no real timetable for turning back the clock and rediscovering what had always been so right.
The vampires and protectors left the house first, engaging blow dryers, curling irons, cologne, makeup and perfume before getting dressed in their favorite outfits to lure the opposite sex. Garrison was also dressed ‘to the nines’ because he and Thaddeus were going to meet their new girlfriends for a late night AARP bootie call, which was similar to a normal bootie call but included some extra experience benefits for being over 50 years old.
The women were wearing short skirts and the men were adorned in their best suits. The initial party did not leave the house until 12:45 am, which was a good 45 minutes tardy of the usual departure time. The hunters were usually only minute or two behind the vampires and protectors, as was their custom, but they didn’t leave the house until close to 1:00 am. Cal had changed his outfit at least five times and was apparently - and shockingly - holding up the group.
The vampires and protectors arrived at the field and, instead of taking their places in a neat row next to each other, they scattered throughout the park waiting to be found.
It was perhaps the quietest fight with the least blood spilled than any of these warriors had ever experienced. The hunters hit the park and scattered without any words of strategy or greeting being exchanged. The only action other than groping and giggling took place in the center of the field between four people, two of which were confused and two that were concerted in their efforts.
Thaddeus crossed the field in his best suit and walked straight over to Garrison, who was as eager as a jack rabbit on the first day of hunting season. The shook hands and then Gary said to Thad, “We have to get this over with as quickly as possible.”
Thad was also concerned about time, but his primary focus was on his extremities.
“This is my best suit. How are we going to keep from getting blood on us?”
Gary wet his finger and then put it up in the air to gauge the wind direction and velocity/speed.
“North/Northwest breeze at about 4 miles per hour. If we stand over here,” he stated as he moved a few paces to his left, “then any flying blood will flow behind the bodies.”
Thaddeus nudged Gary upon visual confirmation of their intended targets walking towards them and coming into voice range. Kayla and Maxwell walked towards Gary and Thaddeus from opposite sides of the field, as the two hugged their respective relatives. And, just as the hugs broke, both men took two giant hops toward the spot that Gary marked off and cleanly separated their young protégés brilliant heads from their bodies.
There wasn’t a hint of emotion from either man that could disrupt their attention from their now-nightly double dates. They walked away, bloody swords in hand and then dumped off their weapons in a secure spot in the woods on the way to town.
Thaddeus looked over his suit for blood stains.
“Not a drop! You are the master!” Thaddeus exclaimed as he joyfully bumped fists with Garrison.
Gary smiled, “Did you see the look on their faces?”
“Yeah, they didn’t even know what hit them.”
“You want the pullout couch or the bedroom tonight?” Gary asked Thad.
“Are we being a tad bit presumptuous?” Thad replied.
They looked at each other and easily reached middle ground, “Nah!”
Thad and Gary were well on their double dates by the time the other six matchups in the field came up for air. It had been an hour since the hunters met the vampires and protectors on the field and there was a visible heat, actual steam, rising off the outskirts of the field. The lusty behavior appeared to dissipate as the clock turned to 2:14 am. Belinda stood up and reached for her sword as a smiling and content Cal simply waited for her lips to return. But she replaced her lips for the kiss of a cool sword against his warm neck. She wiped the Cal’s blood clean off the sword and the then walked straight home.
A similar dynamic unfolded with the five other couples: Sharon sectioned off Blake, Maggie used her deadly fingernail to pierce Aaron’s heart, Nicole and Carla sliced and diced kissing cousins, Andrew and Daniel, and then the act that ended the night – Emily removed Hartwell’s heart and stepped on it on her way out of the park.
There was an obvious bias against men coming from Claire Vinson that was her vision alone, with no assistance from her father. Lowery would have surely gone after whoever was in his way, regardless of sex, creed, or origin. She was sinking deeper and deeper into a controlled and angry state of mind, and now the inner rage stemming from her inability to escape the confines of her mental surroundings was starting to mount. She couldn’t stand to look at Samuel face anymore, so she cut his head off with her long fingernails and then threw his body into the corner of the sun room so it would take longer for him to regenerate. Samuel was so smitten with Claire that he wouldn’t even notice that she had killed him and that he had come back to life the next morning. Besides, she had implanted thoughts of a nice night together, just the two of them, to counteract any stray thoughts he might have had about the missing few hours in his short-term memory bank.
ELEVEN
Night three of the battle came only after some of the residue of night two finally settled. Conflicting emotions were all the rage after the usual wake-up, regeneration and walk back for the six guys that were terminated in the field. Thaddeus and Garrison completed the ‘walk of shame’ just before the sun rose and slipped into their beds undetected and feeling calm and confident.
Daniel caught up to Maxwell and Andrew tracked down Kayla as they walked separate paths back to Hartwell’s house.
“I think Thaddeus cut my head off?” a confused Maxwell said questioning the events of the previous night.
Daniel was still clearing the cob-webs of waking up from his own demise.
“What? Did you just say that Kayla’s great grandfather cut your head off last night?”
Max thought about the question and then played back the events of the non-fight in his head.
“Yes. That’s what I’m saying.”
Daniel was operating on half-a-brain, but he still was able to piece together that the act was something out of the ordinary. Hartwell joined the group with his son and grandson and put his two cents in.
“Did somebody say they were killed by a hunter?”
“Yeah, that was me,” Max replied.
“Me, too,” Daniel added.
Hartwell raised his hand and said, “Well, I guess that would be me three.”
“Four,” Agent Blake said as he jumped in to the conversation while the men kept walking through the outskirts of the park side-by-side in a scattered row.
“They all turned on us,” Blake stated.
Max was confused, “The hunters?”
“No, the women,” Daniel stated.
“So, what was the deal with Thaddeus?”
“I don’t know, but we’re going to find out when we get home,” Hartwell said, as the focus immediately shifted off of the women and back to a hunter with a hot date.
The hunters were experiencing a similar dynamic on their walk home.
“Dad, I think Hartwell’s protector cut my head off last night,” Kayla said to Andrew.
“Do you mean, Garrison?” Drew questioned.
“Yeah, Gary,” she replied.
“Why would he do that?” Cal asked.
“Because he’s a protector and he hates us,” Aaron gave the most simplified answer he could muster.
Kayla was the only female to lose her life in the second night of the battle.
“Where are mom and the other ladies?” Kayla said as she was both confused and hurt.
Drew was getting more anxious by the second, but sought to calm his daughter down, “I’m sure we’ll find out all of the answers to our questions when we get to their house.”
The hunters had settled in nicely to Hartwell’s house and had considered it also be their
house before the Claire’s intended subdivision the previous night. Half of the house was still snoozing when the vampires and protectors entered the house, followed by the hunters about 40 seconds later.
Kayla went at Max before anyone could even think of starting something.
“Your grandfather’s protector chopped my head off last night!” she yelled as she unsheathed her sword.
Max couldn’t believe his ears. After all, he was the one who was really wronged the night before.
“Well, I didn’t even have a chance to react before your great grandfather took a swipe at my head!”
Kayla was out of control when she swung her blade at Maxwell, only to have a surprising source stop the progress of the blade with his bare hands. Cal yelled, “I’m all for killing all of these people,” Cal said as he motioned toward Hartwell, Daniel, Agent Blake and Maxwell, “but there is a no-sword policy in the house and I am going to have to hold you to that.”
Kayla was confused that such a violent and vengeful group of people would actually have rules about when and where they could try to kill each other.
“Really? You people kill each other almost every day and you have rules about swords in the house?”
The vampires were neat freaks, “No need making the house all dirty.”
“Shut up, vampire!” Kayla shot back, shedding her peace-making self for the opposite and darker end of her rainbow.
Kayla threw her sword to the floor and lunge at Maxwell, punching him in the face. Max became so angry that he absorbed the blow and