Killing Nikovage Bloodhunter

Chapter 1

June 19th, 2003
Denton Valley, New York

Nearby Woods

My arms were heavy and sweat and blood soaked my brow. I lowered the silver-plated battle ax and surveyed the decimated clearing, but there wasn't much carnage or evidence of the fight. Just a lot of dust in the air and the odd drip or pool of blood.

One thing stood out, almost directly in the center of the cluster of trees. It was crude, grotesque, yet it also felt oddly satisfying to look at, like a bazar lawn sculpture you couldn't quite tear your gaze away from.

The charred remains of a body were pinned to the ground with a foot and a half long wooden stake that pierced the chest cavity and somehow looked like it was freshly cut and whittled. It was a grisly sight, and the corpse emitted a faint odor of burnt hair. Served him right.

"Nice work," Dean said, slapping my shoulder.

"Ow," I winced, gently rotating the joint as I surveyed my allies.

Eight misfits from five completely different worlds that had somehow managed to unite over a murder and one common threat: vampires.

"'Lodie, you good?" Travis called from across the clearing where he was leaning against a tree, the tip of his golden-bronze blade biting into the dirt. His brother was sprawled at his feet, blood weeping down his left arm from a wound that had ripped a large gash through the sleeve of his orange t-shirt.

"Hanging in there," I said, but I was afraid to put any more weight on my left ankle. It had popped pretty badly during the fight. I may have healed fast, but I wasn't going to risk any more damage. "Anyone gravely injured or bleeding out?"

Dean glanced to Sam, who seemed winded, but otherwise fine. They had both lowered their machetes, the blades slick with dark blood from the intense melee just moments ago. Sam stood beside Quill, who looked quite dazed. I'd watched him take a pretty hard hit to the head earlier. There was a good chance he was nursing a concussion, or perhaps he was just in awe that we had survived. I was still processing that fact myself. We must have dusted seventy vampires in the course of ten minutes.

Charlie and Alec seemed to be doing their own thing that involved healing wounds. Light flashed through the clearing as Charlie tapped his wand to his left forearm and grunted in pain. Alec was drawing patterns on his skin with his not-wand. Some point during the battle his bow had snapped and now Quill's longbow was looped over his chest. How the exchange had occurred was unclear, but Quill never liked the long-range weapon. He fought best with that toothpick of a rapier in his hand, although I'd convinced him to pick up an actual sword for this battle.

"It's over," Dean finally said, also coming to the conclusion that we were more or less in one piece.

There was a long silence as we each considered the past few days and how much information had come to light and the lengths we'd gone to in order to kill Nikovage Bloodhunter. The sacrifices were worth it, there was no doubt.

But what now?

It was time to go our own ways, to return to our own worlds. Did we risk taking this new information with us?

"Can I get a ride back to the cabin?" Quill asked, breaking the silence.

He glanced between the Stolls and the Winchesters and I tried not to crack up. A mixture of adrenaline and raw emotions were floating around in my head and if I started laughing, I had a feeling I'd devolve into sobs.

"Sure, man. We can fit one more. Elodie?"

I glanced to Travis, who frowned.

"We really have to get back. We've already been gone too long," he said. "Anyone else headed to the city?"