Chapter 3: The people in the mountain cave.

Egan took Uri very deep into the forest until a waterfall fell from the top of the mountain to stop.

"Our abode is behind this waterfall; join me in it."

Uri looked at the tall waterfall with white foam, not knowing what was behind it. Egan pointed to a ledge in the middle of the waterfall.

"You see that ledge over there? There is a cave door. You should be like me."

He jumped straight into the waterfall and disappeared behind it. The height from the ground to the ledge was very high. Uri had never tried to jump that high, so he was a bit scared. But Egan can do it; indeed, he can too.

He took the momentum to plunge into the waterfall exactly where Egan had just jumped. The water poured down and soaked his clothes when he crossed the waterfall. Fortunately, he landed on the wet ground in the mountain cave behind the waterfall.

The cave is vast; inside, there is only darkness and the sound of Egan's footsteps. Uri could see everything clearly in the dark and quickly followed Egan into the cave. Cold drops of water fell from the sharp stalactites on the dome, making the stone floor extraordinarily wet and cold.

Going through a few turns, Uri saw a relatively wide, dry space outside. In the corner of the cave was a fire, surrounded by many people, from which the smell of firewood and meat soup came out.

"Egan, who did you bring back?" A woman with a thin body stood up and stared at Uri.

"He was chased and killed by them, I accidentally met him wandering in the forest, so I brought him here." Egan walked over to the fire and took a breath. "Why don't you cook rabbit soup with potatoes?"

"The potatoes are gone. No one dares to go out during the day." The woman answered and walked over and took Uri's hand. "Poor, you are too young. Sit down here!"

The woman's friendliness helped Uri feel more secure. He sat down on a rock and looked around. Many old mattresses were on the cave floor, and clothes were hanging on the cliffs. The musty smell made him find it difficult to breathe. There were no lights here except for the fiery red stove cooking food.

Egan brought two bowls of hot soup, sat down next to Uri, and gave him one.

Uri took the bowl of soup, shoveling a spoonful into his mouth. The smell of rabbit soup was very similar to what Jane cooked; he missed her and his family.

"Why were you discovered and chased by them?" The woman brought her soup bowl and sat beside Uri on a rock.

"Humans raised him. They lie and hide so much that he doesn't know who he is." Egan said and ate the soup deliciously.

"Unfortunately, if they didn't find out, you would have lived a free life like a human." The woman said.

Uri asked Egan and the woman. "Can you explain why you live here, and why do you say I am not human?"

"We were all discovered and killed by the Red Leaves. We escaped and found this secret cave." Mr. Egan replied. "Do you know anything about vampires?"

"Yes, I have read a lot about vampires." Uri shoveled a spoonful of soup into his mouth, wanting to eat this delicious hot food more than the dry packets of biscuits in his backpack.

"So, what did you read?" Egan asked.

Uri recalls what he already knows about vampires. He began to list the characteristics of vampires. "Vampires have tremendous power, sucking human blood to live; anyone who gets sucked in blood will die or turn into a vampire. The sun burns their skin, and they often go out at night to hunt their prey, very afraid of the church, will die when the wooden stake pierces the heart."

Egan finished the bowl of soup, smiled, and said: "Everything you know is untrue. Humans deliberately spread like this so that the next generation will misunderstand us."

"Misunderstanding about us?" Uri looked at Egan in surprise.

"You're like me; we're both vampires," Egan replied calmly; he stared at the changes in Uri's face.

Uri was scared and dropped the bowl of soup on the ground. "What do you say? Am I a vampire? I don't believe it! I have parents and a younger sister; we live very happily. No one says I'm a vampire."

"Then why were you being chased by the Red Leaves? Why do you have night vision? Why do you run faster than humans? Please explain." Egan said.

"But I never sucked human blood. I don't know what the Red Leaf organization is, so how can I explain why they chased and killed me?" Uri is irritable.

The woman brought Uri another bowl of soup and gently sat beside him.

"The Red Leaf Organization is an organization that specializes in killing people like us. Everything you know about vampires is wrong. We don't have power, we don't suck blood, we don't kill, and no one turns into a vampire if bitten; we can go to church like humanity. But because of a grudge that has lasted for thousands of years, they still seek to kill us."

Uri took the new bowl of soup and ate some more. Although the information about the Red Leaf organization he could accept, the fact that they said he was a vampire, he didn't want to believe it. 

"I don't know those things, and I'm not a vampire; I'm just sick. My dad made an appointment to pick me up. I'll ask him about it."

Egan was about to speak, but the woman stopped him. "Give him more time; this is very difficult for him to accept."

"Where did you meet your father, and when will he come to pick you up?" Egan changed the topic of conversation.

"Our family has a wooden house near a stream. I've been looking all morning but can't find it." Uri replied and finished the bowl of soup.

"There is such a house on the other side of the forest." Suddenly, a brown-haired young man sitting by the fire stood up and approached Uri. "If you want, I will guide you there."

"That's great, thank you!" Uri grabbed his outstretched hand. "I'm Uri."

"I'm Finn." The young man sat down on a rock near Uri. "Calm down. I didn't dare to believe that I wasn't human before. Now that the Red Leaves have discovered you, your father won't dare to hide everything from you anymore; ask him. I think you will believe him."

"I'll ask him." Uri handed the finished soup to the woman, bent down to collect the soup he had spilled earlier, and looked at Finn. "How long have you been here?"

"I have been here for over thirty years, but someone has had to hide here for a hundred years." Finn pointed at Egan. "He's been here for over eighty years, so I know this place because he's always looking for people who are being chased and killed."

Uri looked at Egan in surprise, and his appearance was only in his forties; how could he be here for more than eighty years? And the young man named Finn, he guessed only a few years older than himself, claimed to have been here for more than thirty years. Maybe they were lying to him.

"You think I trust you?"

"I know you don't believe me." Finn shrugged. "But you can rest assured when you believe; we will welcome you and not abandon you. You see us as young because vampires have a lifespan of over five hundred years."

Uri was silent. He didn't want to hear myths from these strangers. But there was one thing he was pretty curious about.

"Where do you guys buy food here?"

Finn laughed. "We rarely go to human settlements. When night falls, we hunt wild animals. This forest is under our watch; if there is any movement from the Red Leaves organization, we will know."

The rest of them finished their soup and went to stand around Uri. They all held no hostility towards him; they just looked at him with pitying eyes. A man with silver hair said.

"Be careful when you go out; if you get caught by them, they'll kill you."

"I will guide him to that wooden house, everyone rest assured." Finn looked at Uri and added, "Whenever you want to go, I'll take you."

"I want to go now." Uri stood up. "I want to see my dad. If I don't go there, he'll have to wait for me."

Finn also got up and went to the mouth of the mountain cave. "Let's go!"

Uri thanks Egan and the cave dwellers and runs after Finn, jumping out of the waterfall. It was already dark outside, but the darkness did not stop their footsteps.

"When night falls, the area is quite safe." Finn walked very fast, his feet stepping on the low bushes. "A few decades ago, life was easier. Now people have developed technology, so we live more difficult; I'm afraid that we will not be able to survive in a few decades."

The words of the group of cave dwellers shook his faith. But the person he trusted the most was Clement. If Clement said he was a vampire, he would believe it.