"Incoming!"
Ray ducks at the sound of Frank's voice, and closes his eyes as a crossbow bolt flies over his head. It lands into the chest of a screeching vampire in the middle of dark alleyway, amidst an all out brawl between vampires and hunters. The impaled vampire writhes and scratches at the wooden stake that's sunken into his heart, blood pooling underneath his nails, and hissing as the life finally escapes his undead body. Ray pants heavily and whips his head around, glaring at Frank, who's already got silver daggers out and in the face of another vampire. He would yell at Frank to be more careful, but he's got other things on his mind. Like the blood-soaked vampire rushing at him and pinning him to the wall.
She holds Ray against the grungy wall and hisses, baring her sharp teeth at him. Ray always thought that was overrated. Everyone gets it; You're a vampire. Why do you need to bare your teeth like some kind of dog, some kind of werewolf, he thinks. She laughs at him, though, leaning up and close to him and whispering into his ear.
"You can't win, little one. You're doomed. Soon, everyone will-"
Ray's eyes widen as she stops mid sentence, and he and her look down to see a silver tipped crossbow bolt jutting out from her chest. She looks at him and sees the fear in his eyes, and she laughs again, before falling limp in his arms. Ray pushes her off him, and he looks to see Gerard holding a crossbow aimed.
"Thanks," Ray says, swallowing nervously.
"No problem. C'mon, man, let's go."
They meet up together and stand back to back. Gerard's always been a good shot with a crossbow, and Ray's spent a decent amount of time practicing with his silver blade. It's perfect for him; It's got a memory foam grip and handguard, and the prettiest leather sheath he's seen in a long time. They rotate together, almost like a dance, eyes scanning the thin alleyway. While doing so, they talk in hushed tones, casual, perhaps, but with a sense of urgency.
"Where's Mikey? I don't see Mikey."
"At the opening of the alley, making sure no civilians get in. Frank?"
"Pinning a vampire. I think it's the last one."
"Seven o'clock!"
Gerard turns to his left with Ray mirroring him, and he cranks his crossbow back, shooting the monster at point blank through the heart. The vampire doesn't even have time to scream before they drop to the ground. Gerard takes a deep breath and looks over his shoulder and up to Ray. He laughs a little bit and pats Ray's shoulder, grinning.
"How do you do that, man? You are so good."
Ray shrugs and checks the scene as Gerard starts to collect his used bolts, and he looks back to Gerard. This group started with nothing but four guys and a desire for change. Vampires, werewolves, ghosts, witches, demons. They exist, and the world is starting to notice. Some are benevolent, wanting to preserve the fragility of human life, but a lot want to abuse their power, and to abuse humans.
Frank walks up to Ray with blood soaking in his shirt, and he runs an inked up had through his hair. He chuckles a bit at the sight of the taller one, and rolls his light eyes.
"If you don't wanna get hit, stay outta the way."
"Maybe learn the difference between a vampire and an ally? Maybe."
Frank laughs more and shakes his head, lightly punching at Ray's arm. He walks away to talk to Gerard about what to do next, and Gerard takes this as an opportunity to have a meeting. Everyone stands in a circle together, listening to what Gerard has to say.
"Okay, that was ten in one night. Pretty sure that's our best, but we can do better. Mikey did a great job keeping the fight contained, and Frank had the most kills tonight. Ray, you were spot on with teamwork. Let's go home, and plan there."
Mikey's deep into his phone, texting someone and nods idly as he starts to walk back to the van outside the alley. He's always connected to someone; Talking to some vendor that sells weapons, or another hunting group, or even civilians that are requesting their services. He slips into the backseat of the car, nose deep into his phone.
Frank opens the trunk of the van, taking a towel and wiping off his weapons before neatly putting them away in size order. He takes everyone's weapons, cleaning them in a meticulous manner and being even more diligent with putting them away. He closes the trunk and sits in the backseat, lighting a cigarette and taking a deep drag. He looks over his shoulder to Mikey and offers him a smoke, but Mikey just shakes his head. Frank shrugs, and looks out the window.
Gerard sits in the passenger's seat, and Ray takes the wheel. As they all drive through the night, Ray looks over to the Eastern horizon and yawns a little bit. They had all adopted the nocturnal schedule of those they were fighting, it just makes everything easier, really. Gerard's writing, most likely documenting everything that happened tonight. He's dedicated to his work, that's for sure. Ray pulls into the old bar that they had taken over as their headquarters, and all of them cooperate on getting the weapons back into the inventory room. As Frank says out loud what they have, Mikey writes them down in a note on his phone.
"Five crossbows, seventy wooden bolts, forty silver-tipped bolts-"
"We'll get more, then."
"Twenty silver knives, ten silver swords, six shotguns, seven glocks-"
"Dude, what the fuck happened to the eighth?"
"Uhh…" Frank pauses, and thinks on that for a moment. He chuckles suddenly, and nods to himself. "Broke it. Smashed a head in with it. Fuckin' good, man."
"That 'fucking good' move is going to cost us to buy another gun." Mikey rolls his eyes as he pushes his glasses up with one hand, texting with the other. The two of them continue to talk back and forth in the inventory room, while Gerard and Ray go to the their version of a living room. They both sit down, exhausted looking, and just sit in silence for a while. Gerard breaks it.
"I got a tip from an unregistered number."
Ray looks at him, furrowing his brows. "Isn't that like, the definition of bait for a trap?" He sits up and studies Gerard, who looks like he's about to fall asleep right there. Gerard shrugs, and continues on.
"You'd think. But they openly admitted to being vampires. Gave me their location and their numbers, there's just four of them. I looked into it, and it's all legit. Don't know why they'd do that."
Ray ponders that for a moment, and as he does so, he stretches his arms over his head, yawning. "You think they're really legit? What did they have to say?"
Gerard sighs heavily and sits up, resting his elbows on his knees as he looks forward, lost in his own contemplation. There's an intensity in his eyes, the kind that hasn't seen enough sleep, and the kind that has too much to think about and factor in to any kind of thought. He looks up at Ray and shakes his head.
"Said they wanted to talk to me. We send me, and they send one of theirs. Just a talk."
Ray shakes his head instantly as he hears the proposition, leaning back. "Nope. Don't believe that for one second. Why are you so hung up on this, man?"
He gives a dramatic sigh once more and rubs his face in his hands, exhaustion clearly apparent on his face. Gerard's quiet for a minute, and Ray wonders if he fell asleep on him. It's entirely possible.
"I dunno."
Ray hasn't heard that before.
"I just think… Maybe if we lie to them. Maybe I go 'alone', but you're trailing behind me, there if something happens. Maybe they're legit. What they said, it… It can't go without being talked about."
Ray nods, and he thinks about that. What in the world could have been a subject matter that gets Gerard so anxious that he considers meeting up with vampires, though? So Ray tilts his head, expression curious.
"What did they say?"
Gerard pulls his head up to look at Ray, and he holds that eye contact, which just makes Ray more and more nervous. Gerard's always been known for being a bit dramatic, but with something this serious, Ray can't help but feel tense in the thick of the silence.
"They said that everyone's going to die next month."
