The Crime of Protection

by Gloria Martin

  “You did good Brody. Now really impress me, and kill more of those fangs alright?” I patted Brody on the shoulder and he got fired up to go hunt more vampires down the trail. We had just recently found out that this park was one of their feeding grounds and my team was all over exterminating it. It was silent in the tree-shrouded preserve and I knew I wouldn’t hear any sounds other than the occasional vampire body hitting the ground. My team had specialized weapons made to be both silent and visually discreet. I was confident that my team of fifteen highly trained hunters could clean up the preserve fairly quickly so I decided to take a break.

  I walked over to a tree stump and sat down so I could pull out a granola bar and some water. I was getting tired of granola bars. Our commanding officer, so to speak, was sending my team out more and more frequently now because we were getting the most kills. Rick had high expectations of us, but I felt a burnout coming soon. The guys were getting less excited to go out hunting, Brody for one was becoming more weirdly erratic and overexcited, meanwhile I was just getting sick of staring at trees and dead vampires.

  After I finished my lunch, I pulled out my compact to make sure my earpiece was still well hidden behind my curly black hair. The wire I also wore underneath my parka was tucked away too. My shooter was still strapped to my arm under my sleeve so I was all set.

  “Hey Lina, we have a problem by the deer path… we need five hunters over here, Brody, Kevin, and Ron are nearest to you.” Jackson’s voice sounded from my earpiece and I quickly jumped into motion. I pulled put my phone and used the tracker to get to Brody, who was closest to me, so we could meet up with Kevin and Ron then head to Jackson’s location.

  Jackson and I sometimes didn’t see eye to eye and he tried to take lead from time to time. I was the first female lead in a hunting team and Jack thought I was too laid back and not really fit to lead. I proved myself often enough to keep him quiet and earn his respect, but we still had our disagreements. It was getting darker as the sun was setting and with the lack of light I grew confidence. My team worked best after dusk as I had handpicked guys that were stealthier and knew how to innately blend in with the surroundings once night fell. The vampires did have the advantage when it came to seeing in the dark, so I made sure my team had an advantage also.

  I met up with Brody on the trail and then radioed Kevin and Ron to take a wide berth and meet us by the deer path. We were all dressed inconspicuously enough, but we couldn’t be too careful. I didn’t see what the ‘problem’ was that Jack needed us near the deer path for. The tracker was completely dead apart from showing all fifteen of my guys. I put my phone away while Brody and I walked silently through the preserve. All of a sudden a bullet whizzed right by my ear, and Brody and I dove for cover behind trees.

  “What do you see?” Brody asked me, he was only two feet away from me behind a thick sequoia and I was crouched in a ditch in between its thick roots. I glanced around the base of the tree and saw a vampire standing out in the open with a gun visibly holstered at its hip. It was tall and characteristically pale, dressed in a black jacket, dark jeans, and black boots. It was scanning the trees for us. I slowly lifted my arm and pulled back my sleeve to reveal my shooter. The barrel rested on my knuckles, and all I had to do was pull the trigger for a clean shot.

  I took the shot and the bullet flew silently through the air and hit directly in between the vampire’s eyes. Its head flew back and it hit the ground with a thud. Its body started to age and decompose, but then Brody and I heard running as two more vampires showed up to investigate. They were both armed as well.

  So the vampires had finally decided to fight back. I quickly reloaded my shooter while Brody made quick work of one, but he had to step out into the open to do it. The other started to shoot at him and Brody retreated into more tree cover. I waited for the vampire to follow him back and once he was directly across from me, I shot him in the temple and he went down. Afterwards, I ran to catch up with Brody and hurry to the deer path.

  When we got there, it was an all-out silent war. Both sides had weapons that barely made a sound and both sides moved with stealth. Kevin, Ron, and Jackson were taking cover while Brody and I were coming up behind the four vampires shooting at them. We made quick work of the vampires and I called a retreat order as the sound of rustling trees could be heard in the distance. There was no wind, so that meant the vampires were tree hopping to try and ambush us from above. We all sprinted from the preserve and loaded up into our trucks to rendezvous at a nearby diner. We had lost our element of surprise, we needed to start strategizing.

  **

  Jeremih

  “The hunters withdrew from the nature preserve, though we don’t think they’ll stay away. We’ve let them know that we’re fighting back now.” Alistair waltzed into our safe house located near the nature preserve which had always been safe hunting grounds for our kind from all three covens. He was followed by half of the fifteen vampires I sent him with.

  “Did you dwindle their numbers at all Alistair?” I asked and he shook his head slowly. I cursed and then stood up from behind desk I was sitting at.

  “They are highly specialized, I saw one woman take one shot and it killed Roland instantly,” Alistair said, and I began to pace. We couldn’t lose this battle with the hunters before it even began.

  “Then they must have some special agent in their bullets that can kill our kind. We shall use poison laced rounds as well then,” I said, and Alistair nodded.

  “That would be wise. I think we should continue to focus our forces on the hunting grounds. This new team of hunters is surprisingly adept come nightfall,” Alistair said, and I waved away his comment dismissively.

  “Of course they are, they’re hunters. They know their prey. Did you say they had a woman on their team?” I asked, and Alistair nodded.

  “Yes, she was skilled as well. I’d say she could have been the team’s leader. She called for them all to retreat and they followed her order.” I pursed my lips. It seems the hunters had evolved over time.

  “Well then we’ll just have to make sure we capture this woman eventually. No doubt she will break easier than a male hunter would and we can get the information needed to drive them out of Rochester or to eradicate them completely,” I said, and the men with Alistair all bristled with anticipation. “Do not let tonight’s loss color your outlook on this battle with the hunters. We will prevail,” I said simply, and I could see the resolve steel in the remaining vampires. I needed to send word to the rest of my team. My plan was working as expected so far. It was a good thing I sent the less skilled vampires with Alistair, yes it was a risk, but we had to know what we were up against.

  “Jeremih, a word?” Alistair called me out of my reverie. I looked up and discovered that all the men had left spare for Alistair. “I think we should wait on our next attack and simply follow their movements, learn where their base is for future exploitation. We simply have to know more than they think we know,” Alistair said, and I nodded. He was wise when it came to battle.

  “You’re right Alistair. Do what you think is best on your next patrol, but be careful,” I said, and he nodded once before flashing me a grin and leaving. I exhaled deeply and walked over to my desk. The safe house we were using was a cabin in the woods, surrounded by other bunkers for the men to sleep come sun up. We could survive and operate fully during the day if we wished, but from history and habit we’ve always been people of the night.

  Just as I was about to get up to oversee the modifications to our ammunitions, my phone rang and I saw it was my father calling. I hesitated to answer the phone, but did anyway. “Father,” I answered lightly. I heard a door shut on the other end and my father’s voice.

  “Jeremih, how was the first ambush?” he asked, and I decided to simply tell him that it was successful, because according to my plan it was.

  “Of course there was some loss, but it was foreseen. We know the full extent of the hunters’ capabilities now and it will be easier t
o dwindle their numbers from now on,” I said after explaining to him what I sent Alistair and the men in to the preserve to accomplish.

  “Well you seem to have things under control, I believe in you son, make Rochester safe for our kind again,” he said, and I promised that I wouldn’t let him down. After that, I decided to create a plan for how exactly we would capture the hunter woman so that we could get all the information we could out of her.

  **

  Alina

  I washed my face and forced myself not to cry. We had lost four men on a hunting ground patrol and it was by the same armed vampires who showed up in the nature preserve. Only they were more prepared and we killed not one of them. They caught us at dusk in a park we knew the vampires frequented. We of course knew they could show up. But we weren’t prepared for them to know exactly when and where we’d be hunting vampires.

  I looked up into the mirror of my bathroom in our hideaway house, the next town over from Rochester. The town of Chester Minnesota was small, but indiscreet. As I looked in the mirror, I saw the disappointment and frustration I was trying to hide from the rest of the guys. It was in my green eyes which were easy to read. I tried to rub some vigor back into my face with a towel, but all it did was make my light brown skin just a bit warm. Maybe I just needed some sleep. I looked tired and worn from our last battle with the vampires, and I needed to show strength for the guys. We wouldn’t lose this fight. We weren’t sent to Minnesota to fail.

  There was a knock at the door and I dried my hands before going to answer it. Brody stood there, tall and bulky with muscle, wearing a t-shirt and sweat pants. His shoulders were slumped and he looked just as bad as I did.

  “I’ve gathered the guys in the living room, they’re all waiting for you,” Brody said, and I nodded. I took a deep breath and then followed him out to the living room, where only eleven men were gathered around when it should have been fifteen.

  “Guys I’m not going to bullshit you; I think we all know that was bad what happened in that park last night. The vampires are smart and they know more than we think they do. We have to be extremely careful and go into our next patrol with our eyes wide open. We have to take more precaution without movements, don’t have any sensitive conversations out loud, unless we’re here, and always assume something is watching. We underestimated them and paid the price for it. The ultimate price and I don’t want to have to have us all go through that again.” I took a deep breath and met the eyes of each man sitting or standing in the room, focused on me.

  “They are using poisonous rounds just as we are, so all it takes is one shot. We need to wear our protective gear always, don’t get cocky, and play it safe. This cleanup is going to go a lot slower now so just be patient. We’ll hunt every last vampire in Rochester, if it takes us a year to do it then so be it. What we need to do now is gain more intelligence on this counter-force the vampires let loose against us. We’re going to be cutting our man power in half for night shifts to start up day shifts. We have to get stealthy and kill those things in their sleep.” the guys all bristled with agreement and I took a deep breath to continue.

  “Jack, you pick four guys and transition to working during the day. By tomorrow, I want you following every lead you can to learn where the vamps live, where they gather, and most importantly where those bastards fighting back, operate from. Kill any vamp you can and keep communication open.” Jackson nodded to me, and I looked to Brody.

  “Brody we’ll need better sweeping systems and tracking. Work with Kevin, because he’ll be our eyes while the rest of us are patrolling hunting grounds,” I said, and both men nodded. “Good then, don’t let last night get to you. We’ll come out on top, we always do,” I said, and the guys gave one hoorah before the meeting was officially over. I needed some quiet time before we went out for another patrol in a few hours, so I went back to my room to lie in bed and relax a little.

  Banging on my door forced me to bolt right out of bed. I ran to open the door and saw both Brody and Kevin standing on the other side with expressions of unease.

  “What is it?” Kevin handed me one of the larger scanners we had and I saw a cluster of white dots nearby in Chester Woods Park. “They’re here?” I asked, and Brody nodded. “Tell the guys to suit up, we’re going to clean up the park.” both Brody and Kevin hurried into action and I stepped back into my room to get ready. The vampires tended to stay where there was more of a concentration of humans. So it had to be that the vampires fighting against us were in those woods sniffing around, and so early before sundown too. Something was definitely up with this, but we couldn’t just ignore a threat like that. In under ten minutes, we were out of the hideaway and headed toward the park. Kevin stayed behind with the trucks, to help us track down the vamps. We all moved forward cautiously. It was a big park and the vampires had spread out a bit so things were slow going.

  A couple of our guys reported two good kills and I felt our team’s confidence growing as we continued to sweep through the park. I hadn’t come across any vampire yet, but I was eager to take some payback on the first one I saw.

  “Lina hold up, you have a vamp coming in behind you seven o’clock,” Kevin’s voice warned me from my ear piece, and I turned around to back up against a tree. “Shit Lina, there are two coming at you from both sides. You gotta get some cover quick,” Kevin said, and my heart started to race as I scanned the area for something to hide in. There was nothing but thin spindly trees as I entered a sort of clearing in the park. I was out of options. I decided to gun for the tree line, but I was stiff-armed on the collar. The impact came out of nowhere and I flew back and landed hard on the ground.

  In my ear I could hear Kevin calling backup for me, but it was already too late. I was staring up at two pale-faced vampires and they were leveling their guns at me. “Don’t move,” one ordered, while the other tucked away his gun and pulled out some rope. Like I hell I wasn’t going to move. I quickly pulled my sleeve back to shoot the one with his gun pointed at me and he went down much to the shock of the other. He acted quickly though and before I could fully swing my arm around to face him, he kicked me in the temple and I was out like a light.

  **

  Jeremih

  “We managed to get the woman Jeremih, but we took some loss.” Alistair returned just after I did, with the other half of our men. Alistair and his six had taken the north part of the park while I had taken the rest of the men to sweep from the south and travel north. We hadn’t been able to trap all the hunters as we had intended, but at least we got the woman.

  “Well it wasn’t a loss by far then, we most likely have their leader,” I said, and Alistair gestured for the men to bring her forth, she was unconscious and she had a black cloth bag over her head. She wore an unzipped black windbreaker that revealed a bulletproof vest, she had unassuming black pants on and black running shoes to match. “Take her into the basement then,” I said, and the men easily carried her out of the front room and directly into the basement. “I’ll question her when she wakes. In the meantime, inform me who we lost.” I asked for the report from Alistair and he filled me in while the men dispersed to rest a bit.

  “We lost Paxton, Klaus, and Jeffrey,” Alistair said, and I walked with him into the common room.

  “They are disadvantaged by two people yes, but I’m sure they can still function without their leader. We mustn’t return to Chester or they will know that we have learned entirely too much about them and their whereabouts. I want to draw them out. Keep them coming to Rochester and we’ll soon eliminate them all,” I said, and Alistair nodded.

  “You’re right. So what will you do with the woman? Take her to your father?” Alistair asked and I shook my head.

  “No. I will keep her here to question her. I can’t risk taking her to the coven. Her men could possibly have some tracking device on her that we don’t know of yet.” Alistair continued to nod and one of the men came up from the basement.

  “Jeremih, she is waking now,” I qu
ickly followed him back to the basement and saw that she was seated in a metal chair with cuffs on her wrists and ankles. She lifted up her head slowly and inhaled deeply. I walked over to her and pulled the black bag from her head. A soft whimper fell from her lips and I felt a strange sensation in my chest as I stared at her.

  She was beautiful; her light brown skin was perfectly smooth and her polished features made her as beautiful as any vampire female. She opened her striking green eyes and wet her full lips as her throat worked. Her mouth was no doubt dry from being unconscious for so long.

  “Get her some water,” were the first words out of my mouth and she looked at me in surprise. I felt the same gaze from each of my men and I turned to look at Jonathan who hurried to do what I asked. “What is your name?” I asked, and she glanced around at Alistair, Safir, and myself.

  “It’s… I’m—my name is Alina,” she stammered, and I crossed my arms over my chest.

  “My name is Jeremih. Can you tell me if you have any tracking devices on your person at the moment?” I asked, and Alina swallowed before she opened her mouth to answer, but I cut her off. “See I already know you are going to lie; so can we open up a channel of trust between us? I won’t hurt you if you cooperate. All I asked was if you have a tracking device on you,” I said, and she simply nodded.

  “Where is it?” Alistair asked, and Alina glanced between him and me. I nodded and looked at her expectantly, and she pulled her plump lip in between her teeth. Unexpectedly, my cock hardened and I grit my teeth to try and control my ludicrous reaction to the woman.

  “It’s in my boot,” she said finally, and Safir walked over to take her boots off.