Mina was tired. She’d been out in some tiny ass town for ages just taking photographs of various features from a vine covered building to the local houses. Some of the residents had come out to question the mysterious blonde and had been pleasantly surprised when they found out she was quite capable of speaking to them in their native tongue of Romanian. When it turned out she was not just some tourist, they were far friendlier though still cautious and suspicious. With the revelation of her last name, Lupei, they were far more welcoming still, inviting her in to homes for food and spirits. After all, Lupei was a Romanian surname.
She had sent Lorelei and her bodyguards back to the inn early. They’d gone quite obligingly. After all, they didn’t expect anything to happen in a small Romanian village. Mina was saying goodbye to another group of villagers, wanting to find her way into her rented bed and hoping that there wouldn’t be any fleas or bedbugs. It wasn’t like there was a Hilton in the area. And what she wouldn’t give for a damn Hilton. There were no lights on the roads – no cars. In the distance she could hear the clip-clop of horse hooves but they weren’t getting any closer.
As Mina passed a thick copse of pine, she thought she felt eyes watching her but convinced herself it was likely just an animal and if she kept moving, it would not bother her. Unfortunately, she was wrong. There was a sort of bee sting feeling in her neck and her eyes went wide. Almost frozen, she languidly reached up to find what had stung her but never found it before she collapsed to the ground. Through the blur, she could hear footsteps – many feet. There were voices as well but she couldn’t make out what they were saying let alone whether they were male or female. Crap.