A Favor For The Devil

Getting Back

Zackery's return had somehow boosted everyone's spirits. Everyone seemed to believe that some divine being had chosen us to bless by bringing back one of our most loved members. I returned to my leadership duties, it was a smooth transition back to being in charge, due to the circumstances I gave Sean as much time off as he needed. Some of our newer recruits were learning quickly, most of them seemed ready to go out on a raid. Part of being leader was devising different teams to go take care of nests of vampires. Although all creatures existed in our world my people specialized in vampire slaying. We'd run into a few lycanthropes in our hunts and had been in contact with slayers that specialized in hunting them. There were a few current nests of vampires that had become active. I sent out 3 different teams to different parts of the continental United States, one up in northern Michigan, another in Southern California and the last down in Oklahoma, I split up the newer recruits into each team that set out. August led the first group, Ryan led the second and Ember led the last group, each group had six to seven slayers, during big raids we'd usually have about ten to almost fifteen slayers but these nests were smaller based on recent reports that had been sent in. Each team prepared weapons and other supplies and set out.

I typically would've gone on any of the raids but I decided to stay near home base to keep an eye on Sean and Zackery, they were out sparring in the closest field, it felt like it had been years since I'd seen them just playfully spar. Sean seemed to come more alive since I made the official announcement, I felt more alive. I left them to their spar and set back out for the missions cabin to keep an eye on the radios in case any of the teams ran into trouble. I was looking at the large map I had on the control table when Dr. Sylvia walked in with a terrified, filthy, and very young looking girl.
"Aya, Jed and Jordan found her lurking outside the camp, they say she was attacked."
I looked up, my focus on the raids broken when I looked at the poor girl who'd been brought to me. The girl looked no older than fourteen, maybe fifteen, her clothes were tattered, torn and bloodstained, there were cuts and bruises on almost every inch of visible skin, her hair was as dark as mud in the rain, and her eyes screamed fear. I know I didn't look very welcoming with my dual blades strapped to my back and knives in holsters on each of my thighs. I looked at her, concerned and curious.
"What's your name sweetheart?"
"L-L-Lani, miss," she stuttered out.
"So Lani, what brings you to our camp, are you a slayer?"
"N-no, but I was attacked by something, it had deep red eyes and sharp teeth, it took my mom, sister and brother," she said almost in tears.
"Do you remember where you were attacked? I can have some friends take care of it for you," I tried to sound as kind as I could, thankfully it wasn't a vampire nest but a lone lycanthrope, I could dispatch the lycanthrope slayers to deal with it.
"It's about a days walk from here," she murmured looking to the ground.
"Alright Lani thank you, I will have my friends take care of it for you, and Lani you're safe here now. Sylvia, will you take her to the medical cabin, clean and bind her wounds, find her some fresh clothes and get a hot meal into her and some rest."
"Yes, of course, Aya," Sylvia responded and took the girl away to be cared for.

Sean came into the missions cabin shortly after Sylvia had taken Lani.
"Aya, what happened, who was that?"
"That was Lani, apparently Jed and Jordan found her lurking outside the camp."
Sean looked confused, "is she a slayer?"
"No unfortunately, but I guess she was attacked by a lone lycanthrope. However if she'd like to stay with us she's going to need to learn how to be a slayer."
Sean walked out after I told him what happened, I assumed to the medical cabin or back to sparring, I dispatched the closest lycanthrope slayers to take care of the lone killer. After sending the dispatch signal, I returned to map, I was tracing patterns between the recent nests, so far, nothing quite made sense, I couldn't decipher whatever connection or message the vampires were sending us. Could it have been that because they'd killed a leader's soulmate? Until I figured out the full message I didn't want Zackery going on raids, but I also knew I truly couldn't keep him home.

When I'd exhausted my mental capacity to try and decipher the pattern I headed to medical cabin. I walked in and looked for Sylvia. She was tending to a wound that Jordan had gotten during a sparring match.
"I'll be right with you, Aya!"
I stayed where I was and waited, realizing that it hadn't been that long since I'd been here recovering. Sylvia came over and broke me out of my reverie.
"What can I do for you?"
"How is she Sylvia? Were her wounds infected, any sign of a potential transformation?"
"Thankfully no infection, and no sign of that type of infection either, I think she'll mend, she just needs rest."
I let out a sigh of relief, if she had been infected from the lycanthrope we would've had to take drastic measures, but it looks like she will be fine. With everything going on I definitely didn't need another catastrophe. Before I left I told Sylvia that I'd have food delivered here for Lani three times a day so Lani could focus on resting. Thinking of my own hunger I went out to the dinning cabin. Before I could reach my destination, I was intercepted by Sean and Zackery.
"Where you off to oh great leader?" Sean asked dramatically.
"Just off to get something to eat, I forgot to earlier today," I replied chuckling.
"We'll come too!" Zackery added excitedly.

The three of us headed to get something to eat, the people we passed stared, they were still adjusting to having Zackery back within our ranks and the three of us together apparently sent off waves of authority and power, I hoped not in a way that made people fear us, especially me. Sara, Paul and Wendy greeted us as we were the only occupants there other than themselves. We all waved and said hello. Before we could even get to the counter Paul had three trays of food ready for us, looks like it was chicken, a pasta salad and pear halves for dinner tonight, no complaints here. Eating dinner with the two of them again felt like old times when Sean had first joined us, he'd been eager to prove himself and fit in among the rest of us, him choosing Zackery and I as his closest confidants was both wise and strategic. By the time Sean joined us I'd been in line for the leadership position, the previous leader before me, Stan, was fierce, loyal and protective of his people. I could only hope to live up to his reputation and his expectations of me when he passed the baton to me. Given my time off grieving, and my recent reprise as leader people seemed to accept the regime change as Sean passed everything back to me, everyone had been in good hands under his care but it was time to be getting back to before, although nothing would ever be the same after what I did, I could only hope Zackery would understand and forgive me someday for what I did to get him back.