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Chapter Forty Seven
Leo Matridan sank his head into his hands and rubbed his eyes wearily. He'd been up for thirty six hours straight, pouring over his ancestral history along with some other old books and documents he and his brother Bret had collected in the past fifty years. At the age of seventy-two he looked to be a man in his mid-thirties, but in his soul he felt much older.
The demons were changing their M.O. In the past several months there had been more and more cases where they were not just taking over individuals but groups of individuals linked by their occupations. They were teaming up and being far more cautious making the hunters' job extremely difficult.
The door to his used book store jingled and Finn walked in, another hunter and close friend, his usual upbeat demeanor clouded. He had also been doing research, had in fact just come back from Kazikstan after hearing a rumor that an old hunter lived there in seclusion.
Finn's red hair was unkempt, his beard scraggly, his face beginning to show the signs of age that hunter's wore after a century had passed.
"Any luck?" Leo inquired.
Finn snorted and blew out a puff of air in irritation. "The old basta'd was there all right, but he couldn't tell me a thing that I doon' already know." His Irish brogue was thicker than usual, a stark contrast to Leo's refined English. "Wha' about you, didja find anything?"
"Bits and pieces of things, mostly conjecture." He frowned up at his friend. "I still haven't heard from Michael. It's beginning to worry me, he usually doesn't take this long to return my calls, and if anyone knows anything it will be him. Matthias has to have run into something in the centuries of his life."
Finn nodded in agreement. The phone on Leo's desk rang, the vibration rattling the papers around it. The two exchanged a hopeful look as Leo pressed talk. "Hello?"
"Leo?"
"Who's this?"
"Jack McClaron. Been a long time."
Leo's brows shot up and he leaned back in his chair looking at Finneus. He put the phone on speaker so his friend could listen in. "Jack McClaron, I'll be damned. I take it you've run into some strange demon activity?"
"Yeah, I have, but that isn't the reason for my call."
"Oh?"
"If you don't mind I have some questions I need to ask before I get into it."
Leo lifted a brow at Finn. "Sure. Fire away."
"Are you still friendly with the leeches?"
Leo chuckled. "I am, and as always they are not fond of that label."
"Sorry, old habits die hard. So they're still fighting on our side then?"
"Jack my man, vampires are no more likely to change sides than humans are."
"I'd like to say that was encouraging."
Leo chuckled again, "Michael and the boys are firmly on our side as always."
"As far as you know, every female vampire has been turned, is that right?"
"That’s right, either turned or murdered, Michael's mother was the last of the good ones. But you know that, we've discussed it before. Why do you ask?"
"I'm getting there. I wondered if you'd ever heard about a prophecy involving a female of their kind, something along the lines of saving their race from extinction?"
Leo grew quiet. "I've heard it. Though most say the sources of these prophecies are suspect. Again, why do you ask?"
Jack took a deep breath. "Because for the past couple months a female vampire has been living and working with my boys."
Leo and Finn stared at each other in shocked silence, Leo clutching the phone tightly. "Where did she come from?"
"Have you ever heard of a human surviving the transition with their mind intact?" Jack asked quietly.
"No, it's never happened, it doesn't happen, what are you saying Jack that you have a human woman-turned vampire?"
"That's precisely what I'm saying. Though she’s more of a girl than a woman. She’s only nineteen years old. It happened over the summer in your city at some fucked up vampire version of a dogfight using people instead."
"The Gaming Dungeons." Leo breathed. "We know of them, but we've never been able to pinpoint a location because they're constantly moving. Christ, are you sure about this? When did you find out about her?"
"My boys kept her identity from me considering my long standing prejudices. They passed her off as a Faerian, a healer, which is in fact what she was before this happened. Then a few days ago....she went into heat. I managed to get her to a remote location so she wouldn't attract a horde of blood suckers, but she can't stay hidden forever. I'm no match for a single vampire, let alone a lust crazed army of them. Not to mention the females who would want her dead."
Leo rocked back in his chair, shaking his head in disbelief. "Look Jack I'm glad you called. This is unbelievable news. She'll definitely need the protection of her own race. Problem is I've been waiting to hear from Michael for a week, and until he calls I can't pass the information on. Is there anything else you can tell me so that when he gets back to me I can fill him in?"
"Yeah, actually, there is one other thing. She drinks from humans and it has no effect on her, it seems to be the same as it would for a vampire to take from their own."
"You're sure?"
"Positive. She's in complete control, there's no drug like side effects and it has no effect on her daytime abilities."
"This just gets stranger and stranger. Okay Jack, as soon as I hear from Michael I'll relay this to him and have him contact you directly. Same number?"
"Yeah, same."
"I'll be in touch." He pressed end, shaking his head in amazement.
"So whatta ya think?" Finn cocked his head to the side and locked eyes with his friend.
"If Jack says there's a human-turned-vampire, then there is. He's not the type to jump to hasty conclusions. So what I think is that the world just got a whole lot more interesting. Something big is on the horizon.” He met his friend’s eyes, his lip curling. "I believe we have a new direction for our research. Ancient prophesies."
**
It was three days later when Jack received a call from a shell shocked vampire.
"Is this Jack McClaron?"
"Depends on who's asking."
"My name is Michael, I’m a friend of Leo’s. He filled me in on the things that you told him."
Jack shot a glance at Anna who was playing a game of darts with Josh. She pulled her arm back and hit the bulls eye, another hat trick, and Josh threw down his own darts in mock anger.
"We'd like you and your friends to come to the states. She's not eager to return to England at this point after suffering so much there."
"Absolutely. Just say when and where."
"Denver Colorado, whenever you can get here." Jack had made the trip with them after all, wanting to have things settled with Anna before taking his leave.
"I'll send you a text with our arrival details within the hour."
Jack hung up the phone and approached Anna and Josh, waving Will over from the corner where he was deep in conversation with Mac, another hunter and long time family friend.
"I just spoke with Michael, they are booking a flight as we speak." He had filled them in on his conversation with Leo so they were prepared for the news.
Anna looked at him nervously.
"It's going to be fine sweetheart, you'll see." They had refrained from touching over the past few days, Jack was determined not to further complicate things. He reached out to her now and gave her shoulder a reassuring squeeze. Josh put an arm around her waist and challenged her to a game of 301, wanting to keep her anxiety at a minimum.
"Make it three players," Will put in, and Jack smiled at the fine young men he'd raised. Despite their difficult lives they had compassionate souls. He and Mac joined in as well and they spent the rest of the evening entertaining and distracting the innocent little vampire.
The text came forty-five minutes after the phone call, stating their guests would be arriving the following day at 4pm. They would meet at a quiet upper class club in the ritzy part of Denver.
What happened from there remained to be seen.
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