Blood Debt

"Well here we are." Charles had stopped on a dirt road. "This is the foot of Mt. Chortiatis."

Rose and Cloud exited the truck. Then Charles parked his truck. Rose was looking around.

"What's the matter?" Cloud asked.

"I can feel a presence." Rose answered.

"What presence?" Charles asked when he got near Rose and Cloud.

"A pure blood." Rose answered.

"A pure blood vampire? But why would it be here?" Cloud thought.

"I guess he or she has some role in this." Charles said. "Well we won't know until we make a move. Come, the village is this way."

Charles led Rose and Cloud in the forest of the mountain. It was a long walk and 2 hours have past when they saw some houses.

"This village is rather remote and hidden. They don't have a decent road so it can only be reached by foot." Charles explained.

When they arrived at the village the people there were eyeing them suspiciously.

An old man in his 60's walked towards them.

"Mr. Charles, you have came back." The old man greeted them. "And I see you have brought friends with you."

"Yes. These are Rose and Cloud. They are my co-workers." Charles introduced them. "And this is the village elder Caesar."

"We're here to collect some news of what my co-worker Charles was asking you the other day." Rose gave a warm smile to the village elder.

Charles have briefed them before going to the village. Their front is that they are news reporters searching for some scoop from the missing corpses and the rumors of the walking dead.

"Welcome to our little village. Please don't mind the villagers rude stares. We are not accustomed to strangers. But we will entertain any question you have." Caesar explained. "Come, you must be exhausted with your travel. Let me take you to my house to rest."

The old man Caesar gestured them to follow. He lead the way to a little bungalow house.

"Please sit down." Caesar gestured. "Little Anika get our guest some refreshments. They are surely very tired on their journey."

"Yes grandfather." The little girl replied. Anika was about 14 years old.

"Mr. Caesar, may I know when this issue on missing corpses started?" Rose has gotten to the point already.

"It had been at least 3 months. The first instance was my son's, Anika's father." Caesar started. "My son died while hunting in the woods. He was killed by a wild boar by accident. We have brought his corpse here to be viewed upon by family before layin him to eternal rest. But just after a day his corpse went missing."

"As you know we are just a small village and we know everyone living here. No one knows who took it. Some has labeled it as a supernatural occurrence." Caesar said.

"Does this things happen often?" Charles asked.

"No. It was only folklore about body snatchers. This was the first instance that a body really went missing." Caesar said.

"After your son's body went missing, are there incidents like this happening to other people?" Rose asked.

"Actually yes. Near by villages has also reported this occurrence within these past 3 months." Caesar answered.

"Then what about the living ones that disappeared, when did that start?" Rose asked.

"Here in the village it was my daughter-in-law." Caesar said. "She said...she said he saw my son walking in the woods one night."

"Your dead son?" Cloud asked.

"Yes." Caesar affirmed.

"Did she tell you that it was really your dead son? Maybe he just looked like him." Cloud asked.

"It was really father." Anika arrived with drinks. "I was with mother when we saw him in the woods."