The Hunters

by David Teves

  The Eunice thing looked into the light with shock and surprise, but before she could move, the Travelall was on her like some wild animal homing in on its prey. When the giant stake reached her milky skin, it was as if the gates to Hell had opened, and the angels of death were screeching out their fear and agony for all mankind to hear.

  Carl had aimed Elvis perfectly, and the sound of screeching tires and the roar of his engine blended with the sickening crunch of flesh and bone being torn apart. The sound ripped through my ears, and I hid my eyes in horror, praying to God that it would end.

  I opened my eyes to see smoke and dust prismed in the Travelall's burning headlights. When I was finally able to focus on the nightmare that had befallen us, I could see the crumpled body of the vampire impaled against a tree. Carl had pushed the stake through it with such force that it hung lifeless, its feet dangling six inches off the ground.

  I wiped the sweat and fear from my face and looked closer. The vampire was not Eunice. In the place of the beautiful siren that had seduced our hearts was a hideous thing, its ancient face withered with the extinction of its blasphemous life.

  I looked around to see the others standing beside me, cold shock reflecting from their faces. Ferris moved his mouth but like the rest of us, words refused to come.

  "Son of a bitch!" Carl swore, enunciating each syllable with relish. "I killed it!" He opened Elvis' squeaking door and ran to the front of the truck to inspect his prize. He brought up his hands in a whoop. "It's a Master, Quentin, I swear it is!" he yelled, like he had just landed a record-size marlin. The three of us looked at each other with disbelief. Among the vampire hunters, a Master was something whispered about, but never actually seen. It was, it was said, a vampire so old it was among the first to walk this earth. A vampire with very special powers.

  "It makes sense," he reasoned aloud, oblivious to our shock. "They'd only send the oldest and the meanest against cagey old assholes like us!" He tossed his head back and laughed at the night.

  Even in my present state, I could understand the truth in his words. I imagined that the vampire upper management would probably send someone very special to rain their vengeance on those who had caused them so much grief. "Maybe you're right," I said, not believing I had actually said the words.

  "Where the hell did you come from?" Quentin asked his brother.

  Carl smiled at his twin. "I was sitting there in Elvis just waiting out the night, when I had this idea. God damn, I don't know why I didn't think of it in the first place. If I had, we could have all been drinking beer at El Gato by now. I took the remaining stakes from the truck and pounded them into the ground in back of the front tires. Then, I put him in reverse gear and he popped out of that hillside like a cork! Then I knew," he said. "You know, I knew you were in trouble."

  Quentin nodded his head in understanding. There had always been a psychic bond between the two, a bond that told the other when something was wrong.

  "Ferris?" a voice asked out of the darkness. We all turned. The voice belonged to Eunice.

  We found her lying against the base of a tree. I grabbed the flashlight from Quentin's hand and shined it at her. Her beautifully wrinkled face, which was pale but very much alive, stared back at us.

  "What happened?" she asked. "What happened, Ferris? We were going to go for a walk, like we did when we first met."

  Ferris looked tenderly into his wife's eyes and smiled. No need to walk, honey," he said. He glanced at Carl and smiled. "We're going on a ride."

  Before we left, we took our weapons and searched for others, but if they were out there, they had slipped back into the darkness. Perhaps the gravity of their loss had scared them off. I suspect that we were just plain lucky.

  That night I revived my dormant skills with the long axe one last time while Ferris kept Eunice away. I went to the front of the truck and with one sure swing, loped off the vampire's head. It fell lifeless to the dirt, its gray shrunken eyes staring at me with a questioning look, its black, foul blood soaking into the dirt. I won't tell you what I did with that head, it's a trade secret, but I can assure you this: that is one vampire that will not be coming back for seconds.

  The police were a little more than pissed off at us, but when we explained about Eunice's illness and how she had to get back to town for her medication, there wasn't much they could do.

  The fine lady lived another two months, and when the end came, she died peacefully in her sleep. Our sadness was tempered by the knowledge that she had lived a long and fruitful life. Ferris was heartbroken, but at least he knew he had been able to grant her her final wish. We all felt damn good about that.

  Things went back to normal pretty quickly. We fell into the normal patterns of our life, making the best of it, living in Gilroy.

  I suppose that's all there is to say, so I'll end this story right here. Thanks for listening. But before I go, I've got one last thing to add. Another vampire hunter recently found her way to our fair city, and has joined our little group. Her name is Margaret, a handsome woman of sixty. We get along real good, and I'm not too proud to admit that I'm thinking about settling down, if you know what I mean.

  So if you come to Gilroy look for El Gato. They've got the best Mexican food you've ever tasted. And if you notice five old coots enjoying a beer and shot of tequila, come on over and say hello. We're always glad to see a new face. But remember not sneak up on us; that makes us nervous.