by I D Johnson
The doctor hit the water first, followed by Aaron and Catherine. They heard screams from onlookers, those who had yet to realize thousands of people would be in the water soon enough, but they did not let that distract them. Realizing decapitation was now the best method, Aaron let go of the stake he’d still managed to clutch in his hand and began to wrestle the gyrating doctor who was doing his best to shake his enemies off.
“You hold him still! I got it!” Catherine shouted, as she fought to get a grip on the Vampire’s head.
Aaron used the same method he’d used on the Ripper, only this time it was much easier with Catherine’s help, and a few seconds later, she had his head off. Rather than draw attention to what she had done to anyone who might still be watching from the boat, she plunged beneath the surface of the water, and Aaron followed, waiting for Dr. Williams to dissolve before the two resurfaced, so that it might look as if the third party had simply drowned.
Once they resurfaced, Aaron looked up at the Titanic. It wouldn’t be long now. Nearly all of the lifeboats had launched, and there were still hundreds of people on the ship.
Catherine turned to look at the ship as well. “What can we do?” she asked as she treaded water.
“I don’t know,” Aaron replied. “At least we won’t need to take up seats on the lifeboats, but I don’t even see another vessel.”
“They are out of time.”
“We should swim out of the way. Once they realize the boat is going down, some of them will start to jump,” Aaron said, and he and Catherine swam away from Titanic, praying for a miracle that would allow all of the lives on board to survive.
The water was just above freezing, and while it wasn’t comfortable for them, it wasn’t deadly. For the humans, however, it would only be a matter of minutes before they would perish. The lifeboats were off in the distance. Aaron was hopeful that they planned to come back once people were in the water and collect as many survivors as possible.
That was not the case, and once Titanic floundered at approximately 2:00 in the morning, the water was full of screams and shouts for help. For nearly four minutes, Aaron and Catherine waited and prayed, hoping the lifeboats would come back. Only two did, and by the time they did so, it was too late; the screams had stopped. Once they were certain they wouldn’t be taking up seats others could use, they boarded one of the lifeboats that had been sent back.
Unfortunately, there was plenty of room.
When the Carpathian appeared on the horizon a few hours later, the lifeboats made their way over, and dozens of people were reunited with loved ones. However, many more began a frantic search for faces they would never see again, a search that would haunt them the rest of their lives.
Christian was reunited with his teammates, having also been plucked from the ocean by the lifeboats that went back to find survivors. He had little to say, and Aaron could only wonder what horrors he had witnessed to keep a Revolutionary War hero silent.
The Statue of Liberty greeted them a few days later as the pulled into New York Harbor in a light rain. Aaron knew that, despite the unbelievable sights and experiences he’d gone through in his eighty-three years, Titanic would stay with him for the rest of his days.
Chapter 12
Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, America, 1941
When Jordan Findley gave you a special assignment, you took it, even if it meant leaving the continent where you’d lived for over a hundred years and the area you’d led for almost half that time.
Meeting with Jordan and his wife Janette in their office in Kansas City, Missouri, in the early fall of 1941 had been quite the experience for Aaron. After Titanic, he’d been appointed to the United Kingdom Area Leader, a new position, and he was tasked with overseeing all of the lands encompassed by the boundaries of that nation. Even though it had taken him away from the core members he’d worked so closely with, he enjoyed the job. Now that he and Christian had come up with a device that allowed team members to talk to each other at almost any time, running such a large area was much easier.
Likewise, Christian had worked with him to develop two guns that shot special bullets made of silver, which gave them many more options when it came to fighting Vampires at a distance. The Vampires had been the first to try weapons, and when it became clear a Vampire could shoot a Hunter and kill him, the Hunters and Guardians realized they needed to be able to fight back with long-range weaponry. These specially designed revolvers allowed them to do just that.
Hawaii had always been relatively peaceful. While there were superstitions involving Vampires here, as there were almost everywhere, for the most part, the people had been left alone by the bloodsuckers. Now, as parts of Europe and Asia became more hostile, the undead were looking for other locations. Jordan had assigned Aaron to the area to monitor activity and determine whether or not they needed to organize a collective response or if the few Hunters and Guardians who worked independently could continue to manage the activity on the islands.
With better communication and weaponry came better training, and LIGHTS (Lincoln International Guardian and Hunter Training Station) was opened in 1940 in Kansas City. Now, new Hunters and Guardians were given the opportunity to travel there and do some training under carefully selected individuals at the same location where the Findleys resided and oversaw the operations around the world. Despite the specificities of the acronym, many of them had now started referring to themselves as members of LIGHTS rather than Hunters and Guardians. Aaron was very excited about all of the changes that were being made, and he was hopeful he could continue to play a major role in the development.
His apartment in Oahu was near the military facilities, but he had little to do with the activities there. He was very interested in what was happening in Germany and Japan, but as far as the day-to-day operations of the naval facility, the only contact he had with any of them was a friend of his who enlisted as a medic a few months ago, in an attempt to be helpful should the US actually go to war, which seemed inevitable at this point, regardless of what the newspapers and politicians might be claiming.
The view from Aaron’s apartment was breathtaking, and he could have stayed there all day, but he had an appointment to meet Jamie for lunch and fill him in on his findings, so pulling himself away from the scene out his window, he headed downtown to the restaurant they’d agreed to meet at.
Being a high-ranking medical professional gave Jamie a little more leeway than most, but it was still the military, and Aaron didn’t see him as much as he would have liked to. There was also a pretty blonde who took up a lot of Jamie’s time.
“So how is Eleanor?” Aaron asked with a smile as Jamie looked over the menu.
“Do you think the mahi mahi is fresh?” Jamie asked, clearly avoiding the conversation.
“Nah, they probably fly it in from Alaska.” He wasn’t sure what he might order since he likely wouldn’t eat more than a few bites anyway. “Answer the question.”
The doctor was clearly holding back a smile. “She’s good,” he finally said. “She said to tell you hello.”
“Very sweet of her,” Aaron replied, trying to keep his smile in check. In the last six months, he’d watched as Jamie fell in love with the young lady. Even though he still wasn’t ready for a full-fledged relationship himself, he could live vicariously through his friend. He had finally removed his wedding ring a few years ago and put it away for safe keeping and gone out with a few different girls a time or two.
The waitress took their order, and when Jamie ordered the mahi mahi, Aaron simply said he’d have the same. “Are you done with your rounds for the day?”
“Yes, but I have a stack of reports to fill out. That is not the most enjoyable part of my job,” he replied, clearly tired even though, as a Guardian, he wouldn’t require the same sort of rest as everyone else. “So far no one seems to suspect I’m doing anything out of the ordinary, though, so I suppose that’s good.”
“Have you used your special talents much?”
“I think we’ve definitely got reason to be concerned,” Aaron admitted, “but if we end up going to war, and I assume we will, I don’t know how we will be able to organize here right now. I expect a lot more LIGHTS members will want to enlist, as you have, to help with the efforts.”
Jamie nodded. “Will you?”
Exhaling sharply, Aaron shrugged. “I’ve thought about it. I’m just not sure what Jordan expects from me now. Before, when I was an Area Leader, I knew how I fit in the organization. Now, I have no idea what this special assignment means.”
“It means you’re a special agent,” Jamie said, his eyebrows raising and lowering rapidly. Aaron laughed. “I’m special all right. I guess I’ll just wait and see what Jordan wants me to do. If he has something else in mind, I probably won’t enlist. If he doesn’t, then, yeah, I probably will.”
“Go with the navy,” Jamie urged. Leaning forward, he added, “It’s the best.”
Aaron smiled, and as the waitress slid their food in front of them, he realized he was actually hungrier than he had thought. “I would join the air force if I had any idea how to fly a plane.”
“Maybe Jordan can teach you that, too,” Jamie replied between bites. “He’s quite the pilot.”
“Maybe I’ll ask,” Aaron shrugged, not previously aware that Jordan was a pilot. “Are you still off tomorrow morning? If you could run out to Kahuku with me to investigate the chatter we’re hearing there, it would be helpful.”
“Sure,” Jamie nodded. “Can we go early though? Ellie has the morning off, and she’ll want to sleep in, but I’d like to have lunch with her before she goes in for her shift.”
“No problem,” Aaron replied. It shouldn’t take too long to go out and check out the tip he’d received from a local regarding a clan of Vampires congregating in a secluded house. Then Jamie would have the rest of the day to spend with his beloved.
Early for two Guardians who didn’t require the same sort of sleep as their human counterparts meant well before the sun rose, and by 5:00 in the morning, Aaron had collected Jamie and was driving his Buick Century toward the Kahuku Sugar Mill located on the northeast side of the island. The drive would normally take an hour or so, but Aaron’s car was capable of going much faster with the modifications the LIGHTS team made to it, and he was clipping along at a pretty good speed that December morning.
“Did you see Eleanor last night?” Aaron asked as they drove along.
“I did,” Jamie replied, a sheepish grin on his face. “We went to a dance. You should come sometime. Lots of other pretty girls around to choose from.”
This wasn’t the first time Jamie had suggestion Aaron accompany them, and he had honestly considered it. Though he had not had a romantic relationship with a woman in a century, he had dated a few human women in the last few years. He knew he wasn’t ready for any sort of commitment at this point to anything but his work, but he realized he missed the closeness of a relationship more than he’d been willing to admit. He and Catherine had been close but nothing had ever come of it, even after Titanic. Now, she was half a world away and he was in paradise watching a good friend fall in love. Perhaps he should take Jamie up on his next invitation.
“Run the situation by me again,” Jamie said as they approached a back road that led around to the west side of the 6000-acre sugar mill.
“The mill is almost a century old. There are a lot of buildings scattered around the acreage. Some of them are in pretty bad condition; others are livable, especially if the inhabitants don’t happen to be alive themselves. A local Hunter says they’re getting a lot of chatter about a clan of Vampires occupying some of the old worker houses that aren’t in use anymore. He wanted us to meet him out here to check it out.”
“What’s his name again?” Jamie asked as Aaron pulled the vehicle off to the side of the road. In the dim light of dawn, they saw a lone figure standing beneath a tree nearby.
“Taavi Kalani,” Aaron responded. The two climbed from the car and walked over to meet the stocky man who appeared to be in his forties, though Aaron knew him to be much older than that.
“Good morning,” Taavi said, shaking their hands. “Thank you for coming out and meeting me today.”
“Beautiful day,” Aaron replied. “What do you have for us?”
“The houses are over here,” Taavi said, gesturing to a group of three buildings set off from a drive just past the trees in a small clearing. “I think they are in there now. I’m sure they were out late last night.”
“You’ve seen them?” Jamie asked as they stepped back into the trees. They were far enough away that any inhabitants might not notice them unless they were on the lookout, but it was always best to be cautious.
“Yes, and last night we got a report that a young lady was taken from the streets in Honolulu. We think they are the culprits. They are getting more brazen,” Taavi explained.
“Did one of our people actually witness this?” Aaron asked, his concern rising. What had been intended as a scouting mission was quickly turning into something else.
“It was the daughter of a Hunter who claims to have seen it. She has not yet Transformed and could do very little, but she said she could tell by their pale faces that they were undead, these people who snatched the young lady from the street near her home.”
“Well, if that’s the case, we may as well get this over with right now,” Jamie said, pulling his revolver from its holster and checking the ammunition.
Aaron was a little surprised to see him so adamant already without a whole lot of evidence, but he was also okay with that plan. “Do you have a weapon, Taavi?”
“Just the wooden stake I always carry with me,” Taavi replied, patting his pocket. “I guess we are not as advanced on the islands as you.”
“Not a lot of areas are using this new weaponry yet,” Aaron explained. “I’ve got an extra in the car. I’ll be right back.”
He rushed off to get the weapon, hoping that Taavi knew how to use it, and then returned to find they had already formulated a plan. Taavi and Jamie would go around the back of the first house while Aaron made entry from the front and cleared the small home. They would work through each house in the same way until they had vacated all three. If there was noise and the Vampires began to run, the LIGHTS team would open fire.
“If I had known we were doing this now, I’d have brought a few friends,” Taavi muttered.
“May as well get it over with. You said you thought there were eight of them, right?” Aaron asked as they began to move into position.
“That is our estimate.”
“We can take eight,” Jamie assured him. The houses were eerily silent as the doctor signaled for Taavi to follow him around the perimeter and Aaron prepared to gain entry.
Kicking in the front door was tempting; the startle effect was usually such that he could take out an entire room before there was time for a defensive reaction. But since the commotion could wake the inhabitants of the other two homes, he decided to pick the lock.
Surveying the home told him he’d be entering the living room and there likely were only one or two other rooms in the entire building.
The door wasn’t even locked, so he slipped inside without a sound. There was no question that the four bodies lying on sofas and the floor inside were Vampires, exhausted from a long night of victimization, no doubt. Three men and a woman. There was no sign of any human bodies, but he had enough information to validate what he was about to do.
He shot the first male Vampire in the head at close range through a pillow in an attempt to muffle the sound. It was a bit successful but the woman next to him began to rouse, and he knew he’d ne
ed to work more quickly now. Three shots later, and all of them were dispatched.
Their neighbors had heard the noise, however, and shouts from outside let him know that he was needed in the yard. Realizing Jamie and Taavi likely had any back exits covered, he sprang back through the front of the house and saw three Vampires fleeing the middle house. Two women took off running for the sugar fields while the man, a large Hawaiian native built like a brute, rushed at him.
While hand-to-hand combat against the bloodsucker would have been more fun, Aaron’s new philosophy was, “If you have the shot, take it.” There would always be more opportunities to fight. As the Vampire lurched at him, teeth bared and hands splayed, he shot him twice in the heart and watched as he burst into a spray of ashes.
The woman had spread out and were covering the ground quickly. They were both out of range now, so he would have to work quickly to get them both. He could hear that Jamie and Taavi were both engaged in the back and would be of little use to him right now.
He took off sprinting at an angle toward the female Vampire closest to him. He still hadn’t quite gotten the hang of running and shooting at the same time, so he holstered his revolver. She was quick, but he was faster, and just before she reached the far end of the sugar field, he careened into her sending her flying thirty feet into the air, her black hair billowing out around her. By the time she hit the ground, he was there, and she didn’t even get a chance to protest before he sank a silver bullet into her heart.
The sun was higher now, which helped him to spot the remaining female as she entered the forest on the other end of the field. He rushed off in that direction, unwilling to let her get away.
Though the trees made visibility more difficult, she was leaving a trail of broken branches and torn up terrain that made her easy to track. After a few moments, he began to feel her up ahead, could sense her fear, and then he saw her leaping over a downed tree twenty yards ahead. He pulled his revolver, and steadying himself, took the shot.
