Vampire, Hunter

by Maria Arnt

  “Home?” he asked.

  “Not yet,” she answered, before she realized that she had thought of the warehouse-turned-apartment when he said home. She shuddered. “I don’t want to go back there yet.” Looking up into the sky, she saw that the rain clouds had cleared out, and now the stars were feebly trying to peer through the light and smoke of Chicago. “It’s so nice out.”

  “I know just the place,” Seth left her door open and made for the driver’s seat. She slid in warily beside him.

  “Nothing too noisy?” She suggested.

  “Very quiet. Very isolated,” he assured her.

  Somehow, she didn’t feel reassured.

  Tanya slammed her car door and peered through the darkness. “Where are we?”

  Seth slipped off his jacket and tossed it in the back seat. “A particle accelerator about forty miles west of town,” he explained, stooping to take off his shoes and socks.

  It took an effort for her not to notice how ridiculously attractive he looked barefoot. That sort of thing just shouldn’t be possible, she decided.

  “I thought you might like to burn off some of that excess energy with a nice long run,” he added, gesturing to the enormous circular path that stretched out before them.

  “Um,” she glanced down at her skirt and high heels, “I’m not exactly dressed for it.”

  His shrug was painfully elegant. “Neither am I. We could always run naked, like the Greeks,” he teased.

  “Noooo thanks,” she drawled. “Not a big fan of running anyway.”

  “Because you get tired and it hurts?” he guessed. At her silence, he smiled. “You should give it another try.”

  She sighed, drawing the cool night air deep into her lungs and then letting it go slowly. No use arguing with a madman, she reasoned. Kicking off her heels, she stared down the path. The circle it made was so big that she couldn’t see the far side. At least the short skirt of her dress was full enough that it wouldn’t interfere with her movement.

  As he joined her on the path, Tanya gave Seth a long glance. I’m going on a run at 2:30 AM in formal dress with a guy I loathe around a particle accelerator, she realized. “You know, this is probably the weirdest thing I’ve ever done,” she complained.

  His bark of delighted laughter surprised her. “That’s the spirit!” he joked, and then took off.

  She watched him for a moment. It didn’t look like he was going very fast, she’d certainly seen faster athletes at the Olympics, but his long legs made up for it. With one last eye roll, she started after him.

  It was almost effortless. Her body moved smoothly, no jolting pain in her joints, no discomfort at all except the rough texture of the cement slapping against the soles of her feet, and even that was barely noticeable. Without even trying, she quickly caught up with Mr. Tall and Lanky and fell into an easy lope beside him. She kept waiting to run out of breath, but it never seemed to happen.

  Seth grinned at her, his white teeth flashing in the darkness. “See what I mean?”

  “Whatever,” she replied, but it came out like laughter. It was such a freeing feeling, like flying.

  “Race you!” he offered.

  “You’re on!” She put on a burst of speed, but within moments he had passed her, and before long he was far ahead of her. She realized she didn’t even know what they were racing towards, and just focused on testing her limits.

  As his white shirt disappeared into the distance, Tanya realized that she was well and truly alone for the first time in over a month. She felt even more so, out here in the darkened country, the stars glittering far above her. It surprised her that she felt so lonely; she had always preferred solitude, and Seth’s constant presence had often annoyed her. But without him there, she found a gaping hole in her life that she was at a loss to name.

  Lost in thought, she nearly jumped out of her skin as Seth came up behind her. It took her more than a few moments to regain her footing without crashing spectacularly, and in that time she realized he had gone all the way around the path. He had lapped her.

  “Dick!” She laughed, and playfully punched him in the side.

  Before she knew what had happened, he countered the move and without warning they went right into sparring. She had grown used to the close-quarters fighting in the training room, but out here there was far more room to move. Seth made good use of it, sweeping out with his long legs in a series of kicks she only narrowly dodged.

  After a while, she started to get the hang of it, though. With enough room to maneuver, she found that she could make quick, precise strikes before dancing away from his counters. Recently he had been teaching her flips, and she found it much easier to use them when she didn’t need to worry about hitting the ceiling or walls.

  However, the training room floor was significantly less slippery than the dewy grass. It wasn’t long before Tanya found herself on her back, once again, staring up at Seth’s triumphant grin. The only difference was the backdrop of stars.

  But then, Seth sighed and flopped down on the grass beside her. She noticed with a rush of pride that he was out of breath, although she imagined the running probably had something to do with it. They lay there, panting, and watched the night sky wheel imperceptibly above them.

  “I love the stars,” she said, only realizing afterward that she had done so out loud.

  “Really?” He sounded remarkably interested in such a banal comment. “What is your favorite constellation?”

  “Um, well... I don’t really know very many,” she admitted. “There’s the big dipper, and the little dipper... and over there is Orion,” she pointed. “I guess he’s my favorite, even though he’s only out in fall and winter.”

  He chuckled darkly. “That figures.”

  She frowned and turned to look at him. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

  Seth spread his long fingers out towards the heavens as if he were reaching for them. “In ancient Egypt, the stars were seen as the home of the gods and heroes,” he began to lecture. “Not just representations of their stories, but their actual dwelling places. Most of the gods lived in the North, among the Undying Stars, which never set. But Osiris, who embodies the cycle of life, death, and resurrection, is the exception. His home is what is now known as the constellation Orion.”

  Tanya frowned, trying to remember the little she knew about Egyptian mythology from her high school history class. Osiris was the king of the gods, and Set had killed him. But they were also brothers. “So...” she said carefully, “Which one’s yours?”

  He glanced sideways at her as if trying to catch her being sarcastic. She did her best to look innocently interested. She wasn’t sure if he believed her, but he seemed to give in anyway.

  “Set was not given a home among the stars,” he said, his voice distant, “as it was his job to guard the sun as it passed through the underworld each night. But Nephthys has one.” He pointed to the northwest, leaning near to her so she could follow his finger to a zigzag of five stars. “It’s the throne of Isis, but she shares it with her sister, sitting on the other side. These days it’s known as Cassiopeia.”

  “Oh, I remember that one now,” Tanya murmured. “Who lives in the big dipper?”

  “Ursa Major? That would be Taweret,” he answered in an odd tone. “Another of Set’s wives.”

  At this she turned to face him fully, propping herself up on one elbow. “Set had more than one wife?”

  “Oh yes,” he said tiredly. “There was also Anat and Astarte, from Canaan, among many others.”

  “Why not just Nephthys?” she teased, sensing his reluctance to discuss the subject.

  “Because she wasn’t always happy with me,” he said, turning his face away from her slightly. It didn’t escape her notice that this was the first time he had used “me” instead of Set.

  “Gee, I wonder why,” she said sarcastically.

  “Probably because I couldn’t give her any children,” Seth answered quietly, meeting her eyes at last.<
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  Too late, Tanya realized she had hit a very sensitive nerve. “But... I thought you said Anubis was Nephthys’s son?”

  “He was. By Osiris.”

  Ouch, Tanya thought. Unable to think of a good topic to switch to, she simply let it drop. It was weird to talk about his delusions of grandeur, especially when they seemed to make him so sad.

  She didn’t want to think about Seth, but that only left herself to think about. Once again, like the stars turning silently above them, her mind turned to that same question that had been bugging her all night: what am I doing? What do I want to do?

  “I need to fight,” she said suddenly, finally recognizing the restlessness for what it was.

  “Ready for another round already?” He laughed, sitting up.

  “No, not spar. Fight. I’ve always been a fighter, ever since I was little,” she explained. “I need it.”

  He frowned down at her. “You always were one to pick fights on the playground,” he mused.

  She made an effort not to be sidetracked into the subject of how unacceptably creepy it was that he had watched her play as a child. “I’m going crazy without something to fight, Seth. It’s partly why I fight you so much.”

  “Partly?” He raised an eyebrow.

  “Well, you also have it coming,” she scowled.

  “Fair enough. But who are you going to fight? You’re not ready to face other vampires,” he reminded her.

  “I’ve been thinking about that. What if you went with me?” She asked.

  “I had intended to accompany you on your first few hunts,” he agreed.

  “Well, then what if you did most of the fighting? I mean, no offense, but why should I do all the work? I wouldn’t need half as much skill to be your backup,” she reasoned.

  He bit the tip of his finger, thinking. The gesture elicited an unexpected reaction in her, and she was glad of the dark so he wouldn’t see the flush of color on her cheeks. “I suppose it would allow you to go out to battle much sooner. I never imagined you would be willing to rely on me like that, though.”

  “Well,” she shrugged. “Anything to get the ball rolling.”

  “We would need to focus more on defensive measures,” he mused. “Perhaps some weapons training, to give you an edge?”

  Tanya was excited at the prospect of starting on weapons, but her enthusiasm was being quickly overtaken by weariness. She yawned. “Sounds cool to me.”

  He frowned a little. “Who would you hunt, though? I haven’t laid enough groundwork for us to start seeking the source of our population issue,” he admitted.

  Tanya didn’t even have to think about that. “I never found the vampire who attacked me, you know?”

  He lifted an eyebrow. “He might not be in Chicago.”

  She shrugged. “Still, I bet there’s plenty of vampires who don’t bother to make sure their victims are willing. I could go after them, like some kind of vampire Batman.” The more she thought about it, the more she liked the idea. “Except, you know, I’d kill them.” Another yawn nearly swallowed the last of her words.

  Chuckling, he stood, holding out a hand to help her up. “Come, we must return. You’ve given me a lot to think about, Tatiana.”

  She didn’t protest at his affectionate use of her full name, or when he didn’t let her hand go after she had stood. She simply let him lead her through the darkness towards the car, collecting her shoes and settling into the plush leather seat.

  The lights of Chicago grew ever brighter as they approached, and she slowly began to realize that they were helped along by the creeping light of dawn. Just as a sense of instinctual panic began to rise in her, Seth’s hand found hers again, squeezing gently.

  “I’ll get you home in time,” he reassured her. “Get some sleep.”

  She nodded, trusting him at least that far. As her eyes slid shut she realized that really, overall, she’d had a pretty good night.

  21

  Detective Shiro stared at his laptop screen, going over the evidence one more time. His case had to be water-tight, or Bradley wouldn’t buy it. He’d been bugging the St. Louis detective for the last couple months, ever since Tanya had disappeared, but the old dog just wanted to let things lie.

  She’s undercover, Shiro, he remembered the older man telling him. You don’t mess with that, or people wind up dead.

  And yeah, maybe that was true when the person in question was an undercover cop. But Tanya was a civvy, and there was something about the whole thing that seemed wrong. So he’d done a little digging, and what he found made his skin crawl.

  With a deep breath, he tapped Bradley’s number into his phone and hit send.

  “Detective Bradley,” the gruff voice on the other end answered.

  “Bradley, it’s Shiro. I’ve got some bad news,” he said in a rush.

  There was a pause on the other line, then distantly, “Davis, could you go get me some more of this tar they call coffee? I gotta take this call.”

  In the background, Shiro could hear Bradley’s partner complaining and patiently waited for her to leave.

  “I assume this is about Tanya?” he asked once the coast was clear.

  “Yeah, and it doesn’t look good,” Shiro warned.

  “Cut the crap, kid, what’s happened?”

  Good. Bradley was obviously worried if he didn’t want to beat around the bush. “I did some digging on this Professor Walker guy...”

  Bradley groaned.

  “Quietly!” he protested. “Mostly digital. No more than what she would do.”

  “Shiro, Tanya would aggressively stalk a target for almost a month before striking,” he pointed out.

  “Okay, less than that. But the point is, I don’t like what I’ve found. I think Tanya might be in a lot of trouble.”

  There was a pause, and he could hear Bradley thank Davis for the coffee. That was fast! They’d have to be careful—Bradley had warned him that his partner was firmly in the non-believer camp.

  “You think he’s a con?” He blew on the coffee audibly.

  “I did at first. There’s a lot of red flags. Expensive cars and suits on an academic salary, no clear history before his current job, questionable documents,”

  “You don’t need to read me the textbook,” Bradley growled.

  “Yeah, but the rabbit hole just kept getting deeper. Offshore accounts, multiple aliases, contact with suspected mob clean-up companies...”

  “Organized crime...” Shiro could almost hear Bradley’s stomach drop.

  “That’s the thing... a lot of these red flags looked awfully familiar. And I was following the line of aliases when suddenly I was looking at scans of old documents. This guy, he got a visa with one of his aliases... in 1956.”

  “That can’t be right,” he insisted. “Look, if my contact says he’s clean, he’s clean. She’s never been wrong before.”

  “Yeah, but this is the big city, Tom! What if he’s both? What if he is a con, a very talented con, and for whatever reason, picked her as a target?”

  “Then she’d be dead,” Bradley said coldly. “I spoke to her last week. Walker is the one who’s keeping her hidden.”

  “Hidden from what? This guy has major resources. If someone or something was threatening her in Chicago, he could ship her out of O’Haire in a private jet to a secret bunker, and no one would ever know.”

  That, finally, gave him pause. “Son of a bitch,” he said at last.

  “So what are we going to do?” Shiro sighed, relieved he had managed to convince him.

  “Nothing, for now.” Before he could protest, Bradley pushed on. “There’s still a chance we’re jumping at shadows, and if she’s still alive he’s playing a long game anyway, we can afford to wait. Keep a distant eye on them, just to be safe.”

  “All right,” he agreed begrudgingly.

  “And Shiro?”

  “Yeah, boss?” the young detective drawled sarcastically.

  “Better keep a piece on you.”

/>   “Sure thing.” He hung up. At least Bradley was taking it seriously.

  “Tanya, you are taking this entirely too seriously,” Seth laughed at her scowl. “Just pick one you like.”

  Tanya huffed and scowled deeper. Easy to say when you’ve got no conscience, she mused, and went back to studying the dance floor.

  They had been going to clubs for the last week or so, building up her tolerance for the loud noise and press of bodies. Seth had suggested she feed before she got hungry again, should the fancy strike her, it would be much easier to control herself that way.

  It had been almost a month since she had fed on Seth, and she hadn’t felt even the merest tickle of thirst. She’d been caught between awe at his power and fear that when it ran out, she would be ravenous. The initial warm, fuzzy feelings it had caused her to feel towards him had all but worn off, so she didn’t think she had much longer.

  So here she was, staring out at the mass of writhing humanity, selecting her victim. It was a nightmare. Every time she saw someone who appealed to her, she was wracked with guilt. What if she messed up? What if they figured out what she was doing? She almost would have preferred a junkie like Justin, but Seth had explained that none of the usual donors would be dumb enough to let a baby feed off them.

  This didn’t make her terribly confident in the chance of success tonight.

  Seth sighed. “We could come back tomorrow night?”

  “No. Just give me a minute,” she said through clenched teeth.

  Just then, a young man caught her eye. He was tall and somewhat muscular, sporting a tight shirt to show off. He looked like the kind of guy who worked out in front of a mirror, and was obviously checking her out. His expression told her he was far more interested in scoring a ten than who, or what, she was.

  Perfect.

  “Hold my purse,” she shoved it at Seth without looking away from her target.

  “Of course, darling,” he purred as she walked away.

  “Hey,” the guy jerked his chin up in greeting.

  “Hey,” she said back, feigning interest.

  “Name’s Chad,” he grinned. Obviously, he didn’t get this far very often.