Bond wanted to kill him. Every nerve, every cell in his body screamed at him to plunge his stake deep into the vampire's chest. He had trained, for two decades to become the lethal hunter he is now, but none of his training had prepared him for this. A vampire, and a hunter, partners. It was absurd to think that Bond was protecting him. But by the looks of him, he needed it. He was scrawny, pale and weak. The entire journey back to the MI-6 paranormal HQ, Bond had time to mull over why this young vampire, who apparently liked to be called Q because his full name is embarrassing, would want to sell out his own kind and why he hates then so much. Bond knew he could just ask him. After all, he had agreed to give him immunity, but Bond preferred to ponder it on his own. And he wasn't exactly up for a chit-chat session with a vampire. However apparently, Q was.
"I'm surprised you haven't started dumping shit tonnes of questions on me. I thought you'd want to start immediately."
Bond gave an irritated grunt in reply. Q didn't hear the warning. With a small giggle and a little skip in the snow, he continued on.
"I've got to admit, I'm a little shocked. I thought that stake was going in my chest no matter what I said."
Bond curled his fingers into fists. Why him? Why did this vampire had to choose him to bargain with?
"Because I saw you. I really saw you." Q whirled around and threw his hands up in defence, never breaking stride. "Don't worry; I was a shocked as you are. I saw in you that you had the heart, and the brains, to trust me."
A deep sick feeling settled in Bond's gut. He hated that the vampire could read him. Mentally, he threw up his protective walls he'd been trained to use against a vampire's telepathy. Q just grinned. But something else nagged at Bond. A vampire could read anyone's mind, but it took a lot to read one's heart. Bond hadn't met this vampire before, so the question of 'how' still swirled like a lazy breeze through his mind. He changed the subject.
"So how are they doing it? Walking in the light?" Q sighed and stopped for half a beat so that he now walked side by side with Bond. His long thin fingers shoved deep inside his ratty threadbare trousers that were now so small they exposed the skin of his ankles. The cold didn't bother him so he couldn't bring himself to mind much.
"I don't know." He replied simply. Obviously, that wasn't what Bond wanted to hear.
Bond stopped mid step. "What!? You don't know how? What they hell are we protecting you for then?" Q just giggled at his incredulous expression and turned to face him.
"I don't know how they're doing it. But I know who is doing it. And that is a valuable piece of information my friend."
"I'm not your friend." Bond's face twisted with an indignant expression. Q frowned, rather displeased.
"Fine. My acquaintance then." The Hunter seemed to accept that and kept walking. They were close now. Bond couldn't wait until he could dump this vampire off to M and have him deal with it. Bond just wanted to sleep. 17 hours straight spent in almost below zero conditions was enough to make even the best of hunters worn down. His hunts had been extended so drastically because of the light walkers. So you can imagine his desperation to put an end to this stupidity. Sparkly vampires? Bond could almost laugh. Almost.
Q opened his mouth to speak again when a huge black building shaped like a shoe box loomed up in the distance. In no time, they were there. Bond was punching in his security code into the small pad to the left of two thick metal doors. Q could smell the vervain running through the veins of every centimetre of the place. Q fiddled with his hands, shoving them in and out of his pockets over and over waiting for Bond's retinal scan to finally let him through. A tingle of nerves zipped through him at the huge doors slid open. Bond didn't even glance back at Q before he entered into the gloomy building ahead. He didn't need to, Q was right behind him.
To be fair, Q didn't know what he expected. But seriously, this place was bland. Just a bunch of plain featureless halls twisting this way and that with a few doors peppered along the walls every now and then. Bond had ordered him to stay close the entire time in case they came across another hunter. The chance, he assured him was slim. They would all be in one place that night. Q had felt a little reassured until Bond had mentioned that they would all be in the place they were headed. Joy. Finally, they reached a red wooden door at the end of one of the boring corridors. Bond turned to him then.
"I'm going to open this door. Stay behind me and don't say a word until you're allowed to."
"When will I know I will be allowed to speak?" Bond's only reply was turning his back on Q and twisting the door knob. Q gulped. As soon as the door was swung open, Q understood why Bond had wanted Q behind him. His huge imposing figure blocked Q not only from the approximately twenty hunters in the room beyond but also the artificial sun light. He now understood why they were all so tanned. Dressed in complete black clothing from the neck to the toe, the hunters all congregated in a large room with a huge screen showing surveillance at the opposite end of the door. From huge bright lights on the ceiling, UV rays were showered down into the room and bathed the hunters in security. Well, this did put quite a kink in things.
Peering over the huge hunters shoulder, he could see a few hunters glancing up at Bond standing on the threshold of the door. There were no cries of alarm, no shouts of 'VAMPIRE!' At least, that was until Bond turned abruptly, roughly grabbed Q's shoulder and threw him into the room. The UV rays worked instantly on his exposed skin. Huge patches of burning flesh began to bubble and sizzle. Q hissed and screamed and desperately tried to claw his way back to the safety of dark cool corridor. During his vain struggles, he became faintly aware of the hunters pulling out stakes, rosemary beads, garlic and holy water. His favourite beverage.
He gave up trying to reach the door and curled into a ball, awaiting his death by being burnt to a crisp. Lovely.
