Lia sat behind the wheel of her 1969 Dodge charger waiting
in the shadows for the signal, or at least a sign that something was wrong. Her
brothers had been in there too long already, they were supposed to go ahead,
check the perimeter then give her the signal to follow. The waiting was agony,
she was dying for a hunt, they hadn't had one in weeks and she was getting
restless. As she flicked the stared on her lighter she watched the flame
flicked as her mind filled with thoughts. This hadn’t always been her life,
lurking in the shadows of night in abandoned parts of town, but she couldn’t
really remember doing anything else. For most 22 year old girls this would
probably have been deemed unsafe, insane even, but the fact of the matter was,
she wasn’t like other girls, not even close. She let out a bored sigh and
leaned her head back against the seat her long blond hair pulled back tightly
off her face to keep it out of her way, keep her line of sight clear, her
instincts ready. Glancing carefully at her phone she saw there were still no
message from either of her brothers, that either meant they hadn’t found
anything in the warehouse, or something was horribly wrong. Either way they had
five minutes until she followed them in. Sitting on the sidelines had never
been her strong suit, the same stubborn, take on the world, attitude had gotten
her in trouble before, and had been the main reason for her grandfather’s
death. Sean Dalton had been a tough old man; harsh, determined, and stubborn, a
lot like her unfortunately which had almost always been a problem. A few days
after her 16th birthday she’d been itching for a solo hunt, she’d been trained
since 8 years old, her first kill at 12, it wasn’t like she hadn’t known what
she was doing, but he’d refused, of course he had because he always refused and
Jake, her oldest brother always agreed with him. So, she hadn’t really given
them much of a choice she went anyway. It was something she would regret for
the rest of her life. She was a soldier she was supposed to take orders she had
been raised that way and instead she’d disobeyed orders and gotten another
person she loved killed. She was really beginning to get used to the idea of
deaths of her loved ones though it didn’t make it any easier. She had been 8
years old when she’d come home from school to find her parents’ bodies. The
nightmares…they still came, every night without fail. It was traumatizing for
any child she was sure to experience something like that, but the way they’d
been… it hadn’t been natural. Of course she’d never known the truth of her
father’s hunting past, his family's past, none of them had and with good
reason. He had purposely tried to keep it from them, to keep them from the
life. His father, Grandpa Sean, had disagreed which was why, they knew now they
were never allowed to see him. James Sr had feared that he would drop hints,
secretly train them. The one thing he father hadn’t prepared himself for was
the attack. With both her parents dead, her mother an orphan and the rest of
her father’s family still in Ireland, Sean Dalton, the only next of kin left
for them, had become their guardian. In turn, she and her two brothers had
become everything her father had never wanted them to be, Demon hunters. “Screw this” She muttered shoving her phone
into the pocket of her leather jacket she stood from her car grabbed her
weapons and made her way to the building. Vampires in this town were being
stupid, too stupid actually which was what had initially had her brothers on
guard, making her keep watch in the car before they summoned her in. They were
overprotective, both of them but none so much as Jake. 5 years her senior he
had always taken it upon himself to be the parent, even before their
Grandfather had died, but it had become worse since then. Jake had been worried
that his was a trap, the careless actions of this clan seemed like an
invitation as if a big ‘come find us’ banner was hung above this old abandoned
factory. If this was a trap, she did not have a good feeling about what was to
come when she entered. Carefully, and quietly she crept her way through the
darkness to the opposite entrance her brothers had taken and squeezed through
the opening. She hadn’t been inside 10 minutes before she heard a huge
commotion coming from the center of the building. Her guard went up quickly and
she swiftly moved through the old building before she entered the main room of
the factory. “Jesus…” she started but didn’t even bother to finish as she
whipped her knife around clear cutting the head off the vampire headed straight
towards her. This was a full on ambush…
and admittedly it was stupid of Jake to plan the raid in the middle of the
night when the creatures were at their strongest but The blood spatter flecked
her skin as she let her eyes search around for her brothers. Jake, she could
see was handling four in the far left corner of the room and Jimmy seemed to be
surrounded in the centre. Running she jumping using the beam above for leverage
swung herself over the wall of vampires to land beside her brother. “Starting
the party without me Jim?” she asked putting her back to his to cover. “Can’t
believe you were seriously going to leave me out there” She snapped.
“Please… I knew you’d show up eventually” he assured her a
slight tone of amusement in his voice if she’d been looking at him she would
have sworn he was smiling. Jimmy, most days was her favorite brother, not that
she would ever say it out loud. She and Jake…they got along when she listened
but on the best of times they were at war with each other and she knew it was
probably because they were so much alike, in mannerism as well as appearances.
She and her eldest brother had the same blond where her eyes were pale green
his were a striking deep blue, but they were the same shape, if she hadn’t been
so much younger she might have guessed they were twins. Jimmy on the other hand
looked like neither of them. His hair was dark, the lightest it got in the
summer was a medium brown his skin tanned with ease, his eyes while blue like
Jake's, were different, pale blue and rimmed in thick dark lashes, and he was a
lot more relaxed. They used to tease him about being adopted but in reality if
she had to guess she’d assume that she and Jake looked like their mother while
Jimmy took after his namesake. Of course, it wasn’t like she could remember
either way. What few memories she had left of her parents were buried deep in
the back of her mind and their appearances was not really one of them. She had
no pictures, if they’d had any in the house she wasn’t sure what had happened
to them. She assumed their Grandfather had just destroyed everything, or left
it behind to be given away, either way he had made it his mission in life that
they wouldn't remember. Her eyes took in the Vampires and tried to count but she
felt like each time she tried two or three more appeared. Jake seemed to have
finished off what creatures had him fenced in and quickly appeared by her side
the three of them back to back.
“Smooth moves old man" she joked, a careful and somewhat
cocky smile forming on her face "So what's the plan big brother” she asked
twirling her knife in her left hand. Everyone knew there was one way to kill a
vampire, cut off its head. The problem with murdering a factory full of
vampires was the fact that they looked, so much like humans; their fangs even
retracted enough to keep them hidden. If the bodies were found in plain sight
there was a chance they'd be taken in for...what was this now, a massacre?
“Kill them” he said as though it were the most obvious thing
in the world. She didn't have to be told twice. She lunged forward and caught
two in one swipe watching as the bodies dropped to the floor with ease. It was
sick, really that she didn't even react anymore. She'd gone so numb inside, it
was so ritualistic, so routine that it was just something to do as if she had
sat down and watched a movie. Rolling across the floor to her feet she dropped
three more in a matter of seconds and as she turned she saw her brothers
finishing off the final two. As she stood there a eerie silence settled over
the room, the only sound she could hear was her own heartbeat pounding. She
stared at her brothers their forms covered in blood, just as much as she was
certain her own was.
“Burn it?” she asked
“You got it” Jake said with a nod and within minutes they
were dousing the place in exhilarant. They'd left no evidence of themselves
behind, they were used to covering their tracks by now and this factory was so
remote by the time anyone realized it was burning it would be too late to do
anything about it. “Let’s go” he said as they stood at the door he dropped the
match and watched the building erupt in flames.
I love your writing style!
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