Chapter 94

When it was obvious that the hunters were gearing up to leave the bar, Chuck looked at all of them. "So have you all taken any vamps around here? Maybe mine was headed here to meet up with one or something."

Chandler shook his head. "Nah, we don't get too may vamps in this area."

"Yeah. Last vamp we got to go after was about a year ago," Randy told him and Chuck could hear the disappointment in his tone.

"Are there any others that hunt the surrounding areas?" Chuck pressed. "Maybe they've seen my vamp."

"George hunts here with a group every now and then, but he's based out of Maryland. I could give you his number," Chandler offered.

Chuck mentally smiled. George? That's one of the names the akka gave us. He nodded. "I'd appreciate that."

Once they were all walking out of the bar, Chuck's eyes quickly scanned the parking lot. It wouldn't have surprised him if Kahlan had been out there ready to kill every last one of the hunters, but she must have still been hidden in the van because the coast was clear.

He cleared his throat and gestured to his Jeep. "You gonna come pick out what you want?" Chandler's eyes showed his confusion, so Chuck smiled. "Remember, I owe you for dinner and the beers."

Chandler laughed and shook his head. "Nah, man, forget about it. We all need a little help now and then. Just help out the next guy and that will be repayment enough."

Chuck nodded. "I can do that."

Chandler stuck out his hand. "Good luck with your vamp."

Chuck shook it. "Thanks. Good luck on your next hunt. I hope it will be as successful as mine will be."

"You seem pretty sure of yourself, tough guy," Lisa offered with a grin.

Chuck smirked. "Oh, I know I will be. The son of a bitch will regret ever going after anyone I care about."

They all laughed and wished him a good night, and he used getting his stuff ready as an excuse to wait until all of them left the parking lot. As he watched the last pickup pull out, he felt a hand on his back making him jump and turn. "Damn it, Kay!"

He was expecting her to giggle or make a smartass comment, but it was clear that she was not in a joking mood, and he mentally winced. He gave her the card the hunter had given him. "One of these might be a lead." He had written the number for George on the back of the card Chandler had given him for the harvester.

She took the card as she nodded. "Cam's already running the numbers."

He took a deep breath and pulled her into a hug. "We'll find him."

She shuddered in his arms. "Will we?"

He pushed her away and held her out at arm's length. "I would assume you think that some harvester has him?" She nodded, and he mentally winced. "Then he's alive, and they will keep him that way. That's means we'll find him!"

She half shrugged, half sighed.

As he really studied her, he frowned. He wasn't sure if she was so mad that she wanted to kill something or if she was ready to cry, and it broke his heart. He pulled her back into a hug. We'll get her a target, and she'll feel a lot better!

XXXXX

Gaylord, the wizard, took a deep breath as he looked at Hotch. "When they finally take you out there, you need to keep your mouth shut and your head down. Don't draw any attention to yourself and it may be a little easier for you."

Hotch frowned as he looked at the passageway that led away from the holding cell.

"And you need to know that while all this has been a shock, out there. . . that will be terrifying, especially for someone so new to this world."

"How would you know so much about it?" Hotch asked him as he studied him. When a smile glanced across his lips before he licked it away, Hotch leaned closer to him as his brows rose. "You've been in there before?"

The old wizard nodded, but held up his hand to warn Hotch to calm down. "A few times, and each time I get a little further, but I have never gotten to the point of seeing, let alone, meeting the warlock."

Hotch's eyes darted around as he processed the man's words. After a moment, he stiffened a little. "Are you saying that you have escaped?" The thought of that excited Hotch because he thought that if the man had done it, then maybe he could, too, and while the man had obviously been caught again, Hotch knew he was quicker than most beings.

Gaylord sighed as he shook his head. "Not like you are thinking." Hotch's expression demanded more explanation, so he scooted a little closer to him. "Each time I have been brought here, I have not made it through the initial training stages."

Hotch inhaled deeply as he considered the man and his words. His first inclination was to think that the man had basically failed out, but the look on the man's face told him it was more than that. As he thought about it some more, he winced. "Are you saying that you have died here?"

Gaylord sighed. "Yes."

"Are you immortal?" When the man had said they had been after the warlock for over a hundred years, Hotch had thought he was referring to wizards in general, but now he wasn't so sure.

"Yes and no," he admitted. "I have the ability to keep my essence safe from them," he started and when Hotch's frowned deepened, he scooted even closer. "I keep my soul safe, if you would, somewhere else, and when I die here, I awaken back in my sanctuary."

Hotch's mind raced to make sense of what he was saying. "So this," he started as he gestured to the man, "this isn't the real you? This is just some form of projected, clone type thing?"

The man smiled and laughed. "For someone so new to this world, you grasp it pretty quickly."

Hotch took a deep breath. "And they haven't figured that out?"

The man shrugged. "The lower echelons aren't quite as smart as the warlock." He smiled. "And, of course, I never look the same way twice."

Hotch chuckled. "And you chose to be Santa this time?"

He shook his head. "No, we can't look like another wizard while doing this. That would be too dangerous."

Hotch's eyes grew wide as his brows shot up. "Wait. . . are you saying that. . ." he left the question unasked thinking that it was just too impossible to even consider, but he could tell by the look on the man's face that he knew exactly what he was wondering. Hotch's eyes narrowed in suspicion because he couldn't tell if the man was being serious or not.

XXXXX

A heavy sighed escaped Kahlan as she shook her head. "Well, now we know why he wasn't in on Hotch's abduction," she said and then kicked a rock lying in the street.

Her, Chuck, and Cam were standing around Cam's van and watching George, the hunter Chandler had told Chuck about and whom they hoped was the same George that the akka had mentioned, through a monitor. Cam was using a drone to spy on the man, and he was in wheel chair with both of his legs in casts. The casts looked worn and dirty, so they figured that he'd been in them a while.

"What the hell do you think happened to him?" Cam asked as he flew the drone in a little closer to the man's back yard.

"Not enough!" Kahlan insisted and then started across the street.

Chuck winced and then jumped to catch up with her. He grabbed her shoulder to stop her. "What are you going to do?"

She smiled. "Just ask him a few questions."

Her smile sent a shiver down his back, but he took a deep breath. "Alright, let's do this."

"I'll keep an eye on the street," Cam called to them.

Kahlan nodded to let him know she heard him and went all the way across the street and slipped into the man's yard with Chuck on her heels.

Cam took a deep breath and brought the drone back and landed it on the ground in front of him. "We don't need you recording what she's going to do, little buddy," he told it as he picked it up and put it back in its container in the van and then climbed back into the van and shut the side door. His cameras were watching all the surrounding streets and houses, and he really hoped no one came out to investigate any suspicious sounds.

He looked at the phone setting on the counter in front of his monitors. Come on, ring! They had tried to trace the harvester's number, but it led to a burn phone and a voicemail. Chuck had left a message, but no one had called them back. He sighed and looked towards the sky that he couldn't see. We could really use a break here.

XXXXX

Before Hotch could ask the wizard anything else, the strange woman with the tentacles walked behind him letting one of her tentacles rub against his back making Hotch flinch.

She giggled and continued to the other side of the room without a word, but the wizard was shaking his head. "The gylou sure does seem taken with you."

Hotch winced. "I noticed."

Gaylord sighed. "Getting distracted in this place could mean the death of you, young man."

Hotch's eyes shot open as he shook his head. "I didn't invite that! She just. . . she came onto me!" he insisted. He took a deep breath. "I don't even know what she is."

"She's a nymph."

Hotch frowned. "Nymph? Like a nature or river spirit?"

Gaylord shook his head. "They were around before the Greeks. She's the type of nymph whose sole purpose is to provide pleasure to those her master tells her to."

"Pleasure, as in sex?"

He nodded. "Where do you think they got the word 'nymphomaniac'?"

Hotch's brows furrowed. "So she's basically a supernatural prostitute?"

The old man nodded. "Yes, and I don't even understand why she would be in here unless the warlock's people killed her master or stole her for him."

Hotch glanced at the woman and she smiled at him making him quickly look back to the wizard. "But if she was for Alucious, she would be with him, not down here."

The old man frowned as he considered it. Once his eyes studied the female for a few moments, he huffed and looked back at Hotch. "Why would the warlock be so interested in you?"

Hotch shifted nervously. "What do you mean?"

"She hasn't come on to anyone else. It almost seems like she's here for you." The look of horror that spread across Hotch's face made the man chuckle. "Of course, that's just one theory. It could also be because you are the only humanoid in here."

That relaxed Hotch a little. "But you're human, too."

The man huffed. "And I'm too old to attract anything except aches and pains."

XXXXX

Kahlan and Chuck waited until George went back into his house. They knew from thermal scanning that no one else was there, and they didn't want any of the neighbors to hear what was about to happen.

Kahlan smiled as she opened the man's sliding glass door. He was right there his family room watching TV, and his back was to them.

When Chuck shut it behind them, though, it clicked causing Kahlan to wince as she tensed. Sure enough, the sound brought George around with a yell as he flung the contents of a big pitcher at them with one hand and he brought a crossbow up with the other.

Without thinking, Kahlan shoved Chuck out of the way, grabbed a chair, and held it in front of her just catching the bolt. She took a deep breath as she lowered the chair and fixed the man with a hard look. "That was great, but holy water doesn't work on humans, asshole!" she yelled as she wiped her face off.

The man's shock was obvious and he started backing his chair up.

Chuck shook his head and moved to get behind him. "You're not going anywhere, Georgey," he told him as he snatched the small crossbow out of his hands, locked the wheels of the chair, and then held onto it.

The man looked at Chuck and then Kahlan. "Who are you and what do you want?"

Kahlan threw the chair down and then smiled. "Not much, just some answers."

He shook his head. "I don't know anything!"

She tisked as she slowly advanced on him. "Why do people even try that? Obviously, if I'm here, then I know you know something."

"My buddies will be back any moment!" he tired.

That made her smile even more. "Then I guess we better hurry, huh?"

He swallowed and shifted in his seat.

She gestured to his legs suspended out before him. "Broke both of them, huh? How'd you do that, George?"

The man wilted. "In a fall."

"It must have been from pretty high up."

"Two stories."

"And what were you running from, George?"

He held his chin up. "Nothing. I just fell."

Kahlan grabbed the crossbow bolt out of the chair, inspected it, and then huffed. "Is this deadman's blood on the tip or poison?"

The man's eyes went wide. "You're hunters?" he asked and then looked at Chuck. "Why the hell are you attacking me, then?"

Kahlan smirked. "I do believe that it was you who attacked us, first, George."

He sighed. "Well, most people wouldn't just walk into another man's house! You could have come to the front door!"

She nodded. "That's true, but we're not most people."

Even though the man had relaxed drastically, he was starting to tense again. "You're not hunters, are you?"

Kahlan smiled. "Nope."