Back in the hunt

[Ron Caliburn]

It was risky. Letting a vampire put it's hand on your throat is not something I'd recommend as part of your play book.

A feral shriek rent the air and something slammed into me from behind knocking me to the ground.

I rolled over and saw the whore . . . or rather the other vampire standing over me. Her hair was strung out, her eyes burned with evil and her finger nails had grown into long talons.

However, she'd stepped into the cloud from my grenade and began to feel it's effects immediately.

The howl of agony as she stepped backwards was totally inhuman. She was actually clawing at her own eyes, trying to get them to stop bubbling and steaming.

I got up and quickly looked around.

The other vampire was gone.

But I still had one to slay.

I lunged with the blade. The feral barely stepped aside in time, her sharp hearing and instincts saving her.

But she was on the defensive. Blinded, her skin burning, she could barely duck and dodge as I slashed and stabbed.

But even on the defenive a vampire was dangerous. She flailed wildly at me and I had to step back so those razor sharp claws did not hit home.

Sensing the distance between us, she leapt for the far end of the alley and started running.

I picked up my shotgun and gave chase into the thickening fog.

[Kolya]

[Bert_the_Turtle]

Damn, sounds like I came a night too late.

[Kolya]

I am in Texas working on something. The rest of the team is in a holding pattern until I can make some progress down here. In the meantime, like I said, Sasha is available for some more support in whatever is going on there.

[Ron Caliburn]

Well I got Bert here now, KT by the weekend. I think Shadowstalker is sending me a couple anyway.

For now it only seems to be a couple of vampires.

[Kolya]

Well, let me know if you need the support.

[Ron Caliburn]

Vampires are fast, expecially when running for their unlife. I was barely able to keep in sight of the scrawny thing as she led me down alleys, over fences and up fire escapes.

The mist that had rolled in didn't help much either. Visability was fading fast and she was opening up her lead.

Finally I was there, deep in the Blight, alone in the fog.

The vampire was gone.

That was two of them that had escaped me in one night.

I was not in a good mood at all.

Then, muffled by the distance and the buildings, I heard it.

A gunshot.

[Kolya]

Stay vigilant...

[Ron Caliburn]

I oriented myself to the gunshot and began to work my way through the fog.

As I moved memories of a fog bound battle with a vampire filtered through my head.

But this was Febuary and there was snow on the ground.

It was too cold for fog.

I was being set up.

But I needed to get to the bottom of this. The vampires were still close, and there was that rogue hunter to deal with.

Another gunshot.

I was on the right track, though what I would find there I didn't know.

As I moved deeper into the fog I heard indistinct yelling and screaming.

I was getting closer.

In a momment I'd have my chance to put down the vampire.

[Ron Caliburn]

The enraged glow of the vampires eyes pierced the fog like bullets.

I swung my shotgun and let loose with a blast, but the monster was too quick. A second blast and she leapt over me, a foot connected with me and knocked me around.

I rolled around to get the gun on target as quickly as possible.

“Your murders will not go unpunished,” she snarled. “You will pay.”

"You dare call me a murderer?" I punctuated my statement with a blast from the shotgun. "You're the one who feeds of the blood of innocents, parasite."

She lept away from the blast, the mist swallowing her.

I peered through my gogoles, hoping to catch a trace. My ears strained for any sound that might escape the blanket of mist.

A growl.

I popped one of my garlic and holy water grenades at the soruce of the sound.

The vampire leapt to escape the cloud, noisly clanging off the fire escape. I pursued her with another volley of silver buckshot.

The fire escape began to let go. Like a dieing beast it shrieked and crashed to the ground. I had barely rolled clear of the wreckage when the vampire was at me again wiht another leaping kick.

The impact knocked me to the ground and took the breath from my lungs.

I took a few gulps of air and got to my feet, scanning for the monster.

A clatter of metal and brick made me spin to my left.

It was the wrong choice.

[Ron Caliburn]

The vampire slammed into my back hard, knocking me to the ground and causing the steel insert in the back of my armour to buckle.

I used the mommentum of the impact and rolled through. I'd lost my shotgun but a quick motion allowed me to release a silver plated throwing knife at the bloodsucker.

She dodged and for the first time the mist lifted enough for me to get a good look at the creature.

This wasn't the vampire I had been chasing. The previous one had been feral and emaciated. This one, aside from glowing eyes and bared fangs, looked much more human.

I was up agaisnt the thrid different vampire I'd faced in this hour.

I was running low on both ammunition and stamina.

I reached to draw my Piece and she charged me.

Her knee rammed into my chest and the mommentum carried us to the ground.

She kept her knee planted on my solar plexus as she raised up, somehow she'd freed my Blade from it's sheath and she swing ut around to place the point of it on my throat.

“Don’t move.” I could see the smoke rising from between her fingers where the holy symbol on the hilt of my Blade was burning her.

“Move, and I’ll cut off your head.”

[Kolya]

You are fortunate she did not just kill you straight away.

[Ron Caliburn]

Very fortunate.

I doubt fortune would have worked the other way.

As it was, I was expecting to meet one of the leading causes of death of LEOs. . . their own weapon.

[Michael T]

Reading this thread and Celeste's is almost acarbon copy of each other. One of you need to trell us if your foe was slain or not, the suspense is going to push me to doing something destructive to my poor laptop.

Michael T.

[Ron Caliburn]

We glared at each other in the fog for quite some time. I don't think she had noticed that my hand had almost reached my grenade pocket.

She started to rise, keeping my Blade at my neck. I froze, not wanting to give away my plan.

She stepped back and lifted a hand.

Victor

What the heck . . . I paused as things fell into place with a loud clank.

My hand was so close to the grenade, and she was too far away to stop me, too close to escape.

I used the distraction of the countersign to move my hand to the grenade. Foxtrot.

The fight drained out of her. "Ron?"

"Darken."

[Bert_the_Turtle]

Holy Fuck! What the hell is going on here!?!

[Kolya]

holy shit!

Good thing we got the secret handshake...

[Ron Caliburn]

Yeah, that's pretty much what I was wondering Bert.

Fortunately you and Willie had sent me pictures of her. So at least I was able to place the face . . . once I had a good enough look at it.

[Kolya]

I forgot who mentioned it, but sure sounds like a set up to me.

[Ron Caliburn]

Darken . . .

I moved my hand from my grenade to my Piece. Things didn't fit, and I wanted a good general purpose option in my hand.


In an almost disapointed fashion, the mist receeded, leaving us staring at each other . I used the seperation to get to my feet and raised my googles for a better look at her. I had photos of her, just in case I ever had to deal with her in a permenant manner, and she matched them fairly well.

“Um, you do know that you’re my . . . my, well. You’re the one.”

What do you say to that?

But the suspicion had been there . . . even wit the holes in my memory. “I suspected as much.”

“Thank you.”

It was simple and sincre, but it made a part of me angry. “I was there to kill a vampire, not save you.”

“But I appreciate it, nonetheless.”

“It’s what I do. If I had found you at the scene, you would have been staked, too. So forget it.”

I know she wouldn't . . . but the topic was not what I wanted to talk about.

I wasn't really in front of someone I wanted to talk to either.

“Um . . . you remember my promise on the boards,”

Why won't she take the clue and drop it? “Look, Darken, I’m going to be blunt, I don’t need your help. I don’t want your help. I have enough to worry about with Rhonda and protecting the innocents on the streets from threats like you and yours. You ain’t going to be taking a stroll with the sun up, and unless you change your mind on that, I can’t help you. Good night.”

She seemed to get the hint and started to give me space. I kept her covered while I retrieved my gear.

“Good luck with Rhonda. Raising a girl is a far cry from keeping the streets safe. If you need any help with either one . . .”

I kept my Piece leveled on her.

“I will be keeping both eyes and ears peeled Darken, if I suspect you’re the cause of even so much as a bad dream among the innocent folks here in the Blight, I will come for you.”

I backed away until I was no longer in sight of her then returned to my motorcycle.

I re-equiped and waited on a hill on the outskirts of town until after sunrise, then I returned home with more questions than answers.

[Kolya]

More questions than answers. Story of our lives..

[Ron Caliburn]

I've never encountered more than 1 vampire in a night, even when going into their lairs. Fighting three in close succession . . . It's lucky for me that Celeste was the last.

Then again, that fight could have gone either way, probably jsut as lucky for her she was the last.

Still, I don't like how and why our paths have converged . . . apparently not for the first time either.

[Kolya]

Yea, that is spooky.

Everything happens for a reason, or so the philospher's say. No shit?! That is not the hard part. The hard part is figuring out the reason.

So good luck with that.

[Ron Caliburn]

I forget a lot of the details of those events . . . which frustrates me to no end. I remember the event happened, but I don't remmember the event.

It's strange, in mny ways it marksa begining for me. When Ted approached me about his daughter, I was just another crackpot with a police record. I'd been involved in enough events that had been investigated that Ted had heard about me.

When Kelly was kidnapped by the vampire he woke up to what the supernatural was and realized he knew nothing about it.

In an effort to learn more and help his daughter he came to me. He offered me a clean slate and a new life if I wouldresce his daughter.

I never actually agreed to the deal, I just started my investigation.

After I rescued Kelly, Ted made sure I got a new life. He had some pull with the witness protection folks and he helped me create a new identity to replace the one I'd been jailed and institutionalized under. He also made sure I'd have legal proof and permissions for my gear and most of the stuff I did . . . I refused being made a government official though. In truth, as a private citizen I have less restrictions on what I can do.

It was the first step on what would become as close to a normal life as I have ever had.

It also sent me on the way to liberating Celeste somehow.

Again, I know I did it. I remember that I slew a vampire around the time she is talking . . . but I don't remember doing it.

But I wonder, since we crossed over at our beginings, does this mean we're meant to cross over at our endings?

Not that I really beleive that. Destiny is what you do, not what is done to you.

[Bert_the_Turtle]

That's deep Ron. And you're scaring the shit out of me. I expect that sort of talk from Shang Li or KT or Willie. I don't think I've ever seen you wax philosophical before.

[Celeste Darken]

It's not who you are that counts, but what you do.

True words. Why shouldn't Ron be able to speak philosophically, Bert? Because he knows how to wield a gun? The man has faced death countless times and come out of it when weaker men would succumb.

In this line of work, we fight against odds that seem overwhelming. But mere fighting is not enough. We need to know why we fight, too. Some people accuse Ron of rushing into a fight guns blazing.

Some people are fools.

The difference between the vigilante and the hero is often slim.

In the case of Nordstorme and Caliburn . . . it is not.

[Bert_the_Turtle]

It's not who you are that counts, but what you do.

True words. Why shouldn't Ron be able to speak philosophically, Bert?

I didn't say he shouldn't I just said its creepy on some level. I'm not used to it yet.

[Razor]

...yet.

hehehehe

[Ron Caliburn]

Well I haven't gotten out to hunt for two nights now . . . so I end having to spend a lot of time thinking.

[Bert_the_Turtle]

Don't worry Ron, tonight we're watching The Muppet Show in between Patrols.