Vacuuming carpets and dusting desks was mundane, but it wasn’t the worst job Cowboy Sam, a.k.a. Danny Yokes, had performed in his centuries long life. Still, as he ran the old Hoover WindTunnel over the faded navy blue flooring of Mrs. Lawrence’s fifth grade classroom, he couldn’t help but wonder what might be next for him. He needed to find a way to move on from here, to make contact with Alex or any of the other Hunters who might be willing to help him in some way. He knew there were thousands of Hunters and Guardians who wanted him dead, and though he felt he was fully capable of living by himself in the rustic state he now existed in for as long as he needed to, it was getting rather monotonous and boring. Not to mention, he had never been one to stomach failure. Maybe there was a way he could go back and finish the job….
As he contemplated the possibilities for the umpteenth time that night, the cord of the vacuum sweeper caught on the leg of Mrs. Lawrence’s desk. He gave it a yank, but it wouldn’t budge. “Gall darn it,” he mumbled in his husky voice, as he bent over and gave it another tug. As he did so, his belt caught on a stack of papers, rulers, and other teaching paraphernalia on the counter behind him, knocking it all on the floor. “Son of a….” Leaving the vacuum running, he turned and picked up the stacks of various items the best he could and scooped them back onto the shelf before turning back to the cord, and pulling it one more time, this effort not as human-like as the last, though he had to be careful not to fray the sheathing at the same time. Once it was finally free, he stood back up, noticing there were still a few things on the ground. Rather than going back down for them, he gave them a quick shove with his foot, sending them sprawling under the counter.
Still grumbling, he finished up Mrs. Lawrence’s room and went on his way, thinking someone else could come and clean up the rest of the avalanche. After all, if she didn’t insist on stacking so much crap to the ceiling, maybe it wouldn’t fall over all the time. He turned the lights off, locked the door, and moved to the next room, leaving two rulers, a pair of scissors, four spelling tests, and a cell phone laying on the floor beneath the counter near Mrs. Lawrence’s desk.
* * *
Cadence Findley took a deep breath and clicked the after-market safety to the off position on her Glock. Even though she had been working with the Kansas City team again for over three months now, she still got a little nervous going into a hunt. It wasn’t that memories of the Sierraville Incident clouded her judgment, though it would have been understandable if that were the case, nor was it that she had to readjust to working with more than just a few Hunters; it was mostly that she wasn’t used to being covered by a Guardian at all, except for Aaron, who was usually overseeing the operations from afar rather than participating directly in the hunt, and even though she had tried to stick exclusively to working with Jamie because she trusted him more than anyone else on the team, the chemistry was still just a bit off. Most of the time, she either found herself running away from him in her haste to make the kill—rendering his presence pointless—or she lagged behind waiting to figure out what his intentions were while the others moved in on the mark. They had been working on it, however, in the simulator. And, as the Vampire in question, a thin middle-aged male by the name of Skyler came into view, she steadied herself, hopeful that their practice would pay off.
“You ready?” Jamie, the team’s Healer, asked over the IAC, the implant the team used to talk to each other, which every Guardian and Hunter had installed in his or her eye.
Cadence nodded and stepped carefully around the corner. They usually tried to be more discreet when taking out a bloodsucker, but this time they found themselves in downtown Carthage, Missouri, near the legendary marble courthouse. Though it was a public place, it was nearly 2:00 AM, and most of the humans had retired long ago. This was when Skyler liked to make his presence known, feeding off of unsuspecting street cleaners, people stopped at red lights, or the occasional convenience store patron. He was young and clearly had not been taught the rules of being a Compliant Vampire; sadly for him, there would be no second chances. Skyler’s reign of terror would end tonight.
He stepped out of the shadows in a narrow alleyway between two buildings, looking over his shoulder quickly as he began to walk out into the street, his hands shoved deep into his unzipped gray hoody. It was a bit chilly for an early October evening, but Vampires weren’t really affected by the temperature anyway. They were, however, deeply affected by silver bullets, and Cadence intended to give him cause to cease his miserable existence momentarily.
Across the street, coming in from the west, Cadence could see two other team members, Aurora and Hannah. They would cover him from that direction. Aaron was positioned on the top of the courthouse, and Christian and Meagan were a little farther behind Cadence and Jamie, just in case he somehow managed to bust through their perimeter. That wasn’t going to happen.
She took another step, and this time the movement caught his attention. He hesitated for a second, as if he wasn’t sure if she were a human, a Hunter, or something else. And then, a look of panic on his face, he glanced back over his shoulder, as if he were about to bolt.
Though she was still a good hundred yards from his location, Cadence closed the distance quickly, leaving Jamie behind. As she flew at him, Skyler turned to run, but he only made it a few steps before she knocked him to the ground, his face hitting the pavement hard.
He attempted to push himself up to standing, but she held him down to the ground firmly. “What the hell?” he sputtered as she stuck her Glock in the waistband of her black leather pants and began to put her hands in position to decapitate him. “What are you?” he asked.
Cadence hesitated for a moment; it was as if he didn’t even know what she was, that Hunters existed, that what he had been doing wasn’t okay. She pushed the thought aside, however. At this point, it didn’t matter. He had done too much damage to be brought in and be rehabilitated. “I’m the Angel of Justice,” she replied in a whisper, and then, placing her hands on either side of his head, she gave a sharp twist, severing his head from his neck in one fluid motion. As usual, there was a loud shriek from the dying beast, and then, within seconds, his body turned to ash, leaving Cadence kneeling over a pile of dust, her hands hourglasses sputtering their contents onto the roadway.