Hellmouth #14
"Closed Eyes Behind Closed Doors"
A wicked smile crept from ear to ear on Lock's face before the heel of a boot wiped it off. He recoiled around and caught Jules in the cheek with a swinging backhand. She recovered fast and began approaching him, Lock walking backwards to avoid some of the quick kicks she was backing him up with. He wiped two of the kicks away and pivoted with his left foot, jabbing her in her mouth with a quick left. She swung a punch around but he ducked underneath, jumping at the chance to intertwine his legs with hers and bring her to the ground. She fell to her back and he fell on top of her; he struggled to get both her hands down but only got the left, her right swinging, nails out, lightly breaking the skin like a cat's claws on a loving face. Lock lost concentration at the strike and released her left hand, which she used to grab him by his medium-length black hair and pull his head back. She sat up and licked the line of blood dripping down his face. By simply flexing her legs and abs, she quickly spun Lock to his back. She again pulled him up by the hair and struck him once in the face. He lashed around wildly until she stood, at which time Lock rolled himself onto his neck and head, pushed up with his arms, and drilled her in the face with his feet. He spun himself and pulled himself to his feet while she caught her place against the wall. She examined a stream of blood coming out of her nose and Lock examined his facial wound. She licked the blood slowly from her fingers, hungrily, never once releasing her eyes from her adversary. A wicked smile crept from ear to ear on Lock's face.
"Is he really safe in there?" Larson asked, voice legitimately worried. He peered through the glass barrier from the second floor of the storage facility and into the storage area that they have been using as a training facility and, most recently, an examination facility. Gene walked up behind him and looked at the couple bashing themselves to death, "He should be alright. He's had a week to heal up and he's wrapped tighter than I'd feel comfortable with."
"But they aren't pulling their punches. They're really beating the hell outta one another," Ky added, sitting cross-legged on the desk. Dr. Paul Brown sat peacefully in the chair at the desk reviewing his notes, "Actually, Lock's providing me with some integral data. I've been monitoring her before and after these sparring sessions and crunching all the numbers. It's unlike anything I've come across in my studies."
"Yeah, well, I think there may be more to it than him finding numbers," Ky said under her breath, walking up to Gene at the window and leaning against him. He leered at her slightly, opening his mouth to say something until Larson interjected, "Paul, have you come to any real conclusions about her? You've only been here for two days, I know, but are you sure about anything yet?"
"As a matter of fact, yes," Paul began, "But none of them are things you would like to hear. Simply put, I'm pretty sure that my initial hypothesis is pretty dead on." Two years ago, Paul Brown's pediatric practice was attacked by a group of vampires looking for blood samples before the sun came up early one morning. Jon and Larson were leading a hunt, Lock, Gene, and Ky included. It wasn't a very intense battle and very little property was destroyed, but the experience was enough for Paul to come to Jon and Larson, asking them about vampires and about the world that most people don't see. Ever since, Paul Brown has dedicated his life to studying the world of demons, flying to England, visiting the Watcher's Council prior to its destruction, and flying to every corner of the world to learn more and more. He had just returned from a demon safari in Western Africa when, as luck may have it, he was found on a layover in Cleveland on his way back to his new home in Seattle three days ago. He's been here since, studying the phenomenon of Jules since her transformation.
"As I'm sure you all know," he began again, "The first thing I did when I reached England was study everything I could on the mythology and the truths behind the common vampire. To explain my theory on Jules, I'll explain this first: Scholars on the subject say that the soul is a very real and factual thing, and that it is an essence rather than an organ, something that expands across the entire body as opposed to being in a single location. The way a vampire reproduces is through a process of feeding the essence of the demon inside it, through its blood, into the victim. Technically, it isn't really necessary for a vampire to suck someone else's before reproducing; the victim simply needs to be close to death. It's the same principle for when a vampire can enter a private home: without an invite, a vampire can only enter a private residence when the soul of the last inhabitant of the house leaves the body, meaning when the person is dead. Before a vampire can feed its victim their blood, they must insure that the victim's body is weak enough so that when the demon essence is introduced through the blood, it can push the soul out of the body."
"Wow," Gene drawled, "What is this, like, Vampires 412?"
"No," Ky laughed, "You just slept through 101 the first time."
"Regardless, this is the same principle behind what Jules is going through: Larson's report stated that when the vampire who bit her actually bit her, his struggle was somewhat hastened, like he was hurrying through the changing process. You all were, what, banging the door down?"
"Yep. Lock was pretty much tearing the thing down," Gene stated.
"From examining the vitals and the doctor's notes that Ky so aptly stole for us, my original hypothesis was the housing theory, that maybe the vampire didn't have the time to weaken the body enough to let the soul escape, and that the vampire was struggling to gain rights to the body and push the soul out."
"My head is hurting....." Gene sat back down in the chair across from the doctor.
"Let me understand this, Paul," Larson stuttered on his words, trying desperately to understand, "You're saying that because Jules wasn't on the edge of death when she drank from the vampire, then the essence of the demon is fighting with the essence of her soul for the body."
"Exactly. It's a very fine balance, you see: if the vampire feeds too much, then the body could die before it takes in the vampire's blood. But if the vampire doesn't feed enough, then the body will like and the demon will be pushed out as if it were never introduced; it would be like drinking regular blood. Jules's case is different, though. Instead of pushing the demon essence out and living, her body was just weak enough to accept the demon, but not weak enough for the demon essence to push out the soul. Very fine balance."
"What are the chances of that happening though?" Gene asked, legitimately curious.
"If I had to guess? About the same chance as throwing a glass bottle into the air and balancing it on a tightrope." Paul cleared his throat.
"So what the hell is she? Some kind of vampire with a soul?" Ky asked.
"Oh, if it were that simple..... This isn't some shared scenario. The demon and the soul cannot coexist. In fact, from the all the research I've done, there has only been one certified occurrence where a vampire received a soul, and that was well over a century ago. Since then, there has been one claim that a demon monk possessed the power to restore souls, but that may just be speculation. Either way, both situations called for unbelievable amounts of magic. There's no magic here."
"So what does that mean?" Larson asked, a little bit afraid as to what the answer might be.
"Well, I'm not going to sugar coat this at all. I respect you all too much for that. Jules is going to die. The human soul is one of the most powerful entities known, and some speculate that the human body isn't some powerful, ever evolving thing, but rather, it's a shell to protect the soul, which is infinitely more important. Unfortunately, in the end, we're talking about a demon aggressor, powerful in itself, pushing against a meager human defender. The demon essence will claim her body. That's the bad news. The worse news? We have no idea when the demon may take the body. May be an hour or two, may be a decade or two. Until then, you have a very confused little girl with no idea of what her life is going to be."
"Is there any good news? Tax write-off? Anything?" Gene asked, obviously getting more frustrated.
"Well, if you're the silver-lining type, you do have a powerful new fighter on your side. She has all the strengths of a vampire: strength, quickness, enhanced smelling and hearing, agility. She does have the weaknesses like sunlight and sharp wooden things, but as of right now, holy things don't effect her. The only problem you might run into is that my tests haven't given us anything on whether stress or increased emotion has any effect on how long she might be able to hold on to her life. I presume that it is something you'll have to test in the field. Just keep in mind that if the results aren't what you're looking for, you may have some hard decisions to make."
Gene didn't speak. Larson made himself very comfortable staring at a spot on the ground, avoiding the eyes of everyone around him. Ky stared out the window at the training session. Lock couldn't hope to keep up with Jules, and the thought exhilarated him. Ky saw the smile on his face grow more and more every time it met Jules's fist or knee. He looked like a childhood boy competing with his best friend in a game of hoops. This wasn't the look he had before, nor was it something she knew he would voice. He hasn't voiced a lot of things as of late. As of ever, in fact. His broken, bloodied smile spoke more volumes than his mouth ever has past his dry wit. Pinned down for a countless time in this sparring session, Jules and Lock hungrily kissed one another, finally bringing the mauling to a close. Ky averted her eyes from the glass, choking back the anger and twisting hard on the hair band she held.
Paul broke the reflection, "Larson, if you don't mind....."
"Of course, Paul. Gene, Ky, if you don't mind giving us a moment, Dr. Brown needs to be on his way soon, and we'd rather talk to Lock by himself," Larson explained.
"Absolutely," Ky said with spite in her voice. She marched out of the room leaving Gene just curious enough to follow.
"Locklear," Larson sounded his voice over the loudspeaker into the training grounds of the facility, "If you do mind, Paul and I need you up here in the control booth. Please take the necessary precautions."
Lock sighed out loud in discontent, grumbling from on top of Jules and hefting himself and her to their feet. He kissed her gently and set her down on the couch in the corner of the room; she got herself comfortable and he put the shackles on her arms and ankles, effectively chaining her to the wall. She grumbled now to herself and Lock insisted that it wouldn't be for too much longer. He walked a few feet and turned on the TV for her, finding a station worth watching. He winked at her and told her he'd be back soon. Four sets of stairs later, Lock opened up the door into the control room. "Anybody got a towel?" he asked.
"For the blood or for the sweat?" Paul asked.
"One for each, if we got 'em," Lock retorted, smiling.
"We never brought any over. Your shirt has seen better days, however. You'd might as well use that," Larson said, moving to the seat on the other side of Paul's desk, completely uncompelled by Lock's question.
Lock took off his shirt and began wiping his face with it. Paul immediately noticed Lock's lack of tan and noted that Lock doesn't see the sun much anymore. Lock began the questioning, "So is everything worked out with the hospital she destroyed?"
"Well, I'm curious about the source, but Gene swears he, quote. 'knows a guy who knows a guy.' I take that as his way of saying that he's taken care of everything," Larson answered.
"Good. The last thing we need is lawsuits, medical bills, and destruction fees."
"Yes, well, medical bills are a constant in our line of work," Larson stated.
"No kidding. It's a good thing Gene knows how to bandage as well as he does. I think I split open a few of those stitches trying to bring her in."
"Lock, we need to talk. Fast, if I might add," Paul interjected.
"I'm all ears, Paul," Lock said, leaning against the wall and rubbing his bandaged torso.
"I've finished compiling everything and everything seems to be falling into place, but the results aren't looking very good," Paul started.
Lock's eyes narrowed and his posterior straightened, everything becoming more serious, "Well, Doc, you know how much I hate suspense....."
"I'm afraid I'll have to give you an abbreviated account, considering I have to catch a midnight flight out of here, and that gives me about an hour to pack and get to the airport. I've already explained the whole situation to Charles here, if you need further details. Fact in point, Jules has the vampire essence in her, but it hasn't quite taken over yet. That's why she is still alive. As long as she has a soul, the vampire can't necessarily fully take her body. However, her soul is not strong enough and her body is not eternal enough to hold the vampire back, and sooner or later, she will die. We don't know when, but though she may be stronger than us, faster than us, and more durable, she is still a fragile young girl and when the vampire takes, it will take her completely."
"I know, Doctor. I've spent a lot of time with her recently, and she told me that she could feel everything that was happening to her. But I swear, Paul, Larson, she's telling me everything. She is strong, and she could be a valuable asset to us."
"I've no doubt," Paul agreed, "but as much as you think that there are no guarantees in your line of work, I have one for you: She is going to die. She could be at the top of her game but sooner or later, she is going to snap, and she will lose it. You may have more than her blood on your hands if you let that happen."
Lock veered at Paul menacingly, raising his tone to high, vicious levels: "Listen to me closely, Paul, there will be no blood on anybody's hands anymore. Things got bad but things are better now. We hit a snag and now we're loose. We stopped The Board, Fabini hasn't eaten a rat in this town if there's a chance it could come back to him since the incident. Our group is healing and the one incident we had is in there, and she couldn't be more healthy or aware of her situation, and she couldn't be more annoyed with how we're treating her like a rabid dog. You don't know the situation here and I'd prefer if you let me make the decisions, thank you."
Paul didn't withdraw, "I didn't know the man long, Locklear, but when I did, I knew that you were just a child fighting alongside a man who knew better. Two years later, you are still so young and that man is no longer around. He would have taken her to the side, said goodbye, and but a stake in her chest Lock, and you know I'm right."
"This isn't your business nor is it your decision!" Lock yelled, stepping closer to Paul.
"You're right," Paul stated, calming Lock down and backing him up, "This isn't my business. I'm just trying to do my part to protect the people that saved my life."
Lock followed suit and calmed his tone, "Well, you see, that is my business, too. I will protect them. First thing's first, I'm here to make sure that she is alright, because she is the result of my major mistake. I let things between Fabini and I get too personal when he tried to kill me, Gene, and Ky, and he drove that distance between me and Ky. I drug them into my battle and got them hurt. Now, I have damage control to tend to."
"I hate to interrupt this charming conversation," Gene poked his head through the door, "but we just got word that a secret nest near the bridge just lost its secret status. Vamps are running around down there. Nick and Antoine are on the scene and Jamie's in route, but if it's a big nest, they're gonna need some help."
"Round up the regulars, Gene," Lock jumped on the chance to end the conversation, "I'll be with you in a minute." Gene walked out and Lock looked at both of the glaring eyes between Larson and Paul, "Good or bad, I'm making the call. Things will be a lot easier with her help." Lock reached across the control panel and grabbed the intercom mic, "Jules, sweetie, you wanna come help me, Gene, and some regulars dust a nest?"
"And miss Law and Order?" she called across the distant area.
"Jules....." Lock used his assertive voice, reprimanding her sarcasm.
"Awesome. Come unshackle me."
Lock turned to Paul, and after a shared look, Paul stated, "Just know that my research didn't shed any light on how stress effects her condition. You may hasten her change."
"Or maybe pounding some vampires could help get rid of some of those inner demons," Lock punned, "but a little field testing never hurts." He walked closer to the door into Jules's chamber when Larson stood abruptly. Lock stopped and looked at him, expectantly.
"Locklear," Larson said with vehemence in his tone, then he stalled and drew in a breath, "You've been sparring for hours now. Do be careful and not overexert yourself tonight."
Lock smiled, "Will do." He patted Larson on the back as he walked past the former Watcher. Larson sighed and flopped back down in his chair, defeated.
Forty minutes later, two of the eight vampires had already been dusted, and Lock's promise of taking it easy had already been broken. Lock pulled himself to the side, crawled being a more applicable verb, and laid himself flat against the side of the bridge. Whereas the fight started in a small urban area west of the bridge, Nicholas's impromptu use of hellfire bombs pushed the horde towards the bridge after taking out the two. Now isolated on the bridge, the Hunters found themselves at a strict disadvantage, being holed in on a bridge, still only breaking even in the numbers since Ky had already left the Station House and all other units were on patrol when the fight broke out; even though the Abbit twins were en route with cadre of Axe Units, chances were Lock and Gene, alongside Jules, Nicholas, Jamie, and Antoine, would have to holdout at least twenty more minutes before the back-up could arrive. With Lock already down and both of the team's hellfire bombs expunged, the chances weren't looking too good.
Seeing Lock pull himself out of combat caused Gene to up the ante, double-fisting his favorite axe and his newly sharpened machete, backing the two that were on him further back. Gene was quickly growing tired and took a few of the blows directly to his head and chest. He was hastily losing pace with what all was happening, and his two attackers took the advantage. Jamie and Antoine have worked well together for years, and moreover, they have perfected their double team; moving gracefully around the vampire they had singled out of the group, the strongest of the punch, they attacked it with such grace and precision, an eyewitness would have claimed that the moves were choreographed. They practically were, considering the many times they have executed the same fighting styles and techniques against much stronger opponents than the vampire they were facing here: the monster blocked two slices of the machete by Antoine, leaving itself open for rib shot kicks and a roundhouse from the martial arts-minded Jamie. That dance continued while Nicholas exhibited his own form of vampire slaying. Some would call it cowardly, while others call it effective; Nick calls it "hanging from the back of a vampire's neck while clutching its mouth closed with an open bottle of holy water inside." Rarely do vampires allow this sort of fighting, but with an open shot and a prayer, Nick held on like a cliffhanger in an avalanche. Once the holy water burns the mouth and clean down the throat of the beast, its insides rupture from the sanctified liquid, holding it still long enough for Nicholas to get a running stab in from the monster's back, through its heart with a wooden stake. Nick knows that eventually, the vampire would have dusted anyways due to the holy water inside it, but he feels that a good staking makes him look good on the battlefield. Jamie misplaced two of his kicks and, falling off-balance, was caught by the throat by his adversary. The vampire squeezed his neck with all his strength and Jamie stopped breathing, trying with all his might to break free of the clutch. The fanged animal smiled through gritted teeth until a strange sound shredded the air and its eyes grew very wide; the monster's head began to separate from its body when the corpse turned to ash and dust, its clutch on Jamie loosening until the ash got his shirt dirty and Jamie groaned his resentment.
"You're welcome," Antoine added, spinning the sword in his hand, putting the finishing touch on the dance.
"Antoine! Jamie! Nicholas! Get to GENE!" Lock screamed, clutching his ribs and bruises in agony. They followed suit with little time left; Antoine harpooned one vamp who had taken Gene's machete from him right before the brute brought it down on the sword's owner. The throw wasn't enough to force the stake through the vampire's heart, but it was aimed well enough for Jamie to give it one good dropkick and finish the job that Antoine started. The vamp howled and crumbled into dust. Nick, at parties calling himself the Holy Waterboy, pitched two glass bottles of the holy fluid at the remaining vampire to Gene's rear. Gene gave the final call with a back-handed swing of his axe to its collar.
"I surely hope that wasn't some ill-placed field training test you were giving me out there, Taylor," Gene yelled over to Lock.
"No, I just thought I would take more of a managerial approach to tonight's hunt," Lock replied, sitting up on his elbows.
"Captain Lock, should we.....?" Antoine began.
"Naw. You're good. You and Jamie take off. Everything is taken care of. Y'all did really good today. Go ahead and take tomorrow off. I'll put y'all on call."
"Thanks Cap. See ya, Gene," Jamie called to them.
Gene sat down next to Lock against the steel beam on the bridge, "Are you sure we shouldn't help or something?"
"I'm sure," Lock said, following Gene's gaze over to Jules, who had been spending the last few minutes of the fight repeatedly beating on the remaining two vampires. As the two monsters would begin to get up, Jules would growl even louder and beat on them even harder. She spiraled herself around like a pinwheel, nailing blow after blow with her feet and fists, like a ballerina on steroids. Lock continued, "She's been shackled for over a week now. I think she needs to stretch out and let loose a little."
"It's still a mystery to me after all these years. Do the cops know about vampires and monsters and everything, cuz I'm telling you, if we were two rival gangs throwing down out here, cops would be all over the place right now....." Gene drawled.
"Somebody knows something. We haven't been stopped yet," Lock groaned aloud.
"Are we doing the right thing by letting her fight with us?" Gene asked.
"It's the only thing I can think of. She's still alive. She's still one of us. You think it would be alright to chain her up like an animal until her soul actually goes?"
"No, I see yer point, I do..... But do you think this is what Jon would have done?"
"Will you please just shut the hell up?!" Lock yelled. Gene's face turned as feral as a human's could. Jules beat one of the vampires until the second booted her in the back of her skull. He crushed her face to the ground with his boot and grinded it hard. She twisted quickly, a move she's seen Lock do a million times or more. With a twist of the boot, she shattered the demon's ankle and sent him crashing to the ground. He screamed and howled and gulped when she brought the stake down and through his heart. The second one leapt up from the brutal beating she gave him earlier and looked positively scared. Jules hunched her shoulders like a linebacker and took a few quick steps forward, shuffling her feet. The vampire reacted in kind, shuffling his feet backwards and away from her, falling down when he turned to run. She smiled the most lethal smile she knew, like a viper trapping it's pray.
"What the hell is your problem, Lock?!" Gene yelled in kind.
"I'm sorry," Lock calmed, "I am. I'm just so tired of it. It's like, two weeks ago, you and Larson and Jules, hell even a piece of Ky, all of you were completely on board with everything I had planned. Stopping the sacrifices and the rituals, invading the Manor, everything. Suddenly, something goes tragically wrong and everybody is questioning my ability to lead?"
"I wasn't questioning you. I was just....."
"First Ky, then Paul and Larson, now you..... Ever since the Manor, this whole last week, everybody has thrown Jon into my face. 'Do you think Jon would have done that?' 'Jon would have known better.' 'Jon wouldn't have done that!' You all don't think I know he was a good man? A smart man? He was like a Dad to me, more than anybody else. So don't you think I'm trying? Nobody ever questioned him like they're questioning me now. You are not excluded."
"C'mon, Lock. That's not why we're questioning you. Hell, man, you're training me how to man the team when you're gone. You don't think I've been paying attention? We're all just scared, man."
"Scared of what?" Lock asked, a question he already knows the answer to.
"What's happening. Everything that's happening. Someone we loved is dying now, and at the hospital last week, and throughout all the testing and interrogation this week, we've all had to keep our heads high for this scared little girl who we haven't known for long but is still someone we legitimately care for."
"C'mon, Gene, people died under Captain Jon. Marie. Ian. Melissa."
"I know, Lock. Hell, even Jon wasn't an exception. But those people died. They flat died. And they died doing what they signed on to do. They died protecting the world from the undead. Jules is so much more complicated; she isn't dead. Worse: she's dying. We can watch and we can help, but she's a time bomb, Lock, and we all know it. And this didn't happen with her protecting the world. She was an untrained research who got drug into a hunt for one specific vampire, one that wasn't even doing that much harm and was willing to work with us until we, and by that I mean you, pissed him off."
"I thought that the best way to protect this city was to take down Fabini and his Board. Bringing Jules into this, yes, that is my fault, but let that be on my conscience so at least one of us can sleep at night. But with Fabini and the Board at the Manor, I did what I thought right."
"At the time, I thought you were right, too," Gene responded, "but now that the dust is cleared, we need to get back to what we do best. We are Hunters by name, not by job description. Our job description is 'protectors.' And I think we've gotten away from that."
Lock sat silently. After a few moments, he whimpered, "Once again, Gene logic wins out. You're right." He smiled and continued, "The Fabini thing is over. I'm gonna stop looking for him. If I walk up on him in an alley, though, whew..... It ain't gonna be pretty. But we gotta get back to the mission objective."
"Protect and serve. Maybe pay bills while we're at it," Gene quipped.
Lock laughed and rubbed Gene's bald head, "Thanks Gene."
They both looked over at Jules, who was sitting down on top of the vampire she was throttling. She would ask him where their nest was and if there were more of them around here, and every time he gave her an answer she didn't like, she would slam his face down on the pavement. The traffic on the bridge was mysteriously absent; though it was well past Midnight on a weeknight, there still should have been some traffic backed up. Normally, Lock and Gene dumb it down to people mistaking their fighting as gang related anyways.
"Jules, honey," Lock called out. She looked up at him, vamp face out, and he shuddered, "Baby, can you just stake him so we can get outta here?"
"What are we gonna do if and when she slips?" Gene asked lowly, hoping her vampire hearing couldn't pick him up all the way across the bridge.
In the same low tone, Lock answered, "If she hurts someone I love, I'll put oak through her chest."
A screaming, hissing noise, the distinct noise made by a vampire dusting rang out across the bridge, and Jules stood and wiped the dust from her clothes. "I got him," she yelled out, not tired in the least.
"Trust me, Gene," Lock let out while trying to pull himself to his feet. He put his hand on his friend's shoulder, "We have a powerful new addition to our team, and we're going back to the top of the order. The vampires fear us now more than ever. Things are gonna get a lot better from here."
"Closed Eyes Behind Closed Doors"
A wicked smile crept from ear to ear on Lock's face before the heel of a boot wiped it off. He recoiled around and caught Jules in the cheek with a swinging backhand. She recovered fast and began approaching him, Lock walking backwards to avoid some of the quick kicks she was backing him up with. He wiped two of the kicks away and pivoted with his left foot, jabbing her in her mouth with a quick left. She swung a punch around but he ducked underneath, jumping at the chance to intertwine his legs with hers and bring her to the ground. She fell to her back and he fell on top of her; he struggled to get both her hands down but only got the left, her right swinging, nails out, lightly breaking the skin like a cat's claws on a loving face. Lock lost concentration at the strike and released her left hand, which she used to grab him by his medium-length black hair and pull his head back. She sat up and licked the line of blood dripping down his face. By simply flexing her legs and abs, she quickly spun Lock to his back. She again pulled him up by the hair and struck him once in the face. He lashed around wildly until she stood, at which time Lock rolled himself onto his neck and head, pushed up with his arms, and drilled her in the face with his feet. He spun himself and pulled himself to his feet while she caught her place against the wall. She examined a stream of blood coming out of her nose and Lock examined his facial wound. She licked the blood slowly from her fingers, hungrily, never once releasing her eyes from her adversary. A wicked smile crept from ear to ear on Lock's face.
"Is he really safe in there?" Larson asked, voice legitimately worried. He peered through the glass barrier from the second floor of the storage facility and into the storage area that they have been using as a training facility and, most recently, an examination facility. Gene walked up behind him and looked at the couple bashing themselves to death, "He should be alright. He's had a week to heal up and he's wrapped tighter than I'd feel comfortable with."
"But they aren't pulling their punches. They're really beating the hell outta one another," Ky added, sitting cross-legged on the desk. Dr. Paul Brown sat peacefully in the chair at the desk reviewing his notes, "Actually, Lock's providing me with some integral data. I've been monitoring her before and after these sparring sessions and crunching all the numbers. It's unlike anything I've come across in my studies."
"Yeah, well, I think there may be more to it than him finding numbers," Ky said under her breath, walking up to Gene at the window and leaning against him. He leered at her slightly, opening his mouth to say something until Larson interjected, "Paul, have you come to any real conclusions about her? You've only been here for two days, I know, but are you sure about anything yet?"
"As a matter of fact, yes," Paul began, "But none of them are things you would like to hear. Simply put, I'm pretty sure that my initial hypothesis is pretty dead on." Two years ago, Paul Brown's pediatric practice was attacked by a group of vampires looking for blood samples before the sun came up early one morning. Jon and Larson were leading a hunt, Lock, Gene, and Ky included. It wasn't a very intense battle and very little property was destroyed, but the experience was enough for Paul to come to Jon and Larson, asking them about vampires and about the world that most people don't see. Ever since, Paul Brown has dedicated his life to studying the world of demons, flying to England, visiting the Watcher's Council prior to its destruction, and flying to every corner of the world to learn more and more. He had just returned from a demon safari in Western Africa when, as luck may have it, he was found on a layover in Cleveland on his way back to his new home in Seattle three days ago. He's been here since, studying the phenomenon of Jules since her transformation.
"As I'm sure you all know," he began again, "The first thing I did when I reached England was study everything I could on the mythology and the truths behind the common vampire. To explain my theory on Jules, I'll explain this first: Scholars on the subject say that the soul is a very real and factual thing, and that it is an essence rather than an organ, something that expands across the entire body as opposed to being in a single location. The way a vampire reproduces is through a process of feeding the essence of the demon inside it, through its blood, into the victim. Technically, it isn't really necessary for a vampire to suck someone else's before reproducing; the victim simply needs to be close to death. It's the same principle for when a vampire can enter a private home: without an invite, a vampire can only enter a private residence when the soul of the last inhabitant of the house leaves the body, meaning when the person is dead. Before a vampire can feed its victim their blood, they must insure that the victim's body is weak enough so that when the demon essence is introduced through the blood, it can push the soul out of the body."
"Wow," Gene drawled, "What is this, like, Vampires 412?"
"No," Ky laughed, "You just slept through 101 the first time."
"Regardless, this is the same principle behind what Jules is going through: Larson's report stated that when the vampire who bit her actually bit her, his struggle was somewhat hastened, like he was hurrying through the changing process. You all were, what, banging the door down?"
"Yep. Lock was pretty much tearing the thing down," Gene stated.
"From examining the vitals and the doctor's notes that Ky so aptly stole for us, my original hypothesis was the housing theory, that maybe the vampire didn't have the time to weaken the body enough to let the soul escape, and that the vampire was struggling to gain rights to the body and push the soul out."
"My head is hurting....." Gene sat back down in the chair across from the doctor.
"Let me understand this, Paul," Larson stuttered on his words, trying desperately to understand, "You're saying that because Jules wasn't on the edge of death when she drank from the vampire, then the essence of the demon is fighting with the essence of her soul for the body."
"Exactly. It's a very fine balance, you see: if the vampire feeds too much, then the body could die before it takes in the vampire's blood. But if the vampire doesn't feed enough, then the body will like and the demon will be pushed out as if it were never introduced; it would be like drinking regular blood. Jules's case is different, though. Instead of pushing the demon essence out and living, her body was just weak enough to accept the demon, but not weak enough for the demon essence to push out the soul. Very fine balance."
"What are the chances of that happening though?" Gene asked, legitimately curious.
"If I had to guess? About the same chance as throwing a glass bottle into the air and balancing it on a tightrope." Paul cleared his throat.
"So what the hell is she? Some kind of vampire with a soul?" Ky asked.
"Oh, if it were that simple..... This isn't some shared scenario. The demon and the soul cannot coexist. In fact, from the all the research I've done, there has only been one certified occurrence where a vampire received a soul, and that was well over a century ago. Since then, there has been one claim that a demon monk possessed the power to restore souls, but that may just be speculation. Either way, both situations called for unbelievable amounts of magic. There's no magic here."
"So what does that mean?" Larson asked, a little bit afraid as to what the answer might be.
"Well, I'm not going to sugar coat this at all. I respect you all too much for that. Jules is going to die. The human soul is one of the most powerful entities known, and some speculate that the human body isn't some powerful, ever evolving thing, but rather, it's a shell to protect the soul, which is infinitely more important. Unfortunately, in the end, we're talking about a demon aggressor, powerful in itself, pushing against a meager human defender. The demon essence will claim her body. That's the bad news. The worse news? We have no idea when the demon may take the body. May be an hour or two, may be a decade or two. Until then, you have a very confused little girl with no idea of what her life is going to be."
"Is there any good news? Tax write-off? Anything?" Gene asked, obviously getting more frustrated.
"Well, if you're the silver-lining type, you do have a powerful new fighter on your side. She has all the strengths of a vampire: strength, quickness, enhanced smelling and hearing, agility. She does have the weaknesses like sunlight and sharp wooden things, but as of right now, holy things don't effect her. The only problem you might run into is that my tests haven't given us anything on whether stress or increased emotion has any effect on how long she might be able to hold on to her life. I presume that it is something you'll have to test in the field. Just keep in mind that if the results aren't what you're looking for, you may have some hard decisions to make."
Gene didn't speak. Larson made himself very comfortable staring at a spot on the ground, avoiding the eyes of everyone around him. Ky stared out the window at the training session. Lock couldn't hope to keep up with Jules, and the thought exhilarated him. Ky saw the smile on his face grow more and more every time it met Jules's fist or knee. He looked like a childhood boy competing with his best friend in a game of hoops. This wasn't the look he had before, nor was it something she knew he would voice. He hasn't voiced a lot of things as of late. As of ever, in fact. His broken, bloodied smile spoke more volumes than his mouth ever has past his dry wit. Pinned down for a countless time in this sparring session, Jules and Lock hungrily kissed one another, finally bringing the mauling to a close. Ky averted her eyes from the glass, choking back the anger and twisting hard on the hair band she held.
Paul broke the reflection, "Larson, if you don't mind....."
"Of course, Paul. Gene, Ky, if you don't mind giving us a moment, Dr. Brown needs to be on his way soon, and we'd rather talk to Lock by himself," Larson explained.
"Absolutely," Ky said with spite in her voice. She marched out of the room leaving Gene just curious enough to follow.
"Locklear," Larson sounded his voice over the loudspeaker into the training grounds of the facility, "If you do mind, Paul and I need you up here in the control booth. Please take the necessary precautions."
Lock sighed out loud in discontent, grumbling from on top of Jules and hefting himself and her to their feet. He kissed her gently and set her down on the couch in the corner of the room; she got herself comfortable and he put the shackles on her arms and ankles, effectively chaining her to the wall. She grumbled now to herself and Lock insisted that it wouldn't be for too much longer. He walked a few feet and turned on the TV for her, finding a station worth watching. He winked at her and told her he'd be back soon. Four sets of stairs later, Lock opened up the door into the control room. "Anybody got a towel?" he asked.
"For the blood or for the sweat?" Paul asked.
"One for each, if we got 'em," Lock retorted, smiling.
"We never brought any over. Your shirt has seen better days, however. You'd might as well use that," Larson said, moving to the seat on the other side of Paul's desk, completely uncompelled by Lock's question.
Lock took off his shirt and began wiping his face with it. Paul immediately noticed Lock's lack of tan and noted that Lock doesn't see the sun much anymore. Lock began the questioning, "So is everything worked out with the hospital she destroyed?"
"Well, I'm curious about the source, but Gene swears he, quote. 'knows a guy who knows a guy.' I take that as his way of saying that he's taken care of everything," Larson answered.
"Good. The last thing we need is lawsuits, medical bills, and destruction fees."
"Yes, well, medical bills are a constant in our line of work," Larson stated.
"No kidding. It's a good thing Gene knows how to bandage as well as he does. I think I split open a few of those stitches trying to bring her in."
"Lock, we need to talk. Fast, if I might add," Paul interjected.
"I'm all ears, Paul," Lock said, leaning against the wall and rubbing his bandaged torso.
"I've finished compiling everything and everything seems to be falling into place, but the results aren't looking very good," Paul started.
Lock's eyes narrowed and his posterior straightened, everything becoming more serious, "Well, Doc, you know how much I hate suspense....."
"I'm afraid I'll have to give you an abbreviated account, considering I have to catch a midnight flight out of here, and that gives me about an hour to pack and get to the airport. I've already explained the whole situation to Charles here, if you need further details. Fact in point, Jules has the vampire essence in her, but it hasn't quite taken over yet. That's why she is still alive. As long as she has a soul, the vampire can't necessarily fully take her body. However, her soul is not strong enough and her body is not eternal enough to hold the vampire back, and sooner or later, she will die. We don't know when, but though she may be stronger than us, faster than us, and more durable, she is still a fragile young girl and when the vampire takes, it will take her completely."
"I know, Doctor. I've spent a lot of time with her recently, and she told me that she could feel everything that was happening to her. But I swear, Paul, Larson, she's telling me everything. She is strong, and she could be a valuable asset to us."
"I've no doubt," Paul agreed, "but as much as you think that there are no guarantees in your line of work, I have one for you: She is going to die. She could be at the top of her game but sooner or later, she is going to snap, and she will lose it. You may have more than her blood on your hands if you let that happen."
Lock veered at Paul menacingly, raising his tone to high, vicious levels: "Listen to me closely, Paul, there will be no blood on anybody's hands anymore. Things got bad but things are better now. We hit a snag and now we're loose. We stopped The Board, Fabini hasn't eaten a rat in this town if there's a chance it could come back to him since the incident. Our group is healing and the one incident we had is in there, and she couldn't be more healthy or aware of her situation, and she couldn't be more annoyed with how we're treating her like a rabid dog. You don't know the situation here and I'd prefer if you let me make the decisions, thank you."
Paul didn't withdraw, "I didn't know the man long, Locklear, but when I did, I knew that you were just a child fighting alongside a man who knew better. Two years later, you are still so young and that man is no longer around. He would have taken her to the side, said goodbye, and but a stake in her chest Lock, and you know I'm right."
"This isn't your business nor is it your decision!" Lock yelled, stepping closer to Paul.
"You're right," Paul stated, calming Lock down and backing him up, "This isn't my business. I'm just trying to do my part to protect the people that saved my life."
Lock followed suit and calmed his tone, "Well, you see, that is my business, too. I will protect them. First thing's first, I'm here to make sure that she is alright, because she is the result of my major mistake. I let things between Fabini and I get too personal when he tried to kill me, Gene, and Ky, and he drove that distance between me and Ky. I drug them into my battle and got them hurt. Now, I have damage control to tend to."
"I hate to interrupt this charming conversation," Gene poked his head through the door, "but we just got word that a secret nest near the bridge just lost its secret status. Vamps are running around down there. Nick and Antoine are on the scene and Jamie's in route, but if it's a big nest, they're gonna need some help."
"Round up the regulars, Gene," Lock jumped on the chance to end the conversation, "I'll be with you in a minute." Gene walked out and Lock looked at both of the glaring eyes between Larson and Paul, "Good or bad, I'm making the call. Things will be a lot easier with her help." Lock reached across the control panel and grabbed the intercom mic, "Jules, sweetie, you wanna come help me, Gene, and some regulars dust a nest?"
"And miss Law and Order?" she called across the distant area.
"Jules....." Lock used his assertive voice, reprimanding her sarcasm.
"Awesome. Come unshackle me."
Lock turned to Paul, and after a shared look, Paul stated, "Just know that my research didn't shed any light on how stress effects her condition. You may hasten her change."
"Or maybe pounding some vampires could help get rid of some of those inner demons," Lock punned, "but a little field testing never hurts." He walked closer to the door into Jules's chamber when Larson stood abruptly. Lock stopped and looked at him, expectantly.
"Locklear," Larson said with vehemence in his tone, then he stalled and drew in a breath, "You've been sparring for hours now. Do be careful and not overexert yourself tonight."
Lock smiled, "Will do." He patted Larson on the back as he walked past the former Watcher. Larson sighed and flopped back down in his chair, defeated.
Forty minutes later, two of the eight vampires had already been dusted, and Lock's promise of taking it easy had already been broken. Lock pulled himself to the side, crawled being a more applicable verb, and laid himself flat against the side of the bridge. Whereas the fight started in a small urban area west of the bridge, Nicholas's impromptu use of hellfire bombs pushed the horde towards the bridge after taking out the two. Now isolated on the bridge, the Hunters found themselves at a strict disadvantage, being holed in on a bridge, still only breaking even in the numbers since Ky had already left the Station House and all other units were on patrol when the fight broke out; even though the Abbit twins were en route with cadre of Axe Units, chances were Lock and Gene, alongside Jules, Nicholas, Jamie, and Antoine, would have to holdout at least twenty more minutes before the back-up could arrive. With Lock already down and both of the team's hellfire bombs expunged, the chances weren't looking too good.
Seeing Lock pull himself out of combat caused Gene to up the ante, double-fisting his favorite axe and his newly sharpened machete, backing the two that were on him further back. Gene was quickly growing tired and took a few of the blows directly to his head and chest. He was hastily losing pace with what all was happening, and his two attackers took the advantage. Jamie and Antoine have worked well together for years, and moreover, they have perfected their double team; moving gracefully around the vampire they had singled out of the group, the strongest of the punch, they attacked it with such grace and precision, an eyewitness would have claimed that the moves were choreographed. They practically were, considering the many times they have executed the same fighting styles and techniques against much stronger opponents than the vampire they were facing here: the monster blocked two slices of the machete by Antoine, leaving itself open for rib shot kicks and a roundhouse from the martial arts-minded Jamie. That dance continued while Nicholas exhibited his own form of vampire slaying. Some would call it cowardly, while others call it effective; Nick calls it "hanging from the back of a vampire's neck while clutching its mouth closed with an open bottle of holy water inside." Rarely do vampires allow this sort of fighting, but with an open shot and a prayer, Nick held on like a cliffhanger in an avalanche. Once the holy water burns the mouth and clean down the throat of the beast, its insides rupture from the sanctified liquid, holding it still long enough for Nicholas to get a running stab in from the monster's back, through its heart with a wooden stake. Nick knows that eventually, the vampire would have dusted anyways due to the holy water inside it, but he feels that a good staking makes him look good on the battlefield. Jamie misplaced two of his kicks and, falling off-balance, was caught by the throat by his adversary. The vampire squeezed his neck with all his strength and Jamie stopped breathing, trying with all his might to break free of the clutch. The fanged animal smiled through gritted teeth until a strange sound shredded the air and its eyes grew very wide; the monster's head began to separate from its body when the corpse turned to ash and dust, its clutch on Jamie loosening until the ash got his shirt dirty and Jamie groaned his resentment.
"You're welcome," Antoine added, spinning the sword in his hand, putting the finishing touch on the dance.
"Antoine! Jamie! Nicholas! Get to GENE!" Lock screamed, clutching his ribs and bruises in agony. They followed suit with little time left; Antoine harpooned one vamp who had taken Gene's machete from him right before the brute brought it down on the sword's owner. The throw wasn't enough to force the stake through the vampire's heart, but it was aimed well enough for Jamie to give it one good dropkick and finish the job that Antoine started. The vamp howled and crumbled into dust. Nick, at parties calling himself the Holy Waterboy, pitched two glass bottles of the holy fluid at the remaining vampire to Gene's rear. Gene gave the final call with a back-handed swing of his axe to its collar.
"I surely hope that wasn't some ill-placed field training test you were giving me out there, Taylor," Gene yelled over to Lock.
"No, I just thought I would take more of a managerial approach to tonight's hunt," Lock replied, sitting up on his elbows.
"Captain Lock, should we.....?" Antoine began.
"Naw. You're good. You and Jamie take off. Everything is taken care of. Y'all did really good today. Go ahead and take tomorrow off. I'll put y'all on call."
"Thanks Cap. See ya, Gene," Jamie called to them.
Gene sat down next to Lock against the steel beam on the bridge, "Are you sure we shouldn't help or something?"
"I'm sure," Lock said, following Gene's gaze over to Jules, who had been spending the last few minutes of the fight repeatedly beating on the remaining two vampires. As the two monsters would begin to get up, Jules would growl even louder and beat on them even harder. She spiraled herself around like a pinwheel, nailing blow after blow with her feet and fists, like a ballerina on steroids. Lock continued, "She's been shackled for over a week now. I think she needs to stretch out and let loose a little."
"It's still a mystery to me after all these years. Do the cops know about vampires and monsters and everything, cuz I'm telling you, if we were two rival gangs throwing down out here, cops would be all over the place right now....." Gene drawled.
"Somebody knows something. We haven't been stopped yet," Lock groaned aloud.
"Are we doing the right thing by letting her fight with us?" Gene asked.
"It's the only thing I can think of. She's still alive. She's still one of us. You think it would be alright to chain her up like an animal until her soul actually goes?"
"No, I see yer point, I do..... But do you think this is what Jon would have done?"
"Will you please just shut the hell up?!" Lock yelled. Gene's face turned as feral as a human's could. Jules beat one of the vampires until the second booted her in the back of her skull. He crushed her face to the ground with his boot and grinded it hard. She twisted quickly, a move she's seen Lock do a million times or more. With a twist of the boot, she shattered the demon's ankle and sent him crashing to the ground. He screamed and howled and gulped when she brought the stake down and through his heart. The second one leapt up from the brutal beating she gave him earlier and looked positively scared. Jules hunched her shoulders like a linebacker and took a few quick steps forward, shuffling her feet. The vampire reacted in kind, shuffling his feet backwards and away from her, falling down when he turned to run. She smiled the most lethal smile she knew, like a viper trapping it's pray.
"What the hell is your problem, Lock?!" Gene yelled in kind.
"I'm sorry," Lock calmed, "I am. I'm just so tired of it. It's like, two weeks ago, you and Larson and Jules, hell even a piece of Ky, all of you were completely on board with everything I had planned. Stopping the sacrifices and the rituals, invading the Manor, everything. Suddenly, something goes tragically wrong and everybody is questioning my ability to lead?"
"I wasn't questioning you. I was just....."
"First Ky, then Paul and Larson, now you..... Ever since the Manor, this whole last week, everybody has thrown Jon into my face. 'Do you think Jon would have done that?' 'Jon would have known better.' 'Jon wouldn't have done that!' You all don't think I know he was a good man? A smart man? He was like a Dad to me, more than anybody else. So don't you think I'm trying? Nobody ever questioned him like they're questioning me now. You are not excluded."
"C'mon, Lock. That's not why we're questioning you. Hell, man, you're training me how to man the team when you're gone. You don't think I've been paying attention? We're all just scared, man."
"Scared of what?" Lock asked, a question he already knows the answer to.
"What's happening. Everything that's happening. Someone we loved is dying now, and at the hospital last week, and throughout all the testing and interrogation this week, we've all had to keep our heads high for this scared little girl who we haven't known for long but is still someone we legitimately care for."
"C'mon, Gene, people died under Captain Jon. Marie. Ian. Melissa."
"I know, Lock. Hell, even Jon wasn't an exception. But those people died. They flat died. And they died doing what they signed on to do. They died protecting the world from the undead. Jules is so much more complicated; she isn't dead. Worse: she's dying. We can watch and we can help, but she's a time bomb, Lock, and we all know it. And this didn't happen with her protecting the world. She was an untrained research who got drug into a hunt for one specific vampire, one that wasn't even doing that much harm and was willing to work with us until we, and by that I mean you, pissed him off."
"I thought that the best way to protect this city was to take down Fabini and his Board. Bringing Jules into this, yes, that is my fault, but let that be on my conscience so at least one of us can sleep at night. But with Fabini and the Board at the Manor, I did what I thought right."
"At the time, I thought you were right, too," Gene responded, "but now that the dust is cleared, we need to get back to what we do best. We are Hunters by name, not by job description. Our job description is 'protectors.' And I think we've gotten away from that."
Lock sat silently. After a few moments, he whimpered, "Once again, Gene logic wins out. You're right." He smiled and continued, "The Fabini thing is over. I'm gonna stop looking for him. If I walk up on him in an alley, though, whew..... It ain't gonna be pretty. But we gotta get back to the mission objective."
"Protect and serve. Maybe pay bills while we're at it," Gene quipped.
Lock laughed and rubbed Gene's bald head, "Thanks Gene."
They both looked over at Jules, who was sitting down on top of the vampire she was throttling. She would ask him where their nest was and if there were more of them around here, and every time he gave her an answer she didn't like, she would slam his face down on the pavement. The traffic on the bridge was mysteriously absent; though it was well past Midnight on a weeknight, there still should have been some traffic backed up. Normally, Lock and Gene dumb it down to people mistaking their fighting as gang related anyways.
"Jules, honey," Lock called out. She looked up at him, vamp face out, and he shuddered, "Baby, can you just stake him so we can get outta here?"
"What are we gonna do if and when she slips?" Gene asked lowly, hoping her vampire hearing couldn't pick him up all the way across the bridge.
In the same low tone, Lock answered, "If she hurts someone I love, I'll put oak through her chest."
A screaming, hissing noise, the distinct noise made by a vampire dusting rang out across the bridge, and Jules stood and wiped the dust from her clothes. "I got him," she yelled out, not tired in the least.
"Trust me, Gene," Lock let out while trying to pull himself to his feet. He put his hand on his friend's shoulder, "We have a powerful new addition to our team, and we're going back to the top of the order. The vampires fear us now more than ever. Things are gonna get a lot better from here."