Vampire Hunters (Karlnapity)

Chapter 16: found again

Karl POV.

I walked into the cafe and the barista who worked there ran over to me. "Karl." She spoke a little too loudly and got a lot of glances from other customers. "Are you okay?" She questioned. "You come here every day for 4 months and suddenly stop. Did something happen?"

Her eyes were wide but she let out a relaxed sigh as I shook my head. "I just wasn't feeling too well. Spring allergies and stuff. Needed some rest to clear my head." I didn't want her to know anything that could tip her off about me being a vampire.
The barista nodded as she began walking back over to the counter. "Can I get you something to drink?" She asked.

"No thank you. I just wanted to make sure you knew, so that you wouldn't get worried or anything. You are one of the people who see me daily so I thought you should know. Anyway I forgot my wallet." I gave a laugh at the end as I rubbed my back sheepishly.

The barista smiled. "Well that's fine. I can give you a drink on the house. You are one of our best customers after all." She lowered her voice so only I could hear and I chuckled quietly.
She shooed me away playfully. "If you go sit down I'll bring you your regular smoothie in a minute."

I nodded and headed to one of the only empty tables, one by the window which allowed me to see everyone rushing past. Whenever I did come here I usually read my book or was on my phone, but I had neither of those and so I just sat in thought.

Nick and Alex probably didn't know I escaped them. How will they react when they do? Will they go looking for me? I assumed that would be a yes. If they were vampire hunters and I was a vampire they would most likely try and catch me.

If they do what will happen? Will they take me back to their home, or take me to the place where they keep all the other vampires they catch. I didn't know, and honestly I didn't want to find out. So I planned to go back to my home and hide out there for a while or I could go visit my family, say that I was sorry for leaving without warning.

Someone tapped my shoulder from behind me while I was in thought. I spun around expecting to see the barista with my drink but instead I saw Nick. My face fell into a worried frown and I felt like my lower lip was going to quiver. For a moment he just stared at me, and I looked back up at him.

“Karl. We need to go.” He said in an emotionless voice, his hand still resting on my shoulder.
“No. Please let me stay here.” I responded, looking around as people at nearby tables stopped their conversations to watch us. I considered telling him I'd go back to his house later but I didn't.

“Look we can do this the easy way where you walk out with dignity or I pull out the police badge in my pocket and claim that you are being arrested for murder. It’s your choice.” He said again, giving me a sharp glare which made me want to melt into my seat out of fear.

I looked around again before sighing, knowing which way I'd prefer to leave. “Fine. I’m coming.”
He gave me a sympathetic smile as I stood up, feeling everyone's eyes on me. Nick loosened his grip on my shoulder as he began to lead me out of the door.

His hand stayed on my shoulder, directing me onto the road and between the slow moving traffic. As I was being led I saw a black car in the middle of the lane of traffic with the driver and passenger door open.

A lot of people in the cars behind this one were complaining and I recognised Alex talking to people through their window while showing something shiny to them. Part of me wanted to ask Nick what he was holding but I stayed quiet and he had me sit down in the back seat of the car before shutting the door behind me.

Nick walked over to Alex and said something to him before they both walked over to the car. They must have been waiting for a while because there was a big gap between this car and the one in front of it.

For a while none of us talked, Nick was in the driver's seat as he turned off the slow moving road and began driving to what I assume is the place that they worked. Eventually they reached the front of a grand looking building in front of a park which had a large domed roof. Nick parked the car in an underground car park but they stayed there for a few moments staring at me.

“Why were you out in town?” Alex eventually asked, watching me quietly. “You were meant to stay back at our home.”
“I wanted some fresh air and you can’t expect me to just stay there all the time. You guys kidnapped me. I saw a chance to escape so I took it.” I responded.

Nick sighed. “Karl, you don’t seem to understand what would happen if someone who worked here, who wasn’t us, found you.” My expression softened as I looked up to him and listened. “We managed to convince the Citadel council to let you stay with us instead of getting locked away for the rest of your life. If someone else found you they would have had you locked up.”

“Really?” I asked, my voice becoming increasingly soft as the pair both nodded at me.
“You’d be locked away and we’d probably be fired for letting a vampire loose.” Alex stated, and I gave him a pitying look even though I didn’t want to.

“How would they even know I escaped?” I asked them. “Couldn’t I just go back to your house later and pretend that none of this ever happened?”
Both of them shook their heads before Nick spoke up again. “You had a GPS tracker injected into you, at the council's request. So if you run off they can find you.”

This made me feel even more like a prisoner, and tears started rolling down my cheeks. The pair could easily be bluffing, I told myself. They’d just be saying that I had a tracker so they could keep me under control but as I looked at them I felt like I was wrong about that.

Instead I looked out of the window, noting how big the underground car park was, and how many cars were here. “How many people work here?” I questioned, trying to take my mind off the fact that there was a tracker inside me.

“8 council members and 93 vampire hunters work onsite. The hunters either work in pairs like Nick and I or on their own, like our friend Dream.” Alex recited. “There are another 600 vampire hunters spread out around the US who also catch vampires.”

I gulped at the thought of that many people who would hunt me down if I tried to run. Maybe it would have been a good idea to just stay with these 2 instead of trying to run. I tuned back in as Nick took over. “Then there are about 100 scientists and fileists who work here, finding out about certain vampires and recording information about each one of them.”

“Then there is always a group of trainees, about 20 people strong, who are learning to be vampire hunters. And then training instructors teaching them about vampires. Finally there are the caretakers, they not only work part time as janitors, but they also take care of the vampires that are kept here, providing them with blood and new clothes.”

They could see how tense I was becoming as they began talking about captured vampires and Alex stopped talking. “Let's go inside. We need to do some work before we head home.”
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1369 words.