I managed to update faster this time! And I managed a B on my Bio test! Score! Thanks so much to Prairiefire, Raptor-Chick, ben revell, Lunatic Pandora1, Oak Tree Woman, L. Byron, and StormRaven333 for the reviews! Such nice people... And I know there's a bunch of lurkers out there not reviewing; I'm not getting over 8000 hits on this story for nothing! Lol.
Chapter 19: Problems and Solutions
Ravyn glanced at the golden pocket watch for what seemed like the thousandth time. The numbers accurately read 10:45 pm, which meant she had only an hour and fifteen minutes left to figure out the riddle, find Eve, and fight her.
They had returned to the Ice guild house immediately after the skirmish with the three vampires. Tarn'se and his friend, Jaelre, had left them to go eat or sleep or do whatever they did when they weren't hunting, saying that they would be back at the Ice Guild house around sunset.
Ravyn felt exhausted. When she and Ivy had gotten back to the guild house, which was a little after midnight, Ivy had sent Ravyn directly to bed, with the promise that she would interrogate every person she encountered with the riddle Eve had given them. Ravyn hadn't been sleeping very well recently, but, for once, she fell asleep almost instantly after laying down in her bed.
When she woke, it was one in the afternoon. She had slept for thirteen hours, though it didn't surprise her. She quickly hunted down Ivy and was stricken with the news that not a single hunter in the Ash or Ice Guild could come up with a plausible answer to the riddle.
She proceeded to order Ivy to sleep and drove to the other Guild house, Smoke, and asked the riddle around there without any luck. She had spent the rest of her time searching the internet for some clue and staring at the wall of her room trying to come up with an answer to the riddle.
Tarn'se and Jaelre both returned around nine pm and Ravyn lead them down to the laboratory to wait until she came up with an answer. Ravyn felt rather guilty telling Tarn'se they had not come up with an answer yet, but he seemed to understand. The only silver lining around this particularly black cloud was the fact Tarn'se still had a week or so before he Turned. He still had a chance to find Eve. Ravyn knew her time was almost up; if she had to guess, she would think she had three or four days left at most.
The future was looking bleak.
Tarn'se relaxed against an open space of wall in the human laboratory, watching Jaelre inspect his surroundings.
When they had left the human hunters, Tarn'se waited on the rooftop of an abandoned human building while Jaelre went back to his pod to collect spare weapons for Tarn'se, along with some food. They had both agreed that they should go nowhere near Tarn'se's own pod; that would be the first place the rest of the clan would look for him when they came after him.
Jaelre had brought Tarn'se a spear, three shuriken, and two long daggers. Jaelre himself was equip with a plasma caster, wrist blades, spear, net gun, disk, and a few smaller throwing daggers. Tarn'se had spent the day resting and educating Jaelre about hunting and killing the vampires. Jaelre was still a little shaken up after being bitten by the vampire, but didn't seem to want to talk about it.
Tarn'se could also tell Jaelre still didn't trust the humans. Ever since they entered the human dwelling, every small noise or sudden movement had Jaelre twitching and jumping. Tarn'se tried to ignore this but ended up bursting out in laughter.
"You find our situation amusing?" Jaelre growled.
"No, I find you demeanor amusing," Tarn'se replied calmly, "You need to relax more."
"Relax?" Jaelre stared at him incredulously, "I am standing in the middle of a human outpost, visible and vulnerable, speaking to my clan mate who is turning into some sort of blood-sucking parasite, and you expect me to relax?"
Tarn'se's stance tensed and Jaelre winced when he realized he had hit a nerve with the latter part of his statement. With a sigh, he murmured, "My apologies…" He paused for a moment, and then spoke cautiously, "How long until you become one of them?"
"Two weeks, perhaps less," Tarn'se spoke stiffly. Jaelre nodded and his hand involuntarily reached up and touched the twin puncture marks the vampire had left on his neck, shuddering.
Tarn'se noticed the motion; Jaelre had been repeating it ever since they had killed the vampires. It was as if his friend thought the wound was still open, still fresh, and the vampire still present. Tarn'se gave a growl of exasperation, "Jaelre, you are not turning into a vampire; you have to drink their blood to do that. I've told you that many times, so stop worrying at those marks."
"That is not the reason for my… tenseness," Jaelre replied curtly.
Tarn'se narrowed his eyes, "So, what is?"
Jaelre shifted uncomfortably, then asked outright, "How did it feel when you were first bitten by one of those creatures?"
Tarn'se thought for a moment, "It was very pleasant; a relaxing, gentle feeling." He paused, "However, I knew something wasn't right and I was able to come to my senses and fight the vampire. Then, it hurt very badly."
Jaelre gave a small nod and remained silent. Tarn'se, now very curious, asked, "Was it not like that for you?"
Jaelre shuddered, "Yes; that was exactly what it was like for me. But, unlike you, I couldn't shake it… I…" Jaelre hung his head in shame, "I didn't want it to stop." Jaelre snarled angrily, "I am weak!" He barked angrily, his hands clenching into fists.
"You're not weak," a quiet voice said softly. The Yautja jumped as Nathan descended the stairs into the lab, carrying a stack of notebooks and folders in his arms. He smiled sheepishly, "Sorry for eavesdropping; I heard to guys talking and your masks were translating what you said, so…" he trailed off, shrugging.
Tarn'se heard Jaelre curse quietly; admitting that one had a weakness was an incredibly hard thing for a Yautja to do. It meant in that weakness, they had a fear, and when one is a part of a supposedly "fearless" race, a weakness such as that could be highly detrimental, not to mention embarrassing and demeaning. To say such a thing in front of any being, Yautja or otherwise, required a great deal of trust or respect; Nathan had yet to earn either from Jaelre.
"But, you're not weak," Nathan continued, setting his load down on one of the few empty tables, "Trust me,' you, at least, have the guts to admit you liked it and the will to prevent it from happening again."
Jaelre snorted in disbelief. Tarn'se glared at him through his mask and turned to Nathan, "Have you ever been bitten?"
Nathan shifted nervously, "Yeah, but one of the biggest risks of participating in a vampire hunt is the fact that the hunter will eventually get bitten. Most, like you guys, are embarrassed or ashamed and go to every extent to prevent it from happening again. Others… really enjoy it." Nathan shuddered and continued, "I've seen lots of scary things ever since I came here, but the worst had to be some of the addicted humans; addicted to the vampire's bite. It was creepy as hell. They would all just shadow the vampires, never really happy until a vampire bit them and gave them the high they wanted; it was worse then the worst drug addictions."
Nathan's eyes glazed over as he remembered, "A few years ago, we found a group of five addicts who had been shadowing vampires for a few years. God… it was terrible. Three of them would sit and cry and starve themselves begging us to release them so they could go find a vampire to bite them. One we had to strap down because he kept tearing up his wrist with his teeth, trying to get the feeling the vampire gave him. The other…" Nathan gulped, "she gouged out her eyes and tore out her own throat with her nails; she lost consciousness by the time we were able to restrain her and she died a few hours later.
"They all died eventually… starved themselves. I suppose they're better off dead than being alive and vampire junkies." Nathan looked at Jaelre, "You have nothing to be ashamed of; everyone enjoys it, but only a few choose to resist it."
Jaelre and Tarn'se stared at Nathan for a few seconds, before Tarn'se spoke, "Those are wise words from one so young."
Nathan shrugged, "A little wisdom is the least I could get from seeing what I've seen." Tarn'se gave Nathan a small nod of praise and smiled behind his mask when he saw Jaelre visibly relax; it seemed Nathan had earned Jaelre respect…
Suddenly, there were a couple loud bangs and some shouting coming from the level above them. Nathan looked up at the ceiling nervously, "What's that about?"
Tarn'se hissed quietly, "Ravyn and Ivy had left to ask the other hunters again if they could answer Eve's riddle. Apparently, they could not."
"Eve's riddle?" Nathan asked as Ivy and Ravyn came down the steps. Nathan wisely moved out of the way. Ravyn looked pissed, and Ivy just looked exhausted.
Ravyn grumbled, "Evil bitch… can't give a simple explanation… she just had to stretch it out and make it all complex!"
"Um… hi?" Nathan said hesitantly. Both Ravyn and Ivy jumped. Ravyn glanced between Nathan and the Yautja and growled, "I certainly hope you weren't bothering them."
"No; he was being perfectly respectable," Tarn'se said quickly, sensing Ravyn's bad mood. After seeing her launch her own clan mate, Ivy, through the air, he really didn't want to be anywhere near her if she had another one of her outbursts.
Ravyn sighed and sank into an empty computer chair. Sagging heavily in the chair, she set her arms down on a table and laid her head on them, sighing, "Sorry, guys. I'm just really tired, really annoyed, and turning into a vampire; things like that tend to make me cranky." They all laughed quietly, though the sound was hollow.
Nathan, deciding it was now safe to speak, asked, "What's this 'Eve's riddle' thing?"
Ravyn pulled her head up and turned to Nathan with a small smile, "Hey, Nathan, why don't you pull one of those amazing little strokes of genius again." At Nathan's confused look, Ravyn elaborated, "We met up with Eve and she agreed to give us her blood on the condition that we find and fight her within a day; time is up at Midnight. She didn't tell us where to meet her though; she gave us a riddle." Ravyn paused and spoke slowly and clearly, "She said, 'I will be at a place that now better resembles its' name.'"
Nathan blinked and gave Ravyn a blank stare, "That's what I thought," Ravyn muttered, putting her face in her hands.
Suddenly, Nathan started laughing, "That's it? That's the riddle? Jeez, you guys are pretty slow if you can't figure that one out."
Ravyn's head snapped up and she stared intensely at Nathan, "What? You know the answer?"
Nathan chuckled, "Yeah; it's pretty simple." Glancing around, Nathan noticed he had captured the undivided attention of the two humans and Yautja in the room. He glanced at each of them and said, "You mean… you guys couldn't figure it out?"
"Nathan," Ivy said slowly, "What do you think the answer is?"
Nathan grinned, "The old Ash Guild house. Don't you get it? 'A place that now better resembles its' name'; the guild house burned down, into ashes."
Ravyn's jaw dropped, and Ivy gave Nathan an amazed look. Tarn'se skipped being shocked and went right to the point, "Then we go to the ruins of the guild house."
Ravyn jumped to her feet, "Off we go then!"
"Hold on a second!" Ivy shouted, grabbing Ravyn's arm and stopping her, "I don't think it would be wise for you two to just run out there alone."
Ravyn stared at Ivy, pulling out the golden pocket watch and dangling it in front of Ivy, "Ivy, not to be rude, but in case you haven't noticed, we have a little over an hour to get there and fight Eve."
"Yes, but do you think Eve's going to be there alone? Who knows how many vampires she's going to have with her? It would be better to get there prepared with five minutes left, then have you two run head first into this and get killed by a dozen fledglings that she brought with her."
Ravyn sighed, "Alright," turning to Tarn'se she said, "Ivy's got a point. Give us fifteen minutes and we'll have an army ready."
Tarn'se nodded once in agreement, "A smart warrior approaches his challenges with caution."
Fifteen minutes later, every able-bodied member of the Ash Guild house, and a few from the Ice Guild, were marching out of the Ice Guild house and jumping into vans and cars that were headed towards the ruins of the Ash guild house. The Ash Guild house was approximately ten blocks away from the Ice Guild house, and they would drive a little over three fourths of the way there. Tarn'se and Jaelre had taken to the rooftops and were leading the way.
When they were about two blocks away from the guild house, all of the cars and other vehicles pulled over on the sides of the rode, depositing their occupants. The total amount of hunters was thirty, including Ravyn, Ivy, Nathan, and the two Yautja. As Ravyn stepped out of her car, she heard two soft thuds as Tarn'se and Jaelre leapt down from the rooftops and landed nearby.
They uncloaked and Tarn'se stepped forward, "How are you planning to approach this?"
"We're marching right down the middle of the street. Don't worry about people seeing you. No one is out on the streets here; anyone who is gets picked off by the vampires or chased away by us," Ravyn said calmly, watching the hunters get into their positions on the street, a triangular formation, specifically designed to help the offenders break through a defensive line.
"Why not stay in the shadows?" Jaelre questioned, "You give your position away by this."
Ravyn shook her head, "Eve already knows we're coming. If we split up, we could get slaughtered. It's better to stay in a group and be obvious, but strong."
Jaelre seemed to accept the answer and Tarn'se spoke, "We will join your attack on the vampires; I do not let any others fight by own battles."
"As will I," Jaelre said, "I wish to test my own skills against these… vampires, now that I am prepared."
Ravyn smiled, "We're glad to have you along. Let's go."
Now in position, the hunters marched quickly down the street, headed by Ravyn and Tarn'se. Two blocks directly ahead of them were the remains of the Ash Guild house and the vampire Eve. The group looked vigilantly around them for flashes of pale white skin or glowing silver eyes. As they approached the last block, the Ash guild house was almost in plain view, but they had yet to encounter a single vampire.
Ravyn glanced at the pocket watch: thirty minutes left. Her heart was pounding but she kept herself calm. She was amazed that no vampires had tried to attack yet; maybe it would just be a battle between her and Eve.
Suddenly, Tarn'se and Jaelre stopped in their tracks and hissed staring straight ahead. Ravyn looked back and eyed them curiously. The rest of the hunters stopped as well, all staring at the aliens.
"What is it? What's wrong?" Ravyn asked.
Ravyn saw exactly what was wrong when she looked in front of her and saw about a dozen Yautja uncloaking right in front of them…
Oh, am I evil or what? Yes, I know this chapter didn't have any fighting, but I promise the next one will! Review and I'll try to post the next one soon!