Jonathon walked in as JD released Christina and she fled from the room. He closed the door behind her, walked up to his brother and removed one of his wrist supports.
“I don’t need blood,” JD said.
“No, but you need to calm down and I’ve noticed that drinking blood helps.”
JD did not deny it. Instead, he thanked Jonathon then sank his teeth into his wrist.
“We’ll speak to her,” Jonathon said as JD drank.
By the time Jonathon returned to the TV room, Christina was there, her hand and wrist bandaged up. The film was still paused as they waited for Jonathon to show up.
“You had better press stop,” he said. “We need to explain the rules for dealing with JD to Natalie and Christina. We should have done it a while ago. The training ones don’t apply, but they need to know the rest.”
Between them, they then told the two women their unofficial rules for dealing with JD, after making them promise that nothing that was said would leave the room.
“Christina, you need to start obeying rule nine in particular. Never get JD angry. We developed these rules before he became a vampire. That one is even more important now.”
Christina scoffed. “You’re just trying to scare me. He may threaten to cause bodily harm, but he will never actually do it,” she said.
Jonathon raised an eyebrow at Scott, who proceeded to explain, in great detail, what JD had done to him when he was younger. Christina did not look so confident by the time he finished speaking.
Craig took over. “You also need to know about Sarah’s assessment. She fought JD and at one point I thought he was going to kill her. Again, this was before he was turned. Later on, he had her pinned to the ground and needed her to let go of her sword. She was being stubborn and he had to hurt her before she obeyed him. He was already in love with her at this point, yet he still made her cry out in pain. Do you really think he won’t do worse to you if you piss him off?”
Christina paled. She knew JD was dangerous, but she hadn’t realised that he posed a danger to humans.
“Stop annoying him,” Jonathon said, “or you will regret it.”
“And stop trying to get between him and Sarah,” Craig added. “It won’t work and you’ll just end up turning everyone against you.”
Christina left the room and nobody saw her again until the next morning.
“Did we go too far?” Scott asked, but Natalie shook her head.
“No. She needed to hear everything you told her. She’ll ignore it all, but at least you tired.”
Jonathon and Craig looked at each other. “She needs to see Sarah and JD fight,” Jonathon said and Craig agreed.
As soon as Sarah returned, Jonathon made the suggestion to JD. They were both more than happy to give a demonstration.
The following afternoon, everyone was in the arena. Most were on the balcony; only Sarah and JD were on the arena floor. Both were wearing their hunting gear. Though they were using blunt swords, injuries were likely and the suits would give them some protection.
“Don’t hold back,” Jonathon called down to them.
“Of course I’m going to hold back, you idiot,” JD said. “I don’t want to kill her.”
“I was talking to Sarah,” he said.
“This is going to be dangerous,” JD said to Sarah. “Don’t do anything stupid. And definitely don’t try to distract me. This is not a contest to see who wins.”
“Don’t worry,” she said. “You won’t hurt me.”
“Ready?”
She nodded, then immediately attacked. As instructed by Jonathon, she held nothing back, attacking fast and viciously; JD would block everything she threw at him.
“Jesus,” she heard Natalie exclaim from up on the balcony.
“Most of us are a little bit scared of Sarah as well,” Simon said.
“JD made her take care of one of my punishments once,” Scott said. “I had to beg her to stop.”
JD switched from defending and went on the attack, forcing Sarah back with every stroke.
“If it was anyone else down there with him,” Craig said, “they would be dead by now. And I don’t mean that figuratively.”
“Watch very carefully,” Jonathon said. “See how he changes the direction of his sword slightly each time he thinks Sarah won’t be able to defend herself properly. If she makes him lose control, he won’t be able to do that and his sword will hit its target. She knows that so won’t do anything to anger him.”
“Are we getting through to you yet?” Katie asked Christina.
“So he’s deadly with a sword in his hand. I knew that already.”
“JD,” Jonathon called down as he leaned over the barrier, but JD had heard the comment. He put his sword into his scabbard, but instructed Sarah to keep hold of hers.
“Attack me,” he said. She didn’t hesitate. As her sword descended, he sidestepped, grabbed her wrist and stepped behind her, pulling her arm with him. He wrenched it up behind her back, making her cry out. She still had hold of her sword, but couldn’t move.
“Just the slightest bit more pressure and I will dislocate her shoulder,” he said loud enough for everyone to hear.
“Release her,” Craig called out, but JD ignored him.
“From here,” he continued, “I can easily take out her knee.” He demonstrated by kicking the back of her leg, making it give way. If he hadn’t been holding her so tightly, she would have crumpled to the ground. Instead he made her stay in a kneeling position. Her face showed she was in a lot of pain, but she didn’t ask him to let go. Sweat was pouring off her and she was breathing deeply as she tried to cope with the agony.
“If I had kicked harder I could have given her a permanent limp.” Then he began to nuzzle her neck. “One bite and she will be dead.” He relaxed the pressure on her arm a little and the pain eased.
“Have you seen enough?” he called out loudly.
“If he’s prepared to do that to the woman he loves, just to make a point,” Jonathon said to Christina, “do you really think he would hold back from doing it to you?”
Christina was visibly shaking. “I feel sick,” she said and ran from the room. Craig immediately slid down the pole and approached Sarah. JD had turned her around and was whispering something in her ear.
“Are you alright?” Craig asked in concern.
“I’m fine,” she said.
He glared at JD. “You take things too far sometimes.”
“Craig,” Sarah said. “Jason knew exactly what he was doing. We decided between us how much he needed to hurt me. I had complete trust in him.”
When he looked JD in the eye he knew Sarah was telling the truth. He did not disguise the pain that doing what he just did caused him. He had hated every second of it.
“I need some air,” JD said, then picked Sarah up and carried her out of the arena. He didn’t put her down until they were out of the house. He then placed her on her feet, took her in his arms and held her until he could stop his body trembling. “I pray to God we never have to do anything like that ever again.”
Thankfully the demonstration had the desired effect. From then on Christina made sure she was never alone with either Sarah or JD. She made no derogatory comments about Sarah or her relationship with JD and actively avoided them both as much as she could.
————————————-∞————————————-
A few weeks later, over dinner one evening, JD asked the other hunters if they wanted to have some fun.
“That depends on your definition of the word ‘fun’,” Scott said.
“Hunters from Sanctuary 8 are going to 12 to train in the dark on Sunday and I have been asked if I can attend. Their trainer figured they would learn more if they faced a real vampire. Not that he’s planning on telling them I will be there, of course.”
“Are all trainers evil?” Katie asked.
“Only the good ones. Now, back to having fun. I’ve been in contact with Jeff
and suggested that, for once, his team should be hunters instead of vampires. He thought it was a good idea, if you guys are up for it.”
“Are you suggesting,” Jonathon asked, “that we take on 8 and 12, but this time we get to see in the dark and they don’t?”
“Yes,” JD said.
“I’m in.” Everyone else nodded. It was an opportunity none of them wanted to miss.
“Am I allowed to come along?” Natalie asked. “Just to see what goes on.” She and Christina already knew about the basement under Sanctuary 12 and what it was used for.
“I don’t see why not,” JD said. “I’ll have to get the okay from Jeff though.” He glanced at Christina, but she was making a point of looking the other way. She had been behaving herself recently, so he decided to be nice to her. “You can come along as well Christina, if you want to.”
To everyone’s surprise, she thanked him politely.
Sunday arrived and everyone was in a good mood. It was going to be a good day. They timed their arrival so that hunters from the other two Sanctuaries would be in a briefing session with 8’s trainer and wouldn’t see them arrive. They were going to be warned that another Sanctuary would be playing the role of vampires, but not which one.
JD introduced Jeff to Natalie and Christina, then everyone went to the control room, where night vision goggles were handed out. Jeff explained to the two visitors what would be happening and that they could watch everything from the monitors.
Once everyone was provided with trackers, they were instructed to enter the basement. “Hold on,” he called out as JD and Sarah were leaving. “Will anyone from here recognise you Sarah?”
“Maybe. Why?”
Jeff grinned. “Then let’s scare the crap out of them. Let them see you enter. See how long it takes them to work out that they will be facing a real vampire.”
Sarah turned to JD. “He’s as bad as you are.” His reply was to kiss her then enter the basement.
Sarah’s timing was perfect. She went through the basement door just as hunters from 8 and 12 approached.
“Was that Sarah?’ Jeff heard one of his team say.
“As in JD’s Sarah? I think so,” someone replied. “Why?” There was a moment’s silence before whoever had spoken answered his own question. “Oh shit. If she’s here, I can guarantee JD is as well.”
Jeff was chuckling to himself as he heard the warning be given to all of the hunters. From the comments he could make out, they were worried. He walked out of the control room to speak to them.
“Do we have a problem ladies and gentlemen?” Silence greeted him. “If you’re too scared to go in there, all you have to do is say so. But I would like to point out that you face vampires every time you go hunting. Why is this any different?”
“The vampires we usually face aren’t trained hunters,” someone said.
“Then take him out before he takes you out.”
“Yeah, like that’s going to happen. It was impossible before he turned.”
“Is it safe to go in there with him?” someone from 8 asked and was quickly smacked round the head by the person standing next to him.
“I’m going to pretend you did not ask that,” Jeff said. “Now get in there and see if you can last for more than five minutes.”
They did. With two Sanctuaries against one, they managed to last half an hour before all of the hunters were killed. Three of the seven ‘vampires’ were taken out early on due to the advantage the hunters had with numbers. It didn’t take JD long to even that out. One of the hunters actually screamed when they felt his fangs brush their neck.
Natalie and Christina were glued to the monitors, watching the fight with fascination. Jeff called out the names as hunters and vampires ‘died’. A lot of silly mistakes were made, but also some good manoeuvres. He hadn’t really expected any of 14 to be ‘killed’. Working in small teams seemed to be the most effective approach.
Sarah and JD kept away from each other. They had a job to do and couldn’t afford to be distracted. Also they knew they were being recorded and JD didn’t want to have to wipe part of the video again. At the debriefing, Jeff promised to send him a copy so he could critique his own team.
“Believe it or not, it’s a lot easier to do that with the goggles on,” JD said. “My team could see a lot better than I could.”
“So how did you manage to kill so many?” Natalie asked.
“Speed and skill. Most of them were effectively dead before they even knew I was in the room.”
“Some of you were let down by your nerves,” Jeff said to the assembled hunters. “Knowing JD was in there put you off your game. It shouldn’t have done. You are all seasoned fighters. When you have a job to do, nothing should distract you.”
Sanctuary 8’s trainer agreed. He had taken part in the fight and knew that some of his team hadn’t done as well as they should have done.
“And as for my team,” Jeff continued. “This little exercise has shown that I let you play vampire way too often. You are out of practice. That will be rectified.”
Before leaving, JD promised he would come back and take part whenever a trainer wanted him to. It was good training for him as well.
On the journey home, Natalie made Craig and JD promise that she would never be asked to take part in that. While watching it had been fun, there was no way she wanted to experience it.
In the other car, Christina remained silent. Neither Jeff nor Natalie had noticed that she never took her eyes off JD, her head moving from monitor to monitor as he went from room to room. As the car sped toward Sanctuary 14, her head was filled with ideas about how to get him away from Sarah and into her own bed.
You need to keep away from me
A few weeks later, Sarah and JD were training alone in the arena when the alarm went off. They grabbed their live swords then got changed into their suits. All the other hunters were at the Sanctuary that evening so seven of them headed out.
They were sent to an old house on the outskirts of the mountains. Another Sanctuary were already on their way and should get there first.
When they arrived, JD recognised one of the cars parked outside the large old building. They made their way around to the rear and found the lock on the back door had already been picked.
“Be careful in there,” JD said before anyone entered.
“Aren’t we always?” Jonathon said, grinning at him.
“Don’t get complacent. If anyone gets injured, I will kill them.” It was a threat they all knew he wouldn’t carry through.
As soon as they entered, they heard the sound of fighting. They split into three teams of two with JD going off on his own.
There were a lot of vampires inside and the hunters already present were being hard pressed. The arrival of 14 was more than welcome. The vampires were also well organised, fighting together instead of individually. By the time 14 arrived, two hunters had already been injured, though not seriously.
JD killed two vampires in an upstairs bedroom and was about to take out a third when the sound of a gunshot rang through the house, followed by a scream.
“No,” he cried out. He quickly disposed of his opponent then ran through the house, heading toward the screams. He burst into the room and in the darkness he could just about make out Craig holding Sarah, who was crying out in agony. He took out his torch and ran it over the pair. She was clutching at her abdomen and blood was flowing around her hands.
“We need to get her out of here,” he said to Craig and saw him nod. Despite it being covered in blood, JD slipped his sword into his scabbard. It would be hard to clean later, but not impossible, and he needed both his hands free. He picked Sarah up as gently as he could, but the movement made her scream out once more. “There are still vampires about, so it’s your job to keep them away from us.”
He didn’t wait for Craig to respond. Craig grabbed Sarah’s sword from where she had dropped it and, with both of his hands holding weapons, he led the way.
As they made their way toward the exit, Scott found them. He took one look and, despite the darkness, knew it was serious. “I’ll get the others,” he said. “The hunters from 6 can clear up the last few remaining vampires.”
Jonathon was already at the cars by the time they arrived and he took the keys out of JD’s pocket. Craig went to the front passenger seat and searched in the glovebox for phones while Jonathon took Sarah from JD so he could climb into the back seat.
He passed her over as soon as JD indicated that he was ready then dived into the driver’s seat. Craig was already on the phone to Doc by the time Jonathon started the car.
“Phone,” JD ordered and Craig finished his sentence then passed it over. “She’s been shot in the stomach. No visible exit wound at the back so the bullet is still in there.” He sounded calm and rational, but felt anything but. He told Doc all he needed to know, then handed the phone back to Craig.
He gripped Sarah’s hand tight as she cried out once more. “Drive faster,” he shouted at Jonathon, who was already going as fast as he dared. He turned his attention to Sarah. “You’re going to be alright.”
“I know,” she gasped. “Abdominal wounds are the most painful, but they take longer to kill you.” JD tried to smile at the comment, but failed.
The journey seemed to take forever as Sarah drifted in and out of consciousness. After what felt like an eternity, Jonathon pulled up outside the house. Natalie was holding the door open and JD carried Sarah to the medical unit at the back. She was awake once more and cried out as pain ripped through her. “It hurts so much,” she said as tears flowed down her face.
“Get out of here,” Doc ordered when he saw the amount of blood covering Sarah.
JD knew what he was worried about, but his concern for Sarah was completely smothering the craving he usually felt when he smelled blood. “I’m fine,” he said. He laid her down on the operating table and began to undress her.
“JD,” Doc said in warning.
“No,” he snapped back. “I’m staying.”
Vampire Hunters, #1 Page 39