The Ancient One

Chapter 7

"Captain, what we witnessed was brutal," Jake said.

"Tell me what happened."

"She disemboweled two of the vampires that came to kill her, killed one outright, then took the others somewhere to leave them in the sun."

"This was the little girl again, you say?"

"Yes sir."

"She did our work for us, it seems, but even the little ones are evil, vile creatures. That is why we must exterminate them all." It was as if he was trying to convince Jake, which wasn't necessary.

"Sir, in all my years of dealing with them, I've never witnessed anything like that. I've heard of disemboweling, and seen it in movies, but not in real life, right in front of me, and I'm almost certain she arranged that to happen in front of us. The one we'd captured said he had a task to perform. They planned it, sir."

"That's a rather elaborate play, if that's true. Are these vampires really cruel enough to kill their own to give a message to us?"

"I suspect the attack was real, and she turned it on them, but used it to also give us another message. Kill two birds with one stone, as it were. The capture was the only part that was staged, but I still don't fully understand why...unless it was just to delay us until the real attack came, making sure we were there to see it." As Jake thought about it, that seemed very likely.

"That's still a very elaborate operation, where many things could go wrong. Any miscalculation and she'd have lost the little one."

"The old one didn't know about it," Jake recalled, becoming even more impressed. The little one had planned it behind her back, knowing what was coming.

"Are you telling me the little one planned it all?" Kloss asked, following Jake's thought. He only nodded, his mind turning the events over and over.

"She's dangerous, and that was also part of the message." He whispered that, impressed as he was with what had happened.

"We need to get her and her master, then," Kloss declared, as if it was nothing. "The little one might be like a general for the older one."

"Sir, she had fourteen well outfitted soldiers in the shadows, just like last time. We can never be certain if she's alone, and seeing how well those men worked, we wouldn't win. They also had guns, which would make a tangle incredibly deadly, for us especially, even if we start carrying guns., and we don't know that she doesn't have even more soldiers."

"Ridding the world of their evil is worth any cost," Kloss said, his eyes almost feverish. This didn't sound like the same man that had rightly dressed him down for the first run in with the girl.

"I'm going to head home, sir. I'm in quite a bit of pain."

"Absolutely. Get healed quickly, Jake," Kloss replied, his eyes looking in some other world. There were times he worried Jake, and this was definitely one of them.

Although he would have liked some sleep first, he knew he didn't have time if he was going to take Sam to school. He hadn't taken Sam to school since the first couple of weeks, and he wanted to take that on again. Not to mention, he was pretty sure he wouldn't wake up if he even tried.

"Sam, are we going, or what?" he called out, more than an hour later. As usual, Sam was in danger of being late, if he took any longer.

"Yeah, let's go," Sam said, as he bounded into the living room.

"Amanda, we're going," Jake called out. She came into the room, only partially done with her makeup, and still in her PJs.

"Have a good day, Sam. I love you," she said, and kissed him on the cheek.