Vampire Seekers

Chapter Two

"I'm not a hooker." Maria dead pans.

"Look, we've all done undercover before. What's the difference?" Rick questions while reloading his gun. He takes aim and fires.

"Yeah your time undercover in a rebel group is exactly the same as me going undercover in a vampire sex club." Maria exclaims, whispering the last few words. "And which one of you brave boys ran it passed my dad? Was it Jaxon, cause I haven't seen him round all day and that would make sense. . . if he were dead."

Rick glances at Henry from the corner of his eyes. Both of them look like school boys who had been caught red-handed and about to be sent the headteachers office.

"Oooh! You haven't have you? Ha! You thought I'd just go with it didn't you. Then what? Say I volunteered but tell him not to say anything to me because I might find it embarrassing?" Maria guesses and from the look on their faces she hit the nail on the head.

Maria rolls her eyes, "You must think I'm a complete dunce." she comments whilst pointing her own gun at the target.

Rick smirks at Maria as she takes aim.

When Maria pulls the trigger the gun recoiling differently to how she is used to. Frowning, Maria removes the gun cartridge and examines the bullets within.

"I think I know why I haven't seen Jaxon lately." Maria comments. She turns the bullet round in her fingers watching how the bright blue liquid moves inside the partly clear casing. "His work I assume."

Maria raises an eyebrow at Rick whose smirk from before has turned to frown. "You expected me to end up on my arse didn't you?" Maria tuts at Rick.

"There's no rune engravings." Maria observes, her fingers running over the warming metal. "Was we late on a payment to the witches or something?"

"Nah. They got a bit skittish about working with us." Rick throws his hands up as though to say 'what can you do'. Henry hums his agreement. 

"Hmm. Seems they didn't want to risk any backlash from working with us after the darling dhampir went rogue and killed the senator." Henry shakes his head as soon as he uses Allison's nickname. "Always said Allie was a loose canon. If the head of the Seekers weren't her dad she'd be in our little black book."

Maria agrees. Allie Cross is one of their greatest assets and one of their greatest liabilities. As a dhampir Allie has all the advantages of being a vampire but having been raised by a human her loyalties side with humans.

Even so, dhampir's can be unruly, many prone to fits of rage and periods of black outs.  As a dhampir who appeared to have her bloodlust under control Allie was given the job of hunting vampires considered extremely dangerous. But appearances can be deceiving. The senator had not been a sanctioned kill and the Seekers still stand on shaky ground because of the dhampir's actions.

If the blood king, the oldest living vampire, Vlad had not involved himself Allie would have been executed. Still, Maria can't blame the witches for distancing themselves from their organisation. 

"I wonder why Vlad saved her skin." Henry ponders out loud. 

"From what I've heard Vlads a little. . . eccentric. He doesn't make many public appearances, not since the war, but he likes Allie. Apparently she makes things interesting." Maria puts the bullet down on the table. "He finds her entertaining so she's safe until he gets bored with her antics."

"The blood suckers tell you that?" Rick scoffs. "I think that's a load of crap. I bet he was behind it all along. Sent Allie to kill the senator so no one suspected him."

"What would be the point? He's the king of Caroarmis, he does not need permission to execute a senator from his own territory." Maria points out, "Oh, and yeah they did. Vampires gossip too."