Hunter's Moon

Chapter 10

“What's the next step?” Matthew asked. They had moved back upstairs and Robert had pulled beers out of the fridge and handed one to each of them.

            “Well, wouldn't it be to figure out what it is that whoever is behind this all is trying to accomplish?” Taylor asked, after taking a good sized pull from her long neck, “I mean you said that she mentioned the full moon. That's what? This Monday? Only a few days away? But is it this full moon, or a later one?”

            Robert nodded, “A day or two, yeah. But, I'm kinda more worried about something else she said. 'We won't have to hide in the shadows'. Just what does that mean?”

            Taylor scoped the room and frowned. “Hmm . . . do you have internet access? Wi-fi maybe? I have some ideas about something but I want to see if they match up . . .”

            Robert pointed out a netbook computer sitting on one of the tables along one wall, “I'm not too high tech, but I'm not a complete Luddite.”

            Taylor looked at the netbook, as if gauging its viability. “Okay, be right back,” and she ran out the door. Cal following her, apparently wanting to see what the excitement was all about.

            Matthew spoke up again. “Okay, Robert. If we're going to be trying to go up against these creatures I think it's best if you let us know as much as you can about them. They don't bleed, they get claws and fangs, holy water works against them . . . what else? Teach me Vampire 101.”

            “Wow, well, that's going to take a while. Okay, reliable information. Crosses and other holy symbols won't work. What works is the faith behind them. There are people out there who see themselves as God's soldiers, and that faith in a higher being seems to give them an extra layer of defense."

            “Superhuman speed and strength are possible, but only if they've recently fed. The blood they drink . . . it's like a sugar rush, or a drug high.”

            “Then, let's see. Weakness to garlic and silver are bunk. They do hate sunlight. Sunlight can kill them. Fire can. Decapitation. Wooden stakes work only as well as stakes of any other material . . . but, piercing their heart will slow them down significantly."

            “It's not an infection, it's not a disease, it's a mystical curse that is contagious. There's no medically sound reason for all aspects of the vampirism to leave when something unconnected to the body happens.”

            Matthew prompted, “Such as the sire dying.”

            “Yup, death of the sire typically cures newly born vampires. But as I was saying, the heart is where their power is centered. Do enough damage to it and the vamp goes down. That's why decapitation works, cutting the brain, which controls the body, off from the heart, where the curse controls from. Now, of course, there are a few different types of vampires out there, but this is all in regard to the types we're dealing with.”

            The door opened and Taylor came back in carrying a laptop in her hands, Cal following closely behind her. A silver shell with a logo sticker on the top. The sticker was that of the four color Microsoft logo, contained within the Apple logo, in photo negative. It took her only a few moments to boot it up and connect to the wireless signal. “Uh, Robert, you really should think about securing your wireless connection. Anyone could just connect.”

            His respond was a grunt. “Yeah? Have you noticed that I don't have any neighbors? And no one really comes out this way much. But, you said you have an idea about the full moon?”

            “Yeah, yeah . . . let me check a . . . few . . . thing- oh, wow. Now, I'm not typically one for astrology, but if vampires are real, and you say there's a grain of truth in a lot of other stuff . . . Well, this coming full moon seems to coincide with some sort of cosmic concordance with star and planetary alignment."

            “I can't make heads or tails of what it's supposed to mean,” Taylor continued, turning the laptop around. A website displayed an animation set on repeat. It showed a group of heavenly bodies moving into alignment. In the corner of the animation was a calendar date counting down to just under a week from that night. “But you tell me, Robert, can things like this make a difference in the supernatural world?”

            “Quite possibly. Something like this has the potential to really throw a lot of raw energy around. If whoever is behind all this knows some ritual to harness and use that energy, the results could be disastrous."

            “Now, we know why they're waiting for the full moon. We still need to figure out what they're planning.” Robert moved over to a stack of books, picked out two or three, then moved across the room to a bookshelf and grabbed several more from the wall, “These books hold info on astrology and what the various alignments mean.”

            Walking back over to the Matthew and Taylor he set the group of books down. “If we can figure out what they're doing with the orbital alignment, maybe we can get a leg up on them.”

            Taylor looked up from her laptop and saw that Matthew and Robert were going over some weapons that Robert had brought up from his basement.

            “So, what weapons do you use for hunting vampires?” Matthew asked Robert.

            “Varies. Keeping a loaded shotgun on hand is never a bad idea. But other than that, a nice sharp knife works wonders.”

            “Then holy water you said.” Taylor asked, “But if you can't just get any run of the mill priest to bless it, how do you . . . well, get holy water?”

            “There are people whose faith is strong enough to create it. It's not just a matter of saying the appropriate words. There has to be strong conviction behind what is said. The blessing has to come from one who truly believes. There are one or two other hunters that I knowwho come through here every so often. Every chance I get I try to stock up as much as I can.”

            “How can you tell a vampire from a regular person?” Matthew asked. “There's got to be some way to tell. I mean, come on, is the only way to tell when they sprout fangs and go for the neck?”

            Robert chuckled. “No. There are subtle things. Such as the no bleeding that I mentioned earlier. Also, you can see it in their eyes. Regardless of the color, the eyes will have specks of blood red throughout. The intensity of the red varies depending on a few factors: how hungry they are, how much they're using their vampiric nature, how much they're trying to hide it . . . but it's always present. After you see it a few times, you'll recognize it."

            “Then there's the odor. Vampires are dead, so normal human smells are a thing of the past for them. But because they are so active, they don't start decomposing like other corpses, at least not at the same rate. Vampire's rate of decay is infinitesimally small, but it is present.”

            “Also, a lot of the newly turned vampires really enjoy playing up the Hollywood stereotypes, even if they don't actually need it. It's more just their stupidity working in our favor, so keep an eye out for that.”

            “So . . . have any tips on how to take them out?” Taylor asked.

            “Don't.” Robert said, looking at her seriously. “You two are too new to this to try hunting on your own. I don't want you to even think about trying. It'd be horrible for you to waste such potential before you get to be good at this.”

            “And if we find ourselves in a dark alley with no one but vampires around us?” Taylor asked.

            Robert moved some items among the weapons he'd brought up and tossed a can to Taylor, “Blessed Mace. Works just as good as holy water. I really hope you don't ever need to use it.”