"Are you sure this is the right place?" said the man.
"Yea, he told us she'd be here," said the second.
"He said she'd be fast, is this silver shit really going to protect us?"
"He said it makes them weaker."
The men were both armed with shotguns. They both had handguns in their belts and a lot of ammunition between them. They called themselves 'Hunters' but she knew the type, hide in a tree stand and hope their prey walks by. They had made their way into an abandoned warehouse on the outskirts of town.
"Weaker, yes. Shame it's not real silver," she said.
The voice seemed to come from everywhere, the men panicked and racked their guns.
"Where are you bitch?" said the first man.
"Oh, that's not polite, Edward," she replied.
"H... How do you know my name?"
"I know a lot of things. The man who sent you, how much is he paying you?"
"That don't concern you, we'll collect on your bounty and we'll be rich," said the second man.
"Ah, bills getting tough to keep up with, Chuck? So much you've taken a job from a Paladin," she replied.
"H... He said he was a man of God, that he was doing the church's bidding," said Edward.
Both men were pulled to the shadows, milliseconds before the round hit. Missing it's intended target, the round from a high powered rifle struck the wall in front of them, exploding the brick that it hit.
"Mm, thank you. Both of you, stay very still," she said.
Less than ten seconds later, one of the large paneled windows exploded inwards and the sniper crashed to the ground. Cathy stood looking down at the man as he groaned in pain.
"The silver you are wearing isn't real. You were set up as bait, gentlemen. This man is the one who hired you, right?" she said.
"I can't tell, you fucked him up," replied Chuck.
Cathy took his wallet and threw it over to Chuck. He picked it up and looked at the ID.
"Yea, that's him," he replied.
"Edward, I can feel the tension in your arm. I promise you, if you try to level that shotgun at me, I'll remove your arm before your finger gets to the trigger. You both probably realize what I am by now. What this man lied to you about is who I kill. I take the worst of your world. Men and women who rape and murder and somehow evade justice. I have a very strict code, I do not kill innocents. This man believes all of my kind are the same but he is a zealot, someone who actually kills anyone who gets in his way. He should have more than he promised you in his wallet, take the cash and walk away," said Cathy.
"What are you going to do to him?" asked Chuck.
"He's going to tell me who he's working for then the Police are going to talk to him about the 3 men he killed and buried in a field not far from here. Trust me, they won't be asking him about the cash."
"How do we know you won't kill us as soon as we turn our backs?" said Edward.
"Edward, I moved you out of the way of the shot he fired at your head. It let me see where he was, he hid his scent very well. If I wanted you dead, I'd have let him do it but you're not bad men, are you?" replied Cathy.
"Ed, let's just take the cash and split, man. This is fucked," said Chuck to his friend.
Edward pulled the cash from the wallet and threw it to the ground. Both of them backed up a few feet then ran back to their truck.
"Naughty man, using innocents as bait. I didn't get to the farm quickly enough but those 3 men are on your conscience, not mine. Who is your handler, James, who are you working for?" said Cathy.
"G... Go fuck yourself, demon, I work alone," he said, spitting out blood.
Cathy picked him up and looked into his eyes. She hypnotized him and asked him again. Satisfied with his answer, she dropped him to the ground. She remembered something and pulled a tooth from his mouth.
"Cyanide, such a painful way to die. I'll be sure and give this to them too," she said and pulled out her phone.
About ten minutes later, 3 Police cars and an ambulance arrived at the warehouse.
"Are you here?" said the Detective, seemingly shouting into the night.
"I have very good hearing, Detective, no need to yell," Cathy replied with a smile. The Detective jumped.
"Hate it when you do that. He's pretty messed up, Cathy, is he going to live?"
"His wounds are mostly superficial, Morgan. He had this in his mouth too, I remembered and pulled it out before he could use it."
"Cyanide again. I'll, uh, get a bag."
The Detective let her drop the tooth into a clear evidence bag.
"The three missing men are at this farm. He killed them and buried them so they wouldn't talk. He sent another 2 here and intended to do the same to them once they drew me out. They're nobodies, just gullible guys he found in a bar. His rifle is in a room near the top of that building opposite, his van, along with evidence you'll need to tie him to the farm, is parked on 5th street, white transit with that tag," she said, handing him a piece of paper.
"I really wish I could hire you, you make my job much easier."
"We both know I wouldn't pass the background check. Over 100 years old, penchant for drinking the blood of evil men, not sure that would look good on my file," she said with a laugh.
"Well, just know I appreciate who you are, Cathy. I take it I shouldn't ask about what you learned?"
"Correct. It's out of state anyway, I'm hoping to end this peacefully for once. The council are keen to stop this back and forth with them, especially with innocents getting caught in the crossfire. Did they release her?"
"Yeah. The DA said the evidence wasn't enough to hold her. They think her confession was coerced and her lawyer jumped all over the fact one of my Sgt's beat the shit out of her. I had to suspend her."
"She didn't learn to shut up, did she. I'm guessing your Sgt has kids."
"Yea. I can't blame her but can't condone it either. Do you want to know her last location?"
"No, then you can tell the truth about not telling anyone. Let me know if you need my help with him."
"Thank you for this, Cathy. Truly. I know you could have just killed this asshole."
"I do prefer justice, Morgan, you should know that by now."
"And the world won't miss Rebecca Clovers."
"No, it won't."
Rebecca Clovers had killed all four of her children while she was high on drugs. She laughed when she was told what she'd done but the Police couldn't find enough evidence to convict her. She was still high and laughing about it when the Sgt who'd arrested her couldn't hold back her anger and badly beat her. Cathy intended to make her tell the truth before she killed her.
It wasn't hard for her to track Clovers down. Cathy approached the run-down trailer where she'd tracked Clovers to but something was wrong. She could sense another vampire already inside. The door was unlocked, she cautiously made her way inside.
"You're not in danger, young lady," said the woman.
Cathy saw Clovers' body lying on the ground, her head had been torn off.
"You wouldn't have wanted to feed from her my dear, she was full of those vile drugs. And don't worry, I made her tell me the truth before I killed her, she had no remorse about what she did," said the woman.
"Who are you?" replied Cathy.
"Forgive me. I've been watching you for a while and I can see why she would have chosen you. I am Genivieve Lucerne, I made the woman who made you," she said with a smile.
"Y... You turned Victoria? She told me her master was a man who eventually changed and killed innocents."
"Ah yes, she may have been mentored by him but for the first few years I was with them both. I was in deep hibernation when she died, it took almost 50 years to wake me but I felt her. The pain of losing her will never leave me. You were with her when it happened, weren't you? The council told me how."
"Yes. She was everything to me. We survived countless attempts by the Paladins and others that tried to harm us and it was a stray bomb from one of the human's horrible wars that killed her," said Cathy, fighting back tears.
"We can share stories once we have disposed of this one. What was your plan, there are no swamps here, where was her body going?"
"There's a mine not too far from here, abandoned and forgotten a long time ago. One of the shafts leads to a very nasty drop that became very acidic, Sulfur or something. Smells terrible but it works well."
"And fire for the mess I left."
"Yes, but something Victoria taught me in the jungle, let me get a few things to help the fire along."
With Clovers' body disposed of and all the ingredients to make the fire look like a meth lab explosion set up, Cathy and Genivieve watched from a safe distance as the trailer was engulfed in flames. The rain later that night put out what was left of the fire by the time it was noticed but the women were long gone.
"You can call me Gen, I know our more elegant names are not popular anymore," she said.
"Victoria never spoke of you. She only ever spoke of her master," replied Cathy.
"It broke her heart when I had to leave her. I am almost a thousand years old, when you get to my age, we need to rest every couple of hundred years. When I found Victoria, I was close to hibernating and leaving her was painful for both of us. I just wish I could have saved her. Her master trained her well, for him to turn the way he did means he did not rest when he should have."
"You said you have been watching me?"
"Yes, for around 5 years. You've adapted to these modern times and managed to stick to the code. You've made friends with and work with the humans and their ever-changing laws. Victoria trained you well but you are smart. The Detective you've been working with to bring down the Paladins, did you glamor him?"
"I was going to. I needed information so I slept with him but I could see well enough that I could trust him. He is a good man, sees me as a goddess but he won't betray me."
