Vampire, Hunter

by Maria Arnt

  “How many different ways are there to kill a vampire?” Seth asked as she came into the training room.

  “I don’t know, I probably haven’t discovered them all yet,” she answered darkly. He was standing in the center of the room, in an easy posture, arms at his sides and one foot slightly behind the other. It was only from his training that Tanya recognized it was a ready fighting stance. She circled him warily.

  “Alright, which have you discovered?” He did not turn to face her as she passed behind him, but she didn’t strike just yet.

  “The first few weren’t Masters.” She remembered hunting down the vampire that had killed Jake. It had been easier than she suspected, she and her greasy companion had cut a swath through northern Missouri, and even years later there were plenty of leads to go on. They’d made their way South next, and then down into northern Arkansas. Somewhere along the line, they had split up, and she’d only found the female holed up in a warehouse basement. “They’re easy, sunlight will do all your work for you. Although you might want to tie them down first, they tend to thrash a bit.”

  Seth nodded grimly. “What about Masters?”

  Tanya kicked experimentally at a kidney. He blocked it effortlessly with an arm and went back to his relaxed stance.

  “Knife through the heart seems to be the most reliable, and the cleanest. Decapitation works, but it’s messy.” That had been the job that Bradley had caught her on. There was no way to clean that up properly. “But it should do for you,” she growled, jabbing at his neck.

  He caught her hand and flipped her over his shoulder. “Alas, no. I have been decapitated. It is extremely unpleasant, but not fatal in my case. It would probably work for most vampires who are less than a millennium or two old, though.”

  Scrambling to her feet, Tanya recoiled in horror. “You survived having your head cut off?”

  “That’s not the worst of it. There was one time, about a century ago. I was poisoned first, which did nothing, of course, then shot twice, clubbed, shot another two times—at this point I had the sense to pretend death, if nothing else—and then tossed into a frozen river,” he recounted the story in an oddly cheerful voice.

  “That sounds... horrifying.” She made a face just thinking about it.

  “Quite. And then having to find, on short notice, someone who looked enough like me, so that I could shoot and club them and throw that body in the river to be found later. I think that was the worst death I ever had to fake.” He shook his head.

  Tanya scowled. “I meant for the people trying to kill you. What did you do to piss them off so bad?”

  He shrugged noncommittally. “Politics. I try not to get involved in human machinations, but sometimes it’s difficult. Or, it might have been because of the women. It’s usually the women.” He grinned.

  She rolled her eyes, then feinted a left hook, following it up with a kick. It landed, but without much force, and she darted back before he could lash out in retaliation.

  “I burned a vampire once,” she bragged. “But then I had to fight a flaming vampire for a few minutes before she croaked. Didn’t try that one again.”

  Seth raised his eyebrows. “I’m surprised it was that quick. Or that she caught at all.”

  “Well,” Tanya made an effort to step inside his guard, failed, and dodged a swipe before backing off again, “I did dump a gallon of gasoline on her first.”

  “That would do it.” He looked impressed. “What else?”

  “Guns don’t work.” She rubbed her shoulder and closed her eyes as a wave of sadness washed over her.

  “Correction: pistols don’t work. A very large caliber bullet to the head or heart would cause death in most vampires. A shotgun at close range is also effective. But these methods are messy and dangerous. Any other ideas?”

  “That’s it,” Tanya dropped her fighting stance, Seth clearly wasn’t going to fight her until he was done talking. “Once I found the knife-in-heart method, I stuck with it. It’s a pain to clean up all the blood, but it works. The plastic-wrap mummy trick with Etienne was something I picked up watching TV. I probably would have used that one again, although breaking his neck wasn’t as easy as I thought it would be.”

  He nodded. “The one thing that all of these methods have in common is the only true cause of death for a Master vampire: exsanguination.”

  “What about burning?” She frowned.

  He waved a hand. “In that instance the blood was boiled up, destroyed by the fire. But it’s basically the same. To kill a vampire you must remove their ability to heal, and for most, that lies in the blood. Take the blood, and the ka goes with it.”

  “Most?”

  “Myself excepted. My ka is different, as you will have noticed.” He smiled slowly.

  She shuddered, remembering the immense, swirling vortex of power that burned within him. Even worse, she was suddenly overcome with the desire to taste it again, to drink his blood and swim in the stars. She shook it off.

  “Are we going to fight, or what?” she demanded.

  “In a moment,” he chided. “When you kill Johnny the Fox, you will do so by drinking his blood. You won’t need to drink all of it, just the last bit, to receive his ka. But the more you can manage, the better, as every drop of it will increase your power.”

  She swallowed thickly. “About how long will that take?”

  “It depends. With your teeth alone, your best shot is the external jugular vein, which would take approximately two minutes if you pull hard. A slit throat first will open the internal jugular and carotid, which in humans will cause exsanguination in under thirty seconds.” He paused at her horrified expression. “It’s known colloquially as a “quicky” these days.”

  Tanya closed her eyes and turned her head away. “Will it work on a vampire?”

  Seth paused, thinking about it. “The cut would heal in that time, but it might speed up the process, shave about fifteen seconds off the total time? There will be some blood lost, but it might be worth it. He’ll be fighting you for at least half that time.”

  She shook her head. “Fifteen seconds isn’t enough time to be worth the mess. If I can pin him in a prone position, I won’t have to fight against gravity. That should be just as good.”

  “Alright then. Your goal is a three-minute pin,” Seth decided.

  “Three minutes? You said it would only take two!”

  “You’ll need time to get a good latch,” he pointed out. “Now,” he gestured to the wall where the weapons were locked away. “What tools do you think would help you with that?”

  She crossed her arms and thought about it. “A high-voltage taser? And zip ties.”

  His eyebrows shot up. “Very good. I hadn’t thought of either of those—the wonder of modern conveniences. I’m not certain how a taser would work on a vampire, though.”

  “Can I test it on you?” She grinned, feeling cheerful for the first time all night.

  Seth gave her a wary look. “Perhaps another time, I don’t currently own one. Besides that, I doubt a vampire would remain stunned after the current ceased, and you will need to be in physical contact with them.”

  She sighed. “Good point.”

  “Zip ties won’t work either, too easy to break, but the concept is good. Steel piano wire would be an acceptable substitute, and I do have some of that.”

  “Of course you have steel piano wire,” she muttered sarcastically.

  “As for the stun, a blackjack should work quite nicely. And both will be easy to conceal on your person.”

  “What’s a blackjack?” As far as she knew, it was a card game.

  He gave her a long assessing look and then sighed. “Key please?” He held out a hand.

  Reluctantly, she dug in her pocket for the metal keyring, then tossed it to him. Once he caught it, he held it in his hand for a moment, and he briefly licked his lips. Before she could decide if she even wanted to ask what weird thoughts were brewing in his twisted head, he grinned and went
to the weapon cabinets.

  She followed after quickly, not wanting to miss the explanation. To her surprise, he simply held the key up to the panel, and it swung up to a spot with a loud click.

  “A magnet,” she guessed.

  “A rare earth magnet,” he corrected. “A regular magnet would not be able to reach the mechanism.” He drew the magnet across the panel, to the right, and then pressed in. When he let go, the door swung open, much like the others. “Blunt weapons,” he announced, and stepped back to let her see.

  Inside was a collection of odd objects, most of which she wouldn’t have thought of as weapons. An array of hammers—ball peen, clawed, and a big sledgehammer—were the most familiar. There were also a couple sizes of nightsticks, something that looked like a wooden katana, and a thick, black, knobbly walking stick with a head as big as a man’s fist. Down at the bottom was a variety of vicious-looking clubs with spiky heads.

  Seth reached over her shoulder and pulled out one of the smaller nightsticks. “This is a blackjack, also known as a billy club.” He flicked his wrist, and it extended to three times its original length.

  “That’s a police baton,” she recognized it immediately.

  “That too. This one is nice and light,” he swung it around experimentally. “Easy to conceal. But it might be safer to use something a little more lethal.” He collapsed the baton and put it back in its slot in the cabinet, then drew out the next largest piece. This he handed to Tanya.

  She turned it over in her hands. It was about eight inches long and looked like it was mostly made of braided leather. The end away from the handle was thicker and very heavy. She swung it a couple times, and as she suspected it flexed a little in the middle.

  “With this, you will want to hit the base of the skull or the last cervical vertebra. With enough force, this should injure the spinal cord and cause temporary paralysis in a vampire.” Seth turned and pointed to the preferred spots on his own neck. “Failing that, you can hit just about anywhere with it and deliver much more force than a punch or jab.”

  Without hesitating, Tanya brought the club down as hard as she could on the back of his neck.

  Seth doubled over with the blow, but quickly turned and caught her arm before she could strike again. She tried to pull away in case he retaliated, but he held her arm tight and stood slowly, using his other hand to feel the injury.

  “Congratulations,” he said through clenched teeth. “You fractured my C5 vertebra. Unfortunately, you used the blackjack inefficiently, and you didn’t crush it.” He pulled the small club from her grip, and for one terrifying moment she thought he would use it on her.

  Instead, he let go of her arm. “You don’t want any follow-through on the strike. Snap it, like this.” He demonstrated a quick motion in the air, like a hammer strike. “Use the flexibility to increase the speed of the head, which will give it greater striking force.”

  She blinked at him. “I just tried to kill you,” she pointed out.

  He gave her a sarcastic look. “Yes, that’s the idea.” He moved to the next cabinet and opened it with the magnet. “And besides, you need the restraints as well. Take your pick.”

  Tanya peered into the cabinet. Inside was an alarming array of restraints: rope, paracord, duct tape, handcuffs, and manacles—both metal and leather. Among the latter, she recognized the cuffs that had held her in place during the change. “Jesus, Seth, where do you keep the whips?”

  “Chest of drawers, second from the bottom,” he answered immediately.

  She turned, startled that he had answered what she thought was a rhetorical question, and caught his shit-eating grin. “Right. Where’s the piano wire?”

  He crouched to open a drawer towards the bottom of the cabinet and pulled out a loop of wire with two D-rings on either end. “The ends lock together,” he demonstrated how passing one ring through the other and then turning it until the notches lined up would make them snap together, “or they can be used as handles for garroting.” He unhooked them and slipped two fingers in each, pulling the wire taut between his hands.

  “Hold out your hands, and I’ll demonstrate the best way to secure them,” he instructed.

  “No.” She stepped backward.

  Seth pinched the bridge of his nose a moment, breathing deeply. “Yes, or I won’t ask, I’ll tell you to.”

  Tanya ground her teeth a moment and decided it wasn’t worth going through that again just to piss him off. She tucked the blackjack in her back pocket, and slowly held out her hands.

  “Very good,” he sighed, relieved. “Wrap each wrist individually three times first,” he worked as he spoke, pulling the wire tightly against her skin, so it almost hurt. “Do the second wrist in the opposite direction so you can make two or three figure eights around both,” he passed the handle back and forth around her wrists, pulling them tightly together, “then wrap around the middle to burn the remainder. And lock.” He clipped the two rings together and stepped back. “Give it a try.”

  Tugging experimentally, she found there was no give in the wire. But it was sharp. “If I pull hard enough, it will cut into the skin, but that will make it looser. Couldn’t someone escape that way?”

  “Yes, but it would take time and a calm mind to overcome the pain. More than enough opportunity for you to kill them,” he reasoned.

  “Okay. Take it off and let me try.” She squirmed, already uncomfortable with the wires.

  Seth reached out and grabbed the wire between her arms, pulling her to him. With a quick turn, he had her pinned between his body and the wall.

  “I’m not quite done demonstrating the usefulness of this tool,” he said in a low voice, close to her ear.

  Tanya’s heart raced, and she heard his accelerate in response. The hairs on the back of her neck stood on end, and to her utter humiliation, she felt heat build between her legs, near where their hands were pressed between them. She hated the way her body responded to him, hated how she could suddenly picture a dozen different things he might do to her next, all of them deliciously provocative.

  “I swear,” she ground out, “If you put one hand on me, I will cut them both off and throw them in a fire. How long do you think it will take to regrow them?”

  “Eight, maybe nine human lives,” he growled back. “I think I should be able to manage that in a single night. Two at the most.”

  Defeated, she let her head fall back against the panel behind her. There really was nothing she could threaten him with. It was pointless. She felt Seth’s hand on her wrists move and braced herself for what would come next.

  Instead, there was a small clicking sound, and the wires sprung free. He stepped back, and Tanya rubbed the skin of her wrists and eyed him warily. Picking up the piano wire, she looped it carefully.

  “What about strangulation?” She slipped two fingers into one of the rings, imagining pulling it tight against his neck.

  “Temporary, I’m afraid. Although if sustained it will slow and eventually prevent regeneration. As soon as they can draw breath again, or are even passively exposed to oxygen, they will heal and need to feed immediately.”

  Damn. Seth stood before her, smiling humorlessly, in that same relaxed fighting stance. She could tell he wasn’t going to make this easy for her. Stepping close to him carefully, she took hold of one of his wrists and then the other, bringing them together behind his back. To her surprise, he didn’t resist. He didn’t help her either, though.

  “I can’t see if you’re doing it right from here,” he said over his shoulder.

  “I got it, I just want to try it for myself,” she argued. Right wrist three times clockwise, left wrist three times counterclockwise, one, two figure eights, around the middle, and lock, she recited to herself as she worked. “How’s that?”

  Seth turned, tugging his arms. “A little loose, but not bad for your first try.”

  “Can you get out?”

  He frowned, turning his wrists carefully against the wires. “Not withou
t some effort...”

  That was all the opportunity she needed. She dashed to the weapon cabinets, yanking the key from the open door and holding it up to the first locked panel. The magnet snapped into place, but when she drew it to the right and pressed, nothing happened. With a frustrated growl, she pulled the key off and put it on the last door, but that one didn’t work either.

  “The edged and ranged weapons have more complex locks,” Seth explained calmly.

  She turned, pressing her back against the panels, and saw that he had somehow gotten his hands in front of him, although she was pleased to see a few cuts on his wrists. The smell of his blood made her mouth water, but the cuts closed quickly. He brought his hands up to his mouth and easily unlocked the clips with his teeth.

  “You won’t be needing them for this job, they are better suited to crowd control, and that will be my responsibility.” He took a few steps toward her and held out the piano wire.

  She hesitated. His words and expression were calm, but his power was once again unchecked, and she could almost feel the rage simmering off of him like heat off asphalt in summer. Carefully, she reached forward and took the wire. He let his hand fall back to his side.

  “So... now what?” She chewed on her lip.

  “You have your tools and your plan. Now you must practice until the execution is perfect. Once you can keep me pinned for three minutes straight, you will be ready to kill.”

  “And what’s to stop me from draining you once I’ve done that?” She frowned.

  He smiled slowly. “I very sincerely hope you do attempt that,” he murmured softly, and then left.

  Tanya stared down at the wire in her hands. She knew she couldn’t drain Seth on her own, it was too much power for her to hold. And if she failed, even a little of his blood would leave her fawning at his feet. If she succeeded, they would both die, and Johnny the Fox and all the other vampires would more than likely go on killing without them. So all around, it was probably a bad idea.

  But that didn’t mean she wasn’t going to enjoy trying.