How Not to Be a Vampire Hunter

by ID Johnson

  I couldn’t help but smile at him. He seemed so sincere. Brandon put on a good show, but I saw the vulnerability beneath it. “I don’t think there’s much chance of you ever being alone again,” I replied with a shrug. He nodded, understanding what I meant. He looked relieved to hear that, and once again I found myself wondering about his mother. “I’ll see you in a bit.”

  I turned and headed for the building again, trying to focus on what we’d find out in the meeting and not on Brandon’s green eyes, but it was hard. There was something special about that guy, and I don’t think it was just because he was Elliott’s son that I felt this way.

  Taking a shower was a big gamble, but after Brandon’s comment, I couldn’t be sure he wasn’t talking about me. So… I hurriedly jumped into the still-cold water and washed off really quickly, which meant I had to redo my makeup, not to mention my hair was now wet. By the time I was somewhat presentable, I knew there was no way I was going to make it downstairs on time.

  Miraculously, I made it to the lobby just as Brandon was walking into the building. Jamie was visiting with the lady behind the front desk, whom I thought must be some sort of a concierge or something, though I had no idea. My hair was still damp, but I thought it wasn’t too noticeable. I expected Jamie to check his watch or tell us we were late or something, but he only smiled and said, “Are we ready?”

  “Uh, yeah,” Brandon said, and I noticed his eyes drop down to my sneakers and then back up to my face. I had on jeans and an emerald sweater with a black leather jacket I’d picked up a few months ago, to insinuate I was one of them, and while I wasn’t dressed to the nines, I thought I looked okay. He also looked pretty nice in jeans with a red and blue plaid shirt and a jean jacket.

  I smiled at him, and as Jamie led us out of the apartment building, I fell in step next to him.

  “We’re going to Aaron’s office,” Jamie exclaimed as we walked back the way we came. We passed his building and went to another, taller one, down the street. I wondered how hard it was for Brandon to walk like a human. I wanted to ask, but something told me it would be good practice to not say anything if I could help it.

  “There will be a lot of Hunters and Guardians from other regions on the IAC. Some stuff went down with Gibbon last night,” Jamie continued, “so this will be a pretty serious discussion.” He had his hand on the door and turned to look at us. “Seriously—don’t say anything during the meeting. Okay?”

  “Yes, sir,” I replied, and I didn’t mean it sarcastically at all, but he still shook his head at me, like I was trying to be snide or he thought I was ridiculous.

  We headed for an elevator, and I realized my hands were shaking a little bit, so I stuffed them in my pocket. My phone was a reminder that Lucy had called earlier, and I hadn’t called her back yet, but she’d definitely have to wait. Brandon took a step closer to me so that his arm was bumped up against mine, and I appreciated the contact. It made me feel slightly less nervous.

  We exited the elevator and walked through a glass door. Brandon looked suspiciously at the first chair beyond the entrance, and I thought there must be something to that, but before I could ask, the older woman behind the front desk startled me with an overly loud, “Good morning, Jamie! Kids!”

  “Good morning, Mrs. Carminati,” he said. “Have you met Cassidy, Cadence’s sister?”

  “I believe we met at the… memorial,” she said, smiling at me. I didn’t remember her at all, but I would take her word for it. “Nice to see you again, sweetheart.”

  “You, too,” I said, smiling. She looked very nice and friendly and possibly about as old as Jamie actually was.

  “And you remember Brandon?” Jamie continued.

  “Oh, yes. I remember Mr. Keen. Nice to see you again as well, darling.”

  “You, too, Mrs. Carminati,” he replied, smiling and reaching out to take her ancient hand in his. She held his hand in hers and patted the back of it like they were old friends. I wondered what that was all about.

  “Aaron and Cadence are in the office. You can go on in,” she said to Jamie. I thought she had to be human; she looked too old to be anything else, but I wondered if she had an IAC.

  Whatever discussion the bosses had been having came to a halt when we walked in. Cadence jumped out of the chair she’d been sitting at around a long boardroom-like meeting table and exclaimed, “HI! How are you guys?”

  “Never better!” Brandon replied as Cadence hugged him and then stared at him for a second, like she was trying to figure out whether or not he was being sarcastic, before she turned to me.

  Aaron had been standing at the far end of the table, but he came around to clasp Brandon’s hand. “You feel different?”

  “Nah, I’ve always been like this.” Brandon looked down at himself as if to say he’d always been so awesome. Aaron shook his head at him and briefly rested his hand on my shoulder as a greeting. That was good enough for me. Hugging him still seemed awkward to me.

  I noticed my sister rolling her eyes at Brandon as she gestured at us to take seats at the table. I thought it made the most sense for me to sit next to her, since she was my sister and all, so I sat in the chair next to the one where she’d been sitting, but she made a funny face when I pulled it out, so I waited to see if she’d say something. She didn’t, so I sat, and Brandon took the chair next to me. Jamie went around to the other side and sat next to Aaron.

  Cadence looked at Brandon and I and said, “Everyone else should be here in just a few minutes. Remember, no talking during the meeting.”

  “Yes, ma’am.” That time, there was a hint of attitude in my voice. I didn’t understand why they all insisted on telling us the same thing over and over again.

  Apparently, Brandon also didn’t think we needed another reminder. “May we blink?” he asked.

  Looking past me, Cadence replied, “As long as I can’t hear it.”

  There were several stacks of papers on the table in front of Aaron, and one of them caught Jamie’s eye. “What’s all this?” he asked, turning his head sideways to look at the one closest to him.

  “Oh, maps, mostly,” Aaron replied. “Pictures of the two victims taken from the scene as well as Gibbon and Giovani. We were also able to identify one of the Vampires fleeing the scene through that side door. Ex-Black Ops named Frank Howard.”

  They continued to talk as I turned to Brandon, trying to keep my jaw from hitting the floor. He looked just as shocked as I did. Giovani had taken Gibbon last night, and no one had bothered to tell us! I really wanted to say something, but Brandon shook his head slightly, reminding me that I’d promised not to say anything. He was right. I had no case for demanding to be told anything at all, so instead, I trained my ear in on the conversation and decided to try to piece things together, based on what they were saying now.

  “Interesting,” Jamie said studying the picture Aaron had said was of Frank Howard. “So, it was military then?”

  “I guess you could say so, though it’s not as if these Vampires are still the war heroes they were before they Resurrected,” Aaron responded. He had his hands shoved down inside his gray slacks and I noticed he looked a little more disheveled than usual. His light blue shirt was unbuttoned at the top, two buttons instead of one. I thought he must’ve been up all night trying to help the Philly team and was probably irritated that he wasn’t on location to help.

  Forgetting everything Brandon had just said, I asked “What do you mean? Oh, wait—can I talk now, before everyone gets here?” I hurriedly asked before I got in trouble.

  “Of course,” Aaron answered. I was glad it came from him and not Cadence who looked at me like she about to say no. “We have a theory that Vampires are not really the same people they were when they were alive. There’s not much of a way to prove it.”

  “Really?” Elliott had mentioned this to me once before, but I wanted to hear their take on it. “What do you think they are?”

  “Some sort of demonic manifestation,” Jamie answered
. “Something that takes on the same characteristics of the person but isn’t really them.”

  This information matched what Elliott had told me. I thought on it for a moment and then broached the subject with my sister who had grown awfully quiet, “So, you don’t think you really killed Jack, then? You think you killed some demon who had taken over his body?”

  I don’t think she was ready for the question. Maybe I was a little too abrupt with my phrasing. “I honestly don’t know,” she finally replied. “I mean—maybe it wasn’t Jack. But it seemed like Jack to me.” She studied the coffee cup in front of her on the table, and I wished I hadn’t asked. It seemed sort of rude now and derailed their conversation.

  Before I could apologize, the door opened, and a large group of team members walked in. Meagan, Shane, Hannah, and Aurora greeted Brandon and I and welcomed us, which was cool. I was glad no one seemed to care that we were there. They were all very interested in asking Brandon how the Transformation had gone, and I listened while assessing if my sister was okay. She seemed better now, and when Aaron sat down, finally, at the head of the table, I imagined he’d been talking to her. Hopefully, none of it involved her idiotic sister who didn’t think before she blurted out questions.

  There was a large plasma screen up in the corner of the room where everyone could see it, and when Cale’s handsome face popped up, I had to keep myself from gasping. I tried not to stare. Next to Aaron, he was the hottest guy I’d ever seen in real life. I remembered that my sister had dated him briefly and noticed a tinge of pink in her cheeks as everyone greeted the Guardian who was the Area Leader for some part of Nevada or someplace; I wasn’t exactly sure where.

  The next face to come into view was a man who appeared to be in his thirties with short, dark hair. He looked utterly exhausted, and when everyone began to say hello, I found out this was Andrew, the Philly Area Leader.

  A woman joined us via the screen shortly thereafter, and I learned that her name was Morgan. She had long, brown wavy hair and was cute but feisty looking. Her area was in Montana.

  “Oh, my gosh!” Morgan gushed, leaning closer to the screen. “You look so much like your dad!”

  I turned to see Brandon fumbling for words and scooted my leg over so that my knee bumped his leg, trying to offer support. “That’s what I hear,” he managed, with a smile.

  “I mean, seriously, just like him!” Apparently, Morgan didn’t take hints very well, so Aaron cut in and started the meeting, for which I was sure Brandon was thankful.

  “As you know, we have a very serious situation on our hands in Philadelphia, and I have asked all of you to join us because I know that you all have something that you can contribute to our efforts in defeating Giovani.” A quick glance around the room showed lots of nods of agreement. “Why don’t we start off with a quick recap of everything that happened last night, Andrew?”

  Something told me the last thing Andrew wanted to do was recount the events of the night before, but I was happy to hear what had happened. So far, all I’d gathered was that some ex-military Vampires had busted into the hospital where Gibbon was being kept and broke him out. I also knew Giovani was somehow involved. I was eager to hear more.

  Andrew cleared his throat and looked down, not quite at anyone. “Well, we received the information from Aaron yesterday evening around ten o’clock our time that there was a possibility that Giovani was in the area, and there was a chance he was going to attempt to turn Gibbon. We didn’t really know what to expect—would he turn him in the hospital or take him? We have never really handled anything like that before. So, I pulled my top team members together, about fifteen of them, and we began to come up with a game plan. We had to figure out what weapons we had available, get the layout of the hospital, etc. By the time we got everything together and were able to proceed to the hospital, it was about one in the morning.”

  “Wow, that took a really long time.” Morgan must not have gotten the “no talking during the meeting” memo.

  Andrew’s eyes flickered on the screen, and I assumed he was looking at her for a moment before he said, “We wanted to be cautious. We weren’t sure what we would be facing, and we had no idea that Giovani was actually planning on moving on the hospital that night.”

  “Can you tell us what you found when you got there?” If Aaron was upset at Morgan’s question, his tone didn’t show it. I assumed he was just trying to keep the story moving along.

  A pained expression overtook Andrew’s face. “When we arrived, Giovani was already in the process of extracting Gibbon. A helicopter was taking off overhead when we pulled into the parking lot. With Aaron’s help, I deployed my team to cover the exits, and I led a team of three into the hospital to attempt to stop the perpetrators as they were fleeing the building. But we weren’t successful.”

  “I’m confused.” I turned my head to see that it was Hannah speaking. Her voice was calm, as it always seemed to be, and not at all accusatory as Morgan’s had been. “Were they fleeing in a helicopter or on foot?”

  “Both,” Andrew clarified, “though we didn’t know for sure at the time. I thought it was unusual that a helicopter would be taking off during an emergency situation like that, one where the police were on their way. So, I assumed Giovani had something to do with that. And Aaron told us there were four men trying to make an exit down the back stairwell.”

  “So, Giovani has a helicopter?” The sound of Cale’s British accent was like butter, and I didn’t linger on his face for fear I’d begin to turn the same color my sister was.

  “Yes,” Andrew nodded, “I believe so.”

  “He does,” Aaron confirmed, and I recalled we were talking about a helicopter.

  “Brilliant,” Cale mumbled. “I guess we may need my birds as well then?” A handsome foreigner with helicopters. More than one. I wanted to know what was wrong with my sister, but then I glanced back at Aaron and remembered he was also very easy on the eyes and in charge of this whole mess.

  The conversation continued. Everyone else was talking about helicopters. I pulled my mind back to the conversation. “I think that would be a wonderful idea,” Aaron was saying to Cale. I secretly wondered if it wasn’t for those helicopters if Cale would be part of this conversation, and I remembered they were supposed to be deployed earlier at Sierraville and the fact that they weren’t was part of the problem with that hunt.

  “Was Giovani in the helicopter?” Shane was taking notes. He was the only one with pen and paper, and I couldn’t help but think that was weird. There was a computer in his eye, for crying out loud. He kept clicking his pen. I caught my sister’s eyes and thought it must be irritating her as much as it was starting to bother me.

  “I’m not sure,” Andrew admitted.

  “He had to have been,” Cadence said. “We know he was in the hospital because we saw him on the footage entering and exiting Gibbon’s room, but he wasn’t with the four that escaped out the back.” My sister is often smarter than I give her credit for. That made sense. So Giovani was in the helicopter.

  “They didn’t all escape,” Andrew interjected. I could tell by his tone he was tired of being blamed for all of this mess, even if he deserved it. “We did manage to get one of them, at least. I think we may have hit another, but of course we have no way of knowing if he survived.”

  “Why is that?” That was Aurora. I wondered if everyone felt compelled to speak at least once during these meetings. I turned and looked at Brandon, and he glanced at me for a moment with a reassuring look as we turned back to Andrew.

  “We took out one of them as they were entering a black Chevy Tahoe that pulled up to the back door. I watched him turn to ash. Another was hit in the leg, but his friends got him inside the SUV, and they pulled away. My bikes gave chase, but the SUV managed to lose them in the city traffic.”

  “At one o’clock in the morning?” Morgan seemed very annoyed at Andrew in general. Her tone was borderline snide again.

  “Yes. They didn’t wan
t any humans to get hurt,” Andrew explained.

  The next thing that came out of Aaron’s mouth confused the crap out of me. “Good question, Christian.” I turned and looked at Brandon, who only shrugged at me. I double-checked the table; Christian wasn’t here. He wasn’t on the screen either, and I realized he must be listening via the IAC. We would have no way of knowing what good question Christian had asked. “Thanks for your recap, Andrew,” Aaron said, nodding at the Philly Leader, who seemed relieved that he wouldn’t have to say anything else—at least for a while.

  Aaron’s answer gave me some clues as to what Christian might’ve asked. “We know that one of them is Frank Howard, an ex-Black Ops. We are assuming that the others are ex-military as well based on their dress, their weaponry, and their tactics. We aren’t sure how many Vampires may be working with Giovani, but we can assume that he has the cooperation of any and every bloodsucker in the area since Giovani’s end goal is to take out Cadence and then all of us. So, let’s just go ahead and assume we are outnumbered.”

  Morgan’s voice still sounded annoyed. “How do we know his objective is taking out Cadence?” She was pulling on her hair as she spoke, like she was thinking aloud.

  Morgan seemed to respond to herself. “That seems sort of odd. Since when do Vampires leave notes letting us know their intention?”

  I turned and looked at Brandon again. He was as bewildered as I was. I could only assume someone had answered her over the IAC. Before I could say anything—not that I would’ve—Meagan leaned over from Brandon’s other side and whispered, “Eliza told Morgan that Giovani left the note with the poem.” We both nodded, and she backtracked a little. “Christian had asked what we knew about the people Giovani was working with.” I was afraid to say thank you, so I only smiled at her and tuned back to the conversation to hear Morgan replying to Eliza.

  “It just seems out of the ordinary to me.” Since she was talking to Eliza, I didn’t mind her snide attitude for once.