To Cure A Vampire (To Cure Series Book 1)

by Jade Farhill

  He squeezed Abby’s shoulder, then left to put on his fighting gear.

  Abby offered her arm to the three emaciated hunters, they all hesitated for a moment before drinking.

  “You guys will be all right to do this?” she asked.

  “Yeah,” Scotty said. He and the others were standing strong, their eyes determined. It was time for battle.

  CHAPTER 32

  Arthur looked every bit the imposing hunter in his new uniform—Abby would have been worried if she hadn’t trusted him so completely.

  The hunters escorted them to one of the all-terrain trucks. When Abby hopped in, it reminded her vividly of being in the hunters’ black van four years ago.

  She started shaking and Arthur squeezed her shoulder. “Are you okay?”

  She gave a nervous laugh. “The last time I was in a vehicle like this with hunters, I was being taken to their HQ. I spoke to one of the hunters about my sister.”

  The little hunter was across the isle of the truck, listening. He met her gaze. He knew exactly who Abby was referring to.

  Abby kept talking. “My solicitor, Jen, was with me and I thought that with her on my side, working with the hunters wouldn’t be as bad as I’d imagined.” She looked down at her hands. “How wrong I was.”

  “Knowing what you know now, would you do it again?” asked Arthur carefully.

  Abby smiled. “Well, I needed them and they needed me. I couldn’t have created the cure or the working vaccine without their help, and they wouldn’t have got either of those things without my help.” Abby looked out the window at the bushland rushing past them. “But it wasn’t easy. Only a few actually trusted me. And one scientist—Trent—was such a comfort to me.”

  “Trent?”

  Abby smiled. “A very good friend of mine.”

  Arthur raised an eyebrow, a cheeky smile coming onto his face. “A boyfriend?”

  “Probably not anymore.” She shook her head. “I haven’t seen or heard from him since I left the Hunters’ HQ.”

  “But do you want to find him?”

  “Yes,” Abby replied wistfully. “I want to have a normal—human—relationship with him.”

  Arthur sighed. “Even the most disciplined vampires can have trouble when it comes to relationships with humans. Sometimes it can work, with the human and vampire being in a mutually beneficial relationship. But most times, it doesn’t end well.”

  Abby nodded.

  “But I do hear that humans always come back to vampires because the sex is amazing.”

  Abby suddenly understood why her sister was married to this man—Sharon had always loved teasing Abby.

  Arthur grinned mischievously. “I’m guessing you didn’t get that far with him.”

  “No!”

  Arthur chuckled. “Sister always told me how she enjoyed teasing you—now I see why.”

  Abby huffed. “Sounds like her personality is still the same. I wondered if she’d changed since the last time I saw her.”

  “I think she’s very much the same as she always was. And speaking of changing, how did you not go rabid when she left you?”

  Abby told him.

  “Seriously? You were going to spend the first two years of your life as a vampire, strapped to a metal table with an instructional video on repeat?”

  “Yeah,” Abby said carefully.

  “Well, glad you didn’t have to do that, Abster.”

  “Abby.”

  “So do you like being a vampire?”

  Abby shrugged. “You’re clearly the type who enjoys fighting. I don’t. I enjoy science. In the early days at the hunter HQ, I almost died from being overpowered by a vampire.”

  “I need to teach you how to fight, little sister. It might save your life one day. But a vampire loose in the hunter HQ? You almost died? Weren’t you scared?”

  “I learnt on the day my sister Turned me how to die happy.”

  Arthur looked uncertain. “Er … what makes you happy?”

  “Her sister’s heartbeat,” the little hunter supplied.

  Arthur gave Abby a horrified look.

  “I learnt a lot of things from her, Arthur. And I’m grateful for all the lessons. There’s always going to be heartache in life, but death is just a moment. You sometimes can see it coming, other times you can’t. I saw it coming both times, and both times I decided to die happy.”

  “And both times you thought of your sister’s heartbeat?” he asked quietly.

  Abby nodded. “It’s the thing I crave for more than blood. The thing I’ve dedicated the end of my human life and all of my undead life to creating.”

  “Oh, Abster!” Arthur said dramatically, and hugged her. “You’re such a sweet and odd little vampire!”

  “Hey!”

  “If you don’t want me to call you ‘odd’, then compel us all and—”

  “You’re the one who’s weird!” Scotty interjected.

  “Stop trying to get her to act like a real vampire!” Paddy shouted.

  “But compulsion was the best part of being a vampire!” Arthur said, and Abby released herself from him. “You’ll never understand what it’s like to be me!”

  “I don’t think I want to understand,” Scotty said.

  Harriet was listening to their every word.

  Arthur continued. “Only Abster understands me!”

  “I imagine Sister does too,” Abby muttered.

  “Guys,” the little hunter said, “he’s still trolling you.”

  Paddy and Scotty sent Arthur dirty looks, but Arthur kept it up all the way to the den.

  CHAPTER 33

  Abby didn’t have to go into a blood rage to open the den door. It was more difficult from the outside, but the hunters had come prepared with steel cables. They wrapped it around the giant boulder blocking the entrance to the cave and formed a line, pulling on the rope like they were playing tug of war.

  Abby took hold of the cables and strained with all her might. When the boulder finally shifted, Abby moved to the door and pushed, trying to roll it to the side so that the incline towards the cave wouldn’t make it fall back to its original position.

  The hunters changed the angle of their ropes to help. Once the door was open, Abby, Arthur and the little hunter’s group went in first. The hunters were armed to the teeth with Abby’s older, less efficient cure aerial dispersal units.

  The hunters started setting up the units at the exit of the cave, while others rushed in and followed Abby and her group into the depths.

  The top level was devoid of vampires, with only a few piles of ash lying around. Every time Abby went past one, she winced—maybe those vampires had died when she’d opened the door to release the young hunters, or maybe it had happened when they’d opened the door this time. Either way, Abby felt responsible.

  The second level was empty, but the hunters still set up units there—just in case.

  But when a group attacked Arthur, calling him a traitor, Abby went into a blood rage. She threw off the first vampire and sent him to the little hunter, who was swinging a silver chain whip over his head, while the others set up another dispersal unit.

  Hissing came from Arthur’s direction. He had a silver blade out and was using it with great effect.

  He touched the blade to the neck of the vampire on top of him—when that vampire cried out in pain, he injected the cure into him with a needle. Two other vampires turned on the new human, having gone into a blood rage in response to Abby.

  She threw herself at the two vampires and tackled them both off the newly turned human. Arthur was on his feet and fast approaching.

  The aerial dispersal unit started dispensing the cure and Abby relaxed, going out of her blood rage once the vampires had turned human.

  She was up and running before the new humans realised what happened to them. The hunters and Arthur were right behind her, keeping pace.

  Soon, more hunters joined the front line, among them Abby’s old day guard unit—they looked as ho
stile as ever, especially Nina and Elliot.

  Abby’s skin went clammy, but she focused on the battle—she couldn’t get distracted now.

  Aerial dispersal units were going off on all sides, and silver was flashing all around Abby as the hunters defended themselves while they set up more units.

  Arthur knew where the queen would be, so Abby followed him while the hunters spread out on each level and systematically searched for vampires. The front line of hunters stayed with them, all the way into the depths.

  Finally, Arthur signalled that they’d reached their destination: the queen’s cave was just ahead of them. They all moved forward, dispersal units at the ready.

  But they came upon an army of vampires, all wearing gas masks.

  CHAPTER 34

  “How did you get them?” demanded Arthur.

  “Arthur,” said one particularly smug female vampire, radiating power. She was clearly old, and Abby had to fight the urge to turn tail and run.

  The hunters weren’t going to back down, either.

  Kenny and Annette had fought this way too. These hunters faced terrifying predators on a daily basis, and Abby couldn’t help but feel admiration for their courage, their bravery, their determination to make the world a safer place—even if she didn’t agree with most of their methods.

  “Tell me, Lucia,” Arthur ordered.

  “The queen wishes to send you her gratitude for exposing the hunters’ weakness. Without your sacrifice, we would not be so well prepared now.”

  “And what about all the young vampires we just cured?” Abby demanded.

  She tilted her head as she regarded Abby. “Ah, so you’re the vampire the queen visited last night. The one who made a lucky escape due to the rising sun.” Her eyes hardened. “You won’t be so lucky again. Especially considering you’re a traitor—curing your own kind.”

  Abby flexed her fingers.

  “But at least the queen’s property were obedient enough to return to her,” Lucia said, eyes on Tay, Paddy and Scotty.

  “We are no one’s property,” snapped the little hunter.

  “And we returned to cure her!” Paddy shouted.

  Lucia snorted. “Cure, cure, cure—that’s all you talk about. And yet you don’t realise how hypocritical you are, considering you wouldn’t even be standing here if it weren’t for having ingested vampiric blood.”

  Paddy and Scotty started in surprise. Lucia snickered, enjoying their reaction.

  “Oh, come on,” Arthur muttered to them. “Everyone knows you were at death’s door a few days ago.”

  “And now that we know the weakness in the hunters’ weapons, we can clear this up real quick,” Lucia said, a violent lust entering her eyes. “The queen has something special planned for her property and the one who stole you.”

  Abby’s skin crawled. “Well, I have something special planned for the queen too.”

  Lucia rolled her eyes. “No wonder you’re on the hunters’ side—they’re the only ones I know so willing to die at our hands.”

  “As long as you end up human, I don’t care what happens to me,” retorted Harriet.

  Something pressed into Abby’s palm: the hilt of the little hunter’s silver dagger. I’ve got another, he mouthed, and showed her that he actually had three more.

  Abby nodded; perhaps it was best if she was armed.

  Just then, the vampires collectively grew their nails into sharp talons.

  Abby gaped.

  “Yeah,” Arthur said, seeing her reaction. “Older vampires can do that. I keep forgetting you don’t know this.”

  “Is there anything else I should know?” she asked him.

  Green gas now filtered throughout the entire level.

  “Don’t let them touch your gas mask,” the little hunter said.

  Abby didn’t have time to thank him for his obvious comment, as Lucia lunged at them.

  Harriet, her team and the three emaciated hunters stepped in front of Abby, swinging their heavy silver chain whips. Arthur dashed in between the humans, slicing at the heads of vampires. Gas masks fell to the floor in his wake.

  Abby was about to throw herself into the fray when she felt power radiating from behind her.

  She spun on her heel and looked around.

  There, among the brawl, stood Gabriel.

  Disgust and betrayal distorted his face. “I helped you,” he said.

  Abby cast around desperately for anything that would help her, anything that might even her odds. But she knew he’d have her in seconds, mask off, ready to present to the queen.

  He approached slowly, each step sending chills down her spine. She adjusted her grip on the silver dagger.

  All around her, humans and vampires fought with ferocity, doing what they’d been doing for millennia.

  But for Abby, time was slowing down as Gabriel got closer and closer.

  “The queen,” he said slowly, “will reward me many times over when I bring her a traitor. And she will enjoy torturing you and slowly sending you insane.”

  “Does she never get tired of doing the same thing, over and over again?” Abby asked.

  Gabriel raised his eyebrows. “So you know her well. Is this a personal vendetta?”

  “It is.”

  Then he was beside her, his razor talons swiping at her gas mask.

  Abby snapped her head backwards, out of range.

  “Take off your mask!” he compelled her.

  Abby broke the compulsion and slashed her dagger at his chest.

  He laughed, caught her hand and twisted her arm. She screamed. Her shoulder cracked, pain exploding along the length of her arm.

  The silver dagger clattered uselessly to the ground.

  Gabriel bared his sharp fangs and pulled her close, aiming the butt of his head at her gas mask.

  Abby jerked to the side, and his head smashed into her shoulder instead.

  She felt her bones crunch.

  Gabriel smiled—he was enjoying this.

  Abby kicked him with her right leg, trying to get him away from her. She’d been naive to think she could even help in this fight. Naive and stupid and unprepared.

  He held fast onto her hand, not going anywhere.

  Abby didn’t have a choice—she had to go into a blood rage and trust that the humans would be safe.

  Sorry, Arthur, she thought, then activated her rage.

  Every vampire around her went into a frenzy, fighting harder, sending hunters flying into the cave walls.

  The little hunter cut himself and all the vampires nearby leapt at him.

  His chain whip whirled around him, smacking and smashing the gas masks.

  Gabriel looked up from her and over at the little hunter, his face contorted in rage. Abby kicked him in the stomach again, and this time he let go. She jumped on him, sending them both tumbling to the ground.

  He rolled atop her, his eyes turning back to blue as he sank his talons deep into her shoulders and dragged them downwards. She shrieked and flipped her legs up, grabbing him in a scissor hold.

  There was a jagged rock against the cave wall. Abby heaved him off her, grabbed his hair and smashed his face—and gas mask—into the rock.

  He cried out and convulsed—suddenly, he was a human.

  Abby released him from her grasp. “Get out of here, Gabriel,” she ordered.

  He didn’t hesitate.

  Abby stood slowly—her legs were the only parts of her body that weren’t injured. But her right arm, left shoulder and chest were slowly healing—and making her hungry.

  Abby dropped out of her blood rage, just in case she became as rabid as the rest of the vampires here.

  But the increase in mindless vampires made the hunters more efficient at curing them.

  Most of the queen’s guards were now human, and only a few remained.

  Arthur approached her, eyes concerned. “I really need to teach you how to protect yourself, Abster.”

  “Abby,” she grumbled as the last of the
queen’s guard was cured.

  “Oi,” Arthur shouted at the emaciated hunters, “whatever happened to working with her? She was all alone!”

  “And I could say the same to you,” the little hunter replied.

  “Jeez, Vampire,” said Scotty, “I thought you could handle this.”

  “Clearly, given how well the last few nights went,” Paddy added, “we overestimated your abilities.”

  Abby knew it—she was just a nuisance here.

  “How many and who did you fight?” Arthur asked. “I want names, faces, whatever you can remember.”

  “Gabriel,” Abby said, and described him.

  Arthur’s jaw dropped. “Are you serious?” he exclaimed. Harriet, Nina and a few others stepped closer to listen in.

  “Yes,” Abby said. “And I’ve got the broken bones to prove it.”

  Arthur shook his head. “Gabriel is a prince! You just took out a prince. Maybe the hunters didn’t overestimate you.”

  There was a moment of awed silence.

  “Um,” Abby said, shifting on her feet, “a prince?”

  “Queens are at least two thousand years old,” the little hunter supplied. “And just like any structure of royalty, they are the most powerful. Princes and princesses are at least one thousand years old—” Abby widened her eyes “—and are the second most powerful in a den.”

  “It usually takes at least two units to take a prince or princess down,” Nina said, inspecting Abby cautiously.

  “And even then,” Harriet added, “only one or two hunters survive.”

  Abby’s stomach twisted and she wasn’t sure how to process this information. So she turned to Arthur and changed the subject. “Where’s the queen?”

  He nodded towards the end of the level, which was caved in by a rock fall. “Behind there.”

  “What?” said Abby.

  “Standard procedure for a queen,” Harriet replied. “Block off the entrance so we can’t get to her.” She then produced a small bomb.

  “Hang on a minute!” Arthur protested. “My wife is in there. I don’t want you killing … either of us!”

  “Your wife is a vampire, right?” Elliot asked.