Caylee's Confessions (Caylee's Confessions Series) (5 page)

It
was 12:30 AM and I’d just arrived at Claire’s.  I didn’t usually run late, but
this whole week had been crazy at work.  They’d kept me late every night, to
the point that I wasn’t able to go out on a hunt all week.  This was the first
time I’d had to focus that much on work, but we were trying to get a huge
multimillion-dollar account.  This was a first for the firm, so it was
extremely important.  I’d been working on writing a proposal the whole week.  I
was glad to finally be able to go out tonight on a hunting assignment, even
though I was really tired and not prepared at all.  I just wanted something to
get my mind off of work.  

Two
steps into her apartment above her head shop, and she gave me an up-and-down
disappointed look.  I shook it off, and took a seat on her red lazy boy. 
Claire’s apartment made mine look like section eight.  Everything matched and
had a perfect place.  She had inspirational quotes on her walls, several pictures
set around of places I’d never been, and it had an overall feeling of ‘home’—something
I’d never gotten out of my place. The walls were a bright-yellow in the living
room, with a dark-brown trim that made the black floorboards really pop.  Each
room had its own color and overall design that gave each a unique feel.  With
the amount of time that was put into the perfect décor, if she ever decided to
give up the witch thing, an interior decorator would be a legitimate career
choice.

“You
look tired.  Maybe you should go home and rest.  I’ll leave this for another
night,” Claire said.

“I’m
here—let’s go.  It’s been a stupid week.  I haven’t had a kill since those two
amateur vampires a week ago.” I paused, remembering what I’d wanted to talk to
Claire about.  “Speaking of those two vampires last week, after I killed them,
this guy showed up and started rambling about how he was a vitan.  What’s a vitan?” 

“You
met a vitan?” Claire asked, seeming concerned.

“Yeah,
his name was Shad, and he was a complete chauvinist pig.  He actually began to
lecture me about how I should not be out fighting—that he and his vitans were
here now, so I didn’t need to fight anymore, blah, blah, blah.”  I mocked what
Shad had told me last week.

“Hm.”
 She let out a sigh.

“Well…do
you know about them or what?  And what is his deal?” I asked.  She obviously
knew something about them.

“You
didn’t tell him your name, did you?” Claire asked.

“No.
 We started arguing before I even considered doing that.”  I laughed.

“Well,
that’s good.  And you haven’t seen him since?” she asked.

“No,
I haven’t.” I wondered where the conversation would go.

“Okay,
well, let me give you a short version or you’re going to miss your assignment.” 
She took a deep breath.  “They are basically a society of people who dedicate
their lives to fighting the undead.  They’ve been around since, basically, the undeads
have been, and they are in a constant battle with them.  The men train, from
birth, to become these vitan soldiers.  They, like the undeads, have their own
secret society and council that they keep from the human population, even
though they are human.  They are said to be the only real threat to the undead
population.  They are exceptionally skilled, but any of them I’ve met have been
extremely stubborn and old-fashioned. 

“You
really shouldn’t worry about them; they pose no threat to you.  I can see how
they would have a problem with a female fighter, but you’re not a part of their
society, so it shouldn’t be their concern.  And since you didn’t give them your
name, and considering how busy they are, I’m sure they won’t try to convert
you. 

“They’re
probably coming to this area because of the same reason that I’m sending you
out on this particular assignment tonight.  You see, there has been some talk
around our undead world.”  She grimaced.  “It seems that someone is trying to
gain more territory and is starting to scout this area.  This is extremely
strange, considering our location, but myself and the city would benefit if
this area remained unclaimed.  The only way, I believe, to do this, would be to
basically kill off the scouters.  You see, it’s probably just someone new to
power, or someone wanting to gain power, so if we—well, you—kill them, it will
make whoever sent them think the area is already claimed and they’ll move on. 
As you may or may not be aware of, vampires and werewolves like to claim
territories as their own—the same way that human gangs claim areas as theirs—so
that they will know everything that goes on in that area, run the trades, and
so forth.  Most major areas are already claimed, but there are small pockets of
areas that aren’t claimed, because they’re not big enough.   I think that’s why
it’s been pretty quiet this week, because no one wants to be around when they’re
tracking. 

“Most
undeads, like me, would rather not be forced to join, or pick sides of, whoever
wants to claim an area.  Usually, when one, say a vampire, wants an area, a
werewolf, of course, will want it too, and that’s when sides have to be picked. 
It’s really messy business, not to mention annoying, because then they try and
make you follow their rules.  And I barely follow my own rules, so I’m sure as
hell not going to follow someone else’s.   I’ve got an inside source that they’re
starting the scouting tonight, so you must really be on your game,” she said,
giving me a look-over.  “These will not be amateurs, but there shouldn’t be too
many, because it’s only the first night.”  Her eyes lit up.  “I wish so much that
I could go with you, but seeing as the undead can sense one another, I would
only hinder your abilities.”  She sighed.  “Do you have all your gear?”

“Yes,”
I said as I double-checked my belt.  My stake, check; healing vile, check; and
a small Swiss army knife, check.  I had everything, so she could send me on my
way now.  I’d honestly barely listened to what she said, but I got the main
points.  Vitans suck, and kill the trackers, or we’ll have a ton of undeads here
all the time, because they want to claim the territory. 

“So
where are the trackers supposed to be?” I asked Claire.

“I
know they’re meeting with Lyal at his place, because he is my source on this
one, but there is a catch.”  She paused.  “You see, his cousin is part of the
group that is coming to track the area.  She doesn’t want to move from her
current area, and she’s actually trying to get out of the gang, so when they
come, let the shape shifter get away,” Claire ordered.

“Wait
a sec…back up,” I said, confused.  “Who is Lyal?” I asked.

“No
one of concern.  I promise.”  She smiled.  “He’s a shape shifter, and they’ll
be leaving his house on Third in about twenty minutes.”  She looked down at her
watch.  “He told his cousin that she is to run off because she ‘hears
something.’ So when you see her do this, you can go in to kill the rest.”

“You’re
sure of this?” I questioned her.  “You know what they’ll do if they find out
about a hunter being in this area?  They’ll send hundreds, Claire, and I’m not
comfortable with another undead knowing who I am, even a shape shifter.” 

“I
know this!”  She raised her voice.  “I am not a fool.  Lyal does not know of
you; he only knows that I can help him with his cousin’s problem.  I have not
told anyone of you, Caylee.  Stop questioning me.  Do you want the mission or
not?” she said, agitated.

“Well
of course I do.  I’m just making sure that there’ll be no loose ends,” I said
to her.

“I never leave lose ends.
 Now go!  Lyal lives on Third.  His cousin is a panther.  You’ll be able to
tell by your bracelet, which you probably won’t even need, since it’ll be quite
obvious when you see her.” 

*****

I’d
made it onto Third.  It was five to one, and any minute they would be walking
out of Lyal’s.  I had propped myself onto a second story balcony.  I planned on
sliding down, once they walked by, and following them, until we were clear of
most human activity.

The
door opened below me and five undeads walked out.  The first one that caught my
eye had to be Lyal’s cousin.  She had pitch-black hair and jungle-green eyes. 
This was definitely the panther.  I looked down at my bracelet and an evergreen
color appeared, so I was right on this one.  The next undead, behind her, was
huge and had long, brown, scruffy hair. 
Maybe a bear
, I thought.  As I
looked down at my bracelet, it was an ugly, mud-brown color.  A werewolf?  Shit,
I hadn’t seen a were since I had hunted in the Dukes.  It took all six of us
just to injure the thing enough so Kevin could cut off its head.  This definitely
was going to be a challenge, like Claire had said. 

The
next two were vampires, each showing a strawberry-red color on my bracelet. 
The last one waved at the others, and stepped back inside before I got a clear
look at him. 
Must have been Lyal
, I assumed, then waited until they
were around the corner before I came down. 

For
the next ten minutes, it was the typical ‘run and duck’ cover operation.  I
waited until they were finally in ‘the dead city.’  It was the place, whenever
I had a choice, where I liked to fight the undead.  There were abandoned
buildings everywhere, which meant lots of leverage and hiding places—if I
needed them.  Also, in this part of town, no humans would get involved.  I
still was unsure of why Lyal’s cousin was still with them.  She should have run
off long ago.  Her running off was my key to attack.  I picked up a rock and
threw it as far to the right of me as possible, hoping she would take the
opportunity.

“I
think I heard something,” she said finally, and I sighed.  “I’m going to go
check it out,” she told the rest of her gang.

I
watched as she took off, and after a few moments, I figured she had to be far
enough away.  I waited, trying to think of the best way to approach this, when
her gang started talking.

“You
know, she’s been acting funny all night,” one of the vampires said.

“I
thought the same thing but didn’t want to say anything.  And I didn’t hear
anything, besides maybe a stupid stone fall, and since we are surrounded by old
buildings, I’ve been hearing that all night,” the other vampire said.

“Maybe
one of us should follow her then,” the werewolf spoke up.

“Definitely,”
the two vampires said together.

“I’ll
go then.  My wolf can catch up to her panther any day,” the werewolf said
confidently with a smile.

“I
don’t think that’ll be necessary,” I said, finally stepping out and revealing
myself.  I couldn’t let one of them leave and come back with Lyal’s cousin. 
Knowing she would then be forced to fight as well, four versus one didn’t sound
as good as three versus one.

“Is
this a joke?” asked the amused werewolf.

“I’m
not laughing,” I said boldly, trying to hide the fear in my voice.

“So,
Lyal lied then.  There
are
vitans here.  But I’ve never seen a female
one before.  I wonder if they taste better,” the werewolf said with a laugh.

“No,
vitans are too proud to allow females to fight. She must be a rogue hunger,” one
of the vampires said, and they all laughed.

“Alone,
are we?” the werewolf asked me.  Why did they always harp on the fact of me
being alone?  It was becoming annoying.

“Well,
I call shotgun!” the werewolf shouted to the rest of them.  “I haven’t fed in a
week.” He flashed his sharp canines at me.

“Fine,”
the vampires hissed.  “At least leave us a scrap.  We’ve never tried a female
hunter before.”

I
then watched as the werewolf started to transform.  My body stood dumbfounded for
a minute, because it really was fascinating to watch the man turn into a beast,
but I knew I needed to strike him before he fully transformed.  I waited until
the vampires stepped back, not wanting to be thrashed by it when I attacked the
werewolf.  He was almost full were and had just dropped to all fours as I ran up
to him in a full sprint, and drop-kicked him in the head with my steel-toe
boots.  I watched as he collapsed to the ground, with a wounded dog squeal.  He
hadn’t expected me to strike before he was transitioned.  His fault. 

One
down.  I pulled out my trusted baby from my belt, holding it, waiting for the
moment to let it out in full-force. 

“Surround
her!”  The vampire on the left said.

“You’re
dead now,” they said as they separated and walked towards me.  One coming in
from the right, and the other from the left.  I waited until I could feel them
trying to push into my mind.  Tricky how vampires could do that, but if you
knew it was coming, you could guard yourself against it.  I could pretend to act
according to them though.  I slowly began to drop my stake, like they were
pursuing me to do.  When they were each about a foot away, on my left and my right,
I stepped back.  Then I held out my stake horizontally, so when I pushed the
magic button, it entered into both of their hearts perfectly. 

Good
thing they were around the same height.  They fell to the ground, still
connected by my stake.  They were now paralyzed and their eyes widened as they
realized death was coming to them.  A death I was happy to deliver.

“Fuck!”
I screamed as I felt knives run down my back as my body fell forward and
crashed to the ground.  I’d forgotten about the werewolf.  Those were actually claws,
not knives.  How had I forgotten about him?  I turned my body and kicked up my
feet, barely impacting the werewolf at all, but enough for me to get away from
his grasp for a second.  I got up to face the creature that was currently
circling me and readying his second attack.  I reached for the only thing I had
left on my belt, which was a small Swiss army knife.  “Well, Caylee, it was a
good run,” I said out loud to myself, knowing my fate.