Vampire Hunters, #1

by Trudie Collins

  Sarah called him a few unpleasant names, but eventually agreed. She was still in his arms when JD arrived home. He raised a questioning eyebrow at her.

  “Don’t ask,” she said. “Please, just don’t ask.”

  ————————————-∞————————————-

  Sarah’s recovery took a lot longer than she wished, but both Doc and JD seemed satisfied with her progress. One night she was cuddled up on the sofa with JD, but couldn’t settle. She felt a lot better, but was still being treated as an invalid.

  Craig, Sarah noticed, was sitting very close to Natalie. They had secretly been out on a few dates. How Craig had managed to convince her to leave the safety of the Sanctuary, Sarah didn’t know, but she was glad she had finally found the courage to go out. Christina was absent once again. Sarah couldn’t keep the smile off her face.

  It was dark in the room, the only light coming from the television, and she was warm and comfortable next to JD. She couldn’t keep her mind focused on the film and slipped her hand under JD’s T-shirt and began to caress his chest.

  “Stop it,” he whispered to her, but she ignored him. “Stop it,” he said a little more firmly and she laid her hand flat against his flesh, but did not remove it.

  A short while later she began to caress him again. Finally he could take it no more. “Can someone pause the film and turn the lights on please,” he said loudly.

  Someone obeyed, then they all watched him in surprise as he made Sarah stand up and took the silk scarf from around her neck. He hadn’t taken any of her blood since she had been shot, but she was so used to wearing them now that she automatically put one on each morning.

  She didn’t resist as he used it to tie her hands together in front of her.

  “JD−” Craig began to say when he realised what he was doing.

  “Stay out of it Craig,” JD said. Once her hands were securely, but not too tightly bound, he threaded the ends of the scarf through the belt on her jeans and tied them together.

  Only then did she start to protest. “You have got to be kidding me.”

  “If I untie you, will you behave?” His tone was serious.

  She opted for honesty. “Probably not.”

  “That’s what I thought.” He sat back on the sofa and pulled her down next to him, putting his arm around her and nestling her tightly against him.

  “So you’re planning on following Doc’s orders word for word?” she asked.

  “Yes.”

  “I see.” He didn’t like the look on her face as she spoke. “Alright. I will go along with that.” She was being too agreeable and it made him nervous.

  “What are you up to?”

  “Nothing. What makes you think otherwise?” She wasn’t grinning at him and there was no trace of amusement in her voice. This did not put him at ease though.

  “You just complied way too quickly.”

  “What could I possibly be up to?”

  “I don’t know, but I’m still not going to untie you.”

  “I didn’t expect you to.”

  He gave her a suspicious look, but decided not to push her for an explanation. “You can press play again,” he said and they watched the rest of the film with Sarah unable to put her hands on him again.

  He did not untie her until they were alone in their room. When they were in bed he ran his hand gently over the scar on her stomach. It no longer caused her pain and he was hopeful that Doc would say she could start training again soon. He understood why she was getting so frustrated at only being able to watch.

  With a smile on her face, she took her scarf and used it to tie JD’s hands to the bedpost. He wanted to know what she was up to so did nothing to stop her.

  “Getting revenge?” he asked.

  “No. Just making sure you’ll be able to look Doc in the eye in the morning and tell him you didn’t lay a finger on me.” He tensed. He had his suspicions about what she was planning and knew he should stop her, but he couldn’t bring himself to do so. He could easily have freed his hands, but did not even try.

  She straddled him then lent forward to kiss him. That kiss told him exactly what she wanted and, though he knew he shouldn’t, he desperately wanted the same thing.

  She trailed kisses down his chest and he moaned with pleasure. “This is a very bad idea Sarah,” he said, but his voice lacked its usual authority.

  “Want me to stop?”

  “I should.”

  “That doesn’t answer the question.”

  She stopped what she was doing, allowing him to make his decision.

  “Promise me you will stop if it hurts,” he finally said.

  “I promise.”

  He began to moan once more as she returned her mouth to his body.

  The next morning he went to see Doc. He was in his office and JD made sure the door was closed behind him before he began speaking. “You need to talk to Sarah.”

  “Why?” Doc was intrigued. He had never known JD not be able to handle Sarah.

  “She has taken your instructions literally.”

  “Meaning?”

  “Meaning you never said anything about her keeping her hands off me.” JD looked so uncomfortable as he spoke that Doc burst out laughing. “This isn’t funny,” JD snapped. “I’m worried.”

  “Don’t be. If she’s in control she will be alright. She will know when to slow it down or stop. If she isn’t in any pain doing that sort of thing then I will let her start training again, but start off easy.”

  “Are you sure?” JD didn’t usually question Doc’s medical opinion, but he could understand why he was doing so now.

  “Yes. Send her to see me for a chat if it will make you feel better.”

  “I will. Thanks Doc.” When JD left the office, there was almost a spring in his step.

  JD invited me into his bed last night

  Sarah’s training began slowly. She had to regain her strength and her fitness. She was worried that she would never again be able to fight with JD as she used to, but he was confident that, given time, she would. They went back to just one hour training sessions, following the same schedule they had when she had first trained. Every day she got a little better and JD made sure she never pushed herself too hard.

  She was soon allowed to join in the 5am training sessions, though she had to take it easier than the others. Eventually she started to fight them once more, but they held back, going slower and softer with her than they used to.

  Weeks passed and life returned to normal at the Sanctuary. Craig and Natalie spent more and more time together and soon they were holding hands in public.

  One evening, during dinner, Sarah announced that she had to work very late the following Friday due to a code release. Nobody saw the calculating look that crossed Christina’s face when she heard the news.

  ————————————-∞————————————-

  Friday arrived and JD was alone in the arena when the alarm sounded. He phoned Sarah to let her know he was going on a hunt, just in case she tried to contact him while he was out. He knew that she would worry about him, knowing he was out fighting vampires, but she would worry more if she failed to get hold of him and had no idea where he was.

  The hunt was successful and everyone was in a buoyant mood when they returned. Christina handed around drinks. JD thought it odd that she had poured them into glasses rather than leaving them in the cans, but didn’t comment. The strange aftertaste also had him concerned, but, since his threat to kill her when Sarah was in surgery, he had avoided speaking to her as much as he could, so didn’t ask her about it.

  When he finally made it to bed, he expected to stay awake, as he always did whenever Sarah would be late. For some reason sleep always eluded him when she would be joining him later. Tonight, however, he was asleep the moment his head hit the pillow.

  ————————————-∞————————————-

  Sarah was t
ired when she opened the front door of the Sanctuary. It had been a long night and she was glad it was over. Her house was closer to where she worked than the Sanctuary was, so logic said she should have phoned JD and let him know she was going to sleep at her place, but she couldn’t bear the thought of not seeing him.

  Wearily she trudged up the stairs and opened the door to their bedroom. She entered the room as quietly as she could, surprised that the room was in darkness. She switched on her bedside lamp and the sight before her made her blood boil. Clothes were strewn all over the floor, some of them JD’s, others obviously a woman’s.

  Her eyes were drawn to the bed. JD was on his usual side, his bare back to her. Lying next to him was Christina. Without saying a word, Sarah dropped her bag onto the floor, not caring that the sound woke the slumbering woman. She grabbed her by her hair and dragged her out of the bed.

  Christina’s cry of pain made JD wake with a start and confusion was written all over his face as he watched Sarah shove the naked woman out of the room, slamming the door behind her.

  He looked at the door, then at the clothes on the floor. Then he raised his head to see the look of fury on Sarah’s face. “I didn’t know she was there, I swear.”

  He didn’t understand what was happening. Why were his clothes on the floor when he had placed them all in the wash basket? Why had he fallen asleep when he had never done so before when waiting for Sarah to come home? And how had Christina gotten into the bed without him knowing?

  “I know,” Sarah said. It took all of her self-control not to shout.

  JD got out of the bed and moved toward her, not caring about his nakedness. Sarah stepped back. “Don’t touch me,” she hissed.

  JD had never panicked before, but he could now feel it rising through him and he had to fight to keep it down. “This is not what it looks like. Please Sarah, you have to believe me.”

  “I know,” she said once more. She took a deep breath to steady herself and closed her eyes. Despite knowing that, somehow, Christina had set JD up, she couldn’t bring herself to look at him.

  “Are you alright?” he asked, his voice quavering.

  “Of course I’m not bloody well alright,” she snapped as her eyes flew open, making him flinch, as much from the pain he saw in them as her tone.

  “Are we alright?”

  The question drew some of the anger out of her. “Yes,” she said quietly.

  He moved forward once more and this time she did nothing to stop him. He took her in his arms and kissed the top of her head. “I would say I’ll explain everything,” he said, “but I can’t. I have no idea what happened.” Then he remembered the taste of the drink Christina had handed him. “I think she may have drugged me.”

  “I believe you,” Sarah whispered into his chest.

  “Thank God,” he said more to himself than to Sarah. He released her from his embrace and looked into her face. “What do you want to do?”

  She looked around the room. “I can’t stay here. I can’t sleep in a bed that that woman has been in.”

  “I understand,” he said. “Let’s go to your place. We can talk there.”

  “There’s nothing to talk about.”

  “Of course there is. I love you. I would never betray you.”

  “I know,” she said for the third time. She sounded more tired than he had ever known her to be.

  He quickly packed a few things into an overnight bag then retrieved his cloths from the floor and put them back into the wash basket. He took Sarah’s hand and she let him lead her from the room.

  As they passed the bowl where all car keys were dropped, she picked hers up, but he took them from her. “You’re in no condition to drive,” he said. She was too tired to argue.

  The journey to her house was made in silence, but her hand never left his the entire way.

  “Do you want to talk about it?” he asked once they were in her bedroom, but she shook her head. He undressed and climbed into the bed while Sarah made use of the bathroom. She was gone a long time and JD began to worry. When she finally emerged she looked awful. Her eyes were red and her cheeks were stained with tear streaks.

  “I can’t get the vision of her in our bed out of my head,” she sobbed. He didn’t know what to say. There was nothing he could do to help her. She climbed into the bed next to him and he held her as she cried herself to sleep.

  ————————————-∞————————————-

  5am arrived and there was no sign of JD or Sarah. All of the other hunters were present, but everyone felt half-asleep.

  “I don’t understand why I’m so tired,” Katie said. “And where the hell is JD?”

  Jonathon smirked. “I dare you to go and find out.”

  “No way. Maybe he’s testing us to see if we actually do the training if he doesn’t turn up.”

  “In which case,” Craig said, “we should get started.”

  Craig was feeling as tired as the rest of them, so he took it easy. JD hadn’t turned up by the time the hour was up and everyone was beginning to get worried. He always let them know in advance if he wasn’t going to make a training session.

  “We need to check on them,” Craig said as they left the arena. Jonathon reluctantly nodded his head.

  They made their way to JD and Sarah’s room and tentatively knocked on the door. When there was no answer, they knocked louder and called out. Still there was no response, so Jonathon slowly opened the door.

  “What the hell is going on?” he asked as he stepped into the room and took in the bedclothes in disarray and female clothes scattered over the floor.

  “That’s Christina’s,” Craig said when he recognised her dress.

  The two young men looked at each other in concern. “Phone Sarah,” Jonathon said. “I’ll call JD.”

  They returned to their rooms to make the calls, but neither received a response.

  ————————————-∞————————————-

  The unknown whereabouts of JD and Sarah was the topic of conversation when Christina walked into the dining room. She was grinning broadly as she sat down.

  “I can’t tell you where they are, but I can tell you why,” she said, smiling smugly.

  “Really,” Scott said, his voice filled with doubt.

  “Yes, really. JD invited me into his bed last night. Sarah came back and caught us. I left them arguing. I have no idea what happened after that.”

  Everyone stared at her incredulously. Even Natalie. Anger began to take hold of Jonathon, but it was not directed at JD.

  “I’ll wait to speak with my brother before judging him,” he said. “I can’t believe he would ever cheat on Sarah, especially with you.”

  The smile didn’t leave Christina’s face. “Oh but he did.”

  Craig could stomach no more and left the room without saying a word, leaving his breakfast half finished. “How could you?” Natalie asked her sister, then hurried after Craig. He was on the phone when she caught up with him.

  “Still no answer,” he said when he noticed her. He took her hand. “Come on. We’re going for a drive.”

  “Where?” she asked.

  “Sarah’s place. If she isn’t there I’ll try the graveyard.”

  “Don’t jump to any conclusions,” Natalie said. “My sister may not be telling the truth.”

  “I don’t believe for a minute that she is. But I still need to know what has happened to JD and Sarah.”

  ————————————-∞————————————-

  Sarah looked no better the following morning than she had the previous night. Her sleep had been fitful and a number of times she woke JD as she tossed and turned.

  They had switched off their alarms so didn’t wake up until their phones rang almost simultaneously. They both silenced them without answering or looking to see who was calling.

  “How are you feeling?” JD asked once Sarah replaced her phone on the beds
ide table and rolled back toward him.

  “I’ve been better.”

  “Sweetheart, I am so sorry−” JD started to say, but she placed her finger over his lips to silence him.

  “This is not your fault. You did everything you could to discourage her. Nobody could have predicted she would do this.”

  “But−” Sarah cut him off.

  “No buts.”

  He decided to change topic. “I’ve been thinking about our living arrangements for a while now. I don’t like the fact that we’re sharing our time between two places.”

  “Me neither.”

  He kissed the top of her head. “Good. Given what happened last night, I think we should permanently move in here.”

  He was surprised to feel her shaking her head. “No. It wouldn’t work. This place is too far away from the Sanctuary. How would we take part in hunts or attend the morning training sessions? If we had to commute between the two places each night we wouldn’t get enough sleep.”

  He knew she was right. “So what’s the alternative? I can’t ask you to move into the Sanctuary, not while Christina is still there.”

  When he looked at her, she was smiling. “You’re not the only one to have given this a lot of thought,” she said. “And I think I have the perfect solution. I sell this place and we buy a house together, no more than ten minutes drive from the Sanctuary. That way we will be close enough to attend the morning training sessions and we can stay late into the evenings. If they get called out on a hunt after we have left, they can phone us and pick us up on the way.”

  “Are you sure?” JD asked. ‘This place has so much history for you.”

  She placed one hand on his cheek. “And it’s time I moved on. As I said, I’ve been thinking about this for a long time. I’ve even discussed it with Sally. She has been seeing someone for more than six months now and, now that she’s working, she believes that they can afford to buy this place off me. I was going to bring the subject up with you as soon as she got confirmation from the bank.”