“Well, Alfred, I guess I should give you your evening meal before I head out.” Luke dropped a scoop of kibble into the bowl as Alfred purred and rubbed up against his legs. He grabbed his backpack, headed out the door, and walked to Howling Moon Brewing. When he walked in the door, the place was already packed with the evening dinner crowd.
Pablo waved at Luke as soon as he saw him walk through the door. “Hey, Luke! I reserved the back booth for you like you asked. Can I bring anything over to you?”
Luke smiled and nodded. “Thanks, Pablo. I’ll take the porter, please.”
“Sure thing. I’ll bring it over shortly.”
Luke slid into the booth, taking a seat at the edge so he could watch the door. He set his backpack down on the bench. The back booth was in the far corner and provided excellent privacy. Pablo brought over Luke’s porter and set it down on a coaster.
“Thanks, Pablo.” Luke grabbed the glass and took a drink.
“Who are you meeting?” Pablo asked.
“I’m not entirely sure. Someone I met last night.”
Pablo gave his new friend a knowing smirk with an eyebrow raised.
Luke chuckled at the implication. “No, nothing like that. I followed her and a vampire… Oh, she just walked in.”
Luke stood up and waved to get her attention. Tonight, she was wearing the same coat, but underneath was a long black and white diagonal striped dress and a pair of reddish-brown boots that paired well with the wine red of her coat. Pablo turned back toward Luke and winked. Luke returned it with a friendly scowl.
Luke gestured toward Pablo. “Delilah, this is my friend Pablo. He owns the Howling Moon. Pablo, this is Delilah.”
Delilah sat down opposite of Luke, and he slid deeper into the booth.
Pablo leaned over the table. “Pleased to meet you and welcome to the Moon. What can I get for you?”
“Do you have an IPA?”
“Sure do! We have our house Oregon-style IPA, a Double, and a seasonal West Coast IPA.”
“I’ll have a pint of the house, please.”
Pablo nodded at her and walked back to the bar. They sat in awkward silence until Pablo returned with her beer.
“Enjoy! I’ll check back in with you in a bit to see if you need anything else.”
“Thanks, Pablo,” Luke said. Turning to Delilah, he said, “Thanks for meeting me.”
“Thanks again for the assist. I’m all for group dates, but seven was just a few too many for that party.”
“I take it from your preparation that wasn’t your first vampire?” He knew the question was awkward after seeing her skills in action, but he was grasping for topics.
She chuckled in response. “No, not my first. I’ve run into a few over the last few months. They’re not hard to find if you’re looking for them, at least not if you know what to look for, that is.”
“No, they’re not. They’ve mastered the art of hiding in plain sight, but that does leave them slightly vulnerable to those educated in the ways of the vamp.” They sat in the awkward silence of two people who’ve just met because of weird circumstances and weren’t quite sure where to go next in the conversation.
“How do you know this place?” she asked, indicating the bar.
“It’s my neighborhood pub. They opened about a year or so ago. The beers are good and so is the food, plus I can walk from my house. Pablo runs a nice place, so it’s become my regular watering hole. So, how about you? You said you’re new to town?”
“Yeah. I’ve only been here a few weeks.” She didn’t elaborate.
They’d only just met. She didn’t know who Luke was other than some guy she’d met on a dark loading dock who happened to be on the right end of a staked vampire, or at least that’s what Luke guessed was causing her reticence.
She took a drink of her IPA. “I was thinking, after I got back to my place and the adrenalin faded, where did you come from? I didn’t see you in the Montage or on the street.”
“You didn’t look up.”
She looked at him with a skeptically raised eyebrow.
“I was walking over the Morrison Bridge when I saw you come out with the vampire.”
“Wait… That’s a long way to run in the wrong direction to catch up to us.”
“I jumped.”
“What?!” she exclaimed, her eyebrows climbing nearly into her thick, short, curly hair. “That’s…that’s like really high.”
“It wasn’t low. I did run down to a lower spot; I didn’t want to jump too close to you and alert the vampire. I didn’t realize there was another hunter on the scene, although, all things considered, it’s a good thing I followed along. Speaking of which, one of the things I’ve been thinking about since last night. You said you just arrived a few weeks ago. Was this your first vampire encounter in Portland?”
“No.” She didn’t elaborate.
“I didn’t think so. That would explain the evidence of vamp kills I didn’t create.” He took a sip and thought for a minute.
“Those weren’t your first vampires, were they? You’re too well equipped and too skilled to be a rookie,” Delilah said.
“No. Lately, there’ve been too many, way too many. I haven’t seen this many vampires in one place in a long time. That’s worrisome, to say the least.” He grimaced slightly.
“How long have you been killing vampires?” Delilah asked.
“A long, long time.”
“You don’t look that old.”
Luke chuckled. “Thanks, I think. I’m a bit older than I look. I’ve been doing this for what seems like forever. How d’you pick up this hobby?”
“I kind of stumbled into it…” She trailed off as a brief wave of sadness flashed across her face. “It’s not so much a hobby as a spiritual mandate. Let’s just say I owe a specific vampire a very slow staking and leave it at that for now.”
Luke nodded. He could appreciate the need for discretion. “You hungry? The food’s pretty good here.”
“Sure.”
Luke flagged down Pablo, who promptly returned with a pair of menus. “Can I get you another round while I’m here?”
They nodded. When Pablo came back with their beers, they both ordered the burger.
“So…” Delilah said. “Did you go to college?”
“No. I joined the military.”
“Oh, what branch?”
“The infantry.” Luke quickly added, “Army,” to forestall further questions. “How about you?”
“Yeah. I got my bachelors from NYU. I was working on my master’s degree when I needed to take a sabbatical.”
“What were you studying?”
“Psychology.”
Their burgers showed up before they could delve deeper into Delilah’s educational past. After they finished, they sat quietly and enjoyed their beers until Luke broke the silence.
“I’ve been thinking. Seven vampires in one block are a lot, even at a popular after-hours place like the Montage. Plus, it wasn’t even closing time yet. What were they doing?”
“Yeah, that does seem excessive,” Delilah replied.
“They were laying a trap. That’s the only thing I can think of. How long were you inside chatting with the vamp who escorted you outside?”
“Oh, a good hour or so. Plenty of time for him to summon his pals.”
“How can you tell who a vampire is?” Luke asked.
“I’m not sure. They have a ‘feel’ about them. Once you pick up on it, you can pick them out of the crowd almost instantly. When I figure out who I’m looking for, I can usually flirt my way into their graces.”
Luke nodded appreciatively. “How long have you been in town?”
“Oh, about three weeks.”
“How many vampires have you encountered?”
“Not counting the seven from last night? Let’s see…” She did the math in her head. “Ten.”
Luke raised his eyebrows in surprise. “That many? Did you stake them all?”
“Well, nine and a half…”
Luke raised an eyebrow. “Half?”
“I staked him, but he deflected it away from his heart. I bet it hurt, but he hauled ass out of there before I could fix the problem.”
“Which one was the miss?”
Delilah shrugged. “I don’t know. I think he said his name was ‘Chet,’ or ‘Chad,’ or ‘Chip,’ or some other bro name.”
Luke chuckled in response. “No, I meant which number.”
She bobbed her head side to side as she thought about it. “Oh! I think he was number six or seven.”
“So he got a good look at you?”
Delilah nodded. “Yeah. He did.”
“I think your escapee set you up. I can’t imagine vampires would want to let a known staker run around in their city.”
Delilah pursed her lips and nodded. “I came to a similar conclusion myself. Things are getting more dangerous out there.”
“Yeah, I haven’t seen coordination like this in a while. Usually vampires are solo hunters out to get a meal. They like to get in and out without being noticed. I was afraid of this…”
“What? Afraid of what?” Delilah leaned in closer.
“Something big is on the horizon. I’ve never seen this much vampire activity in Portland in all the years I’ve lived here. You’d be lucky to find two or three in a year normally. Several in a week? Groups out hunting and laying traps? These aren’t good signs.” Luke frowned and shook his head.
“Luke, I’ll just put it out there. Let’s join forces. We handled those vampires pretty easily together. My dad always said that if you want to learn something or get better at it, you need to find someone great to teach you. If you’ve been doing this a long time, you’ve got to be good at it or you’d be dead by now.”
“Your father is right, but I’m not a teacher—not anymore. I’ve been doing this long enough to know how dangerous it is and how people who try it die. I’ve met some people over the years who’ve tried to hunt. They may have a handful of successes, but eventually they run into a vamp that’s more than they can handle, then they die. I’ve tried to help a few and even befriended some. That’s the worst, to find your friend’s corpse with all the telltale marks of a vampire kill. I’ve even teamed up with a few. Some I’ve managed to keep alive until they decided they were done with vampires, but most…most died horrible deaths at the hands of a vampire, some before my eyes. That’s why I stopped helping people.”
Luke shook his head. “Team up? No. I refuse to accept that kind of responsibility anymore. I can’t split my attention between vampires and an apprentice. It’ll get them dead and maybe me, too, and right now, with this city practically drowning in vampires, I can’t have that kind of distraction. And I won’t watch people who are my responsibility be brutally killed,” Luke finished. He was breathing quickly and shallowly while his eyes had a touch of wildness to them. Delilah had shifted her body slightly away from him as his slightly frenetic energy built, then waned as he closed his mouth.
“Look, I’m not your responsibility. I can handle myself. You’ve seen me. I’m not offering to tag along and be some damsel. I’m offering to help hunt vampires. Could you have handled that many vampires?” Her expression indicated that she knew the answer was “probably not.”
“The point is, I wouldn’t have gotten into that situation. I don’t let vampires escape. I don’t get into street fights with seven vampires. The best I can do is offer you advice—get out while you can. Leave Portland before they hunt you down and finish you for real. They know who you are, and you’ve taken out a sizable contingent of their horde. After seven disappeared that were known to be hunting you, they’re going to come after you even harder. I don’t want to see you get killed. Killed by a vampire is no way to go.” Luke shook his head.
Delilah didn’t look happy with Luke’s reply. The muscles of her hands, lying flat in front of her, flexed as she pushed against the hard wood of the table as she tried to control her anger. The muscles along her jaw quivered slightly. Finally, she took a deep breath, held it for a few moments, then released it slowly.
“Fine. I’m going to the restroom. I’ll be right back.”
She stood up and stalked off toward the back of the brewpub toward the restrooms. Luke felt bad that he’d hurt her feelings and angered her, but he couldn’t handle the pain of watching someone under his care die, and he knew that’s what would happen. He would come to like her, and they’d become friends. Then, she’d make a mistake, or he’d make one, and it would get her killed. It always worked that way. Luke wasn’t sure if he could handle another death on his conscience. It might break him.
“Can I get you anything else?” Pablo’s question pulled Luke out of his descent into the dark halls of his memory, where he stored all the deaths he blamed on himself.
“What? Oh? Um, no. I’m good. I’ll take the check please. Put everything on it.”
“No problem, Luke.” Pablo walked off. On his way back to the bar, he caught Delilah’s attention, and they exchanged a few short sentences. Delilah came back to the table and sat down. Her expression appeared to have mellowed some. Pablo brought the check and presented it to Luke, who slid his card into the check presenter and handed it back to Pablo.
“Thanks for picking up the tab,” Delilah said curtly.
“No problem. I’m sorry I can’t be more helpful, but I just can’t…” Luke left it at that. They sat in silence until Pablo returned with Luke’s card and receipts. Luke tipped and signed, then stood up. “It was very nice to meet you. I hope you take my advice.”
Delilah stood up and shook Luke’s extended hand. “I’ll think about it. It was nice meeting you too.”
Luke turned and walked out the door without looking back.