by Dave Ferraro
Shanna stared up at the ceiling of the mansion that night with only a touch of sadness breaking through her exhaustion. She felt like she was in a state of stupor, utterly exhausted from her long day of introductions and revelations. It didn’t help matters that she hadn’t gotten much sleep the night before. Many of the other hunters were still up, socializing in the lounge, chatting and goofing off. It was nice to act so casual before the impending battle tomorrow. But they would have to face it, no matter how long they stayed up trying to pretend they didn’t have it in the back of their minds. They would face it and be marked, because of her. Any chance of backing out, gone in the blink of an eye.
She was surprised at herself, how quickly she’d become attached to the other hunters. Jordan, Jade, Amelia - they all seemed like they could become really close, important people in her life. Real friends she could share real hardships with. Kelly had been a wonderful friend, yet one she’d had to avoid on occasions and keep secrets from on a consistent basis. These people had the potential to know all about her. All of her demons. And Cameron...Cameron definitely exemplified boyfriend potential, despite her attempts to feel tortured and unaffected by his presence. The truth was, she kept thinking about him, whether he was in the room or not. Definitely a bad sign if she hoped to keep her feelings out of it. Even Natalia’s insistent indifference and the iciness that radiated from Rachel seemed comforting in a strange way. At least in such company, she knew what to expect, how they would act. And sadly, they would know parts of her that Kelly would never know, the girl behind the mask, beyond the loneliness. These girls, these friends whom she’d been thrown in with as family, could bond with her over things she hadn’t been able to bond over with Kelly, express feelings about hunting that she was never able to get off her chest. It wasn’t fair, it felt wrong, but it was what it was.
Dreams materialized only to haunt her that night. Kelly seemed ever-present, condemning her for how easily she’d been forgotten. Luckily, Shanna awoke with only a vague impression of Kelly infiltrating her dreams, thus she was spared any extra grievance she may have suffered.
***
“No, no. Valor’s having trouble finding a ghost hunter, but Natalia’s a mutt, so we’re covered, if all goes to Hell. Then there are two werewolf hunters, a demon hunter, shape-shifter, witch and vampire. We’re all good, for the most part.”
Sauntering around the corner of a Chevy Cavalier, Shanna saw Rachel leaning against the passenger side door, talking to Brett, who was hanging out of the window, looking up her breasts at her face. Or maybe just at her breasts. It was hard to tell from where she stood.
“Okay,” Brett said. “I got it, I think. It’s just weird that there’s only one vampire hunter. They’re real bad-asses.”
“Well, I mean Natalia does them all, so I guess technically, there’s more than one.”
“And I’m the only giant hunter?”
“Besides Natalia.”
“What does that mean - giant hunter?” Jordan asked from the driver’s seat. “There certainly aren’t any house-sized people out there or we would have heard about it. I’d imagine they would be a little hard to miss.”
Brett looked over at him. “Giants are the slimy trolls, counting-obsessed ogres and occasionally, a huge guy. But I’ve fought giant lizards, giant birds, even a giant porcupine once.”
“A giant porcupine?”
“I’ve got a quill to prove it. I always save a souvenir from my conquests. I have a bird claw, trolls’ teeth, an ogre’s eye - even mounted a chameleon’s head myself.” Brett smiled at Rachel. “I’ve got it up on my bedroom wall, if you wanna see it.”
“Hello, Shanna,” Amelia greeted from a jeep window casually. She leaned close to her ear and whispered so no one else could hear. “Brett is a pig. And by pig, I mean one of the most loathsome creatures on Earth.”
“Don’t I know it.” Shanna scrambled into the back of the jeep, having just been mulling over Brett, how he made her feel uncomfortable. It was probably all of the leering he did or the overabundance of testosterone that radiated in the air in his vicinity.
Glancing over at him, Shanna saw him pull himself out of the car and run a hand back through his hair like an underwear model, doing his best to act natural, like he lounged about half-naked all the time. She could tell he had a great chiseled body beneath the sports jersey he wore, his chest and arms pulling the fabric taut with every new gesture. Really pumped up. He must work out all the time to produce such astounding results. It was all he had going for him as far as Shanna was concerned. She personally preferred a little less muscle on her man. Jordan had a lean, toned body that she admired. She recalled her eager eyes when he’d awoken aboard the train and blushed, not quite understanding why it made her feel so dirty, like she’d taken advantage of him. Cameron wasn’t quite as toned as Jordan was, but he seemed to be fairly close, something she was happy about. She imagined him as he was the other day, during those innocent, reflexive moments that were nonetheless enticing: licking his full lips, winking his long eyelashes as he relayed a story. She could just melt under his warm gaze.
“This feels so normal,” Shanna found herself saying suddenly. “It’s weird. Hanging out with you guys, like we’re getting ready for a road trip. I’ve never done this kind of thing before, but I’ve heard of it, you know?”
“What was your life like before this?” Amelia glanced over at her curiously.
“Before hunting?” Shanna looked down at her nails, avoiding her gaze. “You don’t want to hear about my screwed-up life. How about you?”
Amelia blinked. “Me? Well, I don’t really recall much before hunting. I remember some friends, but I can’t recall much of what we did. I remember things I did with my parents. My...well, when I was younger, my mom would read fairy tales to me, trying to frill me up into a little princess, I’d imagine. I heard Cinderella, Briar Rose, Snow White. The basics. But she wouldn’t read me the kiddy versions. She refused to read them watered-down. So I got them right from the Brothers Grimm. Scary stuff for a little kid, but I loved it. I...yeah, I loved that.” She paused and glanced at Shanna. “But if I hear you breathe a single word of that to anyone, I will be forced to drastic measures. Do we understand each other?”
Shanna smirked, but nodded. “Those stories probably prepared you early for hunting,” she said lightly, her heart skipping a beat as Cameron came out of the mansion with a bag full of weaponry, the morning sun glinting off of his eyebrow ring listlessly, praising him an angel. Her eyes couldn’t stop themselves from drinking him in. She wondered if she perhaps was too obvious, too overjoyed by his presence as Rachel had insinuated. The girl had been able to put it together with one moment in the two’s company, after all. Maybe she needed to tone it down a notch, act a little more nonchalant, as Rachel had suggested. It certainly wasn’t horrible advice, as snide as she had spun her words.
Amelia looked up as Cameron set the bag down next to the jeep. She sent Shanna a silent look that told her she was a lucky lady, a note of jealousy bleeding through her eyes. “Anyways, you have to ‘fess up now that I spilled. What was your life like growing up, Shanna?”
“My life? I…well, I guess it was a lot like yours. I don’t remember too much of my early friends. I had some friends before I came out here, but...I didn’t see too much of them. Most of my memories are of my parents.” She looked back at Amelia, unable to verbalize the remaining concerns impressed upon her mind, the truth of the matter. But Shanna wasn’t close enough to these people to relate that she didn’t think about the things she’d done with her parents really. The nature walks, the science museum, the picnics, the amusement parks... All she really thought about in regard to her parents was how they’d died. She could recall her mother’s look of horror more easily than her smile. She could see her dad’s bloody body more accurately than the silly robe he wore at night. She sighed, her breath coming out in a high whistle, steam escaping a pierced pipe. She wanted to remember her parents as the
happy people they were, the loving environment they’d created for her. But the way they were taken from her was so unfair that that was the most pressing image that came to her head when she thought of them. She hated it. It was like those demons hadn’t just taken her parents from her, but they took any happiness she may have treasured from memories. She just couldn’t think of the happy times without the grim times far from her thoughts. “Okay, enough of this talk.”
“I second that notion,” Amelia concurred. “We should hold on to the unhealthy illusion that we’re normal young adults until we enter NYC city limits.”
Shanna found herself giggling as her eyes wandered over to Cameron again, who made no move to hide that he’d been watching her. She was going to send him a private smile, but thought better of it and returned her attention to Amelia. However, Amelia’s gaze was focused upon Cameron.
“So, how is Frankenstein’s laboratory faring today?” Amelia asked him.
“Everything’s looking good. I mean, considering the creepy fact that Jade and Felicia can get things accomplished without saying a word to each other.”
“Whoa, Felicia’s clairvoyance ends with her...clairvoyance, right?” Amelia wondered, suddenly alarmed. “She’s not telepathic, is she?”
“For her sake, I hope she can’t read your mind,” Shanna joked.
“I think it’s just the psychic flashes,” Cameron eased Amelia’s mind with a brilliant flash of teeth.
“Do they need any help with anything?” Shanna questioned, eyeing the bag of weaponry at his feet.
Cameron looked thoughtful for a moment, then nodded. “It would probably save a couple trips if we hauled out the hunting gear together. I’m sure they’d appreciate it.”
Amelia immediately filed out of the jeep, Shanna following her lead. They quickly walked into the mansion and down the first floor hallway to the laboratory. Shanna walked just behind Cameron, refusing to match his pace when he slowed. Playing hard to get didn’t harbor any rules about admiring a guy when he was oblivious to it, so Shanna indulged herself, watching the soft brown curls of his hair shift with each step he took. When they reached the lab and Cameron knocked quietly on the door, she was completely mesmerized when she noticed that there were intentional holes ripped under his arms, boasting a flash of a tan and dark hair. If she’d been alone with him then, she was sure she’d have thrown the whole hard-to-get act out the window.
“Hey, what a nice surprise,” Jade greeted as she let them in. “Lackeys. Gotta love lackeys.”
“This is what niceties get you,” Amelia muttered. “Regret.”
Felicia also seemed happy to see them. “You guys...this is just amazing. Jade’s been working on this new device. It detects the residue left by magick. It’s never occurred to anyone to use such a thing, but it would be so helpful to discover glamours and portals, not to mention identify witches and places where they performed their rites. It’s so obvious once you think about it.”
Shanna nodded, not really sure she understood, but getting an idea. She looked around quickly and suddenly noticed an orb floating over the desk, bathing the room in secondary light. It was like a lightbulb, with a bright center filament where an emerald green glow radiated eerily, as if oozing radiation. The air around the ball was strange. It seemed to pucker, as if energy were being sucked out of the surrounding air, the kind of wavering distortion that Shanna had witnessed coming from her hairdryer or off of hot pavement when the weather was suffocating and humid.
“Yeah, it’s all done,” Jade agreed. She smiled over at Amelia. “Although all of the credit should go to Amelia. She was the one with the amazing insight. It was really easy to modify the Geiger Counter after I worked at it for awhile.”
“This mission may prove to be a great opportunity for a test run,” Felicia added, admiring the backpack with the microphone attachment. “Just...gosh, who would have thought what a little idea could produce?”
“Did anybody else notice the green light floating in the middle of the room?” Shanna asked suddenly.
“I haven’t been able to take my eyes off of it,” Cameron admitted.
“That would be my doing,” Amelia claimed. “A little spell for a ball of energy. It’s...it’s a simple conjurance - a novice could have done it really. It’s nothing big.”
“Nothing big, she says,” Cameron muttered adorably.
Glancing over at Shanna, Jade finished filling a bag of supplies for her. “Any preference in weapons while you’re here?”
“I have a dagger I use,” Shanna said. “It hasn’t let me down yet.”
Jade nodded her approval. “Me, I like big things that pack a punch, make a lot of noise, lots of damage. But, hey, it’s not for everyone, I suppose.”
“I usually just use magick, but I could take a tranquilizer gun with,” Amelia spoke up. “I prefer capture over kill.”
Jade raised an eyebrow at the opposing comment, but seemed to respect her enough for her contribution not to offer up a retort. She simply began filling another bag with the requested weapon and extra cartridges.
After handing Amelia her bag, Jade unhooked the microphone-like appendage from the magick detector and flipped a switch. A crackling noise immediately ensued, a black hand roving over a scale that held a half-circle of colors from green, to yellow, to red. The closer she held the microphone to the green floating ball, the further the hand moved into the red.
Jade turned the machine off and handed it to Amelia. “Here. You can use it today if there’s a witch involved in the action.”
“Oh, but I can’t,” Amelia replied, handing it back. “I’m a sorceress, remember? Magick residue all over me. I wouldn’t be able to detect a thing over what it detected on me.”
“Hmmm...anyone else up for the task? Cameron?”
“Magick...” He paused and looked the device over quietly. “Naw. I don’t think it’s a good look for me.”
“I don’t think it’s the ideal accessory for anyone,” Amelia smirked. “What about you, Jade? You’ll be there with the rest of us. Try it for yourself?”
Jade nodded in concession. “Yeah, I suppose I could do that. I was hoping to be able to get more in the thick of things, but if it comes to it, I can always take it off, I suppose.” She flipped the switch on the device again as she swung it toward Amelia, Cameron and Shanna, the hand immediately lurching to the farthest edge of the scale with a screech of static. Flipping it off, Jade pursed her lips. “Well, Amelia, you weren’t kidding when you said you couldn’t be around this thing.”
“Told you.”
Jade finished handing out bags of supplies to everyone in the room after that. Shanna humored her and took one of her newly-invented weapons as well, a hand fan with silver razors hidden within it at five different intervals. When the fan opened, they sprang about an inch out, and if she pushed the button on the bottom of the fan, they were supposed to shoot out one at a time, from left to right, in rapid succession.
“I never asked how to close it once I open it,” Shanna murmured to Amelia as they walked ahead of Jade out of the laboratory. “Let’s hope I don’t have to actually use it.”
When they reached the front hall, they passed by Natalia, who barely registered them as she strode by. As soon as she was out of ear shot, Jade let out a breath. “That one is cold. Someone’s gotta loosen that girl up.”
“Huh. And I suppose you’re up to the challenge?” Amelia drawled, mischief flashing in her eyes.
“What can I say? I’m a giver,” Jade smirked.
“Without discrimination.”
“Ha. And she scores.”
“I’m not sure I really registered on Natalia’s radar,” Shanna interrupted. “But she seems together enough.”
“Yeah, she barely says a word,” Jade agreed. “I suppose some guys like that in a girl.”
“Am I interrupting girl talk?” Cameron asked, materializing alongside Shanna.
Shanna smile
d at him, practically aglow as his hand bumped into hers. She was momentarily forgetful of her ploy.
“No, we were just discussing Natalia behind her back like conniving dogs,” Amelia informed him. “Who says girls are catty?”
“Natalia, huh? She’s not exactly bursting to be social, but she seems like she knows what she wants. I hear she knows everything there is to know about monsters. A master in all fields.”
“I heard that too,” Shanna admitted. “But what does that mean exactly? I mean, how do you do that?”
“I heard she grew up under the The Agency’s care,” Jade threw in. “Trained as early as one can start, to go deep undercover and the like.”
“Who told you that?”
“Oh, I may have overheard Valor on the phone.”
“Completely by accident, of course,” Amelia helped her.
“Of course.”
Before too long, everything was packed and they were on their way, leaving the mansion in a cloud of exhaust. Shanna watched in fascination as it slowly receded and eventually was lost to her altogether. She thought she’d been adjusting to the place very well, and was already quite ridiculously attached to it after having been there for only a sole day, yet here she was already leaving her new home behind, uprooted once more. She sighed and turned back to her rising companions - Amelia, Jade and Cameron. Cameron was, of course, watching her. He was sinfully adorable, with those hazelnut eyes of his. She felt extremely tempted to just lean into him, despite their current status as mere friends. Sure, he had hinted at wanting to move beyond that already, yet he hadn’t explicitly come out and said so. As it was, she chose to play it cool; For the moment, she would be content with friendship alone. She would make him be the brave one.
“So, what are Amelia’s motives?” Jade piped up, turning on the driver. “Witches kill your loved ones too? That seems to be the popular origin story around here.”
Amelia smirked. “Hmph. Moving on to motives now, are we? I wouldn’t know. My real name isn’t Amelia. That name was given to me as a gift. It’s my cloak.”
Shanna frowned as the others stared at each other, bewildered. “Aaand…what does that mean?”
“It’s a name I wear, but it’s not my given name. It merely shrouds my real name, protecting it.”
“But...why?” Jade asked. “Is your real name...Bertha or something? Not that there’s anything wrong with...”
“No,” Amelia told her. “It’s nothing like that. It’s just that once you’ve begun to walk the path that I’ve chosen, your name becomes a source of power. People can gain access to you with your name. It holds weight over you, enabling them to creep into every crack and crevice of your being, threatening people from your past, destroying things you strive to protect. My teacher gave me the name Amelia to use, so it’s what I use in my true name’s stead.”
“Magick’s more of a way of life for you than a hobby,” Cameron observed.
“Exactly. It’s a world all its own. I must live by its rules if I am to be a player. It consumes every facet of my being. But it’s truly a small price for the wisdom I’ve inherited.”
“So, how did you get into magick?” Jade asked.
Amelia glanced over at her quickly before returning her eyes to the road. “My younger brother was kidnapped by witches when I was a young girl. I never found him. I vowed I would. I’m not optimistic enough to hope to find him alive, but I at least plan on discovering what became of him. He deserves for others to know his story. He deserves to be at rest. All victims do.”
“How did you find a teacher through all of this?”
“Well, that happened years later, when I was thirteen. My mother had died a year earlier and my father began to date again. This woman...this wretched creature...snaked her way into our lives, fabricated intimacy, became close to my father and...I know this sounds silly and completely fanciful, but she turned him into a toad.”
Shanna blinked. “Seriously?”
“Seriously. The old witches love their cliches. But they need to get close to an innocent to accomplish that particular feat. A man mourning over the recent death of his wife was an easy person to give comfort to. He barely had a chance. After he was taken from me, I was alone. I couldn’t fathom what to do. I was lucky enough to stumble upon someone in an occult bookstore who took a genuine interest and knew the real ways of magick. Since then, I’ve been searching for my father’s incarcerator and for my brother’s kidnappers.”
“Quite a story,” Jade commented. “Living in the world we do, with our eyes open, we’re attune to things most people aren’t. But magick...it’s so foreign. It bucks off all universal rules. The vampires, werewolves, demons...they’re like animals to me, but they have that x-factor. They’re not things nature produces, like mutants and freaks. They have magick in them. It’s…weird…and slippery.”
“But magick is part of nature. There are patterns to it, just more complex and…well, potentially random, but in the same way people have inherited green eyes from their mother as opposed to their father’s brown. Magick is…it’s just something you can’t see if you don’t want to, if you don’t believe.”
“Just like monsters,” Shanna murmured, recalling Kelly’s obliviousness that left her vulnerable enough to get killed.
“Just like monsters,” Amelia echoed.
***
Rendering all insignificant with a loud sigh and cold stare, Rachel fingered the cross that dangled from her neck. What she’d been longing for was upon them at last. A fight. A mission. And one kind enough to stem from her element, no less: vampires in New York City getting bite-happy. The others would be looking to her for guidance since she was the only vampire hunter on the team. It made her give pause and wonder if she was ready for such responsibility. The lives of her acquaintances potentially hung in the balance here.
Rachel noticed Natalia shift in the seat beside her and turn toward the trees that passed by the car. They were on their way to the city to rendez-vous with the others at some second-rate hotel, where they would receive their instructions, their orders.
Natalia was the only other team member who’d even dealt with vampires on a regular basis. She made Rachel personally a little nervous, but she wouldn’t have anyone else at her back in this situation. She seemed so calculated, so collected. Even Brett, with all his muscles and bravado wouldn’t make her feel better; Plus he was kind of dopey.
Jordan was driving the car they were in, with Brett beside him. Rachel was content to be in the back, where she could indulge in some quiet time, assuming Natalia didn’t want to have a heart-to-heart any time soon, which seemed to be the case. Rachel had picked out what she could find from their inventory that could be useful to them against vampires - crosses, wooden stakes, holy water and anything sharp that could potentially decapitate. But everyone had the weapons they were comfortable with. She could recall even now that she’d forgotten to collect the bow that Jordan had mentioned he was happy with. Wooden arrows would have been perfect for long range shooting, especially if they came across a troop of the walking dead. He would have to deal - there was no way she was parting with her crossbow on his account.
“Brett says he’s never even seen a vampire before,” Jordan informed them from the front seat suddenly, intruding upon Rachel’s solitude.
“I guess it’ll be a learning experience then,” Rachel muttered.
Brett had been kind of bothering her, to be honest. Not that it was all his fault. He was, after all, a poorly-educated cretin who didn’t know any better. But he really needed to get a little cultured. There was simply no excuse for staring at a woman’s chest during a conversation about family. However, the alternatives didn’t look much more promising. Jordan was gorgeous, but he paid her no interest whatsoever. He was undoubtedly gay. And Cameron was too busy fawning over Shanna to notice anyone else at all, not that Rachel would bother pursuing him anyway. So, Brett it was. If anything, he was probably great in be
d. And once she had a chance to check out Lime Bay and the university guys, she could feel free to move on to real men. Real challenges.
Rachel sighed again. If she heard one more story about Brett killing something with his bare hands in nothing but his boxers or whatever, she might be reduced to screaming. Destruction and sex. What was it with men anyhow?
“So,” Jordan broke through her thoughts. “Is it true that vampires don’t cast a reflection?”
Rachel glanced up at him. “Not entirely.”
“Are you going to...elaborate on that?”
Smiling, Rachel sat forward in her seat, a feeling of superiority settling over her. “When vampires die, what they see in mirrors reflects their human self’s death. So, when they gaze into mirrors, they see rotting corpses. It’s interesting. Their bodies slowly decompose before their eyes over the years, if they choose to watch. After a time, they only see a skeleton, and after a hundred or so years, nothing at all. So, the answer is kind of a yes and no. Yes, they see their reflections up to a point, but after that point, they don’t see a thing.”
Jordan shivered. “Creepy.”
“So, these vampires are targeting pregnant women?” Brett asked, leaning his seat back and cramping Rachel’s space.
“Yeah,” Rachel confirmed. “And they’re not just being killed. They’re being changed. Swap of fluids and all that.”
“To what end?” Jordan muttered. “Whatever would they want to...the babies? They don’t...you know, change too, do they?”
“Well, I’ve certainly never heard of a vampire baby before.”
“But that doesn’t mean it’s not possible.”
“It seems most likely that the mother would miscarry upon her transformation,” Natalia spoke up. “Vampirism imparts its victims with immunity to sickness and disease. Pregnancy would almost certainly be deemed an infection or parasite.”
Rachel glanced over at her. Infection or parasite? No mother-of-the-year award forthcoming in her foreseeable future. “I hope so. I can’t imagine what they might be like otherwise. They’d have to be pretty vulnerable as undead babies. They couldn’t make it that long, could they?”
“Maybe pregnant women just taste good,” Brett suggested. “I mean, why not? She’s stronger, her body pumping out the goods for two.”
“Yeah, but why change them then?”
Brett shrugged.
“Maybe some vampires are having some kind of...emotional issues,” Jordan threw in. “Maybe they want to have a family the old-fashioned way, with a mother, father and baby. But with all vampires. Maybe it’s just kind of going back to human instincts and desires.”
“That just gave me a chill,” Brett admitted.
“Talk about your family values,” Rachel said. “But there’s really no point in speculating. I think we should just start asking around when we get into the city. Maybe check out the shady places. There have to be some bars or somewhere the monsters convene at to blow off steam. Or maybe some humans will know a thing or two.” She considered. “Maybe some street people have seen things. I mean, they’re right there, where things are happening. We could buy information off of a prostitute or something.”
“A prostitute?” Brett sat up.
“Don’t get too overzealous,” Rachel murmured. “I’m sure the working girls of the warehouse district are just crawling with the creepies and crawlies.”
Jordan shuddered.
“Don’t worry, Babe,” Brett smiled at her in a charming manner. “I only have eyes for you.”
Rachel snorted and turned away.
