Donovan smiled as Gabriel released his hand and the pair of humans turned to leave, “it was a pleasure to meet you both.” He placed his hands behind his back, smirking at the suspicious look Lee was giving him. A very observant young man. He could be a problem later.
“You monster!” A man was shouting out in the hallway before he burst into the room to seize Ruben by his collar, “I shoulda known working with scum like you would come back to haunt me!” He went on, giving a very flustered Ruben a good, hard shake. The bear of a man with his scraggly beard and Hawaiian shirt looked like he could easily snap Donovan’s servant in half, given the urge to.
“Gentlemen, gentlemen,” Donovan held his hands up as a sign of nonviolence, “come now, surely we can discuss this like civilized human beings.” Human, he held back the chuckle that wanted to escape his lips at the thought of humanity.
“Chuck, what the hell’s wrong?” Gabriel demanded, trying to get a hand on the man’s shoulder to restrain him.
“Lee, Gabe,” Chuck snarled, looking Donovan straight in the eye, seemingly unphased by his presence, “we need to call the cops.”
Donovan scowled, stepping forward, laying his hands on Ruben’s shoulders, gently pulling him away from Chuck, his fingers moving down to the hands grasping his servant’s shirt, “easy, certainly whatever the problem is we need not involve the police.”
Chuck eyed him skeptically, his hands tensing under Donovan’s fingers. This was certainly going to be more difficult than the vampire thought it would. Of course that's what made it more interesting, more enjoyable.
“There's a body half buried in the rose bushes, a human body.”
Ahh, so the hunter had discovered one of his latest meals.
Ruben sputtered, his gnarled hands reaching up to tug at Chuck’s, trying to get him to loosen his grip, “a body? Well, I never! Who would bury someone in a poor old man’s garden?”
Donovan locked eyes with Chuck, batting away Ruben’s hands, “calm yourself,” as he spoke he pressed against the hunter’s consciousness, “come, show me the body.” It would be difficult to convince all of them that there was no corpse but not impossible.
Lee and Gabriel looked between them, both seemingly at a loss for words. Chuck, on the other hand, was not.
“Suits me just fine,” he spat out at Donovan, “I don’t know who the hell you are, but I know a corpse when I see it.” The words seemed to lose a bit of their heat as Donovan delved into the man’s mind. “I-I’m not crazy,” he hesitated, “I’ll show you right now.” His grip had finally loosened enough for Ruben to weasel away a good few feet across the room where he was safe from another attack for the time being.
Donovan motioned to the door, waiting for Chuck to go first before following after. It was easier to change someone’s perception of what was seen instead of erasing it completely, so when Chuck unceremoniously led them out of the front door stomped over to the hole in the front yard, Donovan was close behind, and when Chuck looked down, instead of a human corpse there was a dog. Well, what looked like a dog from their point of view.
“Uh, Chuck. How much have you been drinking today?” Gabriel leveled his friend with an amused expression, “maybe you should take a break, huh buddy?”
Chuck shook his head, taking a step back, “I swear there was a person, this isn't right!”
“Well,” Lee hesitated, “you’re getting older, maybe it’s time to think about getting your vision checked?” He tapped on the frame of his own glasses, “nothing to be ashamed of.” With his focus on Chuck, now, he wasn’t nearly so concerned about Gabriel and Donovan.
Donovan closed his eyes for a moment, maintaining the illusion was difficult, it had been so long since he had done something like this. After a moment he opened his eyes again, “come, let us go back inside and share a drink.” The sooner they were away from the hole the better. The body inside was not a small one. He had in fact been a very large meal.
“We should get back to the office-“ Lee began, before Chuck cut him off, “I’m not old and I’m not blind!”
“Chuck, you’re turning down another drink?” Gabriel asked wryly.
“Didn’t say that, I just—well—“ Chuck threw his hands up in defeat, “ yeah, one drink won’t hurt.”
Donovan motioned toward the door, “don't worry about the hole, it will be taken care of. We can all go inside and I'll get the scotch Ruben has hidden in the office.” Ruben, who had very rightly decided to stay safely in the house away from Chuck’s fists.
“The way you talk, a guy would think you own the place,” Gabriel remarked jokingly, as they were all steered back towards the house. Away from the fading glamour of Donovan’s illusion.
Donovan smiled, “sometimes I think I do.” He ushered the others in ahead of him and into the den. Ruben would have to come take care of the hole before they left. Once they were inside he shot a meaningful glance at his servant before getting the good scotch hidden behind a bookcase. Everyone was seated when he returned, “come, let us drink, to new friendships.” He poured a good amount into each glass that he got from a small table near the door.
“Friendships?” Chuck asked, glaring into the contents of his tumbler, “who’s this guy, huh?” He looked between Lee and Gabriel. Not a very trusting man.
Donovan shook his head, “acquaintances then,” he corrected, “I apologize for the lack of introduction, I'm Donovan.”
Lee fiddled with the envelope Ruben had given them, setting it down on his lap, “I don’t suppose these offers still stand, do they?” He looked over at the old man who was just about to leave the room.
The old man pursed his lips, biting back what would likely have been a very acidic response if it weren’t for Donovan’s presence, “they do. All is forgiven.” He might well have gritted his teeth if it didn’t risk dislodging the yellowing dentures from their place.
Donovan would have to keep an eye on the old hunter, he could prove a problem in the future, especially once they discovered Gabriel’s current state of being. When the hunters finally left, Ruben had already taken care of the hole. Perhaps they would need to move the body. Chuck struck him as the type to come back and check.
They only had a few more hours until evening by then, and as much as he ‘delighted’ in his servant’s company, there were certain matters that Donovan could not put off any longer tonight. After all, he had yet to let the rest of the city know he had returned. He would want to look his best.
“Master, I can have an escort ready for you in an hour or so; will that be acceptable? Or do you wish to dine out this evening?” Ruben asked from his position behind Donovan’s chair in the den.
“I shall procure my own meal tonight, I have some business to attend to, some old, friends, to see.” He stood as he spoke, “I really must look my best after all.” He said as he smiled. It was not a happy smile, didn't reach his eyes, the time had come to deal with the ones responsible for his long sleep. He didn’t doubt he would find them very quickly.
----------------------------------------
Fish. Why did it have to be fish? Danny’s first hunt, the first one Louise said he could be trusted handling on his own, and he’d basically spent an hour arguing with a sentient school of fish trying to take over an aquarium. Literally. They’d basically made the workers' lives hell by influencing children to try to set them free. It was like a bad Disney movie.
He parked his lime green Vespa behind their office, grumbling all the while to himself. He’d basically negotiated a treaty with a bunch of damn fish. For more food. Why the hell did they need a monster hunter for that? It was like everything remotely supernatural in this stupid city fell under this broad umbrella. Normal people would’ve just turned the stupid fish over to the government. That was what they did in movies, anyway.
He made damn sure to slam the door when he stepped into the office, just to make a point. A point that apparently wasn’t really made, because Louise wasn’t even in the office to hear it.
Danny frowned, flipping on the light by the front door and peering around. Under the full glare of the main light, the place looked even more dismal than usual. No wonder Chuck preferred lamps. They hid the water stains on the ceiling.
“Louise?” He called her name, suddenly wishing he’d brought his hunting knife in from his car. He didn’t think he’d need it.
“What are you doing here, Todd?” Her voice floated in from the back, “you always have a reason for showing up unannounced.”
“A hunter’s gotta be prepared for everything, girly. Besides, since when does a favorite uncle have to have a reason to visit his niece?” A deep, growling man replied to her.
Todd? Where had Danny heard that name before?
“Because that's what you do.” She crossed her arms over her chest as Danny came around the corner, “so, why’re you here?”
They were standing in one of the three cramped rooms that made up what was once the vet clinic’s offices, where most of the weapons were stored. It was a close fit with Danny in the mix, but he edged into the room anyway.
“Okay, Lulu, you want a reason. Fine. Your aunt Martha kicked me out again and I figured a little visit for a few days until she settles down wouldn’t be too bad of an idea,” Todd replied, slugging Louise on the shoulder with one meaty fist. He looked like an aging Rambo with a beer belly, camo and all.
She rolled her eyes, “fine, you can stay, there's a cot in the other room,” she paused for a moment, “but if there's a hunt, you're helping,” she poked him in the chest with a perfectly manicured finger, “got it?”
“Hey there,” Todd grinned, showing his chipped front teeth proudly, “anything for my Lulu.”
Danny wondered whether it was too cliche to clear his throat just then to get their attention, but he needn’t have bothered. While he was thinking about it, both Louise and Todd suddenly noticed him standing in the doorway.
“Danny! When did you get back?” She asked, obviously surprised to see him.
Todd grinned at the young man, “howdy, I'm Lulu’s uncle Todd.”
He sounded like a nice guy, so Danny relaxed just a little, not even realising he’d been tense in the first place, “I just came in a couple of minutes ago.” He held out a hand to Todd, “hi, nice to meet you, sir.”
His hands were huge, well, they seemed to fit the rest of him at least. Danny felt like his own hand was going to be swallowed up as Todd shook it firmly. Too firmly. His fingers were aching by the time he managed to pull away.
“Let’s go back out into the main office,” Louise suggested, a resigned look on her face. Yeah, it was obvious her uncle’s visit wasn’t exactly good news. Funny, she didn’t talk about him much.
“So I overheard you both--er, I mean…” Danny wasn’t exactly sure how to ask, because he was sure Louise had to have mentioned her personal life and family at least a few times. He didn’t exactly have the best memory for that sort of thing. “So you’re a hunter too?”
“Damn right I am!” He looked so proud of that fact, “taught my girl here all she knows.” One big hand clapped her on the shoulder none too gently.
Louise managed not to stumble forward, which would have been a disaster in a room as cramped as this one, and gave Danny a gentle shove as she inched by him into the hallway.
“My dad taught me everything I know,” Louise clarified.
Todd scoffed, rolling his eyes, “and who helped teach him?” He would get her to admit he had a hand in her teaching whether she liked it or not.
“Grandpa,” she threw back at him, too stubborn to give him the satisfaction.
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“Fine, girly, be that way.” Todd was pouting in his own way but it wasn't like anything Danny had seen. A man his size, pouting like that, no one would believe it if he told anyone.
“You funny or something, boy? You’re staring at me.” Todd waved a hand in front of Danny’s face, just before stepping past him and out into the hallway with Louise.
“Sorry. Dazed out.” Danny lied, more than a little embarrassed. Hard not to stare at a guy half the size of a truck. Now, Chuck wasn’t a lightweight, but even he probably couldn’t match up to Todd’s sheer girth and muscle.
“How'd the hunt go?” She asked, changing the subject.
“Hunt?” Danny asked, slipping out of the room behind them, and very narrowly avoiding tripping into a rack of silver-tipped spears. Expensive, but still more cost effective and useful than silver bullets against werewolves.
“If by hunt you mean diplomatic negotiation with a bunch of stupid fish, I guess it went okay,” he replied, a little too intimidated by Todd to put much heat behind his words.
“Hey, don't sell yourself short, kid, not everyone can use diplomacy, I'm more of a brute force kind-a-guy. You talkin’ types impress me sometimes.”
“He’s got a point,” Louise admitted, leading them back into the main office, where Danny noticed Louise had piled her desk high with fresh paperwork. The most glamorous part about their business: figuring out how to deduct expenses without questions. Hard to explain why you need crossbows when you’re running a business out of an old vet clinic.
“I didn’t become a hunter just to chat with nutjob dogfish,” Danny protested, “I want to fight.” He knew he probably sounded like a little kid right now, but as much action as he was getting, Danny might as well just be an intern.
Todd plopped down in a chair, snagging one of the papers off Gabe’s desk, which was the closest, “oh, don't worry, kid, you'll fight. Might even die but remember, if you're gonna die, take as many of them with you as you can.”
“Danny, I think we should talk about this another time. Chuck and the others will be back soon, and we’ve got a lot of things to take care of. There’s the storage locker on Patton road that still hasn’t been explored. You could always do that.” Louise suggested, “I’m sure there might be something worth hunting in there. It’s the payment one of our old clients gave us, remember? The guy with the ghost problem?”
“I'll go with you, kid, backup, just in case, but you're running the show.” Todd offered, grinning at him, it was obvious that Todd liked him for some reason.
“To clear out a storage locker?” Danny asked, leaning against the former reception counter and crossing his arms. “Knowing my luck, I guess there’d probably be something freaky in there waiting to tear me a new one anyway.”
“I bet we could find another hunt while we’re out, got a couple of contacts ‘round here, could check for something.” Todd encouraged, “come on kid, it'll be fun.”
“You’ll what?” Louise asked, “sorry, run that by me again. You can’t seriously go out and look for monsters. We’ll go out of business if we just start hunting for fun. We wait for the assignments to come to us.”
Todd looked at her like she'd grown a second head, “never for fun?” He blinked owlishly, “seriously, Lulu, never for fun?”
“No,” Louise stated firmly, “it’s a waste of supplies and time. I’ve told you this before, Uncle Todd, I’m trying to run a business. For money. I don’t want to live like you and Aunt Martha in a travel trailer scraping by on roadkill and freelancing.”
He immediately looked offended, “we do no such thing! Come on, Danny, we’ll find something fun to do, leave this stick in the mud.”
Danny was hesitant, “uh--I mean, I’m not sure. It’s getting late, and I really don’t know if I’m ready for the kinds of monsters that come out after dark. I was sort of thinking of starting with something smaller. Like an evil doll. Or a brownie.”
“He’s new to this, I really don’t think going out without Chuck or Gabe alongside you two is very smart.” Louise gave Todd her sternest look, “it’s dangerous.”
He held up his hands in defeat, “fine, fine, you win. Speaking of night time beasties, found any vamps? They have a special place in my heart, love stickin’ it to the bloodsuckers.”
Danny brightened a little. He hadn’t met a vampire yet, as far as he knew. They didn’t seem too tough, compared to the things that had more claws, fur, and legs.
“Lee and Gabriel got into a bit of a fight with one this afternoon, actually. He got away, but they told me something you might like to know. He didn’t burn in the sunlight. At all. Not even a little smoke. Is that normal?”
“Not even a little bit? That's not good, never had a chance to really test it but vamps always kept away from the sun when we were fighting. I liked having sun as a backup plan just in case.”
“Maybe he wasn’t a vampire,” Danny suggested, feeling a little left out of the conversation.
Louise shook her head, “no, definitely a vamp. Lee and Gabe wouldn’t make a mistake like that.”
“More testing.” Todd stated after a moment of silence, “gotta go find me some vamps.”
“Yeah, you go do that, Danny and I will be having dinner while you find some vamps.” Louise grumbled, heading for the mini fridge, she was hungry and her uncle’s death wish wasn't going to stop her from eating, “almost as bad as Gabe, running off after every vamp he can find, it's a surprise the two of you aren't dead yet.”
“He’s a good kid. Shame you two couldn’t make it work out, but I’m sure you’ll get back together sooner or later.” Todd remarked, scooping up a large canvas duffle bag on the ground beside Gabe’s desk that Danny hadn’t noticed before. There was a distinct outline poking into the sides of the bag that he strongly suspected was some form of illegal firearm.
“What’s for dinner?” Danny asked, pulling up a chair beside the reception counter, anxious to change the subject. He wasn’t big about bringing up other people’s personal lives if they didn’t volunteer the information first.
“I think there might be another steak here that Gabe didn't devour.” Louise pointedly ignored Todd’s remarks.
“That’d be good.” Danny paused, “you don’t think he’ll mind? He was acting really weird this morning.”
Todd didn’t stop to say good-bye, or tell them when he’d be back, as he headed out the front door and closed it gently behind him, grabbing a pint of Jameson off of Chuck’s desk on his way out.
“It's not like he’ll do anything about it even if he does, he's a big softie under that rough exterior.”
“Alright, then bring on the steak!” Danny exclaimed, clapping his hands and rubbing them together. “I could make coffee to go with it, maybe get a couple of eggs fried up?” He hated to make her do everything.
“Sure, that would be nice, Danny.” She smiled at him, “you know, you’re a sweet kid, don't let anyone tell you otherwise.”
He hopped off of his chair and rounded the reception desk to grab a bag of grounds by the coffee maker, “I’m not that much younger than you guys.”
“You're barely out of high school, I've been doing this most of my life, Gabe too, Chuck and Lee are another story altogether,” she plugged the griddle in, pulling the steak out of the mini fridge, “therefore, you're a kid.”
Rather than take offence, Danny just shrugged it off. “All your life?” He prompted as he tried to accurately dump a cup of grounds into the coffee filter basket without measuring, “seriously?”
“Yep, all my life, my family’s been doing this for generations, started back in the old country, before we came over to America.” She flipped the steak, “not a one of us has chosen to get out of the life, it's born in our blood to hunt.”
He had to admit, the idea of Louise as a toddler packing heat against a monster under the bed was pretty funny. “I didn’t know this could be a family business thing. How’d you end up here?”
“I met Gabe,” she laughed, “he and Chuck were hunting a siren that we were hunting as well, kind of crossed paths. I almost shot him.”
Danny paused thoughtfully, filling the coffee pot with water, “well, I guess that’s one way to make a first impression.”
“If it wasn't for him I'd still be in the sticks with Todd.”
“No offense, but I can see why you left. Your uncle is a little--” he cut himself short, not too sure how she’d react to his assertion that Todd looked like Paul Bunyon after a bender. Big, dumb, and hairy.
“You can say it, he's an ox, a big, dumb ox.” She knew what her uncle was, had even called him that to his face.
“I wasn’t gonna say that,” Danny lied.
She looked at him and rolled her eyes, “well, anyway, it turned out that Gabe and I as a couple were like oil and water, we make much better friends.”
“It doesn’t get weird? You and Lee dating now?”
She shook her head, “nah, I mean, sure, sometimes I think Gabe is jealous but,” she shrugged, “he can't win ‘em all.”
With his job done, and the coffee brewing, Danny awkwardly leaned against the reception counter while he watched Louise check the steaks. “Lee’s pretty cool. Doesn’t seem like the fighting type, though.” He’d never actually seen Lee do anything besides research and paperwork, but the guy did go on hunts with Chuck and Gabe sometimes, so he had to do something.
“He’s smart and actually a really good shot, I’d want him at my back in a tight situation.” She pulled the steaks off, putting them on a couple paper plates, no one had gotten a chance to do dishes or at least no one had wanted to do them, “he saved my life once, it was how we met actually.”
“So am I the only guy around here who actually had to go through a job interview?”
She couldn't help but laugh, “yeah, actually, you were. The rest of us just kind of fell together.”
Danny snatched up two foam cups beside the coffee maker and poured, quickly replacing the pot before too much could drip back onto the burner. They bought the cheapest of the cheap when it came to just about everything. “What made you decide to hire me on, then? Seems like you guys do pretty well on your own.” He wanted to get better. Knew he would. In the meantime, Danny was sure he’d probably lose a limb or eye.
“Because we had a good feeling about you, we knew that you wanted to help, to make a difference,” she smiled, “besides, it's always good to have backup.”
“Backup. Right.” He snatched up Louise’s cup and handed it to her, “so, anything on the agenda tonight? We going to track down the vampire Gabe and Lee lost, or just hope Todd handles it?” That would be convenient.
“I think we should try to find it but keep an eye out for anything else weird going on. There's been a certain, restlessness, around town, I'm wondering why.” She put the plates down on the folding table, brushing an old napkin off and onto the floor.
Danny knelt to throw the napkin into the trash, “seems like we should be getting more calls if that’s true. Are people just too cheap to pay?”
“I think there’s something up with the monsters, things got really quiet all of a sudden.”
“I thought most of them were just shambling, brainless things with a taste for human flesh. What kind of problems could they honestly have?”
She stabbed her steak before sawing into it with a knife, “I’m not sure but it’s weird. Suddenly the killings die down and we don’t even hear a peep from the graveyards, isn’t that worth investigating?”
He wasn’t exactly sure he saw the problem here, “so less people are dying, and you’re worried about it? Louise, I think you need a vacation.” Now that there was food on the table, he was a little less concerned with things that went bump in the night, or Todd’s apparent death wish as he went running out into the setting sun like a maniac.
“But why? Why are they suddenly so quiet, it’s like it just happened overnight.” She took a bite, closing her eyes, “mmm, that’s tasty, no wonder Gabe wanted it for breakfast. Still, weird breakfast food though,” she paused, scowling, “and he went after it like a rabid animal. Maybe we should try to look into what’s wrong with him too. Maybe they’re connected.”
Danny focused on the food in front of him, slowly cutting his steak, using it as an excuse to avoid saying anything for as long as possible. Louise was kinda freaking him out right now. “You--I mean, well, he just had a really bad hangover. People act nuts when they drink too much. Why would him not knowing his limits have anything to do with, well, I dunno, the city’s monsters taking a sudden hiatus on the whole skull-crunching and neck-biting thing?”
She gave him the look, the one that said he was an idiot, “I’ve seen him get totally smashed, his hangovers have never made him go crazy like that. I think there’s something seriously wrong with him, I’m just not sure what.”
“Oh, you meant the freak-out Lee told us about when they went hunting this afternoon?” It suddenly struck him that she wasn’t just talking about the steak fiasco at 9AM. “You think one of those ghouls infected him, maybe? There was a lot of blood everywhere. Some of it could’ve been Gabe’s.” God, Danny hoped that wasn’t true. Seeing Gabe slowly morph into a greenish idiot with a cannibalistic fetish for human corpses wasn’t something he was sure he could cope with. At least when the blob thing crashed his high school prom, the ooze moved too fast for Danny to see it melting anyone in whatever it had that passed for a stomach.
She shook her head, “no, I think it’s something else, usually if someone’s infected they would be showing more signs, by now he’d already be trying to eat one of us. I swear Lee said something about the vampire talking to Gabe differently.”
“Really? He didn’t say anything to me about it.” Then again, Danny didn’t suppose Lee kept anything from Louise, “what’d it say?”
“Something about his condition,” she shrugged, “I think there was something else but I don’t remember. Gabe glared at me from the car when they stopped back here to drop off their kits. I’m not sure why, Lee didn’t mention anything about what might have happened.” As she spoke she stabbed another piece of steak, “there’s just something wrong.”
“I don’t know if I should bring it up, but he seemed a little touchy last night. You sure you both broke it off on good terms? He doesn’t really seem like the type, but maybe he’s just getting jealous of you two.” Danny paused, “I’m not sure about the condition thing, though. He was bit when he was a kid, wasn’t he? You think maybe the vamp could tell? Could be like some sort of sixth sense thing.”
“Maybe, and yes, we parted on good terms. We’ve never had a vamp mention it before, then again we don’t tend to talk to them either.”
“Just give it a couple of days before you start sharpening the stakes, okay? He might just be having a bad week.”
She shook her head, “I’m not saying we should stake him, I’d never say that, I think we need to figure out what’s wrong so we can fix it. What if he tasted blood or something and it fucked with his head? What if somehow, he got half turned again and is hiding it.”
“Louise. We’ve been together practically 24/7 for the last several days, when and why on earth would Gabe drink blood?” He paused, “I don’t really know how the rules work. Is vampirism a virus or something else? Like magic?” Monsters existed, sure, but were they magic, or did they all just have problems modern science hadn’t figured out? Just the thought was giving Danny a headache. “I mean, if it’s like cancer, maybe it can just come back whenever…” he trailed off, suddenly finding he had no appetite. Now he really was getting worried. Louise could be right.
She pointed her fork at his plate, “eat your steak.” She took another bite, “we don’t know much about it, that’s why I’m worried. He’s been fine, I don’t think it could just randomly come back, but who knows, that’s why I want to find this vamp. I have questions, maybe any vamp would do.”
He hated to ask, “so does Todd have a cell phone?” Danny cringed at the thought, “maybe he could bring one back for us.”
“Yeah, he does, I'll call him.”