The Hunters by patricia51

(A sequel to my story "The Wizardess and the Vampire". A group of dedicated and deadly capable vampire hunters set a trap for Juliet. Believing that she must also be evil they also target her lover Alex. Suggested by Tarantula. Thanks!)

(Prelude - The Hunt)

(Somewhere in the US)

The young woman reeled through the forest. She tripped over a vine that wrapped around her foot and fell heavily against an unyielding tree. She scrambled to her feet and yanked free. She cast a frantic look behind her. Lights were bobbing on her trail. In fact there was an entire semi-circle of spotlights, nearly up to her on both sides.

She thought about making a stand, of turning on her pursuers. No, there were too many of them. She increased her speed, stumbling frantically through bushes and barely avoiding the trees in her path.

What was that? It was a light. A light that shone through a window. There was a house up ahead. And where there was a house there might be a vehicle of some sort. If she could manage to reach that light and find a way to get hold of the vehicle, if it existed, she would have a good chance of eluding her pursuers. They were all on foot now as far as she knew.

She redoubled her rush towards what seemed to be a beacon of hope. She broke out of the forest and reached the single story house. Her eyes took in the silver Ford Expedition parked under a carport. Nearly exhausted, she staggered up on the porch and hammered on the closed door.

"Help! Please, help me!"

A light came on, casting a dim illumination on the porch. The door opened without the rattling of a lock being turned. The woman smothered a curse. She could have walked right in had she known that. But best not to do stupid things like that. Yet. She needed to know who was in there.

Another woman stood in the doorway.

"What in the world?" She exclaimed as she took in the torn and bedraggled appearance of the woman standing there. "Come in, come in."

The idea that she had to be invited in was false of course but it did make things easier usually. She followed the other woman, who seemed to be in her late twenties, back into the kitchen where the other woman began to fuss with a kettle.

"How about a nice cup of tea?"

"Thank you but I'll pass. I need to get away from her. You see, I'm being pursued."

"Pursued? How dreadful," the other woman replied with surprising calm. "Why would anyone do that to such a nice looking young woman as you?" She continued to measure water and then smiled in satisfaction as she put the copper kettle on the stove and turned on the gas burner.

The visitor, never noted for her patience in social situations, had had quite enough pointless chitchat. Furthermore she spotted a rack by the back door which undoubtedly led out to the carport. And the rack held a set of keys dangling from a hook and those keys included a Ford key and remote.

"I really can't imagine why any one would chase me. But whoever they are they seem quite determined to harm me. I saw your light and I'm so glad you were home." She spoke in a soothing, calm voice even as she slipped to one side so that the kitchen table would not be in her way. She poised herself and when her hostess failed to turn around she sprang, her fangs appearing as she did.

She never reached her intended victim. In mid-air something slammed into her, dropping her to her knees. She looked down in surprise to see the point of some sort of spear sticking out of her stomach.

Even that would not be enough to hold her but as she struggled to her feet a door beside the stove flew open and a man holding another pike sprang through and drove it through her shoulder. She writhed on the floor, hissing and biting at the wooden shafts pining her down.

The woman who had opened the door finally turned from the stove. The vacant smiling look in her eyes was gone. In its place was a hard gleam of determination and in her right hand was a hand crossbow with a wooden arrow fitted to it.

The female vampire tried to rise again but yet a third pikeman appeared from the carport and slammed his weapon into her body. None of the wounds were deadly but together they held her helpless in their painful grip.

The other woman hiked herself up onto the edge of the table, one leg swinging freely. The crossbow never wavered.

"Go call the others in," she directed to someone. "They deserve to see this after flushing our fox into the trap." Footsteps hurried out the door and shortly the kitchen filled up with men and women. Some of them the trapped vampire recognized from the group that had pursued her through the woods.

"Oh, I see you know some of the new arrivals," the woman who was obviously the leader remarked. "You thought that was the trap, the broken down car and the helpless two females with it who were stranded in the deep, dark woods. And now, too late, you see that was only the cheese to bring the rat here, where you will meet your final and well deserved doom."

The lead vampire hunter took careful aim with the crossbow. "I'd ask if you had any last words but I really don't care." The crossbow twanged and the dart flew true. The vampiress had just enough time to feel the bolt pierce her heart and then she was dust.

"Well done everyone." The woman lowered her crossbow. "Sweep that dust up and make sure it s put out in the sun first thing in the morning."

A cell phone concealed in a cupboard buzzed. At her nod one of the other Hunters answered it. His eyes widened and he held the phone out to the woman.

"It's your father."

A muted buzz went through the group. One of the other women slipped up to the man who had answered the phone.

"Really?" she whispered. "Daniel himself?"

The man nodded but said nothing more. They all waited as their leader listened and made several one word replies. She snapped the phone closed.

"My Father gives you all his congratulations on a job well done. It's time for us to move on to bigger and more dangerous targets. So we will be traveling to New York City to hunt a pair of the oldest vampires still existent. Our targets will be Alucard and Cindy Van Heuson. Oh," she added as an afterthought, "And their daughter Juliet."

She straightened up and looked every one of her Hunters in the eyes. "And we will succeed as surely as my name is Sarah Holtz."

(To Be Continued)