Dogs and what not :)

15 dogs stared at me like I was their next meal. Saliva dripped as they growled at me. Should I charge at them before they charged at me? Should I run? Should I let them have a go at me and drink up their blood?

I didn’t know if drinking blood from a different species worked. Another question I had to ask of Jay.

Nope I waited too long. I closed my eyes as they howled and just as they went for the kill, "Poppy! Here!" Someone shouted and I clutched at the vine that was attached to the pulley with a heavier weight on the other side. Just like that, I was pulled upwards, out of the reach of those feral dogs.

Whew.

Wyatt sprinkled some powder over them and as soon as he did that, the dogs whined and became lethargic. They stretched out their forelegs, curled up their hindlegs, cozied up near Wyatt and fell asleep. All 15 of them.

I slowly pulled at the vines and jumped, far off from those ravenous dogs.

I came near Wyatt and said, "I owe you one."

Wyatt blushed.

I don't know how I came to like this warlock, he was not my type at all. I mean, look how he blushes at the slightest.

"Well, would you like me if I were bolder?" he said.

"How did you-" "You're so easy to read Poppy."

I laughed.

A tractor came up and the dogs were taken up into small cages built for them.

Surprisingly none of them woke up.

This was a sleep draught.

Wyatt looked grimly at me and then to his fellow compatriots.

Two other warlocks.

We had come to a place where the head chieftain of the village was alive. Everyone else in the village was dead. Not because we arrived late. But because death came upon them early.

The village chieftain - he was in tears. He had lost his children, his wife, and everybody he knew in his village. For all he knew, he was the last man on Earth.

"Dangerous," he pointed at the dogs.

Wyatt pulled me to a corner and said, "He's right, I think you should leave."

"Duh," I said, "I am undead, remember, Wyatt?"

"This might infect you. We don't want to know how a vampire reacts to rabies," Wyatt said.

"A risk I am willing to take," I said.

After a long while, he nodded. Because he knew how state of the art stubborn I could be. That I might participate in this without telling him, and then, where would I be?

The next stop was going to where the village chieftain stayed.

The hut was situated near the outskirts of the forest. The virus was a wild strain and a new variant of the rabies virus - we know that because it killed a vaccinated child - the first of its victims.

The child reacted to light, the sound of water clenched his throat painfully, he was put in a stimulus-free dark room to slightly relieve him of his symptoms - but then he started hallucinating, having convulsions and before anyone knew it, was dead.

"Not anymore," Wyatt and the other two warlocks said.

We don't have a vaccine, they said, but we do have spells to kill the virus before they reach the brain. But when infusing this medicine, you also need to have a bit of vampire blood injected in you so that the medicine doesn't burn the normal blood and tissues. The vampire blood cushions the killing effect it has on the normal cells but not on the virus.

And there's where I came in.

Wyatt argued that they had vampire blood from before, while I said, why use stale blood when you had fresh blood? That is, when you have me!

Wyatt shook his head dryly.

The chieftain was crying when he met with us.

"I am the only one remaining," he said quietly.

"Many of them fled. I don't know what has happened to them. But I know that I am the only one remaining here."

"Poppy, could you -" "Trace the people who ran?" I interrupted.

"Yes," the warlock beside Wyatt said.

I smiled at Wyatt, and said, "On it."

I separated myself from the warlocks and the chieftain by about two yards.

I took a deep breath. Rich forest aroma - the smells - hit me. I remember having gone trekking at the age of 4 years - before losing my parents.

Now, Poppy, focus.

A live human-y smell came to me from the West. So I charged.

When I reached the area, I saw a little boy bending down and making a fire. A woman sat, looking listless. A man huddled up near the woman and kept looking at her, concerned.

Something was off about the woman.

Yes, something had bitten her, and it was not a vampire bite.

I showed myself to them.

"Hi, my name is Poppy -" "Go away!" the man shouted. The woman jerked off from her seat and lunged at me, her hair unkempt, saliva drooling from her mouth, aggressive but incoherent. A dog came up from nowhere and pulled the woman behind. "Good boy, Fluffy, that's it," the man said.

Few seconds later, the woman returned back to her seat, and looked listless, again.

"We're sorry. She got bitten and now she's like this. Fluffy can tell us where it's safe to stay. Fluffy hasn't been infected, thank God! Only Rose..." he gulped.

"Me and two warlocks are here just so we can help," I said. "We captured 15 rabid dogs and they are being held captive."

"Come with me," I urged.

The man solemnly said no.

"Why?" I asked.

"There are more. And they can smell you, hear you, hide from you till the right moment comes..." he whispered.

"Wha-at?" I said.

A wolf howled in the precinct. Another ten howls followed. It was almost night. Something in me felt eerie. Something in me told me to leave the place immediately.

"Let's go," I said urgently.

My sixth sense kicked in.

*************

Only a fire remained.

"Look! If there's a fire, there's a human around!" a man in uniform barked.

"There's no one here, Sergeant!"

He grit his teeth.

"I said, search the area! And take that out."

A cage came out of the truck. Inside it was a mastiff.

Its eyes glowed in the dark. Its howl wasn't any less terrifying than the call of the wolves.

"DO IT!" the Sergeant shouted.

"But sir, this is our last -"

"It's just a mutt. There'll be plenty of mutts out there. But today we have a rare chance to catch those warlocks. And I have heard they were conspiring with the vampires. And I suffered a huge loss when I procured a vampire but wasn't given one! Talk about two birds with one stone!" the Sergeant sneered.

I cringed. Wyatt!

The Sergeant ascended the truck and the person following his orders injected the mastiff with a whitish fluid.

The mastiff howled in pain.

Slowly, the mastiff started drooling and looked like it was going to go berserk.

Which it did.

It started scratching the tree which we had climbed up on.

Just when it was shot.

"There they are!" someone shouted, pointing at us.

"You are NOT going to get us," I growled.

"Who's going to stop me?" The Sergeant huffed and laughed hard, just when a sturdy branch hit him out of nowhere.

"I am."

How dashing. And embarassing. The second time I needed saving.

Wyatt conjured a spell. The Sergeant was closed within the cage that had the mastiff which was now dead.

I hit the helper. I helped the family climb down.

And then I thanked Wyatt, sheepishly.

But he wasn't wasting any time.

"They know about warlocks," I told him. "And also about me."

Wyatt kissed me tenderly.

"I know, babe," he hummed.

"Babe?" I laughed.

***********************

The party was awesome.

And at the end of it, Wyatt and I got to be together.

The slow music. The slow drinking (this blood was strictly bought for us from normal healthy individuals), the kissing - all was what I ever wanted.

"Today couldn't have been done without you," Wyatt said.

A total of three were rescued, apart from the family I saved.

They were in a zombie like state.

Wyatt took me to them.

He drew a little of my blood, mixed it with his and put an enchantment which he injected into the three of them.

Half an hour later, the drooling stopped, they could recognize their families.

All because of Wyatt.

And maybe a bit because of me.

I smiled at Wyatt. He's always there when I am lost.

He kissed me.

*********************