Chapter 6
The body hit the wooden floor with a satisfyingly heavy thud. The smack of dead weight reverberating throughout the cobbler’s shop signaled the end of Matthew’s mission. The rise and reign of the old world hunters in Manhattan had been short and ended just as concisely. After that first night, Matthew had been tasked by Stick to lead the effort to eliminate them. Word had gotten out about the attack on their coven and many other vampire groups across New York city had jumped at the chance to proactively defend themselves by working alongside Matthew. And in a city as large as New York with a human population big enough to support and feed a vampire population larger than any city in the old world the Hunter’s didn’t stand much of a chance. They were rootless in a forest of predators.
Sunlight streamed down in the mid summer heat as Matthew exited the shop. It seeped into his hair and shirt, warming him with it’s light. One of the finer things he had come to enjoy since his change was the warmth from the sun light. Second only to body heat from a human, it wrapped him in a soft glow and he reveled in every moment. His blindness served him better now as a vampire than it ever had as a distraction tool when he was human. Stick had told him once, when he was just a boy, that vampire’s vision was too keen to be out in the day, sunlight making it too intense. It left them to hunt and live in the night when their prey was fewer and far in between. But Matthew had no such restriction, he heard and felt everything with no regard to the sun. He was the perfect predator strolling down a crowded street.
Sleep was of course still a necessity, and Matthew could choose to sleep at night if he wanted. Usually though he kept normal vampire hours, sleeping through most of the day and being active in the night hours. Those were the hours Elektra kept, and the rest of the coven, so he would hate to miss out on his time with her for petty things like prowling during the day. No, he only chose to deviate from that schedule when there were special tasks that required his special talents. Eliminating the Hunters had been one such activity, posing as a human to catch them off guard had been the most useful weapon in his arsenal. Matthew had started with the remaining Italians that had initially attacked them, then moved to the Chinese, Japanese, French, and every other family in every neighborhood they could find. The cobbler’s family had been German and now, with them eliminated the last known old world Hunters were gone.
Matters could return to some semblance of normal now. Like how Matthew slipped between the covers of his bed to nestle up against Elektra when he made his way back to their safe house. It was only noon, he still had time to catch a few hours sleep before their evening took off. When he slept now it was dreamless. Sleeping was a time warp, one moment he laid his head down to the pillow and the next he was rising at the same time as Elektra. His bodily instincts whispering to his mind that it was sun set.
“Did you take care of them?” Elektra purred, wrapping her body around his.
Matthew yawned and stretched his arms out, landing them on her torso, “Yes, I don’t think the wife knew. She acted like she had never seen a vampire before. He must have married her and never told her he was a Hunter.”
“Matthew, you know you have to kill them all. Hunters are familial, if you hadn’t killed that man’s children he would have raised them to be Hunters too.”
“I know, I know,” Matthew said, leaning in for a kiss. “Maybe I just need something to take my mind off my terrible guilt.” He nipped playfully at her jawline.
“Mmmmm, you have been such a good boy,” Elektra breathed as Matthew mouthed his way down her neck, “I suppose you deserve a reward for all your hard work.”
Elektra wrapped her legs around Matthew’s waist and used her body weight to flip them so she sat straddling his hips. She pinned his shoulders down with her hands and leaned down to suck-bite-lick-kiss her way down his bare chest.
“You know what I think I like best about you now?” she purred again when she made it to the waistband of his trousers.
“I’ll bite you back now?” Matthew nearly panted.
“Humm, yes that is nice,” She mused, her breath ghosting over his skin, “But what’s better is that I don’t have to be gentle with you anymore.”
Matthew laughed, “You were never gentle with me before.”
Elektra smirked as she dragged the fabric of his trousers lower. Matthew was about to learn just how wrong he was.
…
That evening they needed to check back up on the coven on the East Side docks. A few months ago, shortly after Matthew had become a vampire, he and Elektra had visited them to give them Stick’s accords and conditional permission to exist in the city. They had accepted them without much fuss, but now it seemed the situation had evolved so they needed a check up.
“Elektra! Matthew!” Mina, a thin and shaky looking girl called as they walked into the back alley of the warehouse her group lived in. “Congratulations on your work on getting rid of the Hunters.”
“Yes, Matthew can be quite the crusader when he puts his mind to it,” Elektra agreed.
“What brings you here this evening?” She asked, cutting through pleasantries.
Matthew had began to prowl at this point, uninterested in Elektra and Mina’s small talk. Because that’s what it was, small. Matthew knew the big picture of why they were here this evening. Part of Stick’s condition’s for living in his city was that vampires were not to draw too much attention to themselves. For vampires to flourish they needed anonymity, and with a vampire population as large as Manhattan had there was no room for mistakes lest the whole species be revealed. There had been hints of betrayal to that anonymity on the wind from this coven. There were whispers and rumors just loud enough for Matthew and a few more keen vampires to hear. If he could find it, that means it was only a matter of time before the information became more wildly know, namely that humans heard it’s echoes.
The sin they had committed wasn’t exactly a grave one, it was in the execution of their actions that made it a violation. This small rag tag group squatting on the docks of the East Side had decided to keep humans. Stick had done the same thing with him, and other covens had their pets as well, but what made this particular group dangerous was how ill equipped they were for exposure to humans and the sheer number of humans kept. Madame Gao’s coven kept nearly 3 dozen humans, but she was ancient and knowledgeable enough to rule with an iron fist with no chance for them to expose her. This coven was only a dozen young vampires keeping nearly as many humans and they let them roam with almost complete freedom. It was a recipe for disaster.
“I can’t let you go in there,” Mina interjected in the middle of his hunt.
Matthew recoiled at that, “And why is that?”
There had been a distinct vibration coming from a side door of the warehouse. Off from the main alley entrance and blending into the shadows, it was a fantastic hiding place. Matthew knew that was where they had hidden their humans when they caught wind of his and Elektra’s approach. The fact they were hiding their humans was admission enough of their guilt.
“I won’t let you kill them,” Mina stated. Matthew could hear the iron resolve in her voice to protect, but also just the smallest waiver of fear.
She feared him.
“Who said anything about killing them?” Matthew felt his lips curl into a smile.
“I won’t pretend you’re dumb Mina dear,” Elektra said taking point on the conversation. “We all know why Matthew and I are here, but there are still options for the out come.”
The rest of the coven had trickled outside by this point. Bodies without heart beats, breathing out of habit rather than necessity, surrounded Elektra and him. The one closest to him smelt faintly like Mina. Matthew had the quick thought that she must be to Mina what Elektra was to him.
“You can hand your humans over and no blood has to be spilled,” Elektra continued on, “or we can take them as your own cost.”
“What? And let you keep them as cattle?” Mina snarled.
“I turned out fine didn’t I?” Matthew quipped.
Mina changed her posturing, flipping her direction of attack, “They are our friends, family, and lovers, I can’t let you take them from us.”
“They’re a liability,” Eletrak countered.
“You don’t betray those who you love, and they don’t betray you.”
In her boldness, Mina had taken just one too many steps towards Elektra. Responding out of instinct, Matthew inched towards the two ready to jump at the slightest movement. At that moment the woman who smelt like Mina felt the same protective urge except she used it to lunge at Matthew. There was no return from that point, the tussle between Matthew and the woman grew to include Mina, then Elektra and before anyone had a chance to calm down the whole coven was descending on the pair. The sheer numbers of the fight, a dozen against two, made Matthew pant and sweat with exhaustion, but in the end the pair of more seasoned fighters prevailed. When the dust settled Matthew was pretty sure one of his collar bones was broken, he had blood on his teeth and a couple of Mina’s coven was dead, including her lover. The rest were broken and battered, but nothing a vampire couldn’t recover from. They laid sprawled out across the back alley courtyard in varying states of consciousness and mobility. Mina herself watched as Matthew strolled over to the side door she had been protecting. She was helpless with a broken leg and had to watch as he kicked the locked door open.
“There’s no need for panic,” Elektra soothed as the humans inside let out little screams. “We’re all just going to take a little walk uptown.”
There were ten of them in total. They would take the humans back to their safe house and let Stick decide what to do with them. He might decide to keep one or two, but more than likely he’d see if he could shuffle them off to other covens. These people hadn’t done anything wrong in living with Mina’s coven, but they couldn’t be left to their own devices. If the groups Stick placed them with kept them or killed them that didn’t matter, it was only important that they were kept under control.They all filled out meekly and followed Elektra and Matthew back to the safe house.