Van Helsings

Havermouth, Present Time

The meeting broke up, and the soldiers rose and began the slow shuffle out of the tidy rows of seats, past Talen and Aislen, and out into the foyer. Their laughter and light-hearted conversation were at odds with the situation in Havermouth, jarring Aislen’s tolerances. She wanted to yell at them to stop f-king laughing and do something, but there was something intimidating and almost menacing about the men that held her tongue in check.

Her instincts told her not to draw attention to herself, or to Talen, and she suspected her vampire felt the same way, as he subtly moved them back into the narrow walkway behind the very rear row of seats, placing himself between her and the aisle.

The police and fire chief, Heath, and several black clad men gathered just before the stage.

“Should we go down there?” Aislen wondered, she couldn’t hear what was being said over the rumble of voices of the soldiers leaving the audience hall, but she could read the body language loud and clear, and, although Heath’s body language was more subtle than the police chief’s obvious anger, she could tell that her mate was wary from the way he held his shoulders and angled his head.

“I think it is best that we stay where we are,” Talen replied grimly, dividing his attention between the departing soldiers and the group by the stage.

“Can you hear them?” She looked up at him.

“Hmm,” his grimace was lopsided, and he frowned for a moment, his eyes narrowing as he concentrated. “The NES have told the police force and fire department to return to their normal duties. They have told them that the town needs their services to be available if needed and running their small staffs around the clock places the town in danger. To leave the clean-up and management of the epidemic to the experts.”

“They’re not happy about that,” it didn’t take a genius to read that on the police chief’s face, his cheeks were florid and his expression furious.

“Heath agrees with the NES,” Talen sounded surprised. “And is supporting the NES leader, Joseph Lennon. The police force and fire department staff are exhausted after being on call throughout the storm. He wants to send them home to rest. They will revisit the matter tomorrow with fresher eyes and minds.”

Aislen could read the words on Heath’s lips a moment ahead of Talen speaking them, and the effect was disconcerting

“It’s you!” A man exclaimed from the aisle with a bitter laugh drawing their attention away from Heath. Aislen and Talen both looked at him in surprise. He stepped closer, gripping the back of the chair nearest to him in white knuckles. “I thought it was you,” he said to Aislen.

“Umm, hi,” Aislen replied, searching his face, trying to work out why he knew her. Suddenly her stomach dropped, and her blood turned to ice. “Oh shit.”

“You remember me now,” his grin was feral and his eyes hard. “Toby Castillo. We met on one of the worst days of my life, and f-ked on the second worst.”

Her mouth was dry. “I remember.” Just looking at him made her feel ill. She had avoided thinking of that day, happy to leave the memories lost in a drug and alcohol blur, but looking at him seemed to clear away the haziness, and she had flashes of memory, of him over her, his skin against hers as he f-ked her…

“I didn’t go to jail,” he said, and it took her a moment to understand the words that he was saying, though he did not notice that her eyes had lost focus. “Dad pulled some strings so that I joined the army instead. Did two tours. Then was recruited to a specialist service. Not exactly the career my dad had in mind. Better, in my opinion. Doing something meaningful.”

“Nice,” Aislen looked down at the cake box in her hands and decided that she’d held onto it long enough, setting it onto the seat in front of her. “I’m glad things worked out for you, Toby.”

“Sure did,” he replied, his body language relaxing, and his attention shifting to the almost empty audience hall, and the intense meeting at the stage, before returning to her as he realized that the three of them were interloping. “What are you doing in here? This is a no-civilian zone.”

“We were delivering cakes for Boyston’s Coffee Shop, and didn’t know where to put them,” Talen said, placing his box on top of Aislen’s, and resting his hand on her shoulder, picking up on her distress.

“You work for the coffee shop?” Toby sneered slightly, running an eye over Talen, who smiled with false pleasantness, the points of his teeth just barely hidden beneath his lips.

“Volunteer, really,” Aislen replied with a slight shrug, Talen’s touch reassuring and recalling her to the present, so that she could shove the horrible memories back.

“Well, put the cakes on a table in the foyer, I’m sure someone will eat them. Then you’d best be out of here. Go home, and stay there,” Toby said, easing away from them into the aisle between the rows of seats, wanting to leave. “It’s safer to just stay in doors.”

“Toby,” she said following him into the aisle. “What is happening here?”

“What do you mean, what is happening?” He frowned down at her.

“I mean, with this bug, and closing off the town, and all these soldiers,” she said. “And making everyone stay at home and tie red cloth to their doors. It’s very… scary Toby. It’s really very scary. There’s a little girl lost, and no one seems to be interested in looking for her, and no one is doing anything about the internet or the phones…”

“Aislen,” Toby hesitated, and glanced around him and then at Talen.

“He’s with me,” Aislen said.

“Boyfriend?” Toby evaluated Talen.

“Fiancé,” she replied.

Toby lifted his eyebrows. “Take her home, fiancé,” he said to Talen. “And keep her there until things are settled in Havermouth. She’s an okay girl, or she was when I knew her. Terrible taste in men, then, though. Hopefully her taste has improved and you’re smarter than you look and will do the right thing. Take her home and lock the door behind you. Stay at home, Aislen, if you want to go back to your volunteering work at the coffee shop. Things are about to go to shit in this town. Keep your head down, and you’ll get through it. Do you get me?”

“Yeah,” Aislen whispered. She reached out and touched Toby’s arm, giving it a squeeze. “Thanks Toby. You’ve been a huge help.”

“Old time’s sake,” he replied. “Go home.”

She watched him walk into the foyer, feeling faint. “We are in some serious shit here, Talen,” she said to her mate. “He’s right. We need to get Heath and get the f-k out of here. And then we need to get Rhett, and Cameron. We need to get back across that f-king river and we need to do it right now.”

“Aislen,” Heath said coming up behind her. “You shouldn’t be in here.”

“Neither should you,” she took his hand. “Let’s go Heath. Quick, quick.” She fell silent as Joseph Lennon, his men, the police chief, and the fire chief came up the aisle towards the foyer. Joseph’s eyes were drawn to Talen, a frown creasing over his nose and he came to a stop, blocking the other men from passing.

“Heath,” he said. “Who are your friends?”

A muscle twitched in Heath’s jaw and through the touch of his hand, Aislen was flooded with Heath’s revulsion for the NES leader, his rage and… his fear. Heath’s emotions had Aislen’s already heightened heartbeat thudding against her ribs, and her palm sweating against his. Heath did not want to give Aislen and Talen’s names to Joseph Lennon, but he also could not lie in front of the police chief and fire chief without being queried for it.

“This is Aislen Carter,” he said, with no hint of his reluctance in his voice, sound precisely as if he were performing a pleasant introduction without a concern in the world. “Aislen holds the key to the town, for her recent service in risking her life to save others during a shooting at the local high school.”

“Hmm,” Joseph Lennon’s eyes scrutinized Aislen, and then returned to Talen. “And this is?”

“Thaelen Gulgane,” Talen replied with a tight smile.

“Thaelen Gulgane,” Joseph Lennon struggled with the pronunciation. “Interesting.”

“If you’ll excuse us,” Heath said, stepping out into the aisle in front of the group. “We had best follow your advice, Joseph, and return home.” He led the way at an unhurried pace up the aisle and into the foyer.

The fresh air of the sidewalk was welcome, Aislen thought, dragging in deep breaths through her teeth as they made their way across the soldier-heavy street, and headed down a side alley that Aislen had never known was there.

In the alley, out of sight of the soldiers, Heath picked up the pace. “Thaelen Gulgane, eh?” He said over his shoulder to Talen. “Smart move, not giving him your name.”

“I did,” Talen replied mildly. “Just not the one that I am currently using.”

“What inspired you to that?” Heath asked, unsurprised but curious.

“Body language.”

“F-k,” Heath said under his breath. “I was hoping… for more. I was hoping that you had something concrete. That man sets every alarm bell that I possess ringing and makes my skin crawl, and yet, despite disagreeing about the priorities the NES is setting, I can't justify it. I had hoped you knew something more."

"Oh, it's justified," Aislen told him, breathless from the fast pace of walking, and from the fear that had a tight grip on her chest. “Alarm bells ringing, and skin crawling is accurate.”

“Aislen?” Heath came to a stop at the end of the alleyway and looked both ways before crossing a car park that was clear of soldiers and cars. “What do you know?”

“Well, two things, really,” she said, keeping her voice low. “The first is that there is no medicine for this. They’re bull shitting about that. The second thing is that they’re not NES. Or they are, but they’re also not.”

“Aislen,” Heath drew in a deep breath and released it, controlling his frustration, and stopping himself from snapping at her. “Can you be a little clearer.”

“They’re not NES, they’re hunters. Like, hunters of us,” she gestured with her free hand between the three of them. “Like we’re the prey.”

“Ah, f-k,” Heath ground out between his teeth. “They’re Van Helsings?”