Chapter Text
The Appalachians were a world unto themselves, its own country within a country.
Brad had been all over the world, well, the parts of it infected with war and US military interference and these ancient mountains were just as alien.
Just as fucking annoying to navigate through.
He pushed aside yet another tree branch and found some weird sticky residue left behind on his hand. Sigh.
He was tracking someone.
Whoever it was knew some shit, knew enough to know that he couldn’t get a good handle on their smell if they wore garlic.
Garlic. Now that was old school. Brad almost approved.
A lot of myths and legends about supernatural creatures were accurate, to a point. Much more of them were just wrong, and some were applicable regardless of the other-worldly nature of the recipient – as Ray often said ‘I mean, cutting your head off’s pretty much gonna incapacitate you, whether you’re human or not’
Brad wasn’t so much allergic to garlic as it shut down a lot of his senses, but he was old enough to know that the absence of something could also indicate the presence of another.
He was following that weird scent-sink through the woods, noting as he went that some tree limbs had been pulled back and were being held taut by wires, no doubt waiting for an errant foot to send them springing back at him.
Honestly, this kind of Macgyvering in the woods just made it more dangerous for the local fauna, and damaged the local flora.
“Hey!”
Brad looked up from where he’d just stepped over an obvious tripwire and into the end of a wooden arrow.
The woman, decorated with a garland of garlic and holding the bow steady, didn’t take her eyes off him.
“You’ve just walked right into a trap, bloodsucker.”
“Yes, I know.”
The thing about walking into a trap was...
“Don’t move.”
“Wasn’t planning on it.”
...you knew where not to step…
She stiffened, eyes widening a little at the sudden low rolling boil of a growl from behind her.
...if you’re the one who’d set it.
Brad grinned at the ensuing flurry of movement, the point of one of his sharp teeth flashing in the dusk.