The Hunt

The Hunt -vampire fiction- Chapter 3

River bit into his piece of pizza again while he heard the door down in the hallway that led out of the house close. Like lightening it shot into his head that he should have asked for Andreji’s number. He could hardly run after him now in nothing but a bathrobe.

The following evening, River dressed in the finest clothes he had (that was not saying much). A female client wanted to meet in the opera.

He met her on the stairs to her loge. A delicate woman she was, with chestnut-brown hair she had pinned up. Her slender body looked charming in the green satin dress she wore. She greeted River with a sweet smile, and they climbed the rest of the stairs together.

In the break between the two halves of the play, the young lady explained her problem.

“I am here on behalf of my father. He is still working abroad, but he is planning an excavation in an underground cave in the north of Scotland next summer. The problem is that a colleague has tipped him off that there might be vampires living in it. Of course, my father did not want to believe such tales, but his colleague showed him pictures of a co-worker who was found dead with his throat torn after he had been tasked to explore the cave.”

This was the first case of vampirism River had to direct to his colleagues. “Do you have any idea how many vampires we have to expect?” he asked.

“I can only take guesses. The cave is not big; I doubt there live more than two or three of those… creatures.” The young woman’s face clearly showed that she was not entirely convinced that those beings truly existed. Her specifications matched the knowledge River had of the living habits of vampires, however. The other hunters had never encountered more than two vampires at once. Nevertheless, the undertaking was risky.

“I have to point out to you that this will be costly. Vampires are no easy targets. I will have to recruit at least three colleagues and each will demand a basic fee of two thousand pounds. In addition, they will charge five hundred pounds for each killed vampire.”

The young woman nodded. “I understand. My father is financed by a wealthy tradesman; he will bear the expenses.” She looked down on her hands shyly. “Will you be one of the hunters?”

“I don’t know. I have no experience hunting vampires; perhaps that would not be such a good idea,” River replied honestly.

“So you’ll send experienced men? –That’s good.” The woman looked relieved. “But how do you gain experience in hunting vampires if you don’t dare take part in such missions?” She looked up at him curiously.

River smiled. “My colleagues often find themselves face to face with one accidentally; I am lucky that this has not happened to me so far. Perhaps you’re right, though. I suppose it’s better to meet my first vampire in a controlled situation when I’m prepared and there are colleagues around who can help me. I’ll think about joining the mission as fourth hunter –just for training purposes.”

The brunette smiled, eyeing the stage. “Do that. A helping hand is always welcome.”

During the next days, River sat together with Lukas, his other flatmate Nancy, and another older hunter who had taken part in vampire raids already to plan the mission.

They prepared balloons by filling them with petrol, so they could easily set their targets on fire without having to handle heavy, unhandy canisters. When they arrived at the site at ten o’clock in the morning, they lit old-fashioned torches to have means to inflame the petrol at hand. The early time of day secured that their targets were asleep, or so they hoped. This would supply them with the advantage of a surprise attack.

As his client had described to River, they found the entrance to the underground tunnel that was supposed to lead them into the cave in a rocky cliff. They had to lower themselves with ropes.

After they had all entered the tunnel, they went on in the order they had agreed on beforehand. Lukas was the first, then their old colleague followed, Nancy was the third, and River was the rearguard. He felt his pulse hammer against his chest in excitement, but the three experienced beast hunters in front of him made him feel safe.

Everything was quiet around them; River heard nothing but their footsteps and the flaring of the torch-flames. Either their calculations had been right and their targets were asleep – or whatever one wanted to call this rigor mortis –like state that vampires were rumoured to fall into as long as the sun moved over the firmament –, or the assumptions of their client had been wrong, and this was not the lair of vampires at all. Considering the vagueness of the evidence that had led to the assumption, that was absolutely possible.

The tunnel widened; they seemed to get closer to the cave. Finally, the steps in front lost their dull sound and the light of Lukas’ torch was no longer reflected by tunnel walls. Slowly, checking every corner of the cave, they filed into it. It was larger than River had expected from the description of the woman. He could not make out the ceiling in the dim torchlight.

Suddenly, he saw something fall down from above and before he was able to determine what it was, their light had been extinguished. Water splashed all over him. There was no time to react – several strong hands seized his arms, and he felt some damp cloth over his head. The angry outcries of his colleagues told River that there was no help to be hoped for. They had blindly stumbled into a trap. His heart raced. The cloth over his face hampered his respiration and his panic did not make it easier. His hands were bound.

River was dragged away by the creatures that had crowded around him, but not towards the tunnel; there had to be another exit. His captors murmured excitedly amongst each other. River was too shocked to follow one particular conversational strand. He could merely pick out single words like ‘justice’, ‘Margarite’, or ‘finally’.

He did not hear his colleagues anymore. A feeling in him told him they had been segregated. What was this about? Why had they not just slaughtered them?

The crowd seemed to lose followers as River was pushed on. Several times, he stumbled down narrow stairs, though there seemed to always be someone walking ahead to make sure he did not fall. This had to be a real labyrinth of tunnels under the ground.

Abruptly, they came to a halt. One of the creatures held him by his shoulders. Another fumbled around near his neck – something that scared him even more – and eventually lifted the damp cloth. A lantern in front of him blinded River for a moment before he adjusted to the light.

The lantern was held by a man around River’s body size. He picked at River’s clothes here and there as if to right it, brushed over River’s hair (River flinched but did not dare to struggle against the touch), and then turned towards the door that was in front of them. Metallic sounds like hammering emerged from it.

The man in front opened the door. A brooding heat inundated them and the hammering grew louder. A whooshing sound like hot metal being cooled down in water replaced the hammering.

The men entered. The room was surprisingly large in comparison to the narrow tunnels they had just left. At the far end, there was an impressive collection of weapons hung up on or resting against the uneven stone wall. Directly before them, in the left half of the room, there stood a grand block made of rocks on which an open fire burned. The block was lined by all kinds if tools a smith would use. Most of them looked as if they had been many years in use already. Above the fire there hung a hood from which a chimney led up.

In the middle of the room, there stood a huge anvil, and next to it there was a basin filled with water. At the right side, a heap of coal, another pile of wood pellets, and metal bars were stored.

A man stood at the anvil and just seized a heavy hammer, in his other hand holding a lengthy piece of metal with a gripper. River was too shocked by the sudden change of his fortunes to show much more reaction to any further surprises. Clad in leather trousers, his upper body only covered by a leather apron for protection, stood Andreji, absorbed by his work. He merely looked up for a second before he started handling the metal.

“Everything went as you have planned,” he was informed by one of River’s captors. “There was not even a fight.” He talked over the working noises.

“That was to be expected,” Andreji replied curtly. “What are you doing here, now?” His voice revealed his ill-humour.

“I am sorry; we merely thought you wanted to see yourself that the instructions were carried out accordingly,” the captor tried to explain himself. “We will go and prepare him, now.”

“Do that.”

River was pulled out of the room. Prepare? What was he going to be prepared for? He was dragged up again. This time he saw the tunnels and stairways through which he was led, yet he could not have found the way back to Andreji if he had wanted to.

Finally, they reached a corridor with several doors. One door was opened for River and he was led inside a small room that contained a bed and a table. On the old wooden table lay a towel, a tooth brush, tooth paste and shaving equipment.

His captors scanned River for weapons. When they had sacked everything, he was ordered to clean his body. The speaker motioned to a second door. “You will get some food in two hours.”

The men left and shut the door behind themselves.

River stood rooted to the spot. Of course, he had known that the mission was dangerous – but he had not really anticipated that they would fail. Moreover, he was confused by the vampires’ behaviour. In fact, River could not even really tell if they truly had been captured by vampires at all, could he? Well, all right, they must have come from above in the cave, or otherwise River and his companions would have spotted them sooner. That suggested that they could fly. In addition, the attack went very fast and had taken place in total darkness. Those were hints that led to the assumption that they had been captured by supernatural beings.

Yet the attack had been different from anything Lukas or Ray had ever told him about vampires. Lukas had always claimed vampires attacked mindlessly and that when they spoke that was a mere imitation of the pleads they had heard from their victims. These beings, however, were organised. They had planned their attack, had set the trap, and even seemed to be organised in their daily life. After all, they had built these rooms and tunnels and Andreji seemed to be a smith…

Andreji. God! Pictures flashed by in front of River’s inner eye. How did he fit into the picture? Had Andreji used him somehow? River had actually led him to his apartment! The flat were he lived with his colleagues! Nonetheless, River could not see how this would have helped Andreji in preparing the trap.

What about that woman? Had she been a vampire and River had not noticed? He snorted cynically. Yeah, right, he had kissed a vampire and even swallowed his come without noticing, how could he have noticed anything about that woman? Since when could vampires have sex anyway? Was he wrong? Was this about something else? Who were these people, and what did they want? Ray had called Andreji a friend!

River started walking up and down the small room, the thoughts flying around in his head. Andreji’s intense looks, his kisses, that strange attraction he had felt towards him – had that only been because he was no human? On the other hand, the woman in the opera had been beautiful, charming, yes, but he had not been attracted to her on a sexual level. River preferred men, but he had shared a few nights with women as well, so his sexual preferences alone did not explain why he had wanted only one of these beings if it lay in the nature of vampires to exert a sexual attraction on humans.

River could still feel the rush of blood through his veins when he thought of the intimate moments he had shared with Andreji…

After a while, he disrupted his thoughts and decided to do as his captors had told him. It was better not to provoke them. Yet – why should he clean himself? What were they planning to do with him? Vampires and a spleen for hygiene did not seem to fit together in his eyes. That would back up his theory that these people were no bloodsuckers, and still his imagination supplied him with pictures of himself being drained of his blood.

He turned the water from the shower in the small bathroom adjacent to his cell as hot as bearable. The steam soon engulfed him.

When River exited the tiny bathroom, he found a package of Chinese food resting on the table. He really did not feel like eating.

Clothing had been laid out for him as well. However, these clothes made his insides squirm. There were only simple black trousers and a heavy brocade dressing gown. Now he really felt like a sacrificial lamb.

The hours flew by. River did not know how many. He ate a few morsels, barely half of the dish. Finally, the door opened. A woman stepped inside. River’s thoughts were too displaced for him to be able to judge anyone, but it almost seemed as if she was smiling gently, genuinely.

“Come,” she said in what River on another day would have recognised as an encouraging tone. She took him by the arm and guided him out of the room.

The floor was cold; River’s feet soon grew cold, too, barefooted as he was. He thought about running, but his chances of success were close to zero in this labyrinth of tunnels. Had the others been prepared in the same fashion?

Again, he was led down. Eventually they stopped near huge gates. Guards opened a smaller side-door for them. The noises of a large crowd streamed through it. Sacrificial lamb, eh?

They went inside. Several people they passed turned their heads to look at him. River failed, however, to read their faces. Some looked mildly interested, others excited, a few disapproving, and some barely paid him a glance.

He was led on through the masses. There was a commotion in front of them. His guide held him back. “It’s best we keep you out of that,” she said.

The commotion slowly moved on. River thought he could glimpse Lukas and the elder hunter. “Why am I not allowed to be with them?” he asked before he had considered his words.

The woman’s face grew serious. “It would be better if you distanced yourself from them – they are going to be put on trial tonight.”

“On trial?” River repeated incredulously. Now the world seemed upside down.

His guide led him on wordlessly and finally told him to sit down on a wooden bench. He wanted to lift his feet from the cold stones but did not dare to misbehave. He sat on the left end of the bench. As he looked on, there were a number of finely carved chairs, most of them occupied already. To River’s right, there were rows of benches, also filled with people. These sitting arrangements seemed to mirror some sort of social order. Whereas no one in this hall seemed to be poor, the people sitting in chairs were still noticeably more exquisitely clad.

On the opposite side of the room, there sat a small group of people dressed in casual street wear lined up on a stone ledge. In the middle, there sat all three of his companions, still chained. They still wore the clothes they had entered the cave in and looked as if they had been treated less kindly. Nancy sat hunched down, her hair a dirty mess; Lukas stared stubbornly into the crowd; the older colleague had a deep scratch on his cheek from which his blood ran down. Since River did not sit in the front row, they did not seem to notice his presence. Seeing the way he must look in comparison to them, he was even glad about that, though he still failed to find an explanation for this special treatment.

The crowd grew silent as a small man with chestnut-brown hair entered the hall through the main gates. He wore a winning smile that sickened River. On his arm he led the beauty that had lured River into the trap. They almost looked like siblings.

The strange thing was that nobody dared to look into the man’s face. Everyone dropped their gaze to the floor. Even the ‘aristocrats’ only looked at the man indirectly, by bowing slightly and then gazing up.

River saw Lukas’ face change as the couple passed him by.

The eyes of the small man rested on an empty seat for a moment; then he turned and greeted his people. “We are here tonight to moan over the loss of our beloved ones and to seek retaliation on those who are responsible for their deaths,” he declared. “Due to the investigations of my dear Andreji, we now can be sure which one of these three is responsible for which crime. Read out the charges,” he commanded.

The old beast hunter was dragged into the middle of the free space and a man stepped out of the ranks to read aloud what he was accused of. There was a vampire raid twenty-five years ago during which three had been killed and two more had been wounded. The man read out the names of the deceased and their relation to other members of the community. “Agatha, daughter of Samuel. Phillip, son of Tristan and Master of Gregory and Paul. Léon, Master of Griet, Hector, and Marcus.”

“You’ve had your revenge for them already! I was the only one who left that place alive!” the hunter tried to defeat himself.

A storm of outrage broke loose. The woman next to him, his guide, had jumped up with several others and shouted maledictions at the accused. The man next to her pulled her back onto her seat. “Griet, you know you don’t have the right to disrupt like this. Be cautious!”

The reading went on. Three more incidents were mentioned before the old hunter was dragged back to the wall and Nancy was pushed forward. She was only two years older than River. The man accused her of having killed a male kinsman who had led a solitary life nine years ago.

“He had killed my brother,” Nancy shot back.

This time, her defence was met with interest. “Killed?” the small leader asked coldly, an eyebrow raised.

“Yes,” Nancy confirmed, accusation in her own voice, now. “He was only twelve.”

The man looked as if he was judging her credibility. “Very well. We will check that. In any case, we cannot let you run free for obvious reasons. If you promise to behave yourself and be humble, I will allow you to remain here and serve us until we have reassessed your claims, woman.”

“Serve you?” Nancy enquired outraged. “Are you mad? I owe you nothing; I will surely not serve murderers!”

River closed his eyes. This could not end well.

“In that case you are a security problem for us. Someone who speaks of us in such fashion will undoubtedly strive to hurt our community. We will not let this come to pass.”

River opened his eyes again and saw Nancy being exchanged for Lukas. He was accused of having taken part in a raid three years ago. The true uproar, however, broke loose when he was accused of having killed a woman just recently. The delicate woman that had set the trap, rushed forwards and smacked Lukas with a stack of papers before letting them rain down on him. “It’s all in there! You’ve murdered her, you monster! You’ve murdered my twin sister!”

A single sheet of paper landed in the corridor between the benches and the chairs, not far from River. He recognised it as a copy of Ray’s files. At that moment, someone went past him. River looked up. Andreji took the empty seat, clad in black with white embroidery. He looked completely cold, aloof. Had he copied Ray’s files? Perhaps he had even taken River’s key, that night when he had had to leave so urgently. Had all that been a set-up?

“You’ll be exposed to the mercy of those who were left behind by the dead tonight,” the leader concluded the trial. River knew he would not see his colleagues again. A cold shiver ran through his body.

“Now to more cheerful matters!”

River would have smirked at that, had he found the energy to move a muscle in his face.

“I see, my fledgling Andreji has arrived,” he smiled at the much taller man benignly. “Come forth.”

Andreji did as he was told. He knelt humbly down in front of the leader, his gaze resting on the floor. It was a strange picture.

The smaller man pushed Andreji’s face up with a single finger under his chin. “You have done us a great service.” There was a strange gleam in his eyes that River did not like. “So now,” the man continued, “you will finally take the next step.”

Andreji showed no reaction.

“Bring him forth,” the small man called out.

River felt a hand on his arm. His guide pulled him up. Was Andreji to…? –No! River’s breath caught. The thought that being killed by Andreji might be better than by someone else crossed his mind, but that did not comfort him either. He did not want to die, that feeling pumped through his veins.

He remembered to avert his eyes as he was placed in front of the leader, next to Andreji. Suddenly, he felt the dressing gown being lifted from his shoulders. River stood rooted to the spot, half naked in front of around three hundred people, his companions who were sentenced to death amongst them. He shivered in the cold, utterly exposed.

…Or so he thought until the leader ordered his trousers to be removed as well. River stared sideways up at Andreji. The man still looked coldly forward. River’s eyes hurt in embarrassment as his trousers were pulled down. He closed them. He wondered at the lack of stifled laughter in the crowd. Surely people found this amusing? A soft hand on his shoulders indicated that he was supposed to kneel down. River complied.

“The boy responded to you?” the leader asked Andreji.

“Yes, Master.” Andreji’s voice was lifeless.

The leader took a step forward and scrutinised River. “He’s quite the beauty, I agree. He suits my taste for the exotic.” His gaze drifted over to Andreji. Again, River had a strange feeling about the way the man with the chestnut-brown hair looked at Andreji. There was hunger in his eyes.
“You have mentioned that you marked him already,” the leader prompted Andreji to speak.

Andreji shot River a glance. “Twice.” Now the crowd truly had to stifle their laughter.

“And you are confident that despite his obvious animosity towards our kind he will turn out to be loyal to you?” the leader questioned.

“We will see,” Andreji replied shortly.

“You are willing to and capable of taking the necessary actions if he proves to be unfit?”

Andreji indicated a bow. “Of course, Master.”

The leader smirked. “I did not really doubt that.” He turned to River once more. “Of course that thing on his chest has to be removed.”

Andreji bowed again.

“Very well,” the leader finalised the matter, “then seal the agreement.” He motioned to River and stepped back, so that Andreji could take up the place in front of River.

River’s heart beat faster as he felt the cold stare of the tall man resting on him. What was Andreji about to do?

“Look up,” his sometimes so warm voice commanded icily.

River complied.

“You are henceforth my fledgling,” Andreji declared in a strong, steady voice, more for the benefit of the crowd, it seemed, than to inform River. “You will follow my directions unquestioningly. You will call me ‘Master’. In return, I will be your protector, your father, and your teacher. When I deem the time ripe, I will feed you. You will be bound to me until my death –or yours. Did I make myself clear?”

It took River a moment to realise that he was meant to give an answer. He nodded meekly. So that was what they had planned for him. Only distantly he noticed Andreji’s face come nearer. His chin was pushed upwards. Lips were pressed on his mouth. A warm tongue darted into it. Strangely, River found the touch comforting, like a warm stab into his heart.

Then everything was over. The dressing gown was draped upon his shoulders again and he felt the gentle arms of his female guide lead him away, out of the room. Before River turned, he saw that gleam in the leader’s eyes again as he addressed Andreji. “Come into my quarters.”

Andreji bowed once more.