Vampire Hunters, #1 Read online

  Vampire Hunters

  Trudie Collins

  Copyright © 2016 Trudie Collins

  All rights reserved.

  Table of Contents

  Title Page

  Copyright Page

  Vampire Hunters

  Women hate being lied to

  Breathe Sarah

  I want you to train me

  I’m going to enjoy bringing her into line

  Just try not to break anything

  You cheated

  Uncle craig

  Take a two week break

  So you are scared of me are you

  You really don’t want to do this

  She’s in no condition to train today

  Screw training

  He doesn’t control your life you know

  I have a proposition for you

  Do you trust me

  You’re playing with fire

  Is she ready?

  First blood

  Didn’t you teach her rule 9

  I’ll make damn sure I can

  Does this mean you will let me off punishments

  Simon you’re dead

  I killed someone today

  I don’t need his permission

  I’m thirsty

  Kill him and I will kill you

  What the hell do you think you are doing

  Can vampires father children

  I enjoy the killing too much

  I would not like to be in your shoes later

  Your girlfriend is on a hot date with another man

  Kirren killed himself this morning

  Are all trainers evil

  You need to keep away from me

  JD invited me into his bed last night

  The Sanctuary is under attack

  Please don’t ask me to do this

  You have no hope of surviving this

  Craig’s dead christina

  We have some vampires to kill

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  DEDICATION

  This book is dedicated to Master Luke and the Nepean Wolves, for teaching me how to use a sword

  ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

  Thank you to Pete, Julie, Wendy, Terry and Tony for their feedback

  And also to Sensei Bob and Sensei David for teaching me about Bo and other weapons

  Women hate being lied to

  Breathe Sarah

  I want you to train me

  I’m going to enjoy bringing her into line

  Just try not to break anything

  You cheated

  Uncle craig

  Take a two week break

  So you are scared of me are you

  You really don’t want to do this

  She’s in no condition to train today

  Screw training

  He doesn’t control your life you know

  I have a proposition for you

  Do you trust me

  You’re playing with fire

  Is she ready?

  First blood

  Didn’t you teach her rule 9

  I’ll make damn sure I can

  Does this mean you will let me off punishments

  Simon you’re dead

  I killed someone today

  I don’t need his permission

  I’m thirsty

  Kill him and I will kill you

  What the hell do you think you are doing

  Can vampires father children

  I enjoy the killing too much

  I would not like to be in your shoes later

  Your girlfriend is on a hot date with another man

  Kirren killed himself this morning

  Are all trainers evil

  You need to keep away from me

  JD invited me into his bed last night

  The Sanctuary is under attack

  Please don’t ask me to do this

  You have no hope of surviving this

  Craig’s dead christina

  We have some vampires to kill

  Women hate being lied to

  Craig sat down tenderly, wincing as he did so. His ribs were taking longer to heal than he had expected. He would have to speak to Doc if he was around later, just to make sure there was nothing wrong. Thankfully he hadn’t broken any, but they still hurt like hell.

  Jonathon, seeing that his friend was in pain, smiled. “Isn’t today the usual day of the week for your hot lunch date?” he teased. “What are you going to tell her this time? Injured yourself doing extreme martial arts again?”

  Craig sighed. No matter how many times they had this conversation, Jonathon still did not believe him. “It’s not a ‘hot lunch date’. Sarah is just a friend.”

  “You’ve been dating for a long while now. How come she’s still not classed as your girlfriend?”

  Why would he not let this drop, especially today? “Do we really have to go through this again?”

  “Obviously,” Scott said.

  Ignoring the food in front of him, Craig resigned himself to explaining his relationship with Sarah yet again. “Firstly, she’s not my type. Yes, before you say anything Jonathon, unlike you, most men do have a type.”

  “Hey, I have a type,” he protested.

  “Only sleeping with women with large breasts is not a type,” Katie said. “It’s an obsession.”

  “Secondly,” Craig continued loudly before an argument could break out, “the first time I met her she was introduced as Alex’s girlfriend and to me that is who she will always be. The fact he died is irrelevant.”

  “So that explains why you allegedly don’t have feelings for her,” Simon said. “But why does she not want to take your friendship to the next level?”

  “That’s easy, she knows him.”

  “Jonathon,” Katie scolded.

  “As I have explained time and time again,” Craig said in exasperation at having to keep repeating himself. “Sarah is still in love with Alex.”

  “Didn’t he die over a year ago?” Katie asked.

  “At least one of you listens when I talk.”

  “Oh we all listen, we just don’t believe you,” Jonathon said.

  Craig looked around the table at his friends. They lived together, ate together, trained together and hunted together and had done for years. They were more like family to him than just friends and yet he still had no idea how they were going to react to his announcement.

  As usual, JD, Jonathon’s older brother, was the only one not taking part in the conversation, though he was listening closely. It was JD that Craig was watching when he spoke his next sentence.

  “In answer to your earlier question, Jonathon, I intend to tell Sarah the truth.”

  JD showed no reaction, other than to look over at Craig, his eyes assessing him as if trying to gauge if he was being serious or not. “What do you mean by ‘the truth’?” he asked.

  “I intend to tell her everything. About me, about us, about what we do.” Still JD did not react. “I’ve already received permission from Doc,” Craig continued. “I just need the okay from you guys.” Technically, he didn’t. If Doc had said he could tell Sarah, then that was all he really needed, but it was an unwritten law of Sanctuary 14 that nobody did anything that might adversely affect the others without getting their approval first.

  Craig turned to Katie. Of all those present, he was relying on her to back him up. “Well? What are you thinking?”

  “I thought you liked this girl,” she said. “Tell her the truth and she will never speak to you again.” Great. That was just what he did not want to hear.

  JD chose that moment to check his watch. “I need to leave. I have to be in court at nine thirty.” Dressed in a dark grey suit with his almost black hair neatly trimmed, he
looked exactly what he was; a ruthless lawyer who won more cases than he lost. He stood up and walked over to the door, pausing before exiting. “Craig.” Craig raised his head in anticipation. “You’re doing the right thing. Women hate being lied to.”

  “How do you know anything about women?” his brother asked.

  “I work in a law firm,” he said, as though that explained everything. “Speaking of women, if the trial finishes today I probably won’t make it home tonight so I’m leaving Craig in charge of the 5am training session.” Groans reverberated around the room. They had been hoping for a morning off if JD wasn’t going to be present, but Craig would obey his orders.

  Craig breathed a sigh of relief. If JD had given his approval, the others would sooner or later.

  “So back to your girlfriend,” Jonathon said once JD had left. Craig rolled his eyes.

  ————————————-∞————————————-

  Craig was shaking when he walked into the café. Sarah had already arrived and was studying the menu. She smiled up at him as he approached, but the smile soon vanished when she saw the pain he was in when he sat down.

  “Another injury? I think someone needs to have words with your Sensei.”

  He took a deep breath. It was now or never. “I have something to tell you.”

  “This sounds serious.”

  “It is. I’ve been lying to you. I don’t do extreme martial arts. I never have. And I don’t live alone in an apartment in Church street, which is why I have never taken you there.”

  He looked across at her. She was staring at him, her face unreadable. He held her gaze as he continued. “I live with a group of friends, people I grew up with, and my injuries are caused by hunting vampires.”

  She continued to stare at him, not moving, not blinking, hardly even breathing. She didn’t notice when the waitress arrived and he ordered for both of them. They had dined there together so often he knew what she would have. Why she had been reading the menu when he arrived he had no idea as she always ordered the same thing.

  It felt like hours passed and still she didn’t say anything; she just continued to stare at him.

  Eventually she spoke. “Go on.”

  He then told her everything, becoming more and more animated as he went along.

  “The place I live in is called Sanctuary 14. There are Sanctuaries all over the world, especially near the bigger cities, and each houses its own team of vampire hunters. Ours is run by doctor Frank Duggan and his wife, Silvia. We just call him Doc, basically because he actually is a doctor. A surgeon to be precise. The whole back wing of the house is a fully equipped medical facility.”

  Food arrived, but neither felt like eating as Craig continued. Sarah was glued to every word he was saying.

  “Their son, Scott, is the youngest member of our team. He’s only twenty one and is still at uni. Our leader is JD. He’s a lawyer. At twenty eight, he’s the oldest of us hunters, but that isn’t the reason we class him as our leader. He’s also our trainer so we have to obey his orders. That just leaves Jonathon, JD’s younger brother, who is an accountant, Simon who does some sort of biochemical research and Katie, who is a vet. Except for Doc and his family, we all grew up together so it made sense to send us to the same Sanctuary.”

  “And you hunt vampires?” Sarah asked when Craig finally stopped talking.

  “Yes. Mostly in the evenings. Sanctuary 7 has some way of monitoring vampire activity and they notify the nearest hunting team whenever they pick anything up. Vampires can go out during the day, but usually they hunt at night as it’s easier for them to attack their prey unnoticed by the general public.”

  “So tell me about vampires. They really exist?” She sounded sceptical, but wasn’t calling him a liar. At least not yet.

  “Yes, they really exist. No, sunlight does not kill them. Nor does garlic or holy water. No, they can’t fly and they definitely do not turn into bats. No, they are not immortal; they age just like we do. Just about the only thing fiction has right is that they drink blood. They are not horrible monsters. They eat and drink like normal humans, other than also needing blood, of course. They look just the same as you and me and go about their normal lives, the same as they did before they were turned.”

  “Turned?” Sarah asked. She was picking at her food, moving it about the plate, but not actually eating it. Craig could understand why.

  “When a vampire bites you, he or she can just drink your blood or they can choose to inject their venom into you. That is how they create new vampires.”

  “So a vampire can drink some of your blood, but leave you alive and still human?” Her voice was filled with doubt. It wasn’t going as well as he had hoped, but it could have been going a lot worse, so he continued.

  “Yes. Some vampires keep humans captive just so they have a constant blood supply handy.”

  “So why do you kill them?”

  It was a good question, when you took into account all she had been told so far, and he hoped he would be able to make her understand. “Some behave as I have just described, often kidnapping innocent people and feeding off them whenever they get thirsty, but most kill, choosing a victim almost at random and drinking so much of their blood that they can’t survive.”

  “And you are a hunter? A killer? A murderer?”

  It was at this point in the conversation that Craig began to doubt that he was doing the right thing by telling Sarah the truth. “That’s not how I would put it, but yes.”

  “How many have you killed?”

  “We don’t keep count, but to give you an idea, the local teams kill hundreds rather than dozens each year.”

  Sarah gave up pretending to try to eat and put her fork down. “So if sunlight, garlic and holy water have been ruled out, how do you kill a vampire? Stake through the heart?”

  “Not exactly. You can severely wound one the same as you can a human. They are alive so stop their heart beating and they’re almost as good as dead. But only almost. They heal very quickly so the only way to make sure they stay dead is to cut their heads off.”

  “Cut. Their. Heads. Off.” Sarah pronounced each word as though it was a sentence. “How exactly do you do that?”

  “With swords.”

  “Swords?” Craig could hear the doubt in her voice becoming stronger. “What sort?”

  “You’re taking Korean sword lessons. Our swords are like those, except much much sharper. They’re a little heavier and are properly balanced.”

  “Swords?” she said again as though she was having trouble taking it all in. “You don’t use guns?”

  Craig shook his head. “No. For some reason they don’t stay dead for very long when they get shot. They heal so fast their hearts start beating again after just a few minutes if you shoot them whereas a sword through the heart can keep them dead for a few hours. Long enough to decapitate them.”

  “Alright, let’s assume, just for one moment, that I actually believe you. Why are you telling me this now?”

  Craig sighed. Despite her words, she didn’t believe him. “I was sick to death of lying to you, so I asked permission from everyone at the Sanctuary to tell you the truth and, surprisingly, they gave it.”

  He watched her carefully as she drank some of her water. She would not meet his eye. After a few minutes of silence he could take it no longer. “Tell me what you’re thinking. Please.”

  “Did Alex know?” It was the question he had been expecting.

  “No. He had no idea. I had to lie to him too. If I had said anything to him, he would have told you. He always told you everything.”

  Again Sarah went quiet for a while. Then she slowly raised her head and looked at him. “So when do I meet your friends?”

  Breathe Sarah

  “So how did it go?” Katie asked as they all sat down to dinner that evening. “Does she think you’re insane?”

  “Not exactly.”

  “What does that mean?” Jonathon asked. �
�Did you chicken out of telling her?”

  “Of course not,” Craig replied. He was more nervous about telling everyone about Sarah’s request than he had been about telling Sarah the truth. He placed his hands on the table when he noticed they were shaking. “She wants to come here and meet you all.”

  Everybody stopped what they were doing and stared at him, some with forks half way to their mouths. Even Silvia and Doc seemed surprised by his comment.

  “Could you please say that again,” JD said.

  Craig took a deep breath. This conversation was going to be difficult. “She has requested that I ask permission to bring her here.”

  “We never bring our dates here,” Scott said. “You know the rules.”

  “She’s not my ‘date’.”

  Everyone started to speak at once, but Doc silenced them. “Alright. Let’s discuss this. Firstly, can she be trusted?”

  “Would I have told her about all of us if she couldn’t?” It was a good point and nobody questioned the statement. “I trust her with my life.”

  “But do you trust her with ours?” JD asked.

  “Yes,” Craig replied without hesitation.

  “Why does she want to come here?” Simon asked.

  “She’s an important part of my life and you are my family. It makes sense that she would want to meet you.”

  “Then let us meet her somewhere else,” Scott said. “Anywhere but here.”

  Craig shook his head. “That’s not what she wants.”

  “And does she always get what she wants?” Jonathon asked.

  Craig ignored the question. “She takes Korean sword lessons and is very interested in weapons. She’s particularly excited about seeing the arena.” He looked at JD as he spoke. The arena was his domain and nobody entered it without his permission.

  As usual he showed no reaction when he responded. “You will not use our training arena as a way of getting a girl into bed.” Craig noticed that he said ‘our’ training arena not ‘my’. He was giving the others a chance to voice their opinions.

  Craig remained calm. “As I have stated many times, she’s not my girlfriend and I have no interest in getting her into bed.”

  “This means a lot to you, doesn’t it?” Craig stayed focused on JD as he nodded his head.