Forbidden Darkness

Chapter 1

"The world will not be destroyed by those who do evil, but by those who watch without doing anything."
-Albert Einstein

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Augustine's eyes instantly met Calloway's as she entered the meeting room on the gloomy second floor of the inn. Her nostrils filled with the thick scent of mildew and cheap air freshener that encased the interior of the room. Her leader offered a grin and motioned for her to sit down before he began passing out a small stack of papers. Augustine obeyed his signal and pulled out the chair nearest to the door. The hunters were all seated around the same round table which took up a majority of the space in the room.

Augustine shifted her gaze around the room and glanced at the familiar wooden walls that trapped the darkness indoors. Calloway had several windows installed last year because the lights themselves could not brighten the building. A rush of relief streamed through Augustine as she took notice of the fact that she was not the last person to enter. The seat beside her remained empty, but she didn't care to think about who it belonged to. Calloway began speaking, regardless of the hunter who had not shown up.

"Bridger Abbott," the league's leader announced. Augustine grabbed a sheet of paper from the pile that was being passed around the table, and she quickly scanned over the printed contents. The top of the sheet displayed a picture of a chestnut-haired boy with matching eyes, and below the photo was a list of important information about him. Augustine felt a twinge of recognition as she analyzed the picture. She couldn't recall where she had seen the boy, but she felt as though the memory wasn't a pleasant one.

The slow creak of the floorboards pulled Augustine from her trance.

"Rosaline, you're late," Calloway commented flatly with a hint of annoyance in his tone. The girl nodded sheepishly in reply as she padded to the empty chair next to Augustine.

"What did I miss?" The small, birdlike girl questioned softly as she took her seat, her blonde curls bouncing with her movements.

"Nothing at all," Augustine whispered in reply and slid an extra slip of paper towards her friend.

Calloway cleared his throat before continuing his presentation, "One of our hunters noticed him wandering about Emberville last Saturday." Augustine lifted her head at the mention of the City. Although hundreds of vampires roamed all throughout the world, it was rare for them to be spotted so close to home. Augustine was generally sent far away when she was assigned to hunt one down.

"As this is an unusual case, I have selected our most experienced young hunter to carry out this task." At this, all eyes turned to Augustine and the room erupted into a series of applause. Augustine grinned at her fellow hunters in reply, and she quickly reverted her gaze back to Calloway.

"Should you choose to accept, I expect his head on a pike by the end of the month," Calloway announced, his eyes meeting Augustine's. It was an honor to be selected for a hunt, so Augustine couldn't turn down his offer.

"You will not be disappointed," she replied confidently, her voice unwavering. Calloway nodded once and waved a hand in dismissal. The hunters all stood and slowly made their way out through the exit. As Augustine pushed her seat in, Rosaline looped her small, pale arm through Augustine's.

"This is exciting!" The girl exclaimed. She was quite beautiful; her face was defined and her slim figure allowed her to move as gracefully as could be imagined. Her constant enthusiasm also made her impossible to dislike. Augustine's lips pulled into a wide grin in response to Rosaline's comment.

"It's an easy target," she replied simply. Calloway always selected the strongest hunters for assignments, so she constantly needed to prove that she was exactly what he was looking for. Her overconfident words were sometimes the key to earning his favoritism.

"But you're also an easy target, considering that the vampire could kill us all if he only discovered this inn," Rosaline mentioned subtly as she gazed around the room, but her words were true and dangerous.

Augustine nodded as she contemplated the consequences of failing the mission. The inn was located on the outskirts of Conwell, only separated from a deadly creature by a small river. The original hunters thought it would be most effective to be hidden in plain sight, so they took over an old hotel and developed one of the best-known vampire hunting leagues in the world. Augustine was only twelve when Calloway took over as leader, and the inn was passed down to him from the previous commander. The league's main operations had never changed locations, as it was unlikely for anybody to suspect the beaten-down inn to be the headquarters of a hunting organization. Over time, the inn had been converted from an apartment complex to an ugly, hotel-like structure, so nobody outside the league ever bothered to enter the building. It was perfect for housing over a dozen hunters.

Augustine couldn't imagine the horrors that would follow her if she failed her assignment. Vampires were stronger and faster than all humans, so the hunters relied on the element of surprise when the time came to killing them. If Bridger found out about the inn, Augustine's entire life would crumble before her eyes. She was born into the hunting league and lived her entire life as a hunter. The most tragic moment of her existence was when her parents were butchered by a vampire, and she couldn't let the same terror be brought to her friends.

Augustine had to kill Bridger, regardless of her personal memories, and she had to do it quickly.