Vampire Hunters, #1

by Trudie Collins

  With that, he left. He knew the others wanted to speak to Craig and Sarah without him around. What they didn’t know was that he had bugged the lounge, dining room, games room and TV room so that, from his office, he could listen in on everything. He had obtained permission from Doc before doing so. Doc understood the reason. While the others needed the illusion of privacy, as their trainer, JD needed to know everything that was going on. Most trainers did the same thing. It was a closely guarded secret known only to trainers and Sanctuary leaders.

  He went directly to his office, closed the door and switched on the listening device. He didn’t use it often, usually only when he suspected that the others wanted him out of the room.

  Katie’s voice quietly came through. “So Craig, have you finally gotten around to letting Sarah know the rules?”

  “Yes. And I apologise. Again.”

  JD could picture Katie smiling at him as she continued. “No need to apologise. Just be in the arena at nine. I’ll check with JD that it’s alright for us to use it for half an hour.”

  “This is going to hurt, isn’t it?”

  “Oh I think we can guarantee that,” Simon said.

  JD continued to listen while Sarah attempted to defend Craig, but was politely told to shut up. She was given the option of watching his punishment, an invitation Craig advised her to decline.

  JD then switched off and waited for Katie to knock on the door. He took out the file he was keeping on Sarah and made a few notes. He kept files on them all and made regular update reports to Doc, who passed them on up the chain to who knew where.

  He then took out the one on his brother and scanned the page where he noted down training session attendance. Jonathon had been missing far too many recently and would need to start making some of them up.

  There was a sharp knock on the door and he called out, “Come in.”

  Katie flounced in. “Can we borrow the arena at nine? We need to teach Craig a lesson.”

  JD hadn’t been expecting her to give him the reason why, unless he asked, and was pleased that she was being so open.

  “Sure. Just try not to break anything.” He was referring to Craig’s bones and Katie knew it.

  ————————————-∞————————————-

  Sarah arrived at the arena before ten, but JD had still beaten her there. “Jason, can I ask you a question before we start?”

  It was the first time she had actually said his name since he had agreed to let her do so and it made him feel strangely calm for some reason he could not explain. He wondered how the others were going to react when she called him ‘Jason’ instead of ‘JD’ in front of them.

  “Sure.”

  “Do you have any idea what the others did to Craig? He won’t tell me.”

  JD momentarily considered abiding by Craig’s wishes, but he hadn’t asked him not to say anything to Sarah, so he told her everything she wanted to know.

  “I can’t say for sure, but my guess would be that they made him practice a group attack. Defending yourself against three trained killers is not easy so he’s probably feeling a little battered and bruised right now. I hope they used the Bo, but they may have used swords, depending on how angry they were with him.” Seeing the look on Sarah’s face, he quickly added, “Not live swords, of course.”

  Sarah was horrified. “So basically you’re telling me that they beat the crap out of him.”

  “That’s not quite how I would have put it, but yes.”

  “And you let them?”

  “Relax Sarah. He wasn’t in there long. And they do this all the time. Whenever one of them does something that the others don’t like, this is their punishment. Besides, it’s good training for them. They know not to take things too far or I will get involved and they definitely don’t want that to happen. Get used to it. Once you have been here long enough, they’ll do the same to you.”

  It was a warning which Sarah was glad that JD had given her. She had only been there a few times, yet already she was being treated as one of the family and it sounded like it was going to be just another part of it.

  The training session went well and Katie grabbed her as soon as it had finished.

  “I’m going shopping for a few hours. Now that you have been released, want to come with me?”

  “Sure, just let me get changed.” Sarah had been planning on going home as there were things she needed to do, but decided to postpone them. Katie was part of Craig’s family so she wasn’t going to miss out on the opportunity to get to know her better.

  Shopping with Katie was an exhausting experience and Sarah fell asleep in the car on the way back to the Sanctuary. She woke up as Katie pulled into the garage, parking her car next to a bright red Ferrari.

  “Looks like Jonathon has finally made it home,” Katie said. “You might have the pleasure of meeting him later.”

  As they walked toward the house, the front door opened and JD stepped outside, a slightly shorter man by his side. “Speak of the devil,” Katie said.

  Both were dressed in tight fitting black leather fighting suits. Craig had already explained to her that these were the outfits they hunted in. The leather was strong enough to protect them, but soft enough so as not to hinder their movements. Their swords were in the scabbards on their backs.

  The sight of the two men took Sarah’s breath away. She could understand why Katie had gushed so much about Jonathon. He was an incredibly good looking young man, especially dressed the way he was. His hair was so dark it was almost black, the same as JD’s. Looking at both of them, she could see the family resemblance.

  She saw JD glance across at her, noting her reaction to seeing his brother. Her eyes went wide, her pupils dilated and he almost heard her sharp intake of breath. JD felt a momentary surge of anger toward Jonathon, but quickly suppressed it. Sarah’s reaction was no different to what he had been expecting. He would have to warn Jonathon to keep his hands off her. She was now his student, which, in his eyes, made her off limits to all of them.

  “Impressive sight isn’t he?” Katie said to Sarah. Unable to speak, she just nodded her head.

  “I’ll introduce you later,” Katie continued. “JD says he has been missing too many training sessions recently so he’s taking him for a one-on-one. Looks like it’s going to be at the outdoor arena using live swords.”

  “He has my sympathy. Why has he been missing training?”

  “Not coming home at night. Too busy sleeping around. JD doesn’t mind us missing one or two a week, but Jonathon has been missing more than he has been turning up to.”

  “Why does he have his wrists bound up?” Sarah asked, noticing the leather supports he wore at the bottom of each arm.

  “He has broken both of his wrists a number of times so he now keeps the supports on whenever he’s here or out on a hunt. The only time he takes them off is when he goes to work or out on the pull or when he showers.”

  Sarah looked at her, a sly smile on her face. “And how would you know that?”

  “Lucky guess,” she replied. “Unfortunately. I often fantasise at night about what he looks like under that suit. But please don’t mention that to anyone.”

  “My lips are sealed.”

  You cheated

  Instead of waiting around to meet Jonathon, Sarah went home. She was worried that if she was still there when his training session ended, JD would find an excuse for her to stay the night so she could attend the 5am session on Sunday and that was something she definitely wanted to avoid.

  She returned the next morning at the designated time. JD spent the hour teaching her how to use a Bo correctly and was impressed at how quickly she picked it up. By the end of the session she was striking with it almost as well as some of the others.

  Craig collected her when she had finished and gave her a tour of the grounds, pointing out the running tracks through the trees and assuring her that it was impossible to get lost.

  Everyone fended for th
emselves for lunch, raiding the kitchen where there was a variety of different foods they could choose from.

  Craig and Sarah made sandwiches and took them to the dining room, where they were alone until a voice she didn’t recognise sounded behind her. “So we meet at last.”

  She turned around and watched Jonathon as he walked into the room and took a seat at the table. “The others have told me a lot about you,” he continued.

  “I’ve been told a lot about you too,” Sarah said.

  “None of it good, I bet.” He was looking at her intensely, making her feel a little uncomfortable. His hazel eyes were almost hypnotic and she had to force herself to look away. “Stand up and turn around,” he said.

  “Jonathon,” Craig protested, but Sarah shushed him.

  “It’s okay. I’d rather he assess me when I know he’s doing it.”

  She stood up and slowly turned around, feeling his eyes all over her body as she did so. He was mentally undressing her and she wasn’t sure whether she liked it or not.

  “Well they weren’t wrong about your body,” Jonathon said as she sat down again. “Not bad. Not bad at all. I can understand why Craig enjoys spending so much time with you.” He winked at Craig, who glared at him.

  “So,” he continued before Craig could say anything. “Am I as attractive as you were expecting?”

  “To be perfectly honest, no.” The smug smile dropped from Jonathon’s face. “Don’t get me wrong. You’re incredibly good looking, there’s no denying that, but as soon as you open your mouth, your personality comes through and for you that is not a good thing. Being in love with yourself is a really unattractive feature.”

  His grin returned. “Just keep telling yourself that. You’ll be in love with me by the end of the month and we both know it.” He stood up and left the room.

  “I don’t think that went very well,” Sarah said to Craig as soon as Jonathon departed.

  “Actually, I thought you handled that extremely well. I don’t think he has ever had a woman say that to him before. His bravado was just his way of handling it. My only worry now is that he’s going to go out of his way to prove he was right.”

  “Don’t worry,” Sarah said. “From what I’ve seen of him so far, I can cope with whatever he’s planning on doing.”

  “Alright. Just let me know if he goes too far and I’ll get JD to have a word with him.”

  They saw no more of him before Sarah’s afternoon session and she headed home straight afterward. Once she had left, Craig hunted him out and warned him to keep his hands off her.

  “Relax Craig. JD has already given me that warning,” Jonathon said. “Besides, she’s not my type. Even if she begs me to sleep with her, and she will, I will turn her down. Just make sure you’re around to comfort her when I do.”

  Craig didn’t bother to reply. He would be wasting his time. Jonathon was just being Jonathon and he would never change.

  ————————————-∞————————————-

  Sarah turned up for training on time on Wednesday evening and stayed for dinner afterward. Doc and Silvia were there, so Jonathon behaved.

  Nobody reacted when she called JD ‘Jason’, but he noted the look on some of their faces. They would bring it up later, after she had left.

  They didn’t disappoint him. As soon as the front door closed, the delegation arrived at his office door. It was open so Katie, Scott, Simon and Jonathon walked in without knocking.

  “Yes?” JD asked without looking up.

  “So why does Sarah get to call you Jason?” Jonathon asked. “Even our parents aren’t allowed to do that.”

  “When have either of us ever been able to allow or disallow our parents to do anything?” He had not told their mother and father to call him JD, he had requested them to, as Jonathon was well aware.

  Jonathon conceded the point. “That does not answer the question.”

  “She’s an outsider. She requested, I granted. End of story. Now is there anything else you want to question me about?”

  Simon, Scott and Katie looked nervously toward Jonathon. JD’s tone indicated he was not happy about being asked to explain himself and this could go badly for all of them if Jonathon didn’t watch what he said.

  “We just need to know what else she’s going to get away with that we wouldn’t.”

  “Alright,” JD said, much to their relief. “That’s a fair question. For anything that affects her training in any way, she will be treated no different to the rest of you. In regard to anything else, I will decide, on a case by case basis, what is the best course of action to take. Happy?”

  They weren’t, but it was the best they were going to get so they left him in peace. He had made a mistake by not insisting that Sarah call him JD and he would have to be careful not to let her get away with anything else. At least for a while. He would have to make sure he always did what he should do instead of what he wanted to do.

  ————————————-∞————————————-

  On Saturday afternoon Sarah asked JD if she and Craig could borrow the arena. She didn’t tell him what for and he didn’t ask. If he really needed to know, Craig would tell him later. JD had training sessions with both Scott and Simon later in the day, but he agreed to take them outside, leaving the arena free.

  They were in there for hours and when they finally emerged, Craig looked worn out, whereas Sarah was full of energy. She thanked Craig for his help then went home.

  Knowing that there were a lot of routines that she would need to learn, Craig had agreed to demonstrate as many for her as he could in the time they had while she videoed him. She then downloaded the recording onto her laptop and spent every free hour she had watching them, taking notes and memorising them.

  The next Saturday morning, everyone was surprised at how many of the routines she was able to make a fair go of, even Craig. She did so well that JD decided to use the others to help teach her tactics.

  The hour wasn’t up, but instead of putting on another song he ordered Sarah to go up to the balcony. He quietly told the others what he wanted and they were happy to help out.

  “Right Sarah,” he called up to her. “This is a demonstration. Observe carefully what you see because I’ll be asking you questions when it’s done.”

  He then nodded to the others and they took up positions around him. Jonathon was missing, again, so he only had four to fight. The first part of the demonstration wasn’t going to be a challenge.

  “Go,” he called out and immediately turned around, bringing his sword down on Scott’s hand, making him drop his sword. JD swung his own sword round, stopping just before it touched Scott’s neck. “You’re dead” he said and Scott stepped away.

  He picked up Scott’s sword and Katie stepped forward, slashing her sword at him as she did so. He easily blocked with his own sword then cut downward with Scott’s. If he had not pulled back he would have cut her stomach open. Knowing she was dead, she stepped back.

  JD quickly dealt with Simon and Craig then looked up at Sarah. “So why did I win? And I can assure you they didn’t take it easy on me. I am better than they are, but I should not have been able to beat four at once, so how did I?”

  “You cheated.”

  He hadn’t been expecting her to say that. “How?”

  “You went for the weakest link first. No offence Scott.”

  JD smiled. She was using her brain. “That’s good tactics not cheating. What else?”

  “It wasn’t a coordinated attack. They all acted as individuals. You weren’t fighting four people, you were fighting one after the other.”

  “Very good. Now watch again.”

  This time they worked as a team and beat him, though it wasn’t as easy as it should have been. JD was an even better fighter than Sarah had been led to believe.

  “Well?” he called to Sarah when they let him up.

  “That was incredible. You are absolutely amazing.”


  JD rolled his eyes. “I didn’t do this to show off for you Sarah,” he said. “You should have been concentrating.”

  “I was,” she said. “This time they worked together. One distracted you then the others took advantage. Do you guys fight like that when you hunt?”

  “We try to. We hunt as a team, watching each others’ backs. Not only is it more efficient, but it’s also safer for us. We have never had a serious injury since we have been together. Craig’s mishaps don’t count.”

  “What about the vampires? Do they ever work together to attack a victim or fight hunters?”

  “Not very often, but it has been known. It depends on how long the vampires in question have been turned and how long they’ve lived together.” He then glanced up at the clock. “If you have any more questions, ask them over breakfast. Now everyone get out of here.”

  Sarah did have one more thing she wanted to ask, but she waited until her one-on-one with him. It was at nine that morning as he had to fit in some time with some of the others.

  “Are you ever worried that one day they will disobey an order and gang up on you?”

  JD smiled. “No, though after this morning’s demonstration I can understand why you’re asking. They know that if they ever did that it would be the end of their life as hunters. Attacking a trainer, without their permission, is one of the biggest sins a hunter can commit.”

  “They seemed to enjoy it.”

  “Of course they did. It’s not often they get to beat me. I take them on in groups at least once a month as it’s good training for them. I try to do it with four or all five of them whenever I can just so that they will definitely win. Three at a time can go either way, depending on which three it is. Now grab a sword and show me what you learned last night.”

  Uncle craig

  Sarah’s training continued to go well for a few weeks until one Saturday morning, when she had her first real disagreement with JD. During breakfast she brought up the subject of her Wednesday night session.