"Think of them as a bunch of lone wolf spree shooters if we let them go. They'll go delusional, then they'll go violent." What Marco didn't say, because it was irrelevant to the mission, was that they'd have to come up with better ways to handle these guys when they started sticking it to the Eternal on a mass level. 

He was already tapped into their comm nets, and it was ugly; they were already starting to frenzy, especially the ones that were on Giorgio's blood. The others were picking up on it as if they were attuned to each other, like a pack of hunting dogs, baying for blood because the alpha is riled. That was new and unknown stuff.

He already had a plan. Morgen pulled up to the warehouse.

[sub][color=00aeef]Deploy for an ambush. Prep vehicles for extraction, south side of the warehouse. We're going to use the north parking lot as our killzone. We have to get them all, use everything you have on them. Leave no survivors.[/color][/sub]

The others started their deployment, but he held Saria back with another set of instructions.

[sub][color=00aeef]When I give the signal, off Smith. I've got Mullen. The death of their masters ought to send the thralls into a much greater frenzy.[/color][/sub]

The sirens were already coming closer, along with the growl of engines. The deputies were running those cars at top speed, screeching tires and all. When they started to pull into the business park where the warehouse was, Marco gave the signal. As he was doing so, he put his foot down, with the blade, on Richard's head, crushing it. There were a few seconds of resistance and then the skull gave way. He twisted the foot with the blade, creating even more of a mess, in conjunction with Mullen's convulsions.

[sub][color=00aeef]Anna Smith and Richard Mullen are dead. [/color][/sub]

The gunfire roared as the rest of the hunt-kill team opened up on the deputies. It was ugly, but it was for the best.

***
[indent][i][b]CHICAGO[/b] - A local couple, their adopted son and five deputies were found dead in Dukewater, Illinois yesterday morning. The killer or killers were thought to be at large, law enforcement officials said. Another local resident, Christine Haney, is missing.

The burned body of George Smith was found near Dukewater High School, where a senior prom was held the night before. Anna Smith and Richard Mullen, the couple's adoptive son, were identified in the wreckage of a van near an empty warehouse facility belonging to FTG Logistics, a bankrupt company. Five deputies were also found dead in the parking lot of FTG Logistics. Mullen and Haney were confirmed to be attending the prom at Dukewater High School together.

Officials said at a late-afternoon news conference that they could not rule out the possibility that other members of the community may be in danger and that officers were checking on them throughout the region.

“We are advising the community to be very careful, and take particular precaution,” the FBI Special Agent In Charge Jill McMullen, of the Chicago Field Office, said.

“The individual or individuals who committed this crime obviously are dangerous,” McMullen said. “We believe they are still at large.”

The dead included seven adults and a 16-year-old boy; officials had said earlier that two of the victims were juveniles.

“Three of the victims appear to have been executed,” McMullen said. 

Asked if investigators had any indication of a motive, she said, “none.” Officials said it was also unclear when the killings took place.

“We are trying to assess precisely what was going on. Our field office is currently going over the communications of the Sheriffs department.”

At first, officials said they could not rule out the possibility that the killer was among the dead, “the preliminary determination has been made that none of the eight individuals committed suicide.”

The Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Bureau of Alcohol, Firearms and Tobacco are part of a task force investigating the crimes, according to Agent McMullen. No comment was given as to any persons of interest in the kidnapping and killings.

The killings and kidnapping took place in a suburb of Chicago, about 24 miles south of the City. There is an Amber Alert out for Christine Haney.[/i][/indent]

***

Extraction was routine, but the debrief wasn't. It was the first time that hunters ever took several vampires at once and there were new lessons learned in Eternal physiology. It was also when the six people of the hunt-kill team compared notes with each other. The news was all over the place, but the mortal authorities didn't seem to have any real clue what was going on, and there may well have been Eternal pressure to keep the inquiry from producing too much information. 

But the Vigil knew what it had done and the Eternal were no doubt asking questions of their own. Anna Smith was one of their superstars, and her death was going to have consequences. And so it was Marco and Saria sitting in the cafeteria in their compound, all the way out in Tennessee, watching the news stories unfold. There was a lot on there that Marco could do without, such as the pictures of the deputies, their tearful families and all the condemnation by authority figures. It felt like he'd crossed a new threshold. Meanwhile, Christine Haynes was in a rubber room somewhere, being treated for PTSD and gently pumped for information on her relationship with Mullen. She hadn't gone insane from his death, so clearly she wasn't enthralled. It was unlikely she'd ever have a normal life again, but normal was all relative and incredibly fragile anyway.

"So, how did you think this would feel? I mean, I thought it'd feel great, but..."

But.

[@Vanq]