Chapter 110
Springfield, Missouri, USA, 1925
A thousand twinkling stars hung overhead, and that was all the light that illuminated the densely wooded area out in the middle of nowhere. The sounds of dogs howling from a nearby farm filled the otherwise silent night, and Jamie nervously stuck his hands in the pockets of his jacket.
“It’s around here somewhere. Shouldn’t be too difficult to find,” Jordan assured him, looking through a pair of binoculars the best he could between tree branches.
“Well, you did send Christian to look for it,” Janette muttered under her breath, and Jamie stifled a laugh. It had only been a few months since the Philadelphia native joined their team in KC, but so far Jamie and the rest of them had found him very technologically savvy but not very good with common sense tasks, such as finding the opening to a cave in the middle of thick foliage by starlight.
“He’s not so bad,” Jordan said defensively. “Not bad at all.”
“Oh, I know.” Janette took a nervous step forward. “Aaron said he worked well for him all these years. I’m sure he’ll be just fine.” After Aaron helped destroy Dracula in Walachia, Jordan had appointed the Irishman as the Area Leader of Southampton. Christian had been instrumental to many of Aaron’s hunts, and when he’d shown interest in working on some of the projects Jamie was currently working on, including perfecting the silver bullet and a communication device, Christian had been transferred to Kansas City. He was a bit of an acquired taste, however, and Jamie, like the others, was still figuring him out.
Hannah was the only one who seemed to have no problem whatsoever with him. “Why don’t I go over there with him?” she asked, laying a hand on Jordan’s shoulder. “I think he’s a bit lost.”
“I only wanted to send in one person so we don’t alert the Vampires,” the Leader reminded her.
“I’ll be quiet.” Hannah was always quiet, so there wasn’t much he could say in response. She stepped past them and hurried over to where they could barely see the top of Christian’s blond head over a crest in the hilly ground.
Other than Janette, there was only one other Hunter with them, a younger girl by the name of Maryann, and they hadn’t decided whether or not she would stay in KC or go elsewhere. So far, she wasn’t exactly impressive, but she had completed her training, and headquarters was in desperate need of good Hunters. Janette had voiced to Jamie on more than one occasion that she was hopeful the young brunette would work out.
About five minutes after she’d left, Hannah was back. “We found the opening,” she said, her voice hardly a whisper. “It really is only about a foot, maybe two wide, and six inches high.”
“Wonderful,” Janette muttered.
“Well, if the vampires can squeeze through it, I suppose we can, too,” Jordan reminded them.
“Aren’t they using the larger opening, the ones the speakeasy patrons use?” Hannah asked, folding her arms.
“They are now,” he replied, “but when they first entered the cave, back in the 1870s, they did it the same way the dog who discovered it entered—through that crawl hole.”
“I still don’t understand why we can’t use the big opening over there,” Janette said, gesturing in the opposite direction. Since the cave, which was originally known as Knox Cave had recently changed hands, it was well known that the new owners were using it to sell illegal moonshine.
“Because they’ll know we’re coming,” Jordan replied, gesturing for Hannah to go back the way she’d come.
“They’ll know we’re coming when I fall through the hole and land on my face,” Janette argued, “or get stuck in the hole and have to be wedged out.”
“In that case, you’ll go last,” Jordan teased his wife, “and that way we’ll make sure that you keep them from escaping.”
Janette pushed him hard enough to send him flying a good foot, but he wasn’t hurt, and the Leader was laughing as he picked himself up off of the ground.
“And how do we know they won’t just go through the other exit?” Jamie asked, legitimately concerned.
“Now that Christian has found the opening, we’ll send him back over there,” Jordan explained. “And Maryann.”
Maryann was behind him, and Jamie turned to take a look at her. She gave him a sheepish smile, like she wasn’t sure she’d be much help, and he nodded at her in assurance. Her hair was cut in a pageboy, and she was waif thin. In a way, she reminded him of Vanessa, though she wasn’t nearly as fast, but then no one was.
“All right, good job,” Jordan said to Christian, who was standing in front of the aforementioned crawl space. “Take Maryann and go cover the speakeasy entrance.
“Take Maryann?” Christian repeated, and even in the dim light, Jamie could see Christian’s face go pale.
“Yes,” Jordan nodded, turning and putting his hand on the girl’s shoulder. “Don’t worry. She won’t bite. Much.” He laughed, but Christian looked at her as if he thought she might be a Vampire, and not the kind he could easily dispatch. Awkwardly, he began to walk off in the direction of the other entrance, and Maryann followed behind him without saying a word.
“You sure you don’t want me to go with Christian?” Janette asked.
“No, you’re coming with me,” Jordan said, shaking his head at her. Technically, she was his equal and could do whatever she chose, but she knew he preferred to work with her.
Janette let out a sigh much louder than any of their whispers. “I better take my axe off before I try to crawl through there.” She took off her weapon of choice and dropped it next to the opening.
“Ladies first,” Jordan said, but he was gesturing at Hannah, and without another thought, the thin strawberry-blonde woman disappeared through the opening.
Jamie was next, and while he didn’t particularly like small spaces, nor dark ones, thanks to his experience in the alley, he reminded himself, short of Janette and Maryann, nothing nearby could hurt him. He went feet first and was relieved to find there wasn’t much of a drop on the other side. Falling down a dark abyss into a sea of nothingness didn’t sound too appealing to him, even if he knew he wouldn’t die. He wiggled his hips through the opening and felt Hannah’s hands on his ribcage as he headed for the ground.
Log in with Google Account
Chapters
Favorite
Settings
