by ID Johnson
Jack considered his brother's statement for a moment. "Of course, I want to teach her a lesson. But I don't want to kill her."
Giovani realized he had not yet trained Jack to be as ruthless as he was. "No, not kill her," he assured his younger brother. "Just scare the hell out of her, that's all."
This seemed like more of a possibility to Jack. "How can we do that without letting her know we're Vampires?" he asked, the idea sounding more and more appealing to him.
"We'll just sneak up on her while she's getting in her car and let her think we're going to rape her or something, and then we'll tell her she's a bitch and leave," Giovani explained.
Again, Jack considered the plan. "What if she calls the cops?"
"My license plates are untraceable. Besides, if those two Vampire Hunters haven't been able to catch me in all these years, what makes you think the cops can?" Giovanni reassured him.
After a moment, Jack consented. "All right, but we're not going to hurt her, right? I mean, after all, she might have a mouth on her, but she didn't do anything to us. Not really."
"Sure, sure," Giovani replied. "We won't hurt her. Just scare the shit out of her."
Giovani surveyed the parking lot and realized that there were a few spots toward the back of the lot where a cluster of cars was parked together. This appeared to be the location for employee parking. It was the middle of the night, and the light above the three older model cars parked there did not provide much in the way of illumination. In fact, it was sputtering and flickering so much, it hardly seemed useful at all. There was a copse of trees to the right, the expanse of the parking lot to the left, with the practically deserted highway several hundred yards away in front. A small, rundown hotel sat behind the truck stop and to the left of the cars. Giovani decided to move his car to the hotel parking lot and walk back to the cluster of trees, waiting for Ms. Sylvia to make her way out to her car. Hopefully, she would be alone, but even if she wasn't, he was prepared to handle multiple victims that night.
Sitting on a blanket of freshly fallen snow in the woods, the two brothers waited, hashing and rehashing their plan of attack. At the end of the day, Giovani knew it didn't matter. Once he went in for the kill, his instincts would kick in, as would Jack's, and they would coordinate together in such a way that the young blond wouldn't stand a chance. He just hoped that he got to hear her scream at least once before he sunk his teeth into the soft flesh of her neck.
In the hour-and-a-half or so that Giovani and Jack waited, only a few trucks pulled in, refueled, and pulled away. A few of the patrons inside left, but no one entered the restaurant. Eventually, Sylvia came out the door, still clicking in her uncomfortable low-heeled uniform shoes. The distinct smell of greasy burgers wafted around her. But it was another smell, the scent of the fresh, warm blood, coursing through her veins, which began to make Giovani's mouth water.
Sylvia knew all of the rules about going out to one's car at night. She had done the same thing hundreds of times, and nothing even remotely scary had happened. She knew not to dig in her purse, to have her keys ready, and to be prepared to hit the panic button if necessary. Unfortunately, her car was so old, there was no panic button. She had other ways of defending herself, however, and though she was a bit distracted, thinking about the difficult customers she had served that night, she wasn't completely unprepared.
She was definitely caught off-guard however, when the force of a body slamming into hers sent her careening into the back bumper of her car. She hit the trunk hard, her chin smashing against the metal. She could taste aluminum in her mouth and was certain she must have bitten her tongue.
Though she was pinned against the car, she wasn't prepared to go down without a fight. She thrust her elbow back into her attacker, catching him below the ribs and swung her purse as she did so, hitting him in the shoulder.
Even if her assailant had been a typical man, it might not have done much. It had little or no effect on Giovani whatsoever, and he began to laugh. "That all you got, bitch?" he asked, shoving her into the car even harder.
Sylvia cried out in pain as her leg dug into the bent-up corner of the license plate. "Get off of me, you psycho!" she screamed. She looked around for the other one and saw him standing behind the creep who had her pinned.
"I warned you," Giovani snarled, baring his teeth, fangs protruding. "You should be more careful who you're rude to, little girl."
His voice was almost a growl, and paired with the inhuman shape of his front teeth, the glowing gray eyes, and the demonic grimace, Sylvia began to realize she was not facing any regular deviant. There was definitely something supernatural about this freak. She refused to let him see her panic. Stifling a scream, she pulled the only weapon she had out of her purse, and closing her own eyes tightly, sprayed him directly in the face with pepper spray.
Giovani was not expecting it. Though his threshold for pain was certainly higher than the average human, he still reeled back in agony. Sylvia took the opportunity to kick him directly in the scrotum, and as he doubled-over in a fresh wave of pain, she brought her massive handbag down on the top of his head.
At first, Jack wasn't exactly sure what to do. From the moment they had stepped out from behind the trees, Giovani had gone off-plan. Nothing was going remotely the way they had discussed. Yet, watching the petite, blond waitress knock his brother around was beginning to piss him off. As much as he didn't want to actually hurt her, he was extremely irritated. There was no way he could just let her get inside of her car and drive away.
As soon as Giovani went down, Jack stepped forward. He moved so quickly, Sylvia wasn't prepared for it. She still held the pepper spray firmly in her grasp, but he grabbed her hand before she could push down the lever to spray him. He twisted her arm behind her and slammed her fist into the trunk so hard it left a dent in the metal. She screamed in pain, and he heard a sharp snapping sound from where her shoulder was clearly dislocated. Without letting go of her mangled arm, he shoved her hard into the trunk and ripped her purse out of her hand, tossing it over the tress into the woods. Her car keys were attached to the pepper spray, and as Jack turned to throw her purse, still holding her against the car with the weight of his body, Sylvia reached back with her now free hand and picked up the keys, jabbing them into his stomach and pulling them straight down, hoping to cut him.
The pain from the keys was barely noticeable to Jack, and he grabbed them from her and threw them across the parking lot. Being this close to her, he could smell the scent of the fresh blood coming from the wound in her tongue, and he fond the aroma intoxicating. He knew his fangs had revealed themselves, and he was very much tempted to sink them into the wiggling girls eloquent neck. If Giovani had not stepped between them just then, he may have actually done so, but the recovery of his brother brought him back to his senses, and he stepped back, letting Giovani address the situation.
Sylvia was without any sort of weapon now. She began to scream for help, hoping someone inside the restaurant or passing by on the highway would hear her. Giovanni laughed, and then backhanded her across the face. "No one's going to help you, you stupid bitch," he snarled.
Jack glanced back toward the truck stop, realizing they probably were close enough that someone might hear. "Giovani," he said quietly, "we should probably let her go. I think her arm is broken, and her mouth is bleeding." A fresh stream of blood trickled down her chin from wear Giovani's hand had made contact with her lip.
"You're right, brother," Giovani agreed, nodding. "We should let her go." He backed up a step, giving Sylvia enough room to take off towards the trees but not in any other direction.
She hesitated at first, not sure if he meant it or not. She took a step away from the car, waited to see if he would grab her and pull her back. Her arm was burning, and she wasn't sure if it was broken or just dislocated. After a second step and no movement from either of the men, she broke into a run, holding her right arm against her body and pumping with her left. She had no idea w
here she was going, but she was trying her best to get away, despite the horribly uncomfortable shoes and the slick surface.
Giovani waited patiently until Sylvia reached the trees. Once she made it between a break in the first row of pines, he calmly said, "Okay, now, go get her."
Jack was a little stunned at first, not sure he heard correctly. "What?" he clarified. "Did you say go get her?"
"Sure," Giovani confirmed. "Go on. She's seen too much now."
He was hesitant at first; part of him felt sorry for the girl. In his former life, he would have thought she was pretty. Now, however, she just looked like a good meal. When she had been standing right next to him, close enough to smell, he had wanted her. With her scurrying off into the woods, the distance growing between them, the urge to hunt her down and prey upon her was increasing with each footfall. He glanced at his brother one more time, briefly, before taking off after her at a full sprint.
It only took Jack a few seconds to catch up with her. She didn't even have time to scream before he knocked her to the ground. Sylvia planted face first in the snow, the pain in her arm almost unbearable as it made contact with the frozen ground. Jack flipped her over, holding her body down with his knees. Instinctively, she covered her face with her arms. He pushed them down with one arm and held them across her chest. As he bared his fangs and bent towards her neck, he realized that she was sobbing. He only paused for a moment before sinking his teeth into her neck. After a few moments, the whimpering stopped. Her body continued to spasm a bit longer before becoming quite still.
Jack heard footsteps behind him and knew Giovani had come to see if he had completed the task. As he stood, the pressure released from parts of her body he had been resting on and a fresh flow of blood began to drip out of the puncture wounds in her neck, leaving a shallow pool of crimson on the crisp, white snow. Her eyes were closed tightly, as if she had been bracing herself and blue circles began to form beneath them.
"Well done, little brother," Giovanni said, patting him on the back. "I knew you had it in you." He reached into his pocket and produced a small knife, which he used to cut a slash in Sylvia's throat, the puncture wounds no longer so apparent. He slipped an opal ring from her finger, making it appear as if she had been robbed. He handed the ring to Jack and said, "Your first trophy."
The two of them circled through the woods, back toward where Giovani had left his car. "Was it okay that I killed her?" Jack asked quietly. "Am I going to get in trouble for that?"
Giovani laughed. "In trouble? You mean with the Hunters and all that? We don't live our lives based on what they tell us we can and cannot do."
"But, you said there were rules. . . ." Jack began.
"Aw, brother, there are only rules if you get caught," Giovani said in a maniacal sing-song voice.
Part of Jack wanted to yell at him, fully realizing that taking Sylvia's life could very well jeopardize his own. The other part of him wanted to laugh along with his brother and enjoy a good kill. In the end, Jack's amusement let Giovani know he had won his brother over to the dark side.
***
"It's been, like, two days," Laney reminded her sister, who was still endlessly circling the blocks where they had previously seen Giovani's car. "Maybe he's moved on. Can we please try to get some assistance?"
"No!" Laura exclaimed. "We do not need any help. We'll find him."
Laney was exasperated. "Well, what about that other guy.? What if I get some information on him? If we knew who he was, it might lead us to Giovani."
Slamming her hand on the wheel, Laura asked, "How is that not getting help?"
"I just want to know who Jack Cook is, where he came from, anything that might let us know another location where Giovani might have gone. I'm not going to ask for tracking assistance or . . . anything. Come on!"
Laura actually considered the request, something she hadn't done in about a decade. This was the coldest the trail had ever gone in all of that time, however, and no one was volunteering anything. Usually, she'd pick up some chatter from somewhere on the newsfeed, the poster not even realizing they were talking about Giovani, just a Rogue Vampire. Now, there was nothing. After a long pause, she asked her sister, "Who are you planning on asking?"
Laney couldn't tell her what she'd actually been considering. There was no way she'd let her talk to Aaron. It just made sense that, if she were going to ask for help, it would be from him. But Laura would never go for it. "Who do you recommend?"
There were not a lot of members of the LIGHTS team that Laura still trusted. Over the years, she had turned away from most of her former friends when they had offered support. A few years ago, however, a new member of the team had contacted her, wanting to talk about some similarities they had, hoping Laura could help her get over an awful break-up with the same ex. Laura couldn't offer her any advice, however. She still didn't know how to get over Aaron.
"Ask Eliza--nobody else!" Laura finally permitted.
"Okay," Laney agreed. She would start with this Eliza person, and if she didn't know anything, she was going to Aaron. She knew he wouldn't tell anyone she had asked. Hopefully, it wouldn't be necessary.
Before they even rounded the next corner, Laney sent a request to Eliza for a convo via the IAC. It only took a few seconds to receive a response.
"What's going on, girl?" Eliza's chipper voice sounded in her head.
Laney wondered what her sister must have said about her to make her feel like they were long lost pals. Perhaps, Eliza talked to everyone this way. "Hi," Laney began. "My sister, Laura, and I are looking for some information on a newbie and we were hoping you could help us out."
"Jack Cook?" Eliza inquired.
"Yes!" Laney replied, wondering how she knew so quickly exactly who she was referring to.
"Yep. What do you need to know?"
"Well, we have been trailing Giovani for quite some time now. He showed up in Lincoln a few days ago with this new guy, Jack, and now we can't find Giovani anywhere. We know he went back to Omaha but then we lost him. Any ideas where they might have gone to? Do you happen to know where this Jack is from?"
"Sure do. Shenandoah, Iowa. That's probably where they are headed." Eliza responded.
Laney had chased Giovani most of the way around the world, but she had never heard of Shenandoah, Iowa. "Okay. Great, thanks for the tip. Any other info you might be able to share?"
It took a moment for Eliza to respond, but when she did so, the information she shared Laney found to be both invaluable and potentially dangerous, at least when it came to Laura and how she may now view this Jack fellow. "Jack Cook is Cadence Findley's ex-boyfriend. He was infected by Holland at an Eidolon Festival in November, but it took a very long time for him to Resurrect. In fact, Cadence doesn't actually know that he's a Vampire. Aaron will be enlightening her soon, but he wanted to do so in person, and we're in Billings, Montana, right now. I guess he hasn't had a chance to tell her."
"Wow," Laney replied. She knew that Cadence was the new Hunter on the block and that everyone was talking about how incredible she was. In fact, Laney had heard early that day about how Cadence had taken out Barbarosa, something no one had been able to do for centuries. "Okay, thanks for that info."
"You bet," Eliza replied. "Let me know if you need anything else."
Laney thought about that for a few minutes before deciding to go ahead and ask one more question, even though she wasn't particularly convinced it was any of her business. She thought, eventually, her sister might need to know. "Eliza, are Aaron and Cadence dating?"
There was a long pause and Laney thought, perhaps, Eliza wouldn't answer. She had heard that it might be a sensitive topic for Eliza, as well. Finally, the message came back. "Well, if you ask them, they will tell you no. That being said, I know he slept in her bed last night. So . . . I'm not a genius, but I think that's pretty clear."
"All right. Thanks. Sorry, I just thought Laura might need to be a bit prepared, if we end up in a situation where sh
e has to see the two of them together. Regardless of what she says, that still might be difficult," Laney explained, hoping not to have said too much.
The only response she received in return was, "Tell me about it."
"Thanks again," Laney replied, hoping she hadn't put a damper on that chipper attitude.
"No problem," Eliza sent back before turning the IAC feed off.
Laney turned back to her sister, who had been driving in silence, endlessly orbiting the same four block area, over and over again. "Shenandoah, Iowa," she affirmed.
Laura's brow furrowed. "Where"
"Exactly," Laney replied. "I have no idea. But Eliza's almost positive that's where he went. Jack grew up there."
"Okay, then," Laura replied. "Any other useful information from Ms. Eliza?"
"No, that's all she said," Laney lied. She'd fill in the other information if it came up, but for now, Laura didn't need to know what Laura didn't know.
***
Eliza's attitude had changed. She had been lucky enough to spend some time with Aaron since they had left for Billings, and she was happy to have had the opportunity to do so without Cadence in the way. Before Cadence had come into the picture, Eliza thought that all he really needed was some time and, eventually, they would be able to give their relationship another try. Now that Cadence was here, however, she knew that it was going to be much harder to win him back. And the thought of the two of them spending the night together, which she knew they had the night before, made her physically sick to her stomach. Eliza had a few tricks up her sleeve, but for some reason, none of her special talents seemed to be working, and she wasn't quite sure why....
They were sitting in a briefing meeting, talking about a hunt they would be attending later that night when Laney's message had come through. Now, despite the fact that the Guardian who would be leading the hunt that night, Morgan, was going over some fairly pertinent information, Eliza's mind was wandering. Aaron was sitting right next to her, too, which made it even harder to concentrate.