Blood Rite Saga, Season One Box Set

by Dylan Keefer

  The mantle of a vampire hunter is usually passed down through a bloodline, but anyone who is determined enough can find a way to claim it. As such, the instance of the few survivors of a vampire attack can make several vampire hunters, even if most of them never truly reach that point, either dying during training or an early hunt. When something like this happens, an older vampire hunter who had been tracking the vampires inevitably appears and takes them with him.

  This phenomenon, however, was more prominent in the times where vampires didn’t hide their existence and walked freely. In 1002 AD it was recorded that only seven vampire hunters were still in existence. Records have become sparse since then as we have gone into hiding and can’t observe them as closely. I predict that the more we hide and prevent the knowledge of us to spread the fewer threats we’ll face.

  “There ya are.” Charlotte opened the door just as Prudence was done with reading. She carried a large file with her. “Ya healed well it seems. But then ya did drink about a gallon of blood.”

  CHAPTER SIXTEEN

  Prudence turned on the light. When she saw Charlotte, all of her calmness evaporated, and she bolted up. She pulled her friend into a tight hug.

  Charlotte chuckled, and when Prudence started crying, she patted her on the head. "There there. We'll get through this."

  Prudence let Charlotte go and wiped her eyes. “You’re in danger just by being near me.”

  “So? Ya didn’t ask for this, someone decided it for ya. The best we can do is find out who this dude was and make sure this doesn’t happen again. Do ya agree?” Charlotte waited until Prudence nodded.

  “Okay, now ya mentioned something about a memory?”

  “Here.” Prudence gave Charlotte the piece of paper.

  “Wow, nice handwriting.” Charlotte began reading.

  "Yeesh." She shivered. "It's hard to imagine these guys exist. But it would explain what we found. Plus, we live in the era of information. It's hard to hide."

  “What did you find?”

  Charlotte picked up the heavy file from the floor and put it on Prudence's desk. "So many different names, so many warrants, and a thick family history of bat-shit craziness. Typical."

  Prudence raised her eyebrow at the strange phrasing and skimmed through the file. She ignored most of what she didn't understand. "Five counts of murder?"

  “A count is how many times ya’ve been charged with a crime.” Charlotte moved behind the desk and stared at the page. “And that is only for one of his identities. He used different names in different states and countries. It will take a while to get everything. He’s being pursued internationally.”

  “There is more?” Prudence couldn’t believe it.

  "Hey he's in his mid-40s, and his first crime was at 13. He's had some time." Charlotte nodded. "But we haven't gotten everything yet. Will take a while. What I wanted to talk to ya about was this." Charlotte dug into the file and pulled out a yellowed paper. A photo of a woman with long hair took up a quarter of it. It was an old arrest warrant. Prudence looked at the photo of the vampire hunter that tried to kill her. She could see a similarity between them.

  “My guess is this is his mother. She was gunned down too early to be anything else, and as your memory said this is passed down through generations. I just hope he didn’t have any siblings. At least not any living ones.” Charlotte pointed down to the third page Prudence leafed through. “Can this be related to my relatives?”

  Prudence read the piece. It was a file on a murder people have been trying to link to this woman. She had been seen leaving the scene. The man in question had suffered a heart attack. There was no proof of foul play.

  “It could be. Can you get your hands on more information?”

  “Yeah. It might take a few days or weeks. But in the meantime, I’ll cut into mister vampire hunter. Maybe we’ll find out more.”

  CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

  Prudence spent the rest of the day resting. When her day was over, she made her way back down to Charlotte's office. Charlotte was sitting on a chair, in her regular clothes. When Prudence came in, Charlotte quickly got up.

  “I’ll get the tissue.” Charlotte put her gloves on and opened a thick door.

  “What is that?” Prudence pointed at the door.

  “It’s like the fridge back there and in the house.” Charlotte pulled out a few vials with what Prudence assumed to be blood out. “Only colder. It can keep blood and other pieces of flesh from falling apart. I can freeze things too. It’s fun when the things ya’re freezing didn’t come from the person who changed your diaper.” Charlotte handed a vial to Prudence. “What do ya think?”

  Prudence opened the vial and smelled it. She instantly recoiled. The blood had the unmistakable aroma of warm rusty metal.

  “Ugh. This was in a person?”

  “My uncle. I can’t pinpoint why it smells like that. Every test I try turns out normal.” Charlotte shrugged.

  “Do all samples smell the same?”

  “I don’t’ know. My nose isn’t as developed as yours.” Charlotte handed all the other bottles to Prudence one by one, noting Prudence’s reaction on a piece of paper. She, in turn, opened each once and smelled them, responding after each one.

  “Fainter, but yes. This one smells a bit stronger. This one is fainter again… They all smell the same, though. It’s like you have left a rusted blade in the hot sun and then smelled it.” Prudence gave the bottles back and sat down. “Not a very appealing scent.”

  “Rusted huh?” Charlotte raised her eyebrows. “I have no idea what that could be.”

  “Maybe a spell residue?” Prudence shrugged.

  “How do ya figure?” Charlotte put all the vials back in the fridge.

  "Well, we know some sort of magic exists because of the letter your uncle left you. And if it exists, it is logical it would leave some proof behind, even if most people would not notice it. Nothing passes through space without changing it in some way."

  “Wow, that’s smart.” Charlotte looked at the clock. “Crap, we need to go.”

  “Where?” Prudence watched as Charlotte removed her gloves.

  “We need to get you some identification. Which means I need to go and pull some old family connections.”

  “You don’t seem happy about it.” Prudence handed Charlotte her coat.

  "Let's say; my family history is colorful. Milo and I are, I think, the only people in the family without a criminal record. Crime runs in the family." Charlotte put on her jacket. "What a way to be a black sheep huh?"

  Prudence ignored the confusing phrase. “So we are doing something illegal?”

  “Yup. Let’s go.” Charlotte opened the door.

  “Do we have to?”

  "Unless you want to explain why ya have no identity despite being alive, yes."

  Prudence sighed and followed Charlotte.

  “We need to get across town fast.”

  CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

  The two women drove for about three hours until they got to the edge of town. She watched the houses melt away. They were replaced by large objects Charlotte called buildings. Then the buildings melted away too and were replaced by even tinier simpler houses. Just then Prudence realized exactly how big the town was.

  When she exited the truck, Prudence saw a house which looked patched together from a few different houses.

  “What is this?” Prudence got out of the car and followed Charlotte to the entrance. It was chilly, and the wind was picking up.

  “A den of crime. Or at least the vacation den of crime.” Charlotte banged on the door with her fist, then kicked it once. When the door opened, Charlotte grabbed Prudence’s hand and ducked inside, dragging Prudence with her.

  “Are ya ready?” Charlotte immediately started talking.

  Prudence saw a tiny man in his 50s standing in front of them. He had thinning hair and oversized clothes. He seemed harmless, and that was what made him unnerving.

  He was sniffing and wiping his n
ose with his hand. “Come in.”

  After walking through the dark hallway, the inside was quite brightly colored. Many lights compensated for the sun setting outside. The room they were in was large. It held a ton of equipment. Prudence was sure even Charlotte didn't understand most of what was in every obscured corner.

  “She the one you need this for?” The man hurried to the equipment and started pressing a few buttons.

  "Yup.” Charlotte sat down on an old couch. "Name, Prudence Davenport. My cousin. Her great grandma, my great great aunt, should have the same name. Lived some time in Boston."

  The man knitted his brows. “No driver’s license? And how legitimate you need this?”

  “Nope. Enough to be able to live a normal life and not get stopped by a regular cop.” Charlotte stared down the man.

  Prudence was almost certain the man was going to say no. Until Charlotte took a deep breath and said that he would be ‘cool with her family after this' and she would burn a file.

  The man brightened and nodded. “Let us do it then.” He motioned Prudence to a place where there was a chair in front of a stark white wall. He turned on a lamp.

  “He is going to take your picture with a camera.” Charlotte took off her sweater and gave it to Prudence. “Here, this will look better.”

  CHAPTER NINETEEN

  Prudence changed and then sat down. The man picked up a square technological thing and pointed it at her while looking through it. "Don't blink and look straight ahead."

  Prudence did as she was told. A bright light flashed at her, then blinked a few times. The man put the camera on the table and connected it to a computer. After a few minutes of the man tinkering, she appeared on the screen.

  Prudence felt weird to see herself. Unmoving, unblinking, and strangely stiff. She moved just to make sure she was still alive. Wait, am I actually alive if I'm a half vampire she thought. Prudence reached and touched her pulse points, feeling her heartbeat. I think I can consider myself alive.

  The man clicked a few other buttons. “Prudence, I’m going to ask you questions, and you and Charlotte will answer. They will help make what you need.”

  Prudence turned to Charlotte, who nodded. She caught herself knowing Charlotte would prevent the man from finding out something he didn't need to. "Alright."

  “What is the age you want to be?” The man deadpanned.

  Prudence shrugged.

  “Write twenty-six,” Charlotte answered instead. “Young enough to be believable with your appearance, old enough to be an adult.”

  “Height?”

  “Five foot five,” Charlotte responded again. “Weight, one hundred and thirty pounds approximately.”

  “Eye color?”

  "Brown." Prudence sounded. She had an incredible desire to be in control of her life. Someone answering questions about her like this, made her feel sick. Even if this was Charlotte.

  The man continued to ask simple questions like that, and either Prudence or Charlotte responded. Within an hour, Prudence had a detailed background. She was supposed to be born here, in the hospital, partly because the man had a way to make sure the hospital had records of that. She would be going to middle and high school here and then moving to Boston for college to get a masters in History. Apparently, a college student would be the best cover for her according to Charlotte.

  "Now, you need to make an accident report. Retrograde amnesia caused by brain damage from a car crash. Hospital stays in Boston. That is the reason why she has ‘moved' here. I'll cover the hospital here." Charlotte came close to the man, resting her elbow on his shoulder.

  The man turned and raised his eyebrows. Charlotte turned to him and did the same.

  The man sighed. “Your mother would be proud of you, as well as yell at you for promising me what you did.”

  “Let me worry about her yelling at me in the afterlife. Do your job.”

  "It'll take some time. A couple of weeks."

  "A couple of days ya mean."

  "Alright, a couple of days."

  “That’s perfectly fine. Just make sure that she can live with the identity and not get arrested.”

  “You’ll need a doctor here to confirm the diagnosis.”

  "Oh, I'll have that covered." Charlotte turned to Prudence. "Speaking of that, I need to call someone, so I'll leave ya alone. Call for me if he is being creepy."

  “Sure.” Prudence nodded.

  CHAPTER TWENTY

  Charlotte chuckled and then pulled out her phone. While Charlotte was too far and the conversation on the other side of the phone too low for Prudence to hear, Charlotte’s voice was easy.

  “Hey, honey. Haha, ya know me so well.” Charlotte was licking her lips, and her tone was strange. Prudence was surprised to see Charlotte flirting. That tone and realization made something click inside of Prudence’s head. She had heard that tone before she might have even used it. She wondered who she flirted with.

  “Sure, if ya do me a favor and examine someone for me. Well, yeah but I need a doctor who works in a hospital.”

  Prudence was focusing on the conversation, but still paying attention to the man. He wasn’t moving much, and not doing anything that made her instincts flare up.

  Charlotte’s tone was intriguing. Prudence could tell it was familiar to her. She might have done a similar thing herself when she was whoever she was before.

  Charlotte chuckled. “Well, we might be able to do something about that. Okay, I’ll call ya when we need to come in. And then, we’ll see.”

  Charlotte put the phone down and turned back towards Prudence. Charlotte had an expression of triumph and something Prudence felt she would be able to identify, if she had her memories.

  “Do you need us for anything else?”

  "Nope." The man waved them off. "And no need to keep calling me, this is at the top of my list."

  Charlotte smirked. “See ya.”

  CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

  Prudence and Charlotte got into their car and drove home.

  “So now I’ll have an identity? Like the ones the vampire hunter had?”

  “Not really. Those are less thorough than yours. And ya don’t have an actual identity to base yours on.”

  Prudence looked out. “I guess I never exist according to your world.”

  “What do ya mean?”

  “From what I’ve seen, people who don’t have any information about them in files or whatever computers access, don’t exist. So that means I don’t exist. Culture has changed a lot.”

  Charlotte gave Prudence a good long look. "Ya are finding this really hard huh? The whole, ‘I've been asleep for a few centuries and woke up in a different world' thing."

  “I think you have just answered your own question,” Prudence smirked, but that soon faded. “It is also made far more difficult by the fact I don’t know who I am. I have nothing to look back to. I feel like I’m floating in an endless ocean without anything to hold on to.”

  “I can’t say I’ll be there all the time. I mean I’m human, and I have only known ya for a few days. But I’ll tell ya one thing. Even if ya don’t have your memories, ya still have a ton of character. And ya’re brave as all hell.”

  “And how do you know that?”

  Charlotte laughed so hard she snorted. "Have ya seen ya these days? Ya keep going even if everything, even your own body, is telling ya to stop at times. That counts as brave in my book."

  Prudence didn’t know if this would be rude, but she had to ask. “So that man on the phone, he is your…”

  Charlotte chuckled. “He wants to be mine and for me to be his and I do too at times, but I am too set in my ways for an extremely serious relationship. I’ve been the love ‘em and leave ‘em type for so long I wonder if I can even do anything else at times.”

  “You do seem to like him. According to your voice back there. At least I think you do.” Prudence looked in front of her.

  “You’re right, I do. He is nice and puts up with me. And he
will make sure you will get the things you need.”

  CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

  When Prudence and Charlotte came home, Milo was in the kitchen, cooking.

  “Oh, you’re home?” He put a tray on the counter. Prudence stopped and observed him standing there in an apron and incredibly proud of the thing he was making.

  “Yes.” Prudence could smell a strange aroma on her skin. She could sense it all day. It was in the air, everywhere. She suddenly understood why people bathed every day. The air was heavy and smoky. “I’ll go clean up. And later you can explain why the air is odd.”

  “Not a problem. Though you won’t like it.” Charlotte sat down. “Gimme that food.”

  Prudence dumped the clothes she was wearing on the bed and went into the bathroom. Her skin was still prickly on the places where she was burned by the blood. It was also slightly redder in those places too. She took care not to scrub too hard as she rinsed off the grime from the day and the heaviness from her mind.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

  When she came back, Milo and Charlotte had already finished eating. They had left some of her. Prudence didn’t touch it, instead she sat next to them.

  “So, why does the air smell different? And why wouldn’t I like the reason?”

  Charlotte pointed towards Milo, who started talking while gesturing widely.

  “The air is polluted. By all the stuff we have used to build the things we use. Coal, the smog coming from factories—”