FicWad

“W…what am I?” Joe stammered, all the while trying surreptitiously to free himself from the strips of cloth that bound his hands behind him.
“I’ve seen those… things,” she replied with distaste. “I’ve seen them up close. I’ve… I know they’re not human.”

Joe pursed his lips and nodded slowly. He had to admire her. She showed such great courage and only occasionally giving away her true feelings of fear and doubt. He wanted to answer her questions, but he had so many of his own – not the least of which were, why was he tied up in her house and where were the others?

“Vampires,” he finally explained solemnly. “They’re vampires.”

Part of him expected her to laugh at such a ridiculous idea, but the stake in her hands suggested that, deep down, she already knew.

“And you?” she prompted.
“I’m…” he wondered if she would believe this as readily. “I’m a hunter.”

Raising her hand to her mouth, she considered the question carefully.

“You hunt them?”

Joe merely nodded in reply; there didn’t seem much else necessary. Besides, he had no idea how she was processing all this information. Perhaps she’d need longer and fewer complications. The less he said, the better.

“How?” she asked, frowning as she tried to take it all in. “What do you do?”
“We have specialist equipment,” Joe explained vaguely. “If we can, we kill them.”
“What kills them?”
“You’re accepting this remarkably well!”
“What kills them!” she repeated, louder this time.
“Everything you’ve heard of,” Joe shot back. “Sunlight, decapitation, stake through the heart…”
“Garlic? Crosses? Holy water?” she prompted.
“No… well… it’s complicated.”
“What specialist equipment? And you said ‘we’. Who’s we?”

She wanted a full explanation. Okay, Joe nodded to himself. Maybe the more she knew, the more likely she would understand and believe him. There was little he could do but try to answer her questions and hope that it would earn her trust and his freedom.

“We have Gatherers who report in when they find vampire groups. Sometimes we set traps, using ourselves as bait. Sometimes Pete…”

Joe paused, panic stricken. What if she worked for Beckett? What if this was all a ruse to capture Pete? Beckett had tried before on several occasions. He made no secret of the fact that he hated that Pete had been able to defy him. Worse still, in Beckett’s mind, was that Pete had made a crusade of trying to make his would-be Master pay for what he had done to him.

“Who’s Pete?” she asked quickly.

Joe stared back. She seemed genuine enough and her question seemed real but Joe’s own doubts and concerns prevented him from giving too much away.

“Who are you?” he finally asked. “You’ve got me tied up here asking me questions about our group. Why should I trust you?”
“Because you’re tied up and don’t have many options!” she snapped back pushing herself to her feet. “What if I open the curtains and let the sun in? What happens to you?”
“I may squint, but not much else,” Joe replied with a smile thankful that, at least for now, she had forgotten her question about Pete.

Pushing herself out of the chair, she edged her way slowly to the window, trying hard not to take her eyes off the bound young man lying on her couch.
Joe could see from the way she moved that she was exhausted, but hopefully, her mind would rest at ease once she had drawn back the curtains.

As she pulled the heavy drapes back, sunlight flooded the room. Joe screwed up his eyes as the light hit him.

“You’re not a vampire then?”
“No,” Joe replied. “If I were, I’d have snapped these ropes and killed you a long time ago.”
“They’re that strong?” she asked in surprise.
“Yeah. Look, do you think you could untie me?”
“Who’s Pete?” she repeated her earlier question.

Joe frowned. How was he supposed to answer this?

“Pete is a friend, one of our group. He helps us.”
“He’s a vampire.”

Joe could hear the uncertainty in her voice but felt strangely compelled to be honest with her.

“Yeah,” he nodded. “He was turned by one of the vampires that was there tonight. He wants revenge.”
“They took him.”
“What!” Joe cried in disbelief. “They… they’ve got him? What about Andy and Patrick?”
“They arrested two other men,” she explained. “One had glasses, the other wore a hat.”
“Arrested? But…”
“They were vampires too.”
“The police?”

Joe watched, fretful and stressed as the woman nodded silently.

“It was a trap,” the simple truth hit him with crushing force. “All along, it was a set up to get Pete and us too. How did they not get me?”
“I arrived as you were being choked by one of them, I killed him, jammed a stake through his heart.”
“How… where…? Joe stammered.
“I found it on the floor,” she explained. “It must have been dropped by one of you. After I killed him, you passed out. I dragged you into an alley and waited until they’d gone.”
“I can’t believe the others have been captured. Please, you have to let me go. I have to find them, help them!”
“I want to help,” she announced unexpectedly.
“Why?” Joe asked, relieved as she rose to untie him.
“Because I was supposed to be sacrificed to them. I was to be Pete’s first kill. They held me and goaded him to attack me. But instead of biting me, he bit the one holding him. He saved my life. I owe him.”
“Consider saving and releasing me as your debt paid,” Joe replied, sitting up and rubbing his wrists.
“No,” she insisted. “I want to help. I want to help you all. My name’s Andrea Logan and I’m not afraid of them.”

Joe contemplated her brave but naïve words.

“Then you better start. It’s the only way you’ll survive.”


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