye." Simon nods his head in agreement.

"Did she make it?" Kuro finally asks after processing the sight.

"No, she was already gone by the time I entered. Judging from her wounds she'd been dead for at least an hour."

Kuro shakes his head quietly while retrieving a flask from somewhere out of view. "Shit."

A cruel grin stretches over Simon's face as he chuckles quietly. "I may have gone a bit overboard with the commander after that."

Kuro's face pales after seeing Simon's expression and hearing his laughter while Kuritn merely offers a toast.

"W-What did you do?" Kuro asks with wide eyes.

"I dragged him out of the tent by his neck, took him to the center of the camp, and beat him to death in front of his men."

Kuritn nods before commenting, "Was it slow?"

Simon takes the flask before smiling and taking a swig, "Very."

"Good. What happened after?"

"I massacred everyone within arms reach. The men outside are the ones that managed to survive by hiding under the corpses. Not that they can actually hide from me, though." Simon's grin widens enough for Kuro to see the candlelight flickering off of Simon's own elongated canines.

Vampire? Kuro thought to himself before quickly throwing away the notion, Can't be. Vampires hate water, sunlight, and drink blood. Kuro's thoughts wander off towards the scene that played out in the fields days earlier. Simon had drained the bandit's blood before impaling them on stakes. He didn't drink any of it, though, did he?

Kuro snaps back to reality after Simon passed back the flask and continued speaking.

"After that, I ordered the survivors to load up as much of the supplies as they could onto the wagons along with the women, then we headed here. After that, you know the rest."

Kuro nods his head before speaking. The thought is terrifying him, but he has to know. He glances over to Kuritn who merely shrugs and takes another drink.

"Simon." Kuro steels his resolve before staring directly into Simon's eyes. Hazel? Never mind, it doesn't matter. "Are you a vampire?"