Vampires

{I tried to keep direct identifying references very vague and tried to keep it fairly brief. I hope this post is alright. If not, please let me know, and I'll edit it.}

Nebbula, finally healed enough from the injuries she received from her fight almost a week ago, grabbed her empty basket from the hook on her cave wall and walked to the entrance, not noticing the basket of supplies just inside the cave entrance she was told would possibly be there. Not needing to kneel, she moved some of the fauna she tended to that hid her cave home from immediate sight to check around... remembering her mysterious visitor who helped her tend to her wounds... his magnetically alluring voice still in her head and affecting her in ways she didn't yet understand. Shaking her head to bring herself back to the present, she once again looked around outside her home, doing her best to stay in the present, not to think about his voice, and to make sure it was safe to leave her home for supplies. She wasn't ready to meet someone else yet. As she looked again, she thought she briefly saw a figure in the distance in red and black with a sword.

She looked again... even took a few steps out into the fauna, knowing she was hidden by it... straining her eyes as she carefully scanned the area.

'It must have been my imagination. There wouldn't be someone out this far in the Vale... would there?' Nebula asked herself as she took a deep breath, gripped her empty basket a little harder, and slowly made her way through the woods towards a berry patch she normally passes when she goes for vines, bark, used cocoons, and herbs. After about fifteen minutes, she reached the berry patch, put her arm through the basket handle, and started picking the berries until her basket was full. 'I hope I'm still safe in my cave... I don't have anywhere else to go.' she thought as she absently looked at the berries she collected. She saw some vines growing on the trees a few feet from the berry bushes and smiled.

"I can't leave those behind. I'm running out of the yarn I made last month. " Nebula said aloud to herself, under the assumption she was alone. She withdrew her dagger as she approached the vines and carefully cut them away from the tree, being careful to harvest only the vines within her reach and not overdo it since she knew the wound on her back wasn't as healed as the other wounds she sustained. As she worked, she heard a snap in the near distance. Nebula froze briefly before she quickly pulled on the vine to gather it in her hands and spun her body to hide behind the tree, since it was big enough.

Not daring to look, she strained her ears to try to pinpoint whether anyone showed up at the berry patch. Nebula closed her eyes, slowed her breathing, and tried to calm her racing heart. As she listened, she heard movement, though she couldn't tell if it was humanoid or animal. Nebula squeezed her eyes shut even tighter, took a deep, shaky breath, and held it there as she listened. Scared to move, she kept herself there as still as she could. For how long, she wasn't sure.

Suddenly, she felt a few raindrops hit her forehead. Nebula opened her eyes to the rain and slowly turned her body until she was able to look towards the berry patch, hoping that the only thing she saw was animals and fauna. Nebula quickly scanned the area, her abilities somehow dormant since the fight. Breathing out a sigh of relief since she didn't see anyone, she stepped out from behind the tree, checked her basket, wound the vines up she had just before she heard the snap, collected just one more, and then made her way back to her hidden cave home... completely oblivious to yet another individual, hidden in the shadows, observing her curiously with a slightly pained expression on his face... appearing determined to learn more about her... and her origional observer yet again watching her from a distance as he followed her, completely out of Nebula's sight.