主妇丈夫倡导的户外生活

Instead of answering, Gunnar struck a deal with him. 

"How 'bout this? I'll tell you where the Von Halsinges are and ya can ask them that yerself. Well, the location of one of them, at least."

Howard knew this meant Gunnar did not know the Von Halsinge family well despite having his arm made by them. He's a rogue hunter after all, so it's to be expected. 

But he can't help but be annoyed at the Likho hag for essentially putting him in danger just to be in another wild goose chase. She made it seem like the hunter that lived in the Bush House Museum would be the one to finally lead him to that bastard. 

Still, Howard was used to chasing down lead after lead. He'll just continue following the breadcrumbs as best as he can. 

"Alright then. Where are they?" He asked. 

The jolly hunter chuckled. "You'd have to do me a favor first before I give you one. I mean, I already gave you a favor for letting you stay in my place. But this one…. I just think I'd need a pair of extra hands to make sure things go smoothly."

Howard narrowed his eyes. "And what favor do you need?"

That's the reason why he was now trailing up the woodlands, just on the base of the Cascade Mountain Range. 

He had spotted a few waterfalls in their travels, and this forest was truly dense and humid. It was also raining a lot, and the soil they stepped on felt more like mud. 

There were even times when Howard had one of his prosthetic legs stuck in a quagmire. He had to yank it off and put it back in, caked in dirt. 

Gunnar was not having any problems, and seemed to be used in difficult terrains like this. He chuckled. 

"The snow from Sweden is much worse. I could see how the dirt would be bothersome though."

"You're from Sweden?" Howard thought. 

Gunnar shrugged. "Not really. I mean, I've always been traveling since I was young. My former people, the Samis, also travel around northern parts of Europe all the time. Then I went down to Germany, Austria, Czechia, Poland…. Anywhere I heard about bats, really."

His large teeth that were like a horse's or a buffalos shone through whenever he smiled. "I kill 'em vampire bats, and the people give me food in exchange. It's a nice life back there. Way less fear of random civilians shooting you down with guns just because you look 'intimidating', hahaha!"

"Oh. What brought you to America then, if I may ask?" Howard said. "Since you said, it's easier there and people aren't so quick to judge you?"

"America was never part of the plan. But then….. I just heard it 5 years ago. A rumor that a bunch of vampires, real vampires... are going to be here." 

His jolly expression hardened into strong distaste. 

"I couldn't miss the chance. Booked a flight with what little money I gained from the kind villagers that were grateful to have those bloodsuckers killed. And now I'm here."

Howard remembered his dream and became wary about this rumor. 

"Did you learn anything else besides that it will be here? In Salem, Oregon?"

He shook his head. "No, still searching. But hey, I've been getting several commissions. Last time were just wild coyotes and foxes though. I hunt them down, but they're just regular animals. It's not that easy for me to put down something that's not a beast, actually."

He then looked up at the sky covered by the treetops that stretched for miles and miles. 

"This time is different. It's something flying. Sure, it could be falcons or eagles. But I place my bets on bats. It's been a long time since I saw vampire bats in Oregon. I'm itching to fight some in the wild again." 

Howard looked up at the gloomy skies too. It felt like it's going to start pouring before they spot any bats. And bats don't really like the rain, vampire or not. 

Also, if it was truly vampire bats, they would only start appearing once it gets dark. 

And so he and Gunnar did camp there, in the middle of the woods where the locals reportedly spotted them.

They cooked some turkey they brought along in a campfire, and when the rain start to drizzle a bit, they went inside the tent. 

But as soon as they were inside, it didn't take a while until they heard the whooshing sounds of wings flapping.

Howard went out immediately, and saw flying figures. It was still unclear what it was, because the trees covered its tracks and they flew quite fast. It could be a bird, but so far, he hadn't heard any bird calls or sounds coming from these stealthy aerial animals. 

Gunnar looked out as well, and there was a fiery glint of sadistic joy in his eyes. 

"They're here. Take this."

He pulled something from his bag. It was actually a small birdcage. 

"I hunt. Then you're going to lure one of them to you and place it inside here." He instructed. 

Howard frowned. "Why? So you can put it in the basement again?"

"Yes. And if it belonged to someone….." Gunnar grinned. "I know they'll be watching me with their pet. That's what I'd want to happen, so I can lure them into coming after me. It's been a really long while since I killed a vampire lord."

Howard thought that it was a relief to just be assigned to this duty instead of fighting alongside Gunnar. It may be dark here, but not as dark in the basement. This trained hunter would surely notice that none of the vampire bats were attacking him.

He ran off, and Howard can hear the sounds of hacking and slashing amidst the rain. 

He waited for one of the bats to come his way, clicking his tongue. He didn't know why he started clicking his tongue, it was just in his intuition to do so. And eventually….

He did hear that flapping sound, along with a clicking sound answering him back. 

Howard grabbed one of the small knives they had brought. He found the brown creature…..

And struck it in the direction that he instinctively felt it was in. It hit its wings and stuck it against a tree. It writhed and struggled, until Howard's hands went to grab it, roughly placing it inside the bird cage and locking it. 

It was a bat with its wings torn. But…..

It didn't look like a vampire bat. 

It didn't look like any bat breed that Howard was familiar with. It's face was all wrong. He felt his hands were wet, and when he looked at it. 

It wasn't blood. 

It was…. dirt. And it came from the bat itself. 

As the brown bat became exposed in the rain... It started to melt, and turn into mud.