by Martha Woods
“Even if that happens,” I said, kneeling down at his side. “Even if that happens there are going to be people just like you who see that there needs to be a change made. People who see what’s really important and know that they need to fight for the future, not for the past.”
“It wouldn’t be easy though, once you become a hunter you’re pretty much a hunter for life. Why do you think I had such a hard time stopping? It’s not just that they want you to fight with them, it gets to a point where you can’t stand doing anything else either.” Damon turned his hands over, inspecting nicks and cuts healed over years ago. “You get raised to kill and not question it, that’s not something that you can just overcome easily.”
I nodded. “I’ve seen. But I’ve also seen the ways that you’ve fought against everything you learned, the fact that you’re standing here with me today right alongside a group of vampires and werewolves is a testament to that. When I first met you, there was absolutely no chance of you even considering doing this but look at how you’ve changed.”
“It’s not easy. Even now my first instinct is to reach for something sharp, I honestly didn’t know if I was going to shake Joseph’s hand or stab him in the chest when he walked up to us. Maybe I’m better than I was a year ago but… I still don’t think I’m anything to write home about.”
“But you’re trying, that’s what matters. You’re choosing the hard option instead of the easy, you could just go back to being violent with no question, but you’re not.” I squeezed his hand, waiting until he was looking at me before I smiled. “There are other men and women like you in your group, they just need to see someone else make it out before they can try. You are going to be that person Damon, I just know it. You’re going to inspire so many of them, just wait and see.”
He chuckled, nodding to himself and standing back up. “Guess it’s high time that I put the work in to be better huh? Let’s go then, no time like the present.”
We walked closer to the entrance to the lot, the number of paranormals actively watching us dwindling until it was no more than a handful, and even they had their attention divided between us and their own business. I hadn’t been involved in their world for long, but it had been long enough to learn that the ways and customs that each group possessed were as varied as the creatures themselves, especially considering that humans themselves were so varied already.
How incredible to think about, that there was an entire world of people that had remained hidden for so long, in so many countries and of so many backgrounds and upbringings, some of whom had been around to witness the changing of the world over the centuries.
So, you can imagine how disappointing it was to arrive at the entrance to the lot and to come face to face with the seeming representation of how little some things change. Tristian couldn’t help but sneer when he saw me, the feeling very mutual on my part, though I at least made an effort to be slightly more diplomatic than him.
“Damon,” He said, not even addressing me, “I hope you know this sounds like a trap waiting to happen.”
“I hope you know that you sound like a broken record,” Damon replied, looking past Tristian and at the men standing behind him. “You all know what you’re doing here? We’re working with these people, not against them, if you don’t understand that then put your hand up right now.”
He sighed at the half dozen hands that raised, shaking his head and continuing on. “What exactly is it that you’re not understanding?”
“I thought our mission was to kill the paranormals?” One of the hunters asked, “It seems counterproductive to be working with them don’t you think?”
Damon scoffed, “Our mission is to protect humanity, but thanks for demonstrating everything wrong with how we’ve been operating lately. We were never supposed to be a death squad, if that’s what you think we should be then you can turn around and walk out that gate right now, there’s probably a copy of Mein Kompf at the library with your name on it.”
The hunter scowled but put his hand back down, the others around him either nodding their heads or joining in on his visible displeasure. Damon gave them one last glance over, nodding his satisfaction before approaching Tristian.
“I want your assurance that none of them are going to kill tonight. What we’re working towards here is far more important than whatever issues we’re bringing into it, so we need to leave that shit out the door, you got that?”
“I’m not sure when you got the idea that you were in charge of all of us,” Tristian said, “But I would recommend you think very carefully about what you’re asking us to do. You might think that what you’re doing is the right thing, but that’s no different than us.”
“No,” He replied, “I’m trying to help something be built here, not keep tearing it down. There are two sides to this, pick one.”
Tristian stared at him, shoulders squared and eyebrows drew together, muscles so tight he looked like a coiled snake ready to strike. I wasn’t the only one expecting an incoming fight, the other hunters behind Tristian all readying themselves to either jump in or out of the way, all of them prepared to let the fight go all the way this time. Part of me felt bad for how badly their relationship had turned so quickly, but I only had to think of the person that Damon was turning into to know it was the right choice. Tristian wasn’t the kind of person that you could be around and hope to change for the better, he was a toxin that poisoned anything he came into contact with, the only time you could be around him safely was when you took every step to protect yourself.
So, it was a rather large surprise when he stepped back, nodding slightly at Damon and saying, “Fine. If anything goes wrong it’s on you, but we’ll give this one shot. I just hope your pets are up to a challenge, I’m not going to make it easy on them.”
“You can fight them, and you can hurt them,” Damon said, “But you had better make sure that’s it. Or we are done, you hear me?”
“Crystal,” Tristian smirked. “I’ll get my men ready then.”
He backed away, sweeping his men towards the gate with one gesture of his hand. Damon watched him go with obvious mistrust, but in our situation, there wasn’t much we could do except give him the benefit of the doubt that he wouldn’t do anything disastrous. Now the last few months had taught me that the minute I start hoping for something to go right that’s the exact minute the universe is going to take my hopes and dreams and crush them underneath a very large, very dirty boot, but that didn’t mean that I was turning into a total cynic.
I just wasn’t certain that it was wise to let my guard down around him, not with how important everything else was.
“You think we can trust him?” Damon asked, finally looking back at me once Tristian had disappeared from sight. “He’s a true believer, he won’t give up easily.”
“No,” I said, shaking my head. “I don’t trust him, but we need his men. Like I said before, I’m sure there are going to be at least a few that come around to how we think, but for now, we just have to keep an eye on them.”
“We can’t afford for things to go bad. If he tries anything I’m gonna kick the shit out of him.”
I snorted, “Trust me Damon if he tries anything I’ll do it myself.” Taking his hand, I began leading him back towards the meeting spot. “No, let’s go and see if we can manage to get everyone to work together, hm?”
* * *
When we got back a small crowd had already gathered, the werewolves on one side of the lot and the vampires on ours, both sides whipping themselves into a frenzy in preparation for what was to come. I guess they were dedicated to making the act look good, but the sight of extended fangs and snarling muzzles was intimidating, to say the least, especially considering that it hadn’t been long at all since I’d had that murderous intent centered on me for real.
One quick glimpse into their minds and it was clear that everyone involved was loving the opportunity to get into their roles, Joseph’s mind screaming out the loudest in his absolute
adoration for the situation. He really wasn’t kidding when he said that it was the most fun he’d had in centuries, I would have to remember to ask him about that later. Sure, vampires could be stuffy, and they usually were, but surely it wasn’t that bad?
Whatever the case was with that though, it was definitely much more exciting to be swinging a bag of severed werewolf heads around with reckless abandon, acting the part of every foolish, battle hardy vampire conqueror that there had been throughout the centuries. Tabitha and Tariq were standing nearby and getting ready for battle, Tariq letting flashes of fire erupt from his hands while he stared down his opponents. He was doing a good job of intimidating me, so it wasn’t much of a stretch to say that they felt the same. I don’t know what Tabitha specializes in, or even if she has any particularly noteworthy talents, but I could sense some underlying power within her. Since it had only been a short time since she’d been ambushed by those werewolves, it was highly likely that she planned on dishing out a little payback.
Unlike some others that were gathered here tonight, I trusted her to know when to stop.
The vampires had come through on the delivery, the cage glamoured up in the middle of the battlefield and ready for Alvin to be thrown in headfirst and prepared for the ritual. Even from here I could feel the power rising off of it, Faye had done some amazing work on such short notice. Alexis had as well I suppose, but I was considering myself petty enough tonight to not really count her efforts for much right now.
I wasn’t too familiar with the werewolves that were here tonight, I hadn’t made much of an effort to reach out to them personally since Vincent had been stabbed, but when I tried to look into their minds I could sense an overwhelming feeling of… hope. The beings that had gathered here really believed that things were going to get better after this, they believed that there was finally going to be an end to the pointless violence and death. After feeling that I considered it my duty to help them make their dreams a reality, I have so many questions I want to ask them about who they are, where they come from, what they want in life. For someone who spent their life trying to figure out every little puzzle I came across, I really was being spoiled for choice with how much new information was opening up to me.
But all of that would have to wait, the way that Joseph was swinging the bag around was something that demanded my attention, if he wasn’t careful he was going to end up going too far and actually whipping them up into a murderous frenzy, and the thing that was absolutely not at the top of my list of things to do tonight was to fight a group of bloodthirsty werewolves to the death in an abandoned lot somewhere in the middle of nowhere.
“Joseph,” I said, tapping him on the shoulder after I shoved my way through the crowd. “It looks like you’re having fun, are you sure it’s… necessary though?”
He placed his hand on his chest in mock offense. “Of course, it is my dear, I am nothing if not an absolute perfectionist when it comes to drama. Everyone involved is getting good and worked up, but I assure you we are all big enough to keep ourselves under control.” He dropped the smile, expression serious while he nodded his agreement. “We all know how important this is, and we know that the second one of us makes a wrong move that means that everything is in danger. Trust me, Amy, none of us want to be the one who makes that first wrong move.”
“That makes sense I guess,” I sighed, “I just… this isn’t what I expected us to be doing a week ago, you know?”
“If it makes you feel slightly more in the loop, not even I could have predicted all of us standing here together. This is uncharted territory for everyone, so I’d say you’re right to be feeling overwhelmed.” He slapped my shoulder, gaining his smile back. “So, don’t worry! Even if everything goes horribly, bloodily wrong, at least you made it further than anyone else has!”
“That’s nowhere near as comforting as you think it is Joseph but thank you.” I looked around us, noticing the hunters moving into position out of the way, all crouched low to sprint in once the situation got wilder. “Looks like everyone is here but… what now? Something has to happen to kick everything off right?”
“That it does Amy, that it does.” Joseph got that glint in his eye again, the kind that I’d seen enough times in my career in law enforcement and in my life in college to know only mean that something stupid was about to happen. By the time I’d connected the dots, he had already pushed himself out into the open, reaching into the bag and pulling out one of the heads, holding it high and proud like he was Hamlet himself.
“If you’ve come for your friends I’m afraid it’s already far too late! My new best friend here told me all about what you planned to do to rescue them, right?” He flapped the head’s mouth open and closed, operating it like an incredibly crude puppet show. “Yeah, that’s right!”
Tossing the head in front of him like a simple piece of trash, Joseph lifted his foot in the air and brought it stomping down to the ground, crushing the head under his boot as easily as crushing a beer can. Something that the vampire next to him had not been expecting, grimacing while they scraped a chunk of something off their pant leg.
“Beast!” The lead werewolf howled, muscular chest flexing as he cracked his bones and readied himself for a fight. His mouth was open in a snarl, tongue dragging over his teeth and his eyes blood red, the other werewolves behind him following his lead and transforming fully. “You’ll die for this dishonor! You and every other monster like you!”
“Then what are you waiting for?” He held his arms out to the sides, sweeping over each of his people. “Unless you’re afraid of what we are capable of? You don’t have the witches by your side to stand against us, maybe you don’t think you can beat us?”
I had to give them credit, they were doing a good job of insulting each other and making it feel real. Maybe they were having a little too much fun doing it, but who was I to argue with results? After all of this, I would recommend having a proper sit down and making sure no actual feelings were hurt, it wouldn’t do to have to be a part of a fight like this only a few weeks from now.
But thoughts of a sit down would have to wait, the lead werewolf roaring at the top of his lungs and sprinting forward onto the battlefield, Joseph tearing off his jacket and running to join him. “The wolf is mine!” He yelled, “You can have your pick of the litter!”
Without another word needing to be said the rest of the vampires ran after him, the witches only pausing for a second before they too ran into the fray. And just like that, the battle was well and truly started.
Chapter 8
It was an incredible sight, three of the most powerful groups in the city all at each other's throats and pummeling each other into the ground, hands around throats or digging into sides, grunts of pain and triumph alike making up a thunderous symphony of violence. I hadn’t yet moved from where I had been standing, just watching the fighting around me swallowing up as many members as it could, a vampire being grabbed around the neck no more than five feet from me and being slammed so hard into the ground I could hear bones breaking. If that was a regular human being they would have been reduced to nothing but paste on the concrete, but as it was they just jumped right back to their feet and slashed their fingers along their attacker’s side.
Damon hadn’t wasted any time, sprinting right in and smashing a warlock directly across the cheek, ducking a blast of power directed at his chest and making a shallow cut in their thigh before he moved onto the next target. He moved through the crowd, ducking and diving through small gaps and flicking his knife out wherever he could, making as many shallow cuts as he could to properly bloody up the ground. With all the chaos that was unfolding around us, it wouldn’t make sense for there not to be blood in a supposed fight to the death after all.
Tariq was making the most of the opportunity to flex his conjuring muscles, flames dancing from his palms and sweeping just above everyone’s heads, one or two unlucky werewolves finding their fur being scorched and needing to pat out the smolde
rs, more than one angry pair of eyes turning towards him before they were batted aside.
When I tried to see who had done that it wasn’t hard to figure out it was Tabitha, standing proudly next to Tariq with a blazing fury in her eyes, clearly not having forgotten or forgiven almost being killed by a pack of werewolves only days before. The werewolves howled in anger when they saw her, trying in vain to reach out and crush her before they were slammed down into the ground, her hand moving slightly while she ground them slowly across the concrete while they screamed in pain. I would definitely have to remember not to get on her bad side, I wasn’t exactly keen on having my face ground against the concrete for a few hours.
Joseph and the Alpha were going all in on each other, Joseph’s fist slamming so hard into his opponent’s stomach that both of them were lifted off the ground from the sheer force of the blow. Claws raked down his face, slashing his lips open and spilling what blood was still stored in them from his earlier feast before the battle. In contrast with the audacious smiles and the quiet frowns of anger that I’d seen before, in the heat of battle he wore a smirk that I could only describe as utterly chilling, his fangs extending over his torn lips and tinting red with his blood. He was adoring every moment of being in the heat of battle, his entire body vibrating with excitement and his mind filled with nothing except ecstasy and red tinted thoughts of the violence to come. I hadn’t really been able to get a good look at him fighting previously, my own hands already full with either fighting myself or needing to just survive, but I imagine he wore a similar expression when he had torn Olivia’s tongue from her mouth when we had first met.
