Rick Hall Fiction

As the two hopped in one of the vans, the noticed that one was missing. If a van was missing, then that meant that some of the hunters got away. Each was secretly hoping that most of the others escaped.

Roger got into the driver’s side and Ethan the other. Prior to entering the vehicle, Roger ran his hand under the right front fender well. He moved his hand to the right and then to the left until he touched a small rectangle box. Once he was sure this was what he was looking for, he wrapped his hand around the object and pulled it loose from the van.

“I have the spare key,” he said as he held it up so the younger student could see it.

“Let’s get outta this place!” shouted Ethan. “If I never come here again it will be too soon.”

“Amen to that! Now our only problem is figuring out how we get back to civilization.”

Ethan pointed behind them. “My guess would be that we go that way.”

He hadn’t meant it to be funny, but his companion began to laugh and it became infectious because Ethan was laughing hysterically within seconds. The laugh was the kind only those that have gone through mortal combat and survived can laugh. It is the kind of laughter that tells the world that despite all the hatred, anger, doubt and darkness still existing on this planet, it is still great to be alive.

Before he started the vehicle, Roger opened the glove compartment and pulled out a cell phone, and the wad of cash that was stored there in case of an emergency. He handed the phone to Ethan with one hand as he held the cash up in front of the youth with the other.

“You try to call the Academy using this cell phone and I’ll find us a place where we can get something to eat and drink. You hungry?”

Ethan smiled. “I’m starved, but I’m more thirsty than I am hungry. I could drink a gallon of Dr. Pepper.”

A grin raced across Roger’s face. “I’m more of a Pepsi man myself, but I too could drink a gallon of Dr. Pepper.”

The youth clicked on the mobile phone what time Roger started the vehicle and began to back it out away from the other van. The vehicle hadn’t gotten turned around before the phone’s jingle began playing.

As Roger put the vehicle into drive to head out woods and onto the road, he said, “I was half afraid that thing wouldn’t work. Everything else has gone wrong today, why shouldn’t it?”

Ethan blew out a puff of air in disgust. “You had to say that didn’t you? Now, you’ve gone and cursed us!”

“How’s that?” inquired the older student.

“I don’t have a bar one on this stupid phone.”

“Give it a second, it’ll come around. Mark my words, you’ll see. Wait and watch.”

“I hope you’re right. It sure would bother me to survive a fight with a vampire prince only to wind up being killed by some bumpkin half-whit from that moving starring Burt Reynolds and John Voigt.”

“This isn’t Georgia,” quipped Roger.

“I know, but that would be just my luck.”

They both started laughing. They were still laughing when the dirt trail upon which they were traveling, came to a stop at the edge of a paved road.

“We’ve hit the pavement,” stated an excited Roger. “Which way do we go now?”

“I’m right handed,” input Ethan.

Roger shrugged. “Me too.” With that, he turned the vehicle so that they were heading towards the right.

The two traveled that winding backwoods road for the better part of thirty minutes. At one point, they rounded a group of trees and came upon a straight stretch about a half mile in length. Near the center of this piece of road just off to the right was a small mom and pop store with two gas pumps out in front. One of the pumps had Phillips written on it and the other was a Chevron pump. Standing above the pumps was a large round sign with a fading star emblazed on it. Below the star was written the word Texaco.

“Which type of gas do you prefer?” asked Roger. “Would you like Phillips Sixty-Six; Chevron or Texaco?”

Ethan scratched his head and pretended to be thinking on the subject. “As I understand it, the Academy uses only Exxon, but I can’t say for sure.”

“Filler up with the cheapest stuff they got. I’ll run in and pay.”

The youth didn’t say a word, but snapped to attention and saluted his friend.

“What would you like to eat?” questioned Roger.

“I’ll eat anything, but bring me out two of the largest pops they’ve got.”

“I know, Dr. Pepper.”

Ethan smiled and Roger returned it.

It took seventy-two dollars to fill up the tank. That made the youth nervous. He thought that the academy put a few hundred dollars into the glove compartments of their vans, but he couldn’t say for sure. What if they only put in one hundred? Would Roger have enough to pay for everything he was getting? Surely, they had more than enough money, but he could be sure.

Over the next few minutes this one thought ate at the youth’s mind. Even though he had gone through one of the most terrifying experiences a human can endure, he didn’t think about it. His single thought was the fear of not getting a Dr. Pepper.

He was still pondering the possibility of not having a soda to drink when his friend exited the store carrying two paper bags full of goodies. Ethan smiled as he began to imagine how good that deep rich cola was going to taste upon his tongue.

“Did you have enough money?” questioned Ethan not knowing what else to do.

“More than enough,” answered Roger. “They didn’t have any sandwiches so I got us each a can of pork and beans, some potted meat and some crackers; oh yeah, and a Hershey’s bar each.”

“What about the pop? Did you get me a Dr. Pepper?”

“I got each of us three bottles. We’ll have to stop to pee several times on the way home.”

“I don’t care. Give me one of the Dr. Pepper’s.”

“Do you want the ten, two or four?” asked Roger.

“All the above.”

The older student handed his friend one of the bags. “Here, hold this what time I get the pops.” He then reached into the bag he was holding and pulled out a twenty ounce bottle of soda and handed it to his friend.

Ethan nearly dropped his back into the bag as he greedily snatched the liquid delight from his friend. He then twisted off the cap and put the bottle to his lips and took a long pull from the container. He chugged and chugged as he drank greedily from the bottle. He stopped only when the sting of acid from the drink hitting his throat became too much for him to bear.

Thirty minutes later they were pulling onto Interstate Sixty-Four heading westward towards Lexington, Kentucky.

As Roger pressed the gas pedal to get the vehicle up to speed, he spoke to Ethan. “Check and see if that cell phone is working?”

The youth fumbled through his pockets until he found the small electronic device, which was smaller than a deck of poker cards. Once he located the cell phone, he brought it out of his pocket and held it up in front of his face.

“We’ve got three out of four bars!” he exclaimed.

Roger smiled and then said, “Don’t waste time talking. Dial that thing.”

Ethan grinned and obeyed. He punched in a series of numbers and then clicked on the speaker section of the phone. It took several seconds but eventually they began to hear a ring coming from the speakers. It rang once. It rang a second time. They both expected someone to pick up after the third ring, but no one did. The phone rang two more times before in went into voice mail.

They both let out a groan when they heard a female voice echo through the van. “The person at,” it paused before continuing, “that extension is not in. If you would like to leave a message please hit pound or wait for the tone before beginning your message.”

“Darn,” cried Roger. “The one time they don’t have someone manning the stupid phone is the one time we need them the most. Of all the rotten luck, this could only happen to me!”

“They have preset numbers don’t they?” asked Ethan.

“Yes,” agreed his friend. “I’ll see who else is listed in that phone. We’ll dial them all until someone answers. If they don’t, I’ll give them a piece of my mind when I get back to the Academy.”

The youth nodded his head in agreement. “What about Dr. Spangler?”

Roger shrugged. “What about him?”

“Let’s call him. I’ll bet that he’d be interested in hearing from us.”

“Okay, have at it.”

Ethan scrolled through the list until he came to one that read, “Spangler.” He pressed the dial button and a telephone number with the Central Kentucky eighty-five-nine area code popped up on the screen.

“We’ve got the right area code,” stated the youth. “Let’s hope we have the right number.”

Just after the third ring, a voice picked up on the other end. “Hello, Dr. Spangler speaking.”

“Dr. Spangler,” shouted both students simultaneously.

“Yes, this is he. May I ask to whom am I speaking?”

Ethan waved his friend off with a flick of his wrist. Roger obeyed and then the youth began to speak.

“Dr. Spangler, this is Ethan and Roger…”

“Are you boys okay?”

“We’re fine, but the…”

“Where are you?” interrupted the doctor for the second time.

Ethan looked at Roger and shrugged. He then held the phone up close to his friend.

“We’re somewhere between Ashland and Morehead,” replied Roger. “We’re on Interstate Sixty-Four heading west. We should be home in the next couple of hours or so.”

“Is there anyone else with you?” inquired Spangler.

“No,” replied Roger. “As far as we know, we’re the only two survivors. One of the vans was missing and we were hoping that others made it, but can’t say for sure. We’re hoping but that’s about it.”

There was a pregnant pause before Dr. Spangler spoke. “We’ve called in a team of specialist from the Vatican. They’ll be in this afternoon. They’re going to go after the prince this evening. We were fools to send students…”

“His name was Saul Judas!” shouted Ethan. He then began to giggle and was soon followed by Roger.

“Saul Judas, are you sure?” asked the doctor. “I heard it may be him, but can’t say for sure.” Dr. Spangler was interrupted by the student’s giggling. He started to ask what was so funny but decided to continue with his earlier thought. “He’s the second oldest of the remaining princes. He’s been around since the time of Abraham.”

“Well he ain’t around no more,” injected Ethan. “Roger’s seen to that.” Again he began giggling and again Roger followed suit.

The doctor took some time to digest those words. He mulled them over in his mind until he was convinced that he had a firm grip on the situation.

Not knowing if the boys were telling the truth or suffering from delusions brought on by the trauma they must have suffered, the doctor proceeded with caution. “So, you’re telling me that Saul Judas is dead and that Roger killed him?”

“Yep,” replied Ethan. “He ran him right through with his silver sword. That blood sucker was still impaled on Roger’s sword when the sun came up and finished the job.”

“And Roger did this all by himself?” cautioned the doctor.

“I don’t know,” responded the older student. “I don’t remember much about it. All I remember is the vampire attacking and the next thing I know he’s impaled on my sword. I’m sure Ethan helped. After all, he killed the prince’s vampirina all by himself.”

“All I did was throw some vampire dust on the prince and Roger did the rest. I was more of a nuisance than a help.” Ethan looked at his friend.

“He was plenty helpful,” input Roger. “Without him, I couldn’t have done it.”

“I believe you,” replied the doctor. “You two get home and we’ll debrief you.”

“Is this going to take three days like the last time?” inquired Ethan.

“No, this will take only a couple of hours,” stated the doctor. “You two get back here and we’ll patch you up.

“Roger that,” said Roger.

“Ethan that,” input Ethan. Once he finished, he began to laugh and Roger naturally followed suit. Somewhere in the middle of all that laughter, Ethan ended the call without even knowing it.

Two hours later the two pulled up into the tiny drive way that leads to the headmaster’s office. As they exited the vehicle, they were surrounded by a group of doctors and instructors. Ethan was met at the door by Sister Mary-Margaret. She began hugging him before he had completely gotten out of the van.

Once the group finished congratulating the students, the headmaster stepped forward and began questioning the boys. He pointed towards Dr. Spangler and then spoke.

“The doctor said that you boys think you may have killed a prince. Is that true?”

Ethan didn’t say a word, but looked at the physician who acknowledged the youth’s gaze with a nod of his head.

Roger, on the other hand, reached into his pockets and pulled out the two pieces of jewelry he had gathered earlier that morning. He spoke to the headmaster as he handed the rings to him. “We took these out of the ashes of what was left of the prince. Are they his?”

The one of the professors took the rings and held them up to where he could see them. He looked them over for several seconds before he spoke.

“They certainly look like the drawings of the man’s rings, but we won’t be sure until some tests have been run on them.”

With that, he handed the rings to a man who had suddenly appeared beside him. The man, who appeared as if out of no where was wearing a lab coat, took them without saying a word. And just as quickly as he came, he went.

Dr. Spangler clapped his hands. “I guess you boys are exhausted. If you’ll follow me, we’ll get this over with and you two will be able to catch some sleep just after lunch.”

The two shrugged their shoulders and fell in behind the head physician.

The debriefing took a little over an hour. After that, the boys were fed lunch and then sent to the infirmary for a quick look from the doctors. Within three hours of their arriving back at the academy, they were sound asleep in a darkened room that was used strictly for letting tired hunters catch up on there sleep.

Ethan was sound asleep when he was gently awakened by Dr. Spangler. As the light from the physician’s flashlight bit into his eyes, the youth held up his hand to shield his head from the sting that accompanied blades of light that were biting at the inside of his head.

“What’s going on?” asked the youth groggily.

“It’s Dr. Spangler. I need to talk to you about something.”

“Can’t it wait ‘til tomorrow?” Ethan turned his eyes away from the light and pulled the cover up over his head. “We can talk about this all you want tomorrow. Right now I need some sleep.”

Dr. Spangler pulled blanket off of the youth’s head. “We need to discuss it now. I need to know what happened to Saul Judas.”

“We told you. Roger killed him.”

“That’s a lie and you know it! Tell me the truth or …”

Ethan snapped up out of the cover and grabbed the doctor by the shoulders. He pulled the man in close to him. He put his forehead next to the physician’s forehead. The speed with which he did all of this was so fast that he caught the physician completely off guard with his actions. They youth was talking to Dr. Spangler before the doctor knew what was happening.

“Or what?” growled Ethan in a voice that sounded nothing like him.

Dr. Spangler swallowed the urge to say something. Prior to the youth’s actions his mind had a million questions, but now nearly all had been answered.

“I need my sleep,” barked the youth. “Now let me alone and we can talk about all of this tomorrow.”

“Don’t you want to know about the survivors?” asked the physician in a cautious voice. He was hoping this would spark the youth’s curiosity. He was right.

“How many were there?”

“Including you and Roger, nine. But, five are still missing. There might be others, but we can’t say for sure.”

“Who were they?” inquired the youth.

“I don’t know. We just got the telephone call. They’ve been sweeping the caverns. We sent a team of sixty experienced hunters and they have yet to run across a single vampire. If you didn’t kill them all, then you’ve either forced them to go deep into those caverns or else you’ve forced them to abandon the whole area.”

“What about the colonel did they find him?”

Dr. Spangler shook his head. “He didn’t make it, but he did survive long enough to see his dream come true. That vampire you thought was Saul Judas we believe he was Saul Judas. Congratulations, Ethan, you’re the first person to kill a vampire prince in over one hundred and twenty years.”

“Roger killed him,” injected Ethan.

The physician smiled. “Sure he did.”

“He did.” The youth was trying to sound sincere, but he knew his audience was not receptive to his denials.

“Okay, sure, whatever you say, Ethan. I don’t know why you want to keep this a secret, but I’ll go along with it. If you won’t tell the truth, then neither will I. I’m sure you have your reasons.”

“I told you that Roger did it.”

The doctor smiled. “And you no more believe that than I do. They’re going to have a dinner in Roger’s honor. He’s going to be globe trotting all over the world during the Christmas vacation. He’s become a hero within the vampire hunting community. The odd thing about it is that he honestly believes that he is a hero, but you and I know the truth.”

“About what?” asked the youth.

“Don’t worry,” replied the doctor. “Your secret is safe with me.”

“Can I go back to sleep now?”

Dr. Spangler clicked off his light and smiled. He patted Ethan on the shoulder. “Goodnight, you deserve this rest after what you’ve done.” With that, the doctor made his way out of the room.

As he closed the door behind him, Dr. Spangler thought about what he was going to tell the Vatican in his report about this incident. He wasn’t sure what he was going to say, but he knew what he wasn’t going to tell. He was not going to tell them the truth. “Besides,” he thought, “who’d believe me?”

Later on that evening when all the other hunters were sleeping and the two had been allowed to go back to their rooms, Ethan was lying in bed when something whispered to him and forced him to open his eyes. Looking around the room, the youth saw what he thought was a middle-aged man standing in the far corner of the chamber.

“Hello,” called the youth in a low voice. “Anybody there?”

When no one answered, he rolled over in his bed. “I must be dreaming; there’s no one there.” Without giving it another thought the gangly teen rolled over on his side, fluffed his pillow and nodded back off to sleep. Within in minutes, Ethan was fast asleep.

“Ethan, come to me,” called a voice in his sleep. “Por favor Senor Ethan, necesito usted ahora.”

“What!” growled the youth as he sat up in his bed. Looking around the room a second time, he saw that his roommate had left the lamp burning on his desk. At first he thought it was strange that he had not noticed the light when he had gone to bed, but he had been awfully tired and could have easily missed it.

Getting out of bed, the youth made his way over to his roommate’s desk. As he went to click the light off, Ethan noticed an American road atlas sitting on the desk. The soft back tablet was open to the State of New Mexico. The title of the page was written in bold letters and it read, “Visit New Mexico, The Land of Enchantment.”

“I’ve had enough enchantment for a lifetime,” whispered the youth as he flicked off the light.

As the light blinked out into darkness, something caught the youth’s eye. Chills shot down his back and an icy hand gripped his lungs. Instantly, he snapped the light back on and began scanning the booklet even before he his eyes had adjusted to the brightness of the lamp.

It took a couple of seconds, but he finally found it. Located in the lower right corner of the page to which the book was opened was a picture of a beautiful young girl. She looked no older than Ethan, but her raven colored hair, mocha skin and soulful eyes showed that she possessed and ancient soul. In the photograph, she was stylishly dressed as she stood in front of an old Spanish style church. She seemed to be gesturing with her hand. The beauty looked as if she were inviting the world into her world.

As Ethan studied the girl’s face, his eyes became as large as saucers and he began to tremble as he realized that this very same girl was wearing the exact same outfit in a dream he had experienced no more than five minutes ago.

What was it she said? He thought about it for several seconds before it came to him. She said, “Necesito usted ahora,” which if he remembered correctly was translated as “I need you now!”

Without saying another word, he picked up the atlas and put it under his arm. Flicking the light off, Ethan walked over to his locker and grabbed his bag and his hidden money stash and as silently as he could, he left the building.

“Why am I doing this?” he whispered as he made his way across campus. “I must be crazy.” was the only answer he could wrap his mind around at that moment. Why he was doing this, he had no clue, but some thing was telling him that as least some of the answers for which he was searching was located in New Mexico.

Once he made it to the street, he made his way to a bus stop. He was sleeping when the first bus made its rounds to him.

“Hey,” called a voice to him. “You need a ride?”

Rubbing the sleep from his eyes, the youth looked up at the smiling face of the bus driver, a soft and tender aged African-American.

“Do you know where the closest Greyhound station is?” asked the youth.

“That would be on New Circle,” explained the driver. “You’re in luck. This bus will take you there. It’ll take about fifty minutes, but you’ll get there. Bus number seven will get you there sooner…”

“Nah, this one will do,” interrupted Ethan. “Do you think I can get to New Mexico from there?”

“The elderly driver gave a soft chuckle. “For the right price, Greyhound’ll take you anywhere you want so long as you can drive a bus there.”

Grabbing his bags, the youth hopped on the bus. “I may be tired…”

“I’ll let you know when we get there,” stated the bus driver. “What business do you have in New Mexico?”

The teen tried to think of a reasonable response. In the end all he could say was, “There’s this girl.”

The driver waved the youth off with a flick of his wrist. Through a broad smile he spoke. “Say no more. I know firsthand what love can do to a man. Best of luck with this girl, something tells me you’re going to need it.”

Colonel Espinoza swung his sword wildly. Slashing from side to side with one hand, he tried to locate his battery powered squirt pistol with his other. The three vampirinas stayed out of his reach, but they inched closer and closer. All four knew it was only a matter of time before the vampirina would have him. He was hoping to take one or two of them down with him

Silently, he cursed himself for not being able to defeat Saul Judas. The image of the expression on his sister’s face as her life ebbed from her what time Saul Judas drank from her innocence was burned forever in his mind. As he stared at her trembling body, he noticed the look of pure ecstasy on her face as she surrendered body, mind and soul to that Hellish spawn. From that instant many years ago, Manuel knew that he was going to surrender his life in the pursuit of this vile creature. He understood that once he started down the path of revenge, his death would be the only outcome. Still, he was perfectly willing to trade his life for that destruction of the loathsome vampire prince.

Now that the three vampirinas were circling him waiting for the right opportunity to attack, he knew that he had wasted the last three and a half years of his life. He was going to die without seeing that demonic being destroyed. Death held no fear over him and he was perfectly willing to die, but he had assumed that he’d take Saul Judas down with him.

“You’ll never take me alive,” Manuel screamed at the three blood-thirsty but incredibly beautiful women that were attempting to flank him.

“We don’t intend to,” hissed the one directly in front of him. She had long flowing blonde hair, piercing blue eyes and milky skin. She looked to be about twenty-five, but she could have been a thousand for all he knew. She was dressed in a black, skin-tight leather pant suite. She must have been an incredibly beautiful woman at one time. Although, she looked Scandinavian, he guessed her accent to be old Irish, maybe even Gaelic Scot.

As the other two vampirinas tried to circle around him one on his left and the other his right, he faked a stab with his sword to the right and then with incredible speed, he slashed back to the left. He missed with both moves although he did cut fabric with his slash.

The soldier was fast but the vampirina to his left was just a tad faster. Had she not moved when she did, he would have made contact with flesh. That would have meant death to the female vampire because his sword was coated with a quarter inch of pure silver.

He heard the fabric rip and he smiled a triumphant grin, but it was short lived as he heard the vampirina hissed back at him. He took his eye off of the other two in order to glance over to his left. The vampirina was smiling at him. He couldn’t tell if it was a smile born of respect or if it was the type a smile a cat smiles when she realizes that she has the mouse cornered.

“Nice try, but youse missed,” snapped the vampirina in a thick Brooklyn accent.

He watched with a combination of horror and lust as she ripped the shredded blouse off of her body. She was wearing nothing underneath and he couldn’t help but stare and the most beautiful skin tone that he’d ever laid his eyes upon. The soldier tried not to look at her nakedness. It took all his strength to force himself to look at her face.

Feeling his thoughts, the vampirina smiled at him. “Like what youse see?” she asked. “If you surrender to me, this can be yours for ever and ever.”

He hesitated for a second as he looked at this creature. She had reddish-brown hair, a flat muscular stomach and that naked tan skin. If the blonde vampirina was truly beautiful, then this vampirina was even more so. She was everything he had dreamed about in a woman and for a second, he contemplated surrendering. How bad could it be spending the rest of his life with a creature as beautiful as this? He hesitated for a second, but the thought of his sister snapped him out from under the creature’s spell.

Sensing his reluctance, the red-headed vampirina, began to talk to him in soothing tones. “We can be together forever if you want,” she whispered. Her words were like a sweet melody upon his ears. He almost lowered his guard for an instant as he became enraptured by the melodious song that was her voice.

She moved in closer and smiled tenderly at him. As he stared at her angelic faces, her expression took on a blissful tone. Had she or her sisters in blood attacked at that moment, they might have caught the military man off guard. As Manuel stared at her, a second image of his sister came into his mind.

The millisecond that he saw his sister’s image, the spell that the beautiful vampirina had cast on him was forever broken. His eyes opened wide and his expression changed. Sensing that she had lost her opportunity, the vampirina hissed and slashed at him with her clawed fingers. Her nails ripped into his flesh and he screamed in pain, but he too had reacted. What time she slashed at him with her claws, he brought his sword in an arcing motion and drove it through her naked mid-section.

The vampirina didn’t see it coming. She smiled as the silver instrument of death bit into her flesh. That smile soon turned into a look of horror as the creature realized that she had been mortally wounded. Her eyes opened in a terror know human could ever know. It was the terror that an immortal creature feels when it knows that it has suffered a mortal blow.

Manuel didn’t have time to stare into those terrified portals to see her coal black soul because her eyes exploded like grapes crushed under a heavy stone. Before the demonic creature could say a word, her head blew off her shoulders and her body evaporated right before Manuel’s eyes. The sword which had been immovable only seconds earlier due to the fact that it was stuck deep in the vampirina’s body, now was light as a feather as the creature’s body instantaneously melted from around the silver coat weapon.

The other two female vampires screamed in unison. Their moans were so loud that Manuel thought his ears were going to burst from the sheer veracity of their whine.

“You’re dead!” screamed the one to his right as she forgot all caution and pounced on the fierce warrior. Her movement was so fast the soldier never had a chance to react to it. Before he knew it, she was on his back ripping mounds of flesh from his body. Her claws dug deeply into his muscle. Being a warrior, Manuel knew that she was causing tremendous damage to his already strained body.

He swung his sword to his right not to remove the vampirina from his back, but to prevent the blonde from moving in to help. Half way through his swing, he met resistance. It was there for a second but disappeared an instant latter. The creature on his back let on a blood curdling scream and she began to rip at him with even more vigor than she had before. As she continued tear at his back, he felt his legs began to weaken out from under him and he started wobbling.

Knowing that his time was near, he grasped the blade of his sword and placed it directly under him. Once he had the blade where he wanted it, he jumped as high as he could and landed on the tip of the blade driving it clean through his body and into the underbelly of the vampirina still tearing at his back. He didn’t feel the sword go in his belly, but he heard the creature scream as it bit into hers. Once the tearing stopped, he knew that she had been destroyed.

He also knew that he had minutes maybe seconds to live. He couldn’t decide if he wanted to pray to God to forgive him for being such a fool or if he should curse his luck for not succeeding in killing the one thing he truly loathed; Saul Judas.

He smiled as he thought about his family. His parents were poor but they had love and they saw that their kids received an abundant share of it. This was especially true for his mother because she was the glue that held the Espinoza family together. As a child, Manuel had dreamed of growing up and being strong but with his mother’s heart. He considered himself a failure in that department but no one else did. He had the rare gift of being able to relate to people on their own level and he knew that. His only regret was that he would never be able to experience the joy of being a father.

A tear began forming in his eye. It was not one of sorrow or hatred but of regret. Even though he’d denied it a million times, he’d always dreamed of getting married and especially of being a father. He wanted a family with lots of kids with most of them being boys. His dream was to teach his boys to fish. He’d been a warrior all his life and he wanted to raise a group of scholars, poets and romantics. Realizing that he would never seen that dream come true, he spat out blood and gurgled a curse at Saul Judas.

“Over here,” shouted a voice. “I think it is Colonel Espinoza!”

At first, Manuel thought he was dreaming. Who could be calling to him? Was an angel coming to escort him across the divide that separated heaven from earth? A smiled beamed from his lips as that thought entered his mind. He was hoping to see his mother and Teresa when he got there. Surely, they’d be waiting for him on the other side.

“It is Colonel Espinoza!” echoed a voice from somewhere off to the man’s right.

“Be careful,” came a second person. “This may be a trap.”

The first voice was strong and bold, but the second was squeaky and broken. It was the voice of a teenager going through puberty.

The military man smiled. He didn’t know who the first person was, but they second could only be one person, Ethan Seth.

“Over here!” the colonel managed to shout through a mouth full of blood and spittle.

“It is him,” barked the stronger of the two voices. “He needs our help!”

“I’ll go what time you watch for me,” input the youth. “I’m afraid they might be using him to spring something on us.”

“You worry too much.”

“Over here and hurry,” gurgled Manuel in a loud as a voice as he could muster.

Within seconds the two were standing over the dying man. His eyes were glassy and his face was pail. The area around his mouth was oozing with blood and it gave him a sinister clownish look which would have been humorous were he not dying. Thick pink goo bubbled from his mouth. Despite all that, he managed to smile when he saw them.

“Roger and Ethan, I thought you were dead.”

“Hardly,” injected Roger with as much bravado as he could muster. “Ethan found me after you and I got separated.”

“Are there any other hunters left?” asked the military man.

“No,” stated Ethan flatly. “I haven’t seen any.”

“I don’t know,” said Roger. “We haven’t seen a soul until now.” He looked down at the colonel. “Lay still colonel and we’ll get you some first aid.”

The military man smiled. “No need. I’m dead. It’s just a matter of minutes.”

The two students remained silent even though both knew he was telling the truth.

“What of Saul Judas?” asked the colonel. “Is he dead?”

“We don’t know,” replied Roger as Ethan shook his head in agreement.

“Then do me a favor and get out of here as fast as you can.” Manuel coughed and spewed blood several inches into the air.

“We can’t leave you here like this,” whispered Ethan who at that moment was feeling a combination of fear and reverence for the man.

“I’m already dead,” gurgled the colonel. “You won’t get a hundred yards before I’m gone.”

“Then we stay here until we decide to leave,” stated Roger.

“Then do me a favor?” asked the colonel as his face grew even more pail under the glaring beam of the two student’s helmet mounted flash lights. “Take my dog tags and give them to Alan, I mean Dr. Spangler. He’ll know what to do with…”

With that, the five-time decorated Special Forces officer let out a soft gurgle and began talking to his baby sister and his mother. The pain that had wracked his face only seconds before was replaced with a look of peace and serenity. “I’m over here Momma and Hermana. Where’s Poppy? With that, he began mumbling in Spanish.”

“Now, what do we do?” asked Ethan.

“Exactly what he asked us to do,” replied Roger as he bent over and gently removed the colonel’s dog tags from around the colonel’s neck. Manuel was still rattling on in his native tongue.

“Let’s get out of this place!” barked Ethan. “If I never come back here, it will be too soon for me.”

“I’m with you on that one,” replied his friend.

Over the next couple of hours the two friends traveled up and down a dozen or more caverns, but not one of them led to an exit. It wasn’t until they turned down the thirteenth cavern that they found an exit from the cave. They had gone three our four hundred yards down the tunnel when it took a sharp turn to the left. Once they made the turn they saw directly in front of them no more that two hundred feet away was an opening big enough to drive a small car through.

“A few more feet and we’ll be out of this god forsaken place,” whispered Roger excitedly.

“We’re not there yet,” corrected Ethan. “This is where the dogs got after me the other day. Let’s take it slowly so that we don’t get surprised.”

“Okay.”

They inched their way towards the opening. They took slow deliberate steps gently putting each foot on the ground before moving the other. They hadn’t gone thirty paces when they heard it.

A blood curdling yelp came from somewhere behind them. “Arrrooooo,” barked a fiendish beast. It was echoed by at least two other growls. Whether those growls came from a single animal or a series of them the two couldn’t tell. The barks and yelps began to mingle with each other and form one chorus of voices as they echoed off the walls.

The two students stood there frozen as they tried to gage the distance between themselves and the pack of hounds that seemed to be thundering down on them.

Roger was the first to break their silence. “What do we do?”

“Run!” Shouted Ethan is as loud of a voice as he could muster under the circumstances. “If they catch us, they’ll rip us to shreds.”

In less than a second, the two were making a wild and blind rush towards the opening of the cave. By their looks, one would expect the athletic Roger to be far out in front of the gangly Ethan, but he wasn’t. The tiny teenager was the first through the opening. Due to inertia, he was nearly fifty feet outside of the cave before he was able to stop. Once he had come to a complete stop, he turned just in time to see his friend exit the cave.

Ethan smiled when he saw his friend. It was short lived because following close on Roger’s heals were three large beasts. He knew them to be dogs due to their growls and barks. Had he not heard them, he would have assumed them to be ponies or maybe even small horses due to their size. They made a St. Bernard look small in comparison. They had large wolf like heads with fangs nearly as long as an index finger.

Their only weakness seemed to be their speed. Had they been as quick as a normal dog, the two students would never have made it out of the cave alive. Ethan watched them as they chased Roger. With each step, they gained a little more ground on the athletic student, but he was still at least thirty feet in front of them. Unless the younger student acted, both he and his friend would die some time within the next couple of minutes.

With reflexes that even the greatest of gun fighters would envy, the youth reached down, unstrapped his fire arm and swung it up in an arc firing as he pointed it towards the three beasts. He managed to squeeze off eight shots in just a few seconds.

The first of the three hounds let out a piercing whine and dropped to the ground. It began to shake and moan as its life blood poured from the five bullet holes buried deep within its mid-section.

The second wolf would trip over its companion as it two struggled to overcome the damage done by the three rounds that ripped through its flesh. After tumbling four or five times and coming to rest near a large tree, it struggled to get back up on its feet, but it couldn’t. Although, the three projectiles that entered its body had not done the same amount of damage as the five that had entered its comrade, the results would be just as deadly. Within a few minutes, it too would be dead.

The third wolf hadn’t been hit although Ethan didn’t know that. When the wolf stopped and changed directions, Ethan thought it was retreating to keep from being hit again. It was retreating, but not because it had been hit. Any shot that would have hit the third wolf would have been fatal even if it had only been grazed.

The last beast broke off its charge and made a mad retreat towards the woods. It had not gone thirty feet when it began running on two legs. Ethan watched this with wide-eyed unbelief. He assumed his eyes were playing tricks on him because the last thing he saw before the creature entered the thick was a man running at incredible speed.

Ethan closed his eyes and shook his head as he tried my make sense of what he had just seen. When he could not get his mind to settle on a solution, he tried to put it out of his mind by telling himself that it was all an illusion brought on by the stress of the moment.

“Good shooting!” bellowed Roger who was thrilled just to be alive. Only seconds earlier he was praying for God to accept his soul into Heaven and now it looked as though he had survived. He began to laugh hysterically. It was the kind of laugh that only a lunatic or those that have stared death straight in the eye can understand. It was his body’s way of showing its exhilaration for being alive.

“I didn’t get them all,” quipped Ethan. “The third one got away. Let’s get out of here before he comes back. I can’t see how I missed him.”

“Who cares?” asked Roger. “We can discuss this some other time. Right now I want to get as far away from here as I can possibly get.”

“You okay?”

Roger smiled. “Not a scratch thanks to you. I owe you one.”

“No you don’t. The thought of being out in these woods again all by myself scares the daylights out of me. I’m grateful for the company.”

The older student nodded his head in agreement. He motioned for Ethan to follow. The two hadn’t gone thirty feet when Roger stopped, looked at his friend and started to say something, but stopped.

“Ethan, I was wondering if, well, huh…”

“Go on,” urged the youth. “I’m listening. Don’t worry about what you say. It’ll stay with me. I promise.”

Roger smiled. For the first time since he’d known the youth, he actually respected him. He liked Ethan because the boy reminded Roger of his little sister. Their personalities were so similar. Although, he liked the kid, Roger never had much use for him until tonight. Therefore, he didn’t know how to treat him. Prior to a few minutes ago, he’d always been the one to protect the kid from bullies, but tonight, the kid protected him from the ultimate bully.

“I was wondering, I mean, weren’t you scared back there?”

Ethan began to laugh. It started as a chuckle but grew as the tension buried deep within him began to bleed itself out of his system through the laughter.

Roger stopped and watched the youth for a few seconds. At first he didn’t know what to make of it, but then fear and embarrassment took hold of him and he became angry. “That’s not funny!”

Ethan looked at him and he could see the seriousness in the teen’s eyes even though the boy was still laughing. It took a couple of seconds, but Ethan eventually was able to restrain his laughter.

“Of course,” it’s not funny,” injected Ethan. “I laugh because I’m too scared to do anything else.”

Roger smiled relieved to know that the youth wasn’t laughing at him. “I know that feeling. You don’t want to but you can’t help but to be thrilled that you’re alive.”

With that, he began laughing as well. The two stood there laughing like two drunken fools sharing a naughty secret. They would continue this for several minutes. A couple of times during those few minutes they almost stopped, but one would look at the other and begin sniggering. Within seconds, both were howling like lunatics in an asylum.

Once his stomach began to ache from all the laughing, Roger slowly regained his senses. After three failed attempts, he finally managed to put a hold on his emotions. He looked at his watched and motioned with his hand for Ethan to follow.

“It will be daylight soon,” stated Roger. “Let’s put some distance between this place and us.”

They hadn’t gone fifty paces when a branch snapped just off to the right of them. They stopped instantly. Roger withdrew his pistol and began looking around at his surroundings.

They were in a small clearing circular in shape and no more than thirty feet in length at its widest point. Starting from his left Roger mover clockwise until his head could go no further. From there, he changed his body position so that he could see the rest of the area.

“Did you hear that?” asked Roger in a whispered voice.

“Yeah, there’s at least four of the out there,” answered Ethan in a hushed voice. “Two are wolves or dogs. I can hear their breathing. The others must be vampires or vampirinas. My guess is that there are two of them, maybe more.

“I’m reaching in my bag and I’ll pull out some vampire dust. It should help a little, but our best hope is that we can hold out to day break. That can’t be half an hour.”

“In this business, that’s a life time,” injected Roger.

Ethan smiled in agreement. “That’s all we have. If I can dust the vamps, then they’ll retreat so that they won’t get caught out at sun up. Your job is to kill those two wolves. Do you have your pistol?’

“Yeah,” responded Roger. “But, I wouldn’t mind having two. Can I use yours?”

Without saying a word, Ethan handed his weapon butt first to his friend. Roger took it with his left hand and then brought both pistols up to the sides of his face. As he watched Roger ready himself for the coming battle, Ethan could see a grim determination written on the face of the older student.

Roger began whispering a prayer. It was being uttered in soft tones, but it was loud enough for Ethan to hear it. After Roger went through the first repetition, Ethan joined him for the second. They would repeat this prayer five more times before they stopped. “Amen,” they shouted in unison.

They had barely finished the prayer when all hell broke lose. The two large dogs charged at them from each side on the clearing. This was a move that Roger had been expecting, he stretched out both hands; one to his right and one to his left; and began to empty the magazines of each weapon.

The animal on his right took four direct shots to the face before it had gone six to eight feet. It would drop dead in its tracks before it made it half to where the two hunters stood.

The one of the left was bigger and tougher. Roger emptied the six shots that were still left in Ethan’s pistol. All six found their mark, but they seemed to have no ill effect on the beast. It was still charging when Roger began firing at it with his own pistol. He squeezed off several more rounds into the beast and it still kept coming.

As the beast closed to within seven feet of the two, it was bleeding from at least eight maybe even ten wounds that would have killed an ordinary beast. This one didn’t even seem fazed by the wounds it carried. It kept charging at a maddening pace.

Roger fired his last shot into the belly of the beast just as it made a mad leap for the two students. It yelped as it reached the zenith of it trajectory which was heading straight for the boys.

“This is it,” thought Ethan as he watched the hulking mound of flesh and teeth come directly towards him. The youth closed his eyes and suddenly everything went black. He would only be out for a second or two, but that was all it took. The next thing he knew, Roger was shouting at him.

“How did you do that?” asked Roger. “That was the coolest thing I ever saw!”

Ethan looked at him not having a clue as to what his friend was talking about.

“What are you talking about? I didn’t do anything!”

“Yes, you did,” retorted the older student. “I saw you!” Roger paused and shrugged his shoulders. “I’ve never seen anything like that before. Not even in the movies. That was awesome.”

“What was awesome?” asked Ethan as brought his hands out in front of him in frustration. “I didn’t do anything!”

Roger pointed off two his right. “How do you explain that?”

An hour into the trip, Roger tapped Ethan on the shoulder. “I can’t take the silence any longer. I’m so worried about the hunt that I have to have some one to talk to. You mind talking?”

“What do you want to talk about?” asked Ethan with a shrug of his shoulders.

“I don’t know. How about sports? Do you like sports?”

“Only football,” replied the youth.

“College or professional?”

The youth smiled. “Professional of course. We had a priest in my old orphanage. His name was Father Kent Miller and he was a big fan. He was a big Roughriders fan and he got many of us students into the sport. Sometimes on Saturdays or Sundays he’d wire his laptop up to a television and let us watch the games via the internet.”

“I’ve never heard of the Roughriders,” stated Roger in a flat tone. “Do they play in the AFL; you know the Arena League?”

The gangly teen smiled. He had a piece of information that his friend didn’t and he found that amusing. “No, it’s the CFL.”

“Continental Football League?” asked the larger student.

“Canadian Football League?” answered the youth.

Roger snapped his fingers. “I knew that – the CFL- I’ve heard of it. It’s different though; isn’t it?”

“Some,” stated Ethan with a nod of his head. “They have twelve players and only get three downs instead of four. Also, they play on a field that is one hundred and ten yards long. It’s kinda odd to hear the announcer say that they ball is on the fifty-five yard line.

“Father Miller was from Saskatchewan. I think he lived in a town called Moose Jaw, but the team played in Regina. It’s spelled like Regina, but the “i” is pronounced like in the word, well like. Regina is a small town, maybe one hundred to one-fifty hundred thousand people. Not big enough for a pro team, you know.”

“Green Bay is about that size,” quipped Roger.

“True, but the atmosphere is different. The Roughriders have a small town feel about them. You know, they seem more like good old boys than city slickers. We watched the fans and stuff on the computer. They always made me feel like I could move up there and they’d accept me just the way I am.”

Ethan looked at Roger and then turned away from his friend. “Do you think that it is possible to love a town even though you’ve never been?”

Roger shrugged his shoulders. “I’m sure anything is possible. Why do you ask?”

Ethan smiled. “I don’t know, but when asked I tell people that my hometown is the greatest place in the world. I tell them that I am Canadian and am from the Province of Saskatchewan and the City of Regina. I know it’s a lie, but it comforts me and gives me a sense of belonging. That’s something I never had before. Silly isn’t it?”

“No, it’s not.” Roger smiled. “At one time, I had two parents and a family, but the vamps took all of that from me. I know what it’s like to have a family and be apart of something like that.”

The BMOC’s voice began to crack as he tried to choke back the tears. “I want nothing more than to be a part of a family again. I fault nobody that wants to have and hold that feeling even if that feeling’s only in their heart.

“Truth be known, I guess I’m a bit jealous of you.”

“Of me,” whispered Ethan. “What in the world to you have to be jealous of me? You’re the strongest, toughest and most popular guy on campus. Every girl that sees you is in love with you. They won’t even give me a second glance…”

“Not true!” interrupted Roger. “As I recall, the most beautiful girl on campus is a honey by the name of Emily Hopewell and she only has eyes for you.”

“She likes me only as a friend,” input Ethan. “There’s nothing more than friendship there.”

The larger student looked at his friend and began to chuckle.

“What?” asked Ethan unsure of what his friend was doing.

“You don’t have a clue, do you?” Again the BMOC began to chuckle, but stopped abruptly. “She’s in love with you and I thought you were smart.”

A smile swept across the gangly youth’s face, but he never said a word. For the first time in his life, he felt as though he had a reason to live. He was still going to leave the academy, because he knew that he was somehow destined to do that, but now he had a reason to come back to it. For the rest of the journey, he sat silently by himself and smiled like a madman on Prozac.

An hour later, they arrived at the entrance of the cave. Within seconds of their van stopping, a priest opened the back door and shouted for them to get out of the van. Five minutes after that they were on line and at attention.

Once the hunters were on line, Colonel Espinoza stepped out in front of them and began addressing the team.

“At ease troops,” began the warrior. “I have spent some time discussing our plan of action with our leaders at the Vatican. They, like me, believe that we have a unique and rare opportunity to finish off one of the princes. They also agree that our plan is brilliant and if acted upon in a decisive manner, come tomorrow the Band of Seven will contain only six members.”

A shout echoed through the group but it was quickly muffled with a motion from the colonel.

“I won’t keep you long. We’re burning daylight and we need to get started ASAP.” He motioned with his hand. “Gather in closely and I’ll tell you what we are going to do.”

Before the group had even finished moving, the military man was barking out orders.

The colonel pointed to a large burly hunter and a priest. “Shea, you and Fr. Reagan take eighteen hunters with you. You two will lead the third wave of the attack. Once you’ve got your troops gathered up form them up in front of the lead van.

“Then the warrior pointed to a flat-nosed hunter and a balding African priest. “Ferguson, you and Fr. Mbambo also gather eighteen troops and gather them up behind me. You two will lead the second wave.

Colonel Espinoza pointed to the remaining two priests. “You two stay with me. Since I’m leading the charge, I want to take two priests, just in case.”

When Fr. Mbambo tapped Roger on the shoulder and told him to get in line, the colonel stopped the priest.

“That one and the little one stay with me,” barked the former soldier in a commanding voice. “You can choose any of the rest, but leave these two for me.”

The priest shrugged his shoulders and smiled.

Fifteen minutes later, the troops had their gear and were standing at attention while the head priest was asking for God’s blessing on this attack. Once Fr. Mbambo was finished, he blessed the group.

“Team one lock and load,” commanded the colonel.

Using discipline a Marine would envy, all nineteen members of the squad checked their weapons and packs. The first to finish his check was Roger Rose. He let everyone know he was finished by shouting: “Hunter Rose locked and cocked.”

Ethan was the next one finished. “Hunter Seth, locked and cocked.”

Over the next thirty seconds each and every member of the team acknowledged that he or she was ready to begin.

“Give me six troops on point with squirt guns ready to go,” barked Manual. Within seconds this was finished.

“Give me five more and a priest as cover men,” demanded the colonel. “I want the priest to have a crucifix and a samurai sword while the rest of you need assault rifles.”

Again the ranks were filled within seconds of the order being given.

The colonel fell in behind this group. “The rest of you fall in at tail-end Charlie. I want three of you with squirt guns and two with assault weapons. Father Tompkins ought to know his assignment.”

Within seconds the groups was in formation waiting to enter the cave. Before he gave the order to enter, the colonel whispered a short prayer to God asking for the success of the mission. He was willing to sacrifice nearly anything to extract his revenge on Saul Judas and he knew it and was disturbed by the thought of it all.

“Team two,” barked the warrior.

“Hear,” answered Ferguson.

“Give us five to ten minutes and the follow use into the lair,” ordered the colonel.

“Five minutes,” repeated Ferguson. “Yes sir, we’ll be there. We’ve got your six.”

“Team three,” shouted the colonel.

“Yes sir,” returned hunter Shea.

“Give them ten minutes and follow them.

“Ten minutes, aye, aye sir.”

The warrior took a deep breath and barked out his orders. “Team one, dressssss, NVG’s.” He allowed a few seconds for the team to adjust their night vision goggles. Once he was sure they were finished. He issued the go ahead command. “Ladies and gentlemen, let’s rock and roll.”

Instantly, as if a switch had been thrown, the group became deadly silent as the first wave of the team began entering cave. Once they had gone a hundred feet or so, the second wave follow, and in turned the third wave which included the colonel, Ethan, Roger and Tom Foley.

Over the next twenty minutes the team would follow this pattern until they came to a stop in a large cavern that had four exits. Once the point team entered the room, they stopped to take cover positions and waited for the rest of the team. Once all the team was in the grotto, Colonel Espinoza took a few seconds to evaluate the situation before he issued an order.

Taking a piece of white chalk from his fatigues, the warrior walked over to the chamber from which they had just came and scribbled “Exit tunnel” on the wall next to the mouth of the cavern.

“What now?” asked Roger as his voice cracked from strain. “Which way to we go?”

“The one in the center of course,” replied the warrior. “I’ll make a mark showing which way we went. They’ll catch up with us a little later.”

The colonel drew and arrow pointing into the tunnel and wrote, “This way” above the arrow.

The hunters had gone less than three hundred yards into the tunnel when the lead man on point suddenly pulled up and gave the signal to stop. In one motion, the group came to a halt as the tunnel took on an eerie silence. Several members of the party switched the NVG’s from night vision to infrared. The soft clicks that accompanied these switched echoed off the walls like a large church bell ringing out on a soft summer breeze.

Easing up beside the point man, Colonel Espinoza whispered a question to the veteran hunter. “What’s going on?”

“I don’t know,” replied the man. “The temperature and quality of the air has changed in the tunnel. We’re close to a cavern. I can feel it. I don’t know how I know this, but I can smell the dogs. They can’t be more than a hundred feet in front of us.”

“Any suggestions?” whispered the Colonel.

“Aaaaaahooooo,” yelped a voice directly in front of them. It was echoed by a dozen or more animals.

“Too late!” barked the point man. “They’re coming.”

“Those with weapons get up here!” growled the warrior.

Within a hand full of seconds a half dozen or more of the team were standing in front of the group locked, cocked and ready to rock and roll.

“Easy and steady,” ordered the colonel. “Don’t shoot until they’re about thirty…”

A shot echoed through the chamber. Before the colonel could urge restrain, hundreds of rounds were being shot off in the chamber.

Sounding like rain drops hitting a tin roof during a hurricane, the sound of the bullets exiting the rifles played a chaotic symphony that brought a smile to several members of the group.

“It’s payback time,” barked the colonel “And we are about to collect some long overdue interest!”

Just as quickly as it had started, the shooting stopped. It took a few seconds for their ears to adjust explosive barrage amplified off the tunnel walls to the total quietness that had begun to echo off of the massive antechamber in which they stood. Except for the moaning of the dying animals and the contraction and expansion of the hunters’ lungs as they took in air, the tunnel was so quiet that one could almost believe that he could hear his own heart beat.

Several long drawn out seconds passed before anyone dared to move. The Colonel was the first to speak. “Form ranks and mount up warriors. We’re about to kick some vampire butt.”

Instantly, the group banned together to form as a small cohesive unit. Ethan and Roger looked at each other through their NVG’s and nodded their agreement as to the nature of their duties.

“Check you weapons,” barked the warrior in a hushed tone.

The icy fingered chill that comes from hearing metal scrapped against metal permeated the area for the next five to ten seconds. Before the sound had proceeded to die a lonely death, Manuel Espinoza began barking out orders.

“Get on line; do it! Once on there, team leaders give me your status.”

“Point, ready to go!” shouted the man whom the colonel had talked to earlier.

“Cover, ready and willing,” stated another voice.

“Tail-end Charlie, ready to rock and roll,” roared Roger Rose.

“NVG’s locked and on sight,” proclaimed the colonel. “Using extreme caution, proceed!”

Moving in intervals of thirty feet at a time, the group made its way down the tunnel. They were less than thirty feet from the mouth of the chamber when they began to feel it. The air was a bit cooler and a small current could be felt on the backs of the hunters’ neck. It was as though a vacuum cleaner was sucking air from outside the cave system to the inside of it.

Suddenly the group stopped. Ethan bumped into his friend before he could completely stop.

“What is it?” asked the youth.

“I think we’re about to enter into another chamber,” answered Roger. “This one may have vampires.”

With that, both youths crossed themselves and said a silent prayer for protection.

The group seemed to take a collective breath just before the colonel issued the order to proceed.

“Now!” Shouted the warrior. He had been waiting for this moment for a long time and he was looking forward to ending the reign of terror that was Saul Judas.

The first six hunters entered the chamber with their squirt guns a blazing. The battery powered weapons could shoot a stream of water over one hundred feet. If the trigger was held in the locked position, the mechanism could empty the sixty-four ounces of ammunition in less than ten seconds. That is why hunters are trained to give the trigger only two second blasts on the trigger. Using the blast method, a hunter can preserve his ammunition for up to two full minutes.

A reserve container holding another sixty-four ounces was strapped to each one of their backs. With proper training, a hunter could release the empty tank and snap in the full one in less than fifteen seconds. In the heat of battle, a hunter could hold off a group of vampires for up to five minutes before he had to abandon the weapon.

Within seconds of the first group of hunters hitting the large cavern, small and large blasts of flames lit up the area darkness as the holy water made contact with at least a dozen or more vampires. Once enough of the holy liquid of fire hit one of the undead, the creature would explode in a screaming ball of flames.

Several of the hunters in the back began screaming with pain as the light from first ball of flame was picked up and amplified by their NVG’s. As the bolts of light stabbed at his unprotected eyes, Ethan ripped off his NVG’s and attempted to rub the sting out of his eyes. What time the youth stopped to massage his eyes, someone or something bumped into him and knocked the NVG’s from his hands.

“Look out,” screamed Ethan. “Watch where you are going!”

A loud hiss was the only sound emitted by the other person.

There was something about that hiss that terrified the youth. His body began to quake and his breathing began to accelerate with the speed of a rocket hitting its afterburners. Hoping to steady himself, Ethan reached out and grabbed the person that had just hissed at him.

The youth grabbed the person’s hand in a vain attempt to balance himself. An icy chill shot up his back the instant he touched the other person. The hand was thin, bony and cold. Although the person’s hand was bony, it was unusually powerful. As the other person’s hand gripped his like a vice, Ethan began to wobble on his feet and blacked out with in seconds.

“It’s a trap,” screamed a voice from somewhere in the middle of the group. “Get out of…” With that, the voice went silent with a gurgling moan.

“Form a fighting circle!” commanded Colonel Espinoza. “We’re surrounded.”

As the hunters and students closed in close to each other, the colonel began barking out orders. “Light ‘em up! Give us some ‘Willy-Pete!’ Once the white phosphorous ignites get rid of these stupid NVG’s!”

Within seconds, three white phosphorous or “Willy-Pete” grenades had exploded into three distinct and blinding flashes of light. Screams of pain could be heard above the chaos as hunter and vampire alike screeched out their displeasure as the light ripped into their eyes like eagle claws ripping flesh from a dead carcass.

Half crazy with pain, Roger Rose released his water gun on full automatic. Unable to see due to the blinding light created by the three grenades, he held the trigger down and moved in a full circle. Making two full turns before his weapon emptied, Roger continued moving in a circle for nearly a minute after the weapon was fully discharged.

Ethan was lying lifeless on the floor, when the vampire which still gripped his hand bent over the youth and smiled. This was going to be an easy kill. As the monster raised his head in order to plunge its fangs deep into the youth’s neck, a blast of holy water hit it full in the face. The demon shrieked like an eagle caught in a trap and then disappeared in a burst of flame that burnt itself out within a second or two.

Over the next few minutes, a great slaughter on both sides began to ensue. The students proved their worth during the fight. Although they were outnumbered four to one, they managed to stay in formation and beat back several assaults by the vampire warriors.

The vampire attacks were simple in their design. They surrounded the hunters and attacked them with direct assaults on the ground using their animal or human minions while the vampires and vampirinas attacked from the air.

The pistol and water fire of the students proved to be deadly accurate. This small band of less than twenty took out over twenty vampires, a couple dozen wolves, and half that many human slaves. But with each attack, one or two hunters met their fate. It was only a matter of time before the students were overwhelmed by the sheer numbers of the vampires.

Once he lost half of his hunters, Colonel Espinoza, knew that the battle was lost. As a lone tear began to meander down his face, he reached up to his chest and grabbed the communication device that was his only link to the other two teams.

“Retreat!” shouted the colonel through his radio. “We’re finished! Get out of here before they get you.”

“Negative,” echoed a voice through the speaker on his hand-held. “We’ll mount up and form a rescue unit.”

“No!” barked the colonel. “Get out of here! The Pope’s people can handle this group! Save yourselves! The cause is lost!”

Without saying another word, the colonel let go of the hand held and began firing his pistol at a group of wolves that were heading his way. He squeezed off six rounds and dropped all four of the beasts. As the colonel went to reload, the place became deathly quiet. The roar of the silence was deafening. For an eternal pause, nothing could be heard but the silence of the dead combined with the muffled moan of the dying.

The colonel’s body began to shake and quiver as he strained to hear any sound but the shrill of the quietness that surrounded him. After what seemed like forever, an idea struck him. “Hunters head count now!” shouted the colonel.

“Fr. Regan, here,” whispered the priest.

“Thomas Foley, here,” shouted a voice just to the left of the colonel.

“Roger Rose, here” shouted the BMOC.

The others waited and waited for someone else to speak, but they were met only by silence.

The colonel waited for a few more seconds before he issued his next order. “Gather to my voice, we’re going to try to make it out of this cave. If we can rally the others and they fight as well as you have, then we can still whip these monsters.”

The four moved in towards each other. “Put on your NVG’s,” ordered the colonel. “Roger you take the lead and I’ll take tail-end Charlie. We’ll march our way out of here and then we’ll finish off this bunch.”

The four donned their night vision goggles and then formed up as they had been trained. Roger was in the lead followed by the priest, then came Tom Foley and the colonel brought up the rear. With the exception of Roger, each hunter put his hand out and rested it on the man in front of him. Once the formation was complete, the colonel gave the order to move.

Moving at a leisurely pace, the four hunters made their way down the tunnel towards the exit. Following close behind them, they could hear a series of scratching sounds that had the bone-chilling resonance of metal scraping against rock.

The party hadn’t been gone two minutes when Ethan began to stir. As he awoke from his slumber, he whispered to his friend. “Roger, are you there?”

When no one answered, he called a second time. Again the same result happened.

The youth began to tremble when he realized he was all alone.

“Not again,” he whispered through a voice that cracked as he spoke. “I can’t take this. Not twice in one week.”

Tears began to roll down his face. He lay there trying to make sense of it all. Why was this happening to him? In less than a week, twice he had been abandoned all by himself in the lair of a vampire prince. Unsure of what else to do, he curled himself into the fetal position as his body began quaking and tears slowly drained from his eyes.

As Ethan lay there crying like a frightened child, a plan began forming in his mind. Were he to survive this night, he was going to leave the academy and go back to his old orphanage. Even though he had hated that place, it some how didn’t seem as bad as his current situation.

Unsure of what else to do, the youth got up and made his way straight towards the tunnel from which he had entered. He knew that he had to be on the right path. How he knew that, he didn’t know, but something deep inside of him was guiding him in the right direction. Of that, he was one hundred percent sure. Something or someone was looking out for him and he had no choice but to trust it.

He hadn’t been walking ten minutes in the tunnel when he heard a commotion up head of him. It was the sound of screaming and screeching combined with the barking of ordered and the explosions of rounds being fired. These were the sounds of a battle.

Slowly the youth made his way in the direction in which the clatter was coming. If he were lucky, then maybe, just maybe, he could slip by the group unnoticed. As he neared the chamber in which the battle was raging, he slipped his head into the chamber and tried to look around. All he saw was sharp explosions of light in the direction from where the commotion was taking place.

Although his eyes had not gotten completely used to the darkness since the loss of his NVG’s, he was able to make out what was taking place. The walls held two vampires and three vampirinas. A body was lying on the floor and two creatures, he could not tell what they were, were busing gorging themselves on the fallen body. Off to the right, were standing two men. One had his head tilted to the left and the other was plunging his teeth into the first one’s neck. Two others stood in the center of the chamber. They were hunters because they both wore NVG’s. They were alive, but they seemed to be frozen in place.

Ethan took out his water weapon and aimed it at the two creatures feasting on the dead body. Taking a deep breath, the youth squeezed off a four second burst. Flames exploded in the darkness as the creatures on the floor disappeared in a puff of light.

The two hunters in the middle of the chamber took this as their cue and they began running for the exit. They were followed close behind by three vampires and three vampirinas. Once they were gone, Ethan walked over to where the first of the two bodies lay. As he bent over to touch the body, he took out a flashlight with a red lens and shined it on the face of the body. Although it was mangled and bloody, it was obviously the face of Fr. Reagan. Ethan crossed himself and then moved towards the other body.

The second body was Tom Foley. The red-headed student’s body was lying on the ground and seemed to be in perfect condition except for the blank stare on his face and the two large holes on the right side of his neck. Ethan crossed himself a second time. Although, he hated the big brute, he didn’t wish death upon the red-head.

Without saying another word, the youth began following the path that the two hunters and six vampires had taken earlier.

Ethan looked in the direction to where Roger was pointing. He moved his head slowly not wanting to miss a thing. About five to six foot away laid the beast’s body. Its head had been severed off its shoulders and was lying about three feet in front of the beast.

“What happened?” asked the youth.

“You did it,” replied Roger.

“How?”

“I don’t know. That thing was about to make a leap at us when you shoved me out of the way. I saw the whole thing. It was amazing. I never seen anybody move that fast. Before I hit ground, you had whipped out your sword and with one quick slice you cut the monster’s head clean off! And, you only used one hand doing it. How did you do that?”

“I didn’t!” swore the youth. “I couldn’t have.”

Ethan put his hands up to his forehead. As his right hand made contact with his temple, he felt a warm ooze trickle on to his face. He brought his hand down to where he could see it. It was covered with blood.

“What is this?” screamed the youth.

“It’s from the wolf,” replied Roger. “You got it on you when you killed it. I saw it squirt on you when you cut that thing’s head off.”

Ethan threw up his hands. “Whatever,” he stated flatly not believing a word the other student was saying. He was about to say something else but Roger spoke first.

“I thought you said there were four of them? If that’s true, then we’d better get out of here before the other two attach.”

“Too late,” roared Ethan as he pushed his friend out of the way with one hand while simultaneously unsheathing Roger’s sword with the other.

Roger bounced off the ground with a thud. He felt his left shoulder pop out of place as he thudded against the dirt. He’d hurt it at least a dozen times while playing football in high school. He injured it so many times he learned to read the symptoms and learned how to know the exact instant it happened. At that moment, he knew that it had happened again. He should have been screaming in pain, but he wasn’t. His mind was too busy trying to figure out how such a tiny boy was able to push with such strength. Despite the pain, he could think of nothing else from the instant Ethan pushed him. At that moment, Roger’s respect for his tiny companion was set and he knew that theirs would be a lifelong friendship that would only be broken by death.

Once he regained his composure, Roger began searching for his friend. He found him standing straight in front of him. Ethan was standing there with his hands down at his side staring at the ground. Although his right hand held the sword, he seemed incapable of using it. The gangly seemed to be in some kind of drunken stupor and he was humming. He wasn’t humming a tune or even attempting to rap. He sounded like the buzzing of a hundred watt bi-pin fluorescent bulb. The kind used by nearly every public school in America.

“Ethan, are you okay?” asked Roger in a voice not much more than a whisper.

The only response came from a vampirina rather than the youth.

“He can’t help you,” slithered a soft but sensual female voice.

Even though he knew he shouldn’t, Roger felt at peace when he heard the woman speak. For the first time in hours, he began to relax as he felt the tension, which had him tied up like a knot, slowly slip away from him. Even his shoulder began to relax.

“That’s right my pretty one; relax. I’ll be with you in a moment. I’ll take care of it all. Your pain and fears are about to be gone and momma will see that you are well cared for.”

Even though his heart was racing at a hundred miles an hour and even though the adrenaline was pumping through his vein like an oil well gushing as though there was no tomorrow, Roger began to nod his head as he suddenly realized that he was extremely tired. Fighting to stay awake, he looked at his friend and saw that he was still standing there. Roger closed one eye, but kept watch with the other.

“Sleep,” whispered the seductive voice directly into his mind. “I’ll deal with him and then I’ll see that you get what you deserve. Your friend is safe. He’s already looked into my eyes. He’ll be under my spell for the next couple of days. But, not to worry, he won’t live to see them anyway.”

Roger was struggling to keep the one eye open when he saw it happen. Ethan was completely motionless when the vampirina landed about six feet away from him. Whether she flew in or just appeared there, Roger couldn’t tell. Although he saw everything in vivid Technicolor, it all seemed surreal and dream like to him.

The vampirina hissed at the gangly youth. When he didn’t move, she slowly reached out with one hand and poked him. When he still hadn’t move, she scratched him with one of her claw like fingers. She raked her finger about three inches down his arm. She watched with delight as the blood began to dribble down his arm.

“Husssssssssssssssuh,” she hissed at him smiling coldly when he failed to respond.

“So, you are the one they sent to destroy my prince,” she growled. “Fool! I’ve personally kill thousands like you over the millennia. What made you think you are so special?

“Saul and I have been around since the time of Nimrod. Saul was advisor to the king and I was Saul’s lover. He’s had others but he always comes back to me. Our love is written in the blood of thousands upon thousands of fools such as you.

“Still, I will enjoy the taste of your young, rich, virginal blood. I only wish I knew your name. It seems such a waste to kill you without even knowing who you are.”

With that, she began to laugh. Her laughter was haunting and evil, but mostly it was short lived. Within seconds after her mocking laughter had begun, it ended in a blood curdling shriek. In the time it takes a person to snap his fingers, her eyes went from a mocking gaze to a look of horror as she realized that not even vampirinas live forever.

With one lightning quick move, Ethan brought the sword up with his right hand and rammed it right through the vampirina’s heart. He moved with such speed that she didn’t even know it was coming until it was too late. Only after the silver cutting edge of the sword penetrated her heart, did she realize that she had been dealt a death blow by child that she thought was so beneath her that he represented an opponent unworthy of even a fraction of her prowess.

As her eyes exploded in horror, Ethan twisted the sword now protruding from her heart. He did this to ensure that her heart was severed into two pieces. It was.

“My name is Ethan Seth,” whispered the youth as he watched the vampirina meet her ultimate fate after all these millennia.

She gurgled and then exploded into flames. For a spilt second, then entire area was lit up as though a spotlight was shone on it. Then, just as quickly as it started, the flame died away. Within a couple of seconds, there was nothing left of her except a few ashes lying on the sword Ethan was still clutching with his right hand.

Roger shook his head in an attempt to shake the cob webs that had formed in there over the last couple of minutes. He has seen the entire thing take place but had been powerless to act. Once he had his senses about him, he stood up and fell backwards on the ground forcing his shoulder back into place. After that, he went over and gently shook his motionless friend.

“I suppose that you are going to tell me that you don’t remember that?” asked a stunned Roger.

“Remember what?” Ethan replied with a question of his own.

“Killing that female vampire?”

“They’re called vampirinas,” corrected the youth. “You know that. They’re always called vampirinas.”

“And you just killed one!”

“No I didn’t!”

Roger looked straight into friend’s eyes. “Yes, you did.” He said calmly but forcefully.

Ethan shrugged his shoulders not knowing whether to believe his friend or not. What Roger was saying didn’t make sense to him, but nothing had made sense over the last few days.

“Let’s get out of here!” barked the youth as had slapped his friend on the back. The moon’s gone and daylight has to be just around the corner.”

“That’s about the smartest thing you’ve said all night. Can I have my sword back?”

The youth thought about it for a second before he handed it to his friend. “You keep it ready. Something tells me we’ll need it. I’m going to load both of my hands with vampire dust. Turn around so I can make sure you have your squirt gun.”

Roger took the sword and then complied with Ethan’s orders. “You know what always amused me? The fact that we have to use squirt guns as a weapon against vampires. Think about it for a second. We use kids toys to fight the greatest evil the world has every known. Don’t you find that ironic?”

“I never really thought about it, but I can see your point. It doesn’t make much sense when you think about it.”

Roger grinned and then spoke. “That’s what’s so ironic about it. We fight evil by using silly things such as water guns. I’ll bet God looks down from Heaven and laughs Himself silly when He watches us.”

“I’d be willing to say He gets chuckles out of a lot of things we do,” added Ethan. “Still, there has to be a purpose to all this. Why else would we have the will to fight? I think that will to fight evil comes directly from God.”

“I’d never thought of it like that. Did you make that up yourself, Ethan, or did you steal it from somebody?”

“I think I saw it in a cartoon.”

They both began to chuckle at that comment. They laughed for a few seconds before Ethan motioned with a tilt of his head for them to leave. Roger nodded his agreement and the two began making their way towards the vehicles.

They traveled for about five minutes before they noticed a light beaming just ahead of them. As they cautiously approached the lighted area, Ethan noticed that the illumination was created by the headlights on one of the vans the team had driven to the sight.

“We’ve made it!” shouted Roger when he saw the vehicles. Without saying another word, he began running towards the opening where the vehicles were parked. Ethan tried to stop him, but his movements were too slow. By the time he reached to grab his friend, Roger was already making a mad rush towards the closest van.

The older student hadn’t gotten ten feet when a gust of wind knocked him off his feet.

“Roger!” screamed Ethan before the wind had even started. Ethan had sensed the presence of another being. Although, he didn’t know what it was, he could feel the evil that surrounded it like a warm leather glove wraps a hand on a cold winter’s day.

Despite the tumble Roger managed to hold on to his sword. Once the wind ceased blowing, he stood up and held his sword directly out in front of him. He used both hands and it looked like he was waiting for an attack to come, but it never did.

“Be still and remain silent,” echoed a lyrical voice in Roger’s ear. He tried to shake his head to rid himself of such notions, but he couldn’t move. He was frozen in place where he stood. Try as he might, he could not will himself to move. He couldn’t even speak in order to warn his friend of what was taking place. He was stuck there motionless with a front row seat to what he knew as going to be the end of his friend and himself.

Ethan took two steps forward and began scanning the tops of the trees. “Come on out,” he called in a clear voice. “Surely, I don’t frighten you.”

There was a mocking tone to his voice. He seemed to be taunting what ever it was that was out there lurking in the woods.

“You do not frighten me,” echoed a voice that seemed to come from no where and every where at the same time.

Roger heard all this with his mind. His ears had ceased to function, but his mind was alert to what was going on around him. Deep within he brain a tiny voice was calling for him to fight the evil magic that had engulfed him. He was giving it all he had and one time he thought he felt a muscle twitch. Something good but hidden down deep inside of him smiled at that spasm.

Apparently, the thing that had control of his mind must have felt it as well because it began whispering in his mind. “Remain still my little one, and I shall take care of you just as soon as I have disposed of your friend.” Roger’s eyes closed and he felt his mind relax even though his body remained motionless.

Ethan felt something alien trying to enter into his mind and he shook his head to remove the thought from his brain.

“So, you possess greater mental fortitude than your simpleton friend,” stated the being that had been taunting the student hunters. “It makes little difference. It will only make your death all the more painful.”

A sinister laugh began to move among the trees. As it passed overhead, Ethan could see the limbs of the trees shake as the voice seemed to pass overhead like an errant cloud on a warm summer day.

“You’re wasting your time,” replied the youth. “You don’t frighten me. I know that I can take you. It is you who fears me. You know that you can’t attack me head on or I’ll kill you. If you don’t hurry up and do something, then I won’t have to worry about it because the sun will take care of you. How many more minutes do you think we have until sun up; ten; fifteen; surely not twenty.”

“That is more than enough time to allow me to kill you and then make it back to my cave before the sun begins to shine.

“You think you are wise my little one, but you are foolish, nay, beyond foolish. You cannot defeat me. Greater men than you have tried and they have either died or have become my servants. Maybe, I won’t kill you, but will make you my loyal lap dog.”

Keep him talking, thought Ethan. As long as he’s yapping, he’s eating up time. All I’ve got to do is hold out for a bit longer and I’ll live to see another day and so will Roger.

Ethan slapped his closed fist against his thighs and walked directly towards one of the vehicles. It was a desperate plan and he knew that his enemy would see it for what it was, but he could think of nothing else to do so he went with this idea.

When he was about twenty feet from one of the vehicles, a figure appeared directly in front of him. Had he not been taught about vampires the last year, he would have thought that he was in the middle of a magic trick performed by a grand illusionist.

He stopped a few feet away from the black figure that stood directly in front of him. The vampire was tall, very tall. He possessed jet black hair with almond shaped eyes, dark skin, a large nose and an evil smile that was only enhanced by the whiteness of his teeth.

It was the eyes that frightened Ethan the most. He’d looked into those very eyes just a few nights ago. They were an open pit to Hell itself because they contained nothing but evil. The youth nearly wet his pants the second the monster smiled at him.

“Going somewhere?” asked the vampire.

“I was just leaving,” stated the youth despite his fears. From where this streak of courage was coming, he had no idea but from somewhere deep inside of himself, Ethan managed to summon the strength to face the creature. His body began to relax and within seconds he had full control of all of his faculties.

“You just arrived. It would be rude to leave before the festivities began.”

“I’m not much of a party boy,” replied Ethan as he felt his confidence grow.

“I insist,” hissed Saul Judas. “I cannot let the guest of honor leave before we have been properly introduced. Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Saul Bar-Judas, born to the most noble of families in the City of Ur. My father is the Royal Prince Judas and I am his second, but most deserving of sons. I would have been king had my incompetent twin brother not been born two minutes before me. I was born to rule and he to be a fool. Had my best friend not betrayed my plans to dispose of him and the rest of the family, I would have been king. As it was, I killed my entire family, but the priests refused to seat me on the throne. They cursed me to be a vampire instead. I have been craving blood ever since. What they thought was a curse has been the greatest gift I ever received.”

He smiled and with cat like reflexes raked at Ethan with the razor sharp claws on his right hand. The youth was able to react just as quickly and that saved his life. Still, his reactions weren’t fast enough so he received three long but shallow gashes on his chest as the vampire’s fingernails ripped clothing and the first layer of skin from the front of Ethan’s mid-section.

The vampire laughed and reached to grab at the tiny hunter. When Ethan saw this, he stepped back out of the way and he threw up both of his hand in order to toss their contents in the direction of his attacker. Whether or not he was successful with his desperate tosses, he couldn’t tell. All he knew was that he had committed himself to this course of action and now he was stuck with it.

“What are you doing my foolish one?” asked Saul Judas. “Did you think you could stop me with dirt?” The vampire began to laugh coarsely and continued to do so for several seconds. Then just as quickly as he started, he stopped.

He looked at Ethan and began to speak to him in a soft voice. “I could make you a god among men. Would you like that? How would you like to go through life never knowing fear or disease or even decay? I have the power to make this happen for you.

“I sense a kindred spirit in you.” The vampire smiled and for a split second the youth saw kindness in its eyes. “Does that surprise you? Do you think we vampires are without feelings? Do you think we do not know how to love? You are wrong. It is because of love most of us have become vampires. My love was for my people. My older brother was a fool and he would have destroyed my people. I was destined to rule. That is why I did what I did. I killed my family because I loved my countrymen more than I loved my own mother, my father, and even my own identical twin brother.

“I did everything for love. Is there nothing that you love that much?”

Ethan thought about it and immediately Emily popped into his mind. Unbeknownst to him, Ethan smiled at that thought.

“So, you do love something more than yourself,” reflected the vampire. “I have the power to see that you get it. All you have to do is be willingly surrender yourself to me and everything you desire can become yours not only for one life time, but for an eternity. Look into my eyes and see the truth in them.”

Ethan willingly obeyed. As he looked into the creatures eyes, he saw the beautiful girl smiling back at him.

“I love you Ethan.” Her voice was soft and loving as she whispered into his mind. “I have since the instant I laid eyes on you. Surrender to me and we shall be together to the end of time.”

Ethan smiled and reached his hand out towards the object of his affection. He wanted to be with Emily, to marry her and to be husband and wife forever. He wanted it more than he wanted the oxygen in his lungs and here was his chance to get it. Therefore, he surrendered himself willingly and without reservation.

Saul Judas pulled the youth in close to him. He smiled as he thought about what he was going to do to this insolent you. Did the youth dare to think that he would be allowed to live after he destroyed a princess of the Royal House of Ur? The vampire prince’s mind was playing images of the torture he was going to inflict upon the insolent youth when he felt it.

At first it was a sensation of having touched a piece of cold metal, but that changed instantly as he felt that area of his right arm begin to sizzle with pain as something hot or acidic began to eat at the naked flesh on his arm.

“Whoa haaaaaaaw!” shouted the vampire prince as he shivered in pain. Instinctively, he shoved the youth away from him. He shook his hand and then looked down at it. On the back of his hand, burned into his flesh was a small black “t” and it was causing enormous pain for something so small.

He pointed a clawed finger at the boy. Hatred shown in his eyes and he began to hiss at the child. “For that, you shall die!”

“I don’t kill all that easily,” replied the youth with confidence he didn’t even know he had. “If you doubt my word, just ask your woman.”

The youth smiled and for some unknown reason it frightened the vampire and Ethan knew it. This only added to his already growing confidence.

“I scare you,” taunted the youth. “You know that you’re going to die this night and that frightens you.”

“I fear nothing,” interrupted the vampire. “You shall discover that when you taste my vengeance.”

“Here I stand,” mocked Ethan defiantly as he motioned with his hand for the vampire to come towards him. “Come get some.”

“Now, you shall die,” stated Saul Judas flatly.

The vampire raised his hands above his head and then brought them down to the side with one quick jerk. He jumped as he flapped his arms. He stumbled ahead two to three steps before he was able to regain his balance.

Once he righted himself, he looked at the youth. Ethan smiled as he looked into the creature’s eyes. Gone were the dark portals to Hell. They were replaced by the look of fear that comes on all men when they know that his end is near.

“What have you done to me?” questioned the vampire.

“That dirt I threw on you is call vampire dust. I’m surprised you haven’t heard of it. We’ve been using it for over one hundred and twenty years. It works rather well, don’t you think?”

The vampire shot a quizzical look at him.

“Oh, I’m sorry,” quipped the youth. “It has the unusual property of preventing vampires from changing forms.”

Saul Judas smiled. “I do not need tricks to defeat you. I shall do it the old way. I shall enjoy ripping you apart! Your blood shall taste sweet and I drain it with the greatest of pleasures.”

Ethan lowered his hands to the side and then spoke. “Bring it on bad teeth. I’ll give you the beating your momma should have given you those many thousands of years ago.”

Saul Judas let out a yelp and made a mad charge at the youth. Ethan stood there motionless until the last possible second. As Saul Judas came within inches of the youth, Ethan twisted to the side and allowed his adversary to pass by only millimeters out of reach. As the vampire moved by him, the youth slammed his fist into the unexposed ribs of his opponent. The vampire moaned as the youth’s fist hit home. Saul Judas stumbled but managed to regain his footing.

“So, the pup knows a few tricks, does he not? I shall defeat you all the same.”

“Quit yapping and bring it,” barked the youth.

In his mind, Ethan could see and hear what was taking place, but he found it hard to belief that he was actually involved with this fight. It all seemed like a fight scene out of a Kung Fu movie to him. He knew he was involved in it, but he couldn’t understand it. It was as if his body had been taken over by some cosmic force and he was witnessing some out of body experience while still being trapped within the cocoon that makes up his outer shell.

The two parried each other for the next couple of minutes. It seemed as though Saul Judas was always on the attack. Ethan managed to block, deflect or get out of the way of every thrust, blow or charge that the vampire threw at him.

Each time he stopped the creature’s attack he managed to deliver a sharp blow to the creature. They had no effect upon the vampire physically, but they were eating at him mentally. In all the millennia of life, the vampire had never fought such a human. That thought frightened him but it also made the thought of ending the youth’s life all the more enjoyable.

Somewhere during the fight, the two stopped as if each was studying the other. Each was hoping to guess his opponents next move.

“You are tiring,” said the vampire smugly. “I shall eventually wear you down.”

Ethan smiled. “That won’t happen before the sun comes up and puts an end to you.”

Ethan looked at his opponent once more. This time he noticed his friend standing just a few feet from the vampire. If he could get Roger in the battle, then he could shift the odds from the vampire’s favor to his own. Still, he thought, how can I snap Roger out of the coma he’s in?

Saul Judas must have sensed the youth’s thoughts because he began to comment on them. “Your friend cannot help you. Once I am finished with you, I shall end his life rather quickly.”

“The sun will have killed you by then. Well, that is if I don’t do it first.”

The vampire began to laugh. “That is bold and arrogant talk for such a small child!”

His intent was to anger Ethan and he did. The youth’s face flushed and he did exactly what the vampire was hoping he’d do. He made a mad charge directly at the undead creature.

Saul Judas smiled as he realized that he had finally coaxed the crafty youth into making a fatal mistake. As the youth ran towards him, Saul Judas raised his hand so that he could administer the fatal blow as quickly as possible. Once he did that, he would still have enough time to kill the other hunter and make it back to his lair before the sun began to rise.

When the youth got about six feet from the vampire, he did something completely unexpected. Saul Judas was expecting the youth to pull a weapon and try to fight him, but the youth jumped up into the air and kicked the vampire with all of his might. The blow the youth administered was stronger than one delivered by an NFL linebacker. His feet landed with full force on the vampire’s chest.

The brunt of the force sent Saul Judas into the air. The vampire sailed several feet and would have gone farther had the motionless form of Roger not been in his way. As his mass slammed into the solid form of the frozen student, Saul Judas felt his body being impaled on the silver bladed sword that was frozen in place out in front of the still unmoving student.

The vampire’s eyes became as big as sauces as the sword penetrated deep into his chest and began obliterating his internal organs. Saul Judas would scream out in pain as the razor sharp blade began to carve through his heart. Once he realized that he was finished, his face softened as the prince stared at Ethan. There must been some essence of his humanity left somewhere inside of him because the look the ancient beast gave Ethan seemed to be a combination of hatred and gratitude.

As the youth stared into the eyes of the vampire, he noticed that the darkness he saw earlier had been replaced by a soft set of eyes that seemed to be pleading with him and thanking him at the same time. Ethan stared into those eyes for several long seconds. Whether it was a trick of the sun beginning to rise on those Eastern Kentucky Mountains or whether he really saw it he could not say for sure, but he would swear that he saw a smile of thankfulness in the eyes of the creature just before it burst into flames as the first blades of sunlight struck it like a bolt of lightning.

Within seconds, the creature was gone. The only things left from it were two golden rings. One, a large gaudy band with an emerald stone embedded in it. Saul Judas had worn had on the left ring finger for eons. The other ring was a large signet ring that he wore on the right index finger. It had once been the royal signet of the Royal House of Ur.

About the time the vampire caught on fire, Roger began to stir from his stupor. He would drop the sword he had been hold after watching the vampire disappear into a cloud of dust while dangling from the end of the weapon

“What happened?’ asked Roger as he slowly began to regain his senses. He dropped his sword just as the last flames of what had been a prince of the city-state of Ur flickered upon it

The youth looked at him and smiled. “You just killed the vampire prince.”

“No, I didn’t!” There was a look of doubt on Roger’s face.

Ethan pointed to his friend’s feet. “Look for yourself. There’s what’s left of him; nothing but a couple of old rings.”

The older student looked down at his feet. His sword was half covered by a piece of tattered cloth. Both were lying on a pile of ashes. Beside the ashes lay the two pieces of jewelry the vampire had carried with him for over three thousand years.

“I really did that?” inquired the older student. “I don’t remember doing it.”

“The proof is right there in front of you. How can you not remember doing it?”

Roger thought about what Ethan said for a few seconds and then it hit him. “Didn’t you say that you blacked out just before that vampirina attacked you?”

“I don’t know, but I must’ve,” replied Ethan.”

Roger snapped his fingers as if he were having one of those Eureka moments. “Then that has to be it. Apparently, true vampire hunters go into some catatonic state before they go on the attack mode. Do you think they taught us that at the academy?”

“How would I remember that?” cautioned Ethan. “Do you?”

“Of course not, but that has to be how we did it. I’ll bet you if I asked about it, they’d deny it too.”

“You know they would.”

Roger smiled. “We’ll just keep this between us. We won’t tell them that we’ve figured out their little secret.”

Ethan shrugged. “Whatever keeps me out of Dr. Spangler’s office is fine with me.”

“Good, then we’re in agreement,” confirmed Roger. We’re never to speak of this again.”

“My word on it,” declared the youth. “By the way, I do have one more question before we seal this pack with a handshake. What are you going to do with those two souvenirs? With that, Ethan pointed towards the two rings the vampire had been wearing.

“What are these?” asked Roger as he bent over and picked up the two rings.

“I think they belonged to the prince,” replied Ethan. “We have to give them to the headmaster so that he can send them to Rome to be confirmed as belonging to a prince. You’ll be a hero like Dr. Van Helsing!”

Roger smiled as he stood up and slid the rings into his pocket. “Maybe not that famous, do you think?”

Ethan smiled at his friend. “I don’t know. You are now an official vampire prince killer. As far as we know, they’ve only been three in history: Van Helsing, St. George and now Saint Roger.”

“Quit teasing me!” snapped Roger and then he smiled. “You really think I’ll be famous?”

“Yep, don’t you?”

“Nah, I think I’ll retire and go on the speech circuit and make millions.”

“Only if the society lets you,” agreed Ethan, “and you know how they are.”

“I guess this being a hero is going to be tougher than I thought.”

“Better you than me,” said Ethan through an innocent smile.

As the two students began packing their gear, Ethan pulled out a paper and set it on his desk. He studied it and began making a mental check list of the items it contained.

“I’ve got this list that I put together so that I wouldn’t forget something should I have to pack in it in a hurry.”

“That’s a good idea,” agreed his roommate, Tyler. “I wish I’d thought of that.”

“Me too,” replied Ethan.

The other boy gave him an odd look and Ethan laughed despite himself.

“Emily created the list all I did was Xerox it.”

“What’s on it? Can I see?”

Ethan handed his friend the list. “Keep it. I won’t need it after tonight.”

“Don’t say that!” barked the roommate.

“It’s true! No matter what happens, I’ll not be here this time tomorrow evening.”
“You don’t think you’re going to… you know?” The roommate’s face was pale and a tear had begun to form in his eye.

“No, not really,” replied Ethan. “I’ve lost my desire to be a hunter. I can’t explain it to you.”

The roommate smiled through his tears. “You feel like you’re going no where; like you’re spinning your wheels and are wondering if it is worth it all?”

Ethan’s eyes became as big as saucers. “That’s exactly how I feel? How could you possibly know that?”

The other student shrugged his shoulders. “Everybody goes through that. I felt that way last year. It’s only natural. My Mom and Dad both experienced it when they went through the academy.”

“They told you that?” inquired Ethan. “I thought they died when you were a boy.”

“I was twelve when Dad died and fifteen when Mom was killed.” The big youth took in a deep breath trying to remove the pain he was experiencing at the moment. Given the expression on his face, it obviously didn’t help.

“Do you remember the first time we met?” asked the roommate.

Ethan nodded showing that he did.

“I wasn’t that nice to you.”

“You were just…” stated Ethan before he was interrupted by his roommate.

“I wasn’t nice to you because I was afraid that you would realize what type of a coward I truly am.”

The large boy smiled when he saw the shock in Ethan’s eyes.

“I never wanted to be a hunter. Both my parents were. My Dad had over fifty kills himself. Together he and Mom killed over eighty vampires. Did you know that they hold the record for a husband and wife team for the number of kills?”

Ethan didn’t say a word. He shrugged his shoulders.

The roommate smiled out of frustration. “Zachary Tyler Isaacs, III, but you can call me Tyler or Zachary or Trey. Do you know what kind of legacy I’ve had to live with all my life? Since the second I was born, my parents have been training me to be a hunter.

“I began taking karate when I was six. I have a third degree black belt in Tae Kwan Doe. What time other kids were out playing tag or hide and seek, I was learning gymnastics and chemistry. If my parents where not on an assignment, I was being trained to be a hunter.

“’You’re going to grow up and break my record for the number of vampires killed,’ he used to say. I would smile like a dutiful son and lie to him. “I’m going to double it,’ I’d say to him. He’d smile, rub my head and tell me how proud he was to have me for a son.

“I both idolized him and hated him for that. I loved him so much I wanted to be like him. While other kids wanted to be basketball stars and astronauts, I wanted to be my Dad. I knew that I could never be like him. I don’t have that killer instinct he had.”

Zachery looked at Ethan, bit his lower lip and tried to smile. “The truth is… I’m a coward. I’m scared of dying.”

“What? No you’re not! You’re one of the toughest guys I know.” Ethan was stunned by what his roommate had said.

“No, I’m not. I’m bigger, stronger and better trained than the rest of you guys. Besides if I lose a fight to one of you, I won’t die. But, if I lose one to a vampire or a vampirina, I’m dead. That terrifies me!”

“Me too,” agreed Ethan.

“No way! That’s impossible! You spent a night in the lair of a prince and survived. There’s no way you were scared.”

Ethan lowered his head. He couldn’t look his friend in the eye. Shame was eating at him, but he had to give his friend and honest answer. He owed his roommate that much.

“The truth is, well, I ran. I don’t remember a lot about that night, but I can tell you this. Once the fighting started, I ran like a scared little rabbit.”

“You’re kidding me?” whispered Tyler in a hushed voice.

“No sir, I’m not. I ran until I couldn’t run any more. From there, I crawled until, I got my strength back and then I ran some more. I ran until I finally collapsed. I was less than fifty yards from an opening when I collapsed from fatigue.”

“What about your leg? How did you hurt it? You still smart from it; I can tell.”

Ethan shot him a pathetic smile. “I hurt my leg running from a devil hound that had chased me out into the open. I some how managed to shoot him, but I don’t remember how I did it. I was hurt running from the thing.

“Trust me, I’m no hero. I’m the biggest coward and phony this institute ever produced. The truth is I don’t want to go tonight because I’m afraid everyone will find out my secret.”

Tyler smiled and stuck out his hand. “Your secret is safe with me if you promise to do the same?”

Ethan grabbed his roommate’s hand, smiled and pumped it one time. “It’s a done deal.”

Tyler held on to his Ethan’s hand for an instant longer than he normally would have. He was studying his roommate’s face. Over the past fifteen months, he had grown to respect the youth, but this was the first time he ever looked at his friend as an equal instead of a subordinate. That feeling would remain with him the rest of his life.

“Can I say something before we leave?” asked Tyler. “I have to get something off my chest.”

Ethan shot him a quizzical look, but said, “Okay. Go ahead and say it.”

“Well, huh, well… I don’t know how to say this.”

“Just say,” input the gangly youth. “You’re my roommate, Tyler. I’ll listen to anything you have to say.”

The larger boy blew out a puff of air and walked over to his bed in order to take a seat. “I want to tell you that, huh, I’m, you know, sorry for being mean to you when you first came here.”

Ethan began to laugh but was abruptly stopped by sharp glance from his roommate.

“What?” asked Ethan not knowing what he had done wrong.

“I’m trying to apologize to you,” groaned Tyler. “I want to set things right between us. You’ve been a good…”

“There’s no need to apologize,” injected the youth.

“Please! Let me finish. I need to say this. If not for your sake, then at least for mine; I need this. I need the absolution.”

Ethan shrugged his shoulders and took a seat on his bed. The youth looked his roommate straight in the eye. “I’m all yours. I’ll not say a word until you finish, but I’d like to say one thing before we go on.”

“Okay,” agreed the roommate.

“I want you to know that I don’t hold any grudge or have bad feelings toward you. You’ve been the best roommate in the world. You take up for me and you look out for me. I’ve never had that before.”

Tears began to stream down Tyler’s face. Once the tears meandered past his mouth, a torrent of emotions to exploded within the young man’s soul. Struggling to find the right word to express his true sorrow, he did the one thing he always did when his emotions got a hold on him; he attacked.

“You see, that is what I’m talking about,” growled the big kid. Tyler was about to release the tsunami of raw emotion that was churning within his soul upon his roommate, but stopped at the last minute. Looking at the trust contained with the eyes of his friend, he stopped, took a deep breath and swallowed his emotions.

“I’m sorry Ethan for being such a lousy roommate. You deserve better. I hope you’ll forgive me for my stupidity and will allow me to make up for it.”

Compassion began to burn within Ethan’s eyes. “Don’t worry about it. I forgive you but I ask you to help me do one thing?”

“Anything,” replied Tyler.

Ethan smiled. “Help me to become tougher. I want to be able to stand up to bullies, especially Tom Foley and Herman Allison, but I’m so small and they are so large.”

Tyler began to laugh and this caught the youth off guard.

“What’s so funny?” questioned Ethan.

“Do you know why Tom and Herman hate you so much?” asked Tyler while still chuckling.

“I guess they’re just some jerks that get their jollies picking on people smaller than they are.”

“That would be part of it,” agreed Tyler who by this time was wearing a straight face. “The real reason they hate you is because they thinks they’re inferior to you. Here are these big strapping men and somewhere along the line each one was once beaten by you in a fight or contest of skill.”

“I got lucky in the fight,” injected Ethan. “Why would Herman hold that against me?”

The roommate held up two fingers. “Two things: number one – you humiliated him in front of his peers. No matter how hard you try you’ll never be able to make that up to him. You could let him kill you with his bear hands, but I have a feeling that isn’t on your agenda.”

“You got that right!”

Tyler smiled. “The other item is Tom Foley and here is what makes him dangerous. Our friend, Mr. Tom Fooley as you sometimes call him, is terrified of you. He’s not too stupid to understand that you are a better man than he’ll ever be. He picks on you to keep you down because he afraid not to.”

“Thanks,” interrupted Ethan.

“Nah, it’s true. He knows it but will never admit it. My Dad use to say that the most dangerous person in the world is an idiot with a cause. I don’t think he had the redheaded idiot in mind when he said it, but Tom’s a good example. He’s got the brains of a mosquito wrapped inside the body of a gorilla. The fact that he hasn’t failed out of this academy just goes to show you how desperate they are to keep and training hunters.”

“Thanks,” said Ethan. “I appreciate the kind words.”

“No problem,” responded Tyler. “I’m just about finished, but I still need to load my water gun. I’ve got to run to the chapel. Do you want me to bring you back some holy water?”

“Yeah, thanks. A gallon ought to do us both.”

“Cool,” stated Tyler and he stood up and made his way out the room.

Once the roommate left, Ethan grabbed an old army bag and began stuffing his personal belongings down into it. Looking around the room to ensure that know one was watching, he walked over to his desk and then began pulling out the side drawers to his study table. Dumping the contents of each drawer on his bed, the youth flipped each one over to reveal money taped at the bottom of each.

This was his emergency fund that he had been saving for years. All totaled he had over four hundred dollars. He knew that wasn’t much, but it would allow him enough of a start that were they to chase after him, he’d be long gone before they realized it.

Ripping the money from the drawers, he wadded each of the three packets up and slid them one-by-one into a sandwich sized plastic bags. If he were to survive the night, he was leaving this place. He had no clue as to where he was going to go. His only thought was that he had to leave and he had to leave as soon as possible.

Ten minutes later, Ethan was sitting on his bed waiting for Tyler to return. The drawers had been returned with their contents to their proper places. The duffle bag was packed and hid within his locker closet waiting for him to claim it and take off to parts unknown. His hunter’s kit had been fully packed with the single exception of his water gun which hadn’t been filled.

“Got the water!” shouted Tyler as he entered the room.

“Good,” replied Ethan with a smile. “I’ve been waiting on you. Except for the water gun, I’ve got every thing packed and ready to go.”

“So you’re locked and cocked?” questioned his roommate in a doubtful tone.

Ethan shrugged. “As ready as I’ll ever be.”

They both laughed, but they were timid frightened laughs.

Thirty minutes later the two were in formation with thirty-five other students; seventeen hunters and four priests. They were standing at attention when Fr. Mackey limped up to a microphone. A loud wail resulting from feedback echoed from a speaker located in front of the group. Several people winced but all maintained their bearing as the technicians worked on the problem. Within seconds, one of them techs gave the priest the “go ahead.”

The priest cleared his throat before he addressed the group.

“Today we have an opportunity to make history. We have the unique chance to destroy a prince!” He stepped back from the microphone for a few seconds so as to let those last words sink into the hearts and minds of his audience. “This is the first opportunity we’ve had to corner and destroy one of those demonic beings in over thirty years.”

The priest’s hand subconsciously raked across his leg. He been crippled by a prince and had a second team of hunters not shown up when they did he would have died in an abandoned underground storage facility in Cincinnati. That incident took place two days before his twenty-third birth day and nearly thirty-three years later he could still recall those events in his dreams in extremely minute and vivid detail.

“I was on the last mission against a prince. I still consider it my finest hour as a hunter. Although we didn’t kill him, we destroyed over forty vampires and vampirinas and disposed of six of their minions. It was the largest kill rate of the past hundred years.

“But, I’m not here to talk about my past. I’m here to talk about you glorious accomplishments. Tonight, you will make history. Of that fact, I am no doubt. You are the finest bunch of hunter trainees I’ve ever seen and you are being lead by an outstanding group of hunters and priests.”

The priest stepped away from the microphone and began surveying the formation. He began at the head of the formation and made eye contact with each and every member of the group. Once this was completed, the priest motioned with his hand for Lt. Colonel Espinoza to come forward. As the retired military man made his way towards the priest, the headmaster of the school smiled and said: “Ladies and gentlemen, allow me the honor of introducing to you the man that is going to lead you on this historic event. Colonel Espinosa would you like to have a few words with the troops?”

Manuel smiled and made his way to the microphone. The formation began cheering and barking as the bull dog of a man stopped just in front of the podium that contained the voice amplification device.

“Booooooyah,” shouted one of the hunters and the rest of the group repeated this call. The Colonel smiled as his face began to flush from all the excited that was being generated by the group. He stood there with his hands on the podium and basked in the exhilaration of it all. Although he had spent over twenty years in the army and had been engaged in numerous actions, he was more proud of the work he was doing with this group of you men that of anything else he had accomplished. Once the cheering died down, he took a deep breath and began speaking to his troops.

“This time tomorrow, you’ll all be heroes. Sure, you’ll probably be asleep in your beds by the time the Pope receives the message that one of the seven is now dead…”

Spontaneous cheering erupted from the audience. Not sure what he was supposed to do, the Lt. Colonel stepped back and began clapping what time the troops expressed their excitement. This was the adrenaline pulsating within their veins. At this moment, these boys and girls would follow him to the Gates of Hell itself, and he knew it. His biggest fear at the moment would be that the hormonal high would have run its course by the time they arrived at the lair.

The last thing he needed was a bunch of tired hunters traipsing through tunnels at wee hours of the night. Tired warriors made mistake and mistakes meant disaster and that meant that his mortal enemy Saul Judas would escape from him a second time. He was not going to allow that to happen. That fear was the one thing that drove him. Wrecking his vengeance on the creature that destroyed his family was the only reason the former military had for living. Nothing else mattered and he was willing to sacrifice anything, up to and including his own life, if he could be there to watch that piece of evil disappear from off the face of the earth.

“You know, I almost feel sorry for those vampires,” the Colonel continued. “Not one of them went to bed last night thinking that this would be their last day on this Earth, but we’re going to remedy that little problem for them. It is our first order of business for tonight.”

Again the group roared their approval. This time the Colonel held up his hands to silence them so that he could continue. It took several seconds but eventually, the crowd quieted.

“I expect each of you to do your duty tonight. Remember that you’re not just fighting for yourselves and your friends; you’re fighting for the whole human race.”

He waited for a response but it never came. After a short pause, he continued.

“Turn to the hunter on your left.” The formation obeyed. “Now say to that person, ‘We’re going to annihilate a prince tonight.” A murmur echoed through the crowd. “Now to the person on your right and do the same thing. “Again the crowd murmured to itself.

“Boooooyah,” cried the Colonel and the group repeated it. He did this three more times getting louder each time he did it. The formation did likewise.

Drinking in the excitement, the military man decided that to say more would be a waste of time and energy; therefore he stepped back and motioned for the headmaster to come back to the podium.

Fr. Mackey stepped up to the microphone and nodded to the four priests. “Before we begin the sacrament, I’d like to ask God’s blessing on tonight’s events. If you’ll bow your heads we can begin.”

The crowd obeyed almost in unison.

“Dear Great God, the Lord and Master of the universe, we come before you with humbled hearts and high expectations because we know that we are about to embark on a mission that is completely and totally encompassed by Your will. As we seek to vanquish these blasphemous demon spawn, we ask that You will both bless and strengthen us in this endeavor. We ask you this in the name of Your Son and our Savior, Jesus who is the Holy Christ. Amen”

The group crossed themselves once the priest had finished. Within seconds the priests were moving amongst the formation administering Holy Communion to the group.

As each hunter had finished receiving communion, he or she was herded off into one of several panel vans that had been stationed nearby.

Ethan was fully expected to be seated in the same vehicle as Tyler, but he was the last one seated in one van therefore his roommate was sent to another. The thought of being by himself during the two hour drive to Greenup County, frightened the boy. He bowed his head and tried to avoid eye contact with his peers. He didn’t want them to see how terrified he truly was.

Unsure of what else to do, he issued a silent prayer asking God for the strength to get through the trip. He had no more than finished when a hand gripped his shoulder. Raising his eyes slowly to get a look to see who it was while secretly fearing that it might be Tom Foley, Ethan smiled when he realized that it was Roger Rose.

“Mind if I sit next to you?” asked the athletic blond.

Ethan looked into the man’s brown eyes and smiled. Other than Tyler, he could not thing of another person he would like to have sitting beside him other than Roger. The BMOC was one of Ethan’s protectors and the youth took comfort in knowing that the most popular guy in their class had chosen to sit by him. This made the youth feel accepted, but he still didn’t feel respected.

“I’ll take that as a yes,” replied Roger.

“Go ahead,” input the youth. “I don’t think I’ll be much good for company.”

“That makes two of us,” whispered the BMOC through a tight smile.

Ethan returned the gesture, but his smile was genuine. To the best of his understanding, he had just witnessed the answering of a prayer.

As Dr. Spangler entered the foyer that served as Gladys’s office, he looked around for the youth but couldn’t find him. A window off to the side was open and a small breeze was blowing into the room.

“Gladys,” called the physician. “Where’s Ethan?”

“You mean he’s not in there?” answered the receptionist. “He was there a second ago.”

The doctor eyed the window suspiciously and was about to speak when the heavyset woman entered the room.

“Did you open that window?” she asked briskly.

“No, I’ve been looking for the boy.”

Gladys smiled out of anger and pointed towards the window. “My guess is that he skedaddled out of that window.”

“Think so?” asked Dr. Spangler.

The woman nodded her head. “Look, he had to’ve heard everything that was said. He’s probably scared to death. What’d you do were you in his shoes?”

Dr. Spangler raked his hands through his hair out of sheer frustration. “I suppose that you’re right. I can’t even imagine what he’s thinking at this point.”

“He’s thinking they want me to die,” interrupted Gladys. “Who in their right mind wouldn’t think that? It’s not even been a week and they want to send him back into that nightmare. My guess is that he wanted to get out of this place and he wanted to get out of here stat.”

“Where do you think he went?”

The secretary shrugged her shoulders. “There’s only one place he can go and that is to his dorm room. He’s raised in institutions. He doesn’t know any other type of life. If I were a betting woman, and I’m not, that would be where I’d guess.”

Dr. Spangler grabbed the woman by the shoulders and planted a kiss on her forehead. “Gladys, you’re the best.”

“Don’t forget I’m a married woman and a Christian. You can dream all you want but my heart belongs only to the Lord and my man.”

The doctor smiled despite himself.

“Now get on outta here and go find that boy,” barked the large woman. “He needs you right now. Besides, I don’t want you in here ogling me with those lustful eyes of yours.”

This time he nearly burst out with laughter and only through great effort did he manage to prevent it. It took a second, but eventually he was able to collect his thoughts. Pulling the door with him as he went, the doctor thanked Gladys just before he closed it behind him.

Once out of the office, the doctor raced across the campus towards the men’s dormitory. Stopping at the entrance to catch his breath, he called to the first student he saw.

“Hey you,” shouted the physician. “You there with the red hair I’m talking to you.”

Pointing to himself as he turned, the student asked, “You talking to me?”

“Yes,” replied Dr. Spangler. “You’re Tom Foley, aren’t you? Do you know where Ethan Seth lives?”

“Yeah, I’m Tom,” responded the student. “But, I don’t know where Coke Bottles is at. You’d better ask someone else?”

The red-head shrugged his shoulders and started to leave, but was stopped by the physician.

“What floor does Ethan live on?”

Tom shot him an angry look. “You’re kidding, right? Didn’t you hear? I told you that I didn’t know! Now, if you don’t mind, I need to get up to my room so that I can get ready for some action. I’m fixin’ to make a name for myself.”

“You’re not going anywhere until you tell me where his room is!” There was defiance in the doctor’s voice.

An evil grin raced across Tom’s face. “Watch me. I’m going to walk right past you and there’s not a thing you can do to stop me.” The student snarled. “Now make way or else, I’ll make one through you.”

“I don’t have time for this foolishness!” barked the doctor. “I need for you to tell me where I can find Ethan. That’s all I need.”

The large student was now beside the physician. The red-head had at least four inches and forty pounds on the doctor. He used this difference is size to press his advantage. Sidling up to the physician, the student bumped him. His face was one of pure joy. He obviously liked picking on others and he took great pleasure in forcing his will on others. The thought of the hunt had boosted his already inflated opinion of himself and at that moment Tom was filling invincible. Therefore he was willing to push his advantage.

Moving in close to doctor, Tom whispered, “Get out of my way old man or, so help me, I’ll break you in two.”

“Where’s Ethan?” was the only response he received.

The student put his face directly in front of his opponent. “I tried to play it fair, but you wouldn’t let me. Remember you brought this on yourself.”

The red-head’s eyes nearly shot out of his head and his body went limp as the physician’s left hand gave a quick but driving blow to the student’s kidney. Tom Foley nearly crumbled to the ground as his body seemed to convulse from the strike. As his knees unbuckled out from under him, the large student nearly tumbled to the ground, but was prevented from doing so by the vice like grip of Dr. Spangler’s hand wrapping around his throat.

Instantly, the expression on the student’s face changed from one of triumph to one of terror. The physician’s hand tightened the around student’s throat as he lifted his opponent so that they stood face-to- face.

“Okay,” said Dr. Spangler softly. “Let’s try this again. I’m going to ask you some questions and you’re going to answer me. Is that understood?”

The student tried to say something, but the physicians iron grip wrapped around his throat prevented him from speaking.

Dr. Spangler smiled and he could feel the student’s body tremble when they locked eyes.

“You don’t have to say a word,” explained the physician. “All you have to do his nod when I ask a question. Is that understood?”

Dr. Spangler tightened his grip once again and the student began bobbing his head up and down.

“Good, now we’re making progress. What floor is Ethan on; the first?”

The youth stared blankly at him.

“The second?”

Again no response.

“The third?”

Tom bobbed his head when he heard that.

“Third floor, good,” said the doctor. “See how easy things can be when you just take time to cooperate with each other.

“What side is he on; the left or…”

The student’s head began bobbing like a woodpecker and given the color of his hair he began to resemble the bird.”

“Do you know the room number?”

This time the student didn’t move his head, but brought his right hand up beside his face. Thinking the youth might be ready to attack, the physician tightened his grip even more.

“No, funny tricks,” whispered the doctor. “You don’t want to see me when I’m roiled up. I can be dangerous when that happens.”

Tom held up three fingers, then one and then five. This caused the doctor to give him a strange look so he did it again. This time the physician caught it.

“So, he’s in room three fifteen?”

Without saying another word, the doctor released his grip and let the student drop to the floor.

“See, that wasn’t so hard; was it?”

The red-head didn’t say a word but the loathing in his eyes spoke volumes. The stare from those beads of hatred was all but burning a hole into the physician’s body. Dr. Spangler noticed it but let it pass.

During his career, the physician had seen many like this one. They were big brash and cocky, but deep down inside they were cowards to the core. Sure the boy would plot revenge but he’d never be bold enough to act on his own. Unless he could find a stooge to help him, which the doctor doubted, the student would never make a move against him because he feared the repercussions were he to fail.

The student was still clutching his throat when the physician moved around him. Just before the doctor exited the room, he turned and called back to the brute.

“If I find that I have missed Ethan because you were too stupid to know how to respond properly to a question, I’ll come back here and finish what I started. Trust me, you don’t want that to happen!”

Tom snapped his head towards the physician. The two locked eyes for a brief second before the doctor winked at the student. Dr. Spangler pointed at the boy and clicked his thumb like he was pulling a trigger.

“I wouldn’t be here when I get back if I were you,” stated the physician flatly. “I’m apt to be angry if I don’t find the youth.”

The red-head’s eyes became as big as saucers as he scrambled to his feet and then ran from the room.

“Little punk thinks he know everything,” growled Dr. Spangler. “Unless he gets some sense about him, he’ll not live to graduate.”

With that, the doctor made his way to the third floor. The hallway was dark with only one single sixty watt bulb burning in the middle of the ninety foot long corridor. The doors on the right were listed three zero two; three zero four and up to three sixteen. The doors on the left hand side where the odd number compliments to those on the right.

Not knowing where the room was locate, the doctor began walking down the passage; counting the left side doors as he went.

“One; three; five; seven,” the man whispered as he passed the first four doors.

After passing the fourth door and seeing only four more left, the doctor made a bee-line for the last room. Once he stood outside the entrance, the physician took a deep breath and softly rapped on the door.

“Who is it?” echoed voice from inside.

“Dr. Spangler. I need to talk to Ethan.”

“Go away, I don’t want to talk to you.” This voice wasn’t the same one that had spoken earlier. This was a voice the doctor knew very well. This last voice belonged to Ethan.

“I’m not going to leave,” responded Dr. Spangler. “You might as well let me in because I’ll stand out here until you come out. I don’t have any place else to be.”

“Let him in,” barked the voice that the doctor didn’t recognize but assumed to be Ethan’s roommate. The boy’s name was… With that the doctor drew a blank, and for the life of him, couldn’t come up with the boy’s name even though he had talked to him dozens of times.

“No, all he wants to do is experiment on me and pretend that I’m some type of vampire stooge!”

The room went silent for a couple of seconds until the door’s lock clicked. With that, the door swung open and a large sandy-blond haired youth engulfed the doorway.

“Come on in,” said the large teenager as he motioned with his hand.

The physician nodded his head and entered the room.

Ethan stood on the far side of the room. He had his arms crossed in front of him and his gaze and body posture was one of anger. The youth looked like a cat ready to pounce on an unsuspecting prey.

The doctor looked at the roommate. “Could you give us a moment?’

The youth smiled and started to exit, but was called back by Ethan.

“Don’t go Tyler!” barked Ethan. “Anything the doctor has to say can be said in front of you.”

The gangly teenager pointed towards the physician. “Have at it. I don’t have all day. I have to get ready for tonight’s hunt.” The last few words held venom when they were spoken.

“That’s what I want to talk to you about,” stated the doctor in a hushed tone.

Ethan threw up his hands. “Well, go ahead. I’ve got to be going.”

“That’s just it,” replied the doctor. I don’t want you to go. I think you can be more helpful were you to stay back on this one.”

“You think I’ll run away; don’t you.” The youth spat the words.

“No I don’t,” responded the doctor just as fiercely. He took a deep breath and blew out a puff of air before he spoke again. This time the words were soft and even. “No, I don’t. I think that you were meant to be more than a hunter.”

With that statement, the doctor looked at the roommate, nodded to him and said, “No offense meant towards you son. I just…”

“None taken,” replied Tyler.

“Stay,” barked Ethan and the roommate froze in place.

“Look,” began the physician before he stopped to look at the students. “Ethan, I really need to talk to you alone.”

Dr. Spangler glanced towards Tyler and barked. “Would you get out of here? You’re in the way.”

“Stay,” whispered Ethan without the conviction he had earlier.

The doctor pointed towards the roommate and then motioned towards the door with his thumb. “Move!” shouted the physician.

Without saying a word, Tyler nodded his head and slipped past the doctor. He closed the door behind him as he exited the room.

Ethan looked at the doctor defiantly. “What is it? Do you think I’ll chicken out like I did the last time? Do you think I’ll run like a scared rabbit while the others stand and fight? Is that what you think? If it is, then let me tell you…”

“That’s not what I think at all,” stated Dr. Spangler in a soft voice. “As a matter of fact, I think the leaders of the academy are a bunch of fools for letting you go.”

“What?” asked the youth obviously caught off guard by the physician’s words. “You mean you don’t want to lecture me about my duty and all that?”

“No, I don’t you to go, period; end of story; finito.”

“I don’t understand.”

“I think you are destined for greatness. Don’t ask me how I know; call it a hunch or instinct or…”

“Oooooooh no,” growled the youth. “You think I’m something I’m not. I’m not what you think I am. I’m a coward! That’s right I’m a coward! When the going got rough, I ran like chicken – barock, barock, barock. Don’t you get it? I’m a sissified chicken and everybody knows it.”

“You’re no coward. Not by a long shot.”

The look Ethan gave the physician was the same type a child gives when he sees a magician pull a rabbit out of a hat. “Are you high?” asked the youth. “I’m a coward. Look at me, I’m a runner. You can’t count on me when the going gets tough because I’ll run out on you in a pinch. They know that. That’s why everyone is avoiding me. They know that I’m a weakling and a coward!”

“No, no, no!” barked the physician. “If people are avoiding you, it’s because they fear you.”

“Huh? Afraid of me?” The youth smiled and then chuckled at that statement. “Oh yeah, now I get it. When they look at me, it’s not hatred I see but fear.” He slapped himself of the forehead. “How could I have been so dumb as not to see that? No, I’m a weakling, coward and a fool. I’m the perfect trifecta when it comes to being a coward.”

He reached out and grabbed the doctor’s hand right and began pumping it up and down. “Well, I’m sure glad we got that straightened up; I don’t know if I could’ve taken it otherwise.”

“You’re not being funny,” stated the doctor.

The youth let go of Dr. Spangler’s hand and shrugged his shoulders. “That’s too bad because humor is all I have left. Well, that and despair. You know doctor you really should try to take the other emotion away from me. If all I have is humor and despair, then the one I want to give up is despair.”

The youth shot the man a desperate smile. The look in the child’s eyes was one of confusion and terror. He wanted to believe what the doctor was saying, but he also knew that his soul was hurting like it had never hurt before. Too ashamed to look directly at the physician, Ethan lowered his head. Within seconds his shoulders were bobbing as the torrent that was burning within his soul silently released itself upon his fragile body.

The doctor stood back and watched the boy. Twice he started to grab the child and pull the youth into him, but he stopped himself each time. If the youth was calling for help, then he had to make the first move towards recovery. What that would be the doctor had no idea, but he knew that it had to be completed by the youth.

Several minutes passed before the youth was able to regain his faculties. Once he did, he looked at the doctor. “Okay, Dr. Spangler, you’ve had your say. Now you need to get out of here so that I can pack by gear.”

“My I ask one more favor?”

The youth rolled his eyes, but allowed it. “Go on; spit it out.”

“My I pray with you?” asked the doctor.

A slap to the face wouldn’t have stunned Ethan as much as the doctor’s request.

“Why?” asked the youth.

“I would make me feel better,” replied the doctor. “Besides, I have a good feeling about this. I think you are going to do something totally amazing tonight.”

“From your lips to the ears of God,” whispered the teen in a voice so low only he heard it.

“Would you come over here so that I can lay my hands on you?” inquired the doctor.

Ethan shrugged his shoulders and reluctantly complied.

Once the physician had laid his hands on top of the youth’s head, he began his prayer.

“Our Father which art in Heaven, Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in Heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen.”

“So what do you think that will do?” questioned the youth.

“According to how you believe, probably nothing,” answered the doctor. “But, if I’m right, then I fully expect to see you again. I also expect you to acquit yourself admirably tonight. As a matter of fact, I think you are destined to be the greatest hunter since Abraham Van Helsing.”

“You need to quit taking your own drugs,” input Ethan.

“Maybe,” stated Dr. Spangler with a smile. “We’ll both know come tomorrow.”

“Until then,” agreed the youth. The expression on his face belied the turmoil taking place within his soul.

Grabbing the youth, the doctor pulled the child into him and then gave the boy a large hugged. “May God bless and keep you,” whispered the physician as he let go of Ethan. He then turned and exited the room without saying another word.

Ethan’s roommate, Tyler was standing outside the door when the doctor left. The youth stepped aside and let the physician pass. Once the doctor had left, Tyler entered the room.

“What was that all about?” asked the roommate.

Ethan shrugged his shoulders. “Beats me. If you ask me, that guy’s a nut job.”

“I heard some of what he said,” agreed the roommate with a nod. “Do you think there’s any truth to what he said?”

“No, do you?” asked Ethan.

“Who knows? Still, there’s always hope. We never really know; do we?”

Dr. Spangler was making his way back to his office when his cell phone began to ring. The ring tone he had chosen was his favorite song; Iron Man by Black Sabbath. He thought it was ironic that he chose to fight evil as a way of life, but his favorite song was by a group many people believed to have satanic leanings. He smiled as he went to answer his phone.

“Hello,” he said without even looking to see who it was.

“Alan,” crackled a voice through the speaker. He recognized it as being Fr. Mackey. “Where are you?”

“I’m in front of the library. Why?”

“I need you in my office ASAP. We’ve called a council to discuss another attack on the lair in Eastern Kentucky.”

The physician’s eyes grew and his head gave a slight tick when he heard that. Unsure if he heard it correctly, he asked for confirmation.

“Would you repeat what you just said?”

“I said we’re calling a war council to discuss a possible raid on the vampire’s lair.”

“I thought that a group of highly trained hunters were being flown in from the Vatican and they’ll be here some time this evening? What happened to that?”

“They’re still coming. We have some people on the ground there at the caves. They’ve noticed a flurry of activity over the last few days. We had seven people posted around those openings. Two of them have disappeared. If either one of them has been turned, then Saul Judas and his nest know of our plans. Tomorrow might be too late. If we don’t attack tonight, then we may not get another chance like this for a hundred years or more.”

Dr. Spangler began scratching his lower lip with his upper teeth. He saw the logic in the headmaster’s statements, but he also knew that such an attack would prove costly if not fatal to the team. The academy had less than four hundred students and they had already lost more than two dozen to this group to vampires. He didn’t want to loss another youth, especially not Ethan.

“And we can’t wait another day?” asked the doctor.

“I fear that we might be too late even if we attack tonight,” relied the priest. “That is why we have to move now. We must strike while the iron is hot!”

“I’m on my way, but I don’t understand why I’m needed.”

“We must vote on this if we are to send the trainees to the lair,” input Fr. Mackey.

“The truth comes out thought,” Dr. Spangler. “He wants my consent so that he can reduce some of the blame if things take a turn like they did the other night.” The doctor smiled as he thought about it. Even in the life and death world of vampire hunting, bureaucrats were always looking for a way to cover their backsides were something to go wrong.

Without saying another word, he clicked off his cell phone and cut the priest off if mid-sentence.

As he made his way to the director’s office, he was thankful that Ethan had the twisted ankle. That would keep him off of the roster. He didn’t know why he had taken such a liking to the youth, but he had. Ethan reminded the doctor a great deal of himself at that age. The kid had all the promise in the world but the physician secretly feared that the boy would be killed before he got a chance to put his talents into action.

As he entered the foyer of the office, he noticed Gladys was on the phone talking to some one that he assumed was connected with the Vatican.

“Yes, your eminence,” said Gladys as she acknowledged the doctor’s presence with a nod of her head.

“Where are they at?’ mouthed Dr. Spangler.

“Yes, your eminence,” repeated Gladys as she pointed across the hall to where a conference room was located.

“I know your eminence,” whispered the secretary, “but this constitutes an emergency.”

The physician waved to her as he backed out of the door.

She waved back as she continued her phone conversation, which had become a bit one sided by this time.

“I understand but Fr. Mackey is in a meeting and can not be….”

Her words were cut off when Dr. Spangler closed the door behind him. He walked the five paces towards the conference room. He’d walked this path so many times he could tell you almost to the inch how far from the office area this room was located. His best guess was nine feet and eight inches.

He blew out a deep breath as he reached to grab the door knob. “There’s no turning back now,” he whispered as he twisted the handle. The room hushed the second the door squeaked open.

“Hello,” called a voice from inside the chamber. He recognized it as Fr. Mackey. “Who is it?” asked the priest.

“Alan,” replied Dr. Spangler. “I’m just now getting here.”

“Come on enter and join us,” replied the headmaster with a subdued and strained voice.

The first thing the physician noticed as he scanned the room was the headmaster standing in the front of the converted classroom. The priest looked much older than his fifty-five years showed. He looked as though he had aged ten years in only a few hours. The once mighty hunter looked like a beaten and dejected old man. Dr. Spangler had expected to feel rage when he saw the man. He was experiencing pity instead.

The priest motioned with a flick of his hand for the physician to join them. “We were just going over the game plan for tonight,” stated the priest. His voice crackled as he spoke.

Dr. Spangler entered the door and immediately looked to see who was in attendance. To his left sat Jason Adams and Manuel Espinoza. To his right sat Jacob Marley.

“If I have to vote,” thought Dr. Spangler, “I’m voting against Adams.”

Dr. Jason Adams, MD, PhD was the head of research and security at the academy. He was both a chemist and a pathologist. He is a no non-sense guy with few people skills and no friends as far as Dr. Spangler knew. The man had a single mind set and that was to discover the right enzyme or chemical compound to cure vampirism. He was ruthless in this pursuit. Due to the clash of their personalities, he and Dr. Spangler despised each other.

“What’s going on?” asked Dr. Spangler as he took the seat directly opposite of where Dr. Adams was sitting.

“We’ve called a war council,” whispered Jacob Marley. “They actually want to send more kids into that meat grinder.”

“I heard that,” injected Fr. Mackey in a flat but civil tone.

“You’re kidding, right?” asked Dr. Spangler; his voice squeaking with anger.

“No,” responded Dr. Adams smugly. We have a chance to do irreparable damage to the vampire kingdom. We can’t allow this opportunity to slip through our hands. We have to do the right thing?”

“Which is what,” snapped Marley, “killing over two dozen kids? Do you want that blood on your hands?”

“Logic dictates that a few losses are acceptable if we are able to bring down…”

“Who cares about logic?” growled Dr. Spangler. “We’re dealing with human beings here and each one is unique and precious. I don’t want to be a part of sending young boys and girls off to get killed before they have even reached their prime.”

Once he finished speaking, Dr. Spangler wasn’t sure he if he had spoken those words out of principled conviction or as a way to gall Dr. Adams. He really didn’t care what his motivation was. All he wanted to do was to prevent this foolishness from going any further.

“Gentlemen, please restrain your selves,” barked Fr. Mackey. “We’re here to discuss options and that’s all. No one has made a decision or decided a course of action as of this minute. Let’s talk it over and once we’ve come to a conclusion we’ll then vote on it, but not before.”

He scanned the room and stopped at each person. Once he stopped on that person, he’d look them straight in the eye and he’d hold that gaze until he was convinced that he had that person’s attention. Once he had stared down the other four men, he began talking again.

“This must be a unanimous decision. If we all five don’t agree on a course of action, then we’ll table this issue until the Vatican get here.”

He paused to let that last statement sink into their minds. After a few seconds, he continued with his speech.

“Let’s have a show of hands. Do you guys agree with me in that this needs to be a united decision?”

He hadn’t even finished the sentence when all four men raised a hand.

“Good,” responded Fr. Mackey. “My yea vote will make it a unanimous decision. That one is carried. Now let’s take a look at some other issues that must be answered.”

Father Mackey handed each of the men a piece of paper.

“The reasons why we must make a decisive attack are listed on the paper. Look it over and you’ll see my reasoning.”

He paused for a few seconds to give the men time to scan their papers.

“The number one reason I want to attack tonight is that this has been our first real chance to bring down a prince in over a dozen years. I don’t need to remind you that it has been nearly one hundred and twenty-five years since the last prince was destroyed by Doctor Van Helsing and his group of hunters.

“Everything this academy stands for up to and including its very existence falls at the feet of that great man. Dr. Van Helsing understood that were we to destroy the seven remaining princes, then we would eventually destroy these creatures.”

He paused long enough to look each one of them in the eye.

“I’m sure you all probably know this already, but only a prince can turn a person into a vampire. All others of the vampirial species have the ability to kill and destroy, but only a prince has the necessary, whatever it is, they need to create an undead being.”

Dr. Adams interrupted. “I believe that there is a special enzyme contained in the chemical make up of the princes. It is my opinion that it is this enzyme, which is parasitical by nature, which allows the princes to have such a gift.”

“Gift!” shouted Dr. Spangler. “Are you serious? Give me a break!”

He shot Dr. Adams such a look that the pathologist flinched from that stare.

“What in the world are you driving at?” asked Dr. Spangler as he chopped his hand towards his colleague. “You’re wanting them to catch a prince so you can experiment on him!”

“I believe that there is much we can learn from them if we can only get them in a laboratory setting.”

“Laboratory setting,” mocked Dr. Spangler. He began shaking his head as though he was frustrated from dealing with idiots. And then, without warning, he began to laugh hysterically. His laugh soon devolved into a cackle. And, just as quickly as it had started, his laughing stopped. Once he quit laughing, he looked straight at Dr. Adams.

“You, my friend, don’t have the mental fortitude to stare down a vampire prince and not be dominated by him.”

“I’ll take that as an insult!” shrieked the pathologist.

An evil smile raced across Dr. Spangler’s face. “I don’t care how you take it so long as you take it,” he said in a tone that could only be described as a deafening whisper.

Both men rose quickly to their feet each one staring the other up and down as he waited for his adversary to attack. Dr. Spangler pumped open and then closed his right fist as he looked for an opportunity to strike. If he timed it correctly, he was convinced that he could knock his opponent out with one quick strike. Therefore, he stood there waiting for the right opening while adrenaline raced through his body like a rocket ship racing towards the sun.

Dr. Adams must have been experiencing similar thoughts because he had raised his hands in a defensive posture and was refusing to move so much as an inch. At least he’s not a coward, thought Dr. Spangler as he eyed his opponent.

“Gentlemen; gentlemen, please be seated,” barked Fr. Mackey as he slammed his big ham fist against a table several times. “This is not why we’ve assembled here. We have a rare opportunity that we might not see for another hundred years and I’ll not let us to squander it just because you two want to act like a couple of squabbling old hens.”

He slammed his fist against the table with such force that the windows in the conference room rattled from the shear magnitude of the blow. “Is that understood?”

Both of the men looked at him and nodded in agreement.

“Good,” responded the priest. Now we can take care of this business and send the hunters on their way so that they’ll have time to get set up before it gets too dark.”

“Sounds to me as though you’ve already got a plan of action put into place,” observed Dr. Spangler. “If I didn’t know better, I’d swear that all you want from us is our approval to move ahead with a hunt.”

“And I’ll get it too,” snarled the priest. “Look, even if I have to overrule each and every one of you and make this decision on my own, it is going to get done!”

“Then why did you bother asking us to be here?” asked Dr. Spangler. The anger in his voice rang out as clearly as a church bell on a quite autumn morning.

Fr. Mackey took a deep breath and said in a soft voice. “I value your opinions, but I am firm on my commitment to the attack.” He pointed to Espinoza. “Manuel will be leading the attack. We’re going to throw everything we’ve got at them.”

“Aren’t you even worried about those kids that you are sending to certain death?” asked Dr. Spangler. “Answer me that and I’ll say not another word.”

“Of course, I am,” replied the priest. “I know what I’m asking these kids to do. I also know that they are not fully prepared to do it. I know all that. I have no grandiose illusions of what I’m doing.

“If there were any other way, believe me, I’d take it in a heart beat. But, huh, tomorrow evening may be too late. Tonight may be too late.

“Our reports say that the lair is making preparations to leave. They almost always follow a pattern. They’ll have their minions ship as much of their goods as possible, which has taken place over the last few days I might add, and then they’ll all load up as a pack and travel out of there at night. Luckily this hadn’t happened as of last night.”

The priest stopped to look around the room. “Don’t you see why we need to act as soon as possible? We must act if we are to destroy this great evil.”

At this time, Manuel stood up to speak. “Even if we don’t kill them, we should be able to keep them in the cave. This time tomorrow the hunters being sent by the Vatican will be here and they have enough skill and experience to finish the job should we fail.”

“Don’t you mean when we fail?” questioned Dr. Spangler in a surly tone.

Manuel shot him a look that could have melted steel. “We won’t fail,” he barked through gritted teeth.

“What about the two youngsters, Emily Hopewell and Ethan Seth?” inquired Dr. Spangler as he sought to change the subject and tone of the conversation? “Will they be going as well? They’re only babies.”

“No female students will be going on this mission,” stated Manuel flatly, “but we do have two women hunters that will be going with us. They’re both experienced and tough as nails. We’ll need them.”

“What about Ethan?” questioned Dr. Spangler. “Will he be going with you?”

“I honestly don’t know,” input Fr. Mackey. “I haven’t seen the roster.”

“If he’s able bodied, then he’s going,” stated Manuel flatly. “We need every student we can spare.”

Dr. Spangler shook his head to indicate his opposition to Manuel’s statement. “He twisted his ankle the other night. As far as I know, he’s still on light duty. Surely you’re not going send a hurt child back into that nightmare.”

“That hurt child’s the only person I know that has survived a night all by himself in the lair of a prince,” injected Fr. Mackey. “He’s got a survivor’s instinct like few others.”

“And yet, you are perfectly willing to send him to his death,” countered Dr. Spangler.

“That’s my call and no one else’s,” stated Manuel. “The blame for picking Ethan falls squarely on my shoulders. I ordered all available male students and every hunter or former hunter to equip themselves for battle.”

He looked down at his watch then back at the physician. “Alan, we are leaving in less than forty minutes. If you don’t mind, I’d like to end this as soon as possible so I can go get ready.”

“Don’t worry about it,” whispered Dr. Spangler. “I’ll save you boys the trouble. You want a unanimous decision, you can have it. I’ll abstain and the rest of you can vote on sending these brave and wonderful kids to their deaths. I’ll have no part of it!”

Without saying another word, he stood and began walking towards the door. As he went to open it, Fr. Mackey called to him.

“Dr. Spangler, I’ll fire you before I let you leave this room.”

The physician turned. His face was a knot of tangled hatred. “Go to Hell! I quit! You men are a bunch of cowards and I hope God rewards you for the crime you’re about to commit. I personally hope that you each split Hell wide open when you die.”

He opened the door, exited and slammed it behind him.

As he made his way down the hall, Gladys came waddling behind him.

“Alan,” she called as she neared him.”

“Not now Gladys. I’m not in the mood.”

“There’s someone in my office who wants to speak with you.”

“Tell him to make an appointment like everybody else!” barked the doctor.

“I think you should talk to this person,” said Gladys. “I know he’s dying to talk with you.”

The physician turned around and started to make a snide remark, but seeing the big woman toddle the way she did, he help his peace. As she approached him, she smiled. He smiled back despite himself.

As she neared him, she began whispering. “I think you should give him just a couple of minutes of your time. You won’t regret it.”

“You’re not going to let this go, are you?”

“Not until you agree.”

He almost chuckled, but his anger checked that emotion.

“Who is it?” he asked in a secretive tone.

“Ethan.”

Dr. Spangler’s eyes became as big as saucers. “What did he hear?’

Gladys lowered her gaze and shrugged her shoulders. “I assume everything.”

As he crossed the campus, Dr. Spangler made his was towards the boys’ dormitory. He was looking for a boy named Tyler Isaacs. Tyler was Ethan’s roommate and the physician assumed that if anyone knew what Ethan was like it would be him.

The boys’ dormitory was a large two-story brick building with a set of doors on each side of the face of the structure. Each door was about a quarter of the way from the end of the building. It had once been used by Transylvania College for classrooms, but it was bought by the academy in the forties and was renovated so that it could accommodate the students.

It was nicknamed “Old Hot and Cold” because of the way it was heated and cooled. In the seventies, it was upgraded but even then the nineteenth century single-paned windows were left in place. These windows were large taking up nearly half of the wall and they lacked any form of insulation. Therefore, the rooms were frigid in the winter and sweltering in the summer.

Even today, the rooms lived up to their reputations. Each one had an electric heater installed straight across from the window. The rooms had a tendency to be hot on one side and freezing on the other during the winter. Each individual area was cooled via single window-mounted air conditioners. For the most part they worked adequately well, but students unfortunate enough to be living in them during the months of July and August often complained of the oppressive heat that smothered them when they went to bed.

As he entered the dormitory, Dr. Spangler noticed a large open lounge area that was used by the students as a study hall and social club. There were several tables placed throughout the room and a large flat screen television was hanging on the wall in the far right corner. Three students, all boys, were at one of the center tables and they were discussing who each thought was going to win the NCAA Division I college football championship that year. The lone blond was shouting that Oklahoma was destined to win it all while his two companions were arguing for Texas and Florida respectively. The only thing they could all agree on was that they all disliked the USC Trojans.

One of the two dark haired students looked up at Dr. Spangler as he approached their table.

“May I help you?” asked the student in his most courteous voice. He knew to whom he was speaking and he didn’t want to come across as disrespectful.

“I’m Dr…”

“We know who you are, Dr. Spangler.” It was the blond. He nodded his head out of respect for the man.

The physician smiled politely. “I was looking for a Tyler Isaacs. Do any of you know who he is?”

The blond shot him a suspicious look. “Wh-what do you want with him?” stammered the young man.

The grin on the doctor’s face widened as he realized that he was addressing Tyler. “I was hoping I could speak with you for a few minutes. That is if you have the time.”

The youth shrugged his shoulders. “I guess I can spare you some time. You want to go up to my room so that we can talk in private?”

“No we can go outside. I’ll only need about five to ten minutes of your time.”

The student stood up and nodded to his companions. “You’ll have to finish this debate without me.”

Dr. Spangler looked at the other two youths and tilted his head toward them. “Gentlemen, I wish I had more time because I believe that you forgot to include Notre Dame in your debate. I’m an Irish man myself.”

The two students smiled at that comment.

“I’m a Marshall man myself,” stated Tyler as he nodded his head to indicate that he was ready to go. “But, I don’t expect them to win it all. They’re doing really well, but I don’t seem them going to any BCS bowls.”

They made their way out of the building and began walking towards the gymnasium. The one thing Dr. Spangler noticed about the youth was his size. The kid was easily a fist over six feet tall and he was built like an army tank. He had a strong chiseled body, but not the kind that weight lifters possess. This young man had been blessed by God when it came to his body. Dr. Spangler was willing to be that he was the strongest student in the school, but as the doctor looked at the development of the youth’s arms, he doubted that the student had ever been in a weight room.

“Ethan is my roommate.” The student began without being prompted. “I didn’t choose him as one and I didn’t want him to be, but I was assigned him and I’ve tried to make the best of it.”

“Explain,” stated Dr. Spangler.

“It’s hard.” Tyler closed his eyes tightly as though he was trying to squeeze stress out of his head. “He’s a good kid, but he has no backbone. It’s like he goes out of his way to get people to pick on him and then he won’t fight them back.”

Tyler looked at the physician as if he were hoping for answer to come from him. “Why won’t he fight back?”

Tyler clinched a fist and softly pumped it up and down in from himself. “Sometimes I get so mad at him I want to rip his head off and shout in his ears. There’s not a guy at this stupid place that he could not pulverize if he wanted to, but he stands around and lets Herman and Tom and their toadies pick on him.

“I’ve stepped in to help a couple of times, but a lot of good that does. I can’t be with him twenty-four hours a day. When I’m not around, they walk up and slap him on the back of the head and he does nothing. I mean absolutely nothing!”

Tyler spat and bit his lower lip to keep from cursing.

“It bothers you to see him being picked on, doesn’t it?” asked the physician.

The student looked at the doctor and then turned away from him just as quickly. “Of course it bothers me, but it also angers me as well. He’s a good kid and he’s the smartest guy I’ve ever met. One of these days, those very same guys that are picking on him will be taking orders from him. I know it; they know it; and he knows it.

“I wish that he’d stand up for himself just one time in this world.”

“You mean he’s never fought back, but I heard Emily…”

Tyler smiled. “Miss Emily Hopewell, now there’s away to get Ethan all worked up. He’s got such a thing for her he’d trade ten years off of his life for one small kiss from her.”

“I thought they were only friends,” injected Dr. Spangler.

“They are and that is how Emily sees it, but it’s different for Ethan. Trust me, I know.” He shot the doctor a devilish grin. “Ethan talks in his sleep.”

A sly smirk raced across Tyler’s face.

“And his dreams are all about Miss Hopewell?” asked the physician.

“Everyone,” agreed Tyler emphasizing his point with a nod of his head. “He’s got it bad.

“You’ve heard about the incident were Ethan pounded Herman after class,” haven’t you?”

“Of course,” replied the doctor. “Well, I’ve heard one version of it. Tell me your side. I’d love to hear it.”

Tyler shrugged his shoulders. “If you heard what happened, then you probably know the facts. The only thing missing was why. Did you know that Herman beat Ethan up later on that day?”

Dr. Spangler nodded his head. “I’d heard that. What happened?”

“Emily happened is what happened. She was around the first time so that’s why Ethan fought. He thought Herman was going to go after Emily and he was not about to let that happen. That is why he fought and won, I might add.

“That evening there was no Emily around to defend so Ethan just stood there what time Herman slapped him around. He would have beaten Ethan to a pulp had I not interfered. After he slapped Ethan for the forth or fifth time, I realized that Ethan was not going to fight back, so, I stepped in and stopped that bullying.”

Tyler began shaking his head in frustration. “Had he fought back, he would have killed Herman, but he didn’t. Whyyyyyy!” snarled the youth in a low but angry growl.

“I can’t answer that,” input the physician in a soft voice. “Maybe he was afraid of being hurt?”

Tyler shot him a glance that told him that he was heading down the wrong path with that line of thinking.

“Maybe he’s got a gentle soul and is afraid of hurting others?” offered Dr. Spangler.

The youth’s eyes widened and he bobbed his head up and down. “That makes more sense than anything else, if you ask me. Ethan does have a kind heart.”

A smile shot across Tyler’s face. “Did you know that we have a stray cat running around campus?”

“No,” replied the doctor, “but it doesn’t surprise me. Things like that are common on school campuses.”

“I don’t know about other cats or schools,” responded Tyler. “All I know is there is a big orange cat running around this campus and it’s been doing it for a few years. That stupid cat won’t let anyone near it, but Ethan. Anybody else gets within five feet of that thing and it runs like a scalded dog. But, it’ll walk right up to Ethan, rub against his leg, and curl itself around his feet. The whole time it’ll be purring like a new car. I’ve never seen anything like it.”

He motioned for the doctor to come closely so that he could whisper something to him. “This stays between us. Is that understood?”

“Promise,” replied the physician as he held up his right hand.

“That cat sleeps in our dorm room. It won’t let me near it, but let Ethan come near it and that cat takes on a whole new personality. It’s like Ethan’s catnip or something like that. That stupid thing purrs and rubs up against Ethan.”

“Wow, that is unusual,” agreed the doctor. “Is that the only odd thing you’ve noticed about Ethan?”

Tyler shrugged. “That and he’s about five time smarter than the rest of us combined. Boy, he’s got a mind on him.”

“That’s all well and good, but I was thinking about physical abilities. Have you ever seen him do something athletic or superhuman?” Dr. Spangler laughed nervously with that last statement. He was afraid he may have overplayed his hand.

The student began scratching his chin as he was searching his memories. “He plays a mean game of dodge ball. I’ve seen that first hand.”

“I know about the dodge ball incident,” injected the doctor. “Do you know of any other events like that?”

“Let me see.” The youth stood silent for a second and then he snapped his fingers. “I saw him catch an arrow out of mid-flight and then snap it like a twig. Honestly, he snapped a fiberglass arrow with only one hand. It was both the scariest and coolest thing I ever saw.”

He looked at the physician and held his right hand up as if he were taking an oath. “I swear to God I’m telling you the truth. It looked like something out of one of those old Chinese kung fu movies. If I hadn’t seen it for myself, I wouldn’t have believed it. But, it’s true. He snatched her right out of the air and then broke the fiberglass shaft with just a snap of his fingers.”

“Tell me about it.”

“Okay. Let me start by saying that there is some bad blood between Herman Allison and Ethan. Herman is a big brute of a fella and what he lacks in brains he makes up in brutality. He hates Ethan with a passion.”

Tyler stopped talking and looked straight into the eyes of Dr. Spangler. “One of these days Ethan is going to have to kill Herman or else be killed by him. Mark my words, just as sure as you and I are here talking, one of those two will kill the other somewhere down the road.”

“They hate each other that badly?” asked the physician.

Tyler shook his head. “Ethan doesn’t, but Herman doesn’t. Had his parents not been hunters, that red-headed fool would not have gotten into this academy. How desperate is this school to accept someone like him? If you ask me, the best thing they could do for Herman is to lock him up in one of those mental wards we hear about. You know; the kind where a person checks in and is never heard from again.”

“Tell me about this arrow catching event.”

Tyler smiled. “No comment on Herman, huh?”

“There’s nothing I can do about that,” stated the doctor. “I’m interested in the arrow event. Besides, if what I think is true, then Ethan should be able to handle himself.”

The student blew out a puff of air. “He can when he wants to, but mostly, he doesn’t want to.”

“The arrow,” said Dr. Spangler. “I’m interested in it.”

“Today we are going to learn about archery,” said Coach Lawrence. “Anybody here know anything about archery?”

“I do,” shouted Herman as he raised his hand. “My dad showed me how to do it when I was a little bitty kid. I’m good at it.”

The coach’s eyes widened in surprise and then he smiled. He pointed to a series of tables located off to his left. A series of five targets were set up about fifty feet from the tables. Each table corresponded with a target and lying on top of each one was a bow and a quiver of arrows. Behind the targets a large net was hanging from the gym floor. Its job was to keep the arrows from flying off in any direction and possibly hurting someone.

“Weeeell, Mr. Allison, let’s see what you’ve got.”

The coach motioned to the tables. “Go over there and grab up a bow and some arrows and show us how good you really are.”

The brutish red-head walked over to the first table. Once there he slid on the arm protector and tightened it around his left forearm. He then picked up the bow and shook it to check its balance. Satisfied with it, he picked up an arrow and looked at it. After rolling it through his fingers a couple of times, he notched it into the bow. He pulled the string back, took a deep breath and began aiming. Once he had the target in sight, he released the shaft.

It sang out with a soft thud as it landed dead center in the middle of the target.

“Bull’s eye!” shouted the coach. “Do that four more times to prove that wasn’t a lucky shot.”

Herman smiled. He didn’t look as menacing smiling as he did snarling. While smiling he looked pleasant and sweet; just the opposite of his normal appearance.

Over the next forty minutes, all the students got their turn at the targets. Most proved to be average shots, but a few proved to be proficient with the bow. None, however, could match Herman’s skill with the bow and they knew it. The brutish tough was highly skilled with the bow.

Surprisingly, the person who was the second best shot proved to be Ethan. The youth took to the bow like a duck to water. After his first shot went just wide to the right and his second went just wide to the left, his next three hit dead center mass.

During the target practice, an announcement came over the intercom. It was someone paging the coach. There was an urgent phone call for him. Realizing that he had to run to his office to take the call, Coach Lawrence left Herman in charge before he headed towards his office.

After the last set of boys finished their round, Herman sent Ethan to gather the arrows from the targets. What time the youth was pulling the shafts out of the targets, Herman was lecturing the boys on how to shoot.

“Remember, proper concentration is the key to a good shoot,” stated the red-head. “If you can focus all your attention on the target, you can’t miss. Watch how I do it.”

Herman walked over to the middle table and picked up an arrow. He then notched it. He looked down at the targets and sighted his arrow on Ethan. Next he turned back to the other students, but kept his bow pointing the other way

“Remember to be aware of your surroundings at all time or someone could get hurt,” stated Herman in a mischievous voice. “Safety is always our number one concern. When someone gets hurt it is too late to worry about safety then.”

He brought his right hand in front of him to illustrate this point about safety. Whether it was intentional or not, that movement released the tension on the bow which sent the arrow flying directly towards Ethan.

Before the other students knew what happened, the arrow had taken flight. “Look out!” screamed Tyler at the top of his lungs, but he was too late. The arrow took less than a second to cover the fifty feet between Ethan and Tyler.

Ethan had been listening to Herman when the arrow was loosed. As the arrow went speeding towards him, he reacted without even thinking. He dropped those in his hands and before they hit the ground he had arched his right hand in a sweeping motion and snatched the shafted missile out of mid flight. The tip of the arrow was less than three inches from his heart and death.

His body began to quiver and using strength he didn’t know he had, Ethan pushed forward with his thumb and backwards with his forefingers to snap the double reinforced fiberglass shaft as easily as a grown man could snap a matchstick.

What time this was taking place, Roger Rose, the BMOC and one of the few people who looked out for Ethan, ran from where he was standing and threw a flying body block on Herman. The two students went flying. Herman may have been big and brutish, but Roger was bigger and quicker. He was also the only student besides Ethan that Herman feared.

Roger was tall, athletic and gentle. His blond hair and brown eyes gave him a surfer’s look, but his chiseled body and lightning fast reflexes told of his long years in the dojo studying karate.

The two students landed with a loud thud that sent ripples vibrating across the gymnasium floor. As they rolled to a stop, Roger came out on top of the pile their bodies created. Within a millisecond of their bodies coming to a halt, Roger began pounding his fist into Herman’s face. Roger’s first blow landed on the top of his opponent’s head and did little damage, but the next three all found their mark. Two blows to Herman’s mouth caused blood to stream out from both lips. The last fist fall found its way to Herman’s right eye.

Before Roger could land a fifth punch, Tyler grabbed his hand in order to keep him from delivering a knock out blow to his opponent.

“Easy,” whispered Tyler. “You need to leave enough of him for them to expel him.”

Roger shot Tyler a menacing look and Tyler could see the hatred and anger written on the other boy’s face. Is he going to go after me, thought Tyler, but he relaxed once he saw the blood lust leave his friend’s eyes.

“I’m sorry,” said Roger as his voice choked with emotion. After that, he went completely silent and refused to speak even when questioned by the coach.

“It’s okay,” returned Tyler. “You did the right thing. If you hadn’t done it, I would have.”

“What’s going on out here?” shouted the coach.

“Nothing,” replied Tyler. “Herman and Roger were just showing us some karate moves.”

Coach Lawrence ran over to where the two students were still lying tangled up like a couple of pretzels. The teacher glanced at the two lying on the ground and then he looked straight at Tyler.

“My dying butt they’re practicing karate!” barked the coach. “What were these two fighting over?”

Tyler shot the man a sheepish look before he spoke. “Coach, I told you they weren’t fighting. They were practicing karate.”

“Do you think I’m as stupid as you are?” The coach was fuming by this point. “You must take me for an idiot. Is that what I am to you, an idiot?”

He moved in close to Tyler and bumped his chest off of the student. This was an old trick he had learned in the Marine Corps. The thump is designed to catch the other person off guard and thus trick them into saying something that they didn’t want to say.

The coach turned back to face the other students. “You guys don’t think I’m an idiot, do you?”

“No sir!” shouted the students.

“Good,” replied the coach with a nod of his head. “Would somebody like to tell me what went on when I was in my office?”

“I will,” said one of the students. His name was Tracy Smith and he was one of the few students that liked Ethan. Tracy was short and stocky. He was built like a fire hydrant but with black hair and dark Asian eyes, which were the only things that told of his mixed race heritage. His father and mother had met in Korea. His father was a tank commander and his mother was an employee of the base on which his father was stationed. They had been killed in a car accident three years earlier along with Tracy’s small, impish but highly intelligent brother James.

“Okay, Tracy,” said the coach. “Tell us what happened.”

The student pointed towards Herman who was still lying on the floor along with Roger. “Herman bet Roger that he didn’t know how to disarm a man carrying a knife. Roger disagreed. Next thing you know they are rolling on the floor trying to take a pretend knife from each other.”

“And that’s what happened?” The coach gave Tracy a frustrated smile. “You forgot one thing.”

Tracy’s almond eyes widened. “What as that?”

“You forgot to tell me where the Easter Bunny, Santa Clause and the Tooth Fairy where what time all this was going on?”

“They weren’t involved with this lesson,” responded Tracy with a straight face.

“I know,” said the coach in a choked whisper. He gritted his teeth and then exploded on the student. “They couldn’t have been here because they were all out with Master Yoda learning to be Jedi Knights!”

He looked at Tyler, then the two combatants, then the other students. “Are all of you going to lie straight to my face or are you going to force me to get rough with you?”

He was met with silence. He waited a few seconds and when no one responded he snapped his fingers and shouted at the students. “Everybody get up here and get on line. We’re going to do some suicides and we’ll keep doing them until you drop or someone gives me a straight answer.”

The students began to groan and this only added to his current fuming anger.

“Nooooow!” he shouted. “Get your butts on line now!”

“I can tell you what happened.” It was Ethan. Everyone had forgotten about him in all the excitement.

The coach shrugged his shoulders. “Okay, let’s here it. I want the truth and nothing less. Is that understood?”

Ethan nodded his head but said nothing.

With a flick of his wrist, the teacher motioned for Ethan to start.

“I’m the cause of all of this. No one else is to blame.”

“Really?” asked the coach. “Go on.”

Ethan pointed to Roger who now was standing. “Roger was defending me from Herman. That’s what this is all about.”

“Can’t you defend yourself?” inquired the coach even though he already knew the answer to that question.

“Sometimes, but not today.”

The coach looked back at Roger. “Is that true?”

“Let me explain,” replied the student.

“Answer my question. Is that true?”

“Yes,” injected Herman. “He attacked me for no reason.”

“That’s a lie!” barked Roger.

“Why don’t you let me decide that,” stated the coach in a commanding voice.

The teacher looked back at Ethan. “Is Herman telling the truth? Are you responsible for this ruckus?”

“Partially.”

“Yes or no,” growled the coach. “Were you involved or not? That’s a simple question. Are you the cause of this?”

“You’ve already convicted him of something he didn’t do,” input Roger. “Herman is the man who caused all of this.”

“Put a sock in it,” snapped the coach. “Well Ethan, what is your answer. If you lie to me, then I’ll roast you.”

“What difference does it make?” questioned Ethan. “In your eyes, I’m guilty. I’ll give you the answer you want to hear. Yes, it was me.”

“Well, at least you’re honest,” stated the coach in a flat voice.

“And you’re a fool!” shouted Roger.

“Then you can run the suicides with Ethan,” ordered the coach.

“It’ll be a pleasure,” replied Roger.

“You need to learn some respect,” said the coach.

“Include me on that list,” input Tracy.

“And me,” added Tyler.

“The more the merrier,” quipped the coach as an evil smirk crossed his face.

“The coach liked to have run our tails off,” stated Tyler.

“Wouldn’t he listen to you?” inquired Dr. Spangler.

“Nope, at that time, he was determined to get rid of Ethan, regardless of the outcome. Later on the coach would lighten up on Ethan but Tracy and I hate the Coach to this day. Roger doesn’t hate him, but he doesn’t like him either.

“Is that what you were after?”

“Yes,” replied the doctor. “Can you think of any other such incidents?”

Tyler shrugged his shoulders. “Not right off hand, but I’ll think about it.”

The physician stuck his hand out toward the student. “Thank you for your time.”

Tyler took the man’s hand and pumped it. “No problem. Ethan’s a good kid if they’d only give him a chance.”

“That’s what I’m working on.” Without saying another word, the doctor nodded to Tyler and departed.

The student spent the next several minutes staring into nothingness and trying to relive the last fifteen months of his life. When he continued drawing blanks on his memories, he looked into the building and saw his two friends still sitting at the table.

“I wonder if any of them has thought of Florida State,” he whispered to himself as he began making his way back into the common area.

Emily began shaking her head from side to side. “I thought we were friends. I knew that there was a connection between us, but I thought it was the kind where we’d be friends for life. I never dreamed he wanted more. Look at us we’re totally opposite…”

“But the same in many ways,” interrupted the physician.

“I suppose, well yes, you could be right. Still, there is the difference…”

“In your looks,” chimed the doctor.

“Yes, well… No! We’re just different. Even our views about everything are different. We see things differently. I don’t know how to describe it. We’re different but I feel safe with Ethan.”

The physician’s eyes expanded and a thoughtful look formed on his face. “Explain what you mean about safe. That’s got me intrigued.”

“What do you mean?”

There was caution in her voice and he could hear it. If he played this incorrectly, she’d clam up and he knew it. Taking a deep breath, he decided to proceed, but at a gentler pace.

“I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have pushed you.”

“That’s all right,” she replied even though he could hear the frustration in her voice.

“Ethan is very dear to me. I don’t want to lose his friendship. He’s the most honest person I’ve ever known. When he talks to me I don’t feel like he’s angling for something. Now you are telling me that he may actually have an agenda towards me.”

She began shaking her head. “That makes no sense. Maybe you are confusing our friendship with something else.”

Dr. Spangler nodded his head. “Sure, that’s possible. I’ll grant you that. But, I’d also like to say that Ethan has had no one else in his life. Maybe he views you as…”

“That’s it!” she shouted as she snapped her fingers during a Eureka moment. A large grin nearly devoured her face. “That’s it! Don’t you see? I’m probably the closest thing he’s had to a family. Of course he loves me, I’m probably the closest thing he’s had to a sister.”

“Or even a mother.”

Emily grimaced and her body shivered at that thought. “I suppose you’re right, but I’d go with sister.”

She smiled at the doctor. “Now that I think about it, you probably are right, but in an oddball way. He probably does love me, but in the way a little brother loves his bigger sister.”

“You’re practically the same age,” corrected the physician.

“True, but we both know I’m light-years ahead of him in maturity.”

“You’ve got me on that one. To be closing in on sixteen years of age, Ethan is not as mature as he should be.”

Emily smiled. “That is what makes him so special. His intellect is beyond those other guys, but he still has a lot of growing to do before he can call himself a man. I like hanging with him. It reminds me that I’m still just a kid at heart.

“Did you know that we even have nicknames for each other?” She made a quick chuckle and then proceeded. “I call him ‘The Maniac Brainiac;’ sometimes I call him ‘MB’ for short and he calls me ‘Eme.’”

“Emmy?” asked the doctor. “Like the television award?”

“That’s how you say it, but we use the Spanish letter for ‘M.’ Like the Tejano musical group?”

“What is Tejano? Did I say that correctly?”

“Yes. Tejano is a form of Tex Mex music made famous by the singer Selena.”

He stared at her with a blank expression so she let it go.

“Emmy is fine. It is pronounced just like that award.”

“How did you get that name?” She could see the curiosity on his face.

“Ethan and I became friend soon after we started here at the academy. We are the two youngest so I guess we were naturally drawn to each other. I’m a couple of months older than him. Did you know that he doesn’t know what day his birthday falls on?”

The physician smiled and nodded his head to indicate that he did know that.

Emily reached up to scratch her right her eye. She did that when she thought about or tried to recall data. She had always done that. It was a characteristic she picked up from her mother.

“I was in the library studying one evening when I saw Ethan enter the room. He was the only person I knew that studied as hard as me. I was trying to catch up on some chemistry and knowing he was a whiz at the subject I motioned for him to come over and join me.

“I had known who he was prior to that night, but that was the night that solidified our friendship.

“I was trying to figure how to create vampire dust should I ever need it in an emergency. Fr. Marley had given us an assignment to make our own vampire dust. This was to count for a third of our grade and I didn’t have a clue as to how it was made. Ethan on the other hand had turned his in just a couple days after the assignment was due. Although the grade had not been announced, I saw the grade book and Ethan had been given an A-plus for the assignment. Knowing that he knew how to make the stuff, I thought he’d be willing to help?”

“Was he?” inquired the doctor.

“Very much so. Would you like to hear it?”

If it will shed more light on my knowledge of Mr. Seth, then I’m all for it.”

There wasn’t a soul in the library accept for the librarian and Emily. The librarian was a quiet middle-aged spinster that pulled her hair back in a bun. She dressed much older than she really was.

Emily was sitting at a long table near the center of the room. She had a green desk lamp stationed on either side of her so that they both shed light on what she was doing. Volumes of large leather bound books were stacked on each side of her seat. She was glancing through a rather thick book when Ethan entered the room.

She saw him out of the corner of her eye and motioned for him to come over to where she was sitting.

He saw her waving to him, but assumed she was waving some one else. He pointed to himself and then looked around to make sure no one else was near. Once he realized that he was alone, he looked back towards Emily and noticed that she was still motioning for him to approach her.

He took a deep breath and had to force himself to walk towards the angel he saw in front him. “Play it cool and try to think of something funny,” he said to himself as he made his way over to the table in which sat his version of the ideal woman.

“Did you w-w-want something?” he asked in a voice not much more than a whisper. He wanted to be more forceful, but his throat was so dry that he had trouble speaking.

“I need to pick that big brain of yours for a few minutes?” asked the vision sitting in front of him. “You got a second?”

He smiled. “For you, I have all the time in the world. What do you want?” His eyes never left hers the whole time he spoke.

She looked at him and returned his smile. His legs nearly buckled out from under him and he had to grab a chair to keep from tumbling to the floor.

“Go ahead and grab a chair,” she stated as she motioned for him to take a seat. “I won’t take up much of your time.”

“Rats,” he thought. Time was the one thing he was willing to give her all that she wanted.

She tilted her head to the side and he nearly exploded with delight because that was exactly what she did when he daydreamed about spending time with her.

She reached over and touched his hand with hers. Chills ran up his spine and his body began to quiver with uncontrollable delight.

“Do you know how to make vampire dust?” she inquired in a sheepish voice.

He never said a word, but smiled at her like a drunken fool.

Not sure how to take his grinning silence, she continued. “I’ve been trying to figure out how to make it, but can’t find the formula. I’ve read where hunters who were in a pinch have made their own. Is that true?”

He looked into her pleading eyes and nodded his agreement.

“So it can be made from everyday items?” she asked not even bothering to conceal her growing impatience.

“Yes and no,” replied Ethan smugly. They were now in his domain and he liked being in charge. “The ingredients are common but not every house has them, but they can be found rather easily.”

“Go on, I’m listening.”

He smiled and started his lecture. “Vampire dust was discovered quite by accident by a German scientist, named Hans Schubert, who was working as a photographer to pay the bills. This happened around the same time America was celebrating its hundredth birthday. The legend states that he trying to develop a new method for photography.

“He had been experimenting with silver halides. In those days they were one of the key ingredients needed to produce photographs. He was trying to develop a cheaper way to make photography.

“Apparently, he was working late one night and he must have been sleepy because he accidently poured a mixture or saltpeter and talc into a silver halides solution. He was trying to boil down the solution on a low burning flame when he heard a knock at the door. When he went to answer the knocking, standing outside his door was one of his neighbor’s kids.

“This boy had disappeared about six months earlier. No one had seen hide or hair of him that entire time. Many people thought he’d run off from an abusive father. Needless, to say the photographer was surprised to see the boy.

“The rest of this comes from a book I read on Mr. Schubert. He claimed that the boy, who was about fourteen or fifteen, refused to enter the lab until he had a proper invitation. This made Herr Schubert suspicious, but he invited the boy in any way.

“Once in the lab, the boys flashed his teeth and began disappearing in puffs of smoke and then reappearing in another part of the lab. This terrified the German and not having any other weapon he threw the concoction he was cooking onto the boy as the kid was flying towards him. The kid stopped in his tracks and stood there frozen in place.

“What the boy, you know the kid’s name was never mentioned. Anyway, he tied the frozen kid up with some rope. Schubert knew that were he to leave the kid would be gone when he returned. He stood guard over that kid until morning. He was going to wait until someone came buy and have them go get the sheriff.”

“What happened to the teenager?” asked Emily.

“The next day bright and early in the morning, a monk from a local town came into talk to the photographer about getting a picture taken of the staff of a local parish. When that monk entered the room, the first rays of light struck the boy and he exploded into to flames. A bright blue flame ignited and burned extremely hot for a couple of seconds and then it was over. Not a trace of the vampire was left not even on the ropes that held him.”

“What did they do?” injected an excited Emily.

“Poor Mr. Schubert didn’t know what was happening. It scared the daylights out of him. Fortunately, the monk was a member of the order dedicated to killing vampires. He knew exactly what had happened. Once Mr. Schubert explained to him what had taken place the night before, the monk, contacted his old friend, Abraham Van Helsing.

“As I understand it, it took several scientists, including Mr. Schubert, almost ten years to recreate the formula. The formula is virtually the same as it was over one hundred years ago. It has become our most powerful weapon against the vamps.”

He began to chuckle. She looked at him. He could see the curiosity on her face.

“What’s so funny?”

He smiled. “I think it’s ironic that the most effective weapon against these complex killers is one of the simplest things to mix. All you have to do is mix equal parts silver halide, saltpeter and talc. Add a cup of each to a cup of water and let dry. You don’t even need to let them dry. The liquid form is just as effective as the dry.”

He smiled. “The water doesn’t have to be holy water all though holy water is preferred. One dash of this stuff on a vampire and he loses many of his powers.”

“But how do I mix it?” Her face held a blank stare as though everything he had said had passed by her like a gentle breeze.

“No need to worry about that,” he said. There’s a small store located just a few blocks away and we can pick up all those ingredients there. We can run down there tomorrow and then we’ll mix the stuff up the day after that.”

“It’s really that simple?”

He held up his right hand as if he were taking an oath. “I swear to you. It’s easier than mixing a boxed cake.”

“I owe you one,” she said with a grin.

“Okay, here is how you can pay me back. I need help with my studies?”

“Really? That’s a new one. I never would have thought that you’d have trouble in school.”

“This isn’t about school. I’m trying to learn Spanish and am having trouble with my nouns. Today, I am studying nouns that begin with the letter Eme. The only two I can remember are musica; music, and manzana; apple.”

“How did you say that letter again?” There was a look of serenity on her face and he smiled when he saw it.

“It is pronounced: ‘Eme.’”

“I thought you said ‘Emily,’ you know, like my name.”

“It does kinda sound like you name, doesn’t it?”

“Yes, I like that letter.” With that she began to smile.

“Then I’m going to start calling you ‘Eme.’ It will be our secret.” With that he stuck out his hand. “Deal?”

She took it and pumped it one time. “Deal. But, we’ll have to give you a nickname as well. It there anything you like?”

“Your Royal Highness,” sounds nice.

She chuckled for a few seconds and then her face took on a serious expression. “I want to give you a name that suits you. I’ll have to think about it and get back with you on it.”

“That’s fine. I’m sure I’ll love whatever you come up with.”

“And you came up with?” asked Dr. Spangler.

She smiled. “I came up with the only name that fit him; the Maniac Brainiac. When Ethan is into something, he’s totally into it. He can completely shut out the rest of the world to where nothing else matters but what he’s doing. I’ve never seen anyone who could compartmentalize like he can.

“It’s almost spooky how he can do that. He gets so into it that he forgets to eat or sleep or even use the restroom for that matter.”

“How long do these, huh, spells last?”

She looked at the physician and shrugged her shoulders. “I don’t know. I’ve seen him go all day before. I have literally sat next to him and what watch him go for hours. One Saturday last spring we began studying after breakfast. We must have gone the library; I don’t know, say eight-thirtyish.

“He began reading about some doctor that thinks vampirism is caused by an enzyme. Ethan started into that book and never looked up until he finished. Around one or so I got up and went to the cafeteria for lunch. He hadn’t moved when I got back over and hour later. He kept at it until the library close and they had to force him out of the place. He took the book with him and I’m willing to bet you that he read it through that night.”

The doctor’s eyes became as large as saucers. “That must have been some book,” he mumbled. “How big was it?”

Emily held her index finger and thumb about an inch apart. “Only about this big,” she answered. “It couldn’t have been over four hundred pages. I could have read it in a few hours without really trying.”

“So what took him so long?”

“I can’t say for sure because he reads much faster and comprehends much more than I can. If I had to come up with a theory, I’d say that he was memorizing the thing.”

“You’re kidding!” whispered the man in disbelief.

“Nope, he can do things like that. Why do you think I call him MB?”

“Which is short for the Maniac Brainiac?” questioned the physician.

“Precisely,” responded Emily. “He can memorize anything if he concentrates on it.”

“And you think he tried to memorize that book?”

“No, I believe that he did memorize it. A few days later in chemistry class he began grilling Dr. Marley on the subject. When the teacher began refuting his questions, Ethan began citing passages in the book to bolster his argument.”

“What did Jacob, Dr. Marley, think of this?”

Emily shot him a peculiar look. “Are you kidding me? Dr. Marley loved it. The two of them debated the entire class. The next day Dr. Marley apologized for wasting our ‘valuable time.’” She winked the middle and index fingers on each hand when she said those last two words.

“He does things like that all the time.”

Dr. Spangler’s eyes widen as if he had just received an epiphany. “You feel responsible for him, don’t you?”

“Somebody has to look out for him. He’s too much of a dreamer and intellectual to do it himself. If I didn’t…”

“You see him as someone that you can care for and look out for, don’t you.”

She didn’t say a word, but nodded her head in agreement.

The physician began nodding his head in unison with hers. “I think I understand. You two have become…” He let out a puff of air and thought about what he was going to say.

“It is my opinion, and this is just that, nothing more. You two have become a family unit.”

She shook her head in disbelief. “How do you get that?”

He smiled and snapped his fingers in recognition of his discovery. “It all makes perfect sense now that I think about it.” Again he smiled. “I am the perfect fool.”

“I still don’t get what you’re talking about,” said Emily.

He looked at her and she could see the triumphant smile on his face and he could see the look of utter confusion on hers.

“I thought that there was a romantic link between you two,” he stated it as if it were a well known fact.

“What?” questioned Emily. “No! No way!”

“I get that now. There is love between the two of you. It is the type shared by siblings and not lovers. You see him as the little brother and he has come to depend on his big sister.”

“Are you…” She stopped in mid-sentence as his words took hold and began to sink into her mind. She mulled it over in her mind for several seconds before she spoke.

“So you’re saying that Ethan and I have formed some kind of family bond between us?”

“Yes, that’s exactly what I’m saying. Look at the facts. You both are orphans.”

“So are most of the students here at the academy.”

“You both are much younger than your classmates.”

“I’ll give you that one,” she interrupted.

“And you both are much smarter than the rest of the students.”

“I’ll grant you the point on his behalf, but not mine.”

He shrugged his shoulders. “Don’t you see it? You two were so isolated from the rest of the class that you had no choice but to rely on each other. I should have seen it. You two had to form a bond with each other, because you had no one else. I’ve been such a fool! Now it all is beginning to make sense to me.”

He looked at her and nodded his appreciation to her. “I thank you for your time, Emily. You have been most helpful.”

She smiled back at him, but he never saw it. He had already decided on his next interview and he was searching his mind for questions.

She waved to him as he meandered away from her. She gave a quick smile and wondered if Ethan’s ability to compartmentalize was catching.

“What’s the matter?” The physician’s voice was soft and thoughtful. He was showing her his best bedside manner.

“I don’t want to talk about it right now.”

“Okay. Do you need to be left alone? I can talk to you later.” With that, the doctor reached out to pat her on her hand. “I’ll let you have your space.”

She grabbed his hand and squeezed it as he went to leave. The physician was shocked at the power in her grip. He’d shaken the hands of many men, but he could not remember anyone with a grip as strong as the one this teenage girl was putting on him. He wanted to yell out with pain, but held it in for her sake.

“Don’t leave just yet,” she pleaded. “I need some time to gather my thoughts.”

“I’m here for you.”

With that, she slowly released her grip on him. Once his hand was free of hers, the physician pulled it back to himself and then began massaging the pain from his wrist. It would take a couple of minutes before the throbbing would subside.

“I didn’t mean to insinuate anything bad towards you.” Emily stumbled across her words as she struggled to maintain her composure. “It’s just that – both my parents – well, they were hunters, and all it got them was dead – neither one of them lived to see thirty-five. I never got to see my Dad, and my Mom died about three years ago. She was three weeks shy of her thirty-fifth birthday. I’ve been staying with my grandmother, my Mom’s mom, the last few years. She died on me and they sent me here because they didn’t know what else to do.”

“So, you don’t want to be here?” asked the physician cautiously.

“I don’t know. I don’t want to be dead before I’m thirty, but the thought of getting a little payback on those monsters that killed my parents certainly appeals to me. To be honest with you, I don’t know what I want. I am scared of the thought of going up against vampires, but I my mother drilled it into my head since, well, birth, that hunting was not only a calling, but it was also one of the highest callings a person could have. How can I let her down?”

“Even if you quit, you wouldn’t be letting her down.”

“Yes, I would!” snapped Emily. She pointed towards her chest with her thumb. “I carry my mother in here and I know that this is what she wanted for me. She gave her life and her family to the cause and…”

“That is why you are angry with her,” interrupted Dr. Spangler.

“I don’t know,” whispered Emily. “All I know is that I can’t quit because I have to carry on Mom’s legacy.”

“Even though you hate everything about this business?” question the doctor. His tone was soft and probing, but it came across as sarcastic to her.

“Even though… I die!”

The teenager’s voice was sharp and biting during the last part of that statement. That caught Dr. Spangler off guard and he assumed she had to be in agony to be so curt with him.

“Is that the attraction Ethan has for you?” questioned the physician.

“What do you mean?” Her voice softened.

Dr. Spangler scratched his lower lip with his teeth as he pondered her question. “I don’t know. There has to be a reason you and the boy get along the way you do. I’m having trouble putting my finger on it.”

“What’s so complicated about it?”

The doctor shrugged his shoulders and raised his hands as if frustrated. He seemed to be struggling to find the right combination of words to convey his point. Before he could ask the question he was pondering, Emily spoke up and thus broke his train of thought.

So, you’re saying that other than our ages we have nothing in common?”

“Yes, well no, I don’t know. You’re both younger than everyone else so you both stick out like sore thumbs. You both are still kids and you both have no one else in the world but each other.”

Emily began to laugh at that last statement. “You just described every student in this school. Everyone at this school is alone, or at least, most of them are.”

The physician smiled. “Touché’! You scored a direct hit with that one.”

“Being lonely in this place is like being in the dark at night,” quipped the student. “It comes with the territory. You don’t want it to, but it does all the same. You have to learn to live with it or else you’ll wind up in a padded cell bouncing off walls for the rest of your life.”

Emily pursed her lips and made a soft clicking sound. “If you want to know why Ethan and I get on like we do, I really don’t know for sure. Personally, I think we both have so much in common.”

She paused and the physician took that as his cue to speak. “Such as?”

Emily shrugged. “I don’t know. Give me a second and I’ll think of it.”

“I’ll wait; no rush.”

A fake smile shone on her face and Dr. Spangler could tell that she didn’t want to go any further.

“We can finish this later. We don’t have to do it now.”

“No, we’ve already opened this can of worms. We might as well finish them. Besides, I don’t want to ever have this conversation again.” She looked at him and he could see the pain in her gaze.

“I won’t have this conversation with you again,” she said through gritted teeth. “So, you’d better get it while the getting’s good.”

He smiled despite himself.

“Okay, why do you think you two get along so well?”

She shrugged. “I’m not sure but I think I have the answer. We have three or four things in common that separates us from the rest of the pack.”

She paused as if to gather her thoughts.

“The first couple are obvious. We’re younger and smarter than everybody else. That makes us both oddballs and special.”

“How does that work?”

“Don’t you watch nature films?” she asked with a sardonic chuckle. “The oddball members of the pack – and yes, the students at the academy have a pack mentality because they see strength as the only true test of a hunter. The oddball members of a pack are forced to be outcasts. Ethan and I are the oddballs at this school.”

She shot him an angry glance before continuing.

“How many students go to this academy?” she asked so that she could prove her point.

The doctor shrugged his shoulders as his eyes widened. “I’m not sure, four hundred to four fifty. Why do you ask?”

“Bear with me. I’m getting there.”

He nodded in acquiescence but didn’t say a word.

“Okay,” she said dismissively. “Let’s assume that only four hundred students go here. That boils down to about one hundred students per class.”

Dr. Spangler interrupted to correct her assumption. “Actually, many students leave before their junior year so the freshman and sophomore classes have about one-twenty-five to one-fifty each.”

“Still, the average is one hundred!” Emily spoke loudly to show her displeasure at being interrupted.

“Okay, one hundred it is,” agreed the doctor.

“How many years have you been with the academy?” asked the girl in a firm tone.

“Not quite twenty. Why?”

“I’m getting there. Let me have my say.”

He nodded but remained silent.

“In your twenty years or so, how many younger students like Ethan and me have you had?”

She paused to let him answer.

“As far as I know, none.”

“I suspected that. Have the other two academies had any younger students such as Ethan and me?”

“Not that I know of. Why do…”

“I’m getting there,” she quipped. She emitted a small chuckle and it was gone almost as quickly as it came.

“That’s my point precisely,” Emily said triumphantly. “Ethan and I are total and complete oddballs and the others don’t like it. Do you know why?”

The doctor shook his head to indicate that he didn’t. “No, why?”

“We are oddballs but we are also the two best students in the class.” She smiled mischievously. “We are and they all know it. Do you know who has the two best GPA’s in our class?”

“I suppose it’s you and Ethan?”

“Nobody else. We both have four point zero GPA’s. As far as I know, Ethan has gotten an average of ninety-nine percent on his grades. He always busts up the curve. I won’t lie to you. I’ve had at least two A’s curved to me, but that was because the professors had to throw Ethan’s grades out just to give the rest a fighting chance.”

She paused, wiped her mouth and then continued. “Not only are we the oddballs we are also superior to the other students. It’s human nature to hate those that are better than you and we are the cream of the crop of our lot. The fact we are younger just adds insult to injury.”

“That’s something to think about,” input the doctor.

Emily grinned. “I could always be wrong, but doubt it. Still, I’ll allow for that possibility remote as it is.”

“Are those the only reasons?” questioned the physician.

“Don’t left Ethan’s size fool you,” she said absent mindedly. “He has the heart of a lion and one day he’ll grow into a strong man. Boy is he going to be cute when he does. You know, remove those glasses, add a few inches of height and muscle and you got one totally hot guy.”

“Is that it?”

She looked up at the physician. She had been so enthralled with her own thoughts she had not heard his last couple of questions. “Excuse me, doctor, did you say something?”

“I asked if that was the only reason Ethan and you have formed a special bond.”

“What do you mean special bond?”

“You have a, well kinship between you. Don’t you think?’

She bobbed her head from side to side. “I guess so. Yeah, you can call it… What was that again? A kinship, yep, that’s right. We share a kinship together.”

“Okay, that’s fine. If that is all, then I’ll let you go.” He attempted to stand, but she stopped him.

“There are other reasons as well,” she thought aloud. “Would you like to hear them?”

“Yes, I would,” said the doctor eagerly.

“Well, we both hate the two red-head boys in our class. Their names are Thomas Foley or Fooley as we call him and Herman Allison. We call him Herman the Munster.”

“Like on the television series?” questioned the physician.

“And no one else,” replied Emily. “Those are our secret names for those to jerks.”

“Was it because they picked on you two?”

“No,” replied the girl. “It was because they picked on Ethan and because they tried to intimidate me into dating them. Yuck!” she spat as her body began to shudder in disgust. “They’re both idiots. Why would the academic committee allow such brutes into this school? They must be desperate to meet their student quota.”

“I think they’re both legacies but can say for sure,” input Dr. Spangler.

“What’s that?”

“It means that their parents were most likely hunters and they got into the academy because of that.”

Emily smiled. “Then your standards must not be too high. What qualifications do you need; a pulse or rigor mortis not to have set in at the time of acceptance?”

“I don’t make those decisions,” stated the doctor having totally missed her attempt at humor.

“Who does, Forrest Gump?”

“Can we change the subject?”

“Sure, I don’t like talking about the Frankenstein Brothers any how.” She looked at him oddly. “What did you have in mind?”

“Is there any other things that drew you to Ethan?”

Emily closed her left eye and thought about it. “Give me a second. I’ve lost my train of thought. Heckle and Jeckle can do that to you.”

She thought about it for a few seconds and then snapped her fingers as she remembered. “I know you’re gonna find this hard to believe, but that fact that both of us are orphans has a lot to do with how we get along. He is – how do I say this- able to perceive my thoughts even before I am.”

“You mean he can complete your sentences for you?” inquired the doctor.

“Yes, but there’s more to it than that. It’s spooky if you really think about it. He’s, well, huh, able to read my thoughts.”
She looked at the doctor and he stared at her. Neither spoke for a few seconds as each pondered her words. Emily would break the silence.

“I swear on my mother’s grave I’m telling the truth. He’s frighteningly accurate when he does it. One day just before Thanksgiving of last year we were talking and some time in the middle of all this my mind got to thinking about my mother. It was just a passing thought. I probably wouldn’t have remembered it had Ethan not asked me a question about the same time

“’Why does May thirteenth make you so sad?’

“I looked at him and he looked so sweet and innocent I knew he wasn’t playing a rough joke on me. Had it been anybody else but Ethan, I’d slapped ‘em.

“’What did you say,’ I asked him.

“’May thirteenth holds a great deal of sadness for you, why?’

“’That’s none of you business!’ I shouted at him.

“He said he was sorry but still tried to push it, but in a gentle way. Does that make sense to you?”

“Perfect sense when compared to everything else that has happened over the last few days,” replied the physician.

“I thought about getting up and leaving right then and there. But, he seemed so sincere and gentle I just couldn’t bring myself to do it.”

She paused as though she were reliving that moment over again in her mind. Dr. Spangler remained silent so as not to break her concentration. If she was going to tell him about the incident, she’d do it on her own terms. If not, then there was nothing he could do about it.

“May thirteenth was the bay my mother died,” she whispered. “I hate that day. I’ve never told a soul and yet Ethan knew. He knew despite me doing everything I could to keep it a secret.”

“How did he know it?” asked Dr. Spangler. His voice was soft and gentle but probing. He was getting to the heart of the matter. He could feel it so he had to tread lightly or else he’d blow his opportunity.

“That’s just it. He couldn’t have known that. No one knew. My mother’s date of death is listed as May fourteenth, but I know she died on the thirteenth. I don’t know how I know. I just know. They found her body early on the fifteenth and they estimated her to have been dead only about twenty hours or so, but I know she died on the thirteenth and Ethan knew it too.”

“Did he tell you how he knew it?”

Emily laughed, but it as a sharp painful laugh lacking amusement.

“He did stuff like that all the time. Ethan would even share stories about his mother with me.”

“That’s impossible,” injected the doctor.

“For you and me, but not him. I believe that he has some extraordinary gift that lets him see things you and I can’t. He’s like some robo-psychic Jedi slash mind reader. It’s like he can anticipate things before they actually happen. He’s been too accurate with his guesses about my family for me to doubt him.”

“Can you give me an example just to clarify for my peace of mind?” asked Dr. Spangler.

“Sure. Did you know that his mother is a native of Eastern Kentucky? I think he said that she was from Knott or Knox County. The one that contains Hindman – that is how it is spelled – is the one where she is from. Her family had been missionaries that had came to that area before she was born and they decided to stay after their mission was up. He believes they are still there to day.

“Ethan said that she was small in stature and very beautiful. She had brown hair, olive skin and green eyes. He claimed that she was the spitting image of Brook Shields. That is why he is so small. He took after her.”

“What about his father?” inquired the doctor. “What was he like?”

“Ethan could never get a fix on him, but he sensed a great evil in the man just as he sensed a great good in his mother. Although, he never said as much, I believe that he thinks that he is the product of rape and that is why he was left at an orphanage. He thinks his mother left him there to protect him from his father.

”The one thing that bothers him is that he can never tell if his mother is alive or dead. He said that it was as if she disappeared off of the face of the earth. It scares him even if he won’t admit it.”

“Can you tell me other such stories?”

She laughed. This time there was genuine amusement in her laughter. “I’ve got dozens of them.”

“Tell me some.”

Emily smiled and then continued. “Ethan said that even though he had never seen her, he knows that she loved him and that there was a reason for her giving him up at the orphanage. One of these days he’s going to find out just who his family is. That way he’ll find the answers about his past and then he’ll know who he is.”

Emily paused to think. The teenager’s face took on a distant look as she tried to come up with the words to say what she was remembering.

“I know that this is going to sound strange and maybe creepy, but I believe Ethan. He speaks with such conviction that I have no choice but to believe him. It’s amazing because he goes into such great detail even going as far as to describe her clothes and what kind of shoes she is wearing.

“He once told me that his mother had gone to a religious all girl school but quit because she had been raped by some one at that school. He said that he couldn’t tell me the name of the school, but that he could see it as plain as day. He described it to me and I got on the Internet to look up private girl schools in Kentucky. Most of them are in Louisville and Northern Kentucky and none of them had the building names or designs he described.

“I knew he would be heart broken if I told him about it. I felt so sorry for him. I was hoping to find something to back up his stories. I really did.”

“How did he take when you told him?” asked the doctor.

“I didn’t. It took some doing, but I actually found the school he was talking about. I was doing the research when I came across an article from about ten years ago. It described how the state, local and federal police descended on a private girls school in Louisville.”

“I remember that!” interrupted Dr. Spangler. “It was called the Holy something or rather…”

“The Holy Scriptures All Girls Academy.”

“That’s right. That was it. They were molesting and raping the pretty girls at that school.”

“Only one man was doing it. He was the headmaster and he only raped or killed pretty young virgins. They found his body hanging in his office when they came to arrest him.”

“They said that he hanged himself out of remorse, if I remember correctly,” input the doctor.

“That’s the official version. Ethan believed that the man was murdered. He believed that these girls were being funneled to a vampire so serve as his food or playthings.”

“That would explain a great deal,” agreed the doctor. “From the late seventies on for about thirty years, there was a string of missing young girls missing from the Louisville area. The Vatican was monitoring that and even sent teams there to investigate it, but nothing ever came of it.”

“I’ll bet you they all were young, pure and beautiful!”

The physician shrugged his shoulders. “I don’t know. Do you think they are connected?’

“If vampires were involved, that would explain a lot, don’t you think?”

Dr. Spangler never said a word, but he nodded his head in agreement.

“I’ve been researching this for months and I think I have got a tiny handle on how things work. The first thing that happens when a vampire moves into a large city is that the pretty girls in the area start going missing. I’ve found a track record that dates back over one hundred and fifty years.”

“Tell me about it.”

“It started in the Irish section of New York City just before the Civil War. From there it moved to New Orleans around Reconstruction, then to Atlanta, Chicago, St. Louis, back to New Orleans, then to Los Angeles. After that, I can trace them to every major city on the west coast. If I’m not mistaken, they were in San Francisco during the great earthquake. They never stayed in one place for too long. The last place to have this pattern was Louisville. Until about a year ago, when things started happening in Atlanta.

“I hacked into the security system here at the academy and read what they had. Apparently, the Vatican was organizing a great raid, but the lair was burned before the raid took place. The Vatican expected the prince and his entourage to stay in the Deep South. No one and I mean no one expected them to hole up in the hills of Eastern Kentucky.”

“In your honest opinion,” asked the doctor, “do you think they are still there?”

Emily shrugged. “Who knows?”

There was a long period of silence between the two as each was reflecting on the possibility of the vampires slipping away from their clutches.

It would be the physician who would break the silence.

“Can you tell me other things Ethan said about his mother?”

“I have an odd one if you want to hear it.”

“By all means, yes.”

“Ethan once told me that his mother’s favorite dessert in the whole wide world was, now get this, cherry pie; but, not just any cherry pie. She liked Sarah Lee frozen pie fresh from the oven and topped with vanilla ice cream and hot fudge.”

“Hot fudge and vanilla ice cream?’

“Yep, that’s a strange one.”

“Do you think it could have been what she craved when she was pregnant with Ethan?”

Emily shrugged. “I have no earthly idea, but what you say makes sense. But how could he remember his mother’s cravings? I know that my mother’s favorite food was grilled salmon and….”

The girl fell silent as she began reflecting on her mother. After a few seconds a soft moan began to emit from her body. When he heard the moan, Dr. Spangler looked upon the child and noticed her body rise and fall as a body tends to do when it is crying from pain. He thought about putting his arm around her for the second time, but did not want to give the staff or faculty at the academy a reason to accuse him of something in appropriate. Therefore, he allowed her several minutes to calm down before he continued with their discussion.

“Are you okay?”

Emily nodded her head. “As well as I can be. You know what I think?”

She was trying to change subjects and he could tell so the doctor let her.

“No, replied the doctor, but I’m willing to listen. Go on with whatever it is you have to say. I’m all ears.”

“I think you are concentrating on the wrong aspect. I think you should concentrate on the goodness that lies within Ethan. He’s special, but not in some odd way. He’s special because he cares. I mean he genuinely cares about people. That’s what makes him so special. He’s got a kind soul. I don’t know of anyone else in this whole place that has his gentle soul. That’s what I…”

“Love about him,” interrupted the doctor.

She stopped in mid-sentence and thought about the physician’s words. She started to respond a couple of times, but didn’t. Finally, she spoke.

“Okay, I do love that about him, but not like you think. Ethan is a friend. That’s all he wants to be. He’s so easy to care about him. One of these days he’s going to make some lucky girl very happy when he sets his sights on her.”

“Do you know that you’re the girl he has his sights set upon?” inquired the physician.

Her neck crackled as she snapped her head to face Dr. Spangler. “You’re kidding?”

“No, I’m not,” replied the doctor. “He’s crazy about you.”

Emily’s eyes became as large as saucers. “That could explain a lot of things.”

“I’m listening,” input Dr. Spangler.