I shook my head, making my way outside.
It was still cool enough, making a brisk walk actually enjoyable. The sun would be baking down on us in a little while, but I would hopefully be at the village by that time, hoping that the walk wasn’t as long as Bram had suggested. Part me wondered if he exaggerated, trying to scare me. Maybe he was in cahoots with Rog all along.
It was time for me to get some sun. It would be a welcome distraction after recent events.
"Too much has been happening," I said aloud, looking around the open expanses surrounding me. "Seriously, since when are demons contained to a single spot in the world? And what are the chances that he's the actual inspiration for Dracula, if not the vampire himself? It can't be a coincidence that he's this close to the castle."
There was nobody else around to hear me, but hearing my voice bouncing back at me told me just how nuts my whole life had become.
The village was coming up quicker than I thought, and I knew that Bram had mislead me. I could feel the sun beating down on my shoulders, and I thankfully found myself some shade under a large oak at the edge of the town. Up ahead was an open courtyard with what looked like a farmer’s market, a large stone town hall behind it with a pointy roof. Beyond that, cobblestone streets lead to store cottage like houses.
It was a lot less medieval up close, I realized. There were stalls set out, selling a variety of local products, but each stall had their own credit card machines, and as Bram told me, there were more than enough tourists heading up to the castle.
I headed closer to inspect the market.
"It has to be intentional," I whispered. "So less the village that time forgot and more one that's kept this way to attract more outside money."
"Are you talking to yourself?"
I turned to see that Bram was sitting nearby. The old man had a stall of his own, selling a variety of cheeses and other products while he sat in the shade, fanning himself slowly.
"More and more each day, I've come to realize," I answered, tilting my head, studying Dracul calmly curled up in the shade as well. "Why did you tell me the village was so far?"
"Well it is easy to get lost in the woods, and I was worried you’d go the wrong way."
My right eyebrow shot up at his response, but I left it at that. "How's business today?"
"Already sold more than yesterday. There was a tourist group stopping by on their way to the castle. From Wisconsin, they said they were. They knew a great deal about cheese."
"They tend to do that," I said, approaching and looking over his produce. "They call themselves cheese heads. I would have gone with curds myself. Seems a little less... self-degrading."
"Nothing wrong with cheese, I don't think."
"I didn't... I didn't mean it like that." I rubbed my eyes with one hand, feeling something cold and wet pressing against the other.
A quick look down and I could see Dracul had risen from the ground and was nuzzling my hand gently.
"He does appear to like you." Bram chuckled. "Not many that he does, although I've never been able to determine the why of his reasoning."
"He either does or he doesn't," I said, scratching the hefty black dog behind the ears. "I've come to trust the instincts of a dog over that of humans any day."
"A good idea. Hounds have good instincts."
Something flickered into my attention. Not into my eyesight, but I felt it, like static electricity suddenly lighting up. I could sense someone using magic near me.
I turned to look at one of the stall owners. There was something about him that had me narrowing my eyes, but once I was able to focus, there was nothing out of the ordinary. The man was picking out fresh and delicious-looking fruits from a basket on his table, fresh fruits and setting them out for the next group of tourists to buy.
The idea occurred to me of joining the group and seeing if whatever was keeping me here would be able to physically stop me from leaving if I was being driven by someone else.
But that was something to think about later.
Dracul was standing next to me, eyeing the owner of the fruit stall. His lips were peeled back, and the fur on his back was standing on end,