Fulko, Bertie and I were given the tour of the town. There were still about 159 families living here. One new family moved here from far away. They were rich it seemed. It would be a good idea to check in on them later. It could not simply be a coincidence that this happens right after a new family moves in. The rest of the townsfolk were living by their means with hunting, fishing and farming. I asked them what really happened to them. The chief, his son and the priest shared a look before dismissing the crowd. They children whined, but one stern look from the chief was enough to send them running. We were brought back to the house we would be staying in for the time being. Once Pentora, Voxex and Wesez were able to join us, they started telling us what went down. The new family, the Jewelbloods, had been living in a manor at the top of the hill for a year now. About a month ago, Veronica Dustly had come down with an illness. She was anemic and pale and complaining of pain in her neck. The area had been bite marks there after all. They thought it was a large bug that did it to her.
Veronica died a few days later. It was a very sad day for the town as she was a model citizen. She was a dutiful housewife and mother of 5 children. Many people were angry at the Jewlbloods as they had professed to be a family of doctors and they had said she would be fine. I could understand their resentment. "Did any of the members of the Jewelbloods actually see her or did they wave you guys off?" I asked. That was very important. The chief's son balled his fists and said "They didn't even let her go inside! Those bastards!" The chief put a hand on his son's shoulder. "It's as he says." was all the chief added. "Then what happened?" Fulko asked. The priest sighed deeply. "We buried her and mourned. It was fine until a week later when her husband claimed to have seen her. We didn't believe him. We said harsh things to him that we shouldn't have." he said sadly. "He died just 3 days later." the chief informed us. "Was the whole family wiped out?" Bertie asked. He shook his head. "It took us seeing Richard's sister and his eldest dying before we took it seriously. It was too late."
Since it had spread outside of the Dustly home, it was a serious concern. Richards sister seemingly spread it to her household and then it all took off from there. People were pale and weak, always with the bite marks on the neck. I had suspected that this was due to vampires for a long time. This was nearly confirming it. I sighed and said "What do the infected do and say when they're walking around before death?" I asked. "They say that they met their loved ones during the night. We ignored it. The ones they claim to see were the very same people we buried before." the chief said. "Has anyone been out at night or stayed up with the deceased to see if their claims were true?" I prompted. The chief looked blankly at me for a moment. "We have a curfew in the evenings. Everyone is home during the night." It was too automatic of a response. I looked at the others, and they also seemed confused. "But father, you've never told us why." This made the chief turn to him. "I keep telling you and Oliver! It keeps us safer." "How so!?" the priest questioned. The chief looked very confused again.
