Still Breathingb
Blackridge, Missouri
The old farmhouse looked identical to hundreds of other old farmhouses scattered on the backroads of middle America. Identical except for the six or seven vampires currently squatting in it. Six or seven was as close an estimate the hunter could get from her vantage point a half click away with the crappy 30 year old binoculars she had scored at a military surplus store in town earlier that day. The hunter had been drawn to this backwater piece of Americana after skimming the paper two towns over for interesting stories. And it seemed Blackridge, Missouri had a run of strange deaths and disappearances for a township of a few thousand hicks.
She had scoped out the house a few hours before dusk and watched the groups comings and goings. The vamps seemed to be in for the night, having brought back dinner an hour or so ago. She had waited to see if anyone else would be showing up to the party but so far they were just lounging on the decrepit porch and getting drunk.
"Well, now or never," she thought to herself as she gathered her gear and hiked back to her waiting truck. The truck wasn't exactly the favorite vehicle she had ever owned but damn had it got her out of a few pickles. The Great Blue Monster as she affectionately christened it sat waiting in the dark. The 4 wheel drive, mounted flood lights and ample cab and storage room had more than made up for the lack of "sexy" factor many smaller cars had offered. She started the truck and drove as close as she dared to the farm house, lights off and hoping for some ounce of surprise.
"Fuck it'," she whispered jumping out of the truck and gripping her katana tight. The katana was one of her favorite possessions, she knew most hunters preferred to behead vampires with machetes but she found them too unwieldy. The katana was sharp, lite and easy to maneuver even in cramped quarters. The farmhouse had a generator out front that was supplying the power to the house, the bottom floor was lit as were two rooms on the second floor. There were two vampires on the porch that she made quick work of, the katana blade slicing their heads clean off. The bodies dropped to the floor and she stepped over them. "1,2 buckle my shoe," she sang quietly. The front door opened and another vamp stepped outside, lighting a cigarette. The hunter whipped around to face it with katana raised.
"What the fuck?" the vampire managed to mumble as the hunter surged forward. The vampires head fell, cigarette still smoldering.
Figuring the element of surprise was gone, she kicked the door wide opened and yelled "3,4 better lock your door!" She was greeted with the sounds of snarling coming from her right as two more vamps swarmed out of was she figured must be the kitchen as a loud thud came from her left. The first vamp through the kitchen was a young looking man with sandy blond hair and dark eyes.
"You're dead you crazy bitch," he growled charging her. She pulled a handgun from the holster around her back and shot him once in the knee cap, downing him for a minute and letting her regroup. Before she could separate head from body, the second vamp crashed into her, slamming her into the wall. Fangs snapped inches from her face as she fired two more rounds into the vamps stomach. The vampire's grip loosened and she was able to swing her blade in a high arch and turned to the vamp still whimpering on the floor with the blown out knee cap. Two more heads rolled at her boots as she turned to the left hallway leading into a sitting area. An old black and white television still blared the evening news, a beer bottle lay on its side, foaming onto the stained and threadbare carpet.
A stairwell led up into the second floor. "Look guys, I haven't got all night! Could we finish this so I can burn your bodies and go grab a drink!" she called up the stairs. She was thrown forward into the bottom stair and her katana clattered away.
"You aren't very smart for a hunter," the vamp growled into her ear as his body weight held her painfully on the stair.
"Hey Edward, lets talk about this like two civilized people, well one civilized person and one monster," she grunted, trying to bide time. She had a small bowie knife inside her boot if she could only get it but he still held her pinned to the stairs. The vamp laughed and flipped her over. She stared up at a blob of a man, as wide as he was tall, dirty overalls and stained fangs to complete his hillbilly vampire look.
"How the hell did your fat ass sneak up on me?"
"God damn girl, you smell delicious," he purred as he reached down and grabbed a handful of her hair dragging her up to semi sitting position.
"Damn it,"she grunted, fumbling for the blade she had stuck in her boot. She was able to grasp it and shoved it into the things left eye socket. The vampire instantly let go of her and flailed at the blade stuck in its eye, she dove for the katana and sliced the vamps head from its pudgy body. The body slumped forward with a heavy thud at her feet. She took a long shuddering breath and flicked the blood off her katana blade. A door opened upstairs and she heard the sound of more snarls and feet thundering overhead. She turned and ran up the stairs to meet the monsters.
After double checking the rest of the house for any other vampires or victims, she trudged back to her truck and pulled it up next to the genny. She had a couple gallons of gasoline in the back that she grabbed and set on the ground in front of the Blue Monster. She had considered just setting the whole house on fire but decided against that idea. The house was set back in the woods and surrounded by old, over grown trees. If she lit up the house , half the county might catch on fire too; so she begrudgingly decided to haul the bodies and heads of the now departed vampires out of the house and into the middle of the dirt driveway to torch the remains there. She turned the flood lights on and turned her stereo up , she always worked better with good background music.
"Look Sammy, this is a straight forward gig. Lets just gank the vamps and head back to the bar in town, grab some beers and enjoy the scenery," Dean smiled at his younger brother as their black Impala charged down the overgrown road. The road dead ended in a farm house apparently inhabited by the same family line since the Civil War. The locals said the family was odd but not threatening. They kept to themselves and the town basically ignored them.
"Dean, I'm just saying maybe we should check the area out first and make sure this is the right place before we charge in there. We don't even know how many vamps could be there," Sam exclaimed.
"Five. There should be five vampires in there. There are five members of the Burke clan still at the old abode, unless of course they turned any of their vics instead of just munching on them."
Dean pulled the Impala, Baby, off the road and killed the engine. The brothers climbed out of the car and grabbed their gear from the trunk. "What the hell?" Sam murmured as they came up to the farmhouse and saw a blue truck, flood lights and music blaring,"Nothing to do , nowhere to go oh, I wanna be sedated," the Ramones belted into the night. Dean carefully slinked around to the front of truck checked the cab and back, gave his brother a non-comital shrug of his shoulders as he walked towards him.
"Dean, dude what the hell? I think we missed the party." Sam was standing in front of a bloody pile of decapitated bodies, the heads haphazardly tossed on top.
"Son of bitch, you heavy, fucking, fat bastard," a woman's voice echoed from inside the house. The boys didn't spare a glance at each other as they charged up the stairs wielding machetes. The skidded to halt inside the front door, slipping slightly on a puddle of blood. A bullet exploded into the wall above Sam's head.
"Don't fucking move," A woman appeared from behind a corner, gun trained on the brothers. Dean glanced behind her and saw a large flabby body leaving a trail of blood across the room. The woman herself was sweaty, covered in blood and grime. "Can I help you gentlemen?" She asked giving them her best 'don't fucking move or I'll shoot you smile'.
"We aren't vampires, so just put the gun down," the one with green eyes told her.
"Nope."
"We were here for these things, but it uh looks like you beat us to the punch. We aren't going to hurt you," the taller one said as he slowly set his machete down and glanced at the other one to follow suit. "I'm Sam and this is…"
"I don't give a shit what your names are. This job is done and I don't work with other hunters so leave now," She cut him off and made a shoo-ing motion with her gun back towards the door.
"Hey god damnit this was our hunt, supposed to be our kill," the green eyed one said.
"What did you just say?" she took another step towards them, gun still raised.
"Hey, hey now. Yeah it looks like you've got it handled. I mean you took out what six vampires on your own?" the tall one said, throwing a sideways glance at the other one.
"Eight actually, looks like the Burkes added a few members. Baby vamps barely turned, no real strength, no self control, probably why the uptick in killings."/p
"Eight, well ok then. How about we just help you drag that one out and you can finish doing what ever it is your doing..." the tall one took a half step in front of the green eyed one.
She took a deep breath and holstered the gun. "Just help me drag his fat ass to the pile so I can lite them up and then you two can get the fuck out of my way," she relented. The tall one gave her a slight smile and walked toward the body, grabbing one leg.
"Oh no, nope, nah. I'm going back to Baby, Sam. This crazy bitch is on her own." The one with green eyes stormed out of the house.
"He's uh, he was kind of looking forward to this. We haven't had a lot of wins lately," The tall one stammered.
"I don't really care." the woman said sarcastically. She grabbed the other leg and together they hauled the huge body out of the house and down the front stairs to the waiting pile of gore. "Ok bye now," the woman held out her dirty, bloody hand for a hand shake. "No hard feelings, I just don't play well with others," she gave a half smile and turned towards the cans of gasoline.
"Yeah bye," Sam looked over at the woman, she had started to sing along to the music coming out of the truck.
She stalked back over to the pile of bodies, doused them in gasoline and flung a match. She stood there watching the fire and watching the tall man walk down the road back to his waiting car somewhere in the dark.
"What an uppity bitch." Dean yelled as soon as Sam got in the car, "Let go get something to drink," he revved the car and sped away from the macabre bon fire.
The woman watched the fire for a more minutes listening as the car drove away. She packed up the gasoline cans and tossed them back into her truck. Took a quick glance at herself in the side mirror, "You are one sexy bitch," she muttered to herself, taking note of the streaks of blood, dirt and sweat that criss crossed her face and ratty Star Wars t-shirt. The shirt she peeled off and threw onto the fire. She walked over to an old fashioned water pump and after a few pumps was rewarded with some frigid but fresh water she used to quickly scrub her face, neck and red hair clean. She grabbed a fresh shirt from one of her bags and jumped into the truck just as the fire was starting to smolder and dim. She started the truck and headed back to town.
