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frostyjr2
Well-Known Member
The Keeper of Darkness
Ch. 14 - The Hunters And The Hunted
Cannes 1996
Fourteen years isn’t much in the life of a vampire, but it had certainly taken its toll on the twins.
It had been particularly tough on Petra, since she had spent more than half of those years confined to a mental institution.
No one except her brother Peter had believed her strange story about their little sister Vicky being abducted by vampires.
Even he had difficulty believing it at first, and he had actually experienced their supernatural presence first hand.
However, after some time spent following the bloody trail the three girls were leaving behind themselves, he was convinced that they were definitely dealing with something not quite of this world.
The twins had spent the intervening years since Petra’s release studying, training, and tracking.
Petra hadn’t totally wasted her time while she was locked away either.
She had spent as much of it as possible keeping her mind and her body fit for the day when she would be free and able to resume the hunt for her little sister.
The chess games with Dr. Perry had helped to keep her mental faculties sharp, and rigorous daily workout sessions in the privacy of her room had kept her body in superb shape.
Peter had done the same, and had also been able to do some studying of their prey on his own, something that Petra had not been permitted to do by her doctors.
The well-meaning staff at St. Andrew’s had denied her access to any reading material having to do with vampires, fearing that it would only serve to feed her ‘delusional obsessions’, as they put it.
In any case, by now both Peter and Petra had become quite adept at finding and destroying vampires.
They had found quite a few, but had never managed to get close enough to Vicky and the women she traveled with to even catch a glimpse of them.
The elusive trio had been almost within reach more than once, but had always managed to disappear like wraiths into the night before the twins could strike.
Fourteen years of false leads, cold trails, and near misses.
Peter sincerely hoped they could finally catch up to them this time; both he and his sister were getting a little older, and maybe just a little bit slower, too.
Not what you wanted to be when facing a skilled and powerful vampire opponent, much less three of them.
Still, they had always beaten every single vampire they had faced up until now, although both of the twins bore enough scars to remind them of how close it had been to a loss now and then.
Timing was everything when fighting vampires.
You had to catch them when they were at their weakest in order to have any chance at all of eliminating these unholy creatures, Peter thought as he looked back at the previous fourteen years’ worth of battle, almost nine of them all on his own while his sister had been locked up at St. Andrew’s.
Those years had been the hardest for him as he worked alone, in secret, unable to share what he was doing with anyone, his psychic connection with his two sisters muted.
Of course, he had been actively hunting vampires during that interval; in fact, just about every minute of his spare time had been dedicated to that pursuit.
No wife or girlfriend, estranged from his co-workers at his job, his parents dead, no friends to speak of with whom he could share either good times or bad ones … he had become somewhat hard and cold emotionally as a result of his lonely quest.
Yes, he reflected bitterly, apparently vampires could transform you even without having to take a sip of your blood.
The three they were about to face were going to be some of the smartest, fastest, and strongest they had ever taken on, with the added complication that one of them was family and shared their psychic connection.
It was not as strong as the connection between Peter and his twin sister, but it was enough that the vampires could usually anticipate their moves and stay ahead of them, avoiding a fight.
The twins were aware that at any time they had wanted to, their vampire prey could have simply used Vicky’s psychic connection to find them and bring matters to a head.
For some inexplicable reason, they had chosen to remain the hunted … so far.
Well, the reasoning behind it didn’t really matter much one way or another.
The important thing was to not let that make the two hunters careless.
At any moment, their prey could turn around and become the predators, and the Pushkin twins would probably have to pay a steep price for not noticing the change.
Peter started to take inventory of their weapons.
Petra’s favorite crossbow and the steel-tipped arrows she preferred were laid out on the table, ready to be coated with fresh garlic.
It was really just the arrows that did the work; one of those through the heart would put down anything, really, alive or undead.
The garlic was just a little extra insurance.
Peter had never seen a vampire succumb to an overdose of garlic, but better safe than sorry.
He figured it certainly couldn’t hurt … then laughed at the thought.
“‘Couldn’t hurt’? But I want it to hurt; I want it to not just hurt, I want it to destroy them!”
From the hotel bathroom where she was getting ready, Petra called out to him.
“Peter, did you say something?”
“Nothing important, sis. I’m just talking to myself again.”
He pulled his .357 Magnum out of its holster and popped the chamber open, making sure he had a full load of rounds.
All of the bullets were carved with an x, or cross, at the tip.
Dumdums, with the power of the .357 behind them, would leave a hell of an exit wound.
He placed the handgun back in its holster and laid it on the table.
Now it was time to look over the semi-automatic weapons.
The twins were fans of the Heckler & Koch machine pistols; Petra carried the MP5 while Peter preferred the MP7 model. Both guns were light, compact enough to conceal under a coat, had a good rate of fire. and also packed a decent wallop at close range without the penalty of excessive recoil.
Full clips for each gun, plus at least six extra ones apiece.
He put the clips, some C4 and a few mini detonators into a black nylon rucksack. C4 was always useful for blowing open barricaded doors or tombs, or for taking out a large group of too-eager pursuers in a pinch.
Although vampires had amazing regenerative powers, it was pretty hard to come back from being completely blown to smithereens, he had noticed.
He added a few flashbang grenades to the rucksack as well as three sets of night vision goggles; it was always a good idea to have a spare pair of those, just in case.
Petra came out of the bathroom, dressed entirely in black leather. Her dark brown hair was pulled back into a ponytail, and it now had a pronounced white streak at her right forehead.
She walked over to the table and picked up her knife in its scabbard.
“Sometimes you just have to reach out and touch someone,” she said to Peter, as she stroked the sheathed blade almost sensually with her long fingers before strapping it to her slim thigh with a well-practiced motion.
They both laughed at her grim joke.
Hand to hand combat with a vampire was no laughing matter and both of them definitely hoped things wouldn’t come to that, but they wouldn’t be caught unprepared in any case.
Peter picked up his matching knife from the table, withdrew it, and checked the edge.
Honed to perfection, just as he was, and just as Petra was.
He was eager for a fight now, the adrenaline starting to pump through his system.
“Too early,” he thought, and began to breathe and count slowly to ten again.
=================================
Ch. 14 - The Hunters And The Hunted
Cannes 1996
Fourteen years isn’t much in the life of a vampire, but it had certainly taken its toll on the twins.
It had been particularly tough on Petra, since she had spent more than half of those years confined to a mental institution.
No one except her brother Peter had believed her strange story about their little sister Vicky being abducted by vampires.
Even he had difficulty believing it at first, and he had actually experienced their supernatural presence first hand.
However, after some time spent following the bloody trail the three girls were leaving behind themselves, he was convinced that they were definitely dealing with something not quite of this world.
The twins had spent the intervening years since Petra’s release studying, training, and tracking.
Petra hadn’t totally wasted her time while she was locked away either.
She had spent as much of it as possible keeping her mind and her body fit for the day when she would be free and able to resume the hunt for her little sister.
The chess games with Dr. Perry had helped to keep her mental faculties sharp, and rigorous daily workout sessions in the privacy of her room had kept her body in superb shape.
Peter had done the same, and had also been able to do some studying of their prey on his own, something that Petra had not been permitted to do by her doctors.
The well-meaning staff at St. Andrew’s had denied her access to any reading material having to do with vampires, fearing that it would only serve to feed her ‘delusional obsessions’, as they put it.
In any case, by now both Peter and Petra had become quite adept at finding and destroying vampires.
They had found quite a few, but had never managed to get close enough to Vicky and the women she traveled with to even catch a glimpse of them.
The elusive trio had been almost within reach more than once, but had always managed to disappear like wraiths into the night before the twins could strike.
Fourteen years of false leads, cold trails, and near misses.
Peter sincerely hoped they could finally catch up to them this time; both he and his sister were getting a little older, and maybe just a little bit slower, too.
Not what you wanted to be when facing a skilled and powerful vampire opponent, much less three of them.
Still, they had always beaten every single vampire they had faced up until now, although both of the twins bore enough scars to remind them of how close it had been to a loss now and then.
Timing was everything when fighting vampires.
You had to catch them when they were at their weakest in order to have any chance at all of eliminating these unholy creatures, Peter thought as he looked back at the previous fourteen years’ worth of battle, almost nine of them all on his own while his sister had been locked up at St. Andrew’s.
Those years had been the hardest for him as he worked alone, in secret, unable to share what he was doing with anyone, his psychic connection with his two sisters muted.
Of course, he had been actively hunting vampires during that interval; in fact, just about every minute of his spare time had been dedicated to that pursuit.
No wife or girlfriend, estranged from his co-workers at his job, his parents dead, no friends to speak of with whom he could share either good times or bad ones … he had become somewhat hard and cold emotionally as a result of his lonely quest.
Yes, he reflected bitterly, apparently vampires could transform you even without having to take a sip of your blood.
The three they were about to face were going to be some of the smartest, fastest, and strongest they had ever taken on, with the added complication that one of them was family and shared their psychic connection.
It was not as strong as the connection between Peter and his twin sister, but it was enough that the vampires could usually anticipate their moves and stay ahead of them, avoiding a fight.
The twins were aware that at any time they had wanted to, their vampire prey could have simply used Vicky’s psychic connection to find them and bring matters to a head.
For some inexplicable reason, they had chosen to remain the hunted … so far.
Well, the reasoning behind it didn’t really matter much one way or another.
The important thing was to not let that make the two hunters careless.
At any moment, their prey could turn around and become the predators, and the Pushkin twins would probably have to pay a steep price for not noticing the change.
Peter started to take inventory of their weapons.
Petra’s favorite crossbow and the steel-tipped arrows she preferred were laid out on the table, ready to be coated with fresh garlic.
It was really just the arrows that did the work; one of those through the heart would put down anything, really, alive or undead.
The garlic was just a little extra insurance.
Peter had never seen a vampire succumb to an overdose of garlic, but better safe than sorry.
He figured it certainly couldn’t hurt … then laughed at the thought.
“‘Couldn’t hurt’? But I want it to hurt; I want it to not just hurt, I want it to destroy them!”
From the hotel bathroom where she was getting ready, Petra called out to him.
“Peter, did you say something?”
“Nothing important, sis. I’m just talking to myself again.”
He pulled his .357 Magnum out of its holster and popped the chamber open, making sure he had a full load of rounds.
All of the bullets were carved with an x, or cross, at the tip.
Dumdums, with the power of the .357 behind them, would leave a hell of an exit wound.
He placed the handgun back in its holster and laid it on the table.
Now it was time to look over the semi-automatic weapons.
The twins were fans of the Heckler & Koch machine pistols; Petra carried the MP5 while Peter preferred the MP7 model. Both guns were light, compact enough to conceal under a coat, had a good rate of fire. and also packed a decent wallop at close range without the penalty of excessive recoil.
Full clips for each gun, plus at least six extra ones apiece.
He put the clips, some C4 and a few mini detonators into a black nylon rucksack. C4 was always useful for blowing open barricaded doors or tombs, or for taking out a large group of too-eager pursuers in a pinch.
Although vampires had amazing regenerative powers, it was pretty hard to come back from being completely blown to smithereens, he had noticed.
He added a few flashbang grenades to the rucksack as well as three sets of night vision goggles; it was always a good idea to have a spare pair of those, just in case.
Petra came out of the bathroom, dressed entirely in black leather. Her dark brown hair was pulled back into a ponytail, and it now had a pronounced white streak at her right forehead.
She walked over to the table and picked up her knife in its scabbard.
“Sometimes you just have to reach out and touch someone,” she said to Peter, as she stroked the sheathed blade almost sensually with her long fingers before strapping it to her slim thigh with a well-practiced motion.
They both laughed at her grim joke.
Hand to hand combat with a vampire was no laughing matter and both of them definitely hoped things wouldn’t come to that, but they wouldn’t be caught unprepared in any case.
Peter picked up his matching knife from the table, withdrew it, and checked the edge.
Honed to perfection, just as he was, and just as Petra was.
He was eager for a fight now, the adrenaline starting to pump through his system.
“Too early,” he thought, and began to breathe and count slowly to ten again.
=================================
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