Hunters till the End

[mellymel]

The last thirty minutes was a blur in his mind and he fought to get a clear thought straight in his head. The last thing he had felt before blacking out was a searing hot pain in his shoulder, the more he thought of it the more the pain made itself more apparent to him. He thought of what all that had happened and the searing pain in his shoulder brought it back, he had come here with his partner to clean out some ghouls. It had been nothing special it was only supposed to be an in and out job. He silently fussed at himself for being so careless his green eyes slowly opened as he looked over to his shoulder to inspect the damage, he noticed a small bullet wound and since his arms were now tied tightly behind his back it caused his shoulder to scream even more in pain.

He shook his head and hid his pain as best as he could as he looked around to assess the situation. His think lips pressed into a thin line as he spoke, "isn't this just the perfect predicament? I don't know who you are and here I am sitting here already tied up. I didn't even get a free date and meal out of it." He was just being sarcastic of course his voice dripped with it, "hey, someone is going to have to pay for my dry cleaning, this was my favorite shirt!" His voice got louder with slight anger and then it lowered just as quickly, "where is my friend, she better not be hurt." He still listened to everything around him as his green eyes looked at the wreckage and blood around them. They had been doing so well, it literally came out of no where the gun shot he couldn't understand how they had been surprised he had hoped that she had gotten away. He wanted her to be safe and sound and perhaps regrouping to get him out of the situation.

[Promise]

Three Hunters were crouched on the floor of the basement, they kept them selves as low as possible to hide behind the rubbish thrown carelessly around the small space. Thrown down here by a family who would now never have the chance to see the mess cleared up, but that wasn't the true loss, they would also never get to see their small boy grow up, the fourth member of the group of hiding Humans. "Ria!" one of the Hunters hissed at the only woman in their current group, there had been three, but they wouldn't be seeing the next sunrise as with the rest of their group. Her arms were straight out over a box of old toys, her hands were wrapped around the grip of a gun which looked too big for her hands, it was too, the recoil would probably knock her into the wall behind her before she could get another shot off. Her slim figure was tense with something very close to fear, but none of the Hunters would admit to feeling scared, now wasn't the time for that. Perhaps they would laugh about Edward wetting himself later, though if she was being honest to anyone she happened to tell, his accident hadn't been out of fear - gunshots to the abdomen had a habit of causing such occurrences.
"Caria!" Her long dark hair twitched with her reaction to her full name, she glanced at Ethan with a glare saying 'shut up' his expression was desperate, but so was hers. The Vampires could already likely hear their hearts pounding, Caria was sure she could hear Ethan's, they didn't need talking to alert them further...or amuse them. They all knew the situation they were in, the slightest shake in the 44. Magnum Caria held was proof of that, the only reason the flimsy basement door wasn't ripped off of its hinges was because of the string of merciful quiets they each knew wouldn't last long.
"AHHHHHHH!"
The scream was cut off by choked sobbing then quiet again, they had been hearing the same sound for the past two hours, scream, then silence and then another scream and so on. What ever they were doing to him....none of them wanted to think about it but they knew who it was, it was the leader of their group, Robert, they couldn't save him, he was already dead but he didn't seem to realize it yet. There had been fifteen to start off with, the group had split in two and the first they had seen of this plan really falling part had been Robert finding them, his right leg had been gouged in several places and his torso had been bitten into, the last word to them was "hide" so there they were, hiding.

Caria looked at the door again, Robert had been an experienced Hunter, this was meant to be an easy job...an easy job....there was no such thing. "Caria!" she looked at Ethan again, he pointed at Edward who was behind her, "he's dead" Caria froze and turned slowly "Andy is dead, Caria" something in her cracked at these words.



She gasped awake and looked around frantically, something was in front of her but her eyes wouldn't focus. She blinked several times, there was a pain in her arms and she couldn't move them properly, someone was holding her under her arms, her legs were limp and she struggled to stand on her own two feet. "Well aren't you a pretty thing when you're awake" Caria blinked again at the siky voice and looked at the thing in front of her again, her eyes focused and she jerked back in surprise, hands holding her arms grew tighter. His skin was pale, too pale and his eyes....well he didn't need to guess from those soulless pools, his grin told her all she needed to know. "Let me go, Vampire" she snarled and struggled against the arms holding her, only for them to tighten again. His grin widened, "you'll be perfect, feisty too, we'll have to beat a little of that out of you, however..." he pulled a knife from her belt and flicked it open, "I do like this knife....is it sharp, Caria?" her dark eyes narrowed at his taunts only to widen as he sliced it from her belt over her bare flesh. Caria gasped and struggled, the Vampire ran his finger across the wound and licked the drops on his finger, "looks like it is....lucky its no too deep, don't worry, it'll heal soon enough" he stepped back and reached out his hand for the one holding her to hand her over, his fingers twitched in a beckon and Caria felt her self let go. As she fell towards the Vampire she swung her head back and cracked it into his face, she felt a satisfying crunch but also heard her own yell as his reply was to stab her own knife into her leg.

The hand holding her right arm now was iron, her left side was numb from the knife sticking out of her leg, "where's Andrew, what the hell did you do to him?!" she shrieked in pain and anger combined, she didn't have enough room for fear at the moment. She heard a click as the Vampire righted his nose, "so worried, lets take you to him, shall we?" any softness in his voice was gone, she had managed to really anger him, she couldn't feel anything but satisfaction even as her leg began to scream with pain. She was half dragged half lifted into a darker room, she heard the click of switches and blinked against the bright strip lights, she didn't relax by any means when she was thrown to the ground before Andrew, the fact she was thrown onto her left side pushed the knife deeper and ripped and yell from her. She felt clawed hands grab her hair and lift her onto her knees, "isn't this nice, lovers together" inhuman sharp teeth and glowing eyes to match came into view on her left, the Gangrel threw her back against a piece of displaced wall and tied her already handcuffed hands to the exposed iron reinforcement. Looking at the ground to her left, Caria couldn't help but give a blood loss induced chuckle at the sight of the severed head she was sitting next to, "Andrew, I know this one....he's mine" she squeezed her eyes shut and tears of pain mixed with laughter ran down. A quick crack to her head from the Gangrel quieted her, it earned him a hiss from the Vampire who had stabbed her leg, she couldn't identify his clan, Toreador? Ventrue? Must have been a Ventrue his 'lording' gaze was too obvious to mistake. The strike hadn't been enough to make her bleed, her head already had a wound, it was now open and blood was trailing into her eye.

[mellymel]

When the lights came on in the room he was in his eyes widened as he looked around temporarily blinded by the sudden light in the room. Though when everything cleared up his eyes immediately went to Caria a look of concern crossed over his face once more as his lips tightened into a pale thin line as he firmly spoke, "stop that! Don't you dare hurt her, or I will kill you!" There was no doubt in his mind and his blue eyes bore into the vampire that had thrown Caria to the floor, "I will kill you." He repeated it even louder as his body tensed against the bonds that kept his hands firmly behind his back, even though his vision kept shimmering and swimming from the concussion that he probably had gotten when he had been surprised with the gun shot then blow to the head. His mind continued to race as he tried to figure out how they could of possibly gotten the best of him, "hey, why don't you pick on someone your own size? You can un-cuff me and we can go at it like the man and ... thing you are." He was all talk he knew he had no chance against the vampire but he didn't want to see Caria getting hurt anymore and he just wanted to find any way to get her out of here.

He was also trying to figure out how many was in the room, the concussion was giving him a hard time focusing on the number in the room. To him there could be four to eight of them in the actual room they all seemed to have a twin to him. His eyes darted down to his side as he checked to see if any of his weapons were still on him. It was foolish of him to do so everything would of been taken off of him. "Caria I will get you out of this." His eyes quickly darted back to him as he ignored all the rest in the room and his eyes almost were pleading to her, "we have to get out of this."

A woman moved from out of the corner where she had been watching the events unfold. Her black hair was pulled back into a very tight bun and her face seemed to twist into disgust, "a human... Take one of us?" Her voice was full of sarcastic amusement and she was obviously french, "you hunters, so quick to kill, what is the beauty in that?" She shook her head as she looked over to the severed head by Caria's feet for a moment and then to the blade in the young womans leg, "must you damage them?" Her eyes went to the ventrue a look of pity on her face her lips turning down at the corners in almost a pout, "this can be done with more... flare to it." She walked over to stand behind Andrew, "I want this one, there is something .... breathtaking about him."

Andrew rolled his head to the side as he tried to appear over his shoulder, "beauty? Flare? Listen you french snob, you aren't my type." She snickered and shook her head, "oh I will be..." She waited she wanted to see how all this unfolded for all of them.

[Promise]

Caria shook her head, not in reply to his words but rather to get the blood out of it, "of course we will, we've been in scrapes like this before-" she said as light hearted as she could, it didn't help however how her breath caught in her throat as the Toreador came up behind Andrew. She could tell from her attitude, it was all there, the grace the pink skin, the near living look in her eyes and the way she spoke was nearly suitable to a Malkavian but not quite strange enough, she shook her head again, the blood was making her vision red and the injury along with the adrenalin pouring into her bloodstream was clouding her thoughts, she could feel her mind wandering.
In truth she didn't remember being in this bad, she'd been close, very close if she counted the first time she had met Andrew, but never bound and unable to each a weapon....even if it was stuck in her leg.

Her thoughts were scattered, one thing they did manage to snag onto however was a clear possible and very likely outcome to what the woman had said, she wants him....no....no,no,no....she began shaking her head frantically as the thought pushed the pain in her head aside, her leg jerked as the damaged muscle spasmed, earning a cry from her as the knife was disturbed.
"I want to kill him though, Christian said I could have that, he killed Marie, I want his blood" the Gangrel stepped in front of Caria with a snarl, the Ventrue off to the side gave a sigh as if he'd made a mistake in the agreement, "I still want the girl, she's a pretty and efficient little thing" the young woman hiccuped, she hadn't even realized she had begun crying, "no, look, kill me...let him go....tear me apart if you want but let him go!" the Gangrel turned and only laughed at her. The Ventrue, Christian stepped next to her and stroked her hair, "we intend to, you're going to leave here too" he caught her chin and grinned, "but you took something from Arron and I, both of you did, but you specifically took something from me, so I want you to watch something before you take a nap" he moved his hand from holding her chin to holding her jaw as his other hand came round and held the back of her head. "Arron, move aside, make sure she can see" the Gangrel did as he was told but his eye never left Andrew's.

"Well?" Christian asked, "can Arron have his blood price? Or will he have to beat it out of your new Childe?" he spat out the word 'beat' as if it was a distasteful word, apparently he'd have a better way of doing things, but pain and a lot more than just fear for her self was making Caria unable to piece more of her scattered thoughts together. Her body was shaking, Childe....that was a fate worse than death, something in her began to crack further, her head continued to pound, she wanted to to kill them but she also wanted to die.

[mellymel]

The toreador woman rubbed her temple as if she was trying to rub away a headache, "take his blood if you want but if you kill him then I will personally rip your head off and use your skin in my next art exhibit." She personally stepped forward and putting her dainty hand against Andrew's forehead and pushed his head to the side to expose his blood covered neck, "I mean it, I will destroy you, I have just as much hate for this one as you do." Andrew groaned at first fighting against her grasp but his vision blurred and he felt as if he was about to faint from not realizing how much his shoulder had already bleed. He finally got a good look at the pretty little toreador, "your sister?" Her eyes instantly flared with anger and with her free hand she grabbed his jaw to stop him from speaking, "she did not deserve the fate you had given her, she deserved a much more beautiful death to end her misery." Andrew couldn't help but wince but was relieved when she let go of his jaw, "how can a toreador even have a nosferatu sister?" His voice dripped with anger and hatred, the whole situation was beyond even him and he knew it his eyes went to Caria as he spoke, "please I will die, just let her go. Please... Do not change her, kill her if you so wish your revenge." It might of sounded hateful to beg for the death of the one you loved but he only meant it as he didn't want the fate of her being changed either, he also much preferred death to that fate.

A bored woman came into the door she wore librarian glasses and a bored look on her face, "has this not been done with, haven't any of you learned not to play with your food? We need to clean up this mess before morning comes and your taking too long." The toreador sighed and eyed the woman, "but this is the one who killed my sister, she had once even meant to be your childe, how can you forget her so easily?" Her voice had turned bitter but she obviously respected this other toreador which only came to show this woman had to be very high up in the clan. The woman sighed with irritation as she looked over the room, "Alessa I do not have time for your petty revenge." With that the woman turned on her heel and left the room as she felt that she had made her point enough.

Alessa looked to the ventrue then the gangral, "it is getting rather late, have we decided to give them the worst fate imaginable for these two closed minded ... " She seemed to lose track of what she was going to say and then she continued as if trying to prove her point, "it would be true poetic justice, they would hate themselves so much they might even try to embrace their sun one last time to end it."

[Promise]

They could see the panic their talk was causing in the Hunters, "I'd think it would be a shame, and a waste, it'd be more poetic to use them against more of their own" Claria was quiet, her eyes were wild, she couldn't see clearly for the blood in her eye, it was itchy and making her eye water, butt hat was the least of her concerns at that moment. She looked at Andrew across from her, she could remember the first time they met, her dwindling group saved by another order and he had been the second in command, she hadn't been so relieved before then to see a man quite so covered in blood caked ashes. She shook her head again but knew she was about as likely to clear her eye as they were to get out of this situation alive, undead was another story, looking at the Ventrue and the way he grinned it looked as though he'd be keeping a special tab on her actions. Hell....it looked like they had been, all of them, already looking into their actions, never mind what they did after this was over, they had been watching them long before now planning this very event.
As the Gangrel stepped towards Andrew she kicked out with her injured leg, the only one near enough, she hadn't accounted for muscle damage and blood loss, her 'kick' was a twitch and so she couldn't do anything as the Vampire fell on him.

She couldn't do anything but scream for him, and scream she did.

Had anyone been in the building at any point of her yelling, someone with any inclination to help them preferably, they would have heard her. Her screams echoed off the ceiling and if the notes had been worth anything more than the hoarse shrieks they were, they would have broken what was left of the glass. "Get her out of here before she ruins this for me" the Grangrel snarled, whether he had Andrew's neck between his jaws at the time she had no idea, she didn't care, as she was dragged to her feet she only screamed louder for them to stop, for them to just kill them both. As she was dragged down corridors and into a room on the other side of the building her screams for a proper death changed to curses on them and theirs, "that's more like it" the Ventrue sneered as she dragged her kicking with her good leg into the room. He threw her onto the ground on her good side and even then, well out of sight of human hearing range of Andrew she knew what was happening, she could feel it.

The Ventrue was laughing, as were his Ghouls who had followed them in, as he knelt behind her fallen form and lifted her into a sitting position she grew quiet, tears ran down her cheeks, now she could see less red but everything was blurry and she still couldn't wipe her eyes. Something inside of her only cracked further, she could feel it break open she choked back the scream that wanted to crawl up her throat, she didn't want to give them more to laugh at, they were making a huge mistake doing this to them, she was going to rip them apart the first chance she got. Her head was pulled back from her hair and her eyes widened as she felt him bite into the base of her neck, at that moment, it shattered.

[mellymel]

The last memory he had before falling into the dark void was of Caria and her scream of panic, but when he awoke he almost felt it had all been a dream. He remembered when the vampire drained his blood and then pure pain and finally nothing. He awoke in a rather fancy hotel room, but instead of his thoughts being on what happened the night before it was on Caria. Other then feeling thirsty and slightly hungry he felt no different so his first mission was to get out and find her, wrapping a jacket he found in the room around his dirty and tattered shirt he made his way out to go to the apartment that they kept in the city.

Lots was going through his mind as he continued to think of what happened the night before. He couldn't imagine what he would do if anything had happened to Caria. All he knew was something was wrong with the mission that was supposed to be an easy in and out, there was only supposed to be ghouls there and nothing else. He started to think of different people he needed to confront because he was starting to think there was more to what happened then what him and Caria had been told.

He ran up the stars to their apartment and started to point on the door, " open up, be home, just be home!" He once again heard her screaming in his memory his body starting to shake with anger as he thought of the possibility of her being hurt. He could never forgive himself if something had happened to her, he blamed it on himself. He was supposed to protect her to make sure no harm came to her. He always promised that he would protect her with his life and little did he know he did give it trying to save her. He pleaded even as his blood was nearly all gone for her to be let go and left alone, that he was the reason their loved ones were dead.