Chapter 34

The Hunters and Guardians had been asked to bring their own weapons, but she recommend each of them stop by after the meeting to have them blessed by one of several priests she had on hand and dipped in Holy Water. She said that Holy Water worked best when administered by a priest and that poor results some had reported may be due to missing this step. She also had several stakes available for team members to take which had been carved from demolished holy structures. She reported having better results with these weapons than others.
“There are one hundred twenty of us assembled here, including my team, which is still scattered across the mountainside keeping eye as we congregate here. Each of you has been assigned to a team, and I will meet separately with team leaders at the conclusion of this meeting. You will be placed in various key locations, and while most of you will simply help form a perimeter, some of you will have more important jobs, such as ferreting out and destroying the Vampire army Dracula has created within the castle. Jordan will be stationed here, and each team will have a messenger which will report back to this site so that he can coordinate between us. I will, of course, lead the raid on the castle itself. We believe we know the layout well enough now and can find and eliminate the monster, though it will not be an easy task.”
She let the information sink in for a few moments, surveying the still-silent crowd before she finally asked, “What questions do you have of me?”
The silence continued, as if no one dared to be the first one to speak. Finally, a man in the back of the room must have raised his hand because Van nodded, and Aaron heard a deep voice ask, “What is our timeline?”
“Good question,” she acknowledged. “We move into position just as soon as we are ready, in an hour or so, and then we will advance on the castle once the perimeter is established. I would assume that will be before three o’clock this morning. How long it takes depends on how easy he is to kill, though I do not expect it to be easy at all.”
“How many Healers do we have available?” asked another voice from the back of the room.
“Several,” Van assured them. “The Healers are currently all sitting together over here—" she gestured to the group where Jamie was sitting— “but they are assigned to various teams depending upon the possibility of danger. Some of them are more powerful than others, and we will rely on our messengers to send word should a Hunter sustain wounds that need more immediate attention.”
There were a few other questions, and once Van was satisfied that everyone was on the same page, she dismissed the majority of the audience, asking the leaders she’d appointed earlier to make their way to the front.
“That’s me,” Ward said, patting Aaron on the shoulder. “You’re on my team, of course, so I’ll see you in a few minutes.”
“All right. Meet you outside,” Aaron nodded, slightly jealous that he had yet to be assigned a leadership role. He felt that he was ready for it; though, on the other hand, he wasn’t quite sure he was ready to leave the London team either. He had learned a lot from working with Ward, and it was difficult to imagine doing this without him.
He noticed Jamie also moved to the front of the group, which did make sense. If anyone deserved to be the leader of the Healers, it was that young man. He still couldn’t believe just how quickly the doctor had healed Frank’s wounded neck.
Aaron made his way outside and looked up at a sky full of stars. The air was crisp here, something he wasn’t used to living in London, and he inhaled deeply, hoping to clear his mind.
“Excuse me,” he heard a feminine voice say to his right. He felt fingers on his arm and turned to see a brunette in a short, dark colored dress that fell just below her knee and a tall blonde in a more socially acceptable length dress standing at his elbow.
“Yes?” he asked, having no idea who the pair might be.
“Are you Aaron McReynolds? The Guardian who slain the Ripper?” the brunette asked, letting go of his arm.
He got this question from time to time, though he was never sure how anyone knew what he looked like well enough to seek him out. “I was part of that team,” he nodded. “And I am Aaron.”
Her smile widened. “Oh, it’s so nice to meet you. I’m Gretchin, and this is my friend Hilda. We are from Germany.”
“Hello,” he said acknowledging each of them. He hadn’t been able to place the slight accent, but now that she had said Germany, he could certainly hear it. “It’s nice to meet you.”
“We were very impressed to hear how you pushed him off the bridge and tore his head off,” Hilda said with a large grin, her accent thicker.
“Well, that’s not quite what happened, but thank you,” he said with a nod. “It was a team effort.” Both girls stood staring, smiles plastered to their faces, and Aaron wasn’t sure what to say next so, he took a step backward. “Be safe on the hunt,” he cautioned.
“Yes, you too,” Gretchin nodded, and the two finally disappeared into the crowd.
“You must get that a lot.”
“What’s that?” Aaron asked, turning to find a man with dark blond hair and light eyes standing at his shoulder. He was dressed all in black, an indication that he, too, was a Guardian.
“That,” he repeated, gesturing at the retreating girls with his head. “Girls approaching you out of the blue, gushing all over you.”
Aaron raised an eyebrow, not quite sure what to say. “Why would you think that?”
“An attractive fellow like yourself, known for beheading Jack the Ripper. I don’t know,” he shrugged, “it just seems like that would get their attention; that’s all.”
“I suppose,” Aaron said, cautiously, thinking it might be rude to take a step away, though he was tempted to do so.
Apparently, the man finally realized he was making him uncomfortable. “Oh, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean… I’m not…. Let me start over and say something a little less invasive. Hello, I’m Christian.”
He offered his hand, and still unsure what to think of the slightly taller man, Aaron accepted his hand. “I’m Aaron,” he nodded.
“I know. I mean… like I said, word gets around. Nice to meet you.”
“You, too,” Aaron replied, hoping his voice didn’t give away the fact that he was still uncomfortable. The man also had an unusual accent, and Aaron couldn’t quite put his finger on it. “Where are you from?”
“Philadelphia,” he replied. “I know my accent is a little strange. I’m a lot older than I look.”
Aaron nodded, thinking it impolite to ask his next question, which would have been an inquiry into how old he truly was, but rather than going down the same overly personal road, he asked instead, “Is your area leader here?”
“No, I came in with another member of our team, but he’s over there with a bunch of Brits, and I didn’t feel comfortable, so I decided to stand over here by myself, that is until I started talking to you. You’re from the London team, but you’re not British, correct?”
Not sure quite why it mattered, Aaron shook his head. “No. I’m Irish.”
Christian nodded. “That’s what I thought.”
Before Aaron could ask what he had against the British, he saw Ward come out of the meeting house, along with the other twenty or so leaders. Seeing Aaron, he waved and began to make his way over. “Ward is only half English,” he whispered to Christian, who nodded, and Aaron thought he might back away to avoid half of Ward, but he didn’t.
“I have our instructions,” Ward said, a small scrap of paper in his hand. “We have two other Guardians and three Hunters on our team that we need to locate.” He was looking around, as if he might know what they looked like.
“All right,” Aaron nodded. “I don’t know very many people, so I’m afraid I won’t be much help.”
“I see Catherine over there,” Ward said, pointing at a short blonde woman dressed in a dark crimson gown talking to a small cluster of other women who appeared by their dress to all be Hunters. “I’m wondering if that isn’t Margot with her. They are both from Russia. We need to find the two Americans and we have another Brit as well, though I believe he’s from the Liverpool Area. Name’s Clive.” He was still glancing around and caught Catherine’s eyes, gesturing for her to come over. She appeared to be tying up her conversation, so Ward returned his attention to Aaron.
“Who are the Americans?” he asked, thinking maybe Christian, who was still standing nearby, though not appearing to eavesdrop on their conversation, might be able to help.
“Two Hunters, Morris and Christian out of Philly,” Ward replied, glancing up from the scrap of paper.
Aaron wondered what the chances were that, out of over a hundred individuals, the bizarre Guardian standing next to him would happen to be on the same team. Shaking his head, he let out a sigh and said, “Christian? Guess what, you’re with us.”
“Are you serious?” Christian asked, stepping over to join them.
“As serious as a stake through the heart,” Aaron assured him. “Ward, this is Christian....”
“Henry,” he supplied. “Christian Henry.”
“Nice to meet you. Do you happen to know where we can find Morris?”
“Yes, he’s that bowling-ball-shaped fellow standing over there,” Christian noted.
“Perfect,” Ward acknowledged. “He’s also our Healer.”
“Really?” Christian questioned. “Interesting.”
“Is he not a Healer?” Ward asked as the ladies made their way over.
“In a pinch I suppose,” Christian answered.
Aaron noticed he seemed to tighten up as Catherine and Margot stepped over, even though neither of the women were particularly striking, and Aaron absently wondered if he was afraid of women.
Ward made the introductions and Christian rushed off to get Morris, who came long directly, trailed by a tall redheaded man who looked to be Clive. Once they had their team assembled and everyone knew each other’s names, Ward began to describe their assignment. Less than three sentences in, Aaron realized this would be by far the most dangerous operation he had ever been involved in, and he wondered what would bring a Hunter here. Those assembled must be highly skilled and confident. For it sounded like the castle at the top of the hill could be a house of horrors for those who might be destroyed by the Vampires inside.