He wasn’t looking at Jane as he spoke, but she knew he was addressing her.
“Let’s go,” he said and led them out of the house, grabbing a set of keys from the bowl as he passed.
As always, Sarah sat next to JD as he drove, with one hand on his thigh. They didn’t speak about Craig and Natalie, despite the fact that only Jane was in the car with them. JD had been right in saying they should put it from their minds, for now. Everyone needed to be one hundred percent focused on the hunt.
The house they were sent to was a quaint little cottage on the edge of the mountains. It was located down a quiet country lane with not another building for miles in any direction. It was the perfect place for vampires to live.
Sanctuary 7 had been picking up signs of feeding there for the last few weeks, but they never lasted long enough for a team to be sent. This time they decided to send a team anyway. They suspected that humans were being held prisoner there as a constant blood supply, being kept alive just so the resident vampires could feed whenever they wanted to.
Sanctuary 7 had picked up four signals, so no other team was being sent. Six hunters could easily deal with them.
When they arrived, JD sent Jane, Sarah and Scott around the back, while Jonathon set to work on picking the lock on the front door. There were no lights on inside and JD could hear no sound, but that didn’t mean nobody was home.
It didn’t take Jonathon long to get the door unlocked and JD slowly opened it. He glanced inside and, seeing nobody, went in. He quickly found a light switch and turned it on. The light would announce to anyone inside that they were there, but it was always harder to hunt in the dark; it gave vampires an advantage.
JD looked around him as Jonathon and Katie entered the house. There was nothing remarkable about it. Stairs to his right led to the second floor and there were three doors leading off the corridor he was standing in.
He signalled to Jonathon that he should open the first door, then he drew his sword. The lounge was empty, as was the under stairs toilet.
That only left the door at the end, which JD assumed would be the kitchen. They entered at the same time as Scott unlocked the back door.
Sarah turned on the light, revealing a large kitchen/diner with a wooden table to one side. An elderly couple were tied to chairs. Both were unconscious or dead. Blood stained their necks and clothes.
“You’re getting slow,” JD said to Scott as Jane and Sarah checked the couple for signs of life. Neither had a pulse.
“It looks like we’re too late,” Sarah said sadly.
“Check upstairs,” JD said. “There may be more victims there. And the vampires might still be here. But be careful. If they are around, they know we’re here and will be waiting for us.”
JD took point and led them up the stairs. The first bedroom contained twin beds. Two girls, both pre-schoolers, were lying in them. The amount of blood told Jane they were already dead, but she checked anyway.
Their bodies were cold to the touch. These were not fresh kills.
“I would say they have been dead a couple of days, maybe more,” she said.
The wardrobes were checked to make sure no vampires were hiding in them, then JD signalled to move on.
They split into pairs to check the remaining rooms. The bathroom and next bedroom were empty. Jonathon opened the door to a third bedroom and stepped back. A vampire jumped out at him, but Katie was ready. She slashed at him with her sword, slicing his neck but not removing his head. Jonathon followed up with his own weapon and decapitated him.
“One down, three to go,” he said as he stepped into the bedroom.
Jane and Scott opened the last bedroom door. It was dark inside so they switched on the light. Two vampires stood in front of them, each holding a live hostage. One was a woman, who looked to be in her early thirties, and the other was a slightly older man. Both had blood running down their necks from freshly made wounds and their eyes were wide with terror.
“Move and they die,” a young female vampire said.
“Release them and we will let you live,” Scott lied. The other vampire laughed.
“Of course you will, hunter. After all, you are known for your mercy toward my kind.” His voice dripped with sarcasm.
“You are outnumbered and you have nowhere to run,” Scott said, “so you might as well release the hostages.”
“If I’m going to die I might as well take them with me,” the vampire said and twisted his victim’s head sharply to one side, breaking his neck.
“No,” Jane cried out as the dead body slid to the floor. She ran forward, but the vampire was ready for her. He knocked her to the ground then grabbed hold of her head, exposing her neck, and sank his fangs into her.
JD ran into the room, slashed out with his sword and beheaded the vampire, almost cutting Jane in the process.
He span around to see Scott disposing of the other vampire, but not before the creature ripped out the throat of the woman she was holding hostage.
“There’s still one left,” JD said, then he heard the sound of a body hitting the floor. He looked out into the hall to see Sarah sliding her sword out of a young woman’s torso.
“She was hiding in the attic,” Sarah said and grinned at him. “Tried to sneak up on you. I don’t think she knew I was here.”
Sarah wiped her sword on the dead vampire’s clothes, then held her up by her hair so Jonathon could remove her head.
Only then did JD turn back to Jane. “Is there any venom?” he asked as he examined her neck. The wound wasn’t bad and the blood had already stopped flowing. Jane shook her head.
“What happened?” he asked.
“The vampire broke the neck of his victim and I ran forward. I reacted without thinking. He was ready for me and struck me before I could get out of the way.”
Anger surged through him. He signalled to the others that they should search the rest of the house, including the attic, then began to shout at Jane, who cowered away from him. “What the hell did you run forward for? I taught you better than that. Did you leave your brain at home this evening?”
He saw tears in her eyes and took a deep breath to calm down. “Sorry. I don’t like it when anyone in my team gets injured. Was your mind on Craig instead of the hunt?”
She was too scared to speak, so just nodded her head.
“If you were not in a fit state to hunt, you should have stayed behind. If you ever let your personal life distract you again I will have you transferred. We are professionals. We are better than that.”
Jane’s bottom lip began to tremble. JD sighed, put his arms around her and pulled her close. “Craig’s problems with Natalie are not your fault. Stop worrying about it. They will work things out.”
She blinked away her tears before they fell. There was no way she was going to cry in front of her trainer. Even if it was his fault. She had never seen him angry before, but had heard enough about how deadly he was when he went cold for her to be frightened when he shouted at her.
JD was still comforting Jane when Sarah returned. ‘Is she alright?’ she mouthed at him. He nodded his head.
‘Worried about Craig,’ he mouthed back.
Sarah signalled that she was returning to the car then left them alone. She didn’t have to wait long for them to join her.
Sanctuary 1 had arrived and Scott was telling them where to find the four vampires and their victims.
“Let’s go,” JD said. “The others won’t be far behind.”
When they arrived home, the house was quiet. There was no sign of Craig or Natalie and Sarah went in search of them. She found Craig in his room, sitting on the bed. To say he looked miserable was an understatement.
“She’s dumped me,” he said before Sarah could ask. “She has moved all of her things back into her old room and is refusing to speak to me.”
“Give her time,” Sarah said.
Craig said nothing. He wouldn’t even look at her, so she left him alone to wallow in his m
isery and went in search of Natalie.
She knocked on the door of the room Natalie used to occupy, but received no answer. It wasn’t locked, so she went in.
“Go away Sarah,” Natalie said as soon as she saw her. Her red eyes showed that she had been crying. “I don’t want to hear about how upset Craig is and how I should forgive and forget.”
“Actually I’m here to see how you are. I’m not taking sides in this.”
Natalie looked at her, trying to gauge if she was telling the truth or not. Sarah had never lied to her before, as far as she was aware, so she took her at her word.
“Right now I don’t know how I am. I just want to be left alone.”
“Alright,” Sarah said. “Try to get some sleep. We can talk in the morning, if you want. Just remember that we all love you as much as we do Craig and will all support you, whatever you decide to do.”
Natalie nodded her head and Sarah left her alone. She shut the door and wondered how long it would take before exhaustion finally made Natalie sleep.
Thank you for beating some sense into me
Breakfast was a quiet affair the next morning. Craig had made it to the 5am training session, but looked like he hadn’t slept. JD took one look at him and sent him back to bed.
Sarah let the rest of the hunters know that Natalie had moved into her own room. They would find out soon enough and she didn’t want Craig to have to tell them.
Jane looked distraught and JD ordered her to stay out of it. This was something that Craig and Natalie would have to sort out themselves. Anything Jane could say would just make things worse.
Craig picked at his breakfast, moving it around the bowl instead of eating it. He hung his head down and refused to look at anyone. Nobody asked how he was; his body language was yelling at them that he wanted to be left alone.
Natalie was wearing just her dressing gown as she walked into the dining room. She didn’t greet anyone and walked directly up to Jane.
“Jane,” she said and when the young woman turned to look at her, she slapped her round the face, hard. The sound echoed around the room.
“You utter bitch,” she snarled at her. “You want him? Well you can have him.” She then turned around and walked out of the room.
“Natalie, wait,” Jane called out and stood up to go after her, but JD grabbed her arm.
“Don’t,” he said in a tone that told her it was an order. “Leave her alone for a while.”
Jane reluctantly sat back down and rubbed her reddened cheek.
“Will someone please tell us what’s going on,” Jonathon said.
Craig stood up. “Sarah can tell you,” he said, then left the room.
Sarah did as requested. “Is he a complete idiot?” Jonathon asked when she had finished speaking. He then realised that Jane was still in the room. “No offence Jane. I was referring to him telling Natalie.”
“I know,” she said.
“This will not be discussed any further,” JD said. “You now all know what’s going on. What happens next is up to them. None of you will get involved in any way. Understand?”
Everyone around the table nodded. “That includes you Sarah,” he added.
“I know,” she said. “I’ve already told Natalie that I won’t be taking sides.”
“Good. Now I have to leave for work. I’m in court later.” He kissed Sarah goodbye then left the room.
————————————-∞————————————-
That evening the atmosphere was tense. Everyone was wondering how Craig and Natalie would act around each other. None of them thought the separation would last long and wished they would make up sooner rather than later.
Natalie, however, had no intention of making up with Craig. She simply ignored him. She sat as far away from him as she could at dinner and pretended she couldn’t hear him whenever he spoke to her. He was only half way through his meal when he left to go to bed.
When the meal was over, Natalie asked if she could borrow JD’s office.
“Why?” he asked.
“I want a private word with Jane.”
“Natalie—” he began to say, but Jane interrupted him.
“It’s okay. Natalie is right. We should talk.”
JD said nothing as the two women left the room, but the look on his face showed that he thought they were making a mistake.
“Why did you do it?” Natalie asked as soon as they were alone.
“It wasn’t intentional. I was crying and Craig comforted me. The next thing I knew I was kissing him. I have no idea why. I have no feelings for him other than friendship, I swear.”
Natalie said nothing for a while, she just stared at Jane until she began to feel uncomfortable.
“I believe you,” she finally said. “I don’t blame you for what happened. I can’t begin to imagine what you went through when you lost Simon or what you’re still going through. I can understand you reaching out to someone for comfort and I can accept that you wanted nothing more than that.”
“So you’re going to forgive Craig?” Jane asked hopefully. She hated the thought that she had unintentionally come between the pair.
“No. You have an excuse. He doesn’t. He kissed you back and that I cannot forgive.”
“He didn’t do it on purpose,” Jane protested.
“Save it,” Natalie said before she could say anything more. “I don’t need you defending him.”
“You’re right. I’m sorry. It’s none of my business.”
“Damn right it isn’t. Now please, stop feeling guilty. This is Craig’s doing, not yours.”
Jane wanted to say more, but she would be wasting her time. Natalie wouldn’t listen to anything more she had to say. The mood she was in, Jane didn’t think she would listen to anyone.
————————————-∞————————————-
The days passed and Natalie did not relax her attitude toward Craig. She continued to pretend he didn’t exist. Everyone else she treated the same as she always had, except when they mentioned Craig. Then she would either change the subject or walk away. No matter how much he begged and pleaded, Natalie refused to discuss anything with him.
Craig looked constantly miserable. He wasn’t eating or sleeping properly, but he refused to talk to Sarah about it. Things were getting so bad that when Anna suggested that Sarah and JD join her and Luke for a meal one Friday evening, Sarah jumped at the chance to spend an evening away from the Sanctuary.
They met at a restaurant and the two men were introduced to each other. JD had met Anna before and hugged her in greeting.
As soon they touched, he jumped back. “Sorry about that,” he said hastily. “Must be static electricity.”
Anna didn’t react, but she felt Luke tense beside her.
What should have been a pleasant evening turned out to be tedious for Anna and Luke. They did their best to pretend nothing was concerning them, but neither of them could get JD’s reaction to touching Anna out of their minds.
The evening couldn’t end soon enough for them. Somehow Anna managed to avoid touching JD when they said goodbye and as soon as she and Luke were alone in their car, she said, “JD is a vampire?”
“So it appears,” Luke said. “Though he must be a lesser one. I would have felt something when we shook hands otherwise.”
“We should discuss this with Gabriel,” Anna said and Luke agreed.
As soon as they got to Luke’s house, they found Gabriel and told him what had happened.
Gabriel whistled. “That is not something I was expecting. Do you think Sarah knows?”
“She has to,” Luke said. “How can someone be married to a vampire and not know what he is?”
“It would explain why she always wears silk scarves,” Anna said. “She didn’t used to. She started wearing them a little while after she and JD began dating.”
“What are we going to do about this?” Luke asked. “Should we say something to Sarah?
”
Gabriel shook his head. “We can’t without revealing what we are and there are enough humans who know that already.” He grinned at Anna and she stuck two fingers up at him. She could have been indicating that only two humans knew about them, her and her brother, but he didn’t think so.
How Anna managed to react normally around Sarah the following Monday, she had no idea. She did her best to forget what she knew about JD, but every time she saw Sarah, she found herself looking at her silk scarf and wondering if it was hiding fresh bites.
————————————-∞————————————-
As the weeks stretched into a month since Craig and Natalie’s breakup, things got worse for Craig. He withdrew into himself, spending most of his time at home alone in his room. Natalie wasn’t faring much better. She put on an act that she was alright, but everyone saw through it. JD often heard her crying in her room each night.
Eventually Sarah could take no more and decided to speak to them. She tackled Natalie first.
“I’m worried about you,” she said when she got her alone.
“Don’t be,” Natalie said. “I’m fine.”
“Bullshit. Everyone knows you’re not fine. This is tearing you apart. You have to talk to him Natalie. You have to work out if you can find a way forward or if you and Craig are over for good. This is killing you both.”
Natalie sat down on her bed and clasped her hands together. “I know, Sarah, but I can’t. I can’t talk to him. I can’t bear to be near him. I can’t bear to be away from him. I’m scared that if I do speak to him I’ll say something that there is no turning back from. I keep hoping that time will heal my broken heart, but it isn’t. It’s getting worse, not better, and I don’t know what to do.”
Sarah put her arm around her. “Have you considered talking to a counsellor? I know that one of the hunters from Sanctuary 3 is a marriage guidance counsellor and she would be more than happy to speak with you.”
“Let me think about it,” Natalie said. “I’m not sure if I can talk to a complete stranger.”
“Alright,” Sarah said as she got up. “Let me know if you want me to set anything up, or if there’s anything else I can do.”
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