Chapter 74

They walked briskly through streets James quickly didn’t recognize anymore, having never gone this way before. Clearly, they were heading out of Cambridge. The people around them didn’t seem to notice they were walking faster than usual, though they certainly weren’t going at their peak capacity.
Eventually, Culpepper turned down an alley and approached a door that looked more than a little shady to James. He knocked twice, and the door opened from within. One of Culpepper’s associates James had met several times, Hezekiah, who had been there the morning James awoke to find out he was no longer completely human, had opened the door. He nodded at both of them but said nothing, and James realized he hadn’t ever heard him utter much of anything.
Culpepper led them down some stairs into a basement. The lighting was poor down here, the air dank, and James wondered why they couldn’t operate out of nicer facilities. In the corner, a group gathered around a table, looking at what appeared to be a map. James saw his sister, dressed in her usual pants, one leg propped up on a chair as she stood with her hand on her hip, most unlady like. Across from her stood Cornelia, the cockney orange-haired woman who had been so sure he’d make a great asset to them. There was a younger man James hadn’t met standing next to his sister and a man who looked to be in his early thirties sitting in a chair at the end of the table. His hair was slicked back, and he had an air of importance about him. A few people stood off to the side as well, apparently carrying on their own discussion.
“Culpepper,” the man at the table said as his uncle approached. “Nice to see you back.” He offered his hand as he stood, and Culpepper grasped it firmly. Everyone was dressed entirely in black, except for this man who wore denim pants, a white button down shirt, and brown leather suspenders, an outfit James thought peculiar to say the least.
“Jordan, this is my nephew, Jamie. He’s the Healer Margie and I have been telling you about.”
James wanted to correct his uncle. There was no reason for this man to think his name was Jamie when it really wasn’t, but before he could say anything, the man turned his friendly brown eyes to James and took his hand firmly in both of his. “Jamie, so nice to meet you.” His voice was unfaltering but kind, his grip steady. There was something about this man that instantly gained James’s attention.
“Jamie, this is Jordan Findley, the Guardian Leader,” Culpepper explained.
The words seemed important, and James could remember his uncle telling him that there was one man in charge of all of the Guardians in the world, which numbered in the thousands. He directed their movements the best he could, and when there was a particularly violent Vampire, it was up to this man to coordinate forces to go in and take that Vampire out. He’d said something about the Vampire Hunters having a leader as well, and he thought Culpepper mentioned it was actually Jordan’s wife, though he couldn’t be certain. Disinterest at the time had prevented him from being too conscientious of what his uncle was talking about.
“It’s nice to meet you,” James replied, his words sincere, though he wasn’t sure why. He didn’t want to be a Guardian in the first place, but now, he was here nevertheless.
Margie smiled at him but remarkably said nothing. She seemed preoccupied by the map on the table and the fellow by her side.
“I’ve heard pretty astounding things about your abilities,” Jordan said, taking a step away from the table, his arms crossed in front of him. “Is it true that you healed Margie after her skull cracked open and she had several broken bones, in a matter of minutes, on the very night you began to Transform?”
James’s eyes flickered to his sister, whose smile was frozen in place as she caught his eyes again. Culpepper also looked at him encouragingly. “I did,” James confirmed. “I’m not sure how.”
“Remarkable,” Jordan replied. “And how are your skills now? Have you had a chance to practice them at all?”
“Not intentionally,” James replied, which brought a soft chuckle from the man across from him. James raised an eyebrow, not sure why that was funny, though the laughter was not mocking in nature at all. “I am… was a physician. Sometimes I would accidentally heal a patient by touching them.”
“I see. What happens after you heal?”
“I grow very weary,” James admitted. “Sometimes I pass out and sleep for a few hours.”
“And then you awake replenished?”
James nodded. “It seems that way, though I’ve never tried to use it again straightaway after I’ve awoken.”
Jordan nodded but was silent for a few moments. He raised a hand to his chin and stroked it thoughtfully. Eventually, his gaze fell on James again. “Well, Jamie, we certainly could use someone like you. Culpepper has explained to me that you have no desire to actually hunt Vampires, and he said he doubts you’d even be interested in stepping in and guarding our Hunters. But, we could still use you. It seems we’ve been losing more and more Hunters in the field these days, and having someone like you nearby who could heal anyone who is injured would be a strong support to our side.”
“The Hunter Leader before Jordan’s wife Janette took over was injured severely,” Culpepper chimed in. “You could’ve helped so much in that situation.”
“If it hadn’t happened before he was born,” Jordan reminded Culpepper.
“I mean… in a similar situation,” his uncle clarified.
James thought he realized what Culpepper was getting at. They were losing Hunters; this man’s wife was a Hunter; James could save her if something happened to her. He looked around the dimly lit room to see if one of the figures in the room might be this Janette, but it was hard to say. “I don’t know,” James admitted. “I’ve always been more about keeping peace than fighting.”
“I understand,” Jordan nodded, “and that’s why I won’t even offer to train you to fight if you don’t want to be trained. You could simply observe the battle and then step in if needed.”
James ran a hand through his hair, not sure what to say. He did want to continue to help people who were suffering, and Hunters might be the only ones who could benefit from his skills now that he was no longer easily capable of performing surgeries.
“We also have several on-going projects involving different science experiments that might be of interest to you,” Jordan continued. “For instance, we are trying to make that serum we used to put you through the Transformation process less painful. I believe you’d be able to help us tremendously in that area.”
That was a topic that interested him. He’d always been engrossed by creating new medicines and alleviating pain. “Where are these experiments taking place?” James asked, crossing his arms and beginning to consider the offer.
“Janette and I are currently based out of the Kansas City area,” he explained. “We like to be in the center of the country. Most of our advances come out of there. But if this is something you’re very interested in, we can find a facility for you to work at here in Boston, with the current team, headed by your uncle.”
“A facility like this one?” James asked. Everyone around him burst into laughter, and he hoped they couldn’t see his face turning red in the dim light.
“No, we have a nice office building across the river where most of our operations are centered out of. We are only down here tonight because the Vampire we are looking for has been seen in this area recently.”
“Our team has long arms and deep pockets,” Culpepper explained.
James nodded, wanting to know where the funding came from but not willing to ask. “I… I think that sounds quite interesting,” James admitted. “Could I have some time to think about it?”
“Of course,” Jordan replied. “But I am only in town for the night. I’ll be headed back home to my wife tomorrow. How would you feel about accompanying us on this hunt tonight? It shouldn’t be anything too complicated, and we only have a few hunters joining us.”
“Boston is very short on Hunters right now,” Culpepper said, shaking his head. “I’ve lost some of my best men in recent battles.”
James could see the sadness in his uncle’s eyes, and he suddenly felt very sorry for him. Would it have been possible for James to save any of those people if he had been willing to participate? “All right,” he said quietly. “I’ll go.” The thought of facing another Vampire was terrifying, especially since he still wasn’t one hundred percent certain he was indestructible. How did they truly know a Vampire couldn’t kill him?
He’d already agreed, however, so there was no going back now. Everyone cheered and congratulated him, including his sister, who looked prouder of him now than he had ever seen her before, even when he had graduated from medical school as a child.
“Trust me, Jamie, you won’t regret this decision,” Jordan assured him, clasping his hand and pounding him on the back.
The thought that Jordan might regret it crossed James’s mind, but he said nothing. They would find out soon enough.