Aster

      We slid into the car and my eyes were distant, focused vaguely on the window in front of me. Eli nudged me, handing over the hat and glasses. I stared at them blankly for a moment before snapping back to reality and grabbing them.

       That was another reminder of this dangerous world he had just joined, and boy it was not a friendly reminder. I slid them on, my cheeks a bit paler than my usual, and I noticed Eli glancing back and forth from me and the ramp we were driving up.

      “So…” he started hesitantly, “Do you have any questions, about the society, or the creatures I mentioned?” He shrugged, “I remember you asking what kind of things USHUA assigns me, and I can tell you that now if you want.”

      I felt my attention prick up, and I glanced over at him. I had to stay focused, stay on task. “Yeah, that would be great” I respond, trying to pull up the appropriate enthusiasm. Either he doesn’t notice, or just doesn’t care.

      “So I’m a senior hunter. I specialize in vampires, but usually, because we more commonly have smaller issues like unruly weres and cultists, I’m just grunt work. I’m the muscle they pull in to make sure nothing goes wrong.” My attention is fixed on him, and I overturn what he has said.

       “What are you doing currently?” I ask slowly, not quite sure where to continue or what to ask, but I was bloody well interested and didn’t want the topic to change.

      “Well I’m enlisting new recruits” he jokes, a grin turning up a corner of his cheek, “that’s one of my duties as a senior hunter, and currently I am investigating a case.” Before I can ask about the case, he continues, “About fifteen years ago a family was killed in their home. USHUA was having a crisis of its own at the time, and things got misfiled. About a month ago I was going through old files, and I found this report. We looked over it again and all deaths we’ve linked to being vampire related. The only person missing from the scene was their sixteen year old son who we believe attempted to run but was killed elsewhere.”

       Eli’s whole countenance had turned somber, and his eyes were distant once more. I let out a shaky breath, and tried to hold back a shudder. We had just left the garage, and the natural light was a relief to the previously dim surroundings.

      Eli took another breath and continued. “The whole crime scene had the makings of a recently turned vampire. Sloppy kills, clearly desperate for blood, and the whole family dead. Mature vampires don’t drink that much, and their kills are usually far better disguised.” He shook his head ruefully. “That already meant there were two vampires in the city; the begetter and their offspring. Of course this caused us to look more closely at recent deaths in the city, find any that could be linked to vampire activity-”

      “Don’t you look at all deaths in the city for suspicion?” I interjected, aghast. Did they just ignore every disappearance?

       Eli gave an amused snort. “Oh we do, but usually when vampires make a kill they know how to hide it. Make the kill not pop up on our radars, or choose someone that we wouldn’t notice missing; like someone from the homeless population.” Again his tone lowered back to serious. “And anyway, after looking more closely at recent disappearances and death reports, we found a trail. We found a few that could have been linked and we got permission to make autopsies. We commissioned a few weres and took them around the city during the full moon with belongings of some of the missing people.” Eli paused, his fingers gripping the steering wheel more tightly.

      I swallowed; I could see where this was going. His face was pale, his eyes staring straight ahead but seeing nothing. It was as if he was seeing something all over him. It took a honk from the car behind us to get him moving from the light we had paused at.

      “And… well it wasn’t pretty. We found makeshift mass graves all over the city. All over the city. There were a few hundred, I didn’t get the exact count. All of them were in various stages of decomposition, the oldest we’ve identified being eighteen years dead. We were lucky that I was looking over old reports that ended up leading to other disappearances. Most of the people that had disappeared were high risk; teens on the street, drug addicts, elderly in their apartments, the list goes on. All people that wouldn’t usually get reported missing, and we’ve only identified a score or so…” Eli coughed, clearing his throat. I thought I saw a slight shine in his eyes, but it was gone in an instant. “There had been an enormous coven living in our city, living off the people we had been trying to protect, and we had missed it.”

      I let out a slow whistle, and ran a hand through my hair. That was awful, and I could feel bile rising in the back of my throat. “At least you know about it now…?” I ventured, not sure how to offer some measure of comfort.

      Eli’s face was hard as he glanced at me. “Tell that to the people killed while we sat, ignorant of the chaos raging.” He shook his head slowly, “I won’t let that happen again.” He stated simply, and let out a calming breath of air. “Is there anything else you want to know?” he asked, a forceful sounding upbeat in his voice.

      “Uh,” I started, thinking fast, “Are there any good cases you’ve dealt with, like happy ending stuff?” I desperately need something to lighten the mood, and I could tell that Eli needed it too.

       “Well yes, there have been,” Eli said, rolling the words on his tongue and you could see the hint of a smile grow on his face. “Last year we intercepted a 911 call. It was a teenage girl calling from her apartment, hiding under the island counter, hysterically whispering into the phone that two people were ‘magically’ controlling her parents and brother with their eyes. Apparently she had been in the kitchen getting water, and had heard the door open. She had ducked away from view, and had watched two odd people fetch her family from their rooms.”

      “Wow, she was brave…” I stated, a little bit surprised. Eli nodded in agreement, his eyes bright.

      “When we arrived to the scene, we found two witches trying to complete a ritual of theirs. They were planning to use the life energy of the family to turn themselves into Lichs.” Eli smiled, and his eyes were again distant, but this time from going over good memories. “They hadn’t gotten far enough into their ritual to kill the family, and we got everyone out safely. The two witches are now safely locked up in one of our facilities.” Eli wrinkled his nose, “I was hoping for execution, but the judge decided they only deserved a life sentence.” He shrugged, “You win some, you lose some.”

       I gave a huff of air in surprise, and then asked, “What happened to the girl?”

      Eli grinned, “She now has a full scholarship to one of our schools. We’re seeing what potential she has to be initiated as an USHUA member.” I nodded along and Eli added, “That’s what would have happened to you, but as we couldn’t get a hold of you, we simply had to go by school records. And they showed what we wanted; consistency and athleticism.”

      My eyes widened a bit. Who knew that being in Track and Cross Country put you on the watch list for being a vampire hunter. I smiled, not really knowing what else to say, but Eli did. Clearly the last story had finally brought him out of his mood.

      The rest of the drive he regaled me with tales of his exploits, and other ‘happy endings’. I had a feeling he was editing out the more horrifying stories, but I really didn’t mind, probably best to let me learn about those slowly.