Bram's Vampire Hunter Handbook

Chapter 11 - Hunting routine

You now have the proper training, the proper weapon and the proper understanding of magic. Time to go out and hunt some bloodsuckers, right?

About that.

Before you go on a hunt, it is important that you follow the hunting protocol. It is not supposed to be a long and boring series of steps, but something that is ingrained to your very muscle memory, so you can do it quickly and almost without thought. The hunting protocol was created to make hunting safer and reduce casualties. It can be shortened if it is an absolute emergency, but if the hunter has five minutes to spare to follow the first steps, it can be the difference between success and death.

Besides, there are a series of preparations that hunters have to make in advance to make sure everything goes smoothly even in one of those emergencies. Not to mention the physical structure all teams need to aid their job.

In this chapter, we will study those important aspects of the practical part of the job, and how to tackle common problems that might arise in the day-to-day hunting.

The Hunting Protocol

Every hunter has to be conscious of every single step of this protocol. It is not uncommon for coordinators to hold "emergency drills" to see if everyone in the team is up to date in their response to the protocol.

The first thing a hunter does when the hunting start is to warn the Association that they are on the job. If the team wants to do an investigation and there are no evidence of an ongoing attack, the team can only officially start the job if they get an OK from the Department of Field Work. It is an important step to prevent teams from responding together to the same menace, which can cause confusion and cost the mission. More importantly, if the Association has any reason to believe that the job is too dangerous for the team that wants to tackle it, the Department can send them reinforcements right way.

Some teams (notoriously the newer ones) do not like to be told that they cannot engage a certain vampire in a certain terrain, but, in most cases, the Association does know better. They have been hunting vampires for more than a century, now, and all the experience gathered by them is nothing to scoff at. It took a lot of trial and error to bring hunter casualty to the all-time low we are now, and, while the bigwigs at the Department are not perfect in their decisions, they do have the authority to say them.

In cases in which an attack is happening and the hunters have to intervene right at the instant, they are allowed to act without waiting for the Association, but the Communication Agent has to call them as soon as possible, and if the group is ordered to retreat at some point, it has to do it.

Speaking of which, the second step of the protocol is to check the equipment. Even if you are paranoid and check your equipment every morning, you should never go on a hunt without at least glancing your equipment, to make sure that everything is there. People borrow things without asking, you forget that you took something with you and did not return, ghosts sabotage your weapons. You know, the usual. No hunter wants to be in the position of counting on a certain equipment and discovering it is not where it should be. If there are enough time before the hunt, it is also advisable that the hunter test all electronics to see if all is charged and working right. If they have not done it in a while, it is also a good idea to give maintenance to the weapons (particularly guns) and to check all due dates of any chemicals they might have. If the team uses magical items, the magical support agent also should make sure all spells are still active.

The third step of the protocol can be done in the way of the hunting site, if needed, and it is mounting and testing the body microphones. Not every hunter is comfortable with them, but those small things have been the difference between life and death in many situations. Sometimes, the hunter needs reinforcements, but they are unable to speak for some reason or another, and the microphones allow the communications agent to recognize the problem and send help.