Two Vampires and a Government Agency Part 3: The Hunt

By Jeremiah Donaldson

Roek finds himself in London, Ky after escaping the mess he'd created at his previous hunting ground. He is unaware that he is already being hunted.

Haskel Peters and Sonja Murray prepare the United States Variation Unit, or USVU, for yet another bloody hunt. They're unaware that they're stepping between another man and his revenge.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Jeremiah Donaldson
• Release date: Jan 9, 2023
• ISBN: 9798215883778

Jeremiah Donaldson

Jeremiah Donaldson is a science fiction/horror writer, editor, game designer, free thinker, corporate slave, and overly blunt commentator that grew up in rural Kentucky and lived in Florida for 13 years before moving back in 2008. When he's not working...whatever, he always works, let's start that over. When he's not playing his part as a cog in the machine for the specified number of hours per week, or doing housework, or planting fruit trees in preparation for the climatic meltdown we're forcing upon the planet, he strings together words for peoples' enjoyment.

Book preview

Two Vampires and a Government Agency Part 3: The Hunt

Copyright 2023

by Jeremiah Donaldson

www.ephiroll.com

Cover art by Doan Trang.

Smashwords ISBN: 9798215883778

The Hunt was originally published in 2017.

All rights reserved. No part of this may be reproduced except in reviews or excerpts. Any resemblance to people you know could mean you've met some of the same people I have.

Two Vampires and a Government Agency titles

Part 1: Spirit Night

Part 2: The Pendant

Part 3: The Hunt

Dedicated to:

Bentley,

Haskel,

Shawn,

and

Sonja

Table of Contents

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

Chapter 16

Chapter 17

Chapter 18

Chapter 19

Chapter 20

Chapter 21

Chapter 22

Chapter 23

Chapter 24

Chapter 1

Detective Young sat on the edge of the hospital bed, trembling. He tried to cry and couldn’t. The tears wouldn’t flow, even though his wife had been interred days earlier, and he’d been on paid leave for most of a week.

He couldn't work to take his mind off the investigation gone wrong that'd ended her life, nor from the sickness that'd crept over him since he'd woke up without recollection of what had happened and a stump for a right hand. Memory returned each day as his aches increased, his breath became labored, and his appetite disappeared until the thought of food made his stomach clinch.

He wanted to cry, but anger prevented it. The son of a bitch would pay. No question about it. It didn't matter how little information he had to find him. Which wasn't much. He didn’t even have the pendant anymore.

But first, he had to get better. His wife’s killer had been more than a match for him at his best. He hoped that his bullets had left the stranger in bad shape.

A stabbing pain cut through the haze that enveloped his mind. His teeth hurt. Again.

He lurched to his feet and stumbled to the bathroom. His haggard appearance in the mirror made him forget about his teeth for a second, but not for long.

A fresh round of pain erupted from his gums, making his head throb. Something moved against his upper lip. He put a hand over his mouth and gasped. His canines enlarged by the second, pushing against the other teeth. A wave of other changes had also washed over him in the last day. His breathing had became so labored that he had to drag each breath into his lungs, his heart seemed to stop at times, and he could see better in the dark.

Young opened his mouth wide and leaned closer to his reflection. He couldn't pretend the changes were his imagination any longer since his canine teeth had grown visibly longer and sharper.

He pulled the bandage from around his neck to examine the puncture wounds surrounded by a purple bruise. The doctors couldn't give him an explanation for the wound that'd barely healed, even though he was able to move his hand three days after it was reattached. They’d merely scratched their heads and commented on how lucky he’d been not to have died. Then they'd dropped the issue.

His open mindedness had always been his greatest asset as a detective, but it could make his thoughts wander into strange territory. The cage of dead rats in the man’s house, the man's resistance to bullets, and the bite marks made him think of vampires.

Young looked at his watch. It was nearly midnight. He needed sleep.

He curled into a ball in the middle of the bed and closed his eyes against the multiple sources of pain in his body. He only had to live long enough to exact revenge, and then he could die in peace.

Not much longer.

Chapter 2

Blue Team, take the back, Haskel said.

Half the United States Variation Unit went around the side of the mansion nestled in the valley from which three acres of clear land had been wrestled from the forest. A forked brook cut one corner into sections that were connected by wooden bridges. Birds chirped and flew overhead. The sun beat down. A Porsche sat in the paved driveway. Curtains were pulled shut behind iron bars on the first floor windows. Metal shutters hid the windows on the second floor. The front door was a blank slab of wood.

This one has done well for himself, Murray said. The tall, tattooed redhead flicked a cigarette butt away that was smeared with her lipstick.

Indeed. Haskel motioned for everyone to gather around the door.

They waited until Blue Team was in position, and then two rookies in the rear brought a battering ram forward. Several swings crumbled the faux wood that hid a steel security door. Dents appeared in the metal, but it didn’t move. They threw the ram down.

Haskel pointed at the nearest window. Smoke it.

A rookie moved to the window, stuck his Tomahawk between the bars to shatter it, and dropped two grenades into the room beyond. One was a regular smoke grenade, but the second was filled with a mix of nanoparticle sized silver and garlic that they only used against variations. It would cause an intense allergic reaction that'd incapacitate any variation that didn't wash it off and kill those who stayed within the cloud.

Blue Team, hold your positions. Green Team, retreat 30 meters. Haskel pointed at the rookie with a grenade launcher. Take down the door.

Yes, sir. The rookie took up a position 20 meters away while everyone else walked toward the edge of the lawn.

Haskel cleared his throat. Ready when you are.

The rookie shot immediately, blasting away the quiet. The door bent and siding peeled off the