Chapter One:
"I. Hate. Vampires." Travis said, trying to wipe the decaying human flesh from his boots. We had been walking mindlessly through the trees when I heard him shriek in disgust. Looking back on it now, I would have laughed had the scene not been so cringe worthy. The corpse all but sucked his foot in, making him pull it out with a horrid shlucking noise. It was nearing sunset and I knew we were close, if the rotting corpse wasn't enough, the place reeked of vamps. We had been in the boiling sun all day, not including our trip to the local diner where their pie was great and the news sucked. In the past month alone seven people had gone missing, four of them found, mutilated from the neck down, drained of blood. It wasn't an exciting job, me and Trav had gone on so many vamp jobs that it was more like child's play, but it was a job.
"Stop complaining and pay attention, you're going to give us away. I would rather not be a vamps brunch." I said, turning to look at him, he had his back to me, long red hair knotted into a half dreaded ponytail at the base of his neck, he was busying himself, inspecting the dead man, or woman, I couldn't tell. It was obvious though, that whoever it was had been dead for a long time. Travis looked over at me, his eye shining in humor; sticking my tongue out at him he shook his head with a breathy laugh.
"Well he's in his mid-thirties, his wallet is still on him~" Trav took his time snapping on latex gloves, before picking up the goo covered leather wallet, opening it to check for I.D. "His name is George Denny, he's from...Seattle?" He looked up confused, seeing as we were currently in the middle of Mexico. It wasn't uncommon for vamps to carry their food with them for a while; it could be that the poor guy was just a to-go container for some vamps road trip fix.
"Travel? Maybe a business man? Ooh maybe he was a drug lord." I suggested, but he just laughed and shrugged, the man didn't strike me as a business man, his clothes, or what was left of them seemed to lean more towards homeless, he tossed the wallet down beside the body. "How long has it been do you think?" I asked, looking around the tree covered area, not far out of the town we were staying in, a few miles from where we had started. It was hardly likely that no one had found the body yet.
"A month maybe, the heat must have sped up the process, I've never met a bloodsucker who was so messy with their..ah...meals." He said, turning back towards the body once more, before walking over to me, wiping his hands on his jeans he paused, looking down at the GPS he held at his side. "According to this the spot should be just a mile North from here, if the lady at the restaurant was right, that's where all these search parties went missing." I nodded silently, feeling deep in my gut that something wasn't right.
We arrived at the abandoned warehouse nearly an hour later; it was always that way with Trav, stopping to inspect every little thing that was out of place. Given that half way trough we almost took a wrong turn, but I would never admit it. The warehouse was in the middle of a dead city, which had been leveled in an earthquake four years ago, only half of the building still stood, but from what we gathered there were tunnels under the basement, which ran under the entire town, finding these bloodsuckers wouldn't be as easy as we thought it would. "This isn't a good idea, we should have gotten here earlier," I said looking at the setting sun. "They're going to wake up soon." While saying this though I was already drawing out my machete that had been infused with dead man's blood. Secretly I loved the rush of going into the heat of battle.
"We could go back, but you know people would die." He said with the roll of his eyes. "We'll start on the east wing; see if we can't find an entrance from there, better to catch them off guard." We headed towards the rubble, keeping close to the large piles of fallen concrete and out of sight from the main building. The factory itself was giant, nearly twice the size of a standard sized train station. I fell in step behind Travis, keeping at a slow run through the piles of debris. Looking around the area with alert eyes I located several entrances that apparently weren't what he was looking for, it was further on the other side of a huge pile of broken concrete that made Travis skid to a stop, making me fall into rocks trying not to run into him. The stinging in my hands made me cringe, bringing them to my chest.
"What the hell?" I said standing up, wiping my skinned hands on my jacket. I got a quick "Sh" from him as he ducked down behind a fallen piece of metal, me following suite. Peaking up with him I saw what had him startled. What we thought was a nest of twenty or thirty vamps, turned into an unimaginable number. A large group of vampires, all of them standing in the shadows of the buildings as the sun set, paralyzed in fear of the sun. It was obvious the majority of them were young, looking uncomfortable being awake even at this hour. A small group, further away from the army of bloodsuckers stood in a closer radius to us, just so we could catch the end of their conversation. Looking at the numbers, the odds sucked, there was no way we could kill them all. Luckily I had a few tricks up my sleeve.
"Going back so soon would be reckless; you have to teach your men control Raphael." A taller older looking vamp hissed, his hair was graying and wiry, standing a good foot and a half taller than the rest of them he was probably around his mid forties when he was turned, judging from the wrinkled face and suspenders that held his dress pants up. The shortest male spoke, I assume it's Raphael, held his own, he had a darker pigment than the other two, probably of Puerto Rican decent, scanning down his clothing he would be considered a normal by-stander, it makes me sick thinking that he could be in a crowd of people and go undetected, I wonder how many times he had done just that, looking for supper. His fingernails were disgustingly long, curling in on his fingers, sharpened to points probably on purpose. His hushed tone made it difficult to hear but the words "hunt" and "hungry" popped up multiple times. Sitting back against the metal, I looked over at Travis who had a calculating look on his face. Finally the female spoke, she was shorter than the both of them, with light pink hair that had probably been colored after being changed she was the youngest clearly being only in her mid-teen years, that made an advantage for her as a vampire, the younger they are, the easier they eat, she was probably the one who lured most of the food right back to the nest. "The children are the least of our worries right now; word is there are two agents around here, in town I mean. They've been snooping in the missing person's files, we don't want to have to move again, Hansel. " She said, speaking to the older man, her look serious. Leaning back against the hot surface I shook my head.
Leaning over to whisper quietly, "What are you thinking?" I asked, keeping our faces close. He looked at me, deep set worry in his eyes. I knew exactly what he was thinking, we were going to need backup, and this was too many vamps for two hunters. I bit my lip; searching his blue eyes I grabbed his hand. "We don't have the time for backup, take out as many as you can, go for the ones in the small group first. The others will be without direction after they're dead." I spoke quickly and quietly, before giving him a chance to object I pulled out a customized smoke grenade, filled with dead man's blood and razor blades. Pulling the pin with my teeth I tossed it hard and high over the metal piece, hearing it clank on the ground a few seconds later over near the large group then a loud popping noise, followed by shrieks and painful yowls. Trav still sat there, dumbstruck for a few moments before we both jumped into action. Travis pulled out his machete and a bag filled with full syringes of dead man's blood, meanwhile I had already reached the group who were looking stunned at their precious army slowly falling. It was the female who attacked first, it was clear now she couldn't have been older than sixteen, pushing that thought aside I started to play with her, jumping side to side, keeping my blade balanced in my palm. Looking over my shoulder I saw Travis already beheading a sickly looking Raphael, whose neck cleanly separated from his body, slumping over. I looked back in time to dodge a hit from the teenage vamp, swiping the blade across her neck in a thin line, she laughed sharply before screaming in agony. The infection from the blood making her skin look dark and shriveled, I watched for a second before spinning around, the weight of my blade feeling like home in my sweaty palm, though the hot handle stung my raw palm, I felt her spinal cord strain against the blade for a moment before her head fell to the floor in a swift motion. Moving on quickly I turned to see Travis making his way through the younger vamps, they fell quickly, most of them being infected and wounded by my first attack strategy. Glancing around I saw that the older vampire was nowhere in sight, biting my lip I worried shortly before moving over to help Trav.
"The older one, Hansel he got away. " I shouted over to him, slicing a young mans head off and kicking him aside to set off a domino effect to a few others, making my way down the line I acted as a butcher, cutting through tough muscle, the fresher they were, the harder their bones still were, as if their bones were the last things to crumble and decay, still fighting back just as Travis's or mine would. I felt a pain in my left arm as I was flung into the air, my back hitting something hard when I landed, I felt my head snap forward and the taste of warm copper fill my mouth. As soon as I was down, I was back up, fighting the dizziness that fought to overcome me, I sought out the ass who did it, sure enough there was only one girl walking towards me, her hair black as night and eyes veiny and red, I laughed, spitting blood at her feet. Her eyes snapped down at the smell, taking advantage I swung my machete down, cutting easily through her jaw, separating her head in half. Getting back into the game I felt the high of my adrenaline keep the pain from my body at bay, as a team we took down the majority of the group, what we couldn't grab would be dead soon enough.
Looking over at Travis as we moved around, kicking the bodies and heads as we went through the crowd of monsters. "There has to be at least 70 here, we should get a medal. " I said, kicking almost too hard at the black haired girls skull. Travis laughed, shaking his head. His hair had come undone while fighting, blood matting one side of his coppery locks down, we both sustained multiple injuries, but hey, we were both here. "Is your head okay? " I asked, looking over at him worried, wiping off the blade of my machete on my shirt.
A half smile came over his lips, looking over at me as he shrugged. "Its fine, love. Just a bump." he said, making me roll my eyes. We never acted like this in the field, I fought it multiple times that I was just another hunter until we got home. It never held strong, but never the less it did make my heart flutter. Me and Travis are one in a million, you don't find a hunter and want to be with them the rest of your life, or sleep with them, or you know..have sex with them. But Trav and I clicked, and I loved him, with all of my heart. I met him a few years after moving to England with my dad, I was nineteen and rebellious and he was twenty one and proper. We were a match made in heaven, most said, not. My dad didn't approve of my bad influence on him and his parents didn't like the broken walls he left when we broke up, every other week. But, he was my boy.
"Good because I don't think they would let you back on a plane with half your brain showing. " I said with a grin, kicking the last of the bodies. I walked over to him, sliding my machete back into place, tilting my head gently to the side. "Would you care to walk me home, Mister Smith? " I asked holding out my arm. He grinned, taking my arm in his before we began walking back the way we came, already planning on returning with backup tomorrow morning. But for now, leaving the death and destruction behind us. As we walked through the trees, eventually dropping each other's arms to try to keep our balance through the woods I laughed as we walked past the gooey dead guy. "See ya around Georgey. " I said, hearing Travis grunt disapprovingly.
"Emmi that wasn't funny. " He said, I didn't have to look at him to know he was smiling.
"Please you love my crude sense of humor." I said, sticking my tongue out at him. He shrugged, not fighting it. We kept walking, and walking, and walking, before I stopped beside a large oak tree. "Did we pass this on the way from the car? " I asked, looking over at Travis who had stopped to look back at me.
"Yeah were only about half a mile away, keep your brain on, Emmi Shepherd. " Travis said before he began to walk again, pushing his way through thick vegetation. I stood still, listening to the silence around me, something wasn't right, something was really really wrong. I couldn't put my finger on it, but something wasn't right. Shaking my head I jogged towards the sound of Travis's footsteps. Falling in step beside him I smiled, trying to clear my head of the cloudiness.
Sure enough, there it was in all its pride and glory, our rental car. Travis made his way to the trunk, opening it up to reveal what would make up loose our deposit from the rental company, a devils trap painted onto the hood, and several tears to suit our weapon bags and ammunition. We began putting the unused syringes back into place, towels used to wipe off blood that we couldn't get with our hands, Travis pulled his t-shirt over his head, tossing the bloodied fabric aside, he had a long cut going up his side, most likely cut by someone's nails. Biting my lip I scooted closer to him, setting my weapon belt inside the trunk I moved his arm out of the way, grabbing a towel to wipe down the cut, dabbing the blood away gently. Out of the corner of my eye I saw him looking at me, the tender way that he only used when he was looking at me when he thought I wasn't looking. Half smiling I set the towel down, moving my hands over his chest as he turned towards me. Looking up at him through my eyelashes a gave him a fox like grin, taking this as an invitation he lifted me up, his hands under my thighs as our mouths crashed together, knotting my fingers in his red locks he moved me over to the back seat of the Stratus, pausing momentarily to open the door and lay me down. His hands teased at the hem of my blood stained shirt, slowly sliding it up my sides. "We shouldn't be doing this, we could get caught. He said, his accent thick with lust.
Staring up at him, biting my lip I whispered softly. "But you want to. " I said before we were back at it, me trying to un button his jeans while he worked on my shirt, winding up in a tangled mess. Laughing we sat up, fixing our selves. "Never again will I try to be sexy on the job, never again! " I said, pushing his shoulder softly.
Travis smiled, bringing me into a standing kiss, having me on my tiptoes to reach his lips. The moment was picture perfect.
Then Hunter Karama happened.
It happened so fast I didn't have time to prepare, Travis was slumped onto me, his mouth suddenly tasted of hot bitter blood, over his shoulder I saw Hansel, the older vampire who had ran before I got the chance to gank him, I tried to move, seemingly unable. The vampires voice was like a whisper in my mind. "Lover for a lover. " He said, before dispersing into the darkened woods.
I pushed at Travis, my own words a distant echo. "Trav get up! You have to get up! " I said, laying him back on the seat of the car, his chest was bleeding, heart pushing out so much blood it was like a river. "No no no. " I said my eyes stinging, "Travis look at me! LOOK AT ME DAMMIT! " I said, leaning over him, his blue eyes rolling to the back of his head over and over. Backing up I ran to the medic kit, searching for anything to help control the bleeding. While holding gauze against the wound I dialed the emergency number, getting an answer in Spanish. "I need a m-medic! I need an ambulance now! My boyfriend has been stabbed please h-help now! " I said, rambling off the bridge we parked under before going back to talk to Travis. "Trav baby please, talk to me baby, look at me. " I said, holding his face in between my hands Travis tried to speak, blood sputtering from his mouth. "Baby try harder, try harder fight dammit! " I yelled, angry tears spilling over my cheeks.
"I.. " he said, coughing up more blood, his voice sounded painfully distorted, not like my Travis. "E-emmi.. " He said looking around, blood filling the whites of his eyes. Choking back a sob I nodded, stroking his face with my thumbs.
"I'm here Trav I'm right here. " I said nodding, tears falling onto his chest. He blinked several times, I bit my lip hard, shaking my head. "Don't honey the paramedics are on their way, they'll help you. " I said, stroking back his red hair.
"E-emmi where are you? " He asked, his voice weak, but panicked. "I'm right here honey, baby I'm right here. " I said desperately, leaning my head against his, my shoulders shaking.
"I can't see you Emmi, w-why can't I see you? " He asked, his coughing worse than it was only a minute ago.
"Its okay Trav, I'm right here, Ill stay right here, keep talking to me" I said, encouraging him.
"Y-you look good in that color Ems, that Y-yellow shirt really brings out your eyes, you-You are so beautiful in that color. " He said, I nodded, ignoring the fact that it wasn't yellow anymore, soaked in red. I stroked his cheeks, hearing the sirens in the distance I let out a sigh of relief. "Emmi? " He asked, looking around, trying to lift his head.
"I'm right here Travis, the ambulance is almost here. " I said, blinking back another torrent of tears.
"Emmi I love you. " He said, the desperation in his voice was thick, his accent masking the hurt.
"I love you to Tr- Travis?! " She asked, his body slumping back, going limp under her arms. "Travis! Wake up right now talk to me baby! " I yelled, only faintly hearing the doors to the ambulance open and close, before I knew what was happening I was being pulled off of Travis. "N-NO! He needs me! He's scared! He can't see! Why can't he see?! " I shouted, watching as Travis disappeared a wave of paramedics working to get him onto the ground. I vaguely heard two men in Spanish saying he was gone, getting close enough just to hear the jist of the conversation going on among them, none of them moving to work on him, before I could do anything he was on the gurney moving towards the doors. I ran in front of them. "N-no save him now! What are you waiting for!? " I screamed, leaning over him, I pressed hard on his chest, trying to get the blood he had lost to flow again, I felt myself being pushed away, moving against them I threw myself at the gurney, holding onto his shoulders with all my might. "I love you too. I love you Travis please wake up, I love you. " I said over and over, before willfully being taken from him and set against the police car that had shown up.
The painful stabbing going through my abdomen made me realize my adrenaline was wearing off, the police officers tried talking to me, I just mumbled out how we were just getting back from a hike, the opposite way of the massacre, and an angry man came at us with some sort of weapon, the next thing I knew was Travis being put on a gurney. Over and over more emotionless each time I said it. I was taken to the hospital to get fifty seven stitches going from my collar bone to my navel, a stab wound that just missed many vital organs and many minor lacerations'. I asked over and over about Travis, if he was okay, what his status was, where he was. It took having two guards outside my door to keep my away from him.
Hours later an American officer walked through the door, any drowsiness I was having from the medication was taken away when he entered, sitting up straight in my bed he motioned me to lay back down. "Emmi Shepherd? " He asked, when I nodded he continued. "Your friend .. Travis Smith didn't make it, he was pronounced dead upon arrival. We need a contact so you can be safely transported back into the states, who could come and get you, give us a name and a number? " He was gruff, no emotional stability there.
My world was crashing down, I heard waves in my ears and the sound of Travis's laugh, breathing hard my vision blurred, He was gone. He was really gone. My Travis, my good boy, my boy. He was gone. He's dead. The officer repeated something, looking at me with a lick less of concern. "Ms Shepherd? " He asked.
"Huh, yeah? " I asked, looking over at him, his badge was blurry to me, I couldn't see straight anymore, was it going to be like this forever?
"Contact information, we need a name. "
"Oh uh.. " Scouring my list of names of people who do this kind of stuff ran through my mind, one in particular catching my attention. "Bobby..Uh..Robert Singer. " I said, before everything went black.