“Oh God,” Sarah groaned. “Is it too late to tell Jason I’ve changed my mind?”
Jonathon laughed and moved away. “I don’t think he would take that very well sis.”
“Please don’t call me that,” Sarah said as Craig took the seat that Jonathon had just vacated. It was the first time since she and JD had gotten together that Sarah had joined the others and they were surprised when she and Craig cuddled up on the sofa.
“You’d better not let JD catch you two together like that,” Scott said.
“He’ll be fine with it,” Sarah said.
“I very much doubt it. But don’t let me stop you. After all, it’s Craig’s balls on the line, not mine.”
Sarah felt so relaxed in Craig’s arms that she fell asleep. Nobody heard the front door close, but as soon as JD knocked on the door they paused the film. They wanted to see what would happen.
JD walked into the TV room and immediately spotted Sarah and Craig. That explained why the room had suddenly gone silent and everyone was watching him closely.
He walked behind the sofa, noticing that Craig tensed as he approached.
“Is she alright?” he asked.
“Yeah, just tired. She isn’t getting enough sleep. Especially on weekends.”
JD was not sure the accusation was justified. It wasn’t entirely his fault; Sarah was just as much to blame. He decided to ignore the insinuation.
He gently stroked her cheek and her eyes fluttered open. “Hi,” she said sleepily.
“Sorry sweetheart, but I still have more work to do. Go back to sleep and I’ll collect you later.” She nodded and closed her eyes once more.
“I’ll be in my office,” he said to Craig. “Send someone to get me when you want to go to bed.” Then he looked at Sarah more closely. “Is that your jumper she’s wearing?”
“She got cold.” JD rolled his eyes.
He left the room, but paused in the doorway. “Sorry I wasn’t entertaining enough for you. You can press play again now.”
He closed the door behind him, not caring what the reaction would be. He had work to do and that would need his full concentration.
“That’s not how I was expecting him to react,” Katie said.
“I told you,” Sarah murmured, smiling smugly to herself.
Just over an hour later, Jonathon knocked on JD’s office door. “We’re off to bed. You should think about doing the same thing.”
JD looked at his watch. “You’re probably right.” Work would have to wait until the morning.
He went to the TV room and picked Sarah up, doing his best not to wake her.
“Thanks,” Craig said as he stretched out. “I was beginning to lose feeling in my arm.”
JD carried her upstairs and Craig opened his bedroom door for him. “Let me know if you need help undressing her. I know from experience how difficult it can be.”
“I’m sure I can manage. If not, I’ll just have to wake her.”
“Don’t you dare.” JD winked at him then kicked the door shut.
The next morning, as he left for work, JD kissed Sarah goodbye. “See you tonight.”
“I thought Sarah couldn’t come over on Thursdays,” Simon said.
“She can’t. I’m staying at her place tonight.”
Jonathon was the first person to realise what that meant. “Are you going to make this a regular thing?” he asked.
“I don’t know yet, but you can wipe that smile off your face. Craig has already agreed to take the 5am session tomorrow and I will be expecting a full report.”
He kissed Sarah once more before adding, “And no you can’t borrow the arena to punish him for following my orders.”
————————————-∞————————————-
The following evening, JD and Sarah had their regular training session. He got her arm pinned behind her back, reprimanded her for letting him get her in that position, kissed her, then released her.
She then attacked him aggressively, forcing him backward until he was almost touching the wall. At the last minute he swivelled his hips, allowing her momentum to turn her around. He dropped his sword, grabbed her wrists and held them high above her head. Then he kissed her again. When she started to respond a little too enthusiastically, he stepped back. “Not here,” he said.
“Why not?” she asked. “Making love while surrounded by all these weapons is one of my fantasies.”
“Not going to happen.”
He heard movement from above and glanced up at the viewing gallery. Craig was scowling at him. He watched as he walked away, slamming the door behind him.
“Who was that?” Sarah asked
“Craig. You may want to go and shower. I have a feeling he wants to talk to me alone.”
“Are you coming to join me?”
“Once I am finished with Craig.”
Craig walked into the arena as soon as Sarah had left. He was shaking with anger. “Stop using training sessions as foreplay.”
JD couldn’t help smiling at him. “It’s not my fault weapons turn her on.”
“Are you actually teaching her anything? No, on second thoughts, don’t answer that. I don’t want to know.”
JD let the smile drop from his face. “Soon she will be fighting vampires and I won’t be there to protect her, at least for the first few times. Do you honestly think I’m not doing everything I can to make sure she can look after herself?”
JD’s comment shocked the anger out of Craig. “What do you mean you won’t be there?”
“She doesn’t want me to be. She thinks she will be too much of a distraction.”
“She has obviously never seen you in action.”
“Craig. She’s right. Until I know she can keep herself safe, she will be my only concern and that won’t be fair on the rest of you.”
Craig stared at him. “You don’t want her to go on a hunt.”
“Of course I don’t, but I can hardly stop her while I’m still doing it, can I?”
“Is she ready?”
“More ready than any of the rest us were when we were first sent out into the field.”
“Damn. I had hoped we had a while longer before we would have to face this. Does she know? Is she asking to be allowed to go hunting?”
JD shook his head. “She’s waiting for the rest of you to let Doc know that you are happy to go out with her. Which you’re going to have to do soon.”
“I know,” Craig said.
The next morning, Doc called JD into his office. “I want you to take Sarah out this afternoon.”
“That won’t be a problem. Can I ask why?”
“I want to talk to the others without you two around.” JD didn’t need to ask what about. He didn’t tell Sarah and she wasn’t suspicious about him taking her hiking.
Doc called a family meeting in the dining room. Only Silvia was not present.
“You’ve all been training with Sarah for a while now. Is she ready for her first hunt?”
All immediately said yes, except for Craig. He looked across the table at Doc. “They don’t know, do they?” He knew that JD would have discussed his and Sarah’s decision with Doc.
“No, not yet,” he said.
“Don’t you think you should have told them before they voted?”
“No, I don’t.”
“What aren’t you telling us?” Katie asked.
Doc ignored the question. “I need your answer Craig. Then you can let them know.”
Craig didn’t respond immediately. “Do I want her to go on a hunt? No, of course I don’t. When I agreed to let her be trained I never thought she would get this far. Is she ready? Yes, unfortunately she is.”
“I will inform JD.” Craig waited until Doc had left the room before telling the rest what they needed to know.
“JD won’t be joining us on Sarah’s first few hunts.” He expected to be inundated with questions he might not be able to answer, but there was only one. Why?
Jonathon answered it before Craig needed to. “To keep us safe. He knows we have become reliant on him. We take more risks when he is with us because we know he’s there to help us if we need him. We’re a lot more careful when he isn’t around.”
Craig took over. “And if Sarah is with us, JD will be too busy concentrating on her to look out for the rest of us.”
It made sense and nobody questioned JD’s logic.
“It must have been hard for him to make that decision. You know how much he hates us going out without him there to keep an eye on us,” Scott said.
“He hides it well, but you can see how stressed he has been when we get back,” Simon said. “I dread to think what he’s going to put himself through if we have Sarah with us as well.”
“All we can do is let him know that we will protect her the best we can,” Craig said.
————————————-∞————————————-
Less than a week later, Sarah went hunting. They were all in the TV room, watching a film, when the alarm went off. JD tensed. Everyone began to move, but he called out, “Wait.”
He then turned to Sarah, who was still laying on the sofa next to him. “Are you sure you want to do this?” She nodded her head. “Then go get changed. I’ll get your sword for you. I just want a quick word with the others.”
He waited until the alarm went quiet before he spoke again. Doc would have switched it off when he went to collect the address they needed to go to, sent through from Sanctuary 7.
JD stood up and began nervously pacing the floor. “As you are probably aware, I won’t be coming with you this time. You have all hunted without me before so you know what to do. Be alert. Remember I’m not there to watch your backs so keep a closer watch on each other.”
“Don’t worry,” Jonathon said. “We’ll look after Sarah.”
“This is the hardest thing I have ever had to say, but don’t. Do not pay any more attention to her than you do each other. Don’t try to give her any special protection. Your minds need to be on the job, not on her. She knows how to take care of herself. Understand?”
Everyone nodded, not daring to let themselves speak. That was the last thing they had expected him to say.
“Good luck. Make sure you come back in one piece or you’ll have me to deal with.” Without another word, he left the room and went to the arena to get Sarah’s live sword.
He knocked on her door and walked into her room as she was just finishing doing up her suit. “You look good,” he said.
“Does it matter that I’m scared?” she asked him.
“No. Scared is good. I think everyone is their first time. It means you will think before acting and won’t do anything stupid or dangerous.”
His hands were shaking as he slid her sword into the scabbard on her back.
“You don’t want me to do this, do you?”
“Yes and no. I’m proud of you and want you out there hunting with me, but I know that you have to do this on your own first and I’m terrified that something will happen to you.”
She placed a comforting hand on his cheek. “I’ll be fine.”
“Make sure you are.” He took her in his arms and held her tight. “Now I know how you feel every time I go out.” Then he released her. “Make sure you have fun out there.” He kissed her, turned her around and pushed her toward the door. “Get out of here.”
She took a deep breath and stepped through the doorway.
Doc was just handing over the address when she arrived at the front door. Craig and Scott both had keys in their hands.
“Sanctuary 6 are also en route,” he said. “Take it easy out there.”
Craig turned to Sarah. “Ready?” She nodded her head, so he took her hand and led her out of the house. They placed their swords in the boot of the car then drove out of the garage and down the driveway.
They were heading to a local park. “How do I know who is a vampire and who is just an innocent bystander?” Sarah asked.
“That’s easy,” Simon said from the back seat. “Vampires will attack you, humans will run away. We never attack first. Unless there is no doubt that they are vampires, that is.”
“How are you feeling?” Craig asked. “Nervous?”
“That’s an understatement.”
“Relax and just do what comes naturally. Stick beside me like you did at Sanctuary 12.”
Sarah nodded her head and didn’t speak again for the rest of the journey.
————————————-∞————————————-
JD stayed in Sarah’s room until he heard the front door close. If he left her room he would beg her not to go. He felt unsettled and for the first time in his life he had no idea what to do with himself.
He tried to work, but couldn’t concentrate and training would be a bad idea as his mind was somewhere else. He ended up knocking on the door of Silvia and Doc’s suite.
“I’ve been expecting you,” Silvia said as she opened the door. JD tried to smile at her, but failed. “Come on in. Frank is in the lounge.”
“Let me guess,” he said when JD walked in. “Can’t settle down to anything?” JD nodded. “I was exactly the same the first time Scott went out.”
“And the second, and the third,” Silvia added with a smile.
“You need to find something to take your mind off it,” Doc said.
“I know. Any suggestions?”
“Why don’t you tell me what happened when you took Sarah training in the dark a few weeks ago? I’ve heard the overview, but not the details.”
“I can do better than that; I can show you the recording.”
The three of them sat and watched the images of the fighting, critiquing it, for the next hour. Reminding himself how well Sarah had done that day went a long way toward calming his nerves and by the time it was finished, JD found he was able to concentrate on writing his latest reports on all of his students. The last part of the recording had been wiped, at his insistence, before he left Sanctuary 12.
————————————-∞————————————-
Craig pulled up behind Scott and everyone armed themselves. It was a clear night and the moon was shining brightly, providing enough light for them to see by, much to Sarah’s relief.
There was no other car in sight. “Looks like we beat 6 here,” Katie said.
“Then let’s see if we can clean up before they arrive,” Jonathon said. “Let’s go.”
They moved cautiously into the park, keeping as quiet as possible. It didn’t take them long to find the first group of vampires. There were three of them feeding on a still twitching body. Sarah shivered.
“We’ll dispose of these,” Jonathon whispered to Craig. “You keep moving.”
Craig nodded and moved away, taking Scott and Sarah with him. They moved through the trees and soon came to a clearing, in the middle of which were a couple of teenagers, making out on a blanket. Craig kept moving.
He heard a scream from ahead and started running, Sarah and Scott keeping pace beside him. He stopped at the edge of another clearing. In front of them were four middle aged men, all dressed in jeans and t-shirts, circling a terrified young woman.
One sprang forward and went for her throat. They landed on the floor and the other three attacked, sinking their teeth into whichever artery was most easily accessible to them.
“Now,” Craig said and the three of them ran forward. The fight was short. Though they were outnumbered, they had no problems disposing of the four unarmed vampires. They had been too busy feeding to notice the hunters until it was too late.
Two died as Scott and Craig stabbed them through the back with well-aimed strikes that slid between the ribs and pierced their hearts. They would need to be beheaded, but the hunters had time to take care of the remaining two first.
One turned and started to stand as Sarah attacked. Her sword caught him across the stomach, cutting deep into his fl
esh. He screamed out in pain. Sarah span around, held her sword at his head height and aimed for his throat. Her attack was so fierce and her sword so sharp that it sliced cleanly through his neck and his head toppled to the ground.
For a moment she just stood there, shaking. Then she looked around and saw the fourth vampire launch itself at Scott’s back. Before she could react, Craig was there. He slashed upward, catching the vampire across the side.
Scott cried out as the vampire’s fangs cut through his suit and into his arm, drawing blood. This shocked Sarah. She hadn’t realised that their teeth were that sharp or that strong.
With another stroke, Craig beheaded the vampire, then looked around for more. There was nobody else in sight, so he went over to the victim, but she was already dead.
Simon arrived and Scott and Craig held up the two dead vampire bodies by their hair so he could slice their heads off. It was a gruesome task which he seemed to relish. Sarah felt a little queasy, but a couple of deep breaths settled her stomach.
Jonathon and Katie arrived and they all set out to search the rest of the park. They came across a few headless vampires, indicating that hunters from 6 had arrived, but no more live ones.
“So what happens now?” Sarah asked when Craig declared the park free of any further vermin, as he put it.
“The body disposal squad from 1 should be here by now. We have to report our kill count and location, including any victims, and they will take care of what needs to be done.”
“Good work out there,” Scott said to her. “Not many hunters get to completely dispose of a vampire on their first hunt.”
“Let’s get home,” Jonathon said. “JD is going to want a blow by blow report.”
They didn’t sheathe their swords, but instead carried them. They would need to be cleaned before being put in their scabbards.
There were cleaning cloths in the cars and they all wiped the blood off their weapons before placing them in the boots.
Scott and Craig were talking animatedly all the way home, but Sarah remained quiet, staring out of her window.
JD walked out of his office as soon as he heard the front door opening. He watched Sarah pass by him and run up the stairs without even noticing he was there.
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