Nightfall, was getting close. Mithias sighed heavily in frustration as the trail became confused at the point of a large rock. Darkness would only give his adversaries an edge and his allies a deficit. Night-vision goggles were a pathetic approximation of a vampire's sight and senses. Any humans would be scrambling to make up for their losses. Certainly Magnus and his vampires would relocate, if not renew the attack after dark. Mithias had to hurry. 

The vampire stopped the jet, popped open the canopy, and jumped to the ground. Relaying his instructions with a small control panel, he sent the jet off into a holding pattern on its own. With the scream of the aircraft now gone, Mithias went to examining his surroundings on a more personal level. The blood on the original trail had its own identifying scent, clearly distinguishable from human blood. Mithias could easily tell the difference... the fact was, he had acquired a taste for vampire blood. His primary purpose in SOLDIER was hunting and killing vampires. Humans hardly ever became so much of a problem that someone needed to die. When he killed a vampire, he would feed on them, gaining a small portion of their strength. Mithias had been in SOLDIER a long time.

The trail did split three ways, but only one way had any small drop of that precious scent of power. The choice was clear, and the river was only a two-way split, as logically, Magnus would have gone either up or down stream. Mithas started walking downstream, his senses on high alert for any scent, sound, or broken branch. He was getting closer. Other rebel vampires had probably ran back this way, and their trails would converge on the same area. Speaking of which... there would no doubt be some of them keeping watch. Mithias moved himself closer to the trees alongside the river. The fading light was just right to reveal a humanoid shape just up the rise. 

Drawing his blades silently, Mithias moved in close enough to charge. He couldn't see over the rise, but he didn't hear anything, so attacking this sentinel was a risk he was willing to take. The vampire had not even time to turn around to the sound of footfalls in the dirt before Mithias drove his right blade into his right side and across his insides through both lungs. With the left blade, he cut across the lookout's throat, opening his windpipe and spilling dark blood. The vampire was fairly young and already wounded. He didn't get a chance to make a sound, but his death had been swift and merciful. Mithias always felt a pang of regret when a youth was killed, as if it were a human. ...poor chap had just made some wrong choices. A poor choice for a guard, nonetheless. 

Mithias laid the body down and checked to see that he had not been seen. There was a cave opening not far from there. Mithias signaled his jet to double back before he crept closer.