Garrett Grounds's Story

Somewhere just outside of Stones of Isis, a man stood watching the young vampire that was now with someone. He let out a small curse, lighting a cigarette and trying to think up a new plan. He'd been hoping to catch the young boy alone, make the death quick and simple before alerting the other hunters to the fact that he'd seemed to have fallen on a vampire goldmine. He'd noticed how many vampires were here. He was trained to know what to look for now. So he watched silently, smoking before he decided on a new plan.

Putting out his cigarette, he waited for them to go inside before he started to follow. He'd kill the young vampire. No one ever escaped his grasp and he was sure that he'd get ample opportunity to take the boy's life from within the shop if he was careful enough.

---

Dixon didn't calm down until they were in the safety of the shop. Once inside he was fascinated by his surroundings and looking around at all the different things. He was so distracted that he didn't notice anyone come out at first until Mytri started talking to someone. He heard someone enter behind them and disappear into the shop to look around, but he didn't look. His eyes were only on the queen.

"Yeah. I need a cape. So I can be the bestest and strongest vampire ever." Dixon grinned finally, looking from Mytri and then around the shop once more before looking at the queen again. "Yeah. I'm Dixon. And I need a cape." He added, repeating himself.

Risika walked towards the boy, pulling him gently from Mytri's side to get a look at his measurements. Placing her hands upon his shoulders, she examined his width and length. She was very good at her job, as far as dressing people went, anyway. "Come, come." She spoke, guiding him towards the curtain that led back into her personal office. "I don't have many children customers. However, I do have something in the back that just might fit you."

Risika had never been given the opportunity to bear her own children, though she entertained the thought of siring one herself almost daily. That was one of the issues that had put distance between Mytri and herself; the fact that he didn't believe in siring children. As his own venom prevents any victim from growing a single inch more than what they were at that very moment, he only acknowledged strength and agility; muscle and maturity. Not something most children have. This was the basis of her surprise at Mytri bringing the young vampire into her shop. Was he Dixon's sire? Had he given in to another woman's will? The possibilities of the situation tortured her.

In her office, she helped the boy climb atop a foot stool. Then she opened the doors of a giant cherry wood wardrobe, scanning its' contents, all the while mumbling beneath her breath. Pulling the outfit she was looking for out of the wooden case, she held it up in the light. "Ah, here it is!" She extended her arms for Dixon to examine the clothing.

Meanwhile, Mytri had found quite a comfortable seat towards the front desk of the shop. With one foot resting atop the opposite knee, he twirled his cane. Risika had never before looked so beautiful then she did today. Though it still would ail him that she had chosen a life outside of his own. He couldn't help but feel proud that she had done so successfully. Having seen this though, his mind began to wonder to the real reason he had come to Verinotte: Maurana.

Mytri was pulled from his thoughts as he heard something from the other end of the shop. Had someone else come in? Surely he would have noticed.

Dixon was nervous at first. He wasn't too sure of the woman as she held his shoulders and he was a few steps away from Mytri's side. He only glanced at Mytri to confirm that he could go with her. Only once he got his permission did he follow her behind the curtain. He did as he was told and stood on the stool watching the queen try to find some clothes for him.

"Are you really a queen?" He finally asked.

He watched as she pulled out an outfit from the cupboard and frowned at the fanciness of it. "Can I just wear the cape? I like the clothes I have on now." Dixon didn't care how dirty or smelly he might be.

---

Garrett moved around the shop until he had a view of Dixon from just behind the curtains. He couldn't go any further, aware of the other two around. He watched the boy quietly for a minute trying to figure out the best course of action. Poison. A special one that killed vampires. Silver.

Garret removed a dart from his coat and his gun. Dixon was still on the stool. Good. He aimed the gun at the boys heart and fired. At the same time Dixon jumped off the stool so the poison dart caught his shoulder instead causing the boy to cry out and stumble back. Garrett didn't check to see where it had hit. He assumed it was his target and then turned to try and leave unnoticed, hoping all attention would be on the boy so he could slip away. The rest would be hunted by them all.

Risika averted her eyes as the boy asked her his question. "I used to be." Was all she said.

She gently smiled at the boy as he requested to keep the clothes that he was wearing presently. "Well, I suppose, if that's what you wish. Perhaps we could launder them, and wash you?" Having been so flustered by the unannounced visitors, she hadn't taken notice of the boys' hygiene, or lack there of. "My quarters are located directly..." Her sentence was interrupted as the boy leapt from the foot stool.

It wasn't until he fell to the ground instead of landing on his feet that she noticed he hadn't done it intentionally. Before she saw it, she smelled it. Silver. With one bound, she was sitting next to the boy, leaning over him. The dart was sticking out of his shoulder. How had a hunter gotten passed her protection spells? Instantly, she remembered her stock of potions within the top drawer of her desk. She had made two Silver Repellants. They were made for a bigger body, powerful. They were to be the boys' only hope at this point... unless, Mytri was to... Mytri!

---

Mytri's focus was shaken back to the present. Risika was in his mind immediately. 'The boy's been struck down, with poison, Silver. A hunter, Mytri!' He stood and struck out to locate the hunter within the shop. His reaction seemed so swift, it was uncanny. Immediately he spotted a blur by the entrance. The hunter. He closed the distance, grabbing the person by the back of their neck, and throwing him against the facing wall. The force of the throw was so great, that the shelves all broke upon impact; artifacts tumbling down unto the hunter: Mytri's prey, at this point.

Mytri was standing directly above him, grasping his wrists. 'The boy, Risika.' He spoke to his Queen.

Dixon was whimpering in pain as he lay on the floor, despite the queen having been talking to him he hadn't had a chance to answer. His hand trying to move the dart or at least try to stop the pain. Even he knew what it was. "The hunter got me like he got mom and dad. I'm gunna die now." He managed to say, letting out more than a few whimpers.

"Please, I don't want to die. Don't let me die. I want the cape."

---

The hunter was surprised when he felt something grab him. Someone. He had been so close but by the time he was thrown through the air and into the shelves, artifacts falling over him he hadn't had a chance at reacting. And by the time he realised that it was one of the vampires, another artifact fell onto his groaning form, catching him and rendering him unconscious before he could retaliate.

His arms fell limp in Mytri's, the dart gun falling from his hand and several weapons falling from his jacket pockets. All were meant to kill.

Risika cradled the boys head in her left hand, pushing hair from his face with her right. "Shh... no, no. You're not going to die. I've got the cape right here!" She offered a comforting smile, her eyes changing hue. Risika knew that her line of vampiric blood was immune to silver, due to Mytri's magical line previous. Though, immunity wasn't the same as withdrawing the poison from the boys' blood. Perhaps... "I've got an idea, you'll have to trust me, okay Dixon? Know that I will not hurt you." She positioned the boy upright.

___

Mytri was on top of the hunter at the same time he lost consciousness, barely catching the color of his eyes. He was happy to find that he hadn't killed the hunter, he owed Dixon an interrogation. He had promised, after all. 'Dixon!' Immediately he remembered that the boy had been shot, with a silver dart.

Mytri grabbed hold of the hunter's wrist, and dragged him behind as he made his way towards the back of the shop to where Risika was cradling the young vampire. With his cane in his hand, Mytri touched the end to the hunters' foot. A green glow surrounded him; a magical paralysis. He could sense the muscles inside Dixon's body starting to do the same, stiffening due to the poison. Only moments remained before it took hold over Dixon's entire body, his life was at stake, direly. 'Risika, do it, you must! It cannot be me, he is not the same as you and I, he requires tenderness! It must be you!'

___

Risika heard Mytri's voice in her head, 'Of course.' She responded, mentally. "Dixon, I'm going to bite you, okay? It will be similar to your original siring, but different. I'm not like most vampires, I have an immunity to the things that would, are, killing you. By biting you, you'll become like me." Hopefully. "Are you okay with this?" Risika hadn't sired a single living soul in all her hundreds of years. She was on the fence about her immortality, but in this situation, she wasn't taking a life at all, but enhancing it. Truly, no harm would be done; save the temporary pain and fever that took place while the two types of blood infused, then destroying the silver that ran through it.

Dixon's breathing was already heavy and laboured by the time Mytri got there. He was scared and panicking, which wasn't helping the situation. But he was young, his parents had kept him close and sheltered so he'd never been attacked before. Risika talked to him about something but Dixon was finding it hard to listen and stay focused. And he had no idea what they were talking about when it came to the topic of siring.

"It hurts." Dixon whispered. "It's hurting. Make it stop hurting." His words came between his laboured breath, his way of consenting to whatever they were going to do. Whether he had their trust or not was unknown. He was squirming only a little now, slowly his movements moving to mere twitches as the poison took over his small frame causing him to yell in pain.

---

Garrett slowly started to come around, trying to remember what had happened. He was in a different room now. It didn't make sense. He heard a yell and looked down, seeing three people and it all came back to him. He tried to move while they were focused on the boy but found that he was going nowhere. It was then that a silent panic was starting to take over as he tried to fight against whatever was keeping him still.

Mytri stood still and watched the boy writhe in pain as the hunter's poison boiled his blood. It was something that Mytri himself could remember suffering through. If it had not been for his research and determination, he and the entire Damiri Clan would still be at risk of death by silver. It could, however, be said now that he was at risk again, as the scrolls that contained the reversal spell had been stolen. Thank the gods that the immunity had taken hold to his own DNA so that it could be passed on to the next sired vampire, such as what had been done to Risika. Now she, as his own siring days were done, would pass it on to her first sire, Dixon. Risika's own strength, agility, and magic was powerful enough to even match his own. It was going to prove interesting to see how much of a difference she was to make in Dixon's life.

---

Risika rubbed her thumb across Dixon's temple, soothing him. As her canines pierced the thin skin of his neck, she was able to take claim of his mind. Instantly, she calmed him down, relaxing his body. She herself could taste the poison, it was a powerful mix. This hunter knew exactly what he was doing. Her own elixir seeped from her fangs into Dixon's bloodstream. After the moment that it took to make the proper exchange, Risika released herself from the boy, but continued her hold on his mind. Mind control was not something that she was able to do with any other being, save humans, so she did so sparingly, only to soothe the boy, comfort him. She did nothing to alter his knowing of what was going on. Dull blackness was not something vampires took lightly too when it came to recalling the past. This moment was one Dixon would need to remember, if he was to adapt to the changes that came with it properly.

'Just rest now, Dixon. The poison will burn out slowly as my own elixir takes hold within you. It is a process, one you must not rush.' This she projected into his mind, saying it without uttering a single word.

---

Mytri heard a muffled gasp from the hunter behind him. Certain now that Dixon would live, he spoke, "Get him to a bed, Risika. I'd like to talk to our visitor alone." Turning to the frozen hunter, he crouched down and held before him his own dart gun. "So, at this point, I'm sure you know what I expect of you: Cooperation. Now, first, who mixed this poison for you?"

Dixon's heart was racing as it tried to get his blood pumping to expel the silver that had gotten into his system. He was sweating and shaking and let out a small yell as he was bitten. He'd never been bitten before. He was immediately called down though, as Risika took control of him so that she could heal him and stop the poison from killing the young vampire. It wasn't often that a young vampire like him was seen. Or at least not where Dixon was from. Children, unless a necessity, weren't normally turned.

As she pulled back and told Dixon to relax and rest, his body seemed to be limp in her arms. His eyes were closed and though he was conscious and the elixir was working in his body, he had no energy left to move or do anything so he practically found himself cuddled up to Risika.

---

Garrett frowned once Dixon and Risika were gone and his attention turned to the older vampire. "I'm not tellin' you a fuckin' thing." The vampire hunter growled. "You'll all die. He'll die. If he doesn't die today I'll get him again. I got his mother and father and he knows it. He knows we're after him. You all know it. And we'll get you, too. And everyone else here that either is a vampire, or helps vampires." He growled, refusing to answer Mytri's question.

Mytri reached out and grabbed hold of the hunter's throat before his last growl could completely escape. "You mistakenly consider yourself a part of this 'we' that you speak of. Quite confident of your escape, aren't you? Perhaps a little too confident... let's fix that, shall we?!" He nodded, then released the paralysis spell that he had cast. He was no coward, after all. Still clutching his throat, Mytri stood, and slid the hunter up the wall high enough for his feet to dangle. Mytri positioned his hand over the hunter's heart, "You had three strikes, two left. After your third, my friend, I serve your heart to Dixon on a silver platter." He emphasized the word silver, to point out that the three vampires were not of ordinary decent. "We won't be dying today, or anytime soon. You however, well... your life is on the line, literally!" Mytri cut through the man's clothes with his fingernail, revealing his bare chest. Clenching at his throat, he asked again, "Who sent you!? I want names!"

As soon as the spell was gone, Garrett fought for his freedom, kicking out and struggling as Mytri lifted him off his feet and against the wall. He watched as his shirt was torn and his chest was revealed before he started fighting again.

"I'm not telling you anything! You serve my heart to that monster, then you'll not find out anything, anyway. My death won't be in vain. They know I'm here and they'll come for you. Come for you all." Garrett managed to get out as he felt Mytri's hand tighten around his neck.

"You're all monsters and you all deserve to die." He added. "I hope you all die a painful death!"

Mytri chuckled, "Oh you do, do you? Hope I die a painful death, huh?" His facial features turned from amused to angered instantly, "There is no other way to die for one like me other than painfully!" He screamed! "Not you, or your other hunter friends can kill me! Have you no knowledge of what IMMORTAL means!?" By now, Mytri could feel his temper getting the best of him. No, he needed to calm down. Risika and the boy were just in the other room. He needed to leave this place, to keep it as peaceful as it was when he first arrived.

"Your death shall not be in vain, you are right about that." Mytri held out his hand, and called out for his cane in a foreign tongue. Waving it before the man's face, a green hue spilled out into the room. The spell rendered the man's body helpless and only to be commanded by Mytri. "As a matter of fact, your death shall not come. I will see to it that you become the very thing you have spent so much time hunting. The hunter shall become the hunted." The vampire smirked. "Follow me, Garrett. I've someone who would love to meet you." Mytri turned his back to the hunter and began walking towards the doorway to Stones of Isis. The spell would force Garrett to follow. Though his mind and mouth were still completely his own, the spell made it so that his body was not.

"I hope that you spent the rest of your life suffering then! I hope that you spend the rest of your days suffering, locked up like the monster you are!" Garrett snapped out angrily, so far not afraid of anything that seemed to be coming his way. "I will not be giving you any names! No matter what happens!"

Garrett did start to panic when it was mentioned that he wasn't going to die and that the plans had now changed. He wasn't going to have a quick death. He was going to be turned. That's when Garrett tried to struggle again but his body wouldn't follow the mind's commands.

"You monster!" He shouted as his body was forced to follow the vampire. "You monster! No wonder we're out killing you. And that boy in there. He's a monster. He wasn't even sired. He just came right from his mother as a vampire. You need to fuckin' kill it. I killed her and the father and now it's time to kill him!" He ranted. "He's not even a vampire if he came straight from his mother like that. Vampires are not supposed to have children and if they can suddenly, then you're even worse and it's our job to exterminate you all!"

"Exterminated, you say?" Mytri stood before the entrance, and pulled from his coat pocket a pair of black leather gloves. Positioning each finger, he looked up beneath low lids to reveal his true nature to the hunter. "Stand before your Master, allow me to show you the Monster within!"

Mytri towered over the man, horns twisted from his temples to cast a shadow over them both. Red started to dance around the black iris' of his eyes. Teeth resembling icicles spat, "We, alone, have allowed your kind to live and roam about this land. To breath as independent citizens instead of the destructive ungrateful beasts you truly are! WE are not the monsters, my friend. YOU are!"

A candle close by still held its' flame, as it cast it's shadow on the bookcase behind the pair. Mytri's shrank down feet as he took back his chosen form, of the man he was, not the vampire within. Humor lightened his tone as he began to toy with Garrett's mind again. "Though, we can be a tad... hmm.. how shall I put this? Begrudging?" He nodded, pulling open the entrance door, extending his gloved hand for Garrett's exit first, "Indeed, it will be a grudge that I hold against you, sir. You will learn our ways, soon enough."

A carriage pulled up right at the bottom of the stairs that led to the street below. A footman, wearing a black cloak that covered everything up and over his head, opened the side door and stood waiting. "Get in."

Garrett tried to hide his fear at Mytri's true form but his eyes betrayed him. He was scared. But he didn't say a word. Just watched and waited. And then they were moving again, moving out of the shop and to a carriage. He growled as his body was forced to move into the carriage because of the spell, his mind trying to fight everything.

"We are not the monsters." Garrett finally growled. "You kill people so we kill you. And we will continue killing you. They know where Dixon is and when they find me gone and him alive, they'll come back for him. I promise you." Garrett threatened. "Dixon will never be safe. Everyone in the hunter world knows about him because of how he was made. We've been hunting him for years and we killed his parents. Now all we have to do is kill him."

Garrett was sure that everyone would come and get Dixon eventually. "And you will not turn me. I will not become one of you. I will not be groomed and trained!" He snapped.

Mytri sat in the carriage, holding his cane between his legs, palms resting on its' top. He was pleased to find that the hunter's fear was strong. Most humans tended to ramble when fear choked their at their conscience. "Once again, my friend, you truly know nothing of our world, yet." His implication was sound and true as his cane glowed a deep red upon his speaking. "Your friends will not find Dixon. Not now that I see how serious you are about his death. No, you see, I will protect him. Just as I will see to it that you are turned, groomed, and trained." Mytri tapped his fingers patiently, looking out the carriage window, "Then perhaps, you yourself can go find your friends." Mytri waved his hand in gesture, "Of course that all depends on how long your training takes. For all I know, they might have aged and died off by then." He let out a deep chuckle, "Oh yes, I could just imagine their faces at the sight of their own hunter hunting them down to die. What a quest it would be." The carriage bumped across the threshold of The Hollow, as the two made their way towards Wing City.

"I am not your friend! I will never be your friend and I will not hunt my own!" Garrett continued, his fear turning into anger and abuse instead of the man just cooperating. Maybe if he'd cooperated he would have just continued to live his life once he'd given the vampire what he'd wanted. But no, Garrett hadn't done that.

"I will not be turned or trained!" Garrett shouted in protest. "I won't do it. I'll fuckin' kill you. And I'll make sure I get Dixon too. You might be able to turn me but I'll still go after him. I'll still remember that he needs to die!" He told the vampire. "No one can protect Dixon and you're stupid trying. He's doomed."

Garrett laughed. "Do you know he has human friends? Most of them we killed for helping the vampires but some are still hidden. They'll die when we find them too. Just like Dixon will die. Just like you will. And if we can't kill you all like you say, we'll make sure that you suffer badly for eternity!"

"I will not be hunting my own kind. And if I do. I will make sure they kill me. I'll want to be killed. I will not want to be a vampire!"

The carriage pulled up in front of a black iron wrought gate. The driver pressed the call button that set just below his seat on a pole. Static pushed out from the speaker followed by a deep voice, "May I help you?"

"Mytri Damiri." Was all Mytri spoke across the hunter out the window. Instantly, the gates opened, and the carriage was on the move again. Down a small narrow drive, they passed several different modern art statues, a fountain, and a rose garden could be seen off in the distance. At the first appearance, one would never be able to tell the kind of horrors that took place on the inside, as far as humans were concerned.

"It is time for you to meet your Master, my friend."

Garrett had a few glances around the surroundings as they entered and smirked. Whatever this place was it didn't look bad at all. It looked pretty decent in fact. He almost laughed as they continued down the path, until Mytri spoke once more.

"I do not have a master and will not have a master. And you are not my friend." He growled. "I won't be doing anything you say or want me to do. I will never do anything. And if I'm made into a vampire, I'll make sure I get killed like the monster I'll be deserves." He told Mytri.

"And Dixon will die too. You can't protect him. The next hunter won't fail." He growled.

Obviously there was something important about Dixon that made him every Hunter's prime target.

Mytri stepped down from the carriage, "Come with me, determined one." Mytri was positive he was making the right decision, in keeping the hunter alive. Whether he would prove for bait, or information, he would most certainly regret killing him off so soon in his relationship with Dixon. However, he couldn't help but feel bad for the moments to come, for his safety. Maurana had never been known for her kindness... especially where hunters were concerned.

Reaching the top of the stairs to the entrance, the door opened before them. A butler, a rather large butler, stood before them. "Welcome, Lord Damiri. Please follow me." Mytri nodded, and clicked his cane atop the marble floor. "You heard the man, Garrett. This way." Together the two made their way into a sitting room. The room had four arm chairs, and a lit fireplace. "Madame Maurana will be with you momentarily. She is currently entertaining a guest. I have told her of your unannounced visit, she is quiet pleased." The butler muttered, before closing the doors behind him.

The walls of the room were decorated with sharp black and red paintings of glass shards. "So... you were saying something about extermination?" Mytri couldn't help but be amused by the kind of situation he had found himself in again as far as hunters and Maurana were concerned. History truly had a way of repeating itself.