SOMETHING WICKED THIS WAY COMES, henry mills

chapter one

CHAPTER ONE
QUAKE

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The life of a vampire hunter was one that demanded a lot of things and Josie van Helsing knew them all.

Most importantly, it required one to remain in their best shape, as it was not a job for those averse to an active lifestyle. It also required a degree of wits, the ability to think quickly on one's feet and knowing how to push aside fear so that you may get the job done. Facing down the scariest creatures that lurked in the dark and preyed on the innocent was definitely not the job for someone who was faint of heart.

One of the skills that Josie was most proud to have cultivated was the ability to control her breathing when on long chases. Her feet pounded against the cobblestone road, stake gripped tightly in one hand. Tendrils of her dark hair had slipped from pins keeping it not only up in an appropriate style for a young woman of Josie's standing, but out of her face as well. The hair stuck to the thin sheen of sweat that coated her body, making it stick to the sides of her face and the back of her neck. Her heart pounded away in her chest, pumping the adrenaline that was keeping her moving so late in the night.

Josie's dark eyes flicked rapidly between the street ahead of her and the rooftops above, following the silhouettes of two vampires as they leapt from roof to roof. She was not afraid of the creatures that stalked the shadows, secure in the knowledge that the backup she had with her would be more than enough to protect her, should she find herself outnumbered or endangered.

Her boots skidded across the stone as she stopped suddenly, the silhouettes that she had been following pausing in their chase and beginning to fight. She turned her eyes away for seconds at most to look for a way to reach the roofs from where she was before she heard a cry and looked up to see one of the figures throw the other from the roof of the four-storey building. She could only watch as the vampire landed heavily on the cobblestone and remained there, unmoving.

Swearing, Josie hurried over and knelt down next to the vampire, searching for signs of whether they were truly dead or had survived the fall. They were resilient creatures, vampires, but one could never be sure if—

A cry fell from her lips as the vampire's red eyes flew open and they launched themselves at her, tackling her and pinning her down to the cobblestone street, fangs on clear display as they hissed at her in warning.

"Nicholai!" Josie scolded, punching his arm. "You scared me half to death with that fall!"

"Sorry, Jo," Nicholai said, backing off and offering her a hand up. "That landing shocked me for a moment."

"Of course it did, you fell four storeys!" she exclaimed.

With a sigh, Josie turned away from her friend as he rubbed the back of his neck and what was likely a crick that had resulted from his heavy landing. As her eyes turned up to the rooftops, she realized they were empty. The other vampire had escaped.

"You let them get away!"

"Not on purpose!" Nicholai argued.

"I am tired of your excuses."

"I was thrown off a building!"

"And you have clearly recovered from the ordeal. Thus, it is an excuse."

"T'is not an excuse if that's what really happened!"

Josie rolled her eyes and cast her eyes around once more, wondering which way the vampire may have gone in. The street and the rooftops were still and quiet, only the distant sounds of the tavern they'd passed by about a block or so back. With no leads that she could see, Josie turned her eyes back to her friend. Nicholai met her expectant stare and immediately shook his head.