Blood Seekers

Disclaimer: I do not own Kal Skirata, Jaller Obrim, etc. They belong to Karen Traviss and George Lucas. The only things I own are Trav and Solus and the term Tal'echoy.

Jaller Obrim stared at the case reports. People were disappearing all over and turning up dead, their bodies drained of blood. Any DNA on the corpses never came up as any species on record. His men were coming up empty, and his requests for more resources were being buried in red tape. Jaller needed backup, someone who didn't answer to bureaucrats. He dialed a comm code, "Kal? It's Jaller. I've case, but it's going cold. I need your brand of expertise."

Trav Tal'echoy stood quietly to the side as the head of CSF explained the situation to Kal Skirata. The man reeked of desperation. Jaller Obrim turned to look at him. "I understand you're a friend of Kal's, correct?"

Trav nodded and removed his helmet. "Trav Tal'echoy; from your description of the bodies, I believe that I would be the most qualified to help."

Kal nodded, "Good, then I'm not going ordiniisla to set loose a tal'echoy on Coruscant."

Trav grinned, showing pointed white teeth, "You'd be ordiniisla not to. It takes a tal'echoy to find a tal'echoy. Otherwise it just finds you."

Jaller looked confused, "tal'echoy? That's Mandalorian, right? What does it mean?"

Now it was Kal's turn to smile, "It means 'blood seeker,' in your terms, a vampire.

Trav and Kal sat in their safe house, Kal scanning the plaza far below, while Trav sat well away from the window, sharpening a special silverite-beskar alloy beskad. He had gotten much amusement from the way Jaller Obrim's eyed had bugged out when Kal mentioned vampire. "So you're saying that we're trying to kill an immortal blood-sucking monster? Who is immortal? I don't think I can stress the immortal bit enough."

Kal looked up from the scope of his verpine rifle, "Remind me why I'm doing this. Our guy isn't going to walk down the street- in broad daylight, mind you- with a giant sign saying 'I'm an insane bloodthirsty monster, shoot me now'"

"No, but he knows that he is being searched for, so if he thinks we're idiots, he'll get careless, more careless than he already is if he's leaving bodies around. You're 'monitoring' is a distraction so that I can catch him unawares."

"That makes me feel so much better."

"You sound like you doubt my ability to kill things, I'm hurt."

"Oh, shut up, when do we start hunting?"
Trav held up his beskad, turning it so that the light glinted off of its razor- sharp edge, "Tonight."

It was the dead of night when Trav and Kal ventured out of the safe house into the lower parts of the city, both of their helmets in blackout mode. After a little while, Trav took off his helmet and sniffed the air. "He's close, and he has a victim," His eyes widened, "A young one." Trav took off in the direction of the scent. Kal swore and went after him.

Trav could smell the overpowering scent of blood, making his mouth water in spite of himself. He clamped down on his hunger and drew his beskad, signaling to Kal to pull out his verpine. Trav caught sight of the creature; its back was turned to the two hunters, its mouth buried in the throat of a small boy. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Kal take aim and fire, a perfect head. The vampire whirled, dropping the boy, who groaned weakly. A piece of the creatures head was missing, but then bone and skin seemed to stretch over the wound until it was completely whole again. The vampire advanced on Kal in the blink of an eye and landed a calculated shove which sent the man flying. While the thing was distracted, Trav moved behind him and plunged his blade through its chest. The creature screamed an unearthly sound which seemed to echo through Trav's entire body. Ignoring the dark blood covering his armor, he immediately picked up the dying boy. The boy was still alive, but barely, and unless he took drastic measure, would not survive. Kal had regained consciousness, but was limping badly. Trav barely noticed. He drained the boy, and then sliced open his own arm, holding it over the boy's mouth, willing him to drink. As he felt his blood leaving his body, he said softly, "Ni kyr'tayl gai sa'ad, Solus Tal'echoy."

Next chapter as soon as I can find time to write it. Reviews are appreciated.