Chapter 44
Early for two Guardians who didn’t require the same sort of sleep as their human counterparts meant well before the sun rose, and by 5:00 in the morning, Aaron had collected Jamie and was driving his Buick Century toward the Kahuku Sugar Mill located on the northeast side of the island. The drive would normally take an hour or so, but Aaron’s car was capable of going much faster with the modifications the LIGHTS team made to it, and he was clipping along at a pretty good speed that December morning.
“Did you see Eleanor last night?” Aaron asked as they drove along.
“I did,” Jamie replied, a sheepish grin on his face. “We went to a dance. You should come sometime. Lots of other pretty girls around to choose from.”
This wasn’t the first time Jamie had suggestion Aaron accompany them, and he had honestly considered it. Though he had not had a romantic relationship with a woman in a century, he had dated a few human women in the last few years. He knew he wasn’t ready for any sort of commitment at this point to anything but his work, but he realized he missed the closeness of a relationship more than he’d been willing to admit. He and Catherine had been close but nothing had ever come of it, even after Titanic. Now, she was half a world away and he was in paradise watching a good friend fall in love. Perhaps he should take Jamie up on his next invitation.
“Run the situation by me again,” Jamie said as they approached a back road that led around to the west side of the 6000-acre sugar mill.
“The mill is almost a century old. There are a lot of buildings scattered around the acreage. Some of them are in pretty bad condition; others are livable, especially if the inhabitants don’t happen to be alive themselves. A local Hunter says they’re getting a lot of chatter about a clan of Vampires occupying some of the old worker houses that aren’t in use anymore. He wanted us to meet him out here to check it out.”
“What’s his name again?” Jamie asked as Aaron pulled the vehicle off to the side of the road. In the dim light of dawn, they saw a lone figure standing beneath a tree nearby.
“Taavi Kalani,” Aaron responded. The two climbed from the car and walked over to meet the stocky man who appeared to be in his forties, though Aaron knew him to be much older than that.
“Good morning,” Taavi said, shaking their hands. “Thank you for coming out and meeting me today.”
“Beautiful day,” Aaron replied. “What do you have for us?”
“The houses are over here,” Taavi said, gesturing to a group of three buildings set off from a drive just past the trees in a small clearing. “I think they are in there now. I’m sure they were out late last night.”
“You’ve seen them?” Jamie asked as they stepped back into the trees. They were far enough away that any inhabitants might not notice them unless they were on the lookout, but it was always best to be cautious.
“Yes, and last night we got a report that a young lady was taken from the streets in Honolulu. We think they are the culprits. They are getting more brazen,” Taavi explained.
“Did one of our people actually witness this?” Aaron asked, his concern rising. What had been intended as a scouting mission was quickly turning into something else.
“It was the daughter of a Hunter who claims to have seen it. She has not yet Transformed and could do very little, but she said she could tell by their pale faces that they were undead, these people who snatched the young lady from the street near her home.”
“Well, if that’s the case, we may as well get this over with right now,” Jamie said, pulling his revolver from its holster and checking the ammunition.
Aaron was a little surprised to see him so adamant already without a whole lot of evidence, but he was also okay with that plan. “Do you have a weapon, Taavi?”
“Just the wooden stake I always carry with me,” Taavi replied, patting his pocket. “I guess we are not as advanced on the islands as you.”
“Not a lot of areas are using this new weaponry yet,” Aaron explained. “I’ve got an extra in the car. I’ll be right back.”
He rushed off to get the weapon, hoping that Taavi knew how to use it, and then returned to find they had already formulated a plan. Taavi and Jamie would go around the back of the first house while Aaron made entry from the front and cleared the small home. They would work through each house in the same way until they had vacated all three. If there was noise and the Vampires began to run, the LIGHTS team would open fire.
“If I had known we were doing this now, I’d have brought a few friends,” Taavi muttered.
“May as well get it over with. You said you thought there were eight of them, right?” Aaron asked as they began to move into position.
“That is our estimate.”
“We can take eight,” Jamie assured him. The houses were eerily silent as the doctor signaled for Taavi to follow him around the perimeter and Aaron prepared to gain entry.
Kicking in the front door was tempting; the startle effect was usually such that he could take out an entire room before there was time for a defensive reaction. But since the commotion could wake the inhabitants of the other two homes, he decided to pick the lock.
Surveying the home told him he’d be entering the living room and there likely were only one or two other rooms in the entire building.
The door wasn’t even locked, so he slipped inside without a sound. There was no question that the four bodies lying on sofas and the floor inside were Vampires, exhausted from a long night of victimization, no doubt. Three men and a woman. There was no sign of any human bodies, but he had enough information to validate what he was about to do.
