Chapter 9 (Revised Version)

Dana checked her map once again as she turned down the next street, driving slow enough so she could get a good look at the pedestrians walking along the sidewalks, but not so slow that they thought she was some kind of stalker.

It had been three weeks since she'd first seen the blonde.

It had taken Dana that whole first week to get through the thousands of reports archived at the Learning Center that involved short, blonde, female vampires. She had rerun the search to include the lab results that had come back a few days later from the DNA test on the saliva sample, but while that had excluded some of the results, it had popped up just as many she'd missed due to the lack of a description. As she'd gone through the much shorter finalized list of reports she was sure pertained to her vampire, she'd steadily added date and location markers on her map of the city to build a hunting pattern for the blonde.

She'd since spent the last two weeks patrolling for the blonde in the hottest spots on her map, without success.

Actually, that wasn't entirely true. She'd spotted the blonde on four separate occasions, but she'd lost her each time. She wasn't sure how the vampire was doing it, but every time Dana was about to close in, the blonde would just disappear. She'd go into a crowd or walk around a corner, and by the time Dana could catch up, she'd be gone again. It was incredibly frustrating and only intensified Dana's desire to catch the damn vamp.

She knew it wouldn't be easy, though. It seemed the blonde had been feeding on the criminal population for quite some time without anyone taking notice. The oldest recorded incident she'd found had occurred in 1862, which ruled out the possibility that Dana had known her when she was still human. Of the almost four dozen cases Dana had turned up spanning the course of nearly two centuries, every single one of the investigations had been abandoned. Either the eyewitnesses had retracted their statements or the hunters believed the witnesses were lying to protect a human killer, no matter how much evidence pointed to a vampire. Or—and for this one, Dana had had to read between the lines—the hunters had decided it was a waste of their time to look for the murderer of a victim who turned out to be just as reprehensible as the vampires they were normally tasked with killing.

Dana could understand those other hunters' reluctance to pursue justice for such criminals, or even more absurd, believe there was a vampire running around protecting people. Even after all the reports she'd read, she still found it hard to stomach. She was sure it had to be a trick. The blonde had just found a loophole in the system, that was all. She'd realized she could get witnesses to lie for her, and hunters to disbelieve the witnesses, by attacking the criminals who were attacking the witnesses.

She's evil, just like the rest of them, Dana told herself resolutely.

Then why leave witnesses at all? her conscience prodded her.

Dana didn't have an answer for herself. It was the one point she hadn't been able to explain away, no matter how hard she'd tried. The only reason that fit was the one that didn't make any sense. It was the one that said the blonde really was trying to protect the humans she'd saved.

Dana looked at the clock on her dashboard and realized she'd been driving around all night. Again. The sun would be up in only a couple hours and she hadn't killed a single vamp. On the other hand, it wasn't as if she'd been trying. As the Chief kept rightly pointing out almost every time he saw her, her kill score was way down from the usual because she'd been spending all her time looking for the blonde, instead of on patrol. The night before had been the last night of the deadline she'd agreed to in order to get her Chief off her back. She wasn't even supposed to be out here tonight, since it was her regularly scheduled day off. She hadn't even checked into the precinct.

Dana glanced down at the drawing she'd taped over the radio.

"When the hell did I become so obsessed with you?" she asked the picture in annoyance.

The first night I saw you, her mind readily supplied.

"God, I'm fucking insane," she accused herself as she took off her shades and threw them onto the passenger seat in frustration.

They bounced onto the floorboard and into the darkness, out of sight.

Shit, they better not've broken. Those damn things cost a fortune.

Dana decided it was time to call it a night and prepared to turn down the next side street to head in the direction of her home.

She almost slammed on the brakes when she caught sight of the blonde strolling along the sidewalk. The hunter drove by, confirming that the cloaked figure was in fact her vampire. She turned at the next street and drove a little ways, until she found an empty alleyway and parked the Beast. She quickly got out and then crouched down and waited for the blonde to pass by.

As soon as she did, Dana jogged to the end of the street. She rounded the corner and fell in behind the vampire, keeping her distance, so she wouldn't tip her off this time. The area was completely deserted at this time of night, so at least the blonde wouldn't be able to lose Dana in a crowd again. As long as the hunter kept the vamp in sight, she figured she'd be able to tail her all the way to her lair. That way she could arrest the blonde's slaves after staking her. Unless the slaves put up a fight, which they usually did.

Though hunters played judge, jury, and executioner when it came to vampires, they could be held accountable if they accidentally staked a human or gunned down a slave without sufficient reason, like self-defense. Since most hunters considered slaves to be just as bad as vampires, if not worse, it wasn't unheard of for hunters to simply execute slaves and then say it was self-defense.

Dana had never gone quite that far. She might scare the hell out of them with mild torture and threaten to do worse in order to get information, but it was all talk. She wasn't a murderer. However, she had no compunction about shooting to kill if a slave posed enough of a threat. They actually wanted to become the bloodsucking fiends they helped, so Dana wasn't in the habit of giving them the benefit of the doubt.

Dana followed the short vampire as the blonde continued to walk steadily down the road, never looking anywhere but straight ahead. After half an hour, the blonde turned down an alley and came out on another road. There were no streetlights anywhere, which made it difficult to keep track of the darkly clothed vampire, but as Dana reached up to tap the button on her shades and touched only her temple, she suddenly realized she'd forgotten to put her night vision glasses back on. She cursed herself for being so stupid, but there was no way she was going back to her vehicle to get the glasses now. Dana kept her eyes focused on the light yellow hair above the collar of the vamp's black cloak and stayed with her.

It was another ten minutes before they finally left the mostly residential area and entered an industrial section with a little more light. The place was in desperate need of revitalization, but Dana didn't dwell on it as the blonde suddenly disappeared inside one of the many abandoned buildings.

"Shit," Dana swore and took off running.

She slowed as she neared the open door. She drew her gun and cautiously peered inside the building. Light from the partially working security floodlights of the building next door streamed in through the broken windows, illuminating the center of the gutted structure in elongated squares on the floor, but the perimeter of the room was pitch black, making a perfect hiding place for the vampire.

Dana cursed her lack of forethought once again and considered pulling the small extra bright tactical flashlight she always carried in one of her thigh rigs, but she knew it would just make her more of a target than she already was at this point. She took a quick breath as she warily stepped over the threshold and then moved to the side with her back against the wall, doing her best to maintain her own cover, though she knew vampires could see extremely well in the dark.

Then the hunter froze as the small blonde vampire stepped into the rays of white light, her eyes fixed squarely on Dana.

How can something so beautiful be so evil? Dana wondered idly before her brain kicked in and she frowned at what she'd just thought as she leveled her gun at the vamp's chest.

"I'm not evil, you know," the vampire told her, her voice low and smooth.

Great. Now the bitch is reading my mind, Dana thought, feeling sick at the prospect that such a thing might be possible.

"I can't read your mind either," the blonde said. "I've just been around for a very long time. I've met a lot of your kind."

"And I've killed a lot of yours," Dana sneered, gesturing with the gun she had trained on the vampire.

"I know. You're Dana Clark, The Great Vampire Hunter. I'm Gabrielle, by the way."

"Am I supposed to care?" Dana questioned sarcastically, but the vamp only smiled a little sadly, not rising to the bait.

Dana actually felt bad for a moment, until she caught herself and redoubled her efforts to maintain her revulsion for the malevolent demon.

"I don't blame you for hating my kind," Gabrielle said quietly. "Many of my kind abuse their powers, though I don't really blame them either. They believe as you do, that the power is evil, that they have no choice in the matter, but there's no reason why our powers can't be used for good," she told the hunter earnestly.

Dana's anger rose as she felt herself wanting to believe the blonde's genuine demeanor.

"Oh, spare me your rationalizations. You're a fucking vampire. You feed on humans like cattle," Dana said disgustedly, refusing to consider who Gabrielle chose to feed on. It doesn't matter who she kills. She still kills humans, Dana told herself defensively.

"You make an interesting point, though not in your favor," Gabrielle replied calmly. "Humans slaughter cattle by the millions to feed themselves several times a day. Or if they don't eat cows, then they're killing some other animal or laying waste to crops. Now, don't misunderstand. I don't begrudge you your sustenance, but I only need to feed once every few days, so I question your equation that because I feed on humans I'm somehow evil in comparison with the human practice of eating plants and animals. Why is it you think you're above nature?" the blonde questioned curiously.

Dana laughed. She'd never met such a talkative vampire in her life, but then she realized the blonde was probably just stalling for time.

"This isn't going to work, you know. I've killed thousands of your kind. I've heard all the lines, all the reasons, all the justifications. It doesn't matter what you say. I'm still going to kill you," the hunter vowed, though she made no move to carry out the action.

"You would only be able to kill me if I let you," Gabrielle told the tall woman in a bored tone.

Then she proved it by moving faster than the light impulses could register in Dana's eyes. She plucked the gun from Dana's hand and returned to her previous position before the hunter could even inhale her next breath.

"Holy shit!" Dana exclaimed as she tried to back up further against the wall, but she was already pressed against it.

Then a remnant of the blonde's scent washed over her, making her nostrils flare, and she felt an entirely different set of chills run down her spine, causing goose bumps to prick her skin at the nape of her neck and along her arms. She stared in confusion at the vampire as she tried to reel her senses back in.

Gabrielle looked as though she hadn't moved, the weapon simply appearing in her hand. Only her long black cloak gave her away. It swished around her body, its wine-colored satin lining accentuating the black of Gabrielle's silk shirt, which was half-unbuttoned to reveal creamy white skin that ended in a sharp V at the point where her modest cleavage began. Dana also glimpsed tight black leather pants and black leather pointed-toed boots before the blonde's body was once again shrouded in darkness.

"I find it ironic that you've chosen to exterminate us. You have vampire blood running through you now," Gabrielle noted absently as she released the magazine onto the floor, ejected the chambered bullet, and then tossed the empty gun back to the hunter.

"Yeah, right," Dana scoffed nervously as she caught the weapon in reflex.

She considered reloading the gun, but after the vampire's demonstration, Dana realized it would only make her look foolish, so she merely holstered it.

"How do you think you and the others are able to track us?" Gabrielle questioned pointedly. "You're attempting to wipe out your own ancestors in your desire to rid the Earth of my kind."

"Nothing you say is going to change my mind," Dana said, determined to die rather than give in to the soulless creature.

"We could be very beneficial to your species, if we weren't constantly being hunted by you."

"Oh? And how's that?" Dana asked, the sarcasm unmistakable.

"We could act as a kind of ultimate police force," Gabrielle proposed, deliberately ignoring the woman's obvious disdain. "I know you've been watching me. You know I only feed on rapists and murderers and others who would do harm to innocents. I've probably saved this city millions of dollars in court costs and jail fees alone, not to mention protecting their victims from future assaults. However, as I said before, many of my kind are abusing their powers, and they must be stopped before our two species can come to any kind of resolution."

"You're turning against your own kind? Figures," Dana snorted in disgust. Traitorous demon.

"You have an entire class of people that purposely goes out and kills others of your kind so that those who value life and love can live in peace. I see nothing disloyal in wanting to rid my society of its degenerates."

"Your society?" Dana questioned, picking up on the sound of ownership rather than belonging in the vampire's tone.

"Yes. My society," the blonde confirmed.

Dana studied the vampire with new interest.

"You're old. One of the oldest I've ever met."

"I am the oldest you will ever meet," Gabrielle assured her.

Dana started laughing in earnest. She knew she was considered the best in the VHA, but no one would believe her if she told them she'd actually hunted down the leader of the vampires.

"I'm glad you find the thought so amusing," Gabrielle smiled, delighted to see the woman laughing instead of wearing her more usual scowl. "I can help you find those of my kind who have chosen to dishonor life and abuse their gifts," Gabrielle finally offered.

Dana immediately sobered and stared at the vampire warily.

"And what would I have to give you in return?"

"Just do what you do best... Kill them."

Dana tried to hide her surprise. This deal sounded too good to be true, and when making a deal with the devil, too good to be true usually was. There had to be a catch. Then she realized what it must be.

"You're going to turn me into one of you," Dana breathed out the words in her hatred.

"No. I have never given the Gift and I don't intend to start now. You will remain as you are."

The way she said it gave Dana the distinct impression that she'd just come under this small woman's protection.

Vampire, she's not a woman, Dana corrected herself.

Then a new thought occurred to her and she clenched her jaw in anger.

"Fuck, I can't believe I almost fell for it. You're recording this, aren't you? You're probably wearing a fucking wire under all that getup. Was that your plan all along? Get me to say I'll work with a vamp and then post it to all the media sites to discredit the VHA? Well, fuck you. I'd rather die. Go ahead. Kill me and get it over with," Dana said as she turned and bared her neck.

Gabrielle's nostrils flared at the invitation, but she kept her fangs sheathed as she shook her head in resignation. She flipped her cloak back over her shoulders and then slowly began undoing the buttons of her shirt.

"I'm not wearing a wire," Gabrielle said as she pulled the edges of her shirt apart, exposing the center of her chest almost to her nipples and down to her flat abdomen. "Satisfied?"

Not even remotely, Dana thought as she looked at the creamy flesh on display, but she still nodded briefly and then forced herself to look away as Gabrielle drew her shirt closed again.

It hadn't escaped Dana's notice that Gabrielle also wasn't wearing a bra and what she'd been able to see of her tits told her they would be oh so soft and cuppable. She frowned, immediately feeling guilty at the thought she could find any vampire attractive.

"I don't want a recording of this conversation any more than you do," Gabrielle said as she finished buttoning up her shirt and pulled her cloak around herself again. "After I leave, you can search this place for cameras or bugs, too, if you like. But this is what's usually referred to as mutually assured destruction. Though you're admittedly in a slightly less precarious position than I am."

"Oh? And how do you figure that? You think my people wouldn't be out for my blood if they even knew we were talking like this?"

"Yes, but at least you would stand a chance of convincing them you were lying in order to trap me. I would not," Gabrielle said pointedly.

Dana had to admit that part was true, assuming anything Gabrielle had said was true. But that was the real crux of the problem, wasn't it.

"Why should I trust you?" Dana asked aloud, surprised to find she genuinely wanted a reason.

"You don't have to trust me. I will give you the locations of those who cannot be allowed to live any longer and you will go in and kill them. It's as simple as that. If I'd wanted to kill you, I could have done so already," Gabrielle patiently reminded her.

Dana frowned. She didn't want to believe this wo... vampire, but she was finding it difficult not to. If Gabrielle had wanted her dead, she could've dealt the deathblow when she took the gun. There would've been nothing Dana could've done to stop her.

That thought made Dana distinctly uncomfortable. She'd never met a vampire as old as Gabrielle. The younger ones could move fast, but Dana had always been able to move fast enough to keep up with them. Of course, now she understood how Gabrielle had given her the slip so easily. She also realized Gabrielle had led her here tonight, presumably to ask for her help.

Dana's frown deepened with confusion as a new thought entered her mind.

"Why don't you just kill these 'renegade' vampires yourself?"

"Because it would be too easy for the others to be alerted. They could band together against me. I may be the eldest, but against so many, even I would fall. They wouldn't kill me. They would just keep me continually drained, and letting even one of them have a taste of my blood would prove a death sentence for your species. You would be wiped out in a matter of months. It wouldn't matter that our kind would eventually die out without humans to feed on. The instantaneous power they would gain would drive them insane," the blonde explained.

Dana slowly took in the new information. She was learning things about vampires she'd never even considered before. The VHA had been gathering information about vampires since the dawn of recorded history. They'd figured out that a vampire's abilities grew in strength over time, but they'd never heard anything about transferring that power from one to another, probably because it was never done.

A stronger vampire would want to keep their advantage over a younger vampire, while a younger vampire would find it nearly impossible to force the issue. At least they would as long as they were alone. If a large enough group worked together, they could overpower a stronger vampire and that's what Gabrielle was afraid of.

But why now? Dana wondered.

What had happened to cause the mysterious leader of the vampires to reveal herself and ask the infamous Dana Clark for help?

"You're afraid there's going to be a coup," the hunter suddenly guessed. "The others don't happen to like your style of leadership?" Dana grinned unsympathetically.

"I've never really exerted my powers as eldest," Gabrielle admitted almost shamefully. "I've chosen to let my kind do as they wish, the consequences of their mistakes being their only punishment. But they've forgotten what we really are and I can't allow that to continue any longer," she finished with more resolve.

"And what 'really' are you?"

Gabrielle paused, uncertain whether she should answer. She had no way of knowing what Dana might do with the information once she had it. She'd already taken quite a risk by telling Dana her name and all but announcing she was the Queen of the vampires. If Dana told her superiors and the information was leaked to the press, every vampire in the world would know Gabrielle had attempted to collaborate with a hunter.

And not just any hunter, but The Great Vampire Hunter herself. Maybe later, once she'd solidified her power base, such a partnership would be tolerable, but at the moment, it was impossible. In fact, the only reason Dana Clark was even still alive was because she had never discovered the existence of the Upper Orders and therefore never given any of them an opportunity to circumvent the strict laws of their society prohibiting interference with the hunters.

Gabrielle noticed the young woman becoming impatient for her answer and made her choice. She realized she'd already made the decision subconsciously by giving Dana enough information to ask the question in the first place. She finally took a deep breath and began.

"I am the first born of a being your people once designated a deity and a human by the name of Cora. My father came down from the stars, hoping to create a guardian race for your species, but the mixing of my parents' DNA created something totally unexpected within me.

"In order to live, I required human blood, which I instinctively sought out as soon as I was born. In return for that blood, I was Gifted with immortality. As long as I fed regularly, it seemed I was impervious to death, regenerating from accidents that occurred as I learned the hard way about my weaknesses to sunlight and fire. My father was initially saddened, but in time, he decided to try again and sired many others. However, the result was always the same.

"Eventually, my half-siblings discovered they could pass on the Gift themselves if they allowed their prey to live and take in their blood. The change wrought at conception for my half-siblings and I could also take place after birth by simply passing on the blood that flowed within our veins. For a time, the others rarely killed their victims and instead worked to increase our numbers. But as the Gift was passed down from one vampire to the next, the truth of our origins was not. And now..."

Gabrielle hesitated as she saw the barely hidden disbelief spreading across the hunter's face. There was more she wished to say, but she realized she'd quite possibly shared too much already. She shook her head, trying to clear away her extraneous thoughts as she focused on the main point of her story.

"Suffice it to say, we're not evil and we're not demons. We're simply hybrids, half of this world and half not," Gabrielle concluded.

Dana did her best to keep her face impassive. Most vampires tended to profess kinship with the devil or some other evil entity. It was a game of unholier than thou, which usually ended with Dana staking them. This new tack, especially coming from a vamp who had recently demonstrated that she could take Dana out before she even knew what hit her, threw Dana for a loop. She wasn't quite sure how to respond. She couldn't just accept what Gabrielle had told her, but it was clear to Dana that the blonde believed what she'd said. If it was true, Dana knew she needed to learn as much as she could.

"You said you've never passed on your... 'gift,'" Dana finally said, trying to keep the disdain for the terminology out of her voice in an attempt to gain more information.

"No, I've never let any of my prey escape death," Gabrielle confirmed. "And now, to do so would be unthinkable."

"Why me?" Dana suddenly asked. "I've killed more vampires than any other hunter in the Association. Why would you want someone who so obviously hates your kind working for you? Aren't you afraid I'll turn on you?"

"I've chosen you because you are the best. And as long as you're receiving the locations of vampire dens, it would be rather foolish of you to attempt to kill your source for more. I also know you're an honorable woman. If I asked for your oath that you wouldn't attempt to stake me while we worked together, I would trust you to keep your word. However, I won't ask you for that. It would give you a false sense of hope that you could kill me," Gabrielle smirked, though Dana didn't quite see the humor in her statement.

"What will you do if I refuse your offer?"

"You can't."

"What do you mean 'I can't'?" Dana asked, her anger beginning to rise again at the vamp's audacity.

"Whether you choose to work with me or not, if I provide you with the locations of the others' dens, you will undoubtedly inspect them and then kill all those you find there. Your curiosity and need to avenge your family's deaths won't let you do anything else. So as you can see, the only thing you can refuse is to admit that you're accepting my help."

Gabrielle didn't say it in a condescending manner. She was simply stating a fact that Dana knew she couldn't refute.

The first vampire she'd ever staked had been the one who had killed her parents and younger brother. She'd been a hunter ever since, only getting certification with the VHA so that she wouldn't have to deal with police questioning after a kill. Her ID badge also gave her access to places and files that were normally off limits to regular citizens.

Dana shook her head to clear away the unhappy memories as she made her decision. She couldn't believe she was actually going to do it, but she'd already made up her mind when Gabrielle had first offered her the locations of the vampire lairs. Now, it was just a matter of saying it out loud, something she knew would bind her stronger than any legal contract ever could.

She took a deep breath and then let it out.

"All right. I'll work with you for as long as you continue to give me information that leads to vampire deaths. After that, you're fair game just like the rest of them," Dana vowed.

Gabrielle nodded her acceptance.

"There's an old abandoned warehouse on the north side of the railroad tracks where Baker dead ends into Garfield. You'll find seven vampires in the basement and twice as many servants. They've dug it out considerably. It's much larger than it appears on the outside. The servants are armed, but not very well trained. However, the vampires are a bit stronger than you're used to. You'll want to exercise caution when dealing with them and plan accordingly."

Gabrielle paused as she glanced up at the shattered windows of the broken-down building. She narrowed her eyes and then returned her gaze to Dana.

"It's getting early. I must leave. I'll meet with you again once you've used the information. Remember... Be careful."

Then she was gone. Dana hadn't blinked. The vamp had just disappeared. That really unnerved her.

Nothing made of flesh and blood should be able to move like that.

Dana shook her head in dismay as she retrieved the ammo mag and the bullet Gabrielle had taken from her and replaced them in her gun. She spent a few minutes using her small flashlight to check around the interior, just in case, but she couldn't find anything even remotely resembling a camera or microphone pickup, and with all the dust obviously undisturbed, it was clear no one had been in the place for weeks, if not months.

Dana headed out to the street and jogged back to the Beast. She tried not to think about the fact she'd just teamed up with a vampire. It was unheard of for a vamp to act as an informant for a hunter. Slaves did sometimes, but never vampires. It was one of those unwritten rules and Dana had just thoroughly smashed it to pieces.

Dana slowed to a walk as she neared the huge black SUV, and then climbed in, sighing as she settled into the cushioned leather seat. She was exhausted, but not from the jog. Between the information dump she'd received from Gabrielle and their tension-filled confrontation she'd somehow survived, Dana was on sensory overload. All she really wanted to do was go home and go to sleep. Unfortunately, she couldn't do that just yet, not with the knowledge that there were seven vampires out there who would probably be hitting the streets come dusk, if she didn't hit them first.

Dana sat and stared out her windshield as she considered her options. The sensible thing to do would be to go home, call in the information, and let some other hunter lead the raid.

She activated her laptop and checked the location Gabrielle had given her. It was in the Bronx, which meant it fell under the Bronx precinct's jurisdiction. She checked their status, but it was clear they already had more than they could handle at the moment. In fact, they had a general call out for anyone interested in overtime to come help them out.

She could still order a raid by one of the other precincts that had a few hunters to spare, but if anything went wrong, there would be a lot of questions regarding why she hadn't led the raid herself.

Which left her back at the somewhat insane idea of doing just that on no sleep, though she might be able to get a nap in if she timed it for later in the day. That might work.

Dana started the Tacvee and directed the vehicle towards her precinct.