Break-time found him quietly sipping 'Tomato Juice' though a straw in the lunchroom. He found the straw useful as his fangs sometimes came down when he ate and the straw kept his mouth closed until he could get them to go back up again. Usually he kept his eyes down at the table but today they drifted to his coworkers around him as he thought over the two odd customers he had in line today. Bits of conversation floated around him as he puzzled over whether he should track down the two men. Even if he could, what would he say?
The shrill voice of the Miss Clairol blond from register 7, Jenny, he thought her name was, rose above her table. "Asshole tried to grab my ass in the parking lot today. George said he got it on tape but there isn't much they can do. Just gotta keep an eye out and let security know if he comes back." Jenny was telling a sympathetic friend.
An inkling of an idea started to form in James' head. It was ridiculous. It would never work. Even if he could see the security footage, how would that help? On the other hand, how would it hurt? Glancing at the clock on the wall he considered what to tell George so he'd let James watch the footage from the parking lot.
George stared at him suspiciously as James stuttered out his request to view the security footage from this evening.
"It's just, you see, Jenny said there were these guys that tried to harass her, and um, there were these shady guys that came through my line, and, um, I just wanted to see if they were the ones that bothered her." James shifted from foot to foot. God, he was so bad at lying. No way was this going to work.
George still just stared at him for the odd request. James knew the story was weak and was about to give up and flee the small room when inspiration struck.
"Do...do you think it would impress her? I mean, if I helped identify the guys that bothered her?"
George's grin nearly split his face. It was obvious that he had suddenly thought he knew the real reason James was asking. "Sure man, I can help you out. But I gotta say, if these guys come back let security know. Don't try to take 'em on by yourself. Getting your ass handed to you won't impress anyone."
James agreed knowing that impressing Jenny wasn't a priority at all. As if he could even think of another woman after Ava. His heart wrenched at the thought of her.
Rolling back the video James spotted the man in the leather coat and his friend. "There! There they are." Suddenly he remembered his cover story, "Are they the ones that bothered Jenny?"
George let the tape play as James watched the two men walk across the parking lot. He tracked their progress to a black classic looking beast of a car. "Nope, sorry man. Doesn't look like they are the ones bugging Jenny. Lucky too. For you, I mean. I wouldn't wanna go a couple rounds with them." James looked up from the monitor to George. George shrugged, "They look like they could dish out a good beating." He looked James' slight frame up and down, clearly thinking that James couldn't take a punch from a boy scout, let alone two men that looked fit and fighting trim. "No offense, man."
"Guess you're right George. Thanks anyway." James said as he watched the black beast turn out of the parking lot and down a road. Not much down that road thought James. Corporate park mostly, and a few motels.
3am saw James in the parking lot trying to decide what to do. It would be a bit of a hike, but he knew he could do it easy. He could go and check out the 2 hotels and cheap motel just on the other side of the corporate park. That car would be easy to spot again. If there were here for a vampire problem then they would be staying in town. But then what? What would he do if he found them? Introduce himself? Bad idea. He may have misunderstood the whole conversation in the store. Maybe they were actors or authors. Maybe it was a theoretical conversation. Who actually believed in things like vampires? He almost talked himself out of going down that road. With a snort of disgust at his own indecision he marched off toward the distant corporate park. Just a quick look, then he could go home.
The economic downturn hit this area hard. Most of the buildings were empty and desolate. Dark and still, barely a sound was heard even to James' sharp ears. That's why the shuffling sound which would have been imperceptible to human ears came so clearly to him. He glanced to the darkened ally where he thought he heard the sound. Shaking his head he turned back to the road that would take him to the motel. A muffled "omf" followed more shuffling but it was the startled cry of pain that had him turning back to the ally that wrapped between buildings and disappeared into the shadows. Making up his mind he slipped silently into the dark and looked around the corner to where the soft noises were coming from.
His eyes adjusted to the dark swiftly these days. He saw a large man swing and punch another man in the face. His punching bag had his back to James but he recognized the black leather jacket from the man he waited on earlier today. Leather Guy's legs buckled under the blow and started to slide to the ground. The big man had a fist bunched in this shirt and slammed him back up on the hood of the black car. He swung and hit Leather in the face again. Leather's hand fell slack and a large knife, nearly a sword, hit the ground in a clatter.
"Hey! Hey you!" James yelled before even thinking. "Stop! Knock it off!"
The stranger paused mid-swing and looked right at James. Rows of sharp teeth gleamed at James. Dropping his hold on the man, he stalked toward James. The man slunk to the ground but James could see him trying to get his feet under him. James gulped as the vampire bore down on him. He didn't know how to fight. Never been in a fight in his life till that night six months ago, and that didn't exactly go his way.
"Whoa, um wait a minute man," James put up his hands in a placating gesture. "We-, we can talk about this..." God it sounded stupid. The vampire even smirked a bit at it. He lunged at James and pinned him against the wall of the building. He opened his mouth wide and angled for James' throat. James closed his eyes and waited for the fangs to rip out his throat...again. But it never did. The arms pinning him to the building went slack and James opened his eyes. He didn't see the vampire. The first thing he saw was the man with the huge knife standing in front of him. He was confused because he could still feel the vampire's arms on him. Knowing somehow that he didn't want to look, he glanced down. The vampire's body was still leaning against him. But just it's body. The head was now somewhere near the feet of the man with the knife.
"You killed him," James gasped.
"You're welcome." The man replied looking around trying to see into the shadows around them.
"You chopped off his head!" James was aware he was becoming a little hysterical, but all he could think was this guy killed a vampire with barely any hesitation and seemed completely unfazed by it. James was a vampire. Would this man kill him just as matter of factually? Had he just made a fatal mistake by helping him?
"Only way to kill a vampire." He suddenly looked at James suspiciously. "Who are you? What are you doing out here?"
"Um," James was still staring at the vampire. His mind was spinning as he tried to remember the name on his name badge. "I, um, I'm Jay. I work at the Big-Mart. I was on my way home when I heard, I thought I heard, uh..."
"Yeah, okay, I get the idea." The man said turning back to the shadows. "Look, thanks for the assist, but you need to get out of here."
"Um okay, sure." James grabbed his backpack off the ground where it had fallen and avoided looking at the dead vampire. The smell of blood wafted on the wind. He tried not to think about how hungry it made him.
The man moved off deeper into the darkness. "Sam." he whisper called in a deep grunt. "Sammy! Dammit Sam, where are you?" he muttered that last to himself.
The smell of warm fresh blood came back stronger from the opposite direction the man was going in. Couldn't he smell it?
"Hey, um, Guy? I think I..." Don't say smell, he told himself. Smell sounds too weird, "hear something. Over there." James pointed in the direction the smell of blood was coming from.
The man came back from where he had started to walk. He gave James a puzzled look, hesitated a moment and headed in the direction James pointed.
Testing the handle on the door, the man found it unlocked. Taking a stronger grip on his knife he eased the door open. It wasn't just the smell of blood that nearly bowled James over. It was the smell of fear, of death. Of Prey. He didn't want to go in there, the smell was gonna drive him mad. He shut his eyes, frantic to resist its call. It didn't help that he could hear the heart pounding, warm and strong, in the chest of the man before him. Leather Guy took several hits and was bleeding from little cuts all over and James could smell each one. The little slice across his eyebrow, the split lip, the swollen knuckles.
Struck from behind he fell forward into the cooling pool of blood. Ava's blood. It was everywhere. His cheek landed in it with a squish of the saturated carpet. The sick smell of rusty iron was everywhere. He struggled up and away from the pool that still held a hint of warmth from Ava's body when the evil landed on him from behind.
The memory of Ava's blood snapped him back into focus. He was able to fight back the hunger that had started to make his fangs drop. He tore his eyes away from the fluttering pulse just below the vulnerable neck of the man ahead of him.
The darkened office building had a surprising amount of furniture and office flotsam still in it. Papers scattered the floors, chairs were stacked in the corners and knocked over onto the ground. A few desks stood like barren islands in the debris that surrounded them. A crash sounded down the hall and the man sprinted toward the sound, ghosting around office obstacles and making no sound. James followed, but found himself bumping into an overturned trashcan and trampling crumbled papers. He winced at the noise he made. Another crash and the wall beside him visibly shuttered. The man seemed to locate the door he was looking for and tried the handle. When it didn't budge he took a step back from the door and kicked it. Hard. The flimsy press-board splintered at the impact and buckled inward. The man charged in with knife held high. James stood in the hall and nervously looked in. It seemed to him that the man recklessly ran into the room not knowing what was on the other side. After the night James ran through the bedroom door to Ava's side he felt he could never charge blind into a room again.
The activity in the room was frantic and confusing. It took more time than James was willing to admit just to figure out how many people were even in the room. The man James had followed into the building was standing over another. James belatedly realized it was the tall friend of his from the store and likely the missing 'Sam' he had been looking for. The man was holding back 3 others with swings of his knife. His friend struggled to his feet with a hand braced against the wall. Crumbling dry wall attested to the fact that something had been slammed into it several times already. The glazed look in Sam's eyes suggested that the something had been Sam. The man punched and swung the knife keeping the creatures at bay and away until Sam was able to stoop and grab his own machete from where it had fallen and join the fight.
James felt completely useless as the two dispatched the 3 remaining vampires with what looked like practiced ease. He backed slowly into the hallway and away from the two men who so easily cut heads from other creatures.
"Dean! Behind you!" Sam called when he caught James' movement into the hall. James stumbled back and tripped over a chair, pinwheeling his arms and flailing to land in a heap on the ground.
"Easy Sammy. He's a civilian." Dean's hand on Sam's arm proved unnecessary as Sam halted his swing, confused by James' ungraceful performance. "We need to get everyone out of here."
"There's other people here?" James asked as he untangled his legs from the computer chair. He was surprised that he could keep his voice from shaking in front of the two obviously dangerous men.
Sam held out a hand and helped James to his feet. "Sometimes a nest keeps a few victims alive for a fresh source of food." Sam and Dean traded a look. Sam looked back at James. "Look, we'd rather you get out of here, but we just can't walk you out right now and even tho I think there's only one vamp left, I'd rather not risk it."
Dean looked at James. "Think you can handle a blade?" he asked. James looked blankly at the knife. He was lucky if he knew what end to hold. Dean nodded at his blank look. "That's what I thought." Dean dug into a pocket of his coat and pulled out a couple large syringes filled with a dark fluid. "Dead man's blood. Its like a Vampire tranquilizer dart."
James took the needles with trepidation. Having some sort of defense made him feel slightly more confident. Dead man's blood is a tranquilizer? He never read that anywhere in any myth. Who were these people?
James looked back at the two men. "Who are you guys?"
Sam smirked. "That is a good question. One we don't have time for." He turned to his friend. "There is at least one more left. He took off down that way when the other three jumped me." He took a few steps and stumbled a little.
Dean grabbed his arm. "Dude, you okay?"
Sam braced himself against the wall and gingerly shook his head as if it hurt and he was trying to shake it off. He must have gotten his bell rung something fierce. Now that he thought of it, both men were looking a bit battered. Sam rubbed his face as if trying to get his eyes to focus or to dispel a headache. He pushed himself off the wall, "Yeah, I'm fine. Let's just get this done." Dean gave him an assessing look then just nodded and led the way down the hall.
A/N One chapter left! Let me know what you think. In my head the pacing feels rushed. Do you agree? Or am I just being overly nit-picky and neurotic? How about the boys? Am I staying in character? (even though they haven't said or done much yet) Oh and I forgot my disclaimer in the first chapter, so if it isn't obvious I'll say it now. I don't own Supernatural. More's the pity.
Love it? Hate it? Let me know!