“I thought you told Sarah it wouldn’t happen for a couple of years,” Jonathon said.
“I lied. The sooner I make her my wife, the better.”
“I’ll speak to Silvia,” Katie said. “Having made Sarah’s hunting suits, she already knows her dimensions. Between us we will get a dress made. The only problem is going to be finding out the sort of thing she likes.”
“I can help there,” Craig said. “Get hold of some magazines. I can show you the type of styles she was considering last time.”
“I’ll speak with Doc,” Jonathon said. “He’ll contact the priest. They can both be trusted to keep things quiet. I presume this will be a very small affair.”
“It will have to be,” JD said. “If too many people know, Sarah is bound to find out. Just people from 14 present, I suppose.”
“And our parents,” Jonathon added. “You’ll never hear the end of it if they aren’t invited.”
JD winced. Jonathon was right, but he was not looking forward to notifying them of the arrangements.
“I wouldn’t advise speaking with Sarah’s parents,” Craig said. “You have met her mother, so you know what I’m talking about. She would never be able to keep her mouth shut. Sarah would find out within minutes of you telling her. Her father moved to New Zealand a few years ago when he divorced her mother. I don’t think Sarah has seen him since, though they do stay in touch. He would understand not being included.”
“Will Sarah mind not having any of her friends or family there?” JD asked.
Craig smiled. “To be honest, I think she would be glad. She and Alex often talked about eloping just to avoid getting family involved.”
“We do have one big problem,” Jonathon said. “How are we going to have a bachelor party without Sarah getting suspicious?”
“That’s easy. We’re not. I don’t need one.”
Jonathon grinned at him. “Think again, big brother. Think again.”
You have no hope of surviving this
A date for the wedding was set for three months later. JD wanted to give Sarah plenty of time to put their conversation out of her mind so she wouldn’t be suspicious when the day arrived.
Scott, Natalie and Simon were informed of the plans and were willing to help out. Nothing was mentioned to Christina. Silvia started work on Sarah’s dress, using material chosen by Katie and a design selected by Craig.
A few weeks passed and life in the Sanctuary continued as normal. As Doc had suspected, no other Sanctuary was prepared to take Christina so 14 was stuck with her for the foreseeable future. JD and Sarah began house hunting, but it was proving more difficult to find what they wanted than they had anticipated.
One evening, during dinner, Doc looked preoccupied. “Anything on your mind?” JD asked.
Doc looked around the table before answering. Christina was out for the evening, so he told everyone his concerns. “Something odd is happening. Sanctuary 7 have been noticing some unusual vampire activity. They’re drinking together in large groups, but don’t stay in one place long enough for hunters to be sent out.”
“That is weird,” Jonathon said. “And concerning. It almost sounds as if they know about us and that we have ways of tracking where they are feeding.”
“How large are these groups?” JD asked.
“Twenty, thirty. Groups that large are unheard of as far as I am aware,” Doc replied.
JD’s face didn’t change, but Sarah could see in his eyes that he was worried. “Keep us informed,” he said. “Every time we’re sent out, make sure 7 provides a reliable estimate of the number of vampires involved. We can’t face a group that large alone.”
He then turned his attention to his students. “If we get called to a hunt and there are more vampires than I think we can handle, we wait for another team to arrive before we engage. Understand?” They all nodded their heads. They knew they were good, but not that good. If they tried to take on that many without backup, none of them would survive.
————————————-∞————————————-
A few more days passed and Jane’s transfer request finally got approved so a date could be set for her to move in. She wanted to spend one more weekend at Sanctuary 5, so the Sunday night was agreed upon.
Simon was counting down the days. The Friday arrived and Sarah and JD were in the arena when the alarm went off. They grabbed their swords and as they were leaving, Jonathon and Katie walked in to collect theirs.
As soon as he was dressed in his suit, Jonathon went to see Katie. He had an odd feeling about this hunt and there was something he needed to do before they left.
She was just tying up her boots when he entered her room, shutting the door behind him. “Katie. There’s something I need to say that I should have said a long time ago.”
His voice sounded so strange that she stopped what she was doing and looked up at him. She was looking him straight in the eye when he told her, “I’m in love with you.”
A smile appeared on her face. “I know.”
That wasn’t the reaction he had been expecting. “What do you mean you know?”
She finished with her laces, then walked up to him and placed her arms around his neck. “You stopped sleeping around for me.”
He opened his mouth to respond, then realised that nothing needed to be said, so he kissed her instead, running his hands down her sides as their tongues intertwined.
“I do like you in this suit,” he said when he pulled away. “I like you even better out of it.”
“Keep your mind on what we’re going out to do,” she said and patted his cheek. Then she took a deep breath. The time had finally arrived for her to make her own confession. “There’s something I need to tell you as well, but you may want to sit down for this.”
He sat down on her bed and waited for her to continue. “I’m pregnant.”
She watched as his face displayed conflicting emotions. Shock gave way to confusion, which was follow by joy. “Are you serious?” he asked.
She nodded her head, unsure if she believed what she was reading in his eyes. “That’s fantastic,” he said as he sprang to his feet. He grabbed her and spun her around. “We’re going to have a baby.” He put her down and kissed her.
When he stood back, there was a tension around his eyes. “Are you okay to go on this hunt?” he asked her.
She smiled and kissed him softly. “I’m fine,” she said. “If JD has no problem with it, you shouldn’t either.”
Jonathon stepped away from her. “You told my brother before you told me?” His tone made it sound like an accusation.
“No. I told my trainer before I told you.”
Jonathon processed this, then decided it wasn’t worth worrying about. He took her in his arms once more. “I guess we had better go public with our relationship sooner rather than later. Before you begin to show.” Then a thought occurred to him. “You do want this baby, don’t you?”
“Of course I do,” she said and he swung her around once more. Then he took her hand and led her from the room. JD saw they were holding hands when they came into view, but said nothing. Scott also noticed and raised an eyebrow at them.
“Something you would like to tell us?” he asked.
“Katie and I have been seeing each other for a while,” Jonathon said. He decided it wasn’t the time for the rest of their news.
“We know,” Simon said. “We were all wondering if you were ever going to tell us.”
Jonathon looked across at JD and Sarah accusingly, but both shook their heads. “We didn’t say a word,” Sarah said.
“You’re not as subtle as you think you are,” Scott said. “Do you really think we didn’t notice that you and Katie are always out on the same nights?”
“And my room is next to Katie’s,” Simon added. “The rooms aren’t exactly soundproof.”
Jonathon stared at him open mouthed while Katie blushed a deep shade of scarlet.
Craig was the
last to arrive at the front door and blushed almost as red as Katie when JD asked what had taken him so long. Natalie refused to look at anyone.
Unusually, it was Christina who provided them with the address they had to go to. She had been trying to make herself more useful, but JD didn’t thank her; he was still pretending she did not exist.
JD gave his usual pep talk, reminding people to be careful and watch out for each other. It wasn’t needed, but he had been doing it for so long it would feel like something was missing if he stopped. They were going to a nearby wood, so JD made sure he mentioned that they had to check above them for vampires, as well as on the ground.
“You two are with me,” he said, pointing at Katie and Jonathon. He then took Sarah’s hand and led her to the garage.
“So,” he said as he drove down the driveway. “From the look on Jonathon’s face, I guess there’s something you wish to tell me.”
“Like you don’t already know,” Jonathon replied, but he was unable to keep the smile from his face.
Sarah turned around to look at them. “I take it the conversation went better than you were expecting.”
Katie nodded. “What were you worried about?” Jonathon asked. Then he answered his own question. “You weren’t sure how I was going to react, were you?”
“Can you blame me?”
“I guess not.”
JD glanced in the mirror and caught his brother’s eye. “Who gets to tell our parents?” he asked, grinning widely.
“Nobody,” Katie said hastily. “At least not for a while.”
JD’s face then turned serious. “I need you both to put this out of your minds. You need to be totally focussed out there tonight. If you don’t think you can do that, tell me now and I will turn around. I can’t risk you getting injured, or worse, due to lack of concentration.”
“Don’t worry about us,” Jonathon said. “We are professionals, after all.” JD looked at Sarah and rolled his eyes.
It was a bright night, with the full moon beaming down on them. Scott beat them to their destination, but only just. “Do you think 7’s estimate on numbers is accurate?” Jonathon asked as he took his sword out of the car and placed it in its scabbard.
“I have never had reason to doubt their information in the past,” JD said, “so there’s no reason to think that tonight should be any different. We’re outnumbered, but only just, so there’s no need to wait for another Sanctuary.”
That was what Jonathon had been hoping to hear. He was eager to get on with the hunt and hadn’t been relishing the thought of waiting around.
Everyone armed themselves, then headed into the woodland, making sure they scanned the trees as they went. They split into two teams; Katie, Jonathon and Simon went one way, while JD led the rest down a different path.
JD spotted a clearing ahead and signalled for those behind him to wait. He could sense something, but when he looked around he couldn’t see anything out of the ordinary.
“Keep going that way,” he whispered to Craig, pointing in the direction they had been heading. “I want to check something out.”
He watched until they were out of sight, then walked slowly into the clearing. He reached the middle, then stopped and scanned the trees. Something was definitely wrong. He could hear something, but couldn’t work out what it was or in which direction it was coming from.
Then a voice rang out. “I didn’t believe you would actually come. She must be a better actress than I gave her credit for.” He did not need to ask who. Christina had set him up again somehow.
He heard something land on the ground behind him and turned around to see a tall muscular man standing in front of him, pointing a shotgun at his head.
JD smiled. “Did nobody tell you that guns don’t work well against vampires?”
“They do against hunters though.” A chill went through him. While he was being distracted, his team were in danger. He glanced in the direction Craig had led Sarah and Scott, but no sounds of fighting reached his ears. Yet. He had time to dispose of the vampire standing in front of him then race to help them.
Then he heard the sound of people jumping to the ground coming from all around him. Whirling around, he counted a dozen. He was in trouble and couldn’t call for help.
“I know what you are thinking,” the man continued. “There are only twelve you need to kill and hunters from other Sanctuaries will be here soon.” A malicious grin spread across his face. “Well I’m sorry to disappoint you, but there are a lot more of us here and help is not on the way. You were given the wrong address. We arranged a little diversion that everyone else is going to. You and your team are all on your own.”
If JD had any doubt that Christina was involved, it had now been erased. Christina had told them where to go and must have known it was the wrong location.
The sound of combat rang out from two different directions and only one thought went through JD’s mind. He had to get to Sarah.
The vampire hadn’t stopped speaking. “We know all about how your people can track us when we feed. That is why none of us will drink anyone’s blood here until you are all dead. By the time any of your other hunting teams even know where to look for you, you will be beyond saving. Did you know that even a vampire will die if they have all of their blood sucked from their veins?”
JD didn’t, but stored the information away in case he somehow managed to survive.
He glanced around him once more. All of the vampires surrounding him were armed with various weapons; chains, knives, axes. One even had a sword, though it didn’t look sharp. He did a mental calculation and worked out he only needed to kill two to clear a path for him to escape.
“You shouldn’t be so overconfident,” he said loud enough for everyone in the clearing to hear. He didn’t have time to hold a conversation, but needed to keep them occupied so they didn’t notice that he was readying himself to fight.
“Why not?” came the reply. “You have no hope of surviving this.”
“You have no idea how good my team is,” JD said, his voice filled with fake confidence. “Christina has never seen us fight.”
He noticed the man flinch at the mention of Christina’s name. He obviously didn’t think JD would have worked it out. The vampire was still opening his mouth to reply when JD flipped backward, pulling his sword from its scabbard as he did so. He span around as he landed, sword arm outstretched, and neatly decapitated the two nearest vampires.
He didn’t wait to see how the others reacted; he just turned and ran, heading toward the sounds of fighting.
Scott, Craig and Sarah were vastly outnumbered, but so far seemed to be uninjured. JD let his anger at Christina consume him and he went cold inside. Soon all thought left him other than destroying every vampire he could find.
Those engaging Sarah, Scott and Craig weren’t expecting an attack from behind and JD easily managed to behead four before they even realised he was there.
“What took you so long?” Craig called out as he disposed of the woman who was coming at him with a metal pole. She was dead, temporarily, but the beheading would have to wait until later.
“I got held up,” he replied. “More are on their way.” He had no doubt that the remaining ten who had confronted him would shortly join in the fight.
Thankfully, the vampires weren’t working together. They attacked as individuals and died as individuals. The pile of bodies was building up and the hunters had to keep moving backward so that they wouldn’t get in their way.
JD found himself fighting next to Sarah and glanced over at her. When their eyes met, he saw that she knew this was one fight that they were unlikely to win.
She flashed him a smile. “If I die here, I’m coming back as a ghost to haunt you for the rest of your life,” she said as she cut the head off the young man who was attacking her.
“You’d better not die,” he had time to reply before the next vampire took his place.
The hunters fought well and it looked li
ke they might actually get the upper hand when a cry rang out through the woods. “Katie,” Jonathon screamed.
Sarah looked at JD. “Go,” she said. “We can look after ourselves here.”
JD had his doubts, but she was right. He needed to help his brother. If Katie was out of action, he was in a lot of trouble.
Knowing that it might be the last time he saw Sarah alive, JD turned his back on her and ran as fast as he could toward where his brother’s cry had come from.
He found Jonathon standing guard over Katie’s body, taking on two vampires at once as more moved forward to engage him. A quick glance told him that she was still alive, but blood was pouring from a wound in her abdomen. There was no sign of Simon.
JD didn’t hesitate. He launched himself at the nearest vampire, killing it instantly, then engaged the next. He made sure that none of the enemy got near his brother, who he had to trust would be able to defeat his two opponents unassisted.
Sweat was pouring from both of them as they continued to fight and JD could see that Jonathon was beginning to tire. He wouldn’t be able to hold back the onslaught for much longer and there was nothing JD could do to help more than he already was. As soon as Jonathon went down, Katie was a good as dead.
Just as he started to give up hope, an unexpected voice was heard.
“Want some help JD?” Oscar called out. The vampire Jonathon was facing turned his head in surprise and Jonathon neatly sliced it from his shoulders.
Hunters from 7, 11 and 3 swarmed in, engaging the vampires and killing everything in sight.
JD recognised his father and moved toward him. “Get your people out of here son,” he said. “We can take over now.”
“Sarah−” JD began to say, but his father interrupted him.
“5, 12 and 9 are already heading toward the rest of your team. They’ll make sure they get back to the cars. Now go.”
Jonathon heard the order and bent down to pick up Katie, who cried out in pain as he lifted her. Only then did JD notice Simon’s body. From the angle his neck was at, he knew he was dead. He was too numb inside to feel anything as he lifted his corpse. There was no way he was going to leave him behind.
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