A-Cup Angst Ch. 10

"I'm not omnipotent. I know that. But this isn't some civil war in a shithole I can't even find on a map, or global warming we're talking about. This is a bunch of unscrupulous murderers that are on the loose and I am the only one that can find them and stop them. Section isn't going to do shit. We are packing up our vampire hunting gear and we are totally going to go hunting. That's an order! Nova, give us a rundown of all the names Miss Ford spoke of!"

Nova had managed to correctly identify each and every person Caitlin had spoken of. It told them that two hundred and thirty three of the two hundred and forty two names had been using their credit or debit cards indoors in the last few days. The fact that they were able to enter structures meant that they weren't vampires. The remaining nine people, however, dropped off the grid, much like a vampire must.

"These nine are almost certainly vampires," Jamie said. "We are going to go and pay them each a visit. Pack up and go say goodbye to your parents, wheels up in forty minutes!" His slaves left the room to follow his orders. "Nova, get some security images of these people using their cards and verify it's really them and not someone that just looks like them and they made them do it. I don't want a vamp to escape our sweep by being crafty like that."

"Yes, Jamie," Nova said.

"And forward all the names to Moran. Tell him it's a list of people who were given copies of the ritual and that Section needs to run down the names to identify the vamps and make triple sure the ones that chose not to go through with the ritual don't change their minds. Don't mention Caitlin, though. I don't want her to get in any trouble for this. She's been punished enough, already."

"Yes, Jamie."

They left the room and descended the stairs to find Caitlin and Helena sitting at the kitchen counter. Helena was frying up some eggs and bacon that Caitlin was eyeing hungrily. It was the first meal of her own choice in months.

"Everything all right down here," Jamie asked. "Did you get in touch with your family?"

"Yeah," Caitlin said, "They're okay, they were just worried sick. I told them to call off the search and that I'll be back home soon. They were too relieved to ask any questions."

"But they will ask when you come home," Jamie said. "Have you given any thought to what you'll tell them?"

"Yeah, but I don't know," she said. "I'll get my grandmother, who is a magician herself, to spin a cover story. I've decided that everything was her fault, in the end, and she has to make it right with my parents and brothers."

"Well, that's up to you," he said. "We would just be grateful if we were never mentioned in your story."

"Oh, yeah," she said, emphatically, "sure. No problem. You got it."

"Thank you."

"No, no," she said, "thank you!" She smiled a radiant smile at him. Jamie looked at her and wondered if she would fly into his arms for a big hug. He thought he could sense her desire to do so. She settled for a nervous, little laugh and a pat on his shoulder. "Yo-you're not really going to go hunting for vampires, are you?"

"Yes, we are."

Her eyes opened wide and she looked to be on the verge of tears. "Listen, I don't mean to be disparaging of your abilities, or power, but-"

"Nothing you say or do is going to change our minds," Jamie said, with an easy smile. "We know the dangers and the risks involved and we know how to overcome them. We've already done this, before."

"My grandmother would say, 'Once confident, twice lucky-'"

"Thrice dead," Jamie finished the saying. He put a finger against her soft, red lips and shushed her quiet. Caitlin's protests stopped, but her giant, blue eyes pleaded with him. "Don't you worry 'bout a thing," he said. "We got it all covered. You just have some food and then you can go home." He gave her a small wad of cash. "This ought to be enough to get you there. You go and be with your family. We will take care of this."

When he took his finger off her lips, she quickly said, "But it's my mess!"

"No it isn't," he said over his shoulder as he was walking to the door, "but we'll clean it up all the same!" He paused at the door. "If you want to help, take care of Marin Hunter and try and find out who the spirit that originally possessed you was. Just in case there are others like it, lurking in the shadows, waiting to come out and make more vampires." Caitlin gave him a little nod and Jamie left to go pack his things.

Helena set Caitlin's plate before her. Caitlin took a long whiff of the savory smell and then dug into it with the zeal of the starving. She moaned her approval of the taste. Helena smiled at the wordless compliment. Their eyes met and she read the worry resurfacing in Caitlin's. "Don't worry," she said, "we've done this before. As a matter of fact, the very first time we went off to get medieval on a vamp's ass, we barely escaped with our lives. We are not going into this with high hopes and blind optimism, we know what we're doing."

Caitlin swallowed her mouthful and reluctantly nodded. Everything she had ever learned of vampires, suggested these young people are about to become vamp fodder, especially when coupled with their seemingly overconfident manner. However, if their claims were true, then they might just be vampire slayers. They certainly managed to save her from her doom. She raised her glass of orange juice in a toast and said, "May the spirit of Buffy guide you in your hunt!"

Helena returned a blank stare at her toast and Caitlin turned her face down to eat her food. After she was finished, Helena washed the dishes, dried them and put them away. She ushered Caitlin out of her house and locked it. Caitlin saw that the windscreen on the Camry had been replaced. Helena reminded her that returning the car to its owner was her job and left for the airport. Caitlin grinned. She would have been terribly annoyed at being left in someone's front yard like that, but she was still floating on a cloud of her newfound freedom. She snapped her fingers, glad for the simple freedom to do so at will, and looked all around herself. "I'm free," she declared, loudly, to the empty street. She laughed out loud and got in the Camry. There was life to be lived and no time to waste.

Nightfall saw the gang land in Seattle. There were two suspected vampires there. Two more waited in both Portland and Los Angeles; while San Francisco, San Diego and Sacramento had one suspect each. Jamie chose to sweep the coast from north to south. They had to wait until dawn for their SUVs to arrive, and then they drove to the first suspect's house.

Her name was Jessica Stansfield and there was no one home. Jamie unlocked her front door with a small investment of his power and a flick of his finger. They snuck inside, split up and examined the entire house, looking for anything they could use to scry on her. The whole place was covered in dust, as it had not been used for more than a month. They found some hairs in a drain.

"This girl was a loner," Sandra said.

"How do you figure," Jamie asked.

"Nothing but moldy, old, takeout boxes in the trash," she said. "No pictures of friends or family on the walls. Plus, I've seen her wardrobe."

Jamie's brow drew down. "I saw her clothes, too. There's nothing wrong with them."

Sandra and the girls smirked. "Let's just say that her clothes indicate her lonely status was going to continue, indefinitely."

"Also," Ray said, "she's fuck ugly. No wonder she's single." He held up some photos of her. "I wouldn't fuck her if she paid me!"

"You'd fuck anything with tits," Felicity said.

"Shut up, you two," Jamie said, "and clear some room for us downstairs. We're scrying on her, right away."

They gathered round and the four casters pooled their power to cast a scrying spell. Jamie didn't know if they could penetrate the vamp's concealment spells, but he was determined to have them do their level best. Their spell rose and fell like a tidal wave of mana that threatened to rend reality itself. It roared its refusal to be denied. The casters strained to govern so much raw power and focus it into a single spell. They concentrated so much that they didn't notice the symbol on their map move to a location.

"Hey," Sandra exclaimed. "It's working! We got a location! It worked!"

The casters peaked at the map and dropped their efforts. "But," Rose said, "we haven't even..."

Jamie shrugged, catching her meaning. They had hardly even begun their scrying chant when the symbol moved. "I guess she isn't warded," he said. Everyone shared uneasy looks between them. "Fuck it! We're going there to scout things out. She's an evil, bloodthirsty fuck, not a genius. She might have just forgotten to renew her wards, or something. Anyway, it looks like she's at a highway overpass. She might be hiding under it for lack of places to go."

They obeyed his order and left Stansfield's house to go to this overpass she was at. When they drove close, Jamie's gut instinct told him he shouldn't be there. Rose scryed again and confirmed that the vampire was at the overpass. Jamie took out his binoculars and saw that the overpass contained nothing but cars. "She's definitely under it," he said. He observed their surroundings. "Open range as far as the eye can see. We can't sneak up on her." He considered the traffic on the overpass. "Suggestions?" His gang exchanged looks and shrugged or shook their heads no. "We'll just storm her hideout and take her down. Let's wait for the traffic to ease up. I want minimal chances of witnesses or collateral victims."

Everyone nodded and settled in to wait. Just before sundown, the traffic decreased a lot and Jamie called, "Go time! Ray, Felicity, you two counter her spells! Nova, you reduce her to a puddle with 'Old Painless'! Sandra, Helena, stay with the cars! Rose, you and I are on support and capture!" He took out a set of vampire bindings and handed it to Rose. He took another set for himself.

They walked up to the side of the overpass and gave each other one last look. For all the preparations and power they wielded, they were still going after a fresh vampire and they each knew how risky it was. Jamie swallowed back his nervousness and nodded. They ran into plain view of anyone under the overpass.

They saw nothing but a ratty, old tent there. Ray and Felicity took flanking positions as Nova strode forward, effortlessly carrying the Avenger cannon and pulling 4000 rounds on a cart behind her. Rose and Jamie walked behind the gynoid, casting uneasy glances all around. It looked like no one was there. They advanced carefully.

When they got halfway to the tent, Nova whispered, so quietly they barely heard it, "I hear noises from the tent."

Everyone took note of the warning and focused all of their attention to the tent. Just as they did that, the flap on the tent opened up and a woman crawled out. She had long, dark hair and was wearing skimpy underwear. Despite his fear at the imminent fight and loads of adrenaline coursing through his veins, he noted that she had a perfectly proportioned body. She stood and stretched, giving him an opportunity to truly appreciate her sexy form.

Her head suddenly turned towards them and her beautiful face twisted up in hatred. Jamie's instincts punched through his fog of lust and told him the gorgeous woman was definitely a vampire. She broke into a run at them, using all of her magic to enhance her considerable speed. The Avenger roared to life and a steady stream of hot lead drew a tangible line between the gynoid and the vampire.

The vamp tried to duck, but the gynoid's aim was infallible. Ray and Felicity tore down the woman's shields as fast as she could put them up and the hundreds of biting pieces of lead that were striking her each second began to override her super healing. Her spectacular, naked body turned slowly into a humanoid pile of mush that fell down to become a puddle of chunky blood.

The rotary cannon went quiet and Jamie let out a breath he didn't even know he had been holding. Everything went off much better than he had hoped it would. He saw a set of bindings fly up into the air and slowly fall towards the hourglass shaped blood stain on the concrete. Rose had deployed her set. It assumed the woman's shape and descended to imbed itself into the rapidly reforming body and fuse irreversibly with each and every cell as it was regenerated.

Jamie walked over to within reach of the slowly rising mess. When he could spot ears reforming on the sides of the head, he said, "Follow my orders! Harm no one! Drain no one! Don't use your magic for any reason! Do not attempt to leave my presence! Follow me! Be silent!" The woman's body reformed and she knelt before Jamie, staring up at him with murder in her eyes. "Cut the glare, cunt!" Her face adopted a significantly more polite expression. Ray and Felicity looked through the tattered remains of her tent and shook their heads when Jamie gave them an inquiring nod.

Jamie turned around and led his group back to their rented cars. The woman obediently got up and followed him. He ordered her into the back seat. Nova stowed away the cannon and ammo cart and sat next to her. The twins sat in the second car. On Jamie's order, they drove on to the second vampire suspect's house. "You will answer all of our questions truthfully and completely," Jamie said. "Where is Jessica Stansfield?"

"I am Jessica Stansfield," the vampire said.

Jamie turned around in his seat and looked her up and down. "Bullshit," he said. Jessica Stansfield was a plain looking woman, not a Jessica Alba look-alike. "Nova, check her fingerprints."

Nova took the woman's hand in its own and peered closely at the ridges on her fingertips. "Jamie, these fingerprints match the ones in Stansfield's police file," it said.

"Well, I'll be fucked," Jamie said. "How did you manage to change yourself so much?" As soon as he asked the question, his lips tightened in regret. He already knew the answer.

"I drained people of their life force to alter myself," she said.

"Good grief," Sandra commented from behind the wheel.

"How many," Jamie asked.

"I honestly don't know," she said. "Ten? Twelve? They were at a picnic party and I didn't keep count. I just let my desire for beauty take over."

"So you killed a dozen people just to make yourself look better," Jamie said, barely containing his rage. "And that's not counting the six innocents you sacrificed to become a vampire?"

"No," she said. "Look, I-"

"Don't speak unless it's to answer one of our questions," Jamie said. He giggled maniacally. "That's, that's, that's..." He shook his head and laughed bitterly. "Doesn't even know how many..." He bit his lip and nodded to himself. He looked out the window and pointed. "Sandra, park at this gas station!"

Sandra pulled in and parked. The other car followed her lead. No one noticed the gorgeous, naked woman in the back seat. The cars were warded to be inconspicuous. Jamie got out and said, "Stay in the car, cunt!" The vampire obeyed. Jamie went inside the convenience store. Ray, Rose and Felicity jumped out of the follow car and rushed after him, confused at the unexpected stop. They exited the store in a moment and got back in their car. Jamie came out too, less than a minute later.

He got back in his seat and said, "Drive!" Sandra pulled out and resumed driving to the second vamp's former home. Jamie had a bag and pulled something out of it. He unpacked the item and revealed it to be a box cutter. He handed it to the vampire. "Cut yourself until further notice. Make it deep and frequent." The vampire nodded and began to slice her skin open. It healed nearly instantaneously, but the pain was evident on her face.

The second suspect's home was an apartment that was already rented out to a new resident. The building manager was charmed into giving them access to the basement where the former tenant's things were boxed up and stored. They rummaged through them until they found a used toothbrush. A quick scry showed that the vampire, named Jake Ryman, was warded against it. Jamie huffed and gave out orders. The casters split up and went all over the neighborhood to charm people into telling them about their ex neighbor.

Not one of his neighbors had anything nice to say about him, once they started talking honestly. He had been a loudmouth with a nasty temper and a violent streak. Many thought he had connections with the mob. Jamie was amazed that the man, who had only been living in this neighborhood for eight months, had managed to leave such a strong and unfavorable impression on everyone that had met him.

Armed with the portrait of his character that the neighborhood gave them, they finally understood the big gaps in Nova's file on the man. Ryman had lived all over the States, but had years of gaps between residences, during which he had completely vanished. Jamie guessed the man must have been in Section lockup during those years. "Great," he said, "a fucking jailbird vampire."

They parked at a bar and grill in the man's former neighborhood and went inside for lunch. Nova stayed outside to guard the naked vampire that was cutting on herself and it proceeded to crunch every single speck of data even remotely connected to the man's life. By the time Jamie and his gang finished lunch, its heuristics had cobbled together a theory it couldn't disprove.

"Jamie," it said, "I have a working theory on Ryman's movements for the past decade. It has a 36% chance of being correct."

"Lay it on me," Jamie said.

The gynoid then proceeded to explain how three different women had filed restraining orders against Ryman, the vampire suspect they were searching for. Their photos were not identical, but they shared similar traits, and each woman had a son that shared the exact same birth date and first name. Nova postulated that the three women are one and the same that is living on the run from Ryman, who is the father of her child and that the discrepancies between their photos are due to obscuration wards, like the ones he and his slaves use.

Jamie nodded along with the explanation. It seemed a bit far fetched that a witch would file for a restraining order in a mundane court of law, three times, but they had nothing else to go on. "So, how do we find this woman," he asked. "And, more to the point, how do we find Ryman's son?"

"The woman changes her identity and profession with each move so she is very tough to track online," Nova said.

Sandra piped up with, "She must be doing everything in her power to make the transitions as easy as possible for her son. We should see what his interests are and maybe we can find them that way."

"Do it," Jamie said to Nova. After a few seconds, the gynoid reported having found a single parent household that has a very high probability of being the one they need. "Pinpoint their current locations and let's go!"

They got in their cars and soon found the boy walking home from his bus stop. Rose simply walked up to him, smiled, laid some charm magic into his brain to distract him and trimmed a small lock of his long, sandy hair. The boy gave her a smile and continued on his way home.

Rose came back to the cars and handed the hairs to the twins. "I always thought you needed a relative's blood to cast blood hexes," she said to them.

"Nope," Ray said.

"It's called blood magic because it involves your blood relatives," Felicity said, "not because it necessarily involves anyone's actual blood. It does work best with blood, that's true, but you can use hair, just as well."

The twins cast their blood hex on the hairs of Ryman's son and they started to dance in the air, swirling by an unseen and unfelt whirlwind. Finally, their spinning stopped and they coalesced into the shape of a small, sandy-haired fly that pulsed in their vision. The hairs then flew off at a moderate speed. "It's working," Ray exclaimed. "He isn't warded against it!"