Hunter's Strike

“Okay, start again. From the beginning.” Kieran sat on the sofa chair.

Arthur, Chris, and Vivian sat on the couch. Arthur leaned forward and bridged his hands. “Well, I suppose it really all started when Harris put the team together. As you know, outside of the database we’re not really organized.”

Kieran nodded. “Why did he want to employ a group of hunters?”

“At first we were just doing regular hunts, last year around Christmas time there was a spike in vampiric activity. The city was full of them. But then he started giving us specific jobs. Certain vampires he would have us capture alive and bring back to headquarters.”

“How did you manage that?”

“We had a…” Arthur paused, trying to think of the right word. “It was a containment unit of sorts, we just called it ‘the box’. It was a giant ice box, really. We used liquid nitrogen to bring the temperature down.”

“You froze the papillons? That works?”

Arthur shrugged. “Turns out nothing is impervious to extreme cold. We brought the box back, turned the vampire over to the doctor, and never saw them again.”

“The doctor you refer to would be my brother, Franz Smythe, yes?” Gregori Smythe asked. He was checking up on Angie, who was sitting on the dividing counter facing the living room. Gabriel stood in the kitchen leaning on the counter next to the fridge.

“Yes. He always displayed himself as old and frail, we never suspected he was also a vampire.”

Gregori frowned. “I would not be surprised if Franz was the true mastermind behind all of this. He has been known to go to extensive lengths for his research.”

Kieran’s brows were knit together. “Wait, I know of Franz Smythe…”

“You live in Paris, correct? He owns a practice there. He has ties with an old vampire family.”

“The Manigaults?” Angie asked before Kieran could.

Gregori gave her a strange look. “That’s right. How did you know that?”

“We ran into them earlier this year.” Angie told him. “They run a criminal organization called The Black Rose, right?”

“Yes they do. They’re one of the last large families left.” He shined a pocket flashlight in her eyes quickly, watching her pupils dilate. “The world has become so small over the centuries. We’re running out of hiding places.” His eyes grew very serious. “Those of us that do not assimilate with humans will perish.”

“I think you’re doing a good job.” Angie told him encouragingly. “Especially with Anais and Ciel. I’ve never even met humans as gentle as those two.”

“Those two are my legacy.” A note of pride entered his voice. “I’ve raised them from infants.”

“Oh? They’re your children then?”

“In a sense. Not biologically, though I was the one that turned them.” His eyes grew misty with memory. “It was such a sad day. Their mother’s came into the clinic, there was a terrible bout of pneumonia going around back then. I did everything I could to save the mothers, but I could not save the infants. They were both stillborn.”

Angie felt her heart grow heavy. “That’s awful.”

“It was a pity, but I also saw an opportunity open before me. Since the infants were dead, I could not feed them my blood. Instead I injected it into their hearts. They were moving and crying within a few hours. I’ve cared for them since that day, teaching them to look after humans.” He placed a hand on her back, feeling her heart beat. “If we can be useful to humans, perhaps they will be reluctant to destroy us.”

“Even though you’re motivated entirely by self-preservation, I think your methods are pretty sweet.” Angie told him.

“Then that means they are working.” He stepped back and gave her a once over. “Well my dear, you are as they say ‘fit as a fiddle’.”

“Yesss, I will now eat all of the ice cream.”

He gave her a mock stern look and she grinned broadly. He looked over at Gabriel. “You’d better pin my number to the refrigerator. I must go now, before those two get themselves into trouble.” He gave Angie a nod. “I’ll see myself out.”

Angie picked her legs up and spun around to the kitchen side of the counter. She hopped down and opened the refrigerator door. “I gotta get rid of all these leftovers from the party.” she announced. “So have some cheese cubes and cucumber slices.” She pulled two half empty trays out and brought them into the living room and put them on the coffee table.

“So, Franz Smythe was experimenting on the vampires you captured for him?” Kieran asked Arthur as he leaned forward to snag a cheese cube. Angie sat crosslegged on the carpet and picked at the veggies.

“Most likely. I can’t think of anything else he’d use them for. After I told Harris about Katrina Riley, he became a bit obsessed. We ended up running missions that had nothing to do with hunting, like infiltrating the fertility clinic Katrina had used while she was alive.” Arthur leaned forward and inspected the vegetable tray. His eyes moved to Angie and he gave her a confused look.

Angie was nibbling on a carrot stick very quickly, but wasn’t eating much of it. “What?”

“She likes to pretend she’s a rabbit, sometimes.” Vivian told Arthur. Chris snickered.

“How old are you?” Arthur asked sternly.

Angie threw her hands in the air. “WHAT? Can’t a grown woman eat like a rabbit sometimes?” She threw herself on the floor. “I don’t see a problem here, bunnies are cute.”

“Get off the floor, hon. It’s dirty.” Vivian told her.

Angie sighed dramatically. “I’ll have you know that I pay the bills here, you can’t treat me like this! It’s my apartment and I can do what I like! Can’t we focus on vampires again? If the hunters nabbed Katrina’s eggs, then how come it was attacked later? And how did Donovan get ahold of them?”

Arthur let out a sigh. “I stole some files from the office before I left, and from what I can gather is: Before we could steal the eggs, the facility was attacked and the eggs were stolen. Later on the eggs were transferred to Donovan, who had been hired by someone else to retrieve them.”

“We think vampire Katrina attacked the facility, but to destroy it. I don’t think she would have stolen the eggs.” Angie told him. “Someone else must have gotten to them first. So who hired Donovan?”

“If I had to make a guess, it would be Gregori Smythe.”

Angie sat up quickly. “No, he’s so nice.”

“He has admitted to doing his own research. Don’t just assume that he and his brother aren’t after the same things.”

Kieran decided to cut in. “Do you think Franz Smythe brought the samples back to Paris?”

Arthur nodded. “Getting them out of the country would be a safe move.”

“Then I will keep an ear out for any information when I return home.” Kieran promised.

“I always knew Aunt Katrina was batty…” Vivian mused. “But this is just all insane. I mean, really, who in their right mind traps a vampire in their attic?”

“Now you know why she never came to Christmas dinner at Grandma Alice’s.” Angie remarked.

“Honestly Arthur, if your boss wanted to kidnap someone related to Katrina and experiment on them, why did they go after Angie? I’m more closely related to her.”

“You don’t know anything about vampires, Viv. If he’d gone after you, I would have been suspicious right away. By going after Evangeline, he could pretend he was really after her vampire.”

“Wait.” Chris looked concerned. “Now that Mom knows about vampires, does that put her in danger?” He wrapped an arm around Vivian’s shoulders protectively. “Are these people going to go after her?”

“With Harris dead, hopefully this is all over.” Arthur said. “Though you should make sure someone stays with you for a little while.”

“You still have my room made up, right?” Chris asked her.

“No, I converted it into a sewing room.”

“Mom, you don’t sew…”

The unified discussion quickly broke apart. Arthur and Kieran talked while Chris and Vivian argued about him moving back in. Angie collapsed on her back again and stared at the ceiling. A figure stood over her, blocking out the light. “Sweetie, what are you doing down there? If you need more chairs, you could have asked me.”

“Callie!” Angie exclaimed happily. She got to her feet, then her eyes widened. “What happened to your hair?”

Callie’s thick blond curls were gone. Her hair was cut short and stuck out wildly. “I cut it, to show solidarity.” she smiled brightly.

“Solidarity to who?”

“Um, you?”

“What are you talking about?” Angie reached for her own hair, and found it different than she remembered. It had been cut short as well, and not neatly. “What happened to my hair?!” she exclaimed in horror. She gave the group an accusing look. “Why did no one tell me about my hair?” Everyone looked away. She turned to the kitchen. “Gabriel?”

“I thought you’d realized.” he answered. “You’ve been to the bathroom twice since we got home.”

“Obviously I didn’t realize!” Angie’s voice rose up high. She ran to the bathroom and inspected her reflection in the mirror above the sink. “How did I not notice this?”

Callie followed her and squeezed her shoulder gently. “It doesn’t look that bad…”

“Yes it does…” Angie moaned miserably. She tugged at the ends of her hair, trying to pull it past her chin. “It’s not even straight... Why did they do this to me?”

“I think it’s because they didn’t want to mess with your hair each time they put on your helmet for you.” Callie opened the cabinet and grabbed a pair of thin scissors. “But no worries, we can even it out and it will look lovely. Okay?”

“Okay…” Angie whimpered.

“Stop worrying. It’ll grow back in no time. Now hold still.”

After her hair was evened out and brushed, she felt much better. “It’s not terrible.” she admitted, brushing a thick lock of it over her right eye. She gave the mirror a sultry look. “It’s okay.”

“See? You’d be lost without me.”

Angie turned and hugged her. “Thanks.”

Callie hugged her briefly, then pulled back and took her hand. “You’re welcome. Now come with me. There’s someone I want you to meet.”

Someone wearing all black stood in the kitchen. They were wearing a large black hooded sweatshirt with the hood pulled up, shading their face. They had their hands in their pockets. “Sybil?” Angie walked over to her.

Sybil raised her head a little, wary of the kitchen light. Her skin was pale gray and her eyes were red. Angie put a hand on her shoulder in concern. “Sybil, what happened to you?”

“It’s all right.” Callie said gently. “I turned her. She’s going to be sensitive to the light for a while, and she can’t talk much, but I wanted you to meet her right away.”

Angie’s eyes stung. “But why? I liked Sybil… Callie, why would you do this?”

“Don’t be sad, sweetie, this was something we both decided on.”

Angie stared at Sybil sadly. “You really wanted to die?”

Sybil removed one hand from her pocket, careful to keep it hidden inside her long sleeve. She put it over Angie’s hand. “No.” she said carefully, as if not used to speaking. “I wanted to live.”

Angie put her arms around Sybil’s shoulders and pulled her close. Sybil rested her head on her shoulder and hugged her back. “You’re my friend no matter what, okay?” Angie told her. Sybil nodded.

Callie smiled. “I’m so glad she remembers you.”

Sybil pulled away. “I’m strong.” she said excitedly. “See?” She punched the refrigerator, denting the metal.

“Okay, let’s not destroy the appliances.” Callie said, taking Sybil’s arm and putting it back down at her side.

“It didn’t hurt.” she told Angie, who looked worried, but for her refrigerator.

“I think we’ve had enough social interaction for today, sweetie.” Callie said nervously. “Let’s go back downstairs.”

Sybil put her head on Callie’s shoulder as they headed for the door. “Can we watch TV?”

“Of course we can.”

Angie rubbed her face with both hands. “Oh man, it’s been a long day…” She looked around for Gabriel, but didn’t find him. She headed back in the living room. Everyone was still talking energetically. She was tired, but not yet ready to kick everyone out and head to bed.

She spotted Gabriel sitting on the ledge just outside the living room window. There was a space about two feet wide that ran the length of the window, edged by large crenellations. Gabriel sat on one of the crenellations, one foot braced on another a couple of feet away.

She knocked on the window and he turned. She lifted her hands up. “How did you even get out there?” she asked.

He pointed at the window about a foot above her. She looked up and spotted a small handle. She turned it and the window swung inwards. “This thing opens?” she asked in wonder. “This is the best apartment ever!”

“Come out.” he said. “Close the window.”

She stepped out onto the ledge warily, pulling the window closed behind her. The noise from the living room immediately ceased. “Ah, that’s nice.” she sighed.

“Sit down before you fall.” he told her. He moved his leg and reached over to shift a clear bottle out of her way.

“I see Donovan left behind some booze as well.” she commented. She sat on the ledge, just behind a crenellation. She put each leg between two of them to brace herself.

“Just a little. Would be a shame let it go to waste.”

“Yeah, probably.” She leaned on the crenellation and looked down ten stories to the ground. “Whoa, vertigo.” She looked out at the skyline.

She pointed to a construction project going on at the corner of the street. “Once that building goes up, this whole view is going to be ruined.”

“Then we’d better enjoy it while we can.”

“Yeah…” She looked over at him and smiled.

“Is there something wrong?” he asked her.

“Nope. Would I be smiling if something was wrong?”

His dark eyes narrowed. “Yes?”

“It’s not a trick question, geez.”

“Then why are you smiling?”

“Cause, when you drink you lose your filter. I’m waiting to hear what else comes out of your mouth.”

He put down the bottle he was holding. “I think I’m done for now.”

She picked the bottle up and held it out to him. “No, uh uh. This is still half full. What happened to not letting things go to waste?”

“It’s not fair to have an advantage over me.” He took the bottle from her.

“It’s only a problem if you don’t enjoy it.” she teased. He looked away and put the bottle to his lips. Angie laughed lightly.

She looked behind her, back into the living room. Vivian and Arthur were talking now. Kieran and Chris were in the kitchen raiding the fridge. “Are you being missed?” Gabriel asked.

“Nah.” she said. “They’re good. I just hope Kieran doesn’t miss his plane.”

“He might decide to catch a later one.” Angie frowned. “Would you not like that?”

“It’s not like I would mind or anything,” she replied. “but he should get back to the school.”

“He’s expressed interest in taking you out.”

She looked back at him. “He told you that?”

“He wanted to know what I thought you’d say.”

“Well, what did you tell him?”

“I think I made it clear that I couldn’t help him.”

Angie’s frown deepened disapprovingly. “Wait, was that when you two were fighting? Did he punch you because you were being vague like you always are?”

“It’s possible, but who can really say?” She gave him an exasperated look. He quickly finished his bottle.

She sighed. “Thanks for the heads up. I’ll have to let him down gently.”

“You don’t approve of him, then?”

“It’s not that I don’t like him.” Angie leaned back, peering into the kitchen. “I mean he’s nice. A bit on the handsome side.” She turned away. “But I don’t see it working out. He lives in another country.”

“I’m sure he’s not thinking of anything long term.” Gabriel assured her.

“Still, I’d rather date someone that lives on this side of the ocean. Just in case I get attached.”

“That sounds quite sensible.” he said approvingly.

“Why thank you. Coming from a drunk vampire, that’s very reassuring.”

“I don’t think I’m that drunk.”

“Oh yeah? Answer me this: who actually started the fight between you two?”

“He threw the first blow, but I was being purposefully unhelpful. I didn’t like the way he assumed you’d approve of his advances before he even asked.” He paused. “I really do lose my filter, don’t I?”

“You still have a bottle left.”

“It would be best to save that for another time before I embarrass myself.”

Angie yawned loudly. “You’re right. I should kick everyone out and go to bed.” She got up and headed back into the living room. She dusted off her jeans and clapped her hands. “I’m tired. Go home.” She made a shooing motion towards the door.

Everyone gathered their things and started filing out. “Make sure you rest.” Vivian told her. “Don’t let your nightowl roommate keep you up. You need time to recover.”

Angie kissed her mother’s cheek. “Don’t worry, Mom. I’m sure at this point I could sleep through a tornado.”

Chris gave her a big hug before he left. Kieran kissed her hand lightly. Arthur was the last to leave. “If it’s alright with you…” he began. “I don’t want to be a stranger anymore.”

“I’ll think about it.” she told him. “Maybe. If you stay sober. And stop hunting.”

“I’m willing to try.”

“Then I’ll try to think about it.”

After they were all gone, she leaned her head on the door. Her arms dangled from their sockets. She heard the window open and looked up. “You heading to bed, too?” she called.

Gabriel shut the window and locked it. “Your nap idea sounded too good to pass up.”

She shut off the light in the kitchen just as he turned off the lamp on the side table. “Hold on, my eyes are still adjusting.” She banged her hip into the counter when she passed it. “Ow!”

He put an arm under her hand, offering her support. “Careful.”

She stepped into the light coming from the window. “I’m all right now.”

“Have a good night.” he turned towards his door.

She grabbed his arm. “Wait.”

He turned back to her. “What is it?”

She bit her lip uncertainly. “Do you always forget everything that happens when you drink?”

“I’m not sure, actually, why-” his words were cut off when she suddenly leaned forward and pressed her mouth against his.

He was so startled he froze in place. She pulled away and stared at him for the longest second. Then she made a face. “Wow, that stuff IS strong.” she remarked on her way to her room. “Good night.” she said over her shoulder before closing the door behind her.

Gabriel stood in the living room for a long time, trying to discern what had just happened.