by Martha Woods
“How would Joseph approve of the three of you getting so sentimental?” Vincent chuckled, “I seem to remember at least one of you telling me that love was a weakness, that it would take my edge away.”
“No,” I said, remembering very clearly the sight of Joseph quite literally tearing two hunters in half at the waist with his bare hands, “I can tell you for a fact that he hasn’t lost his edge, and neither have you for that matter.”
“Are you talking about Joseph killing those guys?” Cara said from behind me, waving cheerfully to our two hosts and taking her seat next to Damon, “That was pretty gross, not going to lie, but it was kind of cool I guess. Fuck those guys.”
“Hey Cara, how are you feeling? You weren’t too badly hurt right?”
“Nah, just a kind of sprained wrist, you wouldn’t believe how weird it is to try and get off the ground without using your hands.” She took a bite of her food, a slice of spiced pork that smelled absolutely heavenly. “Everyone is so nice here! Dracula movies aren’t like this at all.”
Vincent snorted, “No, and by all accounts he wasn’t nearly as nice himself either. Unless you liked torture I suppose, but everyone is different.”
“Do any of you know what the time is?” I asked, looking across at Ivanka and Mika, “Joseph is probably still at the construction site, do you know when he’ll be back?”
“It’s mid-afternoon, the sun should be going down in a few hours, honestly all of you slept like rocks.” Ivanka stood, taking Mika by the hand and pulling her to her feet. “Once he gets back we’ll have a toast to your health, then we can talk about what happens next.”
“I’ll be here waiting, just tell me when.”
“Oh, we will,” Mika answered, “But for now we are going to retire to the bedroom if any of you want to join us… our door is always open.”
“Ok, bye guys!” Cara said, waving at them before they disappeared from sight, “They’re nice.”
“Yeah they… definitely got a lot nicer since I first met them. Still relentlessly horny for everything that walks though.”
“I think it’s nice! I’m all for people being free and wild with what they want, it’s so much better than keeping everything bottled up!”
“Cara…” Vincent said, leaning on his elbow, “Have I ever told you that you would be a near perfect vampire?”
We all laughed, sitting back in our seats and enjoying the food and company. Tariq and Faye hadn’t yet emerged from their rooms, not surprising given the strain they’d both been under, but Tabitha and Alexis were present and accounted for, each of them busy speaking to each other when they weren’t borderline salivating over the food in front of them. Come to think of it I don’t know if they’ve spoken that much before if nothing else this was good for bringing people together at least.
“Thank you, Amy,” Cara said, reaching over and taking my hand, “For coming to save us. Even if you had a plan… It was a real scary thing that you did, a lot of people wouldn’t have been able to do it themselves.”
“It wasn’t really a choice at all Cara, not to me. What was I going to do, just let all of you die while I hid away all safe and sound? Let them take away what mattered to me most without trying to do something about it?” I shook my head. “No, no that wasn’t really a choice at all, no way.”
“Well, we appreciate it anyway,” She said, smiling widely and taking a deep breath, “It was what Tariq and I needed to actually get off our asses and spell everything out clearly, so thanks for being there for that.”
“You would have gotten there eventually. You’ve spent enough time thanking me too, how about I thank you for coming and saving my ass in the middle of that huge fight, how about that?”
“Cara saved you?” Vincent asked, “I’d like to hear about that.”
“Oh no really,” She stuttered, trying to cover her blush, “It was nothing really…”
“I was about to be shot by one of those asshole detectives, who I got this wound on my shoulder from by the way, he had me dead to rights and suddenly she swoops in with her hands still tied behind her back. She kicked him so hard he actually lifted off the ground, then she grabbed me and we got the hell out of there.” I grinned widely, catching Cara’s eye and chuckling at her embarrassment, “She was like a superhero.”
“She even had a pretty good one-liner for it…” Damon laughed, “Why don’t you tell him what it was Cara?”
“Oh my god, please stop…” Cara hid her head in her hands, not wanting to take a minute more of torment. Fine, I guess I’d poked fun enough, though I really was telling the truth when I said she was like a superhero. Even with the vampires there, even with all my preparation, I wouldn’t be sitting here in this room with these people if she hadn’t been there for me in the moment that I really needed someone to be there for me. I would just have to point it out to her another time when she was less embarrassed and less likely to think that I was just making fun of her.
“Anyway, I guess we shoul-” The ringing of my phone interrupted me, hand going to my pocket and removing it from my pocket. “Hold on, I just need to take this.”
“You’re getting a phone call?” Damon asked, “How many people even have that number?”
“No idea,” I said, “Excuse me.”
I stepped away from the table, walking back into the bedroom and closing the door behind me. “Hello?”
“Amy!” Came Joseph’s voice, still impossibly jovial even though he must have been irritated at still remaining at the construction site. “I figured I should check in with all of you, I trust everything went alright?”
“I… yeah, everything is fine. How did you even get this number?”
“Faye told it to me before we left, in case something came up. She’s quite helpful, you should bring her around more.” He cleared his throat, taking a moment to gather his words before continuing, “Mika and Ivanka are taking care of you? Dinner has been prepared and injuries are being tended to?”
“Yeah, yeah everything is going fine, Joseph why are you calling now when I can just see you in a few hours?” I tightened my grip on the phone, knuckles going white with stress. “Did something happen?”
His sigh was answer enough, tone a mix between anger and worry when he said, “One of the hunter groups was attacked, none of them were killed but they are very injured, but that’s not what worries me. They were guarding a cache of money, contact numbers that sort of thing, the hunters and I believe that they’re going to try to leave town to meet with more of their sympathizers, then it is very likely that they will be back in the future to finish the job that they started here tonight. Only next time, I suspect that they will give up completely on subtlety.”
“You think that they’ll get more brash with attempting to kill us?”
“I think that if you anger them as we angered them, there will barely even be a city to call home once they are through. And though I think that this city is in many ways little more than a cesspool, it’s a cesspool that I’ve come to grow fond of, I don’t wish to see it and its inhabitants go up in flames, I’ve seen that enough in my time.”
“So… what? What’s our plan here?” I ran my hand through my hair, wincing as I stretched my shoulder. “I don’t know if you remember, but most of us aren’t in the position to fight that well, Alexis can’t even stand properly.”
“We’ll have time to prepare at night, they need time to recuperate as well, Tristian did throw himself from a building after all. I’ll come back to the mansion and we will work out what we are going to do then, I’m not going to ask anyone seriously injured or who doesn’t want to come to help us on this.”
“And us? What are we going to do?”
He paused before continuing, clearly not relishing telling me this. “What we need to do is fight the hunters one last time, and this time we need to make sure that they do not make it away. You, me, Damon, Vincent, we all need to be a part of this, it’s the only way to make sure.”
“And finding them?” I asked, “Do you have a plan for that?”
“One of the hunters was away from the main fight, he tailed them back to where they are hiding and is keeping us updated. As soon as we are ready we can head right there and finish this for good.”
“And everyone’s there?” I asked, eyes closing of their own accord, “Even Rick?”
Joseph gave me a moment of silence, letting me try to reconcile this all on my own. “Yes,” He said, “Even Rick. I’m sorry Amy.”
“No, no don’t be,” I said, “He made his bed, this is his fault, not ours… just… let’s get it over with, alright?”
“Tonight, we’ll take care of it tonight.” I could hear him smiling, trying to give some level of cheer to this conversation. “For now, just enjoy the food and the company. Tonight will be hard, but that doesn’t mean you can’t enjoy right now, always remember that.”
“I will,” I said, making a promise to myself not to forget, “I will Joseph. See you later.”
Disconnecting the call and leaving myself alone in the bedroom with only my thoughts for company, there was really only one word that came to mind.
“Fuck.”
Chapter 6
“Now then, the hunters are all holed up in a building across town, some… rundown hotel or something, I’m not quite sure what the name of it is but I’ll recognize it by sight.” Joseph swept his hands out, making sure to capture the attention of each of us that were still present. Faye was still unconscious, and Alexis had retired to her room, but Tariq had emerged to at the very least listen to what had to be said. And, like always, Joseph had a lot to say. “They do not have many members left, but those that are left are going to fight to the death without a second’s hesitation. With the resources that they just recovered they could lay low in the next county or fly out of the country completely, but either way, we cannot allow that to happen.”
“Sorry…” Cara raised her hand in question. “Is this going to require everyone? Because I’ll do what I can but…”
“Oh of course not my dear, you’ve done more than enough to help us. I saw your actions saving Amy, don’t think your little moment of heroism went unnoticed.” He winked, drawing a blush from Cara and an amused chuckle from Tariq. “You won’t have to come along, and there is no offense intended in this when I say that it would be better if you didn’t, this is merely going to require those of us that have been trained if this is to be successful. You’re more than welcome to keep listening, however.”
“Alright,” She said, visibly relaxing, “I’ll make drinks for when you come back or something.”
“Excellent,” He replied, smiling politely before turning the conversation back to the task at hand, “Now, the question of what we need to do isn’t much of a question at all, we need to get to that hotel and clear out every hunter that we find with no exceptions. Any one of them that has stuck by his side this long won’t be swayed by any words at this point, any attempts to show otherwise are just going to be a trick. Are you alright with this Amy?”
I sighed, “I don’t like the idea of it all, but I knew what I was calling all of you in for in the first place back at the construction site. I don’t want to be a part of killing so many people, even if I don’t end up killing them myself, but letting Tristian and everyone else like him live would kill even more, it’s the only real choice to make.”
“I know it’s a hard decision, it’s not for me but that’s not the point, the point is that I know that this is difficult for you. Taking a life is one thing, but being a part of death in any way is a hard thing to go through at first. Just know that you’re doing the right thing and have some comfort in that.” He clapped his hands together, looking over everyone else. “Now, Cara reminded me of something very important that I had to tell all of you, especially those of you that were injured and are still conscious. I’m sorry if you want to be a part of what is to come, but for your safety and ours I’m going to have to tell you to remain behind.”
“What?” Tariq asked, moving to stand but clutching at his ribs at the movement. “I can still fight if this is really as important as you say then you need everyone you can get!”
“No, what I need is for the people that we just helped save not to go out and kill themselves to prove a point. Damon is the only one of you that I will allow to come along, and that’s because he is both trained and will absolutely not budge on accompanying Amy. The rest of you don’t have that sway, therefore you will stay behind.”
Damon nodded, looking over at Tariq in apology. “Sorry Tariq, but he’s right. I’m going because Amy’s going and because I’m stupid, you’ve got people to protect back here. You’re one of our most valuable members, and you need to heal up before you do anything else.”
Tariq sat back down begrudgingly, but he clearly accepted the point. He wasn’t one to deny a request from his friends, even if he dearly wanted to do the opposite if he was asked to stay behind and recover he would. And at the very least, I could take solace in the fact that Cara would have someone conscious here to keep her company, someone who wasn’t a vampire that wanted to fuck her at least.
“So, it’s just going to be me, you, Vincent and Damon huh?” The thought wasn’t unpleasant, we had a good synergy when we got to working together so my worry wasn’t there. I just couldn’t help thinking that maybe it was a little… bare. “No one else is going to be coming with us?”
“Given their number and the cramped space that they are in, I think it would be best if it was just the four of us getting inside. I’ll keep a number of the other vampires stationed around the outside of the building in case any of them try to escape, but I don’t want to completely swarm the building if it isn’t necessary, plus with no way to surveil their communication I have no idea what kinds of calls that they’ve made to allies in the city, if someone else shows up I don’t want them to just be able to torch the building unimpeded.”
“That makes sense, I suppose. When do we leave?”
“In the next ten minutes, enough time for you to prepare yourselves and say your goodbyes to whoever you want to say them to. Though… pretty much everyone is here already so that may already be taken care of.”
Still, ten minutes was ten minutes, no sense in wasting it by just sitting and waiting to leave. Damon had stood to speak to Tariq and swipe some last-minute food from the table, Vincent was speaking to Joseph about what they were going to do when they reached the hotel no doubt, as for me? Cara was standing right there, and I was her best friend, I’m not going to stand here and not speak to her.
“Cara,” I said, smiling at the way her eyes lit up at the sight of me, “You wanna step into the other room for a minute? I’ve got some things that I want to tell you quickly.”
“Yeah sure, lead the way.” She stepped next to me, linking my arm with hers and smiling up at me. I missed this, to think that I’d almost thrown it all away because I thought she couldn’t handle everything. Sometimes I wonder how it is that I’m supposed to be smart.
Closing the door behind us, she turned and regarded me with that raised eyebrow of hers, still wearing an easy smile but clearly seeing that there was something deeper that I needed to talk about away from everyone else. God she was good at reading people, if she actually wanted to she could be one hell of a detective, she’d certainly be better than half of the hairbrained morons we have working for us right now. Even on her worst day she wouldn’t be half as corrupt either, but that’s not exactly a high bar to aim for.
“Right, what I needed to say…” This conversation wasn’t easy to have, no matter how many times I thought it through, but it was something that needed to be said anyway given the circumstances. “I know that this was a whole thing that we already went through today, but I’m going to be going into something pretty dangerous here, so I just thought…”
“You want me to know that you care about me, that you’re going to try and have nothing happen to any of you but you can’t promise
it?” She chuckled, shaking her head slowly and taking my hand, “Of course you would take the opportunity to give me a hero speech from some movie that we watched back in college because you’ve really become a hero over the last few months, haven’t you?”
“I’m being serious Cara, and yeah you might have read me completely and known exactly what I was going to say but… I’m not all powerful, you had to save my ass today and now I’m going to be somewhere you can’t do that. I can’t just forget that and think everything is going to be fine, can I?”
“Yes, you can,” She said, “I’m not going along with you, but Damon is. Vincent is. Joseph is. All of them wouldn’t let anything happen to you before it happened to them, and they’re all good enough that they’re not just going to be taken down by some weekend warrior who’s so invested in hate that they haven’t made way for a life. So just… forget about all of that, forget about them, just focus on you and making sure that you are safe, that’s the best way that you can get through this.”
“You know, if you wanted we could always use your help talking to the alliance. A lot of them have some pretty heavy trauma and distrust of each other, we could always use someone like you to help them out,” I hummed gently, running my thumb along the back of her hand, “If you wanted, I mean.”
“I know, I know, I’ll think about it. If half of them are as big of a mess as you are they need all the help that they can get.” She ducked the swipe I aimed for the back of her head, giggling as she pulled me in for a hug. “Be safe out there ok? Don’t do anything stupid.”
“Stupid is my middle name Cara, you should know that by now…” Squeezing my arms around her back, I relaxed into her hold before sighing and pulling back. “Make sure that Faye and Alexis know I’m thinking of them if they wake up, and if I… you know…”
“I know,” She said, pushing me back towards the door, “But that’s not going to happen, and you’re going to be able to talk to them yourself. No ifs ands or buts about it.”