A Winter Moon

by S. J. Smith

  He came to a stop directly in front of me. We had the same strong build, though I was slightly taller than my father, another product of his age. “It is time you take the position as leader of this coven Jeremih. You have sat in on enough council meetings and coven delegations and I believe you may be ready.” I hid my surprise because I knew he would take it as some form of weakness. I couldn’t deny that I had been wondering when my father would recognize that it was time he step down.

  “Are you certain father?” I asked him and he nodded, his brows wrinkled together as he formulated some thought.

  “Yes Jeremih, you know that I am old for our kind and it is time I passed on leadership to you. You have proven yourself to be smart and observant, but I would like to test you,” he said slowly. Yet another surprise. What trial would he have me do?

  “I need to know that you are cunning and capable of truly leading. You are aware of the troubles we’ve been having of late?” he asked and I nodded.

  “Yes, the hunters are back and they are threatening all vampires in Rochester. What would you have me do about this?” my father tipped his head towards me and gave me an obvious look.

  “What would a leader of a prominent coven of vampires do?” I glanced out at the gardens once more and saw all of the preparations taking place. A leader wouldn’t let our way of life get destroyed, I wouldn’t stand for it. A leader would go out and meet the problem head on to eradicate it.

  “I would gather a team and hunt those who hunt us, to ensure our survival and that fear doesn’t spread throughout the race in our region,” I said resolutely, and my father nodded with the ghost of a smile touching his lips.

  “You always know the right thing to say and how to say it. But I need to see action from you. You know your people and you know their strengths, gather your team and report back to me before the party tonight.” With that, my father turned on his heel and walked from the room just as silently as he came in. Our coven did have its own militia and I knew just who I needed. I turned around to open the balcony doors and quickly crossed the space to the stone railing to jump over it. I landed lightly on the ground below and ran through the gardens to the training fields. My father’s estate was large and many of the vampires in our coven frequented the grounds much like if it were a palace or town center.

  I slowed my pace when I reached the stables as I heard the sounds of someone practicing their archery. The stable doors were closed. I neared them and heard the whiz and thump of an arrow hitting its target, which must have been mounted on the doors. I knocked twice and entered after the familiar voice of Alistair bid me to enter.

  “Brother!” Alistair greeted me with his customary huge grin. I smiled as I walked towards him. He was dressed in riding clothes, and had a quiver of arrows on his back and his new modified bow in hand. Alistair wasn’t actually my brother, but my closest friend for a long time. He had a shock of naturally white hair that was pulled back into a bun and his handsome features were enhanced by his oddly, amethyst-colored eyes.

  “Having a bit of target practice I see?” I gestured to the huge dummy hanging from the stable door, it had more holes in its silicone body than I cared to count.

  “Yes, I’ve just engineered these new arrows. After release, it ejects the arrowhead which propels it even faster into the enemy’s body, where it can release any toxin I injected into the arrowhead,” Alistair explained. He was the only vampire that hadn’t completely switched to more efficient weapons.

  “Bullets can do that also Alistair,” I said, and he rolled his eyes.

  “Bullets are boring. I’ve modernized my bow and arrows, that’s all I need,” he said, and I chuckled.

  “Which is why I am here. I need you for a special task,” I informed him, and Alistair perked up in excited curiosity.

  “So get on with it, what do you need?” he was impatient, as always, to get to the point.

  “I’m putting together a team to track down the hunters that have taken up residence in Rochester,” I said, and Alistair grinned eagerly.

  “Oh you know I do love a bit of hunter tracking. We should make it a sport,” he said, and I laughed.

  “One day perhaps. I must go and gather the rest of my team. Meet me at my father’s study in an hour and be ready for anything,” I said, and Alistair sprang into action, gathering his arrows and dismounting the dummy from the door. I left the stable through the back entrance and continued on to the training grounds.

  **

  Alina

  “Hey Lina! Come take a look at this.” Brody called me over to the body of the fang he just killed. We were out at a local nature preserve in Rochester and the vampire had been hunting for humans. They usually stuck close to seedy areas where they could hide and hunt easily. “I shot it from that tree there. He was hiding pretty good too, but I just knew something was up there.” Brody boasted his kill while I walked over and watched the unnaturally long-lived body quickly decompose into dust.

  “Which round did you use to kill it?” I asked, and Brody unloaded his clip to show me, while he pulled out a vial to collect some of the vampire dirt. I took out a bullet that was made from copper and loaded that with what Brody was collecting. It was strange how he had figured out the best way to kill a vampire; with their own kind’s poisonous DNA.

  “See that. I told you they’d work like a charm.” I put the bullet back into the clip and handed it to Brody. “It’s pretty much renewable too, the more vamps we kill the more ammo we have to kill more with. My genius will make us the baddest hunters on the continent.” I rolled my eyes, Brody had a severe narcissistic complex, but I couldn’t deny that his discovery and innovation helped us out a lot. All we had to do was shoot one with the poisonous DNA inside the bullet and it was dead.

  “You did good Brody. Now really impress me, and kill more of those fangs alright?” I patted Brody on the shoulder and he got fired up to go hunt more vampires down the trail. We had just recently found out that this park was one of their feeding grounds and my team was all over exterminating it. It was silent in the tree-shrouded preserve and I knew I wouldn’t hear any sounds other than the occasional vampire body hitting the ground. My team had specialized weapons made to be both silent and visually discreet. I was confident that my team of fifteen highly trained hunters could clean up the preserve fairly quickly so I decided to take a break.

  I walked over to a tree stump and sat down so I could pull out a granola bar and some water. I was getting tired of granola bars. Our commanding officer, so to speak, was sending my team out more and more frequently now because we were getting the most kills. Rick had high expectations of us, but I felt a burnout coming soon. The guys were getting less excited to go out hunting, Brody for one was becoming more weirdly erratic and overexcited, meanwhile I was just getting sick of staring at trees and dead vampires.

  After I finished my lunch, I pulled out my compact to make sure my earpiece was still well hidden behind my curly black hair. The wire I also wore underneath my parka was tucked away too. My shooter was still strapped to my arm under my sleeve so I was all set.

  “Hey Lina, we have a problem by the deer path… we need five hunters over here, Brody, Kevin, and Ron are nearest to you.” Jackson’s voice sounded from my earpiece and I quickly jumped into motion. I pulled put my phone and used the tracker to get to Brody, who was closest to me, so we could meet up with Kevin and Ron then head to Jackson’s location.

  Jackson and I sometimes didn’t see eye to eye and he tried to take lead from time to time. I was the first female lead in a hunting team and Jack thought I was too laid back and not really fit to lead. I proved myself often enough to keep him quiet and earn his respect, but we still had our disagreements. It was getting darker as the sun was setting and with the lack of light I grew confidence. My team worked best after dusk as I had handpicked guys that were stealthier and knew how to innately blend in with the surroundings once night fell. The vampires did have the advantage when it came to seeing
in the dark, so I made sure my team had an advantage also.

  I met up with Brody on the trail and then radioed Kevin and Ron to take a wide berth and meet us by the deer path. We were all dressed inconspicuously enough, but we couldn’t be too careful. I didn’t see what the ‘problem’ was that Jack needed us near the deer path for. The tracker was completely dead apart from showing all fifteen of my guys. I put my phone away while Brody and I walked silently through the preserve. All of a sudden a bullet whizzed right by my ear, and Brody and I dove for cover behind trees.

  “What do you see?” Brody asked me, he was only two feet away from me behind a thick sequoia and I was crouched in a ditch in between its thick roots. I glanced around the base of the tree and saw a vampire standing out in the open with a gun visibly holstered at its hip. It was tall and characteristically pale, dressed in a black jacket, dark jeans, and black boots. It was scanning the trees for us. I slowly lifted my arm and pulled back my sleeve to reveal my shooter. The barrel rested on my knuckles, and all I had to do was pull the trigger for a clean shot.

  I took the shot and the bullet flew silently through the air and hit directly in between the vampire’s eyes. Its head flew back and it hit the ground with a thud. Its body started to age and decompose, but then Brody and I heard running as two more vampires showed up to investigate. They were both armed as well.

  So the vampires had finally decided to fight back. I quickly reloaded my shooter while Brody made quick work of one, but he had to step out into the open to do it. The other started to shoot at him and Brody retreated into more tree cover. I waited for the vampire to follow him back and once he was directly across from me, I shot him in the temple and he went down. Afterwards, I ran to catch up with Brody and hurry to the deer path.

  When we got there, it was an all-out silent war. Both sides had weapons that barely made a sound and both sides moved with stealth. Kevin, Ron, and Jackson were taking cover while Brody and I were coming up behind the four vampires shooting at them. We made quick work of the vampires and I called a retreat order as the sound of rustling trees could be heard in the distance. There was no wind, so that meant the vampires were tree hopping to try and ambush us from above. We all sprinted from the preserve and loaded up into our trucks to rendezvous at a nearby diner. We had lost our element of surprise, we needed to start strategizing.

  **

  Jeremih

  “The hunters withdrew from the nature preserve, though we don’t think they’ll stay away. We’ve let them know that we’re fighting back now.” Alistair waltzed into our safe house located near the nature preserve which had always been safe hunting grounds for our kind from all three covens. He was followed by half of the fifteen vampires I sent him with.

  “Did you dwindle their numbers at all Alistair?” I asked and he shook his head slowly. I cursed and then stood up from behind desk I was sitting at.

  “They are highly specialized, I saw one woman take one shot and it killed Roland instantly,” Alistair said, and I began to pace. We couldn’t lose this battle with the hunters before it even began.

  “Then they must have some special agent in their bullets that can kill our kind. We shall use poison laced rounds as well then,” I said, and Alistair nodded.

  “That would be wise. I think we should continue to focus our forces on the hunting grounds. This new team of hunters is surprisingly adept come nightfall,” Alistair said, and I waved away his comment dismissively.

  “Of course they are, they’re hunters. They know their prey. Did you say they had a woman on their team?” I asked, and Alistair nodded.

  “Yes, she was skilled as well. I’d say she could have been the team’s leader. She called for them all to retreat and they followed her order.” I pursed my lips. It seems the hunters had evolved over time.

  “Well then we’ll just have to make sure we capture this woman eventually. No doubt she will break easier than a male hunter would and we can get the information needed to drive them out of Rochester or to eradicate them completely,” I said, and the men with Alistair all bristled with anticipation. “Do not let tonight’s loss color your outlook on this battle with the hunters. We will prevail,” I said simply, and I could see the resolve steel in the remaining vampires. I needed to send word to the rest of my team. My plan was working as expected so far. It was a good thing I sent the less skilled vampires with Alistair, yes it was a risk, but we had to know what we were up against.

  “Jeremih, a word?” Alistair called me out of my reverie. I looked up and discovered that all the men had left spare for Alistair. “I think we should wait on our next attack and simply follow their movements, learn where their base is for future exploitation. We simply have to know more than they think we know,” Alistair said, and I nodded. He was wise when it came to battle.

  “You’re right Alistair. Do what you think is best on your next patrol, but be careful,” I said, and he nodded once before flashing me a grin and leaving. I exhaled deeply and walked over to my desk. The safe house we were using was a cabin in the woods, surrounded by other bunkers for the men to sleep come sun up. We could survive and operate fully during the day if we wished, but from history and habit we’ve always been people of the night.

  Just as I was about to get up to oversee the modifications to our ammunitions, my phone rang and I saw it was my father calling. I hesitated to answer the phone, but did anyway. “Father,” I answered lightly. I heard a door shut on the other end and my father’s voice.

  “Jeremih, how was the first ambush?” he asked, and I decided to simply tell him that it was successful, because according to my plan it was.

  “Of course there was some loss, but it was foreseen. We know the full extent of the hunters’ capabilities now and it will be easier to dwindle their numbers from now on,” I said after explaining to him what I sent Alistair and the men in to the preserve to accomplish.

  “Well you seem to have things under control, I believe in you son, make Rochester safe for our kind again,” he said, and I promised that I wouldn’t let him down. After that, I decided to create a plan for how exactly we would capture the hunter woman so that we could get all the information we could out of her.

  **

  Alina

  I washed my face and forced myself not to cry. We had lost four men on a hunting ground patrol and it was by the same armed vampires who showed up in the nature preserve. Only they were more prepared and we killed not one of them. They caught us at dusk in a park we knew the vampires frequented. We of course knew they could show up. But we weren’t prepared for them to know exactly when and where we’d be hunting vampires.

  I looked up into the mirror of my bathroom in our hideaway house, the next town over from Rochester. The town of Chester Minnesota was small, but indiscreet. As I looked in the mirror, I saw the disappointment and frustration I was trying to hide from the rest of the guys. It was in my green eyes which were easy to read. I tried to rub some vigor back into my face with a towel, but all it did was make my light brown skin just a bit warm. Maybe I just needed some sleep. I looked tired and worn from our last battle with the vampires, and I needed to show strength for the guys. We wouldn’t lose this fight. We weren’t sent to Minnesota to fail.

  There was a knock at the door and I dried my hands before going to answer it. Brody stood there, tall and bulky with muscle, wearing a t-shirt and sweat pants. His shoulders were slumped and he looked just as bad as I did.

  “I’ve gathered the guys in the living room, they’re all waiting for you,” Brody said, and I nodded. I took a deep breath and then followed him out to the living room, where only eleven men were gathered around when it should have been fifteen.

  “Guys I’m not going to bullshit you; I think we all know that was bad what happened in that park last night. The vampires are smart and they know more than we think they do. We have to be extremely careful and go into our next patrol with our eyes wide open. We have to take more precaution without movements, don’t have any s
ensitive conversations out loud, unless we’re here, and always assume something is watching. We underestimated them and paid the price for it. The ultimate price and I don’t want to have to have us all go through that again.” I took a deep breath and met the eyes of each man sitting or standing in the room, focused on me.

  “They are using poisonous rounds just as we are, so all it takes is one shot. We need to wear our protective gear always, don’t get cocky, and play it safe. This cleanup is going to go a lot slower now so just be patient. We’ll hunt every last vampire in Rochester, if it takes us a year to do it then so be it. What we need to do now is gain more intelligence on this counter-force the vampires let loose against us. We’re going to be cutting our man power in half for night shifts to start up day shifts. We have to get stealthy and kill those things in their sleep.” the guys all bristled with agreement and I took a deep breath to continue.

  “Jack, you pick four guys and transition to working during the day. By tomorrow, I want you following every lead you can to learn where the vamps live, where they gather, and most importantly where those bastards fighting back, operate from. Kill any vamp you can and keep communication open.” Jackson nodded to me, and I looked to Brody.

  “Brody we’ll need better sweeping systems and tracking. Work with Kevin, because he’ll be our eyes while the rest of us are patrolling hunting grounds,” I said, and both men nodded. “Good then, don’t let last night get to you. We’ll come out on top, we always do,” I said, and the guys gave one hoorah before the meeting was officially over. I needed some quiet time before we went out for another patrol in a few hours, so I went back to my room to lie in bed and relax a little.

  Banging on my door forced me to bolt right out of bed. I ran to open the door and saw both Brody and Kevin standing on the other side with expressions of unease.