Skelton, a former beau of Janette’s, had returned a few months ago from an independent career that had spanned over a hundred years. He had said he had a special project he needed help with, but so far, he’d not explained himself and mostly hung out in the apartment he’d been provided by himself, rarely making an appearance on the larger campus that encompassed fifty acres on the outskirts of Kansas City.
“He’s harmless,” Jordan assured them both. “Just an old man looking for absolution.”
“Just an old nut looking for asylum is more like it,” Janette replied, shaking her head.
“I have a meeting with him this evening. Hopefully, he’ll give us some direction for this project he has in mind. I’ll tell him to wait until I get back though. There’s no sense in you having to worry about that and everything else.”
“All right,” Aaron said with a nod as he looked to
Jordan Findley was buried in his hometown of Des Moines, Iowa, on a sunny June day before a crowd of thousands. The local papers read that he died in a small plane crash, but the LIGHTS team members all knew the truth. Such occurrences were so rare, Aaron couldn’t even think of another time a Hunter had purposely killed a Guardian. Accidents happened from time to time, but never something like this. Teams were organized to hunt down Skelton, but so far there hadn’t even been a sign of him, causing speculation that he had been killed as well.Janette had yet to recover from her loss. Having spent one hundred thirty years married to and working side-by-side with this man, she had always assumed she’d die long before he even considered trying to find a way out of his existence. He could potentially live forever. She would pass on; that was the way it was supposed to be. This was an unnatural ending that she had never seen coming. Now that she was faced with a l
Tulsa, Oklahoma, America, 1985“Tell me why we are doing this again,” Jamie insisted from the passenger seat of the Buick Somerset Aaron was pulling into a parking spot outside of a shady looking nightclub. It was past midnight, a time when they would typically be hunting the undead, but tonight their mark was someone else entirely.“’Cause Janette asked us to,” Aaron replied as he put the car in park and turned off the engine.“Yeah, but if the Tulsa team has already approached this guy several times, and he doesn’t want to join them, why would he go with us now?”“I don’t know,” Aaron replied, pushing the door open. “She asked us to try, so we’ll try.” He got out of the car and headed into the establishment, hoping to get this over with rather quickly.It only took him a moment to find the man he was looking for. At six-two and well over two hundred pound
Des Moines, Iowa, America, 1996Janette Findley had continued work with the team, even though she was no longer a Hunter. She lived in a large Queen Anne in Des Moines, and Aaron spoke to her several times a day as she had volunteered to work as his assistant a few years ago as things began to grow and he had found it difficult to get everything done. Being the Guardian Leader with no Hunter Leader—as none had ever been appointed—was challenging in and of itself. Recently, there’d been more and more Vampire activity, and the team continued to face recruiting challenges to keep up with the need. It was more than one man could handle on his own.Sitting on her sofa was calming, and for a moment, Aaron leaned his head back and relaxed, something he seldom had a chance to do, particularly since Christian had perfected and installed his Intelligence Assistance Communicators in everyone’s eyes. Now, any Hunter or Guardian in the world could r
New York City, America, 2000The Blue Moon Nightclub was a popular destination for humans and Vampires alike. While the NYC team had always patrolled it closely, recently a well-known European Vampire had taken a liking to the place, and Aaron’s old friend Morris, now the Area Leader, had called him for help.The Vampire was what they commonly referred to as “ancient” even though she wasn’t one of the original Vampires, which were the true ancients. Still, she’d been around for centuries and her power had grown strong over the years. Likewise, she had hundreds of children—their term for the minions Vampires created by infecting others. While Morris had a strong team, he was certain he couldn’t handle this on his own, and so he’d called Aaron in, hoping that if they couldn’t defeat her, at least they could run her along.Aaron assembled his strongest team members and flew them on one of LIGHTS private
Aaron could see Holland and Giovani now, though they were at a distance, and it seemed like they were aware of the Hunters, too. Morris had reported that he was certain they had known his team was there several times and had made no move to leave or attack. They had simply found a way to disappear at the end of the night before he could move in. Tonight seemed different, however. Holland was looking around, as if she was looking for someone in particular. And then her eyes stopped; she was looking right at him.They’d met a few times before. Aaron had been called in to help out in France where the redheaded woman originated and preferred to spend her time. Despite her odd name, she was a former Frenchwoman and she didn’t take kindly to having LIGHTS members on her turf. She’d been with her longtime beau, Carter, every other time he’d come into contact with her, and since he hadn’t been running the operation, there hadn’t been much he could
Shenandoah, Iowa, America, 2010Shenandoah High School was not that big as high schools go. Only about four hundred kids went to school there. Aaron was sitting on the roof of the ag building, which provided a pretty good view of the parking lot. He had spent a few days here recently, including the first day of school that year. No one had ever noticed, particularly the kids who were so wrapped up in their post-school-day conversations, it was easy for him to go unseen.She was not one of the first people out of the building, and he assumed that was because she really wasn’t in a rush to get out of school. She’d always done well, got good grades, and this year she was participating in a slew of extracurricular activities, including cheerleading. Cadence Findley was the all-around American girl.Aaron saw her friends head into the parking lot first. There was Taylor, the blonde, Sydney, with the short black hair, and sometimes another girl wh
Within minutes, Aaron began to feel a little bit different. While he still found Eliza very attractive, some of the things she said, the questions she asked, were no longer cute or endearing; they were annoying. He realized she was asking basic questions, things she should know by now. Clearly, she wasn’t paying attention while he went over the first part of the meeting, because once the Hunters joined them, she asked about some of the topics he’d already covered. It was too early to admit it, but he realized there was a possibility that Elliott and Jamie might be right.Eventually, Eliza ran out of questions, stupid or otherwise, and the team loaded up and travelled to the zoo. Even though he was beginning to wonder about his relationship with Eliza, she sat next to him as he drove one of the two SUVs full of team members, and when she reached for his hand, he gave it to her, hoping he’d feel different about the possibility he was being manipulated once the
Eliza was crying, apologizing, making excuses. “I’m sorry,” she said, wiping at her nose with the back of her hand. They were sitting at a table in a small storage room just outside the conference room. He had told the rest of the team they could debrief without them, and Elliott was going over things with them now. Aaron was doing his best to stay calm while she tried to catch her breath. As angry as he was that she’d almost caused a disaster during the hunt at the zoo, the important thing was that she learned a lesson from all of this.Her breath catching in her throat so that she could hardly get the words out, Eliza stuttered, “I just… you said we were team one.” She plucked a tissue out of a box near her elbow and blew her nose.After giving her a moment to attempt to settle down, he took a deep breath. “No, I did not say you were team one,” Aaron insisted. “I said you were team two.”&ldquo
Eliza was crying, apologizing, making excuses. “I’m sorry,” she said, wiping at her nose with the back of her hand. They were sitting at a table in a small storage room just outside the conference room. He had told the rest of the team they could debrief without them, and Elliott was going over things with them now. Aaron was doing his best to stay calm while she tried to catch her breath. As angry as he was that she’d almost caused a disaster during the hunt at the zoo, the important thing was that she learned a lesson from all of this.Her breath catching in her throat so that she could hardly get the words out, Eliza stuttered, “I just… you said we were team one.” She plucked a tissue out of a box near her elbow and blew her nose.After giving her a moment to attempt to settle down, he took a deep breath. “No, I did not say you were team one,” Aaron insisted. “I said you were team two.”&ldquo
Within minutes, Aaron began to feel a little bit different. While he still found Eliza very attractive, some of the things she said, the questions she asked, were no longer cute or endearing; they were annoying. He realized she was asking basic questions, things she should know by now. Clearly, she wasn’t paying attention while he went over the first part of the meeting, because once the Hunters joined them, she asked about some of the topics he’d already covered. It was too early to admit it, but he realized there was a possibility that Elliott and Jamie might be right.Eventually, Eliza ran out of questions, stupid or otherwise, and the team loaded up and travelled to the zoo. Even though he was beginning to wonder about his relationship with Eliza, she sat next to him as he drove one of the two SUVs full of team members, and when she reached for his hand, he gave it to her, hoping he’d feel different about the possibility he was being manipulated once the
Shenandoah, Iowa, America, 2010Shenandoah High School was not that big as high schools go. Only about four hundred kids went to school there. Aaron was sitting on the roof of the ag building, which provided a pretty good view of the parking lot. He had spent a few days here recently, including the first day of school that year. No one had ever noticed, particularly the kids who were so wrapped up in their post-school-day conversations, it was easy for him to go unseen.She was not one of the first people out of the building, and he assumed that was because she really wasn’t in a rush to get out of school. She’d always done well, got good grades, and this year she was participating in a slew of extracurricular activities, including cheerleading. Cadence Findley was the all-around American girl.Aaron saw her friends head into the parking lot first. There was Taylor, the blonde, Sydney, with the short black hair, and sometimes another girl wh
Aaron could see Holland and Giovani now, though they were at a distance, and it seemed like they were aware of the Hunters, too. Morris had reported that he was certain they had known his team was there several times and had made no move to leave or attack. They had simply found a way to disappear at the end of the night before he could move in. Tonight seemed different, however. Holland was looking around, as if she was looking for someone in particular. And then her eyes stopped; she was looking right at him.They’d met a few times before. Aaron had been called in to help out in France where the redheaded woman originated and preferred to spend her time. Despite her odd name, she was a former Frenchwoman and she didn’t take kindly to having LIGHTS members on her turf. She’d been with her longtime beau, Carter, every other time he’d come into contact with her, and since he hadn’t been running the operation, there hadn’t been much he could
New York City, America, 2000The Blue Moon Nightclub was a popular destination for humans and Vampires alike. While the NYC team had always patrolled it closely, recently a well-known European Vampire had taken a liking to the place, and Aaron’s old friend Morris, now the Area Leader, had called him for help.The Vampire was what they commonly referred to as “ancient” even though she wasn’t one of the original Vampires, which were the true ancients. Still, she’d been around for centuries and her power had grown strong over the years. Likewise, she had hundreds of children—their term for the minions Vampires created by infecting others. While Morris had a strong team, he was certain he couldn’t handle this on his own, and so he’d called Aaron in, hoping that if they couldn’t defeat her, at least they could run her along.Aaron assembled his strongest team members and flew them on one of LIGHTS private
Des Moines, Iowa, America, 1996Janette Findley had continued work with the team, even though she was no longer a Hunter. She lived in a large Queen Anne in Des Moines, and Aaron spoke to her several times a day as she had volunteered to work as his assistant a few years ago as things began to grow and he had found it difficult to get everything done. Being the Guardian Leader with no Hunter Leader—as none had ever been appointed—was challenging in and of itself. Recently, there’d been more and more Vampire activity, and the team continued to face recruiting challenges to keep up with the need. It was more than one man could handle on his own.Sitting on her sofa was calming, and for a moment, Aaron leaned his head back and relaxed, something he seldom had a chance to do, particularly since Christian had perfected and installed his Intelligence Assistance Communicators in everyone’s eyes. Now, any Hunter or Guardian in the world could r
Tulsa, Oklahoma, America, 1985“Tell me why we are doing this again,” Jamie insisted from the passenger seat of the Buick Somerset Aaron was pulling into a parking spot outside of a shady looking nightclub. It was past midnight, a time when they would typically be hunting the undead, but tonight their mark was someone else entirely.“’Cause Janette asked us to,” Aaron replied as he put the car in park and turned off the engine.“Yeah, but if the Tulsa team has already approached this guy several times, and he doesn’t want to join them, why would he go with us now?”“I don’t know,” Aaron replied, pushing the door open. “She asked us to try, so we’ll try.” He got out of the car and headed into the establishment, hoping to get this over with rather quickly.It only took him a moment to find the man he was looking for. At six-two and well over two hundred pound
Jordan Findley was buried in his hometown of Des Moines, Iowa, on a sunny June day before a crowd of thousands. The local papers read that he died in a small plane crash, but the LIGHTS team members all knew the truth. Such occurrences were so rare, Aaron couldn’t even think of another time a Hunter had purposely killed a Guardian. Accidents happened from time to time, but never something like this. Teams were organized to hunt down Skelton, but so far there hadn’t even been a sign of him, causing speculation that he had been killed as well.Janette had yet to recover from her loss. Having spent one hundred thirty years married to and working side-by-side with this man, she had always assumed she’d die long before he even considered trying to find a way out of his existence. He could potentially live forever. She would pass on; that was the way it was supposed to be. This was an unnatural ending that she had never seen coming. Now that she was faced with a l
Skelton, a former beau of Janette’s, had returned a few months ago from an independent career that had spanned over a hundred years. He had said he had a special project he needed help with, but so far, he’d not explained himself and mostly hung out in the apartment he’d been provided by himself, rarely making an appearance on the larger campus that encompassed fifty acres on the outskirts of Kansas City.“He’s harmless,” Jordan assured them both. “Just an old man looking for absolution.”“Just an old nut looking for asylum is more like it,” Janette replied, shaking her head.“I have a meeting with him this evening. Hopefully, he’ll give us some direction for this project he has in mind. I’ll tell him to wait until I get back though. There’s no sense in you having to worry about that and everything else.”“All right,” Aaron said with a nod as he looked to