A/N: Alrighty, here's the finale! There'll be an epilogue to this, just to wrap up all the story lines, so be on the look out for that. Enjoy!
They split into two groups, the humans and the Sands. Hunter would be the distraction, and at Jordan's signal, they group would charge, weapons blazing. Rob and Rich lead the girls to huddles behind a tree deeper in the shallow woods. There wasn't much cover, but it would have to do.
"There's a path," Rich said, pointing out the narrow clearing maybe a hundred yards from them. "That leads into the actual woods. Hunter's going to bottle neck them in there and we'll take them out."
It was a strategic plan, but Eleanor was uncertain. Fear held her heart in an icy, iron grip. Natalie sucked in a deep breath, just slightly shaking.
"Hey," Rob said softly, settling a hand on her shoulder. "You can back out if you want."
"No, I can't," Natalie said, lifting her chin, determination blazing in her eyes. Pride warmed Eleanor, clearing some the haze of fear.
"You're doing this for closure, for both you and David," Rich said understandingly. "You got this."
"We got this," Eleanor echoed. Rob smirked, hefting a dripping water gun high on his shoulder.
"Let's go, team human!" he whispered, sprinting across the scant clearing. Once he was across, Eleanor ran to him, gripping her own water gun in one hand and a stake in the other. Out of all of them, she was proving most adept with the stake.
Natalie was next, then Rich. They crept deeper into the woods, where the trees were denser and the cover was thicker. Eleanor could hear faint conversation, the vampires trying to provoke Hunter into coming for his dad.
For a minute, everything went silent before a single, earthshaking roar ripped through the air. Screams follow, louder and louder.
"Here they come," Rob said. "Now!"
They jumped out of their hiding spots, blasting the first few vamps with holy water. Three of them lay squirming on the ground, hissing and shrieking in pain. Eleanor made quick work of them, plunging her stake into them with deadly accuracy.
The other vamps were nowhere to be seen, but the group closed ranks. A bright light flashed in the corner of her eye, meaning the boys had pulled out their UV light-sabers.
"Where are the rest?" Natalie whispered. "That can't be all of them."
"Maybe Hunter got them?" Eleanor reasoned, though she knew that couldn't be the case. They had no idea how big the nest was, how long Paulina had been making her minions. Something dark blurred past the trees and Eleanor gasped.
"Move!" Before anyone could, something big and strong caught her around the middle and pulled her from the group. Eleanor couldn't even scream as she was tossed bodily through the air, landing in a crumpled heap against a tree.
She gasped at the pain, looking up to find two vampires leering at her. Her water gun was gone, but she'd had the good sense to shove her stake into her boot when she was done using it. She carefully moved her limbs; nothing was broken and her stake was still there.
"You killed our friends," one of the vampire's growled out. "You're going to die, little girl, nice and slow."
Eleanor tried to breath deeply, but the pain blooming in her lower back and the fear clawing its way up her throat wouldn't let her. She tried to force herself to think. Where were her friends? Did they get picked off?
Were they alive?
"The wolf!" Someone shrieked. Eleanor realized belatedly that it was Paulina. At least Hunter seemed to be okay. "Kill the wolf!"
Fear lit up the vampire's faces, and they made to run, but before they could, Hunter burst through the trees, ripping into them with such ferocity that Eleanor had to turn away. She pulled herself up on shaky legs, and the wolf trotted over to her, concern clear in his face.
"I'm fine," she assured him. "The other's, I don't know—"
A blur of pink and blonde slammed into Hunter, knocking him yards away and Eleanor was stuck facing Paulina. She would've been beautiful, Eleanor thought distractedly, had it not been for her inhuman eyes and her manic smile.
"Well!" she said, her voice saccharine. "The puppy found a girlfriend! How sweet. I love a good romantic tragedy."
Eleanor whirled on her heel and tried to run, but Paulina was suddenly there, laughing.
"Sweetie, you can't outrun a vampire," she said, still chortling. "You're not the brightest bulb on the vanity mirror, are you?"
Eleanor gasped, breath short in fear as she turned this way and that. There was no escape. A deep growl sounded and relief flooded her system. Hunter.
Paulina grabbed her roughly, her mouth pressed against Eleanor's neck.
"Don't try anything, sweetheart," Paulina told him, though there was a real note of fear in her voice. "I'll rip her throat clean out."
Eleanor thrashed, and the movement jostled the stake in her boot. Perfect! If only she could get to it. Suddenly, she remembered a conversation she'd had with Jordan when she was first learning how to use stakes. It seemed ages ago, but really, it had been only two weeks ago.
Eleanor slumped in Paulina's grip, limbs loose. Her arms hung at her sides, fingertips just centimeters away from her boot. Please let Paulina underestimate her.
"See, people always underestimate girls like us," Jordan had explained, showing her how to stand and how to get the best angle. "They think we're weak."
"And we're proving to them that we're not," Eleanor said, copying her stance. Jordan corrected her grip, a smile on her face.
"Hell yeah," she said. Eleanor brought the stake up, ripping through the imaginary vampire in her head. "But sometimes, we got work that misogyny in our favor."
"What do you mean?" Eleanor thrust again, getting a feel for the angle and weight of the stake.
"I mean, we let them underestimate us," Jordan said, watching her go again. "Then we show them just how powerful we can be. It'll be the last thing they ever see, someone they thought was weak overpowering them."
Eleanor worked the stake into her grip. She moved it up into her sleeve inch by inch while Paulina monologued. Eleanor tried not to listen, but Paulina promised their friends were dead by now, if her minions were doing their job. With one last move, she had the stake carefully hidden in her sleeve, ready to strike.
Paulina hefted her up into her arms, inadvertently giving her a decent angle. It was then that Eleanor noticed her water gun, just a few yards behind Hunter. All she had to do was buy Hunter a few minutes, then get the gun.
"Break ups are always hard, huh, pookie," Paulina was saying lowering her mouth to Eleanor's throat. The move left the side of Paulina's neck exposed. "Let me make this a clean break!"
Eleanor moved fast than she ever had in her life, plunging the stake into her neck. It wouldn't kill her, but it would give Hunter time. Paulina screamed, agonized and decidedly inhuman. She tossed Eleanor aside like a ragdoll and Hunter pounced, claws and fangs bared.
They struggled viciously for a few moments, while Eleanor raced for the gun. Another vampire burst out of the trees, running towards her, but Eleanor hefted the gun up and let loose, letting a stream of holy water douse it. It yelped, and Eleanor unloaded nearly half of her supply on it before it lay still and Eleanor knew it was dead.
She raced back over to where Hunter and Paulina were fighting and she let loose with her water gun. The holy water burned Paulina's flesh, and her moves became wild, erratic. It was just what Hunter needed. He wrenched her head clean off her shoulders. Eleanor gagged at the sight, but the body was soon just a pile of ash.
Screams filled the air and suddenly the wolf started convulsing.
"Hunter!" Eleanor cried rushing over to him. He went through a gruesome transformation, features twisting and changing back into a humans. Soon enough, Hunter was back, exhausted and bruised to high hell, but smiling.
"Thanks," he muttered. "You really saved us back there."
"Oh god, you're okay," Eleanor exhaled.
"Hunter! Eleanor!" Jordan's voice rang clear through the air and they both looked up to find their group, whole and alive, despite a few bruises and cuts. Jordan supported her father's weight, helping him limp towards them.
"Dude, all the vampires just dropped dead!" Rob exclaimed. Rich nodded, fishing out clothes from his bag. Hunter took them gratefully, scrambling into his clothes.
"I thought we were going to lose for sure," Natalie said. "I mean, they really had us cornered, but then they all just died! What was that?"
"The sire effect," Rich said. "It was in your uncle's notes, but he wasn't sure if it was real or not."
"The sire effect?" Mr. Sands asked through gritted teeth. Jordan carefully lowered him to sit next to Hunter. He pressed a kiss to his son's temple, then leaned back on his elbows.
"Yeah," Rich said. "So, the theory is that if you kill the progenitor of a line, all the vampires of that blood line will die."
"Guess you proved that right," Eleanor mumbled. She dragged herself to her feet and wrapped Natalie in a tight hug. "Thank god you guys are okay."
"A little bruised," Natalie admitted, clinging tight. "But I'll be okay."
Eleanor through her arms around Jordan next, who gave her a tight hug. She mumbled a quiet thank you for watching out for Hunter into her ear and Eleanor promptly went pink.
"No problem," she said softly. Before she could move, both Rob and Rich caught her in a hug, sandwiching her in between them.
"Team human for the win!" Rob said, breaking apart and ruffling his hair.
"I'm starving," Hunter complained from the ground. Jordan laughed, helping him to his feet. Together the siblings helped their dad up, and the group made their way out of the forest. They passed tons of piles of ashes on their way out. Eleanor forced herself not to think about them, about the people they used to be.
"What time is it?" Mr. Sands asked. "You guys need to check in with your parents."
Eleanor fished out her phone, checking her messages. There were a few missed calls from her mom. Of course, it made sense, considering it was a few minutes after three in the morning. She dialed her mom's number quickly.
"Eleanor!" her mom answered after the first ring. "You stopped texting me!"
"I told you I was Natalie's," she said. "We're fine, Mom, honest."
"Oh," Delphine sniffed dramatically and Eleanor rolled her eyes with a smile. Though she was making an honest effort to be better, it seemed that old habits died hard. "Well, you never texted goodnight."
Natalie leaned towards the phone.
"Hi, Ms. Davis!" she said brightly, putting on her cheerleader voice. "We just got distracted watching movies, that's all."
"Oh, okay, as long as you girls stayed in," she said. "It's really late, you girls should get some rest."
"Sure mom," Eleanor agreed, ignoring the fact that Delphine was up too. "Goodnight, love you."
"Love you, too."
Natalie called her parents as well, assuring them she was with Eleanor. The boys called their parents, leaving a message that they were at Hunter's.
"What's open at three AM?" Hunter wondered, leaving his dad to Jordan so he could loop an arm around Eleanor. She grinned, a blush rising to her cheeks. They matched, at least. Hunter's face was pink, but he was beaming. He radiated heat and Eleanor leaned into it easily.
"Our kitchen," Mr. Sands said pointedly. "Come on, gang, everyone can crash at our place. Boys in Hunter's room and girls in Jordan's. No exceptions!"
Everyone laughed, piling into the car. The drive back was short, considering they were just down the road, and it seemed the street was still asleep.
At the house, everyone scarfed down whatever they could find before heading upstairs. Mr. Sands called out a goodnight before disappearing into his room. Jordan lent stuff to Natalie and Eleanor to get ready.
After she'd finished getting ready, Eleanor made her way back to Jordan's room, but before she could, Hunter grabbed her arm, pulling her downstairs.
"Hey," Eleanor said, a little breathless.
"Hey," Hunter echoed, grinning wide. They were standing in the kitchen, mostly dark save for the waning moonlight filtering in through the window. She'd never felt so safe.
"So," Eleanor started, a little nervous, but Hunter shook his head.
"I like you," he said. "I mean, obviously, but I want to, you know…"
"Know what?" Eleanor said innocently, eager to hear him say it. He flushed, going watermelon red, but forged on.
"I want to be your boyfriend," he said. Eleanor was a little taken aback at his confidence, but she beamed, butterflies erupting in her stomach.
"Well, you know what they say," Eleanor said. "The couple that slays together, stays together." Hunter laughed, stepping in close and ducking his head to kiss her. Eleanor rocked up on her toes to meet him.
It was mostly chaste, just the warm press of lips, but it was everything to Eleanor. They stayed like that for a minute, wrapped around each other. They broke apart, keeping their foreheads pressed together.
"Goodnight, Hunter," she said softly. Hunter ducked in for one last kiss before stepping back, still holding her hand.
"Goodnight, Eleanor."
A/N: And that's that on that! Tune in next for the epilogue!