"I hate vampires..."[open]

[cross]

"In the deserts of Nevada,"

Sitting at the drivers' seat again and blazing through a long stretch of street with nothing in sight besides blacktop and sand in any direction. It would be a long drive. Not only that, he just got back from tacking the bloodsuckers from Alaska, now he was on their tail again. What is with these guys? They went from one extreme to another! Why can't they just pick a nice 70 degree out of the way place, like Massachusetts in the spring? He gave a sigh as his head slid back to rest on the leather seat, Damians' eyes drifting shut.
After a moment, with some music playing, his thoughts drifting over the events of the past month or so. Something brought him back to his senses. His mind asked the question 'am I even watching the road' when he realized he wasn't his eyes snapped open and his head drifted back down to make sure he wasn't swerving. With a deep breath of relief a hand rose to rub some sleep from his eyes.

"...I need a drink."

"Where nothing else matters,"

Pulling into a pit stop, much closer to town than anywhere near where he was when his eyes drooped shut, Damian parked the H1 and walked on in, triggering the automatic lock. Once inside he waved to the kid at the counter, who he'd swear was on something this night. Red puffy eyes, staring off into no where... Damian grabbed a bottle of booze from the back and walked over to the coffee machine, getting a 12 ounce cup and adding the 'gourmet Columbian' blend adding about four shots of that caffeine creamer before putting a lid on it. Walking over to the counter he set those down and took his wallet from his pocket.

"That's everything."

This was said as he showed the kid his military ID. The poor bastard took so long to respond that Damian thought he might have to reach for his Five-Seven. But he kid rang him up and he walked out of the building with coffee in one hand, booze in the other. Before reaching his H1, Damian peeked under it and used the mirrors to keep an eye on his back. Pausing at the side he set the coffee on the roof and opened up the gas valve, then the booze. putting the bottle to the lip of the gas intake, he poured the potent drink in until he had just the empty bottle, which he ditched in the trash before grabbing his coffee again. He climbed into the drivers' side door, his mind flaring that he forgot something. The alarm was on when he went in, it was off when he came out.

"Son of a bitch...."

No sooner had he said this then he heard some one in the back move just behind his chair, a knife moving to his neck. The door was still open, but he'd never get there in time. He could always reach for his gun, but moving your' arm to your' chest takes more effort than pulling your' hand a few inches to the side. Looking up to the mirror he could see the guy in the back seat... and the shark-like jaws of the vampires' fangs.

"It's the perfect place for you and your' intestines to splatter,"

It was only after his blood splattered on the windshield that Damian woke up from dozing off in the H1. He was getting close to town by now and his head almost smacked the steering wheel with relief. It was only a dream. Still, he made a mental note. From now on, check the back seat. Maybe it was paranoia, maybe it was survival instinct telling him not to forget something later on. Who could tell for sure what it meant. They never actually came true, sometimes they were even silly... like a cop pulling him over and when he rolled the window down it was just a cop with a 2 foot across donut for a head. One thing was for sure, no pit stops tonight. He'd drive all the way into a small out of the way town that was barely on the map. It was here that he'd rest and look for a clue... a hint... anything that would lead him to the vampires he sought to kill.

His H1 pulled into the parking lot of a hotel and he got a room with one bed. The tubby guy at the counter offered to let him rent it by the hour, so he knew this would turn out to be a 'high class' place. Before going into his room, he nabbed his green duffle with MARINES printed on the side and lugged it in. It had a sleeping bag he planned on using here. The sleeping bag was yanked out and opened before being spread across the bed. He then picked up the paper saying what was open in town... maybe there was a bar or something for his spare time.

Wordcount: 888
Lyrics: "Bang Pow Boom"

[kitten]

Nevada, huh? Well, she had been to worse places, this hot desert was looking more and more like a vacation after her last stop. She chuckled a little as she thought back to how her last hunt might have been her last if she hadn't had that silver knife hidden in her pants. The stupid werewolf had talked her out of her weapons for the night, having acted as a normal person hiring her... she was supposed to stay in their home for the night before going after the demon they had asked her to go after, which should have alerted her in the first place that something was wrong. Usually people didn't know that monsters were real... But they hadn't wanted guns in their home, something about it being dangerous with kids around. She had respected that, but she kept a knife.

Her attention turned from the thoughts of the last hunt to her dog, who was whining. "I know, its hot...it'll be night soon." She rolled her eyes, hands adjusting their grip on the steering wheel of her pea green jeep. That dog had pound puppy eyes, and that might have been what she loved and hated most about her. Daisy had been a life saver, that was for sure, but with eyes like hers it meant Kitten never got to finish anything she bought for food because the evil little dog would pout at her until she shared it. It was good for weight loss though.

The sunset finally spread across the sky, covering everything in a wave of orange, pink, red and yellow. It was a calming scene, the sunsetting over the desert wasn't so bad. She thought for a moment this was what made all of this traveling worth the effort. Most people didn't get to drive around the country all of the time, seeing everything, trying local food and getting a taste of different culture. The different boozes weren't that bad either. She grinned to herself and pulled into the same hotel that the Nephlim had. She called Daisy from the jeep and stuffed her into her luggage, leaving it unzipped for air. Most places, even the ones that rent by the hour do not allow dogs. She slowly locked up her jeep and made her way inside of the building, the AC hitting her and making her almost moan from how good it had felt. It reminded her that she needed to fix the air in her vehicle.

Though she thought nothing of him as she waited in line behind him to check in. He was a normal, average joe... well, a cute average joe, but she didn't have time to think about that kind of fun on this trip. She was looking for anything going on here. Any monsters, demons, vampires or anything else ugly and nasty. This was a big area, she must have had something to do there. When the man in front of her finally checked in she too asked for a room, having to resist pulling out a gun on the man behind the counter when he asked if she was joining the last guy in his room. "Just a room for the night, one bed." She said, drumming her fingers in the counter top, slowly as she awaited to be given a room number and key. She reached into her wallet and pulled out a credit card. She held it out to the guy, who arched a brow. 'Kitten Cross' must have seemed like an unusual name, and honestly it wasn't completely a fake name. Kitten was her alias after all. After everything was in order she started walking towards her room, 69. She took a moment to snicker childishly at the number before entering her room. As she passed Damian's room she would hear her dog growl softly, but thought nothing of it and almost hit the bag, laughing as the owner eyed her bag. "Heh...pesky electric toothbrush..."

Inside was a small room, but that was all she needed. She let the dog out of the bag and flopped onto the bed, groaning at the almost musty smell that punched her nose. It certainly wasn't what she had hoped for but in the end... it was better than sleeping in that bloody jeep another night. It was too cramped. Patting the bed her basset hound hopped up beside her, silent, as the dog only barked when something not quite human was around. The chubby creature fell over and looked at her, those pouty eyes begging for attention. Kitten put an arm around her canine partner then reached for the news paper that would be sitting on the bedside table. She flicked it open and started reading, maybe there would be something in here that sounded off... something that would give her a reason to grab the big guns.

That was when her baby blue eyes caught a headline that made her grin a little. "Bingo..." She whispered. The headline read Five dead, drained of blood. Of course the paper tried selling the story as being the product of some evil Satanic cult... then again, as far as she saw them, the vampires she assumed this to be about were no better. She could hardly wait to cut their heads off. Cutting the article out she rolled over and started to doze off, there would be no point in hunting them in the dark...that was their domain, hers was during the day when they slept.

Wordcount: 937

[cross]

After checking in he passed a cute young girl and gave her some space, being respectful and trying not to bump into her.

"Excuse me, ma'am."

Always polite with what the Marines drilled into his thick skull. A smile was even given to her as he slid out the door and tried to hide the hint of a blush when he heard the guy behind the counter ask if she was with him. Good thing they were both behind him now. He faintly heard her say 'Just a room for the night, one bed.' But that was none of his business. The drumming of her fingers was cut short by the closing of the door.

As the girl passed his door, he was laying down on the sleeping bag, reading the paper as he heard a light growl. Canine if he wasn't mistaken. Then he heard the words 'Heh...pesky electric toothbrush...' and shook his head, he suspected she had a small-ish dog, maybe a beagle or weener dog. But that to, was none of his business. Actually he rather liked dogs, so he thought if she had one, it shouldn't be a problem for her to have it in that room... hell they've had worse in these rooms (by the smell).

One article caught his eye out of everything else 'Five dead, drained of blood.' Of course the paper tried selling the story as being the product of some evil Satanic cult. But if that was the case, wouldn't they have at least tried to HIDE the evidence? What about the blood? Where did that go? Did they honestly believe the cult members came in, stole the blood, and left? Wouldn't it make more sense to simply taser or drug the people, drag them off, then kill them during the ritual they needed the blood for? One thing was for certain, he would need the dead mans' blood he had stored up on. He had about 14 pints left in the back of his H1.

---

The next morning, Damian woke up at about 4:00 am and rolled off the bed to do his pushups. He would do 80 reps of those and 70 sit ups followed by 70 crunches. After this he would go take a shower and get dressed in clothes he had waiting in his bag for the day. Putting everything back in the duffle, dirty clothes in a separate pouch, he went to the front desk to turn in his key and took off in the H1 for the crime scene.
He'd park a block away and walk over, spotting a single cruiser on the way there and the yellow tape, he walked down a side street and halfway through, he came to a small gap between the fence and the alley. Damian used this to access the enclosed backyard and walked to the back door. slipping on a pair of black leather gloves he tested the lock. Of course... it was locked. So he reached into his pocket and produced a pick. A moment later the door unlocked and he glanced to either side for any kind of alarm system, seeing nothing he inched the door open and even paused to blow some dust out into the door, wanting to see if there were any lasers. Happy with none, he crept in and closed the door behind him, locking it from the inside again... in case anyone came to check.
Checking the kitchen there were five glasses out and almost empty. Only two chairs were at the table though, which made it look rather barren. Walking past this into the living room there were three chairs around the coffee table but were on the floor. There were five chalk outlines drawn onto the hardwood floor. Yet the couch could sit three to four people easily. So that meant six to seven people were here. With five dead, where did the other one or two go? The way the article read, the people were discovered the next morning by a UPS guy. So not all of them died here. That meant one or two of them left last night without calling the cops or anything. Which ultimately meant, those one or two people were the ones responsible.

"This place stinks of vampires...."

With that said, he straightened up and walked over to the phone taking the wireless handset and then walked to the fridge to check for numbers. He could do background checks on those people and interview them later. Finding a bit of scrap paper, he wrote down the numbers from the handset and put the handset back but kept the numbers. With all of this, he took a trip up the stairs. If a girl lived here, he could snag her diary and see if that gave any clues as to what happened here. Having to go through two separate rooms to find it, but indeed there was a diary, which he slipped into his coat and went back the way he came in. Out the sliding door, using his picks to lock it as the front door opened. He suspected it was a cop, so he slid back out the hole in the fence and took the long way back to his H1. No need to let some one see him taking any other route and put two and two together.

Wordcount: 911 (heh)

[kitten]

It would seem the female had the same thoughts as he did. If a cult had really been involved, why would they leave a mess behind? Surely they would have abducted the victims and drained them at what ever creepy alter they were praying to...or whatever. She honestly wasn't into the black magic cult mumbo jumbo. After finding out about demons, she thought anyone who thought summoning one would be a good idea, they had to be crazy. Demons were only good for one thing; target practice. And right about now she was starting to feel like she wanted to turn something into swiss cheese. After what they did to her mother, who would really blame her hate of them? She had heard rumors that some demons were nice, some were in between... There was no way she would believe that. They were from Hell after all, and nothing from Hell was good, only dark and disgusting. If she had it her way, she would destroy them all.

"Well, Daisy-Mae... we have a job." She smiled at her dog, usually talking to her like she was a human being. She might as well, she didn't really have anyone else. She sat up on the bed, hands resting against the sheets. She was thinking about getting up and heading out already, but she knew it was a terrible idea. She hadn't had a good nights sleep in a long time, not that she would get one in this sleezy hotel room. She could only imagine why this room smelled this way, and it made her stomach lurch a little. The small bathroom attached to her room had a shower, and by now she felt like she needed one.

She got up and moved into the room, and had her shower. She was displeased that they were out of warm water, but as long as she got clean it didn't bother her too much. Once her nightly routine was over, she moved back to her bed and laid her own blanket over it, folding it over to cover herself up. They weren't kidding when they said desert nights were bloody cold, so she put all of her clothing back on to sleep in, which wasn't a bad idea if she needed to flee in the middle of the night.

Daisy wiggled her way between her and the blanket, snuggling up to her as the two soon dozed off to join each other in dreams. That night she would dream about the reason she became a hunter, it was likely that she had tossed and turned, maybe even called out in her nightmare for them not to make her kill her own mother. The dream moved to the moment when she...

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Buzz, buzz, buzz. The sound of her cellphone alarm made her bolt up, the sun burning her sensitive baby blues. A groan escaped her and the dog as she got out of the bed, collecting her stuff and urging her pet back into the bag. She looked to the news paper clipping she had cut out the night before, slipping it into her pocket. She would be heading to the crime scene now, but not before getting changed into something a bit more...well, fitting for a crime scene. She'd put on black business pants, nice shoes, a white button down and a blazer that matched her pants. The black of her clothing was set off with the cream coloured pin stripes adorning the jacket and bottoms. A dark red tie completed the outfit. She made sure she had a 'badge' on her as she made her way out of the hotel. She had picked up on the idea to act as a cop from a few hunters she had met during her travels, and they weren't wrong about it being risky..but sometimes amazingly useful. She had gotten a lot of good information from people that way.

The jeep was luckily cool today as she'd left around 5am. The early mornings were still nice and cool, so she'd want to get everything finished up by noon to avoid the heat of the day. She started her vehicle and allowed Daisy to get out of the bag and head off towards her passenger seat. Her dog always got shot gun, even if another person was riding with her, because her dog was her best detection for a demon or other unhuman creatures.

When she arrived at the crime scene she walked up to the front door, Daisy moved at her heals, nose to the ground as she sniffed up the unusual scents. That was another benefit to having a dog, she could track things much easier. The front door wasn't unlocked, but she would indeed use her ID to open it, she was getting good at jacking into places by now. Once in her dog growled, she thought she heard someone move.. but after a quick sweet figured it must have been the wind. She'd missed Damian by a good five minutes. The place had been cleaned up by then, no doubt, so she didn't have to worry about getting anything messy on her. She took a few pictures with her cellphone of the chalk outlines and the glasses on the kitchen table. The fact there were two more glasses than chalk lines meant that there must be two monsters for her to be hunting. She nodded at this and slapped her thigh, calling her dog to follow her up the stair case and into the second level where the bedrooms were.

One door was open, and by the looks of it...it was a girls room, it had posters on the wall of holly wood vampires, the kind that glitter in the sun and fall in love with high school girls. A part of her wondered if that was how the vampire had gotten into the home, after all, an easy meal to get is one that is more than willing. She sighed, making sure Daisy stayed close to her. She didn't need the cops or anyone who would return here to see anything broken or out of place.

Having found a few numbers laying around the house and on the phone's caller ID, she took note it had been moved, she decided it was best to leave. She made sure the front door was locked behind her, and slipped out of the back. It seemed they both had the same idea of taking the long way back to their cars. Once there she slipped into the jeep, with the dog, and decided to head off to a McDonalds for breakfast and free wifi so she could look up who these people were and where she could find them for questioning about the murder.

Word count: 1154

[cross]

As he came up to his hummer, Damian glanced under for some one waiting for him and then peeked into the windows while using the mirror to watch his back, using his peripheral vision. Satisfied with nothing being inside, he unlocked the door. Climbing into the H1, he flopped onto the leather seating and closed the door. Letting out a sigh his hands pushed the key into the ignition and he took off as casually as one could after entering, stealing from, and leaving a crime scene. Just another part of work? Was it morally right to break the law to do the right thing? Maybe... but it didn't make him feel any better about it. As he drove, his stomach growled. His eyes glanced down and saw his tank was getting low from not stopping the night before.

"Guess we're both hungry huh?"

He kept going until he came to a little out of the way gas station. Yet rather than stop at a pump he parked right in front of the door. Shutting the H1 down and withdrawing the keys from the ignition, he popped the door open and hopped out. The door was pushed closed with a sigh as the heat hit him again. It was much cooler last night than it was now and it would only get hotter. Walking inside the gas station, he made his way to the snack and beverage bar, grabbing a few fruit and a deli sandwich along with a gourmet Collumbian coffee with two shots of 'Stokes', some high-caffeine creamer. He then went over and grabbed a bottle of the stronger liquor they had before making his way to the register.
As he dropped these onto the counter he grabbed a copy of the local newspaper for that day and paid in cash. gathering everything up in a bag he made his way back to his car and dumped the whole bottle of liquor in the tank. Not that it would do much good. But that would last until he could refill the keg with moonshine (which seemed to last forever). Climbing back into the H1, checking under it and the back seat as he did before, he set his coffee in the cup holder and dug into the back seat for his laptop. Popping it open, he set it down on his lap against the steering wheel and slid the cell phone from his pocket out and used an ethernet cable to a port on the smart phone. Rather than use an unprotected wireless signal, he used his cellphone as a modem.
While he ate and drank, he did a background check on all of them and saved the data straight to his phone before packing the laptop up and slipping it into the backseat, where it was earlier. He then finishes his 'breakfast' and drove up to the dumpster to toss his trash out before pulling out of the parking lot and heading to a clothing store. He needed a normal business suit, not his dress greens. He already had a legit government ID, so asking them some questions shouldn't be much of a hassle.

Wordcount: 533
(I'm posting less so it will be easier for others to get in, I'll post 1K+ if asked though)

[kitten]

At McDonalds she began to look into these people, she did not have a government ID, but she did have a credit card, so she could get checks on everyone. She would get her results in a few hours, and well, she could always run a few errands while she waited. Plus, this breakfast snack wrap wasn't agreeing with her stomach. Stupid McDonalds food...

After leaving the fast food joint, and returning to her jeep, Kitten decided to get some gas and ask around town... and what better place than the local gas station? She could use a refueling. She tossed a hash brown and a McMuffin to her beloved dog who had been sleeping. The dog would hungrily eat the food while she drove. I could use some tunes... She popped in a CD into her player, and let the music wash her mind clean.

And now the nightclub sets the stage for this they come in pairs she said
We'll shoot back holy water like cheap whiskey they're always there...

She had been working hard on learning to think before jumping, after all. Her instincts had always told her to just shoot first and look later. That had been what lead to her mother's death. But she had learned a lesson about that, and from her death she had learned what Salt and holy water did to demons... she had even learned about a devil's trap.

As she pulled in she parked next to a pump. Her eyes washed over a hummer, she remembered seeing it at the hotel too. She arched a brow as she made her way inside. There he was again, the guy she had seen at the hotel. She thought it was funny that she'd run into him again, even being in line behind him yet again. She shook her head then put her credit card to more use, paying for more gas. She walked back out into the heat of the Nevada air, and began to pump gas.

She looked over at his hummer, seeing him on his cellphone, and figuring he was just texting or something. She had never cared much for texting, she felt it was impersonal. That and she hadn't figured out how to just yet. Settling back in her now fully gassed jeep she flipped her laptop open and plugged in her her usb modem. It wasn't the best connection but it worked. Bingo, the background checks were in. She would start to read through them, her eyes scanning over the data that now gave her the information she needed to go and question these people.

'Grrrrrr', Daisy had her head out of the window and looking straight at the hummer, barking only once. A shiver ran up Kitten's spine... She knew her dog only barked at the unnatural. But, nothing had seemed off about this guy. He was out at day just fine, he didn't look in pain...and he didn't smell like rotten eggs, so he wasn't a vampire or demon. Maybe Daisy just didn't like his hair cut? She rolled the window up and pulled the dog into a sitting position. "Knock it off." She tapped her nose.

Word count: 554

[cross]

As he walked out of the station he had noticed the same woman from the hotel. Was this his new stalker? He paused at the door to hold it open for her and offered a friendly greeting before walking to the hummer. It was a typical military styled one, a voice that was bold but not too loud.

"Good morning ma'am."

When he heard the dog bark, he was pulling out of the station. He looked over and smiled. He liked dogs, they were playful, protective, goofy, and they could be put to work. Offering a wave he pulled out of the parking lot and headed off to a local Mens' Warehouse to get set up in a black suit, black tie, black polished shoes, and white shirt.
From there he went to the first house and met up with a rather distraught father. Knocking on the door, the man answered and was told he had a few questions about his sons' death while flashing the government ID.
The gist of the conversation seemed to be that his son was into rock, dark clothes, and vampire movies but he was Agnostic not a demon worshiper like the media makes him out to be. He mentioned that he had five friends and that night, he got a call from him saying he met two more and was going to come home a little later than normal. The next morning he was told to identify his sons' body. Asking if there was any more information, the father just said his son was a good kid, he'd never get caught up in something like that. This response was sincere, so Damian gave a nod and said he'll look into it further and if the person that did this is still out there, he'll find out and bring the one or ones responsible to justice.
He left on that note and went back to the H1, pulling out his cell phone to stall until the man looked away so he could check under the H1 and the back seat without being watched. People might regard it as odd behavior.

Wordcount: 360

[kitten]

"Mornin'." She had said to him simply as he held the door for her, but refrained from eye contact. She had been stressing over this case, and bumping into this guy twice now was starting to make her feel a little uneasy... She had thought it odd now, thinking back to the way her dog had now freaked out twice over him. She hadn't smelled anything unusual... she had gotten fairly close to him as he'd held the door for her. Was he one of her targets? She couldn't push that possibility aside just yet, so she'd need to check in on him, maybe she was stalking him, if not no other reason than something about him was off. But for now, the woman planned to go and talk to the father of one of the victims. She pulled out of the gas station and took the long way there.

Once there, she had just missed Damian by a few minutes. She parked and got out, making sure she looked prim and proper as she walked up to the door and knocked. When it was opened the older man looked at her oddly. She showed him her badge. "Agent Carr, I need to ask you a few questions regarding your sons murder..." The man sighed and shook his head, motioning her inside.

"Are you people ever going to let me rest? Someone was just here!"

"I'm sorry sir...er, someone was? O-oh. What'd they look like?"

"Looked like a military guy...messy hair, drove a hummer."

"O-o-oh. Heh, well, he's a new guy." She chuckled a bit, "So I need to make sure he got all of the information about your son correctly, he can often be a little senile." She winked, and the man seemed to fall for it. He began telling her everything he told Damian, that his son was not into anything satanic and just liked vampire books and rock music. The female nodded and took a few notes.

"And who were the two friends he said he'd meet?"

The man sighed and shook his head, "He said they were just friends from his university." The man seemed to look more and more depressed so she decided to give up the interviewing for now. Pulling a card from her pocket with her number she handed it to him and gently touched his shoulder.

"I'll do everything I can to solve this."

She knew it wouldn't reassure him much, people were loosing faith in the justice system and she didn't blame them. But she wasn't a part of that, she had her own rules. Once back in her jeep she decided her next move was to go on to the next house, the boyfriend of the teenaged girl. She began to pull out of the drive way, her mind drifting over what questions to ask... and to try and figure out if this 'messy haired military guy' was a monster, or another hunter. Time would tell.

Word Count: 513