Chereads / Endangered species / Chapter 2 - Chapter two

Chapter 2 - Chapter two

I wake to the sound of a large fist pounding on the door of my bedroom I leap out of bed and onto my feet to answer before realising I am still wearing the blood-soaked clothes from the night before as I look down, I see my shoes covered in mud and the end of my jacket sleeve in a bloody stain. I realise I must of came in exhausted from the previous night and collapsed in bed still wearing my bloody clothes as I begin to tear of my clothes, I hear my dad yell from outside the door 'right get the fuck out of that bed and explain to me what you did to this fucking carpet'. This is when I look down seeing the muddy footprints leading from the door to my bed, I then see my sidearm and knife on the side as I shove these and the bloody clothes into a nearby bag and under my bed I yell back 'I'll be out in a minute just putting some clothes on'. As I finish dragging on some pyjama bottoms I had found In a nearby corner, I go towards the door which swings open with enough force to knock me back as I right myself I see my dad stood in the door way a balding man around average height with broad shoulders and a furious temper. He looks down at me and grabbing me by the arm he drags me into the corridor he points to the trail of muddy shoe prints and yells in a voice that shakes the floor beneath me 'what the fuck did you think you were doing you stupid little cunt'. My mind races trying to think of an excuse but eventually all that manages to bumble out of my mouth is a botched excuse about walking home from work and not realising. I then spend the next few hours on my knees scrubbing mud out of the carpet this gave me time to think about the previous night about why she had revealed herself to me after all it's not like a watcher to voluntarily get their hands dirty. I then begin to remember an attack I had carried out only a few weeks ago on a small nest of feral vampires hiding in an apartment in Brum I start to go over the attack in my mind. I think about how the feral vampires moved and had almost worked together at the time I hadn't thought much of it. However, after the events of last night I can't help but consider the possibility that they could have been controlled by a watcher. I had taken out a handful of these nests in the previous weeks around the area but what if they had all been under the control of this watcher this might explain why she would take such a risk by revealing herself. Perhaps she had believed she could take me out before I attack anymore of her nests or maybe she was just trying to get a look through her own eyes to find out who had been attacking her feral vampires. Regardless of her reasoning however I begin to realise that in this reveal lies an opportunity as vampires operate on a form of hive mind with watchers as the queen and feral vampires as the workers and such if you take out the queen you effectively kill any feral she has sired and prevent her from creating any more. This could cut off an entire line of the few vampires that remain since the disappearance of alphas over the last century have stopped any new watchers being created the vampire population has almost disappeared. This is the reason behind vampires disappearing into myths and legend over the last hundred years as they have been slowly found and destroyed making them practically an endangered species. This event has been carried out by people like me hunters who have been trained to find and kill these creatures not out of hatred but to protect people those that cannot defend themselves. I was recruited and trained by tony after he found me under attack by a handful of feral vampires, he decided to train me after seeing me best one feral vampire while unarmed, I managed this by breaking multiple limbs causing the feral to retreat. He taught me how to track and kill them teaching me everything from marksmanship to locating vampire nests and even high-performance driving. He also taught me how to arm myself with weapons such as places and people I could go to acquire anything I could need it was even him who gave me the car and equipped it with any gear I may need in a fight from assault rifles to knives. I begin to remember the nest I recently uncovered in Coventry I was planning on attempting to clear it tonight however with recent events I realise it is probably better to stake it out in case it turns out to be an ambush. By the time I reach this conclusion I'm done cleaning the floors I stand up and walk back to my room I close the door as I enter then as I turn I catch a glimpse of my reflection in a nearby mirror I have brown hair and blue eyes I stand under 6 feet in height with broad shoulders and a slightly odd nose. I turn again to see the bag I had thrown into the corner I walk over and open it to find the bloody clothes my knife and sidearm I stand up and begin to change into a pair of black ripped jeans and a leather jacket. I then take my sidearm and place it in the back of my waistband while I position my knife in the sheath tucked in the front of my jeans I then throw the bag over my shoulders. As I walk downstairs and pull on my boots my dad turns the corner leans against the wall and asks what time I am home and if I I'm going to work. I answer that I'll be working till the early hours of the morning and won't be home tonight with this I open the door and step out feet landing in snow I pull up my hood and start to walk. I tell him I work in a takeaway in town to explain me leaving all night and keep my car parked far away from the house to be honest he doesn't question it anyway. I love the guy but hes not the smartest and he certainly isnt what you would call a calm or understanding person. Most feral nests normaly have some small amount of cash around I take this to fund my work after all "not like vampire hunting comes with a salary and a pension" I mutter to myself under my breath with a slight smile. The night is below freezing I can think of nothing else until I reach my car and close the door, I turn on the heater and rub my hands together to get warm as I start up the engine. The next moment before I can place the car in gear, I feel the cold metallic touch of a barrel I look up in the mirror to see a black Glock 17 with the barrel placed on my temple I freeze for the briefest of moments to consider my options I cannot reach ether my sidearm or knife from my position and I could not turn and aim with my position. I take another look into the mirror at the hand holding the gun its white and hairy with a golden ring on one finger I then look at the man holding the gun and begin to feel my body untense as I see the white hair and dark eyes of tony his face twisted into a childish grin in the dark of the backseat. I take my hand of the blade I had hidden under the seat and casually look up to say with a cocky smile, "I know you're getting up there but even someone of your age must know how to send a text I mean there are other ways of contacting people in 2022 you know". With a short laugh he pulls the barrel from my temple and places the sidearm back in his waist band saying as he does "just thought I would test my favourite student to see how u would do". With this I laugh and say, "aww really I'm your favourite that really means the world to me now shut up and get in the front". As he does, he looks at me and says as if to not care at all "well favourite or only one to survive your choice really". With this I laugh and with a cocky grin say, "Nar you know I'm just your favourite". "Anyway, buckle up we have to get a move on I'll explain on the way" I say remembering the mission I push the car into gear and begin to drive pushing my foot down to make up for lost time. He turns to me and makes a snappy retort about him buying me the car and not wanting to see it destroyed I then turn to him and respond by pushing up a gear and pushing my foot down. As I begin to face forward, he asks whats so urgent it can't wait I respond by handing him an areal photo of a warehouse a few miles east of Coventry I then explain to him my belief that it is a feral nest and may be hiding a watcher. He looks at me as if surprised and says, "well how would u know that there hasn't been a watcher around here for years." I then hand him a map showing the locations of nests around Birmingham I have attacked in the last few weeks explaining the behaviour of the feral vampires how they moved as if part of a unit as if they were organised. He looks almost proud for a moment then turns to me and states, "while that is unusual it doesn't point to there being a watcher in play do you have any evidence to back your theory." "As a matter of fact, I encountered it last night during a raid on a small nest outside Atherstone" I say. He looks at me with surprise and asks how I found it. I explain that I didn't find it and that it actually reviled itself to me this just confuses him further as watchers don't revel themselves unless they have to. He begins to ask if I know why the watcher reviled itself to me at which point, I must confess I dont have a clue. we begin trying to decipher the reasoning behind the watcher revelling herself before we can figure it out however we arrive at the warehouse I suspect the nest to be in it is sat in the heart of an industrial estate with warehouses and factories surrounding it. I park in a nearby carpark facing the entrance of the warehouse around a few hundred meters away and shut of the engine, with the 6.2L V8 off the night feels silent almost sinister to most people it would feel creepy or a little uncomfortable for a vampire hunter sat across from a vampire nest however its extremely unsettling. I begin to relax as tony rambles on about the car even as my hand wraps around the stock of the Remington 870 placed in the door pocket I begin to relax. Me and tony then begin to discuss my meeting with the watcher in more detail with me explaining how astonished I was at the sheer speed at which it moved and how quickly it began to heal. He then began to laugh as I told him about how she literally threw me through a wall saying, "well now I'm deciding if you are my favourite pupil I mean what hunter allows himself to be thrown through a wall by someone half his size". To this I mumble under my breath which I am beginning to be able to see with the engine off "maybe one with a shitty teacher". He tries to respond with a slap to the back of the head which I duck laghing as I do. He then tells me the story of the first watcher he faced a large man the size of a brick wall and built like one too recalling how he took almost a few hundred rounds before he went down as he kept charging at him like a rabid dog completely oblivious to the pain. As he tells his story I begin to feel tired from the night before I had barely slept in the last forty eight hours and I was beginning to feel the effects of tiredness as my eyelids began to feel heavy and I had to fight to stay awake.